...A What Now?

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“Come on, Ares,” I muttered, walking through the back alleys of Canterlot as quietly as I could. “We need to hurry up and get to the Sparkle house.”

Now, you may be wonder why I, Princess Cadence, was trotting around a dirty back alley like a criminal who was also tired and had a pretty nasty hangover, but there’s a pretty good reason ... really.

You see, recently I kinda sorta revoked my self-title of princess of love because, incredibly, I fell out of love with my husband, Shining Armor, and fell in love with my best friend. So, doing the right thing, I was going to go tell my ex-husband’s parents this and hope for the best. So yeah, a good reason.

Come on, Cadence, I thought to myself, stopping and closing my eyes in exhaustion.

You can do this. You HAVE to do this. They deserve to know! There’s no waiting until tomorrow, you have to do this NOW…. Despite my little pep-talk, I was shaking a little.

That is, until I felt a hand gently touching my shoulder.

Looking up, a warmth filled my chest as I looked up at Ares, my Ares, who was looking down at me with those pretty green eyes of his—though he reallllly didn’t look that good; he was probably as hungover as I was—which were filled with concern and bemusement.

“Candy, are you alright there?”

I leaned over and nuzzled him. “Yes, Honey.” Just saying that was weird, not in a bad way, it was in the best way in fact, but still weird. “I’m just worried about us telling everypony … I don’t know how Shining’s parents are going to take this.” I looked away from him, dread hitting me like a kick to the stomach. “I don’t know how Twilight is going to take this….”

Ares knelt down and wrapped me in a hug. “Do you just want me to tell them?” he asked, making me crack a small smile.

Don’t tempt me, I thought before shaking my head. “I can’t do that, Ares. Velvet and Night Light deserve to hear me say it.”

He nodded, standing up and running a hand soothingly through my mane before we started down the alley again.

I know it might sound silly, but I didn’t want anypony to see us go to the Sparkle house. Ponies might tell my aunts and then they might start asking questions before I was ready to tell them about everything, so ‘ninjas’ we needed to be until we got back to the castle.

Don’t get cold hooves, don’t get cold hooves, I desperately thought, fighting back a whimper when I saw that familiar mansion that might just ruin what was supposed to be a pretty good day.

Throwing all caution to the wind, the two of us scrambled to their front door. Ares gave my shoulder a squeeze as I looked at their door. “Are you ready, Candy?”

“No,” I instantly answered, firmly tapping the door.

A small part of me really hoped that they weren’t going to answer, but then I heard hoofsteps coming toward the door. “Come on,” I muttered to myself, listening as the doorknob slowly started to turn. “You can do this, you can do this.”

I flinched when the door flew open, revealing Velvet, whose eye’s widened in joy as she saw us. “Oh, hello, Cadence, Ares, how are you two—” She stopped when she saw the looks on our faces, her look of joy becoming a look of concern.

“Is there something wrong?” she quietly asked, leaning on the doorframe. “Did something happen to Shining?”

I gave her a fake little smile, trying to keep my legs from shaking and trying to figure out what to say next.

Thankfully, Ares saved me. “Mrs. Sparkle, can we come in? We have something very important to tell you and your husband.”

Velvet cleared her throat, looking at me. “Of course. Just make yourselves comfortable in the living room while I go get Night and something for us all to drink.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat as the mare let us into her house before trotting up the stairs. “Ares,” I said, looking at him, “I don’t know if I can do this. I know earlier that I said I would be able to but—”

He shut my mouth with his hand before picking me up and carrying me to the living room. It was the same as I remembered it, a spacious, blue-walled room with a bunch of pictures and sofas all around it. It was the place where I had spent nights playing with Twilight, helping Shining with his homework when we were younger, and it would be where I told my in-laws what was going on.

Plopping me onto the couch, and sitting down next to me, Ares said, “you can do this, Candy.” He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my forehead. “Just give them that big, pretty smile of yours and bat your eyelashes a few times. That’ll make everything a lot less awkward and weird.”

I slugged him with a small smile on my face. “Now’s not the time for jokes, Mister,” I chastised, getting a dry chuckle out of him.

Don’t ever change, Ares, I thought, leaning into my human, while we heard a pair of hoofsteps clopping toward us.

I had to resist the urge to move away from Ares. No, you let them see, I firmly said to myself as the Sparkles made their way into the living room, Velvet holding a tray of drinks in her mouth. The two looked at me and Ares oddly before sitting down next to us.

Night Light cleared his throat awkwardly, “Ares, Cadence, it’s nice to see you.” We nodded, smiling at him. “Now, Velvet here is saying that something’s wrong,” he waved a hoof in our direction. “Is there something that you want to tell us, Honey?”

Steeling myself, I hopped off of the couch and sat in front of them. Bowing my head, I started, “Velvet, Night, you two are wonderful, great ponies, and I have to tell you something that might make you hate me.”

I took a shaky breath and closed my eyes. “I’m divorcing Shining…”

I heard them gasp, and I forced myself to look them both in the eye. “I … don't think I love him … anymore." I gave the two a weak smile, sadness hitting my stomach harder and harder the longer I looked at the two. "But it could be worse, Shining deserves another mare that’ll make him happy; a mare that’ll give him—”

I stopped when Velvet growled, getting up and pressing our faces together. “None of that, Cadence.” I flinched when I felt her hoof touch my chin. “Don’t you dare sell yourself short like that.”

I sniffled when she wrapped me into a hug. “B-But—”

Her grip tightened around me. “Whatever happened, whatever is happening, just remember, Night and I love you.”

I bit back a sob while Ares and Night looked on, a little sad smile on the stallion’s face as

Velvet looked back at him. “I’m just sorry that it took me so long to realize it.”

I wrapped my wings around her, now crying my eyes out, my mother-in-law holding me, patting me on the back and cooing into my ear.

Stop crying, you baby, I thought to myself. S-Stop, you need to tell them why.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that those weren’t tears of sadness, but happiness, scared and shaky happiness, but happiness none-the-less.

When I finally calmed down I told them everything. Why Shining left, my feelings toward Ares, our drunken confession that could have come out of a storybook, my insecurities about if what I was doing was right.

I told them everything and more. Velvet held me as Night listened, his head bobbing but his expression unreadable, his eyes seemingly staring through me as he went over every word I said.

“A-And that’s it,” I muttered, wiping my nose with a hoof. “I just told you how bad of a pony I am … I-I’ll understand if you hate me for this … I’d hate me for this.”

To my surprise, Night snorted good-naturedly, “I had an uncle that was married seven times.” He ignored his wife’s squeak as he looked at Ares and I. “I asked him one time why he didn’t stay with a filly for more than a few years. He laughed and told me that he didn’t know; that something just wasn’t right with any of them.”

Night got up, trotting toward me and placing a hoof on my shoulder. “You know what happened to him? He married a stallion from Dodge City twenty years ago; he’s been with him ever since.”

His warm blue eyes looked down at me, full of forgiveness, something that I don’t think I deserved. “Love is a fickle thing, Dear, it doesn’t know what it wants until it has it.”

He looked over at Ares knowingly before he looked back at me. “You’re like a daughter to me, and there’s nothing you can do to undo that…. Shining and Twilight, on the other hand, might be a little harder to please.”

I nodded, smiling weakly at him. “I know. I’m going to tell Twilight and my Aunts as soon as we leave here.” That was something that I was dreading way more than this little sit down, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“I know they might not forgive me, but I hope they will talk to me so I can explain it to them.”

Velvet and Night smiled at each other before looking back at me. “We’ll be praying for you, Cadence,” Night said, “and remember to come and visit us sometime. We feel lonely and old when there’s nopony younger than us running around our house.”

~~@@~~

Celestia couldn’t help but sigh as she looked down at her daisy sandwich. They put mayo on it again, she thought distastefully, crinkling her nose as she used a spell to lift the bread. I know I asked for it without mayo; the chefs know that—

“Sister, are you well? You’ve been staring at your lunch since it was brought out.”

The sun princess looked up at her sister, who was munching away at her hay fries, before looking back down at her lunch. “I’m fine, Luna,” she answered, making Luna raise an eyebrow.

“If thou art fine, then eat.”

Celestia looked down at her sandwich before looking back at her. “They put mayonnaise on my sandwich ... again.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Sister, thou art over two thousand years old, thou can take a little mayo on thy sandwich,” she waved a hoof at her. “Do not waste it. Eat up.”

Celestia stuck out her lip, pouting as she crossed her forelegs. “I don’t like mayo, Luna,” she insisted.

The Princess of the Night hummed thoughtfully before levitating the sandwich in front of her.

“Fine, if thou wilt not eat it, We shall.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in panic, trying to snatch away her food from her little sister, who was cackling madly while trying to take a bite.

“Give that back this instant, Luna!”

“Nay sister, you snooze, you lose!”

“It’s myyyy food!”

“Well, We—”

Twilight cleared her throat nervously, throwing a glare at her coltfriend, who was trying hard not to chuckle. “Um, excuse me, Princesses?” The two alicorns stopped their little game of tug-of-war to look at the little unicorn, who gulped.

“Maybe you could just take off the mayonnaise … with a knife?”

Celestia looked at her sister, who looked back at her with an equally stunned expression, before snatching her food and grabbing a knife from the table. “Thank you, Twilight,” she said while her student beamed.

There’ll still be some of that awful condiment on it though, she glumly thought, trying her best to wipe as much of the horrid white substance off her lunch as she could. But I guess I’ll have to tough it out, as it were.

As she took a big bite out of her daisy sandwich, trying not to cringe at the flavor, Flash finally spoke up. “Hey, does anypony know where Ares or the Princess are?” He looked around the kitchen. “I tried to see if they were in their room but nopony came to the door when I knocked.”

Luna shrugged. “We have not seen them since the day before,” she said, sounding slightly irritated. “Though we all should have wished young Ares a happy birthday, not just young Cadence.”

Celestia smiled gently at her sister. “Luna, you know that Ares didn’t want a party.”

The younger alicorn huffed. “We did not need to have a party; giving him a gift would have been enough.”

“It was Ares’ birthday yesterday?” a confused Flash asked, getting a nod and nuzzle from Twilight.

“That’s what he put on the paperwork that he signed,” she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “He told me the other day that he reallllly didn’t want to have a party though, so we didn’t have one.”

Flash looked around again, now slightly nervous. “I should still go get him a card or something…”

Celestia grinned. “Yes, my little pony, and I think Luna and I should do the same.”

Luna was about to say something when she saw Ares and Cadence quietly slip into the room, odd looks on their faces.

Oh, there they are, she thought, cocking her head in confusion. For some reason, neither of the two were making their way toward them. In fact, it looked like they were almost scared; the two whispering to each other as they looked at Luna and her little group at the table. The night princess pretended not to notice them.

Now what are they do— She couldn’t help but grin a little bit as Ares quickly leaned down and kissed the pink alicorn on the lips. Ahhhhh, We see what is going on.

For a second, Luna couldn’t help but feel a little bit smug as she looked at her sister out of the corner of her eye. It seems they acted as We thought they would.

For her part, Celestia was acting a lot calmer than she should have—Luna knew her sister also saw that little bit of affection, she was just a lot better at hiding it—but Luna could tell that Celestia’s mind was churning the same as her’s was.

It appears that they are going to tell us, instead of hiding it. Once again you were wrong Sister…; which is odd, you are usually very good at guessing these types of things.

Luna herself didn’t really know how to take this now that it was suddenly thrown into her lap. On one hoof, she was a little jealous—she had made it pretty clear that she wanted Ares after all, though he always thought that she wasn’t serious—but, on the other hoof, now she saw an opportunity.

Hopefully young Cadence has already told Shining Armor. We do not want to defend the human from the captain’s wrath … but even if she did, this is still going to be quite the mess.

She watched as Cadence and Ares nodded at each other, their backs straightening before they slowly made their way toward the table. Luna’s eyes brightened as an idea hit her like a speeding cart, the alicorn grinning as the two came ever closer.

Luna had to resist the urge to rub her hooves together. Yes, that could work…. The nobles do not like me anyway, and We will not be taking no for an answer from either of them! Ohhh, I honestly cannot wait to see sister’s face!

But now wasn’t the time, she knew that is was a very touchy period for Ares and Cadence. She needed to be serious and solemn … at least until they had finished, then she could spring the trap and get what she wanted too.

Finally, Cadence cleared her throat, everyone looked at the two, who started to sit down.

Twilight smiled at them, popping a fry into her mouth. “Oh, hello, Cadence, Ares, how are you—” She stopped when she saw the looks on their faces, her ears pinned back against her head in worry. “…Are you two alright?”

Flash cocked his head at Ares. “Yeah…, Ares, you look like you’re gonna throw up; are you alright there?”

The human chuckled humorlessly, sitting down next to Cadence. “Hey guys, we have something to tell all of you.”

Everyone at the table looked at each other before nodding slowly.

Come on, Luna thought. No need to be coy, just tell us what’s going on.

Cadence cleared her throat. Luna couldn’t help but notice, she was also shaking slightly.

“U-Um, I don’t really know how to say this.” She looked toward Ares, who gave her a questioning glance—the two having whole conversations with just a few gestures and looks. The alicorn just shook her head before looking back at them. “I-I sent Shining a letter the other day…”

Twilight smiled, the only one not really noticing that something wasn’t just wrong, but very wrong--or solemn; Luna thought that was a better way to say it. “Oh? Did my BBBFF send you anything back yet? How is he doing in Trottingham? No no, he wouldn’t be able to send something back that fast.” The unicorn tapped a hoof against her chin in thought.

Celestia, who was looking at her niece emotionlessly, said, “And, Cadence? What did you say to him?”

Cadence sighed, looking down at the table. “Aunty…, I-I’m going to have to revoke my title as the Princess of Love.”

Flash and Twilight gasped, and even Luna showed a little surprise. Well, We were not expecting that. She thought.

Twilight violently rose from her seat. “WHAT?!” the bookworm demanded, making her way toward Cadence, who still wouldn’t look up at them. “What would make you do something like that, Cadence?!”

I finally worked up the courage to look at her. “In the letter I sent Shining, I asked for a divorce.”

You could have heard a pin drop as Twilight slowly churned around in her mind what her ex-sister-in-law had said.

“W-What?” Twilight croaked out, sitting on her rump with tears in her eyes. “W-Why would y-you do something l-like that?”

Luna looked over at Celestia, who was calmly taking a sip of her sweet tea, the white alicorn not taking her eyes off the scene in front of her.

Cadence rose from her chair, her wings dropping onto the floor, as she looked at Twilight. “I-I … don’t love him a-anymore, Twilight … I’m—”

“No!”

Everyone in the room watched as Twilight’s sad look instantly turned angry, the little pony getting back to her hooves. “No, you’re not Cadence. Cadence wouldn’t do that!”

Luna watched with concern as her niece slowly started to cry. “T-Twilight—”

“Cadence loves my brother! She wouldn’t do something like that!” Her horn glowed, encasing the pink alicorn in a purple glow. “You have to be some changeling!”

Celestia quickly rose from her seat. “Twilight—”

“NO! All I need to do is use this spell and it’ll show—”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and she backed away from Cadence, who was staring toward her, raising a hoof.

“Nononono…” The unicorn muttered, looking around the room before sobbing. “The spell didn’t work. W-Why didn’t i-it work? … C-Cadence—”

Before anyone could stop her, Twilight was gone in a flash. Ares stopped Cadence from rushing toward where she had been.

“Let her be, Cadence,” he muttered, wrapping his arms around the now-sobbing alicorn. “Just let her be for a little bit,” he looked over at Flash. “Flash, you sit right back down. I’ll take it from here.”

And he did, not leaving anything out as the human spun his little tale of everything that had happened the night before. Celestia, Flash, and Luna didn’t say a thing as Ares—who was still holding a semi-calm, but still crying, Cadence in his arms—finished.

“So, that’s pretty much everything…”

Ares looks far more ashamed than I thought he would, Luna thought as Flash calmly made his way toward Ares. That is odd.

Looking at his Princess, the private said, “Is that true, Princess?”

Cadence nodded, letting go of Ares. “Yes … and that’s why Twilight, you, and everypony here has every right to be mad at me.”

Ares patted her on the head. “Don’t leave me out of it, Candy, I—”

With a grunt, Flash’s hoof cocked back as he stepped forward, hitting Ares in the stomach as hard as he could, the human rolled in the air before hitting the ground hard with a thud.

Before anypony could do anything, Ares lifted a hand up. “No, no,” he wheezed as Flash stood over him. “You all … stay … out of … it.”

The private looked down at his friend, his face an unreadable mask, before he offered him a helping hoof. “You deserved that,” he said simply, Ares tried to grin through the pain as he was helped up. “You’re still one of my best friends, but you still deserved that.”

“Shining … can have … a free hit … if he … sees me.” Ares said, letting Flash help him toward his seat.

Luna took a drink, trying to hide her smile with the glass. Stallions always had an odd way of doing things, she mused, watching Cadence fret over the man, who was rubbing his stomach tenderly. Now to see what sister says.

Celestia had watched everything, not with the look and attitude of someone who was angry, but of someone that had known this was coming.

“Well…, that is news indeed,” Celestia calmly said, making her way over and wrapping a wing around Cadence. “Are you sure about this, Sweetie?”

The pink alicorn looked up at her Aunt with fire in her eyes before looking over at Ares. “I think so, Aunty, I think that I have to follow my heart on this one.”

“It’s also why you are giving up your title?” Celestia questioned, nuzzling her.

Cadence nodded. “I don’t think I know what love is, I don’t even know if I’ll ever know what love is, so I don’t think I can call myself the Princess of Love.”

The sun princess nodded understandingly. “And what are you going to do now?” she asked gently while Flash rubbed his friend’s back.

“Flash,” Ares muttered, still holding his probably now bruised stomach. “You hit like a fuckin’ monster.”

Despite the situation, the stallion smiled. “Thanks, I’ve been working out a lot lately.”

While Luna snorted quietly, Celestia and Cadence ignored the silly conversation.

“What are you going to do now?” the elder alicorn repeated, looking at Cadence with concern.

Cadence shrugged half-heartedly. “I thought that Ares and I would go back to the empire. There’s really nothing keeping us here anymore.”

“And when are you going to do that?”

“Probably within the week,” Cadence wiped a tear from her eye. “I want to go talk to Twilight, try to explain to her why I’m doing what I’m doing first…. Or I at least need to try.”

“Well, Honey,” Celestia smiled down at her, “you do what your heart tells you. I will not tell you to go against it.” Finally—in Luna’s opinion at least, her sister always took too long—Celestia looked over at Luna.

“Sister, you have been awfully quietly after everything you’ve heard. Do you want to say something to help Cadence or Ares with this difficult situation?”

This time, Luna’s princessly mask really cracked, a hungry look coming to her eyes as she hopped out of her chair and very slowly made her way toward her niece.

It’s now or never I suppose, she thought, using a spell to pull Ares and Cadence close together. “Yes, Sister, I actually have something very important to say.

<<@@>>

I couldn’t help but gulp as my Aunt looked down at me, something in her eyes made me nervous. Well, more nervous than I already was.

But as she looked at me, I couldn’t help but think of Twilight and that look of hurt betrayal she gave me before she teleported away.

No, Cadence, I thought, blinking away on-coming tears. You can talk to Twilight in a little bit. Right now you need to listen to what Aunt Luna has to say.

“Ares, Cadence,” my Aunt said, slowly starting to walk around us. “We ourselves do not find it particularly offensive that the two of you have done this,” she shrugged. “We could go through a dozen stallions, and mares, in a fortnight back in our day.”

A little more insensitive than I’d like, but it works, I guess.

“But what We do not like, Niece, is that you have taken Ares from us,” Ares was about to comment on that but Aunt Luna shushed him, continuing, “I’m sure that you know that We have had Ares in our sights for a long while, Cadence. We find that he is a good stallion; he does not fear us, he makes us laugh, and we enjoy his hugs, the same things We are sure that attracted him to you, so We- I’m, slightly irritated.”

And now I was a little more concerned than I should have been. I know that Aunty wouldn’t hurt me—or if she tried, Aunty Celestia would stop her—but Aunt Luna was from the time where mares would beat each other to death for the hoof of a stallion.

So, naturally, I was a little leery, though I kind of wanted to know where she was taking this.

“Ares, while We—I.”

That’s weird…. Is Aunt Luna trying to get rid of her old talk right now for some reason?

Aunty Luna huffed quietly to herself before she started back up. “I know that you are not the sharpest sword in the armory—”

“Now wait a sec—” Ares started, before his mouth was closed by Aunt Luna’s magic.

“Hush, We are still talking,” Aunty barked—Aunty Celestia rolled her eyes and Flash snickered—before she trotted in front of us and sat down.

“You may not be the smartest, but you know that We have wanted thee.”

Ares looked away from her, rubbing his arm. “Well, Luna…, I really don’t know what to tell you now,” he gestured toward me before shrugging. “There’s nothing I can do about that right now.”

Aunty brightened at that. “Ah, but We can do something, my little human.”

What is she—I thought before Aunty Luna looked at me, her gaze becoming … sultry?

“Cadence,” she purred—heat rushed to my cheeks for some reason as I backed away from her. “You know you are not our niece by blood, correct?”

I nodded slowly, trying not to yelp when I felt my rump hit the wall. “Yeah…, Aunt Celestia said that…, but what does that—thmp!”

Annnnd my Aunt is kissing me…. Wait … myauntiskissingme!

My eyes widened; Luna looked into them as her lips pressed gently against mine—the kiss was surprisingly nice—before breaking it a second later, leaving me an embarrassed, panting mess.

“Awesome,” Flash whispered, and out of the corner of my eye I saw that he was scrunching his face with his hooves.

“Luna,” Celestia barked, her cheeks also red. “What in Faust’s name are you—”

“We are getting to that, Sister,” Luna interrupted, looking over her shoulder at Ares with a little smile, like she enjoyed all of our confused looks.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, I, Princess Luna, Lady of the Moon and the Night, Defender of Dreams and of Equestria, have determined that to win the young Ares’ affection, I have to win over the two of you by courting you both.”

Celestia took a step toward us. “Luna,” she said. “These two are going through a very

emotional time right now—”

“Which means that they’ll need a shoulder to cry on. I will also be able to help them through this with all of my experience. So, Sister, you should be thanking me,” Luna interrupted again.

“—and you just can’t do this!” Celestia huffed.

Luna winked at me before looking back at her sister. “And why not? Herding was a very common practice before We were banished.”

Celestia stomped her hoof. “It’s not a practice now!”

Aunty—nono, it’ll be too weird if I think of her like that—Luna shrugged. “So we are an old-fashioned kind of mare then. We are over two thousand years old, Tia, and half of that time we were banished. Not once have we had a serious special somepony in all of that time. And you may forget, but We are a grown mare that can make our own decisions.”

Her little grin was starting to grow. “We—I think that I deserve to be happy, isn’t that right, Sister?”

Celestia looked at us, as confused as the rest of us were, trying to think of something to say to her sister. “B-But—”

“And,” Luna once again interrupted, leaning in to nuzzle Ares. “Would you believe me if I told you that I am also following my heart on this?”

Ares finally cleared his throat. “But what if Cadence and I don’t want this, Luna?” he asked, making me want to hop up and kiss him. At least he was trying to be level-headed amidst all of this craziness.

Luna faltered before looking up at him a second later, a fiery look coming into her eyes. “Then We will wear the two of you down. We care not what the nobles say. We care not if ponies say if this is wrong, or if it is improper. It is what I am going to do.”

With a nod, she stood back up, and, tickling me under the chin with her tail, she slowly made her way toward the exit. “I will give you a few weeks to get situated at the Crystal Empire,” she called over her shoulder. “Then I will begin the wooing. None are undiddlable, Cadence and Ares, to the Princess of the Night. You shall see this in time.”

“Also, remember to acquire something nice to wear, Ares. Because I am taking you both out to somewhere very nice.”

C.F.O.A.C.N

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I think that Ares had the best reaction of any of us as Luna left the room to go…wherever she was going to go.

Hitting his head against the table with a groan, he said, “Oh sweet Jesus, I’m way too hungover to deal with this!”

He turned his head to look up at me, hope in his eyes. “Wait, this isn’t some weird booze-dream, right?" He looked at his hand. "This might actually just be a dream…”

I, on the other hoof, was still trying to pry my mouth from the floor out of sheer shock. Whatthehayjusthappened?! I thought, while Aunty Celestia growled to herself.

“I can’t believe that Luna would do something like this now,” she murmured, while Ares pinched himself to see if he was dreaming.

“OW! Alright, not a dream,” He picked his head up from the table with a disappointed sigh. “Candy what in the—Cadence?”

AuntyLunajustkissedme,ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!

Aunty Celestia stopped her angry muttering to look over at me in concern. “Cadence, Sweetie?” She took a step toward me, and I had to take a step back. I honestly didn’t know if Aunty Celestia was going to try the same with me. One of my Aunts kissed me, kissed me, so anything was possible.

Aunty stopped when she saw my look of panic, giving me a hurt look, before it was quickly replaced with one of understanding, as she took another step toward me. “Cadence, it’s alright, Honey,” she told me. “Just take a deep breath; I’ll just com—”

“N-no,” I muttered, squeaking when my rump hit the wall. “S-stay back. I don’t want to make out w-with you t-too!” I started hyperventilating while my heart beat wildly in my chest, my eyes wildly searching for a way to escape.

I tensed when I felt a hand touch my neck, fingers digging into my fur, trying to ease my tension, as Ares leaned down and looked me in the eye.

“Candy,” he said. “I know that you’re flipping your shit right now—you’re hungover, Luna kissed you, and I’m sure that you just want to go to bed—but you need to calm down, alright.”

His other hand started to stroke my neck, an embarrassed feeling fighting a comforting one when the small part of my mind—that wasn’t losing it—realized that my human was doing this right in front of my Aunt.

“Just breathe, big, deep ones. No one else is gonna make-out with you, alright? The Princess said that she’s going to do something about this, so just don’t go and have a stroke or anything on me, okay?”

I took a deep, shaky, breath, closing my eyes as I pressed myself against Ares while I let out a little whimper. “Ares,” I whispered. “I think we should’ve just told them at dinner, then we would’ve been sober for all of this.”

I saw my Aunt lean in to nuzzle my cheek out of the corner of my eye, the older alicorn eyeing me carefully as I gave her a shaky smile. “I’m alright, Aunty,” I told her, almost not lying. “I was just a little overwhelmed for a second.”

My Aunt nodded, eyeing where Luna left from with a scowl. “Don’t worry, Cadence, just give me a minute and I’ll sort this all out,” She slowly turned away from us and trotted toward the exit. “My sister and I are going to have a little chat, don’t you worry.”

Flash, Ares, and I watched her go before my guard looked at us. “Um, guys?” he said hesitantly. “Would you be upset if I said that made my day?”

While I usually don’t like it when Ares throws things at Flash, now, when he whipped his shoe at him, I couldn’t help but feel that he deserved it when he got clocked in the face.

@#~$$~#@

“I can’t believe her,” Celestia grumbled, glowering as she stalked the halls, ignoring guards, maids, and nobles as she looked around for her little sister. “I knew she liked Ares, but she didn’t—”

She stopped, and narrowed her eyes as she turned a corner to see her sister, who was calmly making her way down the hall with a little skip in her step.

Taking a deep, calming breath, she called out, “Luna!”

The Princess of the Night stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, hello, Sister, didst thou need something?”

Celestia nodded, quickening her pace. “Yes, Luna, you and I need to talk about what just happened.”

Luna shrugged dismissively. “You will not change Our mind, Sister. We will go through with this whether thou like it or not.”

“Luna, did you know what Cadence was doing in there after you left?” the Solar Princess asked, trying to reason with her sister. “She was this close from having a panic-attack because of what you did!”

Luna blinked in concern. “Is that so?”

Celestia walked in front of her, forcing her to stop. “Luna, you have to stop what you’re doing,” she said. “I’m saying this as your sister, please just listen to me.”

She pointed down the hallway. “Those two spend months dealing with their emotions, probably staying up at night and almost killing themselves over their feelings. You just throwing your hat in the lot is going to make something that’s already going to be difficult a thousand times harder.”

For a brief, brief second, Celestia thought that she had talked her sister out of this crazy nonsense, the younger alicorn sitting in the middle of the hallway with a lost expression.

“Come on, Luna,” she patted her sister on the shoulder. “Why don’t we go back so you—”

“No.”

Celestia blinked as she looked down at Luna, who was looking at her in determination. “No, Sister, I will not do that,” She took a step toward the older alicorn, forcing her to take a little step back.

“As I said before, I am not just doing this for a quick rut,” She looked down. “Your subjects still fear me, still whisper Nightmare Moon when they think that I cannot hear them.”

“Luna…” Celestia began, getting cut off angrily by an absolutely livid Luna.

“Just because We are thousands’ of years old, doesn’t mean that I do not wish the company of another. Not everypony can be as strong as you; I need somepony to help me.”

The Lunar Princess kept walking, tears in her eyes, as she looked up at her older sister. “I need somepony to ask me how my day was, somepony to share things with, somepony to tell me that they love me.”

“Luna, plea—”

“I want somepony to love. Nay, I will have somepony to love that is not a family member.”

Celestia flinched as her little sister looked up at her.

Luna could’ve easily brought up what happened when the Nightmare took her, she, and Celestia, knew that there were a thousand ways for the younger sister to cut the older one to the bone. She could have just told her to buck off, told her that it was none of her business. But Celestia had ways to defend, or at least to talk through, that. Even if they hurt, she could deal with them

But with just a simple look of achy, heart-felt, desperation, Luna defeated her older sister.

“If you loved me, Tia, you wouldn’t be trying to stop me from being happy.”

With those words, the Princess of the Sun automatically stepped to the side to let Luna pass. “I can’t support you on this, Sister,” she said desperately before sighing. “But… I will not stop you. If you wish to find some kind of happiness in this, you may do so.”

Luna smiled up at her, giving her a happy little nuzzle before she passed her and continued down the hall.

“Don’t be surprised if you fail, Luna,” Celestia called after her little sister, still hoping that she could still persuade her.

The younger alicorn just grinned. “And when I do not, Sister of mine, I will not be smug about it,” She giggled quietly. “And, if you want, We can see if we can somehow get you a, as they say, a ‘roll in the hay’ with Ares.”

Her giggle became a chuckle when she saw the look on Celestia’s face. “After all, what are sisters for?”

@#$~~%%~~$#@

You know, if your Aunt ever decides to make out with you—and you’re not drunk enough not to remember it the next day—be sure you have a coltfriend that has hands, because you’ll need those suckers to keep your flank calm, cool, and collected.

“So,” Flash said as I leaned into Ares, letting the man pet me. “Princess, have you guy’s…”

Ares grimaced. “No, Flashy boy, we haven’t had a roll in the sack yet, if that’s what you’re asking.”

I blushed, throwing a glare up at my stallion, but it was ruined when he just smiled and kissed my nose.

Flash blinked slowly. “I wasn’t going to ask that.”

I nudged Ares as he snorted. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Flash. You know, I don’t ask you about your sex-life.”

“Yes you do!” my guard said, pointing a hoof at Ares. “You ask me every time you see me!”

Ares hummed, tapping his chin with a finger. “I can’t say that I ever remember doing that.”

Flash scrunched his face up while I giggled quietly. “You know what? Never mind…”

He turned away from us. “I’m going to go see if Twilight’s okay.”

I flinched at that, my ears pinned to my head as I looked at the stallion. “Flash, could you…”

My guard nodded with a little understanding smile. “I may not be the best talker, Princess, but I’ll try to explain it to Twilight the best I can.”

I nodded. “And could you tell her that I’d like to talk to her before we leave?”

“Of course, Princess.”

That just left me and Ares in the room, the human leaning me against his chest as I sighed. “Are you alright there, Candy?”

I nuzzled his chest and closed my eyes. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I said, letting him rock me back and forth. “Everything went a lot better than I thought it was going to go, but it’s still a little much.”

He brushed my mane out of my face. “Yeah, other than the weird Luna thing, it went just peachy.”

I smiled. “And I’m hungover,” I mused. “You know, neither of us have eaten yet.”

Ares kissed my nose. “I’ll go find someone to bother then; can’t let my Candy go hungry. If you don’t eat, then you lose weight, and then I can’t watch your ass jiggle around.”

I snorted, but said nothing, as he left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

With a little sniffle, I put my head on the table and closed my eyes, what happened between me and Twilight going over and over in my head.

How the hay am I going to explain this to her? I thought

Twilight wasn’t my Aunts, she wasn’t even Shining—who I was still worried about what he was going to say to me the next time he saw me.

For the longest time, I was practically the little unicorn’s sister, and you should have been there when she found out that I wanted her to be my bridesmare; the happiness in her eyes when she realized that her big sister in all but name was actually going to become her big sister.

But now that I’m pretty much leaving her alone again—not in the physical sense; she has a lot of new friends, but I was one of her firsts—how is she going to take it?

Or better yet, what might she do to Ares?

She would never hurt him, I thought, shaking my head. She’s a sweetheart; She still might hold a grudge, and maybe hate me, but she wouldn’t hurt either of us.

How was I going to explain it to her in a way that makes sense?

Hey Twilight, I fell out of love with your brother and fell in love with an alien that I’ve known for about a year for reasons?

Yeah, that wasn’t going to work…

I was pondering how I was going to tackle this so aggressively that I didn’t notice that a wing had wrapped itself around my body while I was being nuzzled.

“Cadence, Honey,” Aunty Celestia said. “Are you alright?You haven’t fallen asleep, have you?”

I looked up at her with a little chuckle. “Nono, I’m fine, Aunty, I’m just thinking about,” I sighed. “Everything.”

She nodded. “I can understand that,” she said gently. “But a word of advice, give Twilight a day or two to cool off. She’s rather,” her mouth silently moved, trying to find the right word. “Rash when she’s upset, so just let her calm down and then you two will be able to talk about what you have to talk about.”

“Alright, Aunty,” I looked at her hopefully. “Did you talk to Luna?”

She gave me this expressionless look. “Yes I did.”

“And what did she say?”

She sighed. “It seems that my sister will not veer from her path, Cadence.”

I groaned. “Of course she’s not. Why, why did she have to do this now?!”

My Aunt’s wing tightened around me. “Ever since my sister’s return, my little ponies have been… a little more cautious of her than she likes.”

I nodded. There were still more than a few ponies that were worried—even scared—about being around Luna, even with Celestia there with her.

Aunty Celestia’s look turned sad as she looked away from me. “She tries her hardest to make herself seem like a good pony, like a pony that her subjects could love, but I think she wants it too fast. She just needs to let them get used to her for a while longer and I’m sure that every stallion in the country will be asking her hoof for marriage.”

“So that lets her do this to me and Ares?” I asked, honestly getting a little upset.

She shook her head. “No, Cadence honey, but you can at least see this her way. Ares is one of the few people—excluding a few nobles and her guards—that has been kind to her, treated her like a real friend and not just a princess.”

“He’s done the same to you and you’re not jumping all over him,” I muttered, trying not to smile when my Aunt gawked.

“I-I would never—”

I nuzzled her. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, Aunty, I know you’d never do something like that.”

It took a bit longer for her to collect herself than I’m sure she liked—I spent every second of that trying not to laugh, if you want to know—before she said, “As I was saying,” she said, clearing her throat. “Luna sees all of this, and, if it’s natural or not, she became drawn to him.”

“But then I came in.”

“But then you came in,” she agreed. “And I think she thinks that she’ll lose Ares to you and she’ll never see him again if he loves just you, so she’s trying this.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, kinda understanding what she was talking about. “So what do we do then?”

Aunty smiled. “Go to the Crystal Empire, get readjusted with everything there, and let me try to deal with Luna. I’ll try to set something up with a stallion or two, see if I can get somepony else to catch her eye.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“Then, I say, that you just go on a date with her,” she raised a hoof to stop me from talking. “Let her take the two of you out, be gentle with her when you shoot her down, show her that she won’t lose Ares’s friendship just because he’s going away. That is all I ask that you do.”

I blinked. “That... actually makes a lot of sense, Aunty Celestia.”

She was right! Luna could take the two of us out as many times as she wanted, that didn’t mean we had to say yes!

Grinning, I broke the wing hug and turned toward her. “Thanks, Aunty,” I told her. “I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have your advice.”

She waved me away with a hoof, though that didn’t stop a little prideful smile from creeping on her face. “I'm happy to help," she said, sitting down beside me. "I only wish I could be more help."

I smiled when I heard my Ares whistling. “At least I’ll have Ares to help me through everything.”

I laughed when my Aunt rubbed her hooves together evilly. “I can’t wait to have a nice ‘civil’ conversation with that stallion on what will happen to him if he decides to do anything—or anypony—that you don’t want.”

You should have seen Ares’s look when the two of us fell on the floor, laughing like fillies. It didn’t help that he had a big stack of pancakes in both of his hands and a jug of syrup in his mouth.

“Hey, they were serving shit for lunch so I got—what’s wrong with you two?’

@~~<><>~~@

Luna closed her eyes and concentrated hard; long distance spells weren’t the easiest, even if you were an alicorn, so it was lucky that nopony was distracting her at the moment. Last time that happened… Well, let’s just say that none of the royal family liked to talk about it.

With a pop, a letter disappeared from her table, Luna smiling at her little achievement as somepony else in the room snorted.

“Jeeze, Mistress,” Luna heard the indistinguishable sound of something being bitten into. “I always thought that magic was pretty kooky, but you really sent that thing all the way to Trottingham?”

The Lunar Princess sighed, slumping into her seat, a little more tired than she liked to admit. With another spell, she levitated a glass toward her person, along with a bottle of wine.

“Would you like some?” she asked her guest. “It is a very fine year.”

The pony shook her head. “No thank you, Ma’am,” There was another crunch. “I’m not a wine kind of pony. But if you have any more of these amazing mangos, then I wouldn’t say no to one.”

Luna giggled quietly. “They are good, are they not? We had them imported from Saddle Arabia yesterday, a whole crate of them in fact.”

Though she didn’t bother to look, she knew that the pony next to her was practically drooling.

“A whole crate huh?”

Luna nodded, turning toward the speaker. “Yes, my Subject, a whole crate of mangos—that We would be happy to give thee—if you decide to take up the assignment that We told thou about.”

The pony hummed, golden eyes shining in the darkness for a second, before she sat down in her chair. “Sure, I’d be happy to do it, Highness. It sure beats the heck out of staying here and doing nothing.”

“I have to ask though, why me? Isn’t there another pony watching that human,” She spat out the last bit, her face scrunching up in irritation. “Wouldn’t it be harder for his guard and I to work against each other—or however you said it,” she wiped a bit of juice off her chin while she hummed in thought.

“Couldn’t I just go incognito and make sure that nothing happens to him?”

Luna shook her head. “Nay, Echo, We will not betray his trusts by having ponies watching him in the shadows.”

“But you’re going to make sure that I go with him?”

Echo didn’t like the look that the princess was giving her. “Trust Us, everything will work out, my Guard,” she looked away from her. “You may leave,” she murmured, taking another sip of her wine.

“Make ready for your departure; you will be leaving within the week. We will make sure that none give you trouble.”

Echo the Thestral—or batpony to the common rabble—Sergeant of the Lunar Guard, grinned, revealing a set of long, slender fangs, before she saluted. “Of course, Ma’am,” She said brightly hopping out of her chair and making her way to the door. “I can’t wait to see what the Crystal Empire looks like.”

@~!!~@

It took a lot longer, and I probably looked a lot more sluggish, than I would have liked getting back to my room, but I got there eventually.

After everything that had happened today, and after my big meal of pancakes, I thought it was time for a little cat-nap. Hopefully that would help the throbbing in my head and give me enough time to think of what I was going to say to Twilight… Or Luna.

Maybe she would just leave us alone if I talked to her, I mused, leaping into the bed and using a spell to close the blinds.

She’s a pretty reasonable-ish pony. I’m sure that the two of us can just have a little talk, mare-to-mare, and sort this all out. Then Aunty Celestia wouldn’t even have to go through with her plan…

I wiggled under the covers and wrapped my hooves around a pillow.

Or maybe—

I smiled when Ares poked his head through the door, a slightly haunted look in his eyes.

With a giggle, I asked, “How did it go with you and Aunty Celestia?”

My human ran a hand through his hair as he sat down at the edge of our bed. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he grumbled while I, giggling, crawled toward him and wrapped my hooves around his back, placing my head on his shoulder.

“That’s what everypony says,” I nuzzled him. “Was it really that bad?”

He let me drag him backwards and under the covers. “It wasn’t great,” he said after a minute. “There was a lot of fire and yelling and death-threats and fire and yelling…”

Grinning, I took his shoes, socks, and shirt off with a spell, before placing my head on his chest. “You said fire and yelling twice,” I remarked, cooing silently as Ares ran a hand through my mane.

“There was a lot of those two things,” he said, shivering slightly. “I think she almost burned my eyebrows off.”

“That just means she likes you.”

Ares snorted, wiggling upward and placing his head under my chin. “Whatever you say, Candy. As long as I don’t get thrown into the sun, ol’ Sunbutt can be as scary as she wants.”

I snuggled closer, a little smile on my face as I draped a wing over him. “We’ll take a little nap,” I whispered. “Then we can go to dinner.”

“That’s not going to be fun,” my human commented, my grip tightening around him.

“Yeah, you’re probably right, but I can’t just hide,” I sighed. “I’ll go talk to Twilight after dinner; maybe before it.”

I felt a hand drumming against my side. “Didn’t the Princess say that you should do that in a few days?”

I raised an eyebrow down at him. “And where did you hear that?”

“Celestia told me after the-- thrashing, that’s a good word-- she gave me. She also said to keep you from doing that.”

“But I feel like I should talk to her today,” I explained, wiggling my body downward so I could nuzzle Ares’s neck. “I think she deserves that much…”

Ares gave my belly a quick tickle. “You’ve done enough today, Candy. Purple can wait for a day or two. I’m sure that Flash is in their room telling her everything that we told him. And guess what?”

I kissed my human’s neck. “What?”

Ares started to scratch my ears. “She hasn’t knocked down that door in a fit of rage or anything, so maybe she’ll listen to what you have to say.”

I shook my head to keep from drifting off, a little frown on my face. “Or maybe she just wants to wait to sock me in the face…”

Ares chuckled. “Hey Candy, what’s gonna be purple and pink and bruised all over?”

I slugged him. “You, if you don’t be quiet.”

@$%~~%$@

Dear Shining Armor,

It has recently come to our attention—We hope that you have received the letter from Cadence—that thou are a bit lost.

Though it is really none of our concern—and we send you our condolences, by the way—might We suggest that thou return to thy roots as it were. Thou were a fine Captain of the guard, and We heard that the position has not been filled in the Crystal Empire.

We are sure that Young Cadence would love to have thee fill it.

Yours,

Princess Luna

Shining Armor had received many, many letters in his short life. From urgent news from the princess to junk mail to chain letters, the stallion had seen and read it all. But, honestly, this had to be one of the strangest letters that he had ever received.

What are you playing at, Princess? Shining thought as he put down the letter on his nightstand, unable to sort out his feelings.

“Shining, are you alright there, Lad?” Shield, one of the stallion’s best friends’, asked, trotting over to him.

Shield’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Did that ex o’yours send ya another letter?”

Without saying a word, Shining passed his friend the letter, a puzzled expression still on his face.

Shield guffawed. “The bloody hell is the Princess thinkin’? Has she lost ‘er bloomin’ mind?”

“…That’s a…very good question, Shield,” Shining said. “Or maybe it’s just some sick joke?”

Shining, while he had already forgiven his wife—mostly—about her breaking up with him, he wasn’t particularly ready to see her again just yet. That wasn’t even thinking about Ares and what he was going to say to that man when he saw him.

“I could get a few of the lads and we could go with ya,” Shield offered, nudging him. “Then we could ‘ave a little talk with this Ares fellow…”

Shining shook his head before getting out of his seat. “Nono, we’re not going to do that, you’re not going to do that,” he started to pace. “Just stand there for a second and let me think.”

“Ya know... maybe ya should go.”

The unicorn stopped to look at his friend in confusion. “Shield, have you been drinking again?”

Shield grinned. “That’s not the point, is it, Laddie? Think about it, ya need a job, and ya don’t want ta work there—”

“No I don’t,” Shining said quickly. “It’s fine seeing you guys once in a while, but for the long run,” he hummed, trying to think of a way to put it delicately. “I’d rather not.”

Shield slapped his chest. “Exactly! I know ya, Shining, lad. Yer a stallion that needs somethin’ ta do or ya’ll lose yer mind.”

He sat down in Shining’s bed and pulled out a flask. “And you’ll be able ta reconcile with that lass an’ all of that nonsense.”

Shining sat down next to him. “…The guards there do need a bit more training…” he said, still not convinced.

Shield took a swig of his drink. “Exactly, ya said that ya want ta be there for the Princess, and what better way than ta guard ‘er?”

@$%~##%$@

I woke up with a yawn, doing a little stretch as I cracked open an eye. Oh sweet Faust, I thought, rubbing my eye. How long was I out?

I smiled when I heard a little sleepy snore, Ares shifting in the bed, the man curled into a little ball as I held him, his back against my chest.

Aw, he looks so cute, I thought, rubbing my human’s belly, trying to coax him out of his little ball. He grunted, rolling over and pressing his face against my chest, trying to get away from my hooves.

“Oh no you don’t,” I giggled, leaning down and nuzzling the top of his head, while my tail tickled his back.

I teased the sleeping man a little more before wrapping my hooves around him. “You’re such a silly man,” I murmured, ready to get a little more sleep.

“He’s silly? You’re the one tickling him.”

My eyes shot open and I sat up when I heard somepony talking in our room, a my horn glowing with a spell powerful enough to really mess somepony up.

“Hey, hey, easy there!”

I blinked, frowning as a batpony, who was sitting in a chair across the room with what looked to be a mango in her hoof, stared back at me sheepishly.

“What the buck are you doing in my room?!” I demanded, while I laid a wing protectively over Ares, who was starting to stir.

The batpony rubbed the back of her head before getting out of her chair, putting her fruit down, and bowing. “Sergeant Echo of the Lunar guard at your service,” she said brightly. “Princess Luna sent me here to act as the human’s personal guard!”

“Whash that?” Ares muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly before looking around. “Candy, what’s going on?”

I could almost feel the hate when he looked at the mare, who bared her teeth at him with a little growl.

“The fuck you doing here?” he demanded, sitting up.

The mare grinned savagely, before taking a step closer toward our bed. “Well, ol’ monkey chum of mine,” The two didn’t break eye-contact as the mare hopped up on the bed and kept coming until her and Ares were butting heads. “I was ordered—well, more like bribed—to guard your flank.”

“The fuck you are.”

I couldn’t help but notice how long the mare’s fangs were as she licked them. “It’s not your call, Big Boy,” Turning around—and hitting Ares with her tail—she hopped out of the bed and trotted back toward her chair, picking up her mango with a smirk.

“I’m your personal honest-to-goodness guard now; for Equestria, for the night, for fruit!” She took a big bite out of her mango before waving a hoof around dismissively. “Now, do me a favor and pretend I’m not here. You two aren’t supposed to know about me until tomorrow.”

“Candy, go get a guard, I’ll hit her in the head with something before—”

Before Ares could say anymore, I shut his mouth with a spell and wrapped my hooves around him, closing my eyes. “Just… Just pretend she isn’t there,” I pleaded. “We’ll deal with the crazy pony in like ten minutes, please?”

After a minute, he leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Alright, Candy, we’ll ignore the crazy pony that somehow got in our locked room and will probably murder us in our sleep.”

The batpony huffed. “I wouldn’t murder you in your sleep!” she said, sounding undignified as she ate more of her fruit. “If I did, then I wouldn’t get my fruit that I’m getting to watch you.”

“You’re the worst.”

“Well, you’re not the first one to say that, so nah!”

Pizza Night!

View Online

Flash made his way through the corridors of the castle sluggishly, the Private trying not to shuffle his hooves as he wiped what felt like a river of sweat from his face. And Ares wonders why I always try to skip back-leg day, he thought sourly. I can’t bucking feel my butt, for goodness sake!

Flash’s mind slowly started to wonder as he auto-piloted the hallways. Going from average thoughts, like what he had eaten for lunch, to more… sensitive matters.

I wonder what she’s thinking, he mused, giving himself a little shake. Princess Luna can’t be that cruel, can she? Not that Flash was bothered when he had found out that his friend was getting his own guard.

Really, he was perfectly happy with it.

Echo seemed like a perfectly adequate guardspony—even if Ares and the bat mare didn’t seem like they liked each other very much—and he was looking forward to an easier workload; having to watch out for the princess and him at the same time was a little much.

That being said…

Clearing his throat, he gently but firmly knocked on his bedroom door. “Twilight,” he said. “It’s me, Flash. Could you unlock the door please?”

The stallion rocked back and forth until he heard a sigh, which was followed by a loud click. “There you go,” a voice quietly said through the door, Flash resisting the urge to smack his head against the floor in frustration.

Don’t worry, Flash, he thought to himself, opening the door and stepping into his and Twilight’s pitch-black room. You just need to be there for her. Twilight will be herself in a couple of days. A coltfriend needs to be there for his fillyfriend.

Yep, all he needed to do was look cool, give Twilight a smile--and maybe a back rub-- and she’d be that much closer to getting better.

Thud!

“Ooof!”

Flash, caught up in his day-dreaming, tripped over the rug and stumbled forward. It looked like he was going to save face, until he rammed right into the nightstand. “Oh horseapples!” With a pained squeak, he crashed onto the floor.

A bundle of books that were sitting on the stand tumbled off, hitting the poor stallion on the head, finishing off his humiliation. Pulling what looked like an encyclopedia on everything and trying to keep a blush off his face, he mumbled, “Why does this always happen to me?”

On the other side of the room, there was a weak giggle, Flash squeaking when an unseen force helped him back to his hooves. “You need to watch where you’re walking, silly.”

Suddenly, the room was flooded with light, Flash blinking before he looked upon his tired, and sad-looking, marefriend.

Now, he would never ever say that Twilight looked anything less than stunning in his eyes, but he had to admit to himself— very quietly-- that she looked a little… ‘off’.

The purple mare looked haggard. A pair of dark rings under her eyes, along with her messy mane, made Flash want to walk over, pick her up and hug the heck out of her. At least she looks better than she did the other day, he thought, limping over and giving her a nuzzle, which she returned after a moment’s hesitation.

“How was your workout, Flash?” she asked, giving him a sniff. “It smells like you were working hard.”

Flash had to keep himself from smiling. She’s joking now? Good. Hopefully that means that I can get her out of this room so she can talk to the princess.

“It was fine, honey,” he said, trying not to blush as she giggled.“You know, everypony missed you at lunch today.”

Days ago, that would have been the wrong thing to say. Days ago, when Twilight was still fuming and angry and throwing things, that would have gotten him kicked out of the room with an angry shout. But now, all she did was sigh and look away from him.

“I was mad at them days ago,” she told him, her ears pinning themselves to the side of her head. “Really mad, but then with everything you said and when Shining sent me that letter and…” she trailed off, looking back up at him with those sad eyes that almost broke his heart.

Keeping himself calm, Flash nodded understandingly, walking over and wrapping his hoof around her while trying to ignore his still-fresh boo-boo’s. “And you don’t know what to think?”

Come on, stallion up!

“Twilight,” he started, trying to figure out a way to get the bookworm out of her little funk. “I know it might be hard, but maybe you should go and talk to Princess Cadence.” He stroked her mane while he smiled down at her.

“She and Ares are leaving tomorrow, and I know she’s real beat up about how you’re taking this. Heck, even Ares keeps asking about you, and I know Princess Cadence would love to see you before they went back to the Crystal Empire.”

Twilight nodded, wiping away a stray tear from her eye. “But what if we get into a fight, Flash? What if I say something that I’ll regret?” she whispered, Flash blinking away his own tears as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“Just say what feels natural, Twi,” he advised. “It might not be nice; in fact , it might hurt you both, but I know that if you keep avoiding each other, you two will regret it.”

Twilight looked up at him, a little smile on her face and she reached up and yanked him into the bed and wrapped him in a hug, the two staying like that until she finally said, “I’ll go talk to Cadence later today.”

“And thank you, Flash. You’re the best coltfriend a mare could ask for.” Flash blushed as she kissed his cheek. “Your hygiene could be a little bit better, but other than that, a grade-A stallion.”

“You just ruined the moment, Twi.”

“Go take a bath, Flash.”

“...Yes, ma’am.”

#~~@@~~#

Have you ever been in one of those situations where there are two ponies that hate each other—for some reason—and you don’t know why they hate each other but you have to basically be a referee when they see each other so nopony starts throwing chairs?

Well, I can now officially say that I have.

After the little scare that Echo gave us the other day, and after she apologized, we all went to Luna to get an explanation as to why Ares now had a guard that he didn’t want and didn’t like. At first I was upset with her, but the more she explained it, the more I was kind of grateful for it.

The Sergeant had one of the most impressive records that I have ever seen: over five thousand hours’ of combat-training, she had seen some action in Saddle Arabia, she had been in the guard for over five years, and she knew how to guard a single individual because of all of her time protecting Luna.

So all-in-all, she was a pretty tough cookie.

Other than her helping keep Ares safe, she could help train my guards back at the Crystal Empire. So, the longer I thought about it, the more I saw the mare as a gift from Luna.

Not that Ares thought of it that way, the man not breaking eye contact with her as they glared at each other across the table we were all sitting at.

“You better watch it, colt. If you keep looking at me too long, your marefriend over there might get jealous.”

Are snorted, glaring at the mare like she was a dangerous animal. “Mangos are the worst fruit.”

Echo squawked before slamming her hoof against the table and pointing at him. “You shut your whorse mouth!”

My human leaned across the table with an angry snort. “And you’re the worst bat pony.”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“If I am then give me one good reason why I’m so bad!”

Ares narrowed his eyes dangerously before roaring,“You keep trying to bite me!”

Echo shrugged, pulling a mango from… her armor? “It’s not my fault,” she said defensively. “Your blood is tasty.”

I blinked in confusion, looking between the two. What’s... Why?

Ares leaned back with a little wince and crossed his arms. “You guys aren’t even supposed to drink blood.”

The batpony shrugged. “Maybe I’m a vampire pony; not some silly bat that just eats fruit.” She showed us her fangs. “I have fangs, I sleep upside-down, and I want to drink blood like a vampire dammit!”

I fiddled with my drink, looking away from the two. “Um, Ms. Echo,” I said, getting the mare’s attention. “You’re fangs are made to bite through the skins of fruit, not necks, batponies don’t naturally sleep upside-down, and I think drinking blood is bad for ponies.”

And they said taking that Oddity's of Equestria anatomy course in highschool was a dumb idea, I thought smugly, crossing my hooves as I looked at the two.

They looked at me, confused looks on their face, as, with a nod of my head, I got out of my chair.

“I guess that you two don’t like each other for,” I waved my hooves. “Some reason, but, Ares, I want somepony else to guard you. Flash might want to stay here with Twilight, and I don’t want to break them apart, so this might actually be better for everyone.”

“I looked at Echo’s credentials and she’s actually really qualified,” I walked over and nuzzled his cheek. “I know you don’t like it, but I just want to make sure that nopony hurts my human, so could you please just try to get along with her, please?”

The angry look that Ares had been sporting for about an hour vanished as he looked down at me. Touching my cheek, he sighed, “I don’t like it,” He scrunched his face up. “I don’t like how Luna threw her on us. It was a shitty thing to do when she knows that I hate this bat’s guts.”

“I’m still here, ya know,” the guardspony said irritably, leaning back in her chair and huffing when we ignored her.

“But,” he continued, giving my ear a scratch. “If you want her to watch me, I guess I’ll try to deal with her.”

I smiled, nuzzling his hand. “I just don’t want any more fighting between you two,” I looked at Ares, then at Echo. “Pretty please?”

The two looked at each other before grumbling, “Alright.” I nodded when they leaned over and shook hands/hooves.

There we go, I thought brightly, looking between the two. At least I could nip that in the butt before it really escalated.

Knock, knock

We all looked at the door.

“Somepony’s at the door,” the Sergeant said, rubbing her mango against her chest before taking a bite out of it. “Somepony should get that.”

“You’re my guard; aren’t you supposed to make sure that no one’s behind that door with a knife?” Ares asked the batpony, who guffawed.

“There’s a stallion behind the door,” she said, taking a bite of her fruit. “He has no metal on him and his heart rate isn’t accelerated, so there’s a good chance that he isn’t here to stab you or any of that stuff.”

Ares and I looked at each other in bewilderment. “And how do you know that?”

Echo grinned at us before pointing at her ears. “These babies are sensitive enough to hear a fly from across a valley if I concentrate hard enough, so one pony behind a door that’s twenty feet from me is nothing.” She tapped her nose smugly. “There’s a reason that Lady Luna picked me to be your personal guard, big guy.”

Knock, knock

I stopped Ares from getting to his feet with a wing. “I’ll go get it,” I said, making my way to the door. “Some people being paranoid about being murdered and all…”

“I’m not being paranoid; it’s her job to open doors and stuff,” Ares said, trying to defend himself while Echo giggled.

“That’s not my job, silly,” she tittered, while I opened the door to see Flash smiling nervously at me.

Saluting, he said, “Hello Princess, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

I shook my head, giving him a smile. “No, we’re just,” I looked back at the two to see if they were behaving. “Getting situated.” I cocked my head at him. “Did you need something, Flash?”

My guard nodded. “I talked to Twilight a little while ago.” My heart skipped a beat but I let him continue. “And she said that she wanted to talk to you.”

I sat down. “She does?”

Flash looked past me to Ares. “And the Princesses said that they wanted to talk to you too, Ares.” He hopped in place. “Princess Celestia said that we all were probably just going to order pizza today and stay in, so we don’t have to worry about going to dinner on time.”

He smiled at me, rubbing his hooves together. “I can’t wait!”

A full grown adult and he’s still excited about a pizza night? I resisted the urge to pinch the stallion’s cheek. Please, Flash, please never change.

“Did she order out from Tin’s again?” I asked, not able to help myself. If whatever me and Twilight were going to talk about went bad, I needed to remember this something to keep me smiling.

Thankfully, Flash nodded, almost hopping in place. “Yeah, they’re—”

“You’re a big boy, Flashy,” Ares interrupted, appearing at my side. “You can buy pizza whenever you want; there’s no need to get so excited over it.”

I frowned up at him. “Don’t be like that, Ares,” I chided.

“He can just go and walk to a place; there’s like ten pizza shops in Canterlot!”

Flash looked away from us. “It’s not my fault that I like pizza,” he muttered.

I patted him on the head. “Well, if Ares wants to be such a big boy, he doesn’t need to get any pizza, he can go get something in the kitchen,” Flash grinned as Ares frowned.

“I want pizza,” Ares muttered, before looking back at Echo. “We’ll be back in a little bit, so don’t touch our stuff, ya hear?”

The mare snorted, leaning back on her chair. “Yeah, yeah, just go. You don’t want to keep them waiting, do ya?”

My human narrowed his eyes at her before getting down on a knee and wrapping me in a hug. “Don’t worry, Candy,” he whispered, giving my neck a kiss. “Everything’s gonna work out.”

I closed my eyes and smiled, leaning into him for a few seconds before breaking the hug. “Thanks, Ares.” I gave him a peck on the cheek. “I needed that.” With a little smile I added, “And I’m sure that Aunty Celestia won’t try to light you on fire this time.”

Laughing, he hopped up to his feet and made his way into the hallway, leaving me with Flash and Echo, who was eyeing Ares’ cabinet in a way I didn’t like. “Um, Ms Echo?” I said carefully. “You can go back to the barracks if you want; Ares and I won’t be needing you for the rest of the night.”

The mare blinked before nodding and rising from her chair. “Alright, I’ll be here in the morning with my bags,” she said before saluting. “Goodnight, Ma’am.” She winked at Flash before leaving the two of us alone in our room.

“Um, Princess?” Flash said, gesturing toward the door. “Would you like me to walk you to Twilight’s room?”

I smiled at him thankfully. “Yes please, Flash. I’d appreciate it.”

I turned off the lights before the two of us made our way out of the room, me, nervous as all Tartarus, and Flash, who looked like he was trying not to look as nervous as me, as the two of us slowly made our way down the hallway.

“So, Flash,” I said, trying to keep my mind off of what I saw going to say to her, or what she was going to say to me. “How HAS Twilight been doing? Nopony’s seen her in days.”

Flash ruffled his feathers in irritation, a scowl coming to his face. “I’ve been making sure that she doesn’t starve herself, but other than reading half of the castle’s books, she’s just been laying on her bed, so she’s fine.”

I smiled at him. “It’s good that somepony like you is there for her, Flash.” I frowned gently before touching him with a hoof. “You know, Flash, if you want to stay here with Twilight, I’m sure that my Aunt would be happy to have you in her guard.”

He frowned at that. “But I’m your guard, Princess,” he said stubbornly.

“But if you’re here then you get to stay with your marefriend,” I pointed out. It wasn’t like the two couldn’t have a long distance relationship, but if I had the power to make it easier on the two, I was going to do it. I wasn’t going to step in the way of love; if anything, I wanted to encourage it.

To my surprise, Flash waved that away dismissively. “Twilight said that she was looking into something that would make a long distance relationship easier,” he told me. “Some kind of super teleportation spell that she wants to start working on.”

When he stopped in front of a door—and when I realized it was the door to Twilight’s room—my heart almost jumped into my throat out of sheer panic, but I resisted the urge to run away. You can do this, you big baby, I thought, taking a deep breath and giving Flash a weak smile before knocking on the door.

All you need to do is make sure that you remember that shielding spell Shining taught you. You don’t want to get smacked with furniture or anything.

“Come in.”

I stopped for a second, resisting the urge to groan when I remembered that I didn’t remember how to cast that particular spell, before I reached for the doorknob.

~~##$$##~~

Despite himself, Ares couldn’t help but feel a little nervous as he made his way toward the royal chambers, whistling a little tune as he waved at a group of guards.

Let’s hope that Candy is alright with Purple, he thought. I don’t want a big yelling match to be the last thing she does with her before we have to go back home.

Truth be told, he was looking forward to going back to the Crystal Empire. A little worried about all of that cold and ice and snow and how he was going to deal with it—just because he went a head-doctor a couple of times didn’t mean that it helped— but he was looking forward to see the Crystal ponies again.

I wonder if the Doc got that stick out of her rump, He thought in amusement, turning a corner. Or if one of the nurses’ finally told her to piss off.

As soon as he made it to those giant familiar doors, his stomach reminded him that it actually wanted pizza with a loud growl. Looking down, he patted it. “We’ll get something to eat in a little bit,” he said, before knocking on the door. “So shut it, I need to get some discussing done.”

“Come in,” a gentle voice said, the door creaking open to let him in.

Squaring his shoulders, Ares grabbed the handle and opened the door…

To see Celestia, Luna, and about six boxes of pizza, all sitting on a couch.

Celestia smiled when she saw him enter, the alicorn opening a pizza box and passing him a paper plate. “Hello, Ares,” she said brightly. “How are you doing?”

He looked at the plate before, rolling his eyes-- and resisting the urge to throw the plate over his shoulder--he walked over, grabbed a whole pizza, threw open the lid, and sat next to her, shrugging. “I was talking to my new personal guard,” he said, giving Luna the stink-eye, the Princess of the Night ignoring it as she helped herself to a piece. “We came to an agreement,” He grabbed a slice of his pizza.

“I don’t know if it’s gonna work out. Someone knows that I don’t like the mare, and she knows that we don’t get along, and it was idiotic of her to make the bat my guard, but I promised Cadence that I was gonna play nice; so I’m playing nice.”

Celestia-- along with Luna-- ignored the slowly rising tension in the room, gesturing toward a small projector that was behind them. “Well, since this is your last day here, I thought that the three of us could just sit back, relax, and enjoy a good movie.”

Luna decided to sit close Ares, her muzzle buried in a pizza box that she had levitated over. “Yes, we thought that thou would like to see the newest action movie before thou went back to the Empire,” Ares shied away from her as she tried to scoot closer toward him.

Ares couldn’t help but shake his head, a big grin forcing its way to his face as he quickly ate another slice of his pie. “A pizza and movie night? Thanks mom.”

Celestia snorted, using a series of spells to turn off the lights, pull down what looked like a white bedsheet, and turn on the projector.

Luna leaned away from him. “We were also hoping that thou would humor us with one last night of cuddling,” she said innocently, while the man looked between the two, now feeling nervous and a little uncomfortable about how things were turning out.

“I don’t know about that last bit,” he said quietly, as the previews started to flash on the makeshift screen. “This movie and pizza stuff is fine, but with everything going on with me and Cadence,” he almost seemed to crawl into himself. “I don’t know if sleeping with you guy’s is okay anymore.”

Celestia patted him on the back while Luna frowned. “I understand,” she said. “But you should expect to sleep alone tonight then. Cadence and Twilight are probably have a heart-to-heart with each other at the moment and, if they’re anything like they were when they were little, I’m sure the two will be sleeping in the same bed.”

She gave him a ‘look’. “And I’m sure that you know neither of us would do anything like that,” she make vague gestures with her hooves. “You’ve slept with the two of us enough times to know we’d never take advantage of you. You know it’d just be sleeping.”

Ares pointed at Luna. “I’m sure that you won’t do anything. Her on the other hand…”

Luna huffed quietly, crossing her hooves. “We would never force thee, Ares,” she said. “We told thou and young Cadence that we would court thou at a later date and that is what we will do.”

The two leaned away from each other, angrily eating their pizza, while Celestia shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Well, she thought. Hopefully those two won’t bite each other’s heads off until after the movie.

“We cannot understand as to why thou wouldst think we would just jump thou like some bandit in the night.”

“You set me up with a guard that keeps trying to drink my blood for some fucking reason, Luna. I honestly have no idea what you’re going to do with me if I don’t keep both eyes on ya.”

“What I’m doing will ensure that everypony will be happy in the end, Ares, and that is all.”

Celestia sighed, hopping off the couch. “I’ll go get the three of us something to drink.”

@@~~##~~@@

Pleasedon’thitmewithanything, I thought, poking my head through the door, ready to hop back encase a chair was coming my way.

I creaked open the door enough to look around the room, seeing Twilight, with a few boxes of pizza and a big bottle of pop by her bed, looking at me with a small smile.

“Hello, Cadence,” she said quietly, levitating me a plate.

Wellll, Twilight’s not attacking me; she doesn’t even look mad, I thought in confusion as she stared expectedly back at me. Goooood?

I smiled back at her, trying to mask my confusion. “Hello, Twilight.” Trying to keep myself composed, I made my way over toward her and sat down a across the bed from her; not enough to be distant, but enough to give her her space.

Imagine my surprise when she crawled across the bed, leaning into me as she passed me a piece of pizza.

Flash poked his head through the door while I looked down at her. “Um, I’ll be back in a little bit,” he said. “I have to, um… go get another bottle of Maretain Dew! Yeah, that!”

Twilight and I giggled quietly as the stallion quickly closed the door, leaving the two of us alone with each other in the quiet room.

“The Princess gave me a projector and a bedsheet for a movie night,” she said, nuzzling my neck.

I wrapped a wing around the mare. “Oh, what movie is it?”

I don’t know why Twilight was snuggling up to me, why she was acting all calm and cool and collected and not throwing me off her her balcony, but I was kind of happy about it. It almost felt like there wasn’t anything wrong.

But, since I wanted to talk to her, try to explain to her why I did what I did, I decided to go right into it.

“Twilight, I—”

The mare sighed, looking away from me. “I’m sorry, Cadence,” she said with a little sniffle. “I’ve been hiding in my bedroom like a little filly for no good reason.” Her shoulders sagged. “I was sitting in here, mad, but now? Now I don’t know what to feel…”

I nuzzled her cheek. “No, Twilight, I’m sorry,” I told her, looking down at my plate sadly. “I should have told you personally instead of bringing it up like a pony talking about the weather in front of everyone,”

I looked away from her in shame. “I should have chased after you and tried to explain myself, but I acted like a coward and pretty much avoided you,” I looked back down into her eyes, trying to calm myself with a deep breath.

“And I’m sorry about that. I’m so, so sorry. You deserved better, you deserve an explanation why I did what I did with your brother.”

Taking a leap, I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I just want you to know that I know that there’s nothing I can do to make you forgive me—”

Twilight shook her head, sniffling again while she blinked away tears. “I forgive you, Cadence,” she said quietly. “I just don’t want anypony being miserable at the end of this. I want you and Shining and Ares to sit in a room together as friends. I want mom and dad and both of the princesses all proud of us…”

She nuzzled my cheek again, the tears that were streaming down her face wetting my face “And don’t want to lose my sister,” she whimpered while I sniffled, my wing tightening around her.

“I don’t want to lose you either, Twily,” I murmured, the two of us sharing a hug before, wiping a tear from my eye, I hopped off of the bed and made my way over to the projector. “Now,” I said brightly. “How about we set this up?”

Twilight smiled, wiping her muzzle and face with her blanket. “I’ll set up the projector,” she said, getting up.

With a spell, I had the bed sheet in my hooves. “I’ll get this thing up.”

“Remember to use pins this time; last time you used duct tape you had to buy me new sheets.”

“Don’t remind me, please. Your dad still won’t let me live that down.”

~~$$##~~

It had not been a good couple of days for Luna. She had been getting dirty looks from half the castle staff, her sister wouldn’t stop giving her this sad/disappointed look, and now, to top it all off, Ares wouldn’t even let her snuggle up with him during the movie.

To be fair, you WERE being a little pushy; everything considered, a small part of her mind said, making her snort as she scarfed down another piece of pizza.

We only wished to protect Ares from harm, she countered, trying to focus on the movie. He and Sergeant Echo may not like each other, but the Sergeant is one of the best of my guard. She will be able to help Cadence with her troops and keep my Ares safe.

He’s not your Ares. He’s Cadence’s Ares.

The Lunar Princess faltered, almost losing her grip on her box, tears coming to her eyes. B-but—

“You know, I’m still upset with you.”

Luna blinked, looking over at Ares, who was calmly eating another piece of pizza, not looking at her.

“You could’ve done this later; when all of this bullshit with me and Cadence was all over and done with,” he continued, pointedly looking at the screen. Luna looked down and sighed sadly, perking up when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder.

“But.” Ares finally looked down at her, his expression tired, but at least he was looking at her. “I know you don’t mean anything by it.” He handed his pizza box over to Celestia, who was ‘watching’ the movie like her life depended on it.

“And besides, Luna, you’re my friend; I can’t be pissy with you just cause you have a crush on me. If I did then I’d be like every one of those girls that slapped me in highschool.”

Luna wiped a tear from her eye and smiled up at him. “We thank thee, Ares,” she said quietly, snuggling up to him.

Ares just chuckled, winking at a now-smiling Celestia. “It might just be the pizza talking, so don’t go thanking me.”

Celestia levitated a piece of pizza toward her face, the alicorn sizing it up for a moment before bringing it closer. Rolling it up and taking a big bite out of it, she said, “That’s why I got pizza tonight.” She licked the cheese off her lips. “Nopony can stay mad during a pizza night.”

@~~%%~~@

“Are ya sure that ya want ta leave already, Shining lad?” Shield asked as Shining quickly packed. “Me an’ the boys would be happy ta hold ya up fer a few more days.”

Shining shook his head with a small smile while he turned his head toward his friend. “No thanks, Shield,” he said, checking to see that he had everything in order. “I’ve been here long enough. You were right; if I don’t start doing something soon, I might just lose my mind.”

And if I stay here any longer, there’s a good chance that I’ll either get arrested or get alcohol poisoning… Or both, he thought to himself, walking over and pulling his friend into a hug.

Shield grumbled good-naturedly. “Well, make sure ta write or come see us again. Ya ‘ave us worrying after ya like a mother,” he said, as Shining broke the hug and made his way back over to his pack.

“I’ll make sure to keep in touch with you guys,” the unicorn promised, slinging the pack over his back and making his way toward the door.

“Ya didn’t tell me where you were goin’,” Shield said offhandedly.

“I’m going home for a few days; let my parents and Twily know that I’m okay,” Shining said without stopped, his hoof going to the door.

“An’ after that?”

Shining stopped at the doorway, not turning around as he said, “You know where I’m going.”

“The Crystal ponies do probably need ya.”

“They probably do. Even if they don’t, I’m sure I can make myself useful up there.”

“Did ya tell ‘er that ya were coming back?”

I don’t even know what I’m going to say to her when I see her, he thought before making his way out into the hallway. “Nope,” he said, making his way toward the exit. “To be honest, I’m just making this up as I go along.”

Though he didn’t see it, Shield had pulled out a bottle of wine from under his stack of armor, a small smile on his face as he turned to the door. Biting the cork and pulling, he said, “It’s yer funeral, Lad,” Spitting the cork onto the ground he took a big gulp of his drink. “I’ll be sure that yer buried next to me mom; that old lass might need a special somepony in the afterlife.”

“Buck you, Shield.”

“Don’t tempt me, Lad!”

Train Rides

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While I know that most ponies don’t like leaving home for the first time—for college, to get a job, to see the world, stuff like that—and they get butterflies in their stomach that just makes them want to go back into their house so they can sleep in their own bed I’ve never had that problem.

I’ve always loved seeing new places, and I was actually going back home to keep my subjects happy and safe, so I was raring to go back home and back to work. So much so that I was actually ready to sit down and do some paperwork. Paperwork!

Twilight, Luna, and Aunty Celestia were there with us at the train station, with Flash and Echo standing off in the corner with our bags all around them, ready for us to say our goodbyes so we could leave and I’d get away from my crazy family.

Don’t look at me like that. It was nice to be home for a little bit, but I’m an adult that needs to get adult things done!

…And my family is crazy; did I mention that yet?

“All aboard!” the conductor roared as the train let off a whistle, leaving Ares wincing and jamming a finger in his ear.

“Jesus guy, the station’s not that big, we can hear you without you yelling in our ears like we owe you money,” he muttered while I turned around and wrapped Aunty Celestia in a hug.

Like I thought she would, she had tears in her eyes and a rag held in her magic, the big mare almost broke my back as she wrapped her wings and hooves around me while she cried and sniffled.

“Don’t forget to write,” she said, nuzzling my cheek as I tried to wiggle out of her death-grip, “and make sure that you don’t get into any trouble, and—”

“Sister,” Luna said with an amused twinkle in her eye. “It appears that thou art close to killing young Cadence.”

My Aunt just hugged me tighter while I forced myself to pat her on the back. I’m gonna die, I thought, my vision starting to turn a little fuzzy. I’m going to die because of a hug and nopony is going to get in trouble for it because there’s not a court in this country that will prosecute my aunt.

“Um, Princess,” Twilight said. “Cadence is starting to turn blue.”

Aunty nuzzled me again while I slowly went limp in her grip. “She’s just as sad as me that she’s leaving, Twilight,” she said, using her ‘mommy logic’. “She’ll be fine w-when s-she’s … GONE!!!!”

Somepony … please … avenge … me

I heard Ares snort behind me, a pair of hands gently, but firmly, pulling me away from my crazy aunt. “Christ, Women,” he said to her while I wheezed and gasped, desperately trying to get as much sweet, sweet oxygen into my lungs as I could. “We need to get Candy here back home and you’re trying to murder her.”

She just sniffled while Ares looked down at me. “Are you alright there, Candy?”

“I … love … you … Ares,” I said in-between breaths while he put me down. “I … saw … a … bright … light.”

Ares just rolled his eyes and looked over at Flash, who was busy nuzzling his marefriend. “Flash, bat-horse.” Echo snorted in irritation. “Do me a favor and get those bags in there.”

Flash nodded, saying something in Twilight’s ear and kissing her before he trotted into the train. Echo followed slowly while she muttered obscenities.

Aunty had collected herself enough to look up at Ares sadly, spreading her forelegs wide as he smiled before saying, “I’m coming you—urk!”

Twilight walked over and nuzzled me as Ares was caught in the vice-grip that was my Aunt’s hug, Luna also trotted over with a smile.

“Goodbye, Twily,” I murmured, bringing her closer with a wing. “Make sure that you come back up to the Empire sometime. Bring those friends of yours too if you want,” I added with a sly smile. “I’m sure that Ares would love to meet them.”

She smiled back at me. “I’ll be sure to,” she said brightly. “The girls really want to see what’s kept me away from Ponyville for so long, and I’m sure Pinkie would want to throw a party for an alien.” She looked away from me for a second. “Cadence?”

“Yeah?”

“Would I be a bad pony if I told you I couldn’t wait to get back home?”

I chuckled. “If you were then I’d be as bad a pony as you.” I mussed up her mane. “When you get back, tell Spike I said hello and—”

“Aaaaaarrrreeesss, help me with these bags!”

Ares, who looked like he was somehow overpowering my Aunt, hoisting the mare up into the air as she held him with both sets of legs while she cried, looked over at Flash as he and Echo tried to lug a particularly heavy bag into the train.

He grunted, trying to get my aunt off him. “Kinda … busy … Flashy”

Twilight and I giggled before I frowned gently. “Twilight,” I said. “You know that Flash can just stay here with you if you want. Then you woul—”

She raised a hoof, a knowing smirk on her face. “Don’t worry about that, Cadence,” she said pridefully. “I’m working on something that’ll solve that long distance problem.”

“Just don’t work yourself too hard,” I said hesitantly, looking at Luna as she took a step forward.

“Cadence,” she said simply, before wrapping me in a much gentler hug than what her sister had given me.“We wish you a safe trip.”

I smiled slightly, hugging her back. “Thanks, Luna,” Feeling brave, I gave her a little nuzzle before awkwardly taking a step away from her. “Don’t forget to write.”

I know it was a little lame to finish it that way, but I really didn’t know what to say, and I was struggling to think of anything to say at all, so of course it was a little awkwardly handled.

Thankfully, she just nodded once while the conductor whistled his whistle and hopped up into the train as it bellowed and blew a cloud of smoke from its smoke stack. “All aboard that’s coming aboard!”

The two of us looked at the stallion before Luna said, “You two should get a move on.”

I nodded as Ares appeared next to me, scratching Twilight under the chin and patting Luna on the head. “WegottagoCandy!”

Before I could say anything, he was bounding up the train’s steps, the train bellowed again before it slowly started picking up speed.

My eyes widened. “Oh horseapples!” I swore, turning to Twilight, Luna, and Aunty Celestia—who had a little teary-eyed smile on her face. “I gotta go, see you gir—”

Luna stopped me with a hoof, her horn glowing as she leaned in and whispered, “We shall begin the wooing in a month’s time.” I shivered slightly as her hot breath caressed my ear. “So make ready, young Cadence.”

POP!

I blinked as Ares, Flash, and Echo appeared in front of me, all three of them looking back at me in confusion. “I guess Luna teleported me,” I murmured, looking around the cab and realizing that it was empty.

“We got our own section of the train,” Flash said brightly as the train picked up its pace, puttering down the track. “Apparently, not very many ponies are going to the Crystal Empire.”

Echo threw a few of the bags onto an empty seat before sitting down and pulling out a pack of cards. “Alright,” she said with a grin, looking at each of us. “Who wants to play poker? I’ll be first dealer.”

@#~~@#

Luna watched quietly as the train slowly disappeared over the horizon, the alicorn looking at her sister with a smirk. “Art thou well, Sister?” she said teasingly. “If thou weep anymore, Canterlot won’t need rain for another year.”

Celestia ignored her sister, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief as she looked over at her student. “Twilight,” she all but whimpered. “Luna and I will wait for your train to see you off.”

Twilight smiled nervously. “Thank you, Princess.” She took a step backward when Celestia eyed her in a way she didn’t like. “But you know that I’m not a day’s train ride away, right?”

Celestia blinked before she stepped back and cleared her throat. “Yes, of course, forgive me Twilight,” she chuckled weakly. “I’m just a little emotional at the moment, nothing that a bit of cake won’t fix.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, sitting down on her rump. “I’ll make sure that I start sending you—urk!”

When the unicorn closed her eyes Celestia pounced, the alicorn hugging her while Luna bit back a chuckle. Sister always needs somepony to baby, Luna thought, using her magic to pull her sister off Twilight before the poor mare’s bones were broken. “Come sister, we must return to the castle; we have work to do.”

With a yank, Twilight hit the ground and scrambled away as Celestia sobbed.

“They grow up so fast,” Celestia moaned, letting Luna carry her away. “My nest is empty! I don’t have anypony else to baby anymore!”

“Thou still have Blueblood, sister.”

Celestia went on as if she hadn’t heard her. “I’m going to have to buy cats like some crazy mare so that they can keep me company!” She tried to swim toward a terror-stricken/highly amused Twilight. “I need somepony else to baby!”

“Thou art thousands of years old, Sister, please try to act like it,” Luna grunted as her sister grabbed a bench. Sweet Faust, this is like what happened when Cadence first moved out.

“Bye Princess Luna, goodbye Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, giving them a little wave. “Thanks for those notes, Princess Luna, I’ll make sure to send you my findings when I’m done!”

Luna gave the unicorn a smile as she marched through the cobblestone streets, ignoring ponies as they gawked at the sight of her carrying their ruler while she cried and moaned and muttered to herself like a crazy pony.

“Sister, please compose yourself for mother’s sake. This is becoming embarrassing.”

“I’m so lonely!”

@~~#$~~@

The first day on our train ride was a pretty normal one. The four of us got a few meals, I lost two hundred bits playing poker, and I got halfway through a trashy romance novel. Pretty much what happens every time I get on a train.

Luckily for us, since there weren’t that many ponies on our train, we were able to pretty much get our own bunk cab to sleep in, the ones with that one big curtain for your privacy, so that was pretty nice.

I yawned as I snuggled into the bed’s thin-ish mattress, pressing my back against Ares as he laid a hand over my stomach. “I can’t believe I lost all that money,” I muttered with a huff.

Ares started to scratch my belly while he chuckled. “Just because you didn’t see that she was cheating half the time and you’re a poker addict doesn’t mean you can complain, Candy,” he teased.

“I’m not an addict,” I growled, trying not to smile when he rolled me over and kissed my nose.

“Oh? Is that why you lost all of that money even though I told you that the bat was cheating ten minutes in?”

I narrowed my eyes and gently swatted him with a wing. “Be quiet,” I muttered, wrapping my hooves around his neck and pulling him closer.

“I guess I’m gonna have to make sure that Echo keeps those cards of hers in her armor,” my human mused while I grumbled good-naturedly. “We’re on this train for a while longer and I’m sure you still want to keep your crown and stuff.”

“I’ll make sure she burns them when we get back,” I joked, looking up while Ares looked way from me, his eyes slightly glazed.

“Ares, are you okay?” I asked after a moment.

He sighed and gave me a weak smile. “I’m just a bit worried about all of the snow we’ll have to go through before we get into that kingdom of yours,” he admitted, idly running his fingers through my mane. “I know that I went to the doctor for all of that stuff, but you never know.”

I rubbed his cheek with my hoof while I nuzzled the nape of his neck. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you’ll be alright,” I promised, leaning up and pecking him on the cheek.

The smile on his face turned genuine as we stared a look, my feathers fluttering as my human stroked my cheek, leaned down, and captured my lips with his own.

My eyes slowly closed as I leaned a little more into the kiss, using one of my wings to cup the back of Ares’ head, deepening it. I pressed my body closer against his, a small blush on my face as I poked his teeth with my tongue, quietly asking for entrance.

He felt soft, he smelt nice, and tonight, while the two of us were riding on a train that was probably in the middle of nowhere right now, I was going to finally properly make out with my coltfriend!

I felt Ares’ heartbeat increase, and he was trembling a little bit, as he slowly opened his mouth and let my tongue in. I opened an eye as I teased his tongue with my own, giggling quietly at my silly human, whose face had taken on this adorable shade of red, his eyes shut tightly in concentration while our tongues wrestled each other for dominance.

He put up a heck of a fight, but my tongue was longer and stronger, and I was able to beat his tongue down into submission so that it laid at the bottom of his mouth. With a little giggle, I played with it a little more before breaking the kiss, taking a deep breath, and diving right back in.

I slowly explored his mouth, my tongue traveling over every ridge, bump and imperfection. My eyes shot open when I felt the sharpness of one of his canines, and I couldn’t help but let out a little groan.

He could hurt me with these, I thought, almost savoring the odd thrill that shot through me. One little bite and… I growled aggressively, laying a wing over him as I closed my eyes again.

My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest as my body quickly heated up and trailed—

“You know the Private and I can hear you two going at it, right?” Ares and I froze as somepony knocked on the wooden frame that separated our beds. “Because we totally can.”

My face felt like it was going to combust when I heard the Sergeant chuckle in mirth. “Why don’t you two wait to do that when we’re all back home, hmm?” I could almost see her grin through the wood. “Unless the two of you are into doing it in public; I won’t judge and—”

Too embarrassed to take it anymore, I cast a dampening spell around my bed, silencing the Sergeant as Ares and I awkwardly looked into each other’s eyes.

Ew, he’s covered in my spit, I thought, disgusted and … filled with pride? What the hay is wrong with me?

Not that I wasn’t kinda proud that I had turned the usual confident and sauvé Ares into a red-faced, slightly sweaty, and just plain adorable-looking colt with just a simple kiss, because I was.

Actually, there might be something wrong with me, because that sounded weird.

Huh, my tongue’s still in his mouth, I thought before finally breaking the kiss, a train of saliva still connecting our mouths as we looked at each other.

“…”

I forced myself to say something first. “Are you alright, Ares?” I asked quietly, still feeling the pounding of his heart against my chest. I waved a hoof in front of his face when I saw that he wasn’t blinking. “Ares?”

I gently slapped his cheek. He just blinked in confusion. “What? How? Huh?” he muttered, while I had to force myself to keep from laughing.

“Are you okay, Ares?” I asked again, scrunching my face up a little bit when one of his hands reached up and tried to wipe his face clean. Ewwwww!

“Y-Yeah, I’m alright, Candy,” he quietly said, laying his head back down on his pillow. “That was just a bit,” He ran a hand through my mane while I tried to cool myself off by giving my wings a little flap. “Intense.”

I looked down and saw that we had messed up our bed sheets. “Well—”

“And you were growling.” His blush came back full-force. “And I think your tongue went all the way down my throat.”

Annnd I was rolling out of the bunk, landing on the hard wooden floor, with a pained yelp before giving myself a shake while I giggled in embarrasment. “I’m just going to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back!”

I tried to ignore the red-faced Flash, who was poking his head out from his curtain, trotted into the bathroom and slammed the door.

“Stupid, stupid, STUPID!” I muttered looking at myself in the mirror. “Why did you have to mouth rape your coltfriend?!”

I ruffled my feathers again while I clenched my back legs. Groaning, I looked over at the shower. Deal with your human later, I thought with a grimace. Get yourself cooled off first.

It wasn’t a very big shower—it was on a train though; I was lucky that they even had one—so I kinda had to do a little wiggling to get into it and close the glass door. With another grunt, I turned on the faucet, making the water as cold as I could. I arched my back as the water hit it.

Ares kissing your neck, those sharp teeth of his nicking your fur while you moan.

A pang of lust rushed through me while I gasped in surprise, blushing. Stop it, I commanded myself, glaring up at the showerhead. “Why aren’t you cold enough?!” I demanded.

His fingers trailing down your stomach before they start to play with you—

I groaned quietly and rubbed my temples. “Come on, get a hold of yourself. You’re a princess, not some horny teenager!”

You screaming in lust as he thrusts into you and—]

I realized that my body was starting to really heat up again—at least a specific part of my body was—and knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to get out of the shower without relieving myself, I bit my lip and cast the damping spell all around the bathroom so no one could hear.

“I can’t believe that I’m going to clop in a shower on a train,” I muttered, leaning myself against the shower’s back wall while a hoof slowly inched downward. I tensed when my cold hoof gently touched my sex, another pang of lust making me groan quietly.

Let’s hurry up and get this over with, I thought, aggressively rubbing myself as I imagined Ares standing over me, naked. I let out another little squeak, my body tensing slightly as I rubbed myself a little harder. I closed my eyes, my knees becoming weak as I used my other foreleg to help steady myself.

I spread myself open a little bit and moaned when I touched my button. “T-There you a-are,” I gasped. My body curled inward as my moans and squeals of pleasure increased in volume. Almost…there…

I started panting, butterflies angrily flying around in my stomach as I climbed higher and higher. He’d pick you up while he rut you, slam you against the wall while he bit and kissed your neck. I finally sat down, leaning back against the wall of the shower. Biting my lip to keep from screaming as the water teased my sex, I attacked my button almost savagely.

“Oh yes,” I moaned, arching my neck as my eyes flew open.” OOOH~!” With a final moan, I came. Stars assaulted my vision as I rode out my orgasm, my body slumped to the shower’s acrylic floor while my tongue stuck sideways out of my mouth.

“Bucking … awesome” I panted, with a stupid look on my face, getting ready to will myself back to my hooves.

Fifteen minutes later…

I awkwardly made my way back toward my bed after cleaning and drying myself off, a little smile on my face as I poked my head through the curtain to see Ares wide-awake. He looked back at me with a small blush still on his face.

Still in my afterglow, I hopped into the bed and laid my head next to Ares’, not breaking eye-contact as I tried to figure out what to say. “Um, Ares, I’m—”

I squeaked a little bit when he reached over and pulled me against his chest before leaning down and kissing me on the lips. “I didn’t know ponies had tongues like that,” he said with a small smile while I looked up at him stupidly.

“Yours is really kinda small,” I blurted out while he started to play with my wings, “and it’s a lot softer,” I looked away from him before going on, “and those sharp teeth you have felt weird; not in a bad way, but they felt weird.”

He kissed my nose. “Well, thank you, Candy,” he said in amusement, apparently back to his normal self. “I don’t think I’ve ever been told how soft my tongue is.”

I pushed him gently with a snort before looking back into his eyes. “So you’re not mad that I got a little aggressive?”

He kissed my nose again and rolled his eyes. “Fuck no. In fact, I’m fine with it,” He patted my side while I wiggled closer to him. “I was just getting my head around a pony French kiss; I’m sorry that you thought I was freaking out,” he apologized.

I rolled over and pressed my back against his chest. “Well, we’ll have to do it again then, huh?” I said, giving my rump a little wiggle, pausing when I felt something prod my backside.

“Ares is that—”

A hand clamped over my mouth. “Shush, just ignore it,” my human said quietly. “If you ignore it it’ll go away and it makes this a hell of a lot less awkward.”

Not able to help myself, I looked over my shoulder at him with a giggle. “Was I that good of a kisser?”

“Yes,” he admitted, “and I couldn’t go to the bathroom to ‘cool’ off like you, so the two of us are just going to have to deal with this until it goes away.”

I blinked before turning around, resisting the urge to curl up in embarrassment. “Touché.”

“Dammit, Candy, just go to sleep.”

“You two know that that spell of yours wore off like five minutes ago, right?”

“… Go to sleep, bat horse.”

@~~$$~~@

It’s an awkward breakfast when you’re sitting with two other ponies that know you were furiously making out with you coltfriend right next to them the night before, but I was doing the best that I could with the situation, namely I kept my gaze glued to my plate and didn’t say anything.

I was picking at my pancakes, still not looking at anypony, when I heard Ares say, “Candy, could you please pass me the syrup?”

Echo snorted, her golden eyes sparkling in amusement. “That’s not the only thing I’m sure you two passed.” She nudged Flash while I tried to make myself as small as possible in my chair. It felt like I was a little filly again and I was getting teased about my first kiss.

Ares snorted, looking back down at his food. “Piss off bat,” he muttered while the mare laughed.

“Aw come on, we’re all adults here,” she said, poking at my human with a wing. “I’m sure the Private here has done more than that with his fillyfriend. Isn’t that right, son?”

Flash looked away from her, mumbling nonsense as he blushed. Echo looked at each of us, her smile diminishing slightly. “Wow, tough crowd,” she muttered, leaning forward while her face became serious. “If any of you need the ‘talk’ about the birds and the bees then—”

I snorted when Ares smacked her right in the face with a pancake. He looked over at her smugly as it slowly fell off her flabbergasted face. “Talk shit, get hit, bat horse,” he said, looking back down at his meal. “We’re getting back to the Empire after today, right Candy?” he asked while Echo got out of her seat, muttering something about washing her face.

I nodded, leaning over and kissing his cheek for stopping that awkward situation before it could get any worse. “Yeah, and don’t be surprised if we get a really warm welcome.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

I finally passed him his syrup. “I guess everypony got really excited when they heard that you were coming back.” I looked over at him. “One of the nobles sent me a letter telling me that they were going to have a massive party when we got back.”

Ares grinned while he cut his food. “Let’s hope that they don’t have it until tomorrow, the two of us are probably going to be tired as all hell when we get there.”

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. “It’s going to be tomorrow,” I looked away from him nervously, “but Doctor Stitch will be at the edge of the barrier when we get there.” I looked up at him with a weak smile. “In case anything happens.”

The smile on my human’s face slowly faded away as he looked down at the table. “In case I go and lose it again,” he somberly corrected.

I reached over with a wing and touched his shoulder. “I’ll be there with you all the way,” I said encouragingly while Flash nodded.

“Yeah, and I’ll be ready to carry you to the doctor if you need it,” the stallion said, flexing his muscles with a silly look on his face. “I’ll be able to get you through that storm faster than you can say rain cloud.”

I smiled at Ares, touching his cheek with my wing. “But you won’t need our help,” I said, “you’ll get through that tundra just fine.”

He smiled before looking at the two of us. “Thanks guys,” he said quietly, “you really make a guy feel looked after.”

I nodded. “I can’t let my coltfriend pass out in the middle of all of that cold now, can I?”

“And I can’t let my best friend have a heart attack,” Flash added. “He still has so much to live for.” He gave Ares a slightly nasty smile. “Like making-out with his fillyfriend for one, and—thmp!”

“Good shot, Honey,” I complimented calmly, watching as my guard tried to get a shoe out of his mouth. “I didn’t even know you were taking it off until the last second.”

Ares gave my wingtip a little kiss before he went back to eating. “Some guys have great athletic gifts, Candy, and I guess I got the rare shoe-throwing gift.”

We watched as Flash fell to the ground with a little thud before spitting the shoe out of his mouth.

“I’m sure that usually it’s a stupid gift, but here, it has actually worked to my benefit.”

@#$~~$#@

It took the four of us almost half an hour to get ready to go into the tundra. We had to make sure that Ares was bundled up nice and tight, I convinced flash and Echo not to bring any of our bags so they could fly Ares to the doctor if he needed it, and I made sure to put myself in the best position to help him if he needed it.

“Are you sure that you don’t need a coat, Candy?” Ares asked me while I awkwardly climbed onto his back. “Don’t want you catching a cold or anything.”

I smiled, wrapping my hooves around his neck as I hoisted myself upward, careful to keep myself balanced so Ares could walk easier.

I had a simple plan: Ares was strong enough to carry me around even in the snow, so I’d let him carry me on his back so I could use my wings and my body to keep him warm all the while just talking to him to keep his mind off it. Sure it probably wasn’t the best plan, but I thought it was pretty clever at the time.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, nuzzling my cheek. “Alicorns deal with the cold better than most.” I used his hips for support as I wrapped my hind-legs around them. “What about you? Am I too heavy? Am I holding on too tight? Am I—”

He patted my rump with a chuckle before he looped his arms around my legs, trying to keep up his whole tough guy act even though I could feel one of his hands shaking slightly. “Calm down, Candy. Like you said, everything’s going to be fine.”

I adjusted the hat on his head, making sure that it was covering his ears while I tried to keep myself calm. “Are those gloves warm enough? Do you want another pair of socks to put on?”

My human rolled his shoulders, shifting from one leg to the other. “I’ll be fine,” he repeated, “and I bet you look adorable right now.” He slowly made his way toward the open door, shivering even with everything that he was wearing as the cold air hit him.

“I need to give you piggyback rides more often. I mean, you weigh less than some kids I knew.” I wrapped my wings around him—not enough to confine his movement but enough to keep most of the wind from getting to him as he made his way outside.

“Yep, you could get on my back while I ran around the castle—” I knew he was rambling, and I’m sure he knew he was rambling, but I let him do it; whatever he needed to do to keep his mind off the cold was fine by me.

I placed my head on his shoulder, putting my hooves through the collar of his coat to try to warm him up a bit more with my body heat. “Just keep going Ares,” I murmured, seeing Flash and Echo out of the corner of my eye. “We only have a few hundred feet left. You’re doing great.”

My grip tightened on him when I felt his rapidly beating heart thumping in his chest. Please don’t stop, I pleaded. If he stops then he might have a panic attack an—

“You know, this isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Ares commented, breaking me out of my stupor. “Sure, it’s a lot colder than I would have liked, but it’s really not that bad.” He stopped and looked around the icy wasteland.

“In fact, it actually looks kinda pretty.”

Flash nudged him with a smile—a smile that I’m sure was just as big and relieved as mine and Echo’s—and said, “Come on, Ares, we need to get to the barrier.”

Ares nodded slowly. “Thanks, Candy,” he said over the winds, which didn’t seem as loud anymore. “I’m sure you’re the one keeping me from just losing it.” I kissed his cheek before nuzzling the nape of his neck. “So thanks. Really.”

“No need to thank me, Ares,” I whispered in his ear as we neared the barrier. “You can carry me like this any time you want.”

The two of us chuckled as we made our way through the barrier, Ares shaking the snow off of his head with a little shake. “Alright, Candy,” he said, squatting down. “Let’s get you down so the two of us can show the doc that I’m not dead.”

With a smile, I slid off his back and quickly stood by his side while he stood back up with a grunt.” Alright, let’s just—” I blinked when Ares was tackled to the ground by an orange blur.

“He’s pale; nurse, get the adrenaline! He’s going into shock! No, nevermind, get the defibrillator! His heart might have just stopped! Just bring them both over here, we’ll use ‘em both.”

Ares looked up at a frantic and stressed out-looking Doctor Stitch, who was hopping up and down on his chest, before protesting loudly “Doc, get off!”

The nurse quickly trotted over, a shot in her mouth and a little machine on her back. My mind tried to process what was happening as the doctor took the syringe, grabbed the cap that protected the needle with her mouth and spat it to the ground, and lifted it over her head.

“Don’t worry, Monkey, I’ll fix you right up!”

I looked over at Echo, who was calmly watching the scene before her while she took a bite out of a mango. “That’s right, Doc,” she said, while Ares tried to wrench the adrenaline out of the doctor’s hooves. “You give him that shot; make sure to get him in the heart.”

“FUCK YOU, BAT HORSE!!!”

Homecoming

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It took a little bit longer to calm the doctor down—and for me to stop laughing—than I would have liked, but eventually everypony had calmed down. Sure, I had to use my magic to keep the doctor, and nurses—who were still looking at me like I was going to attack them—off him, and I was still glaring at the Sergeant for her ‘help’, but everything was nice and calm right now.

I was helping Ares get his jacket and extra thick mittens off while the doctor kept fussing over him like a mother hen, forcing him to sit down so he could “catch his breath.”

“It doesn’t look like you’ve developed any signs of frostbite. No red-ish, irritated skin, nothing turning black.” She sat down in front of Ares, leaning forward and asking, “Do you feel any discomfort, any icy or burning sensations?”

I could tell that Ares was starting to get a little tired of being swarmed. Flash wouldn’t stop asking if he was okay, we all had to stop Ares from lunging at the still-laughing Sergeant, and I, happy that he was okay, wouldn’t stop nuzzling him. I’m sure if I had to deal with all of the poking, the giggling, the baby-talk, and the hugs, I would’ve snapped and asked for a little personal space too.

So imagine my surprise when he just patted her on the cheek. “I’m fine, doc,” he said, wiggling out of his coat with a determined look.

Ms. Scalpel sighed in relief. “Good, good.”

My human gave the doctor a big, hammy grin “I gotta say, doc, I didn’t know you cared that much. Miss me, did ya?”

She snorted. “I’m just simply making sure that my investment survives,” she said, waving a hoof dismissively. “I’ve been writing a paper on you; a little tid-bit that will probably win me the Star Swirl award for medical excellence.”

“…What’s it about?”

The doctor took off her glasses, pulled out a little hanky, blew on her lenses, and started to clean them. “Oh, nothing you’d understand, I can assure you,” she playfully sneered with a little smile while she got back to her hooves. “Come on, let’s get you back to the castle. Half of the empire is out ready to greet their princess and favorite human.”

She looked at everyone before nodding and muttering to herself.“I’ll let the nurses here take you to the castle.” She turned away, Ares and I watching her go. “I have some … things to do.”

I smiled, wrapping my forelegs around Ares’ neck and kissing his cheek. “Come on, Ares,” I said, giving his side a little tickle with a wing tip. “My little ponies await.”

He rubbed his cheek against mine as the doctor retreated down the path with a little pep in her step. “Alright, but you’re gonna have to get off me, Candy. Flash, be a bro and come over here and help my fat ass up.”

I let go of Ares and picked up his jacket as Flash trotted over to help him up. Turning toward Ms. Echo, who still had a smile on her face, I said, “Alright, Sergeant, thank you for helping ensure that Ares made it through the tundra alright.”

The batpony nodded. “It’s my job, Princess,” she said simply while I matched her grin.

“Well, since it’s clear that he’s going to be alright, could you go and get our bags?” I asked innocently. I watched the Sergeant’s smile vanish from her face.

“Sweet Faust, Ares, how much do you weigh?” Flash grunted as he struggled to get Ares up.

My human grunted. “It’s not my fucking fault I have to wear all of this stuff to keep warm.” He looked down at his massively thick pants in disdain. “I can barely move with all of this stuff on.”

“Too bad you don’t have a coat like we do, huh?”

“You guys may be warmer than me, but at least I don’t have to worry about shedding.”

I know that it was a little mean of me, but I almost let out a little giggle as Echo looked out at the tundra and shivered. “As the princess commands,” she finally said.

My smile grew. “Thank you, Ms. Echo, I appreciate it.” I watched her turn toward the barrier before adding, “Oh, and Sergeant?”

The mare turned back toward me, an eyebrow cocked. “Ma’am”

I looked over at Ares. “Try not to help a doctor shock my coltfriend back to sub-consciousness or stab him in the chest when he’s perfectly healthy next time you’re in that situation, or I promise you that a little cold will be the least of your worries, alright?”

She paled just a little bit when my look turned slightly angry. “Yes, ma’am.” My sweet smile back on my face, I trotted over toward Ares, putting his coat in his hands.

He gave me a little wink before looking over and watching the Sergeant hurry through the barrier. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked, sounding puzzled.

I rubbed up against his side and ruffled my feathers. “Oh, she’s fine,” I brightly told him. “She and I just had a little conversation about keeping you safe and sound and not stabbed with an adrenalin shot.”

He chuckled, mussing up my hair. “I didn’t know you had it in you, Candy.”

I stuck my tongue out at him playfully. “Nopony messes with my colt friend,” I said, before tapping him with a wing. “Come on, let’s go and see how everypony’s doing.”

@~~##~~@

While I love my subjects, and I wouldn’t trade them for anypony else in the world, since they had been sealed away from the world for a thousand years, they weren’t exactly … up-to-date with everything.

In some aspects it was adorable, like when I first showed them a bean bag chair, but other more official things, it was a little tedious, like trying to explain to them how horrible their medicine was and why they should be going to doctor Stitch and not some priest when they had a cold.

They also had the ability to scare the heck out of me. Their jousts, how their nobles were always ‘challenging each other to duels’--i.e. yelling and getting into hooffights with each other--their really crazy love of violence; these cornerstones of their culture that made them who they were, took a lot to get used to. In fact, I was still trying to get used to it all.

As soon as Ares, Flash, and I had set hoof in the city, at least thirty ponies, all in their best togas, saw us and yelled, “It’s the princess!” They began slamming their hooves against their chests, making this horrifying thumping sound that made me think of soldiers marching.

Ares rushed over and picked up one of my ponies, who looked at the human with a happy squeal. “Aw, did you guys miss me?” he asked, while somepony else yelled something about the ‘cuddle monkey’ being back. With a yell, my ponies rushed my human, tackling him to the ground.

I shook my head and looked over at Flash, who was chuckling. “What am I, chopped oats?” I asked him jokingly as Ares gently tossed around a few ponies, laughing as they tried to force him back down to the ground.

“At least you’ll get them when they're tired, princess,” Flash said as more and more of my subjects appeared, smiles on all of their faces as they looked at me. “Should we—”

“WHAT THE HAY’S GOING ON?!?!”

Everypony, and I mean everypony, stopped what they were doing and looked at a fuming Sergeant Echo, who was in turn glaring at the group piling on Ares. She dropped all of our bags onto the ground. “You lot put him down right—”

My subjects gasped, slowly making their way toward the mare. “What in the name of the gods are you?” one of them asked, causing Echo to back up, a wary look on her face.

“I’m the human’s personal bodyguard,” she said, her chest puffing out while she bared her fangs, trying to keep what looked like a hundred ponies away from her. “The name’s Sergeant Echo, now why don’t you—”

“You look like a bat!”

I was really trying not to laugh when the batpony’s eye twitched in irritation. “They’ve never seen a thestral before,” I managed to mutter to Flash, who nodded.

“I don’t think that Princess Luna brought any last time she was here,” he responded, as Echo slapped away a hoof that was trying to poke at her.

She looked like she was about to reach for the sword at her side, and from this distance I could almost hear her hissing in anger. “Will you all bucking back up and give me some breathing room?!”

“But we just want to touch your wings!” Somepony cried, the group getting closer and closer toward her while Ares started laughing.

“Looks like you’ve got some groupies, bat horse,” he said in amusement.

A filly cocked her head in confusion and looked up at her mother, “Mommy, what’s a bat horse?”

Her mother leaned down and nuzzled her. “You heard the cuddle monkey, sweetie, that mare is a bat horse.”

Flash had to keep me from falling over when I finally burst out laughing.

@~~#~~@

The castle was just as I remembered it, big and blue and clean-looking, and its floor made this neat tapping sound that you could almost dance to whenever you walked on it. The crystal heart was floating under my castle, shining brighter than ever, as I looked up at it.

Ares—the Sergeant and Flash had made their way to the barracks—whistled in appreciation. “Looking at that thing never gets old,” he said breathlessly, reaching up and starting to scratch my ear.“Doesn’t it look brighter to you?”

I leaned toward his hand while I closed my eyes in bliss. I wish I had hands, I thought while I let out a little coo. “The heart’s shining shows how happy my subjects are,” I said, leaning against his leg, “how much love they carry in their hearts.”

He got up on his tippy-toes to get a better look at it. “You know, it’s a little hard to believe that you nuked the last ruler of this place with this thing. It’s neat, floating and stuff, but I still have a hard time believing it.”

“I couldn’t believe it either when it happened,” I said, my smile dampening a little at the mere thought of Sombra, “but it did happen and everypony is better off for it; Sombra was a monster …”

I shook my head, clearing myself of dark thoughts, and nudged him. “Come on, we can look at the heart in the morning.” I yawned, covering my mouth with a hoof. “The two of us are going to have a pretty big day tomorrow, so we should get to sleep early.”

I giggled when he picked me up, cradling me like a filly. “Yeah we do!” my human said excitedly. “A feast, some Olympic games stuff—”

“I still can’t believe that they wanted to do that,” I mused almost to myself, and swatted him with a wing when he pinched my flank.

“They’re happy to see their princess, Candy.”

I blew a raspberry. “They’re having three days worth of games and feasting just because I got back!” I exclaimed.

Ares chuckled, rubbing the space in-between my wings. “What would Celestia or Luna get if they had just gotten back after being gone from Canterlot for months?”

“That’s not the same!” I argued. “I’m not them! And Canterlot wouldn’t do something like that.”

He kissed my neck. “Well, good thing for us your people are awesome enough to entertain and liquor us up for three whole days.”

I tried to keep my frown. “There’s no need for it,” I muttered. “A simple parade would’ve been alright.” I know that that sounded a little … elitist of me, but ponies, honestly, wanted an excuse to have a party or a parade and nobles coming or going was the best time for it. If I told them I didn’t want one, they’d just ignore me and have a party anyway, or they’d have one in secret.

“You’re being a baby,” Ares told me while he carried me up the steps of the castle and through the main doors.

I scoffed. “I’m not!” I argued, crossing my forelegs. “What if we have a bad winter or something? The food that we’re going to waste these next few days could be needed to keep us from starving!”

My human stopped in the middle of the hallway, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You know, since I have no idea how your food is grown and your economic stuff is handled, I really don’t know if you’re right about that or not.”

I smiled.

“But that still kinda sounds like shit to me … you baby.”

I pushed his shoulder with a wing as Ares turned a corner. “I just don’t like these festivals,” I admitted, blowing my mane out of my face.

“Sure, they’re fun and everything, but then there’s the clean up afterward. You have to get ponies to clean up the garbage that’s left, you need to see if there’s any damaged or defaced property.” I waved my hooves around. “The list goes on and on and it’s just a pain for everypony involved in the end, and I don’t want to be the one that causes it just because I finally decided to bring my flank back home.”

Ares whistled. “Boy, Candy, I didn’t know you hated parties that much.”

“… I don’t hate parties.”

I playfully snapped at his hand when he tried to pinch my cheek. “Your subjects want to show you how much they missed you,” he said. “Stop being such an old lady and have some fun.”

I smiled and nuzzled his shoulder. “I don’t even know if the party is for me,” I said mockingly. “Did you see how excited everypony was when they saw the ‘cuddle monkey’?”

Ares chuckled. “That’s the cutest name that I’ve ever been called in my life.” He started rocking me back and forth like a foal. “Cuddle monkey.”

I squirmed out of his grasp, shaking my head and ruffling my feathers when my hooves touched the ground. “Did you even know where you were going?” I asked, looking around. “It looks like you brought us to the southern part of the castle.”

My human shrugged. “It’s been a while since I’ve walked around here, Candy, of course I didn’t know where I was going.”

“Then why did you start walking around without asking me for directions?” I asked, shaking my head.

He bopped my nose. “I thought that I could just bullshit my way around until I found something that looked familiar.”

Why don’t stallions just ask for directions? I lamented, turning around so we could retrace our steps and I could get us into the main hallway. I don’t see why not knowing where you’re going is better than just sucking it up and asking somepony where to go.

“We could have been in the bedchamber ten minutes ago,” I muttered, looking up at him with an eyebrow cocked. “Now we’re going to have to work until the sun’s down to get all of your clothes put away.”

Ares placed a hand on my neck and gave me a little tickle. “I asked you the other day if I could just leave most of them back with the other princesses, so don’t try to guilt me with that.”

“If we did that then you’d have to get all of your other clothes remade,” I pointed out. “You know, if you didn’t wear them every day then the Sergeant wouldn’t have had to make all of those trips back to the train.”

He shrugged. “It’s not my fault that I have this silly human skin and not your fur.” He flicked my ear. “And I don’t remember bat horse having to go back to the train that many times since you made Flash go and help her.”

“No, Flash offered to help her out,” I responded quickly, which earned me a nudge.

“And you giving him those puppy dog eyes of yours didn’t sway him at all?”

I looked away from him, trying not to laugh. “I’m sure that Flash was doing that out of the kindness of his heart, and I don’t use doe-eyes on a stallion when I want something; I’m a princess, I could have just asked him to do it,” I said in amusement.

“You liar, I saw you and your quivering lip,” Ares joked.“Hey, do you know what I just realized, now that we’re back here for probably ever?”

I couldn’t help but smile when he said that he was going to stay here with me forever. “What?” I asked, cocking my head up at him.

He stopped for a second, looking around the hall while I stopped to see what he was doing. “What am I going to be doing here to keep myself occupied?” he finally said.

My mouth opened in an O expression. “You want a job?” I asked.

He nodded, opening and closing a hand while he looked down at it. “I can’t just lay around and do nothing,” he told me, while I walked back toward him. “You’re going to be doing Princess stuff, Flash has a job, even bat horse is going to be working.”

I patted his back with a wing understandingly. “And you don’t want to feel like you’re doing nothing?”

He grimaced. “I don’t think that I could keep myself from working.” I gently started to lead him back down the hall with a wing. “When we were back in Canterlot I always had something to do: mess with you or one of the princesses, go see the doctor, bother ponies, but here? I have no idea.”

“Why don’t you go out and look for a job then?” I asked. “I’m sure that somepony could use a six foot tall human for something.”

I could almost feel the relief coming off Ares. “I thought that you were going to offer me a job at the castle,” he mused.

I frowned. “What would be wrong with that?”

“I’d feel weird having you as my boss,” he said while I let out a little unamused snort. “You’d yell at me for breaking a vase or something and then the two of us would go to bed,” he paused, shuddering slightly. “I don’t think you’d want that; I know that I really don’t want that.”

“You don’t want a mare to be your boss, is that it?”

He leaned down and kissed my nose. “You can boss me around all you want, Candy.” He reached up and started to play with one of my ears. “But I want to feel like I earned the job. I guess I just don’t want to feel like you hired me because I’m dating you”

I couldn’t beat down the grin that came to my face. “You think that I’d hire you because of that?” I laughed quietly. “The castle has a very strict hiring system, Ares. Everypony goes through lots of training before they can get a job here: my guards, the maids, even the cooks. Even if I wanted to make you a janitor you’d probably want to quit after a few days because of the workload and training.”

He looked down at me with a puzzled expression. “Is it really that bad?”

I nodded. “Two-thirds of the ponies that try out for a job here quit in the middle of training,” I told him. “And the training here is nothing compared to what they have to deal with when they try to work for aunty Celestia.” We finally made it to my bedroom, me sighing before I started to open the door.

This was the last place where you told Shining that you loved him…

“So I’ll go and look for a job outside the castle then,” Ares said, pushing open the door and walking past me while I just stood there, mouth agape. “It looks like they got our bags in—Candy, are you okay?”

It was the same as I remembered it, back when Shining and I still … loved each other. Our old bed with the purple covers was still as nice and neat as it was when I made it before we left for Canterlot. I could almost see us still sitting at the table in the corner, eating breakfast, finishing paperwork, or just talking at the end of the day.

Seeing the inside of this room kind of felt like getting slapped in the face at the end of a fight. Sure, the worst is over for you, you’ve taken the brunt of the beating, but it’d still sting. I didn’t regret what I did—I felt bad for Shining, but I wasn’t going to give up Ares—but the sight still made me think of him.

Look … there’s a picture of me and him on the tab—

I stiffened when I felt Ares wrap his arms around me, hugging my neck while he knelt down. “Cadence?”

I leaned into his hug. “I’m alright,” I whispered, my eyes still scanning around the room, “I was just thinking of everything Shining and I did in here.” I placed my head on his shoulder. “And how much everything has changed.”

His grip on me tightened. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, while I wrapped a wing around him.

“No no, I was just overwhelmed for a second; I’m alright.” I may need to change those covers though, I thought privately to myself

I nuzzled his cheek before breaking the hug. “Come on, let’s get your clothes put away, then we can do a little dusting.” I crinkled up my nose a bit. “I can almost smell all of the dust in the air.”

He looked at me carefully for a few seconds before giving me that smile that I really, truly loved. “Alright, where’s the closet?”

…

It was nice going through my room, looking over pictures on my counters and my old clothes in the closet. It almost had this therapeutic quality to it, like learning to play a guitar or whittling, and it helped brighten my mood so much that I kept joking with Ares, swatting him with my tail whenever he passed me and trying not to laugh whenever he yelped in surprise.

I wonder what Shining’s doing right now, I idly thought, while Ares tried to shove a few more socks into an already stuffed drawer. I hope he’s doing alright… wherever he is.

“Alright, that’s the last of it, Candy!” Ares said brightly, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. “Everything’s put away that needs putting away.”

I put down the rag that I had been using to dust. “I think that I got most of the dust off of everything,” I said, stretching while taking off my crown. “How about we hit the hay? Like I said, we’re going to be getting up pretty early tomorrow.”

Ares looked toward the balcony, nodding when he saw how dark it was outside. Yawning, he said, “Alright, let’s see how comfortable this bed is.” With a grin, he raced toward the bed taking a final big step before launching himself through the air and landing on his new bed… and sending up a cloud of dust.

“Son of a bitch!” He cried, and I had to watch as he got a mouthful of dust.

I winced as he went into a coughing fit. “Oops,” I muttered, using a spell to open the balcony door. “I forgot to clean the bed.”

Ares, trying to get the dirt out of his eyes, rolled out of the bed. Gasping, I used a spell to catch him before he hit the ground. “You *cough* think?” he rasped, while I set him in a chair.

“Are you okay there, Ares?” I asked, using a wing to send the rest of the airborne dust through the balcony door while casting a spell to clean up the bed.

He opened an eye, looking down at his blackened body. “Did the maids even try to clean up in here?” Grunting, he started to pull the shirt off his body, and used it to try to clean the soot off his face. “It’s like no one was in here for a hundred fucking years.”

I giggled quietly when he threw his shirt to the ground. “It looks like someone needs to take a shower,” I said teasingly.

He nodded and looked away from me. “Yeah,” he muttered, getting to his feet. “Hey, Candy?”

“Yes, my dirty human?” I was about to giggle at my little joke name, but then I saw him wince, nervousness clear on his face. Taking another step toward him I softly added, “What do you need?”

He rubbed his arm, a blush slowly starting to spread on his face. “I was wondering,” he cleared his throat, “how about you join me in the shower?”

He almost looked like he was about to jump out of his skin when my eyes widened. “Not in the way you’re thinking,” he quickly added, frantically waving his arms around. “J-just for cleaning each other off and—“Groaning, he covered his head with his hands. “Never mind, just forget I said anything, I—”

“Ares.“

“—just thought that it wouldn’t be such a big deal when I thought it in my head but now I that I said it outlouditseemsalittleshittyofmeand—”

“Ares.”

“—Ijustthoughtthatwecoulddoitbecauseit’snotabigdealsinceyou’renakedallthetimebutIunderstandif—”

I giggled. Oh, look how red he’s getting, I thought, levitating a pillow from the bed and gently whacking him in the face with it. “Ares,” I calmly said, taking a step toward him. “Calm down and take a breather, okay?”

He nodded, clearing his throat before taking a deep breath and running his hand through his hair. “Alright, just give me a second,” he muttered.

Trying hard not to grin, I trotted toward him, getting on my back legs and putting my front legs on his shoulders. I cooed when he flinched, my human’s face redder than a hearth's warming eve decoration. Aw look at him, I thought, bopping his nose with mine.

“Oh, look how flustered you’ve gotten yourself,” I teased, rubbing our noses together. “I don’t understand why you’re getting so worked up about asking me to take a shower with you.” He tried to back up and look away, but I just followed, awkwardly taking a step forward while I mushed his cheeks together with my hooves. “We’ve been sleeping together for almost two months after all.”

He winced slightly. “It just means,” his face scrunched up in thought, “more to humans I guess? Back at home you’ve got to be in pretty deep to ask them something like this.”

I nodded understandingly, a smile coming to my face. “Well, I’d be happy to,” I told him while he gave me a relieved smile. It must have taken him all day to work up the courage to ask me that, I thought, trying not to giggle. Sweet Faust does he look cute right now.

I remember how uncomfortable Ares had looked when he and I bathed with my aunt. Though he tried to hide it, he must still be uncomfortable being out of his clothes around me.

I then realized that, other than the time when the two of us were almost too drunk to stand, and that time with my aunt—though Ares was pretty much clothed the whole time—the two of us hadn’t showered together before.

But he’s trying to change that, I thought to myself, ushering Ares into the bathroom. He wants to get more intimate with me. My eyes widened at the thought, almost forcing me to sit down while my human walked into the shower, turning it on and hopping out before he was sprayed with cold water.

“Alright, Candy,” he said, almost keeping a little squeak out of his voice. “Let’s get cleaned up.”

You need to make this more comfortable for him, I thought, taking off my horseshoes and chest plate and putting them in the counter before giving myself a little shake. Remember to let him take this at his own pace.

“Alright, Ares,” I said, resisting the urge to glance back as he quickly hopped out of his pants and boxers, now as naked as I was. Keep your eyes above his waist, no flirting, let him lead this.

I flinched when the water pattered against my face. “Too cold,” I muttered, using a spell to turn the shower knob to make it a more comfortable temperature. I looked over at Ares, giving him a gentle smile as the water cascaded down my back. “Could you get my wings, Ares?” I asked, giving my wings a little flap. “It’s always hard to clean these things by myself.”

He nodded jerkily, taking a deep breath that I pretended not to notice before stepping into the shower with me, taking the wing conditioner and a rag from me while I spread a wing halfway.

Just look ahead, I instructed myself, shivering slightly when I felt him pour a dollop of conditioner on my wing, putting the rag in the middle of my back while he scrubbed the soap into my feathers with his hands. He’s used to doing things with your wings. He should be a little more at ease when he’s done with them.

I sighed happily as Ares stretched my wing out a little more, his fingers delicately splaying over every feather, all the way down to my wing joint, before he poked my flank with a finger.

“That one’s done, Candy, now move over a little bit so I can get at the other one,” Ares said, sounding a whole lot calmer than he had a minute ago. I did as he asked, spreading my other wing while I let my mind wonder.

Other than the party tomorrow, I’m going to have a lot to do for the next couple of weeks. I giggled when I felt Ares touch a ticklish part in my wing. I’m sure the council has a lot for me to sign and look over. New laws, new sanctions, building permits..

I looked over my shoulder to sneak a peek at Ares, who had his tongue stuck out in concentration. I might not get to spend enough time with Ares. I shook off that thought violently, gritting my teeth. No, I’m not going through another situation where I can’t see my special somepony because of paperwork!

I didn’t care if I had to hire a dozen secretaries, set up a lower council, hop around dressed as a bucking clown, I was going to make darned sure that me and my human were going to spend some bucking time together. I wasn’t going to let paperwork run my life like last time; I had learned my lesson the hard way.

I’ll go talk to some of the nobles, I silently promised, not able to resist the urge to rub myself against Ares as he knelt down and started scrubbing my side, I'll See if they have any ideas on this.

I hummed thoughtfully. I’ve been trying to run this kingdom the same as Aunty when there might be a better way. The council was able to do my job for months without me really having to do anything, so maybe I could set something up where they look over the laws and I have the final word.I smiled when I felt Ares give my neck a little kiss.

I could even ask Ares about his world’s politics. I couldn’t contain a snort at the thought of Ares, sitting me down and trying to explain alien governing systems to me. We’d either be at war in a month or ponies would complain, I mused with a giggle, while Ares stood up back to his full height.

“Alright, Candy, you’re all squeaky clean,” he said while I looked up at him with a pouty face. While it was a bit disappointing not having my colt friend run those hands of his over my body anymore, I saw an opportunity to return the favor.

Smiling, I grabbed another rag and squirted a bit of soap into it. “Alright,” I said cheerfully, after washing myself off. “It’s time to get you cleaned off. Turn around so I can get your back first.”

Remember not to pinch him, you don’t want him jumping through the ceiling, I thought, starting to scrub his shoulders in small, circular motions, humming a happy little tune. You can play grab-flank with him in the shower another day.

“Thanks for this, Candy,” Ares said quietly, trying to keep still while I scrubbing him all over.

I chuckled, taking a moment to trail the muscles in his lower back with my rag. “No, thank you, Ares,” I said gratefully. “I know you must have been nervous asking me to do this.” I smirked. “And seeing you blush like that was cute.”

He grumbled while I took a step backward into the water. “Alright,” I cleared my throat. “I need you to turn around, Ares, so I can get your front.”

He paused, statue-still, while I patiently waited for him. He might just want to do it himself, I thought, ready to just give him the rag. Let him— I blinked in surprise when he suddenly turned around, giving me an eyeful before I wrenched my gaze upward.

Ares chuckled when he saw a blush coming to my face. “Aw, don’t be bashful, Candy,” he said with a little grin. “I could just do it myself if you’re uncomfortable.”

Brave enough to tease me now, huh?

I responded by beginning to scrub his chest, trying not to grin when his smile faltered. “I’ll be done in a minute,” I sweetly told him, getting his arms when he spread them. “And after, we can go to bed and you can preen my wings.”

“You know,” I continued, going lower. “If you're comfortable with doing this again, we can use the bathtub tomorrow instead of the shower. I know it’s not as big as Auntie's, but it’ll get the job done.”

Ares winced when the rag touched his lower stomach. “If you want, Candy,” he said with a wink. “You can break out the rubber duckies and the bubbles and we can have a grand ‘ol time.”

I giggled. “I do have some bubble-making soap somewhere around here…”

I 'snuck' a look at the odd patch of hair around his manhood. Huh, I wonder why that’s there, I thought in confusion, ignoring the look that he was giving me for openly gawking. The rest of him is pretty hairless then… all of that. I shied away from scrubbing in that particular area because he was looking a little uncomfortable, just quickly cleaning his legs before brushing past him.

“Alright, get watered off so we can dry off and go to bed,” I commended, giving him a little wink… and maybe just a teeny-tiny flank wiggle.

“Alright, hold your horses… Aw, you get the joke? Cause you’re a... alright then, I’ll just get this soap off.”

@~!!~@

“You know,” I said to Ares’ sleeping form, draping a wing over his body as he wiggled closer to me, “I don’t know how someone so much bigger than me could look so cute when they’re sleeping, but you're pulling it off pretty well.”

I couldn’t sleep myself, too many thoughts running through my head; the little situation with the shower had forced me to try to answer some questions. How well was my kingdom getting along and how could I help make it prosper now that I was back? How was I going to deal with Luna if Celestia couldn’t?

…How was I going further my relationship with Ares?

I’ve never dated anything other than a pony, and Ares didn’t even have any other species' that he could date except humans, so we were pretty much stumbling around in the dark on this. The two of us were going good for now but what about when we got into the deeper parts of a relationship… like sex?

What were my subjects going to say when they found out that I had let Shining go and that I was dating their ‘cuddle monkey’? Then there was even further than that; how the hay would the world take it if we ever got married?!

I resisted the urge to groan, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath before looking down at my colt friend. It doesn’t matter, I finally thought, leaning down and gently kissing him on the lips. “If he’s willing to fight for us then I’m more than happy to.”

It didn’t matter, whatever the world was going to throw at us, whatever weird, freaky secret things we learned around each other, I was going to try my darndest to make sure that the two of us were going to live happily ever after.

“Sweet dreams, Ares.” I wrapped my hooves around his neck and pressed my body up against his. “We have a long, strange couple of weeks ahead of us.

Party Hardy

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“Will you stop squirming for five seconds so I can put this on you?”

“But it’s iiiiiitchy!”

Frowning, I jerked the cloth that I was wrapping around Ares’ neck, causing him to stumble forward with a yelp.

“Watch where you’re pulling, sister!” My human squeaked, trying not to fall on his face. Rolling my eyes, I patted out his soon-to-be toga, trying to smooth out the rough cotton while trying to figure out how the hay I was going to wrap the toga around Ares so it wouldn’t fall off.

“Will you stop complaining?” I grumbled. “You’re only making this whole beginning process harder for the two of us.”

Remember when I said that my little ponies were sometimes a little tedious to be around? Well, this went doubly so when they were about to celebrate something. There were rituals that you had to go through—us putting togas on at five in the morning being one of them— and we were going to have them heaped onto us for the party.

What would usually warrant a few days of rest and relaxation for the normal pony was two days of ceremonies, greetings and meetings, and watching over, and doing, things that I’d rather not do...

...I’ll never forget the look on my subjects faces when I told them that I wasn’t going to sacrifice a bunny for some household god that was supposed to protect the crystal castle…

Anyway, like I said before, I was trying to help wrap my human up in a presentable toga fashion. Never mind that he almost looked like a mummy from the waist down

Ares looked at his cloth prison before gently taking what was left of the cloth—since we didn’t have anything his size, a few of the castle’s maids had stitched together two table cloths—out of my magic and started to try to unwrap himself.

“Candy, not that I don’t… appreciate you trying to make me look fancy for this party, but do I really need to put this thing on?”

I nodded, levitating my toga toward me. “Of course, Ares,” I said while he, in his underwear and shaking a little bit from the cold, walked over with his giant bundle of cloth in his hands and sat on our bed. “A toga has a very important place in the Crystal Empire’s culture.”

Because I had done this before—the Crystal Empire had a lot of holidays where you needed to wear these things—I wrapped the cloth around my body with practiced ease, starting near the base of my tail “They help show status, togetherness, and they’re supposed to be our napkins for the rest of this festival.”

I looped it around my back legs a few times, then around my barrel, leaving room for my wings so I could move them if I wanted to. “Now come over here and hold this end of this cloth while I finish this up.”

What many ponies don’t know—and they should wake up every morning thankful of that fact—was that, even if you knew how to do it, putting on a toga was hard. These weren’t something you could go out and work in; these were things that showed your wealth, showed that you could walk around in something that no sane pony would wear because you were better than ‘normal’ ponies.

While some would wear the finest material that they could afford—spider silk with pearls and diamonds and such—I decided just to wear a simple pink-dyed wool cloth. Nothing fancy, but it got the job done and it’d keep me warm when it got cold at night.

Putting the finishing touches on my toga and holding the end of it with a hoof, I giggled and asked Ares, “How do I look?”

My human looked over at me and whistled. “Looking good, Candy,” he said, hopping off the bed and walking toward me, “but how are you going to walk around when you need to hold that bit of cloth there?”

I looked down at said end of cloth with a small frown. “I’m just going to have to hold it.” I hummed in thought. “Or maybe I could tie it around my leg so it won’t slip or anything.”

Ares snorted. “Why don’t you just use a clothespin?” he asked, poking at my toga while I looked up at him in awe.

It took me a minute to collect myself before I could say, “How did I never think of that?” With a spell, I pulled a pin out of a cupboard and fixed myself right up. Smiling, I leaned up and kissed Ares on the cheek. “Thanks, honey,” I said, watching as he ran over and hopped onto the bed, groaning.

“Can’t we get a few more hours of sleep?” He yelled through a pillow while I, being very careful, walked over and crawled into the bed with him. He rolled over and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest while I nuzzled the nape of his neck.

“We only got like three hours of sleep,” my human said while I laid a wing over him.

“We need to get up and go outside.” I told him, though I didn’t move from my increasingly comfortable position. “If we aren’t up before the sun rises, there’s going to be ponies knocking on our door.”

“Can’t we just write your aunt a letter asking her if she could raise the sun at like nineish?”

I giggled, giving his neck a playful little bite. “Come on, we’ve got to get you in that toga. It’ll warm you up and keep you from shivering like you are.”

He just let out a little growl, reaching down, grabbing, and throwing our blanket over us. “I wouldn’t be shaking if it wasn’t freezing in here,” he quietly complained, closing his eyes. “Come on, I’m sure that a few hundred ponies won’t notice us missing if we just sleep a little more.”

I tried to push him away so I could drag him out of bed and get him in his toga. “Come on, we have to get up,” I repeated, really resisting the urge to close my eyes. It was getting harder for me to stay awake, and I—

“Are you two ready to PARTY?!” Someone yelled from the door, pounding on it a moment later while Ares tried to cover his head with a pillow.

“Noooooo!” he moaned, trying to hide under the covers. “Flash, I’m going to throw you out a window with something heavy wrapped around your furry ass!”

Trying hard not to laugh, I called, “Flash, could you come in here and help me get Ares out of bed?” I was able to roll myself out of Ares’ grasp with only a little bit of regret. “He’s trying to go back to sleep!”

The door flew open, and Flash, decked out in a plain white toga, trotted through it with a happy smile on his face. “Morning princess!” he said with a little salute.

You mean it’ll be morning in a few hours, I mused, looking at the big pillow and blanket cocoon that Ares was making himself. “Good morning, Flash,” I greeted, while an exhausted-looking Echo sluggishly made her way through the door.

“Don’t forget about me,” she muttered, yawning and rubbing her eye with a hoof. “The life of the *yawn* party has just entered the room.”

“Oh, hello, Sergeant,” I said, giving Ares another poke to try to get him to stop being a baby so he could get his toga on. “How was your night? Did you sleep well?”

The mare twisted her neck sideways sharply, a loud crack making me shudder. “Sleep? Ha, I wish,” she muttered, hopping onto the bed and nudging Ares with a hoof. “I’m not going to be getting any sleep for about a week or so.”

I frowned. “Why? Is there something the matter with your chambers?”

She waved my concern away. “Nah, I’m still just trying to get used to staying awake during the day.” She hopped on top of Ares’ little fort and sat down, a muffled muttering about bat horses coming from under the covers. “I’ve been trying to get adjusted for a while but I still have a ways to go.”

“You didn’t get any sleep on the train ride here?” I asked, now legitimately concerned for her health.

“Nope, I was just staring at the ceiling for the last two days.” She yawned again, covering her mouth with a hoof. “But don’t worry about me, princess, a soldier is used to a lack of sleep.”

I trotted closer to her and gently grabbed her face, frowning when I saw her bloodshot eyes and the bags under them. She looks exhausted, I thought, taking a step away from her.

“You should have told me that you weren’t able to fall asleep, Sergeant,” I gently chastised, a spell that would help the poor mare coming to mind after thinking for a minute. “I might not know as many sleeping spells as Luna but I know one that’ll knock you right out for a good twelve hours. Here, let me cast it on you so you can go back to the barracks and get some sleep.”

She just rubbed her eyes again. “Thank you for the offer P—“

I hit her with the sleep spell before she could finish her sentence, the mare stopped and glared at me while I smiled. “It wasn’t an offer, Sergeant,” I said, lifting her off the bed and putting her back onto the floor. “I can’t have my guards killing themselves for no good reason other than some silly pride.”

“It’s my job to keep the monkey here safe, Princess,” Echo replied with a huff, sitting down and crossing her forelegs. “A little sleep deprivation is nothing.”

I nudged her with a wing toward the door. “Well, it’s something to me, Sergeant, so go to your bed before that spell takes effect.”

“The party’s going to last days, Sergeant,” Flash said, finally pepping up. “I’ll make sure that Ares and the princess are looked after, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

The mare looked at the two of us before blowing a raspberry. “Alright,” she said, walking toward the door. “If I don’t have a choice in the matter then I guess I’ll get some sleep.”

“You do that,” I said, looking at Flash. “Flash, could you escort the Sergeant to the barracks and make sure that she makes it to her bed? While you’re doing that I’ll keep trying to get Ares out of bed.”

Flash nodded, following Echo out the door. “I’m on it, Princess,” he said cheerfully while he adjusted his toga.

How the hay is he so awake right now? I pondered before poking Ares one more time. “Come on, my little human, we have to get to the party soon.”

I got no response.

“Come on, I’m serious.”

Still nothing.

Frowning, I said, “Ares, if you don’t get out from under those covers right now then I’m going to go into that little fort you made yourself and make you get out from under those covers.”

All I got for that was a muffled snort.

Nodding, I hopped onto of the bed and forced myself under the covers, my horn glowing with a little lighting spell, finding my human curled up in a little ball with his hands covering his eyes. “No,” he murmured, while I leaned over, nuzzled my way through his hands, and gave him a little peck on the lips.

“Come on, I think I know how to put the toga on you this time,” I promised, giving him another, longer, kiss, which he sleepily returned after a second. “We’ll go out and say hello to my subjects, get something to eat, and have a good time.” I kissed him again, adding a little tongue this time, thanking every deity that I could think of that Ares’ didn’t have morning breath. For a second he tensed, but eventually wrestled with my tongue for a minute before breaking the kiss.

“We can sleep in tomorrow if you want, but we need to be at some of the opening ceremonies,” I whispered, giving his nose a little bite, “so get out of that bed and let me get you dressed.” He tried to grab me but I swatted his hands away with my magic and started to nuzzle his face a little harder.

“Cannnndy, leave me alone!”

“Come on, my silly human; it’s time to rise and shine and start the day!”

Grumbling, Ares slowly uncurled himself from his little ball and crawled out from the covers, trying to get away from my nuzzles until he fell out of the bed with an ‘oomph!’

Hopping out of the bed with a smile, I remade our bed and put my human back on his feet with a spell. “There we go, Ares!” I brightly said, grabbing his toga cloth. “Now hold still while I figure out where to start with your wrappings.”

Flash trotted through the door with a little skip. “Mornin’ Ares!” he said with a happy smile.

Ares spread his arms wide, letting me start under one of his arms, looking down at my guard in contempt with his bloodshot, and exhausted looking, eyes. “Go die in a fire, Flash.”

////~~@@~~////

Shining’s train ride back to Canterlot was a calm, if boring, little trip that could’ve taken a lot longer in his mind. Even with all of the mental prepping, all of the pep-talks while looking in a bathroom mirror, he still couldn’t help but feel nervous as he set his hooves down on the wooden-plank floors of the train station.

Thank Faust that I didn’t tell anypony that I was coming back today, he thought to himself, quickly getting out of the way of a group of what looked like tourists, who rushed past him with cameras at the ready.

Sure, it was a little rude, if not mean, of him to just show up out of the blue, but now he could attack this any way he wanted. He could go talk to the princesses first, or maybe he could drop in on his family and see how they’re doing, or he could take the low road, not do any of these things and just go to Pony Joe’s while he tried to work up the courage to talk to anyone.

After a very brief but telling inner battle, the stallion sighed. “It looks like I’m getting donuts then,” he muttered, slowly trotting out of the train station and toward the market district.

“I mean, that’s probably the best place to go right now,” he continued to mutter, weaving through crowds of ponies. “Everypony likes donuts, so I can get a dozen of those jelly-filled ones that mom and dad like to help ease anything that might need easing when I see them.”

After a little bit of walking, Shining reached the familiar little donut shop; a place where the local teenagers loved to go, where the A on the window was as real as you wanted it to be, and an establishment that always looked like it was going to fall over if it was nudged too hard.

Why Joe just didn’t go to a different location always baffled Shining, but the unicorn was always steadfast.

“It’s a good spot here,” Joe had said when Shining, on a drunken binge with a few of his friends, had asked the question. “I’m close to the castle so there’s always guard ponies coming in and out, which keeps me from getting robbed, and if I moved it’d take my customers days to find where I relocated myself; ‘cause I’d be an idiot and forget to tell them where I was setting shop.”

Shining walked through the slightly dirty glass doors absentmindedly. “You know, I could get those sugar covered donuts that the princess likes so when she demands to know why I ran away from Canterlot, without telling anyone but Cadence, she won’t fry me with a spell.”

The thought of a horribly angry Celestia suddenly grinning stupidly when he presented her with a box of donuts flashed through Shining’s mind, making him chuckle as he sat down at the counter and looked over at his longtime friend, the stallion himself, Pony Joe.

Said stallion was looking over at him—there wasn’t much space behind the counter so they weren’t that far from each other to begin with—with a small smile.

“Hiya, Shining,” Joe calmly said, walking toward him and leaning on the counter. “Haven’t seen you in a while.” He raised an eyebrow. “You look like you have something that you need to get off your chest, big guy, care to talk about it with your ol’ chum?”

Shining chuckled, putting his head on the counter. “You know what, Joe? I could actually use some advice.”

!!!!~~#~~!!!!

“—And may the gods of ice and fire be pleased by these sacrifices of gold, myrrh, and silk, so that—“

Please let this be over soon, I pleaded, trying to keep myself from slouching in my seat as I tried to pay attention to what a pony in front of a sacred fire—which had supposedly been kept burning since the empire’s founding—was saying; a high priest of something or other, I can’t for the life of me remember what that pony was a priest of.

Maybe he kept that giant fire lit? Or maybe he just did this on weekends or something? All I knew was that this pony had fancy robes on and was talking to my subjects, so that made him the high priest of whatever ceremony I was watching.

For some reason, everypony that was participating in Ares’ and my party—which was pretty much everypony—had to convene at the seventh hill, one of the seven that made up the city, so we could all listen to this pony beg the old, old gods for this to be a grand and amazing festivity.

This was the reason that I was having a hard time not falling asleep like Ares, who I was pretty sure had already fallen asleep but somehow painted eyes on his eyelids when I wasn’t looking. That was the only explanation that my hyper-bored mind could come up with because I could even see a few of my subjects hiding yawns; there’s no way that Ares wouldn’t be bored out of his mind by something like this.

It wasn’t the prayer itself that was boring; it was the voice of the pony that was giving it. Imagine the most boring, sleep-inducing voice that you’ve ever heard and multiply it by a thousand, then you’ll get close to what this stallion sounded like. He was like every math teacher I had ever had all rolled up onto one slightly pudgy pony in a silly robe.

Leaning over toward my human, I whispered, “Ares… ARES!” Making sure that nopony was looking, I nudged hard him with a wing.

Ares cocked his head toward me with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, Candy?” he said. “Did you need something?”

…Oh, he wasn’t asleep, I thought, frowning in slight disappointment. “I was just making sure that you weren’t sleeping,” I told him, resisting, once again, the urge to yawn.

He smiled, reaching over and tickling my side. “Oh, is Candy bored?” he asked, amused.

“Are you not bored?” I asked, grabbing his hand with my hooves and guiding it toward my belly. Ares and I were seated in the balcony of this house that looked over this fire, with Flash guarding the entrance, so most of my subjects couldn’t see us. It probably couldn’t be a better location for public belly rubs, so I was going to take advantage of it.

Rolling his eyes, my human got up from his seat, picked me up, sat down in my seat, and put me in his lap. Wrapping his arms around me and scratching my belly, he muttered, “Not really.” I wiggled back into his chest, trying to make myself more comfortable. “I actually find things like this pretty interesting; it’s neat when you get to see other peoples’ culture, you know?”

I tried not to giggle when he gave my chest a little tickle. “Well, it should be over in about an hour or so, so we can go and get something to eat before we go see the jousting.”

Ares pressed his head against my neck, giving me a little kiss. “And we’ll have to watch that through the whole way, huh?”

I nodded before stifling a yawn; the priest’s voice coupled with what my human was doing was making it harder and harder to stay awake. “For today we’ll have to watch everything, but we can do whatever we want tomorrow or the next day.”

My human hummed, stopping his scratches and just holding me. “Well, that jousting stuff will be pretty cool to watch,” he said, looking past my horn at the priest and the fire. “I have to ask though, are they going to hold the lances in their mouths or?...”

I smiled, turning my head to give him a little nuzzle. “They have a notch in their armor that holds the end of the lance,” I said sleepily, “and I’m sure you’re going to get tired of that after the first day.” I would have told him that, along with the jousting, there was going to be feats of strength, swordplay, archery, all of that stallion-y stuff the males loved, but I was accidently drifting off to dreamland.

“You tired there, Candy?” Ares whispered, giving me another little tickle.

“I’m just resting my eyes,” I muttered, yawning hugely.“Just make sure that I’m up when the priest finishes his prayer, alright?”

He huffed. “Alright, but you owe me one.”

With my eyes still closed, I turned and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Alright,” I murmured. “I owe you one.”

…

“Candy, you have to wake up. Cadence, come on, that priest wants you to say something.” I grumbled when something nudged me roughly.

“Noooo, wanna sleep,” I murmured, nuzzling myself deeper into my mattress.

“Cadence, I’m being serious, you need to wake up,” someone said, gently lifting my head up and moving it from side to side. “Your subjects look confused as to why their pretty pink princess isn’t saying anything.”

I just gave my head a little shake, trying to ignore whomever was rude enough to try and wake me up.

“CANDY-ASS!”

I fell out of my ‘bed’ with a yelp, landing roughly on the ground. Looking around in panic, I shouted, “Who, what, where?!” Then it all came flooding back to me; we were still waiting for the beginning of the festival to be over.

I saw Ares looking down at me with a slightly annoyed expression. “Candy, the ceremony is over,” he told me, getting out of the chair with a grunt. “The priest asked us to say a blessing or something so come on, we gotta go down there and stand next to the fire.”

Since I was still a little hazy from being violently wrenched out of my sleep, I was naturally having a little trouble sorting things out, so after he told me that all I did was narrow my eyes at him and ask, “Did you call me Candy-ass?”

My human pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes, Candy, I called you Candy-ass, now let’s get down there before your little ponies start getting worried.” Ares then pretty much led me through the house, down the stairs, and outside. It was in this short span of a minute and a half that I had to think about what I was going to say to my subjects, which didn’t make me feel the least bit concerned if you’d like to know.

Flash looked at the two of us with concern. “Are you alright, Princess?” he asked me. “You guys took a long time getting down here.”

I gave him a smile, trying to fight back a yawn. “I was just thinking of what I was going to say, Flash,” I lied, looking up at Ares, who gave me a little wink, before we waded through the crowds and toward the priest, who bowed.

“It is an honor, Princess,” he said, giving us each a scrap of what felt like silk. “Will you do us the honor of starting this celebration?”

I nodded, turning toward my subjects, trying not to show the panic that I was feeling. Buck it, just wing it, I thought before opening my mouth. “My little ponies—“ I nudged Ares when he snorted. “—we have come here today to celebrate, feast, and enjoy each other’s company.”

The little cheer they all gave me took away most of the tension that I was feeling, so I continued. “May there be a thousand more celebrations like this one, only better and bigger, and may the Crystal Empire grow so that it becomes a shining jewel to the whole world.”

“FOR THE EMPIRE!” the crowd roared, cheering when Ares and I tossed our offerings into the fire.

My human leaned toward me. “Short but sweet and made on the fly,” he said over the cheering and yelling. “Now I know why you got this sweet princess gig.”

Even though I pushed him, I couldn’t keep a little proud smile off my face. “You’re just jealous that you wouldn’t have been able to think up anything better,” I snarked as the crowd slowly started to disperse.

I felt his hand touch my back. “I never said that I was any good at making speeches,” he said as we made our way back into the city proper and toward the market district, where the heart of the party was. “I prefer being a hype man; there’s none of the pressure that the main guy has to deal with,” he scratched my ear, “but I reap some of the reward… Candy-ass.”

I giggled, giving him a nudge with my rump. “I’ll give you ‘Candy-ass,” I huskily replied, looking around and, seeing nopony looking at us and Flash nowhere in sight, I pushed Ares through a big red curtain. It was an empty wagon-looking thing, and we were the only ones there, so I decided to have a little fun with my favorite human.

He deserves a little treat for getting up early and not complaining when I went to sleep, I mused, tickling him under the chin with a wing.

Ares was looking around, slightly red-faced, while I rose up on my back hooves and slowly walked forward until I backed him into the wall. I kissed his neck and he chuckled nervously. “Come on, Candy, we gotta go do that thing with the joust,” he said, making me laugh quietly and kiss his nose.

“That isn’t for another thirty minutes,” I purred, giving his cheek a little lick, “and this is what you get for calling me Candy-ass, my little human.”

I was worried for a second that I was pushing him a little too far when he gave me a slightly worried look but then he leaned forward and gave me a kiss, cupping my cheeks with his hands while he leaned forward. I smiled, letting out a happy hum as I returned the kiss.

Making out in some random little building like a teenager? I let out a little growl, putting my front hooves on either side of my human so I could get a little more stability. Wow, why haven’t I done this more?

Ares started running his hands down my neck, his hands scratching and caressing me while his tongue wiggled into my mouth, my tongue coming halfway to meet his. He was a little more aggressive than he had been last time, trying to use that little tongue of his to beat mine down into submission.

I couldn’t help but smirk, breaking the kiss for a second to let us both get a breather before diving right back into it. Time to show you who’s the kissing master, my little human I thought, before attacking his mouth with everything I had.

Wherever his tongue tried to go mine was there, trying to wrap around his while I gasped and panted and tried to keep my eyes open so I could see the look on my human’s face. The little wagon was really starting to heat up, the two of us let out little moans, my body twitched with each touch of those amazing hands of his, which were going lower and lower and—“

“Are you all ready for a puppet show?!”

The two of us froze when a thunderous cheer erupted from in front of the wagon, which was then followed by the stomping of what sounded, and felt, like hundreds of ponies. In my shock, I quickly tried to get off of Ares, but since I was on my hind legs and couldn’t really balance myself very well I, um, well… tripped.

Not really tripped per se; it was more like I just wobbled a little and the earth tried to leap up and see if I was okay… and I think Ares might have kicked my hoof just a little bit and stuff so I didn’t trip and look silly at all.

Really-really.

I cursed, trying to regain my footing before Ares rushed over and tried to grab me. Somehow, the two of us went stumbling around into ground, our momentum making us roll around on the wooden floor of the wagon; a ripping and tearing sound filled my ears before we finally stopped.

I groaned, my eyes closed while I tried to ignore my newly acquired bumps and bruises. “Why can’t I just kiss my coltfriend without anything ridiculous happening?” I muttered, putting my head on my human’s chest. “Ares, are you alright?”

He sighed, one of his hands reached up and patted my cheek. “I’ll live, Candy,” he muttered, leaning up and giving me a peck on the chin. “Did I ever tell you that you get heavier every time you fall on me?”

I smiled, wiggling on top of him and giving him a teasing kiss. “At least I weigh less than you do, tubby,” I teased, cracking open an eye to look down at him. I was about to restart our make-out session—I could make our new position… interesting and it would’ve been something that the two of us would have enjoyed—but I heard a gasp; make that many, many gasps.

Eyes widening, I looked upward at about three hundred ponies, all dead silent, looking at me and Ares.

Ares and I looked at each other before I realized what a compromising position we were in. We’re laying on top of each other, they all saw me and Ares kissing, and I didn’t tell them that I had divorced Shining yet, I thought, not bothering to get off my human. We were already so bucked that it wasn’t worth the energy, so we just stared awkwardly at my subjects, who weren’t blinking, and let the silence roll on.

“Shit,” Ares muttered, looking up at me before throwing caution to the wind and giving me a long, loving kiss. There were more gasps, and I’m sure somepony passed out, before my human broke the kiss and gave me a smile. “Well, the kids know now,” he mused aloud, giving my side a pat. “So how about we go and get something to eat?”

Even though that red face of his, and the horror in his eyes, told me that he was panicking as much as I was, I still couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

$$$@~~@@~~$$$

Joe was an usually quiet pony and that was good for the customers that needed someone to lend an ear. He would never interrupt in the middle of a tale, nor would he ever look at you in disgust. All Joe would do was look at you, while eating a donut of course, and wait until the end to either give you a word of advice, a word of wisdom that he had read from the newspaper that morning, or a smack to the back of the head; whichever was the most appropriate at the time.

Joe didn’t even bat an eyelash when Shining finished his tale, and took a deep breath, happy that he could finally vent to someone. “Well, Joe, that’s it.” Shining looked up at him with a weak smile. “Do you have any of that famous Pony Joe advice for me?”

Joe pulled over a stool and sat across from him. “Well, Shining, that’s pretty bucked up,” he said calmly, grabbing a donut from under the counter and taking a bite out of it. “Not the whole Cadence-falling-out-of-love-with-you thing, but how you’re handling everything.”

Shining blinked slowly in confusion. “Okay,” he said after a second, sounding a little unsure, “and what was wrong with how I handled everything?”

Somehow, when Shining wasn’t looking, the unicorn had gotten a cup of coffee and was now dunking his donut into it. Taking another bite of his sugary confection, Joe said, “Well, Shining, you just kind of ran away from everything for no good reason.”

Shining bristled. “I was trying to do what I thought was best at the time,” he practically spat. “I wanted a little alone time to think about what I could do to help save our marriage; is that so wrong?”

Joe snorted. “No, you were trying to let your ex-wife solve everything herself, and from a guy that’s already had two ex-wives, I can tell you from experience that that never works out in your favor.”

Shining grit his teeth and resisted the sudden yet intense urge to put his friend’s head through a table. Joe’s just being blunt like he usually is; that’s no reason to hit him. He’s trying to help you, so you listen, he thought, taking a deep breath. “Care to explain what you mean?” he asked, a little more harshly than he had intended.

Joe just nodded, either not noticing Shining’s hostility or ignoring it. “Well think about it, Cadence had all of this stuff: you and her were having problems, she had to watch and take care of this human, and she couldn’t have a kid and you just left her—“

“I made Ares promise that he’d watch her,” Shining quietly said while a little pang of sorrow smacked him in the gut. “I thought at the time that me being away was going to help the two of us.”

Seeing that his friend looked like he was a hairsbreadth away from crying, Joe leaned over and patted him on the shoulder. “Maybe what you did was the best for the both of you.” Joe lightly smacked his chest with a hoof. “The problem is that she’s the only one that got any sort of closure,” Joe shook his head. “No, not closure… something else; maybe this Ares guy is helping her out, keeping her from acting like you are.”

Shining looked at him in bewilderment. “So you’re saying that I should find a fillyfriend?!”

Joe rolled his eyes. “I’m saying that you either need closure or someone to help you get through what you’re going through.”

With a grunt, he reached back under the counter and pulled out two plain white boxes and slammed them in front of Shining. “There’s two dozen raspberry triple glazers, go and talk to somepony so you can stop being so mopey.”

With that, the unicorn turned away from Shining. “Go on, and you keep those bits to yourself or I’m going to make you swallow them. Unlike somepony around here, I actually have some work to do.”

Shining snorted, picking up the box with a little smile on his face. “You’ve never really worked a day in your life, Joe,” he said, trotting toward the door.

Joe laughed. “I work more in two hours then you’ve done in two years, big colt. And remember to come and see me before you leave Canterlot; we can go out and get drinks or something.”

%%~~@@~~%%

“So you disowned Sir Shining to be with the cuddle monkey, Princess?” A filly, who was sitting right next to me—I was in the nobles section so there was only her, and a few other ponies sitting there with me—as we watched the joust, asked.

I winced. “I didn’t disown Shining, little one,” I said, looking over at her. “I still want the two of us to stay close, if he’s willing, but…”

“But you don’t love him anymore?”

I resisted the urge to groan. How are kids so good at knowing things before you tell them?! I thought while the filly leaned on the side of my chair, looking up at me intently. “…Yes, little one,” I finally admitted, all of those years of foal sitting coming in handy since they were keeping me from telling the little filly to leave me the heck alone.

To be fair, having a foal talking to me about this was a heck of a lot better than hundreds of angry ponies demanding answers from me via pitchfork and torch. My subjects were taking it better than I thought they would though, so there’s that. Nopony started screaming, Ares didn’t get stabbed, there were no looks of disgust. All that happened was a lot of awkward looks and Ares disappeared from my side after the awkward, awkward jousting ceremony.

“Princess, are you in heat?” the filly asked, almost making me fall out of my chair.

“W-What?!” I squeaked, horrified that somepony her age even knew about that.

She just gave me a big, bright smile. “My mommy told me that mares act funny around their stallions when they go into heat and since you were acting funny around the cuddle monkey I thought that you were!” she told me before looking over her shoulder. “You don’t know about going into heat? I could go get my momma—“

“NO!” I shouted, before I took a deep breath to calm myself. “No, there’s no need for that, little one, I know what heat is. And no, I’m not going through it.”

The filly nodded once again. “So why did you kiss the cuddle monkey?” She asked. “Did you do it because you like-like him?”

That got a little smile out of me. “Yes, little one, I really do like-like him,” I told her before sighing. “Though I don’t know if he’s going to be kissing me in public anytime soon, not after what just happened.”

“How come?”

Since she was pretty much in it anyway, I picked her up and set her in my lap while I frowned. “Well you see...“

“My name’s Sapphire Shimmer, princess,” the filly helpfully supplied.

“Little Sapphire, when adults grow up they get really silly about showing displays of affection in public, especially if the relationship that they’re in is a new one,” I said with a sigh. “I’m trying to make sure that the cuddle monkey doesn’t get too freaked out since we’ve been seeing each other, but it looks like doing that is going to be a little harder than I thought.”

Sapphire—who looked like she wasn’t a day over nine by the way—hummed, tapping her hoof against her chin in thought. “Wellll, whenever my mommy gets scared, my daddy will give her a hug, so maybe you should try that with the cuddle monkey so you could be happy around each other and hug and kiss and stuff.”

I patted her on the head, wondering where my human had run off to. “Maybe I’ll try that, Sapphire.”

“And after that, you could go into your bedroom and make a whole bunch of sounds like mommy and daddy do!”

“…Where are your parents?”

!!@~##~@!!

“Why are we going to the library, Ares?” Flash asked, trotting by his friend’s side while the two snuck around back alleys to keep away from the prying eyes of the crystal ponies.

Ares grunted, his gaze nervously looking around. “I’m gonna look around; I think I might pick up a book or two,” he said. “You wouldn’t happen to have a library card, would ya?”

“The guards have full access to the empire’s grand library,” Flash said with a hint of pride in his voice.

“And does this giant library have any modern books?”

“Yeah, the princess brought a train full of them when she first came to the empire. She brought everything imaginable; I think that she wanted to use the books to help the crystal ponies get used to the modern era.” Flash stopped his friend with a wing. “What’s going on, Ares? Why are we running around when we should be back at the party?”

Ares sighed, leaning up against a wall and holding his head in his hands. “I’m sure that you heard what happened with me and Cadence, right?” The guard nodded. “Well, I realized that I don’t know anything about you guys?”

Flash cocked his head at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Ares groaned, getting up and starting to pace around his friend. “I mean that I don’t know how me dating a princess is going to work out. I don’t know how you ponies deal with relationships, I don’t know what to touch and what not to touch and—ARGH!!!”

Punching the wall—and nursing his now-hurting hand a second after—Ares just sat down and closed his eyes, hugging his knees to his chin. “I really like Cadence--no, I fucking love Cadence,” he muttered; Flash walked over and sat next to him. “And I don’t want to ruin anything for her. I want to make her happy dammit and I’m—“

Humming quietly to himself while his friend had his little meltdown, Flash did the only thing that he could think of. Raising a hoof into the air, the Pegasus brought it down, hard, on the back of his friend’s head. Ares yelped before he hit the ground, face-first, hard.

“The fuck was that for?!” the human snarled, holding the back of his head and rolling around on the ground in pain.

Flash looked down at him with the slightest of smiles. “I was just knocking some sense into you,” he said, pulling Ares to his feet with a grunt. “I know you’re nervous, but you shouldn’t be freaking out for no good reason. Go and talk to the princess if you want to know anything; flipping out about it isn’t helping anypony.”

Ares, still rubbing his head, coughed awkwardly. “Actually, I was going to try to surprise her with something.” He looked down at his friend. “I was gonna go get some pony culture books and… other ones.”

“…Other ones?”

“I heard one of the guards back at Canterlot talk about a book called the pony sutra…”

The two of them awkwardly looked at each other, both of them blushing, before Flash said, “Oh… um, you guys are already ‘there’ huh?”

Ares gave him an unsure nod. “I think?” he said, giving a little shrug. “Even if we’re not, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, right?”

Flash looked him up and down for a minute. “ I’ll let you use my library card,” he finally said.

Ares grinned and slapped him on the back. “Alright then! Let’s go to the library, get some books, hide those books in my bedroom, and get back to Candy before she notices,” he practically cheered, doing a little hop in the air before taking off down the alley and leaving Flash there in the dust.

…Maybe I should get one of those books too, Flash thought. Ares was right; it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

Nodding, Flash spread his wings and took off into the air, recalling after a minute that he was almost positive that the human had no idea where he was going. “Ares, stop running right now!”

“NO!”

“You don’t know where you’re going!”

“...Then hurry up and get over here! Daylight’s burning!”

Questions Lead to Questions

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Celestia sighed, gazing longingly at her bed for a second before she trotted over toward her bean bag chair.

They thought I was crazy for ordering this, she thought with a wry smile, plopping down onto it with a happy groan, but who’s laughing now? I’m here sitting comfy while everypony else is breaking their backs on their silly office chairs.

She absentmindedly levitated a small stack of papers, envelopes, and documents toward the little table next to her, her smile turning into a small frown. “I hope all of this is only mail this time,” she muttered, also levitating a quill and a jar of ink for safety’s sake. “I don’t know if I’m ready for anything else, especially with the emotional trauma that I just suffered…”

She looked out her balcony window with a little pout. “Why couldn’t my student stay in the city for a while longer?” Steeling herself, she took the plunge and opened the first envelope. “Now I have an empty nest with nopony to baby or cuddle; there’s just Luna and I.”

She couldn’t help but growl when she thought of her sister, who could be compared with a steel wall as of late. Like she had told Cadence, she had spent almost all of her free time with her sister, trying to sway her from the path she was dead-set on.

Incognito trips through the city to scour the city’s nightclubs, ‘casual’ trips to restaurants where a hunky stallion ‘happened’ to worked, even one or two blind dates had done nothing other than irritate Luna and exhaust her.

It’s not even that I disapprove of the whole herding fiasco, she thought, balling up a spam letter and tossing it toward the fireplace-- and missing-- but when she’s trying to court two people that don’t want to be courted AND the disaster that could follow it, that’s when I get a little nervous.

Celestia snorted. “Maybe I could see if she’s interested in something other than a pony,” she mused, putting down the papers, getting up, and starting to pace. “That may be the problem. A gryphon might work; they look fuzzy and warm and snuggable at a distance…”

She stopped at that thought, casting one last glance at her big, comfortable, and lonely bed. Oh horseapples… I’m so spoiled rotten sleeping with everypony else! It’s going to take Months to get used to sleeping alone! She sat in the middle of her room, tapping her hoof against her chin in deep thought, I’m sure I can ask one of the servants if they’d like to—

Tap Tap!

She turned toward the door, her head cocked to the side. “Who could that be at this hour?” she muttered, trotting toward the door and using a simple spell to open it, revealing a determined-looking Shining, who hoofed her a white box.

“It’s good to see you, Princess,” Shining said with a bow, while she opened the box and peered inside. “Could you and I talk? I’ve been in the city for a while, running around like a chicken with my head off, and it hasn’t gotten me anywhere.” He brushed past her with a frown. “I got you a box of donuts, the ones that you like.”

Celestia nodded slowly, trying to process everything that had just been presented to her all at once. “…These are from Pony Joe’s, are they not?”

“Yep.”

Shining watched as the princess licked her lips, spread her wings, and smiled. “Well then, Shining Armor, why don’t you sit down and tell me why you’re at my doorstep. Just let me call a servant so we can get some milk; these babies here deserve more than simple water.”

$@!~~##~~$@!

“AND THE WINNER IS… SHIELD SLASHER!”

I tried my best to smile when the crowd roared in approval as a batter but beaming stallion raised his hoof into thee air. How can you be this happy when all this stallion did was win an eating contest? I thought, leaning back in my chair with a small shudder of disgust.

Sure, seeing somepony eat their weight in hay burgers and fries in under ten minutes is impressive, I guess, but I can honestly say that I could go without seeing it happen again for a few… hundred years. Not that I had been paying particular attention to that horrific event; all I had been doing for the last hour or so was wonder where the hay my human had gotten off to.

Hopefully Flash is with him, I thought, giving a pony a smile when they hoofed me a glass of water, I don’t want Ares breaking anything…

My frown deepened when I realized that I had just pretty much compared my colt friend with a dangerous child—which, in my defense, was pretty close to the mark—and that nopony should think their special someone like that.

“He might just be looking around the city,” I muttered to myself, while the tables and chairs from the eating event were carried off to start the day's main event: the beginning of the jousting tournament, “I did tell him that he could go and look for a job, so he might be getting a head start on—“

“Did I miss the pony joust?”

Before I could turn I felt a pair of lips press against mine, Ares’ face flashing in front of mine. Before I could reply, he was already sitting beside me, a big smile on his face. Well, he looks cheery, I thought with a smile before my mouth twitched. Sweet Faust, please don’t let him be smiling because he--no, NO, Cadence, your Ares is an adult; he doesn’t go around breaking stuff when you’re not looking, so stop thinking like that!

Throwing caution to the wind, I leaned over, rubbing my side against his. “Where did you run off to?” I asked, giggling when he wrapped an arm around me, giving my side a tickle.

“Me and Flash were just running around, looking at this and that,” he said, looking around. “So since no one’s been trying to kill me I guess that your subjects are okay with me making out with you.”

My smile almost turned into a frown. “We’ll see about that in a week or two,” I said, neutrally. “A few of the city’s clan-head’s might have a thing or two to say about it, so we’ll have to keep our eyes open.”

They were also the main reason that I had been more than a little nervous about telling my subjects about Ares. The four great clans of the Crystal Empire: the Grounders, Diamond Smashers, High Riders, and the Smelters. Families that had been with the empire since its founding, families that had helped the city flourish and grow and had once turned this little city into one of the biggest empires in the history of the world. Obviously ponies that you needed to pay attention to.

I had met the heads of the families a few times—they made a point to come to every royal declaration, law passing; pretty much anything that was considered political—and they might be some of the nicest, yet terrifying, ponies I had ever met. If they wanted Ares, or me for that matter, hurt all they’d have to do was stamp their hooves and we’d wake up with some ponies fixing some diamond shoes to our feet so we could take a ‘swim’ in some lake.

My human must have noticed my sour mood because he pressed me closer against his side. “So how’s this gonna go down?” he asked. “Do you flip a coin to start this whole ‘ponies-hitting-each-other-with-sticks’ thing to see who goes first?”

I snorted, placing my hoof on his thigh. “They already have a list of who’s jousting against who,” I told him, “and this is just the opening, so don’t expect anypony to do anything crazy today.”

There was no way in Tartarus that I was going to tell just how crazy it was going to get the next day or two. Ares had talked about his people’s love for horrible violence and I had no intention of him hooting and hollering and demanding that he see some really bloodsport.

Seriously, he said that humans loved this kind of stuff, and have been perfecting it over the years. He even told me that they have this sport where stallions drive really, really fast in these metal boxes called cars so everypony can watch them crash while they drank and ate horrible food. I think it was call Nascar or something like that...

I felt Ares shrug. “I just think it’s gonna be adorable seeing those little guys running around with a pole strapped to their sides so I could care less if they’re pulling off any tricks or anything,” he said, awing when he saw a few of the knights make their way into the field. “Aw, look how silly they look!”

“Didn’t you said that they used to have something like this back where you’re from?” I asked, closing my eyes and blowing my mane out of my face.

“Trust me, Candy, I’m sure that my ye’ oldie joust is a whole lot different from yours is.”

“How so?”

“Is there a chance that anyone where will die from doing this?”

See? Horribly violent; just like my subjects…. I’d really hate to see what a human and a crystal pony would to when they were put in a room together...

I froze, tensing at the thought of that before I felt my human pat my side. “You know, I really don’t think I want to know that particular part of your people’s history,” I muttered, snuggling against my human as best as I could in my seat.

“Alright, Candy.” Ares snapped his fingers. “Hey waiter, could you do me a favor and bring us a couple of glasses of something with a little kick? You’re supposed to get smashed at these things and I plan on continuing that glorious tradition!”

$~@@~$

Most ponies, when standing in front of Celestia: Lady of the Sun and one of the proud rulers of Equestria, would have had to exert quite a bit of self-control to keep from flipping out and groveling before her. Shining, having known the princess for many, many years really wasn’t fazed by the big alicorn anymore. More often than not, she was actually a lot more childish than most ponies, so that helped a bit. Like right now for instance he had the almost hysterical view of her with her muzzle buried in the donut box with about five donuts on her horn; obviously to keep somepony else from taking them.

This is a ruler of a kingdom that has prospered for over two thousand years, the stallion thought, trying to keep himself from laughing when the princesses’ head popped out from the box with a sugary treat in her mouth.

“Um, Princess, should I leave or?...”

Celestia took a massive bite of the donut before putting the box down on the table. “Oh excuse me,” she apologized, “It’s just been a while since I’ve sent anypony out to get me a baker’s dozen.” With all of the grace that a pony with donuts on her horn could produce, she turned toward him and sat down. “Now, why don’t you say what’s on your mind?”

Shining awkwardly cleared his throat. “Oh, of course.” Getting out of his chair, he started pacing, Celestia intently watching him while she finished off her donut with another big bite and pulled another off of her horn.

“I’ve been wondering, after the… news that I got that related to me and Cadence, what I was supposed to do.” Sweet Faust, if she doesn’t get those donuts off her horn… “I thought about going back to the guard,” he said, trying to keep focused on the conversation, “but then I got a letter from Princess Luna…”

Celestia groaned. “Of course she sent you something.” She grumbled, finishing her donut in three big bites. “Why can’t she just go and date that cute pizza colt that I tried to set her up with last week?”

“…What was that, Princess?” Shining asked, confused.

Celestia waved him away with a donut. “Forgive me, I was just mumbling to myself,” she told him. “Please continue.”

Still more than a little unsure about how seriously the princess was taking this, the stallion continued pacing. “She said that she was sure that Cadence needed somepony to help train her guard.” Shining flinched when he noticed how intently Celestia was staring at him now.

“I was in Trottingham, as happy as someone in my situation could be, and even considering getting a job there, when your sister sent me that letter.” With a sigh, Shining sat in front of her, his head held low, “And now I’m here not knowing what I should do. Should I go and help Cadence? Should I stay here? Should I go somewhere else and think about what I want to do with my life a little more?” He snorted. “ If I decided to go to the empire, could or would I know what to say to her, or, Faust forbid, Ares, or be able to properly do my job there?”

“I’ve imagined more scenarios that I can count about what I’d do if I ever saw them again.” Shining shook away oncoming tears, not noticing that Celestia had gotten out of her seat and had draped a wing over him until her feather tickled his coat.

“I lost my wife, princess. I watched her slip from my hooves and did nothing about it while a shaven monkey took her away from me!” Celestia leaned down and nuzzled his cheek as he continued. “I don’t know what to feel lately, I really don’t. I’ve lost all of this to Ares, and I should HATE him, but I don’t even know if I’m angry or sad or happy or…”

It almost broke Celestia’ heart when Shining looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. “..I just don’t know about anything anymore, Princess…”

@~~!#$~~@

I told Ares that I wasn’t going to drink during the joust—a princess shouldn’t get tipsy in front of her subjects; the drunk silly I mean—but after they had to carry the third knight out on a stretcher I decided to have a few glasses of wine; just a little something to steady the nerves.

Ares, on the other hand, looked like he was having the time of his life, cheering with my subjects whenever somepony was horribly knocked down or beaten over the head with a lance. He drank a little less than me—I had no desire to deal with drunk Ares; once was enough—but I could tell he was a heck of a lot looser than he had been after our… incident.

I should go ask Flash where the two of them went, I thought, raising my head off of Ares’ lap to take a small sip of my wine, Ares seems REALLY excited; despite what happened before…

I stifled a yawn, wishing for this silly thing to be over so I could go back to the castle and hit the hay. For hours we had been watching this, and, since this was the most popular event of the day, there were no other vendors open, so I couldn’t go and do something else even if I wanted to.

“Ares,” I murmured, nuzzling my head in his lap. “Do you know where Flash ran off to?”

He looked down at me, a bag of popcorn in one hand and a little glass of beer in the other. I cracked open an eye to look at him, frowning slightly when I saw a big grin on his face. “Oh, I’m sure he’s around.” he told me, putting his drink down next to him and patting me on the head. “In fact, we’ll be seeing him in a minute or two.”

“What do you—“

“LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS!” the announcer of the joust roared, cutting me off. “WE’VE SEEN SOME OF THE GREATEST KNIGHTS OF THE KINGDOM DUKE IT OUT IN THE AREA, BUT TODAY WE HAVE A STALLION HERE THAT WANTS TO TEST THE EMPIRES METTLE!”

All of the tiredness drained out of my body as I sat up and looked at Ares. “Please tell me you didn’—“

“COMING ALL THE WAY FROM EQUESTRIA, THE PERSONAL GUARD TO OUR FAIR LADY, PRINCESS CADENCE, PLEASE STOMP YOUR HOOVES TOGETHER FOR PRIVATE FLASH SENTRY!”

My jaw dropped when Flash trotted into the arena, his head held high while he held his lance in a hoof, the crowd roaring and jeering when he put on his helmet. Raising the lance that he had in between his forelegs, he turned toward where Ares and I here seated and gave us a little salute.

“Flash was bugging the officials to let him in the tournament this morning.” Ares told me, that big smile still glued onto his face. “Some of ‘em didn’t want him to join since it was at the last minute and he wasn’t a noble and some other stupid stuff but I worked my charm and got his furry little ass in!”

Ares leaned back in his chair. “I even got one of the knights to let Flashy borrow one of his spare suits of armor.”

“Flash is going to get himself hurt,” I heard myself say as Flash dropped his lance, which earned him some more jeering and laughing from the crowd.

Ares scoffed. “I’m sure that they’ll go easy on—“

“WE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL CHALLENGER FOR THE EQUESTRIAN!” The announcer pointed toward the opposite end of the arena, where a very big pony was slowly making his way toward its center. “I GIVE YOU THE SHINING EXAMPLE OF KNIGHTHOOD! HE WHO HAS BEEN CALLED THE TEETH OF THE EMPIRE! LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS, I PRESENT TO YOU: LORD GREY SKULL!”

I facehoofed when the giant pony, who suddenly looked familiar, pulled off his black helm, revealing the scarred and battle-weary face of the head of the Diamond Smasher clan, who gave me a wink with his good eye before bowing.

“Good evening, Princess, cuddle monkey,” he said in that deep, rumbling voice of his.

I tried to smile. “It’s nice to see you again, Lord Skull.” I said, giving him a little bow of my own. “It’s nice to see that you feel well enough to attend another tourney this year.”

The stallion frowned, thumping his chest with a hoof. “I may be getting along in years, Princess, but that doesn’t mean I’m too old to crack a few skulls,” he said with a huff.

My eye twitched. “I was speaking about the head wound you received in the last tourney,” I told him apologetically. “I heard that you wouldn’t be able to attend anything like this for much, much longer because the doctor was worried that you might have seriously hurt yourself.”

Grey Skull laughed. “Oh, I’m sure that I’ll be able to put this colt through his paces just fine, Princess; hurt head or not.” It was then I remembered that the Diamond Smasher clan was renowned for their skill at close-quarter combat and Lord Skull didn’t fight in the joust.

“I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT THIS IS THE LAST FIGHT TODAY, LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS, AND YOU ALL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, DON’T YOU?!”

I glared at Ares as the crowd roared, “ONE-ONE FIGHT! ONE-ONE FIGHT!”

One-one, a absolutely horrible one on one close-quarters fight where usually only one pony would be able to walk out of the area unaided; and even that was rare. I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you how angry hearing that made me.

“Ares,” I hissed, “You go down there right now and make sure that Flash doesn’t get hurt!”

Ares looked toward Flash, who was suddenly looking a lot smaller in that shiny armor of his. Nodding, he said, “Alright, just met me—“

“And I swear to Faust if he gets really hurt I’ll kick you so hard that you’ll be walking funny for a week, Mister; do you understand?”

Sure, that might have been a little harsh, but it was Ares’ fault that Flash was now in this situation; I wasn’t really going to kick him where the sun don’t shine…. probably. And that would be nothing compared to what I’m sure Twilight would do to him if she found out that he had helped Flash put himself in the hospital.

Saluting, my human trotted toward the railing and hopped over it, the entire crowd watching as he landed and pointed at my guard.

Even from that distance, since the arena was built to carry any type of sound and it was dead silent, I heard him tell Flash, “Flashy, do me a favor and not die, will ya? I don’t want Candy knocking my boys off.”

I facehoofed again while I heard snickering all around me. “Just start the Faust-damned fight already.” I muttered. “I want to go home and take a nice, long bubble bath.

….

It had taken a few ponies about ten minutes to set everything up for the one-one. A smaller ring had to be set up, doctor Stitch had to be called, and Flash had to borrow a tourney sword from a laughing knight before they set up stool for the fighters to sit on so they could wait until they found a proper referee.

Flash was doing his best not to panic while Ares was rubbing his shoulder. “I don’t think I can do this, Ares,” Flash said with a whimper, looking over at the towering stallion, who was giving his mace a few practice swings. “He looks a lot tougher than me…”

Not being much of a fighter himself, Ares tried to think up of something to say to his friend to give him the courage to get out there and win. But, since the only fighting that he knew absolutely anything was a few old fighting games, and ‘lameing it out’ was going to help in this situation, the human decided to just wing it.

“You can do this, Flash,” he said, grabbing the privates helm and placing it on his head. “You’re just the underdog and--”

“Fighters!” A referee-looking pony said front the middle of the ring. “Let’s get this started!”

“Aw come on!” Ares complained, throwing his hands up into the air. “I was going to give Flash an awesome speech about winning against insurmountable odds, ref pony!”

“I’m just doing my job, cuddly monkey. Private, you need to meet you opponent in the center of the ring before the fight starts, so could you please come here so we can stare this?”

Flash gave his friend one pleading look before he rose from his stool and trotted to the center of the ring, not noticing that Ares was eyeing a stick that was nearby. There was just something about that stick, it wasn’t too thick, wasn’t too thin; you could almost say that it was the perfect whacking stick in the right hands….

Sometimes scum-bag tactics are needed to win the day, he thought, trying to be sneaky as he got up and made his way over to the weapon. Don’t worry, Flash, if you can’t beat that fucker I’m sure the two of us can… probably….”

@~!!~@

Celestia looked down at Shining with a mixture of worry and concern. This wasn’t the once confident and brave captain of the guard the she had come to know over the years, he was more like a colt that had just set out in the big, scary world and needed someone to guide him.

And the one he’s looking to for answers has half a dozen donuts on her horn, she thought, almost cracking a smile.

“You wish me to tell you what to do, my little pony?” she asked him, Shining leaning into her half-wing hug.

“I just want some advice,” Shining said quietly, still staring at the floor. “Should I stay here? Should I go someplace else? Should I suck it up and go up to the empire? Should I up and do something else?”

“It sounds like you want me to tell you what to do, Shining, not give you advice,” the princess said gently, her wing tightening around him.

The stallion shrugged half-heartedly. “I’ll take either advice or an order, princess.”

Celestia hummed, looking away from him. “You could stay here,” she said with nod, “that would be the easiest and least painful thing to do. I’ll give you back your old guard position, you’ll be able to see your mother and father anytime you want and Twilight—“

“But I don’t think I want to do that,” Shining interrupted.

Celestia nodded to herself. “You could try another profession if that’s the road that you’d like to take.”

Shining snorted. “I’m sure I could get a job at Joe’s in a heartbeat if I wanted…”

“Or I could pull some strings and get you a job as a guard anywhere in Equestria.”

Shining finally looked up at her. “Even?...”

Celestia shifted uncomfortably. “That’s would be Cadence’s call, dear, not mine,” she said with a wave of a hoof, “and I wouldn’t worry about the guard’s training, if that’s what makes you want to return to the empire. A very capable guardspony has been reassigned to fill that position.”

Celestia took her wing off Shining and walked toward the little table in the center of her room, grabbing a little glass of milk and taking a sip of it. “You’re going to have to confront Cadence sooner or later, Shining, but it doesn’t have to be now.”

Smiling, she spread a wing and tapped him on the muzzle with it. “There’s the advice you were asking for, I hope that it’ll help you with whatever you decide.”

Shining watched her levitate a donut from her horn and take a bite out of it, humming and nodding to himself. “Princess?”

“Hmm?”

“Princess Luna wouldn’t happen to be around, would she? I’d like to talk to her about the letter she sent me.”

“She’s three doors down from the left,” Celestia said without missing a beat, “but I have to insist that you stay the night, Shining. You look exhausted.

“You don’t need to do that, Princess,” Shining protested, “I’m—“

Celestia shushed him, taking another bite out of her donut. “My sister’s not going anywhere,” she told him. “You go and get a good night’s sleep, think on what I’ve said, and talk to my sister in the morning.”

Shining was about to open his mouth but the princesses’ raised eyebrow snapped it shut. “If you insist, Princess,” he finally said. “I’ll just go and hit the hay in my old room.”

“Remember not to tell anypony that you brought me donuts,” Celestia called before he left. “I’m supposed to be on a diet!”

@#`#$!`%$

“You two should be ashamed of yourselves,” I chastised, not looking back at the bruised and battered forms of Ares and Flash. “Especially you, Ares. You’re lucky that Grey Skull couldn’t stop laughing when you walked up behind him and hit him with that stick!”

Ares, who I was sure was leaning on Flash for support, whined, “You told me to make sure Flashy here got out of out that fight alright! What, did you want me to just stand there while the big scary horse beat him with that hammer of his?”

“You could have used something other than that,” I retorted.

“How was I supposed to know it was made out of freaking balsa wood?”

“Neither or you should have been out there fighting in the first place,” I growled. “Just wait until I tell Twilight that you almost got yourself killed, Flash.”

I could hear Flash gulp as we turned the corner and made our way toward the castle. It was a good thing that the Diamond Smashers had decided to invite the whole city to Grey Skull’s victory feast after he beat the heck out of my human and guard. Otherwise, there would’ve been many, many ponies either poking fun at Flash or just plain laughing at Ares.

“Come on, Candy, you can’t be mad at me for trying to make sure a friend didn’t get fucked up.”

I scoffed. “All you did was make it worse, Ares,” I told the thick man. “Grey Skull’s been fighting in tourneys all his life. And there you are, wearing no armor, swinging a stick around like a mad stallion. You’re lucky he put down his hammer to fight you, otherwise you’d be back at The Ward with the doctor right now.”

“Thanks for trying to help though, Ares,” I heard Flash say. “Even though I think you might have hit me more than you did him…”

“What do you want from me? I’ve never been in a fight before!”

“I would have liked somepony with more hoof-eye coordination than a foal to help me out,” Flash said with a giggle. “And—ouch! Don’t poke that!”

I shook my head. “Will you two stop it? We’re almost at the castle.” I looked over my shoulder. “Flash, go to the doctor, I’m sure she’ll be able to get the rest of that broken armor off you no problem. Ares, come over here and get on my back; I don’t want you limping back to our room.”

It almost looked like the two of them had been mauled by a tiger. Most of Flash’s tourney armor had been knocked off or ripped apart, leaving a bruised and battered stallion beneath. My human looked a little worse than him, with most of his shirt missed along with half of his pants, and he was almost covered from head to toe in small cuts and bruises. All in all they were okay, but I was sure that they were going to feel it in the morning.

I had no idea how the two had walked away from that beating with minimal injuries—I’m guessing that is was Grey Skull’s skill more than luck though—but I was quietly thanking Faust that they had walked away from that relatively intact.

Flash and Ares did as I ask, though my human did so with more than a little grumbling as he climbed into my back. Rolling my shoulders to get used to the new weight, I slowly made my way into the castle.

“…I was going to stop the fight right when you jumped in,” I finally said. “And no, I’m not mad at you; in fact I’m more than a little proud.”

Ares wrapped his arms around my neck, letting out a little groan. “I got my ass kicked,” he mumbled, making me giggle. “Like really, really hard, by a four foot tall furry horse in armor...”

“A nice warm bath will fix you right up,” I told him, opening our bedroom door and trotting through it.

“Hooves hurt when they hit you.”

I gently levitated my human into the bed.

“I’m sure,” I said, making my way toward the bathroom.

“It hurts worse when those hooves are covered in metal.”

Even though he couldn’t see me, I nodded. “You’re really lucky that Grey Skull didn’t want to hurt you, otherwise we’d still be scrapping you off the arena wall.”

Humming, I went to the tub and turned it on, throwing in a bit of bubble bath just for fun.

“Come on, Ares, its bath time!” I called, starting to take off my royal finery.

“…I don’t think I can get up,” Ares called, making me roll my eyes.

“I’ll come and get you then,” I sing-songed, placing my tiara on the bathroom counter before trotting back into the bedroom, where I was met with the amusing sight of my human trying to take his clothes off.

“Do you need some help?” I gently offered with a little smile.

Ares looked at me for a second before he just went limp on the bed. “Be gentle; everything’s starting to hurt.”

I guess I finally get to undress him, I thought, trying to curb my excitement as I slowly started to take off his shirt. He groaned. “Eh, it hurts!” He moaned.

“Quit being a baby,” I said with a smile, trying to unlace one of his shoes. “I have a nice hot bubble bath waiting for the two of us. And afterward, I can get the servants to whip us up something to eat.”

He nodded, fiddling with his pants while I took his other shoe and both of his socks off. “You’re gonna have to help me with these, Candy.”

I chuckled. “Aw, come on, I’m sure that you’re alright enough to take your own pants off,” I teased.

He shook his head, grumbling, “I’ll throw your pink ass out the window… never got in a fight before and you start poking fun at…” he sighed, looking over at the counter before looking at me hesitantly. “Candy, after we get that bath I wanna show you something.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And I going to like this something?” I asked, gently yanking on his pants.

If I had bothered to follow where Ares was looking I would have, in fact liked this something, but since I didn’t Ares chickened out.

“...Actually, nevermind, I’ll show you it later,” he mumbled, blushing slightly when I slowly started to pull his boxers down.

I just shrugged, too tired and ready to end the day to bother pressing him. “Alright, but I’ll want to see it eventually,” I teased, gently picking up his naked form and carrying him toward the bathroom. “Now, I hope you like bubble baths!”

Duty

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It had been another long, thankless night for Luna. Her night court had been very busy as of late, with noble after noble trying to bring their trivial complaints to her. It had been amusing the first few nights, but now each night seemed to be a test of whether or not she’d bring back the death penalty.

We swear if We even SEE a ‘noble’ when we awaken there will be Tartarus to pay, she sourly thought as she slogged down hallway, trying her hardest not to just plop down in the middle of the hallway and fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion.

“Just a few dozen more feet and We will be able to finally get some rest,” she muttered with a wry smile before a frown replaced it. “Back to that cold, lonely bed of ours…”

Even though she wouldn’t admit, she had almost been counting down the days for when she could finally get off her blue fanny and go and get her stallion—and his mare—so that she wouldn’t be the only one to warm her bed at night. As the days dragged on, the thought of her just going to the empire with a bouquet of flowers seemed like a better and better idea.

Nay, she thought, giving her head a tired shake, We promised Ares and Cadence that we would wait and We are a mare of our word. We have a mode of transportation to see them easily when we want, We have the perfect place picked out to take them to, and We have even had a dress commissioned for the event of our first date!

Ignoring a pair of saluting guards, Luna turned and corner and smiled slightly when she saw the promised land: her bedroom. With an almost relieved sight she picked up her pace, just ready for a nice bubble bath and her bed.

Everything is prepared; all We need to do is wait a little longer and follow the plan. Within the harvest moon, We will have somepony to go to at night.

Now with a genuine smile on her face, Luna trotted toward her bedroom door and threw it open. Whistling a happy tune, she walked through it, closing the door with her rump before giving her room and once over.

Humming, she muttered, “Maybe we could acquire a snack before beginning our bath,” she mused. “Then we would—“

Knock Knock!

Luna looked over her shoulder at her door, frowning gently. “Who could that be at this hour?” She pondered aloud, reaching for the door with her magic. “We are sure that most ponies know that we sleep during the day and the punishments for disturbing us.”

Ready to tell the would-be intruder to kindly shove off, she walked over and turning the doorknob. She almost hopped backward in surprise when the door was thrown open, revealing a slightly disheveled Shining Armor, who trotted into the room with a white box caught in his magic.

“Good morning, princess,” he said, dipping his head in the most pathetic bow that Luna had seen in a week before trotting past her and putting the box on a table.

“…Good morrow, Sir Shining,” she said after a minute confused as to why he was here and what he wanted with her. “It is good to see thee again... Thou looks that thou haven’t gotten a wink of sleep in a while.”

Shining nodded, throwing open the little box and sticking his head in it. “Yeah, I didn’t get any sleep last night. I was too nervous to talk to you, so I just spent the night walking around my guest room instead.”

He popped out from the box with a donut in his mouth. “I went out this morning and got you a box of donuts,” he explained, taking a big bite out of his. “You and I need to have a talk, but first you should eat one of these. I got them from Pony Joe’s; they’re cream-filled.”

@~~@##@~~@

For once in a rather long while, Ares woke up without a pink alicorn having to poke, prod, bribe, or threaten him, and boy was he not happy about it. Grumbling to himself, he cracked open an eye and looked around the too-bright room.

Man, fuck me, he thought, debating whether or not to throw the covers over his head and go back to sleep when he noticed that Cadence was still asleep with her hooves wrapped around him. I got like four hours of sleep and I got my ass kicked yesterday! Why and the hell don’t you want to get some rest, body?

His stomach just growled, making him wince. Aw, you’re hungry, he mused, smiling when he felt Cadence sleepily nuzzle her nose into the nape of his neck. Leaning over and kissing her, he closed his eyes. Well, you can wait for another hour or two; I’m still tried as balls and I think I deserve some sleep. His stomach responded the only way it knew how, by rumbling even louder.For about ten minutes, Ares was able to ignore it, until his patience finally snapped.

Fine, FINE! I’ll fucking get up! He thought, his eyes snapping open. Trying not to groan, he kissed his favorite pink pony’s forehead. Man, I didn’t get anything to eat after my ass kicking yesterday, his stomach growled again, I’m so hungry I could eat something horse-sized.

If he was careful he could rush to the kitchen, stuff his face silly, and get back to snuggle-time before Cadence woke up, so, trying to exert some sort of willpower, he slowly tried to force himself to rise. Grunting, he started to unlace Cadence’s hooves from around his neck. “Alright Candy, just let me go for a minute… gonna get some pancakes or something…”

He just about had her off when she growled. “Nooooo,” she muttered, her hooves re-wrapping themselves around him. “Staaaay!” Nuzzling his cheek, she grumbled a bit before she went back to her quiet snoring.

Ares closed his eyes, one of his hands reached up and started playing with her mane while he cursed his bad luck. “You’re lucky I don’t have to take a piss, Candy,” he muttered, reaching into his pillow with his other hand and grabbing the book that he had hidden there, “’cause if I had to, your pony ass would be waking up…”

Cadence frowned for a second, almost like she had heard what she had said, before her face was back to looking peaceful while she sleepily kept nuzzling him.

Even though he felt a little bad about not showing Cadence any of these books—the look on her face would have been worth the embarrassment… probably—he still kinda wanted to do the whole I-learned-about-pony-sex thing on his own.

Looking down, he spent a minute admiring his filly friend’s slender body. It was almost a work of art, or to put it in perspective, a vehicle, and he had to read the manual to push the buttons right. At least this isn’t some thousand-page book, Ares thought, gently stroking her side while he leaned down and kissed her on the nose, because I’d rather just ask Cadence about this than reading that much shit!

Sighing to himself once again, Ares cracked open the book and started reading… And reading…. And reading, until he realized something; actually he realized quite a few things.

Just looking over that little black book for an hour or two had shown him just how different mares were from human women. Different ways to show affection, subtle changes in mood, the list had gone on and on and on, so much so that it had made him more than a little nervous… not that to would admit that to anybody, including himself.

He smiled slyly, watching as one of Cadence’s ears twitched. You know… I could try something that the book talked about, he thought, reaching for her ear and gently grasping it. She might appreciate me waking her up like this instead of just shoving her…

A neat little thing that he had learned during his late-night reading last night--while Cadence was asleep of course-- was the sensitivity of a pony’s ears.

You see, during pony-to-pony mating a stallion, while ‘doing his duty’, would usually either bite onto the mare’s mane or one of the ears to get a better hold of her so he could thrust easier and deeper. So, due to this happening for tens of thousands of years, the pony mare adapted so that instead of pain, biting, pulling, and stroking of the ear produced pleasure. A lot, if what the book was saying was true.

Trying to beat the smile off his face, Ares very gently pulled Cadence’s ear into his mouth and started to nibble on it. Well, let’s see if this works, he thought to himself, starting to play with her belly after a moment’s consideration. If this is some stupid hooky-kooky bullshit then I’m gonna—

He raised an eyebrow when Cadence started to squirm, nuzzling deeper into his neck while her ear tried to flick its way out of his mouth.

“Pink is the new yellow…” Cadence sleepily muttered, one of her wings twitching at her side.

…What the hell are you dreaming about? Rolling his eyes, Ares grabbed his marefriend’s other ear and started to tug it, not hard enough to wake her but hard enough to be felt. The pink alicorn’s breath started to quicken, her grip tightening around him when he bit her a little harder, and he could swear that she had whispered his name.

Stroking her cheek with his free hand he hummed to himself, looking down so he could see her expression.

A mild blush was working its way into Cadence face, the mare’s eyes rolling behind closed eyelids while she continued to mutter nonsense to herself. After a few minutes, Ares started playing around with the biting and tugging, seeing what his sleeping marefriend liked or disliked. A hard nip on the ear got one of her hind to legs buck slightly, throwing the blanket off her and him. A gentle flick coupled with a bite got him a sleepy moan and a kiss on the neck.

Ares frowned when that oddly familiar bubble gum aroma wafted up to his nose. There that is again, he thought, giving her ear another flick and enjoying the almost whisper-like moan that he received. Where the hell does that keep coming from?...

He looked down and noticed that Cadence was rubbing her hind legs together and her tail was slapping against the bed. Taking what little he had read from that little black book from his, and making a few simple guesses on where the smell was coming from, Ares couldn’t help but blush.

…Her mare mayo smells like bubble gum? He asked himself, quickening his actions to see if he could get more and louder squeaks and groans and moans out of her. That’s pretty weird... And note to self: never think or say the words ‘mare mayo’ again; it really throws the mood.

“Hmm~” Cadence hummed, giving his neck a sleepy lick. “The postman is churning the butter…”

Ares had to spit her ear out, and bit his lip hard to keep from laughing. “What the hell are you dreaming about?” he asked her, only getting another sleepy nuzzle in response.

Smiling, he started a trail of kisses starting at the base of her horn and slowly went downward, Cadence’s quick breathing turning into panting as she ruffled her feathers, flapped her wings, and moaned; loudly.

@~~##~~@

I always enjoy those little gems that you get dreaming every once in a while. Not that one dream where you’re falling, or the dream where you don’t have your homework and the teacher sends you back the magic kindergarten, I’m talking about a plain ol’ sex dream; the kind that makes your hooves curl even after you wake up.

I while I rarely had such dreams—unfortunately—when I do they were doozies, like ‘I have to get up and change the sheets’ kind of doozie. This particular dream… I’d rather not tell since I’m in polite company, but what I will tell you was that it got me worked up, so much so that I think a moan jolted me awake.

I slowly cracked open an eye, quietly groaning and using a spell to shut the blinds from across the room. “Too bright,” I grumbled, nuzzling into the warm snuggliness that was my human. I could go for a few more hours of sleep, I thought, closing my eyes and wiggling myself under Ares’ arm.

It was then that I noticed a few things. One: the covers were nowhere to be found—I had probably been moving around a little too much during my dream. And two: I had absolutely, unequivocally soaked myself, the sheets, and a good part of Ares’ lower body with my… juices.

With a quiet ‘epp!’ I magicked our blanket over our bodies to hide the mess. Sweet Faust, did I pee the bed? That fear was dispelled when I smelt bubble gum, but then it brought on an even more disturbing/confused/whatever you want to call it question:

Did I bucking cum like five times?!

To be fair, the only other time I had ‘relieved’ myself was back on the train, so I could have been a bit pent up sexually, but you should have bucking seen the mess I made! I bet you if we go to my room right now you could still smell bubble gum on that bed!

…Don’t look at me like that…

Anyway, there I was, trying to keep calm, trying not to panic or lose it or wake up poor Ares, who was…’

“Why the hay are you nibbling my ear?” I wondered aloud, looking up at him. Even though it felt great, I couldn’t remember my human ever doing that before. Sure, some sleepy kisses I’d get once in a while or maybe he’d pull me back into the bed, but never the ear biting. His teeth were really doing things for me too...

Anyway, pleasure aside, due to the face that I didn’t want Ares waking up to something like this, I honestly hoped that the was a one-time thing… At least until we were together sexually, then I would be happy to be woken up with ear bites any day, but not when we were still trying to figure things out.

I sighed when I felt something nudging my backside. “It looks like you got the both of us worked up,” I muttered, gently getting my ear out of his mouth before leaning up and nuzzling his cheek. To my delight, he hummed happily, his arms slowly tightening themselves around me.

“Sweet Faust are you cute,” I told my silly sleeping human, crawling on top of him and placing my head on his chest. The little voice in the back of my head told me that I probably should be getting up so I could get some new covers, clean up myself, and get Ares and I ready for the day, but I just wanted to spend a few extra minutes enjoying Are’s warmth.

Speaking of my favorite human, his ‘little Ares’ seemed awfully insistent that it be given some attention, since it was digging into my flank and all. For a second I debated whether or not to relieve him—relieve us might have been a better way to say it-- but I thought better of it. I’m really going to need to have a conversation about that, I thought, biting my lip as I ground my hips a little, rubbing myself against little Ares. I had to bite my lip harder when I felt it twitch; he must be as excited as I was...

That really made me want to wake up my human with a ‘special’ good morning present, but I once again beat it down, untangling myself from his arms sitting up in the bed. “We’ll have all the time in the world to do that once I figure out how to bring it up with him”, I said aloud, looking over my shoulder at Ares’ sleeping form.

“I’ll let him sleep a little longer.” I hopped off the bed and made my way toward the bathroom. “He had a long day yesterday and he did kind of get beaten up,” I tapped a hoof against my chin in thought, “I’ll go and get the two of us breakfast after my shower, then we can have breakfast in bed before we go back out to the festival.”

@~~@@~~@

By some miracle, divine or otherwise, Ares had somehow become the greatest ninja/actor/ James Bond guy in the history of men trying to fake-sleep in front of their girlfriends the instant that Cadence had moaned herself awake. Throwing the book that he had been holding under the bed, he closed his eyes and pretended that he was asleep. When he felt Cadence stift around, he decided to throw out a quick prayer to anyone that was listening to help him lame this out; and imagine his surprise when it worked.

Sure, he had a raging stiffy and Cadence wasn’t making that any easier, but at least he didn’t have to try to explain to her that he had pretty much had sex with her while she slept.

Not opening his eyes until he heard the shower turning on, Ares sighed explosively, running his fingers through his hair. “Sweet Buddha that was close,” he muttered, quickly grabbing the book from under the covers and placing it back into its hiding place. “I can’t believe she didn’t know that I wasn’t sleeping…”

At least that little stunt got some answers that he was kind of looking for; in more ways than one. Now that he knew--pretty much-- that Cadence was ready to jump his bones as it were, he could make certain that he had a few surprises for her when the candles were set and the pony Barry White was playing.

“I guess that we’re gonna have that little conversation sooner than you think, Candy,” Ares muttered, looking down at the sheets. Raising an eyebrow, he carefully pulled it down the covers and eyed the wet patch near his left leg. “Jesus, that ear nibbling thing worked a hell of a lot better than I thought it would.”

Every breath he took, the scent of bubble gum invaded his senses, so, after a second of thinking about it, he reached down and touched the wet patch. Making sure to get his fingers nice and damp, he popped two of them right into his mouth, his eyes widening at the flavor.

“Holy shit, it actually tastes like bubble gum,” he muttered in confusion, popping his fingers out of his mouth after he had licked them clean. “…What the hell do these ponies eat?”

#!@#$@#!

This hadn’t been the first time that Luna had had somepony practically burst through her door with thin excuses so they could find out what she was planning for them. And while most of the accusations that were brought before her were utter nonsense, she could, at the very least, humor Shining for a little while. He had been—and still was—one of the family… And he had brought donuts, so she could at least have the decency to listen to what he had to say before she threw him out and took her bubble bath

Shining himself looked like he had had a very long night. He had bag upon bags under his eyes, he looked paler than usual, and his eyes would droop every few seconds before he shook himself to stay awake; all-in-all he looked like a walking trainwreck. Luna had been just about ready to shoo him back to his room so he could actually get some sleep before she was his eyes.

That fire, that determination to find answers… There is a good chance that We are going to be blamed for something, she thought, eyeing Shining as he sipped the coffee that a maid had brought in. Though We cannot blame Sir Shining; it DOES appear that we are using him to one that doesn’t inspect every little detail…

To be fair though, she might be using him just a teeny tiny bit. A stallion with as much raw magical power as Shining brought to the table could help ensure the security of the Crystal Empire and its subjects for years to come. Coupled with him and the Sergeant and Cadence, the Empire could see its former glory within decades, so it could almost be forgiven that she might be using him to make sure that Ares was kept safe.

Was it a little much to have so many protecting one little human when no one was rearing to attack him? Maybe so, but it never hurt anyone to be prepared for everything.

“So thou said that thou wished to speak to us about a few things?” Luna calmly asked before taking a sip of her own coffee.

She grimaced, forcing the distasteful beverage down her throat. It may make our sleep that much shorter but We need to be alert for now, she thought, watching as Shining’s tired brain tried to chug out sentences. Hmm, it is not the usual decaf that We get; when We awaken the maid will be made known of her error.

“I just wanted to know something and maybe get some advice,” Shining said, obviously trying to hold back a yawn, “If that’s alright with you, princess.”

Luna nodded once. “We will do everything in our power to answer your questions to the fullest of our ability,” she answered, mildly surprising Shining with how seriously she was taking this. “Please, ask your questions.”

Exhaling the breath he didn’t know he had been holding, Shining looked her right in the eye. Don’t beat around the bush, just bucking ask her, he thought, staring into those big blue eyes of hers and trying not to blink. You were up all night, you brought the donuts; it’s time to kick flank and take names and get your answers!

“Princess, why the hay did you send me that letter?”

@!#$%

Since it was the second day of our little party, and since Ares and I had slept in and had decided to take our sweet time getting ready, it was almost noon before we went out to go see my ponies. I let Flash take the day off because he was still get over the lumping he got the other day, and instead decided to take the Sergeant, who looked adorable in her toga, so she could watch over us for the day.

I can tell you with the utmost certainty that Ms. Echo was not a happy camper after being out there more than an hour.

“So if you’re not a bat, how come your ears and teeth are like that?”

To my amusement--well, mine and everyone watchings amusement-- the little ones seemed particularly fascinated with the bat mare, so much so that a whole little group of them had been hounding the poor mare for about thirty minutes with their silly questions.

Echo looked over at me, then at one of the children who was trying to touch her ears, before biting her lip. “Will you just trust me kid?” She pleaded, trying to push away a filly that was grabbing her tail with a wing. “And could you little mon—er, I mean little guys, please give me a little more space?”

I giggled, looking over at Ares, who had a bag of popcorn in his hand. “Where did you get that?” I asked, looking around the various vendors.

“I got it by the basket making guy,” he answered, nudging his thumb in that direction. “Why, you want me to get you a bag of something?”

“Do they have any candy popcorn?” I asked.

“I’m sure they do.”

“Then could you get me one of those please?”

He nodded, leaning down and giving me a peck on the cheek before looking over at the Sergeant. “Hey kids,” he called, all of the children stopping what they were doing to look at him, “you know what a bat horse loves the most?”

“What’s that, Mr. Cuddle Monkey?” one of them asked.

Smiling, Ares spread his arms wide. “Well, random child, what a bat horse loves the most is to be jumped on by kids, so guess what you can do!” It took them, Echo included, a few seconds to process that, but when they did they all jumped into action. Echo, wide-eyed, spread her wings, trying to fly off, but the filly’s and colt’s were faster.

“HUG THE BAT HORSE!!!” one of the kids yelled, jumping into the mares back.

“Get off me you little—urk!” With an adorable battle cry, they all swarmed her.

“BUCK YOU, ARES!” Echo cried, shaking a hoof through the pile of children at him.

Me, along with almost everyone that could see them, started laughing, Ares giving me a wink before he went to get me my popcorn. What should we do now? I thought, biting my lip to calm myself. We don’t really have anything to do today… Hmm, we could go and see the jousts or just walk around until we got bored or—

“Oh Mi Amore! Honey!” My eyes couldn’t even widen in horror as my face was pressed against an overly chubby mare’s chest. I tried to get away from the crazy pony, but her iron grip held me in place as I was rocked back and forth. There was only one pony in my kingdom that would assault me with hugs like this. The head of the High Riders: Shining Higher.

A mare well into her fifties, and somepony who would either heckle everypony in the room, buy something for everypony in that room, or do something horrible to them, depending on what mood she was in, Mrs. Higher was one of the friendliest, wealthiest, and most terrifying ponies in the Crystal Empire. Not because she was mean or cruel or anything—though she could be if you happened to get on her bad side—it was because of how she had this bad habit of smothering ponies in hugs.

Me included in that unfortunate number.

“Urk! Hello… Mrs... Higher,” I rasped, forcing myself off of her to get in a breath before I was once again smothered. “It’s… nice… to see… you… again.”

I could hear her chuckle before she released me, giving me a quick look over while I tried to get some air back into my lungs. “It’s good to see that you’ve returned from Equestria safe and sound,” she said brightly, smoothing my mane out with a hoof, “and you’ve gained a little weight too!” She winked when I blushed in embarrassment. “Ohhhh! There’s nothing to be embarrassed about! You were too skinny anyway; it wasn’t healthy, honey!”

One of her guards, a serious-looking stallion decked out in the colors of house High Rider, bit his lips to keep from laughing at me while the mare continued to poke and prod. Please let this be over soon so I can see what she wants, I thought desperately, trying to keep a smile on my face.

I would have been babied over for the rest of the day if Mrs. Higher had a say in it I’m sure, but Ares, like a knight in shining armor, swooped in to save me.

“What the heck is going on here? He asked, looking at us ike we had all grown a couple of heads.

Mrs. Higher looked him up and down with an inquisitive smile on her face. “Oh, you must be the one that everyponies been talking about,” she said, slowly making her way over to him. “The ‘cuddle monkey’ something or other, if I remember correctly. You’re the princesses’ new courter, yes?”

“…Yes I am, Mrs…”Ares said carefully, offering her a hand.

The mare chuckled, shaking her head. “You can call me Mrs. Higher, honey; momma if we get to know each other well enough,” she said with a wink. “Now how about you put that paw of your’s down and give me a big ol’ hug as a hello!”

Ares eyed me for a second, probably trying to figure out what was going on, but I could only shrug helplessly, take my popcorn out of his hands and mouth ‘hug her’ to him.

For some reason, Mrs. Higher really hated hoofshakes—something about her being afraid of what other ponies run around in—so she just simply hugged anypony and everypony as a greeting. To refuse the hug would’ve been bad, so it was better that Ares get this over his so I could find out why Mrs. Higher had graced us with her presence.

With a little shrug, Ares leaned down and picked the mare up, getting an excited squeal out of her and a slightly upset look from her guards. “My, my,” Higher almost purred, wiggling in my human’s grasp and wrapping her hooves around his neck tightly, “I can see why so many ponies gave you that silly little nickname of yours…”

“My name is Ares, ma’am,” Ares politely said, gently putting the chubby mare back down onto the ground after holding the hug for a second, “and it’s really nice to meet you… I guess.”

Higher almost looked disappointed that her hug was over, her ears drooping slightly for a moment, but then she was back to her old cheery-looking self. “Well, Mr. Ares, it’s very nice to meet you at last,” she said, nudging him toward me with gentle push. “You can’t believe all the rumors I heard the other day about Skully beating the hay out of Mrs. Cadenza’s mate!” She jiggled in place as she shook excitedly. “I was so enraptured about that little tale I decided to come down here to see my princess and you young stallion.”

Ares smiled while I tried to hide my frown. “Flash and I didn’t get beaten that bad the other day,” he said, chuckling awkwardly to himself as he rubbed the back of his head. “I’m not too beaten up, and I’d like to think that I threw that big knight around a bit.”

Higher nodded encouragingly, patting his thigh with a hoof. “Skully told me that the both of you fought better than he was expecting,” she said kindly before turning toward me. “Now, princess, how about you show this old mare around?” She gave me a grin that I didn’t particularly like. “I can tell you what’s happened in your kingdom while you were away and your new mate and I can get to know each other a little better.”

I was trying to think of a way to politely say no so Ares and I could get away from this mare, who obviously had some other motive, when my human gave her a big smile. “Um, Mrs. Higher?”

“Yes, dear?”

“I’m guessing you know a lot about this city, huh?”

Higher nodded, giving him another wink. “My family’s been in this city since the very beginning, Mr. Ares,”’ she told him. “The High Rider clan has owned many of the cities stores for over a thousand years,” she chuckled. “‘We are the lifeblood of the people’, some brown nosing ponies like to tell me when they think I’m in a bad mood or they want something from me, but all we are is a few shopkeepers that like to see our city grow.”

That’s a load of horseapples if I’ve ever hear it, I thought, placing myself in front of Ares protectively. While she was technically true about owning a lot of shops; there was a slightly darker reason as to why the High Riders had become one of the city’s most powerful families: Deception, spying, blackmail, and assassination .

The lower level ponies of the clan, those who were the actual shopkeepers, kept an open ear out for any juicy information that could be valuable to anypony, which they would then send up further up the food chain to see if they could use the information. I heard the back in the day, and some ponies still whisper that it still happens once in a blue moon, that the clan might have toyed with the dark arts to get information from ponies; deepest, darkest secrets, fears, hopes, dreams, things like that.

But, from what I heard, Mrs. Higher had largely pushed her family away from that kind of stuff. And compared to some of the other clans, the High Riders weren’t really all that horrible, but I was still a little nervous being around a mare who probably knew more about what I did this morning than I did. Hopefully Ares would pick up on that unease that I was feeling and he’d—

“I guess I can tell you a little about me, ma’am, but I’d like to talk about looking for a job around any florists places, if that’s alright with you?”

Higher squealed happily while my eye twitched, the chubby mare giving Ares’ leg a nuzzle before brushing past us and walking toward her guards. “Fantastic!” she chirped happily. “How about I take you two to a nice little diner down the street? We’ll have a nice, quiet little place to talk and I’ll introduce you two to a couple of my granddaughters that happen to work there!”

I guess that the Sergeant had finally wrestled herself away from the children, because she was by my side as Ares followed the mare down the street, listening intently to whatever she was chatting about.

“Where is that bucker?” she growled, looking around. “I’m going to break his bucking jaw!”

“He just went with one of the ponies that might have him killed if she doesn’t like him,” I answered.

Echo blinked, all the anger draining from her face. “…Oh,” she said lamely. “I better go and watch him then, huh?”

I sighed, rubbing my temple with a hoof. “No, we are going to go and watch him,” I corrected her. “Come on, let’s go see where we’re being taken…”

@~~@@~~@

For a second, Shining was almost afraid that he had been a little too blunt about his questioning as Luna calmly looked at him, the Princess of the Night not breaking eye contact as she took a long sip of her coffee.

Just keep a straight face, he thought, trying not to sweat. You just keep asking until—

“Did thou knowest that our sister dislikes her job, Sir Shining?” Luna calmly asked him.

Shining blinked in confusion. “Um… no, I didn’t…”

Luna nodded, placing her coffee mug on the table. “Tis true,” she said, leaning over the table until their noses were almost touching. “Tia hates dealing with the nobility, she hates sending out ponies to protect and guard and maybe die in her name.” Luna frowned, her eyes turning slightly sad. “We know for a fact that she hated what she had to do to us.”

Luna sat back in her chair, much to Shining’s relief. “My sister hates all of these things about being one of noble blood but she continues to rule his land, continues to protect her little ponies, and do you know why she does?”

Shining bit the inside of his lip; he honestly didn’t know if he wanted the answer to that question.

“My sister does this: ruling this kingdom, raising the sun, and keeping ponies safe, because she feels it is her duty.” Luna got up from her seat and stood before Shining, her wings slightly spread. “One may not enjoy their duty, in fact they may hate it with every fiber of their being, but only cowards or those that have weakness in their hearts forswore it.”

She looked away from him. “It is difficult; We will readily admit that we are one of those who has been corrupted by weakness, but we know that thou art strong-willed, sir Shining.” She tapped his chest with a wing. “My sister named you captain for a reason, thou art a good stallion, and We knew that thou needed somepony to give thee a gentle nudge in the correct direction after what happened to thee.”

“But I—“ Shining tried to say, only to be cut off.

“However thou feel about Young Cadence and Ares is moot; thy place is in the Crystal Empire, helping bring it into the modern era and possibly back into greatness.” She gave him a kind smile, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “We understand that thou are still confused and angry and thou don’t know what to do, but thine duty is what should matter the most to thee: a soldier’s duty to their princess.”

Shining looked away from her. “She’s not my princess anymore…” he muttered.

Luna forced him to look at her by placing a hoof under his chin. “Even though Cadence is no longer thy lover, she is your princess still,” she told him. “She and the empire are what thou should be focusing thine attention on, not wallowing in a pit of despair!”

Luna could see that she had him by that little spark that she saw in his eye, so she decided to push him further. “You wish to find a new path in life, you wish to stop the pain and hurt, and We feel that thou need to do that in the Empire, Shining; not here, not somewhere else, but in the empire.” With a small nod, she turned around and sat back down in her seat.

“That being said, thou are not sworn to us, and thou art an adult, so the decision must be made by you and only you. Tia or I will not order thee anywhere; from this day forth thy path in life is of your own choosing.”

She watched the stallion process that while sipping her coffee, Shining looking up at her with slightly narrowed eyes. “And that’s the only reason why you want me to go up there, princess?” he asked.

“Nay,” she said, not bothering to lie.

“And could you tell me any other reason why you want me to go up there?”

“We will simply tell thee that there is no ill intent in our actions, but that is it.”

Shining nodded again, slowly getting out of his chair and making his way toward the door. “Thanks for talking with me, princess,” he said gratefully. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, so I’m going to hit the hay so I can think through this with a clear head.”

Shining’s hoof was on the doorknob when Luna said, “Did thou know that Ares still beats himself up about what happened?” Shining looked over his shoulder at her with a raised eyebrow. Luna shrugged. “Many a night we have looked into his dreams, Shining, and We can tell you with the utmost certainty that he’s just as afraid as you about what the future will bring.”

Shining looked at her for a moment longer before turning the doorknob and opening the door. “…I’ll try to see you and Princess Celestia before I leave to go where ever I’m going to go.” Without waiting for an answer, Shining left the room.

Luna finished her coffee with a final gulp. He will do whatever he thinks is the right thing to do, she thought, closing the donut box and making her way toward her bathroom. What he thinks is the right thing might be the pressing matter unfortunately.

!@$#$%$

You know, after spending a whole day with a hyper-dangerous pony, it was nice just to snuggle up with Ares on our bed. I had the blanket over the two of us and my eyes were closed, and I was getting closer and closer to drifting off to dreamland.

At least Ms. Higher promised Ares that she’d look around to see if she could get him a job, I thought, taking a deep, content breath. Sure, whoever he’s going to be working for will probably be in Higher’s pocket, but at least Ares will get to work with flowers like he wants to.

Said human was leaning on the bed post and was running his fingers through my hair. He must not have been all that tired or he’d be—

“…Candy, are you awake?”

My ear twitched but I kept my eyes closed. It didn’t sound like Ares was asking me for anything; he probably just needed to go to the bathroom of something, and I was pretty much asleep anyway, so I just laid still, waiting for him to get out of the bed so he could do his business.

I frowned gently when he gave me a light shove. What the hay are you doing? I thought, shifting around under the blankets. Just go and pee already; you don’t have to see if I’m asleep or not… My ear twitched again when I heard the very quiet, but distinct, sound of pages being turned.

Ares is reading something? I thought, confused. When the hay did he get a book? I knew it was a book because I had spent years watching Twilight, a mare who, as a filly, would stay up all night reading, so I knew pages turning when I heard them. That confused me even more, because I knew that Ares wasn’t much for reading.

Overcome with curiosity, I very slowly rolled over and cracked open an eye, my tiredness draining out of my body as I read the bold black print on the front of the book:

THE PONY SUTRA

“Well…that’s a relief,” I said aloud. Ares almost jumped out of his skin in fright while I looked up at him. The blush on his face and horror in his eyes made me laugh quietly as he looked down at me.“I thought we were going to have to dance around that for weeks, but here you are, making this a thousand times easier for me.”

Getting up with a little grunt, I leaned up and pecked my horrified human on the cheek. “Oh, is that the eleventh edition? You could have just looked over at the counter there; I have every edition, including ones for different species.”

I hummed thoughtfully, leaning against Ares, who still hadn’t moved an inch. “In fact, you might actually want to go and read the third edition before—Ares?” I waved a hoof in front of his red face. “…Ares, Honey, are you doing okay there?”

I patted his cheek with a hoof and sighed. “Alright, you’re not okay…” I hummed, looking down at his book. “I wonder if this thing has a chapter about fixing petrified coltfriends…”

After thumbing through a few chapters, I found out that it, in fact, did not.

Good Mornings

View Online

“Alright Ares,” I said, holding a bucket of cold water over my head with my magic. “Now, I know you might be a little horrified right now and you might think I’m mad at you but trust me, I’m not.” I gave him my best smile. “I love you, and I’m happy that you’re trying so hard to make sure I’ll be sexually satisfied, so there’s no need to be embarrassed. In fact, how about the two of us crack open a pony sutra that I have on the shelf over there? I even have one that has pictures! Come on, whatcha say?”

“….”

“…Please? I really don’t want to have to dump this water on your head.”

“….”

“I put ice in it and everything, so it’ll be cold,” I warned my human, who appeared to be frozen in place with an expression of utter horror etched onto his features. I mean that he was frozen in an almost literal sense; it was almost neat how he was just… not moving, like somepony had hit him with a paralyzing spell or something.

It was funny to poke him with a hoof for a few minutes, but I was getting worried; hence the ice water. Hopefully this would bring him back sputtering back to life so I could calm the man down and we could talk about this like two adults that cared about each other.

“Alright, I warned you, Ares,” I said, levitating the bucket over his head. “I’m sorry, but you leave me no choice!” Slowly, I upended the water over his head and into his lap, soaking him, the bed, and even some of the floor (I had used a big bucket), leaving my human dripping wet but still frozen in place.

Now I was starting to get a little worried. “Ares?” I said hesitantly, hopping onto the bed and nuzzling his cheek. “Can you please say something so I don’t have to go and call the doctor?” I nuzzled the nape of his neck before gently planting a kiss on his lips. “Please? You’re starting to scare me a little…” Whimpering to myself, I gave his cheek a kiss, hoping that that would do something.

It was just a little peck, but for the first time in about ten minutes, Ares blinked. My eyes widened in hopeful caution. Wrapping my front legs around his neck, I gave my human a deep, long, passionate kiss. Come on, come on, work, I thought, rubbing my lips against Ares’ before taking a breather and kissing him even deeper.

It was like I was giving him love CPR. Except I was making out with him, and he was frozen for some reason, but it was still pretty much the same thing. All I needed to do was dump enough affection on Ares and he’d come sputtering back to life, and then the two of us could have an adult conversation like big ponies and humans.

My tongue prodded his lips, and, after a few seconds, his mouth slowly opened to let me inside. Slowly, my tongue played with his, the human’s wet muscle lying limp and lifeless. Oh no you don’t, I thought, growling to myself. Using my longer tongue, I traced and tasted every inch of his mouth, being careful of his canines.

Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup! I kept the kissing up until a burning sensation in my chest reminded me that I needed to take a breath. Breaking the kiss with a gasp, I couldn’t help but glare at my human.

“You know, most stallions would love to have their fillyfriends sit in their laps and make out with them.” My expression softened, and I leaned down and gave Ares another kiss on the lips. “Come on, silly,” I pleaded, rubbing our noses to together before kissing him again, “just wake up…”

My eyes sprang open when I felt a tongue prod my lips. There you are! I thought, stroking Ares’ head with a hoof, encouraging him to break himself out of his frozen funk. You’re almost there, I thought, licking his tongue, which was vainly still trying to enter my mouth, before I started to suck on his lip. Just a little more kissing…

I pressed myself closer against his chest, finally playing with his wiggling tongue. I kept playing with his hair with a hoof while I used my wing tips to tickle his cheeks; Ares responded by slowly wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug.

If I didn’t have my tongue down Ares’ throat, I would have smiled. There you are! I thought, relieved. Feeling that burning sensation that told me I needed to breathe again, I sadly broke the kiss and sat back, gasping for air and wiping a trail of spit from my mouth, and looked down at my also gasping for air human, who was looking at me with the most adorable expression on his face that I had ever seen; it was somewhere between dopey-happy and horrified and it made me want to kiss him again, but I restrained myself. Passing out because I was kissing Ares too hard would’ve been silly.

“Thanks … Candy,” Ares panted, breathing hard, “I … needed that.”

I giggled, placing my head on his shoulder. “I‘m happy to help,” I whispered, wrapping my wings around his shoulders. “You had me worried.”

Ares rubbed his cheek against mine before giving me another little sweet kiss on the cheek. “I was going to tell you eventually,” he muttered, his gaze going over to the book that I had placed on the counter by the bed, “but I wanted to at least look some things up.”

“You could have asked me,” I chastised, smiling when he brought up his hands and cupped my cheeks, “I would have been happy to tell you anything you wanted to know.”

Ares kissed me on the nose, a guilty look on his face. “I wanted it to be a surprise,” he said with a bit of pink on his cheeks, “and I wasn’t sure if you and I…”

With a little shove I had my human on his back. “I didn’t know if you were going to be ready for that—“ I nudged my head at the book, “—for a while, and if you’re unsure about it we can take as much time as you want,” I sweetly told him.

He grimaced. “Well, considering what happened the other day—“

“The other day?” I asked, realizing that I was lying on top of my naked coltfriend and then trying to stay calm about it.

Ares looked away from me. “I … might not have been asleep when you woke up with the whole ear biting thing.”

My mouth opened in an ‘O’ expression before I slyly smiled. “Well, I suppose I should thank you,” I purred, giving him a peck on the cheek. “That was one of the best good mornings I’ve had in a while~”

“I really didn’t think ear biting could do that,” my human said, flinching slightly when I wiggled my wings completely around him, fully trapping him under me. “S-Sure, I rubbed you a bit and poked you a few-umhp!”

Growling to myself, I crashed my mouth into his, assaulting his mouth with my needy tongue. I was ecstatic; Ares had made my intimacy talk with him a heck of a lot easier, and he was already practicing, on me thankfully.

The only thing I was a little sore about was not being awake when he was touching, nipping, and biting me. Even the thought of those hands of his slowly kneading my body, Ares listening to my sleepy moans to see what touches felt good and what touches felt great, and then the silly man faking sleep when he made me orgasm so hard I woke up.... The very thought of it was making my body heat up.

Ares already had one up on me, I thought, breaking the kiss and looking down at Ares with lust-filled eyes, it’s only fair that I make us even.

I could feel that increasingly familiar poke against my flank, telling me that my coltfriend was happy with this turn of events, and I was about to continue the kiss, and maybe, probably, more, when Ares looked up at me with a red face and a beaming smile.

“I love you, Candy.”

Much to my mild irritation, my feeling of lust was being overtaken by that ‘butterflies in the stomach’ kind of love. You cheater, thought, trying to beat down the smile that came to my face. Going all lovey-dovey on me when I’m trying to do dirty things to you.

I kissed my silly human before putting my head on his chest and magicking the blanket over the two of us. “I love you too, Ares,” I said, closing my eyes. I’ll get you back for the ear thing, I thought as Ares wrapped his arms around me and sighed in contentment. Just you wait; I’ll get you back so hard you’ll be walking funny for a week.

&^%^&

Like it always was, the clan leaders meeting place was grey, dark, intimidating, and more than a little bit damp. Four stone tables, tables that were hewn from crystal and which had been in use for over three thousand years, housed each of the clan leaders, two of their guards, and usually an official looking pony or two.

The four ponies that were seated at these tables were the most powerful and influential citizens of the Crystal Empire. With a word they could ruin a noble, free a prisoner from imprisonment or the gallows. With a wave of the hoof they could destroy a city street and have it rebuilt within the hour. These ponies were wealthy, these ponies were powerful, and these ponies may or may not have a problem with a certain alien monkey.

“You played with the human for the whole day, Higher,” Draugre, a stocky brown earth pony, who happened to be the leader of the Smelters, said before stifling a yawn. “What did you think of him?”

Higher, who was gingerly taking a sip of some tea, looked over at the stallion with a giggle. “Oh, he was such a sweetheart,” she tittered, looking around the room. “I can see why our princess is so taken with him; other than him being rather … exotic of course.”

Draugre yawned again, this time covering his mouth with a hoof. “Alright, he’s a sweetheart, but what else do we know about this ‘Ares’?”

Hearth, a little blue mare who was the leader of the Diggers, cleared her throat. “Well, everypony has been calling him the cuddle monkey,” she said in her squeaky voice, “and I think we all know why that is.”

Collectively, each of the clan leaders nodded.

“My niece told me that young man had two beds full of ponies sleeping with him before he went to Canterlot,” Higher said with another giggle. “I remember her commenting on how odd his coat felt against hers.”

Grey Skull grunted. “I heard the same from my granddaughter,” he said, slowly spinning the top of his mace around the stone floor. “But the question is: will he be a problem or detriment to the princess? And if he is, can we get rid of him quietly enough so nopony will be any the wiser?”

Yes, these four ponies had more power and influence than anypony in the city, but they cared about this city, almost as much as the one that helped saved it, Cadence. For longer than many of them could remember,everyone of them had all been under the tyranny of Sombra, slaves in name, body, and mind, and she, along with Spike the dragon, had saved them from the tyrant.

Unlike Canterlot nobles, who wouldn’t know honor or decency if it walked up and bit them, these four clan leaders knew that they owed the princess their lives. It was why they had allowed her to rule, it was why they had made sure that the city continued to run smoothly while she was away, and it was why they were here today talking about the creature that the princess had become smitten with.

The four looked at each other, each one of them waiting for the other to say their piece first. Higher, thankfully, interrupted the silence with a quiet cough. “Well, I for one think that Mr. Ares will not be a problem,” she calmly said, a calculating look in her eye. “He is new here, he has no political or financial power that I know of. In fact the poor dear has nothing to his name; even the clothes off his back were given to him by others.”

Grey Skull grunted again. “When I fought him in the arena I could tell that I was fighting no warrior.” The old stallion subconsciously started to rub his still sore side. “But I have to admit that he is far stronger than he looks; the monkey threw me halfway across the arena while I was in full armor.”

Draugre chuckled. “I know, I’m still trying to beat out the dents. If memory serves—“

“You can’t remember what you ate this morning you old cook,” Grey muttered.

“And you can’t sleep through the night without getting up ten times to go to the bathroom you old donkey,” Draugre shot back, leaning on his chair.

Hearth cleared her throat. “Gentlemen, please,” she squeaked, glaring at the two, “can we just stay on task without you two trying to kill each other for once?”

Higher nodded in agreement, waving a hoof in Draugre’s direction. “As you were saying Draugre?”

Draugre glared at Grey Skull before clearing his throat. “If what I remember is true, Mr. Ares jumped in only when you were gaining the upper hand on the princess’s personal guard, isn’t that right?”

Grey nodded. “The colt had good reflexes but he was too scared to go in for the kill,” he said to no one in particular. “I would have brained him if the monkey hadn’t hit me in the back of the head with that stick.”

Draugre hummed. “We know that the private and human are friends correct?”

“I’ve gotten that information, yes,” Higher said before taking another sip of her tea.

“Then we can assume that this ‘human’ is not shy about fighting for the ones that he cares about.”

“Even if he’s not much of a fighter,” Grey agreed, “though we don’t know enough about him to draw any conclusions.”

Higher smiled. “That might be where you’re wrong, Skully,” she said playfully. “I happen to know that a certain human is going to start work at one of my florist shops, a nice little place run by my niece Tulip, so we might actually get to know the new consort of the princess quite well if we wait long enough.”

“So we wait a bit longer to see what this human’s about?” Hearth said.

Draugre shrugged. “It’s better than coltnapping the boy and forcing him to tell us everything about him.” He yawned again. “So we’ll wait, see what he does, and if we have to, we’ll deal with him.”

Grey rose from his chair, picking up his mace and giving it an experimental swing. “Yes,” he muttered, looking at his weapon of choice, “we’ll deal with him if we have to.”

$#@#$

You know, I think I’ve always hated birds. They’re dirty, they eat the kind of seeds that you need—apple seeds, orange seeds stuff like that—and always, before the bucking crack of dawn, they fly right outside your window and start being as loud as possible.

I think morning gales were outside my window this morning, the bird which also happened to be the Crystal Empire’s national bird, and boy did they make me want to go outside with a slingshot and a hoof full of rocks.

Bucking, bucking, BUCKING birds! I thought, groaning to myself. Can’t you at least wait until the sun’s up before you start being BUCKING JERKS?!

With my magic, I levitated over a trash bin and chucked it through the window, smiling and cracking open an eye when I heard a bunch of surprised squeaks. “Next time I’ll hit you with a bolt of lightning,” I muttered, snuggling closer against Ares. “You rotten birds.”

I was just about go back to sleep when I realized that I should probably get up and do something instead of sleeping in. Our party was just about over, which made it a fantastic time to go and check on any reports that the council I had set up had, or maybe I could go see if those particular ponies would want a job on a more permanent council. But to do that, I needed to get out of my warm bed, away from my snuggly coltfriend.

Yawning hugely, I groaned and closed my eyes. “Five more minutes,” I muttered, crawling on top of Ares and throwing the covers over my head. Ah, much better, I thought, humming to myself while I wiggled around on top of my human.

I opened my eyes when I felt something brush against my flank. Poor little guy, my tired mind thought, what are you doing up before Ares? I wiggled myself against my human’s manhood, smiling when I felt him shiver.

Ares must be really pent up by everything that’s been happening the last couple of days, [ I mused, kissing his neck before I got a wonderful idea. Ares had his fun with me while I slept, now that I knew he was okay with it I could have a little fun of my own!

Tiredness now gone, I gently untangled myself from Ares and rolled to the side of our bed. With a big smile on my face, I looked downwards, shivering when I saw the tent that my obviously pent up human was pitching. “Aw,” I cooed, “there you are~”

As gently as I could, I threw the covers off of Ares, revealing his very naked, and aroused, form. I didn’t know if he was toned or muscular for a human, (I still think that it’s weird that he had teats) or if he was even considered good-looking for a human, but I could honestly say that the sight of him was really heating me up.

Now to do something that I’ve wanted to do for WEEKS! I thought, carefully walking to the lower end of the bed to play with my prize.

Giggling to myself, I looked over Ares’ toes before encasing both of his feet in my magic. “Look how adorable they are!” I whispered, wiggling each toe in every direction that they would go. “His toes are like tiny little fingers!”

I played with them for a little longer before letting go of his feet and sitting back up. “Alright,” I said, still smiling, “now that I got that out of the way I can get to the real fun!” The ‘fun’ itself was gently throbbing in the cold night air with a bit of pre cum dripping off its head.

Now that I could, I leaned down and looked it over. I knew his manhood was different than a stallion’s; I’ve seen it more than once, and it was the same when it was aroused. His head had ballooned, almost making it look like the top of a mushroom. I could see veins trailing down his shaft, and his whole penis had elongated. It was different, but I won’t lie to you, it was making my mouth water.

Trying to ignore my wildly beating heart and my shaky knees, I very slowly, very gently, bopped my human’s cock with my muzzle, wincing when I felt something sticky land on my nose. Huh. it still looks like it could get bigger, I mused, watching it bob back and forth with Ares’ heartbeat.

Looking up to see if Ares was still asleep, I slowly started to stroke him. Let’s see if I can get you a little bit bigger, I thought, sticking out my tongue in concentration. By now I could smell this musky saltiness in the air, a sure sign that Ares was liking what I was doing to him. Leaning down slightly, I took a deep breath. Oh sweet Faust, I’m already wet! I thought, biting my lip. Using my other hoof, I started to play with his balls, giggling to myself when he let out a sleepy moan.

Looking up, I noticed that Ares was grabbing at the sheets and his eyes were shut tightly. I almost frowned in suspicion. Is he just pretending to be asleep? I wondered, narrowing my eyes at him for a second before shrugging. It doesn’t matter, I thought, giving his shaft a squeeze, starting to quicken my pace. If he’s awake then maybe the two of us could play a little more. I couldn’t keep myself from quietly whimpering in need at the thought.

My human’s cock was now continuously leaking pre from his head and down his length, coating my hoof as I continued to play with him. I wonder how it tastes, I thought, bringing my other hoof up so I could play with myself.

I looked at the clear liquid before giving it a lick, my eyes widening at the oddly pleasant flavor. Biting my lip again, I scooted myself up until I was breathing on his length. Taking another deep breath and wetting my lips with my tongue, I grabbed his cock with my magic and opened my mouth wide.

&!@!&

Ares wasn’t usually a heavy sleeper—when one worked in a store where you had to open at four in the morning it was a necessity—and even with the lack of sleep he’d been having he was easy to wake up. All he would usually need was a shove or someone calling his name and he’d be awake; he would bitch and moan and try to go back to sleep if he could, but it would wake him up.

As his luck would have it, he wasn’t awoken by a push or a shove or even someone calling his name this time. No, when he was jolted awake by an intense burst of pleasure, he noticed that his fillyfriend was propped up on his thigh, her lips wrapped around the head of his cock while she played with herself.

Ares could honestly say that that sight was better than any coffee or energy drink when it came to waking up.

HELLO! His mind screamed, his sleepiness draining away in the blink of an eye. WHAT THE FUCK IS GO— Cadence, who was so focused on her task that she didn’t notice that he was staring at her wide-eyed, gently moaned, the vibrations sending an almost painful jolt of pleasure through the poor human, making his head hit the pillow in bliss.

His lower head quickly took over all of his decision making. He forced himself to open an eye to watch what Cadence was doing, and boy was he getting a show.

She was slowly positioning herself so that she was sitting in-between his legs. Her face was flushed and her hair cascaded around her head, her wings were just drooping around Ares’s legs, like the alicorn was too busy with his dick to keep them at her sides. Ares could also see a blush that seemed to be covering her whole body, but what really struck the human was how pleased she looked.

Ares bit his lip hard to keep from groaning, though he couldn’t stop his body from tensing. He heard, and felt, a muffled giggle escape Cadence, the alicorn seemingly not aware that he was awake yet. Ares tried to take a deep breath, to calm himself and to steady his heart, which he had just noticed was beating so rapidly that he swore that he could hear it thumping in his ears. He tried to wonder to himself if he was actually dreaming, when his fillyfriend, with seemingly little effort on her part, made his body erupt with pleasure once again.

This time he let out a little squeak, his head hitting the pillow with a thump. His mind now little more than mush, the only thing he could do was lie there and try to get his legs to stop twitching. What Cadence was doing, if that was actually Cadence and not another one of his weird sex dreams, felt good, really good. Since the poor man had, for reasons not even known to himself, neglected to relieve himself for months, it was making Ares whimper to himself as he cracked open an eye and peered downward, a part of him eager to see what Cadence was doing and another part of him strangely dreading it.

Her eyes were half-lidded, and it looked like she would be smiling if she could, like doing this was going to make her whole week. Ares could even hear her trying to hum a tune around his dick as she continued to just play with the head of his cock, not bothering to move her head at all, but just sucking and licking and gently nipping his very sensitive flesh.

The sight alone was almost enough to make him lose it, Ares biting his lip hard to keep from giving Cadence a nasty surprise. He could feel that familiar starting to reach its peak, so, with more willpower than he knew he had, he forced himself to sit up a little bit, the act stopping Cadence in her tracks, her teasing stopped as she froze in surprise before she looked up at him.

The pink princess herself regarded him with an unblinking eyeball as he looked back down at her. Still trying to decided whether or not this was, in fact, a dream, Ares tried again. “Cadence?” he said a little louder, his mind trying to chug out complete thoughts and failing when he noticed that the alicorn still had her lips snuggly wrapped around his head. “...Cadence?

Cadence blinked for a second before she smiled around his shaft. “Gutheoritmhphm,” Ares thought she said from around his shaft, the vibrations of her voice making him tense again. Gritting his teeth, he managed to say, “Try talking without out your mouth full.”

He tensed again when she giggled, taking him out of her mouth with a pop. Giving his head a final lick, she looked at him and smiled as she sat up. “Oh, good morning, Ares,” she said brightly, bringing up a hoof so she could stroke his still achingly hard member, “you mind helping me out here?” She spread her legs, giving him a view of her soaking wet sex.

“As you can see, I’m a little heated.”

@!~~!@

There’s my sleepy human, my lust-addled mind thought while I presented myself to him.

I couldn’t help but giggle when he just blinked at me in confusion and sleepiness, his mouth opening and closing. “…Um… what?”

I leaned down and gave his head another teasing lick, smiling to myself when I saw him biting his lip. “Well, honey, I felt this little guy poking my flank this morning,” I said matter-of-factly, giving his cock another squeeze, “I thought, since you had your fun with me the other day, I could have a little fun with you.”

Seeing that he was still confused, I fought back the raw hunger that was building in my stomach and crawled upwards towards his face, squashing his cheeks together with my hooves while I pressed my face against his. “So what do you say, my little human,” I asked, nibbling the tip of his nose while he stared back into my eyes, “will you help your fillyfriend out?” I nudged his length with my tail, smiling when he bit his lip. “I’d be okay if you just want to watch me—umph!”

My eyes widened when I felt Ares’ lips crash into mine, his tongue all but forcing its way into my mouth. Laughing in delight, I wrestled with his tongue for a second before breaking the kiss. “Easy there, Ares.” Nuzzling his cheek, I looked back at his throbbing manhood. “You can use that tongue of yours all you—epp!”

I expected my little remark to get a blush out of Ares, maybe some stuttering or silly talk, heck, I thought that he was at least going to let me finish my sentence, but no, my human got a little … aggressive.

Something flashed in his eyes, and almost before I knew what was going on, Ares spun me around, which almost gave me whiplash—not that I’m complaining—dug his fingers into my flank, and gave my marehood a big, sloppy lick.

The only thing I could do was gasp, a moan escaping my mouth as a jolt of pleasure forced my wings to snap open for a second before I wrangled them back to my sides. “S-Someone’s e-eager,” I said, my eyes crossing when I felt his tongue brush against my nub. “O-oh m-my…”

I had a thin sheen of sweat coating my body, and my legs were wobbly and weak. It had been so long since somepony had done this to me that I knew I wasn’t going to last as long as I’d like. With Ares and everything that he was doing, there was no way I was going to be able to savor our first time doing this together.

I wanted to savor this; I wanted the two of us to take our time with the other, learning what we liked, what felt good, and what made the other happy.

Ares took his hands off my flanks for a moment so he could pull me down onto his body, almost making me impale his leg with my horn. I tried to take a deep breath, tried to loosen up my tense muscles, but then he started to aggressively knead my cutiemarks, tensing me right back up in the best possible ways. “A-A l-little slower, A-Ares,” I panted, gripping his legs like my life depended on it, “I d-don’t want t-to finish too e-early.”

For a second, I thought that he didn’t hear me, but then his almost frantic licking stopped. I looked over my shoulder to see my human looking down at me with a slightly ashamed expression. Reaching down, he grabbed me, gently spun me around, and lifted me upward.

“I’m sorry, Candy,” he muttered, burying his face into my neck. “I didn’t mean to get carried away…”

I smiled, giving his nose a little kiss. “It’s alright, Ares. In fact, I’m happy that I’ve gotten you all ready and raring to go.” I giggled when I saw a blush sweep across his face. “But since this is our first time doing this together, how about we just take our sweet time?” Humming to myself, I leaned down and captured his lips in mine and played with his tongue before the kiss as quickly as I started it.

“Alright, Candy,” Ares said breathlessly, stroking my neck with a hand, “well, go as slow as you want.”

I nuzzled his cheek. “Alright, Ares,” I said sweetly, not noticing that his hands were slowly making their way downward, “now what do you want to--epp!” I couldn’t help but squeal when I felt one of my human’s hand’s giving my flank a squeeze.

Ares kissed my jaw while he grinned like a madman and I blushed like a filly with her first crush. “How about you and I take the scenic route, my pretty pink princess?” he almost teased, giving my flank another hard pinch.

My legs twitched and I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from moaning. “N-no fair,” I pouted while he give my neck another tender kiss. “S-Starting without m-me.”

Ares’s green eyes stared up at me mischievously . “Did I ever tell you that you look adorable while you’re blushing like that?”

My already red face flushed even more. Nudging him with my nose, I shakily huffed and muttered, “Just get to touching me already!” Laughing to himself while he gave my neck another little kiss, my human did just that.

Very slowly he started touching me everywhere, starting from the tip of my horn and inching downward, all the while stealing kisses from me whenever he could. I, not able to really do anything in my position, could only lean away from his kisses or dart in to lick his neck whenever I felt the need as he played with me.

Those fingers of his kneaded my shoulders and neck for a few minutes, relaxing me, before he started to tickle my barrel. I squirmed and laughed, until I was almost ready to cry. “I’m going to bite your ear off if you keep doing that,” I warned, only getting another kiss on the nose for my troubles.

That almost primeval hunger that I had been feeling was being replaced by that warm, butterflies-in-the-stomach kind of feeling again. I could hear Ares laughing in synch with my giggles as I tried to squirm away from his fingers. It was then, when I managed to look down and see that he was smiling and his eyes were lit up in happiness, that I realized just how much my human loved me, and it made that warm feeling in my stomach almost hurt.

He wanted to see and make me happy, and he didn’t care if I was a pony or not. He cared about me, and loved me, for me.

Not able to help myself, I grabbed my human and and all but forced him into another kiss. “I love you,” I whimpered, pressing my forehead against his and closing my eyes, trying to keep the tears from coming out them. “I love you, Ares.”

Ares hummed to himself as he looked up at me. “I love you too Mi Amore Cadenza,” he said, kissing both of my cheeks, then my forehead, and then finally kissing me on the lips. His hands stopped what they were doing so they could wrap around me and pull me close, Ares and I just enjoying our closeness for a minute while I sniffled.

“I must looked real sexy now huh?” I joked, rubbing my eyes with a hoof.

Ares gave my flanks another squeeze. “Sexiest pink pony I ever met,” he said.

I gave him a playful shove and giggled, frowning to myself when I felt something throbbing against my leg. Looking down at ‘little Ares’, I said, “Oh, it looks like I’m just sitting here and doing nothing.” Teasing his length with my tail, I smiled and kissed Ares’ neck. “You got to play with me, now it’s time that I got to do a little playing of my own~.”

Ares pouted. “Aw, I still wanted to go for a few minutes,” he told me, though I could see a little fire in his eyes that told me the contrary.

Willing myself onto shaky hooves, I batted my eyelashes at him. “Too bad,” I told him while drinking in the sight of his naked body one more time. “It’s my turn to play~.”

Before he could say anything, I snuck in and gave his neck a nip, making him squeak in surprise. Before he could recover, I started kissing and nipping his neck, then I started kissing his chest, all the while keeping an eye on his face to see his expression.

My human was looking down at me, his face red, and his breath started to quicken. That little red in his cheeks spread when I reached his stomach, and seemed to spread up and down his whole body by the time I got to his lower body. I myself was having nothing short of a blast playing with him, kissing every bit of his body that I could reach in the position that I was in. I could practically hear his heartbeat all the way from his belly, which I was gently nipping.

I smiled when I saw Ares gripping the sheets like his life depended on it. Heh, I knew that It’d be better taking our time I thought, trying to keep myself from speeding up. Though I was getting a kick out what I was doing, I knew for a fact that I only had a few more agonizing inches until I reached the promised land, and just knowing that was bring back that hungry feeling again.

Getting more than a little impatient, I stopped my kissing and looked up at my panting human. “Are you ready to do something else, my little human?” I asked, wiggling my flank at him.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone nod so eagerly before in my life. “Y-Yes,” Ares sounding a bit shaky, “but how do you--”

He stopped when I spun around and laid myself down on top of him with a little plop. Looking over my shoulder at him, I said brightly, “There, now we can have fun with each other at the same time.” Oh sweet Faust, please don’t let him feel me shaking like a leaf…

Ares gulped and nodded, his hands going to my back legs and pulling me upwards until my flank was in his face and I could feel his hot breath against my marehood.

“T-there we go,” I said, taking a few deep breaths to try to stop myself from panting, “n-now you j-ju—ah~”

I felt my human’s teeth, most of them sharper than anything that I had in my mouth, very gently nipping one of my lips as he moved his head back and forth, rubbing his nose against my sex before he straight up kissed my other lips. It was slow, and it was slightly awkward, but sweet Faust it felt awesome.

I squeaked, stars filling my vision as every muscle in my body went limp. Trying to keep some semblance of mind, I managed to twist my head to keep from poking my human with my horn as my head hit his thigh with a little meaty thump.

I tried to open my mouth to say something else when I felt him give me a little tentative lick. My back arched and I bit my hoof to muffle my moan. Ahh, this is the best morning ever! I thought, rolling my hips, trying to push Ares’ tongue deeper inside me. Every other thought that wasn’t about rutting was now gone from my mind, replaced with my human’s tongue and the amazing things that he was doing with it. With each lick and kiss, Ares seemed to be getting bolder and more confident , his fingers digging into my flank as he pressed me down so hard that I was worried that he wasn’t going be be able to breathe.

I closed my eyes and bit my lip; it felt like everything that he was doing was being multiplied by a thousand. Every hot breath against my sex made me shiver, every time his fingers pinched and stroked and played with anything my body clenched, an—

I cracked open an eye and I felt something slapping against my forehead, seeing my human’s throbbing cock towering above me. Oh shoot, I’m just sitting here letting Ares do all the work! And that was ab-sol-utely unacceptable! Mi Amore Cadenza was raised better than that! I needed to make this memorable for Ares, I needed him to think back on this moment and bite his lip at how amazing our first intimate moment together was.

Forcing my head upwards, I weakly moved my hooves towards it. You just need to concentrate, I thought, gently grasping it and bopping it against my nose. You don’t want Ares thinking that you’re bad in bed!

Taking a deep, shaky breath, I savored his scent before lowering his length towards my lips. You need to move up a little bit, some small part of my mind thought while I very slowly licked my new favorite toy from base to head. Ares tensed for a second, letting out a startled moan, before easing back into his licking and groping.

Butterflies in my stomach, I popped his head into my mouth with a slight slurp, humming in pleasure. I was rewarded with another startled moan, Ares bucking his hips, and a little spurt of frosting, which I licked and swallowed with relish.

My eyes widened in surprise. Here I thought I was probably going to be rusty and I already have him more than ready. It doesn’t look like Ares is gonna last long, I thought, using a hoof to once again cup his balls. I must have let the poor guy work himself up more than I thought.

Thankfully for me, he wasn’t girthy enough to choke me, but it was still a little difficult to take more than a few inches of him at a time, at first. I would be the first to admit that my skills had gotten a little rusty, but as I went on it felt like learning to fly again, and that’s something you never really forget. Flap your wings hard, pay attention to wind currents, and keep your eyes on the skies is practically the same as suck, slurp, and deepthroat if you sit down and think about it enough.

It took a few minutes, and I knew for a fact that my throat was going to be sore in the morning, but I slowly found out what was working. Ares seemed to go nuts when I used a lot of tongue so I did just that, my wet muscle teasing and toying and trailing up and down and around his length. I wanted to take my time with him, so I just started off nice and easy; I wasn’t going to try deepthroating him or do something that could hurt either of us since we were still trying to get used to each other.

What I was doing was high school grade at best, and my technique could have been better, but after a few minutes of ‘getting to know him’ I already could feel him starting to twitch in my mouth. Wanting to make him last a little longer, I started to just kiss his tip and stroke him so I could use one of my trade secrets.

“Does this feel good, my little human?” I patted his stomach to get his attention.“Your princess blowing you like the little whorse she is?”

I heard him groan and I had to steady myself when he tried to buck into my mouth. “Or maybe you just like eating me out like this?” I wiggled my flank back and forth, forcing his face deeper into me. “I could wake you up every morning like this you—“

I paused when I felt Ares’ hands clenching my flanks as he tried to lift me off him. Because he was either too aroused to do it or because I got heavier all he managed to do was rock me forward, but from his twitching legs I think I knew what he was trying to say.

That alone almost made my morning. Most stallions would just grin and shoot their load down your throat without any warning, so it was really nice to know that I had a lover that respected me enough to think I might want a say in whether or not I had a taste of him or not.

Oh, you have to cum? Ares lightly patted my back, obviously trying to tell me to get off. Well, you’re going to give me a taste, whether you like it or not~

When I felt him twitch again I inhaled half of his length, my tongue swirling around his head as my hoof continued to gently play with his sack. I wanted him to remember this; I wanted him to look back at this while biting his lip when he remembers how hard I made him cum.

And I’m only going to get better as the days go by, I thought, sucking as hard as I could as I closed my eyes, using my front legs to keep Ares from bucking upwards. I started to bob my head as quick as I could, spit and pre flying everywhere, ignoring my slightly aching throat and focusing on the task ahead.

I tried my hardest, my very, very hardest to ignore that warmth that was building in my loins, but in the end my body just kind of got fed up and rudely reminded that I was also receiving a lot of pleasure. It had been building up and building up and now was the time for all of the pleasure to peak.

My whole body started to curl in on itself as my eyes widened, every bit of pleasure that I had been trying to ignore seemingly hitting me all at once. Pulling Ares out of my mouth, I tensed again and screamed, “OH BUCK!” as my orgasim hit me like a runaway wagon.

Every muscle in my body went limp, my head hitting my human’s thigh once more as I twitched and wheezed and watched all of the stars that invaded my vision as I rode out one of the hardest orgasms in living memory.

For what seemed like an eternity, all I was able to do was twitch and pant and grin like an idiot as I rode it out, leaving me feeling exhausted, sweaty, and happier than you could imagine… or I would be, once I managed to get myself up and finish off my human.

Oh wait… I have magic… I thought, my horn managing to sputter to life. Being as careful as I could, I started to stroke him as fast as I was able. Gathering what little strength I had left, I reached out with my hooves and scooched up a little bit so I could wrap my lips around Ares’ cockhead. Closing my eyes in contentment, I started to gently suck while my magic continued to play with him.

I felt Ares’ body tense as he moaned once again, though this one sounded desperate, or maybe hungry was a better word. I could tell that he was so close, so close to giving me what I wanted; so like any good marefriend, I happily obliged him.

COME ON! I WANT IT I WANT IT I WANT IT! I desperately thought, my tongue swirling around his head so his seed wouldn’t just shoot down my throat. GIVE IT TO ME GIVE IT TO ME GIVE IT TO ME!

I couldn’t help but moan when the first spurt of pre cum hit my tongue , the salty-sweetness of his essence making my eyes roll into the back my my head. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, I lost my grip on my cock, and with a twitch it popped out of my mouth .

“Oh shoot,” I muttered, closing my eyes as the first strand of cum hit my face. Strand after strand after strand spurted from Ares as he bucked, forcing me to hold onto his leg for dear life to keep myself from being thrown off the bed. Soon though, Ares just went limp, giving me the chance to scramble in and put his twitching cock in my mouth so I could taste his seed.

I hummed and bobbed my head up and down the cock, trying to milk it for all its worth. Come on, you have a little more for me to taste I desperately thought as the tide of cum started to lessen and finally stop.

...Well, at least I got a little bit of it I mused, taking Ares out of my mouth. Swishing everything I was able to collect in my mouth to savor the taste, I swallowed, humming in delight at the flavor as I used a spell to get the some of the cum off my face so I could open my eyes and assess the damage, breaking into an utterly and thoroughly satisfied grin as I opened an eye.

I could feel most of my human’s cum on my chest and face, and I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t gotten more to taste from the tap, but then I just mentally shrugged. It wasn’t like we couldn’t do this again, and again … and again. I’m sure that I was going to be able to taste all the cum I wanted in the very near future.

With a tired sigh, I set my head back on my human’s thigh. “Bucking … buck,” I moaned, licking the cum off my lips. “Can’t … feel … my …. legs…”

I lay there for a long while, trying to catch my breath and will the strength back into my limbs, just basking in my afterglow and listening to mine and my human’s heavy breathing. I couldn’t be happier with how this turned out, I hazily thought while I cracked open an eye to see that I was absolutely covered in cum; my face, Ares’ cock, and his lap, just covered.

It looked like my human had been a little more pent up than I thought.

Giggling to myself, I used my wing to wipe off what I could from my face before giving Ares’ rapidly softening member a quick licking. I cracked a smile when I felt little Ares twitch in my mouth, trying to rise back to full mast but unfortunately failing. Don’t you worry little guy, I thought, taking the little guy to the base and sucking as hard as I could—and giggling when I saw Ares’ leg twitch—You and I will have plenty of time to play together; I can promise you that.

Swirling my little treat in my mouth for a second, enjoying the flavor one last time, I swallowed. “You were wonderful, Ares,” I complimented, chuckling to myself when I realized that I was pretty much still sitting on his face. “Whoops, hang on, I’ll get off you.”

With a little grunt, I rolled off of Ares and looked at the cum-covered, naked, and sleeping man. For a second, I thought my big flank had accidentally suffocated him, and I kind of panicked. Scrambling around, I patted his cheek, , “Ares,” I said, trying to keep myself calm, “Ares? Are you alright?”

I lowered my head to his chest and listened for a heartbeat, sighing in relief when I heard his heart thumping steadily. “It looks like I was a little too rough on you, my little big human,” I said with a nervous giggle, levitating some tissues over and cleaning his face up.

Seeing that I hadn’t sexed my human to death, I calmed down and realized just how tired I was. “Boy, I almost forgot how tired this makes you,” I mused aloud, yawning hugely while I rubbed my eye with a hoof. “Too bad though; I would have liked to play with Ares a little more.”

Looking down, I couldn’t help but smile at how cute Ares looked sleeping. “After the workout we just had I think we deserve a little rest.” Snuggling up against Ares, I threw the covers over us and closed my eyes. “When we wake up we can take a bath, get something to eat, and then I can rut your brains out.”

Yep, it looked like today was going to be a good day.

Lipstick and ICE CREAM!!!

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You know, after somepony wakes up from a very fun-filled afternoon and they’re just laying in their bed with their coltfriend, sometimes they happen to remember or think of some very odd things. And trust me, I might be the spokesmare for the weird-thinking-after-sex thing. Here, let me give you an example.

I’ve heard the term ‘sex marathon’ tossed around when I was younger and still living back at Canterlot. I’m sure you’ve heard it. A stallion walks by another stallion who's had an interesting night, the two of them get to talking, and he says, ‘Boy did I have a sex marathon last night! I could barely keep the mares off me in the club!’, the one stallions congratulates the other on a job well done, and the two go on their merry way, whistling some happy tune.

This is all well and good for the stallions, but to pretty much every mare that hears it, through their coltfriend’s saying it to their faces or they just accidently happened to hear it, it seems like a dirty, horrible thing to say. I mean, how would you like your special somepony to look up at you, smile, and say, ‘Hey, honey, thanks for the sex marathon last night!’

…Yes, this was actually what I was thinking after I woke up in my bed, and no, I do not appreciate the look you’re giving me, so just let me get back to the explanation, alright?

Me, being the young, inquisitive mare that I had been—and still am thank you very much—I decided to do a little research about the phrase and why so many ponies used it in the city, and without a doubt, what I found surprised me.

You see, before the founding of Equestria, when the three tribes were separate, the Pegasi and the Gryphons broke out into war. For years and years and years the two races fought the very long and very bloody war. Hundreds died each year, fields and mountains and the very skies seemed soaked with blood, and it had looked like it wasn’t going to end without the complete and utter annihilation of one of the races.

Since the other two pony races had refused to help, and since the Pegasi were starting to get desperate trying to find a way to end the costly war, they decided to do something extreme. Calling the gryphon chiefs to a parley, they sat together and talked.

For days and days they sat there, yelling and arguing with each other about this and that until somepony finally figured out something that would end the war and make both the Pegasi and the Gryphons happy. So you see, instead of some final battle or actually having somepony say that they were sorry, they figured out that the best way to solve their dispute was to get a whole bunch of ponies and gryphons in a pit and have an orgy with only one rule: the last race standing would win the war and the other race would surrender.

Sometimes history is weirder than anything you could make up, huh?

Well, to make a longish story short, after it was all said and done, one Pegasus was left standing amidst a crowd of sweaty, exhausted creatures: an up and coming young soldier named Hurricane, who would later become a leader and founder of Equestria.

I still have the history book if you want to see if I’m lying or not; it’s actually a pretty book to look through when you have nothing better to do.

After that whole debacle, the term ‘sex marathon’ came into being. Back in the day it was actually used as a term of respect, it meant that you were able to persevere through any hardship, sexual or not … even though it was usually reserved for sexual situations most of the time.

Even now, when stallions are ‘talking’, it’s still a term that they use with pride.

Now, you may be asking yourself, ‘Cadence, why the hay did you just tell me that weird and slightly dumb story out of the blue like that?’ Well, after Ares and I had our fun and our nap, I was the first one to wake up. And let me tell you, it smelt like Ares and I had a sex marathon in this room.

The hot, sweaty, savory…

You know what? You probably know what that after-sex smell smells like; you’re a grown pony that probably has had a few partners, so I’m not going to tell you about it; you’re red in the face enough as it is, but you know what I’m talking about, right? You know that oddly comforting smell that puts a smile on your face, well at least it puts a smile on my face.

It had been a while since I’d smelt that smell, the smell of my arousal mixed with the odd scent of my human, but the bed reeked of it.

Closing my eyes I took in a deep breath before smiling. Yep, we’re going to have to change the sheets, I thought, giving my human a nuzzle. ...the two of us are probably going to have to take a shower or two to get the smell off us.

Smiling even wider, I laid a wing over Ares when I noticed that he was shivering from the cold. I heard my sleeping human sigh, and I felt his arms tiredly grabbing for me. Giggling to myself, I scooched upwards until I was face-to-face with him.

“I hope you always look so cute when you’re sleeping,” I muttered, rubbing my nose against his cheek, inhaling that familiar bubblegum scent. I giggled nervously, a blush coming to my face when I realized what was covering Ares’ face.

I kissed his nose. “Yeah, we need to get you cleaned off when you wake up,” I murmured, giving his lips a little lick. “Then we can spend the rest of the day getting dirty again~.” My tail swished eagerly at the thought, I once again leaned forward and tried to give my human’s nose a little lick. Unfortunately for me, that was when Ares sprung his trap.

I froze when Ares turned his head and opened his mouth, gently catching my tongue with his teeth. Ares opened an eye and gave me a sweet smile as he let go of my tongue. Leaning up, he pressed his lips against mine. Not one to make my coltfriend feel like he was doing all the work, I leaned down and returned the kiss. Grinning, I pressed myself against him, squealing happily when I felt his hands slowly sneaking their way downward from my barrel to my flank.

Well, good afternoon to you too, I thought, giving him a teasing but heated kiss before breaking it.

Ares smiled at me with half-lidded eyes. “Howdy here, Candy,” he murmured, giving my flank a playful squeeze while he reached up with the other hand to stroke my cheek. “And how was your nap?”

I kissed my cheek and wrapped my hooves around his neck. “I’m sore,” I admitted, giving him a little wink. “It’s been a while since I’ve cum that hard.”

Relief and more than a bit of happiness seemed to seep out of my human when I said this. He tried to hide it and his look was gone in an instant but I saw it. Leaning up a little bit and kissing his cheek, I tightened my grip around his neck. “You were great,” I promised, closing my eyes.

He chuckled in what I assumed was relief. “Thanks; you were pretty amazing yourself.”

I grinned. “How would you like to see how amazing I really am~?” I purred.

Rolling off Ares and toward the edge of the bed I stood up and got into a pouncing position, with my head low to the ground and my rump up in the air. Giving my flank a little shake, I growled playfully, eyeing my human like he was a piece of meat.

“Ready or not,” I gleefully said as Ares, grinning at me, got on his knees in what I assumed was a defensive position, “here I come~!”

#@!@##

It had been a rather boring day for our favorite-ish guardspony Flash. With the promise of a horrible day of training until he passed out from exhaustion, Flash had only one thing on his mind now that he realized that his little vacation was over and he was about to really get back to work.

I wonder if Ares would want to go out and get some ice cream? Flash thought as he made his way down the hallway. I bet he’d go if I ask him… I could really go for a scoop of vanilla.

Now that the private had returned to the Empire, he could honestly say that he was happy to be back home. Sure, it had been nice going on ‘vacation’ in Canterlot, and getting a fillyfriend, but it was better to be at home where you knew everypony and everypony knew you. Well, at least most of the guards here knew him well enough, so that had to count for something.

The thought of the guards made Flash frown slightly. Other than a few veterans that had been brought to the empire from Canterlot, the guards had been limited to them and the new guys that had finished their basic training a few months ago. The guards in the Empire were understaffed and they knew it, but before they could get more ponies to join and train for the guards, they needed someone to come in and crack a few skull and whip a few ponies unto shape to get what little of the guards they had into tip-top fighting shape.

Even a private like Flash knew that to do this, they needed one heck of a leader, and the Pegasus prayed to every god that he could think of in hope that Echo was the mare for the job. Without Shining, she was supposedly the next best thing for the Crystal Empire.

Not that Flash had a problem with being led by a mare—he did have a fillyfriend, and that’s all he needed to say about that—but she seemed a little too… yell-y for his taste… AND too grumpy, grouchy, she got upset too easily, and the crystal pony guards were still poking at her ears and demanding to know whether or not she was going to drink their blood while they slept.

Looking at all of these flaws that the Sergeant seemed to have, Flash couldn’t help but be a little nervous about his new commander, and that wasn’t even thinking about his fellow guardsponies. They were all supposed to be brothers and sisters,or at least that’s what Flash had been told in boot camp, but that didn’t mean that a unit or two wouldn’t hesitate in bucking the bat mare up if they didn’t like her.

I’m sure everything will work out fine, Flash thought with a shake of the head, turning the corner and entering the royal wing of the palace. Princess Luna herself gave Sergeant Echo the job, so I’m sure she’s more than qualified to lead and train everypony.

Flash smiled as some of his worries abated from his little pep-talk. “Yeah, I’m sure all everypony needs is a few more days to get situated, then everything will be running like a well-oiled machine!”

With a little hop and a skip, the private made his way over to the Cadence and Ares’ door. He was about to knock when he noticed something odd about said door, namely that it had a bluish tint to it. “What the hay is that?” Flash pondered aloud, tapping the magicked door with a hoof. “It looks like the princess’ magical aura… maybe it’s a dampening spell?”

Flash scratched his head. “But if it is, why do they need one?”

He thought quickly, trying to remember if there was anything important happening today that would require the princess to do something like this to her door. ...Maybe they’re just doing something important, he decided, not bothering to think about it anymore. Probably something government-y that’s too far above my paygrade for me to understand…

Chuckling to himself, Flash turned around and started to make his way down the hall, ready to just go back to the barracks, that is until his stomach grumbled loudly. Looking down at it, Flash frowned once again. “I still really want that ice cream,” he muttered, looking back at the blue-hued door.

Now the private was left with a decision on what to do about his grumbly tummy; two choices that could affect his, Ares, and the Princess’ night. One: he could just go by himself and get ice cream, like a no-friend loser. Two: he could try knocking on the door, hoping that they could somehow hear him, and get Ares to go with him to the ice cream parlor where they would have a great time being buds together.

It was either pull Ares away from his fillyfriend, and maybe something very important, or get no ice cream. If he actually interrupted something, he ran the risk of getting in trouble … or he and Ares could get ice cream. Heck, he could even be ruining some special moment between the human and alicorn that might be a defining part of their relationship, and as the human’s almost-probably-maybe best friend Flash should just suck it up and go by himself! ...Or get ice cream with one of his friends; triple chocolate with sprinkles if they still had it.

“Um, Princess?” Flash said after knocking on the door. “Princess? Can, if Ares isn’t busy and stuff, you send Ares out for a second? I want to see if he wants to go out and get some ice cream.”

When Flash was met with silence, he did what came naturally; namely, beating on the door like it owed him money.

“Princessprincessprincessprincessprince—“

Flash hopped backwards with a yelp as the door was thrown open, revealing Ares, whose only covering was a towel. The human looked sweaty, was covered in what looked like lipstick kisses, had this odd scent that Flash knew but couldn’t quite place, and he looked like he was trying his hardest to kill him with just an angry stare.

Oddly, Flash couldn’t help but feel that he may have, in fact, interrupted something a little more important than ice cream.

“What. Do. You. Want. For. Fuck’s. Sake. Flash,” Ares said through gritted teeth.

Flash backed up a little from the angry man. “…Um, I wanted to know if you wanted to go out and maybe get some ice cream?” Coughing anxiously, Flash looked up at his friend and flashed him a winning smile.

When he noticed that Ares hadn’t attacked him him yet, or done anything other than stand there with his eye twitching, Flash decided to state the case for his need for ice cream. “I know this great place down the road that sells this scoop that will knock the horseshoes off a—“

Slam!

Flash blinked in confusion as the door was slammed in his face. The private blinked a while longer before finally saying, “So… is that a no?”

@!##!@

I knew I should have cast a stronger dampening spell on the door, I thought, trying to fix my mane a little bit as Ares stormed back into our room with a look that would have given a dragon pause.

“Ice cream, fucking ice cream! I got cock blocked by Flash because he wanted to go out and get ice cream!” My human muttered, walking over to the bed and sitting down next to me. “I swear to God if that wasn’t so silly and adorable I’d have thrown him down the hall!”

Giggling, I crawled forward and sat next to my human, giving his neck a little kiss. Because our foreplay had been getting a little… heated, some things had gotten knocked off tables while the two of us had been kissing, and one of those things was a tube of cherry-red lipstick.

After a few more minutes of playing around with said lipstick, I had discovered that my silly human had a thing for mares that wore lipstick and being kissed by said mares. Having acquired that little bit of helpful information I did the only sensible thing that I could; I teased and tormented my human by leaving lipstick kisses all over his body. Right now I was covered in lipstick, as was a lot of our room, but I had a wild-eyed, red, and panting human because of it, so I considered the mess worth it.

I had gotten him so worked up that when I kissed his neck I heard a little whine escape his throat as he shivered. I was about to kiss him again, just put up a shield spell, ignore Flash, and get back to the foreplay, but I stopped myself. Now, now, Aunty Celestia raised you better than that. You can’t blow off your guard like he was some noble!

“Why don’t you go and play with Flash for a little while, honey?” I said, wrapping my wing around the visibly angry Ares’ shoulder. “You know that Flash didn’t mean to interrupt us; he just wanted to take his friend out to get some ice cream and spend time with him.”

Ares sighed. “But we were just about to get to the good part,” he muttered, sounding so disappointed that I couldn’t help but kiss his neck again.

“All we were doing was chasing each other around the room and kissing,” I said gently, rubbing my cheek against his. “It’s not like he caught us ‘in the act’.” Smirking, I started to nibble his neck. “We can have our fun for the rest of the night after you go out and get some ice cream.” Ares started to lightly pant, a blush starting to spread downwards toward his chest with each one of my little bites.

Getting up from my spot, I sat down in Ares’ lap and faced him. “Aw, don’t give me those puppy-dog eyes,” I teased, kissing his nose when I saw his look. “Tomorrow you and I have to go to work, along with Flash, so you should go out and do something with him.” I leaned toward his ear and gave it a gentle bit, “Tonight, after you get back, I’m going to make sure you’re walking funny to that flower shop in the morning, buster~,” I whispered huskily.

Ares chuckled nervously. “You know, the guy’s supposed to say that to the girl…”

He squeaked when I nipped his neck, not enough to hurt him but enough to leave a red mark. “You go and get a quick shower,” I told him, rolling out of his lap and off the bed, “I’ll go and talk to Flash while you’re getting ready to go.”

“Don’t forget, Candy, you’re covered in lipstick!”

Without turning around, I cast a glamor on myself to look like the normal, non-lipstick covered Cadence. “Thanks for reminding me, Ares,” I said, slightly embarrassed. “I might just have opened the door like this.”

“That’s why I love you, Candy … that and that ass of yours.”

Just as I reached the door, I looked over my shoulder at my cheeky human. Giving my flank a wiggle, I said, “I love you too~ Oh, and while you’re out, would you be a dear and get me some pistachio ice cream?”

I kept wiggling my butt back and forth to tease my human. You’re right I have a great butt, I thought, pleased with myself when I saw that Ares couldn’t keep his eyes off it. I had better after all the working out I do to keep the thing from getting bigger.

“Ares,” I said in amusement, “did you hear me?”

All I got was a nod from Ares as one of his hands reached for the bathroom doorknob.

“So are you going to get me my ice cream?”

Another nod.

I smiled again, fixing my mane with a hoof before I opened the door. “Good; now go get a shower, get some clothes on, get that bag of bits on the counter, and go and have some fun. Because,” Reaching up, I grabbed my human’s shirt collar and yanked him down. Leaning forward, I whispered in his ear. “Tonight you are I are going to buck like rabbits!”

@$#!!$@

“Alright, you two have fun,” Cadence said as she slowly started to close the door behind her. “Make sure you get Ares home before nine, Flash. He and I have … things to do.”

Flash saluted while Ares, now cleaned and dressed, rolled his eyes. “You can count on me, Princess,” the private said as she closed the door, leaving Flash and Ares alone in the hallway.

The Pegasus started to trot in place, looking like he was about to burst from excitement. “Oh, you’re just going to love this place, Ares,” he told the human, barely able to contain his glee, “it has over a hundred different flavors and I think it’s all you can eat Tuesday!”

Ares nudged his friend down the hall with a foot before following him. “That’s great, Flash buddy,” he said, still a little grumpy about the whole cock blocking thing.

Flash must have heard the tone in his voice because he stopped and looked back at him. “I’m sorry if I interrupted anything that was going on between you and the princess, Ares,” he said, actually sounding genuinely sorry. “I just wanted to take you out to get ice cream and everything because you’re going to start work tomorrow and we might not get to see each other as often since you’re working and I’ll be busy in the barracks…” Ares couldn’t help but feel a little bad as Flash trailed off, looking sadly at the ground like a puppy that has just done something bad.

Is it wrong to think one of your guy friends is adorable? Ares thought as he walked up and patted Flash on the back.

“Aw, come on, Flash, you didn’t really interrupt anything,” Ares lied, giving his friend his best smile, “and I’m sure that the two of us will get to hang out with each other all the time!”

Flash looked back up at him and sniffled, wiping his nose with a hoof. “Really?” He weakly asked.

Ares slapped him on the back. “Yep! How about the two of us just sit down one day and figure out our schedules to see whats up. I can get up real early and go and work out with you or we could do something later. How does that sound big guy?”

Flash smiled and nodded. “Alright.”

“Alright then, let’s go and get some—“

“And where do you two think you’re going?” Echo demanded, her sudden appearance made Flash and Ares jump into the air.

“Stupid batman bat horse,” Ares muttered, holding his hand to his rapidly beating chest. “Popping up and scaring the shit out of people for no reason...”

His reflexes taking over, Flash saluted. “We’re going to go out and get some ice cream, ma’am,” he said not looking her in the eyes. “I’ve finished the duties that you’ve assigned for me for the day and—“

“Shush, private,” Echo interrupted, rolling her eyes, “we’re not in the barracks, and I happen to be off duty myself, so why don’t you get that stick out of your flank.” Flash sighed in relief as Echo glared at Ares, who was glaring back.

“And what the heck’s got your panties in a bunch?” Ares asked. “And why can’t you just not pop up like that? You almost gave me a heartattack.”

Echo growled. “You’re lucky I don’t start beating your monkey flank up and down this hallway,” she told him, poking his thigh. “It took me twenty bucking minutes to get away from those kids!”

Now smiling, Ares reached over and ruffled her mane, almost losing a finger when she snapped at him. “Aw, come on, Echo, those kids were adorable!” He looked her up and down. “And I think you’ve still got some snot in your mane from that little interaction,” he told her, pointing out the slightly discolored glop of something in the bat pony’s mane.

Echo growled again, her look becoming murderous as she took an angry step forward. Flash, not really wanting to have to break up a hoof fight, stepped in-between the two.

“Um, Sergeant, ma’am,” he said, trying not to flinch when Echo gave him a withering look, “I’m sure Ares is really sorry about what he did—“

“Not really, no,” Ares said with a shrug. “It’s what she gets for almost letting me get stabbed by the d—“

“Like I said,” Flash interrupted, glaring at Ares before looking at his superior with a weak smile, “I’m sure he’s sorry; in fact, why don’t you come down to the ice cream parlor with the two of us? Ares can get you a cone or something to apologize!”

Ares was about to protest when Flash kicked him in the shin. “Alright,” the human grumbled, rubbing his leg. “Yeah, Flashy here is right; I’m sorry.”

Echo narrowed her eyes. “Even though I know that that’s a load of horseapples, monkey, I accept your apology.” She threw a nasty grin his way. “And you know what? I’d love to get some ice cream with the two of you.”

Wrapping a hoof around Flash’s neck, the bat pony chuckled and gave Ares’ shin a little kick of her own, making the human hop up into the air.

“Mother fucker!” he cursed as Echo grinned. “Will you both stop kicking me there?!”

Echo stopped and looked back at him, a hammy smile still on her face. “Stop being a big baby and come on; we have some ice cream to eat!” Doing a little hop in the air and clicking her hooves together, the mare rolled her eyes before she all but dragged Flash down the hallway.

Ares looked her over while he continued to rub his aching leg. “Stupid crafty bat horse,” he muttered, limping after the two, “If I get kicked once more I’m just eating one of the funny bastards … that fucking hurt.”

“Stop talking to yourself and get that monkey flank moving!”

Ten minutes ago I was JUST about to get laid. Now I’m going to go get FUCKING ICE CREAM instead of spending time with my beautiful girlfriend… Ares couldn’t help but pinch the bridge of his nose and close his eyes in irritation.

“You know,” he muttered to himself, “I don’t think I’ve ever been so mad about going out with some friends and getting ice cream before.” Looking back over his shoulder at his bedroom door, he couldn’t help but remember what Cadence had said.

Well, at least I have something to look forward to, he thought. And hopefully she uses some more of that lipstick again, He shivered. That was pretty hot...

@!##!@

As Ares closed the doors behind him, I dispelled the glamor that I had put on myself and took a minute to look around my room, which could have been compared to a warzone. Here were chairs knocked over, I had make-up and jewelry all over the floor, the bed just looked like an angry bear had been at it; all in all I could tell that it was going to take a little bit of elbow grease to clean this mess up.

“Maybe I should go and take a shower before I tackle all of this,” I muttered to myself as I took the sheets and comforter off the bed and put them in the dirty laundry bin. “I don’t want this lipstick staining my coat… and I really don’t want Ares to think I stink when he gets back.”

Checking to see that nopony was about—call it silly paranoia but I just wanted to make sure—I did a quick sniff test, wincing at my … mature odor. Boy I can’t do any kind of workout without sweating like a noble at a charity, I thought, putting on some new bedding and going over and fixing the chairs.

“Yep, I’ll get a shower, clean the rest of this up, and wait for my ice cream and my human,” I said, doing a little skip in excitement. Sure, it had been a teeny bit awkward when I found him reading that book, but did I have to dance around the issue? Did I have to hint and tease and pray that he’d get the message? Nope, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had a stallion that made it a thousand times easier for her to get into his pants!

Wow, that sounded not great know that I think about it…. Well, moving on.

After taking that shower, and getting everything put back where it belonged, I went over and sat down on my bed. “Well, it looks like I have a good bit of time until they get back,” I said to myself, looking around my room for something to stave off the wait.

I always could get a little dressed up for Ares, and I could go and set up some candles to give the room a little something, I thought, trotting around and inspecting the room. I smirked when my gaze rested on my bookshelf full of erotic literature. Grinning hugely, I got up and trotted toward the bookshelf and pulled down the third edition of the pony sutra.

“All you need to know about pleasing your biped,” I read from the title, carrying the book toward the bed. “You know, it also wouldn’t hurt to read up on some things while I’m waiting…” I murmured, levitating a batch of candles from a cabinet and setting them on the table. “But first, I’m going to make sure this room blows Ares’ socks off when he sees it.” I giggled. “Hopefully that makes him lose his other clothes too.”

@#!@#

“We’ll be stopping at the Crystal Empire train station in twenty minutes, fillies and gentlecolts,” The ticketmaster yelled, breaking Shining out of his stupor.

Why the hay is he even yelling? Shining thought, glaring at the aging stallion before he went back to looking out the window. I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one on this train other than him

It had been pretty painless to tell his parents goodbye. It was a little harder when he had sent that letter to his sister explaining what he had been doing and where he was going. She wanted him to stay in Canterlot, or at least come down to Ponyville so the two of them could talk about it.

Even now Shining couldn’t help but snort at the thought. Heh, she wanted to be rational about all of this, he mused. Like I’m a sane pony at the moment anyway. At least there was something to be said for his stubbornness at least. Not very many stallions would go this length to get some closure.

He chuckled at the thought of one of his old guard buddies standing outside of one of their ex’s houses and demanding that they be allowed in so they could have a ‘talk’. They always said that I was the sentimental one, Shining thought to himself as he stared out the window, a small smile on his face.

Even though he had no idea how anypony was going to take him coming back like this unannounced, Shining couldn’t help but look forward seeing the Empire again. During his short time there he had grown to love the culture, the food (Gods did they make some BUCKING good food), and the people there and was happy to come back and witness it again.

Sure, he wasn’t coming back as a prince, and sure, there was a good chance that Cadence was just going to take one good look at him and throw his flank out into the tundra but--

None of that, Shining Armor, he thought fiercely to himself, trying to clear his thoughts by shaking his head, you know Cadence wouldn’t do that to you! Shining sat up in his seat with his chest puffed out. You wanted to get your bucking closure? Well buddy, you’re going to get it, even if you have to crawl all the way to the castle! So what if Cadence might not give you a job? That’s not the reasons you’re here!

Deciding that now out be a good time to get his bags, Shining reached up and started fiddling with cabinet above his seat. You’ll talk to Ares and Cadence, have a heart-to-heart with them and then you’ll ask Cadence for a job. If she says no you can go back to Canterlot and get an assignment there, and if she says yes…

Shining slumped back into his seat with a sigh. ...Well if she says yes, then I’m going to have to think about what to do when I get to that… If I get to that.

Shining was on the only train that went to the Empire; a train that only went to said place a few times a month, so if he was going to get flat out rejected then he was stuck there for a while. But that didn’t matter, he was a stallions who was going to the Empire to take names and chew bubblegum. ..And he was all out of bubblegum.

Later, Back at the Empire…

“Alright, see you in the morning, Ares!” Flash said, waving at his friend before walking into the barracks with Echo.

“See you Flash, bat horse!” Ares said with a wave, exceptionaly happy that he was done eating ice cream. Why the heck did Flash even take us there? he thought as he made his way to the kitchen to get Cadence a bowl and a spoon for her ice cream, a gesture he was sure that she was going to appreciate. I swear to god that was a kiddie parlor! I’m an adult dammit, I should be going to adult ice cream places, where they’re playing pool and there’s that AC/DC song playing in the background that everyone knows!

Not that he was particularly sore about going out with Flash and Echo; it had been a fun time, but now he had another ‘fun time’ that he wanted to get to. He and Cadence had work in a few hours; he’d be seeing what his new job is like, so he’d have get up even earlier than usual to make a good impression. That only gave him a few hours until he had to leave. So he was going to spend that time the right way, going on a little date with his favorite pink princess; the kind of date where you skip past all of the boring stuff and you tear each other’s clothes off.

After getting the bowl and spoon from the kitchen, Ares made his way back to his bedroom. I wonder if I got the ice cream Candy wanted, he thought, looking down at the container of ice cream as he pawed for the bedroom door I don’t feel like getting yelled at because I got her pecan.

“Hey, Candy,” he said, not noticing that the room had been lit by candles because he had to make sure that he wasn’t going to drop anything and look like a putz. “I got you your—“ Ares froze in place when he finally managed to look up and see Cadence, who was lounging lazily on the bed, her mane tied up in a ponytail, sucking on a lollipop.

Cadence gave him a sultry look, taking her lollipop out of her mouth with a pop. “Oh, hello, honey,” she said in a mixture of happiness and erotic glee that almost made him forget his name, “did you get my ice cream?”

Still not able to form words, Ares silently lifted the carton of ice cream to show her.

“Thank you, baby,” the pink alicorn said, looking him up and down while he just stood there. Giggling when she saw his slack-jawed expression, she carefully levitated the carton , bowl, and spoon out of his hands and floated them over toward her. “Did you get me pistachio like I wanted?”

“Um … they were out so I got you pecan?” Ares lied, trying, and failing, to compose himself. Sweet Odin, just fucking look at her!

Cadence giggled again, opening the carton and peering inside. “Well, lucky for you you got my second favorite kind of ice cream,” she said, making sure he saw her sensually licking at her frozen treat.

Not able to stand it anymore, Ares whimpered, trying to keep himself quiet by biting his lip. Cadence’s ears perked up and she raised an eyebrow. “Aw,” she said sympathetically, spreading her legs and giving him an eyeful, “does someone need a treat too?”

Putting the container of ice cream down on the counter, she gave Ares a come-hither wave. “Well, I’m all you can eat, honey~?” She purred, batting her eyelashes at him.

At that moment, something snapped inside of Ares the human, changing him from the carefree and loving guy that he always thought himself to be and into nothing less than an animal. Being an animal, he did the only sensible thing that one could do when presented with a pretty girl that wanted to bang his brains out; he ran over and got to the boning.

With an animalistic roar, Ares charged. In five giant steps, He managed to rip off his pants, his shirt, his shoes and socks, before leaping into the bed and crawling toward Cadence, who was laughing in childish delight. He was about to kiss his favorite pink alicorn when she stopped him with a hoof.

“Hang on for a second,” she said, her horn glowing. “I just want to make sure no pony will interrupt us this time.”

Even though he really didn’t want to, Ares held back. Being a sex-crazed animal was fine and all, but at least he could make sure Cadence was comfortable with everything before he just threw her down onto the bed and banged her brains out until neither of would be able to move in the morning. Sure, it was hard being a gentleman, but someone had to do it.

Trying to steady his breath, he asked, “How are you gonna go that, Candy?” Not able to completely stop himself, he slowly started running his hands down her body.

Cadence giggled, giving him a light shove as her horn glowed. “Ares. Stoooop! I’m trying to cast a spell!” She whined, though not really trying to stop him in any way.

Kissing her neck, Ares asked, “What spell is that?”

“Oh, I’ll just turn our door into stone; that should do plenty.”

Ares couldn’t help but laugh before kissing his marefriend’s neck again and reaching for his boxers. “Here’s hoping that you know how to change it back. I really don’t want to have to jump through the window to get to the kitchens,” he joked, reaching around and giving the alicorn’s rump a little squeeze.

Cadence growled, grabbing Ares by the neck and pulling him into a kiss. “You don’t need to worry about that now,” she told him heatedly. “You need to worry about me bucking your brains out until the sun comes up!”

Ares almost yelped when he was shoved onto his back, Cadence climbing on top of him with a pleased hum. Looking at his boxers for a moment, she looked him right in the eye. “Now be a good boy and get those boxers off,” she commanded, her wings flaring a little bit in impatience, “you and I have a long night ahead of us!”

When God Closes a Door...

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“Alright fillies, lights out in five minutes! Make sure to brush your teeth, put on your jammies, and rest up, ‘cause we’ve got PT in the morning!”

Flash sighed in contentment as he cleaned his helmet.Well, it looks like I’m back to running my flank off and being yelled at by my superiors, he thought, oddly happy about his predicament. Even though it was fun running around with Ares, there was just something about guard duty that put him at ease.

A sergeant will almost burst a blood vessel yelling at you and you might just throw up from exhaustion when they decide to punish you because you didn’t have your armor on its rack properly, but they would never throw you into highly tense, touchy-feely scenarios where you felt far too tired to even lift your head afterwards. No, life in the military was simple, upfront, and you pretty much knew what you were getting into when you signed up.

All he was going to have to do was guard the princess for a few hours a day, he might have to do some patrolling, but that was it. He could do that and have his fun with Ares or another one of his fellow guards, or do pretty much anything else during his down time. Yep, everything was going back to the normal, orderly, and boring life that Flash was more than ready to get back to.

It almost made up for the fact that he was going to be running, training, scrubbing, running, lifting, getting yelled at, and running until his feathers fell out. Did he mention that he was going to be doing a lot of running? Because he was, probably more than most ponies run in their lives in fact.

Echo, it seemed, did not like the physical fitness of the crystal guard, so she decided that a mini boot camp was in order to get everypony back into tip-top shape; and Flash couldn’t be happier about it. He was going to lose the bit of weight he had gained during his little vacation, and hopefully this would get the guard and Echo acquainted with each other.

I’ll try to make sure to talk her up to the fellas he thought, yawning as he hopped into his little bed. Hopefully she’ll show them that there was a reason that the princesses picked her to replace Shining.

Tomorrow was going to be a new day full of excitement and sweat, and he couldn’t wait for it. All that he needed to do was hear Echo yell for lights out, then he could go to sleep, but for now he was just going to have to wait, so wait is what he was going to do.

… And wait…. And wait…. And wait.

What the heck is taking so long? He thought. frowning. We should have had lights out already. Is time just moving REALLY slow for me or is something happening?

With a sigh, Flash put down the helmet and placed it next to the rest of his armor—all of which were so shiny that you could see your reflection in them—noticing, for the first time, that there was nopony in sight within the barracks. Where did everypony go? He wondered, quietly trotting towards the door to see what was happening.

Is this like that one nightmare I had after eating too many jelly beans? I swear to Celestia if a monster jumps out and tries to sca—

“Hello there, Private; long time no see.”

Flash’s head whipped around at the voice, his eyes widening in confusion and shock. That’s not the cap, he’s still in…

Shining Armor couldn’t help but smile tiredly as Flash froze at the sight of him, the unicorn adjusted the pack on his back to a more comfortable position. “You know, I was wondering where you were. As soon as I got within sight of the castle I had about half of the guard running out in their nightcaps to come see me.”

Flash still hadn’t moved from his spot, but Shining carried on regardless.

“I got to talk to your new CO; I heard a lot about her from back when I was at Canterlot years and years ago. She’s a good mare once you get to know her, I’ve been told.” With that tired smile still on his face, Shining took a step forward and patted Flash on the back. “So private, how’s life treating you?”

Somewhere, in Flash’s jumbled, confused mind, he realized two things. One: He should really get somepony in the guard to tell him when something’s happening so he just didn’t sit on his bed and clean his armor like a putz; And two: it looked like things were, in fact, not going to back into some form of normality. No, either something good was going to happen, or something very bad was going to happen.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

It’s always nice to know that your special somepony notices and appreciates just how far you went to set the mood just right. Whether it’s a happy mood, sexy mood, or anything in between, I always like it when my hard work is appreciated.

While Ares was gone I had decided that our special night needed a little more oomph to make it memorable, so I decided to pull out all of the stops.

I covered most of the room in candles so the room would be getting just the right amount of light, I changed our bedding from its silly white and orange color (Those were the only clean sheets that I had at the time, so don’t look at me like that) to red, the color of love, and, for most ponies that would have just been great. But me? Nope, I wanted to go the extra mile to really make this night memorable for the two of us.

I had some very good wine chilling by our bedside; I had some soft, sweet music playing in the background; I even decided to throw some rose petals on our bed for fun. I also gussied myself up, tying my mane up into a ponytail and applying a little lipstick, so you could say that I had gone the extra-extra mile for my favorite human.

Ares REALLY needs to get back, I thought, idly sucking on my lollypop as I lay in bed. He and I have a lot of … experimenting to do. For the fifth time, I snuck a quick peek at my pony sutra book before looking at the door in impatience.

Let’s see, the music’s on, I have everything Ares and I can play with right on the nightstand so we can reach them easily, I know how to do the Manehattan Masher backwards and forwards, all I need to do is keep myself busy for a little longer.

I shifted around my bed, my brow furrowed in thought.

You know, now that I think about it, I might need to ask Ares how flexible he is before we try to do anything like this, because I really don’t know if Ares’ back can bend like—

My eyes widened when I heard the doorknob turning. OhmygoshIneedtogetready! I thought, tossing my little black book under the bed and sitting up.

Looking around the room to see if everything was perfect, I magicked over a little mirror to check that my lipstick was still on alright before lying back down on the bed in the sexiest pose I could manage and sticking the sucker back into my mouth.

Have you ever been in one of those situations where something seems a thousand times longer than it usually is; time just seems to stand still? Well it felt like Ares took about an hour opening that door. In that span of two or three seconds, my adrenaline-filled, excited mind went ahead and did the worst thing imaginable; it started to make me doubt myself.

Was Ares going to be in the mood now after I had basically kicked him out to spend time with his friends? Was all of this—the candles, the music—too much? Was he going to laugh at me when he saw my make up? Did he get the kind of ice cream that I asked for?

I was actually making myself so nervous that it was a wonder that I didn’t fly out the window as my human opened the door and stepped inside the room.

“Hey Candy,” he said, looking out into the hallway while he closed the door, “I got you your—”

When he finally brought his eyes up to look at me, he froze him place, and I swear, even with the dim light and how far away he was, I could see his pupils dilate.

Alright, I thought, it looks like you’ve got him in a state of shock-arousal, now’s the time for a sexy look!

Bringing out my best one, I took the sucker out of my mouth and looked him up and down. “Oh, hello Honey,” I purred, “did you get me my ice cream?”

I giggled quietly when I saw Ares’ mouth just open and close for a few seconds while he stood there. Hah, I knew I didn’t go overboard! I cheered to myself while I just levitated the sucker close to my mouth. Giving Ares another sexy look, I stuck my tongue out and started to lick at it.

My human almost looked lost as he showed me a carton of ice cream that was in one hand and the bowl that was in the other. I smiled. “Thank you, baby,” I said giggling. I took the carton and bowl out of his hands with my magic and floated it over toward me. “Did you get pistachio like I wanted?” Not that I really cared whether or not he got me the right ice cream. I just wanted to keep this up a little longer to see what my little human was going to do.

“Um … they were out so I got you pecan,” Ares said.

Seeing that he was starting to pant, I opened up the carton and looked inside, seeing the pecan-y goodness, though a little thawed, was still frozen enough to eat. “Well, lucky for you you got my second favorite kind of ice cream,” I told him, giving him a little wink.

For a minute, Ares looked like I had just kicked his puppy. His lips stuck out, he was shaking, and I swear to Faust that he had tears in his eyes. I, Mi Amore Cadenza, had actually brought a full grown stallion to tears because of how sexy I was. Not to sound like a narcissist or anything, but I was pretty happy about that.

I gave him a gentle smile. Alright, enough playing, I thought before lying on my back fully. “Aw, does someone need a treat too?” I asked my human, spreading my legs and showing him how much my teasing was affecting me. Seeing that the ice cream had served its purpose, I set it down on the nightstand and watched as Ares’ eye started to twitch.

Wow, I REALLY have him worked up, I thought with a mixture of pride and glee, but now I really have to bring it home ... what can I do? Pulling Ares onto the bed would’ve been fine but I kind of wanted him to come to me.

Then a little light bulb lit up over my head. All I needed to do was just say one more thing and I was sure that Ares would be charging this bed as fast as his legs could take him! Come on, you’re a pro at dirty talk, I thought. This is going to be as easy as pie.

I dug deep, trying to remember everything that I had learned from books, magazines, and my personal experience and using all of that collective knowledge to think up something truly awesome. They will be writing about what I say tonight; mares will tell their daughters, in hushed whispers, about my words tonight, and they will use them to win any stallion that they want!

Batting my eyelashes at him, I arched my back and said, “Well, I’m all you can eat, honey~”

The words came out of my mouth before I could stop myself, but when I heard them out loud I almost facehoofed. So much for building myself up; if I was lucky Ares would just laugh at me before leaving the room after how horrible that was. What the buck was that?! I thought to myself. I’m all you can eat honey? That sounds like it came out of a bad porn—

“ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!”

Once, in my life, I had the misfortune of being up close to a Hydra as it roared. Let me tell you, it was something. It was so loud that the force of the yell hit you in the gut like a punch and it sounded so angry and animalistic that you knew that there was a reason why this creature was so infamous.

I promise you, as Faust is my witness, the yell that came from my human’s chest sounded louder than any hydra. Louder and hungrier too. As soon as his cry ended, my eyes snapped upwards, back toward him, where I saw that Ares was already out of his pants and shirt and he was halfway across the room, giving me the hungriest look that I had ever seen in my life.

Boy… maybe I need to take it a little easier next time. I thought, a goofy smile coming to my face. Hah, and I thought that I wasn’t going to knock his socks off!

I swear he made it to our bed in five steps, and was just in his boxers in three, and then jumped on with so much force that he almost catapulted me off of it. I couldn’t keep myself from laughing in delight and relief. It looked like this night was going to be one to remember.

If it’s a night the two of us want to remember, then I should make sure that nopony is going to be interrupting us.

I eyed the door while Ares wrapped his arms around me and started to lean in for a kiss. “Hang on for a second,” I said, gently pushing him away with a hoof and giggling when he kissed it. “I just want to make sure that no pony will interrupt us this time.” When he looked at me questioningly I just pointed at the door. He looked at it and nodded, kissing my neck as my horn lit up with magic.

“And how are you going to do that, Candy?” My human asked, sounding a little winded while his hands slowly started to run over my body.

I giggled when one of his hands tickled my belly. “Ares,” I whined, “Stoooop, I’m trying to cast the spell!”

Ares kissed my neck again as I swatted the hand playfully away. “And what spell is that?”

I shivered at the feeling of his hot breath tickling my neck. Grabbing his hand with my hooves, I brought it up to my face and gave the back of his hand a little kiss. “Oh, I’m just going to turn the door into stone,” I replied nonchalantly, casting the spell and watching the door turn grey, “That should keep pretty much everypony out.”

Ares quietly laughed against my neck before giving it another kiss. “Well, here’s to hoping that you know how to change it back,” he said, kissing my jaw. “I don’t want to have to jump out the window to get to work in the morning.”

I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything as I concentrated on the spell. While it was a convenient little bit of magic, if I do say so myself, it actually took a good deal of time and effort to cast, so it took a few minutes of watching it and molding the magic just so, so that it actually turned the wood and iron of the door into stone.

“Huh, that’s actually pretty neat,” I heard Ares say as the door thickened and turned stone-like. “You’ve got to tell me how to do that, Candy. I bet it’d be neat to break that out some other time.”

Seeing that my spell had been fully cast, I grabbed Ares by the back of the neck and pulled him into a kiss. “You don’t need to worry about that right now,” I growled, eyeing the bulge in his boxers. “What you need to worry about is me and you and everything we’re going to be doing tonight.” I looked back down at his boxers in disgust. “Now, be a good boy and take off those boxers. You and I have a long night ahead of us!”

I giggled when Ares grabbed my head and kissed my nose tenderly. “Why don’t you take ’em off, Candy?” he suggested, wiping the lipstick off of his lips the best he could with the back of his hand.

I smiled, and gently pushed Ares down until he was lying flat on the bed. “I was hoping that you’d ask,” I told him, toying with the edge of his boxers. I bit my lip. “I always love undressing you; it’s like unwrapping a hearth’s warming present.”

Slowly, as slowly as I could, I slid those pesky boxers down, right until—

CRASH!

I yelped when I felt Ares wrap his arms around me and roll the two of us off the edge of the bed as the window beside me practically exploded. Whatthebuckwasthat?! I thought, covering my head with my hooves at the sounds of expensive things in my room being broken into a million pieces.

There was a pained grunt, and some more glass breaking, leading me to believe that A: there this was not just some freakish accident, and B: there were at least two ponies in my room breaking my things and possibly coming in here to try to hurt either me or Ares.

The very thought made me angry. How dare somepony come in here and try to assassinate me while I’m trying to get lucky with my coltfriend! Couldn’t they at least have some class and wait until tomorrow?!

With an angry snarl, I rolled out of Ares’ protective hug and got to my hooves. “You picked the wrong night to try something like this,” I spat, my horn charging a rather nasty offensive spell as I looked around for my intruders. “Now come out and I’ll only hurt you a little— what?”

My righteous anger was replaced with confusion when I saw Sergeant Echo slowly getting off a groaning Flash and onto her hooves, the mare muttered to herself as she picked up the sword. “Private, I am so making sure you get demoted if we get…”

She looked over at me. “What the he—“

BOOM!

~-~-~-~ Ten minutes before ~-~-~-~

Echo watched as Shining Armor talked and joked with a few of her soldiers, a contemplative look on her face. Sweet Luna he looks tired, she thought, eyeing the bags under his eyes. It looks like he hasn’t slept in days.

For most of the crystal guard, and Flash, the return of Shining Armor was something to celebrate, but for Echo it looked like it was going to be the beginnings of a headache. A headache and maybe something more serious.

To her, the ex-captain had no reason to come here; he didn’t lead these ponies anymore, she did, and he didn’t have any connections that she knew of other than the princess, who dumped him. So that lead to the question of why the hay he was here, in her barracks, standing in front of her.

After a few minutes of watching carefully, Echo thought she had it narrowed down to two reasons. One: Shining and Private Flash Sentry were secret lovers and Shining had come back to get his man. It may have sounded silly, but Echo had seen and heard about stranger things during her time in the guard. Then again, it might have just been all of those cheesy romance novels that she had been reading lately.

The other more probable reason was that the unicorn might be here for more nefarious reasons. His wife had kicked him to the curb and he wasn’t that happy about it; plain and simple. Maybe he became depressed, maybe he wants to come here and hurt the people that had hurt him.

Echo knew Shining from hearsay amongst the guard; she knew how much power he could bring to bear if he ever got angry enough. There wasn’t a single unicorn in the Crystal Guard of his caliber, which would make a difficult fight—if it came to that—a heck of a lot harder. The princess might have to get involved if Shining decided to fight his way up to the royal bedroom to pay Ares a visit. Echo had no idea about his mental stability at the moment and she wanted to make sure he was actually okay before letting him anywhere near Cadence or Ares.

I just need to get him secured for the night, she decided, leaving her little corner and making her way over toward him. I’ll talk to a few of the veteran’s and explain the situation.

If she could get Shining out of the castle, maybe let him stay at one of the hotels under watch, Echo could have the night to think about what to do. If he willingly came with them, it’d look good on his part if not, well, he couldn’t stop all of them from jumping him at the same time, and Echo knew for a fact where the magic inhibitors were lying around, so she liked her chances.

I’ll get that big guy standing over there and that mare with the red mane. I think those are the ponies that came from Canterlot with Private Flash Sentry. They’ll be able to—

“Um, are you alright, ma’am?”

Echo blinked, looking around and seeing Flash staring at her. “What was that, private?” she asked, giving her head a little shake. By Luna’s moon, I need to get some sleep. Why the hay do things like this happen right when I’m about to go to sleep?

Flash took a step toward her. “You were just staring off into space, Sergeant,” he said with concern. “I was just making sure that you were okay…. You’re okay right?”

Echo took a moment to look him over. Even though the private and Shining seem like friends he should be willing to help me get Shining out of the castle until the morning, she decided, laying a wing over his shoulder and leading him to the other side of the room. Or at the very least he won’t be stupid enough to try to stop us.

“Private, I need you to get Hoplite and Grinder over here,” she whispered, eyeing Shining. “We’re going to have to get the ex-prince-consort out of the castle for the time being and get someone to watch him for the night.”

“Why?” Flash asked, confused. “Shining just wants to go and talk with the princess, and I’m sure she’ll make sure he has a room to sleep in tonight.”

“I don’t know the mental stability of that stallion at the moment,” Echo said calmly, looking him right in the eyes. “He might do something everypony will regret, so we’re going to get him out of the castle until I know for certain he’s here for the right reasons.”

Flash frowned. “Ma’am, look at him; he’s not here to hurt anypony, he just wants to—“

Echo narrowed her eyes at him. “Private, I was not asking you, that was an order,” she said warningly. “Now get you flank over there and tell the—

“ARRRRRRRGH!”

As one, everypony looked up at the ceiling.

“That sounds like it’s coming from the floor above,” somepony said.

“All the way through the floor?” Another said, scoffing. “That’s like five feet of stone.”

“Isn’t the royal bedroom right above us?” All of the guardsponies looked at each other.

To most of them, that sounded like someone screaming in pain, and to hear it through that floor meant it had be have been loud.

“Who’s on guard duty tonight?” Echo asked quickly as she rushed over toward her armor and weapons. Some ponies, seeing this, followed her example, calmly strapping on armor and putting on their helmets.

“There’s nopony on guard duty ma’am, the princess told us to take the night off.”

Of course she did, Echo thought sourly, checking her sword before strapping it to her back. It’s one thing after the bucking other isn’t it?

Hopping up onto a bed, Echo looked at her fellow guardsponies. “Alright, listen up,” she said loudly. “You, you and you, I want you to take a look around down on this floor to see if there’s anypony sneaking around who shouldn’t be sneaking around.”

The guards she pointed out saluted before racing out of the barracks. “The rest of you come with me. Even though this is probably nothing I want to go and make sure that it isn’t something.” Echo scowled. “BUT, if it is bucking something, I want you all to be ready for anything. The main priority is making sure the princess and Ares are safe; is that understood?”

“Sergeant!” Shining pushed his way through the crowd and looked up at her. “Is there anything that I can do to help?”

Echo smiled when she heard the unicorn’s tone. She could tell that he was just asking her to be polite; even if she said no, he was going to come with them. Hopping off the bed, she gestured toward a spear on the rack.

“Shining Armor was it? Well, you can come with us to see what’s what if you’d like, but you and I are going to have a talk when this is over.”

Instead of the confusion and even anger that she was expecting, Shining just nodded. “I understand, ma’am,” he said. “I would be a little confused why somepony would just drop by in the middle of the night for seemingly no reason.”

Nodding, Echo looked back at the group. “Alright, everypony, let’s get into formation and get through this castle nice and easy. We all want to get to the princess’ room in one piece, don’t we?”

With practiced grace, from the veterans to the rookies, the troop fell in line, eyes scanning and weapons at the ready.

~~A few minutes later~~

“Where the hay did the bucking door go?”

That is a very good question, Shining thought as he looked at the wall where hi—the royal bedroom was supposed to be.

After an uneventful but nerve-wracking march through the castle, Shining and the guards had made their way toward the royal wing of the castle and into an empty, doorless hallway. For every guard, it raised more than a few red flags.

Transfiguration was a school of magic that very few ponies could even do because of the amount of power it took for even the simplest of spells, so each one of them knew that not only were they dealing with a spellcaster, but a powerful one at that. That or there was an entire group of unicorns trotting about with unknown intentions, which might have been even worse.

“What are we going to do, Sergeant?” One of the guardsponies asked, eyeing the wall. “Do you want us to just smash through and buck up anything that isn’t pink or a monkey with clothes?”

Shining almost shook his head. If there’s somepony of the other side of the door that might be exactly what they want; we need to think of another way to get in there undetected. He thought that, but he kept his mouth shut, he wasn’t running this ship, the Sergeant was. Hopefully she’s as good as the princesses say.

Echo shook her head, glaring at the wall. “We won’t try that yet,” she said. “We don’t want to go and hurt the princess or the monkey if they’re still in there.” Cautiously, she trotted over to the wall and gave it a tap, putting her ear to it and listening intently. “But at least now we know that something’s obviously going down in there.” She closed her eyes and hummed quietly before moving back toward the group.

“Shining, I want you and the rest to stay here. “ She looked over at Flash. “Private you’re coming with me. You and I are going to fly outside and see if we can get at the windows.”

Flash saluted, walking over and standing next to her. “Now listen up, if you hear the private or I hollering, or you hear the princess, I want you to tear down that wall and secure the area, understood?”

“Yes ma’am!” They all whispered.

Echo nodded one more time before looking at Flash and spreading her wings. “Let’s go, Private; and no stupid stuff or I’m going to throttle ya, you understand?” Flash, trying to hide the fact that his legs were shaking, nodded. Gripping his spear tightly, he took off into the air with Echo, flying through the hallway.

“Through the window!” Echo hissed, eyeing the window pane to her far right.

Flash said nothing, instead following the mare through the window, much to Shining’s displeasure. Well, I would have wanted some ground forces backing me up but that’ll do, he thought, looking at the troopers, who just looked lost and worried.

Even though he had no business sticking his hooves into this and ordering ponies around—well, he did, but not really—Shining could see that maybe these stallions needed somepony that had been around the block once or twice to help them out.

“You all heard the Sergeant,” he said loudly, getting their attention. “We’ll stay here and act as her backup incase this goes south!”

“But sir, how are we going to get through that wall without hurting anypony?” a guard asked.

Shining couldn’t help but smile as he lit up his horn. “Don’t you worry about that. I’ll have that wall in pieces in a flash if I need to.”

I swear to Celestia, Ares, if you’re dead in there I’m going to kill you. And Cadence… Cadence, please be okay…”

~-~-~-~-~-~-

“Do you see anything in there, Private?”

“No ma’am, it doesn’t look like there’s any movement coming from inside the room.”

It had been a quick flight around the castle, toward the high window that lead into the royal bedroom, but there were still a number of problems that were keeping the Sergeant from just crashing through the window.

There was a good chance that the balcony was being watched, so they couldn’t use that. Another problem was the window itself. Layered with magic, the window didn’t let anypony looking in from the outside see a damned thing, and it was also made out of a very tough compound that made it more than a little difficult to just break. So, seeing that they had a few serious problems to deal with, Echo and Flash were forced to come up with something literally on the fly, in the dark and cold, when every second of them being idle could be putting the princess and Ares’ lives in danger.

The worst part was that the private wasn’t handling the stress very well. Even though he was trying his hardest to hide it, Echo could see his nervous twitching as he eyed the window. It was a look that she couldn’t say she cared for.

“Private,” she said warningly, tapping his helmet with her spear. “Don’t you get any stupid ideas. I know what you’re thinking but it’s not going to help anypony right now so get those superhero thoughts out of your head.”

A little whine escaped Flash’s throat. “But there’s nopony moving in there, Sergeant,” he said desperately.

Echo grimaced. He was right; as far as she could see, and even she could barely see with that stupid window, the room was dead, which was either a really good or really bad sign.

I doubt that any assassin would be able to take down the monkey and the princess this fast, she thought, beating down her worry as she carefully eyed the door, trying to will the magic off the stupid thing so she could actually get a good look inside.

The monkey is a heck of a lot stronger than he looks, and the princess is a bucking alicorn, so there should still be a fight going on. So why isn’t there one? What could be—

Out of the corner of her eye, Echo saw Flash’s wings flare. Her eyes widening, she tried to fly in front of him. “Private, you bucking—“

With a mighty flap, Flash flew past the mare and toward the window, his eyes wild. “Don’t worry Princess, Ares, I’m coming!” he shouted.

Cursing, Echo followed right behind him. “Flash, you moron, I’m gonna kill you!” she shouted, turning her head away so no glass would get into her face when they went through that window.

Please don’t let us just bounce off the stupid thing

~Present Time~

Boom!

The second that he had heard Cadence yelling from the other side of the wall, Shining unleashed the spell he had been holding. With a boom and a shower of rocks and a cloud of smoke, the wall was gone.

While he was sure that somepony was going to be waiting for him as soon as he breached, probably with some sort of weapon, that didn’t keep him and about thirty other guardsponies from charging through the gap in the wall with their battle cries of “For Cadenza and the Empire!”

We need to act fast, Shining thought, his spear at the ready as he scanned the room for enemies. They’ll be coming right about now.

No matter the enemy, Shining had his magic on his side and the guard at his back. It didn’t matter what happened to him, as long as Cadence and—

Thump!

Before the unicorn could so much as blink, he was spinning in the air and yelping in pain as something smashed itself against his muzzle. “Bucking, BUCK!” Shining cursed before hitting the ground hard.

“What the fuck is wrong with you horses!” Someone shouted angrily. “You just broke a window and a WALL!”

Shining cracked open an eye to see that the guard had stopped in their tracks and were looking at an enraged Ares, who was in his underwear and holding a shoe in his hand, with a mixture of confusion and fear.

…At least the two of them are okay, Shining thought, resisting the urge to groan in pain. Sweet Luna, how did he throw that thing so hard? If he had thrown that a little harder I’d be a head shorter!

“…Shining?”

Shining closed his eyes when he heard the voice, which sounded weak, confused and … hopeful? “Hiya Cadence,” he said, rubbing his muzzle and flinching when he saw that it was covered in blood. “I think Ares broke my face with his shoe. Sorry about the wall; I’ll get that fixed as soon as the world stops spinning.”

...Just Blow a Hole Through the Wall

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You know, not to sound paranoid or anything, but I think that there might be some otherworldly being hell-bent on making sure that I never have sex with my coltfriend. Two of my guards busting through my window is a little strange but I could just chalk it up as bad luck and that’d be it, but when my ex-husband, whom I’ve lost sleep thinking about, happens to blast through my door like a crazy pony? That’s when I feel I have the right to look up at the sky and shake a hoof angrily at my divine tormentor.

It took a few seconds of staring at my guards, then at what was left of the wall, and then at Ares, before I was able to collect myself and think, Sweet Faust, somepony’s going to get fired for this.

Couldn’t I have five seconds without something like this happening?! Couldn’t I just be a normal pony that didn’t have to deal with ponies blowing holes in their walls or their crazy aunts or super powered evil villains?! Is that really too much to ask?

Ares, it seemed, shared my frustration. After grabbing me and shielding me when the wall exploded (which I really appreciated by the way), my human picked up his shoe that was lying next to our bed and tossed it through the gaping hole in the wall as hard as he could.

“What the fuck is wrong with you ponies?!” he snarled, still in those silly smiley face boxers of his. “You broke our fucking window and a god-damn wall!” stumbling forward in rage, he plucked his other shoe from the ground and cocked his arm back with a murderous look in his eyes.

I was about ready to start throwing things myself, more of the deadly magical kind than the shoe kind, but I was able to calm myself down with a few deep breaths. While it would have made me feel better just launching a few fireballs through the hole in the wall all willy-nilly, I was a princess and a princess does not conduct herself in such a manner. I was just going to have to make do with throwing a few ponies in the dungeons.

“Somepony come through that hole right now and explain yourself!” I snapped, almost shaking in anger. I was one step away from flying through that hole and giving whoever the heck did this a piece of my mind, along with a pretty thorough flank kicking. “Do it now or I’m going to come over there and—“

“Hiya, Cadence.” A pained, nasally voice croaked out.

Ares froze in place, his red, angry face turning slightly pale as the debris around the hole cleared, revealing the stallion who broke through my bedroom wall.

S-Shining? I somehow managed to think, my mouth opening in shock. All of my anger just seemed to drain away; the anger of these ponies ruining my night and all the hard work that I had put into it, the anger from thinking that somepony might have been trying to hurt either Ares or me, all of it just disappeared when I looked at Shining.

…Thank goodness that they barged in on us before we went all the way. I saw Ares drop his shoe in shock as he walked over and gently yanked Shining to his feet. This would have been a million times worse if Ares was naked right now.

With as much pride as somepony in their undies could manage, Ares knelt down and looked Shining over. Shining, his nose absolutely dripping blood, smiled at him—or at least tried to smile—it came out more like a grimace.

“Hello Ares,” he said, tenderly touching his nose with a hoof. “It looks like you got me pretty good.”

Ares, who looked almost too pale, somehow managed to chuckle. “Yeah, it looks like it.”

Shining tried to touch his nose before drawing back and wincing in pain. “You might have broken it,” he said calmly, like him and Ares were just casually talking in the street and not in my bedroom with my human in his underwear and Shining with a busted face. I would have made a joke about stallions if I wasn’t frozen in place staring at Shiny like an idiot.

Shining looked back at the hole in the wall before looking over at me, a small frown on his face. “I’m sorry about the hall,” he said, something flashing in his eyes for a second before he looked away from me. “We all heard somepony screaming bloody murder up here and we all thought something had happened to you.” He looked around the room. “I guess we were wrong huh? I’ll make sure to fix it up as soon as I get this nose looked at.”

A million things flashed through my mind, some of them questions, some of them apologies, and some of it just gibberish, but there was only thing that came out of my mouth,.

“S-Shining? Is it really you?”

Oo ~~~oO

Cadence seems to be taking this better than I thought she would, Shining thought as he nursed his nose with a hoof. If I was her I’d be freaking out and throwing—Shining watched as Cadence started to lose her footing. Before anyone could do anything, the princess hit the ground with a light thud.

Shining gasp, his eyes widening as he took a step forward, intent on running over to the fallen princess to see if she was okay, but Ares beat him to it. With a terrified look on his face, the human leap over Shining and raced over to the alicorn, everyone else in the room forgotten.

“Cadence?” Ares said, sounding panicked as he knelt down and gently picked her up. “Cadence?!”

“Take it easy, Ares,” Echo, who had hidden behind an upturned table with Flash, said as she looked the princess over. “I can hear her heartbeat from here; she’s fine, just probably passed out.”

Ares looked down at the mare in his arms before walking over and putting her in the bed and putting an ear to her chest. “Oh thank God,” Ares said after a minute, covering his face with a hand in relief.

You could have heard a pin drop in that room as the guards looked at each other. Every single one of them knew that, without a shadow of a doubt, they were absolutely, undeniably bucked. That being said, that didn’t stop a few of them from rushing out of the room to go and get the doctor so she could have a look at the princess. They might all have their heads on the chopping block, but they were still guards and a guards duty was to their princess.

“Echo..., did you guys really hear a yell all the way in your barracks?”

Echo raised an eyebrow at Ares actually using her name. “Well, we heard something that sounded like a roar coming from above us, so we thought that something had happened to you two.” she said, rocking back and forth uncomfortably.

Ares nodded, placing a hand on Cadence’s side. “Alright,” he said after taking a deep breath, “so I understand you guys going through the window, but that wall?”

Echo took a step back at the human’s change in tone. It may not have been abrupt enough for most to hear but she could almost taste Ares’ underlying anger. That wasn’t what worried her though. No, what worried her was how Ares wasn’t up screaming in her face, or throwing anything, or attacking anyone, he was just sitting there, staring at her with with emotionless look.

“Are you alright there, Ares?” Echo asked, sneaking a look to check and see if she still had her sword strapped to her side. “You seem to be taking this pretty well.”

The human patted Cadence’s side before getting to his feet. “I’m not taking this well at all,” he told the batmare, dusting off his clothes, that had been thrown all over the room, and putting them on. “I was trying to have a nice night with my girlfriend and people started flying through the fucking walls, Candy passes out because she sees the motherfucker who knocked down the wall,” Ares pointed out Shining, who was trying to decide if he’d actually prefer a screaming Ares instead of this calm and collected one, “and to top it all off I have to go to work in about six hours.”

For the briefest of instances, Echo could see just how angry he was. Ares’ stance became wider, his chest and shoulders became tight, and he looked ready to just snap, but then it was gone as quickly as it came. So to answer your question, Echo, no, I’m not taking this well at all. I’m actually pretty fucking mad right now.”

Shining tried to say something but Ares just silenced him with a finger before continuing.

“But me being mad isn’t going to do anything for anyone right now.” He swept a hand all around the room. “You all know that you fucked up, and when Candy gets up she’ll let you have it.” He shushed one of the guards when they tried to say something. “Now, I’ve had enough excitement for the night, so how about you get this wall fixed and you all go back down,” Ares pinched the bridge of his nose. “Actually, I don’t care where you go, just get the fuck out of here…. Except for you, Shining; I want to talk to you.”

The guards, all of whom were feeling more than a little horrible, scurried out of the room, just leaving Ares, Shining, and the unconscious Cadence.

Shining resisted the urge to chuckle. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anypony yell at the guard like that,” he told Ares, who put his head back in his hands. “Who’d have thought that talking to a fully grown pony like a disappointed father would be more effective than just yelling at them?”

When the human just didn’t say anything, Shining almost trotted over to him intending to help out but he stopped himself. No, he thought, let’s just give him a moment to simmer down while I get everything fixed up.

Closing his eyes, Shining willed his magic to flow through his horn, picking up chunks—all of which were no bigger than a pebble; he hadn’t wanted to hurt anypony when he destroyed the walls—of the wall and moving them toward the hole. The crystals seemed to melt into each other, shifting and moulding around the damaged wall.

Alright, now’s the hard part. Gritting his teeth, Shining forced the liquid crystal to harden and shape to his will, slowly but surely becoming a good-as-new wall, though Shining was mindful enough to put in an opening for a door. He may have been a stronger than average unicorn but that didn’t mean he was anywhere strong enough to transfigure that crystal into wood and steel for a proper door.

They’re just going to have to deal with an empty hole in the wall until Cadence gets somepony up here to put in a new door.

When the last of the wall had been put in place he stumbled, shaking his head to get the ringing out of his ears. “Might have overdone it a little bit,” he muttered, weakly righting himself as he eyed the room. Buck it, I may as well fix up the rest of this mess, he thought, willing more magic into his horn. I need to go to the ward for this nose anyways. The doctor can just give me something for magic exhaustion as well.

With practiced ease, Shining lifted up tables and chairs, put clothes and pictures back where they belonged, and cleaned the carpet until the room was spick and span, leaving Shining exhausted but happy. Well, at least I did one thing right before Cadence kicks my flank out of the country. Shining, with a sigh, sat down on his rump trying to catch his breath and ignore the pain in his nose as he stared at Ares.

Maybe I should say something to him? He thought. Try to start the conversat—

“You know, I really want to throw you out the window now, right?” Ares said, one of his hands petting Cadence and the other rubbing his temple.

Shining blinked. Not really able to help himself, he asked, “Is it because of the wall thing?”

He cracked a smile when he saw Ares looking at him like he was crazy, and he might just be, but what did that matter? He had pretty much assaulted a princess. Even if he could explain that this was all a big misunderstanding there was a pretty good chance that he was going to be booted onto the next train that went back to Canterlot, so he may as well have a little fun; it was either that or he was going to start hitting his head against the wall because of his own sheer stupidly.

So, for the sake of the wall that he had just repaired, he was going to look the alien that stole his wife in the eyes and throw a few witty remarks his way until said alien got up and beat the horseshoes off of him or he ran out of wittiness.

Ares’s mouth twitched. “Yes, it was because of the wall thing.”

Shining hummed, trotting over and hopping onto the bed next to the human.

“Well, I’m sorry about that,” he said, staring at the little hole in the wall that he had made. “We all thought that you two were in trouble.” He chuckled. “It sounded like somepony was roaring up here.”

Ares blew a raspberry. “You heard that all the way through this floor?”

Shining nodded. “You’d be surprised what you’re able to hear in the barracks here. I remember one of the guards telling me that they could hear me snoring from their bunk once.”

The two were silent for a while after that, Shining just quietly sitting there while Ares kept looking down at Cadence to see if she was okay. Both of them knew that they should be saying something, but because the two were tired, irritated, Shining had a broken nose, and Ares was still trying to get over the fact that his shout was so loud that someone could hear it through like two feet of crystal(and trying not to feel too proud about that), they stayed quiet and waited for the other to say something.

During these few minutes, Shining was able to get a good look at what had once been his bedroom. To his mild surprise, the room had remained largely the same. There were still those pictures on the coffee table that always wobbled, the bed was in the same place; heck, he would probably be able to find the Playmare that he had hidden under the mattress if he bothered to look.

That being said, the room did look different at the moment. There were unlit candles—which he had probably blown out with his little blast—littering the room, there was a music player that was sitting in the corner of the room, and there were even a few rose petals on the floor and the bed. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had been happening before Shining and the guard had decided to break down the wall.

All of this has Cadence written all over it, Shining thought, sneaking a glance at the mare and Ares. She always liked doing this when she got in one of those ‘moods’. Thank Faust that nopony knocked down any of those candles; I’d have really felt bad if I accidently burned down Cadence’s room. Shining looked back at Ares. And thank goodness we all did this before the two of them were really going at it.

Was it kind of weird that he had to think about someone else having sex with his ex-wife? Honestly, and Shining didn’t know if it was the because of the nose or something else, but he was kind of okay with it.

Well, not okay, but he felt that he could deal with it at the moment. It also helped that Shining knew for a fact that Ares really cared about Cadence; so much so that he had been willing to fight fifteen armed guards to make sure that she was safe. Sure, he was going to use a shoe to do it, but it was the thought that counted.

“You should probably go get that nose checked.” Ares finally said. “You’re getting blood everywhere.”

“You wanted to me stay,” Shining pointed out.

Ares frowned. “You know why I want to talk to you,” he almost growled.

Shining rolled his eyes. “That’s why we’re both sitting here waiting for the other to say what they want the other to say.”

Ares looked unsure for a second. “We could just go outside and beat the shit out of each other you know. “he offered. “We’ll both probably feel better after we take a couple of swings at each other. "

You know, that sounds oddly tempting, Shining thought before shaking his head. No, we need to clear the air by talking, and I’m sure Cadence wouldn’t want to see either of us bloody and bruised.

With a sigh, the unicorn looked up at the human, who turned to look at him. Both of the them were tired, both were more than a little battered, mentally and physically, and both wanted nothing more than to just get this over with so they could go to bed.

Ares reached down and grabbed his fillyfriend’s hoof, running his thumb around the edge of it while he looked at the wall. “You know, Cadence and I were worried about you; when you left I mean.”

“I told you that I was leaving,” Shining said, scooting closer toward the human.

“I don’t remember you saying where you were going,” Ares grumbled. “For all we knew you were in pony Mexico doing body shots off strippers with a Mariachi band playing in the background.”

“...What?”

Ares sighed, tiredly slumping down. “Forget I said that,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m a little too tired to deal with this bullshit.”

Shining nodded sympathetically. “I could always come back another day.”

“You could, but now that you’re here I may as well ask why the hell you just popped up here out of the blue like this.” Ares’ eyes narrowed slightly. “No letter to tell us you were coming or anything.”

Shining shifted uncomfortably, trying to ignore Ares’ burning gaze. I don’t even blame him for being mad, he thought, forcing himself to look back at Ares after a moment’s hesitation. I’d be pretty mad if my fillyfriend’s ex just happened to appear at her house one day.

“I’d actually like to talk to Cadence about that, alone, if you don’t mind, Ares,” he said apologetically. “I know the two of us need to clear the air, and I really want to do that, but I want to just talk to Cadence first.”

Ares looked at him a long moment before nodding slowly. “That’s fair, Shining,” he said calmly, making the stallion smile slightly. “But let me just give you a little warning.” For a brief, brief moment, the human seemed bigger and more threatening to Shining, who flinched under the human’s withering gaze. “I’ve told you already how shitty I feel about what happened, and I still feel pretty shitty, but you have another think coming if you’re thinking about trying to get Candy back.”

Every one of Ares’ muscles were tense, his normally calm, green eyes were steely and almost wild, and his teeth were bared in a snarl. Sweet Faust, it sounds like his voice is getting deeper, Shining thought, resisting the urge to scurry out of the room at whatever he saw now sitting next to him at the moment, because it sure as hay wasn’t Ares. No, this was someone else, someone who was a stark contrast from the usually calm, cool, and collected human that Shining had known; this was someone who could actually be very dangerous if the situation got out of control. Ares leaned forward, his green eyes staring through the ex-prince.

“I love this mare right here more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my life, more than my friends, my family, anyone. Because of her kindness, her generosity, I am still alive. Because of her I wasn’t treated like some animal or kicked back out into the cold, like you wanted.”

This time, Shining couldn’t stop himself from flinching.

“I owe her for that and a hell of a lot more. She’s the only family I’ve got here, Shining, and I’m going to make damn sure that she’s happy and healthy until she’s an old, fat mare sitting on a rocking chair.” Ares’ eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t you fucking try Shining; that’s the only thing I’m going to tell you. Don’t even think about trying, because I will give you such a fucking fight that even if you win you’ll lose, you understand?”

He’s willing to fight for her when I wasn’t, Shining thought, looking up at Ares with a hint of awe. Yet all he really wants to do is make her happy.

For the first time that night, Shining genuinely smiled. “I understand, Ares,” he said, his sense of unease going away as the human’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry about ruining your night with Cadence.” He waved a hoof around. “It looked like it was going to be a full night.”

This time, Ares flinched, a blush coming to his face. “Yeah, you laugh it up, funny guy,” he muttered, looking down at Cadence. “When she tells me my dick’s bigger I’m going to piss myself laughing.”

With a chuckle, Shining hopped off the bed. “Threatening aside, did you tell me everything you wanted to say?”

Ares nodded. “Everything I wanted to say to you right now,” he said, shooing him with a hand. “Now you better go and get that nose fixed. Cadence will come and talk to you when she’s ready.”

“Afterward, the two of us can have a real talk ourselves,” Shining said over his shoulder as he trotted toward the hole in the wall.

“You know, the whole us beating the shit out of each other thing could still be on the table.”

Shining stopped, once again considering it. “No, let’s try it my way first. If that doesn’t work we’ll try your way.”

“Well, if you finally feel up for doing that, I’ll make sure not to beat your furry little ass too hard.”

Shining cracked a smile. “You couldn’t kick your way out of a paper bag that had holes in it. For Cadence’s sake, I’ll make sure to beat that ugly mug of yours; with any luck it’ll make you a little prettier.” Looking back at Ares, his grin turned smug. “And when Cadence tells you my dick was bigger, don’t come crying to me.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ares grin, making his own smile bigger and more genuine. Maybe things weren’t so bad after all, a small part of Shining thought. Just because life slams a door in your face doesn’t mean you can’t crawl through the window. Maybe he could still find his place here; maybe he could fill the emptiness in his chest.

But none of that really mattered now. No, what mattered now was how bucking bad his nose hurt, and how much he needed to get that sucker fixed.

~-~-~-~-~-~

“Candy, come on, just open your eyes for a second so I can see if you’re alright.”

“…”

“Please? I just want to make sure that you don’t have brain damage or anything. You know, like any good boyfriend would.”

I grumbled at the voice, rolling over on my other side and curling into a little ball under my blankets. Couldn’t a princess have a good night’s sleep without somepony coming in and trying to wake them up?

Some of my decisions have the very country balanced on a needle. If I don’t have a good night’s sleep, my sleep deprivation could affect my work. I might not be able to focus on anything and that might end with me doing something disastrous like accidently going to sleep in the middle of some important meeting. I offend the king of the Gryphons, and bam, the Empire’s at war. So, with my duty to my subjects in mind, I simply ignored the voice and nuzzled myself into my pillow a little more.

I was about to take the train back to Sleepytown when I felt somepony nudging me. Just ignore them, Cadence, they’ll go away when they see that you’re not paying them any mind.

I was nudged again; harder this time.

Just keep your eyes closed and your breath steady, they—

I perked an ear up when I heard somepony sharply inhale right above me. Before I could do a thing, my covers were thrown off, my legs were grabbed, and I was given one of the quickest but most aggressive raspberries of my life. It wasn’t long enough to make me laugh or anything but it sure as hay was long enough to wake me right up.

My eyes snapped open as I wildly started to squirm. “Alright, I’m up!” I snapped, trying to shove my tormentor off me. “Can’t you let a pony sleep for five—epp!” I was lifted off of my warm, soft, safe, and comfy bed and brought into a crushing bear hug.

“Thank Christ! I never thought that you’d wake up Candy!”

Instinctively, I wrapped my hooves around my hugger. “…Ares?” I said yawning. “What’s got you in such a tizzy?”

My human nuzzled my cheek, not letting up his hug a bit. “Are you alright, Cadence? Do you remember what happened?” Ares asked, sounding slightly panicked.

I frowned, squinting in thought as I yawned. Maybe he had a bad dream? I thought, idly rubbing his back with a hoof. Because I have no idea what he’s—

Then my memory came back and hit me like a speeding train. Me trying to have a ‘fun’ night with Ares, the guards breaking through our windows and wall…

I tensed against Ares for a second before going limp. “Is Shining really here, Ares?” I quietly asked.

“Yeah, after you passed out I took him to the doctor to get his nose fixed up,” Ares replied, making me wince.

Passing out?... Well that’s embarrassing, I thought, nuzzling Ares when I noticed that he was shaking as he held me. “Is the wall still…”

“No, Shining made sure that it was fixed before he let me take him anywhere; though we’re going to have to get a new door put in.”

I nodded, reaching up and grabbing Ares’ face, forcing him to look at me. His eyes were bloodshot, his face looked a little pale, and he looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion. “Ares, what time is it?” I asked, nudging him with a wing.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, like four or five in the morning.”

Wiggling out of his grasp, which was starting to get so shaky I was getting worried, I forced him into the bed. “You have work tomorrow,” I scolded, hopping into the bed and making him lie down. “You should have gone to bed hours ago!” When he tried to sit back up I simply crawled on top of him, pinning him to the bed.

“Someone had to make sure that everything got situated after that whole shit-show,” Ares answered with a tired sigh, reaching up and sticking his hands under my wings. “And I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

My glare softened. “Thank you for doing that,” I softly said, looking down onto my human’s tired, stressed out face.

“You’re going to have to yell at those guards and stuff but other than that I made sure that Shining got taken care of, I got the doc to look at you, and the wall got fixed,” he yawned, “so you won’t be that stressed out when you wake up.”

I almost chuckled at that. I was already a little nervous about getting back into the swing of things with ruling my country, but now I was going to have to wake up and deal with my guard and Shining. I didn’t even know what I was going to do with that stallion when I saw him.

Why was he here? What did he want? Why the buck did he knock my wall down?!

I was about to just get up and start my day, it wasn’t like I was going to get any more sleep anyway, but then I just sighed and laid my head next to Ares, burying my head in his pillow.

“You know, I was supposed to buck your brains out tonight,” I said, my words muffled by the pillow. “Why couldn’t that have just happened without any interruptions?”

Ares weakly chuckled. “I wanted to make sure that you were going to be walking bow-legged to work, Candy,” he told me. “But I guess we’re just going to have to do it another time, huh?”

My eyes opened when I heard his tone of voice change from slightly mirthful to doubtful. Oh no you don’t, I thought, sitting up and pressing my nose against my human’s.

“You better believe it, mister,” I said, a little louder than I meant, wrapping my hooves around Ares’ neck. “I don’t give a rotten horseapple about why the hay fate is stopping us from bucking but we’re going to have sex, my little human.”

I nuzzled his cheek. “I don’t care if Shining’s in the other bucking room watching us! Don’t you be getting cold hooves on me, Ares.” He opened an eye to look at me questioningly, and I responded by kissing him.

“I think I know how you’re feeling, Ares,” I said, breaking the kiss for a second before kissing him again. “I know that you feel bad about what happened between me and Shining.” I kissed him again, this time more desperately.

“But you shouldn’t; for good or for bad, I chose you.” I smiled down at him before falling back on top of him, once again trapping him under me. “I don’t know about you, but even after what happened, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I got the greatest, sexiest, most loving, and most interesting coltfriend in the world, one who makes me laugh and makes my life interesting, so don’t you think what I think you’re thinking or I’m going to just lay like this until you understand how much I love you, buster brown.”

Giving his ear a final little bite, I let my wings drape along my sides and closed my eyes. “Whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me, Ares.” I smiled when I felt slightly shaky hands wrapping themselves around me. “Nopony’s going to change that.”

“I love you, Mi Amore Cadenza.”

I smiled and closed my eyes. “I love you too, Ares,” I wiggled on top of my human bed, trying to make myself a little more comfortable, “but the two of us are going to stay in this bed for a good while I think.”

“I have work in the morning,” Ares pointed out.

I snorted. “I’ll send somepony out in the morning to tell your boss that you’re not going to be able to make it tomorrow. You haven’t slept at all, I had to watch somepony smash through my wall, and it’s almost six in the morning, so I’m sure we’ll be forgiven for taking one more day off.”

I could almost feel my human smile against my neck. “You’re taking the day off too?” he asked, running his fingers through my mane.

I sighed happily. “Blame it on external stress,” I muttered, not bothering to really say why I just wanted to spend a little more time with him before dealing with what I knew was going to be one heck of a headache. “Do you know what relieves stress, my little human? Wing preening, belly rubs, and cuddling; a lot of it. So guess what you’re going to do be doing when we wake up again?”

One Day More

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Like he had expected, Ares didn’t get a wink of sleep that night. It seemed that having a hole knocked through your wall really keeps your heart racing throughout the night. That, along with having to deal with the stallion that knocked through said door, meant that there was no way that Ares was going to be able to do anything other than just stare at the ceiling for the rest of the night and think. So, in this rather bleak situation, Ares did the only thing he could to help improve his dampened mood; he was cuddled by his beautiful girlfriend and waited until the sun rose up in the sky.

At least Candy’s getting some sleep, Ares thought as Cadence wiggled herself closer to him with a happy sigh. She needs to get her rest after the whole passing out thing. He ran a hand gently down her side, careful not to wake her. Hopefully she’s alright like the doctor said.

“Why couldn’t they have just let us have another twenty minutes before breaking down the wall?” He muttered. “Is that really too much to ask?”

He had seen the disappointment, the anger, on Cadence’s face when the wall had gone boom. He had known how excited she was for all of this to happen, not that he hadn’t been more than ready for sex himself, and then it had literally blown up in their faces. The only reason Ares knew that heads weren’t going to roll in the guard was because he knew, or at least thought he knew, that they had a pretty good reason for doing what they did. That may not have made the fact that he didn’t get laid any better, but at least he knew why they did it.

Well, at least I get to cuddle my favorite princess, Ares thought with a yawn, wrapping both of his arms around Cadence and pulling her as close to his body as he could, earning himself another happy sigh from the alicorn.

He closed his eyes, taking in the soft, delicate scent of his Cadence. “All I needed was twenty minutes,” he muttered, kissing the top of his mare’s horn. “Then they could have broken down that wall.”

Cadence wiggled herself upward and flipped herself over to face him. “You say that,” she said, her eyes still closed, “but I would have actually loved for them not to have done that at all.” Leaning up, she gave his cheek a quick kiss, “and I’d prefer to have you all to myself for the entire night, not just for twenty measly minutes.”
Ares smiled weakly when Cadence cracked open an eye to stare at him. “How long have you been awake, sweetie?” he asked, trying to decide whether to be amused or embarrassed.

Cadence giggled and kissed him again. “Long enough to hear you muttering to yourself like some crazy pony,” she chirped before her tone became more concerned. “Have you been up all night, Ares?”

Ares raised an eyebrow. “What, no comment about the little pet name I gave you?”

Cadence raised an eyebrow right back at him. “You must have been up all night,” she muttered. “You can’t even change the subject without sounding tired.”
Ares was about to argue before realizing that he wasn’t going to get anywhere by lying to her. “No I didn’t get any sleep,” he admitted, rubbing his eyes with a hand. “I’ve been too busy just… thinking, I guess.”

Cadence buried her muzzle in the nape of his neck. “You know, us taking the day off isn’t going to mean anything if my favorite human is too tired to do anything with me.” She draped a wing over him and closed her eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” he told her. “This isn’t the first time I’ve spent the whole night awake. All I’ll need is some coffee, then the two of us can do whatever you want for the whole day.”
Cadence nuzzled his neck. “Well, I know what the two of us would be doing if there wasn’t a hole in the wall,” she purred, giving his neck a little nip, “but I think I’ll settle for just staying in bed the whole day with my snuggle-puss.”

Ares flinched. “Please don’t call me that, Candy.”

“Aw, what’s wrong, my widdle Ares Wearies?”

“Please stop.”

“My honey bunny.”

“Cadence.”

“My little monkey man.”

“I swear to god I’ll get up and toss your pink ass out the window.”

“Snookums, sweetie pie, my great big stallion.”

Despite himself, Ares couldn’t keep a smile off his face. “Alright, alright, I get it: no more pet names.”

“That’s what you get for bringing it up,” Cadence said sweetly, bopping his nose with a hoof before pushing him downward. “Now,” she forced his head against her chest and wrapped her legs around his neck, “the two of us are going to get at least a little bit of sleep whether you like it or not.” Her tone was forceful, but caring; it showed Ares that she cared about him enough, even with all of this stuff that had just been thrown at her hooves, that she had been willing to stop everything—her duties as a princess as prime example—to make sure that he was okay, comfortable and happy.

Ares pressed his face against his princess’s coat and closed his eyes, trying not to sniffle. “Hey, Cadence?”

The princess looked down at him with a loving smile. “Yes, honey?”

The warmth and softness of Cadance’s coat was easing Ares’ mind, which let the full weight of just how tired he was crash down on him.“I don’t know if I’ve told you enough, but I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have you.” Sure, it sounded cheesy even to him, but it was from the heart, and from the look Cadence was giving him it was more than appreciated.

“Aw, you sweetheart,” Cadence, said, sounding a little choked up.

“I mean it,” Ares murmured, Cadence’s warmth and his tiredness finally getting to him. “I couldn’t have picked a better girl in the whole world; yours, mine, anywhere.”
Even though he couldn’t see it, Cadence was looking down at him, tears in her eyes. “I’m so happy that I’ve got you, my little human,” Cadence said to the now asleep human, leaning down and kissing the top of his head.

@~~~@

Like he had expected, Shining, along with the rest of the guard, did not get a wink of sleep the whole night. Every single one of them, Shining included, couldn’t help but wonder what their princess had in store for them once she woke up. Was she just going to go and fire them all, like a lot of them thought, or was she going to get more creative in her punishments?

Banishment, incineration, a five mile spanking machine, being sent to Tartarus, these ideas, along with more… inappropriate ones were thrown around through the night with so much vigor that, by the time the sun had peeked over the horizon, many of the guards were literally shaking in their beds from fear.

Oddly, the only pony that didn’t look worried at all was Echo, who, after coming back to the barracks, had gone into her office for about an hour before calmly trotting over to her bunk and hitting the hay.

That mare really has some stones on her, Shining thought as he stared at her sleeping form from the comfort of his own bunk. If I was in her position I’d be more than a little worried about being shipped back off to Canterlot.

To be frank, he was still worried about that, but he was thinking about the Sergeant, not himself, at the moment so he was going to start panicking… yet.
If we’re lucky, Cadence isn’t going to be awake for another few hours or so. Shining rubbed an eye and fought back a yawn. I wonder what time it—

As if a silent alarm had gone off, Echo suddenly sat up and threw off her covers. “ALRIGHT FILLIES!” She roared, starling everypony in the room. “IT’S TIME TO RISE AND SHINE AND GET TO WORK! GET OFF YOUR FLANKS AND SHOWER, YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO GET A PEP IN YOUR STEP BEFORE WE START WHAT I PROMISE WILL BE THE WORST DAY OF YOUR MISERABLE LIVES!”

Confused, the guard just stared at her in silence and confusion, each of them wondering if the mare had lost her mind. To many of them, there was going to be no PT today; today, if they were lucky, they were going to receive their punishments.

“DID I STUTTER?” she demanded, suddenly sounding angry. “I’M NOT GOING TO BUCKING ASK AGAIN. GET OUT OF YOUR BEDS AND HIT THE SHOWERS!”

Fear overcame confusion, and stallion and mare alike scrambled off their beds and raced toward the shower room, leaving Shining alone with Echo, who just sighed, all of her vigor gone as suddenly as it had come.

“There’s no doubt about it, we really bucked up last night,” she muttered, so quietly that Shining had to strain to hear her. “But that doesn’t mean the world’s going to stop spinning!”

Shining heard her quietly growl. “I wrote my report explaining everything and I will not apologize for wanting to protect my charge. I could care less if the princess hog-ties me, throws my flank in a crate, and ships me back to my lady with stamps on my forehead; I was sent here to do a job and I’m going to do it to the best of my ability for as long as I’m permitted!”

Whether it was because of the mare’s determination, or her little pep talk, Shining found himself right beside her. “You know, ma’am,” he said, not looking at her, “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about the princess doing anything more than just yelling at you. Trust a guy that’s known her for years; if you properly explain to her what happened then you won’t get worse than a slap on the wrist.”

Echo snorted. “I hope you’re right,” she muttered. “I’d really hate to be sent back to my lady because I broke down the princess’ wall while she was about to get lucky.”
“Nopony was hurt last night, and everything that was broken is already pretty much fixed up,” Shining said, trying to sound upbeat. “And, technically, I broke the wall,”
Echo nodded. “That’s what I put in the report,” she said matter-of-factly. “If I’m lucky she’ll be madder at you than me.”

Shining couldn’t quite stop a chuckle from escaping his throat. “Oh, I’m sure she’s plenty mad at me,” he said before pausing, a thoughtful and slightly worried expression coming to his face. “Ma’am, I have a favor to ask you.”

Echo cocked her head at him. “What would that be, Mr. Armor?”

“There’s a good chance that I’m going to be thrown onto the first train that goes back to Canterlot.” Shining muttered, looking away from her.

He paused for another moment, as if debating with himself on whether or not to say more, but then he shook his head and continued. “The reason I came all the way up here was to make sure that these soldiers were in fighting shape. If they were still lacking in some places I wanted to be the one to make them the best soldiers that they can be.”
He raised up a hoof when he saw Echo tense up. “However, since I’ve seen that the princesses have sent one of the most experienced mares in the Night Guard to get the job done, I think that I might just want to join the guard up here, see where it goes and all that.”

Echo blinked. “You want to join the Crystal Guard?” she asked, disbelieving.

Shining nodded. “Yes I do.”

The batmare narrowed her eyes at him. “You want to guard the mare that kicked you to the curb?” She shook her head. “You know how crazy that sounds, right?”

Shining grimaced. “I know that there’s a good chance that Cadence will laugh me out of the castle when I ask her, and I know you probably think I’m trying to join just so I could do something to get back at either her or Ares—”

“That did cross my mind,” Echo muttered.

“I know all of that, but I’d still like to know if you’d be alright with me joining if Cadence actually lets me into the guard.” Shining looked at her desperately. “I know you don’t trust me, Sergeant, but please just give me a chance...”

Echo looked at him for what seemed like an eternity before quietly asking, “And why do you want to join my troop, Shining Armor?” Her eyes looked like they could see through him for a moment. “If it isn’t revenge, then why did you come all the way up here?”

“I just want to protect my princess,” he all but whispered, not realizing that he was shaking. “Even if she isn’t just my princess anymore; I want to make sure that she’s safe…”

“And what if I say that that’s a load of horseapples, Armor?”

Echo almost took a step back when the unicorn’s look turned angry.

“I’ve known Cadence since the two of us were little,” he growled, his whole body tensing like he was ready to pounce on her. “I was there when she got her cutiemark, she was there when my sister first became Celestia’s student!” He took a step toward her. “She watched Twilight grow, the two of us would help each other with our homework whenever she came over, she was my first bucking kiss!” By now Shining was in Echo’s face, panting in anger.

“Even if she doesn’t love me anymore, even if she doesn’t love me anymore, she’s like family to me, and because of that I bucking think I have just as much right to make sure that she’s safe as you, Sergeant.”With a final little growl, Shining took a step away from the batmare to collect himself. “And even if she doesn’t want me to, and even if you just think I’m some crazy pony, I just want to be there to make sure nothing else bad will happen to her.”

From the look on Echo’s face, Shining expected her to just tell him to get out of her barracks. Her eyes were narrowed down to slits and a scowl came to her face as she stared him down, Shining tried his best not to flinch under her intense gaze.

“I’ll tell you what,” she offered him a hoof. “Why don’t you join in our little training day? I don’t know about the princess, but if you work hard out there, I’ll give you a chance.” She smiled. “Not much of a chance, to be fair, and I’ll make sure that you’ll be hurting in the morning but…”

A big grin coming to his face, Shining saluted again. “I’d be more than happy to, ma’am,” he said brightly.
Echo nudged her head toward the showers. “Then you best be getting cleaned up huh? I’d hurry if I was you, you only have a minute or two so you’d better GET YOUR BUCKING FLANK IN GEAR! YOU HEAR ME, ARMOR?!”

With a big smile on his face, Shining spun around and sprinted toward the showers. Well, at least I’ll be too tired to feel anything if Cadence kicks me out, he thought, far more excited about P.T. than anypony had a right to be.

@()()@

I don’t know why, but as soon as I managed to get Ares to sleep I wasn’t able to get anymore shut-eye. I don’t know if it was because I had pretty much slept like ten hours—If you count the time I was unconscious—or if it was because I was still giddy about what my sweet human had told me, but I just couldn’t close my eyes. All I was able to do was giggle to myself while holding my favorite human as I planned out what the two of us were going to do today.

We’re going to be staying in the castle, I decided. I really don’t feel like walking around the town today.

That settled, I then had to decide what the two of us were going to be doing. Staying in our bed and bucking each other’s brains out would have been ideal, but I think that I may want to sort out Shining before I rip Ares’ pants off and… do things to, and with, him. No, instead the two of us are going to be doing more family-friendly activities today, unfortunately.

For about an hour I pondered what we could do, but then I had an amazing idea; why didn’t I go down to the kitchen and make the two of us breakfast?
I could just skip down to the kitchens, make some pancakes for the two of us, maybe some bacon for Ares, bring all of that food back into our room, and the two of us could stuff our faces and decide what we wanted to do together. It was a sweet thing to do, it wouldn’t take long, and after that we could decide what we wanted to do together.

Excited, I wiggled out of Ares’ hug. “I’ll be back in a little bit, honey,” I whispered to my sleeping human, kissing his cheek. “I’m going to make sure that the two of us are going to have the best day ever, and the best day ever needs to start with the best breakfast ever!”

With a giggle, I hopped off the bed and trotted toward the hole in the wall, the sight of it made me frown. I should probably get a few things done before I start breakfast. I thought, looking back at Ares before I trotted out into the hallway, my smile coming back to my face. I need to tell Ares’ employer that he’s incapacitated for the day and I’ll need to get this stupid wall fixed.

I was also going to have to deal with my guardsponies, but buck it, I could deal with them tomorrow. What mattered now was me, Ares, our bed, and some delicious, made-from-scratch food.

Sometime later…

“Ares! ARES! ” A cheery voice said, which was then followed by a light shove.”Come on, honey, time to get up!

Ares grumbled, trying to shield himself with his blanket as he rolled over on his side. Whatever time it is it’s too early for this shit, he thought, stuffing his head in between his pillows in a vain attempt to hide from whomever was touching him.

“Come on, Ares! I know that you didn’t get much sleep but I thought the two of us could start our last day of freedom early.” Ares was nudged again. “Please? I made you some breakfast.”

Oh, it’s just Cadence, Ares thought, before begrudgingly pulling his head from his feathery hidey-hole and sitting up. “Whatcha say, Candy?” he mumbled, rubbing an eye as he looked at the beaming alicorn, who had a food trolley to her left.

With an excited giggle, Cadence hopped onto the bed and nuzzled his cheek. “How is my honey-bunny?”

Tired, he thought, giving his fillyfriend a smile. “You know, the whole pet name thing is starting to grow on me,” he said, wrapping his arms around her neck and pulling her close. “Now what’s got you so excited?”

Cadence ruffled her feathers, the pink mare practically bursting with excitement. “I know last night wasn’t really what the two of us wanted to happen and I know it was probably pretty stressful for you, so I decided to go down and make the two of us some breakfast!”

Ares looked around the room. “It looks like you got the door fixed too,” he commented. “And is it just me or is that door made out of metal?”

“Made out of the strongest and most sound proof metal that money can buy!” Cadence said, wiggling out of Ares’ hug and hopping off the bed. “Now, how about the two of us start eating?”

Ares smiled warmly when he saw his fillyfriend slowly lift off the covering of the tray. “You didn’t have to cook for me, Can—“ With another quiet giggle, Cadence threw off the cover, revealing what kind of looked like two plates of, what might be generously described as, food?

Ares had to struggle to keep the smile on his face when he saw that everything on the plate was just black and burnt and unappetizing. “…It’s your first time cooking, isn’t it, Candy?”

Levitating the plates off the cart and hopping onto the bed, Cadence nodded. “Yep! Nopony ever let me cook when I was a babysitter.” Her smile turned a little sheepish. “And they wouldn’t let me cook at school after I accidently almost burned down the home ec. kitchen. The chef offered to help me, but I wanted to do something for you!”

Ares almost couldn’t bring himself to look at what was on those plates. The white plate was covered in a thin layer of black soot with thick, coal-like lumps surrounding even bigger lumps, each one more unappetizing and unfood-like than the last. In fact, it took Ares a minute to actually figure out that what he was looking at was food.

Plopping the plate, a fork, and a knife onto Ares’ lap, Cadence looked at him expectantly, which left him in an awkward position. There was no way in hell that he wasn’t going to eat this. Cadence had probably spent an hour burn—er cooking all of this up, and he knew that she probably really tried to make all of this, even if it didn’t look like food, so he was going to eat it with a smile on his face.

It was for love and all that; and besides, he had a pretty strong stomach, and if push came to shove he could always excuse himself and go see the doctor for a quick stomach pump.

Leaning over and kissing the mare on the cheek, Ares grabbed his fork and knife and stared at his food like a man that was waiting for the gallows. “It looks fantastic, Candy,” he said, trying to cut what he thought was a pancake, which somehow had the look and consistency of a rock.

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil…

For minutes, Ares battled through his meal to the best of his ability, forcing himself to eat every last thing on his plate, ignoring the horrible, burnt taste, ignoring his protesting stomach, his aching teeth, and his taste buds, all the while trying to make it sound like he was actually enjoying the food.

The whole time Cadence just stood there, a big, beaming smile on her face as she watched her human stuffing his face with the food that she had made. I knew he’d like it, she thought, not noticing that Ares’ knife broke when he tried to break apart one of the larger pancakes.

She had been a little nervous when her head chef had left the kitchen screaming when she said that she was going to try to stir-fry the cereal with a little bit of sugar to give it more flavor, and she had almost just thrown everything out when it all came out black and hard, but now that she saw how much Ares liked her cooking she couldn’t be happier.

I might even start doing this more often, she thought, finally looking down at her own plate and picking up her fork just as Ares finished his last bite. Now, let’s see if this is actually any good…

@>~~<@

You know, sometimes a pony will have a special talent that they’ll never know about unless that try it out once or twice. Like a mare that finds out that she’s a natural at gymnastics or a stallion that can juggle really well after doing it a few times. I like to think that there’s an opposite of that, where somepony will find that they’re actually really, really bad at something. Which, to be honest, isn’t as bad as you’d think it would be. It’s always good to know what both your strengths and weaknesses are; it’s a good character builder and keeps you from getting too full of yourself.

I can honestly say that I found something that I’m really, really not good at and, without a shadow of a doubt, I, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza should never, ever set hoof in a kitchen with the intent of cooking anything ever again. I thought it wasn’t going to be that hard to cook, but after tasting my… food and suffering the consequences doing so, I now know that cooking isn’t my strength and I should stay away from setting hoof inside a kitchen for awhile.

I honestly have no idea how I bucked everything up so badly. All you needed for pancakes was some sugar, flour, water, and a few eggs and bam, you have pancakes. But no, I somehow managed to make something so horrid, so foul tasting, that just one bite of it had been making me puke my guts out for the last half an hour. Ares, who had been holding my mane back and rubbing my back while I had my head in the toilet, must have had some kind of iron stomach, because he was taking the disaster that I had served him far better than I was.

“You should have gotten one of the chefs to help you, Candy,” Ares finally said as he rubbed my belly.

I managed to stop dry-heaving long enough to spit into the toilet and look up at him. “You… may be…. right,” I rasped, setting my head on the edge of the lid and closing my eyes, my stomach empty and my body exhausted.

My human sat down beside me, wrapping an arm around me. “If it makes you feel any better, my first time cooking was a heck of a lot worse than that.”

I leaned into him. “When… was… that?”

Ares paused for a moment. “Um, I might have been five?” he answered. “And even after cooking for myself for years and years the best that I can usually do is microwave something.“

I took a few deep breaths and continued to spit in the toilet, trying to calm myself down and get the foul taste out of my mouth at the same time.

After about a minute of this I managed to chuckle. “Thanks, Ares,” I said gratefully, trying to ignore the pain that had started in my stomach and had spread everywhere else after the fifteen minute mark of me puking. Please body, will you settle down? I begged, looking down at my belly. I’m sure you don’t want me dry heaving for another hour when I could be filling you with something that isn’t poison.

“That’s not really helping the pain in my stomach though.” I looked up at him. “You know, you could have just told me that that my food was bad.”

Ares made a disapproving noise. “It wasn’t that bad, Cadence,” he protested. “You just need some practice is all.”

“Ares, you’re the sweetest man in the world and I love you to bits, but my food almost killed me,” I replied, wrapping a wing around him. I tried to lift my head off the toilet seat, giving up halfway with a pained groan. “How did you even manage to eat all of that?”

“I’ve eaten worse,” he replied, shrugging. “But I’m telling you, all you need to do is get a little practice.”

I don’t know if it was the dizzy feeling or if it was just a spur of the moment thing, but as soon as Ares said that, I realized what the two of us could do today. Cooking with each other. This time I could get one of the chefs to teach us to cook something and I’d get to see him in a chef's hat and apron; it’d be a win-win for the both of us.

“Ares, if I could get up right now I’d shove my tongue down your throat,” I said happily.

My human snuggled closer to me. “That’s great and all, Candy,” he said, “but you might want to rinse your mouth out before you go and do that.”

#@~~@#

When one of the guardsponies had been stupid enough to ask the Sergeant what they were going to do today, Echo had just muttered something about them working up a sweat on some farms. And while this didn’t seem that big of a deal to the ponies that had been shipped up to the Empire from Equestria, the crystal ponies knew better.
You see, for thousands of years, the few farms that surrounded the city’s hills had been the lifeblood of the empire since its founding. Many of these farms had been passed down for generations, from father to son, and, though their produce were usually just wheat or hay, simple ‘peasant’ food, each one of these farmers knew that because of their efforts the empire was able to sustain itself.

Through hard work, dedication, and ingenuity, the farmers had even figured out how to grow crops of all kinds year-round and keep the soil full of nutrients after each ‘season’. There was no field rotation for a crystal farmer, there was no break, just work and work and even more work.

If one looked at these little farms one might not be able to tell them apart from a farm from Equestria, except for one small detail: the way that the soil was tilled. Where the simple Equestrian would use some modern day technology to tear up the soil with less workers and effort, the farmers of the Empire still clung to the old ways. To them, the crops grew because of the strength of one’s back, the sweat and blood that it put into turning a lifeless hunk of land onto a thriving oasis of food. To a farmer of the Empire, it was not love that grew the plants, but suffering, something Echo was more than happy to give, courtesy of the guard.

“Put your backs into it, you maggots! These fields aren’t going to plow themselves!”

Shining resisted the urge to wipe the sweat from his brow as he tugged his plow through the hard, unforgiving earth with all of his might. Just keep pushing, he
thought, shutting his eyes and gritting his teeth. Just keep pushing and don’t you dare throw up!

When the Sergeant had learned that a few of the farmers were in need of farmhands, she had jumped at the chance to get her soldiers suited up with old, dull plows, uncomfortable iron bits, sledgehammers that must have weighed fifty pounds, and yolks that were so big and blocky that they didn’t even look like they had been made for ponies. Echo had assured the farmers that the guard were more than happy to help each and every one of them, and soon, to the Sergeant’s continued delight, they were helping more than them.

Some of the smelters and miners, hearing that there was a chance to get some free labor themselves, had gone over to the bat-mare asking if they could borrow a stallion or ten.

“Ab-so-lutely,” Echo had said while she sipped her lemonade from under her umbrella. “Just go and nab whomever you want; they’ll be more than happy to help you out!” So they did just that, taking over half of the soldiers to dig ditches, break rocks, and drag support beams around.

The remaining guards had been happy to learn that they weren’t going to have to break rocks the whole day, until Echo had happily pointed out that each and every one of them were going to have to complete a field themselves now that the farmers were so understaffed. “We told them that we’d till all of their fields, fillies,” Echo had said. “Don’t you dare make me a liar.”

Shining had been at this horrible, exhausting, and dirty work since before the sun had gone up and he was just about ready to pass out. His lack of sleep was hanging over his head, slowing him down and making his plow even heavier than it looked.

The sun, which had been mercilessly been beating down on him since they had left the castle, looked like it was only going to get hotter as the day dragged on, further irritating and exhausting him. A stallion and a mare had already dropped from heat exhaustion and Shining was starting to wish that he would have been given a job with the miners. Sure, that would have been just as terrible, but there was a chance that it would have been cooler underground than it was above ground.

“Get your flank moving, Shining Armor! Remember, you only get to go back to the castle when you finish your field!” Rousted from his thoughts, and realizing that he had just been standing there looking dazed, Shining started pulling again.

Over and over again he kept muttering to himself to pull, that all of this would be over sooner if he pulled harder. With each step, his muscles cramped, his lungs burned, and sweat poured off of him and onto the ground.

With each step, he was just a little bit closer to passing out from dehydration or exhaustion. With each step that little voice in the back of his head was becoming louder and louder, telling him that it would be alright to give up, that there was no shame in packing up and going back home if staying in the Empire meant this. Each step was becoming a trial, a trial that was getting harder and harder to overcome.

Yet Shining couldn’t have been happier about it. Because this was what he needed, for somepony to try their hardest to break him down and make him give up. He wanted, no, needed to test himself, needed to deal with a simple, yet daunting, task like this. He was going to finish tilling this entire field by himself, not because Echo wanted him to, or because he thought that it was something that Cadence would want him to do. No, he was going to do this because HE wanted to do this.
“Shining! If you got enough energy to smile, that means that you got enough energy to bucking push harder! SO BUCKING DO IT!”

~~---~~

“Wow, Ares, this pizza is really good! I didn’t think we were going to be able to make something like this!”

Ares, covered in flour and tomato and cheese and far more tired than he had been this morning, couldn’t stop himself from grinning in pride as he watched Cadence scarf down the pizza that the two of them had just finished making.

After apologizing for the mess that Cadence had made in the morning, Ares and Cadence had gotten the head chef herself to help the two of them cook something edible, which, as it turned out, was a good deal more difficult than the human or alicorn expected it to be.

The poor chef had watched the couple burn, ruin, and destroy everything from stew to pastry to quiche before throwing up her hooves and all but forcing the two to just make a few simple pizzas with a batch of chocolate-chip cookies as desert. “Anypony could bake a pizza,” she had thought while shoving the list of ingredients and a recipe sheet in Ares’ face before going over and turning on the oven. “There’s no way that these two could get this one wrong!”

She was right. After watching the two like a hawk during the making of the pizzas and cookies and putting the food in the oven herself, she had found something that the two could actually make… kind of.

It had taken a lot to make the three pies and three dozen chocolate chip cookies—the chef had made them work as slowly as possible so as not to damage anything—but after accidently making enough dough to feed a village, grinding a little too much cheese and getting the mixture of mozzarella, fiesta, and pepperjack wrong so many times that the chef had thrown her favorite underling-whacking spoon out the window in anger, and putting too much onion, garlic, and salt in three different batches of sauce, they had actually made something that could actually be eaten and held down.

Every one of Ares’ ancestors were slowly rolling in their graves and Cadence’s mane may have caught on fire once or twice because she got too close to an open flame, but when their pizzas came out of the oven steaming, with the cheese evenly melted and the crust golden brown, all of that cooking seemed like it had actually been worth it. Sure, both of them were filthy, and Ares was sure that he was going to have to get a new shirt, some socks, and pants, but they had had that cliché, silly, amazing fun that only couples can have together.

Cadence had cheered as she watched the dough that she had been kneading start to rise, Ares had done a little happy dance (when he was sure that no one was watching) when the chef’s face didn’t scrunch up in disgust as she tried the sauce that he had made. Both of them had had a blast, giggling, laughing, joking, and teasing each other throughout the day.

But, like all good things, their day as chefs ended, with the relieved head chef tossing the two out of the kitchen as soon as their food was finished, throwing the pizzas, cookies, some plates, silverware, and two glasses onto a food trolley before shoving it out into the hallway, which left the two where they were at the moment, Ares staring down at his girlfriend as she nommed on the piece of pizza that she had gotten when he wasn’t looking.

Leaning down, the human wrapped his arms around his mare. “I told you that you could be an awesome cook, Candy,” he said, tickling Cadence’s stomach.

Cadence giggled, nuzzling his cheek, before taking another bite out of her pizza. “I love you, Ares,” she mumbled through the her half-chewed food, leaning back into him. “The two of us may be horrible cooks and I don’t know if we’ll ever be allowed in the kitchen again, but thanks for getting me to do this with you, it was actually really fun.”

With a satisfied smile on his face and a warm, happy feeling welling up inside him, Ares leaned forward and took a bite out of Cadence’s piece of pizza, trying not to laugh when he heard an angry squeak.

“Come on Candy, let’s go get all of this food back to our room,” he said, cleaning a bit of cheese off of Cadence’s mouth with his thumb. “I kind of want to sit down and eat all of this instead of, you know, just eating it out in the hallway like a slob.”

With a princessly sniff and with her nose raised high in the air, Cadence trotted past the food trolley that was holding all of their food. “Excuse me if I want to taste my food to see if it’s actually any good,” she said with a huff. “Silver Platter wouldn’t even let us taste these babies before throwing us out of the kitchen.”

Ares hummed thoughtfully as he positioned himself behind the trolley and started to push it forward. “She didn’t even let us clean up after ourselves,” he commented, poking his head back through the kitchen doorway to look at all the dishes, pots, pans, and kitchen utensils that had been stuffed into the sinks. “That’s going to take her forever to clean up.”

Cadence shrugged uncaringly. “It’s not our fault that she was in such a bad mood.” She frowned. “Did you hear her yelling at me the whole time I was trying to make the dough?”
Ares patted her on the back. “Weren’t you hitting the dough with a rolling pin and yelling at it to rise?”

Cadence stopped in her tracks, a tint of pink coloring her face as she stomped her hoof. “I’ve never cooked before, Ares!” She protested. “It’s not my fault that I have no idea how ponies make bread!”

While Ares could have pointed out that no person in their right mind would have done that to bread, and while he could also have asked himself why he and Cadence were so horrible at cooking, he decided to keep his trap shut and let his princess vent.

I’ll just send that poor mare some apology flowers or candy or something, Ares decided, scratching Cadence’s ear and trying to ignore the loud clattering of pots and pans and rather colorful swearing that was starting to come from the kitchen.

Was I really that bad of a cook back home? He wondered to himself his face scrunched up in thought. I don’t remember being HORRIBLE at cooking.
Ares gave his head a little shake to clear it of those silly thoughts, he reached down and picked up Cadence, pulling her into a hug. The alicorn giggled, wrapping her hooves around his neck.

“Ares,” Cadence whined, kissing his neck. “Come on and put me down; I want to get back to our room before our food gets cold!”

Ares’ grip only tightened, a happy smile coming to his face. “I love you, Candy,” he murmured, nuzzling the top of her head. “I don’t care if the two of us cook for shit; you’re the best girl a guy can ask for.”

Cadence awed, rubbing her cheek against his. “I love you too, my little human,” she told him, patting his back with her wing, “and don’t worry about the two of us not being able to cook. If we play our cards right all we’ll need to do is get you to show your cute little butt to some cooks and we’ll be eating for the rest of our lives!”

With another playful giggle, the alicorn wiggled out of his grasp and raced down the hall, the food trolley caught in her magic, leaving Ares by himself, the only sounds the chef’s swearing and his own breathing.

Sighing in contentment, he thought, Sweet Jesus, today was a pretty sweet day.

&@~~@&

“Alright, fillies,” Echo roared, looking over her dirty, exhausted, and ragged bunch of soldiers. “I think that’s enough exercise for today!”

The soldiers looked at the mare, wondering if what she had just said was some sort of cruel joke. Out of their group, only about a third of them could actually stand, including the hard-bitten veterans, and most of those paragons of stamina were panting, pale, and just a few short steps from passing out.

Everypony else who wasn’t so lucky was on the ground or leaning on one of the ponies that could actually stand for support, these poor, unlucky ponies covered in sweat, foamy saliva coating their mouths, and their eyes drooping in undeniable, spiriting-breaking tiredness. To his dismay, Shining found himself with these ponies, trying to desperately catch his breath and get the feeling back into his hooves as he leaned on Flash.

Sweet Celestia did I let myself go, he thought, pawing at the carton of water that he had been given after a few hours of working. The carton looked like it would be able to hold about a gallon and a half of water, and even though Echo had made sure that every guard had kept theirs full while they worked, Shining still felt that it hadn’t been enough. Without a doubt, this had been one of the most grueling and mentally difficult things that he had ever done in his entire life. Compared to this, his own time at boot camp may as well have been a cakewalk.

He had heard that the Night Guard’s training was a little stricter than the Day Guard’s, and that they still, proudly, used older methods of training, but if this was what a batpony had to go through to become one of Luna’s protectors then Shining was ecstatic that he had been born a unicorn.

Echo looked at each and every one of them with nothing less than utter contempt. “What you have just experienced, fillies, was what I had to go through as a recruit.” She turned her head and spat. “Except that I had to do all of this in a pitch-black cave and we had to use stones and stalactites as plows.”

The mare’s chest puffed out. “That little warm up is just the beginning, fillies and gentlecolts, of what I promise will be the worst few days of your lives!” She started to pace back and forth. “From what I have seen, your training was obviously insufficient, but I will forgive that on the basis of you all receiving the sub-par training regimen that the Day Guard is famous for.”

For the ponies that had originated from Canterlot, Shining included, this little jab hit a little too close to home, and each one of them would have voiced their opinions if any of them could actually breathe, but they couldn’t so Echo continued her little ‘pep talk’.

“Right now not a single one of you has the right to call yourself a guard. You are all trash; right now the dirt I’m walking on has more value than any one of you sorry salt-lickers. I was hoping to actually have stallions and mares to mold, but it looks like all the Crystal Empire has to provide are colts and fillies!”

Many of the Crystal ponies bit their tongues at this, each of them resisting the urge to defend their country’s honor by walking up to this outsider and giving her a good smack on the mouth.

“But don’t worry your little heads. I promise you, if any of you manage to stick this out you will be able to look yourself in a mirror and be able to call yourselves guards!” She smirked. “For those of you that want to quit, just tell me and I’ll be happy to throw your flank out of the castle by morning.”

Echo paused, looking in Shining’s direction before finishing, “Do I have any takers now?” She waved a hoof encouragingly at them. “Come on, I won’t bite, just trot on over here and tell me that you want to quit and I’ll let you walk away right now. You won’t have to do anything like this again in your lives; all you need to do is walk up to me, look me in the eyes, and tell me that you quit!”

As tempting as that sounded for most of the guards, not a single one of them moved. The Canterlot guard wouldn’t move because they had been called out by some bat horse Night Guard that thought she ran the place, and the Crystal wouldn’t even dare think about dishonoring their clans by submitting to defeat. So, no matter how hard this was going to get, they were going to stick this out, even if it killed them.

And from how today went, the Sergeant might actually be trying to kill us, Shining thought with a small smile. Willing every last ounce of energy he had left in his body, Shining forced himself off of Flash, stumbling, and almost falling, before he managed to stabilize himself.
His knees shook and even that little bit of effort was making him pant, but he still managed to give Echo a defiant smile; the absolutely best buck you that he could think of doing in this situation.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow, ma’am!” he said, saluting. “Then I might actually break a sweat!”

All around him, tired, dirty faces broke out into smiles, each of the guard silently cheering the stallion as he stood his ground under Echo’s glare. Stallions and mares, who were too tired to even think about standing on their own seconds before, raised themselves off the ground and stood with their old captain.

They might have been exhausted, and they may have gotten their flanks kicked up and down today, but they were still standing, and as a group they would continue to stand. Shining felt himself choke up with emotion. He couldn’t even count himself among these soldiers at the moment, but even now they trusted him to lead.
You know, I almost thought that they wouldn’t be happy to see me, Shining thought, a great big smile coming to his face. And here I always thought the real soldiers were supposed to hate the officers.

Echo looked at the group converging around Shining with a raised eyebrow before, with an annoyed snort, she looked back at the stallion. “You didn’t break a sweat, eh, Shining?” she said, her voice becoming low and dangerous. “Well then, you and the rest of the guard wouldn’t mind running back to the barracks then, would you?”
Just like that, the looks of brotherhood and the feeling of admiration died and turned into looks of horror, irritation, and even anger, all of which were directed at Shining, who couldn’t stop himself from flinching, and nearly facehoofing, at his own stupidity.

Seeing that he had trapped himself, he forced himself to say, “Of course not, ma’am!” Oh buck me why did I have to say that? He thought, his exhaustion once again making itself known.

Because of a slip of the tongue, something that had been meant to put spirit back into the tired soldiers behind him, Shining had inadvertently given his exhausted trainees another twenty mile run. A twenty mile run which he was sure to be thanked for in the form of being held down and beaten with bars of soap in socks by his fellow soldiers while he slept.

Well, I hope that they don’t beat me too hard, Shining thought as Echo started shouting orders for the troop to form up for the run. We all probably have one heck of a day tomorrow. For some reason, the thought of another day of horrible, grueling training brought a smile to his face as the Sergeant stood in front of the tired group of ponies and started off toward the castle at a steady but brisk pace.

“Let’s go fillies! If I catch one of you falling behind I will not hesitate to run back and kick your flank all the way to the bucking castle, do you hear me Legionnaires?!”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”

Next Stop: A Flower Shop

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“Um, sir… Sir, it’s time to wake up.”

Ares sighed, trying not to groan or pull the covers over his head when he felt someone tentatively poking his side. Grumbling, he tried to swat at whatever was poking him, to try and scare it away, but the poking continued undaunted after a second or two.

Please god, he begged, please let me have a little more sleep; I don’t need that much, just another hour or two… Please?

“Sir, you have to get your lazy flank up for work.”

It was the day that Ares had been waiting for for weeks: the day that he could go out and make himself useful by becoming employed. Coming from a family that was used to working hard from five in the morning to ten at night, it had been killing him to just sit on his butt all day and do nothing. He was a man dammit; he was supposed to make a living, not leeching off others!

It was why he jumped at the chance to get a job as soon as he made it up here to the empire. Sure, he might love Cadence, and sure, she might made him do a lot of things that he usually would do, but there was no way in hell that she was going to stop him from getting a job; even if he had to wash dishes he’d do it with a smile on his face if that meant to had something to do.

Luckily for him he didn’t not have to work as a dishwasher; he actually managed to get a job as a florists, something he had been doing since he was little,and he couldn’t be happier about it. Now he didn’t need to bother other ponies because he was a jobless shmup, walking around and doing nothing and pretty much being useless; he was the one that was going to be bothered!

He had really had looking forward to going to work the other day, but because of the whole Shining-knocked-a-hole-in-the-wall-and-it-was-awkward thing Ares feared that he might have made a bad first impression on his new boss by not coming to work. So, to make it up them, he had asked one of the maids if she’d be kind enough to go ahead and make sure that he actually got up at the ungodly hour of four thirty in the morning to head on in early.

And why did he have to leave the comfort and warmth of his bed to go out into the cold, cold world at that hour; an hour where most shops were still closed with their owners tucked away in their beds?

Well, being someone who had worked in a flower shop most of his life, Ares knew that it actually took a lot of work to make your merchandise look good so people would buy it. One had to get up bright and early to ‘feed’ the plants, get the shipments of new stock, pesticides, soil, and what have you, you needed to make sure that all of your plants looked healthy and if they didn’t you needed to either throw them out or trim the plant to make it look better; and that was stuff you needed to do before your customers came through the door.

So, instead of going into work at eight like he had been told, Ares had decided, in an effort to look like a good new employee, to actually get up and help out when the owner of the store was actually doing most of her work. The problem with that was that he actually had to get out of his bed at three in the morning.

“Sir? Are you awake yet?” The maid pony asked, giving his side another poke while he tried to get his brain up and working. “Come on; rise and shine!”

With a quiet groan, he groggily swatted away her hoof with a hand. “I’m up, I’m up,” he muttered, opening an eye to glare at her. “Just give me a minute…”

The mare looked around the room, adjusting the collar on her dress. “Um, I can’t do that, sir,” she said apologetically, poking his side again. “You told me to keep pestering you until you got out of bed so you wouldn’t just go back to sleep.”

Cadence, who was sleepily clinging to him with a wing draped over his body, and who also still smelled like pizza and chocolate from the night before, frowned and grumbled to herself, pulling him closer. “…No,” she muttered, nuzzling his cheek. “…Sleep.”

Ares smiled, leaning down and kissing her on her forehead. “Even though I’d love to, Candy, I have to get up and go to work.”

The princess’s wing tightened around him and her hooves latched around his neck. “No,” she murmured again. “It’s national sleep-in day.”

Looking over at the maid, who was watching this little scene unfold with a little smile on her face while she quietly awed, for support, and receiving none, Ares then tried to reason with his fillyfriend whilst also trying to wiggle out of her iron grip.

“Come on, Candy,” he pleaded. “I don’t want to be late.”

Cadence just buried her muzzle deeper into his neck. “Maid,” she grumbled loudly. “Make sure to note that your princess has decreed that today is national sleep-in; a day in which everypony has to sleep in and or actually go to work when they’re supposed to; not hours beforehand.”

The maid saluted with a giggle. “At your command, your majesty.”

Ares gave the mare a dirty look before pressing his cheek against Cadence’s. “Come on, babe; I already made a shitty impression by not going in yesterday,” he muttered into her ear while trying to unhook her hooves from around his neck. “If you don’t want me to keep going this early that’s fine, but I need to at least go early today to make up for not going yesterday.”

“You had a good reason not to go yesterday,” Cadence grumbled. “And I sent a messenger to tell your boss that you weren’t going to be able to make it in, so I don’t see what you’re all worked up for.” With a grunt she pulled him back against her and wrapped her wings fully around him.

“Now be quiet and let your princess use you as her teddy bear.”

The maid cleared her throat. “Sir, you really need to be going.”

Ares growled, trying to resist the urge to just go back to sleep. “Just give me a minute…” He looked up at Cadence. “Come on, Candy, it’ll only be this once,” he begged. “And I’ll even make sure to get you some flowers to eat when I get off.”

Cadence cracked open a blood-shot eye and eyed him critically. “You’ll get those yellow roses that I like?” she demanded with a sleepy yawn.

Ares nodded. “I’ll get a dozen of them for you, but first…”

Cadence just grumbled before letting him go, her wings tucking back to their sides. “Alright,” she said, yawning. “Go and have fun at your job.” She waved her hoof toward the door and sniffled sadly. “Go and leave your marefriend to sleep all by herself so you can get some brownie points with your boss.”

“You monster,” the maid added a dramatic gasp and another giggle.

Ignoring the maid, Ares leaned down and kissed Cadence on the cheek. “I’ll see you later today, Candy,” he said, tucking her in. “Go and get some more sleep; I’m sure you’ll need it.”

Cadence nodded. “You make sure that you don’t burn anything down,” she said, nuzzling her cheek before letting her head fall back onto the pillow. “And make sure to come back to the castle for lunch, alright?”

“Alright, I will.” With a grunt, Ares rolled out of the bed, trying not to fall over anything in the dimly lit room, and walked over to the closet to throw on some clothes.

“You better throw on a coat, sir,” the maid suggested, watching the tired human as, with a little more stumbling and swearing than was really necessary, he threw on some clothes. “It gets chilly out this early.”

Doing just that, Ares looked around the room to see if he had forgotten anything before rushing over to the bed and kissing his half-awake marefriend again. “Alright, I gotta go, Candy. Have a good day, I love you, bye.”

Not waiting for an answer, Ares walked over, picked up the maid, and jogged toward the open door; closing it quietly behind him. The maid, who was holding her little candle so she wouldn’t accidently burn herself or Ares, squirmed in the human’s clutches until he carefully put her down in the brightly lit hallway.

Clearing her throat, the maid pulled a plate from… somewhere. “Sir, I thought that you’d like to eat something before going out to greet the day,” she said, hoofing him a plateful of donuts, buttered toast, and even bacon.

Grinning, Ares quickly snatched the food from the plate and started to sprint down the hallway.

“Thank you!” he called over his shoulder before stuffing the toast in his mouth.

The maid shook her head as he turned the corner. “At least he remembered his coat,” she muttered, yawning hugely as she slowly started to make her way toward the maids quarters where a warm bed was waiting for her. “Why the hay anypony would wake up at this hour just to play with dirt and plants,” she shuddered in disgust, “when winter is around the corner is beyond me.”

&^^&

Tulip woke up, just like she had every morning, with a big smile on her face. Sure, she might have to wake up a little earlier than most ponies to open her flower shop, and she was probably going to have to wear a warm hat and a scarf out when she needed to go out to get that new shipment of soil from that grumpy old stallion that sold it at the supply store, but at least she woke up bright and early doing what she loved.

Being a shop keep was a quiet, calm, and fulfilling life to her. She wasn’t running around worrying about every little thing, she didn’t have ponies running into her store yelling at her for no reason, all she had to do during that day was take care of her plants and deal with a few customers; one could almost say that it might be one of the most stress-free occupations out there. Which was good for her in more ways than one.

You see, Tulip was a mare that didn’t like loud noises, or loud ponies, or large crowds, or surprises, or mean ponies that yelled at her when she was just trying to help, and she tried to stay away from all of those negative things; for her heart if nothing else, and that was where her plants shined. The plants never scared her, nor did they yell or scream; all they did was sit there, looking pretty and sucking up carbon dioxide while she cared and nurtured them.

And this day, like most of her days, would have just been perfect, if not for that fact that her new employee, that weird cuddle-alien thing named Ares, was going to be starting work today.

N-not that she thought he was going to be a bad employee or anything, her aunt had told her that he had been a florist on his home planet (Darth or something like that) and she had put a good word in for him, so she already kind of knew that he wasn’t going to be one of those meanies that would yell at her or bully her. No, she wasn’t concerned with his work ethic, or the type of worker her was going to be, she was concerned for his well-being.

The messenger that had come to her little flower shop had been vague, but she, and almost half of the city, had heard the explosion the other night, and though not many ponies were worried because they had seen the guard running around the other day, Tulip was concerned that her newest employee might have hurt himself in some way. He was her first employee after all, and she wanted to make sure that he was in tip-top shape.

It might have been a silly thought, and she knew she shouldn’t be worried when her aunt had come by the other day saying that he was alright and he’d be more than ready to come to work tomorrow, but a nagging feeling lingered and she was sure that it wouldn’t go away until she actually saw him alive and whole.

I hope he takes another day off if he needs it, the mare thought as she trotted into her bathroom to brush her salmon-colored coat and wrestle the tangled mess that was her mane. I don’t want him straining himself if he’s hurt…

After grooming herself, putting a clip in her mane to keep it in place, and eating a simple but filling breakfast, Tulip left her home and slowly made her way toward her little flower shop: Flowers and Flattery.

It was a little shop on the corner of Ruby Street and Platinum Avenue that got just enough traffic that she was able to live actually quite well, which was why she needed more help in the store in the first place. It seemed as the weeks and months went by more and more ponies would wind up in her store to buy a little something to nibble on while they were on their way home, which was great for business, but doing everything by herself was really starting to wear on her.

“But now it’ll be easier,” the mare muttered, her breath fogging from the frigid morning air. “I may even be able to expand my store like I’ve wanted!” With a little squee at the thought, along with a little happy skip, Tulip quickly made her way toward her little shop and unlocked the door. As soon as she opened it, the smell of her plants with just a hint of soil assaulted her, making her little happy smile all the bigger as she trotted over and threw on the light switch.

“And how did my babies sleep?” she cooed, quickly closing the door behind her to keep all of the warm air in.

Row after row of plants, some common, some not, each of them on specially heated tables that also had a sun lamps that kept the plants happy and warm, lined the main room of her little store almost to the point of bursting. For many ponies, the humidity and all of the flowers so close together and just out there like they were may have been a little odd but there was a method to Tulip’s madness.You see, unlike many of her competition, she wanted to show her customers that she grew her plants with just love and care; hence why she didn’t have them hidden away from the publics eye.

She didn’t trim up the plant so much that you could barely get anything edible out of them, nor did she pump her plants full of nasty chemicals. It made her flowers a little smaller than some other flower shops, and a bouquet may cost a little more, but when you bought something at Flowers and Flattery you knew exactly what you were getting, which was how Tulip liked it.

After trotting around to see if all her babies were healthy and delicious-looking, making sure that she watered them, and going to her strongbox in the back to see if everything was where it was supposed to be (a habit that her aunt had told her to pick up) Tulip made her way out of her little shop and into the chilly and foggy outside with a happy smile.

By now the sun was just peaking over the horizon, and the once deserted streets were starting to fill up with ponies either going into their own shops to get ready for the day or farmers bringing in their wares. Soon the streets would be filled to the brim with ponies; something that Tulip would like to avoid.

I hope that Mr. Sow is in a good mood today, she thought, quickly making her way through the streets and toward the supply store where she got her soil. He always tries to make me pay more when he’s—

The mare stopped in the middle of the street when she heard the sound of somepony charging through the streets toward her, though it sounded a heavier than a pony, and the sound that was being made was more of a thud than a clop. That isn’t a pony…

Straining her vision to pierce the fog that surrounded her, she could just make out the outline of what appeared to be a yeti. Just the thought of meeting one of those monsters almost made the mare bolt, but then she remembered that the barrier around the city kept those monsters out.

Then what IS it? She thought, racking her brain as the mystery creature quickly came closer. Taking a shaky breath, she took a step forward and called out, “Um, e-excuse me?”

The creature, supposedly noticing her, slowed down to a walk. “Oh, hello,” it said, sounding out of breath. “Do you need something?”

…I know that voice from somewhere, Tulip thought as she slowly trotted over toward what sounded like a male. The closer she got to the creature the more familiar he became, until she was standing before the cuddle monkey himself: Ares.

The man smiled down at her before looking down the road. “Did you need something, ma’am?” he asked again. “I actually need to hurry up and get to work…”

Tulip looked up at him with a mixture of embarrassment and shame. Oh dear, I didn’t even remember what he looked like! In her excitement to get the day started, Tulip had forgotten what her newest employee had looked like! Sure, the fog had made him a little hard to see, and she had been a little too nervous about him actually being a yeti to think clearly, but to her that was not excuse. What kind of boss am I if I can’t remember what my employees look like?

“Oh, hello, Ares!” I mean, how many other giant monkey things are running around?! It’s not like he’s a zillion time different than a pony or anything! “It’s me, Tulip, you’re boss.

Ares cocked his head and peered at her intently, before a look of recognition came to his face.

“Oh, hello ma’am, I didn’t recognize you in all of this fog,” he said politely. “I was just about to go to you flower shop to see if you needed anything help with anything. I know how early a florist needs to get up, and I thought you might need someone to help with some heavy lifting.”

Ares took a step forward, frowning when he noticed how strained Tulip’s smile appeared. “…Are you alright there, ma’a—“

“Oh, please, just call me Tulip,”

“—Tulip? You seem a little... off.”

Don’t tell him that you didn’t remember what he looked or sounded like, the mare thought as she trotted up to him. Don’t you bucking dare!

“I’m fine,” she said with a cough. “I just had something else on my mind.” She smiled up at him again. “And thank you for coming down so early; I could actually use some help carrying some soil, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Ares smiled, letting the mare lead him through the streets. “I’d be happy to help Tulip,” he said, an excited pip in his step.

&<><>&

“Move your bucking hooves more, Armor, or Watcher’s going to make your ugly mug even uglier!”

Shining grunted, barely registering the advice as he rolled out of the way from the hulk of a stallion that he was trying his hardest to beat him into a fine paste.

What do you think I’m trying to do?! he thought with a tired snort, bracing himself as his opponent threw a haymaker. It’s not my fault that Watcher takes up half the damned courtyard!

Shining had been looking forward to sparring with a pony or two, to see if he could take a punch like the old days, but now, after losing at least three matches to the Sergeant before him--a usually nice stallion that went by the name of Watcher--, he really looking forward for his beating to end.

The Sergeant was over a head taller than Shining and probably could knock an Manticore out with a kick; which was really not making this fun for him. Just raw strength wasn’t the only thing that Shining had to deal with; the earth pony was also a good deal faster than his size suggested. That along with being a five year veteran of the guard, which meant that he had a lot of experience under his belt, had made the last two hours a rather painful experience for him.

“She’s right, Shining,” Watcher calmly said, almost knocking Shining off his feet with a well place shoulder bump. “You need to keep moving or you’ll—“

Weaving under another punch, Shining swing with as much force as his tired, shaken, and beaten body was capable of, hitting Watcher squarely on the jaw, causing the stallion to stumble. For a second, Shining almost thought that he was going to hit the ground, but then Watcher simply shook his head and stared at him with an almost bored expression.

Sweet Faust why did I get paired up with the giant? He thought, steeling himself as his opponent came charging toward him with a roar. Why couldn’t they have parted me with Flash?

While this would have been a simple fight if he was allowed to use his magic, Shining wanted a fair fight with his opponent… Or at least Echo did, since the mare, with a big smile on her face, had placed an inhibitor on his head and told him to buck up. So, even if he wanted to, (And he really wanted to) he just couldn’t simply pick up Watcher and slam him into the ground until he gave up. He was going to have to win this spar with his wiles, and he was going to have to do it quickly, because if he took anymore punches he was pretty sure he was going to get some kind of brain damage.

Come on, give me something! Shining begged, gritting his teeth in frustration as he dodged and weaved around and rolled from his foe, not bothering with throwing any punches because they weren’t doing anything other than annoying him, trying to find a weak spot in this monster of a pony.

Watcher simply kept driving the unicorn backward, his punches and jabs controlled and calm as he waited for Shining to tire out so he could land a finishing blow. “You’re not going to beat me by hopping around like this, Shining,” he said calmly. “You know you could just surrender; there’d be no shame in it.”

“Shut… up… Watcher,” Shining growled, sweat dripping off his face as he distanced himself from the earth pony. “Give… me a… minute and… I’ll have… your flank… laid out… in the dirt.”

Watcher simply smiled before charging Shining again. I’m not going to be able to outlast an earth pony, Shining thought, crouching low to the ground and tensing his muscles. Watcher seemed to increase his speed, probably intending on just steamrolling him; which was just thing that he needed. For the first time in all two hours of fighting him, Watcher had finally made a mistake, and Shining was more than happy to make him pay for it.

Trying not to let his smile show, Shining held his ground. Come on, just a little closer, he thought, his lips drawing back into a snarl.

Watcher smiled when he saw that his opponent had seemingly given up, increasing his speed and lowering his head to make his finishing blow all the more powerful.

Almost….THERE!

With a snarl, Shining darted forward, launching himself into Watcher’s legs and pointing his horn downward. (He didn’t want to gut his opponent by accident.)

Watcher, not able to stop himself in time, hit Shining’s shoulders with an almost bone crunching amount of force. Ignoring the pain that was coursing through his body with his little stunt, Shining grabbed Watcher’s forelegs, and, with a mighty roar and every bit of strength he had left, he lifted the bigger stallion off the ground and let inertia do the rest. Watcher yelped in surprise as he was launched into the air, spinning a few times, before he hit the ground hard, landing face first and sliding for a few feet before going limp with a pained groan.

Getting back on all fours, Shining spun around and launched himself at the fallen stallion, rolling him onto his back and pressing his hooves against his throat. “Yield,” he growled, his whole body shaking from exhaustion.

Watcher tried to weakly rise but Shining just shoved him back into the earth with a grunt.

“Watcher, if you… don’t yield right… now I’m going… to hop on your sack… until you cry like… a filly.” Shining tapped the stallion’s lower belly with a hoof, making Watcher squeak like a in surprise and fear.

.
“I… yield,” he grumbled before letting his head fall back into the dirt with a groan. “Good match, Shining.”

With a tired grin, Shining hopped off the bigger stallion and helped him up. “I got lucky during that last bit,” he said modestly, not noticing that someone was making their way toward him with nervous, but, hopeful, hoofsteps. “If you weighed any more than I’m sure that my back would have bro—“

Shining’s eyes widened when he felt someone’s hoof touch his shoulder. Wondering who it could be, and realizing that the training field was now silent, he slowly turned around, only to be pulled into a pink, furry chest, and wrapped into a tight hug.

The unicorn stiffened in surprise as the pony wrapped her wings around him. “Hello, Shining,” she said, sounding a little apprehensive, leading Shining to guess that she had been gathering her courage to walk up and hug him like she had. “I’m glad to see you didn’t go and run away before I could get a chance to talk to you.”

Shining leaned into the hug and closed his eyes.“Good afternoon, your highness,” he answered, looking into Cadence’s purple eyes.

The small smile that had been on the princess’s face faltered. “Now, don’t be like that, Shining,” she quietly said, sounding hurt.

Shining sighed. “What? I thought that you had to be formal during a trial,” he said casually, cracking open an eye to see that every one of the guard was staring intently at them.

“A trial?” Cadence asked, sounding confused before a look of realization flashed across her face. “Oh, you mean what happened yesterday with the wall?” Giving him another nuzzle, the princess stepped away from him and turned to address the rest of the guard. “I had almost forgotten about that. Sergeant Echo?”

As if she had teleported, the Sergeant was beside the princess in the blink of an eye, the bat mare saluting before saying, “Was there something you needed, ma’am?”

Cadence regarded her with a critical eye. “I’ve read the report you sent me the other day explaining you and the rest of the guard’s actions. After some thought, I thought it would be best to come down here personally to speak to you about it..”

Echo simply nodded. “Ma’am yes ma’am,” she said.

With a thoughtful hum, Cadence began circling the mare. “As you know, Sergeant, every action has a consequence,” she said calmly, though her face was unreadable. “The other day you decided that the best plan of action, after hearing somepony yell, was to break into my room using excessive and frankly unnecessary force, knock down a section of my wall in the process.”

All around the training yard, stallions and mares alike flinched at the accusation, but Echo may as well have been made out of stone because she didn’t so much as flinch.

“I did what I thought was right at the time,” she said, a bit of stubbornness coming into her tone. “I will accept any punishment that you give me, but I will not apologize for trying to protect you.”

Cadence stopped in front of the mare, her eyes narrowing. “Alright; I AM a busy mare, so I’ll just cut to the chase.” Spreading her wings, she continued. “Sergeant Echo, for your actions the other night I, Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of the Crystal Empire, hereby relieve you of your rank as Sergeant—“ This made Echo wince slightly, her body tensing, “—and elevate you to the rank of captain.” Pulling her wings back to her sides, the princess giggled quietly to herself as Echo, along with the rest of the guard, stared at her like she had just grown a second head; open mouths and all.“Congratulations!”

After a moment, Echo finally managed to find her voice. “…What?”

Cadence nodded, a bright, cheery smile on her face, walked over and placed her hoof on the mare’s shoulder, she said, “You thought Ares and I were in danger and you responded quickly.”

She smiled ruefully. “Maybe a little too quickly, but you managed to make a plan and enact in with a group of ponies that don’t even know you and led them as a single, cohesive unit. It may not have been much of a plan, and you may have jumped to conclusions, but you didn’t panic; you went through what could have been a dangerous situation with a clear head. That, along with previous recommendations from princess Luna and Celestia, and having judged your character myself in the short time you’ve worked for me, I thought that promoting you would be the best. ”

With a nod, the princess turned back to Shining. “And, I also read from the Captain’s report that you, Shining Armor would like to join the crystal guard; is that correct?”

Shining nodded once. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, trying to keep his voice even, though his back legs were shaking slightly.

Cadence nodded. “I’d be more than happy to have you in the guard, Shining… as long as this is something that you really want to do.” Cadence took a step toward him. “I would be happy to give you a recommendation to any troop in Equestria, or I’m sure that my aunt would love to have you back as her captain…” She took another step closer toward him.

“Shining,” she said quietly. “I’m happy that you’re okay, and I’m happy to see you again, but if you’re doing this for the wrong reasons…”

Shining bowed his head. “I’m not here for anything like that, Cadence,” he assured. “I just think that I need to be up here,” he motioned toward the soldiers watching them intently. “I trained a lot of these ponies myself; it’d only be right to see it to the end.” Shining smiled at her. “I want to make sure you, and the empire, are in the hooves of trained, experienced guards.”

Cadence still looked unsure, though Shining could tell that she was trying hard to hide it. “…Alright, Shining, but I’m not going to play favorites with you. You’re going to have to work your way up from the bottom…”

Shining grimaced, looking down at his hooves. He had had expected Cadance to be a little… resistant. It might have been nothing; he might have been imagining it, but it actually seemed like she genuinely didn’t want him protecting her. Maybe it might not have been the best idea to come this soon. he thought. Maybe I should try to ease into thi--

“Well Private, are you going to just keep your face in the dirt or are you going to say something?!”

Blinking in surprise, Shining turned toward Echo, who was looking at him with a scowl and a borderline angry expression.

The mare smacked him on the shoulder. “You were going on about wanting to join my guard yesterday, and now that the princess herself just told you that you were allowed to join, you get cold hooves?! Do you really bucking need to be a bucking captain to join my command?!!!””

Shining took a nervous step backwards. “Well, um—“

“NO! I’ll bucking tell you what you’re going to do,” Echo butted heads with him. “You’re going to do what you came up here to do, and you’re going to like it! DO YOU GET ME CREAMPUFF?!”

Eyes wide, Shining found himself saluting. “Ma’am, yes ma’am!” he squeaked.

Echo growled. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU, PRIVATE! WHAT THE BUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!”

“MA’AM YES MA’AM!”

With a nod, Echo pushed him out of the way and saluted Cadence, who had watched the whole scene with a mixture of confusion, surprise, and amusement. “I’ll make sure he gets the proper paperwork filled out, ma’am. Now, if you’ll excuse us, the days still young and these slackers have a few more hours of sparring to do. DO YOU HEAR ME, FILLIES? BREAK TIME'S OVER, GET BACK TO WORK!”

The Hazards of Magical Flowers

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“Um, Ares?”

Ares looked up from the orchid that he had been trying to carefully put into pots to look up at his boss, who was smiling down at him with an expectant look. Wiping his hands on his pants and making sure that the plants weren’t going to go anywhere, he stood up with a grunt.

“Do you need something, Boss?” he asked politely.

Tulip looked past him at the plants, her smile becoming just a little bit wider. “You’re doing a good job, Ares,” she complemented. “Most ponies don’t know how fragile orchids are.”

Ares looked at the plants that he had spent the last ten minutes prepping and potting, his chest puffing out with pride. “Oh, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with these fragile little bas--buggers,” he told his employer, his smile diminishing slightly as he looked off into the distance with a thousand-yard stare. “Back home we had people always asking for the things, then coming back into the store complaining about how they died two weeks later…”

Almost before he could walk, Ares had been around his uncle’s flower shop; at first as a little kid that did more to mess up the place than to help, then as an actual employee, and then as a sort of co-owner. In that time he had gotten to know a lot about being a florists and the people that spent their lives supplying people with some of the most beautiful flowers possible.

Back home, flower shops were becoming something of a dying breed. Nowadays people just bought their flowers online from some big-wig company that mass produced everything instead of helping out the mom and pop stores around their towns. The big companies could make more, sell more, and keep their prices lower than the smaller locally owned flower shops, and everyone in the flower business had been hit in some way.

Ares, as a young man, had seen some of the nicest people in the world get thrown out into the streets because no one would buy their flowers, and for a while, he had considered not following his uncle’s legacy as a big macho-man powerlifter who also happened to own a flower shop. His parents warned against it, outright forbidding him at one point, and told him to go get an “education” to get a “real” job. To his shame he had almost caved in to his family’s wishes, even going so far as to look into a few of the local colleges, but in the end he could couldn’t bring himself to abandon his uncle and all the beautiful flowers.

So, against the wishes of his parents, his friends, his high school guidance counselor, and pretty much everyone else that he knew, Ares moved out of his parent’s house, moved into a crummy little apartment on the bad part of town where it always seemed to rain, and began his life as a professional florists.

Almost as soon as he had settled down to work he had to buckle down and hit the ground running, fighting tooth and nail with his uncle to keep “their” little flower shop thriving and relevant.

Endless nights were spent keeping the shop maintained and looking pretty, and Ares had lost more nights of sleep that he cared to think about spreading the word about “his” flower shop in any way he could, using everything from facebook to twitter to even paying a homeless man to stand out in front of the store with a sign (it wasn’t one of his better ideas, and in the end he almost got arrested along with the bum that he had paid, but at the very least it had been an interesting day).

They tried lots of things, some silly, some inefficient, and some that may or may not have been a teeny tiny bit illegal but, for a while, it seemed like all of their hard work was paying off. The shop was busier than ever and it almost looked like they were going to have to expand the shop because of all of the customers. Most of their clientele might have been hipsters, who for some reason kept asking for them to put a coffee shop in their store, but at least they had enough money to feed themselves, pay the rent, and to keep the store open.

Ares and his uncle couldn’t have been happier with their work, and Ares in particular couldn’t help but rub his success in his family’s face, but, like all good things, it had to end; and for Ares it ended with him waking up in the middle of a tundra in the middle of a world filled with magic and talking horses.

It had been hard losing everything that he’d ever known. What made it even harder was that he had no way of knowing how his family was doing, or if his little shop was still running at tip-top shape, or how everyone was holding up after his disappearance. In fact, if it wasn’t for Cadence, Twilight, and the other princesses, he still might not have gotten over it.

Despite all of this though, losing his family, his life, and his little shop, he had managed not to lose hope on any of it. His uncle was a smart, strong-willed kind of guy; there was no way in hell he was going to let the shop go under while he could still move around, and his family was a tough bunch, they’d be alright. All they’d need to do was hunker down together and they’d be able to get on with their lives just as he had.

The fact that he had been dropped into a world where florists were thriving also took a bit of the sting out of losing everything he knew too. Sure, most ponies were using flower shops as sweet shops, but at least he wasn't going to have to worry having to stop doing what he loved because people were too busy to go into his store. In fact, maybe in a few years, he’d be able to open his own little store in town somewhere; teaching a colt or two about how to water a sun flower while muttering some life lesson that would always center around lifting, just like his uncle had done before him.

Tulip’s shop was like his uncle’s had been, so much so that he had been expecting a six foot seven hulking old man to pop out the back asking Ares if he’d watered the Good Morning’s yet.

The flowers were all out in the open, like they should be, there was a little rickety little cash register in the corner on top of an oaken counter, the walls were just the right color of off white, and everything smelled like dirt.

And to make things even better, Ares had found out that his old green thumb hadn’t left him during his months in ponyland. His hands were steady and all of the old tricks that he had learned over the years seemed to just come right back to him as soon as he started working; and work he did.

For hours he had did what he did best, trimming and planting and restocking and watering and even dealing with a few customers, quickly becoming dirty and sweaty, but he couldn’t keep a smile off of his face. His new boss had been ecstatic when she had seen his work ethic, complementing him and telling him how much easier he was making the whole new employee thing on her by already knowing how to do everything, which made the job all the more sweeter to him.

Tulip herself seemed like a sweet mare, albeit a shy one. It had taken half the morning of working with her before the mare had finally warmed up enough to him to begin an actual non work-related conversation, and even then it was a little touch and go for a little while.

After a few slightly awkward questions, and more than a bit of dancing around each other, the two hit it off, Ares telling her about his time working at his uncle’s shop along with a few tales about his old life and Tulip telling a few stories of her own.

“Hey, it’s about lunch time,” Tulip said, blowing a bit of her mane out of her face before smiling up at him. “I was just going to see if you were going to take your lunch break.”

While he really wanted to tell her no, he was having a little too much fun to stop now, he nodded. “Yeah, I promised my fillyfriend that the two of us would have lunch together,” Ares said with a slightly embarrassed grin. “Is it alright if I take my lunch break now, or do you want me to—“

“Remember you can take your lunch break anytime you like,” Tulip interrupted. “I don’t want you rushing back and forth trying to get something to eat. Just make sure that you don’t go missing all day and you’ll be fine.”

Ares nodded. “Okay, ma’am, but I’ll still make sure to keep my lunch breaks at an hour max.”

Tulip nodded. “Just make sure to get something to eat, Ares; a full employee always works harder than one who’s barely eaten,” she pointed toward the sink in the corner. “Now go wash up before you get outside; I’m sure the princess doesn’t want to see you covered in dirt.”

“Alright, thank you.” Ares was about to walk to the sink but he stopped. “Ms. Tulip, would it be alright if I snagged a few of those yellow roses?” He smiled at his boss. “I promised my—“

Giggling to herself, Tulip waved a hoof dismissively. “Take as many as you like,” she said kindly. “And since you’ve been working so hard today why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”

Ares frowned. “Are you sure? I don’t wanna leave you here with the rush hour on the way.”

Rolling her eyes, Tulip trotted over to him, nudging his leg with a hoof. “We’ve already had the lion’s share of customers here today; most ponies only come here in ones and twos after lunch, so you don’t need to worry about me.”

She giggled again before trotting toward her register. “Now go on home and enjoy your lunch! No buts; get that fanny of yours out the door.”

“...Are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure; now get!”

What a nice mare, Ares thought, cleaning himself up before making toward the section of the store dedicated to roses.

He casually walked through the aisles until he came upon what he assumed to be plain old roses yellow roses. “There you are,” he mumbled, leaning in and intently staring at the big, thriving bushes. “I thought you guys were here…”

Though the human was, admittedly, an experienced florists, he failed to take into account that there were different species of flowers on this plants that he was unfamiliar with. He also failed to assume that his boss might have a magical flower or two out in the open along with the normal flowers, but, since everything, at least in the flower shop, seemed to look and smell the same as they did back home, one could forgive Ares in his lapse of judgement.

Since Tulip was busy at the counter she wasn’t there to tell him that instead of taking a bakers dozen of just plain yellow roses, the poor human took a bouquet of the rare and magical plant fleur de la luxure, which, to be fair, looked exactly like a rose. Since she knew so little of his world, and since she may have forgotten what her aunt had said about the human, and since he had shown that he knew what he was doing, she automatically assumed that he knew what to watch out with magical flowers. And, since every magical flower in her store was safe (all except the one that he was now handling, as a matter of fact), she didn’t bother showing him the different flowers or how similar some of them were with other normal flowers.

The fleur de la luxure was one of these flowers that blended in with the common yellow rose; in fact, the only significant difference between the two was the very slight glow that the magical flowers gave off, something that Ares assumed to be a trick of the light as he carefully cut the flowers from their bushes and placed them into a little plastic cone.

The fleur de la luxure happened to have another name, as it were: often it was simply called the “lusty rose”. Ares would find out why it was called this in the best of ways.

<><><>~_~_~_~<><><>

The streets were crowded with ponies, all who were probably trying to get something to eat, but all of them stopped what they were doing to go and say hello to the infamous cuddle monkey. Ares waved and chatted with a few of them, and played with a few kids, but he made his way to the castle as quickly as possible, the thought of filling his belly spurring him on.

I wonder what we’re gonna eat, He thought, nodding at a few of the guards as he made his way through the castle’s entrance. I could really go for some more piz—

“Hey, Ares!”

Ares stopped and turned toward a smiling Flash and a stone-faced and statue-like Shining Armor, both who appeared to be guarding the hallway. Ares raised an eyebrow when he saw that Shining was armored and armed with a spear.

Huh, it looks like he got the job, he thought. Well… good for him.

For a second, he wondered why the hell Cadence had given him the job, but after giving it a second thought, he mentally shrugged. If Shining got the job that only made it easier for the two of them clear the air with each other, and that was just what Ares was going to try to do. If he wanted to be a Crystal Guard that was fine by him, and since they were probably going to be seeing a lot more of each other now, he felt that the least he could do was offer an olive branch and at least try to be friendly.

“Hey Flash,” he said, hoofbumping his friend when a hoof was offered. “What are you two doing?”

Flash’s chest puffed out. “The Cap-er, Shining here got the job this morning, and the two of us got assigned together!” Flash winked and nudged Shining. “I’m supposed to show him the ropes.”

Shining’s eye twitched slightly. “I was a guard a heck of a lot longer than you,” Shining muttered in annoyance. “And the two of us are supposed to be watching this hall, Flash, not just talking to ponies will-nilly.”

Not able to help himself, Ares said, “Well, lucky for you I’m not a pony then huh?”

Ares and Flash looked at Shining expectantly, the two of them frowning when Shining simply ignored the comment. Ares and Flash looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, a silent conversation going on between the two, one that simply said awkward.

While Ares had just told himself that he was going to try and play nice with Shining he couldn’t even pretend to ignore the slight tension that was building in the hall. He didn’t know if Shining had a beef with him or not, but he couldn’t help but admit that, until the two of them managed to talk it out, it was going to be weird being around each other, since Ares had the whole I’m-probably-going-to-be-having-sex-with-your-ex-wife-while-you’re-in-the-same-castle-on-the-regular thing going on.

It was honestly a situation that he had never been in, and he really wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Should he talk to Cadence about this whole thing first? Should he bring it up with Shining right now? Should the two of them just go and beat the shit out of each other like he’d first offered? He didn’t know; but what he did know was that he probably should stop just standing around like an idiot and say something to make this whole situation a little less tense and weird.

Come on you pussy, stop just standing there and say something!

“Hey, good for you, Shining,” Ares said with a smile. “I’m happy that you got the job.” Shining frowned when Ares flicked his helmet but remained silent.

Biting his lip, Ares fumbled, trying to come up with something to ignite the conversation. “...So you’re all suited up now? You’re looking pretty spiffy.” He crouched down and looked him over. “Did Candy give you your old rank back or…”

“Cadence made me a private,” Shining said, eyes still forward.

Ares nodded, reaching over and patting Flash’s side before getting back up. “Well it was nice talking to you guys... but I gotta go and get something to eat.” Ares turned back toward Shining, who was still looking forward, debating on saying something more before shaking his head before starting to walk down the hall.

“Ares!”

Ares looked back at Shining, who was still looking forward.

“…You have a good day and thank you; it means a lot to me to be back in the guard.”

Ares nodded, cracking a smile. “I’ll see you two around.”

Flash smiled as his friend made his way down the hall and around the corner, turning and smiling at his old captain. “I told you that it wasn’t going to be that bad,” he chided with a shove.

Shining shoved him back, almost knocking the pegasus over. “Will you be quiet and stand still,” he growled. “I swear I’ve seen green recruits move around less than you.”

With a grin, Flash looked forward and adjusted his grip on his spear. “Whatever you say… Private.”

“… Buck off.”

^#@#$

You know, I was surprised with how little paperwork that was waiting for me in my little office. Don’t get me wrong, there was a stack that reached the ceiling, but I was honestly expecting there to be ten times as much. Drafts for new laws, approval for construction around the city, even letters from some of the local schools; pages upon pages of things that I had to read and either sign, hold for later, or throw out.

I’d gotten up bright and early (not as early as Ares, but it was pretty close) and after having that slightly awkward conversation with Shining, I had trotted to my office eagerly with the intent to work my flank off.

Surprisingly, diving headfirst into my work wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be; in fact I may have enjoyed myself just a little bit. I breezed through most of the bills; put aside any letters or cards from foals that I had gotten to look at later, and wrote at least fifty letters, all with a big smile on my face.

My little vacation was just what I needed, I thought, dipping my quill into my inkwell and quickly putting my signature onto a document and putting it in the finished pile. I hummed a little tune as I started reading another paper. I might be able to get all of this work finished in an hour or two in fact!

I know that sitting behind a desk signing and writing things all day may not have sounded like the most excited job, but I could honestly say that it was good to be back. After being gone from my ponies for months, I was back with a fresh mind and lots of new ideas on how to make their, and my, lives easier and better. With each letter read and with each document thought over and signed, be it a draft for a law, somepony asking for a building permit, or just somepony asking me for a recommendation for this and that, my little ponies lives became better and better.

Now I just need to make sure that this work ethic stays around for a while longer, I thought with a giggle, frowning when I finished reading a nobles written request to tear down a museum next to his house so he could put in an in-ground swimming pool.

“The nerve of some ponies,” I muttered, crumpling up the letter and tossing it in the trash can. “I swear to Faust there’s something wrong with the gentry…”

I was about to reach for the next piece of paper from my ever-decreasing “need to look at” pile but I heard a knock on my door.

“Candy, are you in there?”

There’s Ares, I thought with a smile, putting down my quill and leaning back into my chair. I guess I don’t have to send a guard to get him after all.

“Come on in, Honey,” I called. “I was just finishing up some paperwork.”

The door was opened, revealing a tired-looking, but smiling, Ares. “There you are, Candy. I was wondering where the hell you were holed up.

I eyed the roses in his hand hungrily, my stomach suddenly reminding me that it had been empty since early this morning with a quiet growl. “I see you got me my snack,” I said, quickly hopping out of my chair and trotting toward my human. “Thank you; I was starting to get a little hungry.”

Giving him a peck on the cheek, I took the roses out of his hand and started nibbling on one of the buds as Ares started walking around my office.

Boy, these taste weird, I thought, eyeing them. And, now that I look at them…Wait, are these GLOWING?...

“...Ares, honey, are you sure that these are roses?” I asked, staring down at the bouquet. “They taste a little… odd.”

Ares snorted good-naturedly, eyeing me and crossing his arms. “Candy, I think I’d know what a rose looks like,” he replied, pointing at my trash can. “But if you want to stop eating them if you want.”

I hugged the roses against my chest protectively. “No, that’s alright,” I said. “These might taste a little… funny, but they’re still good. And besides; I’m hungry.”

Ares nodded, going back to walking around my room while I went back to eating my flowers, which seemed to be getting better and better with each one that I ate.

“So this is where you do all of your princess-y stuff?” Ares mumbled, his hand sliding along my
desk.

I nodded, finishing a rose in just a few bites before all but attacking the next one. “Yep, this is where the magic happens,” I chirped. “Make sure you don’t touch any of those papers; I need to still look at some of those.”

Ares walked around my little office for a minute or two, poking or picking up this and that, before becoming bored, walking over and hopping into my chair with a plop and a thoughtful hum. “You know, you should think about putting something interesting in here,” he said, waving around the, admittedly, Spartan room.

I nodded in agreement. “You might be right,” I admitted, walking over and plopping myself into his lap, still stuffing my face. “I’ve been thinking about giving this office a more personal touch for a while now.” I leaned back against him. “But I’ve just never got around to it.”

Ares wrapped his arms around me, one of his hands tickling my belly. “I’ll make sure to get you one of those little water bird things.”

“How was work?” I asked, finishing another one of the odd tasting roses. I cooed as my human hand rubbed my stomach in a slow circular motion.

“It was great; my boss is a little too quiet for my taste, but I’m sure I’ll get her to warm up to me in a week or two,” Ares replied.

“How longs your lunch break?” I tried to get myself to move around to look at my coltfriend but found that I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I guess finishing all of that paperwork was more tiring that I thought it was going to be.

“I got the rest of the day off,” I giggled when Ares laid his head on my shoulder and kissed my neck. “She said that she didn’t want to keep me any longer since I got in so early.”
I brought the bouquet closer with my magic, and I was about to take another bite out of the yummy flowers, but then I noticed that I had finished each of the roses down to the stems.

Wiping my face with a hoof, I tossed the remnants of my snack into the trash can. Wiggling out off my human’s lap, I said, “Well, that’s great that you have the rest of the day off, honey.” I looked back at my paperwork with a small frown. “How about I spend the rest of the day with you after I get all of this finished, hum?”

It was a reasonable suggestion; I was, after all, a princess that had duties to her kingdom and her people. Ares though didn’t seem to be in the reasonable mood.

Getting out of my chair, he nudged his head toward the door. “Naha; you wanted the two of us to eat together so don’t give me any of that.”

I tried to move toward my desk but he stopped me, nudging me with his foot while keeping his arms spread out wide. “But honeeeey! I have to finish all of--epp!” I yelped as my human picked me up, placing a hand firmly under my rump, and began carrying me toward the door.

I was about to struggle, but then I noticed that there was something… odd about Ares at that moment; or rather, there was something odd about his scent. I couldn’t help but inhale the oddly intoxicating scent of sweat and flowers, pressing my nose against Are’s neck, to my own surprise.

Sweet Faust does he smell nice, I thought, letting Ares fiddle with whatever he was fiddling with in my room.

My tail curled partly around his waist, and my wings encircled his back; Ares’s smell was honestly… doing things to me, starting to make me want to do things with him in my office that would be considered wildly inappropriate.

...I’m I going into an early heat or something?! I thought in confusion , managing to getting some sense back into my head by giving it a shake. Biting my lip, I looked up at Ares with a mixture of trepidation, eagerness, and worry. Because it bucking feels like it!!!

I knew for a fact that I wasn’t going into heat for at least another three months (I had been dreading having that conversation with Ares for a while now) but I swear to you that I could barely think straight. I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself, but all I did was breath in more of my sexy honey’s scent, which made it worse and worse until I was ready to just jump him and tear those clothes of his right off!

You need to calm down and figure out what’s going on, I thought, wiggling out of my human’s grasp, trying to look as calm as possible. Maybe there was something in those flowers, or maybe…

I couldn’t get the thought of my Ares standing over me naked, with a hungry look in his eyes as he tackled me into our bed. I tried to rub my back legs together to try to calm myself down, tried to do some breathing exercises that I had taught Twilight when she was little, but nothing was working. I wanted, no, needed to feel Ares inside me, rutting me again and again and again until either of us could so much as think.

Youreallyneedtobuckingcalmdownand--

I froze as my human threw open my office door and walked out into the hallway, eyeing his flank. Against my better judgement, I slowly cast a very weak love spell, the small heart floating into the air before hitting Ares’s back.

Pleasedon’thurthim!

Ares stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking around before looking over his shoulder at me. “Are you coming, Candy?” He asked, seemingly normal, to my relief.

“Y-Yeah!’ I squeaked, trotting after him. “I’m coming!”

I had barely put any magic into that spell, so there was a good chance it wasn’t going to hurt him; at worst it might give him a little stomach ache or something like, but if it works…

Then momma’s getting some tonight!

~--~--~<><><>~--~--~

“Spike, could you please get me Silver Salon’s book of advanced magical formulas and logarithms?”

Twilight watched as her little assistant saluted before darting toward another section on the library.

“Hang on, Twi, I’ll have it for ya in a second!” Spike called.

She leaned back into her chair and eyed her notes with a smile. “Just make sure that you don’t knock over anything, Spike,” she called back. “I don’t wanted either of us making a bigger mess than we already have.”

Even though it had been nice to take a little vacation from her studies, Twilight was happy to be home with her friends and her books. The girls had been curious, and worried, as to why she had seemingly just left out of the blue one day (she hadn’t been able to tell them about Ares at first), but, as the weeks had gone on, and she had written more and more about the alien that had become her friend, they understood why she had to go away. In fact, it seemed like they were almost disappointed about not seeing the “alien” for themselves..

That and Rarity still can’t believe I got a coltfriend, Twilight thought with a smug smile, quietly thanking Spike as he handed her the book she had asked for.

The little dragon himself, for the hundredth time that day, took a second to just look around the room. The main lobby of the library, usually spick and span, was covered, from the floor to the walls, in notes, papers. Looking to his left, Spike saw a dozen little projects, in various stages of completeness, scattered around tables and chairs, along with cups and cups of coffee.

While he was pretty much used to Twilight’s study-binges, he hadn’t seen a doozy like this in a while; which could be a really good, or a really bad thing. And, since he really didn’t feel like dealing with another one of Twilight’s accidental world-ending spells (he was still cleaning up from the last one) he decided to dragon up and call her out on it.

Twiddling his thumbs, the drake looked up at his boss/sister/mentor. “So, Twi, why are you trying to create a long-distance teleportation spell?”

“Because Princess Luna asked me to look into it, Spike,” she said matter-of-factly, quickly writing down a few squiggles of what looked like gibberish on an ink-stained piece of paper. “She wants to see if we can teleport a pony long distances without having to waste an impossible amount of magic doing it.”

Twilight giggled excitedly, clutching her notes. “Just think about the social applications of this, Spike! We could send a pony from one point of Equestria to another in an instant!”

Spike, a frown coming to his face, slowly crossed his arms as the unicorn practically skipped around the room.

“Nopony would have to worry about the dangers and general stress of travel. All you’d need to do is find a unicorn that is sufficiently powerful and bam: you’re anywhere you want to be!”

“…But you need to find somepony with enough power to do it, right?” Spike questioned, getting up on his tippy toes to look at the notes. “If this actually works…”

Twilight stumbled, her excited grin fading slightly. “Well, at first the princesses will probably be the only ponies that would have the power to ever be able to attempt the spell,” she allowed, before her grin came back full force, “but if this spell works, that means there’s a chance that it can be modified until the average pony could do it.” Twilight giggled again. “And I’ll be the pony that pioneers something like this! Ponies will be writing books about me, Spike; books!”

While Spike could have pointed out that he had been helping with the spell just as much as Twilight, therefore earning him at least some of the credit, and while he was also sure that ponies must have tried to make a spell like this before, and obviously failed, he just decided to keep his mouth shut; trying to argue with Twilight would be worthless at the state she was in.

He would try to explain to Twilight why this might not be the best idea, she’d argue with him that this was, in fact, an amazing idea and that whole world would be revolutionized when she made it work, they’d argue some more, he’d leave, something bad would happen, she’d apologize to him and buy him a load of gems, he’d forgive her, and the cycle would then start again.

The best thing that he could do was let the crazy scientist do what she wanted until he either had to call the princess to come down here and beat the snot out of some other-worldly creature, she actually managed to do it, or blew up in their faces. Luckily for Spike, dragons were a hardy race, so he was sure that he’d be alright… probably.

You know, I wanted to go see Rarity today, he thought, waddling over and grabbing another stack of clean paper. But I guess going to sit here and make sure that Twilight doesn’t summon some archdemon… again.

“I swear to Celestia I don’t get paid enough for this,” Spike muttered.

Twilight, overhearing him, said, “Spike, I don’t pay you at all silly!”

Spike looked back at her stone-face. “Exactly.”

~-~-~-~-<>~~<>==<>~~<>~-~-~-~-~

“Do you require anything else, your Majesty?”

Luna looked up from her book at the servant that was looking back at her with a smile. Humming in thought, she shook her head. “Nay; that will be all,” she waved a hoof at the door, “thou may leave.”

Luna looked back down at her book as the pony quickly left, a small frown on her face as she quickly read the lines. “It appears that this spell may be more difficult than We thought,” she muttered, leaning back into her pillow.

Since she wasn’t able to woo Ares and Cadence for a while longer, the Princess of the Night had focused her attention elsewhere: namely on her sharpening her wooing/cooking/swave skills. Romance novels, how to guides, even asking ponies for advice, Luna had been busy making sure that she’d be able to woo their socks off the next time she saw them.

They will be eating out of our hooves in mere moments, she thought with a giggle. Young Twilight Sparkle simply needs to complete her task and all will be well.

Though it didn’t sound like a particularly difficult task for one who rose the moon, long distance teleportation was something that had always eluded Luna. For a number of years her, her sister, and their teacher had tried to come up with a spell to travel long distances in the blind of an eye, something that would greatly benefit pony kind as a whole, but they always seemed to end in failure.

Traveling a few feet or even a mile or ten was doable, tiring but doable, but any more than either left one of the sisters incapable of using magic for a long while, or not all of them made it to where they teleported (thank Faust that the only thing that they had lost was their manes and a bit of dignity), or they accidentally summoned something from a spectral plane. One would think that all you needed to do to travel further was just add a bit more magic for a simple teleportation spell but it seemed like it went deeper than that.

Sister and I may have failed but We are sure that Twilight will be able to think of something.
With a hum, Luna flipped a page. She always seems to “think outside the box”, as they say.

The countless nights wondering if what she was doing was selfish or cruel wouldn’t matter, all of those evenings of her sister begging her to stop the little “crush” and go out with that nice pizza colt down the street would be just another day dream if she could just feel Ares’ hand on her cheek. Luna was tired to dancing around nobles, and her sister, and the world, she just wanted to look up at somepony, tell them that she loved them, and hear them way it back. Was that really too much to ask; couldn’t she just have a little love and happiness for herself?

Pausing mid page, she looked out her window at her sister’s sun. “Everypony should be settled in now,” she muttered, ears splaying back. “We do not wish them to hate us; even with our confession they are still our favored companions, so if they truly wish us to stop we will end it.”

Luna gulped at the thought but still looked into her sister’s bright star. “But all we ask for is one chance; one chance to show Ares, and Cadence, that we truly, truly care.”

A frown came to her face. “If we fail, there is always that pizza colt; sister would hound me until
Tartarus rose up from the earth if I didn’t at least give the poor colt a chance…”

I Just Had Sex

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Warning: This Chapter contains horse X human relations of the graphical manner.

This Chapter can be skipped if you'd rather not read something like that, blah blah blah, scene go!

Though Ares wanted to go to the kitchen’s to get something to eat, ASAP, Cadence insisted that the two of them go to their room to get something first; what she wouldn’t say, but Ares still sucked it up and followed his marefriend.

The walk to their room was a quiet, yet comfortable one, Cadence stopping every once and a while to chat with a guard or a servant or two, Ares letting her do what she wanted while he let his mind wander to this and that.

I wonder if Candy wants to stay in or just go out and get something at one of the little restaurants around town, he pondered, humming a quiet tune to himself. I’ve been wanting to go to another one of them since--

“Ares?” Cadence turned to look at him, a sly smile on her face. “I’d watch those hands if I were you mister~”

Blinking, Ares looked down, wincing when he noticed that his hand had wandered from the middle of Cadence’s back dangerously close to her flank. “Oh shit,” he muttered, pulling his hand away with an embarrassed blush when he realized that he had almost been groping her in public, “I’m sorry, Candy.”

Cadence just giggled. “Oh don’t worry about it, Honey,” she said, bumping his hip with her rump. “Just make sure that you wait until we get to our room before you start playing with my tush.”

Giving said tush a teasing wiggle, the princess trotted away from the embarrassed human, looking over her shoulder and giving him a wink before disappearing around a corner.

I guess I deserved that, Ares thought, giving his head a little shake before following her. I really need to watch where the ol’ wigglers go from now on; I don’t want to make this weird for anybody… especially now that Shining’s here...

Before he took three steps, his stomach suddenly growled, so loudly that it almost seemed to echo off the hallways stone walls. Jumping in surprise, he looked down at his belly.

“Maybe I should have gotten a snack or something before I got back,” he muttered, frowning. “I’m hungry as shit…”

Now frowning slightly, Ares increased his pace to a jog, hoping to catch up to Cadence so he could see what she wanted to do about lunch.

He had expected her to be halfway down the hall when he turned the corner, but to his surprise, Cadence was just standing right there, in his jogging path, a smile on her face as she just looked at him and gave her rump another wiggle. Though he was a little confused with the alicorn’s continued, and almost aggressive (for her anyway; especially in a public place like this) teasing, Ares couldn’t help but give his girlfriend’s ass an appreciative look, taking a moment to run his eyes up and down that toned, round work of art.

Because of the momentary distraction, Ares didn’t notice that he hadn’t slowed down, and almost ran smack dab into his fillyfriend’s rear as a result.

“Shit,” he mumbled, eyes widening as he tried to stop himself before colliding into her. “Cadence, watch it!” Even though it was close, he managed to stop a few inches short from her.
The mare just giggled again, sticking her butt up in the air a little as she just stood there. “You better be careful, honey bunny,” she almost purred, giving him yet another teasing wiggle before starting to walk down the hallway.

He took another good, long look at the royal flank before giving his head a shake and walking after her.

What the fuck’s wrong with me today? He wondered. Do I need to have a little “private time” with myself or something? Stopping for a second, he looked down at his pants and noticed that he was sporting a halfie.

…Jesus Christ; I can’t just look at my girlfriend’s ass for a minute without popping one like some virgin? Fuck, I REALLY need to get laid… Cadence wasn’t helping matters either, swaying her hips with each step while he hummed a happy little tune to herself.

No matter how hard he tried, Ares couldn’t keep his eyes off his marefriend. For some reason, Cadence seemed… different to him; more alluring more beautiful, more desirable; hell, even her voice sounded different. Every moment she made was more graceful, more sexy, and it made him want to get down on his knees and praise her like the goddess she wa--

No! NO! Jesus, calm the fuck down man… he thought, breaking out into a jog so he could walk beside his marefriend. I just want to get something to eat and sit down for a few hours, and now I’m walking down this hallway with a rager?!

He closed his eyes, recalling, with a smile, each and every time Cadence yanked him into a kiss, along with every time she bite and licked and whispered sweet nothings—

Ares’ eyes snapped open when he heard a throaty giggle. “You better watch where you’re going, Honey,” Cadence said with a smile. “I don’t want you running into anything with your eyes shut like that~.”

Ares was about to open his mouth and say something, but only managed to lick his lips nervously as the two of them came within sight of their bedroom. Cadence, still humming to herself, trotted toward the door and threw it open before walking in.

Stopping at the door, Ares said, “So what do you want to do about lunch, Candy? Because I was thinking that the two of us could—“

“I’ll send a letter to the kitchens to bring us up something,” Cadence interrupted, disappearing into the room. “And we’ll see if you’ll settle for eating a pony instead…”

“What was that, Candy?” Noticing that he was just standing out in the hallway yelling into his bedroom like a moron, Ares quickly made his way inside the bedroom before closing the door.

I guess we’re eating in then, he thought, reaching down and pulling at his shoelaces, untangling them before throwing his shoes off.

“Now what do you want me to order from the kitchens, Ares?” Cadence said from somewhere in the room.

Ares opened his mouth but his stomach shut him up with an angry growl that made him slightly light-headed. Looking down at it, concern started to creep its way into the back of his mind. “Maybe there’s something wrong with me?” He mumbled. One second he was so hungry that he was ready to eat his own shoes, the next he was willing to rip off his pants and fuck his grilfriend out in the hallway, and he had absolutely no idea why he was acting like this.

“I don’t know but I think I need to eat a shit ton of food right now,” Ares half-mumbled, smiling when he saw Cadence at the table with a paper, ink, and a quill in hoof. “I swear to god it feels like I haven’t eaten for like two days…”

If he would have bothered to look up, he would have seen Cadence’s face scrunch up in confusion before quietly Ohhing. “Well… I’ve seen weirder side-effects to spells…at least he looks alright...”

Clearing her throat, she said, “Alright… how does three cheese sandwiches with bacon, some pasta, a bowl of rice, two fish, and a couple of oranges sound?”

Ares, still looking at his stomach, nodded absentmindedly while making his way toward his bed. “That sounds about right.” He flinched when his stomach growled again, almost bent over in pain that time. Coupled with his throbbing, angry erection, meant that he wasn’t having the best time at the moment.

Still, he tried to put on a brave face for Cadence and pretend that nothing was wrong and that he actually didn’t want to pick her up, slam her into their bed, and fuck her brains out until neither of them could walk.“…Actually, maybe you should double that?”

I just need to calm down, Ares thought. I just need to— Ares sighed explosively. I… think I just need to suck it up and ask my girlfriend if she wants to get laid… Yep, I’m sure that that’ll turn out fucking perfect…

<><><>~-~-~-~-~<><><>

After making sure that I sent a letter to the kitchens, I hopped out of my chair and made my way toward Ares, stopping about a foot from the bed. It looked like the spell wasn’t causing any negative effects on him. That said, I was still just a little bit nervous that my lust spell was going to hurt him.

Even though a little bit of magic, or the little bit of magic that I had used in the spell, probably wasn’t going to have and negative or lingering effects, that teeny tiny chance that he could get hurt bothered, worried, and scared me, so much so that I was just about ready to bring him down to the Ward to get the doctor to check up on him.

“Um, Ares,” I muttered. “Are you alright there, Sweetie?”

I’ll just tell him what I did then take him to The Ward to get the spell removed, I decided. I should have asked him first about it before—

“I… think so?” Ares said, looking up at me with an odd mixture of confusion and lust. “I’m just really hungry all of the sudden; like painfully hungry.” He shifted around the bed uncomfortably, looking away from me with a red face. “Hungry and…”

“Horny?” I guessed, flinching in guilt when he almost jumped off the bed.

“It’s not anything that I can’t control--” I could instantly tell that that was an outright lie but I kept my mouth shut and let him continue, “-- but… yeah,” he looked back at me. “How did you know?”

Taking a deep breath, I took a step forward and placed my hoof onto his leg. “I have something to tell you, Ares,” I said, forcing myself to look into his eyes.

Please don’t hate me…

“You see, some couples, whenever they want to spice up their relationship or take that next step, will sometimes use a spell to get each other “in the mood”.”

Ares was about to open his mouth, but closed it a moment later, his eyes widening in realization, which made me feel even worse.

And now he knows what I did, I thought, trying really hard not to just burst into tears. He didn’t look mad now but I expected that to change any second now.

Still though, he deserved to hear me say it. “I thought that, since you might be a little nervous about cementing our relationship with… sex now that Shining’s here, and since I’ve been feeling a really in the… mood, it might help to use the spell on you.” I couldn’t help but let out a pitiful little sniffle, looking down at his feet. “It was wrong of me to—“

I stopped when I felt a hand squeezing my hoof. “Come on, Candy, don’t you go crying now,” Ares said, his other hand grabbing my chin and forcing me to look up at him smiling face.

“There’s no reason to get so worked up over you just wanting the two of us to finally bang each other.”

I was about to open my mouth to protest, but two hands hooked under my armpits and pulled me up and onto Ares’s lap and wrapped me in a hug.

<><>-`-`-`-`-`-<><>

Ares looked down at his sniffling marefriend with what he hoped was a reassuring smile before wrapping her in a hug. You know, I knew that the two of us dating would be weird, but I didn’t think it was gonna be this hard, he thought, nuzzling his face into her neck.

Sure, he knew that it was going to be… different dating a talking space horse— a space horse he loved to bits but a space horse none the less— but he was starting to feel like he and Cadence were going about this the wrong way.

Even since he had told her that he loved her, and she said the same to him, it seemed like the two of them were dancing around each other, trying not to step on each other’s toes. They weren’t laughing or joking or having fun like they used to, the two of them there just being … lovey dovey; which wasn’t a bad thing, per say, but all lovey and no play was starting to make the two of them a little crazy.

We’re going to have to just sit down and talk to each other, Ares thought with a frown before his mouth twisted upwards. Huh, look at me; thinking like an adult and shit…

For months Ares had come to the conclusion that he did, in fact, love this wonderful pink horse. It took a little more time but he had also, after a bit of soul-searching, come to the conclusion that he did, in fact, want to have sex with this wonderful pink horse.

And, since he was in the position that he was in, the doors were closed and locked, all of the crazy guards ponies were off elsewhere, and Cadence’s little spell was starting to make him horny enough to start humping the furniture, Ares decided to throw caution to the wind and give Cadence what she wanted; damn Shining, or the fucking invisible deity that seemed hell-bent on making sure that he was never going to get any, whatever spell Cadence had cast on him, and his dick, had made the decision for him to give this sweet, wonderful mare the lovin’ she deserved.

Slowly starting to run his hands along Cadence’s back, Ares leaned in and gave Cadence a kiss on her long, slender neck, smiling when he heard Cadence gasp in surprise.

“Ares, what the hay are you—“

The muscles in Cadence’s back tensed as his hands trailed over them, Ares’s fingers delicately tracing and massaging the barely pronounced muscles of her upper back, those making way to the bigger and more developed flight muscles in her middle back. “Ares, s-stop and let me just talk t—“ Cadence tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he held her firmly in place, pressing as much of her body against his as he could.

The pony princess was now held firmly in place, Ares took a moment to enjoy whatever Cadence’s spell was doing to him. Every sense was heightened; he could smell that delicate bubble gum and strawberry scent as he gently trailed kisses and bites up his mare’s neck, the feeling of her soft silky coat was almost mind-numbing; Ares could even hear Cadence’s heartbeat starting to quicken.

He didn’t know if whatever spell she had done to him was going to have negative consequences but, right now, he couldn’t find himself to care. There was only one thought on Are’s mind as he gently played with his Cadence: the need to feel her against his naked body, the need to feel his lips against hers, the need to be in her, to finally breed with his mare. From within the confines of his pants, Are’s cock twitched in anticipation.

Cadence, after a minute or two under his tender care, finally loosened up and stopped struggling, sinking into his lap with a barely held back groan. Her head slowly found itself on Ares neck, using it as a base to rest her head while she kissed and licked his collar bone and neck.

“Ares, we should really get you to doctor Stitch,” Cadence mumbled, sounding dazed while she started to kiss his jawline. “I… don’t want… that spell hurting you… and… and...”

Ares tensed as each kiss sent a bolt of pleasure down his spine, his fingers playing and groping harder and harder until he finally reached his filly friend’s ass. For a moment he stopped, hands just straying from the holy land, almost as if he was afraid or unsure whether to proceed.

Cadence, whose wings were starting to rise from their sides, wrapping around Ares’s back, wiggled her rump in anticipation. “It’s alright, honey,” she said breathlessly, grinding into his lap harder, the feeling almost making Ares scream in frustration, throw Cadence off him, and rip off his pants to let his cock swing free. “You can play with whatever you want~.”

Ares couldn’t help but groan as her wings reached under his shirt and tickled his back. “I sure plan to play with you~.”

Almost as if they had a mind of their own, the human’s hands grabbed Cadence’s hips and slowly, ever so slowly, slithered downward. Cadence’s rump, he found, felt as wonderful as it looked; mostly muscle with just enough fat to play around and squeeze. Perky and firm but with enough give to grab onto and squeeze and sink your fingers into.

Cadence, muttering incoherently and now beginning to twitch, pawed at his head almost desperately as he ran his hands down her rump; one hand idly tracing her cutiemarks with a finger while the other played with the dock of her tail, pulling, tugging and tickling at the bit of muscle and skin.

So enraptured was he that he didn’t notice that Cadence’s worried look had long been replaced with one of desperation, lust, and hunger. Her gentle and sweet kisses on his neck were becoming long and more aggressive, the alicorn’s long tongue tickling his neck, tasting him and the beads of sweat that were starting to form on it.

Cadence’s smell, the heat that she was giving off, the feeling of her tail swishing back and forth on his lap were intoxicating to the magicked human; the sound of her heart thumping in her very veins, the quiet gasp and moans, which were becoming louder, longer, and needier as time went on, was music to his ears.

At that moment she was all he could think about, the only thing that he cared about; she was his goddess, a divine, beautiful being that he wanted to spend the rest of his life just worshiping. His touches were prayers, his kisses were hallelujahs; his own pleasure meant nothing to him, so long as he could hear the chorus of moans and feel her twitch against him. Ares would have spent the rest of the day simply touching his mare, but Cadence had other ideas.

A growl and the sound of magic being used was the only warning Ares received before he was lifted up and tossed onto his back a few inches, a quiet poof breaking the monogamy of the pants and moans that had filled the room as he looked up at the ceiling with a dazed expression. He was about to sit back up, to see where his Cadence had went, when he suddenly felt a weight on his lower stomach, pinning him to the bed.

Cadence, a slightly crazed look in her eyes, looked unflinchingly at him as she panted like a dog, trying to force her lust-addled to form words. Her royal finery seemed to have vanished off her, allowing him to take just a second to appreciate just how worked up he had gotten his marefriend.

Her coat was disheveled and sweat drenched, her mane was messy and clung to her face and neck, her wings were still outstretched and twitching slightly, giving her a bit of a fearsome look. Even though he really wasn’t in the rightest of minds, he couldn’t help but mentally pat himself on the back. Hah, look who still has i—

“Pants… off… now.”

Ares almost had time to open his mouth before, with another borderline angry growl, Cadence spun around and started to paw at his pants. “Never mind… I’ll do it,” the princess muttered, trying to grab his belt with her mouth.

Ares tried to reach down to help her out, but his hands were swatted away with magic. “No, let me unwrap my present,” Cadence demanded, taking a step back and wiggling her hips. “Now be a dear and play with yours.”

Eyes drawn upward, Ares noticed that a very excited marehood was right over his head; a red, swollen, glistening marehood that looked like it was in dire need to be tasted.

Reaching up, he gently grabbed Cadence by her thighs, tenderly pulling her downward while he licked his lips and stared at his prize like he was afraid that it was going to up and disappear on him.

He started off slow, licking the juices that had dripped down into Cadence’s thighs, grinning stupidly when bubble gum tickled his taste buds. From between his legs, he heard Cadence moan needly, her legs becoming shaky from the stimulation.

“Don’t you bucking tease!” she growled, almost ripping the buckle off his belt with a particularly savage pull.

Ignoring her, Ares started planting kisses on either thigh, getting tantalizingly close to her marehood before drawing away, causing her to buck in frustration. Groaning, she looking over her shoulder to glare at him.

“I swear to Faust, Ares!” she growled, attempting to sit on the human’s face to get the satisfaction that she so craved. Ares simply held onto her hips, keeping her aloft, obviously not ready to stop his teasing.

This was the last straw for Cadence, who then started to wiggle furiously in his grasp. “If you don’t star—“

Leaning up, ever so slowly so he could just savor the moment, Ares turned his head and pressed his lips against Cadence’s, causing the mare to freeze while whatever she was about to say erupted into a moan.

“T-that’s a g-good h-human.” Trying to keep herself from slumping over, Cadence went back to pulling at his pants to get at what was pitching the tent that she had been staring at for the last ten minutes. “L-Let me j-just… get this o-off…”

Ares, though not for lack of trying, did not hear a word she said, instead solely focusing on the task in front of him.

Still kissing his goddesses perfect lips, he let go of her thighs, letting her full weight fall into his face before he stuck his tongue out and slowly trailed it up her slit. He was rewarded with another moan, along with more of his Cadence’s delicious nectar.

Sweet Jesus I could do this all day, he thought, licking his lips before attacking his mare’s marehood like some savage predator.

While the teasing had been fun while it lasted now was the time to enjoy the lust spell that had been placed upon him. He didn’t even bother being gentle, biting and licking and sucking her as hard and as fast as he could without hurting her. Cadence made her appreciation known by moaning again and pressing down on him harder, burying him in her heat. The world was starting to turn blurry the tighter Cadence’s legs squeezed against his head, but Ares soldiered on, trying everything he could think of to coax an orgasm out of her.

Cadence twitched and moaned with every touch; from the licking to the stroking to just the simple tugging of her tail, the alicorn moaned and groaned and shook, all the while cursing the damned belt that was stopping her from taking her human’s pants off.

Not wanting to just rip the whole thing off (the pants and belt had been expensive and gifts from Celestia and Luna) she had, and still was, just trying to use her mouth and hooves to take the thing off. “A-Ares… stop—OOH! Just hold still for a second so I—OH YES! Can you just—“
Coated in sweat, with a fire in her belly and close to finishing and horny as all hell, poor Mi Amore Cadenza finally snapped.

"I’MGETTINGTHISBUCKINGBELTOFF!!!"

With a roar, the alicorn’s horn sparked to life, casting the whole room in an eerie blue glow. Ares yelped from under her legs as his belt, his pants, shirt, and even his socks violently exploded off his body and disintegrated into nothingness. With another spell Cadence lifted herself bodily in the air, spun herself around, lifted and pulled Ares into a semi-seated position, before plopping herself right down in his lap

The two moaned when soaking wet marehood rubbed against throbbing, dripping cock, the sweaty and heaving couple stopping themselves for a second to look at each other.

Cadence leaned herself forward, kissing Ares on the lips. “I love you, Ares,” she murmured, lining herself up. The time for teasing and foreplay was over; Cadence’s needed him inside her, and to be honest, Ares needed to be inside her.

Ares brought up his hands and cupped her face, bring her back into another, deeper kiss. “I love you too, Mi Amore Cadenza,” he replied, hands going down to steady her hips.

The two looked down, watching intently as Cadence lowered herself. The two moaned when the tip prodded lips, these moaned almost grew to screams when Cadence lowered herself further, and further, and further, until finally hilting in what seemed to take too long but not long enough.

Don’tcumdon’tcumdon’tcumdon’tcum! Ares prayed, hands reaching and pulling a shaking and rasping Cadence against his heaving chest, his fingers digging roughly into her rear.

His goddess’s heat, the way her walls tugged and teased at his member made him dizzy and the far off yet extremely pleased look that his sweat, shaking, and gorgeous marefriend was giving him made not finishing early really really hard; in fact he was actually surprised that he hadn’t finished right there.

Cadence leaned her head on his shoulder while the two got used to each other, her sweat mingling with his as the two enjoyed finally sealing their communion.

Just breath and think about something else, justbreathandthinkaboutsometh—

Taking a deep breath, Cadence lifted herself off of his member until just the tip was inside, groaning, before roughly slamming back down.

Pleasure exploded through Ares, his back arching as he answered Cadence’s hungry moan with his own. Everything, his concerns about finishing, what was going on with him, even his name, was thrown right out of his head and replaced with pleasure, pleasure that he desperately needed to feel again.

Grabbing Cadence’s hips he lifted her up before slamming her right back down with lewd, meaty slap. Again and again and again he slammed her against him. Cadence answered him by grinding herself against his shaft, arching her back and moaning with each thrust.

Squeezing Cadence’s rump with one hand, Ares trailed a hand up her leg, ticking the alicorn’s mound, before coming upon her teats. Cadence gasped, staring wide-eyed at Ares as she started to pinch and tease the sensitive bits of flesh.

“N-Not too hard, baby,” she stuttered, slamming herself down on him and beginning to just lazily grind, almost too drunk on lust to even talk clearly. “Do it easy… e-easy… h-here, let me get
you…”

Ares watched her as her horn once again lit up, and he couldn’t help but flinch, expecting something else to get blown off his body. Instead, he felt an odd tingling in his balls, which caused him to shift around in discomfort. What the hell did she—

His toes curled, and he almost bucked Cadence off when he was hit with a earth shattering, mind numbing amount of bliss. It felt too good to think, it felt too good to hold anything back, it felt so good that Ares could hear the beating of his heart and the thumping in his ears as he continued to thrusts with wild abandonment. Whatever willpower that he had been building to keep himself from coming was absolutely and indefinitely destroyed.

Ares’s cock twitched and his balls tightened, ready to bring about his final release; a release that oddly, didn’t come. Whatever Cadence did to him only seemed to increase, pleasure building and building until it was making it hard to breath as he desperately thrust into Cadence, all the while whimpering in need.

Cadence leaned down, crashing her mouth against his. “I’m going to make you cum buckets,” she purred her stutter gone and replaced with a husky and hungry tone, staring into his eyes heatedly while biting his lip. “But you’re not cumming until I say so; you go that minster?”

Ares replied with another thrust, making Cadence groan and bite her lip, making sure to time her thrust with his, slamming herself backwards more and with greater force. She needed to hear the meaty slap of her colts pelvis hitting her backside, she needed to feel him tense and twitch inside her. Cadence, at the moment, wanted nothing more than to be breed by her human; no, she demanded it, so she was going to make damn sure that neither of them stopped or rested until she got what she wanted.

Ares jerked and spasmed, muscles burning in exhaustion as he thrust and thrust and thrust, moaning and groaning with Cadence, who kissed and licked his neck while whispering encouragements and sweet nothings into his ear. Somewhere in between their thrusting, the two found themselves changing positions, with Cadence on the bottom on her back and Ares on top.

“Harder, HARDER!” Cadence growled, meeting his wild thrust with her own. “Buck me, rut me! ! RUT ME!!!”

Eyes rolling into the back of her head, Cadence arched her back, screaming as her horn once again lit up and exploded with a spell. Ares managed a few more sloppy thrusts before the final burst of pleasure tore threw his body. The two locked eyes as hooves and hands reached out and they pulled each other close, the two shaking as stars exploded across their collective visions.

With a groan, Ares slumped forward, pressing his face against Cadence’s sweat, furry chest. The alicorn kissed the top of his head, wrapping her front hooves around his chest, humming to herself with a pleased smile while Ares tried to remember how to think.

Sweet Faust did I need that, Cadence thought, grinning when she realized that Ares’s softening member was still lodged inside her. Rolling Ares into his back with a little grunt, and taking the utmost care not to let him pull out, she started to once again grind herself in his lap, trying to get him hard. But… I could go again if my honey bunny’s up for it… In fact, I could go all day~.

Leaning, she gave his cheek a hungry lick before whispering, “So, Baby, you ready to go for another round?”

Ares answered her with a tired grumble, making her frown in irritation. Despite her best efforts, she didn’t feel him hardening inside her, and this wasn’t going to fly. Not. One. Bit.

Her horn glowing, Cadence nuzzled her lover’s cheek. “Don’t worry, Honey, I have just the spell to keep you going for hours and--”

Knock, knock!

“ARES, ARES, IT’S ME, TULIP! YOU NEED TO LET ME IN RIGHT NOW!”

Before Ares and Cadence could so much as look at each other, the door flew open with a screech, revealing a terrified Tulip, who bounded toward the two with some flowers in her mouth.

“PrincessyoureallyneedtoeattheseflowersbecuaseyourposionedbecauseArespickedthewrongflowers!”

Too shocked to even realize the compromising position that she was in, Cadence just stared at the mare slack-jawed.

“W-What?”

Running up and practically throwing the princess of Ares, Tulip shoved the flowers under her nose. “You need to eat these or you’re going to go crazy with lust and—“

“THERE SHE IS! PROTECT THE PRINCESS AND HER CONSORT, LADS! GET HER!!!”

Ares calmly watched as several of the guard charged into the room and tackled his boss off his and Cadence’s bed with a series of angry growls before looking at Cadence, who was now trying to hide herself from her guards with their blanket, curling herself against her side in horror.

There was another crash, and a high pitched shriek, the sounds of plates breaking and a mare chewing somepony out right outside the broken door.

“Oh my goodness, my lady, is everything--” Pushing past a few of the guard, a maid pony barged in, covered on food and looking as mad as all hell, but all of the anger drained from her face as soon as she surveyed the scene.

Bowing deeply to hide the blush on her face, the maid managed to squeak out,” F-Forgive me, my lady! I-I didn’t, I mean, I-I didn’t realize you and the human…”

As the mare weakly tried to explain herself, starting at the two of them wide-eyed, Ares sighed, putting his head in his hands. Of course this had to fucking happen... he thought, irritated but resigned to his fate

As of now there was no way in hell that the fact that the two of them had finally consummated their relationship wasn’t going to be public; no matter how tight-lipped the guards were someone was bound to say something. By the end of the day everypony in the empire, and maybe Equestria, would probably know that he had fucked the ruler of a country; Shining, the other princesses, even pony hobos.

“…You know what?” he said, slinging an arm around his mare, who looked like she was about ready to hide under the bed, her whole body red in embarrassment, before leaning against his bed. “Fuck it; I had sex.”

Ready or Not, Here We Come

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Doctor Stitch liked to think that she was a reasonable mare.After years of dealing with sick and injured ponies, listening to all of their panicked rambling, or their stupid excuses as to why they had their heads stuck in a bucket, the doctor had acquired the patience of a saint. But, unfortunately, when one was a royal physician to a very powerful, and something moronic, alicorns, Stitch would sometimes find that her patience wore thin.

This was one of those times.

The royal bedroom also looked like it had seen better days. The room was a mess, tables and chairs overturned, little knickknacks littering the floor, it looked like the door had been knocked off its hinges, the sheets were crumpled up and in some places ripped, and the pillows were scattered all over the floor.

None of that particular irked the doctor though; she could care less about what a pony did in the safety of their own bedroom. No, the main reason that she was ready to just throw her glasses off her face and go into a hissy fit, were the two laying in the bed, partially hiding themselves under the covers; them and the smell of sex and sweat that filled the air and refused to leave the room even when she had opened all of the windows.

The princess and Ares were sweaty, their hair was a mess, the princess had a pair of the man’s underwear hanging on her horn for some reason (she would have pointed it out to her but Stitch was still a little too upset at the moment), and Ares was in his birthday suit underneath the covers. There were also a pair of IV’s sticking out of the two’s arms; the result of their little escapade where Ares had managed to poison Cadence with magic flowers and Cadence had cast a love spell on him among other things.

It had been a nightmare for the doctor to get something to counteract the poison (a task that had been made a thousand times easier by Ares’s boss, Tulip, who had brought a dozen flowers that were perfect for counteracting love magic) and making sure that all of the magic passed through Ares’s body safely.

Dozens of ponies had come and gone in from the royal bedroom, leaving Ares and Cadence embarrassed, a little bit scared, but most of all ashamed; Ares especially. Both of them knew all too well that they had royally messed up, and the doctor was more than happy to bring home just how lucky the two were.

“I don’t think I need to tell you two how disappointed I am in the two of you,” she said coldly, glaring at the princess and the human.

The two flinched, looking away from the mare in shame. Cadence tried to hide under her comforter, but Stitch was having none of that, yanking the blanket down with a spell.

“With respect, Princess, I thought that you’d have enough sense not to use any type of saturation magic on your coltfriend after you saw what had happened after he was barely introduced to it, and after I strongly advised against it. If he would have had a bad reaction I don’t know if I would have been able to do anything to help him; you’re extremely lucky that all your spell did was sharpen his senses and make him a little hungry!”

Cadence tried to open her mouth but the doctor shushed her, turning her glare toward Ares.
“And you, Mr. Human,” she growled, taking an angry step forward. “You could have seriously injured the princess with off the lust flowers that you got her to eat. Though you don’t know this, even ponies can have bad magical reactions; this risk doubles when the magic pumping through them comes from a magical flower, and you probably made it even worse by feeding her a dozen! I can’t believe—“

Ares kept his gaze in his lap, anxiously pawing at the edges of the covers like a child that was trying to weather an angry lecture from a parent, which made the doctor pause mid sentence, a vein in her forehead beginning to pulse.

She was about to lay into him again but she stopped herself, taking a deep breath. You’re lucky that I like you, stallion, she thought. Or I swear to Faust I’d be doing more than just yelling at you for poisoning MY princess…

“You were lucky that that employer of yours barged in when she did. The princess would have kept rutting you until your pelvis broke with all of that lust magic pumping in her bloodstream,” Once again, Cadence and Ares flinched, blushes coming to their faces. “Or she could have become mentally unstable and things could have gotten much, much, much--“

“That is enough, Doctor,” Cadence interrupted. “Ares made a mistake—“ Ares sunk further down into the bed, looking as down and beaten as a man could until Cadence nuzzled his side assuringly. “—and I may have made a mistake in casting those spells on him, but neither of us meant it, and in the end everything turned out for the best.”

Taking a deep breath herself, Cadence forced herself to look up at her doctor, her face showing remorse. “I understand that you’re worried about us, and I appreciate it, but yelling at us isn’t going to help matters.”

The doctor nodded, the anger vanishing from her face and replaced with one of concern and regret. Bowing, she said, “My apologies, princess.” Trotting over toward them and checking their IV’s. “I may have gotten myself a little too worked up.”

Cadence smiled at her weakly. “You’ were just worried about us, Doctor,” she said. “There’s no need to apologize for that.”

The doctor nodded, adjusting her glasses before looking back down at her clipboard. “Well, the two of you seem to be alright. Mr. Ares needs to get something in his belly immediately and you need to drink a few glasses of water, and the two of you need to stay off your hooves for a few hours, but other than that the two of you are perfectly healthy.”

She pointed at their IV’s with a pen. “I’ll make sure to get a nurse to come down here to get those out of you as soon as the bags are empty, and I’ll go to the kitchens to make sure that they’re making Mr. Ares something to eat,” looking up from her clipboard, the doctor nodded, turning toward the door. “Good night, Princess, Ares.”

Both the human and the princess waiting until the doctor had managed to close the door, slamming it a little harder than needed, before falling back into the bed and groaning in unison.

&~~()()~~&

Well, that couldn’t have gone any worse, I thought, closing my eyes.

For the past two hours, guards, nurses, and maids had come into mine and Are’s room, demanding to know what was going on, questioning us, making sure that neither of us died from what we did to each other, or just simply passing by and poking their heads through our door to see what all of the fuss was about. They didn’t give us a second to clean ourselves up, they didn’t let Ares get any clothes on. They just poked and prodded and harassed us until we were finally too jaded to care anymore, letting them do what they wanted so we could end this nightmare.

And, sitting here, covering myself with my blanket and reeking of sex, I couldn’t help but think that it’d be less than an hour before the whole city knew that me and my coltfriend had rutted each other’s brains out and accidently poisoned each other like dummies.

I swear to Faust, Ares and I may as well have just walked out in the middle of the market and just started to rut each other for all of the trouble that we had bucking had with it. The embarrassment, all of the trouble of making sure not to step on each other’s hooves or overstep boundaries, all of the distractions that had forcefully stopped us from making love had been bad enough but this; this?!

If I wasn’t so happy that I finally rutted Ares, I’d be screaming my head off right now!

“…Candy?”

My ears perked up, and I rolled onto my side and looked at Ares, who was lying on his back and had his eyes closed.

Scooting closer toward him, I said, “Yes, Ares?”

“I’m sorry for poisoning you.”

The way that he said it, in the exact same sorry tone as a filly or colt might have when they spilled a glass of milk and you had to clean it up, actually made me chuckle. After all of the nonsense that the two of us had just gone through, that cute little heartfelt sorry that I knew that he meant took a bit of the sting out of this whole mess.

Minding the IV in my arm (which was itching like crazy, by the way) I wrapped my hooves around my coltfriend and pulled him against me.

“I’m sorry for casting that spell on you without knowing what it’d do to you,” I said, nuzzling the back of his head. “And for almost rutting you to death.”

Ares reached back and scratched my ear. “I doubt you would’ve been able to do that,” he mumbled, sounding amused. “But if you did...well, there are worse ways to die…”

Rolling around to face me, my human kissed my nose, pulling me even closer. “And at least I finally got to have sex with you. Even with all of the bullshit that we’ve just gone through that more than makes up for it.”

I smirked, giggling. “Well, you could have been a little bit better, but…”

Ares groaned. “Oh fuck you! I fucked your brains out and you know it, Candy!”

Laughing, I playfully shoved him. “I think you mean I rutted your brains out, mister.You were practically holding onto the bed for dear life!”

It was my turn to kiss his nose. “But don’t worry, I’ll try to be a little more gentle next time you and I get a little more alone time.”

My human cracked an eye open to stare at me, and I stared back, both of us looking neutral until Ares smiled, making me smile, which made Ares grin, which made me chuckle, until the two of us started laughing so hard that I almost pulled out my IV by accident.

Sighing tiredly, I rubbed my cheek against Ares’s neck. “I can’t wait until we get these things out of our arms,” I said, poking my IV tube. “I want to go and take a shower and change these sheets.”

“And I want to get something to eat,” Ares said, lifting his head off the bed to stare at the door. “I swear to god I could eat a hor—er… a lot of something.” With a muffled plop, his head hit his pillow. “That magic of yours was a hell of a doozy.”

“Well your magic flowers made me think I was going into heat,” I replied, laying a wing over him.
Ares let out a pleased hum, and the two fell into a comfortable silence, waiting for a maid or nurse to come in so we could do something other than sit in this bed and poke fun at each other.

Seeing that neither of us had any hard feeling about what had happened, in fact the two of us seemed happy that it had happened (I knew that I did, at least), I then went on to wonder if I was going to have to make some sort of statement after the news got out that I had finally rutted my alien coltfriend and half of my castle staff had gotten to see that aftermath.

Oh come on Cadence, your little ponies are adults. They know that you have needs and you have a coltfriend; I’m sure that they already thought that the two of you were rutting every other night, I thought, chiding myself. Noponies going to care…

“Ares? Do you want to take a shower with me after we get these IV’s out?”

Ares gently ran his fingers through my mane. “After the servant pony brings me something to eat then we can do whatever you want, my pretty pink princess.”

“Ares?”

“Hum?”

“I think the two of us should go say something to your boss; she did save the two of us.”
Ares flinched.

“Yeah… and I bet she’s not going to be happy that I took all of those magical flowers. Damnit, I really hope that this stunt didn’t get me fired…”

I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before resting my head on his chest. “Well, look on the bright said, honey,” I said, smiling, “If she fires you I’m sure I can find something for you to do in the castle.”

Ares shrugged. “And if that doesn’t work I could always be a powerlifter,” he replied. “Just like my uncle wanted.”

I nodded encouragingly. “Of course you can be a powerlifter, Ares… Whatever the hay that is.”

&**&~~&**&

Like their name suggested, the Higher clan’s family mansion, which, though seemingly just a really, really big, nice house could have been mistaken for a castle in the wrong light with all of the security running around the compound, was as opulent and grand as could be.

The clan’s ancestral home had been built during the empire’s fledgling years, a simple wooden house in the beginning that had, over the course of hundreds of years, the rise and fall and rise again of the clan’s wealth and power and reach in the city, become one of the biggest, oldest, and most immaculate buildings that stood on any of the empire’s seven hills

The mansion had been built and expanded upon using only the best and strongest materials, magic or otherwise. The hallways were littered with the finest Saddle Arabian rugs, the walls were fitted with the biggest and finest grade jewels and gems and precious metals, and the best art that money could buy (there was even rumors that there were a few solid gold toilets in the building). And to protect all of this wealth there was a legion of highly trained and highly motivated soldiers ready to give their lives for the clan.

Yes, the Higher mansion might have been a little too extravagant for many ponies taste, and maybe the clan may have sunk a bit too much money on it, and it might have cost an arm and a leg to keep the mansion maintained around the clock, but keeping a building like this showed the enemies of the Higher’s that the clan had more than enough money to throw around. It showed that, all through the empire’s history, the clan had flourished, through thick and thin, remaining strong and powerful and wealthy, and that was just how they liked it.

But, in the midst of all of this art, all of these jewels and expensive tables and chairs and furniture, there was a simple little wooden room in the belly of the mansion that served the office for the head of the clan.

Windowless, soundproof, and no bigger than a big walk-in closet, with only a desk and a few tables to fill it, the little office had been used as a workplace for centuries. Everything from forms about the clan’s finances to signing off on assassination attempts had passed through that little room, though nowadays all the clan head usually did there was simply sign off on a few dozen documents about this and that (a fact that more than a few of the clan heads had been rather disappointed of, since more than a few had been expecting to be offing ponies left and right)

And that was just what High Rider was doing at the moment, sitting in an old wooden chair carefully looking over some documents that needed attending and humming to herself. Sure, reading paperwork might have not been the most exciting thing for her to do, but the older mare liked it all the same. Working like she was always gave her time to relax and think about this and that.

I wonder how Tulip did with her newest employee this morning, she thought, quickly signing a document before reaching for the next one. For a moment, she considered having somepony tail Ares to and from work, or maybe giving her niece another “employee”, but she decided against it.

Ares might have been the princesses new consort, but there was no way that he was a player in any power grab whatsoever. He was just some odd monkey-creature that had an affinity for hugs and pink alicorns, and besides… it wasn’t like she didn’t have at least a dozen agents watching over his every move up at the castle anyways, and she always loved to hear from her sweet little niece…

Oh, I’m sure that she’ll tell me all about it the next time she comes up here to say hello to her old aunt, she thought with a giggle, reaching over and grabbing the cup of tea that she had left on a stool that was at least ten times older than her. It’s nice to get a real surprise every once and a while and—

“Aunty, AUNTY!”

Higher almost dropped her tea cup in shock as her niece slid through the doorway and into a wall, a look of panic on her face. Before she could respond, or even put her tea cup down, Tulip was on her.

“Aunty, something horrible happened today!
IjustlookedawayforasecondandArestooktheseloveflower—“

High Rider watched impassively, taking another sip of her tea as her niece’s rant turned more and more illegible with each passing second, before, with a shake of her head, the mare stuck her hoof in Tulip’s mouth.

With her flat look still on her face, High Rider said, “Now dear, you know your old aunt can’t understand you when you talk like that.” For a second, her eyes hardened, gleaming with suspicion and even anger, before she once again looked at her niece with a warm and cheery smile. “Now why don’t you have a seat and tell me what the human’s done to get you so worked up.”

I swear to the gods, if that monkey did anything to hurt my niece not even the princess will be able to save that hide of his…

^&<~~><~~>&^

“Ares, could you please not eat with your mouth open?” I asked, taking a little bite of my cheese sandwich before wiping my mouth with a napkin. “You’re getting food everywhere.”

When Ares, who had still be a little loopy with all of my magic running inside him, had been asked what he wanted to eat. He simply looked up at the maid, smiled, and asked for fifty grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. Why he had wanted sandwiches, I had no idea, but I don’t think anypony had the heart to tell him no after everything he and I had been put through, so the cooks had been nice enough to give us a big plate stacked high with sandwiches and about two gallons of soup.

Though I had wanted to take a shower first, Ares had insisted that the two of us sit down and eat before he starved, so we were doing just that: sitting down, like a couple, the two of us as naked as the day we were born, also like a couple, enjoying our grill cheese sandwiches.

Well, I was enjoying my food; Ares looked like he was trying to inhale as much food as he could as quickly as he could. It had been less than ten minutes and already half of the sandwiches were gone and a third of the soup had been drunk by my hungry, hungry human.

Ares stopped his frantic chewing to look up at me, swallowing before saying, “Sorry, Candy…” Looking at the half-eaten sandwiches in both of his hands, then back at me, then back at the sandwiches, he put one of them down before calmly going back to eating.

Rolling my eyes, I levitated over a napkin and wiped off his face. “Sweet Faust are you adorable,” I said with a giggle, my smile only increasing when my human glared at me, “disgusting, but adorable.”

“I’m hungry!” Ares replied, taking another bite of his sandwich.

“I could tell,” I said, taking another bite of my sandwich before putting what was left of it down and scooting out of my chair. “Now why don’t the two of us share a nice shower together, hum? I really want to get myself cleaned up, and I’m sure that you do too.”

Ares just looked at me, grabbing and cradling the plateful of sandwiches in his arms like he was afraid that I was going to take them away. “But… I’m hungry.”

I pulled him to his feet with my magic, trying to yank the plate out of his hands. “Your foods not going to go anywhere,” I promised, getting the sandwiches out of his hands and putting them back onto the plate. “Now come on, you can help me wash my wings!” I spread one of said wings, waving him forward with it before trotting into the bathroom.

It was going to be nice finally getting all of this gunk and sweat and other stuff off my coat, and after I changed the sheets, Ares and I could snuggle up on our bed for the rest of the day, which would definitely be worth all of the nonsense I had put up with today.

Turning on the shower, I poked my head out of the bathroom and called, “Come on, Honey, we really do need to get cleaned up!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I heard Ares half grumble as he walked into the bathroom and hopped into the shower, before jumping out a half second later.

“COLD! COLD!!!”

“You should have waited until I changed the temperature,” I said with a giggle, giving Ares’s butt a playful slap, which made him jump again (to my delight). Humming to myself, I quickly turned the shower knob and hopped in.

“Come on, Ares,” I said, hoofing him a bottle of wing shampoo. “These wings aren’t going to wash themselves!”

There was some more grumbling, though I could see a smile on his face, as my human grabbed the bottle and put some of the soap in his hands. “Slave driver,” he muttered.

I nudged his leg with my flank. “Oh hush; you love it,” I chirped, sighing happily when I felt those wonderful hands of his grab and spread my wing, starting to gently scrub it.

“It looks like you're due for a preening, Candy,” Ares said, making quick work of one wing and moving onto the other.

I just shrugged, closing my eyes and just enjoying the sensation of my coltfriend running his hands up and down my back. “I’ve been meaning to do that for a couple of days anyway.”

“You mean you’ve been meaning to get me to clean them for a couple of days.”

With a laugh, I spun around and gently shoved Ares up against the wall, nuzzling his face with my nose, I leaned up and gave him a kiss. “You love it,” I said again, kissing him again as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.

“You’re lucky I love you,” he said with a happy smile, giving my rump a little squeeze before kissing the top of my nose. “Otherwise I wouldn’t put up with being this whipped.”

I purred, giving Ares a saucy look, my eyes half-lidded. “Oh, so you like whips, my little human? Well, I’ll have to remember that next time we have a little private time together~.”

“As long as you actually buy a door that ponies aren’t going to be able to just kick down then you can bring all the whips you want,” Ares replied, giving my rump another squeeze. “That’s it though; I don’t want to walk in here one day and see you in some rubber sex suit with a strap-on on.”

We both chuckled, just standing with big, stupid smiles on our faces, holding each other close. At that moment, ponies, politics, my aunt, Shining, all of my worries just seemed to flow down the drain with the water, because I knew that I had a stallion that I loved more than anything in the world, and , taking a good look at him, I could tell that he loved me just as much.

We were out of the awkward first steps of a relationship, so now we could relax and really have fun with each other. Now that the two of us bucked each other’s brains out, you’d be sure that there’d be a lot more teasing, a lot more fun, and a lot more rutting in the future.

“Don’t you worry, Ares,” I said, nosing his cheek and closing my eyes. “I’ll make sure to save the heavy stuff for my birthday.”

@@~~##~~@@

Ares walked through the castle hallways, a pep in his step, a song in his heart, and one hell of a hunger in the pit of his stomach. Even after eating all of those sandwiches, he still had a hankering for something bready and cheesy, and even promises of snuggles and sexual favors could not dissuade him from getting dressed and scurrying to the kitchen for a late night snack.

His stomach had spoken and there was no way he was going to tell it no; and besides, the night was still young, he could have all of the “fun” with Cadence he wanted after he filled his belly.

At least no one’s looking at me funny, he thought, his hands in his pockets. And I’m sure s that mare over there was staring at my junk when the doctor was examining me… yeah that was he—

“Excuse me, sir; I have a letter for you.”

Ares almost jumped out of his skin as a pair of ponies seemingly appeared out of thin air in front of him, the two looking up at him with the most blank yet business-like expression that he had ever seen.

“Hey guys… how’s it going,” Ares said, noticing that just him and the two stallions were now alone in the hallway

.
Weren’t there like fifty ponies running around just a second ago? He thought, looking down at the piece of paper that the mystery pony had in his hoof. For a moment, he was tempted to turn around and leave, but he shook that thought off like a dog.

Aw come on, they’re just ponies, what the heck are they going to do?

“Well, thanks for the letter guys, but who’s it from?” He asked.

The stallions just continued to look at him blankly. “Sir, please just read the letter. My associate and I are very busy ponies,” one of them said, shoving the piece of paper in in his hands.

“Alright, alright,” Ares muttered with a frown bringing the paper up to his face. “No need to get fucking pissy…”

Dear Ares,

As you read this letter, the two stallion’s that I send to you are making their way behind you with the intent of knocking you out and bring you to me so the two of us can have a talk. Please don’t try to cause a scene, dear, I just want to have a talk and it was rather difficult paying off enough of the guard on such short notice. You don’t need to worry, its not about anything serious, but me and a few… associates need to tie up some loose ends with you.

I’m also sorry if the colts get a little rough, they just want to bring you in as soon as possible.

Looking forward to having another conversation with you,

High Rider.

“The fuck it this shi—“

CONK!!

Coming in with a Boom

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“You got a line on my life, and when I look down at you I see somepony who’d make a very good wife, so why don’t you come down this way so that the two of us can be happy and gay!”

Shining Armor liked to think that he was a pretty even-tempered colt; a pony that was slow to anger and quick to forgive, but there were times when he’d have one heck of an urge to smack somepony upside the head because of the sheer amount of irritation they were causing him. He had never acted on these urges, which was a given for any normal, sane pony, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t feel them like everyone else.

“Na nana nahaha, why don’t you come this way so the two of us can be happy and gay!”

Though Flash, to his credit, was coming dangerously close to having him rip of his helmet and take the Pegasus to slap city.

Gritting his teeth, the unicorn said, for what seemed like the hundredth time, “Flash, will you please stop singing to yourself?”

If he hadn’t had years and years of discipline drilled into him back at Canterlot he would have turned to glare at the private. “I’m about ready to either jam my hooves in my ears or throw you out a window; and I’m really leaning toward the latter.”

Flash, who had been swaying back and forth as he sang, like he had been doing for the past hour or so, couldn’t help but let out an annoyed huff.

“HEY! My singing’s not that bad!” he said defensively.

“No it’s not,” Shining allowed, shifting his weight around his hooves to at least try to keep hislimbs limber, “but it starts to get grating when you sing the same bucking song again and again for hours.”

Flash tried to open his mouth in protest when Shining snapped it shut with a spell.

“Our shift ends in a couple of hours, so why don’t the two of us just spend the rest of it in silence. Absolute silence.”

Flash glared at the back of his friends head. Taking a step forward, puffing out his chest, and straightening his helmet, he was about to lay into Shining about why he needed to do something so he wouldn’t lose his mind just staring at a crystal wall, when something caught his eye.

Two ponies, both of whom had simple grey cloaks covering their bodies and faces, were carrying a big sack of… something on their backs as they quickly made their way down the hall toward him and Shining.

I wonder what the heck that is? he thought, nudging Shining with his spear.

“Hey Shining, do you see that?”

Shining, not turning his head, nodded. “Yeah, it looks like a couple of ponies carrying a big bag of potatoes or trash or something, why?”

Flash eyed the sack again, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “I think that the two of us should see what they’re carrying,” he told his fellow private, who finally turned to look at him in irritation.

“And why would the two of us do something like that?” Shining asked.

“Because I’m bored and if we don’t then I’m going to start singing again,” Flash threatened, holding Shining’s gaze as the two had a bit of a stare-down; Flash’s eyes burning with determination and Shining’s filled with irritation, which was then followed by begrudging acceptance.

“…Fine, but let’s make this quick. I’m sure these ponies have some place to be,” Shining said, slightly disgusted with himself as Flash trotted over toward the mystery ponies with a little pip in his step. “Why do I even support his behavior?”

“Excuse me gentlecolts; would you mind telling us what’s in the bag?” Flash asked, blocking the pony’s path.

Grumbling to himself, Shining walked up and stood next to his fellow guard as the two ponies shared a look with each other.

“Oh... what’s in the sack you say?” one of the stallions said, hefting the sack with a grunt. “Well it’s just a couple of, um…. rumble weeds.”

“Terrible things rumble weeds,” the other added with an almost forced smile. “They’ll ruin a garden if you let them. And us, being a pair of gardeners for her royal highness herself, had to do something to protect the princess’s garden and our living. So my partner and I were just taking them out to be disposed of.”

Flash and Shining looked at each other for a moment before staring back at the stallions.

“…Rumble weeds?” Shining asked suspiciously. “What the hay are rumble weeds, and why were they in the princess’s garden?”

“And why are you two wearing cloaks in the middle of a nice sunny day?” Flash added.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was going on and that there was a good chance that they were being lied to, but Flash and Shining wanted to give these two the benefit of the doubt.

They weren’t gardeners, and neither of the two could boast knowing more than a hoofful of common plants, so there might have been a chance that these mystery ponies weren’t full of horseapples. It was doubtful but the two could hope.

The two mystery stallions, other than starting at each other once again and smiling nervously at the guards, were as cool as cucumbers.

“Well you see, guardscolts, what my partner and I have in this sack, and handling it carefully mind you, is the rare and dangerous rumble weed,” one of the stallion’s said, tapping the sack on his back with a hoof.

“It’s a plant that secretes a foul odor when any amount of sunlight touches it,” the other said, pinching his nose with a hoof. “The odor’s so foul that it can cause a pony so vomit within mere seconds of exposure and far worse if one were to stay around it more than a few minutes without the proper protection!”

Slightly alarmed, Flash and Shining took a step back, eyeing the sack warily.

The two ponies smiles widened and they nodded at each other. “Yes, like my fellow gardener here says, it is very dangerous. So dangerous, in fact, that it took the two of us all morning and most of the afternoon to uproot this plant and throw it into this sack and clear up the smell from the garden.”

“Right it did, Lad. God’s know if we’ll ever get our sense of smell back after today.”

Snorting irritably, Shining took a step forward. “That’s the biggest load of horseapples I’ve ever heard in my life,” he snapped, pointing a spear on their direction. “And I’ve heard a ton of stories in my time as a guard!”

The two stallion’s smiles vanished, the two once again exchanging looks before one of them said, “I’m sorry sir, I don’t follow you.”

Taking a calming breath to keep himself from just walking over and smacking the sack of the two’s backs, Shining said, “You’re telling me that the two of you are carrying out some weird plant—“

“The rumble weed,” one of them corrected, before that stallion was tapped on shoulder by the other one.

“Actually, it’s the giant rumble plant; we don’t want the two to get confused now do we?”
The other stallion nodded his thanks. “Oh right, the giant rumble plant. Excuse me for not pointing it out earlier I—“

Fed up, Shining smacked the blunt end of his spear against the ground. “Will you two just let me look into the bag to see what you’re actually lugging around?” He demanded.

Quick as a whip, the stallions shook their heads. “Sorry, no can do, sir. It’s too dangerous to let this plant out on the open.”

“As soon as sunlight hits it it’ll start going crazy, and I’m sure you don’t want to explain to the princess why you didn’t let us do our jobs and why her whole castle reeks to high heaven.”

“…Maybe we should just let them go, Shining,” Flash said as Shining glared at the two. “I don’t know about you but I don’t want to deal with some crazy smelly plant.”

Shining looked over his shoulder at the Pegasus, disbelief etched on his face. “You actually believe these guys?!”

The private shrugged. “They don’t look like bad guys,” he reasoned. “And whatever’s in there is too big for a pony, so they’re not foulnapping anypony. And we’d hear clinking if they stole anything valuable.”

One of the mystery stallions, looking hurt, brought a hoof up to his heart. “My fellow and I are only hardworking stallion’s trying to earn a living wage, sir. Is there anything wrong with that?”

Scrunching his face up in irritation, Shining turned again from the stallions. “You know what? Fine.” He waved a hoof dismissively. “Get out of here.”

Grumbling to himself, Shining grabbed Flash and started to drag him down the hall as the two stallions, who had quickly hoof bumped each other when the two guards weren’t looking, trotting down the hallway with their cargo in tow.

“Hey, Shining, we still have a few hours until our shifts are over,” Flash said, pointing at the spots where the two had once stood. “Where the hay are we going?”

“We’re going to go see the captain,” Shining growled. “Or maybe we could go to the servants quarters… I need to see if this is a load of horseapples—which it probably bucking is—but I think whatever’s going on might be a little over our heads to try and figure out ourselves.”

“And why’s that, Shining?”

Shining stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to look at the two mystery stallion’s, both whom were almost jogging through the hall.

“Gardeners don’t talk like that, and I know for a fact that they don’t have cloaks like that.”

Shining resisted the urge to groan. “We might be dealing with one of the clan’s here, Flash…”

“So we’re going to go get the captain?”

“Yep.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Luna moved through her room like a machine, moving things this way and that, all the while humming a merry tune to herself.

After weeks of waiting, and preparing herself, and dealing with her sister and that pizza colt, Twilight had finally sent her some goo—nay, great news. After extensive research and a few tests that had probably worked, (she didn’t dare risk even attempting to send a live subject through…wherever she was sending them so she didn’t really have any idea where she was sending them) Twilight reported that she thought she had figured out long distance teleportation.

She needed to run a lot more tests, and all of the spells and runes and charms she had made for the mother of all spells were still tricky at best and downright dangerous at worst, but she had the bare-bones beginnings of a spell. And, if she had a few more months to try to work out the kinks and if the magic gods were smiling down on her, there was a good chance that she’d have a relatively safe spell to show her.

Too bad Luna wasn’t ready to wait months.

The second that she saw Twilight’s notes on the spell, all ten thousand pages of them, Luna had decided to see what she could do to improve on the magical model to get it up and running as soon as possible. She was a smart mare who also happened to have a heck of a lot of smart magic users within calling distance that would help her if she asked; if she spent a couple of all-nighters on this thing, she was sure that she’d be in the Crystal Empire by the weekend.

Sure, she could have done the easy thing and just have taken a train up to the frozen north, but where was the fun in that? Sometimes, one needed to challenge themselves to get what they wanted while also keeping life interesting.

After days of slaving over books and scrolls, getting advice from some of the best minds in Canterlot (including her sister), and after almost blowing up half of the castle, it looked like she had finally perfected (or at least made it good enough not to kill her if she used it) the spell. And now, with her brand-spanking new spell in her hooves, Luna decided to go and see if she could pay Ares and Cadence a little visit.

“I’m sure that they will enjoy these chocolates,” Luna muttered to herself while she eyed the small box that she held on her hooves. “Sister said that they are exquisite, and she is somewhat of an expert in the ways of sweets…”

All around the princess of the night, rugs,chairs, and table were floating around in the air, caught up in her magic, along with chalk, herbs, and other magical items, which the alicorn was using to draw the mother of all rune-circles.

Seventeen lines deep and inscribed with over fifty different languages (most of which were long dead) this would have been impossible for all but the most experienced and magically gifted ponies to tackle, but luckily for Luna she wasn’t an average pony so it was finished in about ten minutes.

Still humming to herself, Luna slowly walked around the rune-circle, carefully looking out for any smudges or imperfections. One wrong rune and she’d be sent to some hell-spawns pocket dimension or worse, so she took her time until she was confident that everything was in working order.

“Maybe we should have gotten something more than just the candy,” Luna muttered as she stepped into the circle, looking over at her mirror on the far side of the room to see if she looked presentable. “Maybe we should go and acquire some flowers for Cadence, or maybe some meat for Ares…”

Luna couldn’t help but fidget in place and wonder if it wouldn’t be better just to leave this off for another day so she could get ready-ready to meet Ares and Cadence.

Nay, the circle is drawn up and sister is in Ponyville so she cannot bother us, Luna thought, slipping the chocolate into a saddlebag and slipping that on. And We are free for the next few days, so this is the perfect time!

Letting out a shaky breath, Luna closed her eyes and let her power flow through her and into the various runes covering her floor. For a moment, nothing happened, but slowly but surely a faint buzzing sound could be heard in the room if one listened hard enough, and there was just a hint of a glow coming from the runes.

Minutes passed as Luna patiently pumped her magic into the runes. The buzzing had gotten noticeably louder, and even she could see purple glowing through her eyelids, which made her grin in excitement and relief.

“Crystal Empire here we come,” Luna muttered, channeling just a bit more of her magic into the runes with a grunt.

With a thunderous bang and a blinding light that one could see for miles around, Luna was gone, leaving nothing but a the smell of slightly burned fur and, of all things, pineapples.

()()~~()()

Being knocked upside the head, hogtied, and thrown into a big ass sack by a bunch of little horses, wasn’t something that Ares had expected to happen to him when he woke up this morning, but then again he had sex with his fillyfriend because of a magical flower so something like this happening wasn’t out of the realm of believability. And, to be honest, he really wasn’t as worried as he should have been about the whole kidnapping thing.

Sure, he was a little annoyed, angry even, but he really didn’t feel threatened for his life. He had just gotten caught up in some pony nonsense that was probably going to end up being nothing.

But if it did end up as something serious… well, he hoped that Cadence would find his ass before anything bad happened.

This is a bunch of fucking bullshit, he thought, trying to wiggle out of his captives grasp or at the very least loosen his bindings. I have work in the morning dammit! Couldn’t this have happened on a weekend?!

He tried to wiggle some more but his kidnappers firmly, but gently, held him in place as they carried him to wherever they were carrying him, going this way and that, up and down, left and right. He had tried to count the steps and turns to try to figure out where the hell they were taking him but he gave up after realizing that he didn’t know the castle, let alone the city itself, nearly well enough to even guess where he was being carried to.

And, after realizing that these ponies were taking him to a place he didn’t know for reasons he didn’t understand, he started to get a little more nervous about this situation as a while, though he still managed to keep a cool head about everything… kind of.

On and on and on the little criminal ponies carried him until, after what felt like forever, he was throw into a sitting position onto something solid and hard, making him grunt in surprise. Once again he tried to wiggle but was yet again held down by a pair of hooves.

Straining his hearing, he managed to hear a muffled conversation going on around him by more than one pony, which made him even more nervous about his current situation.

This better not be one of those rape cult things! I swear to god if any of these fucking ponies try taking my pants off—

Ares froze when he felt something cold, hard, sharp, and pointy along his back, whatever it was carefully cutting open the sack and freeing him from the ropes that had been tied around his arms and legs, which left only the little sack that had been put over his head.

“Will somepony get that bag off the poor dear’s head? And Skully? Will you please put away that knife? You’re bound to give him a heart attack.”

Ares heard an irritated grunt come from behind him as the sack covering his head was torn off. Light flooded his senses, forcing him to close his eyes and grit his teeth in pain while he covered his face with his hands. Yeah THAT’S fucking helping my headache… I bet you money I have a concussion!

“Oh my, are you alright dearie?”

...Well, it looks like I’m not going to get raped… probably…

“The Light’s a bit bright,” Ares said, keeping his eyes closed. “You mind turning it down a bit?”

Someone snorted from behind him. “Do you want us to get you a bib too, colt?”

“Skully, you be nice!” There was the clapping of hooves and the lights were turned down significantly, letting Ares open his eyes and finally look around to see where he had been taken.

Other than a light or two hanging near him, the room was pitch black, cloaking what Ares assumed were ponies in darkness. Though he couldn’t make out their faces, he could see their outlines, so he could tell that they were looking at him… and he didn’t particularly care for that.

The darkness, along with the silence that choked the room, almost made Ares shrink slightly in his chair.

“Um… hello,” he said weakly. “How are you all… doing?”

“Huh; a polite one isn’t he?” One of the shadows said, sounding amused.

Another one leaned into the light, almost as if they were trying to get a better look at him. “Aye and a funny lookin’ one too,” the shadow, whose voice was like rough sandpaper, said before leaning back into their chair. “Wonder what the princess sees in ‘em.”

Someone chuckled behind him. “From what Higher told us I think we all know that answer. Isn’t that right lad?”

Looking over his shoulder, Ares frowned when he saw a familiar-looking elderly pony smiling back him. “Hey, you’re that pony that beat the shit out of me and Flash!”

The stallion chuckled, nodding. “And you’re the one that ruined by armor,” he said, trotting around until he was standing before the human. “But we’re not here about that, are we human?”

Confused, Ares just looked at the pony. “Hey you kidnapped me, I have no idea why the hell I’m here!”

Getting slightly upset, Ares leaned forward until his and the stallion’s noses were almost touching . “Speaking of: why the hell did you fucking kidnap me and why are you the only one that’s not hiding in the dark like little batman horses?”

The Skulltaker, a frown on his face, took a step forward, mashing his nose against Ares’s. “Because, colt, I’m the only one not afraid of the princesses wrath!” He looked over at the other clan head. “Bunch of cowards if you ask me…”

“Don’t you be trying to stain my honor, you old bag of bones!” One of the shadows’ snarled. “I told ya that my backs been actin’ up and I feel more comfortable sitting ‘an standing!”

Skulltaker scoffed. “The stallion that can barely stand calls me a bag of bones.”

“Excuse me, gentlecolts,” another one of the voices, a mare by the sound of it said, “unlike the two of you I actually have a lot of work to do when I get back to my workshop. So how about you both can it so Higher can talk to Mr. Ares?”

Grumbling to himself, Skulltaker nodded, walking toward the other ponies and disappearing into the darkness, all the while Ares just watched incredulously. Kidnappings were supposed to be terrifying and dangerous, not whatever… this was!

“Alright… so what do you guys want to talk about?” Ares asked, wiggling around in his seat to get a little more comfortable.

There was some sounds of something moving around and more than a few quiet grunts before Mrs. Higher, the nice mare that had gotten Ares his job and who had almost seemed like everyone’s awesome grandma, trotted out into the light with a big smile on her face. If she hadn’t kidnapped him, he might have gotten up and given the pudgy mare a hug and a thank you for getting him his awesome job, but she did so staying in his seat he was.

“Hello Ares,” Higher said with a cheery tone and a kind smile.

“…Hello Mrs. Higher,” Ares answered neutrally, warily watching as the mare sat in front of him. “How are you doing?”

The mare’s smile widened. “Oh, I was talking to my niece a few hours ago about you. She said that you were the perfect worker … until a certain incident.”

“Is she alright?” Ares asked, concern etched on his face. “I never got a chance to thank her and say sorry about what happened.”

Higher waved him off. “Oh don’t worry about my little Tulip, she’s quite alright, though she was terrified that she had in some off-hoofed way helped you poison our dear princess with a love flower.”

Ares flinched as if struck as another one of the ponies chipped in. “Which is why we dragged you out of the castle to have this little chat, Mr. Ares.”

Higher nodded in agreement. “I know you feel horrible about what happened, Honey, but all of us here care as deeply about the princess as you do.”

“We each owe her our lives,” Skulltaker added with a growl. “She saved us from the tyrant king and freed us from our chains.”

Higher nodded again. “Exactly, Dearie, and tonight had made us realize that you might make protecting her a little bit more… difficult.”

Ares bristled. “What do you mean?” He demanded. “I’d never hurt—“

“No one here ever said that you’d hurt the princess, Ares,” Higher said, gently cutting him off. “But if you’re not careful you might hurt her more than almost anyone could.”

“This kingdom is still weak,” Skulltaker grumbled. “We need our ruler strong and focused and ready for the future if we are to regain our past glory.”

He old stallion grunted. “From what Higher says, the princess cares for you, which is all well and good, but how will she keep a level head if something happens to you, colt? Or better yet if you go and poison her again like some stupid sod.”

“When the princess was married to Shining Armor we didn’t have that much to worry about,” the gravelly voice said. “He was a stallion of noble blood and had training in arms, armor, and magic. You, Mr. Ares, have none of those things, and that might make you a target for some outside power trying to get to the princess.”

Deep in thought, Ares leaned back into his chair, his grip tightening and loosening in the chair’s arms every few seconds or so.

“You know… I never really thought about it like that,” he muttered, sounding thoughtful. “But what the hell are you guys going to do about it—err, me?

Higher smiled, producing something from… somewhere and walking over and placing it into one of his hands. “Oh, don’t take what these fuddy-duddies have to say to heart, Dear. The lands around this kingdom have been at peace for as long as anyone remembers.”

Skulltaker snorted again. “If you listen to what those Equestrian princesses say,” he muttered, sounding oddly disappointed.

Higher continued like she hadn’t heard him. “We’re not asking that you drastically change your life, or join the guard, or anything silly like that. I, and everypony here, want you to just keep doing what you’re doing; go work with my niece, go play with that Pegasus colt, go and love the princess and have her love you back. We just brought you here to say that we’re watching you and the princess just as the guards at the castle are.”

She took Ares’s hands and gave them a squeeze. “Just… try not to do anything silly like you did today, please; and try not to give my niece any more heart attacks will you?”

Despite being brought here against his will, being hog-tied and thrown into a sack, and forgetting that fact that he was still pretty hungry, Ares smiled as the mare took a step back.

These ponies, in their own Mafioso way, cared enough about Cadence that they had been willing to steal his ass right out of the castle to chew him out for being a fuck-up. Though he would have appreciated it a hell of a lot more if they would have just sent him a strongly worded letter, or had asked him out to lunch—you know, like normal, well-adjusted people do—he was kind of happy that they only wanted what was best for their country and their princess.

He may have also been happy that they weren’t going to throw his ass into some river with cement shoes but that hardly mattered.

“I’ll make sure to do that,” he said, rising to his feet with a chuckle. “Now is it alright if you guys take me back hom—“

No one would know what else Ares’s would have said on that day because, Luna, the Princess of the Night, di-arch of Equestria, made her grand entrance right behind him. And by grand entrance I mean one hell of a big boom.

Hell Hath No Fury...

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“Are you sure we should bring this straight to the princess so quickly?” Shining asked as a frowning Echo led him and Flash through the halls.

For the last hour and a half, Shining and Flash had been running around the castle trying to figure out who the hay those “gardening hands” actually were, and for an hour and a half they had gotten almost nothing out of anyone that they had asked/questioned.

When they had questioned the actual gardeners they were told that they had ever seen the stallions that Shining described and it only got worse from there. None of their fellow guardsmen had seen the two stalking the halls and not a single maid or servant had witnessed two stallions running through the halls with a big sack on their backs… or so they said. Though they tried their best to hide it, Shining could see the nervousness in their eyes, see the way that not a single one of them could really meet his eyes when he questioned them.

This castle was secure, with guards roaming the halls twenty-four seven. No one could walk in here off the street without being seen or questioned…. but now it didn’t look like that was actually the case. From what he could gather, a heck of a lot of ponies had either been paid off to look the other way or these stallions had just up and vanished the moment they were out of his and Flash’s sight. And, since Shining wasn’t a moron, he figured it was the former.

It was this thought that made Shining a thousand times more nervous than he already was about the odd situation that he and Flash had found themselves in but he didn’t have enough evidence to do anything other walk around and ask questions. So he did the only thing that he could in a situation like this: go and see his captain and try to get her to help them.

It might have left a bad taste in his mouth, but Shining wasn’t a big shot captain anymore. He couldn’t go running around cracking heads and taking names, he needed to go to ponies with more power than him so they could give him the okay to crack the skulls and hang ponies over the proverbial fire. So, though he actually wanted to do anything other than this, Shining and Flash went to Captain Echo and reported what they had seen, witnessed, and what they thought was going on.

Echo, though more than a little skeptical, had listened to Flash and Shining’s report of the strange ponies carrying their giant sack of…something before going out and questioning the guard herself. And just like Shining and Flash she had gotten next to nothing, even when the mare started shouting and threatening and stomping her hooves. The Captain sure as heck didn’t like that fact that her guard “hadn’t seen” these stallions, nor did she like, and I quote, “That they were trying to feed her a load of horseapples and calling it pie,” but now she was suspicious, which for Shining was a good thing.

Echo, who looked like she was about to bite somepony, kept her eyes ahead as she addressed Shining. “I just want to see something, Private. If all is well with the princess then I want the two of you to go out and look around the city until you find these stallions so you can bring them in for questioning.”

She growled. “But I swear to Faust, if you two are just telling tales or this is some kind of joke and you have me running around the castle for no reason there’s going to be Tartarus to pay…”

“We wouldn’t lie to you, ma’am,” Flash piped up, hoping to sooth the oddly upset mare. “Shining and I just want to know why there were to ponies running around without anypony noticing.”

Echo growled again. “Yes… I’d like to know why too, Private.”

After another minute of walking the three found themselves in front of the princess’s bedroom. Knocking politely, Echo took off her helm and took a step back, waiting until Cadence threw open the door before saluting.

“Ma’am.”

Cadence blinked, looking at each of the guard. “Hello Captain.” she frowned slightly when she saw Echo’s face. “… Is there a problem that I need to know about?”

The bat mare looked past the princess and into the room for a moment before looking back at her. “I was just wondering, Princess, is Ares in that room with you?”

~_~_~_~_~__~_~__~_

As said before, the spell that Luna had cast was a prototype to its very core, and a dangerous one to boot. This meant that the moment that Luna had cast it anything could have happened. She could have sent herself to another dimension entirely, she could have teleported to the center of the earth, she could have summoned something she shouldn’t have, or worse. But, thanks to her skill and the skills of ponies that had had a hoof in making it, the spell had worked.

Mostly.

While it did send Luna to the Crystal Empire in one piece, and while it did teleport her within a few thousand feet of the castle (just like it was supposed to do) the spell had the unforeseen and negative consequence of being a little… explosive. Though to be fair with all of the magic that she had pumped into it it could have been much, much worse.

Instead of throwing Ares and the clan leaders across the room like rag dolls before they fell into each other in a groaning pile of pain and burnt hair/fur the place could have just up and exploded, which was something if one wanted to look at the silver lining. Though, honestly, none of the ponies or human particularly cared since more than one of them was now nursing more than a few broken bones.

BOOM!!!

With all of the grace that of an alicorn princess, Luna landed on her hooves the second that she popped into existence. Exhaling the breath that she didn’t know she had been holding, and ignoring the fact that she felt like she had just run a marathon, the Princess of the Night took a moment to check over herself to see if everything came along with her.

Her wings were there (thank the gods), as was her horn and all four hooves, and she could see out of both eyes and she could feel the weight of her saddle bag on her back. So, at least from what she could see, the spell had worked.

“HUZZAH! WE ARE ALIVE AND WHOLE!” Luna shouted, doing a little victory hop into the air as she surveyed the area…. which, for some reason, appeared to be a very dark and very quiet room.

“…Oh my, where did I teleport myself to?” Grumbling she wrenched open her saddlebag and started fiddling through it. “The spell was supposed put me in front of the castle, not… here..”

Slightly irritated that her spell hadn’t worked perfectly like she had wanted it to, Luna lit up the room with a simply light spell so she could properly take in her surroundings. What she saw both confused and frightened her.

There, across the room, were a bunch of… blobs... blobs that were making noises. It was at the end of the hall wasn’t really just a blob (hopefully), the shadows and the darkness ,made it the illusion of blobbiness. Though that still left Luna with the uncomfortable knowledge that she had teleported into a dark room where someone or something could be stalking her at this very moment.

Spreading her wings to appear intimidating, Luna pricked up her ears, straining to hear what whoever or whatever was at the end of the room was saying. She tried to put a bit more magic into her light spell, so she could actually see what the blobs actually were, but found that she was tuckered out from her spell and wouldn’t be able to do more than her current light spell. Which made her even more nervous, though she tried her best not to show it.

“Show thyself, cetin! We can clearly see thee!” The Princess of the Night commanded, stomping her hoof and lowering her head as if to charge. “It is I, Princess Luna: Mistress of the Night and Ruler of Dreams! So come out and make thyself plain so we know if thou art friend or foe!”

One of the blobs groaned in what suspiciously sounded like pain. “My… breadsticks!”

Luna gasp. Maybe whatever was at the other end of the room was hurt. What if her spell had ended up hurting a poor defenseless mare or stallion and they were laying in a heap in pain!...

Though it could have been a trap of some sort…

Now conflicted, the Princess of the Night lowered her wings and took a step toward the blobs. “...Creature? Art thou injured?” She took another step forward, then another, then another. “Could thou please speak up so we know whether or not to blast thee or take thee to the nearest hospital.”

From out of the darkness a voice, different from the one before, managed to rasp, “Hospital… please…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_

“As if this bucking day couldn’t get any worse,” I grumbled, pacing my room.

You know, if today hadn’t already beating the stuffing out of me I would have been a bit more worried when the captain told me that there was a good chance that somepony had just up and stolen Ares out of the castle. The castle that was filled to the brim with guards that were supposed to be guarding so something like this didn’t happen. In fact I would have been more horrified than worried, but right now I more irritated than anything.

Though, to be honest, the rage was starting to come on the more I thought about it. The shaky, “I’m going to burn down a castle and beat the stuffing out of everypony,” kind of angry.

They couldn’t have picked another day to do something this stupid?! Really, you’re going to go and take MY coltfriend after the bucking day that I just had?!

Well, no more mister nice princess!

“What do you want us to do, Princess?” Echo asked, her face a mask of duty and vigilance.

Growling to myself, I started to throw on my royal regalia. “You three can go back to the barracks if you’d like, I’m going to go out and find Ares.” I levitated over my table and gave it a few practice swings with my magic.

Yeah… this thing would hurt if I start hitting ponies with it…

A calm and sensible and nice Cadence would have gotten her guard to comb the city for her favorite alien, or maybe she would have asked one of the clans if they’d seen or heard anything happening (Faust knows they have enough of their ponies working in my castle), but right now I wasn’t sensible Cadence. Right now was a very upset Cadence.

Because today was such an awful day, I wanted to do a few things to make myself feel better before I go to sleep. I want to get something to eat, I want to do go bed early since I have work in the morning, I kind of wanted to read that romance novel that had been sitting on my shelf for weeks, AND I WANT TO CUDDLE UP WITH MY COLTFRIEND AND TELL HIM THAT I LOVE HIM BECAUSE I’VE HAD A BUCKING ROUGH FEW DAYS!

And I was still going to do all of that too, even if I had to go out and break a couple of skulls with my favorite oak table for it to happen.

“…Princess, what are you doing with that table?”

I stopped just shy of the door, turning around and giving Flash a smile. “Oh, I’m just going to go and have a nice conversation with a few ponies around the city,” I told him sweetly. “And this table is going to go a long way in getting a few of my subjects to tell me where my coltfriend is.”

Shining, Echo, and Flash all looked at me like I was crazy (which might not have been that far off at this point) as I turned back toward the door.

“…Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little bit Cadence?” Shining asked, taking a step toward me as I wrenched the door.

Humming a happy tune I trotted down the hall, giving my table a few more practice swings.

“Me? Overreacting? Don’t be silly!” I’m going to hit somepony SO bucking hard with this that they’ll STAY hit! “I’m as calm as a mare that was just told her coltfriend was coltnapped can be!”

“…And do have any idea who would have taken Ares?”

My guardsponies trotted out of my room and followed me as I made my way toward the castle’s entrance. Once or twice the four of us passed a maid or servant that would look at me oddly as we walked by but I wasn’t worried about that. I was just humming a tune to myself, with a big regal smile on my face, trying my very hardest not to blow a hole through one of the castle walls out of frustration.

I swear if they hurt ONE hair on his head I’m gonna make Nightmare Moon look like a SAINT!

“ No, but I’m going to find out,” I told Shining before my mask of calm and collectiveness cracked and I growled again. “And I’m going to bucking find out quickly! Even if I have to beat the hay out of half the ponies in this city!”

Flash looked over at the captain before looking back at me. “…Princess, maybe you should go back to your room and let the three of us handle this?” He gulped when I stopped in the middle of the hall and turned around to eye him. “You’re becoming a little hyster…”

I don’t know if the anger and frustration was starting to show on my face, or if it was the fact that part of my mane was on fire (which, for the record, would have freaked me the buck out if I wasn’t so bucking upset), but the Pegasus took a hasty step backwards.

“No, I think I’ll handle this my—“

“There thee are, Niece! We hath walked these walls for almost an hour trying to recall where thy quarters were!”

And just like that I no longer wanted to beat somepony to death with my table (mostly). I knew that voice, and I also knew that there was no way in Tartarus that she’d be able to come to my kingdom without me knowing.

She’d have have to take a three day train ride, then walk half a mile through an icy tundra, and finally pass through the barrier that was around the city twenty-four seven, a barrier with a load of guards patrolling it by the way, so there should have been no way that she was here…

“Cadence? Did thou hear us?”

But, against all common sense and logic, there my Luna was, a great big happy smile on her face as she trotted toward me. And, to make this… whatever the buck you want to call it, even more confusing apparently Luna had found Ares and was now carrying him on her back.

Because things couldn’t get any weirder today, right?

Poor Ares looked like he had been in a tornado, his shirt dirty and torn up,his face smudged with what looked like dirt and even a little bit of blood. His eyes were half-lidded, and it looked like he was having a hard time keeping his seat on top of my aunt, swaying back and forth, and almost falling off, until Luna used one of her wings to push him back into a better sitting position.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see Ares as beat up and tired as he was. He was okay! Nopony was selling him on some black market, they hadn’t cut him into little pieces, or any other horrible thing, and!...

Is… he missing his shoes? I thought before shaking my head, tossing the table over my shoulder and charging toward the two.

“ARES!” I shouted, picking the human off Luna’s back and gently sitting in front of me. “Are you alright?!” I wrapped him up in a hug, placing my head on his shoulder and trying my hardest not to cry.

“I’m alright,” my human muttered, holding me close while I sniffled. “Luna just up and appeared before anything really bad could happen.”

Even though I wanted to keep hugging him a until that made everything all better, and then carry him back to our room so I could bathe him and put the two of us to bed so we could forget about this bucking awful day, I broke the hug. Before I did anything else I needed to know who the heck took my human so they would be taken in, questioned, and punished. Oh sweet Faust were they going to get punished

“Who took you? Why’s Luna here? What happened to you? What--”

Ares shushed me before hugging me again. “I got taken by two stallions that just appeared out of nowhere,” he said into my ear, so quietly that only I could hear it. I didn’t know why he was being so secretive, but I decided to keep my trap shut and listen.

“And where did they take you honey?” I asked, wrapping a wing around him protectively. I swear when I find who the buck did this… I thought, rage once again filling me.

“I don’t know where; they blindfolded me so I couldn’t see where we were going, and I didn’t bother to look when Luna carried me out there, but I knew who they took me to see.”

My wing tightened around Ares’s body. “And who did you see, Honey?” I asked, barely able to keep the anger out of my voice.

“I saw Mrs. Higher’s face and that one stallion that beat the shit out of my and Flash and a couple of other pony were there but they were hidden in the dark.”

That bucking WHORSE! I’M GOING TO BUCKING--

Taking a deep, deep breath I looked into my coltfriend’s eyes. “And do you know where these ponies are right now?”

It might have been a worthless question because Higher and her conspirators could have left the city by now if they wanted, (if they had any sense in their bucking brains that is) or they could be hiding out somewhere where even I couldn’t find them, but I felt I still needed to ask it.

To my surprise, Ares smiled. “They’re still back at the building that Luna dragged me out of. And you might want to go and get them some help ‘cause they’re a hell of a lot worse off than me.”

!()()##()()!

It was almost an hour after Ares had been found and the castle was still a flurry of activity.

Guards were running back and forth, maids had been called in to clean up a bit of the carpet that had caught on fire from Cadence’s tail, doctor Stitch and her nurses were rushing to and from the Ward with medical supplies, trying to fix the broken clan leaders in a far off room in the corner of the castle since Cadence wouldn’t let them anywhere near the royal section of the castle, and in the middle of it all was Cadence and Ares, still in the middle of the hallway, with Cadence holding and murmuring in Ares’s ear while the human held her and murmured right back.

What a BUCKING day, Shining thought, pulling his helmet off his head and just letting it fall onto the ground in exhaustion.

While such an act would have never been acceptable for a guardspony under normal circumstances, everypony was either too tired or two shell shocked to even look in his direction when the helm hit the floor with a clang.

“You might have come at a bad time, Princess,” Shining said, looking over at Luna.

The Princess of the Night nodded, staring solemnly back at him. “We believe that thou art right, Shining Armor.” Her lips twitched into a half-smile. “Though We are still happy with how the teleportation spell worked out… Mostly.”

“Speaking of, we managed to find all of the ponies that you… “damaged”,” Shining told her while Cadence whispered something into Ares’s ear.

The human whispered something back with a smile, earning him an indignant squawk and a wing slap to the back of the head.

Though Cadence still looked as mad as he had ever seen her, Shining could see that Ares was doing his best to keep the mare as calm as possible, which was appreciated since he was sure that Echo still wanted to question the prisoners, not find them burnt to ash or blown up.

“They’re beaten up pretty badly but they’ll survive now that we’ve gotten the doctor to look at them.”

Picking up Shining’s helm, Luna took a moment to inspect it. “We are glad. We wouldn’t want anypony dying because of our folly.”

With a flick of her horn Shining’s helm landed back into his head. “Though We do not know if we should be apologetic to their injuries.” Luna frowned. “We do not know what happened between Ares and those ponies but We do not believe it was good by the way our niece was acting…”

Shining eyed Ares as the human, now laughing, tried his best to block Cadence’s wing strikes, which were raining down on him with increased frequency. Cadence was smiling, nuzzling the human’s cheek in between each slap, her expression lighter and happier than it had been for the last few hours. And, to his surprise, Shining found himself smiling at the happy little scene.

“That still doesn’t explain why the human over there looks pretty alright considering what happened to him…” Shining mused. “Some of those ponies are going to be holed up here for a week or more.”

Luna chuckled. “When We found him, young Ares was laying on top of a middle aged mare whose mane was partially on fire.” She chuckled again, harder this time. “From what We gathered she must have broken his fall.”

She eyed her niece and the human, both who were now rolling around on the floor. If she strained her hearing hard enough she swore she could hear her niece whispering something to Ares from here, and, though it might have been her imagination, it sounded a little bit… risque.
.

“…Our old Sergeant told us that those two had a difficult day.”

Shining twitched slightly as Ares and Cadence shared a kiss, but still managed to keep a smile on his face. “I heard the same… Though it looks like they’ll be alright…”

()()@@()()

“Will you quit hitting me?!”

I let out a playful growl, rolling Ares around before booping him with a wingtip.

“I will as soon as you say you’re sorry!”

“I’m not apologizing for what’s true!”

Ares tried to grab me but he was too slow and I was too determined, pinning him onto the ground after another playful scuffle.

Was what I was doing maybe a little childish(especially out in the hallway where everypony could see me)? Probably. But I had been through a heck of a lot more embarrassment and headaches today to even remotely care whether or not ponies saw me playing around with my coltfriend. I was happy that he was okay and I wasn’t going to bucking be afraid to show it by giving my human as much affection as I could.

After the two of us had had our fun I was going to have to personally apologize to my entire cleaning staff for the mess I made, I was going to have to deal with my aunt, and I was going to have to go and have a… nice little conversation with a certain group of clan leaders.

All of this was probably going to take all night, and at the end of it I was going to have to hit the hay to get hopefully an hour or so worth of sleep before I had to get right back up and start my day as the ruler of the Crystal Empire. So I was going to enjoy what little free time I had for Faust’s sake!

“It’s not true so say you’re sorry!”

“No.”

I pressed my nose against my human’s, doing my very best to stare him down. “Say it!”

Ares just crossed his arms. “No.”

“I will strangle you in your sleep!”

One of his hands tried to snake around toward my backside but I slapped it away with a wing.

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a big butt, Candy.”

I snorted, lightly tapping the sides of his head with my wings until he was squirming underneath me.

“Say it!” I commanded.

Finally, Ares threw his hands up. “Alright, alright! I’m sorry!” He shielded his head with his hands. “You’re ass is small! Tiny! Small! You can’t even see your ass in the right light! Now will you quit it?!”

Smiling from a victory well earned, I hopped off of him and carefully pulled him to his feet. “Alright then,” I said, dusting the two of us off with my wing. “Now you go down to the Ward and get the doctor to have a look at you while I get everything finished up here.”

Straightening up his torn dirty shirt, my Ares glared down at me. “I already told you I’m fine, Candy. Someone back at that compound place cushioned my fall.”

I pushed him forward with a wing. “I’m sure you think you’re alright but that doesn’t mean you’re alright. Now go to the doctor; I’ll be down there in a little bit.

Ares was about to open his mouth to say something but I shut him up with a look. “...Alright,” he grumbled. “But if she kicks my ass for coming to her twice in one day it’s on you.”

I twitched but managed to keep a smile on my face. She better not touch Ares!

I don’t know what it was, I knew that the doctor would never hurt Ares, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen to my human if I left him alone. He had already gotten hurt enough today, and I don’t think I want to test just how bad his luck really was. I wanted to take him to The Ward myself and watch over him, but since I had to lay down the law with some nobles that messed with the wrong mare, I decided to do the next best thing.

“Flash, could you escort Ares here to the Ward please?” I looked over at Shining and hummed. “Actually, Shining, could you help Flash with that?”

“You heard the princess maggots!” Echo said, pointing a hoof at my coltfriend, who was now rolling his eyes. “Get over there and get that monkey to the Ward asap! And drag him if you have to!”

Ares frowned, pointing that one finger at her. “Well fuck you too mango horse…”

Echo frowned while Flash and Shining walked toward Ares. “And remember, since you’re taking him to the doctor’s you can beat the hay out of him all you want if he refuses! She’ll just fix him up!”

Before I could (and sweet Faust did I want to) open my mouth and chew my captain out for her poor choice of words, Luna cuffed the mare on the back of the head. “They will do no such thing, Echo!” She glared at my poor soldiers. “At least if they do not wish nightmares unending whenever they slumber.”

I spent a moment eyeing the captain before giving Ares one final nudge. “I’ll see you in an hour or two, honey.”

“Do I have to bring these two with me?”

I nuzzled his side. “I’m worried that somepony else might take you away.Could you please just do it for me?”

Leaning down my human wrapped me up in a tender hug. “Alright; I’ll do it for you,” he mumbled, not looking happy about his babysitters.

Giving me a kiss on the cheek, he stood back and and walked over to Flash and Shining, who then escorted him down the hall.

Luna took a step toward me. “Could you perhaps tell us what happened, Cadence?” For a moment, she looked absolutely furious. “Did those ponies that we accidently injured wish harm upon Ares?”

That anger that I had felt before, the anger that had gone away when I was holding Ares, came right back in full force. It made me grit my teeth, it made the vision turn slightly red, and he made me want to take all of that pent up aggression on the ponies that had the audacity to try to take my human away from me.

“I’ll tell you later, Luna,” I said, voice laced with pure, unadulterated rage. “Right now I need to go and have a talk with those ponies…”

~-`-`-`-`-`-`-`~

In his long life Skulltaker had seen and done many, many things, some of them good and some of them bad, but, all throughout his years, he had never found himself sorry for very many things.

He had led his clan well, fought for his country with honor, and had done his best to protect the ponies of the empire from the tyrant during his reign. So what if he made a few ponies mad or stepped on a few hooves? He had done well by his family and to him that was all that mattered.

Even now, bruised and burnt as he was, the stallion still had his head held up high… or at least as high as one bed-ridden could raise their heads. And, unlike his fellow clan leaders, he still did not fear retribution from the princess. They might have taken her bed warmer for an hour or two but it was for the good of everypony involved. And if that blasted Equestrian princess hadn’t blown them all into a bloody wall no one would have gotten hurt in the process! So—

“Did… it just get colder in here?”

Skulltaker looked away from the window that he had been peering out of to glare at Smelter, as bandaged and bruised as he was. The old was looking around the room like something was about to jump out of the shadows.

Hump, coward. The princess hadn’t even seen us yet and he’s ready to wet himself, Skulltaker thought with a sneer.

“What are you on about?” he growled, eyeing his rival with dislike. He was about to say more when he noticed something horribly odd.

The air was colder; almost frigid, so much so that he could see his breath as clear as day.

The metal around his bed was slowly being caked with ice and the room was getting darker and darker by the second, and the silence that had suddenly descended upon the room was thick; heavy and thick and... frightening. The lights flickered on and off for a second, and Skully swore he could hear the light bulbs starting crack from here.

Clip clop clip clop clip clop

Without meaning to, the old war horse found himself pulling his blanket over his chin, almost as if trying to hide from this unknown and sudden terror that filled his belly. His fellows didn’t seem to be faring any better, every single one of them frozen stiff in fear and wide-eyed.

Not one to lie down when faced with a foe (be they in front of him, imaginary, or… whatever this was), Skulltaker tried to rise out of his bed, tried to let out a shout of defiance, tried to do anything other than just lay in his bed shaking, but found that he could not.

Clip clop clip clop clip clop

There was a knock on the door, light but forceful. For everyone in the room, it was louder than a thunder. Skulltaker wiggled backwards, trying to get as far away as he could get from that door. He didn’t know what was on the other side but whatever it was felt… wrong.

Everypony watched as the door opened (the door knob was not turned; it was almost like the door no longer could stand to be held by the frame any longer) revealing a smiling and cheery-eyed Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

“Good evening, my little ponies,” she said, taking a step into the room with the door closing right behind her. If the princess noticed the cold in the room she didn’t show it, eyeing each and every one of them before standing in the middle of the room.

“I am very relieved to see that none of you are seriously injured.” The mare bowed her head almost apologetically. “I want to apologize for my aunt’s actions, even though they were accidental they still caused you undue pain and suffering and I will not have that.”

The second that the princess said that it was like the tension evaporated out of the room. The mare before them wasn’t the wrathful princess that they all had been expecting, but the kind one that each of them knew. And seeing this kind, regal mare, each of the clan leaders wondered if they were going to receive any punishment at all. Ares could have explained to her why they had done what they done, and, though even now it felt like a long shot, Cadence might have understood and even respected them for what they did.

Skulltaker smiled, and was about to tell the princess that it was no bother and that she really didn’t need to come down here to check up on them, when the temperature in room grew even colder.

“But there is something I’d also like to talk to all of you about while I’m here.”

And in the blink of an eye the kind, caring ruler that had come in the room to see if he and the others were faring well was gone. In her place was a very powerful, very angry alicorn, her iris’s gone and her face twisted up in a snarl. Even the color of her coat seemed different; a deeper, darker pink than it usually was, and her mane appeared to be flying wildly around her hair almost as if she was in a hurricane.

And, as he looked at what his princess had become, what he and his fellow clan leaders had turned her into, Skulltaker couldn’t help but let out a very quiet whimper; because the sight before him had brought along an emotion that he had not felt in a very long time—

“We’re going to talk about why coltnapping my coltfriend was not one of your best ideas.”

Fear.

Through Hell's Door

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Echo shifted uncomfortably in her armor. It had been a long day for the poor bat pony, and it only looked like it was going to get longer as the day went on. She needed to to get her soldiers in order, she needed to get somepony down to that warehouse where Ares had been held to investigate the area, and she had a lot of paperwork to do. She had wanted to kill two birds with one stone and go in with the princess to properly question the clan leaders but Cadence had insisted she stay out in the hallway with Luna, who also looked like she wanted to go in there and get some questions asked.

It’s not like getting one thing done NOW will make this night go by any faster she thought sourly before yawning. And you don’t even need any sleep you baby. Sleeps for cowards.

“It’s very good to see you again, Ma’am,” Echo said to Luna as the two waited for Cadence to finish up her “meeting” with the clan leaders.

Luna, who was sipping a cup of coffee that a maid had been kind enough to supply her with, smiled down at her former Sergeant. “Likewise, my little pony,” she said, nudging the mare’s helmet with a wing. “Though it appears congratulations are in order.” She took another sip of her coffee. “We expected Cadence to promote thee but we did not think that it would be so soon. Thou truly must be excelling here.”

Echo’s chest puffed out ever so slightly. “I’m just doing my job, Princess,” she said modestly.

Luna nodded, eyeing the door that Cadence had stepped through a few moments ago. While the Princess of the Night understood that her niece needed to look after her little ponies, she didn’t know for the life of her why Cadence would forego rushing Ares to the doctor for this. She herself would have gladly ushered the poor, injured human to the doctor’s herself but she decided to go with her niece to see what was actually going on.

Levitating her coffee away from her muzzle, Luna said, “Captain, may We ask thee something that has been troubling us since we arrived here?”

Echo eyed her curiously. “Of course, Princess. What did you need?”

“We were wondering why, when we teleported to the Empire, Ares was with the ponies in that room?” Luna looked at the door in frustration. “When we asked Ares about it he did his best to avoid our questions, and when the clan leaders saw us they cowered in fear…”

Echo’s ears perked back and her eyes widened in alarm as she watched Luna look at the door with narrow eyes. She knew that look; it was the “I shall smite all those that cross me” look, and Echo couldn’t say that she particularly cared for it.

“Wouldst thou know what transpired between them, Echo?”

Echo didn’t even have to think about her answer as she opened her mouth,” Nope, can’t say that I have any idea what happened, Your highness.”

Though Luna turned to regard her with a critical eye, Echo continued to look back at her ex-mistress with the biggest, and fakest, smile that she could muster. The bat might have not been one of the smartest mares in the world but she knew that telling Luna that Ares had been kidnapped would have been one of the stupidest ideas in the history of everything. Luna wasn’t known for her mercy in criminal matters, and Echo was sure that not one of the clan heads would have survived the night if she had found out someone had stolen her friend/ hopefully soon to be coltfriend for a possible nefarious purpose. The Princess of the Night would just look at them, growl and cast a spell, and there would be a big mess and she’d had a lot of explaining to do. Thank the gods that Ares had the common sense to keep his mouth shut about the whole thing…

Why the clan heads had done what they had done was a mystery to the mare (she still needed to question them to get the finer details), so she herself didn’t know anything other than the hard facts that Princess Cadence had whispered into her ear as the three of them had made their way over here. That meant it was going to be a bit difficult to lie to the thousand year old ruler, but Echo was going to be damned if she wasn’t going to give it the ol’ college try.

“...Does this not seem… odd to you, Captain?” Luna asked, tearing her gaze from Echo and focusing it back on the door.

“Oh, I’m sure that it’s nowhere as bad as it seems, Your Majesty,” Echo said, trying to sound casual. “Ares actually knows Mrs. High Rider. I heard that she got him a job as a florist with one of her nieces.”

“If their actions were honest and innocent then why did Ares not tell us so? Why did he look relieved to see me when I appeared before him?”

Echo gulped at the princess’s tone but managed to keep her composure. “Maybe they were meeting to plan something for Cadence?” she said lamely. “A party or something like that?”

Luna let out a “humph”. “We will make sure to thoroughly question Ares when we find time alone with him,” she said, taking another sip of her coffee while Echo sighed in relief.

Now I’m going to have to make sure Ares keeps his mouth shut about this whole thing, Echo thought. There’s no way in Tartarus that I’m going to let…

The mare’s train of thought slipped away from her when she noticed something that should have been impossible in this well heated, windowless part of the castle, especially at this time of year. Right in front of her the door that Princess Cadence had gone through was starting to become icy. She was about to comment on it and ask what the hay was going on when a chill came upon her, going through her armor, which was insulated, and chilling her to the bone.

…When and the hay did it get so cold in here? The batmare thought, shivering where she stood. For some reason, at that moment, the air seemed heavy, with a wrongness in it that made her want to leave this part of the castle entirely.

From beside her, Luna seemed to pick up on whatever was going on, cocking her head at the icy door and staring at it with renewed interest. Said door had a thin layer of blue magic (a muting spell if she had to guess) which was rapidly turning darker by the second as the temperature dropped.

Not able to keep herself in check, Echo took a few hasty steps backwards. Is… Is that room sucking in LIGHT?! The batmare thought, horrified. Echo was a mare that enjoyed a good scary story every once in a while. She liked to listen to stories about ghost and ghouls and even the occasional story about Nightmare Moon. She got a kick out of being scared and listening to her heart race when somepony spun a particularly scary yarn or just out and jumped-scared her. This though, this feeling that was making her stomach twist, wasn’t any kind of fear that she had ever experienced. It was like all of the happiness had left the room and the only things that could fill in the vacuum was terror and nightmares. Nightmares that would make you want to never sleep again. Terror that made your knees shake and your blood freeze and...

The castle seemed to be holding its breath, the silence so thick that you couldn’t cut it with a knife, when a single deep, booming voice rang out, as quiet as a whisper but so powerful that the walls shook:

“YOU BUCKED UP.”

Luna, it seemed, was unaffected by the cold and the gut-wrenching terror that had Echo shaking in her armor. She just continued to stare at the door, her ears perked up as if trying to hear the conversation that may or may not have been happening in that room. “It seems like young Cadence is displeased with something these ponies have done,” she mused, taking a calm sip of her coffee while Echo stood stock-still in terror. “Now we simply must pester Cadence about what happened…”

Summoning up what little courage she had left, Echo stuttered, “P-Princess, w-we should g-go i-in there and m-make s-sure C-Cadence i-isn’t hurting t-them…”

“This is our niece’s domain, Captain,” Luna said simply. “Even if We wanted to, and We do not know enough about the ponies through that door to know if they deserve rescue, We have little power to do anything in the Crystal Empire; far less than you in fact since We are simply a guest here.” Seeing that her coffee cup was empty, Luna let it float away from her head and down the hall towards the kitchens. “And We are sure they will not suffer any more than they need to. Cadence was taught by my sister after all, and We are sure that she—“

Echo almost jumped out of her horseshoes when a shrill scream erupted from the closed doors, which was then followed by a loud thump that shook the door, her and Luna, and even the very walls themselves.

The alicorn and bat pony looked at each other then at the door.

“...That couldn’t have been dark magic could it?” Luna murmured, her expression turning concerned. “Cadence knows better than to use something like that for any reason…” Getting up from her spot, Luna walked over and eyed the door with a frown. Spreading her wings out, she gently tapped her horn against the oak wood door. The blue hue that covered the door’s frame vanished and the thin layer of ice quickly melted, which allowed Luna to open the door, revealing inky blackness.

“We think that We should investigate what is going on in that room,” Luna said, visibly nervous by what she saw in the room.

Echo, her courage gone and fear holding her in place, refused to look into the room along with the princess. She could hear… whispering, and the dark…

No. She was a guard: a mare that was supposed to fight enemies on the battlefield and protect Princess Cadence with her life. But she could not fight this darkness, she could not make fear bleed. This was not a fight she could join. This was not a fight for mortals.

Luna was about to walk into the room but paused mid-step, looking back at a shaking Echo. “Captain, thou may stay outside if it pleases thee.”

When Echo didn’t answer, Luna looked back into the darkness that the room had become, adjusted her crown, and walked right in and disappeared into the dark.

Before Echo could open her mouth, the door slammed shut, the ice coming back to seal it right back up.

“…GET….OUT….”

“Nope,” The batmare said, sitting right on her rump and pulling her sword out from its scabbard to point it at the demon door. “Nope, nope, nope, nope!”

()()()()()!!!!!()()()()()

“I SWEAR TO THE GODS, ARES, IF YOU DON’T BUCKING GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW I’M GOING TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO WHINE ABOUT!”

I wasn’t fucking whining! the human thought, running down the halls as fast as his feet could take him. Fucking crazy doctor!

When Doctor Stitcher had found out that, after making sure that her day was one of the most stressful that she had had in months, Ares had gotten himself kidnapped and injured again she was less than pleased. In fact, one could say that she was pretty pissed off about it. And, after making sure that he didn’t have a concussion or any kind of internal bleeding (he didn’t; thank God for landing on marshmallow horses and some damned fine luck) she let him have it, and, in his stupidity, Ares had mouthed off right back at her.

This ill-fated decision left him in the position he was in right now: running around the castle with an angry unicorn right on his tail and one hell of a headache. Which Ares didn’t think was too good for a guy that had just been tossed around like a ragdoll and might have a head injury even after she checked him out.

“GET THE BUCK BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!”

“NO!”

The human and mare turned the corner, Stitch pouncing forward in an effort to try to tackle the human to the ground. She had managed to get a mouthful of his pants for a second but got a heel to the snout for her efforts, which sent her tumbling into a wall.

“SHINING, FLASH! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE AND SAVE ME FROM THIS LITTLE HORSE!”

The doctor growled, giving her head a shake before charging right after him. “THIS LITTLE HORSE IS STILL GOING TO HAVE A NASTY CONVERSATION WITH YOU, BUSTER BROWN!”

Shining, who was slowly trotting after the two with a frown, just shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ares run that fast,” he muttered as Ares skidded around another corner.

Flash chuckled. “It’s weird that he can run that fast on just his two legs,” the private mused. “You’d think he’d be stumbling around and stuff…”

A loud crash erupted from down the hall and Shining sighed. “We’d better go and make sure she doesn’t kill him. Cadence is already upset enough as it is; if she finds out that the doctor tried to murder Ares she might actually lose it.”

“She’s had a rough day,” Flash said as the two started at a medium sprint down the hall hoping to catch the doctor before someone got hurt. “If anypony deserves to scream or throw something across the room it’s her.”

~~~

Gottagetawaygottagetawaygottagetaway! Ares thought, frantically grabbing for doors, trying to find an open one so he could make a quick escape from the hooves of the adorable little doctor. He had no desire to die by marshmellow horse today, thank you very much!

Luck, it seemed, was not on his side since every door he tried was locked up tight. This meant that he was going to have to run more, something that didn’t particularly appeal to him. Though he hated to admit it, he was pretty out of shape. Like really out of shape. That, coupled with the fact that he wasn’t feeling a hundred percent right now meant that it wasn’t going to be much longer until the doctor got her grubby little hoofsies on him. He would have taken a moment to curse his bad luck but the doctor, her eyes wild and her glasses slightly ajar on her face, raced around the corner with a snarl.

“STOP RUNNING RIGHT NOW, MR. ARES!”

Swearing, Ares once again took off, now with the doctor nipping at his heels

Why the hell can’t I keep my mouth shut? He thought sourly, hopping into the air as the doctor once again lunged for him.. Can’t I get a fucking break today?! I swear to god—

“YOU BUCKED UP!!!”

Ares felt the words more than heard them as they rang out, loud and clear and full of anger.

Those three words made him stop in his traces, his hair standing on end as he stared down the hall. The doctor, not able to fully stop herself, bumped into him, but Ares barely registered the impact.

...When did it get so cold in here? he thought, looking down at the doctor, who was also staring down the hall wide-eyed. The two looked at each other for a second before quickly taking a few steps back.

For whatever reason the air now seemed to be charged with… something. Something that made the both of them want to get the hell away to avoid whatever had shouted. Down that hall that two of them had been running through was something, something… wrong, and it made the two of them back up until they were back around the corner, both of them a shade paler and their hearts beating a mile a minute.

“…What the hell was that?” Ares asked, almost whispering as he stared down at the hall, still backing up with the doctor, laying a hand on her back to try to keep himself calm.

“I… I don’t know,” the doctor whispered softly.

Another sound cut through the dead silent hall, something between a yell and a roar, making both Ares and doctor Stitch stop in their tracks.

“We need to get back to where Shining and Flash are,” Ares said, every fiber of his being screaming that something was wrong.

The doctor nodded, shaking slightly as Ares’ hand lightly squeezed the back of her neck. “The two of us need to get out of the halls,” she said, nervously eyeing one of the rooms doors.

Ares gently yanked the unicorn backwards, moving as quickly as he dared. “All of the doors are locked for some reason.”

He resisted, once again, the urge to start running when he noticed that his breath was fogging up and that ice was starting to collect on the windows.

“We need to go find Shining now."

~_~_~_~_~_~_

As Luna walked through the door she couldn’t help but paw at the floor nervously.

The darkness the room was absolute and unending, and the air had a chill that threatened to freeze her blood if she stayed still long enough. Even when she cast her most powerful light spell and used some of her magic to insulate her body the alicorn could barely see ten feet in front of her and she was still shivering from the cold.

The room felt wrong; the atmosphere, spacing, even the room’s smell seemed off. It was like there was something in this room that wanted her to leave so it could conclude whenever foul task that it had sent out to accomplish. It was so bad that Luna, a mare that had seen and fought some of the darkest, most vile creatures in existence, looked back at the door and eyed it longingly. Even the door looked wrong to her. The paint was peeled off and it looked like… something had tried to claw it’s way free from the room. It looked like a door that had been at the mercy of the elements for thirty years…

There is something foul in here, she thought, shaking her head before turning back to survey the area as best as she could. We must find out whatever it is and see if our niece is alright… I pray that she is alright…

Like the door had been, the furniture that she could see had deteriorated, chairs and tables and beds rotting and grey and covered in ice. Icicles covered the ceiling, long and sharp and probably dangerous, and there was a thin coating of ice covering every surface. Every step she took seemed far louder than it should have been, and with every step the anger and fear seemed more and more familiar to Luna. It was almost like remembering a bad dream or meeting a long lost friend. A long lost “friend” that Luna had hoped would fade into memory after she had been saved by the elements.

This is far more than my niece trying to scare some of her nobility, she thought, her heart racing as she continued forward. I fear that Cadence may have succumb to darker powers… But why would she do such a thing? What did those ponies do to--

“You bucking try to steal my coltfriend away from me when I just want to cuddle him while the two of us ate grilled cheese sandwiches?! Well no more mister nice princess!”

There was a thud, which was quickly followed by a grunt of pain, and then another, and then another after that.

“YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BUCKING TOUCH HIM AGAIN!!!”

“SOMEPONY HELP!!!”

Eyes widening, Luna raced forward into the darkness. That wasn’t Cadence’s voice, so she was suspicious of a trap, but even so that pony sounded faint, like they were about to keel over any second. And, even though she was in a weakened state and scared what she was going to find, she wasn’t going to just run and hide. She was a Princess! It was her job to protect ponies from things that went bump in the night, no matter how scared she may or may not be!

Though the room gave off the feeling of being far bigger than it should have been, Luna easily crossed the rest of the room where she found herself stopped right in her tracks out of shock. There, in amidst a swirling vortex of shadow and ice, was Cadence. Or at least what Luna thought was Cadence.

The mare in question was throwing an elderly stallion against a wall again and again, the stallion grunting defiantly, covered in ice and bruises, as she glared at the monster of a mare.

Luna took a step forward, her mane wiping around her face, peering into the darkness that seemed to come from the mare.

Pray let that just be some abomination, she prayed, quietly taking another step forward so Cadence wouldn’t notice her. Let it be--

Luna’s heart sank as she finally got a good look at the mare’s cutiemark. It was a crystal heart alright, and that horn and those wings could only mean that that was actually Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

What… happened to thee Cadence?

Whatever dark magicks had taken over her dearly loved niece it had twisted her body into something far more sinister than the loving pony that Luna had come to know. Her irises were gone, leaving only white, bloodshot, crackling with energy eyes. Her coat seemed longer and wilder and darker; almost blood-red in fact. The color of her mane and tail seemed to change with every movement, coiling and striking as a snake would. Even her wings and hooves seemed different; they seemed… darker and whenever Luna looked at them the world seemed to unfocus for a second, almost like the world stopped whenever a hoof or a feather moved.

Does… she have fangs? Luna thought, taking one more step forward, making sure not to touch any of the darkness that was whipping around her niece like a bunch of angry tentacles . And does she look a mite taller?

Luna was rapidly brought out of her thoughts as Cadence once again slammed the old stallion against the wall with enough force to put a hole in it.

“CADENCE! RELEASE THAT STALLION AT ONCE!” She commanded her wings flaring and her horn sparking to life. Gritting her teeth she managed to drive away that cold and the darkness around Cadence with her magic, though the effort made her knees shaky.

Cadence stiffened, dropping the defiant-looking stallion with what suspiciously sounded like a yelp.

“AUNTY LUNA?” she said, spinning around. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?”

Luna found herself frowning.

Why was she not being attacked by the monster that her niece had become?

If the nightmare had indeed corrupted her then the moment it saw her it should have came charging across the room with a roar! The nightmare was a hate-filled entity of darkness, and hate-filled entities of darkness did not just stand there like a filly that had just been caught with their hoof in the cookie jar!

...Maybe we are wrong about Cadence being corrupted? Luna thought, hoping against hope that her niece hadn’t befalling the same evil that had taken her body. Maybe it is something else?

Something about this didn’t seem right right to the Princess of the Night, but if she was actually talking to her niece and not whatever demon inside of her maybe she could stop this before things got really out of hoof? She could at least try.

“We heard a ruckus coming in from here and We thought We would investigate.”

Cadence looked back at the bloodied stallion that she had been tossing around just mere moments ago. “Oh… she said, looking almost… ashamed.

Though she still suspected that she was being mocked by the nightmare, Luna took another step forward, an offensive spell at the ready in case this was all a sham.

“Tell me, Cadence.” Luna motioned around the room with a hoof at the broken furniture, the ice and icicles, and the other terrified ponies that were huddles on what was left of their beds. “What in the Tartarus are thou doing?”

Luna watched as Cadence’s iris’s reappeared and the ring of darkness surrounding her vanished, her pink mare’s eyes nervously scanning the room. “WELL, YOU SEE… I, UM, WELL…”

It seems that we are actually getting through to her! Luna thought, both amazed and relieved. We must press it!

Her face a mask of stern disapproval, Luna took another step forward, then another, then another, until she was face to face with Cadence. “Whatever these ponies did they do not deserve this,” she said, poking the younger alicorn’s chest. “Our powers are not to be used in such a way under any circumstances!”

Cadence looked up at the older alicorn for a moment before something seemed to snap. In a flash black magic was once again pouring off her, forcing Luna to take a few hasty steps backward while someone screamed in fear.

The Princess of Love snarled, her mane once again wiping around her face. “THESE PONIES TOOK ARES FROM THE CASTLE! THEY WERE GOING TO HURT HIM!!!” she said, glaring at each of the offenders with unyielding anger. “THEY DESERVE TO BE—“

Gritting her teeth, Luna took a step forward. “ENOUGH!”

With every bit of magic that she had left, Luna sent a shockwave of light through the room. Though the effort caused her to fall back on her haunches and very nearly black out, the darkness surrounding Cadence dispelled, Cadence herself reeling back as if struck, her eyes hazy and unfocused with confusion, fear, and exhaustion etched on her face.

Get up Luna, Luna through, growling as she fought to get back on her hooves. Thou are not finished yet/

“What would my sister think of thou if she saw thee in such a state? What about your subjects? Or what about Ares? Would he enjoy gazing upon thy actions?”

With each verbal prod, Cadence slowly but surely started to change back to her normal self. Her hair flopped back against her head and neck, her teeth lost their sharpness, her coat retained its vibrant pink color, and the dark, powerful magic that surrounded her dissipated. A minute or two later, the nightmare creature was gone, leaving regular old Cadence, who looked to be on the brink of tears

Sighing in relief, exhaustion, and sympathy, Luna walked over to the crying mare, wrapping a wing around her and pulling her close while the pink mare sniffled. “Thou do not need the ruining powers to protect Ares, Cadence. And we are sure that it would kill him to see thee using it for whatever reason.”

Cadence just replied with a sob, of sadness or regret or anger Luna didn’t know, nor did she find herself really caring at the moment.

“I-I’m s-sorry…”

Luna just nuzzled her again. “Shush, shush, everything will be alright, everything will be alright…”

Sister will have to be told what happened, she thought, nuzzling her niece’s cheek while she quietly cried. But first I will see to it that Cadence is looked after to the best of Our ability.

()()()()()@##$()()()()()()

“So where are we going again?” Ares asked as he was led/dragged through the halls by Shining and Flash.

Though he wanted to say something witty or funny in a situation like this, Ares knew to keep his mouth shut and follow that ponies that were trained in the soldiering-arts.

Whatever had starting making the walls shake was something that he’d rather not meet out in the open, and it seemed that Flash and Shining agreed since the two of them were taking him… somewhere.

“I’m sure that Echo and the other guard heard whatever the hay that was too,” Shining armor said, poking his head around a corner before waving Ares and Flash to follow him. “While they’re securing the castle me and Flash are going to take you to the most secure room in the entire castle.”

The unicorn looked back at him with a small frown. “Even though I want to go and investigate myself, Cadence would rip me a new one if she found out that I left you alone.”

Ares heart almost stopped when Cadence was mentioned. Was she alright?! Was whatever was running around the castle looking for her?! Though he really wanted to go and look for his fillyfriend he resisted the urge. Though it left a bad taste in his mouth, he knew that he would be less than worthless in this situation. He couldn’t use any kind of fancy magic, he couldn’t fly or fight or anything like that. If anything Cadence was probably a hell of a lot more equipped to handle whatever monster was running around. So he was going to go with Shining and Flash and try not to worry about Cadence too much.

“Alright, so where’s this super secure room of yours?” the human asked, cocking his head when he heard Shining quietly grumble to himself.

“We need to take you to the wine cellar, Ares!” Flash said from behind him, almost accidentally poking Ares with the pointy end of his spear.

Ares frowned. “Wine cellar?”

Shining nodded. “It’s more of an alcohol cellar really, but you get the idea.”

Though there was a knot of worry and fear making his stomach hurt, Ares couldn’t help but smile. “You know, Shining, if you wanted to get something to drink you could have just told me.”

Shining stopped suddenly, spinning around and facing the human with a frown on his face. “Nopony’s drinking anything when we get down there!” he growled, his gaze withering. “You’re enough of a hoofful sober.” Gazing at Ares for a moment or two longer, Shining turned back around and started to lightly trot down the hall. “That and I’m sure the doctor wouldn’t like to hear that you were drinking after getting thrown around like you did.”

Ares flinched, one of his hands moving down and rubbing his leg. “Alright you dirty tattle- tale, no one’s drinking anything when we get to the booze cellar.”

The walk was a heck of a lot longer than Ares expected. He and his companions had to run back and forth hallways, up and down (though mostly down) stairs, and even a few rooms until they reached a heavy wooden door at the end of an empty hall. To Ares’s disappointment it wasn’t even a magic glowing door or a door that was covered in runs, it was just a plain old boring door.

“…This is it?”

Shining started fiddling with the stones on the wall to the left of the door. “Yes it is,” he said matter-of-factly.

“…But it’s just a wooden door.”

“A wooden door that hasn’t been broken down in over fifteen hundred years,” Shining retorted, his hoof tapping the walls as if he was trying to look for something. “Now shut your trap and let me look for—there it is!“

Click!

One of the stones glowed the moment that Shining touched it before a loud clicking sound came from the door.

“Most ponies don’t start poking at walls when they want to steal alcohol,” Flash explained as Shining threw open the door, revealing a pitch-black room.

“What about ponies that know how to open it?” Ares asked as Flash pushed him into the room.

In the darkness, he could hear Shining scoff. “There’s only a special few ponies that know how to unlock that door.”

Since he really didn’t care enough to further carry on the conversation about a door that he thought was kind of stupid, Ares instead took a look in the darkness. A darkness that became absolute the second the door behind him closed by itself with a loud slam.

“…So is this the part where one of yours jumps me and tries to take my pants off?”

Once again Shining snorted, his horn charging up before he threw a small burst of magic across the room.

Out of nowhere what looked like a torch lit up, then another, then another, and so on until the room as so bright that Ares had to blink to let his vision adjusted. And when it did he couldn’t help but whistle in appreciation. The room was littered with giant walls of wine racks, each as tall as the ceiling and at least fifty feet long, all neatly laid in rows, with every conceivable type of liquor imaginable.

Mouth open, Ares slowly walked over to a rack and grabbed a dusty bottle of wine.

“Huh, it looks like someone around here enjoyed their drinks,” he said, blowing the dust off the bottle to get a better look at it. “Hey Flash, does this look like a good year to you?”

Grumbling, Shining snatched the bottle out of his hands and put it back where it belonged. “This used to be the pride of the old emperor of the empire before Sombra overthrew him,” he said, nudging Flash and Ares over toward a rickety wooden table with a few chairs. “It has some of the oldest, finest, and rarest wines and spirits in the world, so keep your grubby mitts off!“

Sighing, Ares sat down on one of the chairs, the only wooden thing creaking loudly under his weight. “So we’re just going to sit down here, in a room filled with “some of the oldest, finest, and rarest wines and spirits in the world”, and that’s it?”

Shining nodded, taking a seat at the other side of the table. “Yes.”

“And we might have to stay down here for a couple of hours? Just sitting here without anything to entertain ourselves? Not even a board game?”

Shining frowned. “Well what do you suggest we do smart guy?”

Ares shrugged. “You boys want to do each other’s hair and talk about girls? Cause that’s the only thing I can think of--”

“Why don’t you tell us what happened with you and the princess today, Ares?” Flash asked with a smile. “All we know is that the two of you were in trouble earlier and that both of you needed to go to the doctors.”

“Yeah,” Shining added, a frown coming to his face. “When we asked the Captain she was really tightlipped about it…”

Ares opened his mouth before closing it. “That… that’s not really something I want to talk about, Flash,” he said neutrally.

“Why the hay not?” Flashed pressed. “A story or two might make the time go by faster!”

“Then you tell a story.”

Shining, a frown still on his face, leaned forward in his seat. “Did something happen to the princess, Ares?”

Though he refused to look at either stallion, Ares nodded. “Something happened that turned into something, which turned into something that I would have liked to build up to before actually doing it,” he told them, a bit of frustration laced in his voice. “Now will you two just drop it?”

“I don’t see why the hay you’re being so fussy about this.”

“I’m being fussy because I’ve had one of the shittiest days of my life, Flash, so will you please just be quiet so the three of us can sit here and hope that some evil monster doesn’t manage to come in here and eat us?”

“Come on Ares,” Flash said, putting a wing on his shoulder. “We’re just concerned about you today. First whatever happened between you and the princess happened then you got coltnapped then--”

“I accidently gave Cadence a plant that made her cast a lust spell on me and the two of us fucked.”

Silence reigned supreme as Ares, with an angry look on his face, continued to look at the table.

“...Oh.”

Flash and Shining heard the human let out a quiet growl.

“I told you that it was fucking personal,” Ares grumbled, finally looking up to glare at the two of them. “Do you want to know anything else about my fucking love life before we go on?”

Shining looked at the human hard for a few moments, a cocktail of emotions swirling inside him as he digested the news. “...And that was the first time either of you…”

“Yes.”

Chuckling awkwardly, Flash got right up and trotted over toward one of the wine racks, pulled a random bottle out of his cubbyhole, and walked right back over.

He didn’t even have time to put it on the bottle before Shining plucked the bottle out of his hooves, popped the top, and took a swig. “You know what? I think I know what the three of us are going to do while we’re in here.” He made a face before passing the bottle over to Ares, who took a swig himself. “Do you remember when you promised me that we were going to have that ‘talk?’”

Ares nodded. “Yeah, and I’m sure we have a lot to say to each other about that,” he answered before looking at Flash. “Flash, go and get a couple more bottles for us. I really need something to fucking drink.”

His ears folding back against his head, the private quickly started to search through the racks while Shining and Ares continued to look at each other as if sizing the other up.

“…I’m sorry for pushing so much, Ares… I just wanted to—“

“Just bring a few more bottles over here before I pick your ass up and stuff you in one of those wine barrels.”

Alcohol: The Lubrication of Friendship

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Stalliongrad No.3 Fine-Brewed Fire Whiskey: Flash might have never heard of this drink before in his entire life (as far as he knew, Stalliongrad didn’t make whiskey), but it was the liquor that he was drinking while he, Shining, and Ares kept themselves holed up in this giant wine cellar hiding from the monster/demon/whatever it was that was running around the castle. And dear sweet Celestia was it bucking delicious.

To be honest, everything in this room was awesome. The chairs were comfortable, the table was sturdy and wooden and thick, and the smell of pine and oak and alcohol all came together to put the private a little more at ease with the pickle that he had found himself in. But honestly that just might have been the whisky talking. In fact it probably was the whiskey that was talking. The amazing, amazing whisky that he had drunk way too much of and was probably going to get fired for drinking in the first place. It had the overwhelming taste of cinnamon with just a hint of vanilla; an odd mixture but it tickled his taste buds and warmed him up every time he took a sip. This whiskey was something that the private would have liked to have a glass of when he was wrapped up in a warm blanket by a fire while it snowed.

…Though it looked like he was going to have to drink his amazing, and obviously expensive, alcohol by candlelight in one of the most tense and awkward situations of his life.

Ares, who was sitting at his right, appeared to be chugging some kind of brandy straight out of the bottle, his face flushed and his eyes closed. Shining had picked out a small bottle of “Moonshine” (whatever the hay that was) and was calmly taking shot after shot out of a crystal shot glass. Both of the males looked like they’d rather be anywhere else than here right now, because of Shining and his big mouth, but Flash could see resolution in Shining’s eyes and he was sure that Ares would have the same look the moment he stopped trying to drown himself in booze. Though the two had also been drinking themselves silly for Celestia knows how long, so they might not be as resolute or ready as he thought they were.

For practical reasons, and to make sure that Shining and Ares didn’t go into a drunken rage and try to kill each other, the private made sure to drink only about half as much of what Shining was so that he’d have a clear head to step in if things got out of hand. But even then he was starting to get more than a little tipsy. Just like Ares, Shining was already on his second or third bottle and didn’t look like he was about to stop anytime soon. He had been considering trying to get the two to slow down a bit but decided to let them have this. And he was sure that it’d be a heck of a lot easier to make sure nothing bad happened if these two were too drunk to stand.

Sighing, Shining swallowed another mouthful of his ‘Shine’ and put down his shot glass. “Well… I think I’ve had enough to drink to start this off,” he said with a slight slur, eyeing Ares for a second and shaking his head, before turning to Flash. “Flash, I want to talk to you about my sister.”

The private, who had been taking a drink of his whiskey, froze. Why the buck do I have to get dragged into this?! Flash thought as he looked back at Shining.

Swallowing and putting down his glass, Flash smiled nervously. “A-Alright, so w-what do you—“

“I love my sister more than anything in this world,” Shining interrupted, rubbing his hoof over the top of his shot glass. “When she was little I helped her study for her magic tests, from the moment she could walk I was chasing her around the house and playing with her and doing everything in my power to keep her safe.”

Flash had to resist the urge to move away as Shining continued to stare at him, his face an expressionless mask.

“Twilight has never had a coltfriend, Private, and as her older brother I want her to do all that she can to find the best stallion in the world, not find some jerk of a stallion that’ll break her heart the second he gets bored of her.” In the blink of an eye Shining’s expression turned ugly. Very ugly. “Now I want to hear why you’re the best stallion in the world for my little sister, and I want to know what the buck your intentions are with her. Now.”

Reaching over, Flash picked up a bottle of Stalliongrad No.3 Fine-Brewed Fire Whiskey and took a nip straight from the bottle. To his disappointment it did not make Shining look any less angrier or him any less scared.

“W-Well, you s-see…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

I…

I didn’t know what had happened and—

No, that wasn’t right; I knew what happened, I remembered what had happened between me and Mrs. Higher and Skulltaker and all of the other clan leaders. I just didn’t know how I could do that to somepony.

I was a mare that almost never got angry, and if I did it I never did more than yell at somepony and huff and puff for a little bit. But the hate, the RAGE that I felt when I found out that these ponies had decided to take my Ares from me…

I couldn’t think of anything other than hurting them; hurting them and their family and everyone that they loved. That rage had twisted my stomach and made every bit of my body feel like it had been on fire and charged with electricity at the same time. The hate made me powerful; powerful and untouchable and unstoppable. And that scared me.

Like really scared me.

I don’t remember walking out of that room, and I don’t remember my aunt laying a wing over me, but by the time that I came to I was looking at a terrified Captain Echo and too tired to do anything more than keep my eyes open and shake. And it wasn’t the good kind of tired either; where you just kind of fall over and close your eyes and go to sleep. I felt like I had ran a marathon while studying for the hardest test that I’ve ever taken in my life. My head hurt, the world was spinning, I was having a hard time breathing, and my heart felt like it was going to burst in my chest.

“Captain, please go and get the doctor while I take Cadence back to her room,” Luna said, using her magic to keep me from just keeling over under my own weight. “And be sure to tell her that Princess Cadence will need her as soon as she is finished with the ones in that room.”

Echo, still shaking, saluted. “Y-Yes ma’am!” she cried, taking off into the air and down the hall.
Luna leaned down and nuzzled my face. “We ask thou to keep thine eyes open, Niece, we will be at thy room momentarily.”

I couldn’t even nod as Luna picked me up and trotted down the hall.

I…

I had hurt somepony…

I had hurt somepony very, very badly...

I honestly couldn’t wrap that around my head, no matter how many times I thought about it or how many times the scene played over my head. Being upset was one thing; I had every right to just send some guards to their homes and have them imprisoned for what they had done but picking a pony up and slamming him against the wall until his bones broke… And if Luna hadn’t been there to stop me I might have gone farther than that, I might have even ended up...

I could have killed somepony…

Like Luna had said: what would Ares think if he would have seen me like that? What would Auntie Celestia think? What would my subjects think?! I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about it and I did it!

“Be warned, Cadence, thy actions might be known all over the castle by now,” Luna told me as she carried me into my room and closed the door behind her. “Dark magic can be felt by all no matter if they know the ways of magic or not.”

I swear to you that my eyes almost popped out of my head. “I USED DARK MAGIC?!?”

My aunt shushed me as she laid me down on the bed. “Keep your voice down, filly!” she snapped, her glare making me flinch. “Yes thou called upon the dark arts, but that does not mean that thou should go around announcing it to the heavens willy-nilly!”

I wilted under Luna’s gaze, a whimper escaping my throat. I knew what I did was wrong on so many different levels but black magic?!. “I’m sorry I didn’—I just—I couldn’t—“ With a shaky sigh I laid my head down miserably. “…Is that why I feel so bad right now?” I asked, rubbing my throbbing head with a hoof.

Now that I was lying in my bed and all of that adrenaline had worn off I was feeling a hundred times more awful than I had a minute ago. Like so awful that it was a wonder that I was still able to move anything. There was this deep ache all over my body that made it hurt to breath, there was this loud buzzing sound in my ears that was making it hard to think straight, and my head, sweet Faust my head. It felt like somepony had held me down and poured lava down my throat while hitting me with a baseball bat that was covered in rusty nails. I was a shaky, whimpering mess and I felt powerless to help myself or make anything better, and I think that alone was what hurt worse than any ache or pain or headache that I had right now.

Luna nodded, throwing a blanket over me and pulling a chair up beside my bed. “That is thy body reacting to the dark magic’s corruption,” she told me, her eyes thoroughly scanning my face almost as if she was looking for something. “If we hadn’t talked sense into thee as soon as we did there is a chance that thou would not be as whole as thou appear to be now.”

I tried to keep eye contact with her but just… couldn’t. I was too ashamed about what I had done. “Those ponies coltnapped Ares,” I murmured, keeping my gaze on my bed. “If you hadn’t gone and saved them when you did—“

“Whatever they did, Cadence, there is still no excuse for using that foul magic.” I could hear the disappointment in Luna’s voice, and it made me want to hide under my covers and cry my eyes out. “We alicorns cannot tamper with dark magic for the sake of all.”

“I didn’t mean to!” I told her, pulling the covers tighter around myself. “I don’t even know how the buck I managed to do it! That! Whatever the buck I did in that room!” I closed my eyes tightly when the world started to spin and the ringing in my ears grew louder. “I...I-I--”

Luna placed a hoof under my chin and forced me to look back up at her. “Thou must tell us if thou know of the dark arts in any way, Niece.” Luna’s gaze was harsh, penetrating. “Did our sister show thee any black magic? Did thou read of it in a book? Maybe see it happen without knowing what it was? Anything?”

I shook my head furiously. “NO! I swear!”

And I was telling the truth too. Celestia had warned me about dark magic the second that I was old enough to start spell casting and I had heard the stories, the horrible horrible stories, about what it did to ponies. Just like with most spell casters I wanted nothing to do with the dark arts and I hadn’t planned on seeing, doing, or learning about it in any other way than to defend against it…. Until now I guess...

Luna studied me for a few moments longer before she nodded, her gaze softening. “We… believe thee, Mi Amore.” The tip of her horn glowed as she leaned down and tapped it against mine.’

I gasped as a surge of magic rushed through me, negating that horrible, nauseated feeling and putting strength back into my limbs. I could feel the air rushing back to my lungs and the blood rush back to my face. It almost felt like I had been missing… something and whatever Luna had just done had made me whole again. Though I still felt pretty awful (both physically and mentally) I couldn’t help but smile in relief.

“While We would usually let thee suffer for using black magic, just like our master did when she caught both Us and our sister using it when we were little, We see no real need to do so. If what thou is saying is correct then thou used the magic without meaning to and We cannot punish thee for that.” Nodding again, Luna got out of her chair and walked over to a table where I had a stack of papers and some quills. “Our spell should have cleansed most of the corruption from thy person, so get up, Cadence, we still have much work to do.”

Though I didn’t want to get out of my bed (it was the only place that I felt safe right now), I forced myself to get up and walk over to my aunt, who picked up a quill, opened a pot of ink, and started to write on one of the pieces of paper.

“The castle staff is sure to be panicking, and if the Captain’s reaction is of any indication the guard is either mobilizing or hiding under their beds, so we must go and put everypony at ease as best as we can.”

I nodded, looking over my aunt’s shoulder to try to see what she was writing. “And after that?” I dared to ask.

Signing her signature to the bottom of the letter, Luna rolled it up and teleported it away with a quick spell. “What just happened is not something that we should take likely, Niece,” my aunt said, looking at me sternly. “Thou were casting dark magic that the world has not seen for a thousand years. It twisted thy body, twisted the world around thee, and it came dangerously close to twisting thy mind.”

Luna took a step toward me and wrapped a wing around my shoulder and tried her best to smile, though it looked far too forced to make me feel any better. “I have heard that thou had had a rough day before we dropped in to surprise thee, and the Captain had said something about thou being poisoned by a magical flower, so what happened might have been simply by chance or…”

“But it might have happened because of something else…” I said, suddenly feeling sick again.

Luna gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “We do not think that the nightmare is in thee, Cadence,” she quietly said before I pushed her wing away. “And We do not wish thee to make assum--”

“I didn’t feel like I was in control of myself when I was slamming SkullTaker into the wall like that,” I said, my voice cracking. “I could see it happening, I could hear him slamming against the wall, but I couldn’t stop myself…”

Luna fully wrapped a wing around me and pulled me against her side as I sobbed. “And I don’t know if I would have if I could’ve… “

“Shhh, it’s alright, Cadence. It’s alright.” She nuzzled the top of my head as I closed my eyes, tears streaming down my face as another sob wracked my body. “We are here now.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“—And your sister makes me feel like happy and alive but also sick and nervous and scared at the same time and—“

Ares took another gulp of his brandy, his eyes watering as the liquor burned his throat going down. Jesus is Flash laying it on thick, he thought wiping his mouth with his shirt. It’s adorable, but he might need to dial it back just a bit if he wants ol’ Shining here to take him seriously.

For the past hour and a half, Ares had been doing his best to get ready for his “little” talk with Shining, and in that hour and a half he learned something very important about himself and something that he also thought should apply to all people in general: No one should try to chug a whole bottle of brandy by themselves, especially if they’re not a very heavy drinker. No one wants to spend an hour puking their guts out because they decided to be an idiot for ten minutes.

I still drank that entire bottle though, Ares thought with a smile, reaching for his bottle. I bet you I chugged that thing in like two minutes flat and--

Clang!!

The bottle clanged against the tip of his fingers loudly, knocking it over and spilling its contents all over the the table. Ares tried to grab for the bottle but it always seemed a little to the left or right whenever he reached for it so after a minute of trying he simply rolled the bottle off the table with a drunken giggle.

It looks like the booze is finally kicking in, he thought, looking around for a not spilled bottle of alcohol that he could get trashed with. This took another minute because everything he looked at seemed to be moving on its own and there were doubles and triples of the same thing but he did eventually find a bottle to his left.

“There you arrrrrrre,” he murmured, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he very carefully reached over for the bottle. Though he very nearly fell out of his chair in the attempt, Ares managed to grab the neck of the bottle and bring it toward him on this first time. Pulling out the cork (or maybe it was a cap; he honestly couldn’t tell at this point) he was about to reward himself with another drink when he saw Shining, swaying in his seat and glaring at Flash, out of the corner of his eye.

…Why did Shining have to go and bring Flash into this? Ares sourly thought, putting the bottle down and putting his head down on the table. And why the hell didn’t he just want to get in a fist fight with me like I wanted in the first place?! That would have been a hell of a lot easier than the three of us hiding in some goddamn basement while some evil monster is running around…

“…I hope Cadencesh is alriiiiight…” He slurred, closing his eyes.

“Did you say something, Ares?” Flash asked, looking over the human.

Without raising his head, Ares said, “I ssssaid that I hoooope Cadence is alriiiiiight.”

Thought it felt far more challenging than it should have, Ares lifted his head up from the table to look at both Shining and Flash.

“Dosh you guysh think that Cadence is allllllllllllllllright?”

“Cadencccce is with Luna, and the two of them are powerful maaaagic users,” Shining said, throwing back another shot. “And the last time we sssaw them they were shurrounded by guardsh.” When Ares tried to reach for the bottle he pulled it away with his magic. “I’m sure they’re fiiine.”

“Heeeey, give that back!”

Shining just shook his head and tried to levitate it toward one of the wine racks. He managed to get it about three feet before his magic dissipated and the bottle fell to the ground with a thud. Though Flash flinched at the noise both Ares and Shining acted like they hadn’t heard it.

“I’m not watchin’ you make yourselfsh sick again,” he said, returning Ares’ glare with the coolest and most collected look that his drunken self could muster at the moment. “Sosh be quiet and letsh Fllllash finish what he wass gon’ to say.”

“You’re as drunk as meee!”

Shining snorted, crossing his hooves. “Am not! Now shuttit!”

Ares guffawed. “Why the hell are you bussin’ his balls anyways, Shining? Jussht look at Flash! He’s adorableh, furry, he has a great assss, and you know that he’s not goin’ to do anything bad with Twiiiiilight!”

Flash blinked. “Wait, what did you say about my as—“

Shining shook his head, almost falling out of his seat. “Don’t you tell me how tah look after my shhister,” he growled, his gaze suddenly hardening. “I want what’s bessht for her, and if I have to—“

“Have to what?” Ares interrupted, his head bobbing as he struggled to keep himself still. “Flash and Twilight can barely look at each other without ffffucking blushing, and you think that the two of them are going t’just up and ffffuck if you don’t give him the whole bigbrotherbullshit speech?!”

Shining snorted. “Shut up you dumb monkey,” he stated, carefully enunciating each word.

Ares gasped as if Shining had just slapped his mother in front of him. “NO! You shuddap you dumb horssh!”

The two glared at each other from across the table, neither one of them moving or even blinking. Flash, now nervous at the sudden and extreme tension that now laid over the room like a fog, stood up.

“Now hang on a second, guys,” he said, lifting up his hooves and making what he hoped were calming gestures. “Now why don’t we just take a minute to calm down. We can’t let the alcohol do the thinking for us and--”

In a flash Ares and Shining were up out of their seats, both picking up their chairs and throwing them in the general vicinity of each other (not close enough to actually hit the other but Flash was forced to duck under the table with a yelp), both growling.

“I HAVE TO SHEE IF ISH CAN TRUSSH HIM TO TAKE CARE OF MY TWILY!”

“YOU’VE FUCKING KNOWN HIM FOR YEARSH! CAN’T YOU JUST FUCKING TRUSST—“

In a flash Shining was over the table and in Ares’s face, his lips drawn back in a snarl and his eyes blazing.

“TRUST? TRUST?! THE LAST TIME I BUCKING TRUSTED SOMEPONY YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!”

Flash flinched as Ares’s eyes widened in shock. Sure, he expected that this might get a little… tense the longer that they sat here but he never expected the two of them to go and just blow up over something so silly!

“Come on guys! There’s no need to let a little—“

The moment that Flash poked his head up from underneath the table a bottle whizzed by his head, once again forcing him under the table.

“SHUT UP!!” Both Ares and Shining snarled before the two stood and charged each other, bodies colliding with a solid thunk sound. The two staggered about, limbs flailing, before drawing back, each regarding each other with bared teeth.

“You shut your mouth!” Ares snapped, balling his hand up into a fist and cocking it back.

“Buck you!” Shining snapped back, readying a punch of his own.

The fist and hoof flew through the air with a surprising amount of force, and if either punch had connected Shining or Ares might actually have gotten hurt. Luckily for them the two were so drunk that they were aiming for the second Shining/Ares to the right of the real one. Ares stumbled when his punch was met with open air, and though he did his best to keep his feet he ended up losing his balance and smacking painfully against the edge of the table before falling to the ground with a thud. Shining, who had been just a hair slower than the human, got to watch as he fell to the ground before he also lost his balance and fell off the table with a drunken yelp.

The two lay there on the ground just staring at each other in shock before Shining scrambled to his hooves, his teeth bared and his horn glowing. Ares was quick to join him, growling as he balled up his hands and held them in front of him.

“DO YOU KNOW HOW HORRIBLE IT’S BEEN HAVING TO WATCH YOU RUN AROUND WITH CADENCCCEE WHILE I GUARD THE TWO OF YOU?!” Shining demanded. “I HAVE TO WATCHTH’ TWO OF YOU BE HAPPPPY AND KISSSH LIKE A BUCKING HAPPY COUPLE WHILE I TRY TO SHUCK IT UP AND ACTH LIKE NOTHING’SH WRONG!”

With another growl Shining let loose a magical bolt that could have spilt the human in half if it would have made contact but once again Shining’s aim was horribly off, the bolt passing over the human’s right shoulder and shattering a cask of wine behind him into a spray of fermented grape juice and splinters. Ares, too drunk to notice that he had just come pretty close to dying, lurched forward with murder in his eyes and before Shining could move the pony got a knee to the chin.

“WHEN WHY ARE YOU DOING IT?! YOU COULD’VE GONE ANYWHERE ELSE!” Ares snarled as Shining scrambled backwards. The stallion tried to regain his footing but once again Ares was right there shoving him back as hard as he could.

“BUT NO! YOU COME UPP HERE AN’ TRY TO PLAY FUCKIN’ SHOLDIER!” He tried to push him again but ended up tripping and falling to his knees. “AND DON’T YOU FFFUCKIN’ DARE THINK THAT YOU BEIN’ HERE ISN’T FUCKIN’ ME AND CADENSH UP YOU SELFISH FUCKIN’ PRICK!”

Shining lunged forward as Ares tried to get to his feet, knocking the human onto the ground. “DON’T YOU BUCKING THINK I KNOW THAT?!” he snapped, standing over Ares. “DON’T YOU BUCKING THINK I KNOW THAT WHAT I’M DOING IS HURTING THE TWO OF YOU?!”

Ares was about to start screaming right back at him when he noticed that there were tears in Shining’s eyes.

“I wanna be happy again, Aresss,” the unicorn said, the anger just draining out of him. “I want to wake up and sssmile and hop out of bed to kick the hay out’f the day.”

Ares found himself wrapping his arms around the stallion as he sniffled, his ears pinned against his head.

“But why comes here to do this?” the human almost whispered.

Shining looked down at him, his blue eyes filled with tears and realization. “…I …I don’t know…” With another sob Shining’s strength just seemed to leave him as he collapsed on top of Ares and buried his muzzle into his shoulder, Ares holding him tightly with tears also in his eyes.

Flash watched with a mixture of concern, confusion, and relief as he poked his head back up from under the table and watched the two just lay on the ground crying their eyes out like drunken ninnies. Without turning his head he grabbed his bottle of Stalliongrad No.3 Fine-Brewed Fire Whiskey and took a swig straight from the bottle.

Well… this escalated a bit too quickly for my liking… He grimaced, eyes watering as he took a particularly big gulp. Why the buck do my friends always have to be CRAZY?

“F-Flash, get over here! And bring our bottles while you’re at it! Th’ three of us have feelings we need to drink through!”

Like really, REALLY crazy!

~_~_~_~_~_~_~__~

Dear Sister,

We have some joyous news and… news that we feel is a cause for concern. At this moment we write this to you from the Crystal Empire, so it appeared our spell worked! So that means that we will be able, with a bit more tweaking, to travel extreme distances to anywhere we want. This could help our little ponies in ways that we could not even begin to imagine! (And thou didn’t believe in us!)

But there has been an incident that needs your immediate attention; yours and the Elements preferably.

You see, something had happened to Ares when we teleported to the Empire. The colt, by our guess, had either been harassed or worse by a group of nobles and might have been forced against his will to meet with them. Though nopony will tell us what had happened, (possibly because they were concerned for the nobles’ health) so we don’t know exactly what happened, but our niece must have known what had happened and went to confront the villains and punish them for their crimes.

And when she went to see them it appeared that our niece… snapped.

We do not know the cause, or how or why it happened, but we believe that Cadence had come close to being overcome by the nightmare as we once had. We had seen a twisted and harsher version of Cadence, sensed the dark magic that had spilled out of her like a fountain, witnessed as she spat hatred and violence at the ones that threatened her lover, and We will be honest with thee sister in saying that we were afraid.

Very afraid

But fear not sister, we somehow managed to talk her down… though we do not know how long it will last.

Please, come quickly,

Luna

Before Celestia had managed to read the last bit of the letter she was out of her room with a quick teleportation spell, popping into the hallway and racing toward the barracks as fast as her legs could carry her.

“My lady, is everything alright?” A guard called as she sprinted past him. concern in his voice.

“Call all of the guard and have them meet me in the barracks immediately! That’s an order!” she yelled, her eyes wide and her heart racing. Though the Princess of the Sun thought she was a calm pony, there was no way in Tartarus that she could be anything other than panicked at the moment. She had seen what the nightmare had done to her sister, she had seen what it had turned her into and what the monster that her sister had become had done to their kingdom. She had faced that vile, evil thing twice in her reign, and twice it had been beaten before her eyes, but the pain of seeing “Nightmare Moon” still hurt just as badly as when she had first seen her baby sister fall to the darkness.

She had prayed that she would never have to fight her family because of that… thing again, but it looked like fate had different plans.

As she raced toward the barrack doors she simply lowered her shoulder and charged right through it. Using magic to open the door would have taken too long, and time was something that they might not have on their side.

CRASH!

The doors crumpled like tin foil as the big mare smashed into them, Celestia not slowing down as she ran to a collection of very confused guards. “My little ponies, we have a code black,” she said, cutting off any that tried to speak. “I need a few of you to race down to Ponyville to retrieve the elements. Tell them what’s happening, explain the situation; drag them from their homes if you have to, just bring them here within the hour!”

Taking a deep, shaky breath, she continued. “The rest of you need to equip yourselves, we need to go to the Empire as quickly as possible!”

The Canterlot Royal Guard looked at each other before saluting. Years of training and discipline had taught them to never question their Highness, especially for something as serious as a code black. It was a contingency that many had prayed they would never live to see, and it was something that they could never train for.

An alicorn had either gone mad or had fallen.

And if the look that Celestia was giving them meant anything this was in no way one of her famous pranks.

Celestia watched as officers started screaming commands to their soldiers and grunts rushed to and fro, racing to pull on armor and check their weapons, the horrible, terrible thought of her niece, a mare that she had tucked into bed at night, driven to darkness. There was no way to keep up the façade of calm and collected in the face of that, there was no way she could look her soldiers in the eyes and tell them that everything was going to be alright. Even if, even if what Luna said was true and she had somehow managed to calm down Cadence something could still be inside her. Something that wanted to hurt and destroy and corrupt, something that she was going to stop no matter what, even if she had to move the heavens themselves.

She wasn’t going to let some demon take another pony that she loved. Not again.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Like Luna had said, my… actions caught the attention of many of the castle staff, and many of them had responded by panicking and hiding. Not that I could blame them, who wouldn’t be scared when there’s black magic in the air and soldiers running around like their tails were on fire?

With every pony that Luna and I found, I felt worse and worse. I had caused this; it was my fault that I had to hold a mare or stallion and tell them that everything was alright while they were shaking so badly that they could barely stand. It was my fault that the soldiers, who had already looked exhausted from earlier today, were looking into the shadows like something was ready to jump out and grab them. It was my fault that some of the clan leaders were now seriously injured. All of it, everything bad that was happening right now was because me me. Me.

Dark magic, real black magic, was something that caused fear in all that witnessed it. It took all of your happiness and glee and replaced it with hopelessness and fear and dirtied whatever it touched. It was not something that could be taken away cleanly; no matter what you did there would always be traces of it wherever it was used. I could smell my failure in the air, could see it in the eyes of the ponies that I was forced to lie to when they asked me what that voice had been, and each time I did it it was like somepony was driving a knife in my heart.

Luna had insisted that I tell my staff that the voice had just been a spell gone wrong, said that if my little ponies knew the truth about what had happened, the truth about what I had become in a moment of frustration and weakness, there might have been riots in the streets. So, even though it left a bad taste in my mouth, I lied and lied and lied, doing my best to smile and reassure and ignore the haunted look that Captain Echo was giving me whenever she thought I wasn’t looking. It took hours to find everypony and “explain” what had happened to them, and it left me and Luna (who was far more tired than I was but still managed to chug along) so tired that we could barely stand. But our work was not done, we still needed to find one last person in this big castle; a person that I was not going to look in the eye and lie to about what happened.

Ares deserved to know what happened, what I had done, and even if it killed me on the inside I was going to tell him that his fillyfriend had become a monster. I knew that telling him might make him afraid of me (sweet Faust right now I was afraid of me) but he had a right to know. Though that didn’t make me any less scared about telling him.

“Art thou sure that Ares will be down here?” Luna asked as I led her down to the wine cellar. “Surely it would have been better for Ares to hide in the barracks or away from the castle.”

“This is one of the most secure rooms in the entire castle,” I said, poking at the wall. “If Shining brought Ares anywhere it’d be here.”

It took a minute to remember where the hay the secret pressure point was,but when I finally poked it Luna and I were there through the door, Luna, eager to see if Ares was alright, and me… standing by the door trying to work up the courage to walk into the room.

Come on, you can do this! Ares has a right to know what happened! I thought, lifting a hoof up to take a step forward only to put it right back down. He’ll love you no matter what you say… he’ll love you no matter what…”

With a shaky sigh, I took a step forward, then another, then another, until I was through the door and in the great big wine room that had empty bottles every—

…Wait, what?

“Cadence? Thou might want to see this,” I heard Luna call, a hint of amusement in her voice.
Following the voice I weaved through the wine racks, stepping over bottles and even a barrel or two until I saw my aunt standing over Flash, Ares, and Shining.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene before me as I trotted up next to my aunt. “…Aw.”

Shining , Ares, and Flash, with bottles all around them and reeking of alcohol, were sleeping in a little cuddle pile. Ares was propped up against a wine barrel with Flash and Shining cuddled up on either side of him, their muzzles buried in his chest and neck while Ares had an arm around the two of them, holding them close.

Even with all of the bucked up stuff that had happened, and even though I would have been furious any other day if I had found out that these three had just drunk a lot of really expensive spirits, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the smiles on each of their faces.

“It appears that these three have had an… interesting evening,” Luna said, her smile mirroring mine as she kicked one of the empty bottles.

The bottle rolled and hit Ares in the thigh, Ares snorting loudly before cracking open an eye. “Who whatzthat?”

His blood shot, unfocused eyes scanned the room before landing on me. “Cadencesh!” He slurred, a drunken smile coming to his face as he tried to sit up, only to realize that he was pinned down. “Cadencesh, you’re alright!”

His arms reached out to touch me even though I was about ten feet away from him. “I wasss worried andsh…stuff!”

I smiled, trotting over and putting my head into his hands. “Yeah… I’m alright honey…” I took another step closer as his fingers traced my face and my Ares continued to look into my eyes.
“Did you, Flash and Shining enjoy yourself down here?”

Ares frowned, drunkenly forcing me closer to him. “Are you shhhure yoush alright?” he asked, sounding concerned as someone that looked so drunk off his flank that he probably didn’t know where he even was.

I nuzzled his hands, doing my best not to step on Flash and Shining as Ares forced me closer and closer. “…Yeah, I’m alright honey.”

“Thennn why are’y crying?” he asked, his thumbs wiping the sudden wetness on my cheeks. My smile wavered and I finally let Ares pull me on top of him in between Flash and Shining, who were grumbling at all of the sudden movement. “I love you; youshhouldn’t be crying. If y’r crying that meansh you’re sad and I don’t want you to be sssad!”

He kissed the tip of my nose. “So pleasss be happy.”

“I-I was just thinking about how much I loved you, honey,” I sniffled, laying my head on his shoulder and closing my eyes as tears streamed down my face. I felt Flash and Shining wiggle themselves against me and I could swear, even though I couldn’t see it, that Flash wrapped a wing around my back.

I wrapped my hooves around Ares, my silly, drunk little human who was doing his best to make me feel better and smile and be happy even though he probably wouldn’t be able to stand on his own, a sob escaping my throat. “I l-love you s-so much, Ares.”

I sobbed again as Shining wiggled himself around until he was able to wrap a hoof around me in an almost protective manner. And, sandwiched between two sleeping, smelly stallions and my coltfriend who was either trying to run his fingers through my mane in an attempt to calm me down or trying to rip all of my hair out I felt safer and happier than I had all day…

“Ish your butt getting bigger? ‘Cause it looks really, really, really niiiiicce right now.”

Happier and I was laughing my flank off.

Tired, Hungover, and Ready to go

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Beep… Beep… Beep…

High Rider found herself shaking under her covers as she laid there looking up at the ceiling. While she considered herself a pretty hearty mare, and somepony that had aged far better than most of her peers, even she couldn’t help but feel old and tired after what had… happened; old and tired, and above all terrified.

Looking to her left she could see poor Skull Taker sleeping with tubes and I.V.s and bandages covering his body, dead to the whole world. From what she had been told that stallion was very lucky to be alive and kicking, especially at his age. Though, to be fair, every single one of them were lucky to still be breathing. Every single one of them had frostbite of varying severity, cuts and bruises too, and a nasty case of dark magic poisoning, something that had worried the doctor (and them of course) to no end. But the poor mare couldn’t even pretend to care about that at the moment. Right now all she was able to do was lay there, breathe, and shake as she stared up at the ceiling and did her best not to whimper as waves of pain pounded her body.

For High Rider everything hurt; it hurt to breathe, it hurt to think, her vision, even after the doctor had dumped so much healing magic into her that she expected to up and grow a horn herself, was blurry and her mind was nauseous and sluggish. And the cold! Sweet gods she could still feel that cold she had been subjected to! No matter what she drank or what magic was used on her or however many blankets they put on her, Higher didn’t believe that she’d ever know what it was like to be warm again.

The other clan leaders were no better than her. Draugre and Hearth looked like the living dead, just lying there in their beds and muttering to themselves. Every minute or so one of them would whimper, eyes rolling in their skulls, and they’d squirm before going still a second later.

It was nice to know that she had come out the least broken out of her little group (well… as nice as it could get in this situation), but it meant that, other than the nurses coming in to check up on her or one of her own that managed to slip into the castle to relay something to her, she spent most of her days alone. So there she was, on her third day of recovery at the castle (she was too injured to move, or so she had been told) with only her pain and her thoughts to keep her company. And, being the mare that she was, she mentally went over and over and over again what had happened, why it had happened, and, for the sake of the city and her sanity, how she could stop it from happening ever again.

Though the whole city probably heard that… thing that the Princess had become shouting like it had, Higher had found out from a few of her contacts at the castle that news about what had actually happened had been covered up; covered so thoroughly that if she had not been in the front row, watching as Skull Taker had his rib cage broken in front of her, she might have had a difficult time finding out the truth. Whether it was because so few ponies knew what had happened, or because everypony was too scared to even speak about what had happened was not something that the mare thought about.

No, she was making sure that… this, whatever had happened, whatever her Princess had become, whatever she had helped turn her Princess into, would never, ever see the light of day again.

She had lived under the Tyrant king’s reign. She had watched as that evil, terrible stallion had used his dark powers to kill his parents and twist and warp and enslave the ponies of the empire, and seeing all of this, suffering and fearing for her life like everypony else had, she had thought that things like fear and terror were nothing special to her anymore. This belief, one hard-earned and unwanted, had been shattered when she had witnessed what Cadence had become. Higher had stood before the dark king, she had seen the madness and hate in his eyes and had watched him as he tortured ponies with his magic, but nothing he had ever done or said or shown had made her feel the level of fear that the princess had.

The rage that she had witnessed wasn’t the byproduct of a mightier-than-thou thought process of the tyrant king, and the princess hadn’t used dark magic to harm and scar because she had thought them lesser than herself. No, the rage that she had seen on the princess’s face, the rage that had twisted her into the monster that they had all seen, was a rage that Higher herself had felt once or twice in her life.

It was fear turned into anger. It was the fear of having somepony taken away from you, somepony that you loved with all of your heart, and you wanting to find whoever dared take that loved one away from you and making them feel the fear and hopelessness that you had felt a thousand fold.

Unlike anything that Sombra could produce, this anger was wild, pure, unfiltered. A pony could not look at the one that had done them wrong and just smile and wave and act like nothing had happened. This rage caused ponies to destroy lives and families, tarnish reputations, burn cities. You could not stop it with words or negations; you either had to let the pony enact his or her revenge or you had to… end them.

If she had a mind to, Higher could make herself the mother of all thorns in Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s side. She could tell the ponies of the empire what their leader had become, she could hold that information over her head, and maybe gain influence and power from that. If she was so inclined, if she could get the other clan leaders in agreement, she could even demand that the princess step down from her duties. But she wouldn’t; maybe even couldn’t.

After what she had seen, what she had seen what the princess could become if pushed enough, she knew she didn’t have the courage for it. She didn’t have the strength to fight an angry demigod that was fighting to protect the ones she loved and was willing to turn herself into a monster to do it. She was not strong enough to face that terror, and she wasn’t willing to let anyone of her clan do it either.

And what hurt Higher the most was that all of this, everything that had happened and could happen, was her fault. What had gone from maybe a bit too much enthusiasm on her part about getting Mr. Ares out of the castle quietly and without a fuss had turned into an utter disaster that might put her clan and the other main clans in jeopardy. The Equestrian princess could lay what happened to the princess right at her hooves and she was sure she’d be in a cell within the hour, and there was no way in Tartarus that she’d be able to do anything about it.

So even though she was hurting and cold and tired, she was just going to focus on getting better so she could get away. She wanted to be back in her mansion surrounded by her guards. She wanted to be in the bowels of her home, thinking of ways to make this whole bucked up situation alright and not cause any riots or imprisonment or anything like that. But most of all, what she wanted more than anything right now, was to put as much distance between Princess Cadence and her as she physically could without leaving the city. Heck, she might even leave the city to—

Knock Knock!

Higher’s mind went blank as she heard somepony knocking on the door, and for a moment she imagined Princess Cadence on the other side of it. Just the thought of it made her whimper quietly. Gods give me stren—

“Is anypony awake in there?” Somepony called through the door, their voice gruff and demanding.

Higher’s head fell back onto her pillow with a relieved sigh. That wasn’t the princess, that was just some pony; probably a maid or a nurse if she were to guess.

“Yes, I’m awake,” Higher said after clearing her throat. “Please come in.”

The doorknob turned and the door was thrown open, revealing a stern looking Echo decked out in full armor staring at her like she was the scum of the earth.

And just like that the relief that Higher had felt was gone in a flash.

“Mrs. Higher,” Echo said emotionlessly, eyeing the other clan leaders as she walked over to her.

Higher put on her best smile. “Good afternoon, Captain,” she said politely. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Not breaking eye contact, Echo pulled a bundle of papers that she had hidden underneath her wing. “Actually, there is something you can help me with, ma’am,” she said, placing the papers on Higher’s bed before pulling out a pot of ink and a quill. “It’s concerning the situation that happened a few days ago.”

Higher relaxed slightly. Oh, she’s just coming down here to see what happened? I don’t know why my statement would do anything othe— she flinched when Echo picked the papers back up and tossed them in her lap.

“The other day there was a serious breach of security that resulted in the coltnapping of a certain Ares the human,” Echo said, her tone businesslike but her eyes piercing. “The guards that were supposed to be at their stations were nowhere to be found, or just don’t recall seeing Mr. Ares being dragged out of the castle against his will by two anonymous stallions.”

Higher closed her mouth as Echo, with her fangs slightly bared, leaned toward her. “I’ve come here today, ma’am, because this breach of security had very negative consequences. My lady, Princess Cadence, became,” the mare shivered, nervously looking around the room, “…whatever she became, because a few ponies didn’t do their bucking jobs. This is not something that I can allow to happen again, both for the sake of the Crystal Empire itself and the princess. So here’s what’s going to happen,” Higher tried to open her mouth to say something when Echo tossed the quill on top of the papers and opened the pot of ink. “You’re going to write down every single name of every single pony that works for you in this castle along with anypony else that’s getting some type of payments from the other clan leaders.”

Without missing a beat, Higher snorted. “I have no idea what you are referring to, Captain,” she said as Echo’s frown deepened. “I don’t know what anypony told you about what happened the other day but I, nor anypony else in this room, coltnapped or forced anypony out of this castle.”

Though the lie came easily and Higher was sure that she didn’t even blink telling it, Echo’s frown only deepened. It was obvious that the mare didn’t believe her, but so what? It wasn’t like she was going to actually rat out her informants or anypony else’s. She wasn’t going to get any of her own thrown in jail, and she liked to think she stood by the honor amongst thieves, criminals, and shady ponies code pretty firmly. Though she was beaten and broken, though there was a mountain of evidence against her she wasn’t going say a thing; if not for her sake at least for the sakes of the others.

“I am an upstanding member of this city and the leader of one of the most powerful clan’s that the Empire has ever witnessed,” Higher continued, a small smile coming to her face as Echo growled. “In fact I’m more than a little offended that you’d think I’d ever do something as horrid as that!”

“Mr. Ares himself confirmed that he had been taken against his will.”

Higher, to the best of her ability, waved the comment off. “The poor dear must have hit his head when that night princess destroyed half of my warehouse. I’m sure you know what head injuries can do to a pony.”

Echo narrowed her eyes, obviously knowing that she was being led on for the sake of it and nothing else. “And why was Mr. Ares in your warehouse with the other clan members?”

“He was going to do something sweet for the princess and he asked all of us to help him—“

Growling, Echo stomped a hoof against the ground, her fangs bared. “I am in no mood to listen to any more of your horseapples, lady,” she snarled. “I know that you have ponies in this castle, the citizens of the empire know that you have ponies in this castle, sweet Celestia’s teats, Princess Cadence knows that you have ponies in this castle!”’

Higher frowned as the captain hopped up into the bed and pressed her nose against hers, the bat mare’s eyes burning with rage. “These ponies are dangerous because their loyalties do not belong with the empire; they belong with you and the bits in your bucking bank. If I can’t trust the mares and stallions of this guard to serve and protect the ponies that they’ve sworn to serve and protect then they may as well not be a bucking guard.”

Higher grunted as Echo poked her in the stomach just a little too hard. “So you’re going to write the names down of the ponies that work for you so I can kick out the cronies and put in ponies that actually will do their jobs when they need to!”

Higher looked up at her and simply shook her head. She had already found herself growing bored with this… foreigner. She could tell that the mare wasn’t going to let up in her insistent questioning, so Higher decided to stop all of the niceties and smiles and just get right to the point. Hopefully she could get some sleep before the nurses came in and fed her after the captain found her way to the door.

“Do what you will to me,” she said. “I will not say anything other than what I’ve said to you already.”

The two stared at each other, Echo with a harsh glare and Higher with a steadfast one, before the bat mare snorted and hopped off the bed.

“I hope that you know that there’s a good chance that you’ll be getting acquainted with a jail cell after you recover, right?”

Higher shrugged. “I am ever the empire’s humble servant,” she said. “If the princess wishes to throw me in irons for what I did, be it truth or fabrication, then I will go without a fuss.”

Echo grinned in a way that the clan leader didn’t like. “Oh, so now you’re the empire’s servant?” she asked, amused.

Higher ignored the tone, nodding again. “Everything that I have done has been for the empire’s benefit.”

Echo nodded again before turning away from her. “Alright then, if you’re a “servant of the empire” like you say then you’ll have no problem telling that to the princess's face.”

Higher’s emotionless mask cracked ever so slightly. “…And what do you mean by that, Captain?” she asked quietly, her hooves gripping the hem of her blanket just a little bit tighter.

“Princess Cadence is the leader of this empire,” Echo said, not bothering to look at her as she very slowly made her way toward the door. “She’s the mare that looks after and runs this empire that you just so happen to be a servant of. So if you’re not willing to talk to me about anything then I’m sure you can explain to her why bribing ponies to work for you is good for the empire as a whole.”

Humming a carefree tune, Echo walked over and threw open the door. “Just give me a few minutes and I’ll have her here in a jiffy.” The mare bat flashed Higher with a mocking smile. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Though she was still trying her best to remain emotionless, Higher found herself breathing heavily at the mere thought of once again being face-to-face with the princess. One wrong word, one misunderstood gesture, or just seeing her might set the princess off again, and then she’d have to face that cold and the rage that had been in the princess's eyes and…

Bringing a shaky hoof to her mouth, Higher awkwardly coughed. “N-Now there’s no need to bring the princess in here, Captain,” she said as Echo was halfway through the door. “I’m sure that we can be adults about this and make some kind of—“

The only warning that Higher got was a flap of the wings and a screech before the batmare was right back in her face hovering right above the bed, her teeth once again bared and her golden eyes smoldering.

“There will be no making of deals here, filly; there is no way you can beg or plead your bucking way out of this.” For a moment Echo appeared just a little bit bigger and her teeth looked just a little bit sharper to Higher. “Write. The. Bucking. Names. Down. NOW.”

It had been many, many years since somepony had spoken to her like this and Higher found that she didn’t particularly care for it. And like most things that she didn’t care for all it’d take to make the captain “go away” was a few letters and a few bags of bits. Nopony would even find the mare’s body if Higher talked to the right ponies…

So why was she shaking? Why was she finding it hard to keep eye contact with the mare?

Why was she reaching for the paper and quill?!

She tried to stop herself from grabbing that damned quill but every time she put her hoof down images of a demon-like princess snarling in her face filled her vision. Higher may have been willing to do anything for her family, even die if need be, but that… that…

Higher knew for a fact that there were many, many things worse than death. She had seen some of those things in Cadence’s eyes promising lifetimes of pain and suffering, and it was not a sight she ever wanted to see again in what little time she had on this earth.

May the gods forgive me…

~_~_~_~_~_~

There are few things as terrible and will-breaking than having to wake up after you’ve drank far too much. Your head hurts, your stomach does flips whenever you see food, the sun is the bane of your entire existence, as is sound, moving around, getting up early, getting up at all, work, not being able to call off of work, and bosses. Especially bosses.

For many suffering from the dreaded hangover the best cure was sleeping till about noon, stuffing your face with horrible and greasy food the second you open your eyes, and going right back to sleep until your headache stops and the sun’s no longer trying to burn holes through your eyes. For some though, like Ares, Shining, and Flash, they had to rise bright and early with their best foot/hoof forward and go to work.

Ares had to get to the flower shop and the two privates needed to get to patrolling. Even though the three were pale and green behind the gills with bags under their eyes, and even though every single sound that came out of their mouths was a variation of a groan, and even though they moved more like the living dead than the living, the three had gotten up and were dressed for work. Even though that was the last thing any of them wanted to do at the moment.

The three, having gotten as ready as they could, stood silently in the middle of a hallway in the castle, each wanting to die and to blow up the sun and everything that made noise, moved, or was bright and happy and cheerful, and then burn the remains to ashes. Tired and bloodshot eyes looked down the halls with a hopeless acceptance that came with knowing that you were fated to pain and torture in the near future, and you had no way of stopping it.

Today was going to be a long day. It was going to be an awful day no matter what they did. But they had to go out since they were men; manly men that had to go to their manly places of business or risk losing their jobs. Though, as before mentioned, not one of them felt like doing anything other than lying around and breathing.

Ares, ever the most cheerful of any group, was the first to speak. “Man, fuck this.” This was greeted by to grumbled of agreement and head nods before the three went back to quietly staring at nothing.

“And buck booze,” Flashed added, his head very nearly touching the floor. “If I ever see another bottle of… whatever the hay we drank last night, I swear I’m going to jump out of a window.”

This was also followed by grumbles of agreement and head nods. This muttering about how horrible everything was and nodding and grumbling would have continued forever if Shining hadn’t decided to stallion up.

“Alright,” he grumbled, looking up at Ares, who had somehow gotten a hold of a pair of sunglasses. “Flash and I need to be back at the barracks in the next ten minutes for the start of our shifts.”

Flash groaned and his stomach growled in defiance at the thought of his moving. “Sweet Faust, please, kill me,” he whimpered, trying to shield his eyes from the sun with his helmet.

Ares nodded, looking down the hallway. “Yeah, I gotta get to work soon too. Luna wanted my ass out of the castle for... some reason.” He snorted, instantly regretting it a second later when pain raced up and through his noggin. “She said that I needed to stop coddling her so much!”

If Ares didn’t look happy before, now he actually looked upset. “Me! Coddling! All I wanted to know was if my girlfriend was okay since I saw her fucking crying in my lap this morning and Luna thinks I’m coddling. ” With a sneer he crossed his arms. “I didn’t get two words in before I got tossed out!”

Shining’s mouth twitched. “Well, you barely leave the mare alone,” he said.

Ares frowned. “Every time I leave her alone some shit happens,” he retorted.

“Shit that usually centers around you,” Shining countered. Ares opened his mouth but immediately closed it, making Shining’s smile widen.

“…Maybe I do need to give Candy a couple of days to herself,” Ares muttered, almost to himself. “I’ll go to work, mess around with some flowers, and try not to die, then I’ll do… something… else.”

The only sound that could be heard in the hall was the sound of Flash whimpering as Shining and Ares stood next to each other, neither looking anywhere other than ahead.

“Well… there’s this fishing hole north of the castle,” Shining finally said. “After my shift is over maybe the three of us could go up and see if anything’s biting?”

Ares turned his head to regard the unicorn before smiling for the first time that day. Something fishy might have been going on with Moona and Candy Cane, but at least he and Shining had made up to the best of their ability. Even though he was more than a little worried about his marefriend (as any half decent boyfriend would in a situation like this), his head was hurting too much for him to think properly about it.

If push came to shove he could just demand to see Cadence and see what the hell was going on, but for now he’d just let Luna do… whatever she was doing with Cadence, and he’d go out and do something with the guys. Lord knows he needed some time just messing around with some guy friends.

. “You know what? Sure.” He said, reaching over and patting Shining on the head. “I’d be happy to go finishing with you… Snuggle Armor.”

Shining growled, his eyes widening. “Shut your bucking mouth,” he demanded, though there was a bit of a blush on his cheeks. “The three of us were drunk. Drunk!”

Ares’s smile only grew. “Well, drunk or not, you snuggled your way into my heart, you big white teddy bear you!”

Shining groaned quietly. “If I wasn’t so hungover right now I’d beat your flank up and down this hallway.”

Ares snorted in amusement before walking down the hall. “More like cuddle me down this hall, you horse hug hero; you pony power plushie, you stallion snuggle soldier, you—“

BANG!

The smile was wiped off of Ares’s face as Shining let off a firecracker spell right next to him. Gritting his teeth and slamming his hands to his ears, the human fell to his knees.

“Motherfucker! Don’t do that shit! My head already hurts like a moth—“

BANG!

“Oh lawd Gawd motherfucking shit!”

Shining couldn’t help but smirk as Ares fell to the ground with a pained squeak, grabbing Flash by his armor and dragging him down another hall. Ares rolled around on the ground, still throwing a barrage of colorful curses his way.

“And now that bucking Snuggle Armor stuff is no more,” he muttered. “And I swear to the gods if you tell anypony what happened last night, Flash, I’m going to chuck you out a window.” Taking a deep breath, Shining adjusted his helmet. “I’m not going to deal with that horseapples in the barracks. I might not have the best one but I do have a reputation to uphold.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_

Though Twilight had to admit that she didn’t know that much about trains, she was always fascinated about them. The way that their engines used the coal to push the locomotive along the track, the way that the train was shaped to have as little wind resistance as possible, the way that is utilized springs and shocks to keep everypony riding it from feeling every bump and rock in the road; is all tickled the young mare to no end.

She had always meant to read a book on the subject, but she never really found the time. She was a pretty busy mare after all, and she had more than enough to do or read on a day-to-day basis to keep her busy for a long. It, in her mind, was a shame really, but what could you do? Such was her life. Or so she thought, until today.

“Everypon--umph! Please stay calm and hold on!”

Today, because of reasons that she had not yet been told, Twilight and her friends had been almost dragged from their homes, flown up to Canterlot, and put onto a train with Princess Celestia, the elements, and about two hundred guards. A train that moving far faster than it was supposed to be made for.

“Sweet horse apples am I gonna be sick!”

Since she had never properly studied things like trains or engines, Twilight had no idea what effect magic had on an engine, but now that she was witnessing them first hoof, she had to say that it was rather impressive. The train had to be going at least a hundred and twenty miles an hour if not more!

Sure, it was pretty bucking terrifing, and everypony had to hold onto the back of their seats like their lives depended on it, but it was interesting!

“Whoo! Faster, faster!”

How was the princess moving the train this quickly while keeping it mostly on the rails? How much magic did it take to move this fast? Did some of the guard need to use their magic to shield the front of the train to keep it from being too damaged?

Twilight yelped as she was tossed into the air by a rather violent bump. She would have hit the ceiling if not for one of the many guards sitting near her grabbing her with his magic.

“Watch yourself, ma’am! The ride’s a bit bumpy!”

Doing her best to ignore the horrible attempt at humor, though she couldn’t help but roll her eyes, the mare said, “Why the hay is the princess acting like this? Is something wrong?” While she was sure that something was wrong (you didn’t need to be a genius to figure that out), Twilight figured she’d ask, since she wanted to keep her mind off the fact that one bad turn could flip this train and send them all careening .

The guard, who had tied himself down with magic, shrugged. “We didn’t get that much info, ma’am,” he yelled over the the pained sounds of the train. “All I know is we’re going to the Crystal Empire, and we’ll be briefed about what the buck is going on when we get there.”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile, looking toward all of her friends, who were taking their little train with emotions ranging from laughing and cheering like it was a roller coaster to screaming in fear and incoherent babbling.

“Did you hear that guard?” the young unicorn said. “We’re going to the Crystal Empire!”

Another bump rocketed the back end of the train upward, sending half of the guard and all of her friends out of their chairs and into the air. Before a single one of them could scream or shout, Twilight grabbed them and tied them to their seats with her magic.

Pinkie and Rainbow were laughing, Applejack looked like she was going to throw up again, Fluttershy almost looked like she was in a comatose state, and Rarity looked like she was ready to hop out of the train and take her chances with the wilderness. And not a single one of these mares heard, or cared about what she had just said, (though, to be fair, most of them expected to be dead in the next few minutes), though that didn’t stop Twilight from smiling.

“I can finally introduce you to Flash! Isn’t that great!”

The Chapter in Which Wrapping Paper is Used Inapproriately

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It was another busy day at Tulip’s flower shop. A new order of Forget-me-nots and Daisies had come in and it seemed like everypony and their mother had come in to snack on the apparently rare (at least in the empire) treats. Older ponies, fillies and colts, adult stallions and mares, and everything in between had all rushed in and swarmed the shop, swamping both Ares and Tulip from morning up until dinner time.

For some reason, though Ares now had a guess why after dealing with that aunt of her’s, Tulip’s shop was one of the only shops that got the flowers this early in the season, and out of those her shipment was the largest and had the best flowers, like it was every year apparently. This was the time of year when Tulip really struggled to deal with the massive influx of customers and was one of the main reasons why she had hired him in the first place. So, with a big ol’ smile on his face and his head aching from his hangover, Ares squared his shoulders and did his very best to earn his keep.

Playing and teasing the little ones, arguing with the adults over prices, patiently waiting for the old folks to pull out their bit bags and count their money while a dozen ponies waited in line and complained; Ares was forced to do it all. He had to be a salesman, a cashier, and florist for this little store until he was dead tired, sore, grumpy and grouchy, and had the mother of all headaches. And sweet baby Jesus riding a flaming Prius was he loving every minute of it.

He was back at work doing what he loved to do. He got paid to bother and scream and shove flowers into ponies faces and demand that they buy something and in turn the ponies bothered and poked and talked to and joked with and harassed him to the best of their little horse abilities. There was no magical bullshit waiting around the corner, and no one was (hopefully) trying to kidnap him again. He was just a guy that had drank a little too much the night before and was trying to make his little flower shop the best flower shop in the whole wide world.

He was in his comfort zone, where everything was familiar and safe and happy. All he had to do was worry about whether Tulip was going to have a heart attack from all of the ponies running around her store or if he needed to go to the back and get more flowers because they already sold everything in the front. Heck, he had even had to toss a shoplifter out of the store like he used to have to do back when he was working in his uncle’s shop! And that pony had tried cussing him out when he slammed the door in their face after calling them a putz!

Truly this was heaven on Ear—whatever this planet was called…

But all good things must come to an end and eventually (and in Tulip’s case thankfully) the influx of customers slowed down. That meant both Ares and Tulip had some time to clean up and restock and chat with each other while they waited for someone else to make their way into the store.

Though he tried, time and again, to tell Tulip that the love rose incident wasn’t her fault at all, the mare still thought it her duty to apologize for it whenever she wasn’t being bothered by some random pony that had wandered into the store. Tired after trying to ease the mare’s conscious for the fiftieth or sixtieth time, Ares had just nodded and smiled whenever the mare came over with her ears pinned against her head and her shoulders slumped. Hopefully she’d just get it out of her system sooner rather than later.

“Ares, could you be a dear and go get a bag of soil from the back please? I’m a little busy at the moment.”

Ares looked away from the orchid that he was delicately trimming and over to his boss, who was juggling three customers at once. “Oi!” he shouted, a frown coming to his face. “Let the lady deal with you one at a time you pricks! You’re not gonna get your shit any faster if you all gang up on her!”

The customers in question flinched, looking at each other before grinning sheepishly and stepping away from poor, haggard Tulip, who smiled at him thankfully. “Thank you, Ares.”

“Just doing my job, boss lady,” he said, cutting the last bad leaf off the orchid that he had been working on. “Just give me a minute and I’ll get that soil.”

“If you could get that black hazel base batch I’d really appreciate it.”

“Can do.”

Putting down his sheers, Ares turned and made his way toward the back of the store where they kept all of their supplies just as the door was thrown open.

“Oh, hello!” Tulip greeted with that cheery tone she had whenever someone came into her store. “Come on in and have a look around! If you need anything just call!”

I have no idea how she manages to sound that happy when she’s been acting like it since this fucking morning, Ares thought with a shake of his head. I’ve been YELLING at these little horses and THAT’S been exhausting….

A gasp came from behind him, a little too loud and cheery for how tired he was at the moment, though he didn’t bother to turn around. The gasper must have gotten a look at him for the first time or something. He had to deal with the questions and the poking and even a shriek or two today so he was pretty numb to it all right now. He was sure the second that he walked out of the back with the bag of fancy soil that the pony would rush up to him and start asking questions or poke at him or even hop up and cling to his stomach, something that had happened twice today.

But that would have to wait. Right now he had work to do.

“Now where did Tulip put those bags of soil?” Ares muttered, looking the spacious storage room up and down. “Probably with all of the other different bags of soil in the corner… along with all of the different bags of soil.”

Not really paying attention to anything, he slowly made his way over to where all of the fertilizer and plants foods were.

“Why do we even need seven different kinds of soil? Can’t flowers just stop being so goddamned picky and just use the one?” Stifling a yawn, Ares reached the stacks of soil and picked up the one that Tulip had asked for and slung it over his shoulder.

“You’d think that magic plants would be a little heartier than—“

“HI!”

With a surprised yelp, Ares launched himself into the air (somehow managing to resist the urge to toss the bag of soil as hard as he could) as a voice, high pitched and bubbly and just a bit too loud, cut through the storage room’s silence, nearly giving him a heart attack in the process.

“Sonuvabitch!“ The startled human cried, quickly landing on his feet and scanning around the room. “Who’s yelling back here when I’m trying to get some fucking—“

“It was me silly! Over here!”

Heart still thumping in his chest, Ares turned back to look at the bags of soil. Somehow, someway, in this quiet ass room, a mare had managed to get behind him and was now sitting on top of a stack of soil with an unsettling smile on her face.

Ares found himself taking a step away as he looked at the mare. Though she looked like any normal pony (ie. As cute as a button) there was something… different about this one. First of all she was pink; and not Cadence’s shade of pink or any other crystal pony that he had seen. This mare was aggressively pink. Her fur was pink, her giant, curly, poofed up mane was pink, as was her equally poofy tail. And big, blue eyes had… something in them that he didn’t like.

The little furry creature before him might have been adorable, and he might have had the sudden urge to walk over, drop his bag of flour, and hug her until she squeaked but Ares was a hardened and learned man now. He had learned the hard way that a pony wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. He knew beneath those little hoofsies and those furry marshmallow-like bodies a pony could have the mind of a killer or a mastermind with a nefarious plan. He had already gotten his ass knocked out and taken to some remote undisclosed location once; there was no way hell was he was trying to go through that a second time.

“…Can I help you, ninja horse?” he asked, warily eyeing the little pink horse, who looked like the picture of innocence and naivety, before him.

The mare’s eyes scanned him thoroughly. “I’ve never seen something like you before!” she said excitedly. “And I was with my friend Rainbow and the two of us wanted to get something to eat and we saw this store and we came in and saw you so I wanted to say high because I’ve never seen anything like you before like I just said and I’ve seen a lot of things since I like to meet a lot of different ponies and gryphons and minotaurs and diamond dogs so hello!”

Ares felt his eye twitch as the mare puffed her little chest out and wagged her little tail. The little pink pony looked like she was about to start bouncing off the walls with… glee. She seemed too happy, too giddy, too energetic; especially now being as tired as he was.

I just had thirty minutes until my shift was supposed to be over, Ares lamented to himself, walking over to the mare with a sigh. Now I got some kind of junkie, murder, crazy horse on my hands…

The mare wiggled in her makeshift seat as he drew closer. “Ohhh! Look how tall you are! I don’t think I’ve ever seen somepony as tall as you and I’ve seen lots and lots of ponies and—“

Not breaking eye contact with the bubbly mare, Ares reached down and clamped her mouth shut. Though it was a little rude and it might get him in a bit of trouble with his boss he couldn’t find himself caring. He had a job to get back to and he didn’t want to keep listening to a pony who apparently didn’t need to breath.

“Ma’am, you know that this is an employee only area, right? There’s a sign on the door and everything that says as such.”

The mare blinked as he removed his hand. “…Oh.” She grinned at him sheepishly before hopping to the ground. “I’m sorry... I just wanted to say hello but then you left before I could and I got really, really, really excited that I was going to meet somepony new and I got a little bit carried away.”

Ares looked down at the mare before sighing. It looked like it was just a little horse that wanted to say hello and not someone that was trying to kidnap him or beat him up or stuff him in a sack.

“Hey… it’s alright,” he said, waving her off. “You’d be surprised how many ponies just run up to me and start asking a billion questions.”

He nudged his head toward the door that led into the store, and the mare, seeing him motioning toward it, got the idea and started trotting toward it with him right behind her.

“And it’s very nice to meet you Ms…”

The mare looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “I’m Pinkie Pie, Mister!” She did a little hop. “And it’s very nice to meet you too!”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Scribble Scribble Scribble

“Thou should lessen the tax rate for businesses by seven percent, dear niece. Though thou will receive less revenue in the short run thy people will benefit from it.”

I looked up from the document that I had been looking over for some time and at Luna, who had been silently reading the new tax code revisions over my shoulder. “If I lower it too much then I’ll have to raise the property taxes,” I said with a shake of my head. “And if I raise that any higher ponies are going to come down here and complain.”

I felt Luna’s wing tighten around me as my aunt let out a thoughtful hum. “In our experience the less that a business has to pay the crown the more they give it to the people in the form of higher wages and lower prices and a better market as a whole, but We can see thy argument, Cadence.” Luna’s face scrunched up in thought while I looked back down at the document.

You know, considering that Luna had been sealed away for a thousand years I would have thought that her way of thinking would be medieval and behind the times. And sure, her speaking was (though from what I gathered she was getting better at it) but the mare that I was snuggled up against on my bed was apparently somepony that had taken a great interest in economics upon her return. Within months of her return Luna had pushed for dozens and dozens of laws, ranging from how a business needed to operate and conduct itself to when and how a group of ponies could strike, to be changed, reviewed, and passed.

Where in the heck my aunt had learned about marketing and big business and all of that stuff so quickly and so thoroughly baffled me, and even now I still kind of had a hard time believing that she was so adept at it, but it made her one of the better ponies I’ve had advising me for things like this.

Even though I had a pretty horrible day yesterday didn’t mean that I still didn’t have my duties as a princess that needed fulfilling. Paperwork had to be done, I had to read and send letters, and I needed to be up and about and looking like I was doing something to keep the castle staff from freaking out any more than they had been. So, even though I had wanted to just lay in bed with Ares for the next week I had gotten up, put on my crown (though it looked like it was ready to fall off at any moment), and trotted into my office to take names and sign documents. Though thankfully I didn’t have to be alone since Luna was expecting me to turn into an evil demon of darkness at any moment (not that I could blame her after what she had told me) and didn’t want me out of her sight.

So here the two of us were, side-to-side leaning over a slightly too small desk looking at some of the most boring and flavorless writing that ponykind had to offer.

“I… could just cut some of the funding for that exploration of those caves that are a few hours out in the tundra,” I murmured, scratching my head with my quill. “Important exploration or not I don’t think that they need eighty thousand bits a month to keep everything going and if we take some money out of that we should help settle everything out.”

Luna nodded, a small smile coming to her face. “A sound course of action We think,” she said approvingly. “From what our sister has told us those that ask the crown for money usually ask for far too much. Fifty or forty thousand bits a month sounds far more reasonable to me. And if they truly need the money we are sure that there are private investors that would be more than happy to help with their funding.”

Nodding myself I dipped the quill into the ink pot to my left and started to make corrections to document before me while my aunt took the time to look me over.

“Are thou sure that thou are alright, niece of mine? The two of us have finished many of these—“

“I’m alright, auntie,” I interrupted, not looking up from the paper. “If we keep going then we can get these done before Ares gets back from work. All of this,” I motioned to the stacks of papers on my desk, “has been here way too long because of everything that’s been happening around here.”

A small frown worked its way to my face as I continued to write. “And if auntie Celestia is coming up here soon then I’m sure that there’s going to be a heck of a lot more that’s going to pull me away from my job, so I want to get as much of this written up and sent as I can before then.”

I could feel Luna’s eyes on the back of my head as her wing pulled me closer against her. “Thou know that We are only doing this because we do not want the darkness that twisted us to turn thee into a monster,” she said quietly.

I couldn’t help but flinch at the hurt in her tone, wrenching my gaze away from the document to look at her. “I didn’t mean it like that!” I cried. “I’m really grateful that you’re making sure that I won’t hurt anypony and you’re doing your best to help me but I really do need to get these done and—urgh!”

I groaned, slamming my head against my desk in frustration. “I’m sorry, aunt Luna… I just want to get all of this bucking work done…”

Luna chuckled, pulling her wing away from me. “We understand, Cadence,” she said, patting my back. “Now why don’t the two of us leave this paperwork for a while and go and get something to eat. We have been hard at work since before my sister’s sun rose and neither of us have left this room in many, many hours.”

… I was getting a little hungry, and I could use a bit of a break…

“Alright,” I said with a small smile and a nod, rising out of my chair and stretching my legs. “The two of us can go and get something to eat and then we’ll—“

WHOOSH!

Both Luna and I watched as a little scroll appeared in a flash of green flame above our heads and hit my desk. Quicker than thought Luna snatched up the scroll, broke the seal, and began reading.

“Who is it, Luna?” I asked after she set it down with a small frown on her face. Not that you had to be a genius to figure out who’d be able to teleport a scroll over long distances and in a castle where there was a ton of magical protection against things like that but I figured I’d still ask.

“It… appears that our sister did not take the news We sent her very well.” She looked up at me. “We don’t know how our sister did it but it appears that she has arrived and is making her way into the city even as we speak with a host of guards.”

I slowly blinked at the relayed news. “… Oh… Well that’s… something…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_

“Three bits.”

“Ten.”

“Four.”

“Eight.”

After his… interesting introduction of Ms. Pinkie Pie (a name that sounded familiar but he couldn’t pin down where the hell he had heard it from) Ares had showed the preppy pink pudgy pony around the shop, doing his best to explain what each and every flower was, what was “in season” right now, and what tasted best with what. There was another odd pony in the store, a blue Pegasus with the worst dye job that he had ever seen and a scowl that could peel paint from a battleship, but since she was just standing there muttering nonsense to herself, and Pinkie said that she was with her, he just left her alone and did his job. As long as she didn’t touch anything that she shouldn’t be touching and didn’t break or steal anything she was fine by him.

After Ms. Pie had picked out all of the flowers that she wanted (Ares had heard her say something along the lines of her sharing these with her friends or something) Ares had walked over to the counter, gotten behind it, and began the long and sometimes frustrating process of naming the price for the bouquet.

Though the store usually had set prices for everything Ms. Pie’s bouquet was so large (there must have been about a hundred flowers in the thing) and had so many different flowers that Ares (after asking his boss of course) decided to flex that silver tongue of his and see if he could get this odd little horse a fair asking price for all of these flowers. He figured that the two of them would haggle for a little bit, they’d come to an agreement, and she and her friend could go on their merry way and see the Empire’s sights or do whatever the heck they were doing here. That was fifteen minutes ago.

Ares found himself sighing as the pink mare looked up at him with that big creepy smile of hers. “Look, Ms. Pie—“

Pinkie giggled, her tail swishing back and forth. “Just call my Pinkie, silly! All of my friends do!”

“--… Look, Pinkie I’m not going to sell you all of these for three bits for a dozen. “The human crossed him arms and leaned over the too small table. “Eight bits a dozen is perfectly—“

“Four bits!”

I’m either talking to the greatest haggler in the whole fucking world or this little horse is taking the piss, Ares thought with a frown. He looked over at his boss to see if he could get any support from all but Tulip looked like she was having a hard time not laughing at his predicament.

Frowning deepening he looked back at the pink pest before him. “Seven bits.”

Pinkie’s smile didn’t waver. “Three!”

“Six.”

“Three!”

“Eight!”

“Fifteen!”

“Eight!”

“TWO!”

“SIX!”

“THREE!”

“SEVEN!”

“EIGHTY-THREE!”

The human flinched as if struck. “WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GOING SO HIGH—“

Growling, Ares hopped over the counter and stood over a still smiling Pinkie. He was tired of this; he was tired and his shift had ended five minutes ago. He just wanted this mare to get her shit and LEAVE the store so he and Tulip could close down everything. Though he was considering just picking her up and tossing her out he was raised better than that. Before he tossed her out he needed her to buy something or all of this irritation and hair-pulling would be all for nothing. He was going to sell her all of these goddamned flowers! Then he could toss her out the door.

“I’LL FUCKING GO DOWN TO FIVE! FIVE! AND I’M NOT GONNA GO DOWN ANOTHER FUCKING BIT!” Pinkie tried to open her mouth but he snapped it shut what his hand. “AND IF YOU DON’T LIKE THAT YOU CAN PUT ALL OF THESE BACK AND GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!”

The room was so tense that you could cut it with a knife. The blue Pegasus was rolling her eyes at her friend’s antics, Tulip was quietly giggling to herself as she swept the floor, Ares was nose-to-nose with a mare that he was about to turn into glue, and Pinkie was looking up at Ares with that impenetrable smile of hers. You could almost see the lightning as the two stared into each other’s eyes, both prodding for weaknesses to exploit.

Neither looked like they were going to back down; Ares wanted her to pay and Pinkie wanted… whatever the heck she wanted.

Finally, the blue Pegasus intervened. “Can you just give the Diamond Dog thing his bits, Pinkie?” she said in irritation. “The others are probably wondering where we are!”

Both Pinkie and Ares looked over at the grumpy Pegasus, Ares frowning and Pinkie looking a bit disappointed.

“Aw, come on Dashie! I was just about to talk him down to three bits a dozen!”

Ares crossed his arms. “The hell you were.”

Rolling her eyes Rainbow trotted over to the counter and whipped out a bag of bits. “How much is this gonna be?”

Ares looked down at the bouquet. “There’s like three dozen there so… twenty-four bits.”

Frowning, Rainbow nudged her friend with a wing. “If I pay for half of this will you let us get back to what we were supposed to be doing in the first place?”

With a quiet giggle Pinkie pulled out a bag of bits from her mane. “I don’t remember you being such a grumpy gills when I said something about getting some grub.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t think we were going to be in here messing around for an hour,” Rainbow countered, tossing her bits onto the counter and grabbing the bouquet of flowers. “Now come on, we have to go and find the others. I’m sure that they’ve got that hoo-mon that Twi told us about.”

Ares looked at the two odd mares for a long moment. “…Did you guys say that you’re looking for a human?” he asked.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tulip looking at him in concern. The two of them shared a look before the little mare started to slowly make her way over toward the corner of the store where she kept a shovel.

With another giggle, Pinkie threw her bits on the counter, neither her nor Rainbow noticing the sudden tension in the room.” Yeppers! We’re supposed to find somepony named “Ares” and take him to the castle with us.”

I knew that there was something funny about these two! Ares thought with a frown. Well they’re not fucking taking me without a fight!

“Pinkie!” Rainbow snapped, looking at her friend disapprovingly. “We aren’t supposed to tell anypony about that!”

Pinkie’s smile turned sheepish. “Oopsie,” she said, covering her mouth with a hoof. “I forgot that we’re on a super-secret spy mission!”

Ares reached under the counter and grabbed the bully club hidden there as both Pinkie and Rainbow looked over at him.

“You won’t say anything, will you Mister?” Pinkie looked thoughtful for a second before gasping.” OH! Maybe he can help tell us where the hoo-mon is!”

Hopping onto the counter Pinkie, pressed her muzzle up against Ares’s nose, a smile on her face. “Will you help us out mister?”

Complete disregard for his personal space aside, Ares found himself growling quietly. He didn’t know who these two ponies were or what the hell they wanted him for or why the hell they were going up to the castle, but he wasn’t going to deal with this nonsense any longer! He wasn’t going to have these two and their little “group” running around this city causing mayhem! He was going to make himself useful and put a stop to it before it began!

“Oh I’ll help you alright,” he growled. “I’ll fucking help you real good…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

After Luna had told me about what the hay was going on I knew that time was of the essence. I had to make sure that nopony would panic (especially my guards) when they saw about two hundred Solar guards ponies and my aunt running around armed to the teeth. Thankfully all it took was a few orders, suggestions, and misinformation to help make what was probably going to be an awkward and tense situation a heck of a lot easier. All the castle staff knew at the moment (which would then bleed down to the Empire’s citizens) was that my auntie Celestia was coming to the castle to visit and she had just so happened to bring a whole bunch of heavily armed ponies with her for… reasons.

Sure, not everypony was going to believe it, but it was the best that I could come up with on such short notice. And, as weak as it was, I was sure that it’d be more than enough to keep anypony from panicking. Hopefully.

With that done both Luna and I were waiting for Celestia at the entrance of the castle. Luna had told me that her sister was probably not in the best state of mind so if I just went ahead and made myself as nonthreatening as possible from the get-go then this all would go as smoothly and painlessly as possible.

“Do you think I should have sent somepony to Ares’s job to tell him what’s happening?” I asked Luna, who was staring down the street in bemusement. “He might get a little confused when he sees all of the Solar Guards running around the castle.”

“We will go down and explain it to him ourselves,” Luna said with a wave of the hoof. “I wager if you sent anypony else, young Ares might panic and rush to the castle to do something foolhardy.” Luna snorted. “Knowing him We are sure he’d try to hit somepony with a broom and scream obscenities at them until the guard were forced to restrain him.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the sudden mental image of Ares running to castle with a broom looking like he was about to beat somepony over the head with it. “Yeah… He would do something like that,” I mused with a giggle.

I was about to say more when Luna pointed a hoof forward. “Look! It appears that my sister is finally here.”

I had to strain my eyes (it was a pretty long street) but there my aunt was, all decked out in golden battle armor and surrounded by Twilight and her friends, all of whom were wearing their elements.

“It appears that my sister isn’t marching on the city in full force,” Luna said as I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward a bit. I swear that my aunt was carrying something in her magic but I just couldn’t make out what it was. “That is good, now we won’t have worried ponies on our hooves.”

“Yeah…” I muttered, still trying to figure out what the hay Celestia was carrying. “Luna? Can you see what your sister’s carrying next to he—“

POP!

“Cadence!”

There was a flash of magic and suddenly I was pulled against an armored chest. “Ergh!”

I couldn’t help but struggle as my auntie Celestia pulled me into a hug and did her very best to squeeze the life out of me. “Oh thank the maker that you’re safe!” My wings flapped and my hooves kicked as she lifted my bodily into the air and swung me back and forth. “Don’t you worry, sweet heart! You’re going to be okay! You’re going to be okay! I dropped everything I was doing when I hear that you--”

“Luna… erk….help!” I said, managing to pull my face free of my aunt’s chest. “She’s… killing…. meeee!”

Shaking her head as my aunt Celestia continued to talk whilst ignoring of death throws, Luna pulled me free with her magic. “Sister, we understand that thou are… concerned but please try to keep yourself composed.”

I took in a big gulp of air as Luna put me down next to a giggling Twilight and her friends.

“Yeah… yeah it’s the funniest thing in the whole world,” I muttered, looking at Twilight with a smile. “You wouldn’t be laughing if she did that to you.”

Twilight, still chuckling, walked over and gave me a nuzzle. “It’s nice to see you again, Cadence,” she said, looking me up and down with a bit of worry before looking over to Celestia, who looked to be whispering something into Luna’s ear.

Standing back to my full height I grimaced as my spine popped. Sweet Faust I think she bruised some rib—

“Cadence, Cadence! Over here!”

My head snapped around, looking for the voice. “Ares? Honey? Is that you?”

“Over here dammit! I’m on top of the orange horse with the hat!”

I turned to one of Twilight’s friends (Applejack if I remember her name correctly) and saw that she was carrying something on her back. It took a second or two but I realized that that thing on her back was my Ares, looking irritated and disheveled and rather put out, and all wrapped up in… wrapping paper?

“Ares? What the holy horse apples happened to you?” I asked impulsively, looking over Twilight’s other friends and realizing that two of them (Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash) looked as beat up and bruised as he did.

“I might have overreacted and caused a bit of a scene downtown,” Ares said with an irritated but defeated sounding growl. “A scene where I once again got my ass kicked by a bunch of tiny horses.”

Though he was all wrapped up in pink wrapping paper with puppies printed on it and with a yellow bow on his head I could tell that my human was doing his very best to look dignified.

“You know, Candy, I think I need to start taking self-defense classes or something. A six foot tall man should not get wrecked by three foot tall ponies on a regular basis. I’m getting sick of it and I’m tired of fighting like some little bitch.”

Still frowning, Ares looked down at himself before looking back up at me. Before I could open my mouth to say… something he started thrashing around violently “AND CAN YOU GET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING WRAPPING PAPER?! I’M NOT A FUCKING GIFT GOD DAMMIT!”

Tickles Galore

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It had been a short but heartfelt walk to the castle for Princess Celestia and her little group. Words were exchanged, hugs and nuzzles were had all around, and the Princess of the Sun had made it a point to have a wing draped over her younger niece for the entirety of it. And though Cadence hadn’t said it Celestia and her little group could tell that she appreciated their kind words and hugs after the horrible, horrible few days that she had had.

The Crystal guard, having already been informed of Celestia’s coming by Princess Luna long before they had even stepped off their train, had let everyone in without a fuss, though Ares (who staunchly refused to speak to anyone without cursing them out) was given a few odd looks and a chuckle or two. But the merriment was short-lived as Celestia told everyone but her, Cadence, and Luna to wait in what was going to be one of their guest rooms before whisking Cadence away so she could be properly looked over. And with all three alicorns gone that left Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie in a rather awkward situation with one Ares the human, who looked about ready to pop a blood vessel.

“…Ares?” Twilight said as the human rolled around on the ground, muttering curses to himself and struggling against his wrapping paper confines for all that he was worth. “Do you want me to help you out of all that?” The bookworm was about to make her way over to the poor man when Rainbow stepped in front of him.

“What the hay are you talking about, Twi?” Rainbow asked, looking at her friend in confusion before giving Ares the stink-eye. “We can’t let him go now! We gotta wait until one of the princesses comes back here and makes sure that he’s not evil or whatever!”

Ares stopped to look up at the Rainbow-maned Pegasus. “Hey, fuck you too Rainbong Splash!” Growling he started rolling around again. “I was the one that thought it’d be a good idea to jump someone and their boss for no good fucking reason!!”

Rainbow gasped. “HEY! My name is Rainbow Dash you weird diamond dog thing and we weren’t the ones that—“

Snorting, Applejack took a step forward, silencing her friend with a stern look, and walked over to Ares.

“Now partner,” she said, stopping his rolling by gently but firmly placing a hoof on his back. “I’ah know yer ornerier ‘as a fox locked out of a hen house, but we’re gonna need ya ta calm down.”

The farm pony looked down at Ares with her most disarming smile. “The Princess is just tryin’ ta do what’s best fer Cadence an’—“

Ares stopped his struggling and growling to look up at Applejack as best as he could from his position on the floor, and, looking her over for a moment or two, he said, “You will rue this day, you silly little horse.”

Applejack stopped mid-sentence, her mouth agape, and just looked at him while the other girls just looked at each other uncomfortably. “I’ah… I’ah beg yer pardon?”

Ares’ eyes narrowed. “I said that you’re about to get the rueing of a lifetime you country-sounding, hat wearing, freckle-faced little horse,” he said, all emotion leaving his voice. “I’m going to rue your socks off, and that cowboy hat of yours…. You know what? I’m going to rue all of you while I’m at it. I’ll rue you all good and hard.”

Now frowning, Ares rolled onto his back and just stared up at the ceiling while Applejack very slowly lifted her hoof off of him and stepped away. “Oh… Alright then partner… Twi?”

With a look of concern Twilight took a step forward. “…Ares? Are you alright there?”

Ares didn’t answer Twilight for a long while, simply staring up at the ceiling as if deep in thought. But when the young man did open his mouth to speak, every single mare in the room leaned forward to hear what he had to say.

“Well, Twilight, I’m hung over and the headache that had started going away a little while ago is now back because I got jumped by two random horses that beat my ass--”

“And we beat your flank too!” Rainbow added smugly, getting an elbow to the ribs by Applejack as Ares continued.

“I got tied up by said two horses in Christmas wrapping paper that seems indestructible for some inconceivable reason and carried outside and thrown onto the ground like I was a sack of fucking flour—“

“You were heavier than you looked and me and Dashie really didn’t mean to drop you mister,” Pinkie Pie said with an apologetic smile.

“Where Celestia then hops on my poor beaten up body talking so fast that I couldn’t fucking understand her, and then you pick me up, ignoring whatever the hell I had to say, and carry my ass back to the castle. And, the second that Cadence sees me, you grab my girlfriend and drag her away to god knows where while I once again get carried off to some random part of the castle.”

Ares rolled onto his side so he could look at Twilight. “Of course I’M NOT FUCKING ALRIGHT! NOW GET ME OUT OF THIS SO I—FUCK! I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I’M GOING TO DO WHEN—“

Rarity slowly walked forward until she was side by side with Twilight, the two of them watching Ares, practically foaming at the mouth, once again started rolling around on the ground trying his hardest to break free of his admittedly silly confines while he cursed and swore and shouted..

“Well dear… you weren’t wrong in saying that Mr. Ares was a... character….”

“One of you little marshmallow horses just get a little closer, I fucking dare ya! I’m gonna boop you so hard not even your mother's will recognize ya!”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile as she looked over at her friend. “It takes a bit to get used to him,” she admitted, while Pinkie hopped around Ares giggling to herself as he tried to bite her. “But Ares will grow on you. I promise.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“Cadence could you please lift your left wing for me?”

I did as my Aunt Celestia asked, doing my very best to ignore both of my aunts poking—both by physical and magical means—and prodding. I couldn’t stop them since auntie Celestia had put a magic dampener on me the second that she laid eyes on me, and looking at fear and terror in her eyes, coupled with her shaky and extremely nervous tone and the way that she was carrying herself, I knew moving any other way than what she wanted me to wouldn’t do me any favors. So all I was able to do was try to ignore them while silently wondering why the hay was Ares all wrapped in Heart’s Warming wrapping paper.

Probably not the best question to ask at that moment but I really needed to keep my mind occupied so I just didn’t explode from embarrassment.

I twitched as a numbing sensation passed through my body. “Epp!”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw my auntie Celestia looking at me with a small smile. “I’m sorry, Cadence honey,” she apologized. “I should have warned you first.”

I opened my mouth to say something but another squeak escaped my mouth when Luna gave my flank what suspiciously felt like a squeeze.

“We already told thee that We had Cadence checked out the other day, dear sister,” she said, ignoring my glare as she moved my tush this way and that with her hooves. I don’t know why she was poking my bottom like that – I’m pretty sure the only evil there was the result of eating too many cookies late at night— but once again I managed to keep my mouth shut about it. Barely.

I felt Celestia’s wings brush against my sides before a hoof prodded my stomach.

“And I believe that I told you that dark magic has a way of hiding itself when somepony’s trying to look for it,” my aunt answered, leaning down and pressing her ear against my barrel. “And it’s not like checking a second time is going to hurt anything.”

I twitched once again and bit my lip when I felt somepony giving my thigh a pinch. “My dignity, that’s what it’s going to hurt…” I grumbled while flexing and unflexing my wings. “Heck, the only way you could make this any worse is if you start poking around under my tail…”

Which I was going to make sure that neither of the two were going to even try by the way. I might have understood the whole checking me for magic thing (kind of) but there was no way in Tartarus that I was going to let them do that. I might not have had that much shame left but even I knew when to draw the line!

I heard Auntie Celestia chuckle. “Oh, don’t be such a baby, Cadence,” she told me with a teasing poke to the shoulder. “I used to bathe you all of the time when you were little, so I’ve seen, and scrubbed, all of you already honey.”

I couldn’t help but blush, squirming in embarrassment as Luna chuckled behind me. Oh sweet gods above please let this be over soon, I begged.

“Worry not, Cadence, we will be finished with our inspection in a few minutes,” Luna assured. “And after we see that thou art free of any corruption thou will be free to go about the castle as thou wish.”

I shivered slightly when I felt Luna’s magic encase each of my feathers, the ticklish sensation almost making me want to flap them.

“And after we hath finished with thee we will go to Ares to see if he is clean as well.”

Celestia nodded, walking around so she was face-to-face with me. “But even if everything turns up clean I still have to insist that the elements and I stay here to watch over you,” she said with an apologetic look on her face as she leaned in and nuzzled me. “I still need to know what happened and what made you turned into that… thing…”

Though my aunt had done her best to keep her voice even, I couldn’t help but hear just a bit of fear in it. So, with one of my first genuine smiles of the day I leaned over and nuzzled her right back.

“You all can stay as long as you like,” I said as Celestia began gently touching my face with her magic for… some reason. “If what happened was nothing but nerves and some bad luck then at the very least I get to spend some time with you all.”

My aunt’s smile widened as she continued to look me over. “I’m sure everything’s just fine with you, honey,” she chirped, sounding a little calmer. “And your old aunt would love to hear how you’ve been these past few months since you’ve left.”

I tensed as another burst of magic passed through me before relaxing with a sigh. “Oh, nothing really out of the ordinary happened… well other than what Luna told you about.”

The smile slipped from my aunt’s face. “Yes… I heard about what happened to Ares.” She shook her head. “Why on earth would anypony try to take such a sweet stallion is beyond me...”

I had a few ideas why Higher and the others would take my Ares, but once again I decided to keep my mouth shut. I had Echo dealing with that little problem, and there was no need to get Celestia any more worried than she already was.

“And speaking of Ares, how has he been doing? I would have asked him but we were all in a hurry getting to you.” My aunt smiled again. “And I suspect that even if I would have asked him the poor dear wouldn’t have said anything from the sour look on his face.”

“Oh, he’s been doing fine,” I say with a quiet giggle, the image of an angry wrapped up Ares filling my head. “I’ve been making sure he’s adjusting to life in the empire and it looks like he’s happy here.” I shifted my weight from left to right, giving myself a shake to keep my body from going stiff. “Did Luna tell you that he managed to get a job at a flower shop?”

My aunt bit her lip. “Well… Two of Twilight’s friends might have found Ares and… incapacitated him, along with his boss in a small flower shop… So I suppose that makes sense…”

I groaned and closed my eyes. “They didn’t hurt anypony too bad did they?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, though I’m afraid that I may owe the owner of that flower shop a wagon full of bits because of all of the damage…”

I groaned again. Oh I hope that she didn’t get poor Ares fired, I thought, biting my lip.

If I had known that my aunt was going to do all of... this I would have said something to my little human before he left for work this morning. The two of us could have just stayed in bed while Luna watched us. Yeah, that would have been nice…

Seeing my face, Celestia patted my cheek with a wing. “Oh I’m sure that young mare will be completely understanding if I go down there and apologize myself. I don’t want poor Ares to lose his job over something so silly as a simple misunderstanding between him, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash.”

I sighed, once again closing my eyes. “And speaking of Ares, I think that he should know what really happened yesterday.” This time I barely twitched when Luna poke me, my ears flattening against the sides of my head as I thought about how that conversation was going to go.

I mean how was I going to tell my coltfriend that I had turned into a monster and nearly killed four ponies?!

You’ll just need to look him in the eye and tell him the truth, I thought. He’ll love you no matter what… no matter what…

With a final pop of magic, which sent a small jolt from the tip of my horn to the bottom of my hooves, my aunt took a step away from me.

“There doesn’t appear to be any corruption in you as far as I can tell, Cadence,” she said, sounding relieved.

My eyes snapped opened and I couldn’t help but smile. “Really? Oh thank goodness…”

I could almost feel Luna’s grin behind me. “We told thee sister mine,” she said, rubbing against my side as she walked over toward Celestia. I blushed and was about to say something when her starry tail tickled my nose.

“Aurgh!” I yelped, taking a few quick steps back.

Luna looked over her shoulder, flashing me an uncomfortably lewd smile and a wink before standing beside Celestia, who glared at her for a moment before shaking her head and muttering something under her breath.

“Alright, now that we’ve checked you out I believe that it would be best to look to Ares.”

Luna nodded while I walked over to the other side of my aunt. “Aye, though I fear that the results will be the same. I made sure to check Ares thoroughly whilst he and Cadence slept.”

My eyes widened. “Wait! You were poking at Ares while he was sleeping?!”

Luna shrugged. “We wouldn’t have been able to do it while he was awake and inebriated as he was. Ares would have needed to stay still during the examination and even as drunk as he was there may have been a chance that he would have become suspicious as to what We were doing to him and why we were doing it. And since We didn’t want to tell him what happened yesterday...”

I calmed down a bit at that. “…Oh, alright then.”

“And if it makes thee feel any better we also searched thee while thou were slumbering in his arms.”

“That… that does not make me feel any better, Luna.”

Rolling her eyes, Celestia nudged her sister. “Come on you two, no dilly-dallying.”

The walk through the castle was uneventful. My aunts and I chatted about nothing in particular while I did my best to stay away from Luna’s grabby hooves. I don’t know if she was just teasing me or if she was trying to seduce me so I would be okay with me, her, and Ares being together but I knew for a fact that it was weird. Don’t get me wrong, I was more than a little flattered (in the barest possible way mind you) but I had no desire to be groped and teased by one of my aunts while the other watched… Or at all for that matter.

“HA! IS THAT THE BEST YOU GOT!”

Me and my aunts froze as those words echoed through the halls.

“…Was that Ares?” Luna asked.

“YOUR RESISTANCE ONLY MAKES THIS WORSE!”

“NO ARES NO!”

My aunts and I looked at each other before taking off down the hall like their tails were on fire. Without a second thought I sprinted after them.

Nononono! Pleasepleaseplease don’t let this be what I think it’s going to be, I begged, running around both of my bigger, and therefore slower, aunts. I made a beeline for the door, and I tried to run over and grab it but Auntie Celestia yanked me back with a spell.

“Get out of the way, Cadence!” Celestia snapped, her tone hard and authoritative as she all but shoved herself past me and opened the door…

…Where Ares was hunched over a hysterically laughing Twilight, who was on her back kicking her hooves helplessly as he tickled her.

“Ares no! Noooooo!” Twilight cried, trying to bat his hands away with her hooves while she wiggled and rolled.

Blinking, I looked around to see that Twilight’s other friends were scattered throughout the bedroom, each and every one of them red-faced and giggling and on their backs. Seeing that my Ares hadn’t turned into some horrible nightmare monster my legs very nearly gave out in relief.

“Oh thank Faust,” I muttered, leaning on the door frame and just taking a couple of deep breaths.

Ares, not having noticed my aunts or I yet, continued with his merciless tickle attack with a cackle. “You think you can wrap me up like some present and get away with it purple?” he demanded, his fingers dancing across Twilight’s belly, chest, and even neck. “Well how about this! And this!”

I couldn’t help but smile as Twilight started to giggle-snort like she did when she was little. Her legs started to kick all the harder, and her horn kept sparking up for some kind of spell, but it did nothing to stop the tickle monster that was my coltfriend. “A-Ares, stop! I-I’ll tell the p-princess o-on y-you!”

Dropping down on his knees, Ares grabbed Twilight and brought her close against him. “Sun bottom has no power here, Twilight! You’re in my realm now!”

Twilight’s eyes widened when she realized what he was about to do, and with a yelp she began squirming and wiggling as fast and as hard as she could. “ARES! ARES! DON’T YOU BUCKING DAR—AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! STOPITSTOPITSTOPITPLEEEEEASE!”

Luna sighed in relief next to me as Ares continued to raspberry Twilight. “Oh thank the gods,” she muttered while me and Celestia just watched as Ares did his best to tickle Twilight senseless. “I thought that something—“

“Don’t worry, my faithful student!” Celestia yelled, making both Luna and I jump in surprise. “I’ll stop this terrible beast!”

With a battle cry that made me roll my eyes my aunt charged forward with a great big smile on her face. Ares was just able to look up from Twilight’s belly before he was tackled by Celestia, who, with a merry giggle wrapped her hooves around him and started to roll into the ground.

Since my aunt was such a heavy mare (though it looked good on her. Really it did!) and my human was caught unaware, Ares was sent tumbling across the room with my aunt until he ended up on his back while my aunt, sitting on his stomach, looked down at him. Ares’ eyes rolled around in his head for a second before his gaze focused on my giddy (and incredibly silly) aunt.

“…Celestia? What are you—“

“Silence, foul beast!” my aunt yelled, standing over my Ares with her wings flared. “You have broken out of your bindings and have attacked a group of poor defenseless mares! And as their ruler and protector I cannot let that stand!”

Ares tried to squirm but Celestia pinned him in place with her hooves, her wings managing to lift up the bottom part of his shirt as he wiggled around.

Ares’ eyes widened. “Now wait just a fu-fu HEYDON’TDOTHATDON’TDOTHATGETOOOOFFFFFF!”

With a smirk on her Face, Celestia's wings snaked down, her feathers brushing along Ares’ stomach. “There’s no running, Ares! Now feel the wrath of the sun!”

“GETTHEFUCKOFFMYYOUFUCKINGHORSE!” Ares sputtered before he broke down into a fit of laughter that couldn’t help but warm my heart.

Twilight and the other girls, having finally collected themselves, looked up to see Celestia turning Ares into a red-faced and laughing mess. Smiling, and with some quiet giggles coming from each of them, they all crawled to their hooves.

“Come on girls! Let’s get him too!”

They all let out battle cries as they charged forward, almost knocking Celestia off her hooves as they crawled over each other to get to Ares.

Mrs. Rarity and Twilight magicked up great big feathers while also taking Ares’ shirt off all of the way, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy (who Twilight had told me was supposed to be a rather shy mare) had their wings at the ready, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie had gotten feather dusters from… somewhere and were brandishing them with an ill intent.

“Yes, come my little ponies!” Celestia said with a grin, rolling off Ares to stand by them. “Give this beast a taste of his own medicine!”

Ares, still shaking and giggling from Celestia’s tickle barrage, wiped a tear from his eye before getting to his knees and doing his very best to look intimidating. “You think you can stop me?” my human said in his best “evil” accent. “Me? Oh no, Sunny buns, you didn’t bring nearly enough cute little horses to stop MY PATH OF TICKLE DESTRUCTION!”

Before Twilight or her friends could say anything Ares launched himself forward toward my aunt. “CUDDLES FOR THE CUDDLE GOD! SNUGGLES FOR THE SNUGGLE THRONE!”

Pinkie Pie pointed a feather duster at him while the other elements stepped in front of my aunt to protect her. “Come on girls, we can take him! We can--”

Before she could finish Ares took two big steps before launching himself into the air. Twilight and her friends gasped, and I could see that they were already trying to stop him from getting to her but I knew they were already too late. My aunt seemed to know it too as she just stood there frozen in place as his arms reached out toward her.

Time seemed to slow down as Pinkie Pie and Applejack tried grabbing Ares out of the air while Twilight and Rarity smacked him on the head with their dusters. The other elements were also either reaching out to stop him or trying to push their princess out of the way but there honestly wasn’t going to be any way to stop Ares from getting to Celestia.

…Well, one of us could use our magic and lift him up into the air by his pants or something like that, but that would be cheating. Faust knows that you have to be honorable turning tickle battle! To cheat would make you no better than an animal really.

“Come ‘ere!”

“Ares, don—umph!”

Pinkie and Applejack went flying as Ares collided with my aunt, knocking her off her hooves and onto the ground.

“Princess no!” Twilight cried dramatically as Ares raised his hands to the heavens.

Luna snorted. “‘Tis but simple tickling, Twilight--”

“Somepony do something!” Fluttershy said, covering her eyes with her hooves. “H-He’s going to t-tickle her!”

“It’s tickling time princess!” my human gleefully told my aunt while everypony watched in “horror”.

Seeing that the tables where turned against her, Celestia looked up at my human with a nervous smile. “N-Now wait just a second, Ares,” she said, tucking her hooves against her chest in what I assumed was an attempt to shield herself from his fingers while her ears folded back against her head. “Why don’t we just talk about this for a moment, we don’t need—“

“FOR GLORY!”

And with that all Tartarus broke loose.

Ares started his tickle assault while my aunt, who instantly started giggle-snorting so hard that I’m sure half of the castle could hear it, did her best to bat him away with all four hooves.

Twilight and the others, not willing to let the cold-blooded assault on their princess stand any longer, slammed themselves against Ares, trying to knock him over while they all did their best to tickle every available part of his body, Twilight screaming something about protecting the princess, Ares screaming something about tickle gods, and my aunt just laughing her horseshoes off, all of them looking like they were having the time of their lives. And standing on the sidelines of all of this, still trying to figure out what the hay was happening, was me and Luna.

“Our sister truly knows when to leap into the fray,” Luna mused as the two of us watched Twilight and her friends wrestle Ares to the ground.

I nodded with a giggle. “Auntie must have missed Ares,” I chirped, sneakily taking off my royal vestments and putting them on a table in the corner of the room with my magic. “When she saw that everypony in here was playing around she must not have been able to help herself.”

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Luna had gotten the same idea as me, the midnight blue mare taking her crown and shoes off and putting them on the counter on the other side of the room while she sized everypony in the room up. Myself included.

The two of us exchanged quick glances at each other before looking back at the scuffle before us.

“What do you say that if the two of us come to poor Ares’ aid, my dear niece?”

I gave my wings a quick flap before crouching low with my rump in the air. “I don’t want my little human to be overwhelmed,” I said, giving my but a little shake as I readied myself to pounce.

Luna nodded. “Then let’s join the fray shall we?”

I won’t say that mine and Luna’s battle was an epic struggle. I also won’t say that the moment I tackled both Twilight and Rarity it was an uphill battle to keep myself from being overwhelmed. And I most certainly do not have it on good authority that, after a furious two and a half hour battle, Luna, Ares, and I, after nearly losing to a bigger and more powerful group, somehow managed to pull ahead and win the day like the heros we were. Nope, I won’t say that any of that happened.

…But I’m not saying that it didn’t happen.

All that I knew was after rolling around for Faust knows how long, using my magic, my wings, and anything else I could get my hooves on to tickle everything around me, I found myself in my loving human’s giggling arms with my auntie Celestia holding the two of us close to her chest with her wings wrapped securely around us.

I nuzzled my human, sighing in contentment as I wiggled myself against my aunt, enjoying her warmth and the softness of her coat. “I leave you alone for ten minutes and look at what the hay happened,” I murmured, smiling as Ares brushed a bit of hair out from my face. “You’re attacking a bunch of helpless mares with those paws of yours like some kind of brute.”

I squealed when I felt Ares’ hand give my stomach a tickle. Thinking fast I quickly grabbed the weapon of ultimate tickle doom and clenching it close to my chest.

“Helpless my ass,” Ares snorted, giving my chest a scratch as he lazily looked around our little battlefield. “Those six had me tied up helpless in some random room in the castle; if anything I was the helpless one.”

My human looked over at a smiling Twilight, who was busy talking to a half-asleep Applejack. “Lord knows what the hell would have happened if I hadn’t managed to get out of that wrapping paper when I did.”

Rolling my eyes, I give Ares a little nudge with my wing. “Oh I’m sure they would have done horrible, terrible things to you, my little human,” I teased as my aunt gave the top of my head a nuzzle. “How did you even manage to get out of that wrapping paper anyway? Last time I saw you were wrapped up pretty tight.”

“When Purple and her friend’s weren’t looking I managed to roll over to a table that had some scissors on top of them.” Ares gave himself a little shake as he shuddered. “I damn near poked my eye out, and I had to do some things that I don’t think my arms will ever forgive me for, but I managed to get them off the table and free myself so I could issue my brand of tickle based justice upon my captors.”

With a grin Ares looked up at my smiling aunt who in turn gave him a nuzzle. “And I believe that my student and her friends got their just deserts, Ares,” she said, her eyes twinkling in amusement. “Though I fear that this old mare might have gotten a bit too much dessert for her own good. I swear it already feels like I’m going to be sore in the morning after all of the laughing I did…”

Ares chuckled, before once again looking all around the room. “Yeah… this was pretty… something, but…”

When my human looked back up at my aunt his smile was gone, replaced with a look of curiosity and concern. “Do you mind telling me why I got jumped down at the flower shop?” Ares’ brow furrowed. “ Or why you were wearing that armor the first time I saw you, or why Twilight and all of these other little horses are here?”

I felt the warmth and comfort and happiness that I had been basking in drain away from me the second that Ares turned to look at me. “Candy here probably would have told me if you guys were just visiting…” He looked thoughtful for a few more seconds before once again smiling. “Wait! Did Candy not tell me so you guys could stuff me in that fucking wrapping paper?”

He chuckled as everypony in the room looked at each other solemnly. “That’s what it was wasn’t it? Oh and I bet that you got my boss in on it just to bust my balls that little bit—“

“Ares,” Celestia interrupted quietly. “Could you please get up for a second?”

All around us, Twilight, Luna, and the other girls were slowly getting to their hooves while I just laid against my aunt wide-eyed. The smile on my human’s face slowly disappeared when he saw the sea of now serious and business-like faces.

“…Oh, so that wasn’t it huh?” he asked, gently pulling his hand away from me before rolling off Celestia and onto his feet. “So what’s got you coming all the way up here then? ...Is it because of that weird monster thing I heard running around the castle yesterday?”

With an almost mournful look my aunt rolled to her hooves, walking over and nuzzling my human’s shoulder. “Ares, I’m going to need you to be a dear and take off that shirt of yours. I need to cast a spell on you to see if everything’s alright with you and I don’t want clothing to take away the full effect of the spell.”

Looking more confused by the second, Ares took a step away from my aunt, looking around the room warily before his gaze settled on me. “You know… I’ve never been a part of a surprise orgy but I think I know the signs of one when I see ‘em. First it’s ‘take your shirt off Ares,’ then it’s the pants and after that it’s getting tied up to the bed while you all have your way with me…”

Ares took another step back as a few of Twilight’s friends gasped in shock (more than one of them blushing), though everypony else didn’t react from the joke. My auntie Celestia may as well have been made out of stone, taking a step toward him. “Ares, please,” she said gently.

Working up my courage I stopped my human’s retreat with a wing. “Ares, honey…” I looked away from him before reaching up with both of my wings and cupping his face.

He has every right to know what happened, I thought in determination while I tried my hardest not to cry. He IS going to know what happened…

So I told him everything. I told him what all of that yelling and all of that “weird castle-shaking shit” was. I told him that I, in a moment of weakness, had turned into nothing less than a literal monster. I told him what I did to the clan leaders and what I had wanted to do to them, and I told him that the reason that my aunt and Twilight and her friends were here was to make sure that I’d never turn into that horrible, hateful thing that I had turned into. Or at least stop me if I turned into it again despite their best efforts.

Throughout my shaky explanation, an explanation where I had to stop in the middle to have a good, long cry, my little human listened with the kind of focus and attention that I don’t think I’ve ever seen from him. He didn’t say a word as I spoke while my aunt (carefully) made sure that there weren’t any evil magicks in him, just nodding every once in a while he looked at me with a blank expression.

Everypony in the room listened to what I said, and I don’t think there was a dry eye (other than Ares) in the room. I know for a fact that I had tears streaming down my face and my voice was cracking and I couldn’t look anyone in the eye by the time I finished.

But that was alright. Even though I was afraid that my human would be terrified to be around me, or, even worse, would want to leave me, I had done what I set out to do. I didn’t hold anything back and I had told him the whole truth. I might have had to lie to most of my subjects but there was no way in Tartarus that I was going to look my stallion in the eye and lie to him. He deserved better than that.

“S-So that’s what h-happened, honey,” I said, wiping my runny nose with a hoof while I sniffled.

“That’s w-why I w-was crying t-the other d-day, and t-that was why L-Luna kicked y-you out s-so early t-today.”

When Ares didn’t respond I kind of slumped forward a bit, keeping my gaze glued firmly on the ground. “I-I’ll understand i-if you w-want to l-leave t-the castle for a-a—“

There was a flurry of activity in front of me, causing me to look up. I watched as my human slowly got down on one knee and cupped my face with both of his hands. Wiping the tears from my eyes with his thumbs, my human looked me over for a long while before leaning in and kissing my nose. “Hey Candy?”

I sniffled again, feeling just a bit better now that I saw that Ares just hadn’t up and ran out of the room. “Yes H-Honey?” I whispered, nuzzling his hand.

“How do you feel about going on a date?” Ares ignored the gasps and looks of confusion that filled the room, giving me another kiss on the nose before giving me a toothy smile. “I was thinking about taking you to this nice little place down Emerald alley where all they do is put food in a chocolate fountain and make you eat it. And since you like chocolate and I like chocolate… well, I don’t know... I thought that it’d be fun to go to this weekend. Whatcha say?”

When I didn’t say anything (heck, I don’t think I even blinked) Ares frowned, gently closing my open mouth, what had just opened by itself out of sheer shock, before huffing. “Well tough shit. I got reservations, so we’re going whether you want to or not.”

Still smiling Ares pulled me into a tight hug. Reflexively I wrapped my wings around his shoulders and laid my head on his shoulder. “I don’t give a shit if you turned into a monster, Candy… not when the reservations were so fucking expensive.”

I looked around the room as I placed my head on my human’s shoulder. I could see the looks of shock, the looks of confusion, and the looks of disbelief on every single mare in the room. I’m sure that they were all expecting Ares to say something meaningful, something… more than just kind of joking his way through everything that I just said.

...But for some reason this felt… better than that. It didn’t feel forced, he didn’t say something that could have come out of a story book, heck, he didn’t even say that he was sure that everything would be alright and I’d get better quicker than you could wiggle your tail.

But I could hear the warmth in Ares’s voice when he spoke, and I could heard confidence in his voice. He wasn’t worried about me because he knew that I was going to be alright. He didn’t have any facts, he didn’t really know what was going on (he knew just as much as me and I had no idea what was happening or what was going to happen), but he just… knew that I was going to be alright. He knew that I was going to be alright and he was going to stay by my side the whole time until I got better.

My wings tightened around him just a little bit more and I couldn’t help but sniffle at the revelation. “I love you, baby,” I said in a tone only he would hear. “With all of m-my heart…”

My human’s grip tightened around just a little bit more. “I’d really hope so,” he said, kissing my cheek. “Otherwise those reservations would be fucking worthless.”

Dating Makes the Heart Soar

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“Hey Candy, could you grab me that shampoo to your right?”

With a sleepy nod, I lazily reached over and grabbed my strawberry scented shampoo. “There you go, honey,” I murmured, passing it to him. I sighed when I felt Ares run his fingers through my mane, his nails gently digging into my scalp.

After dealing with all of that nonsense with my aunts and Twilight and her friends and the guards and Ares just being… Ares I had decided that I needed a bit of a break.

No, I decided that me and my little human needed a break.

So, like any mare that had had a rough day, I decided to hop into my bathtub, turn on some music, light some nice scented candles, and just soak in hot water until I was a pony prune. But unlike a lot of mares that soaked in a tub to drain away all of their stress, I had something in my stress relief arsenal that made my soak just that much better. He was a masseuse, he was a chair, and he was a shampoo-ist all in one: Ares.

I let out a happy groan when I felt Ares spurting the cold shampoo into my mane. “Ares, did I ever tell you just how much I love you?” I asked wiggling against my naked coltfriend as those fingers of his started to work their magic, easing the day’s stress away with little effort.

Ares chuckled, giving my neck a kiss as my whole body twitched slightly under his ministrations. I groaned again when he gave one of my ears a scratch, my rump wiggling in my human’s lap. Sweet gods above were those fingers of his magical...

“I hear it every time you make that one sound I like, Candy,” Ares teased with another kiss.

I cracked open an eye to stare at him in confusion. “Sound? What sou—Ahhhhh~!”

My human let out another chuckle after he gave my neck a little bite. “Yeah, that one; I can hear the “I love you to bits Ares, you paragon among men you,” right when you make that noise.”

I snorted. “I don’t know what you’re hearing but I most certainly did—OHHHH~!” My body twitched again when my little human’s hands left my scalp and started traveling south. At the same time I could feel something growing against my thigh, telling me that I wasn’t the only one enjoying our little bath time.

Biting my lip I started to grind my rump into Ares’ lap, my wings slowly risin—

SLAM!

“Is everything alright in here?” Ares and I jumped as two Solar Guards threw open my bathroom door and poked their heads inside. “We thought we heard—“

Ares, with one of his hands in a… sensitive place, grabbed one of my shampoo bottles from the rack and tossed it at the two as hard as he could. The guards, with a yelp, managed to dodge the speeding bottle, poking their heads back into the bathroom with looks of confusion and shock.

“Yeah we’re fucking alright!” Ares snapped as I did my best to force my wings back down, the mother of all blushes on my face. “Just like we were alright the last five times you fucking weirdos threw open that fucking door!”

The guards shied away from my human’s outburst. “Sir, we were only—“

“Do you guys just want to pull up some fucking chairs and watch me touch my girlfriend? Will that get you two little horses off so we can fucking bathe in peace?”

Both of the guards flinched, blushes coming to their faces as their eyes bugged out of their heads.

“S-Sir, we can assure we aren’t—“

“Or maybe you just want to watch me pick up my girlfriend right here and fuck her right on the edge of this tub; oh I bet that that’s what you want me to do you couple of exhibitionist!”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as the now red-faced guards squirmed in embarrassment.

Though he was trying to mask it I could hear the amusement in my human’s voice as he continued to shout and yell and fuss. I would have told him to stop it, to quit teasing the guards that were only trying to do their jobs, but like Ares I was getting a little annoyed that these two kept throwing open the door while the two of us were just trying to have a little fun in the bathtub. So I let my human “bust their balls” and let that hand of his continue… playing as I leaned back against his chest and closed my eyes with a snort.

One of the guardsponies bit his lip, his ears pinned back to the sides of his head. “O-Our apologies, Sir, there obviously isn’t anything—“

“What the hell! Why don’t the two of you just hop right in here with us so we can make this a real fucking party! I can show you guys how to helicopter your dicks around ! No, no! Wait! Why don’t I go ahead and shove my thumb up your a—“

SLAM!

“You’re awful,” I said after the door slammed shut.

Ares chuckled. “I’m awful? I’m not the one bothering two people that had a pretty rough day by “guarding” them while they take a bath!” My sigh turned into a whine as Ares’s hand slipped back above the water and rested itself on my stomach. “Here I have you all wet and ready and I can’t even get you in the mood because of those chucklefucks!”

“You know that Celestia’s just being cautious,” I said, spinning around in his lap so that I could face him. “She just wants to make sure that nothing happens to either of us while she’s not around.”

I gave my human a nuzzle, pointedly ignoring the thing rubbing up against my thigh as Ares rolled his eyes. “What, does she really think that you’d go cuckoo and try to drown me?” He snorted again. “Candy, even if you turned into some evil god horse right here in this fucking tub I doubt that you’d try to do anything like that.”

A small smile worked its way onto my face. Though I kind of didn’t appreciate him joking around about the me turning evil as casually as he just did it was still really, really nice to know that my human would still trust me not to hurt him even if something like that happened a—

“I mean all I’d have to do is rub some of this warming lotion stuff on you and rub your back and you’d forget all about trying to hurt me! Hell, I bet I could still make you scream my nam—“

SMACK!

“—OW!”

Shaking my head I nuzzled Ares’s neck. “Just be quiet you big dummy and let me hug you.” I wrapped my hooves around him, holding him as close as I could as he rubbed the side of his head. “Before I do turn into an evil monster again and try to drown you and that mouth of yours in the tub.”

I felt Ares’ arms slip under my rear legs as he pulled me against his chest, kissing my cheek. “I’m sure you’re alright, Candy,” he said, giving my back a little rub. “You were just having a really bad fucking day and lost your temper is all. Hell, I bet if I had magic I’d have turned into some dark sorcerer after everything that happened yesterday.”

Another pleased little hum escaped my throat as my human’s fingers dug into my back, massaging the flight muscles. “I bet you a month’s pay that after a few weeks you’ll get checked out, the other two princesses will go back home with Purple, and everything will go back to normal.”

“…No more magical roses? No more nobles trying to take you away from me?”

Ares kissed my neck. “I promise you the next time that we want to get frisky with each other it won’t be because of some magic flower.” Ares gave my neck another kiss and this time I couldn’t help but lean into it. “And I’m sure after the ass-whooping they got those nobles will be acting a hell of a lot nicer around you and that big beautiful rump of yours, so no one’s going to make my ass a liar.”

With a weak giggle I grinded my rump against Ares’s lap once again, smiling when I heard a whine escape his throat. “You know, if those guards weren’t out there right now I would have gotten frisky with you all over this bathroom,” I purred, kissing Ares’s neck, “AND in our bedroom.”

Ares’s fingers dug just a bit harder into my back as he groaned again, biting his lip to keep the noise down so those guards didn’t come kicking down our door again. “And I’d want nothing more than for you to have your way with me, Candy.” Breaking our hug Ares cupped my face and gave me a kiss on the nose, a mournful expression on his face. “But could you please not say all of the nasty stuff you want to do with me while the kids are fucking listening to us from outside the fucking door!”

There were a pair of yelps as Ares threw another shampoo bottle at the door, causing a loud bang. I couldn’t help but groan in frustration as I felt Ares’ little Ares twitch against me. “Maybe I should ask my aunt for a different pair of guards?”

Glaring at the door for a moment longer, Ares once again turned toward me with a warm smile, kissing me on the nose before giving me a quick peck on the lips. “That’s probably be a good idea… well, unless you’re into the whole “people watching us while we get it on thing”. I’m kinda on the fence about stuff like that but if you really want to—“

Laughing quietly, I wrapped my hooves around my human’s head and pulled him into a kiss. My nostrils flared as I took in his scent, my tongue teasing his lips before withdrawing back into my mouth. “Be quiet before I hit you again, smart-mouth.”

My Ares tried to lean back in for another kiss but I simply scooted off him and submerged myself into the water to get all of the soap and shampoo off my coat and mane. Deciding to have a little fun I let my backside “accidently” grind against a certain part of my human’s anatomy until I felt him twitch, then I moved away from him. Poking my head out of the water I turned back toward Ares, who was looking at me with the perfect mixture of outrage and irritation.

“Now come on,” I said, hopping out of the tub. “Let’s get dried off so we can go and get something to eat.”

My human just looked at me while I levitated over a couple of towels for the two of us. He didn’t move from the tub, he didn’t blink, all he did was look at me as I started to dry myself off while humming a little tune

“… Cadence?”

Trying not to laugh at his tone, I made sure to turn with my rump pointed at Ares as I very sensually dried it off. “Yes my dear little human?” I asked innocently, batting my eyelashes.

“That was bullshit you pink jerk.”

“I love you too, Hon. Now come on out of that tub; we’re going to be late for dinner.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Private Flash Sentry, as he stood out in the hallway near that door that was supposed to be Twilight’s room, realized that he may have been in a bit over his head at the moment.

He had tried to be there when word had come from Captain Echo that Princess Celestia was leading a squadron of guards and the Elements of Harmony into the city but the Captain had decided that he would be much more useful patrolling the other end of the city to make sure that nopony panicked when they saw the Solar Guard running around dressed up in war gear. So he hadn’t been able to see or talk to Twilight.

After he had made his rounds (rounds that had been totally unnecessary since not a single pony seemed to even notice the Equestrian guards) he had tried to go and see the purple unicorn then so he could see how she was doing, but once again he had been pulled away.

Captain Echo and Captain Stalwart Shield, the Captain of the Solar Guard, had insisted that every single stallion in the Crystal and Solar Guard be debriefed about the situation that they had on their hooves; the best ways that the two corps could work together so this operation of their could run as smoothly as possible, and blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH!

But now, after about five hours of debriefings, Flash had found himself with a couple of hours of free time before he had to report back to the barracks. So he had showered, fixed up his mane to the best of his ability, put on just a bit of cologne, dug out his best (and only) vest, and had trotted toward the royal wing of the castle as fast as his hooves could take him.

But it was then, as he was about to knock on Twilight’s bedroom door, that Flash realized that he had no idea what he was going to say to her, or what she was going to say to him. It would have been easy if the two of them were alone but Twilight’s friends were in there with her. A group of mares that could hate his guts the moment they laid eyes on him.

What would he say to them? What would they say to him? Would they start hounding him with questions? Would they just stare at him while he tried to talk to his marefriend? Would--

Groaning, the stallion stepped away from the door and side-stepped twice to that he was facing the wall. His face, the picture of hopeless frustration, Flash took a step forward, planted himself firmly to the ground, and smacked his head against the wall so hard that a dull thud could be heard up and down the hall.

“What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?!” the Private muttered, smacking his head against the wall again before closing his eyes. “Should I just wait until breakfast? Should I go in now? Should I wait until only Twilight’s in the room before I try to knock on the door?! ARUGH!”

Flash cocked his head back, ready to give that wall what-for one more time, when Twilight’s door flew open.

“Who the hay’s making all of that noise out here?!” A rainbow-maned Pegasus growled, poking her head out of the doorway so she could look out into the hall. “We’re trying to get—“

Though every fiber in Flash’s being told him that now would probably be a really good time to disappear he couldn’t move. Surprise and his ever-mounting stress had glued him to that particular part of the floor, so he was only able to stare ahead wide-eyed as the Pegasis’ gaze finally settled on him.

“You! Are you the one pounding on the walls?” She demanded, stepping out into the hall.

Not knowing what else to do Flash let his boot camp training take over. It had helped him get out of pickles far worse than this and it’d do it again now. Hopefully.

Saluting, the Private puffed out his chest and said, “Private Flash Sentry reporting for d-duty, MA’AM!”

The Pegasus took a step back in surprise, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “…And what the hay are you reporting in for, soldier?”

Flash’s mind raced, trying to think of a good enough lie to get him out of this mess. He could just say that he was just doing routine checks to the wall to see if they were still structurally sound. Yeah! That was probably stupid enough to work!

He could talk to Twilight tomorrow in the morning before he had to start his patrols. That’d be a better time to—

“I need to see Twilight Sparkle right away ma’am. It’s of the utmost importance!”

Bucking HORSE APPLES! Why the hay did I say tha—

“Rainbow? Did you find out who was messing around outside?”

Rainbow looked back into the bedroom as Flash, biting his lip hard, started to trot in place in panic. He knew that voice, and he also knew that he wasn’t ready to face its owner.

“Yeah, there’s this weird colt out here, He said his name’s Flash Sen—“

“FLASH?!”

From inside the bedroom Flash could hear crashing, things breaking, and ponies yelling in surprise. Before he could even open his mouth to ask what was going on, Rainbow, her eyes going wide, hopped out of the way as a purple blur came flying out of the room.

“FLASH!”

The blur tackled the stallion with enough force to knock him off of his hooves and send him tumbling to the cold, hard crystal floor with a groan. That groan became a grunt as his attacker started hopping up and down on his stomach.

“Omygosh, Flash! I was looking around for you all day! I would have gone out with the girls but the princess insisted that we all stay here even though I wanted to show you off to them butwhydidn’tyoutrytocomeandfindme?Wereyoutoobusy?DidyouhavetodooutanddosomethingforCadence?Was—“

Rainbow Dash watched as Twilight, filled to the brim with excitement, hopped up and down on this poor mystery stallion’s stomach while he groaned and twitched and tried to roll away from her with little success.

“…What the hay…” she muttered, scratching her head as Rarity quickly made her way toward her.

“Rainbow, Darling! What in the name of all things glamorous is going o—“ the fashionista paused when she saw what was happening outside in that hallway. “...Why on earth is Twilight trying to stomp that poor stallion to death?”

Rainbow shrugged. “I have no idea. All I said was that this Flash character was out here and Twi went all cuckoo and attacked him for some reason.”

Rarity and Rainbow watched as Twilight, speaking so fast that they didn’t even bother trying to decipher what the heck she was saying, continued to beat on the colt before the dots connected in Rarity’s mind.

“OH! Flash! The one that Twilight’s been raving about since she came home!”

Rainbow frowned, looking at her before looking back over at Twilight and Flash. “You mean Twilight’s “coltfriend”?”

Rarity nodded, quietly awing as she watched her purple friend do her very best to turn Flash into pony paste. “Oh why on earth didn’t I see it the second I laid eyes upon the two? Look at Twilight! She’s positively beaming Darling!”

“It looks like Twi’s trying to kill the guy to me,” Rainbow admitted, scratching her head again.

Rarity opened her mouth but immediately closed it when she heard Flash whimper. “…Well, Twilight’s not as familiar with dating as the rest of us are, Rainbow dear, so she’s just being a little bit… eager at the moment…”

Loudly clearing her throat, Rarity made her way toward Twilight and Flash. “Twilight, Honey, would you please stop trying to murder that stallion whom you just so happened to be stomping on? The girls and I would like to meet him in once piece if it’s not too much trouble.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

“One little, two little, three little horsies! Four little, five little, six little horsies! Eight little horsies in a row!”

I rolled my eyes as Ares continued to bellow out his weird little song, trying to get comfortable as he carried me through the hallways on his back with my hooves wrapped around his neck, while our “babysitters” tried their best to look like they weren’t with us.

“Ares, Honey, will you stop screaming?” I asked, laying my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes with a quiet huff. “Ponies are starting to stare and our guards look like they’re about ready to fly away.”

“I’ll stop shouting and carrying on the second that these two apologize for watching me while I was getting dressed,” my human replied, looking over his shoulder at the guards who still refused to look him in the eye.

I lightly batted him on the back of the head. “I specifically remember that these two apologized the second that they saw me drying you off,” I remarked, my tone souring only a little bit.

The two of us had been trying to have a bit of fun, once again, while the guards were outside our bedroom. It wasn’t anything too engaging; just some kissing and groping. But like every single time I made a noise that was louder than a sigh the guards burst right in and got an eye full and an angry Ares as a result.

Now, I understand somepony trying to take their work seriously and both my little human and I should be watched for the safety of everyone in the castle because of what happened, but now I was starting to think that these guards of ours were being just a little too watchful for my liking.

I had had a bucking rough couple of days; I turned into a nightmare monster for Faust’s sake! If anypony deserved a little time to mess around with her coltfriend before she had to go and deal with her aunts, who were probably going to keep poking at her for days and days until they actually did find something wrong with her, it was this mare right here!

I didn’t think I was asking too much; all I wanted to do was play around with my little human on my bed, and on top of my bedroom table and maybe the nightstand in peace!

But no! I now had a castle full of jumpy guards that expected me to turn into a nightmare monster if I so much as sneezed so I could barely kiss my bucking stallion! Bucking, horse apples, curd, buck, BUCK!

…And yes, I was a little upset, though understanding, about my situation if you didn’t already know.

With another huff I buried my face in Ares’s neck. “Can you just get us to the dining room a little faster, Honey? Please?”

Hearing the frustration in my voice, Ares gave my rump a little pat. “Don’t worry, Candy, I’m sure after a couple of days we won’t even notice all of these little horses following us where we go and poking their heads into things that they shouldn’t be poking their heads into. Like when someone’s getting dressed for instance.”

“We were only checking to see if you alright, Sir,” one of the guards behind us said. “The Princess herself ordere—“

“Don’t you fucking lie to me, guard horse! I saw that happy little gleam in your eyes when you saw me standing there wearing nothing but a smile! You little weirdo… You dirty, dirty little weirdo...”

The guard opened his mouth to retort when his fellow guard nudged him in the ribs and shook his head. Both of them knew they had already poked the bear; poking him any more wasn’t going to help anything. So the two of them just kept their mouths shut, which was kind of nice because if I closed my eyes it was almost like they weren’t even there.

With a happy sigh, Ares gave my rump another pat. “Yep, I’m sure we won’t even notice them after a little while! All they’ll be are a couple of shadows; adorable white little peeping shadows.”

The rest of the walk was silent after that, Ares humming his little tune, me just keeping my eyes closed, and the guards doing their very best to be as quiet and out of the way as possible. Though I didn’t bother to open my eyes for the entire walk, I knew that we were coming closer to the dining room because of the smell in the air.

My nostrils flared, and I couldn’t help but snort in amusement. “It smells like they’ve made spaghetti and radishes,” I mused, taking in another deep whiff. “I wonder if my aunt told the chef’s how to make it the “proper way...”

“Spaghetti and radishes?” Ares said, confused. “Why the hell would you put those two things together?”

I snorted again, nuzzling my human’s neck with a sleepy yawn. “Auntie Celestia always made it when I was little since it was my favorite dish as a kid,” I explained with another yawn. “She used to have it ready whenever I was having a really bad day.”

I could almost feel my Ares frown. “…But why radishes? Why didn’t you put something better in it than that?” My human shifted my weight around his back, trying to get more comfortable. “I wouldn’t even know what the hell you could put in with spaghetti but radishes?”

I cracked open an eye to look at him. “Oh? And what do you put in your spaghetti that makes it taste so good?” I demanded.

Once again one of the guards piped up. “…I always like to put potatoes in mine whenever I’m cooking spaghetti. If you cut the potatoes up in small chunks, throw a bit of salt and—“

“I’m going to tell on you two when we get into this dining room, little horses,” Ares interrupted, turning a corner. “I just want you both to know that.”

Both of the guard’s mouths snapped shut as we all made our way into the dining room where both of my aunts were already waiting at the table.

“Ares, Cadence! There you two are!” my aunt Celestia said with a smile, patting the chair next to her with a wing. “Come over here and sit with your dear old aunt my dears.”

With a smile Luna patted the chair next to her. “Yes, come and sit with us. We have much to talk about.”

“Rides over, Candy,” Ares said, dropping down to one knee so that I could get off his back.

Giggling, I slide off his back. “Thanks, hon,” I said, giving his cheek a kiss before trotting over to the table and sitting next to Luna. Before I could even scoot my chair in I had a plateful of spaghetti and a big glass of water set out in front of me. Blinking in surprise I looked around. As far as I could tell there weren’t any servants in the room, so where did the food come from?

My question was answered by my aunt Celestia, who smiled as Ares sat down next to her. “I let the kitchen staff have the night off, Cadence,” she said, wrapping a wing around my human and pulling him toward her. “I thought it’d be fun to cook for you like I did when you were little.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Luna’s wing wrap around my chair, my aunt’s soft feathers brushing against my side as she pulled me close to her. “Aye,” she said, idly taking a bite out of her own meal. “Twilight and the others are wandering the city and the kitchen staff are home with their families.”

Looking over at her I saw Luna regarding me with a guarded expression. “Tis only use four for supper tonight.”

I wiggled uncomfortably in my chair. “Oh? Well that’s just wonderful,” I said with a (slightly strained) smile. I didn’t know what was going on but this felt like a trap. The kind of trap where your family members are trying to do something that you won’t much appreciate and they want to soften it up by being all nice so they could spring it on you.

Celestia nodded, teleporting a plate of food for Ares. “Well eat up! It’s been awhile since I’ve cooked anything so I want to see what you think!”

Ares looked down at his plate before slowly sliding it away. “…Is there something going on?” he asked, looking at both of my aunts. “This feels like the second that I eat any of this food I’m going to pass out and wake up near a river with concrete blocks hardening on my feet…”

Though they didn’t understand Ares’s expression (…if that was a human expression) both my aunts understood it well enough.

“Ares! There’s nothing going on!” Celestia said, shiftily looking around with a nervous laugh. “I just wanted the four of us to have a nice meal together.”

Ares frowned at her before looking over at me. “Cadence… I think your aunts are trying to murder me.”

Celestia gasped. “I would never!—“

“You need to do something about that, Candy. I like being alive.”

I rolled my eyes with a giggle. “My aunts aren’t going to murder you, honey,” I said, scooping up some spaghetti with my fork and stuffing it into my mouth. “…Though I’d like to know what the hay’s actually going on here…”

Celestia looked at Luna and Luna looked at Celestia. My aunts seemed to have a silent argument for a few seconds with just eyebrow wiggles and nose scrunches before Celestia looked away with a sigh.

“…Well, though I think it’s wonderful that Ares decided to take you on a little date even after all that’s happened, Luna and I thought… that somepony should go and keep an eye on you.”

Both Ares and I frowned at the mere thought of having someone chaperoning us like we were a couple of naughty teenagers that couldn’t be trusted, but we both kept our silence on the matter. Even though it was kind of a bunch of horse apples I had figured that they were going to do something like this anyway. I didn’t like it but until everything was sorted out then I was going to just have to grit my teeth and bare it just like Ares was going to have to do.

“…Alright,” I said slowly, trying my hardest to be diplomatic about all of this. “Do we need to have a few of the guards come with us or…”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, I’ll have a pair of hoof picked guards for you in the morning.”

I made a face. Great, another pair of strangers following us around all day… I sourly thought. Why does it have to be guards anyways? Couldn’t--

I was about to scoop more food into my mouth so I wouldn’t be able to complain but a muse decided to play a practical joke on me, giving me a crazy, crazy idea. An idea that almost made me drop my fork in surprise with how bucking crazy it was. In fact, it was so crazy that if Discord had happened to be in the room and I had told him about it he would have been brought to tears with how crazy this plan of mine was.

...But you know what? It just might be crazy enough to solve a few problems that I have been having…

“...Actually, Auntie, I don’t think we’ll be needing the guards for this date.”

Both of my aunts looked up from their food to stare at me. “What do you mean by that, Cadence?” Celestia asked gently, obviously ready to explain why we needed somepony to go with us on our date.

I smiled, looking down at my plate. “Well… we won’t be needing them because I’d like Luna to go on the date with us.” I looked over at my other aunt, my smile still on my face. “How about it Luna? Do you wanna go on a date with me and Ares?”

It took a few moments for what I said to register with everyone else at the table, but when it finally sank in the looks on their faces almost made me laugh. Disbelief, joy, confusion, shock, happiness all flashed across the faces of my two aunts and Ares.

My little human looked more bewildered by this than anypony, blinking owlishly as he looked around the table. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but it snapped shut a moment later. Then his mouth opened again, then it closed again. This went on for about a minute until my Ares finally found his voice:

“...Those guards you sent us were a couple of peeping toms, Princess. They looked at my junk and everything…”

Fashionista Fiasco

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“No, no, no, no, NO! That manestyle simply Will. Not. Do!”

I tried to get up from my seat but Rarity, a mare that I had been getting to know very well these past few days, pushed me right back down. Again.

“Just stay still for a few minutes more, Darling. I’m sure to come up with something by seven!”

I tried not to roll my eyes when the young mare started swooning in front of me with her hoof touching her forehead, really I did, but it was almost like they had a mind of their own.

Just smile Cadence, I thought. Rarity’s only trying to help! In fact you should be thankful that she was willing to take the time out of her busy schedule to fix you up for your date tonight…

“I can’t… thank you enough for this, Rarity,” I said, wincing slightly as the mare started untangling my mane for what felt like the hundredth time. “But maybe we don’t need to go so overboard with my mane? I mean Ares and I are just going to a chocolate stor—“

“Forgive me, Princess, but you aren’t just going to some candy shop!” Rarity said dramatically, her hooves pawing at my mane just a little bit more aggressively. “Even after hearing about what you became, your coltfriend, nah, your soulmate, overlooked the monster that could be growing inside of you!”

Though I didn’t bother to look at her I’d bet my crown that that mare was swooning again.

“He decided-- though he must have been terrified for you-- to show that you cared about you no matter what you were or what you’d become! He wanted to show you that his love for you would overcome any obstacle! ANY barrier!” I let out a snort and rolled my eyes again as Miss Rarity sighed dreamily. “Oh it’s just like something out of a storybook Darling…”

Sweet stars above is this mare something, I thought, more exasperated than anything.

If I had known that Miss Rarity was going to be like… this when she had asked how Ares and I got together I might have toned everything down a little. But no, being a mare that liked to tell the truth I told her and the rest of the girls, since they were there and it looked like they wanted to hear about it too, everything about me and my coltfriend. How we met, how I fell in love with him, everything.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” I said with a slightly forced chuckle. “Ares had said that he had gotten the tickets beforehoof. He probably just wants me to go so the tickets aren’t a complete waste.”

I didn’t believe a word I just said of course. I knew what a real sweetheart Ares was and the lengths that he was willing to go to show me that he loved me with all of his heart (which made me want to hug and hold and kiss that silly man until I was blue in the face) but I’d rather not give Rarity anything else to coo or swoon over. She already had more than enough ammunition thank you very much.

Once again Rarity gasped, nearly falling off the little stool that she had hopped up on. “Nonsense! Though I don’t know Ares as well as I’d like, I can tell that he’s the gentlest of stallions! I’m certain that the second he heard what had happened to you his only thoughts were how to make you smile again an—“

I snorted again, slowly tuning the mare out as she began to ramble on and ramble on and ramble on. I would have felt bad doing it an hour ago but hearing somepony talk about your relationship like it was the stuff of legends for two hours would get tiring for anypony.

Though it hadn’t been storybook-like or glamorous to me, Rarity had loved every little bit of mine and Ares’s story, gushing about how it must have been destiny that the two of us found each other and fell in love and all of that silliness. Twilight had told me that the fashionista enjoyed love stories more than the average mare, but after all of this trouble that she seemed to be going through in helping me I was starting to suspect that Ms. Rarity might read a bit too many romance novels for her own good.

Just remember that all she wants to do is make sure that you look good for your date tonight, Cadence, I reminded myself, letting my body sink into my chair as I closed my eyes and did my best to ignore the insistent tugging at my mane. Miss Rarity knows how to make a mare look good, and she’s going to make you look so good that Ares is going to be blown away when he sees you and it’s going to make your date just that little bit better…

“—In fact, I dare say Ares might be your very own Prince! And I couldn’t be any more happy for you dear, in fact I’m in the process of finding my own—“

Sweet Faust above…

I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself, my mind wandering to the date that I was supposed to be going to in a few hours. Rarity might make me a little late if she was going to fuss with my mane like this but I was going none the less.

If this was just like the other silly and wonderful little date that the two of us had gone on then I was sure to forget all of the horse apples that had been going on the last couple of days. In fact, if everything went like I wanted it to, this little date and the… “fun” me and my little human were sure to have after, it would leave me as one of the most stress-free and happy mares in the whole empire!

…Sure, I didn’t know how it was going to be with Luna watching over us the whole time but I just had to have a little faith that my aunt wouldn’t do anything too bad so me and my coltfriend could enjoy our time together as a couple.

“—I’ve been trying to look for a suitable stallion but I swear to Celestia it seems like I’m fighting an uphill battle! All of good ones are either—“

…She’s still talking? Really?

My eyes opened and I couldn’t help but look into the mirror that Miss Rarity had set up. I hardly recognized the mare looking back at me and I did not like that one bit!

Oh sweet stars what did she do to my mane?! I thought, horrified.

The fleeting hope that I was just seeing things vanished when my reflection’s eyes widened along with my own. This was actually reality; I had just sat here for who knows how long and let a crazy pony turn my mane into a warzone. And by warzone I meant a bucking warzone.

My poor, poor mane looked like it had seen the inside of Tartarus. Parts of it were in curlers, other parts of it were all shiny and wavy and smooth, and there was a bit in the back that made it look like I had just been hit by a lightning bolt. Not a single hair was flat or normal looking, in fact if it wasn’t attached to my head I would have had a heck of a time trying to figure out just what I was looking at.

When the hay did this happen?! When I had my bucking eyes open my mane looked fine. But this… what am I going to do with all of this?! How the hay am I even going to begin fixing it?!

With a look of horror still on my face I found myself raising out of my seat and taking every one of the mane “tools” that Rarity had floating in her magic and encasing them in mine. Miss Rarity, noticing that I was no longer sitting and that she no longer was holding her instruments of doom, blinked in surprise and looked over at me.

“Is something the matter dear?” she asked kindly as my eye twitched. “Do you need to go and use the little filly’s room?”

It took a few moments of me collecting my thoughts before I was able to answer the mare without sounding ungrateful or mean or upset. Then it took a few more seconds so that I just didn’t walk over there and smack her with one of the combs now in my magical grasp. I was able to take about two steps before the urge to beat Ms. Rarity over the head with something heavy and preferably metal crossed my mind, which meant that the breathing wasn’t doing all that much to help.

Just breath Cadence… just breath… Rarity was only trying to help… she was only trying to help… You’re a Princess, you can’t go ahead and start beating up ponies… no matter how much you want to…

“Actually, Rarity, I was just wondering where you were going with all of… this?” I waved a hoof around my head. “I might not be a mare that knows all that much about mane styles but I’m having a hard time seeing anything other than a mess in all of this…”

Matching my strained smile with a far more genuine one, Rarity hopped off her little stool and walked over to me. “Well, since we’ve been having such a dreadful time trying to find the perfect mane style for you I decided to try a little bit of everything to see what would be parfait!”

Still smiling, the mare then levitated over a couple of cans of mane dye. “I thought that maybe we could try to… liven up your mane with a few highlights, maybe curl up your entire mane to really make it stand out! What do you say Darling?”

My eye twitched again as I looked down at the positively beaming unicorn. Miss Rarity looked so happy, so content that she was helping me with this date. I recalled that she hadn’t wanted anything in return for this generosity, simply saying that making my day would be enough for her. And that was nice, maybe one of the nicest things I’ve heard anypony say in a long time, but if she knew just how close I was to smacking that smile right off her mane-ruining face she wouldn’t be so—

No, no Cadence! You need to be nice! NICE! You can fix all of this before your date! And don’t you dare go and slug one of Twilight’s friends because she got a little too… eager. You’re better than that!

It took a few deep breaths and managed to calm myself down a little bit, a much more genuine smile making its way onto my face as I looked back at Rarity.

“Well, Rarity, I don’t think that that’s a very good idea,” I said, wrapping a wing around the mare and pulling her close. “I really appreciate what you’re trying to do for me, and I’m sure that Ares would too if he was here and saw what you were doing, but no thank you on highlighting my mane.”

“Oh…” Rarity mumbled with a crestfallen look. “Forgive me… Your mane wouldn’t even look good with any highlights… I don’t even know what I was thinking! Highlights with your color mane! Bleh!”

As subtly as I could I started to lead the mare toward the door as she continued to mutter nonsense to herself. I managed to lead her for about ten steps before she was looking back up at me with an eager smile.

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t try other things!” Rarity tried to stop walking but I shoved her forward with a wing. “I am a mare that is a master in everything beauté! Just give me a few more minutes Darling and—“

“I think that I can take it from here, Rarity,” I interrupted, gently but firmly. “If I just fix myself up a little bit more I’m sure, with everything that you already did for me, that I’ll look better than I’ve ever looked before.”

I think at this moment Rarity knew that I was trying to throw her out of my room since she dug her heels into the carpet. Me, with a big, kind smile glued to my face, continued to push/magically drag the fashionista toward the door.

“But with me here we’re sure to get to that state even faster, Darling!” Rarity cried, quietly grunting as she tried to push herself out from underneath my wing. “I know that I might have been a little… scatterbrained trying to find you a manestyle but I don’t know what to do with such a wonderful head full of hair!”

My smile became slightly strained as I had to force Rarity back to my side with a spell, quickly rewrapping my wing around her to keep her in place as I placed all of the combs and scissors and everything else Rarity had assaulting my hair with onto the table at the far end of the room.

“Oh, your mane is so much more wonderful than mine, Rarity,” I said, trying to switch topics so that the mare would start rambling again. If I got her rambling I was sure that she’d be easier to dra—lead, lead! Toward the door. “Mine’s nothing spec—“

“Nothing special?! Mi Amore, your mane is absolutely perfect! The color goes with your coat and eyes, it can be teased into whatever shape one wants to shape it, and the texture! Sweet stars above it’s nothing like I’ve ever []seen. You have a mane that would put the gods themselves to shame, Princess and—“

“It’s just a mane, Rarity. I wash it once a week, I condition it every three days, and I comb it to make it look half decent in the morning. Trust me, it’s nothing special.”

Still not wanted to appear rude I kind of ignored the fact that Rarity was refusing to let me kick her out of my room, and since Rarity herself was a mare with spectacular manners, she didn’t bring up the fact that I was dragging her to the door. It almost made for a surreal experience; the two of us trying to appear that nothing was wrong while we had this sort of tug of war in the middle of my living room.

A tug of war that I was going to win!

“Oh you’re too humble, darling!” Rarity cried as I really started shoving her toward the door. “Most mares would kill to have a head of hair like that; myself included.”

The only thing that I really had going for me in this little tug of war was the fact that I was bigger and weighed more (but not that much more mind you) than my opponent, which meant that I was able to throw my weight around a bit more than she was. And I used my advantage to its full extent, pushing Ms. Rarity all the way to the door.

“I… don’t know why… you’d want my… mane when you… have such an… amazing one… yourself… Rarity,” I said, sweat starting to drip down my face from all of this physical exertion. “I don’t think… I’ve ever seen… one as nice… as yours…”

Rarity once again tried to wiggle out from underneath my wing, the mare’s horn charging up just as I was about to cast a spell myself. I tried to grab Ms. Rarity magically to get a better grip on her but she batted my magic away, side-stepping away from me and trying to make a break for the chair in the middle of the room.

Quietly cursing I reached for her and missed before saying buck it and leaping for her. Rarity let out the quietest of squeaks when I managed to grab a hold of her tail with my mouth, the surprising strong unicorn dragging me a few feet before I managed to get back to my hooves.

“Oh you… flatter me darling… but believe… me when I say… that you… have a… lovely, lovely… mane…” Rarity said, her hooves leaving marks in the carpet as I dragged her big white butt over to the door.

Throwing open my bedroom door with my magic, I struggled forward in stubborn determination. “Well… I think that… your mane is… better and… that you shouldn’t… sell yourself… short…” I managed to say through a mouthful of tail.

Rarity tried everything that she could to get away from me. She tried to wiggle out of my grip, she tried to overpower me and drag me back to the chair, she even tried to go limb and be deadweight so that it would be harder to move her around. But I would not be denied. I knew that the second I went ahead and gave up I’d be back in that chair for eight bucking hours in a state of limbo. So I couldn’t lose; not when I had Ares and that date waiting for me!

“Well… I’m ecstatic that… you think so highly of… me darling…”

It was a battle for every step but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just a few more feet and I’d have my room all to myself.

“You’re a… wonderful mare… Rarity, anypony could… see that… I couldn’t do… anything less… than think highly of… you… In fact, if you…. don’t mind me… saying I think… that Twilight is… lucky to have… you as a… friend…”

Rarity tried to grab the doorframe but I was prepared for that, as I yanked her tail as hard as I could. The mare yelped, losing her hooves and sending the two of us tumbling out into the hallway.

The two of us looked at each other before looking back into my bedroom. Another second or two went by before the two of us scrambled to our hooves, trying to get up before the other. Rarity managed to get to her hooves first but I knocked her down with a spell, hopping over the mare and racing through my door like my tail was on fire.

“Well thank you for… sayingsoPrincessIwould—epp!”

SLAM!

Teleporting a chair over toward me I slammed my bedroom door closed as hard as I could, propping the chair up against it. Scrambling with my magic, I managed to lock the door just as I heard Rarity slamming against the other side of it.

“Are you sure that you don’t need any more help tonight, Princess?” Rarity asked pleadingly, twisting my doorknob so hard that I half expected it to rip off the door. “I’d be more than happy to spend a little more time getting you ready for your prince!”

Sweet Celestia is this mare determined, I thought, oddly amused yet also irritated with all of this as I slumped against my door with a quiet groan.

“Thanks for offering, but like I said I’ll handle it from here, Rarity,” I said, doing my best to catch my breath. “But why don’t you go and ask Luna if she needs any help? I’m sure she’d just jump at the chance to make use of your skills!”

I really didn’t want to throw Luna under the carriage like this but I really needed to fix my trainwreck of a mane ASAP. I’m sure that my aunt won’t be too sore about it during mine and Ares’ date. I could always figure out a way to make it up to her later...

The doorknob stopped wiggling as Rarity thought over what I had said. “…Well, if you’re sure that you don’t need any more of my help, I suppose I could go and see if Princess Luna had need of my skills,” she said, slightly disappointed but sounding more excited with each word. “Oh just think! Rarity Belle helps two Princesses—“

“Oh thank Faust that’s over,” I muttered with a happy sigh, closing my eyes and just taking a moment to have a breather.

Eventually Ms. Rarity stopped trying to talk to me through my door and left, though I could have sworn I felt her trying to wiggle open my door more than once before leaving. Still wary I poked my head out into the hallway (ready to slam the door at a moment’s notice) to see if Rarity had actually left. When I saw that she was actually gone I sighed in relief and readied myself.

Now that that was over I had to actually get ready for my date with my honey-bunny Ares. And, after putting my chair back where it belonged, I did just that.

I had a nice long soak in the tub, I went over to my mirror and fixed up my mane, I put on a little bit of makeup (not too much since we were going to be eating) and I even decided to go the extra mile and put some gloss on my hooves to make them really shine. All of that took about an hour and a half, and I would have had about two more hours of free time if I hadn’t got caught up on whether or not to wear a dress.

We were going to spend the night eating chocolate for star’s sake. Me wearing makeup and styling my mane was already a bit too much for a date like that. But I still kind of wanted to really turn my coltfriend’s head for our date.

The two of us were going to rut like a pair of rabbits when we finally got back to the castle; there was no way in Tartarus that that wasn’t going to happen. I was going to do my best to make sure that my Ares was walking funny for the rest of the week and a couple of days after that. I wanted ponies from Baltimare to hear us!

…Not really but I’m sure you get my point.

Anyway, I wanted this to be a really special night for the two of us and I knew that my Ares really liked it when I dressed up in something sexy. So the last two hours I had before Ares picked me up for our little date were spent looking through my closet fretting over every single little dress and every little accessory to that dress.

Eventually I managed to pick out a sleek little black dress that I found in the very back of my closet and I matched it with a little gold necklace. I know that that doesn’t sound all that exciting or incredible but I was darn near ready to wear all of my bucking dresses since I had no idea what the hay somepony’s supposed wear for a chocolate eating date.

With another sigh I tossed my dress onto my bed and just laid my head on top of the covers. “I don’t know how Ares does this every single day,” I said to no one in particular. “This is the worst!”

Looking to the clock on my wall I saw that I didn’t have that much time to put on the dress before Ares came to pick me up. I reached for the little black dress when I stopped, an idea— a naughty idea— made itself known in my mind.

“…Maybe I should wear something underneath the dress?”

Though I was the only one in the room (hopefully Ms. Rarity hadn’t snuck in and hid on the ceiling or something) the faintest of blushes made its way onto my face as I picked my head up and looked over toward the drawer of my nightstand. Not moving, I opened the drawer with my magic, quickly checking to see if anypony was actually in my room in a sudden fit of paranoia, and levitated the items out of the drawer so that I could have a look at them.

About a dozen pairs of… risqué panties greeted me as I looked up at each and every one of them. I hadn’t told Ares about my super-secret sexy lingerie drawer yet, and I’m sure that he’ll make fun of me the second that I show him it, but at that moment I was kind of glad that my human didn’t know. Since he didn’t know about it (...at least I think he didn’t know) he didn’t know that I had an extensive amount of lingerie at my disposal.

...I’d bet that he’d really love if I wore one of these…

I bit my lip, imagining the look on my human’s face when he saw me wearing a little black thong… or maybe those little red frilly panties that were just a little too small so that they really hugged my flank… or maybe—

Buck it I’m wearing something underneath this dress, I thought, rubbing my back legs together as I imagined my little human pulling my panties off with nothing but his teeth and…

Realizing that I was thinking a little too much about this I shook my head and chuckled.

“You need to take it easy girl,” I mumbled with a smile, looking over each of the undergarments carefully. “You don’t want yourself getting too worked up before the date even starts! Ares might think something's off if you just go and jump him the second that he opens the door!”

Though I wasn’t a mare that really dressed up all that much in the bedroom, I did actually have quite the collection of lingerie, which was going to make picking out the perfect pair a little difficult…

...Do I have too many pairs of these? I asked myself, raising an orange g-string up to my face. I’m starting to think that I have way too many of these…

I hummed thoughtfully, stretching the clothing with my magic as I thought over my life decisions.

...Don’t be silly, you can never have too much underwear! Ares has like a million pairs and you don’t think that’s weird! I reasoned, raising an eyebrow when I came across what looked like a pair of crotchless chaps. …Though maybe I should cut down on them just a little… Where the hay did I even get these? Do they even fit me?...

~_~_~_~_~_~_

“Candy? Are you in there Candy Cane?” Ares called through the door after a few polite knocks.

While he didn’t see the point in knocking on his own bedroom door so that he could get the mare that was already his girlfriend, Princess Celestia, Twilight, and that odd little white mare Rarity, had insisted that he do so. He needed to be romantic and he needed to set the mood they had said. He needed to go out of his way to make his mare feel special they had insisted...

What the heck did those three know anyway? He always made Cadence feel special whenever the two of them were out and about having fun!

But if I don’t do what those three little horses say they’re going to bother me about it forever. I just fucking know it, Ares thought with a little smile as he heard shuffling from inside the room.

“Just give me a minute, honey!” Cadence called. “I’m just about ready… oh horse apples…”

“Take your time,” he called back, rocking back and forth on his heels, doing his very best to ignore the banging and crashing coming from the bedroom.

The love brigade better not have told Candy to get all dressed up for this fucking date, because I swear to god—

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Cadence said as she threw open the door. “I just noticed that my dress was a little dirty and—”

Whatever else the pink mare said was lost on the human as his eyes roamed her body. Just as he feared Cadence had gone ahead and dressed herself up in this tight stretchy little black dress with a gold string necklace wrapped around her neck.

Oh sweet Christ above I hope that she didn’t spend too long getting ready, Ares thought, his eyes lingering on his marefriend’s rump just a little longer than was appropriate. She looks fucking awesome but I don’t want her getting mad when she gets chocolate on everything…

Seeing that she was being gawked at Cadence giggled, giving her rump a little shake. “Easy there cowcolt,” she purred, walking over and rubbing herself against him. “We haven’t even started our date yet~”

Cadence’s grin grew as Ares, a blush coming to his face, took a few hasty steps backward and she giggled again, looking him over. “I see that someone managed to stay away from Miss Rarity and the others,” she said, pointing out his t-shirt and jeans.

Ares snorted, walking back over and placing his hand on his marefriend’s back. “I wish. Twilight and all of them were trying to make me dress up in a fucking suit for this date.” Looking Cadence over one more time Ares motioned toward their bedroom door. “You don’t have to get all dressed up like that Candy. We’re going on a—“

“I wanted to dress up a bit for my coltfriend,” Cadence interrupted with a smile, “because I know for a fact that he really likes it when I dress up. So, since my honey-bunny is the most wonderful stallion in the world, I decided to put in a little more effort in my appearance!”

Ares snorted and rolled his eyes, though there was a little smile still on his face. “Don’t you dare start calling me shit like honey-bunny or sweetie pie or any of that lovey-dovey garbage. And don’t get all huffy with me sister; I just don’t want you ruining that dress. Remember we’re going to go and eat a whole bunch of melted chocolate.”

“I have a spell to get out any stains if I do spill chocolate or anything else on this,” Cadence smartly replied, closing her eyes and puffing out her little chest, such made Ares roll his eyes again. “And don’t you go telling me what I can and can’t call you! Since I’m your marefriend I have the right to call you honey-bunny or sweetie or anything like that. In fact I’m almost require to!”

Opening her eyes the pink princess narrowed her eyes at her date as if daring him to challenge her. Trying his hardest not to smile Ares narrowed his eyes back at her, a fake scowl coming to his face as he took a “threatening” step forward. The two had this little stare-off for a while before Cadence cracked a smile. The second that she smiled Ares smiled, which in turn made Cadence’s smile just that bit bigger.

“…Alright, but don’t expect me to do happy about it.”

“Whatever you say my snookums,” Cadence chirped before leaning up on her tippy-hooves and puckering her lips. Ares, smiling, leaned down and gave her a little kiss. “Now come on, let’s go and eat some chocolate!”

Shaking his head, the human motioned for his marefriend to follow him before he started walking down that hall. Quickly following him, Cadence was soon walking side-by-side with her coltfriend so closely that they were rubbing against each other with ever few steps.

“So are we supposed to go and get Luna or is she just going to meet up with us?” Ares asked, placing his hand in the middle of Cadence’s back.

“She told me this morning that she’d meet us after we sat down,” Cadence answered as the two of them turned the corner. “Oh, and I want to thank you for not getting upset by what I did the other day.”

Though he made a bit of a face Ares just shrugged. “Hey, Princess Sunny Buns probably wasn’t going to let us go without a chaperone anyway, and there was no way in hell that I wanted to be followed around by a bunch of little horse guards.”

“I’d rather have my family watching over us then some noisy guards,” Cadence agreed with a nod.

“…Yeah.” Scratching his chin Ares looked over at his marefriend. “But do you really think we should be taking Luna with us though? I don’t know about you Candy Cane but I’m kind of a one horse guy, and taking Moon bottom with us might give her the wrong idea…”

“You’re just going to have to trust me on this one, honey,” Cadence said confidently. “I have a plan.”

Ares raised an eyebrow. “…Would you mind letting me in on this little plan of yours?”

With a giggle Cadence bumped Ares’ side with her rump, nearly knocking him over. “I’m afraid I can’t do that honey-bunny. You knowing the plan might ruin it.”

Ares made a face. “Of course it would…”

The rest of their walk was silent after that, the only other words being spoken were to a few of the guards as they left the castle and whatever mare or stallion walked up to chat with them in the middle of the street. The walk to this known sweets shop wasn’t a very long one— about a twenty minute walk from the castle if you weren’t in a hurry— but Ares couldn’t help but notice that his marefriend seemed a little… jumpy the moment they stepped out of the castle.

Her head was always swiveling around this way and that as if looking out for an attacker, when they had started coming across crowds of ponies she wrapped a wing protectively around his back, and she just kept rubbing herself against him like a needy little cat while stealing kisses from him at any opportunity. He honestly thought that it was adorable but it was still kind of odd.

If Ares thought that Cadence was acting a little strange the citizens of the Empire looked on in embarrassment, confusion, and amusement. Never before had they seen their princess dote over her human like a mother duckling, but if they had known what really happened these last couple of days not a single one of them would have though Cadence’s actions were odd; in fact they wouldn’t have expected anything less from her. But since they didn’t know (luckily or unluckily for them) most just thought it was adorable and cute and a little hard to watch.

“You alright there Candy?”

Cadence, a happy little smile on her face, lead him around the corner before looking up at him.

“Of course I’m alright, honey. Why wouldn’t I be alright?”

“I don’t know, you look a little nervous to me…” Looking over at the street sign Ares frowned. “Wait, how the heck do you know how to get to this chocolate shop?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t you hmm me. We’re going down pearl avenue and we need to—“

“Take a right, I know,” Cadence interrupted, taking said right.

Ares’s eyes narrowed. “And how the hell do you know then? It took me like five hours running around town to find the place! And that was even after I asked a whole bunch of ponies!”

“I had the guard check everything out yesterday,” Cadence said matter-of-factly.

“…Wait, wha—“

“Oh look! There’s the candy shop right down the street!” the pink princess cried excitedly, grabbing her coltfriend’s hand with her mouth and dragging toward the gingerbread-esk establishment.

“FEAR NOT CITIZEN! WE SHALL AID THEE!”

CRASH!

“SOMEPONY HELP ME! IT BURNS, IT BURNS!”

Both Cadence and Ares looked at each other, then they looked at the candy store where all the commotion seemed to be coming from. Pushing her human behind her, Cadence quickly made her way to the establishment's entrance. Clearing her throat the mare politely knocked on the door.

“…Excuse me? Is everything—“

Crash!

Bang!

BOOM!

“IT’S IN MY EYES! THE GUMMY BEARS ARE IN MY EYES!”

Gasping, Cadence reached quickly, turning around and swiftly bucking down the door before turning back around with her horn at the ready. What she saw in that little candy shop made her sit down, her jaw dropping in shock.

“…What in Tartarus happened here?”

It looked like a bomb had gone off in the candy shop. Broken jars that had been filled with sweets were scattered throughout the place, there was chocolate covering the floors, the walls, ponies, the ceiling, there were mares and stallions alike running around with everything from bubblegum to taffy stuck to them, and it looked like a cotton candy machine was on fire. There was screaming, there was smoke bellowing out of the shop, ponies were screaming bloody murder, and in the middle of it all was a flustered Luna-- who was wearing a lovely blue low cut dress that appeared to be still whole and untouched dispute the war zone all around-- who appeared to be trying to extinguish the cotton candy machine with gummy bears and bubblegum.

“WORRY NOT CITIZENS OF THE EMPIRE! I SHALL HAVE THIS ALL—“

Luna froze, slowly turning around to see Cadence and a confused Ares behind her. The Princess of the Night looked at the ensuing chaos, then up at the big glass jar of gummy bears held in her magical grasp, then back at her charges.

With an epp she dropped the jar, an embarrassed blush coming to her face. “We—I mean I can explain!” She looked all around again. “…Really, I can! I promise!”

The Shop's Only a Little On Fire

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It took a heck of alot longer than I expected to clean up the chaos that was that little candy store, and even after spending about an hour cleaning, I don’t think we managed to get everything. Even alicorn magic could do so much against the absolute chaos inside that building. We did the best that we could though, and with the help of my aunt we managed to put out the fires, clear out the smoke, get ponies unstuck from the walls and clean up all of the broken glass, chocolate, and fluids that I really hoped was lemonade.

The next trial that I was faced with after that was deciding whether to just leave and let the owners of the place send us the bill for… whatever the buck happened here, or tough it out, calm the owners of the place, and the other customers, and try to enjoy the rest of the night with my coltfriend. To be honest after cleaning up that mess and calming down more than one crying stallion (the big babies…) I was just ready to call it quits and go back to the castle. Maybe instead of a chocolate-themed date, the two of us could just get a couple of pizzas made and we could sit around in our room and make a night of that.

Surprisingly, Ares was the one that convinced me that this date could still work.

Though he was just as dirty and chocolate-covered as me from helping everypony out, my little human quickly became a whirlwind of activity. With a determination that I hadn’t seen in a long, long time Ares managed to calm down the owners of the store and the customers (though more than one of them still had this thousand yard stare that kind of made me uncomfortable), he got chairs and tables put back to where they were supposed to go, he got the whatever candy was left back on the shelves, and he even managed to calm my horrified aunt down somewhat. Somewhat.

I don’t know what the hay happened here, or what was the thing that started it, but I swear to the gods above that my aunt Luna looked like she was about to die from embarrassment. She couldn’t look anypony in the eye, her wings twitched every few seconds like she was ready to take off into the air, she kept fiddling with her hooves, and she looked sad. Sad and disappointed.

I wasn’t even sure that what happened was in any way her fault since nopony was looking at her angrily or demanding that she leave or telling me anything really, but if you would have looked at my aunt you would have sworn that she had just killed a pony and set their house on fire. In fact, she looked so downtrodden and so sad that if I wasn’t so busy dealing with all of the nonsense and horse apples around me I would have given my aunt the biggest and warmest and lovey-doviest hug that I could while telling her that everything was going to be alright.

But here was no time for that. Hugging my aunt until she felt better could wait for a little bit. I had a date with my little human going on and there was nothing that was going to stop that; not even me. Even though it seemed like the fates themselves were trying to ruin our night we were going to have this date. Even if it killed us we were going to bucking enjoy ourselves!

So both my little human and I hardened our hearts fixed and solved everything that needed fixed and solved to the best of our ability. Our outfits had the chocolate and everything else cleaned off via magic, the chocolate machines were warmed up and readied once again, and the customers and the staff were seated and talking and looking a heck of a lot more calm than they had went we came into the building. Though, a few ponies had insisted on leaving, and the smell of burnt cotton candy still filled, the air the atmosphere was still good enough for our date.

And so Luna, Ares, and myself found ourselves sitting around a chocolate fountain with an assortment of foods, just ready to enjoy ourselves for five minutes without anything blowing up or coming in here and trying to blow the place up. Like I said I didn’t know what happened, and at this point I wasn’t even going to ask. All I was going to do was sit back, nuzzle against my coltfriend, and eat chocolate until I couldn’t eat chocolate anymore!

…..For Faust’s sake…

With a relieved smile my human clapped his hands together. “Alright! Now that we got all of that out of the way why don’t we start eating, huh?”

I smiled to myself, nuzzling my human’s side as I looked down at the bounty before us. Pretzels, marshmallows, fruit, candies, everything and anything imaginable was there ready to get dunked in chocolate.

I was about ready to dunk my head into the fountain and start drinking it straight from the tap (I was stressed and I like chocolate; don’t judge me) when a waitress trotted over to us with some plates and silverware in her hooves. “I’m sorry that we couldn’t bring these out to you sooner, Princess,” the young mare said with a slightly tired smile.

I smiled right back. “Don’t worry about it,” I told her, taking everything out of her hooves and laying it out on the table with my magic. “In fact I was surprised you were able to situate everything as fast as you did.”

The waitress’s smile became slightly nervous. “Well… The owners wanted me to thank you for all of your help in fixing up the store.” Her smiled became a bit more at ease as she looked over at Luna. “And they also wanted to thank you for coming in to help when you did, Princess Luna. If you weren’t there I’m sure that everything would have been a thousand times worse.”

Luna, who hadn’t looked up from her lap since Ares sat her down, mumbled something that I couldn’t quite catch.

The waitress’s smile widened a little bit more. “They also said that even though it was nice that you offered bits for the damages they couldn’t take your money after all that you did to help.” Reaching into her apron the young mare pulled out three golden tickets. “Here, if you ever want to come back just show your server these you’ll eat for free.”

Ares and I exchanged looks. Though we were both a bit shocked at this sudden and unexpected turn of events, that didn’t mean we didn’t have smiles on our faces at that bit of welcomed news.

“Thank you very much,” I said.

The mare shook her head. “No, thank you for not only helping us out of some major technical difficulties but staying here even when you had every reason to demand a refund on your reservation.” She was about to say more when a shout came from across the room. “Excuse me, I have to see to another customer. I hope you three have a lovely evening and don’t hesitate to call if you need anything else!”

Ares and I smiled, waving at the waitress until she was out of sight, then our gaze turned toward Luna. Though I wasn’t a mind reader (or at least I wasn’t using any of the spells that would let me read other ponies minds at the moment) I knew that my little human had the same burning question that was consuming my thoughts.

“…So… Luna… You mind telling us what happened?”

…Alright, I know that I just said that I didn’t have any desire to know what the hay happened here, but that was before we all got free chocolate! Now I had to know!

Luna sank a little bit more into her seat, her shoulders slumped and her ears pinned against the sides of her head. “We arrived a bit early so that we could scan for any dangers and perhaps acquire a table for us to sit at,” Luna mumbled. “But upon arrival we witnessed one of the cotton candy-making devices exploding…”

I bite my lip and once again had to resist the urge to get up and hug her.

Luna fidgeted in her seat a bit more, looking sadder by the second. “We attempted to aid the owners but everything got worse and worse until…” She sighed, finally looking up at me and my human. “We apologize, Ares, Mi Amore…”

I found myself scooting my chair toward my aunt, who looked close to crying, until I was sitting right next to her. Luna sniffled as I wrapped my wing around her and pulled her close. Ares, the sweet man that he was, scooched on the other side of her with a worried look on his face.

“What the hay are you apologizing for, Luna?” I asked gently, nuzzling my aunt’s cheek. “It sounds like what me and Ares saw would have been a heck of a lot worse if you weren’t there to help.”

Luna sniffled, leaning against me. “We should have dealt with the issue before thou came through that door.” I could see tears start to form at the corner of my aunt’s eyes as she took a shaky breath. “Thou honored us with thy invitation to this confectionary shop and We swore to thee that thy date would be a joyful one… An oath that we hath obviously broken…”

I nuzzled my aunt again and my wing tightened around her.

I think I understood now. Since I asked Luna specifically to go on this date with us she felt like it had to be as perfect as perfect can be. With everything happening she couldn’t just go and start “wooing” us like she wanted, so this was probably the next best thing for her, and if she showed us that me and Ares could relax and enjoy ourselves around her that might even have made the wooing easier for her when she started down that road.

She must have been crushed when she saw the two of us step into the candy store like it was and how it looked with her yelling and trying to put out the fires as best as she could...

Retracting my wing I pulled Luna into a proper hug. Though I could feel ponies staring I ignored them as I rubbed my aunt’s back. “None of that was your fault, Luna,” I assured. “You didn’t break your oath or ruin our date or anything like that.”

Slowly, I felt Luna’s hooves wrap around my middle loosely so that she could return the hug. “Thou should have asked for somepony else…”

I made a disapproving noise. “Don’t you dare say that, Luna! Ares and I probably would have had to go back to the castle if you hadn’t stepped in and did something.”

My aunt’s hug tightened just a bit and I heard her sniffle again.

It broke my heart to see my aunt like this. If I had known that this date meant that much to Luna I would have insisted that she came with us, I would have offered to do her mane, I would have bucking done something to show her that I cared and that I wanted her to come with us!

I knew that she had been a little… weird the last couple of days, but she was still my aunt and I still loved her to bits. She was a wonderful aunt and one of the best ponies I knew, and she didn’t deserve to feel this horrible because of something that she couldn’t control!

Looking over my shoulder I raised an eyebrow at Ares, hopping that he’d be able to help me get Luna out of her funk so we all could enjoy the rest of this evening.

I could see the gears turning in my human’s head as he looked down at me and Luna, his face scrunching up thoughtfully. I nudged my head toward my sniffling aunt, silently begging him to hug Luna or say a few kind words or something.

Nodding, my human looked over at the chocolate fountain, then back at us, then back at the fountain. His face scrunched up a bit more before a proverbial light bulb appeared above his head. Now smiling, he stuck out a finger and put it under the fountain, coating his finger in chocolatey goodness, before reaching over and bopping Luna right on the nose.

A surprised snort/whinny escaped Luna’s throat and she reeled back into her seat as the warm chocolate hit her nose nearly knocking me out of my chair as she scooted away, her back legs kicking. Her eyes crossed and her nostrils flared as she tried to look at what my Ares had done to her. Frantically reaching up she poked at the dollop of chocolate with a hoof before she reared back and sneezed.

I couldn’t help but snort at the sight, covering my mouth with a hoof. Though it didn’t feel right to have a bit of a laugh at Luna’s expense I just couldn’t help it. The look of surprise shock on her face, the way that her eyes crossed, the way that she was trying to lick at the chocolate right now was too much. Covering my mouth with both of my hooves, I made it a point to kick Ares’s shin as another giggle forced its way out of my throat.

Luna’s wings flapped at her sides as she just sat there, frozen after she licked at the chocolate for a second or two. She was like that for a few seconds, long enough that I was worried what Ares just did might have done a bit more harm than good. That worry grew when I saw Luna start to shake, and I was about to pull her into another hug, when my aunt starting to laugh.

“Hehe… He…Haha…Hahahahahahahaha!”

The sadness and hurt on my aunt’s face vanished as she broke into a fit of giggles and chuckles and snorts, a big old smile coming to her face. The sight brought a genuine, heartfelt smile back to my face, which turned to a bubbly giggle, which then turned into relieved laughter.

I could see ponies smiling all around us as Luna and I laughed, and boy was it nice… to laugh I mean. It felt like I hadn’t had a good belly laugh in forever, and I couldn’t help but enjoy the experience. Neither could Ares, apparently, since his smile grew and he crossed his arms as he sat back and watched us.

He knew that we both needed a good laugh, I realized, warmth filling my chest as I looked at my human. Sweet Faust above am I going to do things to you when the two of us get home…

Still laughing, Luna pulled me into a bone crushing hug. I returned the hug as our laughter turned into chuckles which turned into giggles, the two of us holding each other as our laughing finally died and we were just sitting there hugging each other.

“Do you feel better, Luna?” I asked, my throat a bit sore from the laughing, nosing my aunt’s cheek.

Luna looked up at me with a smile. “Aye, We feel a good deal better, Cadence,” she said, her voice light and giggly.

Breaking the hug she looked over at Ares for a moment before opening her hooves wide. Without missing a beat my Ares got out of his chair and wrapped my aunt in a hug.

“Now quit with all of this sad shit, Moonbutt,” he said as he patted Luna on the back. “We’re supposed to loosen up and have fun here for Christ’s sake.”

Luna nodded, quickly breaking the hug and sitting back in her seat, looking far better than she had a few minutes ago. “Thou art right Ares,” she said, looking down at the table with a bit of pink on her cheeks. “We were just so concerned with making sure that thy night was a lovely one and when…”

Puffing her cheeks out, my aunt giggled again, once again sticking her tongue out to try to poke at the chocolate still on her nose. “But never mind that! As you said this is a night for merriment!”

Using her magic Luna picked up a stick pretzel and dunked it into the fountain. Quickly pulling it out, she held the now chocolate pretzel, which was still dripping with chocolate, up into the air as she finally managed to lick the dollop of chocolate off of her nose.

“So, We shall cease being the pooper of parties and we shall commence with the merriment!”

Smiling, both Ares and I grabbed ourselves pretzels and gave them a chocolate dunking and held them up with Luna’s. Though the chocolate was getting all over the table and Ares’ was getting all over his hand not a single one of us cared as we looked at each other.

I could see the comfort and happiness in both of my human’s and my aunt’s faces. The atmosphere wasn’t tense or awkward or strained like it had been. And it wasn’t just our table; every single mare and stallion no longer looked nervous and angry or like they had just seen some horrible or nasty stuff. It felt like I was actually sitting around with my loved ones having a wonderful time in a wonderful place with a whole bunch of wonderful ponies.

And sweet Faust above did it feel wonderful.

My smile widened even further when I saw that many of the other customers in the shop had taken pretzels of their own and had them held up high into the air.

“To merriment!” Ares yelled.

“To merriment!” Luna shouted.

“To fun!” I said with another giggle.

Ares, Luna, and I tapped our pretzels together, getting chocolate everywhere, and took great big bites out of our treats. All around us I could hear my subjects doing the same and because of it I darn near started laughing again.

Humming, I closed my eyes and slowly chewed my treat, my hum quickly turning into a groan as I experienced the chocolate-y goodness, a feeling that I had not felt in what felt like an eternity.

Oh holy horse apples has it been WAY too long since I’ve eaten any chocolate, I thought, my wings twitching as I popped the rest of my pretzel into my mouth. Momma needed this…Ohhhh did momma need this…

“That taste good, Candy?”

I lazily cracked open an eye to see that my little human had once again moved his chair over so that he was sitting next to me with his half eaten pretzel still in his hand. Still chewing my pretzel, I plucked his pretzel out of his hand with my magic and popped that bit into my mouth.

“I can see why this place needed a reservation, Hon,” I said through a mouthful of pretzel (definitely not spraying chocolate and crumbs everywhere), bumping his side with a wing as our sides touched. “This chocolate is so bucking good!”

Chuckling, Ares wrapped an arm around me. “Well good. I was worried that you weren’t going to like it.”

“You could have offered to take me to a landfill and I would have been happy as long as you were with me, Honey,” I said without missing a beat, looking over all of the other dunkable goodies in front of me.

Ares’ smile widened a little more as he wiped a bit of chocolate sticking on the corner of my mouth and licked it off of his finger. “I’ll have to remember that next time. It’ll save me the headache of getting a reservation.”

Even though I rolled my eyes I snuggled into his side a little more as I picked up a strawberry and gave it a good dunking. I levitated it up to my human’s mouth smearing his lips with the chocolate-y goodness. Ares, surprised, drew back and looked at me. Me, the picture of innocence, batted my eyelashes at him and tried once again to stuff the strawberry into his mouth. This time though my human was ready, taking a bite out of the treat.

Chewing, he looked thoughtfully at the fruit. “You know, when you’re right you’re right, Candy. This here is some good ass chocolate.”

Giggling yet again I levitated the rest of the strawberry down toward my mouth and ate it right up. My eyes closed as the chocolate once again took me to a magical, wonderful place, making me squirm in my seat as I bit back another groan. Licking my lips I pulled down my human’s head and captured his lips with mine.

Yep, this is easily the best thing I’ve taste today, I thought, licking my human’s lips as I stroked his cheek with a hoof. I wonder if I could convince the owners of this place to give me some of this chocolate to go. I’d LOVE to see if it goes well with any other part of my Ares…

While I wanted to take the kiss a little further I couldn’t help but notice that my aunt and more than a few of my subjects were staring. With that in mind it was with a heavy heart that I broke the kiss and once again snuggled into my stallion’s side.

“Yes… yes it is, Honey,” I murmured, reaching for a little square bar of mint.

The next couple of hours were a haze of chocolate and conversation. After we had all gotten our fill of chocolate-y goodness (Luna and my Ares getting their fill way before me) we started walking around and mingling with the other customers, who in turn got up from their seats and started talking to the other ponies around them.

It was nice just walking around and talking to my subjects like I wasn’t a princess, and I was surprised with how quickly my little ponies got over the fact that they were talking with a princess and started to talk and joke around with me. In fact the only one that was getting looks of awe and wonder well into the night was Ares, who was referred to as “the cuddle monkey” more times than I could count.

While it had been easy for me and Ares to go and talk to the ponies around us Luna had a bit of a tougher time. I had to all but drag her out of her chair and toward a group of ponies, and when I did get her there it took a bit more coaxing to get her to do more than awkwardly stand there and look at the floor.

I had seen my aunt talk in front of hundreds of ponies at a time without flinching and whenever she walked out in public her head was always held high and she was more regal and elegant than most mares could ever hope to be. But she was a princess then; she knew it and so did her little ponies. But right now she wasn’t a Princess who ruled over millions of ponies and who could raise the moon with the utmost of ease. Right now she was being treated like a normal mare, a peer, and she didn’t know how to respond.

I saw this and did my best to ease my aunt into it, and soon she was talking and joking and telling stories with everypony else. In fact, after hopping over that initial wall, I noticed that my aunt almost seemed to enjoy the company and telling her tales and laughing without having a stick up her butt, and I was glad. Good company, good food, and good conversation would do her good just like it would do me and Ares some good.

As the night progressed the owners of the shop somehow got their hooves on some bottles of wine and soon we had drinks to go with our chocolate and snacks, which eased any still tense ponies and livening up the atmosphere even more.

Ponies talked, ponies became friends, one mare ate so much chocolate that three mares had to rush to the bathroom to fret over her while she puked her guts out, we all laughed, Ares and I danced, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen my aunt Luna this happy to be around ponies that she didn’t know. I wouldn’t say that the night was magical. No, it was more… soothing, almost healing.

Though we stayed late it felt like we left way too soon, Ares, myself, and Luna, all of us a little drunk and covered in chocolate, bid our new friends goodbye and made our way back to the castle.

“I can’t believe that that one mare went and jumped into that fountain,” Ares said while Luna and I giggled.

“I still think that Mr. Taffy should have let those ponies get some of the chocolate off the poor mare before dragging her away to get cleaned up,” I commented, rubbing myself against my human as we walked.

Luna snorted. “Methinks that Mrs. Taffy had no issue with her husband carrying her away as he did though,” she said in amusement.

My eyes widened. “Wait, that was Mrs. Taffy? I thought that her and her husband were getting along in the years.”

I had to contain another burst of giggles at the thought of a forty year old mare hooting and hollering like a twenty year old and hopping into that fountain like that. It almost made me want to go back to the candy shop to see just how crazy it was going to get there. Hopefully the place would still be standing in the morning.

Luna nodded, her mane sparkling in the moonlight as she smiled. “Aye, We watched as she hopped into the fountain ourselves.”

My aunt stumbled and Ares had to reach over and grab her to stop her from falling over. In his attempt to save my aunt from eating cobblestone my tipsy coltfriend nearly lost balance himself and I was forced to steady him with a wing.

Boy I bet we all look silly, I thought with another quiet giggle. Thank goodness no one’s trying to fly or use magic.

Thanking my human, Luna turned to me. “And what is wrong with a mare that does not act her age, Mi Amore?” Closing her eyes and puffing her chest out, my aunt lifted a hoof up into the air. “Look at us; We are thousands of years old and neither my sister or myself act like wizened hags now do we?”

My human snorted, nudging Luna. “Well I’ve always thought that Sunbutt would be the kind of girl that liked to knit behind closed doors…”

Without warning the mental image of my aunt Celestia sitting on a rocking chair knitting a sweater with a little blanket wrapped around her entered my mind. And I bucking lost it.

The streets echoed with my laughter as I threw my head up into the air and laughed like I had never laughed before. Ares and my aunt must have been thinking along the same lines as me because not two seconds later all three of us were laughing our heads off. I don’t know how long I just sat there, my thoughts a little clouded because of the wine, but eventually I found myself in my human’s lap with my aunt squeezed in right next to me, the two of us with our heads on either side my Ares’s shoulders as he rubbed our backs.

I smiled and closed my eyes. “That was a fun night, Honey,” I said, nuzzling my human’s neck. “Thanks for taking us.”

“Aye, t’was a most splendid evening,” Luna murmured, sounding half asleep.

I chuckled, rolling out of my human’s lap. “Come on, let’s get back to the castle before anypony sees us sitting in the middle of the street like a bunch of crazy ponies.”

Luna smiled at that, nuzzling my human’s cheek before carefully getting to her hooves and making her way over to me. “Mi Amore? Might We speak with thee for a moment?”

I raised an eyebrow when I saw her nudging her head at my human and shaking her head. Ares must have seen the weird little gesture too since he just chuckled.

“Why don’t you two have yourselves a nice little talk while I just sit here for a couple of minutes?” He waved us away with a hand before leaning back and staring up at the sky. “Go ahead, I’ll meet you back up at the castle in a little bit.”

My aunt’s smile turned grateful. “We thank thee, Ares.” She turned back to me. “Come, Cadence, there is much for us to discuss.”

While the business-like and serious look that Luna was giving me would usually have a couple of alarms sounding off in my head, I’d like to think, after all that we did together tonight, I’d like to think that I knew my aunt a little better. That, and I was a little too drunk to get all that worried about anything really. So I simply nodded and let her lead me down the street.

For a long while Luna didn’t say a word to me as the two of us made our way back to the castle. If I had to guess she needed the time to collect her thoughts; Faust knows that it was hard to just walk in a straight line with all of this wine in me. But when she did finally turn around to look at me I saw a look of regret on her face.

“Cadence… We—I mean, I would like to apologize for my actions the other day.”

My brow furrowed. What the hay was she talk—ohhhhhh…

She was talking about the touching wasn’t she?

Luna looked down at the ground and kicked at the cobblestone. “From what our sister hath— Celestia told me that what I did was inappropriate.” She looked back up at me, her cheeks tinted pink. “Wildly inappropriate. And while I will not apologize for courting you and Ares I never meant to make you uncomfortable in anyway.”

With a little understanding smile (or a drunk smile, I couldn’t tell at this point) I sat beside my aunt and wrapped a wing around her.

“All of that touching was how ponies showed interest back in your day?” I asked, trying not to cringe at saying “back in your day”. I had tried to think of a way to not be so blunt about it but I was a little drunk alright? Drunk-ish Cadence wasn’t a mare that was too quick on her hooves when it came to conversations.

Thankfully Luna didn’t seem to take offense, slowly nodding as she leaned against me. “Yes, ponies that were interested in each other would touch and rub against the one that they were trying to court.”

Luna’s blush deepened just a little bit. “They would also nip each other on the withers and rump but I decided not to do that with you at the last moment.”

And now I was blushing, looking away from my aunt while I coughed awkwardly into my hoof.

“Well… thanks for not... biting me.” My smile came back to my face. “And I forgive you. Thanks for the apology.”

Luna breathed a sigh of relief as I nuzzled her cheek and let my mind dwell on the mare beside me.

Even though I honestly didn’t think that it’d work between her, Ares, and me, Luna was a wonderful mare. She might have been behind the times and because of that she was a bit too touchy feely, but any stallion would be lucky to have her. Sure, her trying to make goo-goo eyes at me was a little… weird but we all had our quarks. And who knows? Maybe she’ll pull through and win me and Ares over.

…Did I just said that? I just said that didn’t I?

…Hehe. I must have had a bit more wine than I thought.

Luna and I broke our wing hug after another minute of holding each other and we once again started to make our way back to the castle. Walking back to the castle wouldn’t be the right way to say it. Bumbling to the castle might have been a better way to say it; webumbled back to the castle.

We chatted about nothing and everything on the way back, both of us at ease and giggling like school fillies, as we bumped into each other and tried to make funny faces when the other wasn’t looking. Just like the rest of the night this was nice, messing around and acting like I was a five year old. Silliness for silliness sake always made a night better, and whoever tells you any different is a bore and a stiff.

I was honestly a little disappointed when we finally made it back to Luna’s room, but I also kind of wasn’t if you know what I mean. While this night was one of the best that I’ve had in awhile I had a date with my little human in our bedroom. Or on our table. Or on the floor. Wherever we’d end up we’d end up I guess.

“May the rest of your night be a wonderful one, Cadenza,” Luna said with a smile, disappointment on her face that our “date” was already over.

I smiled back at her. “You have a good night to—“

As quick as a snake Luna stepped forward and kissed me on the cheek. I stopped mid-sentence to just look at her.

Luna’s eyes widened and she froze, as if she just realized what she did.

“GOODNIGHTCADENCEWEHATHTOUSETHELITTLEMARESROOMANDCLEANTHESINKANDWAXTHEGUTTERS!!!”

I raised a hoof to say something but my aunt teleported away in a flash, leaving me alone in the hallway. “…I hope she at least teleported into her room,” I muttered with a shake of the head, a hoof going up to my face to touch my cheek.

From behind me I could hear a chuckle. “So I’m guessing that the two of you had a nice little chat?”

Turning around I notice my little human leaning against the wall with a smirk on his face and his arms crossed.

I don’t know why but I found myself blushing and looking at the floor. “S-Shut up you pervert.”

My human threw up his hands with a grin. “Hey, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just asking if your little plan was coming along alright.”

A smile came to my face, and that smile was lewd. “It’s going along fine, thank you for asking.” Walking over to my human with a sway of my hips I rubbed myself against him. “Now, why don’t we go and have some fun, hon~?”

I had to stop from laughing when Ares’s eyes just lit up. “What, are you—“
“Yep.”

“And we can—”

My smile grew and I wiggled my hips. “I’d love if you took me back to my room and ripped this dress off me, Ares.”

An excited squeak (which sounded suspiciously like a rubber duck) escaped my human’s throat. “Then what the hell are we just standing here twiddling our thumbs for?!”

“…I don’t have thumbs, Ho—NEY!”

I squeaked as Ares scooped me up. “You know what I mean, Candy ass! Now come! The bedroom awaits!”

Shadows in the Mirrors

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While the Crystal Castle was usually a hive of activity, the second that the sun went down it became a whole different place. Not a sound could be heard in the empty, barely illuminated hallways. Not a maid or servant or even guard would be seen walking around. There was no shouting, no talking, no sound of hooves clip clopping against the crystal floors. All was quiet, all was calm and all was peaceful and tranquil.

But in this quiet, comfortable silence there was a disturbance that disrupted the peaceful tranquility in the castle. A human and alicorn-sized disturbance.

Ares was carrying around a hundred and twenty pound slightly drunk pony in his arms. He had drunk just a little too much for his own good and his stomach was full of chocolate and other treats. His whole body felt excited and warm, like he was a kid on Christmas morning again, and it showed on his face as he ran through the hall with his Candy in his arms at full tilt.

Cadence seemed to be in the same boat as her human in the excitement department. Every few seconds she’d suddenly break into a fit of giggles for seemingly no reason and the smile on her face was a mile wide. Her cheeks were red and she found herself touching her human’s neck, face, and shoulders as her wings twitched at her sides. Her breathing was irregular and her face was flushed. She looked eager, and her eagerness made Ares eager and excited and made the tightness in his pants all the tighter.

The whole trip through the castle had been a blur of kisses,nuzzles, and heated looks from his mare. More than once Ares had had to stop and have a make-out session with Cadence, pressing her against a wall or just holding her into the air until his arms grew tired. Each time he tasted the inside of his mare’s mouth, ran his hands up and down her perfect body and listened to her moan, the more eager he became and the faster he wanted to get back to their room.

Both Ares and Cadence were bright red, panting like races horses, and sweaty. The couple were ready; more than ready for what was about to happen.

After running through what felt like the entire castle, Ares eventually found himself standing in front of their bedroom door. “Come on you stupid fucking thing,” he growled, fumbling with the doorknob.

“I’d hurry up if I were you, Sweetie,” Cadence said with a purr and girly giggle as she kissed his neck, not helping the situation in the slightest. “If you don’t hurry up with that door then I might just knock you to the ground and rut you right here~.”

Though his hands were slightly shaky he managed to rip open the door after the third try. Leaning down to kiss a giggling Cadence, who almost knocked him off his feet by wrapping her hooves around his neck and roughly pulling him close, he stepped through the door. Kicking it closed Ares waddled over to his bed, somehow managing to kick off his shoes in the process in between kisses.

His member twitched from within the confines of his jeans as his mare teased him with her tail, her horn glowing to unbutton his pants. Her horn glowed even brighter and he was forced to watch as his shirt seemed to melt off of him. While he would have been a little upset at the sudden loss of one of his favorite shirts, all he could think about was the little pink mare in his arms.

He knew that he probably should be saying something right now. Something romantic and heartfelt and mushy that would make her smile. Maybe say that he loved her or that she was beautiful or that her ass looked really, really great in that dress. Every time that his mouth wasn’t preoccupied with Cadence’s tongue he tried to say something, but each time no words came out.

The wine, the realization that he was finally going to have sex with his marefriend really-really had hit him like a freight train the second that he had opened the door and Cadence had ripped down his pants. He could feel the heat from between his mare’s legs as she rubbed them together. He could see her biting her lip as she used her magic to rub his cock through his underwear. Ares realized what was about to happen, was excited that it was going to happen, but it was all a little too much for him to take in at once. He was about to get everything he wanted but he didn’t know how to act. All he knew was that he really, really wanted what was about to happen happen.

His eagerness and impatience must have shown on his face because Cadence giggled again, her eyes sparkling as she leaned up and kissed him.

Her tongue lapped at his lips just as Ares made it to the bed. Without a second thought his lips parted and his tongue darted out to meet Cadence’s, the taste of wine and candy assaulting his taste buds as their tongues wrestled for dominance.

Cadence let out a quiet moan as he dropped her onto the bed, her mane falling all around her face as her back legs twitched and her wings ruffled. With a growl he leaned down and kissed her again, putting everything he had into it.

The two lovers held the passionate and loving kiss for as long as they could before Cadence broke it with a gasp, her chest burning from lack of air. Before she could even take another breath Ares’s mouth crashed back against her’s. Cadence, with another moan, wrapped her hooves around him, pulling him into the bed with her. The two rolled around, touching and groping and kissing as they fought for position, before Cadence once again had to push Ares off of her to take a breath, pinning him to the bed as she straddled him.

The two just sat there, breathing heavily, before Ares looked up at her and grinned. “I love you, Candy.” He reached up and brushed a lock of hair out of her face. Though he could see the need and lust in Cadence’s eyes the mare smiled and leaned into his touch. A warmth filled Ares’s chest as his Cadence nuzzled his hand. “I love you so much.”

Cadence’s smile widened and kissed the palm of his hand. “I love you too, Honey.” Leaning down she nuzzled his face. “I love you with all of my heart.”

Ares was about to lean up for another kiss when he suddenly stopped, doubt creeping into his features. “...Are you sure you want to do this, Cadence?”

The pink princess blinked. “What do you mean, Honey?”

Though every instinct told him to just rip his underwear off and let nature take its course, Ares forced himself to take a deep breath and reign his urges in. He wanted to hear his Cadence say that this was okay. He wanted to know that this wasn’t the result of some plant or because she had drank a little too much. Ares wanted to hear her say that she wanted this because she wanted it.

“Do you want to do… this?” He awkwardly waved his hands around. “I just want you to think about it for a second. I don’t want you to think that I’m pressuring—“

Ares was interrupted by a giggle as Cadence leaned down and kissed him on the nose. “Oh Ares,” she said, her tone thick with amusement. “If you think you’re leaving this bed without rutting my brains out then you got another thing coming you silly filly~.”

Spreading her wings out wide she tickled his nose with a wing tip. Despite himself, Ares’s eyes crossed, making Cadence giggle even harder.

“I didn’t get all dressed up like this so that the two of us could just kiss and go to bed!” Ares twitched in surprise when she scooched back until she was sitting right on his crotch. Biting her lip she placed her front legs on his chest and started grinding herself against his bulge. Not hard enough to make him lose it but hard enough that he most certainly could feel it. “You’re going to lay me down on this bed and rut me until the two of us can’t move anymore.”

Cadence kissed his nose again, and for a fraction of a second, Ares could have sworn he saw something change in her eyes. The lust and love and eagerness turned into something… else, something that might have been unsettling if all the blood wasn’t rushing southward. And it might have been the lack of light, but he could have sworn that her eyes changed color…

He only had a second to think on it before she rolled the two of them over so that she was under him, her wings splayed across the bed.

“Now why don’t you be a dear and help take this dress off of me?” the princess asked with a little wiggle. “You might find a surprise underneath it~…”

In an instant the strangeness that had just happened was forgotten as Cadence spread her back legs and let out an eager moan. It was no longer important; nothing else was important except the mare under him.

Darting back in for another kiss, Ares cupped his mare’s face, rubbing his thumbs against her cheeks. He then ran his fingers through her mane, making her giggle as he played with her ears for a few seconds before his hands started to move downward.

Cadence twitched as his fingers trailed down her sensitive neck, the digits lightly digging into her coat, and to her back. Her hips began to buck lightly when she felt the muscles in her back being poked and traced. That bucking became a little more forceful and needy when Ares’s fingers started playing with her wing joints and the sensitive flesh near them.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes with a groan. With each loving touch she could feel the heat in between her legs increase. Cadence squirmed, grinding herself against him hoping that it would move him along. Unfortunately this only made Ares grin. He continued to pepper her face with kisses as his fingers worked their magic.

Though she tried to let her human have his fun for as long as she could bare it, Cadence finally snapped after Ares poked a particularly sensitive spot on her back. Growling, she used her hooves to grab his hands and forced them onto her flanks.

“Don’t you bucking tease me like this!” She tried growling again but it turned into a moan as Ares pressed his body against her’s, his bulge rubbing against her lower belly. “ I-I swear I’ll do… something!”

Ares couldn’t help but chuckle as he gave his mare’s rump a playful squeeze. “But teasing is the best part!” Cadence opened her mouth to say something but a rough grope turned it into a breathless gasp. “You might want to hurry this up but I want to get you nice and ready, Candy. We have all night; there’s no need to rush this.”

Cadence twitched as his fingertips traced her cutiemarks. “I get to touch the most beautiful girl in the world tonight. Why not just lay back and enjoy this? I know I’m gonna.”

Though she was grinding against her human’s still-covered erection, Cadence couldn’t help but blush at the praise. “Aw… that’s really—eep!”

The Princess let out a surprised squeak as Ares leaned forward and nipped her neck hard. Using his teeth to lightly tug at her fur he reached around with a hand until he found the end of her dress. Blindly fumbling until he managed to hook his fingers under it. Holding Cadence as still as he could he then began to slowly pull the dress up his mare, slowly revealing the amazingly, perfect furry body underneath.

Cadence squirmed in Ares’s lap. Quiet, eager little whimpers escaped her throat as her human pulled the dress off of her bottom and up to her belly. Without needing to be asked she lifted up her hooves so that he could pull the little black dress over her head where it was then tossed away onto the floor.

“There we go,” Ares murmured, his eyes drinking in his mare’s figure as his hands caressed her sides. “I unwrapped my present. But where’s this surprise th—“

Whatever else Ares wanted to say ceased to be as he looked down at his marefriend’s rump. He had expected her to be wearing nothing under this dress but, to his delight, he saw that she did in fact have a surprise for him. An awesome surprise.

A pair of deep red panties hugged his mare’s butt. They were a very nice pair of panties too. They weren’t too frilly, they left just enough to the imagination and they were slightly too small which meant that they really hugged Cadence’s bottom. Really, really hugged.

But that didn’t matter to Ares at the moment (though in the back of his mind he was wondering why she would wear red panties with a black dress). What did matter was the fact that he could very clearly see that his Cadence’s undergarments were soaking wet. In fact she was so wet that her juices had seeped through the cloth and were dripping down her legs.

The second that he saw inconclusive evidence of his mare’s arousal, several things happened at once. He suddenly noticed the heat that was radiating from Cadence’s nethers, his lover’s musk hit him like a freight train, and he found himself breathing heavily. Very heavily.

Cadence couldn’t help but giggle when she saw her human’s jaw drop and his pupils dilate. “So, do you like your surprise?” she asked innocently with another wiggle of her hips as she opened her legs just a little more and leaned back.

Dumbly Ares nodded. His fingers twitched as he slowly lowered his hands back toward Cadence’s rump. He licked his lips, already feeling the cotton cloth on his fingertips. Just as he was about to grab for those panties though Cadence giggled and, to his horror, she rolled out from underneath him.

Making a sound that was a mixture between a caveman’s grunt and a puppy’s whimper Ares tried to grab the glorious booty that was trying to get away from him. He reached up as far as he could, his hands opening and closing, but his mare was just too quick. His hands just grabbed empty air as Cadence skillfully rolled away from him and crawled onto the middle of their bed.

Rolling onto his knees Ares watched as Cadence, with a twinkle in her eye, slowly lowered the front half of her body onto her bed and lifted her ass as high as she could, her panties straining to keep the mass of flesh that was her flank contained.

“You wanted to take the long rode, my little human?” Not breaking eye contact, Cadence flicked her tail out of the way and gave her rump the tiniest of shakes. “Well,come on then. You got a lot more to explore~.”

Ares’s whole body twitched as his mare ruffled her feathers and bit her lip. Slowly, she began to move her ass back and forth, her bubble butt jiggling with each minut movement. Though their bedroom was mostly dark Ares swore he could see a slick wetness trailing down Cadence’s back legs and she gasped and moaned and whimpered, her eyes begging him to come over and have a little fun.

It was too much for the poor man. Teasing might have been one thing, but teasing coupled with lingerie and the ‘fuck me’ eyes was too much. He wasn’t equipped nor was he trained to handle anything like that. So it was of little surprise that the display was too much for him.

Without a second thought Ares frog-hopped from the edge of the bed with a mighty roar toward his destiny. Cadence, with a lusty smile, stuck her rump a little higher into the air and braced herself as her human crashed into her with all of the subtly of a freight train.

“W-Well somepony’s e-excited!”

Growling to himself, Ares grabbed his mare’s ass and scooted her back toward him. His fingers then began to caress the wonderful, perk butt just a few inches from his face, spreading her cheeks and moving them every which way.

He traced Cadence’s cutiemarks that were slightly hidden behind the panties until he heard her muttering his name. He played with the space where her tail connected to her rump, he lightly slapped and squeezed and grabbed at the Princess’s bubble butt until her wings were twitching and her eyes were unfocused.

Panting, he leaned in and rubbed his cheek against her cloth-covered rump. Closing his eyes he deeply breathed in her scent as his cock throbbed needly.

“…Mine.”

It didn’t feel like he could control himself, like someone was moving his hands for him, but Ares couldn’t care less. A fire was raging in his belly as he was toying with his Cadence, listening to her moans and watching as her hips started to gently buck as if he had already mounted her. Every moan sent a shiver through him and every groan made his underwear feel just that much tighter.

He needed to get those panties off Cadence right now. Even though it was awesome that she was wearing them, they were blocking something that he’d really rather not be blocked at the moment. So they needed to come off. Now.

“Ares… ahh~! Honey… P-please…”

With baited breath Ares hooked with his thumbs through the fabric and started to pull it down, kissing and gently biting his mare’s bum all the way.

Cadence twitched as she felt her panties slide down her sensitive marehood, a gasp escaping her lips. She could feel her Ares’s kisses getting lower and more aggressive. His fingers were digging into her flank, effectively pinning her to the bed. Already she could imagine him positioning himself over her, holding her close as his cockhead spread her lips. He would start off slow, kissing and muttering her name, but eventually he’d start to get rougher, the need to breed his mare overpowering his desire to be gentle.

Cadence her lip hard as she imagined Ares slamming into her, biting and nipping her neck and back hard with those sharp teeth of his. She could already feel his fingers digging into her sides, she could feel his hot breath on her neck and she could feel his cock twitching in her. It wouldn’t be long now; in a few minutes her stallion would fill her, breed her and make her his in every sense of the word. And he’d do it again and again and again and again until he was done with her.

Whimpering, she spread her legs just that little bit more in eagerness, lifting her tail as high as she could. “Arrrrrreeeeeesssss~!”

After what seemed like an eternity yet far too soon, Ares slid off the garment and let it fall down to Cadence’s hooves as he looked upon his mare in all of her glory.

Her chest heaving, Cadence bumped her rump against her coltfriend’s face with another eager whine. “H-Honey p-please…”

Licking his lips Ares forwent going slow or being gentle and dived right between his mare’s legs with his tongue at the ready. The second that his tongue roughly lapped at her swollen and aching marehood Cadence’s eyes bugged out of her head and her hips bucked.

“A-Ahhh~!”

Digging his fingers into Cadence’s hips to keep her still Ares buried his face into her marehood, driving his tongue into her as deep as it would go. The bubble gum, sugary sweetness that was his mare’s arousal greeted him as he licked and sucked at her perfect pony pussy. It was an addictive taste, and he needed to have more.

Growling once again he pulled away from Cadence and roughly flipped her over onto her back. Cadence only had the chance to let out a surprised squeak before Ares leaned down and lovingly kissed her teats, using his body weight to pin her against the bed.

The alicorn’s body tensed as he then began to suck and bite and pull at her sensitive nubs of flesh as two of his fingers started teasing her lower lips. Biting her lip so hard that she could taste blood Cadence’s back legs wrapped around her human, keeping him in place. Running a hoof through his hair she couldn’t help but close her eyes and sigh as a finger pushed its way inside her and started to slowly push in and out.

“Yeah… Just like that h-ONEY!”

Adding another finger into Cadence’s marehood Ares started to piston in and out of her faster, Cadence’s inner walls squeezing his fingers. Sucking on one of her teats a little harder than he meant, Ares looked up to his mare’s face.

Her eyes were clouded and half lidded and her mouth was slightly opened with her tongue lolling out of her mouth. Each time his fingers moved inside her her ears twitched and her legs tightened around him just that little bit more. Her hooves were twitching, her chest was heaving and her mouth was slightly parted. She looked like she was in nirvana, heaven; that sweet, good place that you went to when everything just went right.

“Ohh~!”

Come on, Cadence, he thought, letting go of Cadence’s teat and scooting down so that he could lap at her button. Cum. Cum for me.

“A-Ah~!”

He ran his fingers along her walls as he started to once again lick at her marehood while his fingers did their magic. Cadence’s eyes shut tightly and her face scrunched up as her legs started twitching hard. Ares knew she was close; so close that he could—

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Suddenly Cadence clamped down hard on his fingers and the muscles in her stomach tensed. The mare’s back arched, her wings shot out from her sides and she screamed as she came.

Ares smiled to himself, kissing his mare’s mound as a rush of fluids soaked his chin and hand. “There we go, Candy,” he whispered, still fingering his mare as her body twitched and bucked as she rode out her orgasm. “Just let it out. Let me have all of it…”

Cadence twitched and bucked for a minute or two before she just went limp and sunk into the bed with a satisfied groan. “Oh holy horse apples… I can see stars…”

Slowly pulling his fingers out of his mare Ares brought up his soaking wet hand to his face and began to lick it like a lollipop. Sighing at the taste he sat up and looked down at his panting marefriend with a smirk.

She must have been pretty pent up if she came that hard that quick, he thought, cleaning his hand with a few more licks. Either that or I’m just so fucking—

Faster than his eye could follow Cadence scrambled to her hooves and moved forward so that hers and Ares’s noses were touching. There was a slightly crazy look in the mare’s eye as she wrapped her hooves around his neck and all but forced him into another kiss.

Cadence let out a moan as she forced her tongue into his mouth and tasted her own juices. Leaning into him a little more she did her best to lap up all of the sweetness, her back legs shaking.

“Inside!” she gasped. “I need you inside of me!”

Pulling Ares back into another kiss Cadence’s horn sparkled to life, lighting up the room.
“Inside! Inside!”

Straddling her coltfriend Cadence eyed his throbbing, leaking member with hungry eyes. Her horn glowed a little brighter and Ares felt his underwear disintegrating off his his body. She licked her lips as it popped up and wetly smacked her inner thigh.

Cadence could see his cock twitching angrily in the open air, and a shudder ran through her body when she saw pre leaking from his tip. A part of her wanted to get in between his leg so that she could have a taste of him but that thought was ignored. She needed him inside of her. It wasn’t a desire, it wasn’t a want; if she didn’t feel Ares’s cock twitching inside of her right now she would, without a doubt, lose her mind.

Horn glowing once again, Cadence grinned as her magic encased Ares’s cock, making him groan. “I need you inside of me right now!”

Ares tried to sit back up but Cadence roughly pushed him back down, pinning him to the bed with her hooves. Breathing heavily she started to slowly stroke his cock with her magic as she leaned forward and nuzzled him, peppering his face with kisses. He then tried to reach up and grab his mare but she slapped his hands away with her magic, which she then used to pin them to the bed.

He had had his fun. He had toyed with her and made her cum so hard that she could still feel a comforting ache in her lions. But now it was her turn. It was her turn to watch as her human’s, her lover’s, face contorted with pleasure as she touched and caressed and loved him.

“Mineminemineminemineminemine…”

Whispering his name, Cadence began to nibble his ear as she rubbed his cock against her inner thigh. A moan escaped her lips as she tasted Ares’s sweat and felt him twitch against her. She could feel the fire in her belly burning hotter and hotter with each kiss and each lick as she listened to her human try and fail to contain his moans. With a breathless giggle, she kissed him on the lips before pulling away.

“Are you r-ready for the rutting of a l-lifetime, mister?” she asked.

Both the alicorn and the human looked into each other’s eyes as Cadence steadied Ares’s member with a hoof and positioned herself over him. Her wings twitched in anticipation and she spread her legs with a whimper. Finding that he could now use his arms Ares grabbed her hips and gave her a gentle squeeze as his heart pounded in his chest.

“I love you, Cadence.”

Both the lovers let out moans as Cadence began to rub Ares’s cock against her marehood, hard enough that Ares could feel her heat and her softness but not hard enough to penetrate her.

With her mane cascading around her face Cadence kissed her human’s nose. “I love you too, Baby,” she said, pressing the tip of his cock against her quivering, needy lips.

Kissing him again she slowly began to sit down. As wet as she was there was no resistance as Ares’s cock head parted her lips and entered her. Both of them groaned as Cadence sank down a few inches before she had to stop, the red-faced alicorn breaking the kiss and leaning forward so that hers and Ares’s foreheads were touching.

“I… Love you… So… Bucking… Much…”

With a little flap of her wings the Princess raised herself right back up and sat right back down, trying to take a little more of Ares’s length.

Ares’s fingers dug into Cadence’s hips as she slowly, carefully started to ride him. Each little movement on Cadence’s part made him twitch and his member throb. The way that her marehood squeezed his manhood was making his head spin. His marefriend was wonderfully tight, surprisingly so, and she had a softness to her that he had never experienced before in his life.

He wanted to start thrusting, he wanted to hear Cadence squeal as their hips roughly slapped together. He wanted to feel her shaking with ever-mounting pleasure as they moved faster and faster and faster, but he stayed right where he was. At this moment the two of them were connected; not in just a physical sense but an emotional and maybe even a spiritual one as well.

This, for all intents and purposes was their first time together like this. And one’s first time shouldn’t be one where you thrust wildly and seek pleasure for pleasure's sake. So even though every time Cadence managed to spear herself with a little more of him-- her eyes shut tight as she bit her lip-- and even though it made him want to roll her over and fuck her brains out he ignored the urge. Ares instead stayed as still as he could, letting his hands knead his mare’s backside.

“Ahhh~!”

Just as eager as he was, Cadence started to increase her speed, bouncing up and down on him with more rigor. With each inch conquered the two became more vocal. Moans and names and gasps escaping both of their lips with more volume and frequency until, with a pleasure-filled squeak, Cadence’s rump connected against Are’s pelvis with a wet slap. This time Ares couldn’t help but buck his hips a bit and grit his teeth as the two moaned together.

“T-There we go! F-finally!” With a blush on her face Cadence opened her eyes and started at Ares with a naughty smile. “H-How does it feel, H-Honey?”

Ares answered her with a groan as she started to grind against him, the muscles in her marehood squeezing around his length.

The Princess giggled, lifting herself a few inches off of him before slamming back down. “I c-can’t feel you twitching in me, Honey,” she teased with a little wiggle. “Are you going to c-cum already, Hon? Are y-you going to cum f-for me?”

Ares could only hold onto Cadence’s hips as she continued to tease him in between the wet slapping sounds of their lovemaking. He couldn’t open his mouth and form coherent words even if he wanted to.He let out a loud groan, bucking his hips to meet Cadence’s as she roughly sat down. Cadence let out a gasp, her back arching as her movements became faster and more aggressive.

“C-Come on, Honey, G-Give it to me, g-give it all t-to me!”

Though he tried to ignore it, that similar ticklish sensation began to creep down Ares’s stomach. His head spinning, he tried to slow Cadence down by grabbing and holding her by her hips but the alicorn would not be denied, powering through his flimsy defense simply by sitting down.

His cock twitched again, eager to begin its bombardment. Cadence, sensing that he was nearly there, began to move at an almost blinding pace, bouncing up and down on him so hard that Ares was half afraid that she was going to break his pelvis.

“I’m… almost… there, Baby,” she moaned, leaning down so that her nose was touching his. “Come on, I wanna… feel you cum in… me. Cum in me honey. Please!”

The look of desperation on Cadence’s face as she rode him, her ass clapping lewdly, the smell of the wine on her breath as she panted, this all was too much for Ares. Far too much. Using every bit of his willpower he forced himself to keep his eyes opened as he began desperately thrusting with all of his might. He could feel Cadence tighten around him, her inner walls trying to coax out his seed, and that was what finally set him off. Managing a few more clumsy bucks, his mouth opened in a silent scream, Ares came.

Cadence’s body went rigid as she felt the first spurt fire into her, the alicorn letting on a shriek that rattled the windows as she fully impaled herself onto Ares and stayed there.

Ares squirmed from underneath his mare, his eyes crossing as her marehood rippled again his oversensitive cock, milking every ounce of seed that he had. Too overloaded to even breath, all that Ares could do was buck half-heartedly a few more times as he came and came and came again.

Idly, in the back of his mind, he felt a rush of fluids on his groin, signaling Cadence’s orgasm. His mare’s wings flared to full extension as she bit her lip and shut her eyes tightly, her horn sizzling with magic as her legs twitched. The two groaned as Ares held Cadence through their orgasms.

Though it felt like an eternity, the pleasure soon stopped. Coming back to their senses the two lovers found themselves panting like racehorses and covered in sweat, though there was a very pleased smile on Cadence’s face.

“B-Bucccccck!” With a groan she let her body go limp on top of her human, making sure to keep his softening length inside of her as she nuzzled his cheek.

With a weak chuckle Ares wrapped his arms around her. “I think… you mean… fuck, hon,” he said, kissing her cheek.

For a long while afterward the two just laid there, breathing hard while they held each other. No further words needed to be said. The relief and love and joy that the two felt could almost be tasted in the air. They had finally done it, they had made honest to goodness love to each other. And it was pretty great.

Taking a few deep breaths, Ares looked down at his wonderful, amazing, loving marefriend. He smiled, pushing a bit of her messy mane out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. “So was… I great or… Was I… Great?”

Cadence, whose eyes had been closed as she nuzzled and lovingly kissed her coltfriend’s face, cracked open an eye. Though you could see the happiness and fulfillment that most knew after an intense love session, you could also see bemusement in her eyes as she looked at her human.

Snorting softly, she booped his nose with a hoof while she kissed his cheek. “I swear to Faust that there’s something wrong with you…” She then smiled, laying her head on his chest and closing her eyes. “You big goofball.”

Wrapping his arms around Cadence’s neck, Ares leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “You’re the one that picked this goofball, missy,” he whispered. “You knew what you were getting into.”

If Cadence would have looked up into Ares’s eyes at that moment she would have seen something… odd. Though it might have just been a trick of the light, his bright green eyes grew darker, as if a shadow had passed over them. As quickly as it appeared it was gone, leaving everyone none the wiser. Cadence, who was giggling to herself, leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

“I did not know what I was getting into with you, buster brown,” she grumbled, making sure that he was still firmly lodged inside of her with a tiny wiggle. “But… I’m glad that I did what I did. Even with all of the horse apples that happened and all of the horse apples that I’m sure will happen, I’m glad that I picked you, my little human. You make it all worth it.”

Ares felt a warmth fill his chest. “Well you make it worth it times a million, my little candy cane,” he said, nuzzling her.

He held his mare with a smile as she pulled the blanket over the two of them with a spell. Cadence hummed, tucking her wings into his sides. Now as warm and as happy as he had ever been in his entire life, Ares closed his eyes.

“Love you, Candy.”

Though he couldn’t see it Cadence smiled, tears of happiness forming at the corners of her eyes. “I love you too Ares. I love you too…”

The Shadows Watch

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“Alright! Truth or dare?”

To say that Flash was having an… interesting night was the understatement of the year.

After almost being stomped to death by his lovey marefriend, he had been dragged into Twilight’s room by two of her friends, Rarity and Applejack, and forced to sit down. The second his rump touched the wooden seat he had been assaulted, and not physically assaulted either, though he probably would have preferred that to what he actually got. Not given even a second to look after his wounds, he was bombarded by words; assaulted by questions by Twilight’s five overly eager friends. One after the other after the other after the other the Private was forced to answer to the best of his ability.

Where did you go to school? What are your hobbies? How did you meet Twilight? Did the two of you kiss yet? Have you been thinking about her while the two of you were apart? Do you always turn that shade of red when you’re embarrassed? Why aren’t you two kissing right now? What do you think your future babies will look like? The questions went on and on and on until they just seemed to blur together into this one big embarrassing mess.

Never before had he undergone such a thorough and intense interrogation in his whole life. No parental figure had ever questioned him this intensely and not even the old war horse that was his staff sergeant back at boot camp had put him this ill at ease. Eventually though the questions had stopped and he was able to take stock in his surroundings.

Apparently the girls had been playing a few “sleepover games” (Flash had no idea why the hay they called it a sleepover since they were kind of going to be living in the castle for a couple of weeks) before he had gone and interrupted them. But now that he was here and the introductions and examination of his character had been done, not only could the girls get back to their games, but Flash could join as well. And no he did not have any choice in the matter and he most certainly couldn’t go let them get back to their fun by going back to the barracks.

At the moment the seven of them were sitting in the middle of the room in a circle playing easily one of the most unforgiving and dangerous games known to equine kind: Truth or Dare. And as “luck” would have it it was Flash’s turn. Most would have found it odd that he had gone at least twice as many times as anypony else here but he what was going on. Deep down in his heart of hearts he knew why this was happening.

He must have been a villain in his past life that had done a whole lot of bad things and now he was finally getting his comeuppance. He must have been some sort of tyrant or murderer of the highest caliber and now it was his fate to be tormented by mares. There was no other reason that this whole situation was so embarrassing and awkward and tense that he wanted to run away and throw up at the same time.

I knew I should have waited till tomorrow to see Twilight…

Though there was a smile on his face Flash couldn’t help but find himself sweating as every one of the girls looked at him expectantly.

“Truth,” he said after thinking it over for a few seconds, carefully weighing his options.

The pink earth pony who had introduced herself as Pinkie Pie smiled at him. Though she had been doing a lot of smiling ever since he had met her an hour ago, this smile seemed different. To Flash it seemed… predatory. Pinkie leaned forward toward him as the other girls’ smiles seemed to turn just as sinister, and Flash had to resist the sudden urge to scoot away.

“If Twilight would ask you right now to do it would you smooch her?”

He could hear the teasing tone in Pinkie’s voice, he could see the other girl’s smiles as they
giggled to themselves, he knew that they were just doing this to get a rise out of him and Twilight. For this entire game the girls had been lightly joking and prodding both him and his marefriend like this, not in a malicious way but in a ‘we’re-your-friends-and-we’re-embarrassing-you-because-we-love-you’ way, just ready to watch him and Twilight blush, shimmer, and look at the ground.

Flash had had his fill of it after the second or third time they had done this, and he was sure that if he just ignored it they’d stop and the night would get a bit better for him. He’d get to spend a bit of time with Twilight, he’d get to know her friends and he’d come away with this a better stallion and coltfriend than he had been before entering the room.

With a nervous ruffle of his wings he looked around the room, hoping for a bit of emotional support. He knew it wasn’t going to get it from Twilight’s friends so he looked over at his marefriend, praying that she’d be the rock that would help him through this. To his dismay he got to watch as Twilight’s eyes widened, her cheeks turned red, and she looked down at the floor.

Barely managing to contain a giggle, Pinkie leaned forward just a little bit more. “Weeeeeeel, Flashy~? Would you smooch Twilight or not?”

Flash nervously pawed at the ground as the girls giggled at his expense. Don’t look down! Don’t look down! he thought as he struggled to keep a straight face. Sweet Celestia don’t you start blushing again!”

He looked at everypony and everything in the room, trying to find something that would calm him down and let him open his mouth without having something stupid come out of it. Looking back and forth and back and forth, Flash stiffened as a cough fought its way over the giggles and made its way into his ears.

Turning his head Flash saw the only other stallion in the room. This stallion was the reason why he was sitting on the other side of the circle from Twilight and he was one of the main reasons why Flash was so nervous being in this room playing truth or dare. In fact the second that Flash laid eyes on him the butterflies that were flapping around in his stomach died, and the cold and crisp feeling of terror replaced them.

Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the Pegasus. “We don’t have all night, Private,” he said with the barest hint of a growl in his voice. “Are you going to answer the question or are you just going to sit there flapping your wings?”

Flash couldn’t help but shiver as he met his ex-captain’s gaze. He could feel himself walking toward something very unstable and very dangerous, and if he said the wrong things or moved in a way that the dangerous thing didn’t like he knew that he was in a world of misery and pain and hurt and pain and pain.

“Well aw… no, nope,” he said, shaking his head just a little too hard. “Me and Twilight need to get a little more serious for that kind of stuff…”

With another nervous ruffle of his feathers Flash looked back over at Shining, ready to take off at a moment’s notice if his answer wasn’t to his liking. To his relief Shining didn’t make a move to get up, the unicorn just staring at him with brotherly disapproval.

Rainbow rolled her eyes with a snort before she got up. “Yeah, kissing’s a real milestone in a relationship. What a heck of a thing to worry about…”

As the Pegasus walked over and started to rummage around under her bed Rarity threw her a dirty look. “Everypony takes relationships at a different pace, Rainbow darling,” she said, fussing with her mane. “Most of us want to wait a bit before showering a stallion with kisses… Among other things…”

Rainbow bristled at the fashionista’s tone, looking over her shoulder with narrowed eyes. “Hey! I’m no hussy!”

Rarity looked over at Twilight and winked before looking coolly back at her. “I never said that you were my dear! You’re just a bit… aggressive with stallions from what I’ve seen. Aggressive and more than a bit popular?...”

Applejack snorted, Pinkie giggled, and even Fluttershy had to hide a smile behind a hoof as Rainbow twitched at the jab.

“And there’s nothing wrong with that, Rainbow!” Rarity assured. “As I said everypony handles their relationships differently!”

“Just because I like to have a—aw forget it…” Shaking her head, and trying to hide the blush on her face, Rainbow poked her head under the bed. To the surprise of everypony in the room she pulled out a bottle of what could have been mistaken as wine.

“Rainbow… Where did you get that?” Twilight asked, concern growing on her face as she looked at the label on the bottle.

Rainbow’s chest puffed out and she grinned. “I was walking around the castle when I found this weird secret room that was filled with wine and whiskey and stuff,” she said with pride, trotting back over to the group and plopping right down.

While Flash looked surprised Shining looked irritated, raising an eyebrow as Rainbow tried to pull the cork out of the bottle with her teeth. “You walked around the castle and found the secret wine cellar that half of the castle doesn’t know about and you took a bottle of wine?” he asked, disbelief predominate in his tone.

Hugging the bottle with all four hooves, Rainbow tugged on the cork with all of her might. The cork exploded from the mouth of the bottle with a loud pop, and Rarity had to use her magic to keep the Pegasus steady as she let out a victorious cry.

Spitting out the cork, Rainbow looked around with a grin. “Yep. I accidently bumped into one of the walls a couple of times and BAM! This door appeared and opened up.”

She smiled, looking around at the horrified faces of her friends. “Since there was so much of it I snagged a couple of bottles of whatever. I figured that we could have something to drink while we had this weird sleepover thing.”

Shining just started at the daredevil for several long and tense seconds, his mouth set in a thin line. “I… I don’t believe you…”

Humming to herself, Rainbow grabbed the bottle and raised it to her lips. She might have lifted it all of the way up and started chugging it too if Twilight hadn’t snatched it out of her hooves with her magic.

“Rainbow! You’re going to get us in a lot of trouble!” she said, levitating over the cork and sticking it back into the bottle.

Rainbow frowned. “Trouble? Why? It’s just a dumb bottle of wine. There was loads of it in that room.”

“This is Caste de Lonasfer,” Twilight snapped, shoving the bottle in her face. “This bottle goes for five hundred bits at its cheapest!”

Rarity looked at the bottle before looking at Twilight. “…And how do you know that, dear?”

Pushing the cork down as far as she could get it, Twilight levitated it over to the counter. “A few weeks ago I decided to read up on some different kinds of wine so that I’d know what to order when me and flash go on a—”

Shining loudly cleared his throat, stopping Twilight in her tracks. The book worm’s eyes went over to Flash as her hooves shot up to her mouth.

“I-I mean, what I-I meant to s-say was—“

With a giggle Pinkie jumped up onto her hooves and started hopping around the room so quickly that she was a pink blur. Though it only lasted a few seconds the wine had disappeared from the table, Twilight was sitting next to Flash, each mare and stallion had a wine glass sitting in front of them and there were more bottles sitting in the middle of them all.

“Don’t be such a no-funny honey, Twilight!”

Flash blinked as the smiling party pony just kind of… appeared in front of him before winking out of existence. He opened his mouth to say something but it turned into a yelp as a hoof wrapped itself around his neck and pulled him and Twilight together.

“I’m sure Princes Cadence wouldn’t mind if we drank a few of these!”

A wine glass was forced into both his and Twilights hooves and Pinkie Pie, who had gotten her hooves on a waitress's outfit… somehow, grabbed one of the bottles, pulling out the cork, and started pouring each of them a glass.

Rainbow nodded with a grin, giving her thanks as the pink mare poured her a glass. “Yeah! I’m sure if she wasn’t on that date with that weird diamond dog guy she’d be here drinking with us! And besides, who the hay’s going to tell on us? Your coltfriend? Your brother?”

While Twilight and the other girls had taken Pinkie’s… Pinkieness as well as they usually did, Flash and Shining looked more than a bit shaken.

Bringing her glass to her lips Rainbow took a sip of her wine. “Now why don’t you try to sit back and enjoy yourself egghead?”

Though she didn’t look too happy about it, Applejack accepted a glass of wine. “Ya shoulda said somethin’ ta the Princess ‘fer ya went an’ took ‘er wine, Dash.”

Rarity quietly thanked Pinkie as some wine was poured into her glass. “Though I can’t help but agree with Applejack, I don’t really see the harm in having a few drinks,” she said, swirling her wine in her glass. “A proper ladies sleepover isn’t complete without some wine and good conversation after all.”

Fluttershy let out a quiet epp as Pinkie bounded over and filled up her glass to the brim. “I-I’m sure the Princess wouldn’t m-miss a few bottles,” she mumbled, hiding behind her mane.

Twilight looked at each and every one of her friends before sighing, picking up her glass of wine and taking a small sip. “I’ll… I’ll make sure to tell Cadence that we took a few bottles of wine tonight,” she muttered, pressing herself against Flash as she licked the wine off of her lips. “I’m sure she won’t mind…”

Still looking a little unsure Twilight looked over to Shining. “Is that alright with you big brother?”

Shining opened his mouth. Every single one of the girls leaned toward him with smiles on their faces. He then closed his mouth. “I… I…”

He knew that he was trapped the second that his baby sister put the decision all on him, but he did his best to think of a way to tell them that they, and more importantly he and Flash, probably shouldn’t be drinking this stuff. It was really expensive, he and the Private had work at six in the morning, they hadn’t asked if they could drink any of this so it was technically stolen. Reason after reason after reason came to him as Pinkie Pie, a smile on her face, poured him a glass of this very expensive wine.

“I… We… Oh horse apples…”

Making a face, Shining snatched his glass from the floor and took a small sip. To his irritation he found that the wine was delicious; a perfect blend between blackberries and strawberries with just a hint of orange.

The girls cheered and even Twilight smiled as Flash cautiously picked up his glass. The two looked at each other with smiles as Flash unfurled a wing and draped it over her back. Blushing, Twilight raised her glass and lightly tapped it against—

POP!

The bookworm jumped in surprise as her coltfriend disappeared from her side. Looking around in panic she watched as he reappeared an instant later right next to Shining, his wing still half open. The private looked just as confused as she did, staring back at her with wide eyes.

Tapping his glass against Flash’s, Shining took another gulp of his drink. “Now that we got all of that out of the way I do believe that we were all still trying to play a game of Truth or Dare.”

Flash, no longer smiling, tried to scoot away from him but another burst of magic pulled the two stallions close together. Really close.

“Now whose turn is it?”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

I̦̥̠̠ͭ̈́͌̅ͮ͜ͅ ̫͗ͥ̍ͥS̲̦͙̯͉͇̫ͥ̑̋͒̾̀Ḛ̻E̳̯̠͚͇͑̐̐̑ͯ͂ ̞̯̀Y̱̠̘̬̫̣̦̒Ö̢̜͓̟̰͊̓́̋ͬ́U̹̭̼̪̻̼ͤͭ̍͜

Ares woke with a start, his eyes snapping open as his hands came up to shield his face. He tried to move his body, tried to roll away, but found that something was pinning him to his bed. Heart racing, he looked up to see his sleeping marefriend’s face.

He blinked rapidly, his heart pounding in his chest, before letting out a relieved sigh. “…A dream,” he muttered, letting his head fall back onto his pillow. “I-It was a dream…”

Still shaking, he looked around the dark, shadow-filled room. The room was pitch black and silent as the grave, and from what he could tell no…thing was in the room with them. No shadow monsters, no eyes glowing in the darkness, no blistering cold; it was just him and his marefriend. Sighing again, he wrapped an arm around Cadence and looked up at the ceiling.

What the fucking hell was that? he thought as Cadence let out a quiet snore, one of her back legs kicking ever so slightly. What was with all of those shadows and… and… Why the fuck can’t I remember anything other than shadows?

Making a face Ares picked his head up from his pillow. Reaching down he began to lightly poke and prod his mare. Though she looked fine, he wanted to make sure that no one had gotten into the room and done anything to either of them. Not that he really expected anything to be wrong with her but he still felt on edge. Like there were a pair of eyes that he couldn’t see looking at him.

I never thought that fucking chocolate would give me nightmares, he thought to himself as he ran a hand over Cadence’s wings.

The Princess twitched, muttering something that might have been his name as she began to squirm slightly. Her hooves, which had been resting on either side of him, wrapped themselves under his armpits as her muzzle nuzzled at his chin. She murmured again, her ear twitching before the sounds of her quiet breathing filled the room.

Ares stopped his frantic search for… something on his marefriend and he just looked at her. Though his hands were shaking and he felt more nervous than he had been in a long, long time, the sight of her calmed him down just a little.

Taking a few deep breaths he groaned, holding her closely. “You’re going to wake your girlfriend you dumbass,” he said to himself. “It was just a dream. It was just a dream.”

Bringing a hand to his face he rubbed an eye. Focusing on Cadence’s breathing he waited until his heart wasn’t threatening to burst out of his chest to look back around the room. Not a shadow moved, and the only sounds that could be heard were his mare’s breathing.

There was nothing there. There was nothing there. Nothing.

“I’m jumpy as all hell because of a dream that I can’t fucking remember…”

Ares thought hard, trying to remember anything else from his dream. When his eyes had snapped open he had remembered everything in detail, but the second that he had started moving he had just… forgotten. He didn’t know what had made him afraid, only that he needed to be.

I’ve heard about having a brain fart but this is ridiculous! I should be able to remember what—

He tried to shift his lower body around to get a little more comfortable when he noticed that he was still buried balls deep into Cadence. His cock twitched, helpfully bringing up the fact that he was also very, very hard.

Oh… OH…Right...

Cadence let out a sleepy moan, wiggling her butt a little as she kissed his neck. “The nightstand’s made out of rock candy…” she murmured.

Confusion and fear momentarily forgotten, Ares couldn’t help but blush as he wiggled his hips back and forth just a hair to see if he was still actually inside of his mare and not just imaging it. He was able to move about half an inch before he could feel Cadence’s marehood give his cock a light squeeze, making him hiss in surprise.

“Why the hell is it every time I’m scared or freaking out I get a boner?” he grumbled, patting Cadence’s muzzle as his cock twitched again. “You really know when to poke your head through the fucking door dick…”

In the back of his mind Ares couldn’t help but consider just gently thrusting into Cadence until he came. He was already kind of freaked out and embarrassed that he had gotten so worked up over a dream that he couldn’t remember. Why not relief some stress when pleasure was right there? Cadence was asleep, so he was sure that she wouldn’t mind if he went and unloaded into her. If he was careful Cadence won’t even wake—

Wait, what the fuck is wrong with me? he thought, letting his lower half go slack when , to his horror, he found himself already bucking gently into his marefriend’s warm and tight marehood. I’d never go and fuck Candy without permission, especially if she was a-fucking-sleep for it. That’s messed up. Really messed up.

The second that he came to the resolution he could feel himself going soft. Sighing in relief he reached down and gently picked Cadence’s rump up, which allowed his semi-erect member to slide out of her.

Cadence squirmed a bit as he pulled out of her, her wings flapping under their blanket just a bit before he nuzzled back into his neck. “Chocolate windows aren’t see-through…”

Ares smiled as he closed his eyes. “You can hold your fucking horses until the sun comes back up before trying to get any more action dick, you horny bastard,” he muttered. “We’ll have plenty of fun tomorrow I’m sure.”

Kissing his mare’s neck he was about ready to drift back into dreamland when, oddly enough, Ares heard a knock at the door. And this wasn’t a professional, measured knock that one would hear when a guard knocked on your door, and it wasn’t the fast, frantic knocking of someone that had dire or important news. This knocking was slow and heavy, as if the knocker was putting all of their concentration into the act.

Eyes snapping open, he looked at the door. “Who the fuck is trying to bother us this early in the morning?” Looking over at the clock on the wall he frowned. “Scratch that. Who’s trying to bother us this late at night? It’s three in the fucking morning!”

Hoping that it was just a fluke and someone had just accidently tripped into their door Ares stayed where he was, his arms wrapped tightly around Cadence. About a minute ticked by, leading him to believe that it had been an accident. With a sigh he closed his eyes and snuggled into his bed. Ares was just about to drift back off to sleep when the pounding started once again.

Growling, he threw off his covers. “Something bad better have happened or I swear to god I’m going to lose my mind.” He flinched when he heard hooves pounding on his door a little bit harder. “And aren’t these fucking doors supposed to be soundproof or something? Fucking shitty horse doors…”

Naked and still reeking of sex, he gently pushed Cadence off of him and onto her side before he rolled off of his warm, comfortable bed with a grunt. Cadence squirmed, sleepily reaching out and trying to find him as she muttered nonsense under her breath, a small frown on her face at losing her human-sized pillow. Turning around, Ares threw the covers back over his sleeping marefriend, leaning forward and kissing her right under the horn.

“I’ll be back in a second, Hon,” he murmured. “I just have some little horses to chew out.”

After managing to find his underwear in the dark room, Ares stomped over to the door, muttering and cursing under his breath. With narrowed eyes he grabbed the doorknob, twisted it and threw open the door. He took a deep breath, ready to start his verbal barrage of demands and name calling, but whatever rage that he felt over being bothered at this hour fizzled out when he saw the two stallions in front of him.

Flash Sentry and Shining Armor had hit the bottle a little hard; Ares didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. Both of the stallions were rocking back and forth, barely able to keep their hooves. Their mane and coats were messy, disheveled, and slick with sweat. Shining’s face was flushed red and his eyes were unfocused, while Flash’s face was ghost white and he looked like he had just came from puking his guts out. And if that wasn’t enough Shining had a bottle of some unidentifiable half-empty bottle of liquor in his hoof, putting the finishing touch on both his and Flash’s state of sobriety.

Gaping, Ares opened his mouth and closed it. “Jesus fuck what the hell happened to you two? Did you get into a fight with a brewery?”

“Arrres!” Shining slurred with a dopey smile. “Howz it goiiing?”

Ares watched as Shining took a half-step forward, only to lose his balance and fall onto his side. I… I wasn’t ready for this he thought, mildly disappointed that he wasn’t going to be yelling at anyone. Well, at least not anyone who’d remember it in the morning.

“I’m… I’m doing alright guys,” he said, leaning on the door frame and crossing his arms. “How are you two guys doing? Had a little something to drink did ya?”

Shining and Flash started giggling as if he had just told them the funniest joke in the world. “Yeees we may have had a bitsh to drink,” Flash admitted as Shining got back to his hooves.

Both stallions rocked back and forth as they broke into another fit of giggles. Shaking his head Ares stepped out of his room and steadied the stallions with his hands. Flash and Shining, still giggling, took this as an invitation to push him into a sitting position.

Ares opened his mouth to protest when Flash sat heavily in his lap. “Weee had a bitsh too much to drrrunk,” the Pegasus said, resting his head on Ares’s shoulder.

“Me and Flash heeere went to Twilight’s room to haaave a lil’ bit of fun,” Shining said, leaning against Ares’s side. “I waaas just there too seeee my lil’ sis but then Raisin Splash pulled ouuut these bottles.”

“Flash get out of my fucking lap right now. You’re a pony not a sad puppy goddamnit. And don’t fucking nuzzle my fucking neck like that!!”

“Wesh thought that all the bottles weeere wine but we were wrrrrong. Only the fiiirst one was!” Flash said, ignoring his friend’s cries of protest.

The Private closed his eyes, wrapping his hooves around Ares’s middle in a drunken hug. Just as he was doing that, Shining, wanting some attention as well, placed his head on Ares’s other shoulder. A pair of pleased hums could be heard in the empty hallway as the stallions got comfortable. If you listened carefully enough you could also hear the silent screaming of an irritated man.

…Why didn’t I just ignore the knocking? If I would have ignored it none of this would be happening. Ares tried to push Flash off him but the private didn’t budge. Right now I’d be in my bed with my marefriend. I’d probably be asleep right now too. But no, I gotta deal with two drunk, touchy-feely little horses…

“You smeeell nice, Aresss.”

“Yeah, you do smeeell nice…”

Ares stiffened as he felt Flash’s long, thick tongue glide across his neck. “…Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I know where this fucking shit goes.”

He quickly found himself rising to his feet with Flash in his arms. If the Pegasus was surprised by the sudden flurry of movement he didn’t show it. He just giggled, kicking his back legs slowly as his wings flapped.

“Look Shiiiny! Ish flyin’ without winnngs!”

Shining looked up at his drunken companion. His eyes narrowed, almost as if he was trying to focus on Flash. “Yoush floating, Flash!” he cried, pointing a hoof at his friend. “Like magiiic!”

He managed to lift his hoof and point it for about two seconds before he lost his balance and hit the floor again with an “omph”. This just caused Flash to giggle harder, which in turn made the fallen unicorn laugh harder.

The half empty bottle of mystery liquor flew out of his hoof, alcohol spilling as it rolled across the floor. Swearing, Ares bent down and snatched it up. Making sure to keep Flash under one of his arms he brought the bottle up to his face. The frown that had been growing on his face deepened as he read the label.

“Rochester’s hundred-proof flash whiskey?”

Putting the bottle under his nose Ares took a whiff. He got a nose full before he had to move away, breaking out into a coughing fit.

“Is this rubbing alcohol?!”

He looked down at Shining, who was valiantly trying, and failing, to get back to his hooves. He then looked down at Flash, who was making whooshing noises as he stuck his hooves out in front of his face like some sort of horse Superman. Looking back at the bottle he sighed.

“…You stupid motherfuckers went and drank rubbing alcohol…”

“It waaasn’t my fault, Aresss!” Shining slurred with a drunk, horsey snort. “I diiidn’t want to drink! I reeeally didn’t! But Twily annnd her friendsh kept filling myyy glass!”

Setting his brow, Shining grunted as he rolled onto his stomach. His face scrunching up in concentration as he placed his hooves under his body. Slowly he started to rise, his knees wobbly and his body swaying dangerously from left to right. Once or twice Ares expected the unicorn to flop right back onto the ground but Shining was persistent. He managed to get past knee height and raise his head up into the air. He might have even managed to stand all the way up if Flash hadn’t tried to throw his two cents in.

“Yoush can dooo it, Shining!”

And just like that Shining’s concentration was broken. With a surprised whinny, his front half went limp. Ares couldn’t help but flinch as his face hit the crystal floor with a meaty thump, his rump still raised high in the air.

Flash gasped dramatically. “Shinnning!” He tried to squirm out of Ares’s grasp but the human held firm. “Areees, Let meee go!”

Pinching the bridge of his nose Ares shook his head. “I’m not going to do that, Flash.”

Flash squirmed even harder, his back legs kicking and his wings slapping against Ares’s arm. “But Shinnning’s dying! Weee gottsa save him!”

“Shining’s fine you drunk dummy. I can see him breathing.”

“…My faccce hurtsss…”

“See? He just said something.”

Flash sniffled, tears starting to form out of the corners of his eyes. “Didcha heeear that, Ares? S-Shining’s face hurts…”

It was late. Ares might have gotten two or three hours of sleep. He was tired and more than a little cold. He was not mentally prepared to deal with two super drunk little horses. And he most certainly wasn’t ready to deal with two emotional, super drunk little horses that were getting a little too touchy feely for his taste. So it was little surprise when he finally snapped.

“Fuck it.”

Tossing the bottle in his hand he walked over toward Shining. Ignoring the sound of glass shattering he looked down at the ex-captain.

Shining was mumbling something under his breath as he waved his rump back and forth suggestively. At any other time such an act would have gotten him teased until the white stallion was beet red. But there was no time for teasing and laughing right now. Ares didn’t even have that much of a desire to find out how or why Flash and Shining got so fucked up at that moment. He had a date with his bed snuggling his girlfriend and these two were in the way of that.

With a grunt, Ares squatted down and wrapped his arm around Shining’s barrel. Carefully picking the stallion up he began to carry both of his friends down the hall.

“Were arrre we goin’, Ares?” Flash asked, reaching up to rub his cheek with a hoof.

Shining started to giggle, his pain already forgotten. “Looksh! I’m flyin’ toooo!”

“I’m going to take you down to the barracks,” Ares answered, shivering slightly. “Someone can take care of your drunk asses down there.”

With each step he took the hall started to get colder and darker. Though he had two rather warm bodies pressed up against him, goosebumps started to form on his arms and legs. Ares also had the sense that something was… watching him. Something that he’d rather not have watching him.

He looked over his shoulder to find nothing there. What the hell am I freaking out for again? he thought as Shining and Flash babbled about something or other.

Though he didn’t notice, his breath started to quicken as his heart started beating just a little bit faster. As he turned the corner, lightly jogging at this point, he was starting to shake. The illuminated hallway, even the moon that was shining through the castle windows, seemed dimmer; almost dark in fact.

“…Areees? Are you alright theeere, buddy?”

Ares’s vision turned fuzzy, and he fell to his knee with a grunt. A shadowy figure could be seen out of the corner of his eye, unnaturally pale and hugely tall. Panting, he whipped his head around, trying to get a good look of whatever the hell was stalking him but it was no use. The second that he turned his head it was gone, only to return at the edge of his vision a second later.

What the fuck is going on?! What is that? WHAT IS THAT?!

Letting go of his drunken friends, Ares stood back up. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he took a few nervous steps backward. Something was telling him that he needed to run, that he needed to get away. He needed to run and get away or it would catch him. It would catch him and do horrible things—

“AREEES!”

Ares grunted as something slammed into his chest, knocking him off of his feet. Cursing, he threw up his hands in an attempt to cover his face. He closed his eyes, ready to feel claws grabbing ahold of him or tearing at his flesh. What he got instead was Shining forcing his muzzle through his hands.

“Areees!” the unicorn cried, very nearly kissing him. “What’s wrrrong?!”

Ares’s eyes snapped open and he looked up at Shining. Breathing hard, he pushed the stallion off of him he sat up and quickly looked around. The shadow was gone, the hallway wasn’t dark, and it wasn’t freezing. The feeling of being watched was gone as was the gut-wrenching fear. From what he could gather everything was back to normal.

Ares, more than a little unsettled, pushed Shining away from him as the unicorn tried to hop into his lap. “I’m alright, I’m alright. Back up a little bit for Christ’s sake; you reek of booze.”

Shining ignored his friend’s demand, wrapping his hooves around Ares and sticking his muzzle back into his face, nearly knocking him over. “Yoush looked soooo scared though, Arrres!” he slurred, nuzzling his cheek and closing his eyes.

Flash trotted over as quickly as his wobbly legs allowed and wrapped his fore legs around Ares from the other side.

“Did youuu see somethin’, Ares?” he asked, pressing his chest firmly against Ares’s back as he nuzzled his ear. “Some scccary monster? Don’t worrrry, we’ll stop the monsters from gettin’ ya…”

Ares squirmed, trying to pry the drunken little horses off of him. “I already told you too that I’m fine. I just had a weird dream and the lack of sleep’s fucking with me.”

He tried to swat at Shining as the stallion rubbed their cheeks together but he couldn’t move his arms. Both Shining and Flash had him pinned, and it didn’t look like they were going to let him go anytime soon.

“Let go of me goddamnit. I gotta get your drunk asses—“

Ares stiffened when Flash let out a quiet snore. His eyes darted down to Shining, and despair filled him when he saw his chest slowly rising and falling.

“…You fuckers didn’t just pass out did you?” He tried to struggle but the stallions grip on him was absolute. “Don’t you fucking tell me you passed out in the middle of the hall in the fucking cuddle pile.”

With a sleepy murmur, Shining nuzzled the nape of Ares’s neck, kissing the bottom of his chin before going still once again. Ares took the embarrassingly intimate contact as well as you would expect.

“Nope! Not fucking today! I’m not getting fucked by two drunk little boy horses! I haven’t seen a real life horse dick since I’ve landed in this fucked up little world and I’m not about to break that track record!”

Wiggling as hard as he could Ares thrashed around. Though it looked like Flash and Shining had acquired some sort of super grip in their drunken state that didn’t mean he couldn’t wake them back up. If he woke them back up then he could get out of this situation with some of his pride intact. He could get these two chucklefuck’s back to their beds and back to his room where his marefriend was waiting.

That was the little horse that he wanted to hug and kiss and rub himself against. He did not get up this morning wanting two drunk and sweaty stallions trying to tongue kiss him in the middle of the hallway. Ares might have been a pretty adventurous guy but even he had to draw a line in the sand somewhere.

“Get the fuck off of me! GET OFF YOU FUCKERS! GET OFF M—”

Biting his lip, Ares went silent. The hallway’s lights seemed to flicker for just a moment and if he didn’t know any better he would have said that it had gotten just a bit colder.

“…Get off of… me. Get… off... of.”

A shadow passed across the human’s eyes as he managed to partially free his arms. Shaking slightly, he wrapped his arms around Shining and held him close.

“Get… the… fuck…”

If one would have gotten a good look at him his green eyes would have looked black in this light.

“Get…Fuck…”

Now shaking hard, Ares’s eyes darted around the hall. There would be no sleep for him tonight. The only thing that he had until the sun rose were Flash, Shining, the dancing shadows, and the cold. The icy, soul-breaking cold.

The Shadows Take

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Ḧ̬̗̭͖́̓̆͐̆e͓̺̻̼̓̆̑ͅ'̒͑́ͥ̊͗sͦͩ͒̔ ̩͕̥̳̠ͧ͛ͤ̍͆n̬ọ̥̟̘̋t̤͔̣̻̣̘̎͗̍ͬͅ ͣͧ̃͐h̪̪̲͙̪eͬͦ̑ͪ͛r͐͑e̮͓̝
͙̞̀̏͐̚̚G̗̋o͔̦̮̝̥̘ͬ̈́͗ͯ̎ͦ ͇͖̣͍͇̼͑̈ͦ͆ͪͭa̟̞͇̘͉͚̯͐ͯͨnͧ̆̒ͬ̍d̻̫̬̘̩̫̖ ̿ͮͤ̐̐̽f͖͕͓ͭ̃ͪi̩̞̫̥͆̀n̺̋ͯͤ̐̚d͎ ̩̘̐ͦh̩̣̍͌ͫͅi͍̻̳͉̙̅̔̄ͅͅm͓̜̽̀
͔̥͖͙̳͌̍̈̌̾̇̚W̩̰e͖̞͙̬̝̯̞ͪ̂ ̲̭̫̘͋͐͆̐̊̚m̘̳̼̭͕ͭ̾͌̽ͤ̃ũ̓ͫ̉̿s̺̞͔̭͈̜̄̃ͪͧͬt͍ͤͭ̆̈́̏̊ ̩͈̯̻ͭ̽r͖̮͇̞͕̊̑̊̀i̘̜̱͓̻͉̔͐p̜̾͐̐̀ ͓̯̮̝͉̤̊̏̈́̚ã̼̮͔́ͣ̊̓͆n̏ͣd̮̲̈ ̟̰̩͕̬̜̈́͑ͣť͖͚̣̖̠e͇̯̰͚̬̘̬a̟̣̼̹̩͐̃ͤͅr̫͗͆̄ͪ͗ͪ̈
̓Ṱ̥̱̽͛̿ͣ̇̂e̩̣̗̲̰͒͆̓̓̒ͥḀ̠͙̭͕ͧr̥͂ ̗͖ͩ͑̅̌̐̎A͈̖̟̦͆ͦ̈́n͖D̩̲̲͚̘͓́̾͐̌ͥ̅ ̘͓̯͋̈́͆ͫͥͭr͉͕̫̓̊͗͋͗ͦ̚Ì̄̚p͇̄

“EEP!”

My bed groaned in protest as I launched myself up into the air with a panicked flap of my wings. I tried for another flap when my blanket decided to wrap itself around me, impeding my movement. So all I was able to do was squeak in surprise, my hooves kicking in panic, before I came crashing back down to earth. Hard.

“BUCKING BUCK—OMPH!”

I hit the bed at an awkward angle, which sent me flying off the thing and onto the floor. And let me tell you it was not a very nice landing.

“SON OF A BISCUIT!”

I hit the ground rolling, my wings and legs hitting every hard, painful surface that they could reach (including my head) until I ended up on my back in the middle of the room. Now staring at the ceiling, wheezing because I just knocked the wind out of myself because I’m dumb, I took a moment to reflect on the finer things in life. Why were blankets death traps? Why was my bed so springy? How could a carpeted floor hurt so much? Did I at least get a good amount of air when I launched myself toward the ceiling?

It was in the middle of this contemplation when the pain hit. The horrible, stingy pain.

“….Owwwwwwwwww .” I winced, gritting my teeth and closing my eyes as I wiggled back and forth. While the aches and soon-to-be bruises weren’t anything serious it felt like they were everywhere. And it bucking SUCKED.

“Arrrreeeesss,” I whined, my back legs kicking slightly. “Heeeeeelllllpppppp!.”

I waited for my human to be at my side trying his best to comfort me. I wasn’t exactly the quietest with my little freak out, so Ares should be wide awake and just as freaked out as I was. But the seconds ticked by and no human came. I didn’t feel Ares’s hands running down my body and I didn’t hear his comforting voice.

Cracking open an eye I looked over toward the bed. To my surprise Ares wasn’t in sight.“…Ares? Honey?” The pain receded just a little bit, which allowed me to pick my head up off the floor. “Ares? Are you in the bathroom?”

A sinking feeling started to build in my gut as I slowly rolled myself onto my belly and stood up. Ignoring the popping sounds coming from my back and wings, I started looking around for my little human. I checked the bathroom, I looked under the bed, and I even checked in the closet for some silly reason, and I still couldn’t find him.

Where the hay did he go? I fell asleep on top of him so he should still be on the bed…

Frowning, I trotted toward the door and threw it open, stepping out into the hallway.

“Ares? Ares? ARES!”

I passed maid and guard alike looking for my human. Some of them bowed, some of them offered me a good morning, and some even gawked at my probably disheveled appearance, but I was too focused on finding my Ares to even acknowledge them. I needed to find my human and I needed to find him now. A certain human had a certain marefriend that had hurt herself by flip-flopping around on her floor and now she needed cuddles to make herself feel better.

I didn’t know why, but something in my gut told me that I needed to find him, and it wasn’t because of the aforementioned reasons either. Something might have happened to him. If I wasn’t around him something probably would happen to him knowing his luck. Though the thought might have been a little silly—Ares was just probably in the kitchen getting us some breakfast or something like that— I couldn’t shake it. In fact the feeling got stronger the more time passed.

After a few minutes of calling Ares’s name out, my leisurely pace became a slight trot. My cries became a little louder and higher pitched. For some reason my breathing started to get quicker. The hallways seemed to get a bit narrower with each step. They seemed darker, colder—

“Are you alright there your majesty?”

I jumped as captain Echo suddenly appeared to my left. “Good morning, captain!” I said a little too loudly, clenching my chest. “Good morning, good morning, how has your morning been going? I hope your morning’s been won-der-ful!”

My captain, who I was going to make wear a bell so she’d never scare the horse apples out of me again, raised an eyebrow. She looked me up and down, taking in my appearance, before holding me in place with a wing. “I’m doing very well, my lady,” she said calmly. “Now could you please calm down and tell me what’s bothering you?”

I opened my mouth to tell the bat pony that I was fine and that nothing was bothering me but slowly closed it. “…I look like a crazy pony right now don’t I?”

“You look like you just woke up and you’re one step away from having a panic attack,” Echo answered, her professional tone not wavering in the slightest.

I took a few deep breaths and sat down in the middle of the hallway. The second that I did this the panic that had been making me freak out dissipated. Now a little calmer, I looked back over at my captain.

“Do you know where Ares is, Echo?” I asked with a slight whimper.

Echo, with a snort, nodded. “As a matter of fact I do, Princess. Half of the castle knows where your human is at the moment.”

Relief flooded me. “Oh thank goodness he’s alright,” I muttered before my nose scrunched up. “…Wait, why do so many ponies know where Ares is?”

Shaking her head Echo nudged me with her wing. “Just follow me, my lady. It’ll be better to just show you.”

Now calm, cool and collected—and more than a little embarrassed about my actions and the fact that I was being so excitable—I followed Echo through the halls. The walk wasn’t a very long one, and soon the two of us were standing before my honey bunny in all of his glory. And what a glory it was.

“…Aw, look at them…”

A smile quickly worked its way onto my face as I watched Flash nuzzle Ares’s neck, a bit of drool dripping from the stallion’s mouth and onto my human’s shirt. It looked like both Flash and Shining, for some reason, had decided to use Ares as a pillow in the middle of the hall of all places. Shining had his hooves wrapped around Ares’s back and was nuzzling the back of his neck with a small smile on his face. Flash had his hooves wrapped around Ares’s middle with his muzzle buried in his neck. While both stallions looked as happy as they could be the same couldn’t be said for my human.

There were bags under Ares’s eyes as he laid there nestled between those two stallions, both of whom reeked of alcohol. His mouth was set into the deepest frown that I had ever seen on his face and his eyes were narrowed to slits. Though he wasn’t doing anything to free himself from his ‘prison’ I could tell that the littlest thing would probably set him off.

It would be clear to anypony looking at him that Ares wasn’t happy right now, and while I couldn’t help but wonder how the hay he managed to get himself in this situation, the fact my human being cuddled by two stallions while he was pouting was both hilarious and adorable. So, being the wonderful marefriend I was, I sat myself down and had a good chuckle at his expense.

“Y-You alright there, h-hon?” I asked before throwing my head up into the air and laughing my head off.

Ares grunted as he wiggled downward into Flash’s chest. “Fuck off and help me, candy,” he demanded while Flash nuzzled the top of his head. “I had a real shitty night and this morning isn’t looking any better.”

If I wasn’t on the ground laughing I would have noticed that there was something off with my human. He seemed to be watching out for something. The dark rings under his eyes hid the fact that he looked unusually pale. And even though he didn’t look happy he was holding both Flash and Shining close, as if to use them to ward something off. Though he was doing his best to look upset there, was a nervous fear in his eyes, an uncomfortable tenseness, like he wanted to get out of the open as soon as possible.

I think that was a big part of why Echo wasn’t laughing or giggling with me. She must have been wondering what had Ares so nervous but she didn’t want to say anything until she had him free. If I had seen it earlier I would have forced Ares to tell me what was going on and why he was shaking. But, as blinded by my relief that he was alright, all I saw was my silly Ares cuddled up with his silly drunk friends.

It took a couple of minutes for me to calm myself down, but after taking a few deep breaths and getting it all out of my system I wiped a tear from my eye and took some stalk in my surroundings. Whoo, I thought that he was in trouble, I thought, taking a step forward to inspect Flash and Shining a little more closely. …You know, I should go and get my aunts. I bet they’d LOVE to see this. Or at the very least I coul—

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this, princess,” my captain said, walking over to the cuddle pile and nudging Shining with a hoof. The frown on her face deepened as she kicked at him a little bit harder. “When these two get up I promise that they’ll be in for a world of hurt.”

I got up and stood beside her, doing my best not to break into another fit of giggles. “Oh I don’t think that there’s any need to punish these two, Captain.” I had to bite my lip as Shining kissed the back of my human’s head, making him tense up. “It looks like Flash and Shining were just having a little fun and there’s nothing wrong with that. I might give them a bit of a talk—“

“Fuck’em up, bat horse,” Ares growled, doing his best to squirm out of his cuddle captor's clutches. “I don’t care if you have to saw them off me. I need them off me now.”

He managed to wiggle down another inch or two before Shining and Flash frowned. The two stallions started murmuring, and as quick as a pair of snakes their grip tightened on Ares. I couldn’t help but ‘aw’ again as Shining’s horn glowed and he forced Ares’s head under his chin. The cuteness was doubled when Flash, muttering nonsense, unfurled his wings and wrapped it around Shining and Ares.

Ares cursed, looking up at me. “Will the two of you stop standing there and help me?! I don’t want to be out here anymore! I want to go back to my room.”

The smile on my face died when I heard the desperation in his voice. Blinking, I noticed that he looked a little pale, and I noticed that he was shaking. “…Ares, honey, is everything alright?”

“Everything’s gonna be peachy as soon as these two get off of me!” Ares growled, his eyes darting around the hall. “I need to get out of this fucking hallway. I need to get away.”

Sensing that something was wrong I turned toward my captain, who continued to nudge Shining with a hoof. “First things first we need to wake these two idiots up,” she said with a sigh. “So we shou—”

A shadow flashed across Ares’s eyes and his movements became more frantic. His gaze settled right behind me and in an instant he went rigid.

Whatever color that he still had drained from his face and his eyes widened. Now very worried, I took a step toward him with the intent of getting him out of the cuddle pile so that he could tell me what was bothering him.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Both me and Echo jumped as my human let out an earsplitting scream of terror, thrashing around so hard that I was afraid he was going to hurt himself.

GETAWAYFROMMEGETAWAYFROMMEGETAWAYFROMME!DON’TYOUFUCKINGTOUCHCADENCE!”

Not a half a second later Flash was in the air with a frightened squeak, his eyes wide and his hooves kicking. “WHO? WHAT? WHERE?”

Shining’s eyes shot open as his body violently twitched. A shadow passed across his body before disappearing into Ares. Gritting his teeth like he was in pain, Shining’s horn sparkled to life and he let out a scream of his own as he fired off a spell in his panic. “AWWWWWWW!”

I had to shove Echo out of the way to keep Shining’s spell from hitting her, the pink burst of magic crashing into the ceiling a second later. With wide eyes I wrapped my wing around the mare and shoved us both forward as my horn lit up with magic.

“ARES!”

Chunks of crystal broke off from the ceiling with a thunderous crack. Cursing, I threw a shield over all of us as Ares, Flash, and Shining screamed like a bunch of bucking banshees. With a crash the crystal fell all around us, dust flying everywhere.

If Echo looked mad before now she was beyond furious. “PRIVATE SHINING ARMOR! PRIVATE FLASH SENTRY! I SWEAR TO CELESTIA IF YOU DON’T BUCKING FREEZE RIGHT NOW I’M GOING TO SHOVE MY HOOF UP BOTH OF YOUR PLOTS AND WORK YOUR BUCKING MOUTHS LIKE A COUPLE OF SOCK PUPPETS!”

Both Shining and Flash froze, both of their mouths agape as their eyes darted over to their commanding officer. Breathing hard, Ares was finally able to free himself from Shining, grabbing the stallion and tossing him away.

“Don’t l-let it get me!” he yelled, crawling away from me until his back hit the barrier. “S-Stay away!”

Shoving Echo out of the way I strode toward him. “Ares, honey, what’s going on?” I asked, looking over my shoulder. “What’s trying to get you?”

Though dust and debris filled the air I could clearly see that there was nothing there. We five were the only ones in the hall. I grabbed Ares by his shirt and pulled him away from the barrier. Though he resisted at first, his eyes still looking at nothing, the second that I managed to get his back off the magical barrier he nearly jumped into my hooves.

“The s-shadows,” he whispered. “The shadows have eyes and mouths…”

“Shush, shush, everything’s alright honey,” I said, wrapping my wings around him. “Everything’s okay. You’re alright, you’re alright. Nopony’s here, you’re just seeing things. Shush, shush.”

Ares must have been suffering from sleep deprivation. It only made sense; after all of the excitement from these past couple days the two of us haven’t gotten that much sleep. That was why he was freaking out and saying stuff about shadows and seeing things that weren’t there.

“I’m going to take you back to our room and I’ll make sure that you get to sleep,” I said, nuzzling the top of his head. “But first let me make sure that Shining didn’t hurt you.”

With a careful eye I searched over my Ares. Though he looked a little dirty and tired he didn’t look worse for wear. Which was a relief, I don’t know what I would have done if he’d have gotten hurt…

My eyes widened slightly when the revelation that Ares could have gotten hurt just now. Shining’s spell could have blown him to pieces if the unicorn would have had his head turned just an inch. If I would have waited a second or two longer a chunk of rock could have hit him, hurting him or worse. Heck, Flash could have fallen on top of him and broken something!

Though I had no idea why, tears started to form in my eyes. “You could have g-gotten hurt…”

Ḑ̞̭͇̬̥͇ͅe͉̙̟͖̮͎̤s̞̼̝͈̖̬̭p͏̫̫̤͉a̵̲͚̟̰̤͙ì̘̥̭̫̲͍̲r̩͖̩ ̘̘i̶̳͓͔͕̻n̫͎̺̞ ̕y͞o͇̗͚̟ú͈̗̠r̶͔̤̪̫͕ ̘̜̦̲͜v̞͍̩̼̻̟̠e͎͓̮̣͎̠̫̕i̞̝̙n̼͇̳̹̬͍s͕͔̪
̘̲̘̰̗̱̫Re̷g̙̫re̫͇̺̭̩ṯ̢̬̙̤ ̹͙͕̘̼t͕̦̳̼͕ẹ̡̲͕a͏̞̭̟r̲̫̘̠̲̺̕ş͉ ͚̝̯̘̗í̞̹n̫͈̜̜̯ṭ̬̘̻͉ͅo̼̙͎̩̲̪ͅ ̤̮͉̬̤̞y̸̘̗̺͎o̵̹̜͇ͅu̬͘ŗ̟͓̹ ̦̺̹͙́f̡̠̜͔l̴̝͙̜̯̜e̗͙̦͎̬s͔͚̻h̝̦̲͉
҉F͖̣̤̳́e̼͚̬͔͍͍̟a҉͕̩̤̫̞̭̱r̵̲̦̠͇͉̤͉ ̞i͚̲̩̦s̺̘̯̞ ̙͈͉̤y̻͖̜͎̞ǫ̩̗͍̺̩̱ur̜̺̦̲͢ ͍̭͈m̞͈̀a̗̩̜͔s̟̼͔te̺͓̝̫̫͍r͈̣̹̝̼

A sob racked my body and I had to blink away tears. I ran a hoof through Ares’s hair, holding him as close as I could . “I-If that spell would h-have hit y-you...”

L̹e͉͚t͜ ̧̦̺͇̬̞͕u͈̱̥s̹̫̯ ̕f̣͇̯͜e̗̖͕ḛd
L̡̖̯E̦̥̞T͏̟̬͎̮̮̲̖ ̞̗U̴̙̰͖͙̱͔S͜ ̵̬̹̯̻͈F̱͢E̛̫̗̩͕E̶̠̟̱̳D̤̝̀
͕̝̱̖́L̜̱̞̯͉̤ͅe̴̹͎͍̱T̷͙͈̼̗ ̝̻̀u̦S ̜̥f͔̬̤̺̰̹̘E̝e̯̭͞D̪

~-`-`-`-~

Shining Armor felt awful. His head felt like somepony had spent the night kicking him in the head, his stomach was doing flips, he felt sweaty and sticky and it felt like the sun was trying to burn holes in his eyes. In a fair and just world he would be lying in a dark, dark room in his bed still sleeping. He would have woken gradually with a bit of a headache from all the drinking the night before, and that headache would have been fixed with a warm shower and something greasy and delicious.

But this was not a kind and just world. Instead he found himself waking up with a splitting headache in the middle of some hallway at some godforsaken hour because some jack-off started screaming like a crazy pony. As disorientated and confused as he was, Shining’s first thought when he had heard screaming right in his ears was that he was being attacked. So he, falling back on his training as a guard, he let loose a spell blindly as he flailed around.

He had been ready to unleash another when he had heard another shout that put the first one to shame. This shout was sharp, angry and commanding. This was the shout of a commanding officer that was furious

“—FREEZE RIGHT NOW!”

The magic that was building up in his horn died almost instantly as his eyes frantically snapped back and forth. He was forced to blink a few times to focus his vision, and the second that it cleared he saw that he was in a blue barrier. He was able to take in his surroundings for a few seconds before a growl turned his attention away from the barrier surrounding him and toward the pony in front of him. The second that he did so he instantly regretted it as Echo’s face came into view.

Captain Echo was staring at him like he was the scum of the earth, and through his haze of pain he couldn’t help but flinch when he made eye contact.

…Oh bucking horse apples…

It wasn’t often that Shining had ever been caught with his metaphorical pants down by a commanding officer. He had caught more than a few ponies under him doing silly or even dangerous things but he himself wasn’t usually on the receiving end of that kind of glare. So, like a deer facing down a speeding eighteen wheeler, he froze up.

Echo’s eyes narrowed as her lips drew back, revealing sharp fangs. “Private,” she said, her voice dripping with malice. “You done bucked up royally.”

A thousand and one thoughts flooded the unicorns mind. He shouldn’t have let Twilight’s friends talk him into drinking. He should have just dragged Flash back to the barracks after the two of them finished a bottle of whatever they had been drinking each. He probably should have just stayed in Twilight’s room and not have tried to stumble back to his bed. Thought upon thought assaulted his pounding head; until he heard somepony crying.

Though common sense was telling him not to, Shining looked away from the angry captain and over to… Ares and Cadence?

Cadence’s horn was glowing, she was hugging Ares tightly, and for some reason it looked like she was crying her eyes out. Ares, who was muttering something to himself, looked like he had been through the ringer. He looked unnaturally pale, he was shaking, and his grip on Cadence looked almost painful.

…What the buck happened? he wondered, his nose scrunching up. Was… Was that Ares screaming?

Shining blinked again and noticed that he was under a blue barrier and there was dust all around them. It took him a few moments to piece together what happened, but when he did he was horrified.

“Cadence! Ares!” Shining struggled to his hooves. “Is everypony alright?! I didn’t hit anypony with that spell did—“

He took a step toward the couple, panic and worry twisting his already upset stomach. He reached up to touch Ares, ignoring his captain’s yelling, and placed his hoof on the small of his back.

H̡̦̹͙̭͓̼͆̈́̎̑͢͟u̎̊͋̐̾̓͗̈́̀҉͇̪͔̟̗̞͖̜́N̮͇̦͓͈̙ͤ̽ͬ̈́ͨ̈̎ͦͣ̀͝ḡ̺̯͎͕͚̳̲̤̍ͤ̎̉͘͟ͅR̛͍͇ͨ̉͐̍̂̑̾͊̕y͉̮͕̤̔ͤͧ͠

With a yelp he found himself backpedaling until he touched the barrier. WHAT THE BUCK WAS—

Shining only had a moment to contemplate what just happened when a hoof came flying out from the corner of his vision and hit him with enough force to knock him off of his hooves. Stars exploded across his vision as he let out a pained grunt, hitting the ground and skidding across the floor a moment later.

“SHINING ARMOR! DID I OR DID I NOT JUST TELL YOU TO BUCKING FREEZE?!”

His head spinning, Shining could only watch as Echo stomped over to him. …What the heck just happened? he thought, looking over at Ares and Cadence, his heart pounding in his chest. Why was… What was… How?

Snarling, Echo yanked him to his hooves and got in his face. “I swear to Faust I’m going to shove my hoof so hard up your ass you and your coltfriend won’t be able to bucking have any fun together, Private! What the hay are you doing just firing off spells willy—“

What the heck happened? Did Ares do something to me when I touched him? Some kind of human magic?

Though he didn’t know why, the fur on the back of his neck stood on end as he watched Ares’s fingers twitch. The movement didn’t look right; his fingers were moving in ways that Shining had never seen Ares move them. If he didn’t know any better he would have said that Ares wasn’t that one that was moving his fingers at all. Alarms were going off in his head, telling him that something was wrong. Very wrong.

No, no, Ares can’t do any magic! Magic HURTS him! But what was that feeling then?! Though Shining didn’t notice his breathing started to quicken as he turned his attention over to Cadence. Wait… did Cadence—

Shining managed to move out of the way this time as Echo tried to slug him again. “Shooting off spells AND staring off into space like some sort of airhead?! Booooy you must be trying to test my bucking—“

“Captain, there’s something wrong.”

Echo managed to grab into him, her teeth bared. “Of course there’s something wrong you bucking moron! You and Private Sentry decided to get yourselves liquored up like a bunch of—”

Shining started to back away as much as the barrier would allow when he noticed something pass over both Cadence and Ares. At first glance he would have said it was a shadow but the longer he looked at it the less likely it seemed. There wasn’t anything in the hall that would cast a shadow over the two. And a shadow didn’t get as dark as that during this time of day. That and there was this cold…

“Captain, we need to get out of this barrier right now.” Not looking away from Cadence and Ares, Shining bucked the shield as hard as he could. The barrier barely flickered as he made contact with it. “Horse apples… Flash, are you there?”

From outside the bubble coughing could be heard. Through the dust and debris Flash could be seen lying on his back with his eyes closed. “Yeah, I’m here,” he called before breaking into a coughing fit. “Mostly. What the buck happened?”

Realizing that his commanding officer was no longer trying to slug him Shining looked up to see what Echo was doing. The batpony was starting at Ares and Cadence, her eyes wide and her mouth open. Her entire body was rigid, like she was ready to take off at a moment’s notice.

The shadow-like figure stretched out around both the human and alicorn, becoming darker and more solid with each one of Cadence’s sobs. It reached out with one of its hellish claws, trying to reach out and touch one of them. It hissed, its “head” twisting and forming and reshaping until
it hurt Shining’s eyes to look at it for any longer.

“…What the buck is that?” Echo whispered, backing up until her back was against the barrier.

The temperature inside the barrier instantly plummeted. Frost surrounded Ares and Cadence and started to slowly creep toward the unicorn and bat mare.

“The shadows have teeth of ice,” Ares muttered, struggling against Cadence, paler than he had ever been. “And the ice is made of pain.”

L̩̙e̯T͕̭̯̙͖̀ ̙͝u҉͖̗̣͙ͅS̪̟͉̮͇̙ f͈͚͟E̮̻̖̳͈͚a̰̤̪S̷̜̫͔ţ̠̫̼̬
̬͔͉͎͕̦͈ṭ͝E͎̱ą͉̫̗̠̳ͅͅR̜̪ ̗̞͎͓̜̳̩͠a͜T̮ ̣̼͈ͅt͓͍H͚̞̯̰̫͘e͉̻͉͇͚͕͉͡ ̶̟̠B̥̯̱̫o̜͝N̴͇e̴̩͕̘
̢T̡͕̥̠͙̝͔ḙ͓A͓̦̳̤̤̯͕r̻͍̮͎̘ ̼̫̭̀A͓t̠ ̖͜T̜͚̗͓̟h̙̼̻E̠ ̣̺̼̰b̝̼̱͙̬̀L͉͠o̯͎̟͈͔D̯͍̀d͉̘̥̕

“Private, go and get the bucking princess right this bucking minute,” Echo said, frost forming on her muzzle. “I don’t care what the buck you have to do or which princess is it, you just need to get one of them. Now.”

Neither Shining nor Echo watched Flash leave. The two of them just stared at the horror in front of them in a kind of paralysis. They were two of the best guards in Equestria. More than once they had fought overwhelming odds and had lived to tell the tale. They were veterans, warriors, old hats to the art of combat. But neither of them had ever seen anything like this. They had not known that horrors like this existed, because that was what this was. This was no monster or enemy of the crown that could be defeated in an afternoon. This… thing was something else. Something bad. Something that they could not fight.

But they were going to be damned if they weren’t going to try.

“Shining,” Echo said with sudden calmness. “You go left, I’ll go right. Remember not to hurt the princess or the monkey any more than we need to, but most importantly make sure that that…. Thing doesn’t touch you.”

Eying the shadow with narrowing eyes, Shining let magic flow through his horn, making it spark to life. The shadow, which was swaying to and fro near Ares’s head, seemed to smile as both Shining and Echo took a cautious step toward the couple.

“On my mark. One… two… th—“

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

I couldn’t get the image of one of those chunks of crystal hitting my little human out of my head. I could hear Ares’s scream, I could hear the crystal hitting his body, I could even hear the cracking of his bones as he… as he…

Quietly sobbing I held him a little tighter as I put a little more magic into the shield around us. If I kept this shield up nopony and nothing would hurt him. The two of us would be happy and safe if I just kept this spell up. I needed to keep the spell up and I needed to make sure that it was strong enough to keep everypony and everything out.

T̶̡̗̭͗̏̾h̞̞̝̗̯͙̪̘͓̓͑ͦ͑́̌E̘̲̘͙̮͙͎͌ͯͯ͋ ̵͈͍̰̱͈͓̞͈͕ͪ͐͛͗s̸̴͚͙͙̆̌͑̀ͧ̑̓̕H̛͐̿̃̓́҉̲͍͍̰̬ḁ̧̩ͩ͒̄ͤ́D͎̞̘̜̗̅̀ͬ͂͟͝o̥͎̼̟̝̭̟͐̋̃͢͝W̙͎͚̯̝̦̎̐s̵̜̲̰͉̞͍̼̋̈́ͤ̒͊ͅ ̭̼̩̍̓̅̈́ͬ̂ͤ̀͜ͅD̙͓ͯ͌ͤa̛͔ͬ̎̍ͧͨ̒̌̌̓N̷͉̰̼͍̬̊̈́̑ͩc̡̳̯͕̺̓̔̀͢Ę͍͕̦͖̦̫̥̫͒̑ͦ́̚͠

I could smell alcohol on Ares, no doubt from Flash and Shining. I could also smell sweat and the very faint musk from the fun that the two of us had the other night. Underneath all of that though, underneath the sweat and the smell of sex and whiskey, I could smell the unique, irreplaceable scent of my little human.

Ț͉̲̫͚̞͖͙̌̿̄̈́̑͋ẖ̟͚̟̠͓̣͈̹ͮͭ͛͋Ẽ̟̝̠͍̮̯͉̟̤̍ ̳͎̼̟̭̦͒̿ͣ̊ͪ͌ͣͣͅḿ̰͉͙O͓͙͈̞̣̝̯̯͋̑̅̊̅ô̙̠̽̓ͨͬ̾N͕̭͕̙̟̺͂͆ ̯̱̭͈̝͕ͨ̑̋̊̆͆̇̌ͅs̠̭͕̯̺̯̞̤ͤ͑̈ͫ͋ͭͅĈ̤̭͔ͭ̽̇ͭ̈ͅr̰̥̹̥̮̲̝̅ͦ̎̃E̝͎̊̊̓ͫͣͬǎ̠͚̜̝̠̇̉ͦͦͥͧM̝̭͔̋̔̃ͤ͐́ͥ̓́ͅs͚͚͖̠͓̲ͭ̒͂
̥̠͌̈ͮͪT̬̫͙́́̍͛́ͣ̇h̺̗͖͌͌̄̑̓E̳͍̞̔ͯͩ ̮̞͎̍͋͋ͪṣ̫̻̰͕̭̝̭͛ͭ̃̊͋Ủ̝͕̗̠̦̫͇̲ͬͅn̺̣̫̯͚͇͑͑ͣͨ̒ͦͫ̿̑ͅ ̹̝͉̘̰̓́ͪ̆͐̿̾̂B̳̳̗͙̹̝͚̈́ͪͮͭ̋͗l̝̦͎̪͆ͮ̃͌ͨ͊Ĕ͖͇̜̗̙̱̋̌̎̅ͨ͆ͬͅẽ̯͕̔́ͤ́̐ͤͦͅD͚̟̻͓͚̘ͦ̆ͤ͒ͬs͈͉̰͙̭̄̅̀̓̏͊̋͌
͈͖̺̲̗̘̭ͣ̓̾ͪM͉̰̪̜̲̬͙̙̩̌͆͌̍͒a̦ͧͅG̣̫̳̳̘̮̟̤ͩ̿̚i̹͇̝͖͖͙ͥͩ́̍C̜̝̣̲̚ ̤͚̘͚̲̲̾ͅd̦̜̼͎͚ͣ̓I͇̬̝͔̫̗̤͒̉ͧ̌ͪ͊͑ͦe̼̗̫͚̳̦̘ͫS͓̯͙̳̬͚̲͙̑̍ͥͧ͐͌͒̐ͅ
̞̩̫̺͎̊̂̀͐ͮa͔̲͉̮ͫͭ̌̾̇̓̆N̥̮ͮ̒̿͑̌͒̍d͉͐̄ͩ ̞͇̥̳͚̞̜̔̏ͫͧ͂T̹̙ͥͭh̤͚͚͚͎̥̦͔̿Ḛ̰̗ͤͣ̃͛ ̦͔̅ͬ͊̍s͓̮̔̈́̏͌̽̅H̭̤̉͐̀̐̌a̦͆͗͊ͥ̀ͬ͆D̯̹̠̪̖́̿ͯ͛ͫ̔ͩ̈̚o̫̮̠̰̅͐̾̋̀̎̔W͈̱̄ͧͦ̿s͍̙̜͊͊ ̞̇̌̉̽̍̇̐ͣL̞̦̞ͬa͍͖̱̰̱̪ͫͤ̃U͍̰̹ͬͦ̅̄ͫ͑͊̎g͚̊͑̿ͅḢ̝͙̜͚̦͎ͩ͂̽

A shudder ran through Ares’s body and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. If I didn’t know any better I would have said that he was shaking slightly as the two of us rocked back and forth.

T̫̞͍̲̟̞̼̎ͨ̓̍͒͐h̭͓̫̲̒ͦͧ́ͭ̓̓̏E̖̹̯̜̦̮͚̰̓͋̾̃̔̈́̀ ͇͎͓̼̖͇ͣ̂c̫͖̺̙̩̲̏̈́͂̿͆ͮ̓ͤO͇͕̩̮̮ͮ̋̍̅ͮl̫̘͕̬̥̭͙̞̐ͣ̋ͯ̀̍̄ͭD̫̻ͮͮ̐͌̈́̈́̇̇̆ ̜͎͙̗̹̺̦ͧͫ̐ͦ̊́ͨ̌k̮̜̲̺͉͚̎̑͗͗̆I̬̥̽̃ͮ̒ͦ̐l͖̮̀̏̂͐ͧL̤̜̦̳̬̭̬̎s̝̝̫̥ͦͪ͌̆͆̿̓ ͙̳̈̾ͫͤ̀A͉ͪ̇̊̏͌ḷ̬͔̒ͫ̉ͅL̮ͭ̔ͮͅ
͚̫̺͖̜̝̝̿͛̆T̘̗͇͕͎̺͎̞͔͂h̬̗̜̬̯̜̭͉ͥͤ͐ͮͭͯ̚Ë͖̥̰̰̟̪́ͯ͐̋ͩ ̭͎̪̟͉̱̲̝̠̚c̟̠͍͎̥̅̉̏̌̋ͯ̈́̔Ō̩̻͍̠̤̿̾ḽ̬͍̮̬͚̲̠̻̇ͮ̔Ḓ͉͇̲̮̮ͪͤ ͇̦̘̤̜̤̤̼̋̄͑̐̏̈k͍̳̙͕͎̈́̎̏ͦ͛̀ͅI̠̬͈̙͕͖͖̳̎͒l̩͍̜͚͇͍̜̯̑ͭͤͯḺ͇̀̌ͥ̃ͅs̱̫̫̹͓̜̜̬̏͂̿ͭ̅̿̾̒ ̳̜̝͓̼̰̦̻̩̎ͧ̈́͒̃̌̃ͣA̤̠̥̓̍ͮḻ̰̯̻͌̆L̝̣̩̭͊ͥ̓ͭ̿̊ͅ
̼̹͍̗̤͙ͫ͂͒̆ͤ̆̓̚T͉́ͬH̗̑̌E̟̗͚͈͉̘̣̼ͯͯͤͭͅ ͙̳͍̏̌̌ͫC̜̲ͤ̑̄ͤ̆̍O̰͓ͣ̇̚L͕̬͉͉͖̦̲̆͒̃̈ͣ͛́D͉̩͉͎̟̔͗ͪͭͤ̔̚ ͔̞̗̯ͨ͑̃K͓ͯ̅̐̄I̫ͧ̏ͫ̍͊̊ͪͬͅL͈͔͈͂̓͋ͣ͐̆̎͋̑L̦̥̳̠ͫͮ̀ͩͯ̎S̱̼͔͕̳̈́̿̊ͦ̚̚ ̯͓̬͈̟͉̪̳͊ͩ͊́ͤA̲̭̤̱̤̦̬̺̎̈͛̇̋̂L̟͐̏̈̓͆L̘̗̓ͨ̏͗̉
͙͈̥̯̫̥̻̌̀̍̚T̺͎̜̺̺̂ͪ̑̈͛̾̔H̼̤͙͈̤̃ͨ̒̂̑̿̒E̦̣͓ͣ̏̚C̗̣̑ͬ͋ͩ̓ͦO͉̩͚̘ͯ͊ͬ̓̔ͫͤL̳͙̼̓ͬ͐ͫD͚͖̣̙̗͔̦̞ͤ̊K̪̳̱͉͙̭̔͐͊͑̈̅̎I̗͓̲̺̲̽͛ͬL̹̪̰̾ͦĹ̘̫̲̟͊S͈͚̖̥͚̑̍A̻̙͈̝͔̮͍̋͋͂͋̾̿̏L͈ͤͧͩL̤͎̥ͣͭ̒ͯ̈́ͫ͊͗ͅ
̯̍ͥͭ͂̃͂ͫ͛ͥṮ͚̘̻̦̂͛̈́́H̩̙̖̞̙ͭͤ̄̎̾E͈̲̳̗̱̜̗̖̪͂ͨC͕̘̔ͬ̍̓̇ͮ̔Ȍ̲̗̼̪͔̹͇̋̆ͩ͐̂̒͊ͅL̖̘͇̝̻͙̈̓̄̇̓̈́̈͌͊D̖̟̩̥̝̙͗̈́ͯ́̅͋̂̚K̮͙͓͍̙̲̦̖͔͊ͦ̒I̼̙̰ͤͮ͂̊L̪͕͖͋̿̐̃͐ͦͅL̯͕͇̺͒̈̍S̼̮̄ͩ̀ͣẢ̠̓̊̈͒̋ͧL̝͖̤̼͓̓̅̌̑͒̄̍ͧL͚͂ͥ̔L͈͙̮̘͕̰̎͌̋̾ͩͨ̄ͤͪL͓̲̞̦̮͚̪͍̍̅̄̌

“It’s alright, honey,” I whispered. “Everything’s going to be fine. Nopony’s ever going to hurt you again. Nopony.”

I pulled away from Ares slightly to look up into his face. His mouth was moving but no words seemed to be coming out. My ears perked up, and I strained as hard as I could to hear what the heck he was saying, but all I could heard was silence with just the faintest sound of the wind.

Huh, Shining’s blast must have damaged my ears, I thought, a smile coming to my face as I looked up at my Ares. I’ll just sit here a little longer and—

That’s when I felt it; somepony was poking at my barrier with magic. There wasn’t all that much force behind it but it was persistent and spread out on a small part of the shield. Pulling Ares back against me I poured more magic into the shield, hoping that whoever was trying to get in would give up and leave.

Couldn’t they see that I just wanted to be left alone? Couldn’t they see that I just wanted to keep my Ares safe? Why couldn’t they just leave us be? Why?!?!

“Go away!” I yelled, nuzzling the top of Ares’s head. Leave us alone!”

Though I’m sure that my voice carried through the barrier the would-be shield breaker persisted. With each passing second I could feel the foreign magic burrowing into my shield.

“You’re not going to take him away from me!” I snarled. “Nopony’s going to take him away from me! Even if I have to seal up this cas—“

From my left I finally felt the needle of magic punch through my shield. Furious, I let my shield drop and readied a spell to blast into the intruders face. If they didn’t want to leave us alone then I was going to make them leave us alone. But just as I was about to release the spell I saw a pair of purple eyes; two big purple pools that had nothing but warmth and worry and motherly care in them. They weren’t the eyes of a human-stealer; they were the eyes of somepony that loved me with all of their heart.

Blinking, I watched as my auntie Celestia take another step toward me. With a small smile on her face she took another and another until her nose was touching mine.

“You smell like you and your coltfriend here had a bit of fun last night,” she said out of the blue. “Did you forget to wash this morning or did you want to telegraph it to the world, dear?”

My aunt and I just stared at each other for about a minute as I processed what she just said. Though I could see frost starting to form on Celestia’s muzzle she didn’t seem to notice it, nor did she notice that Ares’s eyes were pure black orbs. She was just looking at me with that smile on her face and just a bit of mischief in her eyes. I opened my mouth then closed it as I blushed.

“A-Auntie?” I whispered as any anger that had just drained out of me.

Celestia’s smile twitched and she looked over to Ares. Her mouth moved but no sound came out. Ares twitched against me and I saw his mouth moving to answer her. Though I couldn’t hear what was being said (for some reason) my aunt didn’t seem to take it all that well. With a sigh she turned back to me.

She tried to smile again but her lips refused to move. “Cadence, honey, you know that I love you with all of my heart right?”

Ares started struggling against my hug. His face was red and a vein was popping out of his neck as he silently screamed at Celestia. I just held my little human even closer and nodded as she leaned in and nuzzled my cheek.

“Oh course I know that, Celestia. And I love you with all of my heart,” I said honestly.

For some reason tears started to form in my aunt’s eyes, the little drops of water freezing as they spilled down her cheeks. Without saying another word Celestia’s horn sparked to life. If I would have bothered to look I would have noticed that the ground all around me was covered in a thin layer of ice. I would have also noticed that everypony watching this unfold was looking at me and Ares with horrified expressions. But I didn’t notice that. All that I saw was my aunt’s horn glowing brightly. It was a soft glow, a warm glow. If I had been able to tear myself away from the light I would have closed my eyes and just let it wash over me.

“Forgive me you two.”

Forgive? What does she—

Realization

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“Cadence? CADENCE?! What did you do to her, Celestia? W̧̟̞̟̞h͔͎̲a̡̞̥͍̻̻t̞͓ ͇͇͔͓̖ḓ̬̞̼͉͎͈͜i̤d̫̟̖͓̖ ̙̟̦̻͝ͅy̜̱͙̣͔͉o̥͓̙͉͈u͕͕̞̞͚͖͞-̣-̞̝̹̖̥͜ "

A burst of magic, about the half the size of a bit, flew through the air toward Ares at an impossible speed. A shadow crept from the floor where Ares was sitting. It reached up, trying to stop the magic flying toward him, trying to protect its host, but it was too slow. The magic passed through the… thing’s misshapen hands and hit Ares’s temple squarely.

Ares’s head snapped back and his body stiffened, his eyes snapping closed as he slumped against Cadence, out like a light. The darkness that clung to him like a shadow reeled back as if the spell had hit it too. It tried to reach out again, tried to grab her, but it was only able to slightly lift one of his ‘hands’ before it sunk back into Ares.

There was nothing harmful in the spell; nothing that would hurt Ares any more than he was already. It was the most quick and painless way that Celestia knew of to knock somepony out. And since she managed to put the two to sleep it would be safer for everypony, both Ares and Cadence included. Now she had a little breathing room. Now she could take a step back and take stock in what the hay was going on and why it was happening.

She had been wrong. Both her and Luna had been wrong. What had happened to Cadence wasn’t some horrible accident; this thing, this shadow had had something to do with it. It had turned Cadence into a monster, and from the looks of things it had somehow managed to possess Ares. She had been wrong and now the two of them were suffering for it.

Princess Celestia, the Lady of the Sun, stared at her niece and her friend with a sadness that she had not felt in a very long time. The air around her was icy cold; the ground, the walls, and even the ceiling were coated in an icy sheen. But she could not feel the horrible life-sucking cold. She didn’t pay any mind to the icy coating on her face and her chest. She didn’t even acknowledge the looks of horror on Shining, Flash, and Echo’s faces as they watched her. All she could feel was a sharp pain of fear, horror, and sadness in her chest.

“I’m sorry.”

With a shaky breath Celestia took a step forward. Her wings extended and her horn glowed. Closing her eyes she let the magic flow out of her horn and the entire hall was encompassed in a bright light. The cold and ice disappeared and everything was bathed in a comforting warmth that seeped down to one’s bones.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Tears started to stream down Celestia’s face as she cut off the magic from her horn. The light faded, revealing a hallway free of ice and debris. Ares and Cadence, who had been the worst off, covered hoof to horn in ice and shadows, now looked normal; peaceful even. If she didn’t know any better she would have said that the two silly fillies had just decided to take a nap in the middle of the hall.

“I-I’m s-sorry.”

Celestia took another step toward the two, grief twisting her features further. A sob escaped her throat as she leaned down and nuzzled her niece’s face. The knife in her heart twisted as Cadence let out a sleepy sigh as her hooves wrapped around her lover, giving him a squeeze. Ares tensed slightly at the contact before going limp in his marefriend’s arms.

Fighting back another sob Celestia gave him a nuzzle. “I’ve failed you two. I’ve failed...”

In her mind’s eye she could see her baby sister Luna. She remembered the look of joy in her face when she first managed to raise the moon. She could still see the first time when she spread her wings and took off into the air like it had happened yesterday. She remembered when her sister had grown quiet, angry at the world. Back then her baby sister had turned into a monster because of her lack of attention, and now it was happening again. Just like before she hadn’t been able to see the darkness in her family and now they were turning into something else because of it.

Yǒ̩͒̆͐͋̽̏͟Û̗͇̙̺͡ ͪ̂ͨ̅̉ͨ͏̬ͅc͚͔̔̄͌ͪ̊̚Ơ͎͇̼̘̳̽̆ͅu͏L̶̟̬̼̟͈ͨ͐̌̆̂͆ͅd̺ͯ̄̆̄̓͗ͦ́ ̸̣̣̲͍̣̫ͅH̡͚̞̤̮͙̃̊̉͊ͤ̈́a̡̮̜̱͎͍͔ͨ̀̐ͩ͒V̟̞̖͙͎̾̒ͨͅę̮̟͖͍̹̯ ͙̤͖̗̱̏̿̃S̩͇̝̲̝a̬͖ͦͪ̓ͅͅV̡̻̠ͅe̵̞ͫ̀̈̆ͮͯDͮ͏ ̫͉̥̙͓͌̕ť̩̄͒̈́̄͘H̗͚̀͋ͣ̿ͥe̳̗̻ͥ̒ͦ̒̓̅̚M̩͍̺͔̍͌̍

Celestia unfurled her wings and pulled the two unconscious lovers into a hug. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

The rational part of her brain kept telling her that this was not her fault. Both she and her sister had used every spell and checked every part of their bodies for signs of dark magic. Nopony could have done more than them. The darkness, the… thing that was inside them, whatever it was, had somehow hidden from them and there was nothing that she could have done about that. But another part of her insisted that she could have done more. Another spell, a different technique, maybe just poking around a little longer, something.

Ŵ͑̃͑̀͏͍͓̤̹͓̯̦eͧ̎̌ ̻̺̲͕̲̎͋H̗̗̗̯̙͚͉͊̇̍͊̊̚͜ṵ͈͇̻̪̮̅ͫ̚N̟̰͇̬̜͈ͯg͑̔E̷̹͈͚͈̥̰̱̾̑̅rͮ

She should have never thought that it was just a fluke. She should have tried harder, done more, been there more for these two. What use was all of this magic, all of this power if one couldn’t keep their own family safe from the things that wish to harm them? How could she call herself a princess after she had done everything she could and she still failed them?

W͇̜̜͇̣̳̻ͧͮ̓e̬̫̩̯̒̀͆͒ͯ̊̚͜ ̻͔̘̺͉̹̭͐͋͛W͒̂ͭi͉̻̰̳̝̎̈̓͠S͙̙̼̥͚̫͛ͩ̎͠h̬͈̫̗̮̤ͩ̿͑ ͎͔̲̫͡ͅTͦ̓҉̠o̵̖̩̲̖ ͚͙͚̝̠̹̤̀̅E̻̝͈͎͆̋͆ͤa̯̫͉͔͙ͭ̌ͨ̍͒̀T͔͎̲͖̯̪ͦ͐̉͊͑̿

Celestia might not have known what evil was inside her human friend and her dear niece but she knew that whatever was residing in them wasn’t good. The cold that had encased the two’s bodies had been filled with hate. The look that Ares was giving her had been one of fear even as he had screamed at her in rage. There was something evil in Mi Amore Cadenza and Ares the human, and Celestia hadn’t a clue to what it was. And that scared her more than she cared to admit.

Another sob escaped her throat as she held the two close to her. She hoped that they could feel the love that she had for them; she hoped that they could feel the warmth in her body. More than anything she wanted to use this love and warmth to cast out the monster inside of them, to tell them that everything was going to be fine and actually mean it, but she couldn’t.

Both Ares and Cadence were still frigid, and no matter how closely she held them they didn’t get warmer. Though she could feel frost starting to reform on her wings, neck, and chest she still held them close to her. Celestia could hear somepony trying to get her attention but she ignored them as she wrapped her wings tight around the two of them. She tried to use another heating spell but it didn’t seem to work. She tried again but both of them were still cold to the touch. Ares in particular seemed to be freezing, his body shaking and his lips slightly blue. At a loss on what to do she held him as close to her as she could, gladly sharing her body heat.

W̷͉̰̫̿ͦ͐̒̂̐e̻̓͌̾̂ ́̆͋̃̅Ș̺̹̲͒ͨ̿̄ͦ̓̔ḩ̫̻̯̤̜A̫͙͛͞l̜̩̇̽ͤ͜L̛̹̥̟̲͖͒̊͊̽ͯ ͚͎̳͕̗͛f̽̑̾͞E̩ͣͤ͠ả҉͍̥̹S̮̝͕͈̫̦̃t͈̪͕̯͈̉ͮ̉͆ͩ ̄̈̑͐̃ͥͭ͏̬̟Ǫ͕̪̩̲ͤ͊ͦ̎ͫn̳̝͍̪̫͗͐͂ ̥̈́̂̾͠A̳͙̣̦̠̯̋ͭ͆̈́̈̎ͅl̸Ḽ̟̖͚͍̥͢ͅ

“Somepony go and get the bucking princess! Shining, go and get your sister and her friends. Tell’ em that it’s an emergency! NOW!”

Cracking open an eye, Celestia stared down at her little Cadence. “I’m going to get that thing out of you, Cadence,” she murmured, her voice thick with grief. “Whatever it is. I swear to you that I’ll make everything b-better.”

Celestia didn’t know how long she sat there, holding those two poor, cold souls. It felt like time was running at a snail’s pace, and each horribly long second was filled with her failures laughing at her. She tried to cast another heating spell but her horn simply sputtered and died. Though she didn’t know it her body was shaking hard from the cold. It was sapping her strength, stealing her magic. But even if she’d have known she would not release the two.

They needed her. She needed to be there for them. Celestia had failed to keep them safe; the least she could do was try to warm them up.

“Tia, Tia, what has happened sister?”

A wing touched the elder alicorn’s back. Celestia twitched, her vision blurred with tears, and she turned around. Her sister stared back at her, her deep blue eyes filled with worry and concern.

“Tia, what’s going on? The guards nearly knocked down my door demanding that I follow them and I see this!” Luna swept a hoof over them. “Why art thou holding Ares and Cadence? Why art thou crying? Why dost I feel such a biting chill in the air?”

Celestia blinked as she let Luna’s words wash over her. Her mind was hazy and the corners of her vision blurred. It felt like she was traveling through a tunnel that was underwater. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a shadow slowly making its way up her rear leg.

…What …Why would?...

Ṱ̯͞h͚̫͖̥̭ͤͦË̪̣̮̟̬̕ ̱̤̞̪͕̤͓̓͑̓ͤ͐̆̃oͤ̑́ͤ͂̾̔́N̟̩̲̠͂̇e̮̹͗ͩͧ͆̉͒͋́S̥̙̳͙̯̙̈́̇̌͊̚͞ ̱̑͗̇͑̏y̧͚̔ͤ͗Õ͐ͥ̆̑̉ͪ҉̣̺̻̝̤̙ụ̸̪ͯ ̘̪͈̲̳͇̓ͨ́L̠̖̰̭̞ͪ̒ͣ̈͌o̠̪̍ͫ̑̄͘V̸̄͛̀͐̈̊̾e̮ͣͦ̈́ͩ ̖͔̫̠̖̐Wͥ̿͐̂i̴̖̦̘̬̍ͪ̈́L̯̠̯̭ͤ̚l̪͒ͣ̿͊̓̂̚͟ ͕ͦ͆ͫ͗ͧͥ̚͢S̼̠̫ͪ͂̒̊ͨą͔̟͍T͎̘ͥ̔ȇ̇ͣ͒̊ ̞͇̰͑ͯ̋̚O̷̐͐ư̞̘̤̮͈ͯͩͣ͐̇̊̉Ṟ̮͚̘̯̥͗̽̾̓ ̳̭̰̖͙̃ͬͦ̌̎ͤ̚h̓̿̎́҉̻̠Ú̩̗̳̥n̷̦̲͓͓̬ͮǦ̛̗͚̑ͣͦ̏̑͂eͯͨR̭͊͆́̃ͮ́ ͓͓̹̝͛͋ͥ̇̌f̢͕͆ͩͨͬI̧̹̦̗͇̘̮ͩ̓͋̊̂͛̚r̢ͬ̓̇͋ͫ͗S̟̎ͬͧͪ̍͆͢t̵́̾̇ͫ͗

With a startled gasp Celestia moved away from Cadence and Ares, the fur on the back of her neck standing up. “Sister, get away from them! Get away from them now!” Before Luna could so much as blink Celestia roughly grabbed her. Not taking her eyes off the still unconscious couple on the floor she roughly shoved her sister behind her.

The Princess of the Night blinked in confusion was her older sister frantically looked over herself, her horn glowing brightly. “…Sister, what is—”

“Princess!”

Luna turned her head just as Twilight and her friends, all of whom looked a little worse for wear this morning, came charging around the corner toward them. Though their manes were disheveled, they had bags under their eyes, and Rarity, for some reason, was an interesting shade of green, the girls looked ready to do battle. Each of them was wearing their respective elements, their bodies were tensed and readied, and they had a fire in their eyes that made Luna smile as she looked upon them.

“What’s going o—CADENCE!”

“Twilight Sparkle! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” Twilight froze as Celestia’s voice rang out, scared and shaky but with a sense of authority that made Luna flinch. Her eyes darting toward Twilight and her friends before once again resting on Ares and Cadence, Celestia took a deep, shaky breath.

Before anyone could say anything else the light around Ares and Cadence shimmered. The shadows that the two casted grew darker and elongated. Twilight, Luna, Celestia, and everyone else could only watch wide eyed as the shadows lifted from their host’s forms. They changed shape again and again as they moved to and fro like snakes, searching for something to grab a hold of.

Gasping, Twilight took a nervous step backward as one of the shadows reached its “hand” toward her. “T-That’s…”

Celestia’s horn flashed, and faster than the eye could see a bolt of magic hit the shadow, causing it to disappear in a flash of light. The other shadows, as if sensing the demise of their brother, slinked back into Cadence and Ares.

Sighing, the diarch, nodded slowly. “Yes, my dear student. It is the nightmare, or something very much like it.”

The news hit Luna like a ton of bricks. It sounded like an impossibility. The three of them had had a wonderful evening not a few hours ago. They had been laughing, joking, and eating with her like everything was normal. And after the thorough magical search that both she and her sister had conducted on both Cadence and Ares there was no way that there should have been anything wrong with them at all! But the way that Celestia was looking at the two bashed any hope that this was some sort of sick joke or cruel prank.

Her sister was not a mare that scared very easily. Just like Luna, she had seen things that would make lesser mortals die from fear and she had walked away unscathed. The Princess of the Sun did not hide from the things in the dark; she charged toward them, she battled them, and she defeated them with not a mane out of place. But now she looked scared, now she looked worried, and in Luna’s experience such a sight was never good news.

A sudden feeling of dread overcame Luna as she took a step toward her older sister. “Tia,” she said quietly, barely loud enough to count as a whisper. “What should we do?”

Celestia stared at her niece and friend emotionlessly before her face started to change. Her eyebrows furrowed, her jaw set, and her lips drew back into a snarl. Her body tensed and her stance became aggressive. Her mane and tail, which had been hanging limply against her, started to whip around her head. In an instant the princess had gone from scared to absolutely livid.

“We are going to do the only thing that we can do, my dear sister,” she growled. “We are going to find whatever it is that has a hold of them, we are going to find a way to fight it, and we are going to rip it out of them.”

~-~-~-~-~

I opened my eyes to darkness, my body heavy and stiff and cold. Blinking, I tried to lift my head to see where I was. The second I did so the world started spinning, forcing me to let it flop back onto the floor with a groan. After a few minutes I tried to lift my head again and just like last time I couldn’t do it. After that I managed it on the third time, lifting my head up and looking around.

This isn’t my room I thought, my body shaking and my teeth chattering. Where the hay am I?

To my left I saw my Ares lying next to me, curled into a ball and shivering. I could see frost clinging to his pants and shirt, and his lips were blue.

My eyes widened and my breath caught in my throat. ARES! Though my entire body felt heavy and… wrong I forced myself to my hooves and walked over to him.

It was slow going; I stumbled and veered off course more than I cared to admit. It was like somepony other than me was controlling my legs, but I was determined and scared out of my mind. Something was wrong with Ares and I needed to get over there so that I could figure out how to help him. Eventually, though I was shaking in exhaustion from the effort, I managed to make my way over to my human’s side.

“Ares, Ares, honey?” I wrapped a wing around him, trying to get him warmed up as best as I could, fear gripping me like a vise. “Honey, you need to wake up. You need to wake up!”

Ares stirred, his eyes slowly opened. Now that I was this close to him I could see how pale he was, how sickly he looked. Every single breath he took was slow and labored. “…C…Cadence?”

I could feel tears beginning to form in my eyes as I nodded. “Yes, it’s me honey, it’s me,” I said, managing to keep the panic out of my voice.

Ares blinked, and he picked his head up to look around the room. “Where… are we?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

I started to rub his arms with my hooves, trying to get the blood flowing in them. Even to the touch my human felt cold, and though I was doing my best to look calm for him I was freaking out. Where the hay were we? Why did it feel like I had just been hit by a train? Why was it so cold in here? Why couldn’t I use my magic?! WHY WAS IT SO COLD IN THIS BUCKING ROOM?!

I must have looked like I was really freaking out because Ares reached up and touched my cheek. “Cadence? What’s… going on?”

I felt a tear fall onto my cheek as I felt Ares’s cold, shaking hand. Forget about where we were; I needed to find something to warm Ares up. This cold wasn’t good for him and I swear that I could see it sucking the life out of him. Or he’d…. he’d…

“S-Shush, shush, save your strength, hon. I’m h-here. You’re C-Candy’s here.”

I closed my eyes and tried to use some magic but my horn wouldn’t even spark up. For some reason I couldn’t use any spell to get out of here or even warm Ares up. Just like my little human
I was helpless in this room. In an instant the fear that I had been feeling morphed into full-fledged terror.

“E-Everything’s going to be fine, honey,” I said, nuzzling his cheek. Briefly, I considered yelling for help but decided against it. Whoever had brought the two of us here might be waiting for us to wake up, and without my magic and feeling sicker than I had ever been in my life I was in no condition to face anypony at the moment. “J-Just let me find you something w-warm and we’ll get out of there…”

Tearing my gaze from Ares I looked around the room. Though it was dark, nearly pitch black, I could make out shapes around the room. Squinting, I saw that there was a table with something on it in the corner

Touching Ares’s face I rubbed my nose against his. “I need to go for j-just a second, honey,” I said, blinking away tears. “I need t-to find something to warm you up okay? Keep your e-eyes open okay? J-just d-don’t close your eyes.”

It felt like I was in a nightmare. Not a few hours ago I had been in my bed with Ares. We had stuffed our faces with chocolate and had fallen asleep in each other’s arms after making love, warm and safe and happy. I was supposed to wake up in Ares’s arms a little hungover and smiling like an idiot, not like… this!

None of this was right. All of this had to be a dream; a very, very bad dream but a dream none the less. Sooner or later I’d wake up and see that everything was fine and it was just all that chocolate that I had last night. Taking a few deep breaths I shut my eyes tightly before opening them. Seeing that I was still in this cold, dark mystery room with Ares shivering at my hooves I closed my eyes and tried again. Then again. Then once more.

“…Cadence? Are you there?”

Whimpering, I looked down at Ares, my body shaking. “Y-Yes, honey, I-I’m here.”

Ares’s mouth contorted in what I had to guess was a smile. “Good…” Taking a few breaths, Ares started to curl into a ball again. “I’m… cold…”

Though I didn’t want to, I pulled my wing away from Ares and stepped away from him. “Don’t you worry, honey, I’m going to find you something to warm you up. Everything’s going to be fine; everything’s going to be fine. I promise.”

I sprinted toward the table. To my immeasurable relief I found that it was stacked high with blankets. “Blankets? Oh thank Faust…” Grabbing two I raced back toward my human.

Wiping away a tear with my hoof I sat at my human’s head. Reaching down I grabbed him under his armpits and lifted him up so that he was pressing up against my chest. “I-I got you, honey,” I told him, throwing a blanket around his shivering body. Tucking the ends of it tightly around him I then wrapped my wings around him before wrapping the second blanket around the two of us. Placing my head on top of his I then started to gently rock him back and forth.

“Don’t you worry, baby, I’m going to get you nice and warm. I’m going to get you nice and warm and then I’m going to get the two of us out of here.”

Slowly but surely I could feel the warmth seeping into me and my human. The two of us stopped shivering so hard and without the threat of Ares dying in front of me I was able to assess the situation. The two of us were in some darkroom with no windows and no doors from what I could see. It felt like somepony had knocked me out with a spell and from the look on Ares’s face it looked like he had gotten the same treatment. And to top it all off I wasn’t able to use magic.

“Who the hay could have done this?” I whispered, looking down at Ares to make sure that he was still awake and still alright. “And why can’t I remember anything that—”

My grip around Ares tightened as I felt the room around us shift and move. It began to get hotter and the room started to get brighter, so bright in fact that I was forced to close my eyes. If I could have I would have summoned up a shield to protect the two of us, I would have started firing spells, I would have done something. But I couldn’t. In the state I was in I’d be lucky to take three steps before getting tied up or thrown around with magic or something else. So I did the only thing that I could do: I held onto my little human nice and tight and hoped for the best.

“Don’t worry honey, I’ll make sure that nothing happens to you,” I promised, nuzzling the top of his head while I sniffled. “Nopony’s going to take you away from me. Nopony’s going to take y-you away.”

I waited for hooves or claws or paws to roughly grab at me or Ares, or for somepony to start hitting or kicking me. I was also expecting some yelling or cursing or anything that coltnappers or villains did to the ponies that they took. What I got, as I waited for my eyes to adjust to the light, was silence. I could feel that somepony else was in the room with me and Ares, I could feel them watching us, but they weren’t doing a single thing. They weren’t talking, they weren’t moving, they weren’t doing anything.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, it didn’t feel like the sun was trying to burn holes into my retinas. Opening my eyes up I looked around the now brightly lit room. I could see that it was still windowless but now there was a door-shaped hole in the wall. And standing right in front of the hole was my auntie Celestia.

Relief swept through me as I started at my aunt. It looked like this nightmare was over. Celestia had found out where me and Ares had been taken, she had probably beaten the tar out of the coltnappers, and now she was here to take us home. Everything was fine now. Ares and I were safe.

I was about to open my mouth to greet my aunt, tears of joy in my eyes, when I noticed the look of pain on her face. This wasn’t the look of somepony who had just found their niece and was about to free them. The look that she was giving me was… regretful? Solemn? Determined?

“A-Auntie?”

My aunt’s horn glowed, a candle and a small mirror appearing at her hooves. Her horn glowed again, and I watched in confusion as the hole in the wall closed up, plunging the room into darkness that was barely held back by the tiny candle.

“Celestia… what’s going on? I asked as she slowly made her way over to me. “What’s going on? Where are we? What are you doing?”

“Right now you are in a room of my and my sister’s design,” Celestia said, stopping a few feet away from me. “It is made in such a way that the room’s occupant cannot leave the room without an outside sources intervention, and only if that outside source has the right magical signature.”

I noticed that she was sitting a bit farther away from me than she usually would. Almost like she was expecting me to jump up and attack her. And there was something in her eyes as she looked over me and Ares, a look that I don’t think I’ve ever seen her give me. It was the look that one would give a dangerous animal… Or the look that somepony would give a monster.

“A-And why are in here?” I looked back down at Ares. “Auntie, we need to get Ares out of here. He looks really sick, and the cold’s only making—“

I blinked as the small mirror that Celestia held was put in my face. I was able to look at it for about two seconds before I shied away with a yelp. “WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!”

The… thing that had been staring back at me looked like a nightmarish version of myself. The coat was darker, nearly a blood red color and longer and mangier than mine. The eyes were this deep, dark color; not black but close to it in this light. Even the mane looked different. Where mine hung limply against my neck like most ponies this one was flowing through the air like my aunts would.

I could see tears in my aunt’s eyes as she looked down at me. I could see that the only thing that she wanted to do right now was pull me and Ares into a hug. Something was stopping her though, and the longer I sat there thinking the more that it came clear to me that I was the reason. That mirror wasn’t some sort of joke mirror, there was no spell or charm or anything like that distorting my features to make me look like this freaky monster.

It was just a regular, ordinary mirror. And that meant only one thing. It was the reason why Ares and I were in this room. It was the reason why my aunt was staying a healthy distance away from me. It might have been the reason why it was so cold and why my little human looked like he had one foot in the grave. The realization of what was going on made me start to shake as I held my Ares nice and tight. I had changed into this… thing. I had turned into this… monster…

“…No..."

Dude, Where's my Bed?

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“Are you ready, Shining?”

Though Shining did his best to look calm and stoic there was a bead of sweat slowly making its way down the side of his face. In front of him were his baby sister and her friends. Each mare looked solemn as they stared back at him, their brows furrowed and their eyes piercing. The looks made Shining nervous. For some reason he felt like something was looming over his head; the threat of doom or something as equally foreboding.

His sister and those friends of hers had something pointed at him that he’d really, really rather not have pointed at him :the Elements of Harmony. The most powerful magical artifact ever known to ponykind; a weapon that had stopped some of the most evil and vile and powerful creatures ever, was being pointed at him with intent to use. And boy did he not like it.

Shining knew that what was about to happen couldn’t be helped. Cadence and Ares had been looked over with a microscope by Celestia and Luna and… something had still possessed them. If it possessed them then it wasn’t out of the question that whatever was in Cadence and Ares was rooting around in everypony that had been near them. And if Princess Celestia and Luna, easily by and far two of the most powerful magic users in the world, didn’t have the power to purge whatever this thing was, then the Elements would surely be able to get the job done. At least that was what they were banking on.

Was it a little overkill? Probably. Was it a good idea for a regular pony to get blasted in the face with super magic? Shining didn’t think so. Had ponies been getting blasted for most of the morning anyways? Ab-sol-utely.

Shining didn’t think that he really had anything to worry about. The elements probably didn’t hurt good ponies and he liked to think that he was a good pony, or at least not the kind of pony that warranted the elements attention. If everything went how Twilight, Luna, and Celestia thought it was going to go the blast would either do nothing or it’d clean out anything bad in him and he’d be right as rain.

But, like anyone staring down the barrel of a gun, or a group of mares that were wielding a villain smasher in this case, in the back of his mind Shining was having some last minute doubts about his character. What if he wasn’t that good of pony? What if the elements thought that he needed to spend some time as a statue or that a trip to the moon would be good for him? What if it did something to him that changed… him? What if it did none of those things and just blew him up?!

They were silly questions that probably didn’t have any merit but Shining couldn’t help but think them. And because he was thinking them the unicorn was admittedly afraid about what was going to happen to him in the next few minutes. But even though he was half expecting to be Statue Armor by the time Twilight and the gang was through with him, he wasn’t going to move.

Both of the princesses had taken their medicine in the form of concentrated magical energy without complaint. Flash and the Captain had been enveloped in their walls of blinding white light without making a sound. Now that it was his turn he sure as sugar wasn’t going to wuss out. Shining was going to stand there and take his medicine like a big boy, even if he was freaking out on the inside.

“No,” the unicorn said, shutting his eyes tightly as the elements started to glow.

The air around him quickly became charged and there was this quiet humming sound that started to get louder and louder by the second. Shining’s fur stood on end and he had the sudden but powerful urge to get out of that hallway.

“Don’t worry, Shining,” Flash called from a safe distance. “It doesn’t hurt at all! You’ll barely feel it!”

“Hold onto your butt, Private!” Echo added, poking her head back out from around the corner of the hallway to stare at him.

Shining started to rock back and forth, biting his lip. The wait was killing him. He just wanted to get this done and over with. “Twilight, will you—”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Shining gasped as the elements’ power hit him full force. The magic flowing around him felt cold; terribly cold, almost like he was trying to swim up a stream in the middle of winter. Taking deep, deep breaths, he dug in his hooves as the force of the elements blast pushed him backward. He could feel the elements’ power tugging at the fringes of his body and mind, searching, seeking something to purge.

Shining could tell that if they wanted to the elements could reduce him to ash with the slightest of ease. There was more magic pouring through his body than he had ever felt in his life. It was like he was staring up at something big and scary and beautiful and he was completely at that things mercy. There was nothing he could do; no magic that he could wield that could stop it. He could only hope that he would allow him to continue with all of his quarks and bits intact.

“And….. done! Good job Shining!”

Shining kept his eyes closed a little longer before a poke to his chest made him crack open an eye. In front of him was his darling baby sister, all smiles and giggles.

“…Oh thank Faust,” Shining muttered, sitting down in the middle of the hallway as his legs turned into noodles. Looking down at his person, and ignoring Twilight and the other girl’s good-natured teasing, he checked to see if everything was where he left it.

“Oh it wasn’t that bad you big baby!” Twilight said, nudging him again.

Shining ignored her, moving his head this way and that. To his ever-mounting relief he saw that he looked relatively normal. He looked a little… fluffier than he remembered, and there was a good deal more fur on his chest then he remembered. His skin was all tingly as well, like he had just taken a bath in Alka-Seltzer, but other than that he looked and felt like himself.

Sighing, Shining looked back at his little sister with a small smile. “Alright, with me done that means that everypony that interacted with Cadence and Ares got blasted right?”

“I wouldn’t call it blasted but yes, Shining, you are correct,” Celestia said, appearing by his side. “Everypony that we know of has been cleansed of any evil that may or may not be in them.”

Luna nodded solemnly. “Aye and we have guards keeping an eye out in the city.” Making a face she looked over her shoulder at the “room” where they were keeping Ares and Cadence.

If one wasn’t looking carefully they would have thought that the section of the wall wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. But the color of the wall was just a little bit off, and if you looked at it hard enough it seemed to shimmer in the sunlight. If you looked even harder you might have even seen the barest outline of a door that was covered in strange runes.

This was the most powerful sealing magic that both Celestia and Luna knew of. Nothing, pony or otherwise, could get out of it with maybe the exception of Discord and only the two Celestial sisters could open the “door”. It was the perfect spell to use in this situation, and while both sisters were glad that they didn’t have to go to even more extreme measures to keep the general populace safe it still hurt them to use it. This spell was for monsters; the creatures that Luna and Celestia had fought long ago; creatures that shouldn’t see the sunlight ever again. This wasn’t for their niece and her lover.

“Though we haven’t used the elements on everypony yet, sister mine.”

The smiles on every pony’s face seemed to vanish and they all found themselves looking at, for lack of a better term, Ares and Cadence’s prison. Though not one of them said a thing each of them had a good guess to what the other was thinking.

“I fear that we cannot use the elements on them yet, Luna,” Celestia said. “Though it pains me to say we need analyze the situa—”

“And let them rot in that darkness with that evil stewing in them?” Luna snapped, glaring at her sister. “Thou know what magic does to—“

“I saw what was happening to Ares, sister,” Celestia interrupted, her tone sharp. “I know what might happen to him if we let that magic stay in him for too long. But we cannot dive into that
room thoughtlessly!”

Luna flinched as her sister’s voice rose until it was just under a yell. “But—”

“If this magic is killing our friend what do you think the elements would do to him? Do you think that Cadence would ever forgive us if we saved her but—” Taking a shaky breath, Celestia looked down at the floor. “…I do not even have the heart to separate the two even if it might have been beneficial f-for them. “

The princess seemed to sink into herself. “T-The very least I could do was let them be together u-until we can find a w-way to save t-them both.” Tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes. “I will n-not lose one to s-save the other, Luna. I will n-not.”

Taking a step toward her, Luna extended her wing and wrapped it around her big sister. Sniffling, Celestia leaned into her sister as Luna nuzzled her cheek.

“We apologize for the outburst, sister,” Luna murmured. “Thou art correct; we must battle this… thing with the knowledge of how to combat it.”

“How could this have happened to our little niece, Luna?” Celestia said, wiping her face with a wing. “I thought that we had all done our best with Cadence. The nightmare shouldn’t have been able to do anything to her.”

As he stood there Shining Armor had a thought. A very unsettling one. Looking over at the wall he felt the fur on the back of his neck stand up. “What if it isn’t the nightmare?” he muttered quietly, as if he was afraid of someone overhearing it. “And what if whatever that thing is didn’t come from Cadence?”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

The wind howled in Ares’s ears. The sound was all-encompassing; it drowned out nearly everything, his breath, the sound of his feet crushing the snow underneath him, even his very thoughts were overwhelmed by the whipping wind.

All around him was white. There was no other color other than this white for as far as he could see in all directions. Because of this he didn’t know if he had walked five feet or five hundred miles, but even still Ares forced himself to put one foot in front of the other. If he stopped walking he’d want to lie down. If he lied down he’d freeze to death.

Pulling his tattered and far too thin hoodie against his half frozen frame as best as he could, Ares continued to shuffle forward. He could feel the snow and ice invading his sneakers, numbing his feet and sending spikes of pain up his legs and buttock with each step. His hands felt wrong too. They barely opened and closed when he tried to move them, and they were so swollen his fingers looked more like sausages than fingers. Even their color was wrong. Where once were two hands with a pinkish and lively color to them now they were grayish, almost blue in this dim light.

Everything was hurting, everything was aching. He had stopped shivering ages ago. Out of the corners of his eyes he could see ice and snow caking on his face. His body felt heavy; far too heavy. Every step that he took was a trail that seemed to only get harder with each step. But he needed to keep walking. He needed to find someplace to get out of the cold, out of the wind. He needed find someplace warm or he’d freeze to death.

And he didn’t want to die. He wanted to live. He wanted to—

I͓̤̖͆ͩ́͋͠c͙̩ͭͭ̀̊̕E͉͓̭̤̳̾͑ͧ̽͝ͅ ͏̖͕͉a̦̱̪͖̋ͅN̸ͦ͗̿̈́̽̄d̶̬̚ ̗̥̬̳̻̬͖̔̈́̈́ͨ͊͊̄͞Ḅ̻͉ͮ͑̉͑ͤl̻͉̦͗̃ͯ̋ͨ̃̋O͑̈̃o͚̭͍̮̫̰ͨDͭ͂̎͛ͥͥ̀͏̘͈̘̰͓̣̝
̬ͭ͡iͧ҉̬̫̼̼͚̤̹Ċ̏ͩ̄e̵̹̳̦̝ ̹̙̮͎͔̼͔ͬͬ̀̏͛͞Ä̫͓͕̰̖̜̊͋ͅn͒̈̽ͩͣͨ͊͢D͙̮̻̞͉̖̗̓ ̷͉̖͚̓̌b͚͇ͥ͐̅̍L̗̻̺̀ò̶̭͍̰̺͉̑͒O̤̮͍̜̳ͫ̓̾̃̽̚ͅd̠̹̬͝
̠̮̬̫̅ͧ̌I͔͙͇̗̞͊̀C͈̏̋ͤ͗̈́Ḙ̥ ͈̝̻̞͎̽̓̎̈́̏̅A̲͚͓̯͙̦͐̅ͥ͋́N̳̰̭̱͚̓ͩ͑D̳ ͓̼̪̥̮͖̤̎̇̒̾ͬͪB̡̓̐̈̓͊L͙̖̺͓Ǫ̞̣Ơ͐ͥ̔̄̃̓̉D̬̖̻̣ͥ͐͐̎̍ͯͥ

With a yelp Ares’s eyes snapped open and he sat up. Panting like a racehorse he frantically looked around. Wha… what… no…heh…

Giving himself a quick pat down he noticed that he was covered in sweat. If he was covered in sweat that meant that he wasn’t freezing, and if he wasn’t freezing that meant that he wasn’t out in that bleak whiteness or out in that howling wind. That meant that the cold and the wind had been a dream. He was safe. He was okay.

Clutching his chest he let out a shaky but relieved sigh. “Motherfucker,” he mumbled aloud, trying to calm his still pounding heart. “Fuck that dream. Fuck that dream all the way to Fuck You town. Fucking, fucking, fuck…”

“A-Ares?”

Ares’s eyes snapped over to the corner of the pitch black room. There, huddled under a bundle of blankets, was Cadence. Or at least he thought it was Cadence. The mare was covered head to hoof in the blankets; the only thing that Ares could see of her was her horn sticking out of the top of the cocoon that she had made for herself.

“Candy?” he said, getting to his feet. Looking around again he finally noticed that he was no longer in his room. In fact he had never seen a room like this in the castle.

Though he was shaky and sluggish and his head felt three sizes too big, Ares took a step toward his mare. Then another. Then another.

The crystal floor was cold against his feet as he shuffled closer and closer toward her. He was close now; close enough to see even though she was covered with blankets his Cadence was shivering underneath them. Shivering himself, Ares squatted down and started to paw at the blankets covering Cadence.

“What the hell are you doing, babe? And where ar—“

“S-Stop! Please!” Ares nearly fell onto his butt as Cadence tightened her grip on her blankets and pulled herself away from him. Whimpering, the alicorn seemed to sink in her blanket burrito. “I don’t w-want to hurt you…”

Now frowning, Ares started to paw at the blankets a little more aggressively. “Hurt me? What the heck are you talking about you silly horse? You’d never hurt me.”

“B-But I did hurt you. I’m h-hurting you right n-now!”

“You might be hurting my feelings by not letting me get in on some of that cuddling under the blankets action but other than that I don’t know what you’re talking about. I feel fine. A little cold since this fucking room is freezing for some reason, but fine.”

Though Cadence did her best to stop him Ares did eventually manage to grab onto the inside of the blankets and started to open the burrito up. “A-Ares stop!”

Ares ignored her, too focused on the task at hand.

“A-Ares, please… I d-don’t want you t-to see me like this!”

Inch by inch Ares pulled the covers apart. Cadence’s hooves pawed at his hands, trying to bat them away from the blankets.

“What the heck’s gotten into you, Candy?” Ares asked, mostly ignoring the harmless little slaps as he got a good grip on each side of the blanket. “Quit being a baby and let me get a look at you.”

Cadence let out another whimper as Ares began to slowly open Mi Amore’s cocoon. “H-Honey… P-Please…”

“Hah! There we… go?”

Now naked to the world, Cadence did her best to shield herself from her human’s gaze. The mare, at least to him, looked like she had had a field day in a Halloween party store. Even in the darkness of the room Ares could see that she was sporting fangs and reptile-like eyes and wings that looked almost bat-like. Cadence also seemed physically larger, with one of those crazy moving manes that both Luna and Celestia had. Ares blinked, just staring at his marefriend for a few seconds before his nose scrunched up.

“…You didn’t want me to see you because you got a little bit bigger and turned into a silly vampire horse?” Cadence let out a surprised gasp when he touched one of her wings. “I don’t see what the big deal is…”

Cadence’s wings slapped his hands away and she just stared back at him with a mixture of confusion and shock. “W-What the hay are you talking about?!” she demanded, frantically gesturing to herself. “Look a-at me! I’m a bucking m-monster!”

Leaning a little bit closer Ares noticed that the fur on Cadence’s face was wet. His mare had been crying, and for a while by the looks of it.

“I think that your definition of monster is a lot different from mine, Candy,” he said, using a thumb to brush away the tears from her face. Though Cadence shied away from his touch at first she eventually leaned into his hand, nuzzling it with a sniffle.

He might have had a lot of questions about where they were, why Cadence was freaking out, why she looked like she did now, but Ares didn’t want to voice any of his concerns at the moment.Right now he needed to make sure that his mare was okay.

“You might think that you look like a monster but I think you look adorable. Kinda like a royal, pink bat horse or something like that.”

The remark earned him another long stare as he reached down and grabbed one of the many blankets that were now on the floor. “Goddamn is it cold in here… You’d think that they’d make this castle a little more insulated or something…”

Cadence’s eye twitched ever so slightly and she sighed, as if she was trying her hardest to stay horrified about her change. “Ares, this is serious! The two of us are in really big trouble!”

With a grunt Ares spun around and sat down next to Cadence. “Oh I’m sure that it’s not that bad,” he said dismissively, leaning against the crystal wall with a grunt. “Hey, could you do me a favor and pass me another blanket for my feet? I can’t stand when my toes are—“

E͉̻͈̻mB҉̬r̡A̤̘̝c̬̜͎̼̟͝E̶̫̻̼
̣͕͔̠ͅt̴̗̘̳̹H̘̟e͚̺̜̯̣
͍̫̥̟̹D͕̜̙͈ạ̼͝Ṟ̠̰̦͢k̹̜̱̦͡

Ares gritted his teeth as pain erupted throughout his head. Closing his eyes he quickly grabbed his head as the sound of static rang in his ears, his fingers digging into his scalp. Something felt wrong with his head. It felt like something was rooting around up there poking at things that he’d rather not have poked at. Breathing through his nose and out of his mouth, Ares focused on that feeling and tried to will whatever it was to go away.

Cadence, seeing that something was wrong, scrambled to her hooves. “A-Ares?!”

Get out, get out, getout, getoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetout!

Ares’s toes curled as his fingers started to move sporadically. Repeating his little mantra in his head over and over and over again he focused on the pain in his head with everything that he had. He had no idea if what he was doing had any effect on what was happening. He had never felt like this. He had never thought that something was in his head doing stuff. He had no idea what the hell to do in this situation; if he could even do anything. But it wasn’t like he was just going to sit there and do nothing! He was going to try to fight even if he couldn’t.

Yo̯͉̺̭̘U̴̬̤̩̲r͕
̣̣̘̗F͙̦̯l̯̮͜E͏̯̪̪̲͉͔s͇̹̮̙̯̖͓H̶̥̝̞̞̹
i̗̮͉̪S͕̝̖
̝̯̟͞o̧̩̺̬̟U̟r͉͙͕Ș̵̟̟ͅ

Get out, get out, get out, get out!

Y̹̺̙͔oỤr͚̮͎̞͇ͅ
̴m̞͟I̞͎̫̙͢nD͏̩͕
̖͜ͅw͔͢I̲̦̮̲̝ĺ͓L̸̻̟̬̟̙
̪̠̮̝̤b̙̥̣E̸̠̯̮ͅ
̲̭̟̼͝n̬̣E̖̜̼̩̯x͟T̫̩͖̯̫

Getoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetout!

I̲̣̗̻̣̬ṱ̰̹̞̘͖̟
͕I̵̹̜̠̞ͅṣ
͍̳̺̖̰O͏̝̻ńl͇̪̳̬͇̥̮Y͏͔͉̙̯͙͚͙
̩̳̙̦̞ą̮̗̜
͕͕͍͕̭Ma̢̩̹͔T͇͉̥͈ţ̭̱̬E̮͓̦͍̦̮͇r̹̲̲̝̺
Ǫ͚f̠
͏͕T̵̗͇̳̭i̦͔Ḿ̰e͡

After what felt like an eternity of struggling the pain in his head began to subside, leaving Ares
sitting there with his eyes closed bathed in sweat and panting like he had just run a marathon. He felt exhausted, both mentally and physically, and there was this sense of wrongness that was twisting his gut but even still Ares found himself smiling. It was a small smile, barely a smile at all in fact, but it was there and it was triumph.

“Hah… Take that… whatever the… fuck you… are,” Ares mumbled. “Leave… my fucking… head alone…”

Cracking open an eye he saw that Cadence was sitting in front of him crying her eyes out. Sitting next to her was a lit oil lamp, which was bathing the once dark room in a dim, eerie light. Now that he could properly see her Ares noticed that even Cadence’s fur had changed color. Where it was once a vibrant and playful pink color now it was reddish; nearly the color of blood.

Ares lifted a hand up to comfort her when he froze in shock. What he lifted up to boop his marefriend’s snout wasn’t his hand. Whatever it was was too pale, too shrunken to be his hand. The nails on each finger seemed longer and pointed at the ends. If he didn’t know any better he would have said that this was a claw and not his hand. Not able to tear his gaze away he tried to open and close it. To his horror he found that it responded to his command.

“Cadence,” he croaked, dread twisting his stomach. “You don’t happen to have a mirror lying around anywhere do ya?”

Cadence’s eyes snapped open. “A-Ares?! You’re alright?”

“I don’t know about being all alright but I’m not dead I guess.” He found himself saying, looking back at what had to be his hand as he opened and closed it again. “Could you get something for me to see my face? A mirror, a piece of metal, something?”

Wiping away her tears Cadence scurried off to the other side of the room, coming back with a mirror in her mouth a second later. Grabbing the mirror, Ares took a deep breath and looked into it. He very nearly dropped the mirror when he saw that the thing looking back wasn’t him.

Just like his hand his face was ghostly pale and shrunken. His hair, usually cut short, had grown about three inches longer and was blacker than he had ever seen it. Even his eyes looked different. Just like Cadence’s his eyes were reptilian, their usual green color giving way to an almost brownish, blackish coloration.

He brought a hand up to his “face”, Ares touched his cheek. “Well… I hope that you didn’t start dating me just for my looks, babe,” he said, opening his mouth. He immediately shut it when he noticed that he now had a set of long dagger-like fangs. “C-Cause unlike you, me and the u-ugly stick had one hell of a—“

Ares stiffened as Cadence knocked the mirror out of his hands and pulled him into a hug. Though he wanted to return the hug he kept his shaking arms away from her. He didn’t want to touch Cadence with these hands. He didn’t want Cadence to have that monstrous face of his against her chest. He wanted her to hug the real him; not the thing that he turned into.

Ares was forced to blink as tears started to invade his vision. Though, at first, he was successful in keeping them from making everything that he saw blurry they soon started to come faster than he could blink. A quiet whimper escaped his throat escaped his throat as Cadence began to run a hoof through his hair.

“It’s alright, baby, it’s alright,” she said, nuzzling the top of his head. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Shaking hard he finally wrapped his arms around Cadence and held her tightly, soaking her chest with his tears as he began to cry his eyes out.Though she was just as much of a mess as he was, Cadence wrapped her wings around him, muttering reassurances as she rocked him back and forth.

All his life Ares had been taught not to cry. Crying was for sissies, crying was for girls. He was a man; even if he was at his lowest point or scared out of his mind he wasn’t supposed to cry. But as he sat there, his now horrifying face burned into his mind, Ares couldn’t help but cry. It was all that he could do at this point.

He could feel… something at the back of his mind waiting. He could feel its need, its hunger. He knew that it had turned him into this inhuman thing. It wanted to turn him into worse; it wanted to turn him into something that would suit it. To it he was nothing more than a lump of flesh that it needed to walk around with the living. No matter how you were raised or what you’ve gone through a revelation like that would be scary for anyone.

Through tear-riddled eyes he saw something come from his arm. In the dim glow of the lamp a shadow appeared to materialize from his arm and started to move to and fro in the air. The light in the lamp flicked as the shadow moved toward Cadence, the ends of it splitting into five parts like some malformed hand.

Ares watched as it moved toward his marefriend with wide eyes. In an instant the fear and hopelessness that had turned him into a sniffling, crying wreck turned into rage. A red tint formed out of the corners of Ares’s eyes as his lips pulled back into a snarl. The shadow pulled away from Cadence as if it had been burned by something, its “fingers” collapsing so that it was once again formless.

He might have been scared out of his mind about what this thing that had just come out of his arm was or why it was messing with his head, but the instant that it tried to go for Cadence everything had changed. It might have turned him into a monster, this shadow might have been the devil itself, but he wasn’t going to let it hurt his girlfriend. It wasn’t going to lay a fucked up claw on her. Ares was going to make sure of that even if he had to beat his head against a wall to keep the shadow away.

Ares continued to stare at the shadow, and after a few moments he took all of the anger and fear now inside of him and put it all in a single thought:

Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. My. Girlfriend. Now.

Almost faster than he could see the shadow retreated back into his arm from whence it came. With a shaky sigh Ares rested his head against Cadence’s chest, all of the strength ebbing out of him. He blinked as stars exploded across his vision, doing all that he could do to not pass out so he could hold his Cadence. Exhaustion like he had never felt before overcame him, and it wasn’t the good kind of tired either. He could feel it down to his very bones; the kind of tired that hurt the soul. But even still he held onto his Cadence.

The human and alicorn were silent for what seemed like an eternity, both of them slowly swaying to and fro, one waiting for the other to gather up enough courage to say something. It didn’t have to be heartfelt or meaningful; the other just wanted to hear their mate’s voice.

Finally, Ares broke the tense silence with a weak chuckle. “It looks like we got ourselves in one hell of a mess, huh Candy?”

Cadence nodded, nuzzling the top of his head once again. “Yeah,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “We might be in a little bit of trouble.”

“Are Celestia and the others trying to figure out a way to help us?”

“My aunt told me that they’re going to do everything in their power to help us.”

With a sigh Ares relaxed his grip on Cadence ever so slightly. “I’m sure that we’ll have nothing to worry about then. Sun horse and purple are a couple of smart cookies, and with Luna thrown into the mix I’m sure we’ll be fine by the end of the week.”

“Do you think so?”

His head spinning, Ares pulled away from the hug slightly and looked up at his marefriend. A nearly genuine smile came to his face as he looked up at her. “As long as I have you I know I’ll be fine.”

Almost immediately Cadence snorted. “That’s the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said with a sniffle, fresh tears coming to her eyes.

Though his hands were still shaking and they felt like they were made of lead, Ares reached up, cupped his mare’s face, and kissed her on the lips. “That doesn’t make it any less true,” he retorted with a wink.

He felt like he was going to drop at any moment. The edge of his vision was fuzzy and his head felt like someone had stuffed cotton balls into it. In fact if his marefriend wasn’t holding him right now there was a good chance that he wouldn’t have the strength to sit up on his own. But Cadence didn’t know that; and he was going to do his best to make sure that she continued to not know.

“Now where’s the bathroom in this room? All this crying’s got my stomach grumbling in a way I don’t like and I have a feeling that all the chocolate we ate yesterday is gonna come back to bite me on the ass.”

Sleep is for Quitters

View Online

Following the imprisonment of both Cadence and Ares was a very, very hectic couple of days for Shining Armor. He, Echo, and Flash had been grilled and then grilled again about what had happened in that hallway. The three had then gotten one of the most intimate physical and mental evaluations that any of them had ever gotten in their entire life. After that they spent a few days in a secured room to make sure that the Elements had done their job and destroyed anything that was rooting around in them. And after all that the real fun began.

The entire guard, the castle staff, and ponies living around the castle were brought in, checked out, and questioned. No stone was left unturned in making sure that the populace was safe; both Celestia and Luna had made sure of that. The castle was quarantined to all citizens and a curfew had been put into effect. Even the train station, the only thing that connected the empire with the rest of the world, had been locked down and put under heavy guard. Though many of the Empire’s citizens were starting to wonder what was going on, many of them demanding to speak to their ruler, Celestia and Luna continued to do what they could to keep the peace and calm ponies fears while also keeping a tight rein on security.

For all intents and purposes the shadow that had infected Mi Amore and Ares was a disease, something that, if the proper steps weren’t followed, could lead to a hellish epidemic the likes of which have never been seen before. If a single infected pony went out into the world there was no knowing what would happen. So first, before anything else could be done, the disease needed to be properly contained. After that a cure to fight it could be found and administered. And that was where Twilight came in.

The young unicorn very nearly tore the castle and the grand library not far from it to pieces trying to figure out what was going on. If Celestia and Luna didn’t know what this creature, this disease, was then maybe the history books could shed some light on the situation. Something like this couldn’t have just appeared out of the blue. No, whatever had infected the two lovers had been seen before; Twilight was sure of it. All she needed to do was pour through old records, ancient spell books, and medical books from ages past to find the answers that she needed. In those tombs was where she’d find the name for this infection; and with it hopefully a cure.

Everyone involved, from the princesses to the lowliest of maids, knew that the clock was ticking. Though he was putting on a brave face for Cadence everyone knew that Ares probably wasn’t in a good shape. The magic infecting him was slowly but surely poisoning his body and doing lord knows what to mind. If they couldn’t find a cure for him soon heaven only knows what would happen to the human.

While Ares was in a bad condition, many were more concerned with what was happening to Cadence. The creature, whatever it was, seemed to burden her far more than it did Ares. She was sleeping more, she rarely got up from the bed that they had provided for her, and when she did get up her movements were sluggish and unfocused. Cadence was weakening to the monster that had possessed her, and many could only wonder what would happen if it managed to take her over completely.

So everyone burned both ends of the candle. Much sleep was lost, meals were skipped, chairs, tables, plates, and cups were broken or lit on fire due to frustration. But despite all of the hardships that everyone, from the elements, to the guards, to the princesses, faced everyone continued to work harder and harder still.

They had to find a cure. They had to save those two.

Shining Armor walked through the castle like a zombie, his eyes squinted so much that they were nearly closed and his mouth half open with a bead of drool dripping from the side of his mouth. It had been at least thirty hours since he had sat down and rested. It had been much, much longer since he had actually gotten some sleep.

Though he had done his best to push forward to help in anyway that he could, from helping Twilight with her books to helping the guard with the civilians, his body was finally at its limit. Coffee, willpower, and magic could only do so much to keep a colt going before his body just up and gave out on him. Seeing that her brother was at the end of his ropes, Twilight, who had gotten even less sleep than he had, had told him to go to bed to get some well-deserved rest.

When Shining had disregarded her and continued working Twilight had gone and gotten Celestia, who promptly ordered the ex-captain to get some sleep. When he had ignored both of them Luna had finally stepped in and threatened to cast a sleeping spell on him unless he complied with their wishes. So, even though he didn’t want to (his body’s wants notwithstanding), Shining slowly made his way to the barracks where a soft bed was waiting with his name on it.

…But before he went to bed the very least he could do was see how Cadence and Ares were getting along. So that was what Shining Armor was doing, walking through the endless labyrinth that was the Crystal Castle so he could see how the couple was faring. And if he was lucky, he might even make it there without falling asleep.

One step in front of the other Shining thought, yawning hugely as half-lidded eyes peered straight ahead. You’re almost there. All you need to do is pop in while they’re getting their lunch and make sure everything’s okay; make sure that they’re both okay. After that you can get some shuteye. Just keep walking. Just keep walking…

Though both Cadence and Ares had been properly secured and contained by the most powerful magics known to ponykind, the imprisonment spell was posing a few problems. You see, the spell was designed for dark lords and eldritch horrors; people and… things that could sustain themselves solely with magic or didn’t need to sustain themselves at all. Cadence and Ares weren’t vile immortal things that were beyond the scope of mortal understanding, and they weren’t beings that had allowed the very darkness to fill their very being. They were (other than being possessed) normal, average, everyday sentient creatures.

That meant that they needed to be fed three times a day, they needed to use the bathroom, they needed to bathe and get a change of clothes, bedsheets, and blankets, and most importantly they needed to be checked up on to ensure that they were still in relatively good health. So the imprisonment spell, which originally wasn’t even supposed to have a way of unlocking it, had to be modified with these things in mind.

The only entrance to the “prison” had a number of complicated runes added to it so that any dark or possessive magic would trigger an alarm and automatically close the “door”. Any ponies that entered the prison were equipped with a mountain of protection spells. And if that wasn’t enough both of the princess and the Elements of Harmony were to stand right outside the door to intervene if anything went wrong. Even with all of these measures in place each time the doorway was opened was a tense and nerve-wracking experience, and Shining doubted that this time would be any different.

As he turned the corner, half aware of what was going on around him, the stallion could hear ponies running this way and that along with Princess Celestia’s commanding voice. “Remember everypony not to linger in any one place while you are in the room. Though the shadow doesn’t appear to be able to move very quickly it can still move.”

“Aye, see to thy duties quickly with thy ears open and thine eyes peeled. What lies beyond this doorway is not something that thou wishes to be in contact with for any longer than necessary.”

Poking his head around the corner Shining watched as a group of maids, all of them standing in a perfect row at attention, saluting the princesses. Though most ponies would have been rightfully frightened about having to go into a room with two possessed beings, the castle staff had their heads held up high, their brooms and sponges at the ready, and their chests puffed out. The ponies that stood before that entrance weren’t simple maids. They were fighters, warriors, mares and stallions that were ready and willing to perform their task even if it meant giving their lives in the process.

…What the hay does Cadence pay these ponies?

Shaking his head of the thought, Shining made his way over to the princesses, doing his best to sneak around his baby sister without her noticing him. But, being as tired and sluggish as he was, Shining Armor wasn’t exactly a silent assassin; more like a bumbling, staggering noisemaker really. So it was of little surprise that not only did Twilight see him right away but both princesses and half of the other ponies in the hall did as well. And from the looks that they were giving him not a single one of them looked very happy to see him.

“Shining! I thought we all told you to get some sleep!” Twilight snapped as Luna took a step toward him, her horn glowing threateningly.

Flinching, Shining held up a hoof, hoping against hope that the gesture would somehow stop the Princess of the Night from knocking him out. To his surprise it actually worked.

Frowning at him, Luna cut the magic off from her horn. “Thou better have a GOOD reason for disobeying thy princesses’ orders, Shining Armor,” she growled.

“I just wanted to see how Ares and Cadence were doing before I went to bed,” Shining instantly replied, knowing that if he hesitated for a moment it was off to dreamland for him.

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “We shall tell thee of their condition when thou hast awoken.”

“But I want to see them now, princess, can’t—“

“Absolutely not,” Celestia interrupted. “We already have enough ponies going into that room as we speak. Having you, dead on your hooves as you are, bumbling around in there will make an already delicate operation even more dangerous.”

Shining’s muzzle scrunched up. Not surprisingly it was more than a little difficult to formulate any kind of argument when one hadn’t slept in days. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to at least try though.

“What if that monster in there tries to hurt somepony? If I’m there I can help.”

“These maids were hoofpicked for this assignment, Shining. There is no need for anypony to protect them .”

Shining found himself retreating as Luna once again began to advance upon him. “A-At least let me stand here and make sure that—“

“Nay. It is time that thou close thy eyes and let thy weary body and mind rest.”

Luna’s horn sparked to life, and she was about to hit Shining with a sleeping spell, when, from the other side of the doorway, a voice called out. Though it was muffled and distorted because of the numerous spells surrounding it, the voice was able to carry out to everyone standing in the hallway.

“Just… let him… in for… Christ’s sake…”

Both Celestia and Luna’s heads snapped toward the doorway. Both of them frowned, Celestia looking back at Shining before sighing. “…Very well.” Her horn glowed, summoning up a necklace and tying it around his neck. “But I swear to my sun, Shining Armor, if something happens because of your lack of vigilance…”

Trying his hardest not to smile, Shining saluted. “I’ll just be in and out, Princess. I promise.”

Not giving either alicorn a passing glance (he didn’t want them to change their minds) Shining strode toward the glowing doorway and the inky darkness that lied ahead of it with all of the swagger of a zombie. With each step he took toward it the room seemed to get colder and just a hair darker. The unnatural darkness just beyond the door seemed more sinister as he got closer.

F̖̠͚͓̦̈͐̿̍̉̃̐oͧͨ͒͌҉̘͕O̗͉͖̹ͫ͊ͫ̿͗d̬͍̲̓
͍̖͇̩̭̮͐͑ͧ͋ͅ

Shining winced as a… voice came from the room that made the fur on the back of his neck stand on end. That hadn’t been Ares’s voice, and he knew for a fact that wasn’t Cadence’s either. It had been something else. Something… wrong.

When he came within a few feet of the door his charm sparked to life, the little blue crystal shining brightly. Shining stopped just shy of the door, and after thinking over whether or not this was a bad idea and then immediately disregarding his thoughts on the matter, he took a deep, deep breath and stepped through the doorway.

Y͑e̲̙̺̺͗̔̏S̜̠̰̻̻̖̓ͩ͊̑,̥̞̗͖̭̠ͨ̏̄̓ͣͤ͡
͇̦̘͎̗̫͠c̩̖̟͈̐Ȏ̶̖̞̺͚̏ͥ͛̃m̨̑ͣ̄͛̈́É͈͚ͧ͒̄̑͒ ̗̼̮̯͖̟̈̈́͜d̷̤̀̍͂ͭA͔̲̺̰̲͘n͍͙͔͑ͤ̾̚C̷̟e̘̬̝̲̘̝̦ͣͦ͛͌́̐̇͢ ̼̻̞̬̦̣̽͒ͫI̛̳̖̟̍̋ͮň͎͇̽̍̐͆ͅ ̹̦͂T̹̦͔̊̏ͧ͑̀͛̐͠h͕͉͞E͎͍̤̯̹̓̓ ͗͂̚҉̖̦̫d͇ͨ͑̽͒͗ͅÀ͍̯͔͖̩̀̏ͩ̽̚r̡̙̟͇̱͇͓ͮK̝̥̗n̠̣̗̗͈̞̣̅̒̿̓͐͋̕É̞͌̕s̝͇̬͑̓S̥̪̘͐̌̽ͅ
̰͕͎W͔̥̰͈̮͚ͦ̂͊́I̤̹̚Tͨ͑̓̀͞H͇ͧ͋
͉̼͗̊́Ủ͎̤͎́S͕̞ͥͣ̽ͣ͒̎̓

The second that he stepped through the protective charms and runes Shining was hit with a wave of cold. It was a mind-numbing, bone-chilling cold that made him shuffle backwards in surprise. His charm’s shined brightly, doing its best to pierce the impregnable darkness.

C̹͊̅̓ͬ̆o̩̜̥̤͎̝̠̓̈̈̋́̋͜M̢͈̝͈̹̰͔e̹̜̗͂̍͊͆̔͠ ̵͚̝̣̘̦̅̍̽ͫͅL͍̍ͤ͌́o̻̜̼̩̭N̝̙̱͉̽̉ẽ͇͇̣͌̂̕L̳̰̜̮̞̍͗̾͑͋̇ͣỵ̨͚̫̘̞ ҉̠͚͍̝Ő̳̹͍̤̥̇̽̿̚n̴̪͈͖͕̱̳̍͊ͩ̒̓ͪE͚̖̹̅ͫ͆̌̐ͦ̆͘
̩̟̋c̣̓̅̆O̰͇͖͉͌̓m̘͉͉̰̼͍̭̓̂ͬͭͣḚ̶̝͕̥̤̯͖

“Just… ignore the voice… that helps with… the cold…”

Shining’s head snapped over to the left where he could just make out two figures sitting on a bed. “Ares?”

One of the figures shifted slightly. “Yeah… it’s me. Keep your… voice down Candy’s… sleeping…”

Throwing caution to the wind, Shining made his way over to the figures. Though the darkness around Ares and Cadence seemed to be particularly thick his charm managed to beat back the dark. This allowed him to see the state that his two friends were in. Both Ares and Cadence were on top of a plain but sturdy looking bed. Ares was sitting on the bed cross-legged staring at him with what might have been a smile on his face. Cadence had her head in his lap and was quietly snoozing, her wings periodically twitching as Ares ran his fingers through her mane.

While such a sight would have been adorable and heartwarming in most cases a few factors caused the scene to be more dire and horrifying than anything. The baby blue covers on the bed and the bed itself were caked with black, dirty ice. Cadence, though she looked relatively peaceful, looked like some sort of monster, with a pair of fangs poking out of her mouth and wings that had come straight out of a nightmare. And the sad thing was she looked far better than the human did at the moment.

It looked like Ares had lost twenty pounds since Shining had last seen him. His arms looked thinner and the sweatshirt that he was wearing looked three sizes too big. The skin on his face seemed to be just a little too tight and far, far too pale, two dagger-like fangs protruded out of his mouth as he did his best to smile. He had dark rings around his now dark green, almost black in this light, eyes. Even the hand that was toying with Cadence’s mane looked nightmarish. The fingers were too long now, and the now yellowish nails on the ends of them seemed to be dangerously sharp.

Ares’s little smile seemed just a little more tired as he patiently waited for Shining to finish his inspection. “Would you… believe that… the doctors say… that I’m still… pretty healthy?” he said.

“I think you need to get a second opinion,” Shining automatically said before wincing. Sweet Celestia, you may as well walked over and slapped him right in the bucking face…

To his surprise Ares chuckled. “Yeah… I’m looking… a bit like… the monster mash… right now… huh?” Still smiling, he looked down at his sleeping marefriend. “Cadence… keeps telling… me that I… don’t look that… bad though so… at least that’s… something.”

“Well… I hate to break it to you but you don’t look all that good.”

Ares’s grin widened and for a second Shining swore he could see the darkness in his eyes dissipate ever so slightly. “Good looking enough… to fuck your… mother you… prick…”

Despite himself, Shining couldn’t help but chuckle, and without a second thought Ares joined him. Their laughter might have been just a way to cope with the depressing, tense situation that they found themselves in but it still felt good. Even in the most hopeless situations giggling at the ghosties was better than nothing.

Though the laughter was pleasant, eventually it died down so all that could be heard were the servants frantically working in the background, Cadence’s quiet snores, and Ares’s labored breathing.

Now that the joking was out of the way, Shining wanted to ask how Ares was doing. That was usually the first question that one was supposed to ask when someone was sick. After that he was supposed to ask him if he or Cadence needed anything and maybe after that throw in a little joke to lighten the mood again if something depressing was said or if it looked like Ares needed another good chuckle. But Shining could see the exhaustion on Ares’s face; he could see… what he had turned to. There was no need to ask such a silly and pointless question; Shining could already guess the answer that he’d get.

Ares looked away from him for a moment to look down at Cadence. “This one… had a shitty… sleep last night… so I told… her to get… some shut eye…”

Cadence let out a sigh, nuzzling into his lap as he continued to pet her. Shining’s heart leapt to his throat and he once again turned his attention back toward her. Even though his ex-wife looked like something that belonged in the deepest pit of Tartarus she was still Cadence. She was still the pink mare that liked to read trashy romance novels and eat too much mint ice cream whenever it was on hand. And even though Ares looked… worse he was still the human that Shining had somehow become friends with. Not a few days ago they had been normal, healthy people and now they just… weren’t.

As Shining stood there, just letting it all sink in, he didn’t notice a small shadow come out of Ares’s arm. It moved to and fro like a snake, slowly making its way toward the unsuspecting unicorn. The charm around Shining’s neck frantically flashed as it got closer to him, but even still Shining didn’t notice. The darkness around the unicorn became more impenetrable and the air got colder the closer the shadow got.

Ţ̥̘̺̭h̞̐ͥ͐ͩ͌Ę͇̖͍̯͚͉ͯͭ ͔͇̫̪̤͍̆
͎̪̹ͬ̀̚b͍̈́͊̇ͤL͓͉̣̝͚̺ͧͧ̐o̶̟̠̺͙͇͊̐Õ̸̮͇̝͇d
ͣͦ̐͒ͦ͌̑͞P̛͍̥̝̺̗͛͗ͮ̂ͦ̚r̥̞͖̪ͭ̅̔̆̓ͤ̋Ǫ̞̯̙̯̺͔ͬ͗̌v̧̦̙͈̾̓́I̫̜̻̱͕̬̾͜ḓ̑͗͌͂͞E̊̃ͩ̃s̷̺͕̰̭̫̭̘̒ͦ͗͂ͦ̔̆

The shadow was about to touch Shining and do lord knows what to him when Ares’s eyes snapped upward. His lips pulled back into a snarl as he saw the shadow. “Get the fuck back here.”

Yelping, Shining scrambled backwards as the shadow became ramrod straight. He could see it desperately trying to reach out to him, the edges of it visibly straining, but some unseen force slowly but surely pulled it back from whence it came. The whole time that it sank back into his arm Ares stared at the… thing with unflinching concentration. In those few impossibly long seconds Ares seemed bigger, more filled out, his eyes losing some of their darkness and once again returning to their bright green.

In those few seconds Ares became Ares again.

It wasn’t until it was completely gone that he let out a sigh, sinking back into himself. His eyes lost their luster and, impossibly, he seemed to get just a little bit paler.

“I’m the one… that did this… to Cadence,” he said, staring hard down at his arm. “Something… came with me… from the… tundra.”

“SHINING ARMOR!” Celestia roared from the other side of the barrier. “GET AWAY FROM ARES THIS INSTANT AND GET OUT OF THAT ROOM!”

Though Celestia had been loud enough to shake the windows behind her, Shining didn’t hear her. All he could focus on was his human friend. “How do you know?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “From what the princesses said Cadence—”

“I can… see the ice and… snow in my… dreams. I can… hear the shadows… whisper to… me. I can’t remember… how it happened… or what it… is but… all of this is… me.” Ares’s face twisted into a look of frustration and grief as he stared in the ex-captain’s face. “It’s… me.”

“SHINING! I’M NOT ASKING YOU I’M TELLING YOU, GET OUT OF THERE NOW!”

Ares looked back down at Cadence. “I don’t… care what happens… to me. I just… want to… make sure that… Cadence comes out of this… alright.”

“You’re both going to get out of this alright, Ares,” Shining assured, not really knowing what else to say. “Twilight’s going to figure out what’s trying to take over your body and we’ll get it out of you. We’ll have you back to your usual self in no time at—“

“That Sombra guy… knew what these shadows… were…” Shining’s eyes widened as Ares lurched forward, his eyes shutting tight and his jaw clutching in pain.

K҉͍͙͇̬n̴͋̉̇o̢͎̠̦̺̦͖̤͌͂ͩw͖̥̫̻̗̯̳̉̀̎i̤̹̲̙̖nͦ̋̋g̪̼̤̻̳̍͗̓
͕͉͂ͥ͗̇
̣̊̓Kń̸͎̞o̬̊ͥ̆w͍̪̞̼̹ͧ̀͛l͎̞͎̳͑̋͊ͮͮͪë́̀dͪͦ҉ͅg͉̫͚͍̳͍͍͜e̳̝͕̙͊̈̈̇͘
̬̮̦̭͔̻͊ͯ̒̔
̨̱̟͉̲̥ͯ̉̒ͨͨͩͬ?̡̳̖̞͕̬̞w͙̗͍̳͈̼̓H̥̗̼͚̭͆̅̿͑͌͒̌a̫̫͑̊̈́̀T͙͜ ̠͙͑̒͑̊͐̾d̹̹̞ͧ̅ͭ̔ͣ̚͜I̻̫̾ͧ̋d̫͕̳̞̥̮̘̾ͯ͊͋̏ͨ͗̕ ̈́́H͓̫̹̮͍e̸̠͇͙͎̙ͬ̀ͬ ͦ̀ͅK̭̝͚ͅn̜ͫ́O̘̜̓ͫ̃ͨ̇̐͊w͚̣̯̦͒ͨ͞?̪ͯ̓̑̏ͨ
͈̟̖̯͙̽͛̈͐̈́̐ͪ
͕͎͓̲̇̆̋͜
͉̖̼̹̮̆S̲͙̪̟̳̲ͫõ̜̻̞M̜̼͚̟̱̘͎ͯͣͧ͋̉͐̚e̤̘̥̝͙̋̅̕Ţ͙͚͚̻̬̿͒́͐ͣͅĭ̻̮̘̘̙̃́̚Ṃ̡̞̫̣̬̳̀ͣ̓̓ͤ̆̓e̘̼͉̦͉͎ͩͭͮ́͒͊S̗͚̯̤̆ͯ͆̒ ͎̬̬̝̼̣͕̂̕s̖͉̻̺̩͔ͣ͑ͩ̚Ë̬̯̟́͛ͦͨ͑̐͡c͍̦̹͓͕̮̀̏͂ͮ̍͡r͙͉̞̤̰̂̊ͅE̦̘̲͚̰̼̺͒̉̃ͬ̃̓ͩ͟t̪͓̝͙̱̠ͩ̊͐̒͊ͣ͞s̙̪̤͙̪͙̟͢ ̮̦̞̞̫̥ͪ̒ͦͭ̃ͨṄ̪̺̠ͨ̓́̃͛͜e̘ͮ̐ͨ̌̅ͅȄ̗͎̦ͥ̑̓̋̚̕d̷̫̳̬̬ͤ̇ ̡T̖ͣ̄̃oͧͩ̿̓̆͆̓ ͮ̇ͫ̈͊̆҉̠̳͔̹̥B̫̝̖͎ͅe̛̾̒ͭ ̥̼̠K̞̠ͭͫ͐̆ͦ̚̚̕ͅė̐̂P̟̘̥͉ͯ͗̏̿̔t̼̪̫̖̭̼̭ͯ̽͟

The unicorn moved to help him but Ares raised a hand. “Find… where he kept… the records. He had to… have kept something… about this… thing. It has to be… in the castle… somewhere… somewhere hidden deep… and dark…”

Each word that he spoke seemed to be a struggle for the human now, exhaustion clear on his face as he paused to catch his breath. Out of the corner of Shining’s eye he could see the maids scurrying away like their tails were on fire. If he didn’t know any better he would have said that something was chasing after them.

“This… thing has been around… for a long, long… time. The Empire has… always known about… them… fought them, killed… them. Find the… secret, Shining… find out what this thing… is. Save Candy from… me… Please…”

“SHINING ARMOR!”
‘

Sensing that now would be a good time to leave Shining took a step backward, being mindful of any shadows that were trying to sneak up on him. He didn’t know how Ares knew about Sombra having knowledge of whatever the shadows were but this was the best news that he had heard in quite a while. If Sombra did in fact know what this… thing was then were would have been some written recording of it. Though he was a monstrous tyrant Sombra was a stallion that liked to have everything and anything captured, studied, and recorded, be it natural or otherwise. And if he had such records about something so dark and dangerous than there was a good chance that it was still in the castle somewhere.

There were many, many secret rooms that hadn’t been discovered yet. All Shining needed to do was find the room and find the journal or book or offhanded comment about these shadows. If he found that then maybe he could help save both Cadence and Ares. Maybe the plan B that some of the guards and even Twilight were talking about wouldn’t have to happen. Everything could go back to the way it was and everypony would come out of this alright. Ares and Cadence would come out of this alright.

“Ares… it’s going to be alright, we’re going to make sure that you get better; both you and Cadence. I promise. Just hold on for as long as you can. Please. I’ll do my best to find whatever it is you’re talking about.”

Though he was still hunched over Ares smiled. “Make the… princesses believe, they… think it’s Cadence even… though I keep… telling them it’s me… but if… that doesn’t work just… save… her… save Cadence…”

Shining opened his mouth to say that he was going to do just that when an unseen force grabbed him by the neck. Before he could even register what was going on he was lifted bodily into the air and all but thrown toward the barrier.

“MOTHERBUCKER!” he cried, passing through the barrier with a pop and landing on the crystal floor of the hallway with a painful, meaty slap. Shining let out a slew of curses as his momentum caused him to hit the ground rolling before he abruptly came to a stop.

Cracking open an eye he saw a positively livid Celestia looming over him. To Celestia’s left was an equally upset Luna and to her right was a scowling Twilight, who looked about ready to start screaming.

Letting out a quiet groan, Shining closed his eyes and readied for the onslaught of yelling, curses, and rough handling that he was about to get. I’m going to save you guys, he thought, not opening his eyes even as Luna yanked him roughly to his hooves. But first, Faust give me strength…

Odd Levers

View Online

“Tell me again why we’re here and not back at the barracks sleeping?”

Shining poked his head out the door to make sure that nopony was walking around outside of the hall. “I already told you we’re doing this to help Ares and Cadence,” he said, closing the door when he saw no one.

After he had been teleported away from Ares a very irate Celestia had not only ordered Shining to go to sleep, she had sent a pair of guards with him to make sure that he made to the barracks so he didn’t get any funny ideas. Though Shining tried to tell Celestia, Luna and anypony else that would listen about what Ares had said, not a single one of them took him seriously. He was exhausted, they said, he needed to get some sleep, they told him, he was talking nonsense, Luna had growled as he was beening practically dragged away. So, with only what Ares had said to go by and a mild to severe case of sleep deprivation, Shining had decided that he was going to find out where Sombra had put these hidden documents.

And he was going to do it now. Not when he woke up, not after he tried to convince anypony anything. He was going to do it this very instant.

It hadn’t been easy getting away from the ponies that Celestia had sent with him but he managed by climbing out of a window the moment that he was in barracks and their backs were turned. After a bit of dangerous climbing, and almost falling to his death more than once, he had been in the clear. From there on all he had to do was keep out of sight and he’d be in the clear.

Even though he was dead tired Shining still considered himself a pretty sneaky stallion. He could evade a few guards without much trouble if he was careful about it. So, with his head held high, Shining had stepped into the hallway ready to start his search…

…Only to be spotted by Private Flash Sentry.

Just like Shining, Flash had been up for longer than he could remember working himself to the bone trying to help out anyway that he could. But unlike Shining he knew that no matter what he did his part in fixing this whole mess that everyone found themselves wouldn’t be a big one. He didn’t have the magical knowledge or prowess of Twilight and the other princesses, and he most certainly wasn’t one of the Elements of Harmony; he was just a stallion that wanted to help his buddy out. Flash knew this and accepted his limitations, so he had been making his way back to the barracks himself so he could get some well-deserved shuteye. But then he had spotted Shining, who had quickly run over, tackled him to the ground, dragged him into one of the nearby abandoned rooms and had somehow managed to talk him into helping him on his probably fruitless, possibly crazy mission.

And boy was Flash not happy about it, not one little bit. Not only wasn’t he getting the sleep he really needed he was disobeying orders from Princess Celestia herself by helping Shining break into these old, dusty rooms all around the castle so that they could look for some nonsense that a semi-lucid Ares had told him about. While Flash wanted to help Ares and Princess Cadence in any way that he could, he’d rather not be thrown in a jail cell because of it. But even still he found himself standing in the corner of a web-riddled room that hadn’t housed a pony in many a year, quietly cursing his lack of willpower and ability to say no.

The Private’s muzzle scrunched up as he looked around the windowless, spider-infested room. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything here, Shining,” he said, yawning hugely. “If there were any papers or books or anything like that I’m pretty sure that the spiders would have gotten to them by now.”

“We’re not looking for any papers or books,” Shining muttered, crushing a big, venomous spider that scurried near his hoof. “We’re looking for a secret entrance or a latch or something so we can get in the secret room where the papers and books we’ll need are.”

“…Then why are we in the room where Sombra kept his slave harem?”

Shining ripped down another series of webs, sending hundreds of spiders scurrying in all directions. “Because we’re going down the list of rooms where Sombra spent most of his time.” Walking over to a section of wall Shining began poking at it. “There HAS to be something in one of these rooms…”

“If we’re trying to look at all of the rooms that Sombra went to then why didn’t we try his old bedroom first?” Flash asked. “If there were a secret room in the castle it’d probably be there.”

Muttering to himself, Shining stepped away from the wall and looked around the dimly lit room, a small frown on his face. “The room we’re looking for was probably Sombra’s personal laboratory; someplace that he could work on whatever dark magic that he wanted to work on in peace but that was far enough away that he could get away if something happened. Now be quiet and listen for anypony while I look over there. There’s gotta be something…”

A part of Flash wanted to tell Shining that his logic really wasn’t adding up. Why would Sombra put a secret room near one of the places that he went to a lot? Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to put that secret room where he could sneak off to without anypony seeing? Or better yet couldn’t he just use a spell or something to teleport himself to the room so he wouldn’t have to go through all of the nonsense of having to sneak around and remember where the room was?

Flash didn’t know; he was awfully tired. He also didn’t think that Shining really knew either since he was probably just as tired as he was. The unicorn was probably just frustrated that he couldn’t do more to help Ares and Cadence so he was jumping at any and every lead, no matter how stupid or silly or outlandish it was.

How on earth would Ares know that Sombra had some sort of secret room in this castle anyways? How the hay did he know, as ragged and sick as he was, that the secret room (which probably wasn’t real) that he was referring to had anything on whatever had possessed him? Why would Shining listen to someone as sick as Ares? Why was he still standing there helping Shining when he could be doing more important things like resting and sleeping and resting while sleeping?

Though all of these questions floated around in Flash’s head he decided to say nothing. He was already in this mess; the very least he could do was see it through till the end or until Shining gave up. He was sure that as soon as his friend wore himself out by searching all of these old rooms that nopony used the two of them would be able to get some sleep.

Sure, Sombra had secret rooms all around the castle, but not anymore. The Solar and Crystal Guard had spent weeks finding everything hidden in this castle after Sombra had been blown to bits by the crystal heart. The castle had been searched by every means available to them, both magical and otherwise. If there was a room like Shining was describing, then they would have already have found it and they already would have the document. But they didn’t have a document or a book or a slip of paper. If they had something like that Twilight or one of the guards would have found it by now.

“Horse apples!” Shining swore, knocking over a ruined nightstand. “There’s nothing here. THERE’S NOTHING HERE!!!” The frustration was apparent in the unicorn’s voice as his bloodshot eyes darted wildly around the room. “We checked every room that I could think of and we still haven’t found a bucking thing! Not a bucking thing!”

Gritting his teeth Shining bucked the wall closest to him, sending spiders and dust everywhere, before sinking to the ground. “…I could have sworn that we’d find something here…”

Getting up, Flash walked over and patted his friend on the back with a wing. “Come on, Shining, buddy, you knew that this was probably a long shot.”

Though Shining looked disheartened and exhausted, his eyes half lidded and his ears folding against his head, there was still a fiery determination in them. “There’s a room somewhere in this castle,” he said stubbornly. “I know there is. I can feel it in my bones.”

Flash tried to tug Shining to his hooves but the unicorn refused to move. “Why don’t we go back and get some sleep before we keep looking then?” he suggested. “Restart the search when the two of us aren’t about to drop?”

Snorting, Shining rose to his hooves and brushed past him. “I’m not getting any sleep until I find that bucking room,” he growled. “I’m not just going to lay back and relax while those two are like that. I don’t care how tired I am, I don’t care if I have to tear down this whole castle. I’m going to do it if it means that the two of them will be alright.”

Throwing open the door Shining looked over his shoulder at him. “Now I’m going to go over to one of the old servants rooms down the hall to see if there’s anything in there. Are you—“

“I’ll be your lookout,” Flash interrupted with a sigh as he rubbed his temples with his wings. “We’re not going to find anything over there but if it’ll make you feel better then I’ll go with you.”

A small smile came to Shining’s face. “Good,” he said with a little nod. “I appreciate the help. You’re a good friend, Flash.”

Grumbling to himself, Flash brushed past Shining and stepped into the hall, hoping against hope that somepony would see them so he could finally get some shuteye. “I know,” he grumbled, sounding disgusted, as Shining quietly closed the door behind him. “And sometimes I kind of wish I wasn’t. Being a good friend is bucking hard sometimes…”

Now grinning, Shining nudged the Pegasus. “But the good kind of hard, right?” he asked, nudging him again.

Flash made a face but nodded as his eyes scanned the doorways in the hall. They stopped on a tiny door that was sitting in between two great big doors. It was just a ye olde janitor's closet; there was nothing too special about it. But since Flash found himself needing to use the restroom, and since he knew that all of these old janitor's’ closets were equipped with a toilet (for some reason), he found himself wandering toward that little door.

“Hey, Shining, I’ll be back in a second. I’m going to take a leak.”

It was Shining’s turn to make a face. “You know that the toilet in there probably hasn’t been used in a long time right?”

“Well I can’t just go and find another bathroom somewhere else! If I do that somepony might see me and start asking questions.”

“…Alright. I’ll wait for you out here.”

Flash quickened his pace over toward that little door and grabbed the doorknob. To his surprise the door opened easily and swung open without so much as a squeak. His surprise only increased when a big crystal on the little room’s ceiling lit up, illuminating the room as he stepped into it.

“Huh… I guess crystal ponies can make some pretty good doors,” he muttered under his breath, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. “I wonder how they made that crystal light up like that?”

Oddly enough the little room looked like it was in relatively good condition. There was only a bit of dust on the mops and various other cleaning equipment and Flash couldn’t see a single spider web. Peering toward the back of the room Flash saw the very thing that he had come in here for: the toilet. Though it was partially covered by about a dozen brooms it looked like it was all in working order.

Rubbing his hooves together, Flash pushed his way toward the little toilet, tossing away all of the brooms and having himself a seat. “Baby bird fly away, baby bird fly away, baby—ahh~ There we go…”

As Flash Sentry did his business he saw a little bronze chain hanging not that far away from his head. With his head cocked to the side he reached up and batted the chain with a hoof. “What the heck is this thing for?” he asked no one in particular, looking up at the ceiling. “Is… Is this for the toilet? Is this one of those weird old fashion flushers?”

Though a part of him said that was nonsense, he was pretty sure that they didn’t have flushing toilets back in Sombra’s time, he still grabbed onto that little chain and gave it a tug to see what would happen. The chain easily pulled downward, and letting go, Flash watched as the chain went back up into its original position with little trouble. Sitting there, he waited for something to happen. Seconds ticked by as he sat there waiting for the toilet to flush or the lights to flicker but everything seemed normal in the little room.

“…Huh. Well I guess whatever this chain is for doesn’t work,” Flash muttered, reaching up and giving the chain another tug. “I didn’t know why it would any—”

The sounds of gears turning cut through the room like a knife. The whole room began to shake, mops and cleaning utensils falling everywhere. Yelping, Flash held onto the toilet as tightly as he could. “Oh holy horse apples! It’s an earthquake! I need to get out of here! I need to—”

As quickly as it had come the shaking stopped. A hissing sound came from the wall right next to where Flash was sitting. There was a click, like a door had just been unlocked, before a section of the wall opened up, revealing a tunnel of some sort.

“…” Flash could only stare at the hole wide-eyed for a few moments, just sitting there on the toilet, still clutching it tightly. “I… what… why would…” Hopping off of the toilet he cautiously made his way over toward the tunnel.

Flash raised a hoof and poked it into the tunnel’s opening. He then poked his head in and looked around. “Why in a janitor’s closet?”

He immediately pulled his head back out of the tunnel as a series of lights suddenly lit it up. “Who the buck did that?!” he demanded, grabbing a mop and hefting it like a spear. “This is the guard! Come out with your hooves up or I’ll be forced to use… force!”

Flash listened hard for anyone that could have been moving around in the tunnel, but there was nothing. Other than a quiet buzzing sound everything was silent. Curious, Flash once again poked his head into the tunnel, his mop at the ready.

Just like the “closet” itself the tunnel was well lit and appeared to be meticulously maintained. There were the same light crystal as in the janitor’s closet spaced out every few feet.The floor appeared to be made of some sort of well-worn but well-maintained wood and rock. There was even a small iron rail that they used to move mine carts around traveling down the tunnel.

Flash didn’t have a clue how far this tunnel lead but from the way it was angled downward he had a feeling that it would take a while to get to where this place led. His stomach twisted when he realized that wherever this tunnel led to was probably where he and Shining needed to be. His stomach twisted even further when he wondered what kind of booby traps the old tyrant had left lying around in there.

Poking his head out of the tunnel Flash bit his lip and looked back toward the door where Shining was no doubt waiting. “…Shining? Could you come in here please?”

“Flash?! Are you alright?! I felt a shaking and heard you yelling and—” Shining asked through the door.

Flash eyed the tunnel before looking back over at the door. “Just come in here please.”

“Hang on! I’ll be right in!” Flash waited patiently as Shining fiddled with the doorknob.

“Get open you bucking stupid thing! THERE! Flash are you—what that hay is that?” Looking scared and ragged, Shining threw open the door, his body tensed to launch himself into the room.

Clearing his throat, Flash gestured toward the hole in the wall. “I think I found a secret tunnel,” he said simply.

The look of fear on Shining’s face subsided. His eyes widened and his jaw went slack as he looked at Flash, then at the hole, then at Flash again. Without saying a word, he pushed his way through all of the fallen mops and brooms until he was by Flash’s side, standing right in front of the secret tunnel. Poking his head into it he looked around before he leaned back into the room and sat down.

“I was pulling on that weird chain over there and that part of the wall slid out,” Flash said, sitting down next to his absolutely floored friend.

“I can’t believe that there was actually something here,” Shining muttered to himself, his bloodshot eyes becoming slightly unfocused. “I know that Ares said that there’d be a secret room, and I hoped for his sake that he was right, but to actually find it…”

His eyes widening, Flash turned toward Shining. “You were making all of that fuss and you were second guessing yourself the whole time?!” he demanded, his nose scrunching up.

Shining didn’t even hear him as he continued to stare straight into the tunnel. Getting up he poked his head back into it once more. “We have to see what’s on the other end of this tunnel,” he said simply.

The rest of Flash’s angry rant died in his throat as Shining turned back toward him with a determined look. “I don’t know about that, Shining. Maybe we should get the princess's first…” He shivered as a burst of cold air escaped the tunnel and hit him in the face. “If this is what you think it is then it’s probably filled to the ceiling with traps.”

Almost instinctively Shining took a step away from the tunnel. Flash was right. If this was Sombra’s secret workshop, then the dark lord had probably taken measures to keep ponies away; measures that wouldn’t be good for him in any way if he was unlucky enough to trigger one of them. And, in the condition that he and Flash were in, there wasn’t a snowball's chance in Tartarus that they’d be able to disable anything nasty or fend off anything guarding the tunnel.

Shining was about to agree with the young private, say that they needed to go and get the princesses asap, when the fur on the back of his neck stood on end. For a brief moment the room seemed to become positively fringed and darker than the blackest night. Though Flash was the only other presence in the room, Shining had a feeling that he was being watched, that someone or something was standing just out of the corner of his eye.

C͖̿̌͊͒ǫ͚͈͖͙̰̿Ṃ̠̣̱̱̆̇̐͆͐̌e̜̲͓̻̋ͪ̌͑ͧ

Taking a few hasty steps backward, Shining warily eyed the tunnel, his horn sparking to life with a defensive spell. “There’s that voice again,” he whispered. “That’s the same voice that I heard when I touched Ares… The one that I forgot about…”

Flash watched as his friend quickly stepped into the tunnel. “Shining? SHINING! Get the buck back here right now! We need to go and tell the princesses about this before we just go and—SHINING!”

A whine escaped the private’s mouth as Shining disappeared from his field of vision. He looked toward the door, muttering a curse, before he charged right in after him. “Shining, I swear to Celestia if you don’t get back here right the buck now then I’m gonna—”

“There are no traps in this tunnel.”

Flash skidded to a halt as he turned the corner to see Shining slowly making his way down the tunnel. “...How the buck do you know that?! I didn’t even see you use any sp—”

“I just know,” Shining called over his shoulder as he picked up his pace. “Now come on. We have to get to the end of this tunnel.”

Flash turned back toward the way he had just come. The two of them shouldn’t be in this tunnel. They shouldn’t, as tired and out of whack as they were, be doing this on their own. It was stupid and if Flash had any amount of sense he’d grab Shining and forcibly drag the stallion out of here so they could go find ponies that were properly rested and equipped to handle this situation.

Trotting in place Flash bit his lip. “…Celestia dammit.” Though he didn’t want to, like really, really didn’t want to, Flash once again trotted after Shining, who looked absolutely relaxed as he made his way down the death tunnel.

The unicorn smiled as the Pegasus walked side-by-side with him. Flash in turn frowned back at him. “I swear if the two of us die I’m never talking to you again.”

Turn the Page for Me Will Ya?

View Online

The Manticore, otherwise known as mardya khowr. Averages at eight hooves high at the withers and twenty hooves long from snout to the base of the tail. Short-tempered, territorial. Can be—

With a sigh Shining closed another yellowing, dusty tomb and sat it down. “That’s not it either…” he muttered, looking around in annoyance.

The room around him was a small one, dimly lit and smelling faintly of old paper and blood. All around the room were rows upon rows of books, ranging from foot thick spell books to journals that were just a few pages thick. The covers of many of these books and journals, along with the walls and ceiling, were the color of sandstone and were in so many different languages that Shining wouldn’t make heads nor tails of what they said.

In the center of the room was a plain wooden bench. It was a big bench and a well-used one if the gashes in it were any indication. It was the kind of bench that could be found in a blacksmith's shop or maybe sitting in a woodcarver’s workshop. But Shining could see black splotches all around the floor and on the bench itself. He could also see two small but sturdy looking cages sitting in the corner of the room. Whatever had happened in this room Shining was absolutely sure that none of it concerned woodworking or blacksmithing.

There was a tenseness in this tiny room, a weight. He could feel it in each book that he picked up and each time he turned toward that scarred bench and the little table of knives, hooks and cleavers sitting in a neat little row next to it. Bad things had happened in this room; things that probably should be forgotten.

The unicorn’s vision started to darken. Yawning hugely, he shook his head like a dog in an attempt to stay awake. He had to stay awake. He had to find the book that would help him save Ares and Cadence. He needed to keep his eyes open and keep looking until he found something. A hint of something. Then, and only then, could he get some rest.

“So did Ares tell you what kind of book to look for?” Flash asked as he played with what Shining hoped was a replica skeleton of a diamond dog. “Like the size of the book, it’s color, if it has any markings on it or something like that?”

Realizing that he was swaying side-to-side Shining took a few hasty steps around the room. “I didn’t have time to ask him,” he said, looking at the various shelves for something to catch his eye. “Princess Celestia pulled me out of the room before I could ask.”

Grunting, Flash poked at the skeleton’s ribs, causing the skeleton to wobble back and forth on the steel cable holding it up in the air. “Of course he didn’t,” the private muttered, looking around the room. “Though, to be fair, it’s not like all of these books are all that different anyways…”

“Hey, you didn’t need to come down here with me,” Shining pointed out.

Flash’s nose scrunched up. “Hey, I am not complaining. All I’m saying is the two of us really aren’t equipped to search through all of these books. At least not by ourselves.”

“You haven’t picked up a single book since we came in here,” Shining dryly remarked, picking up a book with his magic.”

“Hey, I might be dumb enough to come down here with you but I’m not dumb enough to touch books that could have hexes and curses and evil magic woven into them.”

Snorting, though he casted a quick spell on the book that he was holding to make sure that it was safe, Shining flipped the book open. “Well when you ever decide to—” Cursing under his breath, Shining shook his head again as his eyelids drooped. “—decide to stop being a baby you can start working on the shelf over—“

Shining flicked as light erupted from his side. “WHAT THE BU—”

BANG!

Both Flash and Shining were knocked off their hooves as a burst of magic tore through the still air in the little room. Papers, quills, and knives went flying all around the room, forcing the two stallions to quickly crawl toward any available shelter. Flash managed to get behind the bench and Shining was about to dive underneath a small metallic table when a hoof stomped down onto his tail. Yelping in both pain and surprise, Shining quickly found himself on his back staring up at both Princess Celestia and Luna. He stared at the two glaring alicorns before looking down at his shoulder, which was still dimly glowing.

“Oh horse apples, you put a location spell on me didn’t—”

Before he could finish his sentence Luna’s horn sparked to life. Not two seconds later Shining Armor was fast asleep and dead to the world, snoring so loud that the noise would have put a chain saw to shame.

“Private Flash Sentry, I will give you five seconds to get your kiester over here before I lose my temper,” Celestia said evenly, teleporting Shining out of the room with a flash of her horn.

Flash was a blur as he jumped over the bench, ducked under a table and dove between two shelves to get to the two princesses. “Private Flash Sentry reporting for duty your highnesses!” he yelled, smartly saluting. “You wish is my—epp!”

The private jumped away as Luna nearly steamrolled him, her lips drawn back into a snarl. “We commanded that thou take that foolish stallion to a bed and instead thou followed him into—”

Before the Princess of the Night could continue her rant Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. Furious beyond words, Luna quickly turned toward her sister. “What?!” she snapped. “Can’t thou see that—!”

Without saying a word Celestia gestured around the room. The fury on Luna’s face quickly drained away, confusion replacing it as she looked around. “I do not remember ever seeing a room like this…” she muttered to herself, making a face as she sniffed the air. “What foul place is this?”

“I haven’t the foggiest idea, sister mine…”

Both alicorns looked around the room for a moment more before turning their attention back toward Flash, who was literally shaking in his horseshoes. There was sweat dripping down the private’s face and his eyes were nervously darting around. If one didn’t know any better they might have said that the private had just seen a ghost, but it was much, much worse than that.

Flash was a stallion that knew he had royally messed up. He had disobeyed orders from his boss, one of which moved a solar body that was bigger than the planet he was currently standing on. And not only that but both of those ponies didn’t look too happy about his disobedience. So it only made sense that he was a little nervous.

“Flash, would you be a dear and tell us where that half-delirious stallion led you to?” Celestia asked, the harshness in her tone lessening somewhat.

“W-We, I m-mean Shining, well, you s-see he—”

“Stop yammering and answer us colt,” Luna snapped, her patience nonexistent.

“IfoundasecretroominajanitorsclosetandShiningmadeusgoinit!” Flash cried, ducking behind a table that did nothing to hide him from the princesses’ gaze.

Celestia and Luna exchanged glances.

“Could this be that nonsense that Shining was talking about?” Luna questioned.

Celestia looked around the room once more, unease settling on her features as she did so. Just like her sister Celestia could feel the wrongness in this room. Walking over to one of the small tables in the room she quickly grabbed a tombs from one of the shelves and opened it with a flick of her horn, setting it down on the table.

“Anatomy of the Ursa Major,” she muttered, flipping through the pages. Her horn glowed again, pulling more books off the shelves. With each book that she opened the more grim and sickened she looked until she finally placed the books back where they belonged, an almost haunted look in her eyes.

“I always knew that Sombra was a monster but not even I...” Shaking her head, she turned toward her sister. “Luna, please take Mr. Sentry away and get my student.” She took a few deep breaths, still trying to digest whatever she had just read. “I believe that we may have found Sombra’s private study.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

As Ares trekked through that mind-numbing cold he couldn’t help but think of his little brother. He hoped that Matthew was doing alright back at his college.

The chubby dork was studying to become a park ranger. Ares had always teased him about it, saying that he didn’t think there would be good internet reception or a McDonald's out in the middle of the woods, but all the teasing aside he knew that he would probably be a great park ranger or whatever the hell he wanted to do with his natural science degree or whatever he was getting.

The kid loved animals and walking through the woods. In fact there was one time when he—

W̵̘͔̩͇ͥ̍̓ḧ́͌̿̑̑ͩ̒͠͏̠̱͔͍̯ͅA̺̝̟̪ͤ́̎̉̒͒t̞̮̤͎͌̓ ̧̹̭ͣͧ̽ͬ̒́F̵̼̥̺̄͛͝o̰̞̦̳̲ͧ̓̏Ō̯̘͓͓̩͍̖̳̺ͤ̍͐̑̚d̀͂́҉͍͍̰̬̲̣ͅ ̶̨͐̊̉ͮ͑̂̈́ͩ͏̩̳̻̗̲͓͕̮ͅI̢̳̱̦͙̠̬̯ͮ̅̽͑ͯ͌͟s̸̸̗͎̳̤̃̅̎ͩ͒̚ ̨̨̝̹̙̱̯̯̊̈̏̒T̞̟̜̜͂h̥ͣͤͨ̕͟Í̴̴̺̣͚̰̞͍̣̲͆̍ͣ̂̏̄s̜̯͓̩̑͐̃?̷̨͓̹̯͎̗͑́͒͠%̨͚̖̺̗͚̐ͫ͋̈́̓̐
͈͖͎͉̍͋ͤ

Ares stopped walking, his head darted around to find where that voice had come from. “HELLO?” he yelled. “IS ANYONE THERE?”

He looked in all directions but there was nothing and no one. The only thing that was there to greet him was white. Frowning, Ares did his best to ignore the howling winds and listened for the sounds of someone yelling, walking around, anything. After a while the cold became too much and he was once again forced to move forward.

“I must have just imagined it,” he muttered, pounding his fists against his chest to try to get the feeling back in them. “There’s nobody out here ri—”

C̲͙̘͚̓̏͆ͫ̍̒͘͡ō̽̈̈̃ͥ̆͑͏͚͚̣̖̘ͅM̠̘̓̋̿̾̑͟͠ę̛͔͙̣̰͚͐̽ͥ͌̐ͤ̚
̧̛͈̟͓̙͚̗͍̉ͣ͋C̡̹̱̺͌͂͢ọ̧̪̓͆ͦͫͭͫ͜M̼̰̙ͬ̈ͯ̔ͮ̕͟ẽ͊̉̈҉̠̲͕
̧̲̬͖͓̝̏͐ͨͫ̓̔̔̚Å̸̳̹̺̤̳̫̩͂͟n͓͚̪̥͈̪ͥͬ͂̈́ͬ̿ͥ͂D̞͓͉̺̯̱̼ͬ̎́͟
̬̳̭͇̲̯̤̯ͭ̔̃͒ͫ͐̑̃̀s̷̫̣͓̺͎̯̖͚͋͊̄̀̀E̟͇̺̗͚̐̄̂̾̅̈́̉͒ͥȩ̗̮̭͛͐
̶͓͖̩̰̮̫̺͊̈́ͤͤ̓̾̉̈́̀

Once again Ares forced himself to stop. His head turned toward the left where the voice had come from. Stomping his feet against the snow-covered ground he tried to remember if hypothermia caused hallucinations. Since his knowledge and experience about outdoor survival was zero he drew a blank, but a part of him felt that it didn’t. Someone was around here not that far away from him, and if someone was around here that meant that civilization could be right around the corner.

Spurred by the thought of getting out of the cold Ares trekked through the snow toward where he thought the voice was coming from with newfound vigor. He might lose a couple fingers and toes because of all of this walking in this tundra but he was fine with it as long as he got out of this cold. If he got out of this cold then he’d get warm. If he got warm he’d live.

“HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME? WHOEVER THE FUCK WAS YELLING CAN YOU FOLLOW THE SOUND OF MY VOICE? I GOT LOST IN THIS FUCKING BLIZZARD AND I NEED SOME SERIOUS HELP RIGHT NOW! PLEASE!”

With each step he took Ares could see something appearing in the distance. After another minute or two of him walking and having his calls unanswered he saw that he was making his way toward what looked like a cave. Since it was the only landmark for MILES the cave seemed especially big, with a gaping hole that showed nothing but darkness inside. There was a certain… something that made him stop his advance toward that cave, a sense of wrongness.

“IS ANYONE IN THAT CAVE?!” Ares yelled at the top of his lungs. “CAN ANYBODY HEAR—” A particularly cold blast of wind made him grit his teeth as his partially frozen hands and face screamed in pain. “Fuck it,” he muttered, once again making his way toward the cave. “I don’t care if that cave has a fucking monster in it. I need to get out of this cold for a little bit. Hopefully whoever’s around here sees the cave too and makes their way toward it.” With his mind made up he started making his way toward the eerie cave as fast as his frozen feet could take him.

To Ares’s immense relief the wind seemed to die down the closer he got to the cave. “Thank god,” he murmured. “Hopefully I’ll find someone in there…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

I watched as my human violently twitched in his sleep, his face scrunching up as he kicked his blanket off his body once again.

Reaching over I pulled the covers back over him. “What the hay are you dreaming about?” I muttered.

I had no idea how long I had been laying on my bed watching Ares sleep. There was no sense of time in this room other than the odd maid coming into the room to give us something to eat or coming in to clean the toilet. I didn’t have enough strength to get up and walk around the room and I was sick to death of reading the giant book that Twilight had recommended so the only thing that I could do was hold my human close.

For the last few days Ares had been getting weaker and weaker, sleeping more and eating less. Though he did his best to appear cheerful and carefree I felt how he held onto me whenever we slept together, I could see how he looked at me when he thought that I wasn’t looking. My human was scared. Very scared.

I extended one of my wings to touch Ares’s face. A frown came to my face when I felt how cold he was. “Oh that won’t do,” I muttered.

Taking a few deep breaths, I got to my hooves. My legs felt weak, like they were made out of rubber, but I forced them to move over to him. Ares twitched again, the fingers on his hand contorting to impossible angles before they straightened out. As I laid back down I could hear him muttering nonsense to himself, his body curling into a ball.

“It’s alright honey,” I muttered wrapping a wing around Ares and pulling him against my side. Almost instantly I could feel him wiggling closer toward me, his freezing cold hands finding their way underneath my wing joints. It was my turn to twitch but I didn’t shy away. Instead I pulled the blanket over the two of us and nuzzled his cheek.

“There we go. Let’s get you nice and warm,” I said, looking toward the little wooden nightstand sitting by our bed. “And how about we get you something to eat?”

My horn sparked to life, picking up the wooden bowl and plate that were resting on top of it. The maids had left the two of us some stew and a few sandwiches. While both were chilled, frozen really, a quick heating spell fixed them right up and had the smell of meat and stew in the air. Trying to ignore the fact that my mouth started to water the second that I smelled the cooked meat I nuzzled my human.

“Ares, honey, it’s time to wake up. We gotta get something in that belly of yours to help keep your strength up.”

After a few more persistent nuzzles, Ares began to stir. His eyes slowly fluttered open, blinking a few times as his eyes focused on me. “…Cadence?”

I smiled, pushing a lock of hair out of my human’s face. Even though Ares had insisted that he looked like a monster I honestly didn’t think so. Even with the lighter skin, the teeth, and the eyes he was still the adorable little human that I know and loved, especially when he was just waking up.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” I said as he yawned.

“It’s morning?” he asked, slowly sitting up. When I saw that he was struggling I discreetly helped him with my wing.

“Well… I don’t know really,” I admitted, quickly wrapping my hooves around him and pulling him against me so he wouldn’t fall over. “But I got something for the two of us to eat!”

Ares looked down at the food, his nose scrunching up. “You go ahead and eat it. I’m not that hungry right now.”

“Well you better get hungry real quick because you’re eating this whether you want to or not, Mister. You remember what the doctor said about keeping your strength up right?” Magicking up a spoon I scooped up some of the stew and brought it to my human’s lips. “Now come on and take a few bites. For me. Please.”

Ares hesitated, staring at the spoonful of food for a few seconds, before he finally opened his mouth. Smile widening, I stuck the spoon into his pie hole.

I could see disgust clear as day on Ares’s face as he chewed the food and swallowed. “Goddamn is that stuff awful,” he said as I helped myself to a bit of the stew. “Are you sure they’re not putting anything in the food they’re giving us? Medicine or some weird herb or something?”

Stuffing a bit of stew into my mouth I thoughtfully chewed before swallowing. “Nope, I don’t think so. It just tastes like normal stew to me.” Setting the spoon down I picked up one of the sandwiches. “How about you try to taste one of these sandwiches to see if they’re any better?”

Ares looked up at me in irritation. For a moment I thought he was going to start arguing with me but he just sighed. “…Alright, I’ll try one of the sandwiches,” he said, pressing more of his weight against me. “But you just make sure that you get some of this food too. I’m not going to be the only one suffering here.”

I knew that there was nothing wrong with this food. There was no medicine, no herbs and the ingredients that went into making everything was as fresh as could be. But no matter what the servants brought in, soup, meat, cake, or vegetable, Ares could barely eat it. It all tasted horrible to him. It was like my little human’s body was starting to reject the food that he needed to survive. This was why he had started to rapidly lose weight, something which worried the doctors and scared me half to death. So every day I made sure to hold Ares close to me and feed him until he flat out refused to eat anymore, even though it was getting harder and harder to get him to do it and the portions he was eating were getting smaller and smaller.

“So how was your sleep?” I asked as I made sure that he didn’t just try to throw the sandwich away when I wasn’t looking. “Did you have any pleasant dreams?”

Swallowing a mouthful of roast beef sandwich, his nose scrunched up as he did so, Ares shrugged. “I have no idea. I can’t remember if I dreamed or not.”

That was a lie. I could hear it in his voice and he didn’t look me in the eye when he said it. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, taking a bite out of one of the sandwiches.

Ares’s eyes widened in alarm. “Candy, there’s meat in that!” he exclaimed just a little too loudly.

My eyes widened as well. They grew even wider as I found myself swallowing. Even though the soup had been good it was nothing compared to what I had just put in my mouth. Never before had I eaten something so amazingly tasty as that sandwich, or more specifically the meat inside of it. If a dozen more sandwiches would have been brought into this room right this instant, I could have eaten every single one of them with a big smile on my face. In fact, I would
have asked for more afterward.

And that was not okay. That was not okay at all.

Levitating the sandwich away from my face I let it drop onto the plate right next to me. I then moved the plate on the other side of Ares so I wouldn’t get any funny ideas. “Oh… whoops,” I said, a sheepish grin coming to my face. “I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention and just grabbed it.”

Ares smiled weakly, both of his hands finding my hooves. “Just remember if you start getting any cravings that I taste like shit,” he said, placing my hooves close to his heart.

I giggled, nuzzling the side of his cheek. “Oh I don’t know about that. You look pretty yummy to me,” I teased, playfully biting his neck. I had to be as careful as possible with my new teeth so they didn’t hurt him but my biting was playful. I swear. “If you’re not careful I might eat you right up!”

Grabbing one of my hooves Ares brought it to his face and gave the frog a kiss. “I got a meat log right here if you want something to snack on,” he said, wiggling his lower body. “You can’t bite it though; gotta suck on it until—”

Ares’s head snapped down toward his arm. I could see the shadow gently prodding the hoof that was against his heart. Though I couldn’t feel it touching me exactly, the fur on the back of my neck was on end and I started to get a little colder each time it touched me.

” Ĝ̼̭̣̪̞̯ͅē̥̘̞̖͇̼͑ͭ̔̀ͩ͛̎t͚͌͐̽ͯͮ͂̄ ̥̳̮̱̙͚̏͋̓̉͋̈́̚a̗͎̣̭̙̯̣͈̦ͭ̏̃͂w̱̳̆̑͒̄̔̚a͍̣͓̯̖̞̝͔̠ͫ͗ͣ́ͯy̟͕̰̯̻̼͉͕͛͆̓̏̃ͯ̏̀ͅ ̗̺͔̫̻͇̯̍ͮ̓̆ͪ̂ͪf͍̱̞͇̤̊̃̉̔̀̎r͉̜̪̟̠ͨ̃ͣ̄ͪ̌̿ȍ̘̬̜ͭ͆m̺̞̱̝͌ͨͮ͂̑ ̝̳͕͆͂̇ͦ̋ͦͪ̆h͓͕̻̦̜̺͕̩̓̿͆ͦͦ̿e͕̜͉͈̘͊͑̑r̜̺̳̟̯͖̋͆͌̓̆ͅ
̱̺̔̍ͩ̊ͯ̄ͤ̔ͧ”

I watched as the shadow darted back into Ares’s arm. My honey bunny let out a tired, tired sigh, sinking into himself. “Candy, do we got any water lying around here?” he croaked, closing his eyes.

“…Ares, honey, are you—”

“Water first. Please.”

I looked around the room for any stray water bottles lying around. I couldn’t get up because there was no way that Ares would be able to hold himself up so I was going to have to hope that the servants had left it within eyesight. Finding a half-full bottle of water sitting on the ground a couple of feet away from our bed (a place that I do not remember putting any water bottles) I quickly snatched it up.

“I got some water right here, baby,” I muttered, quickly bringing it over, twisting off the cap, and bringing it to his lips.

Ares tried to reach up and grab the bottle but his shaking, far too thin hands couldn’t quite get up that high. But that was fine; I was more than happy to hold the bottle and tilt it up so he could drink.

Ares finished the water in three big gulps, letting out a quiet groan as my grip around him tightened. “That’s never… going to… get any… easier,” he muttered, mostly to himself.

“Do you want any more to eat?” I gently asked, leaning the two of us against the backboard of the bed. I noticed the he was starting to shiver just a bit so I grabbed another blanket and wrapped it around the two of us.

“If I… eat any more… right now… I’m going to be… sick,” my human told me, cracking open an eye so he could look up at me. “You go ahead and eat it.”

“I’m not all that hungry,” I began with a shake of my head. “The two of us can just eat it la—” I let out a squeak as I felt one of Ares’s hand reach down and pinch my flank. It wasn’t a very hard pinch but it was more than hard enough for me to feel it.

“You’re going to eat the rest of this food and you’re going to like it missy,” he said, a grin— the smallest grin that I had ever seen but a grin nonetheless— coming back to his face. “I’m going to be real upset if you lose that butt of yours.” I couldn’t help but blush when I felt Ares’s hand brush up against my flank. “If you lose that what am I going to stare at when you aren’t looking?”

I could feel tears beginning to form out of the corners of my eyes but I ignored them, kissing my little human’s neck. “I’ll only eat if you eat with me,” I told him. One of my wings snaked down his pants, tickling lil’ Ares. “If you don’t eat so you can get big and strong how is this little guy going to get big and strong?”

Closing his eyes once again my human let out a quiet guffaw. “I’ll have you know that he’s big and strong enough to give you a good time, missy.”

I hoofed him a sandwich as he blindly pawed for the plate. Scooping up another spoonful of stew I stuffed it in my mouth and slowly started to chew. Even though Ares made another face as he stuffed the sandwich in his mouth he ate every last bit of it along with some stew. Even though there wasn’t all that much food laid out, barely enough for somepony’s lunch, by the time Ares and I finished all of it I felt fuller than I had in a long time.

Patting my swollen stomach, I put both the bowl and the plate back on the nightstand and grabbed one of the books sitting next to our flickering candle. By now Ares had regained enough of his strength to be able to sit up unassisted, but even still I held him close against me.

“Cadence?” my human said as I placed the book in his lap. “What do you want to do when the two of us get out of here?”

“I’m going to go in our room and take the warmest, longest, bubbliest bubble bath that I’ve ever had,” I instantly replied, eyeing my unkempt mane with disdain. “And maybe afterwards I’ll go and get a mane cut.”

Ares shook his head slowly as he opened up the book that the two of us had been reading together. “Well, I think after all of this is over I’m going to talk you into expanding our sexual locations.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

Ares nodded again. “Yeah.” He looked up at me. “I’ve kinda always wanted to have my way with you on your throne, and for some reason whenever I stand on your balcony I think about fucking you under the stars.”

Oh? Did my little human have a bit of an exhibitionist in him?

I giggled again, a soft blush coming to my cheeks. “Maybe on your birthday and if you’re really convincing,” I told him.

If the two of us… When the two of us got out of here I would be more than happy to carry Ares to my throne room and rip the clothes off his body myself, in fact to celebrate us getting better I’d probably do that and a whole lot more, but Ares didn’t need to know that. I’d just let it be a very nice surprise for when this was all over.

Looking up at me with one last smile, a teasing, loving smile that just made my heart ache, Ares cleared his throat and began to read. “Though the natives knew the jungle like the back of their hoof Daring Do had something that they didn’t: wings. And with these wings she…”

I closed my eyes, a smile on my face, as I listened to my human read. At that moment there wasn’t a choking darkness all around us, there wasn’t ice caked to our bed and a flickering candle wasn’t the only light in the room. All there was was a warm, wonderful stallion that I was holding close and who was reading to me.

And it was wonderful.

Sleeping too Long

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Stepping into the mouth of the cave, Ares couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Though most of his body still felt heavy and stiff and there was a dull pain in his feet he was out of that wind. Now that he was out of the wind and the cold and the snow he was going to be fine. All he needed to do was find whoever was lurking around in this cave so that they could lead him to civilization. He was going to be alright. He was going to be okay.

“Hello? Are you in here?” Ares yelled, beating his arms against his chest in an attempt to get the blood in them flowing again. “I heard you outside of the cave. I’m Ares Costelnock! The one that was yelling outside! Hello?”

His voice echoed off the icy cavern walls as he looked around. The cave was pitch black and, as far as he could see, deserted. Casting a glance over his shoulder to stare at the icy tundra, Ares took another step into the cave.

“Is anyone there? Are you hurt? Do you need help or something? Come on; if anyone’s there can you please say something? Please?”

The sounds of his own footsteps were his only answer as he forced himself deeper and deeper into it. It was quiet; so quiet that this cave could have been mistaken for a tomb. Ares couldn’t even hear the wind howling outside anymore.

Pounding his fists against his chest once more, so that he could hear more than his footsteps and his breathing if nothing else, Ares stopped and threw up his arms. “Alright dickhead, enough fucking around! Come out and talk to me dammit! I know that I heard someone in this fucking cave, and I swear to god if I find you I’m gonna beat your—”

And that was when he heard it. It was a minuscule sound; one that he would never in a million years had heard it if he didn’t have the cave walls amplifying every little noise. Ares could hear breathing, and it was coming from the back of the cave. Ragged and labored breathing but breathing still.

Almost without meaning to, Ares took a step back, then another, before he forced himself to stand firm. “What the fuck am I freaking out about?” he mumbled, hugging his arms close to his chest as a sudden chill ran through him. “There’s just some asshole sitting at the end of the cave being all quiet and shit. That’s it. I just need to go over there, maybe smack him in the mouth for fucking with me like this, and get him to take me home or whatever. It’s as simple as that.”

But even as he muttered this to himself he could feel the fear that had gripped him since he had come into this cave only grow. There’s was something off about this cave; something wrong. There was an aura of… wrongness to it, like something was about to jump out and get him if he didn’t turn around and leave, but even still Ares, not willing to go back into that cold and wander around until he froze to death, forced himself to take a step forward, then another step, then another.

“Hello? I know you’re back there you cunt. Why don’t out come out and say hello or something?”

As Ares grew closer to the source of the breathing he could tell that it sounded wrong. It was a nasally, throaty, course breathing that one only had when they were very sick or they had one foot in the grave. Concern quickly overwhelmed the odd fear that he had been feeling and he began to walk a little faster toward the sound.

“Are you alright? You don’t sound too good mystery person… Do you need any help or something?”

Though it only got darker the deeper that he went into the cave eventually Ares could make out a figure. It was huddled against the very back of the cave, a blanket or a pelt wrapped around its oddly frame.

Seeing them, Ares couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. “There you are. You know for a second I thought I was going to find a fucking bear or—”

Snap!

Freezing, Ares looked down to see that he had stepped on something. Since it was too dark to see it clearly he reached down and blindly grabbed for it. To his surprise he could feel (though, in truth, his frozen hands really couldn’t feel that much at all) what felt like a bunch of little sticks all around him; dozens upon dozens of them lying in a pile all around him. For a moment he thought that the person had been trying to start a fire in this cave of something, but then he managed to finally grab one of the bigger “sticks” and bring it close to his face

“MOTHERFUCKER!” With a yelp Ares dropped what was definitely a bone of some kind. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS—”

All of the sudden the cave around him shifted, melting away so that he was standing in a room of light.

“There thee are, human friend.”

Ares quickly spun around to see a little blue horse staring at him with a little smile on her face. His mind raced, and he took a nervous, fearful step backward, before it all came back to him. “L-Luna?” he mumbled, his vision becoming blurry. He took a few steps forward before he lost his balance, falling forward. He was about to land face-first into the white nothing when a wing wrapped around his chest, stopping his fall.

“Be at ease Ares. Thou art safe. We hath finally managed to break through the cloud around thy mind.”

Looking up he saw that Luna was now standing right in front of him, looking as pleased as punch. Panicked, he tried to cover himself up. “Luna, don’t look at me I’m—… What the fuck?”

His hands looked fine. Through his tattered hoodie he could see that his arms looked fine. He no longer had long, pointed, grey claws or the kind of arms that came out of one’s nightmares. He had hands. Normal, pinkish hands with perfectly trimmed nails. His hands. Opening and closing them, Ares then grabbed what was left of his hoodie and tore both it and his shirt right off. Looking down he saw his stomach and his chest.

“I’m normal again?” he muttered, touching his face. “No pointed ears? No fangs? Why wou—”

“Thou art in a dream, Ares.” Looking back at Luna Ares saw that she was looking at him in pity. “Though We wish We had the power to change thee back into this but We cannot. In the waking world thou still…”

Ares nodded as the alicorns trailed off, sitting onto the ground. “Well… that’s a hell of a way to ruin my day,” he said, trying and very much failing to sound lighthearted and upbeat.

With a sad little smile on her face, Luna sat next to him. “We apologize if We caused thee any pain because of this meeting, Ares. If we would have known that thou would react as thou did We would have—”

“Nonono, it’s fine,” Ares interrupted, smiling as best as he could. “I’d much rather talk to you like this than have you looking at my fucked up face.”

For about a minute either Luna or Ares said a word, Ares just staring off into the nothing and Luna patiently waiting for him to say something.

“…So, it’s been awhile since you’ve poked around in my head huh?”

Shuffling closer to him, Luna wrapped a wing around her friend, pressing him against her chest. “We do not recall if We in fact ever entered thy dreamscape,” she said as Ares, with sigh, leaned against her.

Even though it was a dream Ares could feel Luna’s soft coat against his bare side as well as the smell a mixture of sweat and really expensive perfume. It was Luna’s scent; even though she wasn’t really here she was still here with him. Sighing again, he leaned against Luna a little more, reveling in the contact. Sooner or later he’d wake up and he’d return to being the boney, grey monster that couldn’t walk five feet to use the toilet without almost passing out, but right now, in his dreams, he didn’t have to worry about that. He wasn’t tired, he couldn’t hear the voices screaming in his head, his body looked healthy and whole and he could sit next to his friend without fear of her getting attacked by a shadow or being assaulted by the voices.

“So did you find out anything?” he asked, running his fingers through Luna’s feathers.

Luna nodded, a small smile on her face as she tightened her wing around him just a hair more. “Aye, we hath found the Tyrant Sombra’s personal study.”

“Did you find that book that I was talking about?”

Her smile diminishing slightly, Luna shook her head. “Nay, but with the room found we are sure to find something that will help thee and Cadence.”

Ares nodded, looking around at the seemingly endless light all around him. “Oh? Well good, hopefully you guys find something quick to help Candy.”

Narrowing his eyes, he could just make something out in the distance. The light seemed to be flickering, but that might have just been his imagination.

As he leaned forward a bit, trying to get a better look, Luna looked down at him with a frown on her face. “We will find a way to help both thou and Cadence,” she said evenly.

Off in the distance the white flickered on and off again. In the half-second that is occurred, Ares was sure that he saw the afterimage of a shape; something which he had never seen before. He tried to recall the form in his mind so that he could try to compare it to something but his mind drew a blank.

Y̜̺̜̙̲͖̟͍̓̅͛ͣͩ̀o̯̞͗͛̋̏̈̋͋̏U̯͍̮̱̤̣̍̀r̢̘͉͕͇͍͎̜̈͗͗ͦ̓̐͒ͥ́ ̦͓̗̒͊D̹̫̖̖̂̋͡r̲̹ͯ͆ͬ͂ͧ͂͂ͯE̴̙̩͗ͧ̊̊ͨ͆̒ͅạ̘͈͙̮̤͓͐̉͆M̥͙̦̻̭̪̲͐͊ͫ͆͌͜s̭̞͕͔͉ͬ͡ ͚̩͙̯̺͊ͣ͝Ā̌ͥ́̈ͤ͆́͘͏͔̜̹͉ͅr̭̗͕͎̞̪̠̖͗̔͌ͮ̏͂͝É̷͙̯̙̱̱͙̳͖̄̉̓̇̏ ̷̲̪̭̻̞̖͛͋̓̃͋ͤͅö̡͔͈̮̝̩͉͕͐͋͐͐̉̾̓͢U͇͇ͨ̅͘ͅȓ̴̰̯̰̪̊̆͜͡ ͎̩̬̹͔̘ͯ́̔̌ͮͥ̕Ḟ̪͖̹͖͉͇̲̬̉e͈̜̅̇͐͡Aͮ͂̒́ͯ̐͒͏̸̝̫͚̘s̨͌̋̽̎ͭ̿̔̂҉̻̭̫̘͍̳̟Ṱ̷͉͓̠͚̆ͥ̎̇͆

Making a face, Ares looked up to see Luna frowning down at him. “What did you say? Oh, right, right, you’ll find something to help the two of us,” he said, rubbing an arm. “By the way, did you try getting into Cadence’s head already or did you just want to tell me the good news first?”

“We hath tried time and again to enter Cadence’s dreams but to no effect. The creature that infects her blocks us out too well. We had thought it a fruitless task to try thine dreams but it seems that we were successful.”

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to just tell us when we were awake instead of going through all of this trouble?” Ares questioned.

This time the entire space around both him and Luna flickered like a light. Quickly, Ares looked all around him as Luna looked away with a sigh. This time he could see the afterimage of dozens of figures. They were circling the two of them, floating through the still air with dozens of thick, octopus-like tentacles. Ares once again tried to think of what they looked like but the only thing that he could remember were the tentacles, and even that left him with a headache.

“Sister and I were considering it,” Luna said, looking like nothing was wrong in the slightest. “But we thought that thou would want to hear the news from our lips like this.”

The barest of smiles came to Luna’s lips as the whiteness flickered again, this time for a whole second.

W̧͙̤̌ͬ̌̍͡h̴̹̳̘̲̩̓͂ͩ̀ͅÀ̛ͭ͊͏̠͖t̷̞͖̩̭͎ͭͭ̆̏ͅ ̴̡̲̲̤͚̰̩̗̃ͤI̝͐̃ͨ̾́͆̇ͫ̃́͠s̹̼̬̬̊͛̈̆ͪ͊ͭ͝ ̉̇ͮͦ̀͟҉̵̜͉͙̟̰̮͔A̴̝͇̮̻̞̻̗͔̓̃̔͂̇͘ ̗̩̦̦̖͕͉͔̠͐͒̀p̲͓̪͇͒͘͠R̮͉̜̻͙̗̄̋ͧͧ̾ͧͣ̀̚į̗̞́̄͞N̟͕͍̬̹̪̜̭̈ͮͬ̏̀͝c̹̳͕̹̝̘̘̔ͧ͂ͬ̃̋ͦͅE̶͎̪̲̜͈̥ͮ̎ͯͬͤͦ̑̚͞ş̪͖͚̜͍͚͈̤͓̿͌ͬͭ̐͑̂̚͞Ṡ͎̲̤̭̄̉ͨ͠ ̭̹̰͓̅̈́ͨͪ̌̒͋t̞̪͇͕̞̬̠̞́̽͟O̝̺̦̙̣̙̣̔̓͒͆͂̇͗̊̀͢͝ ̭̰͕̰̣̖̆͆̈ͬ̉̅̇͢͜g̶̡̖̖̦͚̫̽́ͭO̷͈̙̮̪̤̯̩̤͑ͨͪ͠d̴̦̬̞͇͍͓̩̼̾ͩ̃͌́S̲̩̙̲ͭ̓͢?̠͉̙̘̤̝̀ͮ̓́̐

The hair on the back of Ares’ neck stood on end as an unnatural sound came from behind him. As the whiteness returned he recalled seeing long, gnarled teeth hanging out of dozens of tiny mouths. They were getting closer, slowly making their way forward for the kill.

“And besides, you seem to be the one that sleeps the most out of the two of you, so we thought that this would be more suitable for—”

“Luna? Just for the record, if someone wanted to kick you out of their dreams how would they go about doing it?”

Ares tried not to react as something slimy and wet, something that smelled both like a rotting corpse and the sea of all things, slid across the back of his neck.

D̶̸̦͎͈̤́̽ͤ̏̑̒͋̿̀e̴͙̩̪̓ͫ̄̽͒̇̔͆̕͜V̡̂ͤ̇ͥ̉͐̿̃҉̞̼̲o͎̖͉̣͔͙̣͇͒ͦͭ̏͝U̥̳̥̍̉̽ͨ͘͞ͅŗ̸̛̭̖͚̱̗̻̭̼̙̩͙̼̩ͣͦ̆̅̐̉̅͐̋͒͂͜

Luna frowned. “Dost our presence offend thee now, Ares? We had assumed that you would have liked to spend some time with us.”

“I do want to spend time with you, Luna, really, I do, but could you please answer the question?”

Luna’s nose scrunched up just as a tentacle grazed the tip of her nose. “We do not invade the dreams of ponies that do not wish us there. If thou wishes up to leave all thou needst do is—”

“Run.”

Ares quickly stood up as the whiteness nothing flickered once more, pushing Luna away from him. He could hear that horribly unnatural sound all around the two of them now. They were about ready to feed.

Luna looked at Ares with wide eyes as he looked down at her. “Ares, what art thou—”

ẁ̤͓̲͙ͯ̅͛̉̈̈́͊ͬ͜ͅEͨ̍͌̎̽̆͏̧̬͎̀ ͈͖̟͍̔ͫ̌͐͛͌ͨ͑s̠̘͙̟̪̝ͭͯ͂̓ͨ̊ͣ̑H̡̱̜̪̟̯̜̓̋̆̆ȧ̢̯͕̜̞̲̻̝̎͛̓L͎̟̟̻͋͂ͪ̒͡l̠̻͍̰͉͖̜̞ͩ̓́͞ ̧͓͇̭̓ͯ̆͑̕͝ͅẸ̭̝̜͈̪͍͙̞̆̐́͘a̫̙̩͍̩̦̪͔͕̔̇̅̔ͩͭ̀T͙͉̂͞ ̬̮͎͎͙͇̂ͯ̆̐ț͚̹͊̽́͐͗ͫͪḤ̨̦̻͕̗̠͔̳͇̀̀̍̔͂ͫ̔̑e̳̥͔̟̽̎ ̭̦̝͙̭͎ͥ̂ͥ͊ͪͅŠ̵̩͕̹̣͚̙͙̃ͩ͒̒̔ͮ̏͢t̜͕͕̄̈̓͐͊̆́ͩͅa̡̝͈̯̩̟͕͉͐͑͋ͯ̏̋̂̏̌͢R̤̬͊ͪͪ̊̕s̷̢̨̙̩̰͓͙̣̭͕͓̬͒̒̌ͭ̋̇ͪͥ̄ͅ

“LUNA, RUN! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!” Leaping forward, Ares managed to push Luna out of the way just as a tentacle was about to wrap itself around her body. “RUN GODDAMMIT! THEY’RE GOING TO GET YOU!”

The white nothingness flickered one last time, enveloping Ares in darkness. He shivered as he felt something brush past his leg. What felt like a pair of lips, horribly slimy yet coarse pecked at his cheek.

Y̶̸̥̮̗̬̘̯ͧ͋̀ǒ͎̹̯̫̦͓̳ͯͬ̕U͚̺̫͖̳͙̳ͥ͑ͣ̿̈́̒ͣ͛͠ ̡̨͓͍͂ͤͯͩ͊a̴̺͚͉̒̑̕R͌͐͢͞҉̺̭͍͈̺̪ͅê̡̖̺̻̟͙̦͈͂̂͒̀ͭ͂͘ ̢̫͙͈͓͛̎̚A̵͒̐ͬ̏͑ͤ͗̌͏̼̲̻ ͮͥ͒ͮͣͯ͋͆̚͏͙f̨͓̦̫ͥ͂ͮ͊ͬͭͣ͡͠ͅI̜̬̖̘̯̞̓ͦͫ̿̃̄͊ͪ͘͞N̢̲̠͖͑̍̓̈̔͡ͅé̄ͣͪ̾͌̚͏̩̤̱̘̻̳̟̫͟ ̧̰̹̫͍͍̟͇̲̞̿͆̌ͫ͞Ṃ̵̷̩̲͚̤̙̦̓͋e̥̼̜̥̱̳̗ͫͨ̾̕͞A̶̻͍͎̫̦ͣ͐͋̄̉̈͌̓̕͘l̝̳̪ͬͫͨ̏ͬ̉ͭ́,̷̩̤̩͐̆ͤͣ͞ ̛ͭ҉̜̟̱̣̺̲̣Č̲̝̱̗̞̽ͭͧ̈́̽̆͘ĥ̸̭̰̣ͦ̌ͨ͠Ȉ̶̤͉͍̦̼͈͟͞l̗̘̹̥͊ͯ̓ͭ̓ͨ̚͡D̫̯͓ͯ͌͊̀͗̇

Making a face, Ares tried to step backward, only for something to grab his leg. Eyes widening, he tried to struggle against it when something else began to wrap itself around his body. Soon there were half a dozen… things enveloping him, holding him in place with an almost crushing grip.

“I’m not… going to be… any use to… you fuckers,” Ares wheezed, tears coming to his eyes as he felt his bones slowly start to crack. “You’re… killing me… so I’m gonna be… worthless to… you… and they’re gonna… save Cadence.”

He was back in that cave, but this time there was no person huddled in the corner. He could see the… thing holding him, he could see its many protrusions holding him in place. As he looked into one of its many, many eyes a terror unlike he had ever felt gripped him. He felt the cold of the tundra once again, he could feel the frostbite numbing his face, hands and feet and he could feel the icy, horrible wind whipping at his poor, aching, tired body. But, even as he shook with fear, he couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re not gonna… get my girlfriend… you cunts.”

The creature grinned, a dozen sets of teeth smiling back at him.

S̡͖̣̪ͫ̃̄͠͠h̠̦̟̪̝͕̒ͥ͆ͭ̋ͮ̄͊E̞̦͔͉ͧ̉̅̾̇̕ ͕̱̦̱͇̻̯̲̙̂̑̈͆̄ͭ̚i͚̲̣̙̍̎͐͆̐̆ͫ̍͡͡S̨͉̳͕̠̮̻̥͎̏̓͋ͮ ̩͔̗̩̗͉̘̱̄̐̉̾ͯ̋̕͠͝ͅa̡̟̗͉͛̔ͨ̍͐͗̾̈͠Ĺ̡̗ͦ̐͑̎͛̄͘ͅr̸͚̭̂ͣ̐̐̎́E̫̦̹̱͌̀a̢̫̫̱̮͂̓ͥ̈́ͧ̅ͮ͜D̥̱ͧ̍yͧͯͧ҉͎̳ͅ ̘̜̪̺̩̱̥̺̭̑̅͋́͜O̧̪̼̞̖̪̳̲͐͛͜u̢͎̥̼̣͖ͥ̓̀̌ͨR̢ͭ̓̍ͣ͊̿̓̆҉̰̹̝̠̦ş̶̶̯̗̪͂̋̏ͩͣ̅ it said, making Ares wince as his ears began to ring from its hellish voice. a̶̧̗̘̤̾̄N̸̪͐ͥ̋d̟̖̹͖̻̫̳ͭ̌͂̆͘ ̢̛̈́ͫͯ҉̫̜̖͍̰̪͙W̢̗̺͔͈͇̣̔ͧ͊̒̃i̸̶̺̰͛̊̄ͣ̄̐͛Ṫ̳̤̯̳̪͕̙̈́͒̋͒̀̇ͧ́̕͞h̨̹̺̤̀͒̊̈́͋͢ ͨ̐̾̾́͗҉͇̳͙̳͙̭͔̣Ḣ̵̛̝̭̖̥̯̱̠̚ͅe̡̛̠̫̘̽͠R̬͖̥͈̀ͫ͝ ̧̥̝̮͔͎̪̝ͥ͞w̻̿̐̍͗͐͌ͧ̚͝E͙̠̪̜̐̈̄̔ͪ́͠ͅ ̸͚͓͍̠̯̖͆̏̔ͣ̌̚͞s̝̘̹̥̐͒ͭ̎́͟H̶̷̵͇̗̮̏̽ͭ̐â̟̹͔̟̳̭͉͇̅ͨͪͮ͒̃ͧL̙͍̘̖̳̞ͫͫ̿̅͋l̛̩͊̊͗ͬ̾ͨ ͭ҉͚̦̞H̵̟̻̼͖͆ͤ́̍a͕̰̭̐̔͟͟V̦̻̰̣̞̀͌ͦ̽͂̌̌̂͒è̞͙̭͉̣͙̘̘̮ͨ ̧̧̫͔̜̮ͭ̔ͭ́̀̆̀ͅT̼̣̘͔̖͓́ͭͬ̊̀ͩ̀h͎͔̗͇̙̜͉̦̙ͦ̂ͮ͆E̐̌̒̃̚҉̨̱͇̭̙̖̹ ̛̾ͧ̇ͭ̽͟͏̯̱̺r͇̜̻͍̥̦̗̦ͫ͂͐ͣ́͞E͓̯͚̩̦̲̲̥ͬs̩̣͈̗̳̹̭̤ͨͤ̃ͥͥT͔̼̮͔̝̭͈͎ͫ̀͠ ͋̃̀͏҉̮̹ỏ̶̪̯̟͕̩̽͛̏ͪ̃F̞̤ͯ͒ͭ́́ͤ͐͛̿̕ ̼̱͙̻̹̲̪͖͆͋ͮ͆̇ͮ̌̚t̴̯̻ͬ͒ͮ̽͒ͭ̇́ͦ͝H̯̪͚̣̻̱͎̓̐̑é͊ͮ̈́҉̧͍̻̭̣ ͚̆̓̌̈ͭͨͮW̭̝̗̥̤̌͟ö̹̜́̒̌̀ͅṙ̜̰ͣ͊͘͢L̡͕͔̥̙̦̣̲ͭ͗͂d̛̟̱ͧͦ̿͢͠

As its hundreds of mouths opened impossibly, showing dozens of rows of jagged, gnarled teeth and black, Ares did his best not to scream, promising himself that he wouldn’t make a sound no matter what this thing did to him.

Not a second later he broke that promise.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“ARES!”

Her eyes snapping open, Luna launched herself out of the bed. Celestia, who had been reading one of Sombra’s books with a look of distaste on her face, nearly fell out of her chair as her little sister flew through the air, her wings flapping like a fledgling, before hitting the wall with a resounding thud. With a muffled squeak of pain Luna slowly slid down the wall until she found herself laying on the ground with all four of her legs splayed out.

While something like this would have usually tickled Celestia to no end Luna’s cry prompted her to close her book and hurry over toward her sister. “Luna, what’s wrong? What happened?” she urgently asked as Luna crawled to the sitting position, delicately rubbing her muzzle. “Did something happen to Ares?”

Wincing, Luna looked over at her sister. “We… do not know,” she admitted. “We were speaking with Ares when, for a reason that We cannot discern, he demanded that we leave his dreamscape.”

“Oh? Was that it?” Celestia asked, sighing in relief.

To her dismay her little sister shook her head. “He told Us to leave because somepony was attempting to “get us”,” she said, looking at the door.

Before she could make a move toward it Celestia extended a wing, blocking her path. “No, Luna,” she said firmly.

“But thou—”

“I have an idea of what that means and even though I like it just as much as you there’s nothing that we can do about it.” As her sister frowned Celestia pointed at the stack of books on the table across the room. “You that we can’t go charging into that room pointlessly. Our place is here, finding the book or document that will let us help the two of them.”

Though Luna wanted more than anything to argue with her sister she let out a sigh. “Thou art right, sister mine,” she said sourly, with just a tiny bit of despair mixed in. Celestia wrapped a wing around her, and with a sigh Luna leaned against her big sister.

“Did you at least tell Ares of the process that we’re making in helping them?” Celestia asked.

“We told him that we hath found Sombra’s secret study but that was it.” Luna looked up at her sister. “Ares doesn’t believe that he will survive this, sister.”

Luna’s words hit Celestia in the stomach. “What?”

“We could tell from the way that he spoke,” Luna sadly told her, sinking into herself. “We tried to assure him but We do not believe that he was convinced.”

Celestia’s wing tightened around Luna ever so slightly. “We’re going to save them both, Luna,” she said, grabbing her sister by the chin and forcing her to look at her. “We’re going to save both of them. Even if we have to drag them out from the underworld we’re going to save both of them.”

Luna seemed to sink into herself a little more. “We miss our friends, Tia,” she said. “We miss our afternoons of merriment. We miss young Cadence’s laugh, we miss Ares, crude jokes.” Luna’s wings drooped to the floor. “We would happily give all that we could to see them whole and hearty, even if We needed to renounce our declarations of love We would gladly do it.”

Celestia looked down at her sister with concern. “Luna,” she said, trying to lift her sister’s head back up so she could look at her. This time Luna resisted, keeping her head tucked against her chest and her eyes on the floor. “Maybe this is all of our fault, sister. Maybe if We had not been so pushy and so greedy that We had to butt in as We did…”

“No, no, I will not let you put the blame of what happened on yourself, Luna,” Celestia growled, her voice like iron. “None of this is your fault do you hear me? None of it.” The Princess of the Sun pulled her little sister into a proper hug, wrapping both wings around her as Luna let out a quiet sob.

“T-There was fear in A-Ares face, Tia.”

“Shhh, shhh, it’s alright, it’s alright.”

“We h-heard him s-scream before W-We left his d-dreamscape.”

Luna closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face as she buried her muzzle into her sister’s chest. “W-We do not want A-Ares to die, sister.”

“Nopony’s going to die, Luna. We’re going to fix all of this. I promise.” Celestia began to rock her sister back and forth as tears began to stream down her face. “I know that this is stressful and that you feel powerless but that’s alright, that’s alright. We’ll get through this together as we always have.”

Luna let out another sob. “We want our friends back, Tia,” she repeated, her heart aching. “We want them b-back.”

Celestia nuzzled the top of her sister’s head, holding her tight. “I want them back too, sister. I want them back too.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

P͕̪̫̟̂ͥ̈̑͟Ȓ̢̼̲̲͉̳̫ͭ̈́̇̐̕O̩̲̽ͤ̓͋̿ͮͫ͗͘T͙̻̳̫̦ͫ̓̂͌ͩ̾̏̅̾E̖ͩ̓̋ͫ͘C̵̟̿ͬ̄ͪͩ́̚T̹̘̄ͤ͡ ̧ͧ͋̋̾͏̻̲̭ͅÄ̦̹̪̙͓͓̭̎͝Ȓ̢̩̩̭̪͚̹ͥͪ̀E̡̺ͮ̈̂͝͞Sͣ̄̂҉̡̬̤͉̣̗̯̤̤

I watched as Ares let out a quiet groan, his face contorting in pain as he weakly tried to curl into himself. His fingers tightened around my hoof as I held it there. Though my little human looked a little skinnier and paler than he had been before we had been put into this room I could feel the heat coming off of his hand.

P̺̺͔̮̯͚̐̆͞O̱̬̝͍̠͖̐ͮ͑͋N̫̲ͩ͐ͮ̅ͬ͋̓͛͟Ȋ̜͂̅ͯẼ̹̤͈̺͖ͧ̏́ͭͨ͗̈̀͡S̗̪̬̩̱ͯͦ̑́͢ͅ ̢͛͡҉͍̤̻̠̱̩ͅW̨ͧ̓ͪͤ̔͏̝͇̻͖ͅA̶̛̘̰̻̳͕̓ͥN̖̗̬̯̖͉̭̂̇̀̇̀ͨͮ͞T̷̙̰̦̩ͥ͒̃̈̐̓ ̵̛͚̮̼̥ͧ̾ͯͫͥ̇̃̚T̜̗̘̻͈̦̝ͩ̀̇͗̕Ǫ̫̘̇̋ͧ̌ͭ͠ ̰̮̲͗̐͘H͕̆̍ͫ͂̈Ȗ̱̼̣͍̜ͥ̿̾̚R̼̗̯̟̪̖ͨͯ̂ͣ͠T͉̩̰̼͔̣̙͙̻ͥͫͩͥ̆̇ ̨̥̞͚̬̳̺͚̬̅̃A͗̿̈ͭ̚͞҉̤͓͍̘̤́Ŗ͈̺̱͈͋̒̓̒͟ͅEͧ̋҉̴̲͈̤̙Ṣ̶̜̼̯̿̓̋̑̈́͒͠ͅ

Though I had heard the doctors say more than once that my Ares was getting weaker I knew that they were full of horse apples. Ares was fine; in fact he was better than fine. Sure, he might spend more time sleeping than staying awake now and I have to use my magic to make him chew and swallow the food that the servants bring for us so he could get something to eat but I was sure if I was patient Ares would be up and about in no time.

I mean look at me! A couple of days ago I had been feeling awful and the room had been freezing. Now it seemed as warm as could be, even with the icicles on the ceiling. Since all I was doing was sitting on this bed waiting for Ares to wake up while I stuffed my face with food I really didn’t need any sleep either.

Ÿ͙̖̥͚͇̹̭́ͮ̕̕o̵̾ͨͪ̓̈́҉̞̠̲̼̗̣̰̫͘ũ̧̗͇̦̲͋͐̕ ̟͎̪̤̼̈͐͛̍c̠̯̠̣̰͎̟ͤ͋̅̊͗͢a̙̤̥̥ͩ̾ͩͮ́n̗̺͎̺̙̞̠̼̊͜'̷̘̼̭͓ͪ́͟ț̤̩͔̱̆͋ͩ̄͛ͅ ̞̤̯̖̗ͯͬͦ͌̋̓͜l̢̦̩̯̦͔̰̰̥̼͛ͪͯͥ̓ͨ̉e̸͖͍̥̙͙̍ͪͮ͠t̨̲̳͕͉͌͌͛̍̊ͬ̐ͯ́͞ ̮̫͇̩̝̣ͭͥͥ̂͌̏̋͘a͈͙̫̪͓̮̯ͬ̋̿̿̐̽̒̔̚ņ̷͚̘̗̝̪͔̙̺ͤ͋͝y̛̗̙̟͆ͥͪ̏̀p̻̺̠̰̲͕̈́ͣ͋o̦̜̗͇̘̘̟̎̌̍̌ṇ͍̩͔͊̓ͅͅy̋͐̊҉҉̞̠̠̯ ̧̡͇̗̯̫̯͕ͮ͌ͩh̨͈ͤ͆̾̚ưͩ̒͏̱̞̩̖̭ŕ̢̢̫̮̲̳̥̼̤̃t͎̬̗̣̗̥̝̣̘̅̂̄̍ͧ́͞ ̨͍̣̗̹͂̓͛̅̚h̷̷̦͔͎̘͔̫͔̥͖ͨ̊ͪ́̊̒͢i͕̲̣̗̱̺͍ͤͦ̌̇̔̄̄̚͘ͅm̨ͭͫ̎͋̆̓҉̰ͅ

It was kind of boring just lying there all but it could have been worse. At least I was with my favorite human and he was absolutely adorable when he was sleeping. So adorable in fact that even once in awhile I couldn’t help but lean down and give him a little kiss on the cheek or on the forehead or on the lips. I had to be careful with the lips though; last time I wasn’t I accidently cut myself on his fangs.

H̻̬͉͖͎̤̫̩ͦ͂̉ͥ̒̿̉̆e̢ͪ̐̈ͧͤ҉͖̜̫͓͈̦͔̘͢'̢͕̱̹̭̞̯ͯ͊̋͌͞s̸̹̒ͬ ͬ̐ͧ̓͌͒͏̰̻͞y̳̫̙̙̮̰̫̻ͬ͒͒ͣo̳̟͖͍ͯͧ̅̍ͥ̐ͨ͜u̱̳̞͎̯̹ͣ͐͘rͨ̓ͫ̃̓҉͈̮͞s̡̰̯̯̲ͧ͒̂ͥ̿ͯͥͩ͞ͅ

My eyes widened slightly as a shadow came out of Are’s arm as the human let out another groan. My wing tightened around my human as I watched it form into a hand. The lit candle that I had on the nightstand flickered as it snaked back and forth in the air.

Y̷͇̩ͩͯ̎͋̇̚o̠̮̜̊ͦŭ̢̜̬̙̼̪̀̌ͥͧ͂̅̆̔͟ ̹̮͓͉͕̌͗̃ͬͩ͟͢l̹̻̗̗͍̮̠̀̑ͪ̃͊͌ͪͯ̀o͚͍̩̖̣͍̱͚̓ͫ̏̄v̜̲͚̘̲ͯể̢̨̼͉̠̫͓̞̲̊͗͒͛ ̶͆̊̐ͮ̄ͅA̟̮̿ͭ͝r̦̙̱̰͙̗̭̎̎͑ͪ̾ͨͦ͟ͅḙ̛̜̤̟͈̂s̨̯̟̬̯̮̰̭̪̍́͐̾̽̋̀

My head cocked to the side as I watched the little shadow, waiting to see what it was going to do. To my surprise I watched as a shadow nearly identical to Ares’ slowly came out of my chest.

“Huh… will you look at that,” I said to nopony in particular, trying to touch the shadow with a hoof. The shadow twisted around my hoof as I tried to touch it, reaching out to Ares’ shadow.

A small smile came to my face as I watched Are’s shadow wrap around my smaller, lighter shadow. “Aw, that’s actually kind of cute,” I muttered, giving Ares’ hand a squeeze myself.

Y͇͇͖͎͔͖̍̉̓̀͋ͧ͟o̓̐͗̽̈ͮ͛̚҉͚̩̦͇͉͚̯̙̝͡u̘̜͕͖͙ͬ̾ͣ̉͂̄ͪ̊͡͠'ͥ͋̈́͗͏̸̙̟̥̦̮ͅl̢̞̲͖͈̩̜̖ͣͫ̄ͨ͢l̡̟̦̖̬̹̓͂͑͊̔̒ ̳̪͖͂̃̍̾̑ͫ͝ͅd̦͇̮̮̥͇̱͍ͥ̓ͮͤ̆ͣ̚o͌͞҉͓͕͇͓͖̣͙ ̨̝͎̥͎́̂̅ͥ̉a̖̗̪̥͖̱̣͙̒̎͗̓ͦͨ̐̚͠n̺̘̖̿̔̿̉̒ẏ̤͇͒̀͢t̡̺͕͆͊̾͒̎ͫͥ͐h̴̡̛̠̥̰̮̫͕͐̌ͭ̈́iͥ̔̃̍͒ͣ́҉͍ṉ̡͈̥̇̃̄͗͐ͨ̚͟͝g̳̻̤̗͆̎͑ͬͮ͜ ͇̘̪̬̖̻ͭͪ͑͆̓ͫ̈͡t̳͌̎͂o̞̞̣͔̝ͬͣ̀̎ͧ͢ ̪͚̮̗̄̏̓̍͜p̞̱̮̑̒ͣ̎ͪ̅̓̈́̈͝ͅrͩ̊̅̋͊͑̑̂͏̣͉̙ǒ̴̱͍̞̮̝͞t̸̬͉ͭ͆̏͢ĕ̛̼̭̮̱̗̪̭͒͐̌̈̔̋̀ͅç̪͕̲͌ͮͦͫ̒́̚t̜̳̗̼̾̌ ̮͎̖͓̘̱̍̈̇͒͠Â̷̛̼̮̍̿̅̇ͦ̃̆͒r̛͙͚̬̣͕̍͠e̯͉ͭ̔͐ͤ̃s̛̳̜͇̯͇̱͍̩̈ͧ

The small smile on my face soured a bit when I remembered what the guards had been saying outside of my room the other day. Could you believe that they were talking about separating me and Ares?

There was nothing “dangerous” about this room. Though I appreciated the guards’ concern there was no way that any of these icicles were going to fall on either me or Ares. I wasn’t going to let that happen. And why on earth would they think that me being around him was making him worse? I like to think that me being around my little human was just as beneficial to him as him being around me was for me. The only thing that separating the two of us would do was make Ares’s condition worse!

Y̴̝̖̤̯̟̭ͯ͘͢ͅǫ̘̮͙̮̞͓̋͑́ͤ͝ǘ̧̟̤̠̦̹͆͒̐̕ ͍̳͙ͥ̂̔͜͝͝w̛̹̮̞̔̔̀a̸͇͈̫̺̣ͧͥͮ͗̎̆͆͗͢n̡̛̯̻̼̭͍̞̬ͬ̋͊͠t̸̙͙̜͎̅͑̔́ͧ̌̉̔͞ ̷̰̅ͥ̏̈̓̚͞͡t̥̹͈̟̫̻̩̫͊͗ͮ̊̍ͭ̏͢o̝̯̞̞̾ͣ̄̋̀͗ ̷̴̝̞̻ͨ̽́͑̄͗͋k̘̪̜͍̜̠͒͐̃̕͡e̫̟̪͈̰̤̘̱͎̒͒̈́͂͛e̸͙͈̳̪̜̜̭̟̻̅̂͋͆̀p͔͖̦͖̳̟ͦͨ͡ ̷̤̯̪̂ͤ͑͑̈́̏̑͟t̡̛̠͕̟̣̖̥̞̹̤̿ͯ̽͛̓̏̏ͨẖ̘̤͚̯̩̳̫ͭ͛ͩe̸̮̝̱͇ͧ ̘̖̘͕̣̥͛ͫ̄̅͒̈́ͅp͔̹͔͕͆͂͗͞o̢͓̗͉̽ͮ̓ͩ̏͆͛ň̵̘̘͙̙͉ỉ̥̘̯̮̓͌̿͋͂̒̚é͚͈̠̑̈͂ͧ̓̓̚͞s̘̞̰̤̟̥͙̫̬̔ͫ̂ͨ̒͟ ͕̥̼̺̺̉ͬ́̐͋͑̿͞t̯̼̬̩̼̱̠̤̦ͬ̍͆̑̾͘͠h̶̤̞̻̭͈ͫ͆̓̇ͮ̚a̬͕̝̓̎̒̀̓̔ͨ̀ͅt̠̯̩̩͓̘ͤ̔̆ͥ̂̎ͅ ͍̣̭̼̝̘̒͂̒ͨ͒͘͢͞w̦̠̞̭͓̹̬ͫ̇͌̒̾́͌͐͟ḯ̟͚͚̞̣̝̽l̗̥̎͗̀͌ͬͭͬ͋ͧḻ̬̻̭̲̣̻͍͍̃̾̉̾̎̅̂ ̴̩̠͇͔̑̽̚ͅh̯̻̿͗́͟͡u͚͍͔̖͍̤̱͛ͧ̋̚r͉̳̈ͭ̐ͨͭ͊͘͠t͇̹͎͓͉̼̳ͬ͠ ̢̞̣̠̹̆̃͝yͤͮ̊́͊͏̗͇o̶̡̢̠͔̠͕̭͖̖͛̀ͤ̊ͮ̃̈́͑u̷͈̺͖͖̹̪̰̽͑͂̇ͪ̚rͥͬ͆͛ͩ͑̋ͯ̾͘͠͏͉̪̩̖̳ ̧͎̺̜̦̘͈ͣ͂̎ͭ̑̑̀A̴̱̗̤ͩ͛ͮ̋̕r̐̓ͭͭ͐͐ͬ̑҉͕̭̻̰͕̰̹ẻ̢̞̬͖̠̋ͧͨ͌̔s̪̹̼̫͕͑̎͐ͯ͞ ̷̭̜̞̬͉̠̄̆̋̄̓ͪa̛͍͚͎ͧ̐ͪ̍ͦ̾w̼̬̹̮̹̮̺̪ͫͮ̇̂͗a͗ͨ҉̞̳̤̱y̽͆͜҉̱̜̞̼͉̪͇͈̭

I had tried to talk to a few of the maids the other day so that I could get them to relay this to my aunties but they just ignored me! I can understand that their jobs were stressful and all but they didn’t have to be rude!

I hadn’t taken to being ignored very well if I’m being honest. I might have said a few… not very nice things to my staff, which was why they had stopped coming into the room, but that was fine. As long they left food for me and Ares to eat and they cleaned the toilet whenever I levitated it over toward the door then that was fine. After Ares and I got better I’d just fire all of these rude ponies and get some staff that could interact with others nicely!

Y̢͍̹̬̜̋ͪ͑̓͐̆̕o̸̳͖̓̊̋ͣ͒u̶͖̬̻͈̼̾́̕ ͉͎̙̘̉́͋̕ẘ̧̮̟̦͇͖͎̄̉̆́͆̚i̍ͯ̃ͯ̿ͪ́͏͈̺̝̯̜͉̞l͇̪̎̔ͩͫ̓̚͘͢ͅl̷̴̞̈́ͧͫ̇ͤ ̴̐ͬ̓ͯ̀̌̋ͬ͏̠̮̰̼̖h̰̻̲͛̔̿̈́̋̂̈́͡ȗ̱̱̝̀͡r͐ͯͫ̃ͧͯͤ̅̅́͜͏͈ṭ̭̠͓͔̠̈́̎̆͌ͤ̌̿́̚ ̀͊͒́͏̼̭̕t̜̘̮͚͕̓ͭ͐ͭ̓͗ḥ̛͔͔̱̈ͥ͛̂ḙ͕̆̒ͯͬͭ͒̐̓m̶̶͔̳͖̟̥͈̟̹͈̬͓̫ͣ̑ͦ̑̄ͨ̇͋ͯ͛ͯ̚͜ͅ

The candle flickered out and died, but I hardly noticed as I looked down at my little human. His body twitched again and his face once again contorted in pain but he calmed down when I leaned down and nuzzled his cheek.

“If you were awake you’d have torn them a new one, huh honey?” I murmured, laying my head next to his.

My horn sparked to life, and with a spell I pulled the thick woolen blanket that the servants had given us over the two of us. Though I wasn’t cold, and I was pretty sure neither was Ares, I still did it anyway. The coarseness felt nice against my coat and it just felt nice having something thick and heavy like that draped over me.

I winced as a headache hit me like a runaway carriage. “Owowowowowo.”

This had been happening every time that I used my magic, which was why I didn’t use it all that much anymore. I had tried telling the doctors about it when one was finally brave enough to come in but he wouldn’t get close enough to give me a proper examination. And, my knowledge about medicine was laughable at best, we hadn’t gotten anywhere in finding out why my head hurt whenever I used my magic.

Rubbing my temples, I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, then a few more. I continued to do this until it no longer felt like my head was going to explode. Cracking open an eye, I once again looked at Ares’s sleeping form.

“You know that the second that you wake up I’m going to give it to you right?” I asked, sounding annoyed as I picked my head up so that I could look down at him. “We were supposed to wait through this together! But with you sleeping I have nopony to talk to, you can’t kid around with m-me.”

A tear fell on Ares’s cheek but I ignored it. “You c-can’t do anything! A-And every day I-I can’t h-help but w-wonder if y-you’re going to w-wake up a-at all!”

My lip began to tremble as I wrapped my hooves around my human and buried my nuzzle into his neck. Instead of the exotic, one-of-a-kind smell that was a signature of my human, the same scent that almost always did wonders in calming me down, I smelt nothing. I shut my eyes tightly, tears streaming down my face as I tried my very best not to start crying.

“Could y-you please j-just open your e-eyes?” I begged. “Please? I-It’s been t-three days, honey. P-Please just open y-your eyes so I c-can see if y-you’re alright…”

Ares twitched again and he sharply inhaled, prompting me to look up at his face.

“Motherfucking… cunts. There’s no way… in hell that I’m… going out like… a bitch…” I felt Ares’s hand tighten around mine. At the same time both of our shadows disappeared back into our bodies. “You fucking… monsters…”

Ares blinked slowly as he looked down at me. “Hiya, Candy,” he rasped, a weak, weak smile coming to his face.

I blinked slowly, my lip quivering as Ares slowly blinked. Reaching out with a hoof, I touched his cheek. “A-Ares?” I whispered. “You’re awake?”

My eyes widened as Ares reached up with a thin, shaking hand and touched my cheek. “Yeah. I’m awake,” he murmured as he gave my cheek a pat. “I feel pretty… Yeah, I’m awake.”

I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and wrap Ares in the tightest hug that I could, but all I ended up doing was crying my eyes out again. “You’re alright, you’re alright, you’re alright,” I said, over and over and over again, nuzzling my human’s chest.

I could feel Ares’ hand running through my mane as I cried like a little filly, tears of joy streaming down my face. He was awake, he was alright, he could talk to me! He woke up when I was starting to have doubts that he would! My little human wasn’t going to make me suffer in this darkness by myself any longer.

A sudden but violent coughing fit from Ares wrenched me out of my cry-baby state, and without a second thought I levitated over a glass of water. Trying not to wince in pain I propped him up and placed the glass to his lips. Giving me a grateful look, Ares quickly drained the water.

“How long was I out?” he asked after I pulled the glass away.

I opened my mouth to assure him that it hadn’t been all that long but a look from Ares made my mouth shut right back up. “It’s been… a while,” I admitted.

Looking away from him my horn glowed again, this time bringing over a plateful of crackers and a jar of peanut butter. Even though I would have preferred giving Ares soup or something that would be easy on his stomach the servants weren’t going to bring any food for the next couple of hours. While I had done my best to feed Ares I knew that it would probably be a very good idea that he got something in his stomach before then.

Picking up a lone cracker I guided it toward Ares mouth. I expected him to turn away from the food but, to my surprise, he quickly ate the whole thing. Wiping my face with a hoof to clean myself up as best as I could, I eagerly offered him another one.

“How long is a… while?” Ares asked as I got him another glass of water, making him drink a few mouthfuls before stuffing another cracker into his mouth.

“I’ll tell you in a little bit, hon,” I promised. “Now, do you want me to put some peanut butter on one of these crackers?”

Ares shook his head. “Nah, I’ll just… have some plain… crackers.”

I nodded. That was fine, as long as he kept eating the crackers that was okay. I could always make him eat a few with peanut butter on them after he woke up a bit and I calmed down.

“Cadence? Do you still have that book that we were reading together the other day?”

My vision swarmed as a particularly nasty wave of pain ran down from the tip of my horn to the bottom of my chin. The glass of water and the crackers nearly fell out of my magical grasp but I managed to keep them floating in place.

Fight through the pain, Cadence. This was for Ares. You have to make sure that he’s alright. You have to keep him safe. You have—

Both of Ares’ arms wiggled out of the blanket and he grabbed both the water and the plate, putting them both in his lap. “Easy, Candy, you look… like you’re gonna… pop a blood vessel.”

My nose scrunched up in pain and I was forced to close an eye because of it. “Thanks, hon,” I murmured, gratefully, turning toward the nightstand to look for that book. “Let me just get—”

“No magic, Cadence.”

“…Yes dear.”

Leaning over, still holding Ares’s hand, I fumbled around blindly looking for the book in this darkness. Now, for some reason, I couldn’t see in the dark as well as I could before, which was a load of horse—

I blinked as the candle suddenly sparked to life, illuminating the room. I winced, the light hurting my eyes a bit.

…What? How in Faust’s name?...

Shaking my head of the thought, I managed to find the book, grab it, and open it up to the page that Ares and I had left off.

Ares let out a shaky sigh, giving my hoof a little squeeze as he forced himself to eat another cracker. He was opening and closing his other hand, almost as if it was in pain. “You go ahead and read first, Candy,” he said. “Let me get a bit more food… and water in my stomach and I’ll… read after you.” I peered up at him nervously and he smiled. “And don’t worry. I’m not going to fall back… asleep. I’ve had enough sleeping… for a long while.”

I had to blink away tears once again as I looked back down at the book. One of my wings wrapped itself around Ares’ back, pressing him up against me. The sounds of crackers being eaten was like music to my ears, and feeling my human’s exhausted but expectant gaze was a feeling so wondering and amazing that I couldn’t even describe it.”

“Alright,” I said, clearing my throat as my little human took a sip of his water. ““You have no power here, Daring Do,” the tribesmen cries, the tip of his spear glinting in the moonlight….”

Wake up and Make up

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“Now I’m going to start pumping up the arm cuff. You might feel a little loss of circulation but I’m sure that you’ll be fine. You’re a big colt.”

Ares let out a raspy, wheezy chuckle as doctor Stitch adjusted her glasses. “Boy; not stallion.”

The doctor rolled her eyes as she began to pump up the arm cuff that she had placed around my human’s arm. “You’re a big boy then.”

“The biggest boy you’ve ever met.”

The doctor snorted as I giggled quietly. “I highly doubt that, Mr. Ares.”

Though she was doing her best to appear nonchalant I could see that the doctor was shivering. While I felt fine and Ares had commented to me about not being so cold anymore I knew that it was freezing in this room. There was ice from the floor to the ceiling with icicle stalagmites and stalactites peppered throughout the room, and while there were no windows and only one door in this solid crystal room there was an odd… current in the air.

The air in the room was never still; it was like something was whipping it back and forth at will. Though I couldn’t see what that thing was I could see Ares warily eyeing something behind the doctor’s left shoulder. When I had asked him what he was looking at Ares insisted that he wasn’t looking at anything, which did very little to put me at ease. But I didn’t say anymore. For the last couple of days, even though there was ice everywhere, Ares was getting better. I didn’t want to go and rile him up while he was getting better.

“Easy with that pumping, doc. You’re gonna pop my arm off.”

“Oh you’re fine. Now stop squirming; I need you to be as still as possible for this.”

From the ice pick that was badly hidden in the doctor’s little black bag I could tell that she had been forced to cut her way toward us. While the servants had done their best to keep our room free of the dangerous spears made out of ice hanging above our heads, they just couldn’t keep up with them. For every one that they took down and dragged away three more would take its place. I tried to do what I could, using my magic to tear up anything around the bed so that something wouldn’t fall on me or Ares, but they just kept growing back.

This made it even more dangerous to come into our room, so it was of little surprise that it became harder and harder to find anypony that was willing to spend any time at all in this room. Most of the doctors had flat out refused to come in here anymore; all except Dr. Stitch, who had stubbornly persisted through the cold and the shadows to check up on the two of us every few days, and the occasional servant who would come in and give us our food.

“Stop opening and closing your hand like that,” the doctor said, adjusting her stethoscope so that she had it under the arm cuff.

Ares made a face, squirming against me. “I can’t help it. My arm’s all tingly.”

Dr. Stitch sighed, checking down at a pocket watch. “Your arm’s “all tingly” because your circulation is getting worse.” She looked up at him with an irritated expression on her face. “Have you been doing those exercises that I told you to do?”

Ares’s hand twitch, and I could tell that he wanted nothing more than to continue to open and close his hand, but with a nuzzle to the cheek he stopped fidgeting. “I’ve been doing it every day like you’ve asked.”

Raising an eyebrow, the doctor looked at me.

“I’ve made him do it every single day like you asked me to, doctor,” I said, pressing my little human a little closer against me as I gave him a look. “No matter how much he doesn’t want to.” From the look on the doctor’s face as I said that I think she would have preferred if I had told her the opposite.

She grumbled to herself as she let all of the air out of the arm cuff and ripped it off of Ares’s arm. “So no matter what I do his circulation is getting worse,” she mumbled, tearing the stethoscope out of her ears. “Now does that mean something’s clogging his arteries or is his heart getting weaker… No, if it was because of that I would have heard something…”

Her brow furrowed up in thought but a moment before she shook her head. Looking up at the two of us she smiled weakly. “Well… tingly arms aside I can say that you most definitely aren’t getting any worse from what I can tell,” she said, stuffing her equipment in her bag. “You aren’t getting any better, and you need to start eating a lot more, but you aren’t getting any worse.”

Ares looked up at me with a grin. I gave him a peck on the nose before nuzzling the top of his head. “Well, that’s great,” I said, watching as the doctor rooted around in her little black bag. “So is there anything else you want me to do with him or are you done? I’d really like to try to get Ares to eat some of the food that you brought for us.”

Ares snorted. “Hey, I’ve been eating every time that you’ve asked me.”

“Yes, but nowhere near enough,” I retorted, giving his belly a poke. “You’re going to waste away if you keep eating just a bite of this and a bit of that you—” Whatever else I was about to say died in my throat as the doctor pulled out a syringe with a long needle.

Giving said needle a flick, a spurt of some mystery liquid flying out the tip, the doctor turned back to us.

Though I couldn’t see the look on Ares’ face I was sure as sugar that he had the same expression on his face that I had on mine. “Doc… You know that thing isn’t going to work right?”

The doctor held the syringe close to her chest. “I had this wrapped up in a pair of blankets enchanted with a heating spell,” she said, taking a determined step forward.

“It’s going to freeze again,” Ares said, eyeing the needle with trepidation.

“Hush and let me work.”

Since the moment that Ares and I had found ourselves in this room the doctors had done all that they could to give us every shot imaginable. Some of them were vitamin shots, some were shots to help the immune system, a couple shots were magically infused concoctions that were supposed to fight whatever was rooting around inside of me, which they were too scared to give to Ares, and I’m pretty sure that a few shots were just for the heck of it. You know doctors; if they’re not sticking something with a needle or asking you questions while you’re in an awkward, embarrassing position they weren’t happy. What mattered was that, in the beginning, the doctors could give us shots.

For days’ Dr. Stitch had been trying to give us shots full of… things that she thought that we needed. She brought in every needle and type of syringe that she had, trying to stick us, but every single time she failed. Before the needle would so much as touch either mine or Ares’s skin whatever was in the syringe would freeze and the needle would become so brittle that it would shatter the second that it touched our skin.

The doctor had tried to use her magic to counteract the cold in a hundred different ways but nothing worked. Every time that she tried to give us a shot the whole thing would shatter in her hooves, but no matter how many times the needles kept breaking the doctor continued to try.

“You need to get this vitamin shot, Mr. Ares,” the doctor replied stubbornly. “You don’t eat anything vitamin-rich and your body is in dire need of B12, K, and D.”

Though he made a face, Ares extended an arm. “You can try, but it’s not gonna work.”

Dr. Stitch eyed Ares’s arm. “It’s going to work this time, Mr. Ares,” she said, nervously pushing her glasses up against her nose as she brought the needle closer. “It’s going to work this time. I know it is.”

Her horn glowed brightly, and the needle in her hooves was encased in her neon green magic. Steam began to come off of it as the spell the doctor had put on the shot fought against the cold. “Come on you bucker. Come on…”

A bead of sweat formed on the doctor’s forehead as she inched the needle closer, her face scrunched up in absolute concentration. Though that bead of sweat froze against her face before it went past her cheek it looked like whatever was in the syringe was still liquid.

Ares raised an eyebrow as the needle came within inches of his arm. “Huh, it looks like—” I felt my little human tense against me as he let out a grunt of pain. “D-Doc, get awa—”

Before anyone of us could do anything, the shadow leapt out of Ares’ forearm in the form of a tiny hand. It tried to grab ahold of the needle, it’s black claws extended.

R̢̪͇͕̮̭̩̤͖͉̯̯̰̜̯̠ͪͭ̌̊ͭ̇ͫ̓ͤ́͐́ͦ̀̂͢ë̙͇̩̤̙̯͉͍̹̜̝̲̥̼ͬ̏̅̃͞T̢̡̥̙͇̖̠̜̝̩̯̤̈́ͬ̅̍̔ͮͣͧ͐́̐͘͡ͅų̶̛̦̘̖̘̗͚̝̯̞̰̼̭̲̟͂̇̔́̃́ͥ͌͛̚ͅͅR̷̨̻̦͍͆͆͊̂̚͢͝n̸̨̩̺͚̝̟̪͍̟͚̟̯̪͚̗̼̤ͯ̾͊͌̃ͯͫ̚̕͜͞ͅ Ares spat, clenching his hand into a fist.

To my surprise the shadow ignored his order, grabbing onto the doctor’s syringe. Doctor Stitch let out a gasp of surprise, her magic dying the instant that thing touched the shot. For a moment she looked surprised and even scared, but almost as quick as the shadow appeared her expression turned angry.

“No! Not this time,” she growled, struggling with the shadow for control of the syringe. “You’re not going to—”

I could hear static as Ares snarled at the shadow once more, his eyes wild and his lips drawn back. This time the shadow obeyed my human, disappearing into nothingness. While that would usually be a good thing the doctor was still right there with that needle in her hoof, and the second that the shadow was gone all of her straining and pulling forced her to stumble forward.

The doctor gasped, her eyes wide with surprise. She tried to catch herself while also moving the needle away from Ares so she didn’t just impale him. Both me and Ares tried to move out of the way but the way that we were sitting meant that we really couldn’t move at all, which meant that unthinkable happened.

The needle drove itself about a quarter of an inch into Ares’ exposed arm just as the doctor tried to jerk it away. I could feel my heart jump to my throat as the doctor, after sticking the needle into my little human’s arm, then ripped it sideways.

Ares howled as the razor-like needle cut through his arm like butter.“SON OF A BITCH!”

For a moment, time seemed to freeze as I looked down at Ares’ arm, which was now seeping blood. When I saw that reddish, darkish liquid seeping out of his wound something just… snapped inside of me.

̶̶̰̭̖̘̠̫̱̟̭͕̜̬̦̹̱̳̌̒̓͒͋ͦͨ̽̍̂ͪ͊͑̃͝ͅP̵̨̢̩̬̖͉͙̙̥͓͖̰͖͚͎̞̓̓ͪͭ͑̓̐̄̓̏͛̓̊r̢̼͎̣̞̝̲̥̪̞͕͔͍̘̤̠̼̭͊̆ͨ̽͂ͯ̽̅͂͋̍̅ͣͯ̀O̢̩͔̙͇̻̞̬̪̲͉̭̥͙͇̮͖͕͓͊̓̅̏͑ͬt̷̨͕̖͇̥̣̞̳̦̤̝͚̦̩̲͎̬̥͖ͤ͊̇͂̒͗͌̅͒́͛͐ͯͦ̅̀́͜Ê̡̹͖͇̻͖̦̱̯͕̗̝̭̮ͩ͆͐̂ͧ̓ͯ̃̇̇͑͒ͬͦ̎̌͑͞ͅç̝͖̺̦̯̼͋̎̾̓ͪ͗͗̎̈́̆͌̌̑ͯ̃ͤ̓ͭ͌̀͜͠͞T̷̶̡̙̝̮̰̯̪̩̓ͮͧ͂͗̈͑̊́͂̽̋̕ ̨̢̡̛̛̳̦̝͍̩͌͐̐ͣͬ͗̓̐ͬ̍̎̒̌͊̂ͮ͗a̵̠̠͙͖̤͇̠̫̱̙̼̦̩̼ͥ̅̾̄̊́̉͒́̚͜͡͡Ŗ̢̙̘͎̦͙̱̹̻̺ͫ̏ͫ̄͑ͪ̌̅̽̎̀͛́́̚̚e̛͍̲̹̬̟̘̙͈̠̻̻̠̠̓ͣ̔ͪͯͦͩ́̆̀̚͢͝S͌̈́́ͫͤͦͩ̀͢͞҉̦͖̲̝͍̟̮͙̝̘̱͈̠̮̳̠͓̪̀ͅ

My horn sparked to life, and in quick succession I cast half a dozen spells. The doctor was thrown across the room, syringe and all, I teleported her bag from the floor so that it was sitting next to me, I held Ares still so he wouldn’t start thrashing around in pain and, because I was so upset with the doctor’s carelessness, I blew off a little steam by destroying every single bit of ice in the room.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” I murmured, my voice thick with anger as I spun my little human around so that I could get a better look at his cut. “Just let me look at it.”

My horn glowed again, my magic easily ripping the medical bag to pieces so that I could properly see everything that was in it. Seeing some bandages, I floated them over and pressed them against Ares’ wound.

Ares hissed with a wince before he looked over where I had thrown that hack of a doctor. “Cadence! What the fuck did you—”

“Shhhh, everything’s alright, I’ll make everything better.”

“Cadence, the doctor didn’t mean—”

“Nopony’s going to hurt you. I’m going to keep you safe, I’m going to keep you safe.”

My ears perked up as I heard somepony slowly making their way toward me. Looking away from my poor, abused human I watched as the doctor, who was limping and who looked far more ragged than she had a moment ago, limped over to the two of us.

S̯͎̰̀͊̾͐h̢̞̳̳͎̮̞̟̰̤̋̈́̇̓̐ͯ́e̸̶̢̼̱͓ͪͫ̄͒̈̍'̺͖͍͉͚̖ͩ̇̓ͤͪ͋͒̕͢s̡̈́̽̐̋̆ͧ́͏̫̼͍ ͚̙̗̠̮̩̿̄̓͗̋̎ͦ̅͞ͅt̳̳̟͎͑̈̌͐ͨ̋͜͝r̫̹͈ͫ͌͗͌͒̈́͜y̨̫̯̪̙͗̿̿͆ͦ͡i̶̘̤͙̬̼̟ͦ̋̿͗͂͋͗n̪̲̖̩̈̿ͦ̓ͧͪ̚ģ̡͓̮̣̹͚͔̖̃͌̔̎͑ͨ̋ ͒ͭͮ͂̚҉̧̻̳̘̫̲t̢ͭ҉̼̞o̵̺̜̥̪̱̙͒ͤͭ̆ ̝̦̲̾ͥh͎͓̬̘͈̯͕ͯ͂͐ͤͮ̈́̇̊ͅu̥̹̗̗̖͓̗̭̺͒͋̊ͬͬ̈̀́͟r̝̜͓͇̱̙ͤͤ̏ͨͭͧ̽̋̕͞t̥̱͓͙ͮ́͜ͅ ̢̪̩̳̜̄͛̎͐̓̚A͈̖͇̙̾͗ͣ̓̌̉ͥ̐̒ȑ̨̝̺͌̌ͮͣ͝e͔̤̾ͭs͉̝̑̄̔̒̆̐̈
̢̢̟̦̲̗̞̻͕̔́͠
̛̲̳̘͓̥̙̐ͫ͌̚͠Y̸̜̱̑ͯo̸͙̜̿͡ų̶̱̟̟̳̮̥̬͚͐̂̉̒̌̏͡ ͬ̿̎ͨ͗̾ͫ̇͟͏̢̥h̥̙̭̬͙͍̲̺̒ͥͨͩ͠a͗̏̍̇ͨ̽̂ͥ́͏͕̘̤̻͇v̥̘̇̍͐̌̉ͧͩ̚e̢̹̤͎̖̎͂̍̃̿̅̏͟ ̝̟͖̟̼̮̤ͤͪ̈̋͌͠t̤̿̌ͭ͂͛͗͟ô̵̹̰̔͌ ̧͔̤̻̪ͭͥͪ͛͑́p̄̋̈̈́̉̍͋̾ͯ͝ͅř̮͓̝̦̪̮͛̆ͮ̔͠o̬̱̣̞̟̒͆̓̽̅ͥͩ̈t̳̬͒́͑̀ͯ͜e̩͉̰͚̮̤ͥ͗̓̈́̊͠c͊̓͌̓ͣ͋ͭ̀͏̺̫̠ṱ̛̊̾ͫ͘ ̢̭̞̜̹ͥ́́̒̍́A̧̻̳͍̭̻̤̳̬̪ͧͯ͋̍͆͛̃͝r̖̳͔͖̞͚̙͎͌̅ͥ̂̂ͩ͗̚͟e͉͒ͩͦ̌ͮ̃͜s̺̰̟͇̯͍̠̾̒̀̀
̯̲̲̮̰̟͈̞̌̏͜͠͝
̸̧̪̪̩̻͈̹͍̠̓̄͛͗͂̚ͅỶ̴͎̞̭̥̪ͣ̏̈́̈ơ̖̤͚͚̹̤̊ͣͯu̹̬̒ͩ̉̔͡͝ ͎̬̭͉͈̳̼̳͛ͧͫ̃͌̀͢h̸̵͙̥̋̉̍͌̽̊̀ả͙͛̐ͣ̔ͥ̑̾́͜͝v̛̯̪ͮ͆ȩ̖̞̬̹̠͛ͅ ̨̮͓͎̌ͥ̅̋̅̅ͮ̌̿͟t̛͍̰̲̟̱͂ͭͩͮ͐o̴̧̙̭̫̞͉͐̃̌̂ͦ̐ͨ̏̐ ̴̧̹̱̓͒̀̿̀͠p͔̺̞͓̜ͮ́r̛̙̜͖͉̜̪ͩ͘͢ô͓͕̫̱̪ͮ́ͦͩ́tͫ͌̒͏̨͚̪̪̮͖̺̬e̩͓ͪ̌ͤ̚c̵̘̜ͧͯͮ̓̓̍̀t̛̖͍͙̦̓̈̄ ̒̓̓͋͌ͦ͗́͏̜͍̹h̽͆ͪ̌̊̽ͪ̒҉̵̛͚̺̦̪͇̮̭į̗͉͎̇͐ͦͯm͎̬̩̠̤̖̳ͭ͢ ̷̭̻̜͍͙̜̥̆ͭ̓̊͌̚f͂͐̉̽̇҉̘̻̠̠r̶̨̩̗̘̓ͤ̏ͪ̀ó͎̩̻̯̤̜̥̇̊̀͢m̵̨̬̭͉̹̤̍̋̏ͣ̌̊̍͆̀ ̟̙̜̯͇̙̿̈̅͆̂̆͆e̵̫͐̈ͮ̎͢v̶͔͍̞͕͉̍̃̉ͤe̴̥̠̰̬͇ͩͮͨ͒̚͟r̛̟͍̻͕ͨ̒͜y̶̵̛͚̜̩̱̫̓ͮ̚ȍ̲͚̣͎̘͉͘͞n̲͓͓̦̮̙̆͂ͫ̽̀e̼͕̪͓̘̯ͥ̌́ͩ͛

My gaze turned as cold as a glacier as I looked down at the doctor. “I think that you should see yourself out now, doctor.”

The doctor opened her mouth to no doubt say something but then she looked behind me. The pained and slightly confused look on her face turned to terror, and she took a step back.

I kept my gaze firmly on her. I didn’t care what was behind me. I needed to focus on the mare that had hurt my Ares because of her clumsiness. If she had been watching what she was doing I wouldn’t have to be holding a bandage against Ares’s arm and he wouldn’t be bleeding all over the bed.

She shouldn’t have been trying to poke us with needles in the first place. After the first few times she had failed she should have just left it well enough alone but she couldn’t. She had to keep trying. She had to go ahead and make the shadow upset. This was her fault!

Couldn’t she see that the shadow was just trying to protect my little human?!

The doctor began to slowly make her way toward the exit, her eyes still glued on whatever was behind me. My Ares had also stopped his yelling and squirming, staring wide-eyed over his shoulder.

“P-Princess, Mi—”

“While your help had been appreciated I believe that Ares and I won’t be needing your services any longer,” I interrupted. “In fact, keep every doctor that you have out there away from us. I don’t want another one of you mauling Ares because you couldn’t leave things well enough alone.”

The doctor seemed to rally at my dismissal, taking a step forward. “Princess, I really must—”

For a moment I could feel the horrible cold all around me. I could tell that Ares felt it too since his eyes widened even more and he began to shake violently.

Whatever courage that the doctor had managed to work up shriveled up as I slowly leaned forward, keeping Ares close in hoof. “I think you misheard me a few moments ago,” I growled, drawing my lips back into a snarl so that the doctor would see my long, dagger-like fangs. “Į̱̮͈̊̌͒́͗ ̵̼͍̭̫̱s̖͙͠ä͙͖̻̦̮͈̾̈̃ͭͤͣi̦̲̤̫̟̤̓d̈́̒̃ͅ ̨̲͎̟ͨ͛G̹͈̠͎̱̤̹ͤͦ̑̂ͫ̉ͪË̖͖̮͖ͭ̏͠T̞͈̮̱̻̭̳ͭ̓͐̒̓ ͏̦̫̻̟̬̘Ỏ̜̻͉̻̰̯̗U̡̬̓ͪͭ̈́T͔̯̭ͪͫ̂ͪ̈́̚.”

~_~_~_~_~_~

“Shining? Why do you think that supervillains always keep their most interesting books hidden away so that nopony can read them?”

Shining looked up from the book that he was reading which, oddly enough, was a cookbook. It seemed that, along with being a Lord of Darkness, Sombra was also an avid chef. Sure, a lot of the recipes that he was reading weren’t really pony friendly—i.e. most of it was meat-based— but this probably wouldn’t be out of place in a gryphon household.

His gaze settled on his sister, who had a literal wall of books surrounding her. Said purple pony was staring back at him expectantly, as if she knew the answer to her odd, odd question.

“I don’t know, Twily,” he admitted with a shrug. “Maybe they just want to keep all of the books that they like in one place so that they don’t have any trouble getting them?”

Though Twilight Sparkle’s love of books was known to pretty much everypony that had met her the unicorn must have been just as burnt out with reading as him, because she let out a hum, setting down the book that she had been reading as she milled over his answer.

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “If they didn’t want to look for a particular book couldn’t they have somepony to just find it and bring it to them?”

Once again Shining shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know, Twily. Maybe it’s just a thing that villains like to do? Maybe it’s like how dragons like to have hordes even though they could just go out and search for gems whenever they were hungry?”

Twilight hummed again, giving Shining the sneaking suspicion that this out of the blue conversation was going to turn into an out of the blue debate, but then the door to the room they were sitting in slammed open, so hard that the door was nearly wrenched off its hinges. Both Shining and Twilight’s heads snapped over to see an absolutely terrified guard, who was panting like he had just sprinted all the way here.

“Lady Twilight, Lord Shining, please, come quick! There’s an emergency!”

Without realizing it, Shining found himself standing. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

The guard, whose eyes were as wide as dish plates, looked around the room as if he expected somepony to jump out of the shadows. Shining took a step forward, causing the shaking, sweaty stallion’s gaze to snap back to him. “I-It’s Princess Cadence,” he said, sounding shaken. “There’s something wrong.”

In an instant Twilight was on her hooves sprinting past the stallion. Shining was quick to follow, his powerful legs, though stiff from sitting in one place for so long, carrying him through the long, crystal hallways with ease. Though his little sister was never known for her athleticism she managed to keep up with him fairly well, her worry for her friends putting a pip in her step.

Guards were running around the castle like their tails were on fire. Some of them were dressed as if expecting a battle, others looked like they had just gotten out of bed with nothing but their helmet and a spear to show for it. Orders were being shouted, hallways were being blocked. It looked like every single guard in the castle was out. Not just the Crystal Guard, but the Solar and even the personal guard that Luna had brought with her. The closer that Shining and Twilight got to where the doorway to Cadence and Ares’s prison was located the heavier that the traffic got. Luckily for them they weren’t stopped, and there were only a few times where Shining was forced to lower his shoulder and force himself through.

They were nearly there. If they just got past a patrol of guards and turned the corner they’d be right there and they’d be able to help with whatever was going on.

That was when they heard it; a voice so angry and so filled with power that it left a ringing in their ears:

“Leave us ALONE.”

In his surprise, Shining stumbled. Twilight, who was right on his heels, accidently slammed into him—thankfully her horn wasn’t lowered so Shining’s day wasn’t completely ruined—and with a pair of yelps the two fell to the ground in a heap.

“What was that?” Twilight asked, sounding equal parts curious and nervous.

“Get off me, Twily.”

“That sounded like that Royal Canterlot Voice!... Though, it sounded a little bit different somehow…”

“Twilight, you’re crushing me. Get off.”

“It didn’t have the overwhelming force of the Royal Voice but even all the way here we could hear it as clear as da—AAAY!”

Shining, who was struggling to breath as his sister’s butt did its best to flatten his face into the crystal floor, managed to shove Twilight off of him with a grunt. This caused the purple unicorn to flop to the ground beside him, her hooves splayed awkwardly around her.

Rolling his jaw to check and see if anything was broken, Shining slowly climbed to his hooves. “Sweet Celestia are you heavy,” he muttered, reaching over and pulling the now frazzled Twilight to her hooves. “You know you really might want to consider—”

“Cadence, let us talk to Ares please.”

“No. Somepony might hurt him again! ”

“Don’t you use that tone with me, young lady. As I told you half a dozen times you’re making a
lot of ponies nervous with how you’re acting.”

It took a moment, but eventually it all clicked into place for Shining Armor. He knew who the angry speaker was. No matter how distorted or changed her voice was he’d be able to recognize that voice no matter what. Nudging his sister, Shining began pushing through the legion of guards that had crowded the hallway, all of which had their spears pointed down the hall.

“I already— I already told you that I am perfectly calm. You’re the ones that are freaking out over nothing.”

“You threw doctor Stitch across the room, injuring her for no real good reason, Cadence.”

“She tore open Ares’s arm, auntie! He’s still bleeding!”

“Which is why I wish to speak to him and why the good doctor needs to go back in there and—”

“She’s not coming back in here!”

Turning the corner, Shining saw that Princess Celestia was standing a few feet from the “doorway”. Though she looked calm, cool and collect on the surface, Shining knew better. Princess Celestia was on edge. Though it was barely noticeable, the way that her tail flicked back and forth, the way that the tips of her wings were touching the floor, Shining could tell that something was wrong. Pushing his way through the remainder of the guards toward the princess, he soon found out what had everypony in such a tizzy.

The protective runes around the “doorway” were flickering and ice was slowly creeping up the walls and floor outside where they were standing. The glowing light encasing the “doorway” seemed dimmer, and while it wasn’t flickering like a candle it looked considerably weaker than it had since last he saw it. But that wasn’t what worried him, that wasn’t what made his jaw drop and turn the worry that he had been feeling into fear.

At the other end of the doorway, pacing back and forth like an impatient, angry lioness, was Cadence.

Never before had Shining seen the alicorn look so angry before. Her mane and tail were whipping back and forth wildly, her body was stiff and tense, her teeth were bared and she was giving Celestia, the aunt that she loved more than anything in the world, a look of such cold fury that Shining couldn’t help but shiver. This wasn’t the Cadence that had trouble getting out of bed because she was so weak. This wasn’t the mare that liked to play hoofsies under the table during dinner time. This was an alicorn that was a hair’s breadth from going on a rampage.

“Oh? Then you know how to stitch his arm up if the cut is as deep as you claim?” Celestia asked as Cadence growled. “I’m sure that you also know how to stop his bleeding?”

The rage on Cadence’s face subsided slightly. “It’s her fault that he’s like that in the first place! What if she comes in here and ends up poking his eye out with a needle because of an “accident”? What if—”

“Cadence,” Celestia interrupted, her voice gentle. “I don’t know what happened, maybe you have every right to be angry, but right now we need somepony to look at Ares, and we can’t do that if you’re pacing around hissing and spitting like an angry cat.”

Cadence snorted, stomping a hoof as she eyed the hallway warily. “I… um…”

The Princess of the Sun looked over to where a group of shaking doctors were standing. Her brow furrowed as if in thought before she looked back over at her niece. “Alright, if you’re so concerned about one of the doctors coming in there then fine, a doctor won’t come in.” Celestia’s horn glowed, her golden magic encasing one of the medical bags that one of the doctor’s had in his hooves. With a flick of her horn it floated over to levitate by her side.

Shining’s eyes widened. He knew that look on Princess Celestia’s face. That solemn, determined look that was sure to give everypony no end of trouble. It was a look that had adorned his face on many occasions.

Princess Luna seemed to see it too, since she took a step forward. “Sister, thou better not be doing what we think thou art—”

“Move aside, Cadence,” Celestia said, hoisting the bag over her shoulder. “I’m going to go in and check up on Ares myself.”

Those words seemed to echo throughout the hall. For a moment no one said anything, everypony in attendance, even Cadence, who had adopted a slack-jawed expression, too shocked about what they just heard. But then the protest started

“Princess!”

“You can’t go in there!”

“You don’t know what that shadow will do to you!”

“M’lady! Please!”

“You can’t go in there, Princess Celestia!”

Celestia didn’t acknowledge the mass of shouting that was going on just behind her. She simply looked at Cadence and took a deep breath. With her head held high, she stepped into the room, the darkness swallowing her.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

“Excuse me.”

I stumbled out of the way as my aunt nearly bowled me over as she stepped through the “door” and made her way past me.

“Ares, honey, are you alright in there?”

Though I could hear ponies making a fuss outside in the hallway I just watched as my aunt made her way into the room. My anger was quickly replaced with confusion. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t supposed to get anywhere close to me and Ares.

F͚̥̭̥͚̝͔̌͒̾ͦͦe̳̝͔̭͋ͫ̄ͪ̆ă̲͖̖͓̤̥͇s͎̦̳̘̖̉ͭ̽͊ͫ̔̀t̪̰̦͔̒͡

My eyes drifted down to my chest. I could see the shadow growing out of it, growing darker and longer with each passing second. Whatever anger I had left vanished, my eyes widening in alarm at the sight. Celestia needed to get away. She wasn’t supposed to be in here. She couldn’t be here. If she was here the shadow might get her too.

The fog surrounding my mind lifted ever so slightly as I took a nervous step back. The shadow was about two feet long now. It was weaving back and forth in the air, it’s tip forming into a hand.

“A-Auntie,” I said, my voice small.

The shadow began to stretch out of my chest toward my aunt. I gasped, backing away until my rump hit the doorway. Desperately, I tried to force the shadow to sink back into my chest like Ares did but it was no use. The shadow slithered through the air toward my aunt. The ends of the shadows “fingers” grew longer and sharper as its “hand” opened wide.

“C-Celest—”

My aunt didn’t turn her head as the shadow grew ever close, but I did see the tip of her horn glowing. Just as that horrible hand was about to touch her a burst of light illuminated the room, so brightly that I was forced to turn away and shut my eyes. An unnatural, ear-splitting scream filled my years, and I fell to my rump as the shadow slammed back into my chest.

“I would like nothing more than to deal with you in my own way, monster,” my aunt growled. “But at the moment I am far too busy to deal with you.”

@̶̢͉̤̥̗̲͌̑̾͋̐͘#̱͔̘͎̃̉$̧ͣ̽҉̺̬͓͚͕̣̳$̵̹̫̹͈ͫ̍ͨͩ#͍̝͓̮͎̥̔ͨ̓ͨ̀ͧ͡@̝̰̘̙̖͓̙̠̏̎̀!̶̸̛͖̠̟͙̹̗ͥ̊̄̅̀̌

A whimper escaped my throat as I rubbed my eyes to try to make the spots go away.

“Cel…Celes…”

“Shush, shush, it’s alright, Ares. Oh my goodness, you’re in worse shape than I thought…”

“I can’t… I wouldn’t be… the shadow…”

“Let’s just worry about getting you patched up, sweetie. Now, hold still so I can get a good look at your cut.”

W̡͓̲̱̤̙͐ͨͩ̌͆̚͘e̫ͦͩͭ̀ ̛̳̖̦̻̍͒Ẅ̺̤̘̲̠́̊ͭ̔͂ͦ̔̀͟͜ͅͅȋ̞̯̭̟̩̩͈͇̒̐ͩ͗ͨ͂̓͑ͅLͣ͗͒͗ͤ͛̆͘҉͙̤͡l͑ͬͤͪ͏̤̜͚ ̠͔̝͕̪̱͖ͧ̎̆̈́͊ͥ̏S̼̻̜͇͇͋͊͋̔ͣ͆͜͞w̃ͦ̉ͪ͗ͥͪ҉̲A͐̌ͬ̑ͭ̈ͬ͂҉̜̱̘ļ̠̜̜̠̮͖͐̆͜L͕̲͕̋͗ͣ̓͂͜oͭͭ́̏̃҉̨͔͠W̴̨̳̩̤̅̊̇͂͐̀̉̇ ̪͉̙͖̉̾̎̅ͫ́̅̀́̚t̜̥̤͙̙̱̹̻̩͊ͥ̄ͧ̍̊̕Hͩ͗͠҉͇̳̯̥̲͔̖̯ê̢̝͔ͯͦͮ͗͞͝ͅ ͑ͩ̈́ͪ̏̊̐͏̠͈̳͍̖̘͕̕S͕̹̣̱̬̲̗͑̂͆̋ȗ͙̖ͤͨ̀͝N̫͍̙͔̹̩̻ͤ̍ͯ͋͛̃͘

“I’m afraid that you’ll do no such thing. Cadence, once you can see again I’m going to need your help if you’re through with your hissy fit.”

It must have taken my eyes ten minutes to get readjusted to the darkness, but the second that I could I was making my way over toward Ares’s bedside.

While the cut that my little human had gotten would have been nothing to a healthy pony Ares was far from healthy. My little human was panting, his eyes hazy and half lidded, as my aunt did her best to tend to him. He was a shadow of the man that he had been twenty minutes ago. He seemed shrunken in, so thin that he looked like a skeleton with skin. Even his hair looked duller, almost taking on a greyish color. It looked like that little cut had taken years off of his life.

My heart leapt into my throat. Blood was everywhere; on our bed, all over his arm and his clothes, all over the sheets. I could feel the bile building in my throat as I looked at him, anger once again building in my chest.

That doctor had done this to him! If she had been more careful Ares would be fine and the two of us would be sitting on that bloody bed right now finishing up that Daring Do book! And My aunt wouldn’t have to—

I blinked as the little black bag that my aunt had stolen from one of the “Doctors” was shoved into my face. “Cadence, please be a dear and grab some antibiotics from the bag would you? I need to stop the bleeding and clean the wound.”

My eyes darted from Ares to the bed to Celestia. My aunt was bent over Ares’s arm, pouring some kind powdery substance over his still bleeding wound. Ares winced, a whimper coming from his mouth as he closed his eyes and wiggled uncomfortably.

Celestia smile, running her hoof along his side. “I know. I know that it burns, Ares,” she murmured, leaning down to nuzzle his cheek. “But it’ll feel better in a minutes or two, I pro—”

Half a dozen shadows leapt from Ares body toward my aunt. Ares’s breathing hitched in his throat, his eyes snapping open. “N͍̙̆̃O̵̲̲̙̠͚̘ͯͪ̈́̆͌̒́
̩͉̻̐͊̅̚!”

The shadows stopped not half an inch from my aunt’s face, each of them desperately trying to touch her. My aunt simply raised an eyebrow, her horn glowing. “Cadence, forget the antibiotics. Please just get a few more bandages so that I can wrap this wound up. Hurry now.”

I could see the strain on Ares’s face as the shadows thrashed against him. This time it looked like he wasn’t able to force them back into him. His eyes darted toward me. “Cad…ence, get… her… Can’t… hold…”

My horn glowed and the bag exploded as I ripped it apart in my frantic search for bandages.

T̗̞̺̗͙͇̈͛ͦͮ͗́͡ͅh͙̭͙͔̜̳̺̅ͪ͠É̲̺͔͖̪̏͛̉ͅ f̘̯͇̝̠̓ͥ̈̆ͭ̄̍l̞̪̗̟̙̲̤̋͠E̴̖̭͍͓͕̞̝ͪ̍͊̃̄̽sͥ̂͒̏H̛̘̤͉͈̫ ̼͟I̜̦̟͓͖͈͙͌̔̽͊́S ̳̫̣̤̓ͭ̔̋W̴̰̞͓̬̠̪̗͂͛͒͆͐e̝ͤa̼̻͂̄K̲̝̬̥͈̬̳̎ͬ͗ͫͤ
͖̣ͩ

A noise unlike I had ever heard escaped Ares’s throat, causing me to drop everything; everything but a single bandage. I looked back up to see that my aunt was slowly backing away from him, the back of her neck standing on edge.

Y̨̜̱͇͇̯̤ͥ͗ͪ̂̊̉̿ͨ͌̀͢͝ͅÓ̷̵̉̈̅̌́ͩͤͤ͊̾҉̦̩̻̘ͅU̵̯͖̪͙̦͈̝͔̦̮̹͍̠̱̺̙ͮ̐͂̌̕ ̱̺̭̻̭̳̤̼͙̻̖̟ͮ̊͗̽̏̆̑͆ͫ̀ͨ͂͂̚͜͞c͙̰̠̪͖̱̘̩̪͉͔̗͙͇̗̰̮̍̑͌̀ͭ̒̒̄͗̐̾͝A͕̗͖̹̯͈̱̼̲̖̅ͯ͐ͪͩͨ͊͐̊ͩ̑ͯͭ́ͬ̾̈́ͪ̀͜N̢̧̤͉͓̱̮͎̙͙͉̮̿̊ͦ̐̏ͣ̆ͮ̊͋̽͗͗̎ͩ ̸̧͙̺͉̝͙̜̳ͩ͂̅ͫ̋͒͒̐ͫ̋̓̑͛ͯh͆ͤ̍ͯ̃ͩ̀ͧͥ̂͊͑͆͋̍͌͂ͯ҉̷̛̜͓̳̗͇͈̪̭̬̜̟̮̟̗̀ͅơͬ̒ͫͦͩ̂̅ͥͧ̓̄͏͇̣̹̪͈͇̙̻̯͕͡Lͭ̏̇̈́͂̾ͦ͏͎̟͈̯͎̘͇͚́͠d̜͎͉̖͌͒͆̌̌ͪ͋͛̒́́͟ ̂̆͐̏̇̾̒ͬ͂́͂ͦ͑̊ͣ̈́̏͂̚͞͏̗̥͔͕̘̫̝̺̞̰̺̪̱̺̩̤͠ͅụ̰̯̳̠̼̦̩ͬ͗͆̓ͦ̋ͬ̏̀̀͢͠Sͪ̆̚҉̛҉͉̼͖̪̟̪͉͝ ͕̯̘̲̼̹̤̞̳̟̤̲͓ͤ̍̐́̍͐ͥ͝͞ą̨̙͎͕̻͈̭͎̭̰̹̳͕̜͓̥̗͔́̃̈́͋͂̋̈́͐̈́͗͊̅̍̓̅̀̔͂͜͟͝t̡͋ͥ͊̓̌ͫ͝͏͉̫̘̬̹̣ ̷̸̡̲̮̦̯̳͖̝̠̮̈́̽̇̽̒͌͒͝͡ͅbͥ̑̆̍͒̐̅͊̇ͪ̿͒͡͏̩͔̟̠͕͓̹͚̯̫͚A̳̝̼̰͚͔̳̮̳̺̜̥̦̮͓̻̘̖̅̋ͭ̍ͧ̌͛ͮ̈́͂͐̕͡͞ͅy̵̵̪̜̣̮̫̥̮͍̺̪̠͍ͥ̈̋̎͐͊ͤ̅̓̅͒̀͝͠ͅ ̷̲̯̗̣͇̰͎̮͛ͬ̂͐͋ͨ͡f̧̛̫̪̤͍̞̦͍̖̹̖̦͈̞̣̬ͪͪ̓͂̽̅ͮ͛ͯͫ͊̓̂̎̋̍́͘O̵̹̱̤͉̗̦̫͇͚͕̣͉̤̰̓̏͒̾̈̌̓̄͌͛͢R̶̘͖͚̹̗̠̬̲̼̳̈̇̇̊ͧͫ̉̅͜͞͠ ̷̢̟̰̥̲͙͕̣̼̪͖̍̑̽̓̒̂͜͠n̷̢̛͖͚͍̳̦̥̻̺̙̹͉͔͇̤̍͌͛̂̈̚Ő̉͂̏̂̉ͣ̆ͦͮͫ̽҉̸̣͈͇̰̫̟̝̲͡ ̶͙̥͖̭̰̩̦͔̗̣̩̲̞̳̣͈͖͌ͧ͆̑̕̕ͅĻ͙̠̘͓͚͇̜̲̯̟͚͇ͣ̿ͦ͘͢oͩ̍̊͊͋͒ͮ̔͂̏̒͒̍̿ͦ͢҉͏̧̤͍̬͍͇̞͎͉̣̼̤̗̫͓̩͉͎̫ͅn̷̨̬͚̤̱͈̟̫̠̱͕̭̻̰͉̭̳͒̊ͬ̑̾̆ͮ͛̏̿̈ͣͮ̓̀̚̕͟G̩̦̼̝̖͔̝͙͚͎̭̟͇̱͙̭͚̀͗͐ͨ̐̊͊̎̈̍̾̈̈̄̂͆̈́͐̀͘͡e̢̝̹̞̭̝̙̰͎̘͉̭̻͕̬͈̱̟̦̎̎̿̈͂ͫ͛͆͗̒ͮͮ͐̄̂͢͜͡͡ͅŗ̴̢̗̲̺̹̝̟̬̳̣͙̦̠̬̠̺̈͌̀͋̒ͫ͌͊ͣͩ̔ͧ͌̋̂̄̽͋̀
̺̬͈̳̜̘̪̘̃̊͋͑̇̃ͦ̋̒ͭ́̚̚͝ ]

“Cadence,” she said with a hushed whisper. “Back away. We need to move away now.”

I ignored her, by gaze fixated on my little human. Dozens of shadows were forming out of his body.

“Ares? Ares! ARES!”

~_~_~_~_~_~

“Motherfucker…” Ares muttered, his heart pounding in his chest as he looked all around him. “That was a bone. That was a bone! I just picked up a fucking bone!”

He was about to take a nervous step back, now thinking that he was in some animal’s den or worse when the sound of someone wheezing perked him up. That was a human; as far as he could tell that sound came from a human. At the end of the cave, not ten feet away from him, he could see something shifting around near the ground. That something wheezed again before it went silent.

“…Hey, are you okay?” he asked, taking a half step forward. He flinched as his foot collided with what felt like more bones but he did his best to ignore it.

“Listen, buddy, you really need to start talking to me.” Dozens of tiny bones cracked and broke underneath his shoes as he took another step forward. “I need to know if you’re alright, and if you’re not alright I need to know if you know where I can go and get some help. We’re in a cave full of bones, motherfucker, say something.”

As he grew closer, Ares noticed that whoever was at the back of the cave was laying down on their side. They had a blanket wrapped tightly around their body, covering their face. Through the blanket he could see that the person was shaking hard from the cold.

Did someone leave him here? he asked himself as he took another step forward. Did this guy get injured and his buddies went out to get some help? No, that doesn’t make sense. If this guy’s hurt then why would they leave him here? Was there only one other guy? Did… Did someone just dump him here and leave him?

Quietly, or as quietly as he could with bones breaking underneath his feet, Ares quietly crept up on the figure. When he got within arm’s length of them he squatted down as best as he could, reaching out to place his hand on the small of their back.

“Hey, are you—”

“AAAAARRRRGHGGGGHGGHHHHHH!”

With a yelp, Ares landed on his butt as the figure let out an unholy shriek that seemed to shake the whole cave. The figure threw off its blanket and leapt to its feet, revealing it was, in fact, not a human.

It must have been seven feet tall. Thick, white fur covered its entire body except its chest. Its arms were unnaturally thick and long and its legs were unnaturally short and even thicker than its arms, six pink, stout little finger-looking appendages sprang from the ends of both its hands and feet. Its body was muscular, though it seemed overly skinny. Its face looked horrifyingly ape-like, with two sets of long, thick fangs poking out of its mouth and three sets of eyes, two above a too-thick nose and one in the center of its forehead.

Ares’s eyes widened as the creature looked down at him, its lips drawn back into a snarl. It puffed its chest out, grunting under its breath as it’s three milky eyes narrowed. For a moment neither of them moved, just staring at each other in the darkness.

“…I don’t think I’m home anymore,” Ares muttered. As slowly as he could, he began to paw at the ground for a weapon. “What the fuck are you?”

B̓ȅ͍͛͑á̈̈ͯ͆r̗ͬ͡e̡̱̪̦ͤr͉̹̥͉̯̦͎͡

The creature lurched forward, its arms moved mechanically, as if something else was moving them. The anger on its face disappeared, replaced with fear as it slowly made its way toward him. Ares began to crawl backwards, his hands running along the bone-riddles floor trying to find, something, anything.

“Easy there big fella. Easy. Everything’s alright, everything’s—”

Y̦̬̩̖̯̗ͣ͛̇͑̏̋̂ò̜̮̘͕̼͢ŭ͔̖͚̫̯͕̲̈́̆̑͢r͚̱̪̝͒ͯͨ̅ ͓͝f͓͈l͔͙͚e̯͒ͦ̏ͧͣ̑s̭̬̮̖͕̭͎H̰͒̌̅̔́ ̯̖̫S҉͍̻̤̖͉̮h̲̰͉̙͋̊ͮA̭̹̰̪͐ͪ͛͛̀̌L̶̟̦̤̤̞̆́̋ͅḺ̯͔̝ ̹͈̱͈ͩͦͦ̚H͈͚̮̺̪͌̊ͯ̂ͅO̥̤̯̜̒̊̌͌́ͣͯȕ̷͚̭͕̩̙̮͋͆͗͆ͅS̹͚̫͇̘͉͂͛ͥE̠̙̥͉̊ͪͩ ̪̈́͒ͯus̙͖ͫͮ͐!̠̯̱͈̟̦͎̈́ͮ͑ͨ̄ͦ̀

The creature’s eyes widened. As close as he was to it now, Ares noticed that it looked sick. He could see bones poking out of its fur, which was overly scarred and dirty and mangy. The skin underneath the fur looked yellowish and sickly, and it didn’t look like it could even see out of any of its eyes.

Just as he managed to grab onto something, the same femur that he had picked up in the first place. The creature’s whole body tensed as if ready to lunge.

W̩͎̩̉͂͂ͫ͝Ẹ̈ͮ̌̒̌̔ͫ́ ̸̲̰ͭ͌ͥ͢S̵̤̟̺ͩͦ̔͟H̶̟̖̐͒̅͛͞A̵̡͇͎̥̪̩͎͋̇̓͑̓ͦ͡L͚͈̟̲̼̫̇̅̅ͭ͊̉L̩͔͈̟̬̟̻̒ͥͪͧ͟͡ ͈̳͙̝̋͂ͨͣ̔͊̃̌E̛ͫͤͤ͏̷͔̙̭̗͉̦A̟̜̱̅̉͛T̫̪̙̥͋̿̃ͤ͛͘͜ ̴̥̲͇̜͉̼̗̝̉̅̓̉́͠O̤̱̼̺͂͌́͡Ů̧̧͎̙͊͒R̨͙̠̯̓́ ̫̙̯͎̹̜̿ͧͬͫͤ͞F̷͙̝͖̭͎̜̮ͥͅI̛̮̰̾ͨ̄̊͐̓ͮ͒̚L̷̴͓̯͇̻̣̖̹͎̿ͤ͊ͨͧ̓͗Ľ̶͈̝̫͖̥̤̫̼̳̈̿̔͂ͯͩ

With another ear splitting roar, the creature jumped. Ares, with a yell of his own, swung the bone in his hands as hard as he could. A thunderous crack echoed throughout the cave as the femur hit the monster’s side, making the thing howl as it landed on top of him, it’s too-big hands pawing at his shirt.

“GET OFF ME! GET THE FUCK OFF ME!”

Ares, with adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream, swung his weapon again and again and again as both he and the creature rolled around on the ground. The creature, though sick and weakly, was still more than strong enough and still had more than enough mass to overpower him; he could tell that the instant he began rolling around it. The only thing that kept it from eating him was the bone in his hand.

“THIS IS SUCH FUCKING BULLSHIT! I TRY TO SEE MATTHEW IN HIS DORM AND END UP FIGHTING SOME FUCKING SKINNY GORILLA!”

The monster lunged forward, its jaws snapping at his neck, only to reel away as he smacked it in the face with his bone, hitting it so hard that he knocked out one of his yellow fangs. There was a cracking sound as the femur snapped clean in half as the monster clenched its jaw and growled threateningly. Finding himself on his back, Ares managed to kick the creature off of him before he rolled onto his stomach. Grunting, he tried to launch himself to his feet so that he could make his escape, but the creature was too fast.

F̵̷̶̗̭͚͍̜͚̦͍̖̝̙̠͇̉̅͊͒̒͊͞o̴̩̻̩̗̜͇̜͔̱͇̱̼̦̖͋̑̑̐̏͝O̸̸͔̝̮͕̮̦̝̼̣͇̥͙̻ͭ͂͊͌̒̊͊̀͢͞ͅd̴͑̋͆̋̃̍ͮ͗̈̎̈́ͬ͌͏̭̲̩̟͔̙̝̘̫̼̙̟̟̪́ͅ

With another roar, the creature wrapped its massive arms around Ares’s chest and began lifting Ares into the air.

“GET OFF OF ME!” Ares snarled, slamming his first against the creature’s stomach as hard as he could, again and again and again. “GET OFF!”

The creature didn’t seem to register the blows, firmly holding Ares against it as it opened its mouth impossibly wide, revealing rows of jagged, yellow, broken teeth.

B̠̺͈̗͑̓͡eͨ̏͑͗͞͏̗̰C͚̳̜̫̥̭͙̈́̅ͩͫ̃o̸͖̘͚͈̭̔ͣ̄ͫͧM̶̯̦̙̎ͩ́̚͜e̛̎ͩͩͣ̾̂҉̼̜͕͚ ̱̭͖͂̆̅ͬ̆́u̲̫̺̠̜̫ͪ̓̄ͤ̎ͤ͟Ŝ̜̼͉̳͖̮͓ͧ͆ͅ

It bit down on Ares’s shoulder, just above the collarbone. The human’s eyes widened as pain erupted from the bite mark.

“AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!”

With all of his might Ares thrashed and kicked and wiggled as hard as he could, trying to loosen the monster’s grip on him, trying to send the two of them to the ground, doing anything and everything to get away from it. But the monster’s grip was ironclad; he couldn’t even budge it.

“MOOOOTTTTTHHHHHHEEEEEEERRRRRRFFFFUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKEEEEERRRRR!”

He could feel its spit coating his shoulder, he could feel its fingers digging into his sides as it held him. Though it had looked warm, the creature felt cold against him; so cold that it sent shivers up and down his body. Even its ragged breathing against his skin as it bit down on him felt horribly chilly. It was just like when he was outside in the tundra, but somehow colder, harsher, darker.

Though he didn’t see it, screaming in pain and thrashing like he was, something flashed in the monster’s eyes: a shadow.

The yeti, one of the last of its savage kind, stiffened as the shadow left its body and traveled into the screaming, bleeding human. Though its species was incapable of it, it appeared to smile even as it bit down on Ares’s shoulder, the light leaving its eyes as it slowly fell forward, what little strength it had left finally leaving its body.

Ares’s screaming turned into a yelp as both he and the monster fell to the ground in a heap, the monster’s grip going slack against him. This gave Ares the ability to scramble out from underneath the beast, bleeding heavily and shaking like a leaf. With wild eyes, Ares found himself grabbing ahold of another bone, and with a snarl he turned around and slammed one end of it against the monster’s head.

“YOU. FUCKING. DICK. SHIT. MOTHERFUCKER. BITING ME. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK!”

The monster was, of course, already dead. It had been dead before it had hit the ground. But Ares didn’t know that, so wail away at the creature he did. He hit it again and again as hard and as fast as he could. He continued to hit it until this bone also broke in his hands, wherein he grabbed another one of the many bones lying around and beat the monster some more. It was only after exhaustion and blood-loss took its toll did Ares, now pale and breathing hard, let the splintered, cracked, pale white bone fall out of his hands onto the ground. Not two seconds later he found himself on the ground with it, his head spinning.

“Owowowowowowfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…” Still out of breath, Ares closed his eyes, holding his bloody shoulder as he wiggled around in pain.

T͚͔̭̱̂͌̏͋̔̿̈́o̱̠̘ͤͭ̿̄̄̈̓̄͝͝ ̘̲͍͖͖̲̙̥ͩͦ͑̒̐t̖̖̘͗ͧ̈ͮͦḩ̷̺̜̲͍̜͓͔͈͐͌ͩ̈̔̔̃͆e̬̲ͭ̉̓ ̃̓ͮ̃͏̺̱͔̦̖̘s͚̮̥̭̣̯͙̯̽ͭ̽͜ơ̸̆ͦ̌́̇̋̓҉͖͎͉̩̮̥ͅụ̥͙͎͓̯̅ͭ̍ͧ̄ͩ̚͞t̰̓̑͛̋̎̑̚hͧ͒͏̟ͅ
̴̱̝̯̫̟͇̬̝ͫͭ͋̊̎ͣ̈́̅͂

Ares perked up.

̷͎͉͈̘̟̎ͫG̸̞͙͐̃̍̈̑̆̋ǫ̱̜̖̺̦ͤ̀ͮ̑͗͑͝ ̛̲̝̜̦̣͇͍̠̖ͨ̆͊ͫ́̕͞t̲͚̗̫͇̦͇̅͑ͦ͊͗͆ͥ̓ͮͅo̙͛̃̕ ̜̭̟͙͓͇̤̩̖̒ͩ͜tͯͩͭ͏̙͖̹̳͖̗̱̬͍͢h̪̟̬͗ͮ́̏̉̽͟͡ḙ̻͖̼̤̝͊̽́́ͦͧ̚͘ ͇͍͍͔̉ͤͥ̀̀̐s̘͚̩̮̮̿̀̏́͟o̸̰̹͛͒͟u̶̗ͩ̌ͯ̔͗̿̾̊́t̶͕̹͉̘̖̓ͨ̌̑ͥ̇̽̒̉͡ͅh̰̩͙̣̻͚̝͎̍͂̐̽̂́

With a pained whine, he found himself getting to his feet.

̶̶̭̱̹̠̲͈̏͑ͤͤ̆̿ͩ̕T̡̝̙͍̙͓̹͙͚̞̏h̨̖͇̘̦͆̑͛͢ȁ͈̥ͩ̄ͩ͆̏͋̓̀t̢̳̲ͤ̎̌̈̌͜ ̴̳͔̦̞̻͙̥̊̐͌́i͔̩̱̫̖̼͖̪̝ͧͦs̸̢̛̗͎̞͔͈͖̪ͭͧ͒̚̚ ̶̛̫̞͙͓̯͐̋̂̊̅̂͒͛̚ͅw̐ͬ͟҉̖̦̰̬̥̩̞̬h͈͙̆̽͡ḙ̙ͤ͒́r͕̞̞̪͇̭̈́͞è͇̯̹̽ͫ̾̑ ̺ͤͭͦͫ́͒͂w̯̤̦̤͚͎̜̏ͥ̽ͫ͗̈̿̃ͅą̪̫̯̽ͣ̀̌̿̽̋̚͞ͅͅr̲͉̬͐̀ͧͥ͐͂͆̀͞m̴̡̙̥͂̑̽́ͬ͘tͮ̏̐ͯ͏̧̤͍h̦ͪ̈́̂̀̌̋ͩ͗͘͡͝ ͖͍͇̫͔̦̃ͦ̃̑̋̎ͧi̸̵͇͇ͬͦ̄ͨ̀͊ͪş͕̪͎͖͈̳̦̒̔ͤ̽̿ͥͣͮ͞͠

Another whine escaped Ares’s lips as he tore off a piece of his ruined hoodie and began to wrap it around his bleeding shoulder. “Fuck. Fuuuuuuuck. Fucking, fuck, fuck!”

With one last look at the fallen yeti, making sure that it was in fact no longer moving, He began to make his way over to the mouth of the cave. Though he didn’t know why, he now knew where he had to go. He had a destination that would get him out of this tundra, out of this cold, to civilization where he could get warm and someone could patch him up.

He smiled at the thought, even as he stepped out into the cold. He was going to be Ä̛͕̲̻͖̖͕͖́ͨ̽́͠l̡̥͙̖͕̓̓̒ͤͩͭ͢r̛͖̱͚̣͕̦̔ͅi̡̤̩̱ͪͣg͙̫̝̲ͧ͂͂̿h̭͇̜̗̏̋̃͌t̠̮̍̎ͣ̋͂̋́
̵̣͓̰́͒͒̋͗ͅ

~_~_~_~_~_~_

Both my aunt and I began to back away as Ares climbed out of bed. A group of shadows converged upon the cut on his arm. The blood flow ceased as the cut quickly closed, the parted skin fusing together until it was like Ares hadn’t been cut at all.

“…Ares?” I whispered, my ears pinned against the sides of my head.

Ares, his eyes as black as night and his skin pale, pale white, let out a growl as he took a step toward us. Dozens of shadows, all many feet long, were coming out all over his body. He seemed bigger as he lumbered forward, his arms, torso and even legs terribly, unnaturally skinny. He moved his head back and forth, an almost animalistic look on his face as his nostrils flared.

“Ares?”

Ares’s head whipped over to look at me. He opened his mouth, and the sound that came from it was unlike anything that I had ever heard. It wasn’t like how those voices spoke, it didn’t make your head fuzzy or make you feel nauseous. It was… almost like a high-pitched whinny.

Though seeing Ares standing up and all of those shadows moving around his body and the way that his wound had healed was scary, I found myself stopping my retreat, a frown coming to my face.

My aunt, not noticing my confusion, gasped. “I have heard that noise before,” she all but whispered.

Huffing quietly, I began to make my way back over to Ares.

“I had thought your kind had all fallen after the pony tribes had come together to combat you…”

The shadows darted forward to touch me, but I ignored them, continuing my march forward.

What were they gonna do? Turn me more into a monster?

“The Eaters of Hatred, the Bringers of Death, the Icy Chill, the… the Windigo—”

My frown deepened as Ares’s eyes instantly changed from black to bright, glowing, icy blue. He threw back his head, no doubt ready to release another whinny, but I was too quick. My hoof reared back, and with another huff I slapped my Ares right on his bottom. Hard.

You heard me. I, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, slapped my honey bunny, my Ares, my little human, right on the bottom. Because one: I was upset, not only with him but with myself, so I needed to vent and two: I wanted him to stop scaring the horse apples out of everypony and I felt that a slap to the buns may be the best bet to get what I wanted.

I also might have wanted to touch his butt but you didn’t hear that from me.

Ares stumbled forward, the shadows frantically waving to and fro as he tried to keep himself from falling. I managed to grab him by the back of his pants before he could fall over and yanked him back toward me.

W̜̞̲̦̗̮̯ͯͮͭ͂͌͑ͮ͘͢é̴͍̹̮̮̼͉͍̏̎̅͌̎͗̓͂̀ͅ ̣͚͓̪̱̝̙̆ͦ̚͞͝a̸̖̤̝͎̅ͩ͒̅͋͆͟r͇̮͈̲̩̠̖̆ͭ̂͑͋ͯ͒͝e̮̝̻͙̠̰͗ͦ̃́͊̒͑ͬ͘͞-̈̂҉̯̩͇͉͓-̴̷͖͇̜͕͍͛ͤ͐
̷̻̟̗̯̞̦̰̼̽̿̓ͤ̓̈

Buck off, I thought, staring sternly up at my human.

Ares, as dark and as misshapen as he had become, looked back at me with surprise. At the other end of the room my aunt was looking at me like I had grown another head, her jaw on the floor and her eyes the size of dinner plates.

“Ares!” I said, stomping a hoof. “You stop that right now!”

My eyes narrowed to slits. “I’m not going to have my honey bunny turn into the kind of monster that makes those bucking sounds!”

In hindsight, I have no idea why I said that. I shouldn’t have walked into all of those shadows, I should have backed away with my aunt, I should have done something else, anything else, but I didn’t. I just looked up at Ares with all of the authority of a fillyfriend and I glared.

For the first time in a long, long while the voices that whispered to me were absolutely silent. My head didn’t hurt and I didn’t feel chilly or hot or tired or gross. I don’t know what it was about hearing Ares make that sound but it just... made me upset. Very, very, very upset.

Ares took a step back. Still frowning, I took a step forward. He took another step backward, the shadows all around him retreating away from me. With another angry huff took another step toward him. The two of us kept that up until I had Ares’s back against the wall and I was standing on my tippy hooves with my nose pressed against his.

“Ares,” I growled. “You get all of those shadows back in your body right now or so help me…”

Ares blinked. His eyes lost their haunting, pale blue glow, changing back into pure black spheres. I scrunched up my nose hard and narrowed my eyes. Ares blinked again, and when he opened his eyes I noticed that they were no longer black.

“Are you… giving me shit about being possessed?” he asked, his voice sounding warped and twisted.

I nodded. “You were doing good until a little while ago and now you’re just going to give up over a little cut?” I demanded, poking him in his chest.

The shadows receded into Ares’s body as one of his eyes twitched. “You’re gonna give me shit over damn near passing out from getting cut? You were the one that nearly went nuclear because the doctor cut me!”

“I was upset because that doctor hurt you, honey!” I said, poking his chest some more. “And I wasn’t in the best state of mind because all of those voices in my head, so that wasn’t really my fault!”

“I have the same voices in my fucking head, women! How do you think I feel?”

As the two of us glared at each other something happened to the two of us. The color of Ares’s skin started to return to it’s healthy, pinkish color and the shadows had completely disappeared. My wings became more pony-like and the color of my fur changed back into its bubble gum color.

“I think you were about to try to ransack the castle, mister!”

“Will you stop poking me?!”

“YOU WERE WHINNYING, ARES! WHINNYING!!”

“DAMMIT WOMEN, WILL YOU JUST GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK FOR TWO SECONDS?! I WAS A LEGIT MONSTER NOT TWO SECONDS AGO!”

“I KNOW! YOU NEARLY SCARED THE HORSE APPLES OUT OF ME YOU JERK!”

“YOU WERE SCARED? WHAT THE FUCK ABOUT ME?! I WAS THE ONE THAT WAS THE MONSTER!”

My aunt slowly sat down as Ares and I argued with each other, covering her mouth with a wing. “Sweet lady Faust what is happening before my eyes?” she muttered.

“AND WHY DOES MY ASS HURT, CADENCE?! DID YOU SLAP ME ON THE ASS?”

“OF COURSE I SLAPPED YOU ON THE ASS!” I roared, my purple eyes blazing as I glared up at him. “IT WAS THE ONLY WAY THAT I WAS GOING TO BE ABLE TO SNAP YOU OUT OF IT!”

Ares guffawed, tucking a piece of his golden hair back behind his ear. “YOU JUST WANTED TO TOUCH MY BUTT YOU—umpth!”

There were tears in my eyes as I pulled my human into a kiss. Ares stiffened in surprise, losing his balance and sending the two of us tumbling to the ground.

“You’re alright,” I muttered, smiling as I looked at him.

My fangs were gone, my mane and tail were resting against my body like they were supposed to do, I could ruffle my feathers because I had feathers again. I was Cadence again; me, myself, I, and while Ares looked a lot thinner—not as much as he had before I noticed but still pretty thin—but he was Ares again. He had those pretty green eyes that I loved staring into. His teeth were back to normal as was his widdle bitty nose. His skin was what it was before.

He was back; my Ares was back.

“Are you fucking nutty, women?” Ares snapped as I nuzzled his cheek, tears streaming down my face. “What the fuck are you—”

“PRINCESS! WE’RE HERE TO HELP!”

Both Ares and I froze, looking at each other. Slowly, we turned to look toward the entrance of our room. There, standing right next to my auntie, were Twilight and her friends. Each of the mares were wearing their elements, their chests puffed out as they glared at us.

“…Oh fucking shit,” Ares muttered.

“I’m sorry Ares, I’m sorry Cadence,” Twilight sadly said with a shake of her head. “But you’re becoming too unstable.”

Both mine and Ares’s eyes widened as the girls’ elements started glowing.

“I’m not unstable!” Ares assured.

He opened his mouth to say more but stopped, his nose slowly scrunching up. “...Alright, you but me. But that doesn’t mean you have to come in here and beat the hell out of me!”

Realizing what was about to happen, I shoved Ares behind me, my horn glowing.

“Twilight!” Celestia barked. “There is no need for that! Stop this at once! STOP! TWILIGHT!”

The walls seemed to shake as the girls were lifted into the air. Closing my eyes, I placed a small, thick magical shield around both me and Ares.

I couldn’t let him get hit with the elements. Almost any kind of magic hurt Ares; I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if he got hit with the magic from the Elements of Harmony. So I layered my shield, making it thicker and thicker and thicker, pouring every last ounce of my magic into it.

Please don’t let it hit him, I begged, even as the element’s light illuminated the room so brightly that I could see it even through my eyelids. Please just let the shield work. Please just let it hit me. Please just don’t let it hurt him…

A boom, louder than the loudest lightning strike that I have ever heard, filled my ears as the girls unleashed the power of the elements. I threw back my head and screamed, using the Royal Canterlot Voice to full effect as I poured the last of my magic into my shield.

The last thing I remember before everything fading to white was the sound of my shield shattering and my little human’s screams, after that I knew no more.

The Happy Ever After

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The first thing I noticed, when I began to wake up, was the sounds of birds chirping. Light and happy, their song echoed through the room. While they did sound awfully nice I still wanted to get some more sleep, so, grumbling quietly, I rolled onto my other side. Instead of muffling the chirping like I thought it would, my new position seemed to make the sound louder, and not only that but now I had the sun in my eyes.

“Sassafrasin’, horse apples, curd.” My nose scrunched up as I began to sleepily paw around the bed. “Ares, go and close the window. It’s too bright outside…”

When I couldn’t find my little human I grumbled some very choice words before covering my face with a wing and curling into a little ball.

There. That didn’t totally solve the problem but it was good enough since I was too lazy to get out of bed and close the window. Now I could get some mor—

“ARES!” In a hail of feathers and pillows I leapt out of bed, as wide awake as I’ve ever been. “Ares?!” My head whipped back and forth as I looked around the room for my little human.

I couldn’t see him anywhere in the room. I couldn’t see him. I didn’t know where the hay he was. I didn’t know if he was alright. Was he alright? Was he okay? Did… Did he...

With my heart pounding in my chest, I ran over and threw open the bathroom door. “Ares! Honey! Where are you?!”

My ears perked up. I expected to hear the pitter-patter of his feet as he made his way down the hallway. He’d hear me screaming like a crazy pony and he’d check to see what was wrong. Then I’d be able to see that he was alright and I’d be calm. But there was nothing; everything in the room was silent. Even straining my ears as hard as I could I couldn’t hear anypony outside.

Oh sweet Faust no. Please, please, please, please!

I stumbled on a rug as I raced toward the door but I managed to catch myself by grabbing the doorknob. Now shaking, I threw open the door and raced out of the room. “ARES! Honey!”

I could remember everything. The shadows leaving us, the taste on Ares’s lips as I kissed him, the feeling of the overpowering might of the elements as their power washed over me. My shield hadn’t stood a chance and I was sure that my body did nothing to stop all of that magic. Not only had the elements hit me but it had also hit Ares. I was sure of it.

My Ares had been pumped full of hyper-powerful, mind boggling magic and he wasn’t by my side when I woke up. Nopony was around to hear my yelling, he wasn’t around to hear my yelling. I was alone.

Oh please, oh sweet Faust please. Let him be alright, let him be alright, let him be alright. Please, please, please, please!

I didn’t see a single soul as I ran through the hallways. It was like the castle was deserted, abandoned, dead. Nopony answered my calls as I screamed at the top of my lungs, and every single room that I went into was empty.

Had the elements trapped me in an empty castle, doomed to wander its halls for the next thousand years? Had I done something wrong? Had I been that bad of a mare to deserve something like that?

“Um… excuse me, your highness?”

I jumped as I heard a voice from behind me. Spinning around I saw that it was one of my servants, a short little earth pony mare who was looking at me nervously.

“Are you alright? I heard yelling and I came we quickly as I—epp!”

“Oh thank Faust I’m not in some purgatory!” I said, pulling the maid against my chest and hugging her tightly. “I thought for sure that something—WAIT!”

The maid looked frazzled as I grabbed her by her cheeks and forced her to look up at me.

“ARES! Where the heck is Ares?! Is he alright? Did the blast hurt him? WHY WEREN’T WE IN THE SAME BED FOR FAUST’S SAKE?!”

The maid let out another “eep” as I not too gently began to shake her, the overwhelming relief that I had felt meer seconds before was turning back into anxiety.

“Your… majesty… he’s down… the hall. If you… take a right… he’s three… doors do—eep!”

Releasing the maid, I sprinted down the hall as fast as I could. “Ares! ARES!” Skidding as I made the right I saw a pair of guards standing on either side of a doorway. “ARES!”

As one their heads snapped toward me as I charged toward them. Their eyes widened. “Your majesty, please—”

“Getouttamyway!”

Dropping their spears, the guards dove out of the way as I lowered my shoulder, tucked my horn out of the way and rammed the door as hard as I could. There was a thunderous crash as the hinges were ripped from the doorframe and the door itself went flying into the room.

…Ow. Ow, ow, ow, ow, owie, ow.

Stumbling a bit, with a pained expression on my face, I quickly made my way into the room. There was my little human, lying in a slightly too small bed with his feet hanging over the edge, just lying there. His eyes were closed, his body covered by a pure white blanket. He wasn’t moving, and as far as I could tell he wasn’t breathing.

I opened my mouth to scream his name again but I found that I couldn’t. “A-Ares…”

Stepping over the ruined door, I quickly made my way over to the bed. Though he looked alright, still too thin but alright, I still didn’t know what the elements had done to him.

Was he in a coma? Had the elements turned him into some crazy monster underneath those blankets? Had they turned him into someone other than the little human that I loved? Was he dead? Perfectly preserved by the elements magic so that he looked for all the world like he was just sleeping? WAS HE BUCKING BREATHING?!

Please be alright, please be alright, pleasebealright.

Seeing that one of Ares’s hands were hanging out from underneath his blanket, I quickly grabbed it. “Ares,” I muttered, pressing it against my chest.

His hand felt warm, so I leaned down and nuzzled it. A smile came to my face when I felt his fingers twitch, relief flooding through me.

“You’re alright... You’re alright… And you’re breathing...”

Ares’s nose scrunched up. Murmuring nonsense under his breath he tried to roll onto his side, but couldn’t because I still had his hand tight against my chest.

“Rfdfvndlfnlk…”

He tried to pull his hand away from me but I held it tightly, a small, happy smile on my face. This caused Ares’s nose to scrunch up even more, his eyes slowly starting to open

>”Fucking… whatzat?” His hand opened and closed, and then began tugging at the fur on my chest. “I’m tryin’… sleeping…”

There were tears in my eyes as Ares looked up at me. His eyes were hazy, unfocused, and I could tell that his sleep-addled mind was slowly trying to process what was going on and who he was looking at.

“Cadence?” he muttered, giving my chest a scratch. “Candy?”

I nodded, giving his hand a squeeze. Yeah, it’s me,” I whispered.

My little human blinked owlishly, just staring up at me. Being the wonderful marefriend that I was, I patiently waited for the little hamster in his head to start running in it’s little wheel.

Starting, Ares quickly sat up, his eyes huge. “CADEN—”

“Thank you, Swiffer. We will take it from here.”

I turned my head just in time to see both of my aunts, Twilight, and Shining walk into the room. Though they were looking at me warily they didn’t walk in here dressed up in battle armor. Which was good; that meant they didn’t think Ares or I were dangerous.

Ares, who looked ready to burst a blood vessel. He looked at me then at them. “Cadence. Fucking. Sleeping. Awake. FUCKING FUCK!”

Celestia, who was leading the pack, looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Cadence,” she said, in a tone that I couldn’t quite pin down. “Might you humor an old mare and come over here for a moment?”

I opened my mouth. I wanted to tell her no; I wanted to jump in that bed with my Ares and scream and shout and cry and hug him until I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wanted to do that and much more so much that it almost hurt.

I looked back over at Ares. After his little outburst he looked a great deal calmer, though a tad confused, and as happy as could be. Seeing that he had a smile on his face I found myself smiling, which made his smile bigger, which made my smile bigger, until the two of us were smiling like a bunch of crazy ponies.

“Cadence?” Ares whispered, his hand grabbing my hoof. He looked me up and down as he ran his thumb along the frog of my hoof. “Is that really you?”

I sniffled. “Yeah, it’s me honey,” I said, covering my mouth with a hoof so that I wouldn’t start crying. “It’s--”

Faster than I could see, Celestia darted forward and pulled me into the mother of all bear hugs. And by mother of all bear hugs I meant it. She was hugging me so tight that I swear I could hear my ribs cracking.

“URGH!”

My eyes bugged out of my head as my aunt began talking a mile a minute, all the while kissing and nuzzling me. Before I could even begin to grow accustomed to that, Luna slammed onto my side, then Twilight.

“BUCKING!—”

I could hear Ares laughing as the four of us fell into a heap of wings and horns and hooves.

“Oh, Cadence, you had me so worried! I mean it’s been days and—”

“Cadence, I’m sorry that the girls and I used the elements on you, we didn’t mean—”

“Huzzah! Thou survived! We art most—”

“Just let them get it out of their system, honey! Resisting will only make this worse on yourself!”

I did as best as I could under the assault. I nuzzled and hugged to the best of my ability, but eventually I just found myself going limp. I was only one pony surrounded by three frantic, surprisingly strong hysterically frantic mares.So I decided to stop trying to swim against the tide of affection and just let it take me where it will.

The talking and the nuzzles and the kisses continued for a good long while, an hour or so if I were to guess, but eventually Twilight, Luna, my auntie Celestia and myself found ourselves just lying on the ground next to each other, breathing hard and smiling so much that it hurt. Both of my aunts had their wings over me, and Celestia was holding me as close as she could. Twilight, with tears in her eyes, was nuzzling my face. I had my hooves wrapped around her neck, quietly whispering to her that I was okay, that I understood where she was coming from, that I didn’t hate her for what she did.

It was a little touch and go for her, I could tell that she had been beating herself up for the last couple of days, but eventually she was smiling just like everypony else. Which I thought was great. Ares was okay, I wasn’t trapped in some hellscape, my family was here and they were okay, everything was, as far as I could tell, alright. And because of that I wanted everypony to be happy and smiling. I wanted them to be happy just like I was.

“You know, you had us worried there,” Ares nonchalantly, acting like he hadn’t been about ready to cry just a second ago, as he slowly got out of bed. “You’ve been asleep for like three days.”

I managed to untangle myself from my aunts and Twilight just enough to look up at him. “Really?”

“You had me scared to death, young lady,” my aunt chastised as she nuzzled the back of my neck. “We tried everything we could think of but your eyes wouldn’t open.”

With measured, careful footsteps, Ares made his way over to me. Using Twilight as support, which she didn’t look all too happy about by the way that her nose was scrunching, he sat down beside me. Smiling, I placed my head in his lap.

“So is everypony alright?” I asked, humming as Ares immediately began running his fingers through my mane. His fingers, not those long sharp things that he had had. My smile widened as I let my eyes close, just enjoying the feeling of him touching me. “Did anything happen after the elements hit us?”

I felt somepony nuzzling my cheek and, opening an eye, I saw that it was Shining. “Other than a bit of ice that needed to be cleaned up, and some soiled armor, the windigo left both of your bodies without incident.” He nuzzled me again, tears in the corner of his eyes. “I’m glad that you’re alright, Cadence.”

Though it took some doing, I managed to wiggle my wing out of the pony pile. Wrapping it around Shining’s shoulder, I pulled him into a hug. “Thanks, Shining, I’m glad that I’m alright too.”

Shining’s smile widened even further as a stray tear fell down into his cheek. He nuzzled me again with a sniffle, a peal of laughter escaping his lips as he did so.

Underneath me, I could feel Ares wiggle uncomfortably. “Hey, Shining buddy, hugging is great and all but could you guys get up before you do it? Any closer and you’re gonna have to buy me dinner.”

I giggled as Shining pulled away, a blush on his scrunched up face. “Why do you have to ruin a perfectly good moment, bucker?!” He demanded, giving my little human an exasperated look.

“Because there’s only room for one pony on my lap.” Ares retorted, giving my ears a scratch. “If you want in on it you’re going to have to wait your turn. And I’m want to see where you’re taking me before I let you do the other stuff.”

“Buck off.”

“Yeah, that.”

Leaning into the scratches, I once again looked up at Ares. “…Are you sure that you’re alright?” I asked. “All that magic should have… well, you know.”

“Hey, you’re going to have to ask Purple or Sunbutt over there,” he said with a shrug. “I couldn’t tell you what happened.” He looked down at his hand, opening and closing it, a far off look in his eyes. “Not any of it…”

I looked over at Twilight, who shrugged helplessly. “I wish that I could say what happened, Cadence. After we got the two of you out into the hallway I spent a day and a half examining every inch of that room. ” She shook her head, a spark of disappointment and frustration in her eyes. “I used every instrument, every spell that I could get my hooves on, but I couldn’t get anything. Not a magical signature, not any pieces from the Windigo, not any data at all.”

Celestia just smiled as I turned to look at her. “The will of the elements is beyond even my understanding, my dear,” she said, quickly leaning forward so that she could nuzzle me again.

I looked over at Luna, who just smiled at me. “Mayhaps thou should just call it the will of the fates, young Cadenza?”

With a sigh, I set my head back down in Ares’s lap. Though we were all laughs and smiles there was a twinge of worry still gnawing at me.Celestia had said before that she hadn’t found anything inside us when she first examined me and Ares when there most certainly was something. What if that was the case again?

“Are you sure that the shadows are gone?” I asked, shivering slightly.

“We had the both of you examined and quarantined,” Auntie Celestia said, climbing to her hooves. “Though I cannot say with absolute certainty that the Windigo was completely destroyed I am more than certain that the elements did their job. Not even creatures such as them can stand the power of the Elements of Harmony.”

She tapped both me and Ares with a wing. “Come now. Though I am overjoyed to see that the two of you are fine I think that you’ve gotten enough excitement for one day.” She poked my shoulder with her muzzle. “Let’s get the two of you back in bed before we do anything else.”

“It’s two in the afternoon,” Ares said, his face scrunching up.

“Cadence just woke up from a week’s long coma and you’re still recovering, Ares,” my aunt said, booping his nose with the tip of her wing.

“I feel fine, auntie,” I assured. “Why don’t you—”

“Ah, ah, I don’t want to hear anything else other than the two of you getting up and getting into that bed, young lady,” my aunt told me. “Now come on, all of this excitement is liable make you go lightheaded.”

With a few more wing boops and some motherly shoving, my aunt managed to get both me and Ares to stand up and walk over to the bed. My aunt then, after pulling us both into one last hug, complete with nuzzles and kisses, she ushered everypony else out of the room. Promising to get both of us something to eat, after she had called a doctor to get me examined of course, she then closed the blinds and made her way out the door, looking happier than I had seen her in a long, long time.

Now alone with my little human, on a bed that was slightly too small for the two of us, I couldn’t help but smile. “Has she been like that the whole time?”

“She’s been like that since I woke up,” Ares admitted as I laid my head on his shoulder. “I swear to god you’d think the women was my mother with all of her babying.”

I giggled. “Well, the two of us have had a rough couple of weeks. It only makes sense that she’s being so protective.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Ares muttered, leaning down and giving me a peck on the forehead, just above my horn. “Hey, do you know they found that little book?”

I looked up at Ares, an eyebrow raised. “What book?”

“The book that I told him he’d find—oh right, you were asleep when I told Shining about that,” Ares muttered, shaking his head. “Well, there was a book in the castle about the Wendigs.”

“Windigos.”

“Whatever,” Ares said with a dismissive hand gesture, reaching over to the nightstand, where a small book, almost a journal really, was sitting. “Purple told me they found it the day before I woke up. Apparently it was being used to even out a table leg.”

I took the book when he placed it in my hooves, looking over it from every angle. “This would have come in handy a week or two ago,” I dryly remarked.

Ares grinned. “You’d be surprised. Do me a favor and read the fifth page.”

“…Why?”

“Just read it you silly horse.”

Playfully swatting away his hand and wiggling myself against him to get a little more comfortable, I opened up the little book to the requested page and began to read:

Seven of the ten test subjects have already succumbed to the creatures. Subjects five, seven and nine have had to be exterminated due to becoming far too unstable.

After dissecting Seven’s remains and examining them I noticed that his body had undergone extreme changes. The internal organs had shriveled up , bones, particularly his fibula, tibia, humerus, ulna and raduis had been twisting and enlarging. Upon removing a section of the skull, I found that the a magicae res had appeared in between the lego Paulo and the flaggle flom.

It appears that the spirits were fashioning a vessel to support their vast magic...

“I don’t know why you’re making me read this…”

“Get keep reading. About two paragraphs from the end of the page.”

...The test failed. Ten, one, six and three have expired. Though further testing is required, it appears that, for the time being, there is no way, magical or otherwise, for the subjects to be freed from the possession.

Though accounts of my forbearers insist that the Windigo can be combated for the time being I must conclude that the only way to free the possessed is through death. Further testing will—

My nose scrunched up as I closed book. Sweet Faust above am I glad that the Crystal Heart blew up Sombra, I thought. How could he do something like that to ponies…

“If you read through the whole book you’d see that that Sombra fella tested over a hundred ponies with those Windigos. He tried all sorts of stuff but in the end everyone that was possessed had to get put down.”

I shivered, wiggling a bit closer to Ares. “How did he even manage to get so many Windigos?” I muttered.

Ares wrapped his arms around me. “You don’t want to know,” he said, resting his chin on top of my head. “But from what he wrote it didn’t look like there was any way to get unpossessed.”

I thought back to what happened after Ares had transformed. Me slapping him on the rump, the two of us yelling at each other, me watching as the shadows left him. I could still see him shrink and soften and change until he was the same adorable little human that I knew and loved.

“But we were fixed before the elements hit us,” I said, looking up at Ares. “At least I’m pretty sure that’s what happened…”

“I know,” he said, with a shake of his head. “It was really fucking weird watching you get smaller and your wings turning back to normal.”

The two of us just sat there letting it all sink in. Honestly, I couldn’t even begin to guess why what happened had happened. I remembered the old Hearth’s Warming tales. About how the three leaders of the pony tribes had beaten back the demons with the fire of love and friendship.

…Was that what had happened? Had our love finally overcome the Windigo, or Windigos, or whatever had taken over us?

If that was the case, how did it or they manage to possess us in the first place? I’d still like to think that I loved Ares just as much as I did before all of this horse apples happened.

Was… was it because I slapped him on his butt? Was that what saved us? A firm slap on the tuchus?

Snorting, I pushed the book off of the bed. “I don’t even care anymore,” I muttered. “As long as we aren’t bucking monsters anymore.”

Ares chuckled. “Hey, at least you get to take that bubble bath that you were talking about.”

My ears perked up. “Yeah… you’re right,” I said with a smile. “I can do that after we get something to eat.”

I looked over toward the bathroom in this little room. Idly, I wondered if my aunts were going to let me and Ares go back to our bedroom. There I had a proper bed to snuggle my coltfriend and that bathtub was huge. That and I had all of my shampoos and soaps that I could scrub myself with to get the smell out of fur that hasn’t been properly washed in days. I mean I couldn’t see why we couldn’t go back to our bedroom. It wasn’t like going to a different room would make a difference in anything…

With some wiggling, I managed to roll onto my back with my head resting comfortably on Ares’s shoulder. “In a few days, if the two of us are feeling up for it, I think I’d like to do what you wanted to do.”

Ares’s eyes widened. “You mean the thing on the balcony?...”

I said nothing, simply grabbing one of Ares’s hands and bringing it up to my face. Giving him bedroom eyes I stuck one of his fingers into my mouth and started to gently suckle.

For about a minute Ares said nothing, just looking at me with this thoughtful, neutral expression as I ran my tongue over the tip of his finger. “…Cadence?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you wanna get married?”

I giggle-snorted, as I playfully shoved him with a wing. “Ares~”

My little human’s face scrunched up. “Isn’t that what happens in the stories? The princess and the dashing prince—”

“Dashing?”

“The. Dashing. Prince. go through some bullshit, they get married and they live happily ever after and they have a hundred kids and all of that?” His face scrunched up as I began giggling hysterically. “Oh fuck off, Candy, you know—thmp!”

I continued to giggle even as I pulled Ares into a kiss. It wasn’t a hot or heavy kiss, there was no tongue and it didn’t leave me feeling hot under the collar. It was just a simple, loving kiss. Something flashed across Ares’s eyes, something happy and bright and cheerful. And, though it might have been my imagination, but as he kissed me back I swore I saw a rainbow of colors around his irises.

We held the kiss for another second or two before I broke it. “Cadence, you can’t—”

“Mwah.”

“I’m asking you to—”

“Mwah.”

“Will you stop—”

“Mwah.”

“For fuck’s sake wo—”

“Mwah, mwah, mwah.”

Ares looked outraged as I cackled in glee, crawling up his body just a bit so I could playfully bite his nose. “You can give me that look all you want, my big, “scary” human,” I said with a smug look on my face, giving him a peck on the cheek before settling back against his side. “I’ll just think you’re adorable.”

Ares grumbled a bit as I once again grabbed one of his hands. “So no marriage?”

“Not for a little while, honey.”

“And just how long is a little while?”

I kissed the palm of his hand, then each of his individual fingers. “Probably after the rest of this horse apples is over and everything goes back to normal,” I promised.

Ares grunted again, using his fingers to tickle my nose. “Fine. But I’m fucking your brains out in the throne room. Then out on that balcony. Then in the kitchen, maybe.”

I smiled, pressing his hand against my heart. “Promise?”

My smile only widened as Ares leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Promise.”

I found myself squirming, so happy that I didn’t know what to do with myself. “I love you, Ares.”

I could hear my aunts, Twilight, and Shining, my family, making their way down the hall. They were no doubt just about to open that door with tons and tons of food and ponies in hoof. But, just for this moment, there was just me and my Ares. Me and my lover. Me and my little human.

“I love you too, Mi Amore Cadenza.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

“—And we lived happily ever after!”

The messenger stared up at the Princess of Love, who was smiling down from her throne with the most pleased look on her face. He didn’t know how long he had been standing here listening to the ruler of the Crystal Empire tell her tale. To be honest it felt like days, maybe even weeks.

For what felt like the hundredth time, the messenger wondered (to himself of course; he had no desire to spend a night in the dungeons) how all of… this had come up. He had come here to deliver a message and Princess Cadence had just started to tell this story out of the blue. Parts of which, he might add, he did not need to know.

Why him? Didn’t the princess have other ponies that she could have told this story to? Ponies that she actually knew? This story, this tale, obviously meant a lot to her, and it revealed so much that he’d be the richest stallion this side of Manehatten if he decided to bring it to the tabloids!

He was a messenger for Celestia’s sake! The story might have been fine, interesting even, but he had been here for days listening to the princess, and quite frankly he had better things to do than just stand there listening to how she rutted this hyoo-man thing or whatever he was called!

Princess, Cadence, with a small smile still on her face, leaned back on her great crystal throne. “So?... What do you think?” she asked.

The messenger blinked. “Your majesty?”

“I was wondering how you thought about my little story. It’s the first time I’ve told it to anypony and I wanted to know what you thought about it,” the Princess of Love chirped.

The messenger balked, looking around the room. “U-Um, well, it was—”

“Mommy, mommy!”

The messenger stumbled as something brushed against his side. His eyes snapped toward the little pink blur, which was running/flying toward princess Cadence at an alarming rate. For a moment, the messenger feared that it was going to slam into the princess but, with a giggle, Cadence reached out and caught the little bundle of fur.

It was princess Skyla, daughter of princess Cadence and Ares the human, and she did not look happy one little bit. Her mane was messy and ruffled, her wings were flapping like a hummingbird’s and her cheeks were as puffed out as they could be. The filly looked grumpy, and she didn’t seem to give a flying feather who knew it.

“Mommy! Daddy’s teasing me again!” the heir to the throne cried.

“I am not you little turd!”

The messenger could hear heavy footfalls coming from behind him. Before he could turn around to look a hand, complete with a wedding ring, found its way onto the top of his head.

“Hello random horse,” Ares, Prince of the Crystal Empire, said, patting the messenger on the head like a dog.

Frowning, Cadence pulled her daughter into a hug. “Ares! What were you doing to our poor, sweet daughter?” she demanded, while little Skyla stuck her tongue out at him.

Prince Ares gave the messenger another pat on the head before he took a step forward. “I didn’t do anything,” he protested. “I was just—”

“Naha! You were teasing me daddy!” Skyla accused, pointing a hoof at him. “You were playing with my mane while I was eating my pudding! Mommy! Daddy was playing with my mane while I was eating pudding!”

“Ares,” Cadence said, her brow furrowed. “Were you playing with our daughter’s mane while she was eating her pudding?”

Skyla nodded frantically. “Aha, aha, he did mommy! He did! You can go ask uncle Shining and auntie Twilight! They were sitting right there!”

“Hey, what did I tell you about ratting out people, Ms. Skyla Costelnock?”

“You’re a butt!”

Ares gasped dramatically while Cadence giggled. “I’m a butt?!”

Skyla nodded, snuggling up against her mouth. “Yeah, you’re a big butt!” the young alicorn cried, sticking her tongue out at him.

“Well, if I’m a butt you’re a double butt!” Ares fired right back, making his way toward the throne.

Skyla squealed, burrowing into her mother, who giggled quietly. “Well you’re a triple butt!”

“I know you are but what am I?”

“A butt! You’re a butt! A BUT—”

The little princess giggled as her father bounded up the throne and snatched her out of her mother’s hooves. “Come here you little turd,” he growled, picking her up over his head.

“No daddy! Nooooooo!” Skyla cried, a great big smile on her face as she playfully kicked her hooves. Ares, taking the blows without complaint began to give his daughter an overly loud raspberry.

“Pfffffffffffffffffffffff!”

“Hahahahahaha! Daaaaaadddddddddyyyyyyy! Sttttttooooooppppppp!”

The messenger couldn’t help but smile at the sweet scene before him. The scene in front of him, however, was immediately ruined when he remembered what princess Cadence had just told him what may or may not have happened in this throne room. That thought ruined the scene a great deal.

…Oh sweet Luna, I hope that filly wasn’t conceived in here…

“—So Luna and Twilight decided to come and visit huh?”

“Yep, like I said I tried to send someone to tell you but they said that you were busy in here. Me and the little daughter there have been entertaining them for a couple of hours, and since it’s about dinner time I thought we’d come here and get you so we can go somewhere.”

“Daddy said that we could get pizza, mommy!”

Blinking, the messenger was brought out of his rather… disconcerting thoughts, complete with mental images, to see that princess was smiling at her little family. It was a heartfelt, wholesome, happy smile, as if the pink alicorn was absolutely, completely content.

“Alright, give me a few minutes, I have to talk to this nice stallion for a little longer,” she said, kissing Skyla on the cheek before she leaned up and nuzzled her husband.

“Alright, just don’t take too long,” Ares said, tickling his daughter a bit before setting her on his shoulders.

Skyla giggled in delight, patting his head with both of her hooves. For a second, the messenger swore that he could feel a sudden chill in the air, but it was gone as soon as it had come. “Come on daddy! I wanna go and get some pizza!”

“TO PIZZA!” Ares yelled, taking off at a brisk pace toward the exit, much to his daughter’s delight.

“MUSH DADDY! MUSH!”

The messenger watched the two leave, both confused and a mite concerned. “So the elements…”

“Yep.”

He jumped when he noticed that princess Cadence was standing right beside him. The alicorn took a deep breath as she stretched like a cat.

“After I found that out I had gotten pregnant Ares had all but carried me to the aisle.” She sighed, a reminiscent look coming to her face. “It was a wonderful, quiet little wedding. Flash was Ares’s best stallion and Luna caught the flowers at the end of it. I think she still has them in her room. Celestia told me that she encased them in glass.”

“Huh…” the messenger muttered, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “So does that mean princess Luna…”

“Oh, she flirts with both of us every once in awhile but I think she’s done with the whole wooing thing,” Cadence said with a wave of the hoof. “Just like Celestia I think she’s just happy to spoil my little girl rotten.”

The messenger found himself smiling at that, looking over at the princess, who smiled back. “Well… I think it was a good tale, your highness,” he told her. “A little… longer than I was expecting but—”

“Cadence!” Both the messenger and Cadence turned toward the door. There was Shining Armor, the Captain of the Crystal Guard, standing at the entrance with a smile on his face. “If I were you I’d hurry up. Your daughter is practically begging to get something to eat!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Cadence called, rolling her eyes before she regarded the messenger once more.

“Thanks again for listening to my story,” she said, leaning over to give him a friendly nuzzle. “I’d
have stayed here to answer any questions that you had but it looks like I have other engagements that I must attend.”

“It’s no problem, your highness,” the messenger said politely. “I was happy to listen.”

“I’m glad,” the Princess of Love chirped.

“Cadence!”

“I’m coming! I’m coming!”

The messenger watched as the princess made her way toward the exit.

It was an odd tale that he had just listened to. It had been happy and sad, playful and tense, filled like drama and joy and struggle. What had happened to the Princess of Love was something that he sincerely wished would never happen to him, but he could see, and he had heard, that what had happened had not only been good for the pink alicorn, but for all of her friends and family and even her kingdom as well. Though she had gone through so much she had come out of the other end with a husband that she loved, a daughter that she could call her own and a brand new angle in which she could look at love.

Because what was love, really?

Was it an emotion that could be changed at the drop of a hat? Was it something preordained by higher beings? Could it be measured? Would it last forever? Did it truly even exist at all?

Honestly, a simple messenger like himself didn’t have the answers to those questions, but he had a feeling that Cadence, surrounded by a family that loved her to bits, might have a little insight to a few of them. She had found her love, and had come out a stronger, better mare because of it. As he watched the princess, who was humming a little tune to herself, leave he also realized something else.

“…Oh horse apples, I didn’t even tell her what my bucking message was…”