Chapter I

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Fire, it has more than one meaning. For some, fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. A logical explanation yes but there is another.

For others, it can have a symbolic meaning such fire consumes, warms, and illuminates, but can also bring pain and death; thus, its symbolic meaning varies wildly, depending upon the context of its use.

Fire could also symbolize war, hate, anger and pure rage but for me, fire isn't any of that. Fire is an ally, a close friend who's had my back ever since I was born.

Funny, I look back at my childhood from time to time and realize the harshness I've overcome. I was told that a day after my birth, I was given into the town orphanage. Without never knowing my parents, I lived a life without a last name.

Years of degrading hope later, I turned thirteen and the orphanage caught fire with me in the center. Everything was ablaze and I just sat there whilst the other children evacuated the building. I waited for the fire to consume me as it did with everything else but it never did.

The flames danced and flickered around me, I waved my hand through the fire just to see the flames follow my movement. The fire of unknown origin had left me unharmed as it burn the building down onto the ground.

From that day forwards I had been living the streets, stealing from the market for food. Of course, that led towards the people despising me for robbery - though I didn't mind the hate.

After two years of this I came across a man that caught me stealing from him, the odd part was that instead of showing malice he showed me kindness, saying someone like me needs to go to school and stuff. The next week I found myself going to a high end private school.

Attending school had gotten me a few stares and comments from both the students and staff. Once my predicament was revealed to the school, I was treated as an outcast. I never knew why.

Apart from being outcasted by the others, I was bullied by the school rich kid and his lackies. Calling me worthless and street rat but I paid no mind to the name calling, it was the beatings that got me.

He would send in his lackies to teach me a lesson. Everyday of the week, same time and same place. Alone with no friends, I decided to make one.

Luckily the school had a woodshop class room and being granted permission, I began my work. It took days of work but once it was done, I knew I had done a great job in crafting it.

It was a marionette, appearing as if it was crafted by master craftsmen. It was then I had plotted a devious prank against my bullies and began painting the marionette, giving it the most coldest stare and creepiest smile, I knew that it would work.

It was a simple prank, I hide the marionette inside their lockers and the first was the rich kid. Give them a good scare, I always thought.

The next day was amazing, it worked and the spoiled brat ran down the hall screaming in terror, allowing me to retrieve the marionette before he had returned, making him look like a fool. The next day was his lackeys, their reactions were a little over the top.

I had placed the marionette inside one of their backpacks and once they saw what it was, they just fainted. No screams or yells, just them hitting the cold hard floor.

This went on for months until I decided to write a message. Cutting my finger, I wrote Leave him alone in blood. It worked, heading my message, they left me alone and never bothered me again.

The next time I saw the rich kid and his lackeys again was when they were picking on a new target, a girl about the same age as me with an odd looking hair; black and white that seemed to swirl around her head. Listening in to their mocking and taunting I thought I had to get my marionette again but that all changed when the girl grabbed the rich kid and headbutted him in the face. From that day on if there was a fight, that girl was somehow part of it… or had started it. By luck or fate, or someone hating me I ended up in detention and met the girl and found out her name was Blake. Ever since then the two of us became good friends, even though most of the time Blake ended up in detention.

It was three years later that I graduated from the school. During graduation though, a fire started and like the orphanage, the fire burned everything around me.

Like the orphanage before, the fire seemed to ignore me. I didn't feel any heat and my skin wasn't showing any burnt marks. It was then I realized, I can move the fire with the wave of my hand.

The next day, investigators arrived to look for the cause of the fire but found nothing. The fire seemingly just appeared out of nowhere. When I went to see if Blake was alright I found her simply laughing and thought that was one way to end a graduation. Ever since that day the two of us stayed in touch.

Taking what I've learned from the now burnt down school, I began building my life. At first I worked with wood. Repairs, building and even crafting. After a whole year, I had gained the money to buy my own house. There I began a hobby in inventing.

Blake on the other hand started her own coffee shop called ‘Over the Moon Coffee’. I remember in school that, other then getting into fights and in trouble, she was pretty good in the kitchen. She even gave me a discount for helping with some fixing the walls. It was all well and good for quite some time, it was to the point where it was hard to believe that I grew up a poor orphan.

Though one day, which started off like any other day with people wanting some odd jobs done here and there but during in the middle of the day I had caught my wallet halfway from being pocketed by some kid. At first I was furious but then when I looked at her, the little girl that tried to steal from me, I saw a kid version of me staring back up at me with fearful eyes. With a sigh, I pocketed back my wallet and offered the kid something to eat, she was quick to accept my offer and I led her back to the Coffee shop. Once in Blake notice the two of us and asked me what’s up with the kid. I took a few moments to explain what has happened before ordering some food and drinks. Blake allowed me to have it for free since the kid looked like she hasn’t eaten anything for almost a week. I thanked her and said I owed her for this. The kid kept on thanking me over and over even after we left the shop but I wasn't done, I didn't want to leave the kid to a life I knew very well of. So after thinking on my decision, I finally decided to give the kid the home she needs and offered the chance to live in the spare bedroom of my house. Of course she was skeptical, why would I offer such a thing to a kid that tried to steal from me. After explaining to her that I'm in no way joking, that my offer for a home was not a hoax. When the kid tackled me into a hug, thanking me for the kindness I've given her, I felt like I've given her a chance at the life she never got.

One issue that arose was new clothes for the kid, and some for myself while I'm at it, but I didn't have enough cash. Again Blake helped me out, even though she tease me about spending my money on a pre-order. After buying some clothes and getting rid of the her old worn attire, I helped make herself at home at my place and later learned that her name was Skyler.

Everyday for past first few weeks she would ask permission for everything, even to use the bathroom and each time she did I kept telling her that she didn't to ask for permission for everything, more so the bathroom. But as time went on, her habit of asking for permission was eradicated for the lack of a better word. During her first few weeks I had gotten the legal papers done to become Skyler’s legal guardian. As celebration Blake closed up shop a bit early and the three of us had a party with pizza, pop, video games, and movies. All in all, it was great.

It's not often I'm caught sleeping in my garage, mostly because I rarely ever dedicate so much time to another one of my projects. My head laid upon the desk in which most of my work takes place on, a half built metallic hawk was displayed on its stand that was located a few inches away from my sleeping form. I've taken on a hobby of crafting metal sculptures of various themes, only recently started doing some of animals. I must've overworked myself the night prior, even when I could hear the garage door open my body dared not to wake up from its slumber. I didn't wake up when I felt someone shook me, or they said my name. I was out like a light. Nothing could wake me from my slumber.

That is, until I heard the sound of an air horn blaring near my ear. This obviously woke me up in a jump and I fell with my chair backwards. The sounds of laughter giving me an idea on the culprits.

“For fucks sake Blake.” I grumbled, rolling onto my stomach and pushing myself up. I dusted myself off as she laughed hysterically.

“Oh, oh man… that never gets old!” she laughed as she held her stomach. I glared at her as she slowly calmed down. “Another late night?” she asked, chuckling to herself. I groaned at this, having been reminded of last night.

“My body decided it was a good idea to shut down here, now I feel stiff.” I said before stretching my back and earning an audible pop. “So what brings you here and with an airhorn no less?” I asked her. Blake rolled her eyes, which were Heterochromia. Her right eye was a dark blue colour while the other a light brown. Her hair was cut short which added he fact her hair was black and white, made it look a little odd. She had a dark blue shirt with the logo of her coffee shop on the front; a crescent moon with a cup of coffee in the middle of it, and some black jeans. She stood the same height as me and even though she looked more slender, I knew for a fact she was strong… really strong.

“Skyler is over at my shop for breakfast, asked me to wake your ass up for some grub.” Blake answered me before giving me a wide grin. “The airhorn was for my amusement.” I groaned once again as I placed the chair upright.

“Don't be surprised if your kitchen catches fire again.” I told her, walking past her and towards her shop which just happened to be a short walk away.

“You wouldn’t dare.” She said with a frown. “I just finished cleaning up the last time it got torched.” I chuckled at the memory as she caught up, walking beside after she did. The walk was spent with Blake making sure I wouldn't torch her kitchen again though I kept telling it was a simple joke, she didn't find it funny… not one bit. When we entered the shop, she had already told me that I was going to pay double today which quickly led to me threatening to torch the kitchen again, all in all it was a regular start of the day. Skyler was sitting in a booth eating her food as Blake went into the back for mine.

“Hey squirt.” I greeted the young thirteen year old as I walked over to her booth. She turned to me before swallowing her food.

“Hey Isaac, finally woke up huh.” She said with a giggle. I rolled my eyes and sat down on the other end of the booth. She kept giggling, no doubt imagining the reaction I had earlier and I soon brought her out of her fit when I took a sip of her drink. “Hey!” she said as I did this. I chuckled a bit as I felt something hit on top of of my head lightly.

“If you want something to drink you can ask.” Blake said as she put my food in front of me.

“Just the regular diet soda for me.” I told with a chuckle as I handed Skyler’s drink back to her. Blake nodded as she took Skylers drink to get it a refill.

“So, what were you working on this time?” Skyler asked me. I looked over to her as I took a bite of my sunny side up. It took me moment to process her question, the blaring horn still echoing in my head.

“I was working on a metal hawk, I plan to make as life like as possible.” I told her, envisioning it now when I finally finish it. She arched a brow at this, knowing that I was never one for making things lifelike.

“Really, how's that going for you?” Skyler asked skeptically. I rolled my eyes at her tone and simply said.

“Halfway there, already made the frame of the hawk. I just need to be sure not to fuck up in making the outer layer, I really don't want to start all over again.” I told her before taking a bite out of the toast given to me with my breakfast. She stifled a little laugh, remembering my many reactions to failing some projects. Some were mild while others were a little over the top, which involved lots of fire, it's fortunate enough that I had made the house fireproof but still. As I thought that Blake came over with both drinks for the two of us along with a bowl of different fruit and coffee with enough cream and sugar to make my teeth rot just by looking at it.

“You sure you got enough sugar and cream in that? Seems like it could use more.” I said jokingly to Blake, earning a laugh from Skyler as a result. Blake rolled her eyes before grabbing and popping a grape into her mouth.

“I don't judge you of what you eat or drink.” Blake said. I shook my head with a chuckle as we all ate and chatted amongst ourselves. Eventually I learned about today's preparations for the Summer Solstice Festival and that the Princess was sending her protege to town to oversee the preparations. The thought of someone from Canterlot here in town, it just didn't sit right with me. We all knew Canterlot’s population consisted mostly of Nobles, rich snobby assholes that think highly of themselves and treat those of the middle and lower classes like trash. But then Skyler told me that I was tasked to give the tour of the town for our visitors and well…

“No.” I told her simply with a frown.

“But it was from the mayor!” Skyler stated. I crossed my arms and was reminded of the sleeveless shirt I wore currently that allowed my tattoos of dragons on full display. It was something I had gotten a few years ago, simply because of how fitting it was. It took me a moment to process the fact that she mentioned it was from the mayor herself before planted my head firmly against the table with a loud bang.

“I just can't catch a break.” I said, my voice muffled by the table. It was true, the entire week was full odd jobs given to me by the mayor. From repairing the school house wall that crumbled down after a failed science project, to helping gather the animals for the town's very own animal lover for her part in the Summer Solstice. “She owes me still, she hasn't paid a single coin for any of the jobs I did for her.” I said in a grumble.

“Did she say it was volunteer work?” Skyler asked me.

“While I like to do volunteer work every now and again, she's been making me work my ass off for an eventual pay she keeps saying.” I told her angrily. The mayor was a nice woman, the kind the town would want for mayor but she does have a tendency to change the subject, when the current subject is about my pay.

“Well good luck with that, I would've come along but I got roped in making pastries for the event.” Blake told the two of us. “Making a lot of Mooncakes.”

“Aren't Mooncakes a Lunar festival cake?” Skyler asked only for Blake to answer with a nod.

“They're just a popular choice for a lot of people.” I told Skyler as I stood up from the booth, having finished the meal given to me by Blake which I thanked her for, like I do many other times. I've always insisted in paying for the food but she just denies it, simply repeating the same answer of we're friends. “So doubt you have school today on account of tomorrow's festivities, what do you plan on doing? And your answer better not being playing that rage inducing game you play so much.” I told Skyler, regarding of her habit of playing that overly difficult video game I bought for her birthday.

“Hey! I’m trying to hit the hundred percent achievement on that game!” Skyler pointed out to me. “And I’m close too!” I rolled my eyes as I looked at Blake, once again silently thanking her for the food before looking back at Skyler and asking.

“When did the mayor say the princess’s protege or whatever would be arriving?” I asked her, making a mental note to talk with the mayor personally at a later date.

“By the fountain in the center of the town. She said that she’ll be coming in on some kind of royal ride so it’s hard to miss.” Skyler said, she even added the time that the person will be here at. With a sigh I nodded and began my trek towards the town center, passing by familiar and friendly faces on the way. When I finally arrived however, the town square was almost barren with it being the early morning. The fountain was already on, so at least it wasn't completely quiet. I walked up to the fountain and sat on the edge of it with the intent to wait. It was fortunate that I didn't have to wait too long, seeing the distant chariot slowly making its way here from above. Seeing that I had at least a few minute left of me time, I laid onto the edge of the fountain and draped an arm over my eyes, blocking the light of the sun from blinding me. The sound of wheels and hooves greeted my ears as the chariot landed. Soon some doors opened and some people walked out before the doors closed. There was some talk before the chariot took off, leaving whoever behind.

“Wow, this is some town… I kinda like it.” A boys voice said, sounding close to Skylers age if I had to guess. I heard a little grumbling for another before the boy spoke again. “Oh don’t be like that, the Princess told us to come here, at least have some fun with it. I even brought a list for you.”

“Drake, you know we don’t have time for this. There are more important issues to deal with.” a female voice said in a unhappy tone, which made me frown a bit. Nobles.

“Really, you want to tell that to the Princess?” The boy, Drake I guessed, asked. There wasn’t an answer for the next few moments before Drake added. “Like I thought, anyway we need to find some guy that was going to be our guide… Maybe that’s him over there?” The sound of them walking up to me was a sign that me time is now over.

“Not even ten minutes to myself.” I muttered to myself as I moved my arm away from my eyes, squinting a bit to avoid being blinded by the sun. I turned to the two newcomers, seeing the woman was a young Magi, somewhat around my age, slightly pale skin and some glasses in front of her purple eyes. She wore a purple skirt with a deep dark red vest with a symbol of a high end school on the front of a navy blue jacket. Next to her was a younger boy, again around the same age of Skyler, wearing a black shirt with the words ‘Prepare to Die Edition’ on the front of it along with some dark purple with green flames jeans. From the look of his purple scales and slitted eyes he was a Beastkin.

“Excuse me, but are you our guide?” the boy asked me. I nodded and sat up before stretching arms a bit.

“Yup that'd be me… unfortunately.” I said, muttering the last part to myself while the Magi woman read on what was no doubt a list of the preparations. The boy looked over at the Magi and sighed a bit.

“Well, hey there I’m Drake and this,” he gestured to the woman. “Is Lydia. Sorry if she doesn’t say anything, she’s in a cranky mood.”

“Hey!” The Magi snapped, frowning at the young Beastkin who simply rolled his eyes. The Magi cleared her throat a bit before speaking. “Anyway, I’m Lydia Aurora and I’m here to oversee that everything is going smoothly for the festival tomorrow.”

“Yeah yeah.” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand while I used my other hand to wipe the tired look off of them. When I was done I stood up and looked at them with an already bored expression, having just thought of the oh so many things I could be doing right now. “Well, what's first on the list?” I asked impatiently. The woman, Lydia, blinked a few times as she stared at me before shaking her head and looking down at the list, a little blush forming on her cheeks. She shook her head and pulled a list out of her jacket pocket.

“First we need to check up with food, that means we need to go to… Sweet Apple Acres and… Over the Moon Coffee?” Linda said in a odd tone, as if she never heard of the place before. With a destination set, I motioned them to follow me before heading over to the Apple farm. On the way there, Drake looked at the building we passed by in awe, seeing each and every one of them were more different than the other. We even passed by the Sugarcube corner bakery, which was oddly empty but it was still morning so I didn't think much of it for now and continued on. Lydia spent the trek muttering to herself about everything needed to accordingly and something about an old myth of some Nightmare.

Soon the buildings thinned out to an old dirt trail, the building were soon replaced with rows upon rows of apple trees. Lydia was still too busy rereading the list while Drake looked at the endless rows of apple trees in awe. I soon led them to a large gathering of people, spotting the farmer girl in charge of the operations of this farm.

“Jacqueline!” I called out for her, gaining her attention as soon as I uttered her name. The woman in question was a tall fit blonde haired Tarren with a brown cowboy hat on. She wore a blue button shirt with some ripped up jeans. A pair of old worn out boots covered her feet as she stared at me. She smiled as she walked over to the the three of us.

“Why howdy there Isaac! What brought ya to the farm?” Jacqueline asked as she got close, able to see the freckles on her face. I smiled at her hospitality before greeting her as well.

“Sorry about the sudden drop in but we've got a visitor here wanting to see how the feast is coming along.” I told her, smiling as I spoke. She smiled at me before seeing the other two. She went over and greeted them, as well as almost ripping Lydia’s arm off while shaking her hand.

“R-Right…” Lydia said, rubbing her shoulder a bit. “Anyway, I would a list of all the items that you'll be providing for the festival.” Lydia asked in a formal manner.

“Shoot, we’ll do better than give ya some list, and ya can meet mah family as well!” The farmer said before dragging the Magi off to see everything apple themed including Jacqui’s extensive family.

“She going to be okay?” Drake asked me as he watched Lydia meet the Smith family. The latter struggled hard to get the farm girl’s attention but at the same time not trying to be rude.

“Probably.” Was my answer to Drake's question. The two of us watch as Lydia’s face paled when she sees all the food getting piled up in front of her. I soon had to hold back a laugh as Lydia soon got guilt-tripped to stay and try the food.

“Free food! Aw Yeah!” Drake said happily before running over to the mountain of food. I chuckled a little at this before leaning against a tree to wait for them to be done, I was offered to try some of the food as well but I immediately declined. I soon lost myself in my thoughts as I waited.

End of Chapter I

Chapter II

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“I still don’t see why you’re mad.” I told an angered Lydia while Drake was finishing up a slice of apple pie given to him before we left the farm. When Lydia saw the chance to escape from Jacqueline’s taste testing of the feast, Lydia was angry at both me and Drake.

“You two just… left me! We had more important things to do than have a large dinner.” Lydia sighed a bit as she rubbed her belly. “I will say… the food was good and they were pleasant folk, I don’t know if an all apple feast is a good choice.”

“I don’t know about you but I think it’s fine.” Drake said as he licked his fingers. I rolled my eyes before we headed out the farm and once we went through the archway with name of the farm written on it, I stopped to cave Lydia and asked.

“So what’s next on your list?” I asked her, crossing my arms as I spoke and waited for an answer. Lydia looked over at the Beastkin as he pulled the list out.

“Well, there’s the Coffee place or… weather.” Drake said, earning a groan from the Magi.

“I don’t know if I could take anymore food…” Lydia groaned. Seeing as we’ll have to skip over Blake’s moon cakes, I sighed after realizing that the only person I knew that was left in charge of the weather was none other than the town’s own egotistical skyborn. Speaking of which, I could hear her now though what she was yelling didn’t process through my head in time before something crashed onto Lydia, sending both of them onto the floor. Low and behold, Rachael makes her appearance by crashing into Lydia. The latter groaned quietly at the pain she currently felt.

“Whoops, my bad.” Rachael said, getting off Lydia and helping the groaning magi up. Lydia was halfway covered in dirt and mud that she fell into.

“I’m guessing you’re in charge of the weather…” Lydia asked in annoyed time before glancing up at the sky.

“Yup! Name’s Rachael, nice to meet you.” The Skyborn introduced herself. Rachael was a short Skyborn, be it only five foot one, she was athletically fit for a Skyborn with shoulder length rainbow hair and goggles. Lydia arched a brow at her before speaking.

“Yes well nice to meet you… also you forgot to clear the skies.” The Magi pointed out that the sky was cloudy.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I’ll get around it after practice.” Rachael said in her normal tone, which was cocky. I groaned at this, while me and Rachael were indeed friends, her cocky tone irritated me to no end.

“No matter how much you practice, you always end up making a hole in the ground.” I told Rachael with a frown, my arms already crossed as I spoke. Rachael shot me a glare before Lydia spoke.

“If you don’t mind directing me to a Skyborn or a Beastkin on the weather team other than you so they can clear the skies.” She asked, trying to dust herself off.

“Wait what!?” Rachael yelled at the Magi. “I said I’ll do it!”

“And yet the sky has clouds, meaning that you can’t. “ The Magi shot back at the irritated Skyborn. Drake and I looked back and forth of the two before Rachael spoke.

“I can clear the whole sky in thirty seconds flat.” She stated with her arms crossed.

“Okay, prove it.” Lydia said. Rachel smirked as she pulled on her goggles and blasted off into the sky. Like she said, in thirty seconds the sky was now clear and Rachel had time to spin Lydia around, sorts cleaning her.

“There! Thirty seconds flat!” Rachel said proudly. I stood there in silence, mentally groaning as she said this. She’s known to take almost anything as a sort of contest on being the fastest.

“Can we go one second without you inflating your ego?” I asked out loud, making myself known to the goggle wearing skyborn. “And can you please do your job without trying to show off for once? Seriously, you can’t even go a single minute without boasting over speed.” I told the skyborn.

“Hey, can’t help if I’m too awesome.” Rachael said with a grin. Lydia, on the other hand, was still stunned as her hair was now disheveled. “Ah, well, anyway… got to go!” with that, she zoomed off away from us. Drake looked up at the Magi who now came to her senses.

“Whaa…” was all she could say.

“What’s next on the list?” I sighed out, rubbing my head from the headache Rachael left me with. I honestly couldn’t wait to go back home and simply crash onto my bed. “We’re wasting daylight the more you stand there dumbstruck.” I said snapping my fingers in front of Lydia, to be sure I caught her attention, each snap of my finger caused sparks to come out.

“Huh… what?” Lydia said, making me frown as Drake rolled his eyes as he read the list.

“It says that we also have to find the one who’s doing the decorations, one that does the music, and… I believe that’s it?” Drake said, rereading the list. I sighed in relief at this before motioning for them to follow me once again, this time our trek through town wasn’t as uneventful as before. It was nearly midday, so people were going about their day like normal, some were helping prepare for tomorrow’s festival while others simply did their daily chores. Soon enough we found the person in charge of the decorations, another magi woman just two years older than me working within her boutique. She was busy putting up some decorations. She wore a white dress shirt and a dark purple skirt with light blue streaks on it. Her hand glowed a light blue colour as she moved the decorations a bit.

“Oh wow…” Drake said. Looking over at the young Beastkin I saw the familiar love struck look I’ve seen before. I grimaced at the many memories Sophia had given me, her many attempts in wooing me, her many love letters and borderline obsession. I nearly filed a restraining order until she decided to back off, though it didn’t deter her attempts but it did stop her from nicking some of my old clothes. How she got into my home is beyond me, perhaps I need a guard dog or something. With a sigh, I called out her name.

“Sophia!” I called out for her and within an instant, her gaze snapped towards out direction.

“Oh Isaac!” she said happily before seeing Lydia and her happy smile turned to shock. “Oh my Lords! What has happened to you!”

“Ah, well, you see…” Lydia tried to say before Sophia came over to drag Lydia off to a chair.

“Don’t worry darling, I’ll have this fixed in no time~” Sophia singsonged as she went to work on Lydia’s hair.

“Hey, do you know that… angel…” Drake sighed a bit as he said that to me. I snorted a bit, holding back a laugh afterwards, does he really? Judging by the look in his eyes, he no doubt meant his words.

“Her name’s Sophia Belmont and… you know what nevermind.” I said, ultimately deciding not to break his fantasy. Drake looked at me for a moment before looking back at Sophia. After a few minutes she was finished and Lydia had clean hair.

“There you go darling, good as new, now then…” she soon came back over to me with the smile. “How can I help you Isaac~?” she asked in her singsong tone. I leaned back a bit, uncomfortable with how close she was.

“I’m just giving these two a tour, Lydia over there was sent by the Princess to oversee the preparations.” I said to her, taking a step back as she took a step forward. She saw this and stopped, knowing full well of the still unfinished restraining order at home.

“Oh! Well then…” her smile was still there as she turned to Lydia. The two of them talked for some time before Lydia smiled at her as she walked over to us.

“Looks like everything is going fine with the decorations.” Lydia said happily.

“Of course darling, I do my best with I got…” Sophia started look behind us before adding. “Umm, Isaac can I ask… is you friend Blake around?” As she asked that I saw a bet of nervosity in her face. Blake and Sophia don’t have a great friendship due to how the two do things, they always get into fights about something, almost everything even. I shook my head as an answer.

“No, she’s busy making mooncakes for tomorrow.” I told her, gaining a relieved sigh from her as result. She quickly compose herself before speaking.

“That’s good… er well, you get what I mean. Well then I shouldn’t… keep you from your job.” she said with a little stran about keeping the three of us here.

“I think we could stay for a little while…” Drake said happily before Lydia spoke up.

“No we have to get going. We still have to find the one who does the music for the event.” Lydia said before ushering us out of the place. “Have a nice day Sophia.” When we exited the boutique in a hurry, Lydia wanting to get her list done pronto and rather not waste time on simple chatter. I didn’t see the need to be rushed, we still had all day left but Lydia wouldn’t hear none of it. The three of us continue walking until we started to hear someone singing softly.

We come up on a cottage just outside of town, home of the town’s own animal caretaker Angelina Calliope. The owner of the home loved all animals, even those within the Everfree Forest. She was sitting out in the grass with some birds singing along with her. The soft spoken woman was wearing a yellow and green sundress as her hair was pulled back to show off her face a bit. Her smile as she sang made me smile a little as well. Lydia smiled at the song she was singing before Angelina finished her song.

“That was amazing.” Lydia said, getting the attention of the Angelina. She jumped before dashing off to hide behind a tree. Lydia blinked at this before looking at me. “What? Did I do something wrong?” With a look of worry, I went over to Angelina.

“Ange, are you alright?” I asked nervous woman as she shook from the sudden spook. The shy Skyborn peeked out behind the tree as I asked this.

“O-oh… h-hello Isaac…” Angelina greeted me. “D-Didn’t realized that… I’m g-going to h-have company t-today…”

“Sorry about that, we’re just here to check on how you’re doing with the entrainment for the festival.” I told her in a calm tone, helping her calm down. Angelina is known to be frightened easily, it’s common knowledge and the townsfolk knew never to sneak up on her or raise your tone so suddenly unless you wanted to see Angelina shake like a frightened cat. “She didn’t mean to sneak up on you and scare you.” I added.

“I-I-It’s fine… n-no harm d-done.” Angelina said with a smile as she stepped out behind the tree. She took some breaths before looking over at the other two. “H-Hello…”

“Hi there… sorry for spooking you.” Lydia said with a smile. Even though Angelina smiled at Drake and Lydia she shifted uncomfortably as she tried to keep eye contact with them but failing. I stood beside the nervous skyborn and looked at the two.

“She’s shy around people but she’s got heart of pure gold.” I told them with a smile. It was true, Angelina has done many good things for the town but never asked for anything in return. “Anyway, sorry dropping in on your practices. We’ll be on our way.” I said to Angelina before walking passed Lydia, giving her a side glare for having spooked Angelina. Lydia gave me a frown as I walked off. As the two talked, hearing Angelina try to talk back but still be quite as ever I notice that Blake was walking towards us.

“Yo.” she said as she came up to me. She still wore the same outfit as before, albeit had a few bits of flour on her shirt as she carried a basket. “How goes the tour?”

“Hate it, mayor better pay me good money this time.” I told her with a little frown. Blake chuckled a bit at this.

“I don’t know about that… also Mooncake?” she asked, offering me one from her basket. “I got strawberry and blueberry filling for sweet and some savory ones as well.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” I said with an immediate smile, taking one of the tasty moon cakes not really caring if they had filling or not. I took a bite and hummed before swallowing and saying. “I needed this so much.” I said before taking yet another bite. Both Lydia and Drake looked at me curiously as I finished up my moon cake. I noticed them looking and arched a brow at the two of them. “What?” I asked them. Blake leaned over and waved at Angelia.

“Hey Ange, got some Mooncakes for you!” Blake said with a smile.

“O-oh, thank you.” Angelia said as Blake walked over to the Skyborn and gave her two smaller bags of Mooncakes.

“I tried to make some for your animals as well, hope they turn out alright.” Blake added as the shy Skyborn smiled a bit.

“I believe they will, thank you again Blake.” Angelina said with a smile.

“Excuse me, but who are you?” Lydia asked, frowning at Blake.

“Blake, nice to meet you. Mooncake?” Blake asked, showing off the cakes in her basket. Lydia’s expression shifted to look more sick and green.

“Uhh, no thanks.” she said as Drake asked for four of them. Blake looked over at me with a questioning look about Lydia.

“It’s a long story.” I simply told her before looking at Lydia. “Are we nearly done?” I asked her, wanting to go home as soon as possible.

“Mm! That’s it really.” Drake said as he pulled the list out and looked up at the sky. “It’s also getting late so we should be going to the place we’re staying which is… the Golden Oaks Library.” Hearing the name of our last destination, I sighed a little knowing that it’s across town before saying.

“I’ll catch ya later Blake.” I said with a wave before going ahead of both Lydia and Drake. “Let’s go you two.” I told them. They followed me without a word and our trek across town was… oddly quiet. Normally the streets would be busy with many of the townsfolk going about their day but I could only see a few passing people before we finally stopped at the giant tree that just so happened to be the town’s library. “Here we are, Golden Oaks.” I told them.

“Thank you Isaac for giving us this tour.” Lydia said before Drake nodded.

“Yeah, it was fun!” he said with a smile. “Maybe we can see eachother again after the festival?” Before I could answer Lydia stepped in and turned the young Beastkin around.

“Sorry but we have a lot of work to be doing right now and need to work on it right away.” Lydia said as she started to push Drake inside, despite his protests. Soon the door closed, leaving me by myself outside as the sun was setting. Despite the rudeness of her action, I decided not argue and turned around with the intent to return home only to hear many people yell the word surprise from within the library, normally I wouldn’t be spooked by something like this but then I remembered that this could only mean Dianne is there, which meant hilarity would ensue. Weighing my options I decided to head back home. As the sun went down I got back to my house and walked inside, I saw the place was cleaned and spotless and the sounds of Skyler playing games greeted my ears.

“OH COME ON! THAT’S THE FIFTH TIME!” Skyler yelled, answering which game she was playing. Walking into the living, room, I was greeted with tv displaying a loading screen with a tooltip of a type of greatsword.

“I see you cleaned up the place, thanks for that.” I told her, thanking her for the clean floors and tables. “That tour took way longer than I would’ve hoped and it was abysmal. One of them even spooked Angelina!” I said, exclaiming the last part in disbelief. This got a reaction from Skyler once I uttered those words.

“Why would they do that!? Angelina is the nicest person in town.” She frowned a bit as she crossed her arms. “That’s not nice.” I sat down on the couch next to her just as her character respawned.

“Stuck on the dragon?” I asked, knowing the answer. With a frown Skyler answered with a simple.

“Shut up.” She said just above a whisper. I chuckled a bit as I helped her get past the dragon. It took a few tries but sooner or later she defeated the dragon. She let out a cheer after this, seeing the words Heir of Fire Slain fade in after almost two hours spent dying over and over again. She flopped back onto the couch and let out a sigh. “That took way longer than it should…” Skyler stated. At the mention of time, I looked up at the clock and saw that it was nearly time for the Princess’s arrival.

“Oh shit.” I said slowly before suddenly realizing the gravity of the situation. “Oh shit!” I yelled, hopping up to my feet and surprising Skyler as a result.

“What’s wrong?” She asked as I panicked.

“It’s almost time for the princess’s arrival!” I exclaimed in a panicked tone. Before I could give her time to react, I told her to get dressed while I got ready myself. I hurried upstairs and took a quick shower before putting on a fresh pair jeans and a clean shirt that unfortunately had sleeves but they weren’t long. When I got downstairs, I saw that we had only a few minutes before the event and Skyler hurried down the stairs dressed to go out as well.

“I’m ready, I’m ready!” Skyler yelled as she almost stumbled and fell onto the ground before catching herself. Seeing that she was alright and well, we both hurried out of the house and made our way across town to the town hall. Luckily we made within the last minute and saw the large gathering of people, eager to see the princess. Blake saw us rush in and gave us a wave as the rest of the townsfolk chatted with themselves as they waited.

“We made it.” I told Skyler, panting for air after having ran across town to get here. Skyler was no different, she looked about ready to collapse but out sheer willpower, she stayed standing up. “I don’t think think… no nevermind, can’t feel my legs.” I said, slowly regaining my breath. As Skyler laughed at that the event started. The Mayor, a middle aged woman with silver hair wearing a light brown suit, started to give a speech about the importance of the holiday and something else that I didn’t listen too as I was more focused on getting feeling back in my legs. Soon it was time for the Princess to show herself. Music played and birds flew up as some curtains parted to show… nothing. The Princess wasn’t there and this caused mass confusion before the mayor looked through still opened curtains, seeing if the princess has wandered off only to come back and announced the dreadful news.

“She’s gone!” The mayor said, her voice taking a panicked tone. The gathered townsfolk, save for me, Blake and Skyler muttered amongst themselves worryingly. It was until I felt the sudden drop of temperature that I knew something wasn’t right. I notice that on the ground and on the walls the shadows started to shift and move. They all started to make their way up to where the Mayor was and coalesce into a solid form. Black wings burst out of the shadows as they melted away to show a raven haired woman with black and blue armor on. The Mayor stumbled back as the townsfolk gasped at this. Black pits for eyes scanned the crowd before she spoke.

“Sorry for being late my subjects, but don’t fret. Your Queen has arrived.” She said, her voice was as smooth as silk with a feeling of a sharp tone as well. I didn’t care much for her words as I shivered from the cold, it was seriously cold and I didn’t like it one bit. Blake and Skyler noticed my shivering.

“D-D-Damn t-the cold!” I exclaimed loudly. Skyler nodded, shivering and her breath was coming out in white puffs. The only one that didn’t seem cold was Blake. The guards that were around charged at the woman only for her to bat them aside as if they were nothing.

“Now now, do you know who I am?” the woman asked with a smirk. When no one answer her the smirk disappeared. “Really? No one?” She asked before muttering to herself.

“You’re the Lady of the Moon! The Witch of Shadows. The Nightmare!” A familiar voice called out, looking over I saw that it was Lydia.

“Well… I prefer now Queen Moon but… that kinda works… not really.” The Shadow lady said with a little annoyed. I began snapping my fingers to lit a flame, earning only sparks as a result. I kept trying over and over but nothing but sparks were made from each snap. The woman seemed to hear my snapping and glanced over to my direction. Unaware of her gaze, I kept trying to get a simply flame to ignite. After a few more tries with nothing but sparks Skyler tried to help with using her hands to make a windshield.

“FuckFuckFu- Yes!” I said as a single flame was finally lit ablaze the tip of my thumb. “That’s a win for me!” I said victoriously, feeling my hand warm up from the little flame.

“Well, isn’t that interesting.” A voice said. Both me and Skyler looked up to see that the Nightmare was kneeling near us, her pale skin look deadlike as her solid black eyes stared back. Skyler pulled back away in fear as I stare at the woman. “I’ve seen much, but to make a flame in my presence is… admirable.”

“Umm...okay?” I said, a little confused at her closeness. I used my other hand to keep Skyler back behind me in case the woman tried anything. Blake didn’t move as the rest of the townsfolk stepped back, only the rest of the guards tried to do a sneak attack from behind but only got knocked aside by the shadows.

“I do wish to stay more, being banished for so long does put me out of the loop, and I do have so much to do so-” before she could finished Lydia made a circle in the air and thrust her hands forward, a beam of purple magic shot out towards the Nightmare. Without looking the Dark Celestial raised her hand up and a few tendrils of dark blue magic shot out of her hand and blocked the blast. The sound of something shattering was heard as the spell from Lydia was broken, shocking the purple Magi.

“But… how..?” was all she could say as the Nightmare looked around at the others.

“Farewell my subjects, I do hope that you all will bow down to me soon.” With that she disappeared into shadows and left. The cold weather quickly turn back into warmth and that I now realized, the lights brighten. Everyone around me was shocked, frighten, or both.

“Well then, anyone know what the fuck just happened?” I asked just before swallowing the flame, feeling its warmth within me. Skyler felt the warmth I was emitted and held tighter against me, still cold after the encounter. “Who the hell was that?” I asked out loud while the mayor tried to calm the crowd down.

“That was… the Nightmare.” Lydia said as she got close. “A being of Darkness, Princess Celestia banished her to the moon for a thousand years for trying to plunge the land in complete darkness. I read all the books and seen the signs and tried to warn the Princess about this but… she sent me here.” Lydia said with a frown. I gave her an odd look of disbelief, really not knowing if were true or not but that didn’t matter right now. Looking down at Skyler, I said to her.

“Go home and lock the doors, don’t let anyone that isn’t me in.” I told her as she clung to my arm. She looked at me before shakingly nodding and letting go before quickly running off back home while the rest of the townsfolk ran about in a fit of panic. I then looked back at Lydia before asking. “I assume you know how to stop her?” I asked her. She stared at me for a few moments before saying.

“This has nothing to do with you.” she said before making her way to out of the building.

“Well… that was rude.” Blake said with a frown. She looked down and helped me up. “You okay there Isaac?” She said as I was helped up.

“Yeah, for the most part. So what do think we should do?” I asked her, gaining an arched from her as to what I meant. I rolled my eyes and said. “Come on, you of all people should know we’re not keen on staying by the sidelines. Remember the Diamond Dog Raiders?” I asked her, gaining a snort from her. The memory of the event was clear as day, one day a daring gang of raiders called Diamond Dogs had attempted to sack the town but thanks to me, Blake and handful of others, we beat them to submission.

“Yeah…” Blake said before she notice that some people, Rachael , Angelina, Dianne, Sophia, and Jacqueline, following Lydia. “Maybe we should follow them.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I told her, gaining an odd look before she said.

“That wasn’t a plan.” Blake said, a little confused at my words but it didn’t help that I looked back at her with an arched brow and said.

“Your point?” I asked her. When I received no retort or answer, I looked forwards towards the group before saying. “Onwards.” I said, taking the lead.

End of Chapter II

Chapter III

View Online

Blake and I were quick to follow Lydia back to the library while some of the townsfolk scurried back into their homes, others were readying themselves for a fight that hopefully will never come. We finally arrived at the library and we both saw the door slightly ajar with voices emitted from within. It sounded like an argument in there and while I was beginning to have second thoughts, I quickly shook my head and pushed the door open, revealing the messy state of the library within.

“Any over all, what do you have to prove if your really not working for this lady?” Rachael asked, hovering off the ground with her arms crossed. Lydia glanced over to the irritated Skyborn.

“If I was, then why am I here looking for a way to stop her?” Lydia asked. Rachael looked like she was about to say something but the Farmer pulled her down.

“Easy there, she’s ain’t lying so stop this yelling.” Jacqueline said. As the others looked over at the Magi, Angelina see the two of us and gave us a little wave. I gave her a wave back, which earned us a smile from her. We walked inside and shut the door behind us while being mindful of rue scattered books across the floor, a large pile near the wall proved Lydia’s words on finding a way.

“Not a day here and you’ve somehow trashed the place.” I said with a quiet chuckle, making myself known. Lydia soon saw me and Blake and frowned upon sight of us.

“What are you two doing here, didn’t I ask for you to stay out of this?” Lydia asked, putting her hands on her hips. Crossing my arms and with a roll of my eyes, I retorted by saying.

“I don’t remember you asking that, more along the lines of This has nothing to with you and I beg to differ.” I told her with a frown. This brought a shameful look from Lydia, no doubt realizing now her rudeness from earlier.

“Besides, ah think ya need some more help to defeating this villain sugarcube.” Jacqueline pointed out. Lydia looked between both me and the apple farmer.

“Look, this nice that you all want to help but it’s too dangerous.” Rachael simply snorted at this as Lydia continued. “I’m trained in the magical arts of defence and offence so I’ll be alright.”

“Yet the spell she used before just got brushed aside…” Blake whispered a bit. I laughed a little at this, gaining Lydia’s attention from my sudden laugh.

“Look, if you want to help then help me find a book.” Lydia said, looking at the many bookshelves. Upon mentioning the word book, the large pile of books erupted and revealed the pink and puffy haired party planner and baker, Dianne Pye with a book in hand. She giggles a bit as Lydia rolled her eyes.

“Is this about these Elements of Harmony? What are they anyway?” Rachael asked, still frowning from before.

“They… they are some sort of magical artifacts that should banish the Nightmare away, but I don’t know where they are, what they are, or what they do!” Lydia said loudly.

“The Elements of Harmony; a Reference Guide.” Dianne said as she looked at a bookcase. Lydia turned wide eyed before running over and seeing the book in question.

“But… how… how did you find it?!” Lydia asked, pulling the book out.

“It was under ‘E’~” Dianne said, skipping away. Lydia stared at the party planner and shrank a bit.

“... Oh.” was all she said before opening the book. As she read the book out loud I noticed Blake looking off at the window, she stared at it as her left foot was tapping. To anyone else it means nothing but I’ve been friends with Blake for a long time that this ment there’s something up.

“Something bugging you, Blake?” I asked her with a little concern in my voice. She hummed a bit before looking at me.

“Just… do you have the feeling that you’re being watched?” she whispered to me. I gave a curious look but then I thought about it and…

“Yeah, kinda creepy to be honest.” I told her, feeling a chill crawl up my spine afterwards. After our exchange of words I notice the Lydia was now pale as she held the book.

“The location of the five elements… is in the Castle of the two sisters within the Everfree forest.” Lydia said, earning some scared looks from everyone but Angelina, who saw all this and put on a scared look as well. It was kinda funny.

“Then let’s get a move on.” I told them all, not really caring much for the dangers that lurks within the forest infamous for the many disappearances of foolish travelers that dared to walk across the Everfree. “The sooner we do this, the sooner we get to go home.” I added.

“Umm, Isaac… you do know what’s the Everfree Forest is right?” Sophia asked in a nervous tone. “The place filled with monsters and rumored to be a place where people disappear…”

“Yeah I know that, everyone knows that but if what Lydia said was true, if we don’t do something we’re looking at an eternity of endless night.” I told them all, a look of seriousness and a tone to match as well. This earned a blush from Sophia before she fanned herself.

“Besides, Angelina goes into the forest all the time, and she’s fine.” Blake added, earning a shock looked from the shy Skyborn. The rest of them stared at her as Angelina brushed some of her hair in front of her face. “Uhh, I shouldn’t have said that…” Blake added.

“Nice going.” I said, elbowing Blake with a frown. Blake looked over at the shy Skyborn with an apologetic look.

“W-Well, even if it’s a bad idea, I still need to go in there.” Lydia said, steeling her nerves.

“Uhh, don’t you mean ‘we’?” Rachael corrected. Lydia then looked up from her book once again, seeing all of us with silent looks that said we were going as well and there was not a damn thing she could do to stop us. I looked at her with a smirk and said.

“We’re going with, whether you like it or not.” I said with the same smirk. Seeing that there was no use in trying to make us change our minds, Lydia sighed in defeat before we all exited the library and headed towards the edge of the forest. On the way, I could feel a chill run up my spine again with the feeling of being watched in the back of my mind as we walked. As we walked I saw Blake wrapping her hands in some wrappings. Back in school she took some fighting classes as well as some magic classes as well.

After following them for five minutes, we had stopped just in front of the the path that led into the Everfree. It wasn’t until we had begun our trek that I had snapped my fingers and caused them to burst into flames and engulfing my hand. This action had gained me a curious look from Lydia.

After walking through the dark part of the forest, the light of the full moon shone brighter than the flame in my hand so with a quick flick of my wrist, the fire vanished into a puff of smoke. I then put my hands into the pockets of my jacket and felt something small and rectangular inside the left pocket.

“So, none of you have been in here before?” Lydia asked everyone. I stayed silent as I pulled out the item in my pocket before seeing that it was the MP3 player I had misplaced a few weeks back. Blake looked over and shifted a laugh as she remembers how I was during the first week.

“Ugh, heavens no! Just look at it - it’s dreadful.” Sophia said with a bit of disgust. I reached into my pocket again and pulled out the earphones that belonged to the Mp3.

“And it ain’t natural. Folks say it ain’t right.” Jacqueline added her words into the conversation. I plugged in the earphones before putting them on.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lydia asked with a questioning side glance. I turned on the Mp3 and waited for it to loud.

“Nobody knows. You know why?” Rachael asked with a grin forming on her face. Once the Mp3 was one, I maxed out the volume before selecting random.

“Rachael, quit it.” Jacqui said with a groan and facepalm.

“Because everyone who-” Rachael’s words, along with everyone else’s were drowned out by the song that had just began to play. I did notice Rachael’s face planting in the ground after Blake came over and smacking her over the head. From the looks of it the two of them got into an argument.

Just as I began to get into the feel of the song, the earth beneath gave away. Eyes wide as dinner plates, I fell and began sliding down to what I could tell was a cliff. I quickly took hold of an exposed root before looking and seeing Jacqueline sliding down fast. Quickly taking hold of her wrist, I held her up from falling just as she did the same with Lydia. I could see that Lydia had spoken to Jacqui but because of the music, I couldn’t hear a single word coming from either of them. Shaking my head, I had managed to get the earphones out of my ears which in turn, caused them hang loosely from my pocket.

“Let go.” Was the first thing I heard coming from Jacqueline. Snapping my attention back at the two women under me, I could see the panic look on Lydia’s face.

“Are you crazy!?” Lydia yelled in her state of panic. I peeked over the edge and had caught a glimpse of Angelina.

“Just trust her dammit!” I shouted as I felt my hand start slipping away from the root. Closing her eyes, Lydia let of Jacqueline’s hand and slid off the edge with a scream of fear.

“Got ya!” Yelled Rachael as she held Lydia up with one arm while Angelina held Lydia up by the other arm. Both Skyborn’s struggled to keep a firm grip on Lydia as they flew down and out of my field of vision.

“Alrighty… now what?” I asked the woman under me. This brought a sigh from Jacquie.

She reached over to a large stone that poked through the ground before checking if it wouldn’t just slip off. Getting her idea, I started to do the same and before we knew it, we had began to climb down the cliff and reached the others. Though I did find it odd that the cliff suddenly broke apart but thinking of the Night crazed woman from earlier, I only just shook my head and thought nothing of it. I reached into my pocket to take out the Mp3 only to find it missing again.

‘Great, it must’ve slipped out while I was climbing down.’ I mentally groaned. Everyone made sure that no bones were broken and that no one was hurt, though I did ask where had Sophia been while all this happened.

“I’m terribly afraid of heights so I tend to stay in a relatively safe distance from the edge but I did find another way down here.” The Fashionista said before pointing at what appeared to be an old stone staircase that was carved out from the large hill.

“But what about Dianne?” Asked Jacqueline after she had took a glance around the group. I did the same but saw no sign of the party enthusiast.

“Weee!” The loud voice belonging to the baker in question echoed just as she appeared sliding off the edge before performing a perfect backflip and landing on her feet unharmed.

“Should’ve seen that one coming, huh?” I asked the farmer next to me, earning a laugh from her. Lydia only stared in disbelief but stayed silent dispute the situation she had been in. Looking around I heard a popping sound as Blake appeared near us. She also had some headphones in her- wait that’s my MP3! It took a few moments I got my music player back and stuffed it in my pocket as I looked at the others.

Once everyone made sure they were fine, we began moving once again. As we walked deeper into the forest, the soothing sounds of the night echoed around us but of course with the constant bragging that Rachael does, the sounds were drowned out by her egotistical rambling.

“... But once Me and Angie saw the edge, we spread our wings and flew faster than you could ever see us fly and BAM! Caught you in the nick of time.” Rachael said for the tenth time in a row. Everyone groaned at the excessive bragging that Skyborn brought.

“Don’t you ever shut up, bird brain?” I asked with a frown. She looked down at me and glared.

“ Why I ought to-” She started but was cut off my Angie as she simply glared at the both of us.

“Why do you to act so immature towards each other?” Lydia asked to the both of us.

“Cause that’s how our friendship works.” Both me and Rachael said without missing a beat.

“What?” Asked Lydia. Jacquie caught her attention before asking anymore questions.

“It’s complicated, so don’t ask.” Was all the farmgirl said. It was true, our continues ‘Fights’ never lead to anything more than an argument that would be simply be solved by a dare given to us by Dianne. It’s an odd type of Friendship that can leave others to wonder if we were friends or enemies, maybe even frenemies. I looked over at Blake and thought on our friendship before shaking my head.

“So I heard Simon was back in town-” Rachael began to say before being cut off by a gasp from Lydia.

“Manticore!” She yelled in surprise as the animal in question growled but hadn’t made a single move. With a more focused glance, I had noticed that it kept its right paw up. By the looks of both Jacquie and Rachael, they looked ready to start a fight.

“How ‘bout we let an animal expert handle this.” I told them, keeping my arm up and my hands open in case they wouldn’t listen. “Angie, can you see what’s wrong with it?”

“Him.” The Animal caretaker corrected.

“Him. Can see what’s wrong with him?” I repeated my question. With a nod, Angie walked up to the growling Manticore before saying soothing words to it. Everyone looked ready to defend Angelina at the moment the Manticore decides to attack but to their surprise, the Manticore lifted its paw and showed Angie a large gash covered in dry blood. Angie frowned before taking a hold of an item that was lodged inside the open wound before pulling it out without haste, causing the Manticore roar in pain. Jacquie and Rachael were about ready to shove me aside until they both heard the cat like pure from the beast itself.

In Angelina’s hand was a jagged silver dagger covered in blood. She held it up despite her disgust while the Manticore’s wound simply closed itself, leaving only the dry blood and a scar behind. It looked at Angie and purred while itself onto Angie. The latter was taken by surprise but quickly began to pet the Manticore.

“Aw you’re just a little ol’ baby kitty, aren’t you? Yes you are, yes you are.” Angie cooed at the Manticore. Lydia looked at this in shock as Blake started to laugh at the look on her face.

After the Manticore walked deeper into the dark forest, Angie then dropped the dagger in pure disgust. Seeing this, I walked over to her before the others caught up.

“How did you know there was something wrong?” Lydia asked the Pink haired Skyborn. Angie turned to look at Lydia.

“I didn’t, Isaac did but I showed him kindness and helped the poor thing.” She answered with a smile. I smiled as well.

“The power of Kindness is a wonderful thing~!” Blake said in a funny singsong voice, which only made Angie blush a bit.

“We should keep moving.” Said Lydia once she walked on ahead of the group. We followed behind and as we walked deeper into the forest, the light of the moon was soon blocked by the treetops above us.

“No. My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck.” Just as Sophia said those words, everything seemed to have become darker. “Well, I didn’t mean that literally.”

I had tried to light my hand on fire again but it was extremely cold for me to do so. After the fifth attempt, I gave up and put my hands into my pockets for warmth. Again, I saw Blake simply stand there normal as if the cold isn’t bothering her. I smirked a bit before saying.

“The cold never bothered you anyway~?” I said jokenly, earning a glare out of my friend.

“Do you want me to put you into the ground?” she threatened. I chuckled as Lydia spoke.

“That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn’t even know it.” Lydia complained.

“Hey!” I shouted at the person who pushed me.

“I didn’t see you there, my apologies.” It was Sophia who apologized.

“Right here…” Rachael said to which was followed by a disgusting squelch or squish. “Guh…” She said in disgust.

“Oh wait, I think I stepped in somethin’.” Jacqueline said. Just as she said this, I felt the bottom of my shoe sink an inch into the ground.

“I think I did too.” I replied but continued on walking, ignoring the horrendous filling of mud seeping into my shoes. Without warning, Angie let out a terrified scream and this caught the attention of all of us.

“It’s just mud.” I told Angie. She shook her head and simply pointed to the left of her. Looking towards where she pointed at, I was greeted with a scary face carved onto a tree.

I walked over to it before looking at the trees surrounding us, seeing the same face growing more and more grotesque as I looked on. All of a sudden, Dianne had appeared in front of the tree I stood next to.

“Wow, the unoriginality on these are off the charts.” She said before seeing the rest of the face carved trees. “Seriously, it’s like she isn’t even trying?” She grumbled the last part, leaving confused.

“Okay?” I said in confusion. She looked back at the tree and took a very deep breath.

“Things that bother you never bother me! I feel happy and fine, AHA! Livin’ in the sunlight! Lovin’ in the moonlight!Having a wonderful time!” She yelled in a singing song fashion that had made her look and sound hilarious. Her normal happy go lucky smile was replaced shortly by a furious look.

By the distant sound of laughter, I could tell that the group found this oddly funny as well. I mean, I did too knowing the song she just yelled was supposed to be one of joy and happiness but she expressed it in the most ironic way possible.

It’s almost as if an illusion was being broken around us, the trees grotesque faces soon vanished while the darkness around us was lit up from the moonlight. After everyone had stopped laughing, which took longer than one would expect, we began to resume our trek towards the ancient castle.

As we walked, the distant sound of flowing water echoed and was coming from up ahead. Ignoring the feeling of dread, I followed the girls as we spotted a river. I made sure to keep myself away from the very edge of the river while making sure no one noticed me doing so.

“How are we supposed to get past this? The current is way too violent.” Lydia said in an informative tone. It looked Dianne had an idea but wasn’t able to tell it as the distant cries of despair sounded from our right.

Oddly enough, it was a tall giant that made those cries as he stomped the waters in sheer disgust to something. The Giant’s attire appeared as if he was a fashion enthusiast and his mullet was a golden blonde. Lydia was the first to speak as she walked closer to the giant.

“Excuse me, Sir? Why are you crying?” Asked Lydia while everyone caught up behind her. The Giant turned and looked down at us before answering m

“Well, I don’t know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off, and now I look simply horrid.” Said the Giant before sobbing into his hands almost comically.

“Is he serious? This has to be a joke.” I told Rachael.

“If only.” She groaned.

“So that’s what this fuss is about?” Jacquie groaned as well while Dianne and Angie stared with a blank expression.

“Why, of course it is. How can you be so insensitive? Oh, just look at him. Such smooth and unblemished skin.” Sophia said, gesturing towards the Giant.

“I know.” The Giant said with a sniff.

“And your expertly coiffed hair.” Sophia kept speaking towards the Giant.

“Oh, I know, I know.” The Giant said with a loud sob.

“Your fabulous manicure.” Sophia said, looking at the Giant’s nails.

“It’s so true!” The Giant said with another sob.

“All ruined without your beautiful mustache.” This caused the Giant to finally break into tears again.

“It’s true, I’m hideous!” The Giant said between loud sobs.

“I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected.” Sophia said with a hint of determination. Blake heard the two of them speak and groan.

“This is so stupid…” she mumbled to herself.

“But it’s just facial hair.” I said out loud only to be ignored by both Sophia and the Giant. “It’ll just grow back.” I grumbled to myself with an annoyed frown.

“This is sooo not cool.” Rachael groaned just as a loud snip was heard from Sophia. Looking back at the fashionista, I was surprised to see her long ponytail missing.

“Oh-hohohoho! My mustache. How wonderful.” On the Giant’s face was the cut off hair attached onto his face, replacing his torn mustache.

“This isn’t like you, Sophia. You’d normally rather die than mess your hair up.” Rachael commented. Sophia gave somewhat of a forced smile.

“Oh don’t worry, hair grows back and I’ve heard short hair is back in season.” She said before looking at the now calm river. “Now let’s keep moving.” She said. Those words caught the attention of the twenty foot Giant.

“Allow me.” Said the Giant as he bent down and picked up large log and placing down, making sure it was on the ground at the other side as well. Sophia thanked the Giant, so did Dianne and Angie.

I only gave him a friendly wave but was still annoyed at the situation we were just in. The girls walked across the log without delay while I simply looked at the moving water before taking a large gulp of air and carefully walked across. Once I was across, I felt my entire body shiver in fear over what could’ve happened.

“Hey, slowpoke!” Rachael yelled. I looked up and saw that she along with the others had gone farther away. “Come on!” She yelled. Taking a deep breath, I sprinted towards the rest and caught up with them the span thirty seconds.

Once I did catch up with them, the ancient castle came into view. I wasn’t the only one who saw this by the sound of Lydia’s excited voice.

“There it is, the ruin that holds The Elements of Harmony. We made it!” Lydia exclaimed in excitement before beginning to run towards the castle.

“Lydia, wait for us!” Shouted Jacquie as we all tried to catch up with her but stopped as we saw the edge of a cliff. After seeing this, I kept sprinting.

“We’re almost the- Whoa!” She yelled as she tried to balance herself but to no avail and slipped. I reached towards her right hand and took a firm hold of it before pulling her back, causing me to fall onto the ground on my back with Lydia on top of me.

“Developed a fetish for falling?” I joked, earning a frown from the woman on top of me before she stood up.

“Now what?” Dianne said with a frustrated sigh. Rachael looked down at her feet and saw the untied rope for the the other post on the other side.

“Duh.” She said with the rope in hand. I gave her deadpan look as she held the rope.

“You don’t even know how to tie a knot. You avoid shoelaces like if was some sort of a disease.” I told her with my arms crossed. This made the athletic skyborn frown while blushing in embarrassment.

“I practiced and I’ll prove it.” She said before spreading her wings and flying across the large gap. As she flew, a thick layer of fog settled in.

“Odd, it isn’t that cold.” Lydia noted while I stood, shivering from the sudden shift in the temperature.

“S-says y-y-you.” I stuttered out. Lydia looked back at me with a questioning glance.

“You okay, Icy.” Asked Dianne. I glared at her use of the nickname.

“I’m tired and cold as balls, I’m far from okay.” I said, managing to not stutter my words. “When I get back home I’m taking a hot shower.” I said to no one in particular.

“I think I’ll second that.” Jacquie said with a raise of her hand.

“I just want to lay down. I’ve had too much excitement in one day.” Angie said in her usual quiet tone. Blake nodded at this without saying anything as we continued to wait while conversing with one another, though Lydia wanted no part of the conversation as she would ignore any and all of our questions about her. Blake looked around at the fog, frowning a bit.

“What’s taking her so long?” Lydia said with frown as she stood in front of the bridge. Looking towards the thick layer of fog, I narrowed my eyes as I caught a glimpse of four silhouettes. One silhouette took flight and Rachael appeared from the fog.

“Pfft, like I’d ever leave my friends hanging.” Muttered the Skyborn athlete. She looked crossed with whatever happened at the other side of the bridge but said nothing, only mentioning how she’d never leave her friends hanging for something so selfish, whatever that something may be.

After cautiously making our way across the bridge and calming down Angie from her fear of heights. She was never interested in flying and often chooses to walk but seeing the large chasm below the bridge must’ve really frightened her.

After a short trek from the bridge, we had finally arrived at the ancient castle and by the looks of it, it has been abandoned for ages. I let out a loud sneeze as the dust fell from the broken roof, earning me an angered shush from Lydia.

“Hey look, we’re here… now what?” Blake asked, looking up at the castle. Lydia frowned at her before looking around.

“If the book is true, then the Elements of Harmony should be in the observatory nearby.” She explained.

“You mean the one right over there?” Dianne asked as she pointed to a ruined looking building nearby on a hill. After seeing this we all headed up there. As we got closer and closer Blake’s frown became more and more deeper. When Angie saw this she asked about it and Blake answered simply that this was too easy.

“Let’s just get this over with.” I sighed before we all headed towards the ruined building. Though soon we found out that the building we saw was actually what remains of the old castle of the two sisters. The gates have long since rusted off its hinges, allowing free access to the innards of the ruins. Once inside, I snapped my fingers once again creating another flame that soon engulfed my whole hand to which I then used as a torch. Walking in and exploring we made our way to the observatory where we found a large mechanism.

“Alright, this is it… this device holds the Elements.” Lydia said as she rubbed her hands together as we all looked at it. “It’ll have a large number of traps, safety functions, everything to keep anyone from the elements, if you all let me I can-”

Blake walked over and punched the device. After hearing some things break from inside it a small latch opened up and five orbs rolled out.

“Or… that.” Lydia said, feeling bad that something so simple just happened. Blake rolled her eyes as everyone picked up one of the orbs.

“So… now what?” the speedster asked, tossing her orb in the air and catching it. With a frown Lydia spoke.

“Well, there’s six Elements, and only five of them are here… I believe if I cast some magic into them, maybe…” with a deep breath Lydia closed her eyes and started to levitate the orbs. With a hum the orbs started to glow. As we all waited I notice something out of the corner of my eye. Turning I saw a black and blue mist closing in around Lydia.

“Trouble!” Rachael yelled as she saw this. Before we could act the shadows shot forward, knocking everyone away from the purple Magi. I was quick to recover before using my still blazing hand and shot out a stream of fire that dissipated the shadows upon contact.

“Is everyone alright?” I asked out loud to the groaning group. As they nodded I looked and saw that Lydia, along with the Elements, were missing. Cursing a bit I looked around and saw some lights coming from the castle. Getting the others attention we all ran towards the castle. As we got back to the main room of the place I saw a large number of shadow creatures forming around us.

“You lot go!” Blake yelled as she charged at the monsters. Without a word I ran off deeper into the castle with the other reluctantly in tow.

“Wait, are we going to leave her?!” Sophia yelled, looking behind us.

“Blake can handle herself in a fight, don’t worry!” I yelled as we ran through the halls, avoiding various obstacles which include and not limited to crumbling floor, collapsing ceilings and even possesed rusted armors. When we ran up the step to the tower, we already at our limits but we didn’t stop until we finally arrived up the steps. As we got up there I saw that Lydia was at her own limit, clothes tattered and burnt, breathing heavily as the Nightmare was also breathing heavily but had the upper hand.

“You are a skilled mage, but you could not defeat me.” she said as she raised her hand and a scythe of shadow appeared over Lydia. “You’ll be remembered as one that came close to defeating me.” She said but before she could strike Lydia down, the burning embers that lit up my hand traveled up my arm and lit up the dragon tattoo of mine before reeling my hand back as a tiny ball formed. With an angered yell, I unleashed a torrent of fire that decimated the scythe and pushed the Nightmare back.

“Get Lydia!” I yelled at the others and it was Jacqueline and Rachael that ran up to the battered Magi before dragging her back and away from the Nightmare. The woman shook her head and looked over at me.

“You are starting to get on my nerves boy.” she said as the shadow scythe appeared in her hands.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” I told her with a smirk. With a frown she dashed forward to bring a quick slash. I ducked under it and dodged her follow up be pushing back. She twisted around before extended her hand out. A beam of darkness shot out from her hand towards me. “Oh no.” I managed to say before being hit by the beam. The force alone managed to send me flying back onto the wall and impacting an old crumbling pillar but before I hit the pillar however, I managed to use my arm to soften the impact to my back. “Ah!” I yelled in pain, hearing the audible crack of my arm. As I held my broken arm I watched as the Nightmare got closer to me.

“Any last words before going into the weave of life boy?” she asked, holding the scythe as if she was the Grim Reaper. She loomed over me, her scythe ready to strike me down within an instant.

“Not last words per say, regrets however I have plenty.” I said to her jokingly before wincing at another surge of pain from my arm. The woman looked down at me, a sight of sorrow before lifting the scythe up to strike me… right before a pillar slammed into her and sent her into a wall. Blinking I looked over to see Blake panting in the doorway, or well a broken one, looking a little worse shape as I was. Her arms were bloodyed and had vains of dark blue coursing through them. She glanced over at me before saying.

“You… look like shit.” she said with a chuckle. I gave her a look before saying.

“The adrenaline is honestly keeping me from screaming to my hearts content over the fractured or possibly shattered arm that I currently have.” I told in her in the most calmed tone I could ever muster, one that even brought a look of worry to Blake having rarely heard me like this. The two of us looked at the pillar moved out of the way and the Nightmare, now a bit disheveled than before, some of her armor is cracked or destroyed, showing that the underclothes are in tatters of old age, and just looked like… well someone who got hit by a pillar.

“This… is getting really annoying!” she said before looking at Blake in surprise. “How are you still alive!?”

“Don’t know, just something odd about me.” Blake said as she sat down. “Can’t feel my arms now… this sucks.”

“Lucky you.” I said to her with a roll of my eyes. “At least yours ain’t… This!” I said, showing her the grotesquely limp arm of mine. As the two of us looked at each other the Nightmare got closer to us.

“Can I… just simply… finish you two off?!” she yelled. As she did there was a bright light. Looking back I saw a rainbow like beam coming towards the Nightmare, having her slump over a bit. “Oh fuck me.”

“My eyes.” I hissed as I blocked my view of the beam, the multitude of colors were beginning to give me a headache especially when they were spiraling like that. After the blinding light of colour and lights, the beam hit’s the Nightmare and the sound of her screaming filled the room. It was also the last thing I heard as the pain was too much and I passed out.

When I regained consciousness, the first thing that I could hear was the obnoxious beeping of a heart monitor. When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t help but hiss at the sudden ray of light. After a minute or two of rapidly blinking, I found myself within a decent sized medical room no doubt in the hospital back in town.

I looked down at my right arm, remembering the events that led me here and found that it was wrapped within a cast. I felt no pain trying to move it, so it must mean that a doctor helped fix it. I sat up and saw the many gift baskets that crowded the bed, one of them had a sealed slice of apple pie. Seeing it had caused an immediate reaction from my stomach, earning a growl at the sight of the pie. There was however a downside, the basket that contained the delicious pie was just out of reach and with the cast being suspended by the bed, I doubt I could reach it but despite this facts, I gave it a good ol’ go. I stretched my arm as far as humanly possible, only managing to graze my fingertips on the basket. I retracted my arm and took a few deep breaths before trying again, comically sticking my tongue out as if it would do me any good. I pulled my arm back and glared at the outreach basket.

“You will be mine.” I said to it before reaching out for it again and to my surprise, the basket was pushed towards me and allowed me to reach it. With victory in my hand, I pulled the basket to me and saw that along with the slice of pie, there were many apple based products thanks to the Smith family. “Yummy yummy pie in my tummy~” I sang as I unpacked the pie and was immediately rewarded with it scent. There was even fork inside the basket, lucky me! As I picked up the fork in one hand I looked up to see that I wasn’t alone, a cross from me was Blake. She was still asleep but I was that her arms were covered in wrappings. I shrugged a little as I took a bite of the apple pie. After a few moments of appley heaven I heard some shifting around as Blake started to wake up.

“Ugh… my mouth taste like shit…” she groaned as she looked around before seeing me. “Oh, sup?”

“Pie.” I said before taking another bite of the pie and humming blissfully. Blake rolled her eyes as the door open and a nurse with red hair peeked in.

“Excuse me but there’s some guests here to see the two of you.” she said before moving out of the way as Sophie and Angelina came in.

“Isaac, it’s good to see you awake!” Sophie said, rushing over to my side as I ate apple pie. I internally groaned and kept myself busy by eating the pie that I now decided to eat slowly, remembering how Granny Smith, the grandmother of Jacqueline Smith, bakes these pies only rarely and when she does, people would get out of their way as I can smell it from home.

“Umm, Sophie maybe it be best if you, you know, don’t be very umm, clingy…” the soft spoken Skyborn said to Sophie.

“Darling, what do you mean?” Sophie asked, earning her one of Angelina’s very rare to be seen deadpan stares. Angelina shook her head as she talked to Blake, who was trying really hard not to laugh. Sophie blinked a few times before looking back to me. “How are you feeling Isaac? Other than the broken arm I mean.”

“Well I’m right handed and it just so happens that my right arm is completely knackered.” I told her with a straight face. This caused Sophie to look at me sadly.

“If there’s anything I could do for you Isaac, just say so.” Sophie offered to me as I saw the other two were chatting with each other. When I was finally done with the pie, I placed the container it came in back into the basket before asking.

“So what brings you two here?” I asked the two of them.

“We came by to check up on you, the others would’ve came but work got in the way.” Angelina explained with a little smile. “I’m happy to see that the two of you are alright.” This got a smile from me and Blake before I said.

“Thanks you two, it means a lot.” I told them with honesty. While I did get a bright smile from Angelina, which is a sight to see, it also got Sophia to try to hug me but I quickly stopped her and said. “No clinging!” I exclaimed to her. She quickly backed off with a sad look.

“Sorry…” Sophia said. Before long the two of them said their goodbyes and left. I sighed a bit as I saw Blake munching on her own apple pie.

“Mine.” she proclaimed as she took a bite out of it. I rolled my eyes at this and laid back onto bed, resting my head against the pillows for some time, hearing Blake happily eating her pie in the quiet room. After a few minutes there was a knock on the door.

“It’s open!” I yelled to the person knocking and was immediately greeted with the door opening as soon as I uttered those words. The being that walked in wore a white dress that flowed from the person. Her skin was a sun kissed tanned colour and her hair was a golden blonde colour. Her smile was warm and motherly as she looked over at the two of us.

“I do hope I’m not interrupting something.” Princess Celestia asked with a warm tone. The two of us stared at her as Blake dropped her fork in surprise.

“Uh… P-Princess Celestia?” I said, honestly surprised to see the Princess of the Sun within our room. Blake was in the same state as I, she was so shocked she had halted her consumption of the pie. She chuckles at this before speaking.

“I wanted to come down to thank you for the two of you for helping my student with the events that transpired a few days ago.” she explained all with just a simple smile. I blinked at the revelation that we had been out for a few days.

“That’s- You don’t… You don’t need to thank us.” I said, mustering up the courage to speak to the Princess of the Sun. It was a pretty big deal honestly, never once in my life did I think I’d speaking to the woman who brings about the day. The woman smiled at me as she walked over to me.

“But I should, not only you two help save the land and everyone that lives in it but you also… Well I simply need to thank the two of you.” the Princess said with a smile. “If there’s anything that you both need or want just ask.” I smiled a little at this but ultimately shook my head at the offer.

“I’m fine as is, your highness, but I appreciate the offer.” I told her, turning down her reward. She gave me an odd smile before nodding.

“Alright then, I do hope that you and…” she glanced over to Blake as she finished her plate. “Your friend will get better.” With that the turned to leave us. Right before she left she stopped at the door and spoke. “And don’t worry about expenses of the hospital.” she said before leaving. She gave me one last glance before leaving but something about the way she looked at me was odd but I just couldn’t tell how. I shook my head at this, thinking that it was just my imagination. Blake was still looking at the door with mouth agape.

“You’re going to catch a fly like that.” I told her, suppressing a laugh. She soon closed her mouth and looked over at me.

“Did… that just happen?” she asked in complete disbelief that the Princess was truly here, thanking us for our actions. I nodded at this, knowing the feeling.

“Yeah, it just did.” I said before laughing a little, I actually got to meet her personally. Oh I feel so giddy. As I was giggling to myself the door opened and Skyler walked in, looking confused.

“Hey, is there a reason some royal chariot was right out front of the hospital?” she asked, making me burst out laughing.

End of Chapter III

Chapter IV

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It's been almost a week since we were let out of the hospital and while Blake left fully healed, I was left with a cast for home. It turned out that my arm was completely and utterly knackered, the doctor's repeated over and over how I should keep the cast on for a few more days to be sure. Blake went back to work in her shop while I was stuck at home with barely anything to do… That is until I decided to try out a game someone recommended me and boy have I been passing the time, simply playing said game no matter how many deaths or screw ups but Skyler told me to take a break before I could rip the controller in two.

“Easy there Isaac, we only have two controllers and I don’t think either of us want to go out to buy a new one.” Skyler said as she took her turn. I crossed my arms at this and huffed.

“How does the game think playing a character that with the tiniest sneeze could die horribly!” I exclaimed furious at my latest attempt to the Lost run. “It's bullshit!” I exclaimed even louder which got a look from Skyler after I did. She shook her head and shrugged as she played.

“Maybe you should go for a walk to cool off or something? Go see Blake on how she’s doing?” Skyler said right as she got hit for the last time and died. She shook her head before starting up the next game. “Don’t pick that item next time…” she muttered to herself. The thought of calming down sounding pleasing and I suppose going for a walk is something I need, having spent nearly the whole week playing the damn game. With a sigh and a nod, I stood up and looked at Skyler before saying.

“I'm heading out, don't blow up the house while I'm gone.” I told her, gaining a half assed nod as she was too focused on her game already. Once I stood out there doorstep, I squinted my eyes to avoid being blinding by the sunlight before my eyes accustomed to the light but alas, I have no real destination in mind so with that in the in my mind, I decided to just wander about.

The day seemed to be going on pretty normally, even though just a week ago some Nightmare lady tried to bring the end of daylight and rule over the land, so there’s no townsfolk panicking still. As I walked I saw I was coming up to a crossroads, one way went to Blakes shop and the other Sugar Cube Corner. I decided to head on over to the coffee shop, wanting to see how Blake was doing after her injuries though I knew she was doing better than me on account of the cast I still wore, which reminded me that I should see if it's an okay day to remove it. I walked down the street and entered the store to see Blake finishing up giving someone their order. She looked alright other than her bandaged up arms. As the man walked off she saw me and smile.

“Hey Isaac, doing alright?” she asked me as I walked over.

“Well I nearly split a controller in half out of sheer rage, so I'm doing alright.” I answered her jokingly. She chuckled at this.

“Would your normal cheer you up?” she asked me with a smile. I chuckled at this and nodded before Blake went into the kitchen and came out minutes later with a steaming hot cup of coffee, no doubt served in my favorite way. She placed it on the counter as I sat on the stool. “Here you are, one Isaac coffee.”

“Thanks, you don't know how much I need this.” I said before taking the mug and taking a slow sip of the coffee, enjoying the heavenly taste.

“Yeah, the power of a good cup of coffee will do wonders.” Blake said before adding. “So, seems Lydia took up residence in the library and now running it.”

“Seriously?” I asked with a little disbelief in my tone. The thought of someone living in the old tree house library is something that's unheard of. “Weird, never thought anyone would live there.” I said before taking another sip, humming a little at the taste.

“Well, Lydia does look like the bookworm type.” Blake said before putting a plate of some pastries up with the sign says ‘New item, free to taste test!’ on it.

“She must be living the dream.” I said with a little laugh before taking another sip of the delicious coffee. “Though I hope she doesn't expect much business in the library, not a little of people read books these days.” I said.

“Hey, I’m one of those people.” Blake said with a laugh. I laughed as well, knowing this to be true. Blake was indeed a bit of a bookworm, even back at school I would find her deep in a book. After the laugh we chatted for a bit before Blake seemed to be distracted. “Speaking of Lydia… here she comes.” Looking back I saw a panicking Lydia heading towards the shop and before we could comprehend what was happening, she bursted through the door with Drake following behind her. She looked around before hiding under one of the tables.

“Hey! No hiding under my tables!” Blake said before pointing up on a menu. “That costs two fifty.” I looked up and saw that it was indeed two fifty before seeing Lydia crawl out from under the table.

“Why are trying to hide under a table?” I asked the magi woman. Upon closer look, I noticed her disheveled look and exhausted expression. She looked she was running a marathon just moments earlier.

“Gala… Gold ticket… Princess… everyone… I need something to drink.” Lydia gasped before Blake handed her a bottle of water which Lydia downed greedly. As she did this, I finished up the cup of coffee before placing it down and looking back at Lydia, seeing her just finish the bottle.

“The Gala? Isn't that some sort prissy ball for snobby nobles?” I asked with an arched brow, internally groaning at the mentioning of nobles.

“Yes, The Gala is a big deal in Canterlot… a lot of nobles and high end business go there to enjoy the party, even made contracts and deals.” Lydia explained. I shook my head at this, already disinterested at the current situation but for the sake of my curiosity, I looked back at her and asked.

“So why do you two look like shit?” I asked rather bluntly at her and Drake.

“Well when you have a Fashion designer, an apple farmer, a party planner, a Skyborn that wants to join the most elite flyers of the realm, and someone that wants to go to see all the exotics animals in the gardens, they wanted to come with…” Drake said before seeing that the bottle was now empty. “And there’s two tickets.”

“Okay then… have you tried asking for a few more?” I asked them out of pure curiosity. Truly it must've been a mistake for the princess to give them only two.

“Don’t you think I haven’t tried?! I tried sending her a message but when I did my friends show up! Either Sophia finding me with her good eyes, Angelina with her animals, Rachael in the air and Dianne with… I don’t know what, I haven’t had a break all day!” Lydia said as she sat on the floor.

“Well don’t look now, here they come.” Blake said as she looked out of the window. I looked up to see the five of them running down the street. Lydia quickly ducked under the table as they ran past.

“And off they go, like a pack wolves chasing a rabbit.” I said with a shake of my head, not believing this was actually happening especially with Angelina and Jacqueline. “Seriously, they're just a bunch of fucking tickets.” I said just above a whisper. I looked back at Lydia and then asked. “How long has this been going along exactly?”

“Hours… I don’t know…” Lydia said before pulling up her legs. “I should just send them back, I’m done with this headache!” Blake looked over at her then at Drake before speaking.

“Mind holding down the fort for some time.” Blake asked me, walking around the counter. “I’m going to go have a little talk with them.” Before I could say anything she walked out of the shop and towards where the others went.

“Uhhh, what is she going to do?” Drake asked, watching Blake as she left. I shook my head at this.

“Don't worry about it, kid.” I said to him, though I could that my words made him more curious. Even though I didn’t really know how to work in Blake’s shop there wasn’t many customers and those that did came in ordered some simple things. Before long I saw Lydia’s friends walking into the building, sporting some welts on their heads.

“She really had to do that…” Rachael asked as she rubbed her head. “What ticked her off.” This made the apple farmer gave the Skyborn a glare.

“And here you all are.” I said, spinning on the stool to face them before adding. “I hope you're proud of yourselves, you've nearly given Lydia a panic attack.” I said gesturing towards the muttering magi. They looked at one another as some of them looked over at Lydia.

“Oh come on Isaac, this is the Gala! A great opportunity to for… anyone to get into the big leagues!” Rachael said, now hovering in the air. I frowned at this as I crossed my arms.

“Maybe… we did go a little too far with this…” Sophia said, rubbing her arm. The others nodded as the airborne Skyborn rolled her eyes.

“It wasn’t that- ah!” she yelled as Blake pulled her down and held her head in her bandage arms.

“Say sorry or I give you the worst headache ever.” she threatened as she held Rachael squirmed a bit.

“Okay, Okay! I give!” the Skyborn said before Blake let go. As the others walked over to apologize I looked at Blake with an arched brow.

“Hey, I’m not good with words alright.” Blake said as she crossed her arms.

“Words or not, it worked anyway.” I said to her with a shrug before looking at the group of ticket hounds. “You all should be ashamed of yourselves, you all let the greed of having the ticket for yourselves get the best of you all and you're all friends for Celestia’s sake!” I said, exclaiming the last bit out with a bit of anger. They all looked down after this, even Dianne’s poofy pink hair deflated a bit after this.

“Well, can you blame us? It’s one ticket it’s not like Lydia could send a note to the Princess asking for more and… why is everyone looking at me funny?” Rachael asked as everyone stared at her. Lydia sighed as Blake threw a crumple up ball of paper at the Skyborn’s head.

“You’re so thick headed sometimes.” Blake said as she poured a cup of coffee. “Here Isaac, I think you need this after that.”

“Thanks.” I thanked Blake for the pour of coffee. “So Lydia, what'll you do?” I asked the magi after she calmed down and everyone along with Blake and Drake looked over to the thinking purple haired magi. Lydia looked around and sighed.

“I should simply give the tickets back, they have already caused too much trouble…” she pause for a few moments before adding. “But… it’s a one in a lifetime opportunity… I’ll send the Princess a message to see if she can get a ticket for everyone.”

“And like that, problem solved.” I said with a quiet chuckle before taking another sip of the coffee. Lowering the mug with a sigh, I shook my head at the simplicity of the solution but I kept quiet. After some talking the six of them left to go to Sugar Cube Corner because Dianne worked there.

“Oh sure, go to the place with all the sweets, nothing wrong with some good coffee and tea…” Blake said, grumbling a little. I rolled my eyes at this with a chuckle before saying.

“Let them rot their teeth with all those sweets.” I said with a wave of my hand before adding. “They don't know what they're missing here.” I said, chuckling as I sipped the cup of coffee. Blake chuckled as well before looking up at the clock.

“Hmm, I’ll give it another hour before I can take these off.” she said, looking down at the bandages. Looking down at my own casted arm, I frowned before shaking my head and finishing the cup of coffee in one go before placing the mug down.

“I think it's about time I head on over to the hospital, see if they could take this cast off already.” I said to Blake as I stood up.

“Fingers crossed.” she said with a smile. With a laugh I gave her a final wave before heading out the door and towards the direction of the hospital though on the way, my arm began to itch. It was a pain since the itch was under the cast. It continued until I got to the hospital and had to wait a bit to get a check up on my arm. When I was called into the doctor's office, I was told to wait for the doctor to get the tools to remove the cast. Within the office, I noticed an already lit scented candle. The flame of the candle dance wildly and almost hypnotically.

“You're here to scold me aren't you.” I said out loud, looking at the little flame. The little flame’s movement sped up drastically and grew exponentially before it formed a familiar feline like body. It stretched its legs and moved its tail from side to side.

“I don’t know, should I after you breaking your arm in a fight with a Dark Celestial?” the feline asked, licking her paw. “I was very worried Isaac. What would’ve have if you’ve died?” She asked me worryingly. I shrugged at this, not really having an answer for the question. The flaming feline frowned before adding to my silence.“I’ll take the silence as you saying sorry.” the fire cat said.

“Fine… I'm sorry for making you worry so much, Wisp.” I said, grumbling at this as I did as I crossed my arms though the action proved to be difficult with the cast. “But what was I supposed to do? Let Lydia die?” I asked Wisp. She hopped off the desk the candle was on and made her way up to me, popping into embers before appearing beside me.

“I will say that was very brave of you and that I’m proud of you…” she used her flaming tail to wack me on the non cast arm. “But you still had me worried.” I rolled my eyes at this. I rubbed my arm a bit before saying.

“Ow… didn't know you care so much.” I muttered under my breath, rubbing my arm still. She heard this anyway and whacked my arm again with her tail, this one stinging a little more than the other. “Stop, I get it! Love hurts!” I yelled through gritted teeth. Wisp looked at me for a few moments before turning back into embers that went over to the candle as the door opened and the doctor walked in with the tools. It took a few minutes before the cast came off and I was able to move my arm again.

“There we go Mister Parker, good as new.” Claimed the doctor that had just released my arm from its captivity. I opened and closed my hand with a wide grin, I felt cool air finally greet the skin of my arm.

“Thanks doc, you have no idea how much I wanted this.” I told the doctor, gaining a chuckle from man as he looked at the lit candle with an arch brow and hummed at it before shaking his head and saying.

“You're very lucky the princess decided cover your expenses this time, the bill was quite hefty the last I checked.” He told me as he sat down on his chair and began to work on his computer. “I'll see around but I do hope you think twice before going against a Celestial.” He told me.

“Thanks for the advice, doc.” I told him with a roll of my eyes before leaving the office with my now free arm. Though once I exited the room, the embers from the candle that went by unnoticed by the doctor, reformed wrapped around my shoulder. “Seriously?” I asked fiery feline.

“What? Was it a good idea for a doctor to see a cat made out of fire in a hospital. That would be bad.” Wisp purred on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and said nothing as I walked out of the hospital, seeing the sun setting on the horizon. With a deep breath and a smile on a face, I walked home excitedly for tomorrow, already feeling giddy over working on the hawk figure.

End of Chapter IV

Chapter V

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It's been two days since the whole ticket debacle and the removal of the cast, I've spent those days working on the metal statue almost non stop, only getting up from my desk to eat and at times to use the bathroom. It's gotten to the point where my eyes displayed exhaustion, my hair was a mess and I'm pretty sure I'm beginning to smell. Even now I sat in my garage carefully welding carefully cut pieces of metal onto the frame, slowly but surely. forming the hawk.

I suddenly stopped, my lit finger extinguishing as I looked towards my garage door having heard something outside but shook my head before resuming my work. Though I was soon spooked when the garage door suddenly opened, much to my dismay.

“Hey! What gives!?” I yelled at the person responsible, not taking my eyes off the hawk but I did squint upon being shone by the sunlight.

“What gives is that you’ve been in here for two days without coming out.” The voice revealed that it was Blake responsible for the sudden intrusion of the sunlight.

“I've been busy, like I am now.” I said with a frown, wanting to concentrate more on the statue. When I fully welded the piece that would be the belly of the hawk, I extinguished my finger and looked at Blake only to hiss at the light of the sun. “Gah! Too bright! Too bright!” I exclaimed, using my hands to block out the light.

“You know, for a guy who uses fire as a magic source you should be used to it.” Blake said before walking over and dropping a to-go cup and a small bag on my desk, nearly tipping over the statue. “Those are for you.” I looked down at the coffee and bag, soon noticing the sudden hunger I felt. I grabbed the cup and took a long sip of it, feeling some of my exhaustion subsiding for now. I opened the bag and saw one of Blake's famous mooncakes. My stomach rumbled at the sight of the mooncake.

“Maybe I have been overworking myself.” I muttered out loud before taking out the mooncake and biting into it.

“You think?” Blake asked as she looked around in my garage. She saw the messy state I had left in for the past two days, scattered bags that held scraps of metal, plastic cups that held the water Skyler would bring me every hour or so and a few scattered nuts and bolts but those were there beforehand. It still doesn't change the fact that it was a mess. “Did you ever go outside at all in the past two days since your cast came off?”

“Uhh...no.” I answered plainly, earning a bemused look from Blake before she sighed and rubbed her eyes. “So what did I miss?” I asked before taking another bite of the mooncake.

“Well, you missed Jacqueline being a hardass over doing something by herself.” Blake said as she sat down on a crate. “It took a long while just to get her to pull her head out of her ass and ask for help.” I chuckled at this before shaking my head.

“I would imagine it wasn't easy either.” I guessed and was quick to earn a nod from Blake. I stifled a laugh at this and said. “What about her brother James?” I asked her.

“He broke a leg, kicked a tree a little to hard for his kicking leg to handle.” Blake was quick to answer that. I could sense the irony in that but simply shook my head and glanced at the still unfinished metal statue. “Maybe you should take a break Isaac.”

“I'm so close though.” I said, my voice taking a whiny tone as I spoke. This made Blake arch a brow at me before she crossed her arms before I spoke. “I just need a few more days, yeah and then I'll take a break… maybe.” I said, whispering the last bit to myself but I had no doubt she heard this.

“Yeah no, you take a break now.” Blake said with a frown. “It’s a nice day out, don’t lock yourself up like I did when a new game comes out.” I frowned at this but ultimately sighed, knowing that if I didn't I'd be scolded by Wisp again and I didn't want that so I finished up my mooncake and coffee, then I tried to stand up and found out that I was slightly fused with the chair… ew. Blake made a face at this. “Yeah, okay go get a shower because… ew.” I rolled my eyes and managed to get off the chair and head on inside for a shower, briefly seeing Skyler playing her game as I walked up the stairs. It was almost an hour or so spent in the shower trying to get the smell off of me and when I finally did I was finally able to leave the shower relatively clean. Once I dressed myself in some actual clean clothes, a sleeveless dark green tank top and some cargo shorts, I headed down stairs and was greeted with Blake sitting beside Skyler as they played the new game I bought, seeing them clear room after room in a breeze. Blake looked back at me before saying. “Alright kid, you can take over.” Blake handed the controler over before pushing herself up and looked at me. “Wow, there was a person under all that dirt!”

“Fuck off.” I said with a roll of my eyes and a quiet chuckle. This got a chuckle from Blake as soon I uttered those words. “Let's go see what's new around town.” I said, walking past her and stopping just beside of Skyler and saying. “Don't burn down the house while I'm out, there's some money in the kitchen if you get hungry but don't use it for sweets.” I told the gaming thirteen year old.

“Okay.” she said without looking over at me. I rolled my eyes before Blake and I headed out.

“She spends way to much time glued to that screen.” I said as we walked down the cobblestone road just a few feet from my house. Blake looked at me with an arch brow before I sighed. “Yeah yeah, irony and all that jazz.” I said as I crossed my arms at this. Blake chuckled as we walked into town. The two of us chatted with each other for a few minutes before we looked forward and saw Rachael walking in front of us with someone. She was taller than Rachael but wore a brown jacket and two wings sprouted out of the back of this woman. The brown feathers go into a white colour before turning purple. Her hair was the same way, only the white and purple part. “Who's that with Rachael?” I asked Blake.

“Don’t really know, I feel like I should know…” She answered me as we walked. I hummed in thought, trying to remember I've met her before but I couldn't. The fact she hung out with Rachael was a clue but still, my mind drew blanks.

“Hmm…” I hummed loudly before a random memory played through my mind, it was during my two days of nonstop work that I was visited by Rachael. She mentioned how a long time friend of hers in coming over to town, she wanted said friend to meet the gang with me and Blake included. I had doubts with my inclusion in their circle of friends but I can't complain. “Oh now I remember, that's Ferea Griffin. She's Rachael friend from flight school… I think.” I said to Blake.

“Ferea?... err, I think I've heard of her before…” Blake said in wonder. I rolled my eyes at this before saying.

“How can you not? Rachael talks about her all the time whenever the chance is given to her.” I told Blake as we past by them.

“Honestly, she talks about that group all the time everything else she talks about gets mixed in.” Blake says before waving her hand in front of her face. “I just zone it out.”

“Can't really blame you on that one.” I said with a chuckle as we kept on walking by the many busy people of the town. Today was a rather particular busy day, when we came across the marketplace many of the stalls were busy with numerous customers and even a few hagglers. Many of the stalls wares varied from exotic fruits, exotic veggies and even spices while other ranged from clothing, antique items and even old timey weapons such as crossbows and swords.

Blake was going to each stall with anything food and spice related, probably thinking up something new for her store. I stood by her as she haggled a few spices, seeing her get into an argument with the merchant for the price that isn't even too expensive, Blake just likes haggling for a lower price. In the end she got the spices at a slightly lower price.

“It was like two dollars.” I said to Blake as she basked in her victory, now holding the bottle of spice she haggled over. “Two dollars and you paid one seventy five. A quarter off.” I added, a little ticked off.

“Hey, it’s a quarter for something else!” She said happily. I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head before catching a glimpse of bright pink within the bushes nearby. I blinked at this before gazing at the bush, definitely seeing the pink in what would normally be green.

“What the…” I said, stopping in my tracks and walking over to the bush, getting Blake's attention as I did.

“Uhhh… that's not normal…” Blake said as I got closer. I began to realize who this was and sighed before speaking.

“Dianne, what are you doing?” I asked the very pink baker/party planner. She was currently decked out in full camouflage, even her face was painted to fit the outfit. A pair binoculars and a large water flask hung from her neck as she shushed me rather loudly. “What- hmph!” She once again shushed me by smashing a finger to my lips much to my discomfort.

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhh~!” She said before pulling her finger away and going back into the bush. “I'm camouflaged.” She said, leaving me with an odd taste of sprinkles in my mouth as I reeled back in disgust.

“What the fuck!?” I exclaimed in anger, my mouth feels a little violated. “Why are you camouflaged!?” Once again I could taste sprinkles and decided to add. “And why do you taste like sprinkles?” I asked more confused than angry.

“New person in town, friend with Rachael, also don’t ask.” Dianne replied, giving the answer to my my questions… Sort of. I was left with more question than answers, especially about the fucking sprinkles taste in my mouth. I decided to calm myself with a few deep breaths while Blake held back her laugh of my situation.

“Why exactly are you spying on them?” I decided to ask against my better judgement.

“Because.” Dianne answered. My eye twitched a bit and was about to say something but Dianne cut me off. “Now if you excuse me I have something important to do.” With that she, and the bush, headed off. As I watched her tip toe away in the bush, I began massaging the sides of my head.

“Ohhh sweet pain o’ mine, how you feel so fine.” I said to myself, my head aching after the brief encounter. Blake struggled greatly to keep her laugh in. “I swear if you start-” And like that she began laughing out loud to her heart’s content. She laughed for a good ten minutes, me standing there frowning as she laughed. A few passers by commented murmured as they walked by, no doubt noticing angered state, my clenched fists glowing a bright fiery orange. Without thinking ahead, I decided to slug the laughing woman next to me and to my surprise and hers, caused her to stumble back and stop her from laughing but when she did that I held my hand as it throbbed in pain. It felt like I just punched a brick wall! “More regrets!” I yelled in pain as I held my throbbing hand.

“Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have laughed but… ow man.” Blake said, rubbing her shoulder where I punch. As odd as it was for me to do such a thing, it was odder still when the pain subsided quicker than anticipated.

“Weird.” I muttered to myself, feeling my once pain filled hand good as new.

“Right so, you want to follow the pink crazy or no…” Blake said, holding her stuff in one hand.

“Yeah, it's not like I got anything else to do today.” I said with a shrug, more interested in why Dianne was spying on them than anything. Both Blake and I followed Dianne and spied on her as she followed Rachael and Ferea.

“We are spying on someone that’s spying on two other people… if I find out that there's another person spying on us, I’m calling inception on this whole event.” Blake muttered to me.

“If anything we're making sure Dianne won't do anything drastic, last time some guy from Manehatten left here nearly deaf after being shot with a face full of confetti with her cannon.” I said to her before adding. “Which reminds me, we still need to look for the guy that gave her the cannon.” I said with a slight frown, remembering the day she first got the damn thing. There was confetti everywhere.

“Noted.” Blake said as we watched Dianne follow the other two. For the past few hours of this we seen Dianna ‘coincidentally’ run into the other two. It gotten to the point when I figured out a pattern; Dianne spies on then, she shows up, get’s brushed off, continues spying, repeat. “Maybe Dianne’s jealous of Rachael’s friend?” Blake asked, sounding bored as she spoke. We were currently sat on a bench near the marketplace, the bush we followed waa in view from where we sat.

“What makes you think that?” I asked, equally as bored as her right now. To be honest it was beginning to become a chore, making sure she didn't do anything borderline insane.

“You know Dianne, she’s the kind of person that loves to be with her friends… Dianne just cranks it up to twelve.” Blake said as we watched another Dianne try to hang out with the two only to fail. This time around I notice that Ferea was getting very annoyed at this. I would be to if she kept trying to butt in every few minutes but I guess that's Dianne.

“Should we do something?” I asked Blake, not really knowing if we should or not. A part me just wants to go home and go to sleep. Before I could do something I saw that Racheal went off somewhere and Dianne when back into her bush, leaving a fuming Beastkin which someone bumped into her, said person was Angelina.

“FUCK OFF!” Ferea yelled at her, earning a silent moment before Angelina ran off crying. The I stared at this before I heard something break. Looking over I saw Blake… broke the armrest of the bench a bit.

“And we're doing something about.” I said as we both got up from the bench and headed over to the beastkin. As we got close the mad woman turned to us.

“Oh what do you-” Before she could finished, Blake punched her which sent her a few feet away and knocked out on the ground. No one talked for a good five seconds.

“Okay… that was my bad…” Blake said before adding. “But in my defence, I was mad.” I looked over at the groaning Beastkin.

“Listen here, there's only one major rule in this town and it's we one we'd prefer to keep unbroken.” I said to the beastkin as she looked at us with a glare. “Never yell at Angelina or even make her cry, so consider yourself on our shitlist.” Ferea looked like she was about to say something but her head lolled back as she passed out.

“Uhh… I didn’t hit her that hard…” Blake said as she looked at her hand.

“Whatever, let's go.” I said to her, not really caring for the beastkin’s well being. Why should I after she made Angelina cry. The two of us headed off away from the knocked out woman as we walked for ten minutes.

“I’m going to make Angelina some of her favorite cupcakes to cheer her up, want me to make a few for you and Sky?” Blake asked. I briefly thought about and nodded before saying.

“I'm going to check on Ange.” I said to her, earning a nod from Blake before we went our separate ways. While Blake headed back to her shop, I went straight to Angelina’s cottage. I never liked seeing her that way, it's just not right. When I arrived, I saw the front door half opened and only added to my worry. I walked up to the door and called out for her.

“Ange… it's me, Isaac.” I said, pushing the door open and seeing the living room of her cottage. It wasn't big but it was enough to be cozy and smack dab in the center was a crying Angelina. I sighed as I walked up to her. “Are you alright, Ange?” I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She sobbed and shook, not realising that I was there. After a few moments she turned just to do her trademark ‘Eep!’ and dashing away.

“O-oh… s-s-sorry I-Isaac… d-d-didn’t see y-you.” Angelina sniffled as she wiped away some tears as more ran down her cheeks.

“It alright, Angie, I just came by to see how you were doing.” I told her as calmly as I could. It showed her that I cared, that I could be trusted and it works most if not all the time. Slowly, Angie walked over to me, still sniffling.

“Th-thank you I-Isaac…” she said softly before sniffling as more tears welled up. “I-I just… having a bad time… I d-don’t know w-what I did w-wrong?” I sighed at this before answering.

“You didn't do anything wrong, Ange… the beastkin on the other hand, she had no right to do that.” I told her, a frown forming at the memory of what happened moments ago and the image of Ange bursting to tears. “Safe to say she's on my shitlist so next I see her anywhere near you, I'll be sure to torch them.” I said. Ange shifted a bit as she frowned at me, now her tears slowly stopped falling.

“Isaac, no torching others… you promised.” Angelin said with a frown, reminding me of the time of said promise. I sighed and nodded before saying.

“Fine, no torching.” I said while raising my hands. This got a small smile from Angelina and that was all I needed. I smiled back with a little chuckle.

“Do… you want some tea?” Angelin asked, looking towards her kitchen. “I only have green tea, I didn’t pick any up earlier today… sorry.”

“It's alright and… yeah, I'll have some tea.” I said to her. I wouldn't consider myself an avid tea drinker, it's not that I didn't like them it's more that I preferred coffee but when Ange’s teas are brought in, I'm first in line. I didn't know what made hers so special but I am not one to complain. Ange smiled at this as she went into her kitchen to start making the tea. It was moments like this that couldn't help but picture her smile, everytime she does it feels like nothing is wrong with world. I blushed at these thoughts before shaking my head.

“Weird.” I muttered to myself. I've rarely ever had these kinds of thoughts and whenever I do it's always relates to Angelina. Not really having an answer for myself, I shook my head and thought nothing of it for now and made mental note to ask Blake about it some time.

After a few minutes the shy Skyborn came out with two cups and a pot of tea. That odd feeling came back as soon as I saw her and I made sure to make myself look normal as we talked. Our chat lasted so long, we nearly forgotten about the event that transpired and led us here and it wasn't until Blake arrived that I noticed how long we've chatted. Blake came in with a bag of freshly made mooncakes for Angelina and saw us, well she mostly stared at me in surprise as I drank tea. Blake never knew that I would occasionally drink tea at Angelina’s every now and again.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked Blake as she stared at me. She just kept staring at me, I'm not sure if it was because of me drinking tea or she just thought she'd find Ange still crying.

“Didn't think you were a tea drinker.” Blake said as she handed Ange the bag. I merely shrugged at this before sipping some more of the tea Angelina made, humming quietly at the taste.

“Thank you Blake, these are amazing!” Angelina said with a smile. Blake grinned at this. At the sight of the smile, I lowered my gaze back to the tea cup hoping that a blush wouldn't form. I simply took yet another sip of the tea and took a few quiet breaths.

“Umm… you okay?” Angelina asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. I saw that both Blake and her where staring at me.

“Yeah… I'm fine...just fine.” I said, trying to come up with an excuse for my quiet behaviour. “I uh, I have to go now.” I said, placing the practically empty tea cup down on the coffee table and standing. “Thanks for the tea Ange.” I said to her. This got a questionable brow raised from Blake before I left but before exited the door, I caught a glimpse of a sad Ange before leaving. It wasn't long until I reached my house and it wasn't a surprise when I found Skyler asleep on the couch. She must tired herself out playing her games as evident by the pause screen.

With a little smile and a chuckle, I picked her up and carried her up to her room. Once there, I put her down onto her bed and draped her with a blanket. With that done, I exited the room and closed the door. When I turned to go down stairs I came face to face with Blake and the moment that followed after wasn't really my proudest moment.

“Sup.” Blake said nonchalantly. I was clutching my chest and breathing sporadically.

“Why?” I could only managed to say.

“Because it’s funny to hear you scream.” Blake answered. At the moment I began to regain my composure but I still leaned onto the door in case I blackout.

“Dear Celestia alive, you've nearly killed me.” I told her with a frown, she simply laughed at my words. “Why'd you follow me home?” I asked while rubbing the shoulder I had bumped into the wall.

“Just to tell you that Ange was worried that she must’ve upsetted you for leaving the place.” Blake said to me before adding. “Which I said that she didn’t but she somehow still feels bad even though she did nothing wrong.” I sighed this, now knowing that by leaving abruptly I had upset Angelina, now I just feel like shit.

“She didn't…She didn't do anything wrong.” I said with a forming frown. “It's just… nevermind.” I said with a shake of my head.

“Hey, you didn’t spend half an hour trying to explain that she didn’t do anything wrong. You know how she gets.” Blake said as she leaned onto a wall. And like that I feel like an asshole, great.

“I'll talk to her tomorrow about it, I really didn't mean to upset her.” I said to Blake. She simply shrugged at me.

“You do you.” she said simply. “By the way, you alright? You’ve been acting funny at Angeline’s place.” And like that my mind began to race, trying to think of some form of excuse for that.

“It's nothing… nothing at all.” I said with a smile that wouldn't even fool a blind person. Blake narrowed her eyes at me with a hum.

“Right… it’s nothing.” She said as she crossed her arms. The fake smile dropped and I sighed.

“I'm fine, seriously. I just zoned out is all.” I said to her with a straight face, this time my tone of voice sounding convincing. Blake stared at me for a few moments.

“Alright.” she said. I mentally sighed in relief at this, feeling a bit less tense of the situation. “By the way, I brought a bag a tea from Ange’s place, said that she’s giving it to you as a gift and to cheer you up.” I nodded at this before she headed off. She gave me one last wave before heading back to her own place and leaving by myself. Now alone, I headed downstairs and saw the bag of tea Blake spoke of and walked up to it, I opened the bag and found a neat little box, no doubt containing the tea. With nothing else to do and the thought drinking another cup tea sounding pleasing, I began to make some tea in a kettle and heated it up. The end result wasn't as good but it wasn't revolting, guess I wasn't made to make tea after all.

End of Chapter V

Chapter VI

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It's been almost three days since what happened with Angelina and the Beastkin woman and after encountering her the next day, the beastkin, whose name is Ferea, wanted to apologize to Angelina for her outburst. Though skeptical at first, I took her to Ange but not before threatening to immolate her if she as so much as lays a finger on Ange. She nodded after I showed her my hand catch on fire and the two of us went to Ange’s place where she apologized. As it seems it was the dumb thing of ‘Wrong place, wrong time’ as Ferea was to wound up from dealing with Rachael’s pinked haired friend, which I knew was Dianne. While Ange accepted Ferea’s apology, I sat nearby keeping an eye on the beastkin in case anything were to happen and luckily enough, everything went smoothly and Ferea left without a fuss after enjoying a nice calming tea. Before long both me and Ferea left, the Beastkin heading off to the train to head off home after the last few days.

The day after was spent with me working on the metal statue, wasting away an entire day finishing it up and working overnight in painting it. Now it's morning and the garage was mess like it usually is, once again I had fallen asleep on the job… well after the job because I had finally finished it completely and simply fell asleep then and there.

It wasn’t until around later when I awoke with the smell coffee next to me. I open one eye to see a cup of coffee and a bagel next to my head. With a quiet groan, I sat up and stretched my arms. Several joint pops later, I looked back down at the coffee and bagel before picking up the bagel and taking a bite out of it, washing it down with a sip of coffee. The taste of the coffee was a little off, making me think Skyler made it for me, but it was still good to have. When I took another sip of the coffee, I looked over to the now fully welded and painted metal statue of a hawk. I looked down at myself, seeing the paint stains on my shirt.

When I finally finished the bagel and coffee, I stood up with a groan and stumbled onto my feet. Once fully stood up, I stretched my legs and back before heading inside and hearing the sounds of Skyler’s game upon opening the door. The place was clean, which was good to see, as Skyler was playing a different game then her rage inducing one. This one was a bit more calming as it looks like a farming sim.

I made myself known when I shut the door behind me, spoiling Skyler as a result from the sudden slam of the door and I swore I saw her jump in the seat.

“Why did you have to do that?!” she yelled at me, not happy with the loud slamming sound. I chuckled at this and spoke up.

“Because I felt like it.” I said between chuckles while she glared daggers at me. She turned back to her game as the player character was cutting down a tree. “I can already tell that it ain't morning so what did I miss?” I asked as I walked over to the sink and began washing the now empty mug.

“Nothing really big… oh other than some Magi coming in thinking she’s the greatest and stuff. Beat Jacqueline, Sophia, and Rachael in a talent compainision.” Skyler said with a frown. I frowned a little but said nothing as I finished up the mug and put it to dry. “I believe Drake said that you, Blake, or Lydia could take her on in a competition but you were passed out in your workshop, Lydia said it was silly and Blake flat out said no.” I chuckled at this before walking over to the living room and sat on my chair, that just so happens to recline. It was basically the only thing in the house Skyler wasn't allowed to touch or sit on, the chair was bought for me to unwind and relax, plus it was expensive as fuck.

“So what? We've got some big shot in town claiming to be an amazing magi.” I said in a guess to which Skyler nodded. I groaned, now knowing that they'll be two egotistical maniacs in town. “Great… just what we needed.” I said just above a whisper. It was then the sounds of fireworks loudly going off nearby greeted my ears and it wasn't just one or two, it was almost two dozen and they were fucking loud. I could see Skyler's annoyance at this as well, trying her best to ignore it but with each boom, pop and crackle she twitched. She soon pulled out a pair of headphones, plug them into her controler which made the sounds from the game dim a little and continue playing. With an annoyed growl, I stood and headed for the front door. Skyler didn't bother to ask where I was going, already knowing the answer to that herself. Upon reaching the door, I looked down at myself and frowned at the dirty shirt before quickly heading upstairs and getting a new one, this one had longer sleeves that reached up to my elbow and while it obscured my tattoos a little, it was a nice looking button shirt.

With a new shirt on, I finally headed out the front door and towards the source of the annoying fireworks. I walked for five minutes just to see a cart in the middle of the street, it was painted with purple and blue was well as silver stars and moons on the side. On the stage was a woman wearing a purple and blue wizards hat and cape and a light blue dress that showed a bit of skin. She raised her hands up as more fireworks went off and explode in the air, purple, blue, and silver sparkles ran down as the crowd cheered. I frowned upon hearing the fireworks go off. This must be the magi Skyler was telling me about earlier. From the looks of it she was like Rachael with being an egomaniac, and cranked it up to eleven. She looks like she loves the attention she was getting.

“Thank you, thank you, the Great and Powerful Selina thanks you for all of your cheering. Selina’s show will continue after Selina get some refreshments.” with that she made a cloud of smoke appear and she was gone. I blinked at this with an arched brow before shaking my head. As the crowd parted a bit I saw the tale end of this Selina’s cape go into an alleyway followed by the town's two idiots… I’m not joking those two are straight up idiots. A huge part of me wanted me to leave, to go back home and celebrate the success of finishing my project… but then another part of me wanted to be sure they wouldn't cause any trouble. So with a sigh, I decided to walk up to the alleyway and take a peek to see what was going on.

“Wow… you are amazing!” the tall lanky one with dirty green hair said, his name is Ralph as the shorter chubby one simply nodded, his name was Titus.

“Yeah, could do… anything!” Titus said with a dorky smile. I shook my head at this, those two will think anything is amazing, even a rock… no really I saw it happen. The two praising drew a laugh from the Ego Magi.

“Thank you, the great Selina already knew that, but Selina love it when others say it.” Selina said smugly.

“Yeah, you defeating an Ursa Major is like… the coolest thing!” Ralph said with a lazy smile. At this point those two would just continue praising her.

“Now, you two, the Powerful Selina am hungry… where’s a good place to find some food?” the Magi asked the idiots.

“Uhhh, there’s Sugercube Corner.” Titus said to her, only to get a frown.

“Uh, no… Selina seen that place and just looking at it Selina would get cavities.” Selina said before running her tongue over her teeth.

“Hmmm, there’s the coffee shop nearby, that would work?” Ralph asked, earning a clap from the Magi.

“Perfect! The Great and Fabulous Selina will go to this Coffee shop!... errr what’s it called?” Selina asked the two.

“Err… over the Moon Coffee?” Ralph answered before the three of them headed off towards Blakes shop. Feeling my stomach grumble for a bigger breakfast or lunch or whatever time of day of day it is, so with food in mind I headed for to Blake's place as well. Luckily I knew my way around so I got there before hand as I walked in. The place was empty as Blake was on her till playing a game. I didn’t know how she did it but she somehow made it she could play her videogames on her till when things were slow.

“No! My crusader!” she yelled before grumbling. “Damn you spiders!” I rung the bell on the countertop, making myself known to her. She looked up and blinked at me. “Oh… hey Isaac… how long were you there?”

“I just got here.” I said to her, raising my hands up defensively. “Woke up not too long ago and wanted to have some…” I stopped, looking over to the clock and seeing that it was nearly noon. “Brunch.” I finished finally.

“Ah, well I’m guessing you want something to eat then?” Blake asked, clicking some things before the register made a few beeping sounds. “What would you like or do you want your normal stuff?”

“Just the usual.” I told her with a nod. With a nod of confirmation, she proceeded over to the kitchen and began working on my order. I was left to my thoughts, being the first customer of the day has its benefits. My thoughts went to the Hawk and its finished state, it took me almost the entire year but I finally finished it. As I waited my eyes drifted down to a piece of paper beside the till. Tilting my head a bit I saw it was a letter from Canterlots school of Culinary and saw that it said decline on it. I sighed at this but kept quiet about but not before hiding away the letter so no one else would see it.

As I waited the door opened and a familiar, I be it annoying, voice came from behind me. “Behold! The Great and Powerful Selina is here!” I turned my head to see her standing there as she looked around at the empty room. She frowned at this before looking at me as I turned my head. “You there good sir! Selina believes we haven’t met! Though you must’ve heard of me already as my name is on everyone's lips!”

“I'm sure it is.” I said with a roll of my eyes before turning my back to her again. As she walked up she looked around at the place for Blake.

“Now where’s the service here! The hungry and famish Selina demands subsistence!” Selina yelled, making me frown some more. Before long Blake walked out with a large plate with my food on it: scramble eggs, some hashbrowns, and bacon strips as well as a cup of coffee.

“Here you are.” Blake said, putting the plate down in front of me with the coffee. She turned to Selina and arched a brow. “Uhh, can I help you?”

“Yes! The Hungry Selina demands service! Are you the waiter or cashier?!” the pain, and annoying Selina asked rudely, making Blake frown.

“Sure… what do you want?” Blake asked Selina as she pull out some paper and a pen. Selina put her hands on her hips and looked at Blake.

“You mam can’t fathom the tastes of Selina the Great! I don’t need you give you the exact order of what I want since it’s to great for even you to understand!” Selina said snobbily before adding. “But Selina will allow you to make something to sate my hunger!” Blake stared at the show Magi before speaking.

“So surprise you, got it.” Blake said before heading back into her kitchen to get working. Selina didn’t say anything before going over to a table with the other two following her. I didn’t say anything as I ate my food and after a few minutes Blake came out with a plate of… risotto? Blake walked over to their table, put it down in front of Selina and walked away from the table before the show woman could say anything. As she walked back I saw Blake trying to hide her sad look on her face, no doubt having already read the letter about being denied entry. It was hard seeing her like this and it only added more hate for the nobles, it wasn't right for them to deny her just because she isn't of noble heritage. She was busy typing something in as I heard Selina let out a gasp. I turned just as I saw her wolfing down the food as if it was her last one. I also notice this brought a little smile to Blake.

“Thank you Jacqueline for the apple juice.” Blake said to herself as a receipt printed out. She took it and handed it to me, seeing it was my bill and had a discount for being a friend. When I looked up from the bill, I caught glimpse of her sad expression before she hid beneath an emotional mask. I've known her long enough to see through the mask, perks of having known her since my school years.

“Those nobles don't know culinary skill even if it bit them in the ass.” I said to her, almost in a muttering tone. This surprised her, having not expected me to say this.

“Why do you say that? I mean sure they wouldn't but… why say that?” Blake asked, giving me a frown as she stared at me.

“You left the letter open on the countertop…” I admitted without hesitation. “What they're doing is unfair by many means, they don't even give you a chance to impress them and they just deny you.” I added, a frown of my own forming before I shook my head and sighed. Blake was silence by this, frowning at me for reading her mail, which wasn't my fault since it was open for the world to see, before she sighed.

“Unfair isn't the half of it… the nobles simply don't like me, especially one that I beat to a pulp back in school…” Blake said. She looked and saw the odd look on my face before continuing. “Back in school there was an annoying ass that picked on younger classmate and just an overall jackass. I soon saw him picking on a girl to the point of tears and I did what I normally do.”

“You beat the living hell out of him?” I asked.

“Bingo. What I didn't know is that the bullies dad was a higher up in the culinary school I want to go and I bet he holds a mean grudge against me for what I did.” Blake sighed as she looked at the pastries in glass casings.

“Bet I could change his mind.” I said jokingly, a little flame igniting my finger tip as I spoke. Blake rolled her eyes at this as the show woman came back with a clean plate.

“Selina simple wants to thank you for the… very very good meal you have given to her.” Selina said, licking her lips a bit.

“Glad you like it.” Blake said as she took the plate. “If you're done with me you can leave.”

“But the Great and generous Selina haven't paid yet.” Selina said, confused on this.

“First time customers meals are free.” Blake said before taking the dishes into the back. I held back a laugh from looking at the show woman’s face while I took out my wallet and paid for my food, leaving a rather large tip. I sat back down after putting my wallet back into my pocket before I began to play with a little orb of fire. As I did this Selina seemed to stare at me as I did this.

“Selina has to admit, that’s something… though she could do better.” she said while crossing her arms and smiling at herself.

“You keep telling yourself that.” I said to her, annoyed at her cockiness and ego. It was then I began spinning the orb on the tip of my finger, spinning it around faster and faster before it flattened out into a disk. Selina watched as I did this, no doubt taking notes on how she could replicate it some way. I could feel her staring as I did this and only made it awkward, it was so bad that I had lost focus and the fire disk shrunk away and dissipated.

“Hm, I guess you need more practice.” the woman said before she turned away and walked out of the place. I frowned at this, shaking my head as I saw Blake come back with a water bottle.

“She’s sure is… colourful.” Blake said as she watched the woman leave.

“I have half a mind to burn down her stage right now.” I said with a frown still, she really got on my nerves and all she did was talk in an obnoxious third person way. “I nearly got a headache just hearing her repeat her own name over and over.” I said, rubbing my temples a bit.

“Well I don’t know how long she’s sticking around but she’ll leave soon.” Blake said as she wiped down her counter. “You need anything else?”

“Nah, I think I might just head back home and take the rest of the day off… oh and I finally finished the statue, which by the way looks amazing.” I said to her with a smirk, remembering my accomplishment from last night. Blake arched a brow at me, not sure if I was telling the truth or not.

“Really, you finally finished it?” Blake asked me. With a laugh I nodded, the excitement of finally finishing the several month long project finally kicking in.

“Yup, painted too.” I said with a little pride in my tone.

“Ooo, fancy.” Blake said with a laugh of her own. She moved over to make something before adding. “So what are you going to do with the Hawk?” she asked. I blinked at this, knowing full well what I intend to do with it but… I don't think telling Blake is a good idea. “Umm… I-I don't know, didn't really think that far.” I said, rubbing the back of my head in fake confusion. This made Blake arch a brow at me.

“Right… okay then.” she said before handing me a large drink. “Here you are, the Late night Moon for you for completing the hawk.” I smiled and took the large cup, giving her one last nod before leaving the shop. Once outside I took a sip of the drink and found myself resisting the urge to gulp it down in one go, choosing to savor the drink. On the walk home, I saw more fireworks go off in the sky and I only shook my head at the sight of them going off. With a sip of the drink and a sigh I headed home for the day.

End of Chapter VI

Chapter VII

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“Okay… First up is a potato and duck soup.” Blake said as she put two bowls of soup in front of me and Skyler. This sort of thing happen every month or two where Skyler and I come over to taste test some new items Blake is planning to put on the menu. It’s also free food so that’s also a plus. I looked down at the soup, seeing the steam rise up from it giving it a clear warning that it was hot. Whether I would regret this later or not, the only thought in mind was that it was free so I might as well try it. I blew lightly onto the first spoonful before sipping a bit of the soup then eating the chunk of potato. Humming as I chewed, this got a nervous look from Blake as I did this.

“So… what you think?” Blake asked me as Skyler was already downing the bowl of soup. When Blake looked back at me, I was already halfway finished with mine. “Well… I’m going to take it that you both like it.” Blake said with a smile. I always wonder why she gets so nervous when we do this sort of thing, we done this many times before but it never changes. I never really asked since it didn’t seem that big of the deal since eight of ten times her food is good.

“I don't see why your so nervous, Blake. You're an amazing cook for crying out loud!” I exclaimed my appraisal of her, surprising her a little when Skyler nodded and hummed in agreement.

“Yeah… but I can’t help it sometimes.” Blake said with a little laugh. Me and Skyler both arched a brow at her questioningly, both of us silently asking her why she would get so nervous whenever we do taste tests. She rolled her eyes before disappearing into her kitchen as Skyler finished her bowl.

“These are the best days of the month.” Skyler said happily. I laughed at that due to the truth of it.

“Yup, free taste tests. What's not to like about it?” I asked jokingly before chuckling a little. After a few moments Blake came out with plates of what look like is a sandwich.

“Duck Parm heros anyone?” she asked and she put the plates down in front of us. “Using a lot of duck in these dishes so I hope you like it.” Skyler happily started eating the sandwich, happily humming to herself as I took a bite as well… it took me a few moments to come to and seeing that the sandwich was gone.

“I think I zoned out.” I said mostly to myself, though it got a laugh from Skyler and Blake when I did. I arched a brow at them, not seeing how it was funny before saying. “I'm serious.” Though those words went on deaf ears and it only led to a roll of my eyes. After taking our plates Blake made use some drinks, a coffee for me and a milkshake for Skyler as well a drink of her own, and chatted for a bit.

“Hey… is it just me or there’s no one around?” Skyler asked the both of us.

“Well, the store is close for the day for testing-” Blake started to say but got cut off by Skyler.

“No, I mean like in town. There’s no one around.” Skyler informed her. I turned around to see she was right, there’s no one out in the streets. It wasn't until I gave it some thought that I remembered that every two months the town gets visited by a resident of the Everfree forest, a shaman woman by the name of Kamkhwala or Kam for short, visits the town to get some supplies such as herbs and local spices sometimes even food. The townsfolk seem to take this as a bad omen for a very stupid reason… because she lives in the Everfree and just by that fact, they speculate her to be some sort of evil enchantress come to make us her slave. So far the town thinks of me, Skyler and Blake as a slave but in reality we just help her with the shopping, sometimes breaking into a closed store when in fact it was opened just moments prior to her arrival. We poke some fun out it, acting as mindless zombies as we do this.

As I was thinking this we heard a tapping from the front door. We turn to see a cloaked person with a walking stick in their hand. “Ah that must be her.” Blake said as she walked around the counter and opened the door for the being. The cloaked figure walked in as Blake closed the door. “I have a bag in the back, wait here.” she stated as she walked into the back. As she did the being removed the cloak and saw it was a woman with brown skin and what look like tribal tattoos on her face as well as a white and black hair that hangs down her back.

“Isaac, Skyler, good to see you again.” Kam greeted us with a smile.

“Hey Kam, good to see you too.” I greeted back with a smile, it was always a pleasant time whenever she visits. She would tell stories of the land she came from and how before becoming a shaman that she was her tribe's greatest warrior.

“Hi Kam, you need help getting stuff?” Skyler asked her.

“No child, but thanks for the offer.” Kam replied with a smile. “I have all I need, just need to get some maize flour from miss Blake.” This got Skyler to blink at me before looking at me, I already know what she was going to say; ‘What’s Maize flour?’.

“It's corn.” I answered Skyler’s silent question gaining an ‘Oh' from the young teen when I did. “So what brings to town today?” I asked the shaman woman.

“Just a few items for potions I need to brew, and a few ingredients for some food I had when I was little.” Kam said before adding. “Also if you plan to go out into the Everfree, beware of the wild Joke Plant that grows. It’s having it’s wild growth season now.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Blake said as she carried a bag Kam needed. “If I’m lucky I can get some fruit from the plate to make my joke cakes.”

“You mean the ones that make ones teeth, tongue and hair blue?” Skyler asked which earned her a nod from Blake. Blake handed the shaman the bag which she thanked and she in returned handed Blake a book.

“This here is some more receipts from my home, I hope you can enjoy them.” Kam said as Blake brighten up at.

“Thanks Kam.” She said happily. Kam nodded as she began to leave. We all watch, well me and Skyler since Blake was reading through the book, and notice someone following Kam. she had red hair with a pink bow in it and wore a blue shirt and green shorts. She looks around Skyler’s age and I soon saw it was Samantha, Jacqueline younger sister. Unlike her sister, Samantha had always thought the way everyone acts when Kam is around be more than a little rude and disrespectful.

“Hey it’s Sam.” Skyler said as we watch her ran by. “What’s she doing?”

“I don't know but here comes her sister.” I said to Skyler as Jacqueline came into view, shortly followed by the others including Lydia, who looked confused to the ordeal. “Let's go see what's up.” I said to Skyler, getting up from the booth. The two of us left Blake in her little wonderland as we ran towards the others which lead us to the forest. Before long we stopped to find everyone standing around, or hovering like Rachael is, as the older farmer give her sister a stirn talking to.

“Uhhh… Isaac…” Skyler started to say but before I could say anything Lydia turned and saw us.

“Isaac, what are you doing here?” The Magi asked me.

“Could ask you the same thing. What's with all the commotion?” I asked Lydia as I crossed my arms.

“Isaac…” Skyler said again before Lydia spoke.

“We we were all in Sugarcube corner when Samantha ran off and we all chased after her.” Lydia explained before Dianne jumped in between us and and grabbed onto my shirt, shaking me wildly as she said.

“She would’ve be turned into a Zombie!” Dianne yelled. I blinked at this, speechless from Dianne’s outburst before making her let my shirt go. Skyler grew tired of having been ignored so many times that she kicked me in the shin to get my attention and it worked very efficiently in her favor as for me… well now I have a hurt shin.

“Ow! What the hell!?” I yelled at Skyler, turning to look at her as I did. Though it was a little difficult to turn when hopping on one leg. Skyler frowned as she pulled me a little down, still on one leg, and moved my head to look down… where I was we were all standing in a large patch of blue flowers. “Oh that's what they look like.” I muttered to myself, referring to the flowers we all stood on with the exception of Samantha and Skyler. “So… I'm wearing shoes aren't I? I'll be fine.” I said to her, straightening back up as I did and finally standing on both legs.

“You sure that will protect you?” Skyler asked as the rest of them were heading back with the two farm sisters walking together, Sam frowning as well as Jacqueline. With a shrug I answered by simply saying.

“What's the worse than could happen if it doesn't?” I asked her with a shrug. Skyler didn’t say anything as we headed off back home to spend the rest of the day simply lounging at home, we even got to play a game Skyler had gotten recently, which only added more time spent inside before it got late and we went to sleep.

When morning came around, I felt odd like if something was different but it was kinda hard to dwell on it with the morning grogginess. When I opened my eyes, I noticed I had rolled off the bed at some point overnight, a reminder to buy a bigger bed whenever I get the chance. With a yawn, I pushed myself up with ease and made my way downstairs in a zombie like state. My steps thumped onto the floor hard when I finally made it down the stairs. I heard the sounds of a video game and saw Skyler in her pajamas playing a game.

I headed over to the kitchen and made some cereal and milk, an okay breakfast at best but I was too tired to want something better than cereal. I walked over to the recliner beside the sofa Skyler was laying on and sat down with the bowl of cereal in hand. I ate most of the cereal quietly, watching as Skyler died over and over in the game and once I finished up the bowl is when she spoke up.

“Man… this is annoying…” Skyler said before looking over at me. “Morning Isaa-” she stopped as she looked at me for a long moment. “... Who are you?” I blinked at this before speaking.

“What?” I asked, hearing a higher pitched voice unfamiliar to me. I reeled back at this a little. “Uhh what happened my voice?” I asked, hearing the womanly voice.

“Duhhhh…” Skyler simply said before she turned the TV off, making it so I could see the reflection of the room, and us. When I looked over at me, my eyes grew wide as saucers. I stood up and looked at myself fully, being greeted by a buxom beauty with long back length black hair. It was fortunate enough that I had slept with my previous clothes on, a sleeveless tank top and a pair of cargo shorts.

“Holy… fuck.” I said, now realizing the voice was actually mine. After a brief moment of silence, I blinked at this and tilted my head before saying. “I look hot.” I said.

“Really… that’s what you say first?” Skyler asked in a deadpanned tone.

“Hey it's true, I look hot as hell.” I said in defense, crossing my arms only to uncross them seconds later when I felt my newly gained bosom rise up when I did.

“How… did this happen?” Skyler asked, now tilting her head as I looked at myself through the TV. I only shrugged, not knowing the answer myself. “Do you think something like this happened to the others?” Skyler asked again, referring to Lydia and the others.

“I don't know.” Was all I could say… damn I look fine. Skyler noticed my staring at the reflection.

“You need a room?” Skyler asked me. I rolled my eyes at her before turning to look at her, moving some hair out of the way.

“Let me just… change into something that doesn't reek and we'll head out I guess.” I told her, unsure of what action to take first. Skyler nodded and I headed back up stairs for a quick shower, which led me to discover that I really was a woman without a doubt. When I finished my shower, I went into my room and after what felt like hours picked out another sleeveless tank top, this one bearing an image of a sun with a face and a pair of jeans. It felt odd being in what normally is casual clothes for me but with me being a woman now, it wasn't bad per say just mildly unpleasant. After putting on some shoes, I walked down stairs to find Skyler resuming her game. “You coming or what?” I asked her, getting her attention just before she died in game.

“Yeah… going to Blake's place to get something to eat?” Skyler asked before standing up.

“That's the plan for now at least.” I said with a nod before we both headed out for Blake's shop. On the walk over there there was something I didn’t expect on; the many stares from everyone we walk past. I even heard a few catcalls from the guys.

“Yeah… you look hot as hell…” Skyler said with a smirk. I frowned at her and glanced down before saying.

“Say anything else about this and you're grounded.” I said to her, my tone making it sure she knew I was serious. It wasn’t long before we got to Blakes store and went inside, Skyler went off to get our table as I walked up to the counter. Blake walked out in her normal attire and saw me and stared.

“Why Hello~” Blake said with a smile. “What can I help you with?” I blinked at this and realized what Blake is doing, she’s going to be flirting with me. I glanced up and saw the Duck Parm Hero is on the menu and under ‘Specials’.

“I'll uhh… I'll have the Duck Parm Hero.” I said, hearing my own voice being that of a woman’s was still weird but I'm going to get used to it until I find a way to reverse it. Blake smiled and winked at me.

“Coming right up.” she said before walking into the kitchen, doing so with her eyes on me. Once she was out of view, I shivered a bit in discomfort before going over to Skyler and sat down.

“You okay? You look like you saw something unpleasant.” Skyler asked me. I simply shrugged at her as she read her menu. After she told me what she wanted I had to get up and walk back to the counter.

“You’re back.” Blake said to me as she was putting some money away. She smiled as she looked over at me. “Need anything else?”

“Yeah, can I also get Breakfast Sun Meal?” I asked her. Blake’s smile was still there but she tilted her head a bit.

“Sure… but uhh that’s a lot of food for someone like you.” Blake said, writing down the order. I arched a brow at her before glancing at Skyler, my glance was enough to tell her that I am trying to mess with Blake.

“Well it's not all for me, silly, it's for my friend here.” I told her, giggling a little as I did. It was a little hard to act out as a woman, having never been one before but I was managing. Blake blinked at this before looking around at the room.

“Oh? Who’s your friend?” She asked as her eyes looked around the room. I smiled as gestured for Skyler to come over. As she did Blake blinked at her. “Hey Sky… what are you doing here?”

“Oh I’m here with her.” Skyler said before putting her hands on her hips. “Did Isaac forget to tell you of her?”

“They… know each other?” Blake asked as Skyler nodded.

“Yeah… uh I believe they're friends from a few months ago, you know with his metal hawk.” Skyler explained. Blake didn’t say anything before looking at me with a smile.

“Well a friend to Isaac is a friend of mine.” She said, even though her tone of voice seems a little more deflated.

“You okay?” Skyler asked Blake.

“Yeah… yeah I’m fine.” Blake said before looking at the writing before realizing something and heading back into the kitchen. Both Skyler and I went back to our table to wait for our food.

“Man… I never thought Blake would try and hit on you.” Skyler said with a chuckle. I chuckled as well, finding it funny as well.

“I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm going out with me.” I said, referring to myself in both the male and female perspective. The two of us laugh at this and waited until Blake came out with both out meals.

“Alright, Breakfast Sun Meal for Skyler… and the Duck Parm Hero for… ah hell I didn't catch your name miss.” Blake said with a slight blush to me. Skyler looked at me and arch a brow, wondering if I came up with a name.

“Ise.” I said to her with a smile. I've got to give myself props for acting, never knew I had it in me. Blake smiled at this as she put the hero down.

“Hope you enjoy, the Duck Parm Hero is a new item on the menu. If you don’t mind after you can give me your-” Before Blake could finish there was a loud scream from somewhere in town. I knew the sound was from Sophia. The three of us plus anyone in the store looked out of the windows in shock. “Uhh, what was that about?” Blake asked.

“I don’t know…” Skyler said before she dug into her meal.

“Right… anyway, after you finish mind giving me your thoughts on the sandwich?” Blake asked, finishing what she was asking. With a nod from me, she turned to walk away before I spoke up.

“About earlier, whatever you're thinking is going on between me and Isaac isn't the case… we're just friends.” I told her, while I wanted to mess with her I didn't want to bring her mood down, she's still my best friend. This made Blake smile a bit, brighten her mood up.

“I see…” Blake said before looking out of the store. “Speaking about Isaac, where is he? Sleeping late again?”

“He's a little under the weather, though I'm sure he'll be fine.” I told her with a smile, apparently doing so made Blake blush.

“Right…” She said before she walked away. As she got out of earshot Skyler looked at me.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Skyler asked.

“A little bit, this is payback for blowing an air horn into my ear.” I said to Skyler, remembering her involvement with the incident when she gave Blake her keys to open the garage door. Upon remembering, I narrowed my eyes and said. “Which I just so happened to remember your involvement in.” Skyler laughed nervously at me about that.

“Uhh… well… you see…” She said as I stared. I gave a deadpanned look as she babbled on for an explanation or an excuse before I rolled my eyes and ate the sandwich. As I ate the food I saw Blake at the counter talking to someone. As the person left I notice her occasionally glancing over at us, only to looked back away. I held back a laugh, it was always funny seeing her like this when normally she would be calm and collected, now she is acting like a nervous schoolgirl with a crush. Before long the both of us finished our meals with a happy sigh as Blake returned.

“Guessing it was good?” Blake said with a chuckle as she collected the dishes.

“Honestly, it was good as yesterday.” I said to Blake while patting my stomach in content. Skyler laughed at this as I did this. This confused Blake as she blinked at me.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” She asked me before scratching the back of her head and saying. “My store was close yesterday.”

“Yeah but you invited me and Skyler for some taste testing.” I said to her holding back a laugh.

“What… but… the only other that came with Skyler was…” It was then Blake’s face went pale. “You you got to be kidding me!” she yelled before storming back into the back with now a red face. Me and Skyler both laughed at Blake's reaction.

“I can't believe she fell for it.” I said with a laugh. Skyler laughed a little bit more and, after a while, Blake returned, blushing.

“You two suck… you know that right?” she said with a frown. I was still laugh when she said this before I spoke up.

“You kinda started it, flirting with me as soon as I got here.” I said to her, chuckling every so often now. This made Blake blush more now I said that.

“Don’t make it weird… I just feel so wrong now…” Blake said before sitting down. With an arch brow, I asked her.

“What? Does the thought of flirting with me repulse you that much?” I asked her curiously.

“No, it’s just you’re my best friend, if I tried to flirt with you it would be a little weird, if it doesn’t work out… I don’t know I just see you as a friend…” she said before putting her head on the table with a loud thud. “Can’t believe I did it anyway…”

“Alright alright, I get it. I actually get where you're at, I see you like the sister I never had.” I said to her, admitting that I had seen her as such. We've been together for a long time, looking out for one another and eventually I saw her as a sister with how frequent we hung out. Blake looked up and smiled at me.

“I have the same feeling… which brings me to my next question… How the hell are you a girl!?!” Blake yelled. Luckily no one was in the store so we weren’t bothering anyone. I only shrugged, the very same response I gave Skyler earlier.

“Maybe it has to do with the blue flowers before?” Skyler asked which got Blakes attention.

“Wait, blue flower?” She asked, looking at me for the answer.

“Yeah, there's a huge patch of them a few stores down.” I said to Blake, informing her of the location of said patch flowers.

“A few stores down… that would mean you’ll be in the Everfree… ah.” Blake straighten up a bit before adding. “You must’ve ran into a Poison Joke patch.”

“Poison Joke… wait it’s the same as the Joke plant Kam warned us.” Skyler said to us which Blake nodded.

“Yeah, a single flower would cause some troubles but a whole bunch of them would cause bigger issues… which is way we had a genderbent Isaac now.” Blake said. I blinked at this, mentally groaning at my stupidity at the fact that I hadn't seen this coming at all.

“Wait…” I said, suddenly remembering that the other were standing on the patch of flowers as well. “What about the other girls?” I asked Skyler.

“If they were standing it in, then something must’ve happened.” Skyler said.

“If that’s true them maybe you should go check on them… or go see Kam, she lived in the Everfree so she would know how to get you back to normal.” Blake pointed out to us. It wasn't until it dawned to me that Ange was amongst the few that stood on the flower patch.

“We need to go check on them. Now.” I said, my tone taking a one eighty to full blown serious.

End of Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

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Maybe I should’ve asked Blake for some extra clothes, running like a woman was… ugh. I’ve been running for some time now, first to Ange’s place to find that she’s not there, then to Sophie's place to find that she was gone with a sign out front saying that she’s out. I soon started to head off to Sugarcube Corner to hear some people saying that they saw Sophie heading to the Library wearing a hoodie with the hood up. Meeting up with Blake and Skyler we all headed to the Golden Oaks Library.

“Finally…” I said, panting and out of breath as we finally arrived at the library. While Skyler and Blake were only slightly out of breath, I was beyond exhausted.

“You okay?” Skyler asked, a little worried was heard in her voice.

“Not used to running as a female?” Blake asked with a little laugh.

“Fuck… off.” Was all I said between breaths. It took me a bit but I finally regained a steady rhythm in my breathing. “I'm not used to these weighing me down.” I said, looking down at my own bosom.

“Yeah… you also put on a show with them.” Blake pointed out with another laugh though I did catch a faint blush from her. Before I could say anything she knocked on the door. After a few minutes and me punching Blake's shoulder, which felt like punching a brick wall, the door open to show Dianna was there.

“Yes?” Dianna said in a very calm tone, it was… odd. Dianna wore a dark red shirt with jeans on with some baggy shorts and, most of all, her hair was flat and straight but well kept, there were no strands of hair out of place. She looked at the other two. “Hey Blake, Skyler… who are you?” she asked me.

“It's me, Isaac.” I told Dianne, gaining an odd look from her before she gave good long look.

“Really?” She asked me, poking my bosom. “You look… not Isaac.”

“It’s him.” Blake said as she stopped her from poking me some more. I rubbed my chest from the poking before glaring at Dianne.

“Alright.” Dianna said before stepping out of the way for us. We entered the library and saw everyone there, Rachael was sitting on a chair looking out of the window. Sophie was there as well with a hood up and it covered her whole head. Samantha was there as well, gave us a wave when she saw us but I didn’t see her sister, Lydia, or Angelina. “Hey.” Dianna said, getting my attention. “You need a bra?”

“Really?!” Skyler yelled, looking up at her only to see simply Dianna shrug.

“I'm fine… Thanks.” I said a little awkwardly at the offer. With another shrug Dianna walked off as another person walked in. It was Lydia only… with a lot of purple spots on her skin. She stopped and saw the three of us.

“Hi…” she said with a little worried in her voice.

“What happened to you?” I asked her, more concerned over the spots on her body. Lydia tilted her head at me before Dianna explained that who I was, which got her to blush.

“Uhh, right… well as it seems I’m magicless… and have purple spots.” Lydia said with still a blush.

“Magicless… really?” Blake asked the Magi, only to see Lydia shrink a bit.

“Yeah, whatever happened she can't cast any magic.” a voice said as Drake came downstairs with Ange behind him. She didn't look any different so that was- is that a tail? I looked over and saw Ange with a long fluffy tail and some cat ears top of her head as well as her eyes were slits like a cat.

“Ange?” I said which cases the once shy Skyborn Eeped and zoomed up onto the ceiling, digging her newly acquired claws into the ceiling and shaking like… well a scaredy cat.

“Aww man! I just got her down!” Drake said with a frown. I looked at her not with a frown but with concern before I spoke up to her.

“Ange It's me, Isaac. I know I don't look like it but it's true.” I said to her, my voice while still womanly, took a soft tone and the effect was immediate, her shaking stopped and she looked down at me. I only smiled at her with a little shrug. Then I watch her fall… and land on her feet.

“... Okay that was cool.” Blake said behind me as Skyler nodded. Angelina looked at me for a moment before she spoke.

“Isaac… you look different.” She said as she looked at me. I rubbed my arm a bit with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, different is an understatement.” I said to her.

“Well… you look nice…” She said in a whisper. I smiled at this, a small blush forming while Blake looked at the rest of us.

“Okay… so we have… Ise-"

“Who?” Rachael asked rudely.

“Fem Isaac here, Cat Ange, magicless, less hyper Dianna… uh…” Blake looked at the Skyborn who turned her back made her wings appear… only they were child size. “Small wing Rachael, hey where’s Jacquelin?”

“Down here.” a high pitch voice came from the table. We all turned and saw the farmer in a blue dress and the size of a toy standing on table.

“It was the only thing that fit.” Sam informed us as we all turned to Sophia who looked at all of us. With a grumble she pulled back her hood and… wow.

“I'm bald!” Sophia cried, her head was completely shaved and clean like a ball. Everyone stared as Sophia looked at us oddly. “You're… not laughing?”

“No, I think by far is funny is tiny Jacquelin. No offense.” The tiny winged Skyborn said.

“None taken.” The farmer replied as Sophia looked into a mirror as Blake tossed her a colorful rag.

“Okay… we're like this… how did this-" Lydia started to say only for Rachael to cut in.

“It's that evil enchantress! She must've put a curse on us!” she stated.

“No it's not a curse.” Lydia said with a frown.

“You sure?” Drake asked, holding a green book with the image of a fern on it.

“Drake, curses belong under anything supernatural, which also have ghosts, undead, and make believe!” Lydia said in a stern tone, making the beastkin roll his eyes. The others voice their own opinions about this, saying that it is a curse and Kam put it on them as Blake, Skyler, Samantha, Ange, and I stood there and watched. Samantha had her arms crossed and frowning at this.

“You people are insane if you seriously think Kam had anything to do with this.” I said to them, arms crossed and frowning. Ange blushed when I crosser my arms and so did I before I quickly uncrossing them. This… didn't get any attention as they kept fighting.

“Maybe we all go to Kams place and just… ask her?” Sam asked rest of us as the others fought.

“I like that idea, can make it so we can say ‘we told you so’.” Blake said with a little chuckle.

“But… that would be rude…” Ange said before her cat ears flickered and she scratched them like a cat would. I was curious of something when I watched her do this and without me knowing, I gently scratched behind her ears. When I finally realized what was happening, I was greeted with Ange’s cat like purrs. I turned to see the others around me staring at me, Blake arching a brow as well.

“Anyway… who here wants to go to the one person that could help us for real? Say Aye.” Blake asked us as the others got louder.

“Aye.” I said with a raise of my hand and so did Ange, only she simply raised her hand quietly. Her blush has yet to fade and I was on the same boat as her, Blake gave me a suspicious glance, no doubt taking note talk about it later and well, I'm not excited for it. The rest of us said Aye and we turned to head out to Kam’s place.

It was a long walk, avoiding some large patches of that blue plant, I didn’t want to know if being in it more would worsen our state more, or make it permanent. Soon we arrived at Kam’s place, a house that had a large tree growing over top of it. There were masks and totems around as we walked up to the door. I felt Ange shrink a bit in fear and she followed behind me as I knocked on the door. After a moment or two the door open and Kam was there without the cloak on. She had more tribal tattoos on her body as she wore a cloth that was wrapped around her chest and a wool skirt.

“Hello, can I help…” She stopped as she looked at me. “Oh… Isaac you look different.”

“Yeah about that… kinda found out first hand how the joke plants look like and well…” I said gesturing at myself before finishing my words with a simply. “Yeah.” I said. She stared at me before her gaze went to Ange and the others.

“And I believe you came for some help?” Kam asked us.

“Umm, yes please.” Angelia said softly. Kam chuckled as she moved out of the way.

“Come in, come in.” Kam ushered us in. As we did we saw that the room was filled with a number of potion bottles, masks, a large cauldron in the middle and, well, everything that makes it look like a shaman lives here. Kam walked over to her bookcase and looked through the books. “I must say, this is quite a surprise to see you like this.”

“Who me?” I asked, unsure to who she spoke to.

“Yes you.” Kam said as she pulled a green book down from the shelf. “This is something cause by the Joke plant… but never at this scale.” she stated.

“So what, I'm the first case of a full gender swap?” I asked her, confused a little as to my condition.

“Too me, yes.” Kam said as she opened the book. “Which means I have to make a double batch just to see if it could turn you back.” I wasn't sure if I should worry or be afraid, luckily though I had plenty of things to keep my mind from imagining the worst, being stuck a woman. Kam let me have a seat nearby as she worked a batch of antidote for the others. Blake and Samantha helped her get the stuff she needed, which most of it was in the forest so they were off getting those as Ange was sitting next to me.

“Sorry… for how my friends were acting Isaac.” Ange said to me. “They’re just… scared at all of this…” I sighed at this, while it was true it didn't justify them for labeling Kam an evil enchantress.

“It's alright… it just doesn't excuse them for acting the way they did. For Celestia’s sake, we're the ones that got ourselves into this mess and Kam had nothing to do with it.” I said to her, a little saddened over this fact. “I just wish they didn't jump the gun in accusing Kam.” I added. Angelina nodded at this as we sat there in silence. A few moments past before she spoke up.

“Umm, Isaac… can you… do something for me… th-that is if you don’t mind.” Ange asked, blushing a little. My mind stopped whatever it was doing, coming to a dead stop and taking a moment or two to process what she had said and I looked I her.

“Y-yeah, what is it?” I said with a stutter at the start. Angel stared at me before she spoke.

“Can you… scratch behind my ears again… please.” she asked, blushing a bit more. Upon hearing her request, my cheeks took a rosy tint as well before I nodded. I began scratching behind her ears again, her purrs were like music to my ears and for a moment or two, it was all just bliss. I heard a little chuckle from Kam as she worked on the antidote. It was a few minutes later until Ange pulled away from me. “Thanks Isaac.” She and I both had a small smile with blushes donning our cheeks.

“N-No problem.” I said, once again stuttering at the start. I internally cursed at my own nervousness at all this. The two of us waited for the others to come as Kam spoke.

“Okay, we just need one last thing to finish it.” Kam said. I looked up at her before looking at the book, seeing it said it shouldn't have taken this long even with a double batch. Before I could say anything there was a loud crash and Rachael came screaming in, along with the others.

“Let our friends go!” Lydia yelled as the other rushed in, Dianna simple walked in. there was so much chaos that happened that my brain couldn’t process what just happened. When it did I saw the others surrounded Kam, Jacqueline trying to hold Kam down but due to her size wasn’t working and the large caldron was tipped over. Kam let out a frustrated sigh at this as she looked at her home.

“You all just barged into my home, and wrecked it… don’t push my patience.” Kam said in an angry tone that I haven’t seen just yet.

“Don’t waste your breath you evil enchantrance, you hexed us and… brainwash Ange and Isaac!” Rachael proclaimed. Everyone glared at Kam as she crossed her arms. My eye was twitching in anger at all of them being idiots and I was about to start yelling but there was another voice that spoke up.

“What in sam hill is going on?!” Samantha asked as Blake and her returned with some stuff. Everyone looked and Jacqueline looked relieved that her sister was safe, even though she was always safe.

“Samantha, Blake stay back!” Lydia said, getting in between Kam and the two. “We’ll not let her do any more harm to anyone else!”

Blake had a flat look on her face as she looked over to me then at the others. She walked over to a stand with the book Kam had and picked it up. “May I?” she asked to Kam, who nodded. Blake walked over with book in hand and shoved it in Lydia’s face. “Read.”

“I don’t…” Lydia started before she started to read. “Poison Joke, a blue coloured plant that has the unique ability to play ‘jokes’ on others. These jokes range from the miniscule as different skin colour, hair colour and rash, to the extreme as lost of flight… shrinkness… baldness… loss of magic with purple...spots…” Blake looked over at me and did the gesture of ‘Your turn’.

“You idiots spilled the antidote, you know, the medicine that'll cure us all of the jokes and not only that, you basically committed a crime of break and entering, not to mention assault!” I exclaimed at them, beyond angry at the lot. For once Ange didn't flinch at the raise of my voice, her frown telling me she too felt the way I did.

“But… the times she came… bad things happened!” The flightless Skyborn pointed out to which Blake spoke up.

“What? You mean the stalls running out of food due to them being moldy? The guy who does the delivered messed up the boxes.” Blake looked at the Mini famer before adding. “You should know this already.” The farmer let out a half hearted laugh.

“It uhh, slipped ma mind…” she said sheepishly.

“Ya see, Kam didn’t do anything, ya’ll just jumping to conclusions.” Sam said which Skyler simply nodded at her. Everyone looked ashamed as Blake looked at Kam.

“Can you make another batch?” Blake asked the Shaman.

“This I can not do, the one item I need grows here every three years, I won’t get any more till that time comes.” Kam answered, making a shiver go down my spine. Was I stuck as a woman for three years?! My panic was short live when Kam pulled a certain back and there was another, I be it smaller but not by much, caldron that’s boiling away. “That’s why I had a backup just in case something happened.” This made everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“Now if what Kam’s book said is true then all we need is a large bath tub or two and we can have everyone soak in it.” Samantha explained which Sophia smiled.

“And I know just the place~!”

I let out a blissful sigh as I soaked in a hot bath by myself as Blake and Kam poured the last bit of the antidote into my bath in the spa house.

“That should be all, Isaac please stay in the bath for some time to see if the effects revert.” Kam explained as she left both me and Blake alone. It was silent for the most part, it was kinda awkward being fully naked with someone else in the room, especially when that someone else would take sneaky glances. Each time she does it she lets out a groan until she turned all the way around so she couldn’t take a peek at me.

“You really should stop with the peeking, Blake.” I said to her and while she did turn around to look the other way, there was large mirror on that wall that held the reflection of the room.

“Can you blame me!” Blake groaned as she looked down at herself. “Curse your hotness.” I rolled my eyes before letting out a laugh, feeling soothness of the water calm me greatly. I looked down at myself, seeing my submerged body.

“You know, I have a whole new respect for women with knockers these big. I've only had them for a few hours and I feel like my back would give out.” I said, raising them up from the water. Blake had the bad luck to look up at this before letting out an annoyed groan as she covered her eyes. This made me laugh as I let them go as Blake shot a glare at me.

“You did that on purpose.” She said to me.

“What, this?” I said, doing it again just for the absolute fun of it. Not only did this get the glare of all glares from Blake but I swore I could see a nosebleed.

“Please stop…” Blake pleaded. “It’s starting to get weird.”

“Oh relax, I'm just joking around but I did mean what I said before, their killing my back.” I said, this time I was serious as I slowly submerged myself in the water, leaving me up to my neck in water. “So how are the others holding up?” I asked Blake, changing the subject.

“They’re fine, Sophia has her hair back, Jacqueline is normal size, etc. You're just taking the longest for some reason.” Blake explained to me as I head some cheering from the once flightless Skyborn now able to fly again.

“It's weird… I stood on the patch as long as the others did and with what Kam said, I shouldn't have been gender swapped in the first place.” I said before sighing and looking up at the ceiling. “Guess I'm the unlucky one again.” I said with a little laugh.

“Don’t know what to say man, things just happen and you have to roll with the punches.” Blake said with a shrug. A few moments past before Blake spoke again, only a little quieter. “So… when are you going to ask Ange out?” To say that I freaked out was an understatement, I nearly drowned when she asked this.

“W-w-what?” I asked, acting clueless though to no avail by the looks of it.

“Oh come on, you really think I’m that clueless? I’ve seen the way you looked at her and her at you.” Blake pointed out to me. “It’s getting to the point where it starting to stop being cute and I want to start yelling ‘Just kiss her already!’.” I frowned at this and looked down at the water.

“I just don't want to fuck it up!” I exclaimed, my voice echoing in the room and silencing Blake. “Yeah I like her, maybe even… but I'm just nervous that I'd screw it up somehow.” I said burying my face into my hands, letting out a loud and muffled groan as I did.

“Yeah… I know the feeling.” Blake said with a sigh. “But you don’t know if you don’t at least try.” I let a small groan when she said this, it was true though that didn't mean it'd be easy. We waited for a few minutes and I began to see some changes such as my hair getting shorter and I was losing the female form I had for the last few hours. I wasn’t fully back to normal but at least I was getting there. “So… other than the back pains, you going to miss being Ise?” Blake asked, a smug look on her face as she said that.

“Not as much you are.” I said in a retort, not even bothering to look at her when I said this. Blake stuck her tongue out at me as the time continue on. At one point Ange came around, back to her own self, to say goodbye to the two of us, and after another few hours past I walked out of the spa as my male self again.

“And he’s back.” Blake said with a chuckle.

“Yup, finally too. I don't think I'd live a week as a girl.” I said, glad to hear my own voice again. Blake laughed at that as the two of us headed down the street to our homes.

“So… since you know about my crush on Ange. I think it'd be for me to ask if you have a crush of your own?” I asked her, giving her a side glance as we walked. Blake didn’t say anything at first and after a few moments of walking she shook her head.

“Nope, I don’t have a crush.” She answered softly. I looked down at the ground, I could tell that she was upset just by the way she moved and her tone.

“Hey don't be so down… you just got to be patient, maybe you'll find that special someone sooner than you think.” I said to her, wanting to cheer her up. Blake glances at me and smiled a little.

“Thank Isaac.” Blake said softly. I smiled back at her as we continued on before finally coming upon the fork in the road with one way leading her home and the leading to mine. We waved goodbye at one another before we headed to our respective homes.

End of Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

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Another day, another job for some random person in town. This job was for the town's own DJ, Sofía Aquino and her roommate Carole Langstone. At the moment I was under the sink finishing up the last bit of work when I heard a knocking sound.

“Knock knock my friend.” The voice of the female DJ said in a laid back tone. “How goes with the plumbing?”

“You people need to clean up your dishes before putting them in the sink, innards of the pipe here is filled junk.” I said informatively, it wasn't my first rodeo in plumbing. It didn't mean I was an expert by any means but I know the basics. “Unless you want me to come by every three months to unclog your sink, you need to think on getting a trash disposal unit.” I said to her, still working on whatever the hell is clogging the pipe up this time. The sink was already dry, so I didn't have to worry about being covered in sludge.

“Hey! That’s what Carole said the other day!” Sofía said with a laugh. I rolled my eyes as I continue to work. Carole Langstone is also a well known person in town to be one of the best cello players, even one that goes up to Canterlot for shows. Between the two I don’t understand why they are living together since Carole is more dignified and polite while Sofía is… well, not. She can be summed up as a party animal. She’s nice sure but she can have a little too much fun. It wasn’t a surprise to see scattered clothing of hers in the house after her DJ shows, which also shows that I’ve been here a few times to do a fix up for them. I shouldn’t be complaining since they pay good.

“I think I've nearly got the problem and…” I said before successful unclogging the drain pipe, the cause… well, a used condom that I immediately tossed out in disgust. “And like that, it'll cost you double than usual.” I said to her. I saw the Sofía standing there in some pajamas and her electric blue hair and red eyes looking at the condom.

“Oh yeah… I remember that night… whoops.” she said before taking it and throwing it out. Sofía was pretty laid back but I saw her eyes dart around. “So uhh… pay you double?... can you keep the reason for the clogging a secret to Carole? I can make it triple.”

“Deal.” I said nonchalantly before going back under to put the pipes back together and in working order, it didn't take long and once I was finished, I pulled out from under sink and cleaned up my tools. “That…” I said, pointing at the trash bin but Sofía knew what I was really gesturing at. “Can't happen again and if it does, I expect a raise cause seriously… that's just fucking disgusting.” I said to her. She simple shrugs and smiled as she pulled out triple of my pay.

“Hey, you going to the fair later this week with your kid? Heard there’s going to be some good food.” Sofía said as she handed me my pay. I shrugged before saying.

“Yeah, Skyler and I have been looking forward to it for a while now.” I said, pocketing the cash and packing up. Sofía grinned at this.

“Cool, I believe it's going to be sweet.” Sofía said with a laugh. I smiled slightly as I packed up the last of my stuff and stood up to see the DJ with a phone in hand. “Take care man and thanks again, you're the best.” I nodded at her and left, walking out the door and into the street. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with clean air after having been down under the sink for almost an hour. I looked down at the town to see everyone setting up for the event later in the week. I walk down the street back home, greeted by everyone and I greeted them back. Just as I was about to turn into my street I caught sight of a poster that was up on one of the building walls. I looked at it and saw it was for a cooking competition with the Princess herself being a judge as well as some big shot cook. Humming at the poster with interest, I decided to take along with the intent to Blake. I rolled up the poster and headed home to drop off my tools and get changed. Soon enough I got home and changed clothes, Skyler was out and about with some of her friends so the house was empty when I got there and when I left for Blake's shop. I made my way to the coffee shop and found there was more people in it than normal, though the reason is that out front there's a sign saying she's having a sale and her shop is a rest stop for anyone working on the festival. While it wasn't bad, it definitely an odd sight having gotten used to the shop being a quiet place. I finally got to the counter, seeing Blake working the register of hers.

“Hey Isaac, the normal order today?” Blake asked with a smile as she put a slip up in her kitchen.

“Nah, just the coffee. I ate at home before I left.” I said to her before taking the rolled up poster from my back pocket. “Oh and on the way home from a job, I came across this. Thought it might tickle your fancy.” I said, handing over the poster to her. She took the poster from me and took a look at it as the coffee was brewing.

“A cooking companion? Neat.” Blake said as she looked at it. I arched a brow at her curiously.

“I thought you'd be a little more enthusiastic about it.” I said, almost muttering it to myself. Blake shrugged a bit as she rolled the poster up.

“Sorry, I'm just not really interested in a cooking contest… contest even if there's some high up cook coming.” Blake said frowning a little. “Besides you and all of the town say I'm a damn good cook and that's fine with me.” With that said I heard someone yell ‘here here!’ warning a laugh from the others. This made Blake smile.

“Yeah but you got to think about the publicity, think about it, if you win over the judges with your cooking, this place would be booming with people.” I said to her. Blake stared at me for a few moments before humming about it.

“I’ll think about it.” She said before handing me my coffee. “Here you are, it’s fresh so careful.” I nodded and sat by the counter, taking slow sips of my coffee as I watched many of the patrons here eat and converse with one another, all with smiles on their faces and their occasional round of laughter. Blake smiled at this as she brought out food for everyone. It was until a few minutes later and I already drank half of my coffee that the patrons headed out of the shop to get back to work. Blake sighed happily. “That was fun.” she looked over at me and arch a brow. “So… going to ask Ange out for the fair?” The sudden question nearly made me choke on my coffee which earned a laugh from Blake. After a few coughs here and there, I thought about the question and it only made me more nervous as I thought about it.

“I don't know… should I?” I asked, unsure of my own decision.

“Yes.” Blake said without missing a beat. “Ever since the Poison Joke event you two became close, she doesn’t talk all nervous like she used to whenever you two hang out.” She said. Right… the poison joke incident which happened roughly about a month ago and while I was brought back to my normal dude self, the others had been left with some quirks such as Rachael actually taking the time to jog across town instead of flying, Dianne being less of a nuisance than she normally would be which if I were to guess that through the brief moments she was normal that she had found herself annoying. Sophia had started setting up wigs for sale in her shop and.I've even seen Lydia use less of her magic after being proven that she relies on it too much. Ange was the oddest one though, not bad by any means but it was definitely odd, whenever we hung out there would be times she would ask me if I could gently scratch the spot where her cat ears used to be. People have even seen us in some occasion which led them to believe that we were a couple, of course we blushed red as tomatoes but… it felt right. I looked back at Blake and saw she was smirking at me. “You’re thinking about Ange huh.”

“Can you blame me though.” I said to her with arched brow. “I like her, like a lot and it's not that fake shit like with those floozies from before.” I said, reminding her of the current streak I had of fake relationships. Some of them even ended up with me drinking myself to sleep, cursing my stupidity for falling for their allure.

“Okay, I get you there.” Blake said, remembering the others. She looked away from me before adding. “Tell you what, you go ask Ange out, and I’ll take part in this cooking contest. Deal?”

“How does me asking Ange out benefit you in all this?” I asked her, a little confused over her proposition. Blake blinked at this before sighing.

“It was a cool moment Isaac! Now you’ve ruined it!” Blake said, crossing her arms and scowling. I raised my hands up defensively before saying.

“Alright alright, deal.” I said quickly in hopes she didn't get angry, no one in town likes it when she's angry. She smiled a little before letting out a breath.

“Well, better get to practicing.” Blake said as she turned and walked into the back and I started to hear some sounds of stuff getting moved around. “Leave the money on the counter!” She called out to me. I did just that, leaving the payment for the coffee safely on the counter before heading outside. Upon exiting, my mind went overdrive when I realized I was going to ask Ange out to the fair with me. Walking down the street I was too busy in my own head that I bumped into someone. I soon saw it was an old man with a cane. He turned to me and spoke.

“Oh dear… are you alright?” He asked me, which was odd since I was the one who bumped into him.

“Yeah, sorry about that I wasn't paying to where I was going.” I said to him, apologising to the man for having bumped into him. The man chuckled at me.

“It’s fine, though it’s nice to see the young have some kindness to say sorry… unlike some kids.” he said with a laugh. “What’s your name if you don’t mind me asking.” Not seeing anything wrong with telling him, I spoke.

“Isaac Parker, I'm the work for hire of the town.” I said to him, introducing myself along with my line of work.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Lucius Gideon Granger, just an old fellow.” He said with a laugh. “Now I believe I took you away from your dutes long enough. I hope you have a nice day.” Lucius said before shuffling off. I smiled at this, seeing him as a nice old man though I could've sworn I've heard of that name before, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Shaking my head at the thought, I resumed my trek though it wasn't towards home, it was towards Ange’s place. I swore it felt like an eternity before I finally got there, I had to take a few deep breaths just to walk up to the cottage. When I stood just in front of the door, a large part my thoughts yelled at me to bail out before I screw up horribly while another much smaller part of my mind yelled to do it, to swallow my fear and ask her out. I raised my hand up to knock and right as I was about to the door opened. Ange was there in an outfit that I rarely see her in; a tight white tank top with a few brown spots on it that looks like dirt, some jeans with a few rips in it and her pink hair dun up in a ponytail. She blinked in surprise as she saw me.

“O-Oh… hi Isaac.” She greeted with a little stutter. “What can I d-do for you?” I could feel my left eye twitch as so did my hand before I lowered and faked clearing my throat.

“H-hey Ange… I ju-just came by to ask if…” I struggled greatly just to speak. My nerves just wanted things more difficult. “I-if you’d like to go with me... to the fair?” I was finally able to finish the question, much to my own relief though now was the worse part, the decision. It could go either way and I'm expecting the worst.

“Yes.” she said bluntly which took be by surprise and I saw her blush hard. “I-I-I-I mean yes I would love to go… er I mean like to go, with you.. Uhh oh dear I mean… You uh, understand what I’m saying… right?” I was quick to nod at her question and this brought a blushing smile to Ange.

“I-I'll come by to pick um.. to pick you at noon, if that's fine with you.” I said to her nervously, which gained me a nod from her.

“Yes… that’s fine with me… if that’s fine with you… I mean it should since you asked and umm… I’m rambling aren’t I?” she asked me with a little laugh.

“It's-it's okay, so I guess I'll see then.” I said, managing to keep my stutter to a minimum though my blush has yet to fade.

“Yes! Uh yes… I’ll see you then…” She said with her own blush. The two of us stood there… smiling… not moving… at all. “Uhh… so… I uh.. I have stuff… I have some things to do...You want to stay and… help?” she asked me, not sure how to move on. Not having anything else planned today I nodded before she stepped aside, letting me in. The time I spent there was mostly us working with her animals that live or come around. During that time I notice that there's was a little happy spring in her step as she worked… which held to me staring since there was a lot of… umm… jiggle. She notice and said sorry a million times and went red for doing that though I said it wasn’t all that bad since I kinda knew how that was when I was Ise.

When it was getting dark Angelina said goodbye to me and she’ll see me on the day of the fair. I said my goodbyes and left, a very noticeable spring in my step before stopping just far enough away.

“Yes!” I yelled with my arms up high and fire shooting out from my fists. I quickly stopped when I noticed the flames fell down to the ground and a familiar flaming feline walked forward.

“Someone looks happy.” Wisp said simply at me. “I have to say, it’s about time you asked the woman out.” I blushed and grumbled a bit, though whatever I attempted to say was incoherent even for me.

“I couldn't work the nerve before, okay!” I exclaimed truthfully. Many times before I have thought of asking Ange out but my nerves always got the best of me but not this time! This time it was my win!

“Yes yes, asking a girl out that you actually like is a great step, better than the others you went out with…” Wisp said before adding. “Though, did you have to stare at her as she worked?”

“I didn't mean to, it just kinda happened.” I said before my shoulders sagged. “I hope she doesn't think I'm a weirdo because of it.” I said with a frown. If a fire cat could Wisp arch a brow at me.

“You’re asking a woman who turned into a cat Beastkin over a month ago who now asks you to scratch behind her ears and still make purring sounds think you’re a weirdo…” She stopped there for me to figure it out. I only frowned and said.

“Hey, it's not weird… it's cute.” I said admitting that I always found how Ange would purr cute. The way I said it made sound like I was on the defensive, which is a rarity for me as I'm usually more laid back than anything. Wisp came over and put a paw on my leg.

“I understand.” She said before hopping up onto me and draping herself around my neck. “I do want to ask you treat her with the utmost respect as you always do, since you know, Ise.” I groaned at this since Wisp, for a number of times, keep bringing up the fact I was a girl for a few hours. I frowned at her, she knew full well that I would rather forget about the awkward experience of being the opposite gender.

“I told you to stop bringing that up!” I yelled at Wisp a little angrily. Wisp chuckled at this before the two of us headed off back home. Now the question is, what am I going to wear?

Next Day

I was up in bright and early than normal as the night before I gotten a call to help someone with some electrical work which didn’t take that long, a few wires misplaced. I walked down the street with my thoughts, which mostly were about Ange and the fair. I had a goofy grin on my face for a bit before I ran into someone, I really need to watch were I was going. Right as I was about to say sorry the man with short blonde hair and blue eyes stared angrily at me.

“Watch where you’re walking!” he said with a snarl. I blinked a few times and saw how fancy his clothes were and how… rich he was. I frowned as I realized this was one of the nobles from Canterlot.

“Geez, sorry.” I said sarcastically, it would've been a genuine sorry if it weren't for his attitude. The man scoffed at me before he and another person who seemed to be carrying a lot of stuff followed behind him. The sight of this annoyed me when I notice I wasn’t alone as I saw Lucius coming up to me.

“It seems fate let's us meet again Isaac Parker. I have to say sorry for that man's… well attitude.” Lucius said sadly but with a warm smile.

“You don't need to apologize for some asshole.” I said, it really is people like that guy that fuels my hate for nobles. “So how's your stay in town going?” I asked him.

“Oh it’s going nicely! I just came out of a nice coffee shop that made me feel so homely.” he said as he shows that he did have a cup from Blake’s store. He looked back at where the noble went off. “And I do need to apologize for that, not to the person no but for my family name you see.” It took me a few moments to click in that the noble and Lucius are in the same family. “If it helps his name is Milburn Grangerm, one of the top chefs at Granger school of Culinary arts.” He explained.

Now it made sense, Lucius was one of the owners of the school that Blake wanted to get into but can’t due to the headmaster being an ass, though I doubt that this old man would be him since… well… he’s really nice.

“So that guy… he's your son?” I asked him, gesturing towards the asshat not far behind already yelling at another person for bumping into him.

“No no, more like my grandson.” He turned to Milburn and sighed. “Like father, like son… anyway! I was hoping I could run into you Isaac, if you don’t mind me asking for a favor from you.”

“Alright, shoot.” I said, interested in what he had to say.

“Well you know that the cooking contest is coming up and, well, one of the judges, a snooty food critic, called in sick and can’t come. I worry that we have to cancel it because of it… but I asked around and was told that you have been a judge in the past in a few events. If it’s not an issue but mind subbing in as a judge?” Lucius asked me. He came a little closer before adding. “It’s mostly due to your… blunt answers as I have a feeling that my grandson might try to bribe you to get his vote.”

“I mean… I would but I have a date planned.” I said, a little scared that it might interfere with my date with Ange. Lucius chuckles at this.

“Ah, I understand that, but let me explain a bit more on how the competition works, it might work for you benefit.” He said before putting up two fingers. “The whole thing starts before the fair even starts, more like preliminary rounds. The first round will cut down each contestant by the vote of the people in the fair, the next will be just the critics and foodies, then the final round, which we, Me, The Princess, and you, would judge the last group of four, but that’s way late in the fair, right before dusk. You can go and have your date, with the benefits of being a judge on top of it which is free food, and free reign to do whatever and come back for the finals. The preliminary rounds are judged by critics and foodies that the Royal elite has chosen with the aid of the two Princesses.” Lucius shifted a bit with a smile. “But if you still can’t do it then there’s no harm done. I’ll just go find someone else that I can trust to be a sub.”

“Alright, I'll do it just as long as it doesn't mess with my date.” I said to him, agreeing to judge the final round of the contest but on the condition that it doesn't interfere with me and Ange in anyway beforehand. The old man’s smile grew a bit at my answer.

“Perfect!” He said before pulling something out of his pocket and handed it to me. I saw it was a gold royal seal. “This is your badge that says you’re one of the three final judges for the cook off… which I have to ask, how many cooking competitions have you judged?” he asked me.

“Enough to know good tastes.” I said to him with a simple shrug. “And to lay absolute waste to the half assed ones.” I added with a chuckle of my own.. Lucius smiled but this time there was something… sinister about it.

“Well, you’ll fit right in.” he said. The way he said it made a chill run up my spine as he turned to leave. “Well, see you on fair day!” he said with a warm laugh. I blinked at this, not really too sure in what I got myself into but I have this goldenseal now so… cool, I guess. I pocket the seal and continue on down the street, seeing more and more decorations getting set up and now seeing some stalls being set up, only a lot of them had stoves and other cooking equipment. Those must be the places where the contestants will cook.

Continuing on down the street I headed back home to get ready for the crazy day that is the Fair.

Fair Day

I took a big breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm my nerves as I stood in front of Ange’s place. I was a little early but I was really nervous about this. I wore a pale brown shirt with a black jacket over it with some clean jeans. It was getting colder out since it was close to fall so I bundle up for it. The gold seal was out on display so anyone can see it.

I took another deep breath and walked up to the door and gave it a knock. After a few minutes the door opened and I saw Ange walk out in a white shirt that clinged to her bust with a brown jacket over top and a dark blue skirt on. She was blushing a little bit as she looked up to me.

“H-Hello Isaac…” Ange greeted me shyly. “I...I hope I didn’t make you wait…”

“No no, it's fine.” I said before giving her another look over. “You look… wow.” I said and while her attire wasn't so dazzling for others, to me she just looks absolutely stunning. She smiled at me with a slight blush.

“Thank you… you look… well… wow.” she said with a smile. I smiled back, blushing as well before offering my arm for her. She saw this and no sooner hooked her arm in mine before we began our trek to the fair. The fair was a buzz with people from town and outside of town. Laughter and yells filled the air as we walked through it. We stopped by some games and right as the person running it was going to ask for pay before he looked at me and simply said go ahead. It puzzled Ange that we were playing for free for an unknown reason for her. I looked down and saw the gold seal on my jacket and remembering something that Lucius saying that, as a judge, I have some benefits to the fair.

“Sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you that I've been asked to judge the last round of the cook off, which explains this thing and apparently I get benefits for being the judge.” I said to her, a nervous chuckle leaving my lips after I did. Ange didn’t say anything about this but as we left she was holding a stuff angel bunny which she was smiling happily for. The rest of the day we wondered around the fair, I even saw the cooks that were competing, some looked focused, others… not so much. I soon saw Dianne in a chef apron and working as well, guessing she’s a part of it as well.

“Well hey there Isaac, Ange.” I heard Jacqueline's voice to my left. I turned to see her cooking as well.

“Oh… hey Jacqueline.” Ange greeted with a smile. I smiled at the farmer girl as well before greeting her.

“Hey Jacqui, I'm guessing you're competing as well?” I asked her with an arched brow and a chuckle.

“Yes sir!” she said with a smile before serving someone some food. “But if ya ask me… ah don’t think ah’ll move on to the next round.” She a laugh at this.

“What do you mean?” Ange asked sadly. Jacqueline smiled as she looked around.

“Ah maybe a farmer and grew up with some good old fashion food but there are others that are way better than me. Like that guy over there.” Jacqueline pointed over to a stand which had a mountain of a beastkin man with a long line up for him. “Hear he came up from one of the fishing cities and brought his A game. Had a little of his dish and ohh we! It almost knock my boots off!” this made the farmer laugh which made Ange smile a little. “Beside, ah wasn’t really aiming for the prize, just happy to give folks some good food.”

“Well be that as it may, I'm still going to wish you good luck.” I said to her, giving her some morale support.

“Thanks Isaac.” Jacqueline said before the two of us walked off with a plate of her food: an apple fritter. I hummed happily as I ate mine and Ange nibbled on hers. It was going good today.

“Oh Isaac~!” Until I head Sophie yell out my name. I groaned a little as I saw her coming up to me with a big smile. “Hello Isaac, I hope you are having a fabulous day.” Internally groaning a little, I spoke.

“Hey Sophie, didn't think to find you here.” I said to her, putting on a fake smile which was convincing enough for her. Ange turned to her and waved which made Sophie blink in surprise.

“Oh uhh, well of course I would be, so many people and ideas for the fall line up is just flowing out! So many ideas!” She said with a laugh before pointing at the two of us. “So… you two walking together?”

“Yeah, she's my date.” I said, answering the fashionista’s question. A part of me hoped that by saying this she would stop trying to win me over, the other part me was basically praying. She stood there with a smile on her face.

“I… see…” She said and from the sound of her tone it must’ve hit her harder than I thought. “I… uh… need to get going… sorry to bother you.” With that she walked off into the crowd.

“I hope she not too upset about this.” Angelina whisper to me.

“I kinda feel bad as well, maybe we can talk to her about it.” I said to Ange. I never meant to hurt Sophie, I just wanted her to know I wasn't interested in her in the way she wants me to. Angelina nodded as we continue on to the fair. Before long I stopped and moved us away from a different path when I saw the Asshole Milburn. I didn’t want to run into him until later, but this did lead me to see… Blake? I found her working in her stand and she looked almost unrecognizable. Instead of her normal casual clothing she wore a black chef coat and pants as she was chopping something quickly. She was focused on what she was doing as there was a beeping sound and she turned to pull something out of the oven which looked like quiches.

“Wow… that’s Blake?” Ange asked me in awe.

“Yup and by the looks of it, she's killing it.” I said with a little laugh as we watched Blake do her thing. There was a large group of people just standing around her area and watching her speed through cutting and slicing.

“Ahh, Isaac.” Lucius’ voice called out as he came over to me. “Good to see you here, and I’m guessing this is your date.”

“H-hello.” Ange greeted with a smile. I turned to look at Lucius as he nodded to Ange.

“Yeah, this is Angelina Calliope. Ange this is the guy that asked me to sub in as a judge.” I said, wanting to somewhat introduce one another.

“Angelina, that’s a lovely name.” Lucius said before looking over at where Blake was. “I see you have seen our late entry, have to say she’s determined.”

“Yeah, Blake is a really good cook here.” Ange said with a smile, this got an arch brow from the old man.

“Hmm, I’m guessing that the three of you are friends?” He asked me.

“Yes, I've known since my school days. She's like the sister I never had.” I said to him with a smile, this earned me a smile from Ange when I said this.

“Well that’s nice but Isaac, please tell me you won’t show any favortisem to your friend in the contest.” Luclus asked me with a slight frown. I thought for a moment and imagine Blake finding out if I did. It wasn’t pretty. Finally I shook my head.

“No sir, I wasn't thinking of doing so. I'd be a dead man if I did and I don't know about you but I enjoy living.” I said him half jokingly and half truthfully. This earns a laugh from him as well.

“Really now? Well that’s good to hear.” He turned to Ange and then back to me. “Well I hope you both have a good rest of the day, and Isaac Finals will be starting in seven hours. I have to tell you to come by the the main grounds thirty minutes before hand to hold a little meeting with the Princess, if that’s alright.”

“Alright, I'll keep that in mind, sir.” I said in a polite tone. He nodded before walking off as the two of us continue on. A few hours passed and I began to see some people looking a bit upset and they were also the ones wearing chef coats, meaning that the first round was done. I saw Blake walking a little a ways away and she saw me. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up, saying she’s on to the second round. Ange smiled at this as she hugged my arm a bit more. I gave a thumbs up back at her, wishing her luck in the contest.

As we walked we came up to some people from out of town, one that made Ange excited was an animal handler and had a few birds of prey with them. Ange was basically in heaven as she saw the large birds that were there. I smiled at this before me and an owl stared at each other, having a staring contest to see who win. In the end I won only to the fact he turned his head all the way around to look away. We also found a group of people that work with metal and I learned some neat tricks for my next project… that I need to figure out what it will be.

It was a little while until I notice the sun was going down and a voice on the intercoms says that the final round was going to start in forty five minutes. “I guess you have to go be a judge huh?” Ange asked me. I smiled sadly at her.

“Yeah… sorry if this is cutting our date short.” I said to her, my voice taking a saddened tone. Ange smiled and shook her head.

“It’s fine, this was… amazing.” The two of us stared at each other before Ange spoke. “I’m… going to go back to the animals in the fair.” With that she skipped off, making me chuckle a bit. I was about to go when I felt some arms grabbed me and Ange kissed me on the cheek. “Thanks Isaac.”

My brain immediately fried, I didn’t know what just happened. My mind was all over the place but I placed a hand on the cheek she kissed, a bright smile curling my lips and I held back the urge to do a little dance. After a few minutes of getting my thoughts together, I finally began heading towards the supposed meeting point.

It took me a bit but I found where we should meet and I saw Lucius there as well as the Princess. She turned and smiled at me before she spoke. “Ahh, Isaac. Fancy meeting you again.”

“Hello Princess.” I said with a formal bow. “It's good to see you again as well.” I said to her. She smiled at me as I straighten.

“I believe you already met Lucius here.” The Princess said as Lucius bowed a bit.

“We have Celestia.” He said with a smile. I was a little put off when he called the Princess by name but this simply made the Princess smile a little more… fake.

“Lucius, we discussed this before hand that you don’t call me by name out in public.” The Princess informed him to which the old man laughed.

“Oh don’t be such a stick in the mud.” Lucius said with a laugh. I blinked at this as the Princess sighed and looked at me.

“Don’t mind him, his kind are… mad.” The Princess said, making Lucius smile more.

“You say that to all Cooks, Celestia.” The old man said with a laugh. I just stood in silence as this went on, I was honestly a little confused but managed to keep it to myself though I'm not sure if it's my mind playing tricks on me but I swore I caught the princess giving me an odd glance. Before long it calmed down enough that we moved on to the meeting part. I was told that the final round would be a secret ingredient round, a round that the four cooks should use in their dish. We were allowed to go down to see how the cooks are cooking and chat with them for a few moments. At the end they each will come up one by one for us to taste and write down a number from zero to five for presentation, taste, and use of ingredient.

“Thank you Lucius for that, the winner would be able to attend your family’s school correct?” The Princess asked the old man, who nodded.

“Yes, I do hope we get some new bright students in that school.” Lucius said with a smile. Both the Princess and I smiled at this. “And for the rest of them… you did say that they will get a gold ticket?” I blinked at this as the Princess nodded.

“For them to get this far I would love to see them at the Gala.” The Princess said happily. I groaned a little, being reminded of the ticket incident a few months back. The old man nodded and pulled out a pocket watch.

“Ah, it’s almost time. We should head up to our seats.” Lucius said before putting his watch away. The three of us headed up to a table and I sat down next to the right while Lucius sat at the left, meaning the Princess was right in the middle. We waited for a few moments before some music came on and a voice spoke.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the Before Fall Fair!” The voice of the DJ rang out which everyone let out a cheer. I soon saw her standing nearby wearing a blue top that showed off her belly and some short shorts. There were some catcalls and whistles at her as she smiled. “Tonight! We have an excellent group of people for our annual cook off! So let them hear it!” Another round of cheering before Sofía went down to one of four groups of kitchens. “First up! She’s one hyper gal, and one hell of a party planner! She makes your teeth rot with her cupcakes! Give it up for… Dianne Pye!”

There was a loud explosion and something crashed into the one kitchen. We all jumped at this as Dianne came out of the smoke, smiling and cheering as if nothing has happened. This made everyone let out a roar of cheering.

“Well… that one sure is… hyper.” The old man said which the Princess chuckled to herself. Sofía walked to the next kitchen, a little bigger than normal.

“Neeeext up! He comes from the sea and one hell of a giant! He could fish up a whale of flavor. Give it up for… Guvir- ah!” Sofía yelped as in the kitchen was the giant Beastkin. How did he get in there so fast?! “Holy heck man, how you get here so fast?” Guvir simply shrugs and I saw Dianne waving at him, too which he waved back. “Okay… Next up! She runs a little coffee shop and nice, but don’t make her angry or she’ll throw you to next week! Come on out...Blake Oíche!”

I saw Blake walk out with a smile on her face, everyone cheered for her as she took her place. She saw me and gave me a wave, which I waved back.

“Alright! The Final Cook, he’s the top chef in the Granger school of Culinary arts, heck he’s the son of the Headmaster, give a big hand for Milburn Granger!” the DJ announce which all the spotlights turned to show the snobby noble come out with a big smile and waving. I frowned at this as Sofía came hopping up to where we are. “Okay! Now that we now who they are, let's go to the judges table and see who the judges are! In the left seat, the last Headmaster of Granger school of Culinary arts, Lucius Granger!” Lucius waved at everyone before the DJ came over to me.

“So, I was told that the second judge was feeling ill for some reason, but luckily we have a replacement. He’s the guy who does odd jobs, and a good friend of mine… Isaac Parker!” Sofía announced as everyone cheered for me. I waved at the cheering people, I even spotted Ange amongst the crowd which got me to smile a little more. “And Finally! The last Judge who really doesn’t need any introduction, give it up for Princess Celestia!”

This made everyone cheer, the Princess smiling at them and giving a wave to them all. I chuckled a bit as the DJ was going over the rules of the final round where I was soon drawn away by Lucius. He came over and whispered into my ear.

“I don’t know your style of judging, but here’s a tip; these are cooks, people that seen the worse and turned into something amazing. Be blunt as possible but give it room for them to grow.” I looked over at the Old man who simple smiled at me, a man who most of his life was behind a stove and uses a knife.

“I'll keep that in mind, thanks.” I said to him with a nod. He nodded back before moving back to his seat just as the Princess stood up.

“Now then, for this final round dish must contain this ingredient.” She started as the large table in the middle of the room filled up with a water tank, soon different kinds of fish appeared. “Fish!”

“Ohh, Fish will be interesting.” Lucius said as I saw Dianne smiling around and Blake had her thinking look on. My eyes went over to the other two, the giant Beastkin was busy getting his tools ready as Milburn was smirking to himself with his arms crossed.

“ALL RIGHT! There’ two hours on the clock… start now!” The DJ yelled as the timer went off and the four went to the tank, the noble simply walked over all smug like. Dianne jumped into the tank and swam around before somehow grabbing a fish that the scales were like a rainbow.

“Oh my, that’s a Rainbow trout!” Lucius said as Dianne jumped out like a dolphin into her kitchen, to which the old man looked at me. “Is she… always like that?”

“Believe or not that's tame by her standards.” I said which was said through the microphones. I heard a round of laughter as I saw some of the townsfolk nodded at this, knowing Dianne well. I turned to see Blake with a net out and looking in the water. Soon she put it in and after a minute or so she pulled it out and some darker gray fish flopped around.

“Oh, that’s sea bass.” The Princess said with a smile before looking at the old man. “You know which one?”

“Hmm, from the image over head…” he said as we both looked up at the large screen with the sea bass on it. “It’s a Potato Bass.”

“I will name it… Spuds.” I said in a joking manner, using my fake serious voice when saying the name. This gotten a laugh from some of the crowd as well as Lucius.

“Really, I would have named it… Spudnick.” The Princess said with a chuckle. This also got a laugh from the crowned as I just heard the Princess make a joke. The snobby chef walked up and snapped his fingers as two people came out and caught his fish. This gotten some frowns from some people.

“This just in, renowned chef can't catch fish without aid. More on this at eleven.” I said after seeing it happen. This gotten a few laughs as Milburn glared at me as his grandfather shook his head. Guvir walked over to the tank and stared at it before with a quick thrust of his hand he grabbed and pulled out the biggest fish that was in there. “Big man gives zero fucks!” I said, having found his way of fishing a little more amusing but still not Dianne amusing.

“Isaac, language please.” The Princess said with a stern tone, like a mother would for their child. “But I do have to agree, that was pretty impressive.”

“Well it makes sense.” Lucius said as he turned to us. “Guvir comes from a small fishing port in the north, this was a challenge made for him. And the fish he used it known as a Titan Halibut, a pretty large fish if I do say so.”

“Exciting.” I said with a little chuckle as I watched. The contest continued as the four were going at it. The DJ asked us if we wanted to go down and take a closer look at the contestants.

“I would love a closer look.” The Princess said as Lucius shook his head.

“I can see all I need to see from here.” He said as the two of them as well as the DJ looked at me.

“I would but that require me getting from this comfy seat.” I said to her truthfully before shifting a little in my seat and adding. “I'm seeing how well can it do against a butt print.” I said. There was a few chuckles from from the crowd, even the Princess was cracking up.

“Oi! Get off you lazy ass!” I heard Blake yell out from where she was, shooting me the stink eye. With a roll of my eyes I stood up but not before looking down at the seat, seeing no print left behind.

“Huh, I should buy one of these.” I said to myself before shaking my head and heading up the stage. Dianne was engrossed in what she was doing, humming an odd tune to herself as she did before I moved on.

“Hello there Blake.” The Princess said to Blake as she looked up.

“Hey there.” she greeted before looking at me. “Hey you’re walking, the seat not able to keep you sitting?”

“I'm actually thinking of buying a chair like that, I wasn't kidding when I said they were comfy.” I told her jokingly, gaining a laugh from her as she worked.

“So tell me, what are you making?” The Princess asked her. Blake looked up and smiled.

“Noodles.” She answered, which confused the both of us.

“Noo...dles?” the Princess said before Blake started laughing, mostly at me.

“Ha! You look funny when you look confused!” Blake said, giggling to herself.

“Haha very funny.” I said sarcastically with a roll of my eyes. We left Blake to go to the Snobby chef as he was cutting the fish he chose.

“Hello Milburn.” The Princess greeted. This got the guy to stop and bow.

“Princess…” he said before glaring at me. I rolled my eyes as the Princess continue.

“Can you tell me what fish you are using and what are you using it for?” She asked him.

“Yes, I’m using a fresh Snapper.” Milburn explained as I looked at the the fish. It was decent size, but compared to the Titan fish from the giant, it’s tiny. “And I’m making Fish stakes out of it.”

“I see, what do you have to say about it Isaac?” the Princess asked me. With a shrug and a nonchalant meh I said.

“It's sound alright I guess, though what matters is how it looks, feels and tastes.” I said, sounding professional as I did which got an odd look from both the princess and Milburn. Milburn scoffs a bit and returned to chopping as we headed to the last place.

“My my, I didn’t know that you have a bit of culinary skill under your belt.” The Princess said to me.

“I hang out with Blake a lot, I picked up a thing or two so I know what I'm doing. It comes in handy in my line of work.” I said to her with a little shrug. The Princess smiled as we came to the large man station. He seemed to be finishing up his work on the large fish. I notice that everything was cut up and portion to perfection, even the little bones were picked out.

“Wow… you must’ve taken great pride at your skill of deboning the fish.” The Princess said, earning a nod from the giant as he moved on to working with flour. “Hmmm, I guess he’s not much of a talker.”

“What he lacks in speech, he makes up for in cooking. Seriously everything is looking amazing.” I said to her, giving out my thoughts. Guvir nodded at this as I saw him cleaning some potatoes right as we left and returned to the judge table. With everything I saw I was getting hungry.

Time waste away as the three of us commatate through the whole thing before a loud buzzer went off.

“That’s TIME!” Sofía announce as the four stopped cooking. Some knives and forks were given to us as Sofía continue, “Now then, the chefs will come up one by one and the judges will judge their food and give their thoughts. At the end they will discuss the winner! Remember folks, win or lose these four will be given a gold ticket to the Gala which is held at the end of the year!”

After she said that the first person that came up was Dianne, who rolled up a large covered platter. “Hiya!” She greeted with her trademark smile.

“Hello Dianne, good to see you.” The Princess said with a smile. “What did you make for us today?”

“Fish cake!” Dianne said as she pulled back the cover… it was literally a cake… with fish heads on it. It was rainbow design and had the trote on it in the icing but… it’s a cake.

“You made… a literally fish cake.” Lucius said before adding. “You know that you have to add the fish to your dish, right?”

“Yes, it was hard to make it into a floury powder.” Dianne said as she began to cut some slices. Lucius slowly turned to look at me, a questioning look was on his face.

“I mean… props for actually doing it and all but… Why a cake?” I asked her, curious to know myself. Dianne turned with three plates of the cake.

“Well, it’s right there in the name ‘Fish cake’.” She stated as she handed us a slice.

“No… that’s not… I shouldn’t be questioning it am I?” the Old chef asked which made me chuckle as I took a look of the plate. It was quite simple, a round white plate with the colourful blue and rainbow coloured cake on top. I took a fork and put a little of the cake into my mouth.

… It was sweet, really sweet and… salty? This was a really good cake! It was like I was sitting out watching the ocean with a cake in hand. Lucius hummed at this before saying. “I have to say, you are one heck of a pastry chef, mixing both sweet and salty tastes so seemingly is no laughing matter, but I don’t taste the trout in this dish at all. What to you think Isaac?” he asked me.

“If I'm being honest sir, this is a pretty weird but awesome cake.” I said to him with a chuckle before saying. “You really do like surprising people huh, Dianne.” I said to the pink haired party planner and baker. She smiled brightly and nodded.

“Alright, now Princess, what are your- uh.” The Old man stopped as I turned to see the Princess. She looked like she was in absolute bliss.

“It’s so good~” she said happily. Lucius laughed at this oddly as the Princess spoke again. “Dianne, you mind if I take this cake back with me to Canterlot?”

“Sure!” Dianne said before skipping off happily and the cake was pushed away. I shook my head and took a drink of water as Milburn came up with his dishes. He set them down in front of us and I saw it was a fish stake. The colour of it was a beautiful golden brown and it was paired with a white and green sauce and some veg. The plate itself looked like it had gold rings around it and, over all it looked expensive… there's was once issue though… the fish was the size of my palm, it was tiny!

“Uhh, is this… it?” Lucius asked, poking at the fish.

“Yes sir, this is my fish stake of your dreams!” Milburn said with a flourish. I stared at it for a few moments more.

“Holy hell man, are trying to make us starve!?” I exclaimed in shock, the proportion was ludicrously small. The noble frowned at me.

“You wouldn’t understand the art of fine cuisine.” He said as he turned up his nose at me. It really pissed me off when he did that.

“Now now, let’s not just beat around the bush, the plating is… well extravagant but let us see of the taste.” The Princess said. I took my fork and took a piece of ‘steak’ and ate it. It was a light sweet flavor with some freshness to it. I hate to say it was good. The sauce tasted like a basil sauce balanced out the sweetness of of the steak with it’s own taste. The veg was good too, simple bright and crispy from what I guess steaming it. Over all it was good but I wanted more… just to see there wasn’t enough.

“This was an excellent dish Milburn, the fresh tasting fish paired with the basil seemed to brighten the flavores greatly.” The Princess stated, earning a smug look from the noble. “But… I have to agree with Isaac here, while it’s a great dish, it’s far too small for one person.” This made the nobles smile drop.

“Yeah, while it's good and all I wouldn't pay money if the portion was that tiny.” I said with a nod of agreement. Milburn grew angry at my statement before looking at his grandfather.

“Out of all the dishes you made… this is my least favorite.” Lucius said, getting a shock looked from his grandson.

“But… but…” Milburn started only to stop with a glance.

“Let me start from the top, you made a fish stake, while a good dish it was a poor choice for the snapper, the taste was more delicate and mild, steaks are more meaty than that. It was also a bit bland, mostly riding on the basil sauce which was a little overpowering for me. Also snapper is a white meat fish which blends in with the sauce. If you would’ve picked the salmon the pink colour would have brighten everything. The only good thing here was the steamed vegetables which was the only thing that didn’t have any fish in it…” Lucius leaned forward and stared at Milburn. “You say you’re the top cook in school but a child would know better.”

Milburn was speechless as he walked away from us. I turned to the Old chef as he poured himself some water. Just… wow. I could never expected a brutal way to tear someone's dish up. He did give pointers on the dish but… damn.

“Same old Lucius…” The Princess said as I gave her a odd look. She turned her mic off before speaking. “Some chefs have a nickname of sorts, it sometimes gives a little insight of the chef. His nickname was ‘Lucius, The Demon who Smiles.’.” she explained. I blinked at her before looking at the Old chef. His face was harden and dark and as he turned to look at me I felt the same shiver from before, only to be replaced with a warm feeling as he smiled at me, looking like an old happy person.

I looked away as I saw Blake came up with three bowls. She put them in front of us and I saw a few chunks of bass in a clear broth with some green onion, some veg, and most of all purple noodles.

“This here is a new dish I tweaked a bit; Potato bass Purple sweet potato noodles!” Blake said with a smile. There was some ohhing from the three of us as I stirred it with my fork.

“I have to ask, why sweet potato noodles?” The Princess asked. “And Why the Purple kind?”

“Well, if I get this right, Sea Bass has a meaty texture with a fishy buttery taste to it, which I believe it be more savory, sweet potato has a much sweeter taste but I didn’t want to over power the fish with it, and purple sweet potatoes are, while still sweet, not as powerful. I used the rest of it to make the broth that should give a nice heavy filling taste to it.” Blake explained with a smile. Taking a fork full of the noodles and fish I started to eat and… oof! It was heavy, but so good! It had a nice filling flavor to it and I gotten full from a few bites. Maybe too full as I put it down. I think Blake made it a little too heavy for me. Though from the looks of it the Princess can eat it no problem.

“You are trying to kill me.” I said to her jokingly as I put the plate down. “I'm full and I only took a few bites but it was so good.” I said to her with a little laugh. Blake arch a brow at me as her smile wavered a bit.

“I have to agree, while good it was very filling.” Lucius stated. “I believe you had the right idea but it was a little off. Maybe use rice instead and make the broth to a lighter sauce would’ve made it much better.”

“Oooo, a rice dish! Why didn’t I think of that!” Blake said before pulling a pen out and writing something on her hand. “I should try that later!” This earned a laugh from the Old man.

“I will say you get full marks on creativity, it’s really good!” he said with a laugh.

“I don’t know about you two but I think this dish was a very good and hardy meal.” The Princess said, pointing out that she ate all of it.

“Yeah… but you could eat all of Dianne’s cake and still be hungry.” Lucius said, earning a glare from the Princess.

“Did you just called me fat?” she asked him.

“Well no, just that your metabolism is so high that you could eat a cake the size of your palace and still be hungry!” Lucius stated, earning a blush look from the Princess and a laugh from him. This made the rest of us laugh as Blake headed back, I have to say Blakes food was something, able to make people have fun while eating it. Lastly was the Beastkin who walked up to us and put down some plates of… Fish and Chips.

The fish looked like it was crispy and flaky and the fries were the same golden brown. And just looking at it they were home made. Just staring at it I already got hungry.

“Hmm, this dish looked much more… mundane than the others.” the old chef stated.

“I don’t know, there’s a rustic feel of it that I like.” The Princess said as she cut a bit of the fish off and looked at it. “The batter is thin! I haven’t had thin batter fish for some time now.”

I nodded, this looked really good right before I put it in my mouth and… whoa. It was crunch, flaky, light and just… delicious! This a simple dish but it works so… so well! I saw there was a dip and dipped a bit into it and took another bite. It just made the taste more amazing! I couldn’t put it into words other than delicious.

“Oh my, this is something else!” The Princess stated as she ate. “It’s light and heavy, I never tasted something like this before!”

“Yes, I knew that we were in for a treat.” Lucius said as he ate. “As soon ingredient was called you knew what you wanted to make, how you wanted to make it and present. By far this is the best fish and chips I have ever had.” I nodded at this and said.

“There really aren't any words for me to describe how good this is.” I said, humming as I ate the last bit of my piece. Guvir nodded at this before turning and heading back to his station.

“And that’s everyone! Now the judges will go and tally up the points for each contestant and debate who wins!” The DJ announced. As She said that I stood up with the other two and we walked back to the place where we had the meeting.

“Now then, for the task of picking which one is the winner and who came close?” The Princess said as she passed around a clipboard to the two of us and we went through it. I wrote down what I believe was was the fair points to each of them and when we were finished we saw that the others put down, started to debate a bit before coming to the final answer. We headed back to the judge table and the DJ saw us sit.

“All right! Has the Judges come to a decision?” she asked us which we answered with a nod. “Great! So, who’s in last place?!” For that I stood up to answer.

“After giving it a few moments of thought, we've come to unanimous desicion of…” I stopped just to add tension. “Milburn.” I finally revealed the one in last place.

“Now hold on!” Milburn yelled at us, making me frown. “I understand I wouldn't get first place but Last! Are you crazy!” He turned to Dianne and pointed. “She just made a cake! With nothing about it had fish in it!”

“Well I say that the cake was perfect.” The Princess said with a smile. Both me and Lucius looked at her, remembering she gave Dianne full points but it was mostly out of her love of cake.

“This isn’t fair!” Milburn yelled. “I demand a recount!”

“Fuck off with your recount, our vote was unanimous.” I said to him with a roll of my eyes as I crossed my arms. Milburn glared at me before storming off, earning a sigh from Lucius. I pulled up the sheet to say the third place winner.

“For third place, Dianne Pye with her fish cake.” I said, laughing a little at the name fish cake. I didn't know why but I just found it somewhat funny.

“Woohoo!” Dianne yelled, some fireworks went off that surprised everyone.

“I have a feeling that even if Dianne was in last she would do the same thing.” The old man said to me. This made me chuckle and nod as he stood up. “Now for the second place dish… Blake Oích with her fish noodles!”

I saw Blake looked shocked at this, I bet that she didn’t expect to come second. Everyone cheered for her and I saw a blush form on her face. I gave her a cheeky thumbs up. The two of us sat down and the Princess stood up.

“And the Winner of the cook off is...Guvir!” The Princess announced, earning a cheer from everyone as the giant himself smiled a little. There was more talking but I pushed myself off and headed down to Blake and Dianne. The both of them were packing up their stuff as Blake sighed a bit.

“Well that was something…” I heard her say before seeing me walk up. “Hey man.”

“Congrats on second place.” I congratulated her with a smile as I came up to her.

“Yeah… I was aiming for first but… man! How could I beat Guvir?!” Blake said with a shake of her head. “I seen him work and man, it was like he did everything in one clean motion!” I laughed a little at this, helping her clean up.

“I still can't believe Dianne made a cake.” I said, unable to keep myself from chuckling after I said this.

“What?! I’m a Pastry chef! I know how to make a cake like the back of my hand!” Dianne proclaimed as she showed us the back of her hand. I blinked as I did she a recipe for cake there. I shook my head as Blake finishes.

“Yeah… but that Milburn guy can hold a grudge.” Blake said with a frown.

“Honestly, hearing him speak nearly gave me a migraine.” I said with a groan. Blake shook her head as she helped Dianne clean up. Just as she went over Ange came up to me with a smile.

“Hey.” She greeted me.

“Hey, I didn't think you’d stick around for the show.” I said with a smile of my own.

“I did, I saw the whole thing.” She said with a blush. “You see me in the crowd?” With a nervous chuckle, I nodded.

“Yeah… yeah I did.” I said, my smile never leaving though a blush formed on my cheeks. The two of us smiled at each other before I realized that the other two were staring at us.

“Don’t mind us, keep going.” Blake said with a smile. Ange saw this and hid behind me, blushing a bit more.

“Can we… have some time alone?” I asked the two of them, earning a whine from Dianne.

“But I want to watch!~” she whined. Blake sighed before grabbing the party planner by the scruff.

“Come on…” She said as she started to drag Dianne away. For the whole time Dianne complained until we were left alone. I looked back at Ange who was straightening her skirt up.

“That was… something.” She said.

“Yeah but you known them… they like poke some fun at people.” I said with a sigh as I rubbed the back of my head. Ange smiled at me before pulling my arm close.

“So… what do you want to do now?” she asked, looking up at me. My cheeks lit up brighter than a tomato when she did this and it sent my thoughts in a loop before finally they stopped mumbling about and I was reminded of the statue I built.

“Well… there's this thing I worked on almost a few months and only finished about a month and a half ago, it's meant to be a gift but… I'm kinda nervous about it, it's my first life like project and I didn't know if you'd like it or not and… you get my point.” I said nearly rambling off into oblivion which gained a sweet giggle from Angelina, music to my ears.

“Can we go see it?” She asked me. I briefly thought on it before nodding and guiding Ange back to my home, more specifically my garage. It wasn't a long walk back home, the fairgrounds was close by to my home and before long we finally arrived. I opened the door and lead Ange into my workroom, which was my garage. Inside I turned on the lights and sure enough the Metal Hawk was sitting on my workbench. Ange was in awe at this, seeing a lifelike hawk made out of metal.

“Yeah, I've had to go through several sleepless nights doing this.” I said, rubbing the back of my head with a chuckle. Ange looked over at me with a slight frown.

“You shouldn't push yourself so hard like that.” She stated before going red. “N-n-not that you shouldn't! The craftsmanship is really nice and… and… oh…” she stuttered.

“It's fine really… I just wanted to make it a perfect gift.” I said to her softly, admitting that those sleepless nights were my own decision. “I wanted to make it special.” I said. Ange smiled and blushed at this.

“It is special…” She whispered before continuing. “Today was amazing Isaac, really. It feels like a dream.”

“Yeah… a dream come true.” I said to her, smiling as we gazed at one another with loving gazes. As the two of us stared I notice that Ange was getting a bit closer to me until she was right in front of me.

“Isaac… do you… have a crush on me?” She asked me. I blinked at this before Ange added. “I heard Dianne say something some time ago when she and Rachael were drinking cider… a lot of it…” I mentally groan at this, hearing the two drink.

“Y-yeah, I've had uh… I've had a crush on you for a while.” I said to her, blushing as I admitted it.

“Yeah well… I uh… also had a crush on… um you.” She admitted to me, her hair fallen in front of her left eye, covering it as she fidget nervously. We stayed silent for the longest time, the both of us not knowing what do. We didn't even notice that we were slowly closing the gap between us and before my mind to process what was happening, our lips met one another sharing what I would hope to be one of many passionate kisses. My mind exploded in fireworks when that happened, time slowed to a crawl until sooner or later we parted. I smiled at this, looking at Ange slowly fall back… wait.

I quickly grabbed her as she fainted with a smile on her face and a red blush. Maybe it was a little too much for the shy Skyborn. I blinked in surprise when I caught the fainted skyborn, her blushing face had a goofy smile plastered on her face. I was on the brink of doing the same myself but that would mean letting her fall onto the ground. I picked her up with a deep breath, taking her up in my arms bridal style before heading inside and gently placing her on the recliner, pulling chair back so she's laying down. She curled up on the chair with a smile on her face. I had a smile of my own, holding back my urge to celebrate the first kiss. I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water and set one up for Ange as well, placing it by the table next to the chair. With that, I sat down and was dumbfounded that it happened, it really happened.

I looked over at the time and saw it was getting late and Skyler said she was having a sleepover at her friends house, so it's just me and a sleeping Ange in the house tonight. I ultimately decided to sleep on the couch for the night, not wanting to leave Ange alone.

I decided to let her sleep here for the night after getting a pillow and blanket for her. After that I went to bed as well, smiling at all what has happened today.

End of Chapter IX

Chapter X

View Online

I woke up the next morning feeling pretty good. I stretched and heard some pops in my back. I got up and walked over to my bathroom that was adjacent to my room. It was one of many reasons I loved this place, two bathrooms and one is my own. I brushed my teeth and took a quick shower before putting on some clean clothes as I walked out of my room. As I did I passed the other bathroom and heard the shower going… and singing? Stopping and looking at it I heard that it was Ange singing voice… and all the memories of last night came back. I nearly lost my footing when I did, it really wasn't a dream! Everything came flooding back to me, especially the kiss.

“Oh my celestial above…” I muttered to myself as I headed down to the kitchen. I put on a bot of coffee and get some celearl for myself. As I opened the fridge I saw that I was low on milk. I made a note to get some more as I took it out and poured myself some milk. As I did I heard footsteps and saw Ange, wide eyed with her clothes from the night before, only the jacket wasn’t on. Her hair was still wet and it kinda looked like she just jumped out of the shower.

“Last night… happened… right?” she asked me as I glanced at her, maybe it wasn’t a good idea for her to wear a tight white shirt… I kept my eyes away from Ange as I thought it would be rude to stare.

“Yeah, it did.” I said with a forming blush on my cheeks. If Blake were to see me now, I wouldn't hear the end of it. It was a few moments before I heard Ange’s trademark ‘Eep!’ before hiding behind the corner of a wall.

“I’m sorry Isaac! I uhh… didn’t realized that I was… oh my… I’m sorry.” she apologised before adding. “And uh… sorry for using your shower without asking.”

“Nonono, it's fine really. I was caught off guard and it's alright if you used that bathroom, I have my own next to room.” I said to her before walking over to my discarded jacket on the dining table and handed it to Ange so she could cover herself up. She took it and put the jacket on, which was big enough to do so.

“Thanks.” She said with a smile. I smiled back as I went back as the coffee was halfway done. She came over and sat at the table in silence as she looked around at my home. “This is a lovely place.” I smiled at this a little, having been worried over her silence.

“Thanks, it took a lot of time and effort to make the place how it is now.” I said, wanting to make any form of conversation. When the coffee maker finally beeped, I looked over to her and asked. “Coffee?” I asked her.

“Oh, yes please.” She said with a smile. I nodded and took out to mugs before pouring coffee in them, adding some of the remaining milk to sweeten it before mixing them with spoons. Once that was done, I took both mine and Ange's over to the table, placing hers down beside her hand with a smile before I sat down beside her. The two of us happily sat there as I ate and Ange drank her coffee. It wasn’t until a few moments later when Ange spoke again. “So… are we… a couple?” She asked, a tint of red was on her cheeks when she said that.

“I uhh.. Well um… do you want us to be?” I asked her, fidgeting nervously before taking a few gently sips of my coffee to calm me down.

“Well…” She said before shifting over closer to me. When I went to ask her what she was doing she leaned over and kissed me on the lips again. The taste of the coffee was mixed in with the kiss which was… sweet. She pulled away, a blush on her face before nodding a little. “Yeah… Yeah I would like that.” I smiled at her, shifting the seat closer to hers so she didn't have to lean so much. After I did this, she just rested her head on my shoulder taking occasional sips of her coffee as I did the same. While I was calm and collected on the outside, I was doing all kinds of flips in the inside.

The two of us continued drinking our coffee, enjoying each other's company, at one point Ange asked me to do the scratching thing which I did, now I had a purring Ange near me as I did this. I smiled at this as this was a great start of the day.

Before long Ange had to head back to her home to check on her animals, she promise that she’ll come back for the rest of the fair. When she left, I went to sit on the couch a bit, lighting a scented candle I had bought to ease my nerves, only this time I was using it to calm myself from going bonkers. As the candle burned away the embers floated away before they turned into the fiery feline that I know.

“Well, seems that everything came up good for you.” Wisp said as she sat in front of me.

“Yeah…” I said with a tone of voice I have rarely ever used, it was basically due to being on cloud nine. I heard her chuckle as she licked her paw.

“I’m happy that you found someone you care about Isaac.” Wisp said as she looked at me. I chuckled a little, stretching my arms up high as I felt myself relax.

“I wish I could tell you exactly how I feel but there really aren't any words that could accurately describe this feeling.” I said with a goofy grin, I'm sure if I were to look at a mirror right now my eyes would be in the shape of hearts.

“Nice to know… but there’s a fair going on and the rest of your friends are enjoying it… and Blake’s celebration of coming second.” Wisp pointed out, reminding me of it and I nodded before straightening up on the sofa before putting out the candle. I looked down at myself, currently I wore black sleeveless shirt with an image of a prism shining a rainbow to the left. Along with the shirt, I wore some old jeans that a few rips here and there but somehow still fashionable.

“I guess I can go like this.” I said to myself, earning a deadpanned look from Wisp when I did. “I already used my good clothes, I can't use it again, it reeks.” I said to her defensively. She rolled her eyes before disappearing in embers. I waved the embers away before I left to go back to the fairgrounds.

Like yesterday, everyone was out and about having fun and what not. I continued on until I saw Blake sitting on the bench in her normal casual outfit than what she wore yesterday. I walked up to her and called out to her.

“Blake!” I yelled, catching her attention. She smiled at me as I got close.

“Hey man, how is it?” She asked me, sound tired which was odd for me. Did the cooking really took a lot out of her?

“It's good, say why do look like you're running on fumes. Didn't you sleep last night?” I asked her, sitting down on the bench beside her. She sighed at this before looking at me.

“Yeah… I slept but I’m still mentally exhausted.” She said before closing her eyes. “Never have I had so much to think about in one day.” I chuckled at her when she said this, she no doubt was referring to the contest.

“Hey… you're not bummed about second place, right?” I asked her, wanting to know if she would suddenly jump at the first chance to strangle me.

“Me? No, not really.” Blake said as she glanced at me. “Sure it sucks but hey, second is pretty good in my books.” As she said that with a smile there was a sound above us. We looked up to see a large raven looking down at us. It made another sound, it sounded like a digging sound which Blake rolled her eyes. “Alright alright…” she said before pulling out one of her moon cakes. The Raven flew down and grabbed it before flying off with the mooncake in talon.

“You and that raven are getting a long, huh.” I said to her with a chuckle as the raven ate the mooncake with fast pecs.

“Yeah… have to say he has good taste.” Blake said with a chuckle, only for the Raven to make a buzzer sound. “Oi! Rude!” She then turned to me before saying. “So… how was the date?”

“It was amazing, we had the time of our lives together and last we…” I stopped which earned an archbrow from Blake before finally said. “Kissed.” I said. Blake gasped at this.

“You two… wait does that mean…” I soon felt her slap my back, knocking some wind out of me. “Man! You two go fast! I didn’t think you two would be a couple this quickly!” I groaned a little before saying.

“Yeah… we made it official this morning.” I said, a smile curling my lips at the recent memory. Blake smiled at me before giving me a one armed hug.

“Congrats man, I knew that you…” she stopped before letting out a yawn. “Okay… too tired for that…”

“Geez, if you're so tired why didn't you just sleep in today?” I asked her jokingly as she pulled her arm away.

“But it’s a fair! It should be enjoyed!” she whined. I rolled my eyes before retorting.

“Yes but how can you enjoy it when you're this tired?” I asked her with a concerned look and my arms crossed.

“Let me deal with that.” Blake said before pushing herself up. “Just need something fresh and decent… nothing fast food like…” she muttered to herself. I chuckled before looking off into the crowd, spotting Ange walking over to us and it only made my smile brighten up at this. She was wearing a normal brown hoodie and some jeans as she came up to us.

“Hey.” She greeted us. “Sorry it took a little longer than I thought but well, sorry.” She said before sitting beside me on the bench and giving me a kiss on cheek, the result was my cheeks taking a rosy tint. She leaned against me as she greeted Blake who waved back.

“Well, if it isn’t the love birds.” Blake said teasingly.

“Don't push it.” I said to her before wrapping an arm around Ange, hearing her hum appreciatively when I did this. It was bliss just holding her close. Blake rolled her eyes before saying that she’s off to go see what she can find to eat, she said she’ll find us when she’s better. With that I was left with Ange beside me. “I don't want to get up.” I said jokingly to Ange. She giggled at this.

“I know the feeling.” She said softly. As we sat there I caught the site of Milburn, only he looked awful. The once clean noble was now shit faced and stumbling around. Was he drunk? In the middle of the day? He seemed to be muttering something and didn’t seem to see me as he stumbled past. Just by walking past us I was able to smell the alcohol off of him and by the looks of it so did, Ange. Her nose wrinkled and shook her head, Ange was never one to drink unlike her friends, never saw the point of it.

“Isn’t that the one cook from last night?” Ange asked me in a whisper.

“Yeah.” I whispered back as I saw some people walk by taking pictures of the once proud chef. This caused the drunk chef to yell at them in rage but his yells were gibberish and incoherent. I feel bad for Lucius, mostly that he’s the grandfather to Milburn. I shook my head at this.

“Maybe… we should go walk around.” Ange said. “I could smell him from here and… ugh.” I laughed a little before nodding, unwrapping my arm and standing soon after. I held my hand out to help her which she took with warm smile. With the both of us now on our feet, I felt Ange wrap her arms around mine, giving me another one of her cute smiles when I looked at her. We simply wandered about the fair, seeing the many people from out of town and even some partying locals. There were some games going on, some challenges and as we walked I hear some of the locals talk about two women going at it at most of the games. From the descriptions I heard I figured it was Rachael and Jacqueline. I wonder what got them competing against each other?

“Seems like Jacqui and Rachael are butting heads again.” I said Ange as we walked. Ange chuckled at this as we continue walking. As we walked I couldn’t help feel like we were being followed.“Man… I never thought we'd actually be together… especially after the first date.” I said.

“Yeah… but I’m happy we are.” Ange said with a smile.

“Yeah so am I.” I said, my tone sounding more loving when I looked down at her, seeing her still holding onto my arm. We continue walking and even though I was happy that nagging feeling was still bugging me. We stopped at a stall and as Ange was looking through it’s wears I glance around. So far I didn’t see anyone, until I notice two shady guys next to a different stall. One of them was glancing over to us with a frown on his face. I shook my head and looked away. The two of us continued on in the fair, getting into more of the town. As we walked I glanced back and saw the two, they were following us! This made me frown more as I glanced at Ange who didn’t seem to notice. As we walked, I began to think of a way to solve this without Ange worrying or freaking out. As we walked I notice that they were getting closer. I had a bad feeling about this as Ange looked up at me.

“You okay?” She asked. “You seem tensed.” I looked at her and nodded with a smile.

“I'm fine, it's just an odd feeling don't worry.” I told her with a smile. Great my first action as boyfriend is to lie, ain't that peachy. She tilted her head at me but didn’t say anything as we stopped to a flower vendor. As Ange was looking at the flowers I notice that the two thugs were stopped as well, just a stall away from us. It was then I noticed they were by a stall selling scented candles, some of which were lit. With a mischievous smirk, i flicked my wrist in a way that made it looked like I was simply stretching it but in reality, it was me willing the flames to burst wildly onto one of them, slowly engulfing their sleeve in fire.

“AHHH!” the one guy yelled as he waved his arm in a panic. Everyone turned at this as the distraction caught everyone's attention.

“Oh my… what happened?” Ange asked, seeing this.

“His sleeve must've been too close to a lit candle.” I said, doing my best to hold back a laugh as he flailed his arm wildly to put it out. It was great… until someone threw a bucket of water at the man, putting out the flame on his arm, and dreaching him. The both of them, looking pissed turned in our direction… and one of them fell flat on his face, earning a laugh from everyone. I blinked at this, I could’ve sworn I saw the guy’s shoelace was magicly tying themselves.

“H-Hey! Why the-” before one they were tripping over themselves. Got to admit, that was some really bad luck.

As I thought that I heard a caw from nearby, turning my head I saw a Raven on a roof. It tilted it’s head a bit before flying of.

“Oh… hey Blake.” I heard Ange said. I turned to see Blake eating a crape with some fruit in it.

“Yo…” she said before looking back at the others. “The hell going on there?”

“Bad luck with what I'm seeing.” I said to her as we watched them trying to untie their shoes only to struggle in doing so.

“Ahhh… sucks to be them.” Blake said before adding. “Hey, the last event is going to start, the Marathon, going to come watch? I heard Lydia is even going to do it.” Me and Ange both arched a brow at the mention of Lydia going to a marathon.

“Lydia? Are we talking about the same Lydia here?” I asked Blake though this got a small laugh from Ange, a point for me.

“Yeah, trust me it was a surprise to me too but when I saw her getting ready it was true.” She said before taking another bite of her food. “Besides, it’s starting to get a little weird with those two.”

I glanced back to see the two still struggling with their shoes, so much so that they somehow tied their fingers up in the process. This actually made Ange snicker a bit before we left the area and headed over to the sight of the marathon. Sure enough there were a large number of people getting ready for the run, I even saw Rachael and Jacqueline stretching. From the looks of it the two of them were glaring at each other.

I sighed at this and scanned the crowd until I saw Lydia. Sure enough she was there doing some stretching as well in a light purple shirt and blue shorts. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail as she stretch.

“Oh my… it’s really is Lydia.” Ange said in surprise. I blinked in surprise at the sight Lydia before shaking my head, feeling Ange leaned onto me when I did. Blake saw this and gave me a thumbs up that Ange didn't see. We took a seat where we saw everyone get ready to run. Rachael and Jacqueline were already to go and Lydia… well, she was shifting and checking herself as if she was doing it right.

“HEEEEEELLLLLOOOO EVERYBODY!!!” A familiar loud voice rang out on the intercoms. “THIS IS YOU FRIENDLY PARTY PLANNER DIANNE!”

“Did you have to scream that?” Another voice said before adding. “And her co-announcer Drake, time to finish up the Fall Time Fair with the last competition; The Running of the Leaves Marathon!” They came up high riding in a large hot air balloon that overlooked the event, it was large enough to cast a shadow over some of the audience. The contestants were stretching arms, legs and fingers for some reason.

“So who wants to bet that Jacqui and Rachael will get caught up by their own thing?” I asked, glancing at Blake as she was handed a bag of popcorn.

“Don’t need to bet on it, I already know they will.” Blake said before passing some popcorn to the two of us. “From what I saw the two of them are competing to see who’s the better then the other. At first Jacqueline was winning but now Rachael is winning due to her using her wings.”

“Okay but why?” I asked now confused about their sudden rivalry between them as I held the bag of popcorn while Ange happily ate from it.

“Well… Rachael hates losing.” Ange said before eating some more popcorn. “She’s always like that since we were little.” Both Blake and I looked at her and she blinked. “Umm, did I say something wrong?” Blake chuckled a little as Dianne spoke.

“Alright folks! The Runners are ready to go! This is so exciting!” Dianne said with the same excitement she has for… well everything.

“Yup, I wonder who will win?” Drake asked.

“There’s only one way to find out! Runners…” Everyone tensed up as Dianne paused. “THREETWOONEGOGOGO!!!”

“That’s way too fast!” Drake yelled but the runners went, our two friends bolting forward at full speeds as the others ran behind.

“And they're off! Rachael and Jacqueline are neck and neck for first place! Look at them gooooo!” Dianne yelled as everyone cheered.

“That’s right and the others are all behind them, though at this speed it mostly to see who gets first and second place!” Drake said. I saw the large screen which showed the runners until it showed Lydia… who was simply jogging. “And at last place… Lydia… has she already thrown in the towel?”

“GO LYDIA GO!” Dianne yelled at the top of her lungs.

“...Ow.” was all Drake said. I laughed a little at this and watched curiously as Lydia jogged into the woods. From the looks of it she was going slow on purpose. When the contestants went out view, several hot air balloons with camera crew floated up and a giant screen appeared, showing the rest of the race. I glanced to my side, having caught a glimpse of something and saw that the two shady men had managed to get themselves out of their dilemma. I unwrapped my arm from Ange, getting an arched brow from her before I said.

“I just have to go to the restroom, I'll be quick.” I told her before she straightened up with a nod and allowed me to get up from my seat. I then carefully moved my way down the benches and I saw that the two men had noticed me. Finally I got out of view and walked farther away from the area, wanting to the lie the least bit true and headed towards the restrooms.

Finally getting to a restroom area, some porta potties, I turn to see the two had followed me. It was odd that they look somewhat menacing if no one saw they have no shoes. I almost started laughing at the sight as the two got closer.

“Can I help you two?” I asked the two as they walked up, frowns on their faces as they did.

“I don't know how you did it but you're becoming a huge pain.” One of them said with a frown as the other simply cracked his knuckles.

“Don’t know why the guy hates you but money is money.” The other guy said. I arched a brow at them as they slowly closed in, knuckles cracking ready for a beat down. I was in a situation like this before, a long time when I was a kid but the difference between then and now is actually pretty simple, ain't no kid. Before they thought of taking one more step, my hand was lit ablaze and it spook the two a bit.

“You two are becoming a pain in my ass, do you know how hard it is to lie to my girlfriend?” I asked them angrily, feeling a little weird after calling Angelina my girlfriend. “And it doesn't take a genius to know who's paying.” I said to them, saying both their wallets slightly sticking out from the pockets. I flicked an ember onto them, making them catch fire around the wallet. “You dumbasses are messing with the wrong person.” I said. The two goons quickly started to pat out the flames on their wallets.

“This is stupid! He’s just one guy!” One of them yelled as the other one was able to pat the flame out.

“Screw this! I was hired to beat a guy up, not a flipping Pyro!” He said before turning tail, leaving his buddy behind. The guy frowned as he pulled out a set of brass knuckles out and onto his hand. I got ready to flick fire at him but there was a large shadow that came over me.

“Alright kid, you’re asking for-Mmmph!” The first guy was cut off as a large hand grabbed him by the head and was lifted up. I looked and saw Guvir there holding the thug with one hand. The thug thrashed about, punching the Beastkins hand to no avail before slowly he stopped moving. In a few moments Guvir opened a porta potty and put the knocked out man inside.

“Huh, thanks for the assist.” I said to him, thanking the giant beastkin of a man. He turned to me and nodded before reaching over to me and grabbing my hand that was burning. He held it for a moment or two before letting go, showing that the flame snuffed out. He then pointed at a sign that says ‘No smoking’ and snorted. “Right… Thanks.” I said, rubbing my hand a little as I said this. Guvir nodded, not really bothered that his hand was burned a bit as he handed me a large box. Before I could ask he turned to leave. I watched him walk away then look at the box before opening it. Inside was battered fish with some fries and, from the heat alone, I could tell they were just made. “What an odd fellow.” I said, seeing him head off into the crowd before I closed the box and headed back to the others. Now that I wasn't being followed I was able to get back rather quickly and I finally found myself sitting back down beside Ange as she watched the marathon through the large screen.

“What’s that?” Blake asked, pointing at the box.

“Oh yeah, I managed to bump into Guvir and he handed me this.” I said before opening said box and showing it to her. Blake looked at it before giving a quick peek.

“Oh! Fish and chips!” She said happily. “I was wondering what he was going to do with all that fish from yesterday.” She said before I took a fry and ate it. I looked at Ange before asking.

“You want some?” I asked her. She looked over at me and nodded. She took a fry and started to eat it as we watch the large screen. Overall the race was pretty mundane other than Rachael and Jacqueline who, due trying to sabotaging each other, were falling in behind. Soon the runners came up to the finish line and Lydia came out at third place due to sprinting to the finish line as the others were losing steam. We went down and congratulated the librarian for third place while the two rivals simply stared at her baffled at how she got ahead of them. “You think those learned a lesson?” I asked Blake while Ange was busy scolding the two for their petty rivalry.

“They’re getting scolded by Ange, they better.” Blake said as we watch. I had to hold back laugh when she said that, though I couldn't suppress a snort.

“Let's just hope they don't something like this again, cause I have feeling they wouldn't stop unless the other drops.” I said with my arms crossed, upon doing so I spotted a smidge of soot on my hand before rubbing it off. Blake shrugged before yawning.

“Okay, I’m going home to crash… I feel half alive right now.” She said. I chuckled when she said this, her eyes were struggling to stay open.

“Alright, I'll being seeing ya.” I said just as she turned to walk towards her home, stumbling a little along the way. Before long I saw Ange walking back at me, huffing a bit.

“Those two act so childishly sometimes!” she said with a huff.

“Yeah but whether we like it or not it's a part of their charm.” I said jokingly with a chuckle. She crossed her arms at this, still frowning a bit until I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her. This caused her to smile and lean into my embrace. Just doing this sent my heart fluttering but sadly like all thing it had to come to an end. Hand in hand, I walked with Ange back to her cottage with the sun just beginning to set over the horizon. It didn't really take long before we finally got to her cottage. Ange turned to me with a smile on her face.

“I had a really fun time today.” She said softly. I smiled in return upon hearing this.

“Yeah, so did I.” I said almost in a whisper before we both slowly closed the gap between us such as we did the night before. Our lips met and like last time, it was like fireworks going off before we parted. We gazed at one another lovingly before I spoke. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow… if that's fine with you.” I said. She nodded at me.

“I would love that.” She whispered back. With that she went into her home, a smile on curling her lips as she closed the door. I took a deep breath breath and happily sighed before I turned away and began my trek back home.

End of Chapter X

Chapter XI

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“Here you are Isaac! Two Spooooky Cakes!” Dianne said as she handed me two cakes with the icing that looks like a ghost with little black dots for eyes. It been a few weeks since the fair and now in fall everyone is getting ready for Nightmare Night. Everyone was getting excited for it… other than Ange. She didn’t really enjoy the night for her being fearful. I've been trying to convince her to come along with me during Nightmare Night but to no avail yet, I wasn't going to force her but it wouldn't be fun without her. The cake wasn't for some nightmare Night party as some would think, it was actually Birthday party but not just anyone's birthday, it's Blake's! Yeah, spooky I know. Her birthday was at the same day as Nightmare Night. The reason for the two cakes is simple, there was always never enough for everybody so I decided to get two on my own expense. I thanked her as I took both cakes and headed off back home.

I got there in no time and enter my home. “Welcome back.” I heard Skyler greeted me from the living room. Walking by the living room, I spotted her doing some homework on the coffee table as I walked by. Finally reaching the kitchen, I opened the freezer and made some space before putting the cakes inside, not wanting the ice cream within them to melt. With the cakes safely put away, now it's a matter of keeping them there and not letting Skyler have one of her taste tests.

“Freezer is off limits!” I exclaimed loud enough for the young teen skyborn to hear from the living room. I heard a loud groan from there.

“Oh come on!” She yelled. I laughed at this as I got myself a cup of tea, having been with Ange she had taught me how to make some really good tea. After making it I took it to my workroom. Since I wasn't busy with the metal hawk I had more time to do other stuff, as in use the computer that was also there. There really wasn't much to do on my laptop though I did receive a few emails from people that want something done, faulty wiring, computer problems, etc. I answered a few of them, made arrangements for what day I should come over and fix whatever problem they had. After doing that I decided to close my laptop before looking at the garage, seeing the many scraps and parts littering the floor before I frowned. Luckily I had already finished my tea before I began to clean up the place a little, picking up each individual part and putting them in a box. I had also opened the garage door to let in some more light to help in my cleaning. The brisk air greeted me as I opened the door, Fall did come in full this year, I even heard that Fall was the Princess’ favorite season.

As I was cleaning I saw Blake walking up to my house, and from the look of it she was in her own little world. I was in the middle of brooming the garage when I spotted her.

“You alright there, Blake?” I called out to her, catching her attention.

“Huh? Oh… hey Isaac.” Blake said, seemingly finding out where she was. “Just… going out for a walk. What are you up to?” I held back a laugh before gesturing at the broom.

“I was just sweeping up my workshop, though it look too much like a junkyard.” I said to her with a little laugh. She smiled at this before looking into my workplace.

“Oh my celestial above, there’s a floor!” She proclaimed with a laugh. I rolled my eyes as I sweeped the last bit of dirt out of the garage.

“So what's up with you?” I asked her before quickly adding. “You looked like you were in lala land.”

“Oh, nothing really.” She said before chuckling a little. “Again, just walking… need to get used to the idea that I’m getting older.” I rolled my eyes at her again before saying.

“You make it sound like being twenty three is rough, just look at me. I'm twenty three and still kicking.” I said to her jokingly, laughing a little afterwards.

“Sure sure…” Blake said with a laugh. She sighed a bit and had that soft smile on her, which was an indication that she was a bit upset, and I knew what it was about. Every year on her birthday or around it she thinks about her mother that disappeared when she was young. I never once met her father but she said he was really far away from her and sends her gifts every once awhile, mostly books and keychains.

“You need some time to yourself?” I asked her, putting the broom aside leaning onto a wall.

“Naa… You know me, I just go through a rut for a while…” she then looked at me with a smile. “Which reminds me… did you get me something for my birthday?”

“Nope.” I said simply with my arms crossed.

“Awww, why not!” She whined with a pout. I chuckled at this and simply said.

“Because if I said yes you would pester me to find out what it is.” I said to her, revealing to her that I had indeed gotten her a gift, one I had to make some calls for. She narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’re sometimes a pain.” She said with a frown. I laughed at this before shaking my head, at the corner of my eye I was able to see my present to her, an envelope containing a very special letter.

“I got you something but you'll have to wait for it.” I said to her, crossing my arms once again with a mock stern look. Blake stared at me for a few moments.

“Fine…” She said before dropping her arms. “So… you and Sky have plans for tonight, going with Dianne for candy?” I shrugged, not really looking forward for tonight besides her birthday party.

“I'm sure Skyler and her friends are going, I don't I will though.” I said to her with a shrug. Blake made a fake gasp at this.

“What?! Not going to get free candy?!” This soon cause her to laugh a bit at her own joke. I sighed at this and shook my head, moving over to the box of scraps and placing over atop a shelf. “By the way, you thinking on another project now since you’re done with the metal hawk?” Blake asked me.

“I'm not sure yet, still thinking on if it's going to be another animal or not.” I said before walking back to my workshop table, nearly tripping on a box of my old stuff. Simple knick knacks I've gotten over the years. I grumbled a bit before shoving the box away, so it wouldn't make me fall face first. “Oh and before you go asking, I have your cakes in the freezer, ice cream cakes.” I said to her. I saw her face light up at this.

“Thanks, well I’ll be going off now. See you later then.” Blake said before turning on her heel and practically skipping off, leaving me to my own devices. I sat down on my chair and looked down at the letter sent by Granger’s School of Culinary Arts and by the dean himself.

“Ha, and then people say I can't Blackmail a noble.” I said with a chuckle to myself. Before long I went back inside to see how Skyler was on her homework. When I did I saw her already playing video games. I was about to scold her for it but I looked at the notes and saw them to be math. I chuckled a little as I went to the kitchen to put the teacup in the sink. Out of all the subjects she takes she seemed to do really well on math. I returned to the kitchen and spotted the still open box of tea, seeing it nearly empty and in need of more. Luckily Ange had informed me of where to get some more and knowing that it wasn't too far into town, I decided why not and grabbed a jacket on the way out.

“I'll be back in a bit, I just need to get some more tea.” I said to Skyler as I walked by the couch, she nodded but said nothing as she was too engrossed in her game.

I left my house with a jacket on and headed down to find this tea shop. As I did I notice that the wind started to pick up a bit. It gotten to the point where it felt like a storm was near, though that idea was dashed when a mini tornado of shadows formed in the middle of town. This freaked the townsfolk, running for cover and some even stating that Nightmare Moon has returned. Before long the tornado was dispersed and in its place was a older woman with a black hood, black wings, and a simple dark blue dress. She scanned the place and saw everyone scared of her. I was honestly the only one that wasn't cowering in fear, only shivering a little in my jacket. She saw me and walked over, anyone around me inched away from me as she came closer.

“Hello there Sir Isaac! I hope today is that of your liking?!” She yelled… like really yelled, about two feet in front of me. I blinked rapidly, hearing an audible beep from my near deaf experience.

“Owww….” I slowly said, rubbing my ears as I could've sworn I felt them bleeding. “Not to be rude, your highness, it's good to see you and all but… I don't think shouting at people when you're up close to them is something you should be doing.” I said, still reeling back from the yelling.

“What do you mean?! This is my normal voice back then over a thousand years ago and no one complained!” She yelled, making me take a few steps back.

“Ow!” I yelled, this time unable to hold it back. “Listen your highness, things changed over the past millennia, you can't honestly expect things to be the same as it was when you were banished!” I said, trying to hear my own voice in the process. “You're going to have to tone it down a notch, princess, because in all honesty the whole yelling thing isn't helping your image!” I yelled once again. There was a small part of me saying that yelling at the Princess was a bad idea but I didn't like getting yelled at, even though it wasn't in a malicious way.

The Princess blinked at me for a few moments. “Oh! I-" She stopped and cleared her throat. “Sorry, is this… better?” She asked in a more quieter tone… and a nervous one? Now seeing her up close her eyes dart around in a fearful motion, she was plucked out of her time and thrown into a new one, I can kinda get why she was yelling. Maybe it was something that was the norm a thousand years ago?

Though yelling at someone up close was… weird. I had my own reason though, I could barely hear myself after having my ears nearly blown apart. Luckily it wasn't serious, after a minute of silence I regained my full sense of hearing before I spoke.

“Yeah that's an improvement but… I don't think you need to be so nervous, your highness.” I said, gently rubbing my ears before finally stopping and lowering my hands from them.

“Nervous? Why would I be nervous?” She asked with a small frown. “I am perfectly fine at the moment.” I arched a brow at her as she said this as she saw the others hiding. “And why is everyone hiding? There's no threat?”

“Well… they're kinda afraid of you, well, the other you… The one that nearly ripped my arm off you.” I said, clarifying what was all the commotion for when the townsfolk saw her. These news took effect as Luna visible looked upset about it, so much so that her form wavered a little.

“Oh… I am sorry about that… you arm has healed correctly?” She asked, looking at said arm. I rubbed my arm, remembering the sound of it absolutely shattering upon impact against the pillar.

“Yeah, good as new and just so you know, I'm not going to hold it against you.” I said, seeing that by saying this brought her some form of relief to her.

“That's… good.” She said as she looked around. She then walked out away from me and started to proclaim that she wasn't evil and here for good intentions in her telling voice. This only scared everyone and a look of confusion formed on her.

“I don't think it worked.” I said jokingly, wanting to somewhat cheer her up in anyway.

“Really? Is it something I could do to change it?” The Princess asked. “Believe it or not I wasn't just sitting around on the moon doing nothing.” I could only shrug, not truly knowing what she meant by that but as for her questions.

“The first thing you should do is to find yourself some clothes because right now, you look like you're here to take someone's soul.” I said to her, honesty evident in my tone as I spoke. “Another thing, you need to chill and take it easy. You can't gain everyone's trust in a day or two, it takes time and effort.” I said to her. She looked down at herself.

“I see… tell me do know a place where I could get some clothes? I believe going around in the buff is considered bad.” She asked me plainly. I blinked at this, great now I have that image stuck in my head but luckily with a shake of my head, that image was gone but was replaced with Ange… That didn't help me at all!

“Sure… just follow me.” I said, rubbing the side of my head in hopes to calm myself a little. She looked at me oddly before ultimately nodding. With that I led her towards Sophia’s boutique which was all the way across town. An odd thought crossed my mind, were her clothes magic? I glanced back at her and saw her dressed seemed to glide over the ground as she walked. I shook my head as we walked before the Princess spoke.

“I heard you do odd jobs Sir Isaac, tell me do you have any hobbies?” She asked me out of nowhere.

“Yeah actually, I tend to make some metal statues just for the fun of it.” I said to her, answering her odd question.were

“Oh? You work with metal? That’s fascinating.” She said to my answer before asking me another question. “Tell me, do you give them life like any metalmancer?” She asked. I blinked at this, having never heard of the term metalmancer before.

“Um, no not really, they're just statues I make out of scraps from old junk.” I said to her as we walked by the town’s center, seeing the fountain and people around before they cowered away in fear at the sight of Princess Luna. Her mouth frowned a little as we continue walking.

“I believe that little time is really a long time Sir Isaac, for those don’t see me in a good light.” She said somberly. I sighed at this and shook my head as we continued down the cobblestone road. “Tell me, after the event all those months ago, how do you see me?” She asked.

“What?” I asked back, unsure on what to make of her question. She looked at me for a moment before she spoke.

“Everyone here runs in fear of me, mostly to hide in case I turn back to the Nightmare again, and maybe due to the idea that I deal with stuff no one wants to see.” She said cryptically before shaking her head. “Sorry, that’s not how it should have came out… what I’m asking is… why are you leading me through town, even though you seen the danger I have brought?” I took a moment or two to think about this before finally shrugging.

“I can't really answer that, your highness.” I said to her with yet another shrug. She hummed at this for a moment.

“If you don’t mind, please refrain from calling me highness or Princess.” She asked me. I turned back and saw a small smile appear. “I feel a bit better to be called by Luna instead of something my sister has for much longer.”

“Alright then, Luna it is.” I said this with a smile and a chuckle before we finally came up on the boutique, Sophia’s workplace. “Here we are, Carousel Boutique.” I said to her. I heard her hum a little at this.

“Nice place, shall we?” Luna asked. The two of us walked into the building which as we saw was empty and quite. The bell from the front door was the only sound that I could hear until Sophia walked out of the back in a vampire mistress outfit. Her hair was done up in a fashionable style as she walked forward.

“Welcome guests, to my humble abode.” She said dramatically and bowed. I raised a brow at this as she straightened. “How can I heeelllpppp…” she stopped when she was Luna and went wide eyed.

“I think her brain stopped working for a second.” I said, holding back a laugh at the dumbstruck Sophia. Luna chuckled at this as she spoke.

“Hello there, I was wondering if I can walk around and see if I can find something to wear.” Luna asked the dumbstruck Magi.

“I… I would be honored you… uhhh… I mean… duuhh.” That’s all what Sophia could say before Luna glided through the store in search of something. I simply stood there as Sophia glanced at me. Over the time I’ve been with Ange, Sophia has completely stopped her advances onto me. So much so that we barely talk anymore. It's not the I was avoiding her, in fact it was the other way around with her avoiding me.

“Hey.” I greeted her with a small wave.

“Hey…” She greeted back. “You look… good.” She added as she glanced at me. “Did something with your hair?”

“No, not to my memory at least.” I said with a shrug, glancing over the many display clothing by the window. Sophia didn’t say anything after that as we waited.

“You and… Ange are happy?” She asked me after a few moments of silence. I was a little surprised by the question, having not expected her to ask it. I would've thought she'd avoid the subject of me and Ange.

“Yeah… Ange and I are happy together.” I said, somewhat hoping that it wouldn't worsen the situation right now. There was a sad smile on her face when I said that as silence took over. It was almost a whole minute before she spoke.

“Tell me… if I did things differently… would you’ve given me a shot?” She asked, now looking at me fully.

“I…” I tried to say something but I only ended up sighing to myself. “I can't say for sure, I mean maybe but...it's just…” I struggled to put my words in a way that it wouldn't sound harsh.

“Just what?” She asked me, curious to know what I’m going to say. I sighed a little before looking at her.

“You’re just… you like to act like a noble.” I told her. This took her by surprise as she stared at me.

“Act like a noble? How is that a problem-” She stopped and closed her mouth. “Oh, right… you don’t have a great track record with them…” I rubbed the back of my head at this before saying.

“I don't know even if you did do things differently would make much of a difference. I just… don't see you that way, I see you as a friend and… and I hope we can still be friends.” I said to her. Sophia didn’t say anything after that, staying silent for some time that I started to regret telling her this. Soon I heard a sigh as Sophia looked at me.

“I guess… I was childish when we first met and everything after.” She said. “I… I’m sorry Isaac, for being a little selfish. You’ll always be my friend… I do hope I can be a good one for you.” She asked me with a small smile. I nodded at this, a smile forming on me as I did.

“Yeah, I'd like that.” I said to her, glad to have talked her about this. The two of smiles before a voice got our attention.

“I believe this is good.” Luna said. I turned and saw a complete one eighty of what I saw from Luna. Instead of a dress and… well Gri m Reaper look, she wore some dark blue jeans and a black sweater with the hood down. Her appearance looked much, much younger, maybe around my age or older.

“Wow, that's a sudden change of appearance.” I said, surprised at the one eighty change from looking like the grim reaper to normal everyday woman… with the exception of being of a dark celestial. “You look good, your high- I mean, Luna.”

“Thank you Sir Isaac.” Luna said with a smile. Sophia raised a brow at me but didn't say anything. Before long and Luna paying for the clothes, and maybe tipping Sophia a little too much, the two of us headed out.

Like her appearance the attitude towards her shifted greatly. When everyone was fearful of Luna the Princess, no one seemed to bat an eye to Luna the person.

“So what exactly are you in town for anyway?” I asked her as we walked back down the street, heading back all the way across town so I could by some more tea.

“Truly I wanted to know why everyone celebrate this holiday.” Luna answered simply, her voice had the hint of curiosity. I shrugged at this and answered as best I could.

“It's kinda complicated to explain, people come out and about in various costumes, scary or funny, cosplay or original.” I began but I could see her questioning glance at mention of cosplay but thankfully she didn't interrupt. “Once every year people, mostly kids, come out with their parents to get candy while some much older kids or drunk adults play some nasty tricks on the townsfolk, it's all harmless fun but there are boundaries no one should go through, like destruction of private property, vandalism, all that nasty stuff.” I said to her before closing my eyes and thinking of a much better way to explain it. “It's something that was created for kids to have fun playing dress up as their favorite characters or have the scariest costume. It's not much to going but it is what it is.” I said with a final shrug.

“So… it's a night where everyone has fun?” She asked me.

“Yeah.” I said with a nod as we past by a few houses that had many spooky decorations. From hanging skeletons to fake cobwebs, many of the townsfolk were happily putting them up for tonight's event. I looked back at Luna and saw her bewildered look that almost made me laugh. “You okay there, Luna?” I asked her, holding back the laugh.

“I just… never thought something like this would happen.” Luna said just as we saw some playing around in their costumes already. “Even when they dress up as creatures of myth.” I chuckled at this as we walked by the children playing in their costumes. I smiled at this as we walked. Soon Luna said her goodbyes and headed off into the town to explore. With only myself and the bag of tea in my hand, I finally headed straight back home. Upon reaching the front door to my house, I entered and closed it behind me, the sounds of Skyler's game greeting my ears as soon as I walked in. As I walked towards the kitchen, I expected to find Skyler still playing her game, wanting to one hundred percent it but instead to my surprise I found Ange with sitting cross legged with the remote amidst a boss fight in the game Skyler wanted to fully beat. The fight in question was with by far the hardest boss to fight single handedly… yet there she was, dodging every swing and attack before finally striking it down mercilessly and beating in one single go. Ange hummed to herself as Skyler stared at the screen with wide eyes.

“Wow… she's got you beat there, Skyler.” I said jokingly after seeing her bewildered stare at the screen.

“Just… how!?!” Skyler asked at this. Ange turned to me and waved.

“Hi Isaac.” She greeted me. I smiled and waved my free hand at her.

“Hey Ange… I didn't think you'd be out today.” I said to her with tilted head, curious to know what had gotten her to come out of her cottage during the day of Nightmare Night. She blushed a bit as she handed the controller to Skyler.

“Well… I wanted to wish Blake a happy birthday so I came out…” She said with a nervous smile.

“She was freaked out when she came to the front door.” Skyler added as she played. I looked at Ange with concern in my gaze, knowing her fear of the Nightmare event tonight. With what she has told me, it was all due to a traumatic experience she went through as a kid that had led to her fear. I had tried many times to convince her that there was nothing to fear but it always ended up with someone jumping at us and giving us a scare, last guy who did that had ended up in the hospital with how hard I hit him.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Ange? I could always guide you back to your home.” I said, wanting nothing but for her to feel safe and not afraid of everything.

“It's… it's fine. I wanted to wish Blake a happy birthday… also something about baby steps?” She said with a nervous smile. I chuckled a little before putting the bag containing the many packets of tea on the kitchen counter.

“So other than wanting to wish Blake an awesome birthday, what brings you to casa de Parker?” I asked her half jokingly as I sat beside her on the large couch. She shrugged a little.

“Am I not allowed to visit?” She asked me jokingly with an arched brow. I laughed a little at this as I draped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. We've been together long enough for us to not be nervous around each other all the time, it was practically a huge boost in confidence for the both of us.

“I never said you weren't.” I said jokingly before finally giving her a sweet and gentle kiss hello. She smiled at this as the two of us simply looked back as Skyler played her game, though by the looks of it she has yet to get over the fact that Ange fought a boss in one try without as much as a single peg of health missing. We stayed like this, my arm around her as she leaned onto me and enjoyed our closeness to one another. Time went by fast and before we knew it, it has already gotten dark and an alarm at the kitchen notified me of the closeness of Blake's birthday. So much to our disappointment, I got and looked at the time before going upstairs for a quick change of clothes to suit me during the cold air of the night. Skyler went up and got changed as well but unlike me, she changed into a costume I had bought for her for this occasion and when I came downstairs with a jacket, I spotted Skyler donning her costume of a female Soul of Cinder. She was adjusting the short cape when I spotted her and Ange was helping her out with it. While they did that, I went to the garage to pick up my gift for Blake and pocketing safely in jacket before heading into the kitchen to take the two cakes out. I was relieved to see the two cakes in perfect condition. I took them both out and was about to announce that it was time to head out, Ange’s gentle hands grabbed the second box. When I looked at her she merely smiled at me, sending my heart fluttering when she did.

The three of us soon headed out towards Blake's place. Like any other celebration the whole town was out, different costumes of creatures ran around so kids ran around playing games or getting candy. The walk over to Blake's shop wasn't long, a few minutes at most before we finally arrived. Inside were many of Blake's friends and I could see Lydia, Jacqueline, Rachael and even Sophia. I would've questioned the lack of Dianne but didn't as soon as I saw her walk out of the kitchen, serving up the table of snacks made by her. Dianne spotted me and before zooming by and taking the cakes into the back to keep the refrigerated. Many of the party goers were in costume and it almost seemed like me and Ange were the odd ones out, in any case we didn't care about coming in costumes or not.

“Hey!” Blake greeted us. She was in what looked like a wraith costume, white face, black robes and contacts that made her eyes completely back. “Glad to see you could make it. And Ange… didn't think you be showing up.” I chuckled at this as I felt Ange’s hand grasp mine, some of the costumes were very frightening for her.

“I didn't think so either but hey, I'm not complaining.” I said to Blake with a shrug and a small laugh before giving Ange a gentle kiss on the cheek. Skyler went off towards her friends after spotting them in the crowd.

“Well it's great to see you two.” Blake said before walking back into the party. Ange held my arm close to her chest, smiling nervously at me.

“There's nothing to be afraid of.” I said to her in a soft tone, bringing her hand up before planting a kiss on it. “But I'll be with you either way.” I added, bringing a smile onto her lips and it wasn't a nervous one, it was a happy smile. The two of us wandered around, greeting other people that were there. I knew that this was Dianne that planned it due how many people were here, if it was anyone else it would've been less people. We came upon the punch bowl, a large bowl filled some juice but… Something was off about it even as I filled two cups and giving one to Ange. Upon tasting the beverage, a sudden taste of alcohol flooded my taste buds and I nearly spat it out. When I gulped it down and shook my head from the buzz, I wanted to warn Angelina that it was spiked punch but when I looked over to her, I saw the empty cup in her hand.

“Blug… why did it feel like a fire went down
… my…” She soon started to sway a little. She turned to me and blinked right before poking my nose. “Boop!” She giggled bubbly after this before looking at her cup. I blinked at this before frowning and looking down at my cup.

“I'm going to kick the ass of the guy who spiked this.” I muttered to myself angrily before Ange wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down. Was Ange that much of a lightweight? She was giggling and hiccuping, all she drank was a single cup. She brought me down into a fiery kiss, an awkward one at that as she was leaning a little too much and she nearly fell but I caught her.

“Wheee~” She said with a goofy face. I pulled her back up which then she leaned onto me again. “You're so comfy~!” I didn't know what to say, seeing her acting like this was beyond odd. Not wanting her to do something she'll regret later, I maneuvered myself in a way for me to pick her up bridal style. After picking her up, I quickly moved over to a booth before sitting her down, though she refused to let me go, still having her arms around me.

As I did this there was some yelling going on. I turned my head and saw Dianne in a chicken costume dragging a guy in a knight costume outside before Dianne comically boots him out.

“No Spiking Drinks!” She yelled at the guy before walking back in as if nothing has happened. I stared at this as Ange was cuddling me.

“You know… you are… are so comfy that I… I I I… I could fall asleep as if I was on a cloud~... like a cat!” She then gasped at this before continuing. “You know what was really cool when I was part cat?!? I could sleep annnnyyywwhhheerree~! And… and if I do I sleep for a loooooong time and feel so rested!” She giggled as this before resting her head on my chest and looked up at me. “Your eyes are so pretty.” I blinked at this, hearing her ramble on and on about several things before she spoke of my eyes, complementing them of their Amber color.

“Hey… what's wrong with her?” I looked up to see a scarecrow Jacqueline looked at us as Ange was resting on me.

“Some fucknut decided it would be funny to spike the punch. Me and Ange took a drink from the punch bowl, after that well…” I said, gesturing at the smiling Ange resting her head on my arm.

“Ah… how much did she have?” The farmer asked, curious to know of how Ange got to such a state. “She looked like she drank a whole barrel full on her eighteenth birthday.”

“One full cup.” I answered simply, while at other times seeing that someone can't hold their liquor I would find it hilarious but with Ange was an entirely different feeling, though it was mostly concern for her safety.

“Ya kidding.” Jacqueline asked me. I stared at her which told her that I wasn't. “Okay… ya know ah believe Rachael has a story of Ange the last time she drinked. Though that's all ah know since she was very tight lipped about it.” I nodded at the scarecrow costume wearing farmgirl.

“Alright, I'm sure Ange will be fine. She hasn't tried letting go of me for a while.” I said, feeling Ange nuzzle my arm with a happy hum.

“Ah see that.” Jacqueline said with a chuckle. She soon headed off as Ange nuzzled be, purring like a cat. It’s as if she was in her own little world right now. It wasn't all bad, seeing her happy like this brought a smile onto my lips. Every now and again she would bring me down for a kiss, sometimes sweet and gentle while other times it bordered to a makeout session which I wasn't complaining with I just felt awkward when it just suddenly happens. It was sometime later when the other guests started to leave and it was Blake, Me, Lydia, Dianne, Sophia, Rachael, Jacqueline, and a drunk Ange.

“Hey man, if you two need to head off I don’t mind.” Blake said as she saw the two of us, she took her contacts out so I saw her two different coloured eyes.

“Noooo~, I’m fine!” Ange said before falling back into the booth. “Hey… I see the roof!”

“We're fine but if Ange needs to vomit we're out of here.” I said to her jokingly while Ange giggled happily to herself as I handed her a cup of water, wanting to somehow sober her up. She drank the water without as much as a fuss. Dianne walked out with one of the cakes, the other having been eaten by the other guests. Money well spent I should say. We all sat in a large booth with some chairs pulled up and ate the icecream cake and chatted for a bit. Soon after we finished we set the plates aside and went to presents.

“Here darling, this one is from me.” Sophia said as she handed Blake a small box. Blake opened it and pulled out a bandana with a black and blue wave pattern. “I saw some chefs wear them to keep their hair out of their food, though solid black wouldn’t do.” Sophia said with a laugh.

“Thanks Sophia.” Blake said as she put on the bandana. The rest of the gifts were given to her and Blake happily opened them. From Jacqueline she got a new Steel Rod for her knifes, a poster of a game from Rachael, a book of cooking from Lydia, a cake formula from Dianne and a stuff Owlbear from Ange who was still a little bubbly as she nuzzled me.

“Thanks everyone.” Blake said with a huge smile on her.

“Hey don't forget about me.” I said to her, pulling out the envelope in my jacket pocket. This gained a curious look from Blake as soon as I did this. I handed it to her and she looked at it.

“Isaac, you know a few gift cards are nice and all but it’s really-” she stopped as she opened it. She read it and her eyes widen as she did. “Isaac… how did you…” she asked me, covering her mouth as she read the front of the envelope.

“I just made a few calls and blackmailed the dean, turns out he didn't want word that his son sent some thugs to teach me a lesson after he got fourth during the cook off.” I said with a chuckle, remembering the conversation with the Dean himself. I could still hear his shouting in the back my mind as it dwindled down into a defeated tone. Everyone looked at me before looking at Blake as she still stared at the letter. After a minute of silence she chuckled.

“Sorry for my language but… Damn Isaac, you’re a saint.” Blake said with a smile. I smiled back, feeling like I've accomplished something today beside seeing Ange drunk. The rest of the night was spent with laughter but before long we all had to leave. I had to carry Ange out of the place since she refuses to walk and as I carried her she was rambling about her animal friends.

“They are the best! They are my closest friends since I was really little… I...I had to be nice to them and take care of them and they like it… and some are so fuzzy… even Mr. Pokey the porcupine…” Ange rambled before looking over at me. “Hey… hey~... You want to hear a secret~?” She asked me which got me to arch a brow at her, knowing that whatever I would have said would result in the same thing with her telling said secret any way.

“What is it, Ange?” I asked her in a soft tone. She had mentioned during her previous ramblings that I had sounded oddly sexy with this tone, I was unaware why though. She giggled at this before she spoke.

“When I was really young, my great great great… umm… Great! grandma told me that there’s a way to… to understand animals… like, know what they are saying and understand them… You know how?” She asked before she gave me a kiss. “Well I’m going to tell you! But, but you can’t tell anyone! Shhhhh~!” She put her finger to her lips as she did this before speaking again. “You had to… to go out into the woods, to a magic place and… and be one with Mother Nature.” as she said this she started laughing and wrapped her arms arounds me and gave me a kiss. “My mom didn’t believe it nor did dad or my brother… but I did! So… so when I was fourteen… or fifteen… I don’t remember… but that’s not important, what’s important that when I was young I went out to the Everfree… and lived out in the forest for a month!”

“That was pretty brave of you to do at such a young age.” I said, smiling down at her as we came up on my house. I didn't want to leave her alone at her cottage like this, I was afraid she might end up doing something extreme at any moment and it won't help if I know she's alone at her place.

“Yeah… but that’s not the crazy part…” she said before she giggled drunkenly again. “I had to do it without anything that wasn’t… natural… no cellphone… no tents… no clothes… all alone in the woods! In my birthday suit!” she laughed again. “And today was Blake’s birthday! This makes it more funny!” I blushed at the thought of a nude Ange but managed to keep my cool as I took her up stairs and into my room. By the time we got there, she was snoring softly which notified me that she had fallen asleep at some point. I placed down on my bed and draped her with the covers before heading out of the room and back downstairs. Once downstairs I headed into the living room and laid down on the couch before finally letting sleep take me.

End of Chapter XI

Chapter XII

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It been about a few weeks since Blake's birthday party. Ange felt terrible the next day due to the hangover, she apologized for that as I had to help her get nursed back up to health. It wasn't hassle nursing her hangover, no matter how many times she would apologize for having to take care of her while her headache subsided.

What was a hassle was what I got from the form of an email. It seems that Lucius forgot to mention something about the sub-judge benefits. One is that i was automatically invited to the Gala by the Princess as a thank you for my hard work. The idea of going to the Gala wasn't too pleasing for me but when I told Ange about my free invitation, she was thrilled to be able to go to the Gala alongside me as well as her friends so long story short, I need a suit. At the moment Blake and I were at some store in hopes that Blake could find a dress, even though she could go see Sophia about it only for Blake to say no.

“I saw the others go to her and started asking for designers dresses, I don’t want to put any more work on top of everything.” Blake explained as she pulled a pink dress out from a rack. “Um, no.” She said before putting it back and continued to look. It was true, almost all of the gang went to Sophia for very specific dresses and while Ange was tempted to do the same, she merely asked the fashionista if a simply dark green dress would do. I've yet ask her for a suit, wanting to not over work her more than she already is.

“With the rate the others are making changes, Sophia is bound to collapse from exhaustion.” I said to Blake as I stood behind her as she browsed the dresses. She hummed at this as she looked at two dresses.

“This is why I go to places like this, I can just pick what I want and go.” Blake said before finally picking a dark blue dress with some white highlights. “Which is also why I’m going with this.” I rolled my eyes a little at this. I haven't had any luck finding a good suit to wear and whenever I did the prices were always outrageous, so I'm still stuck with no suit.

We headed up to the casher and, after Blake haggled the price to oblivion, we left the store and Blake smiled at the fact she got a forty five percent off dress. I kept quiet despite groaning over the fact that she haggles over the smallest of things no matter the price. The two of us walked until we past Sophia’s shop and saw it was dark. I wouldn’t mind it as much if it wasn’t for the fact it should’ve be open right now, Sophia was a bit of a stickler on timing and stuff. Curious to know what was happening, I walked up to the display window but it only did me so much when the light inside were off. While I backed away from the window, Blake had opened the door after picking the lock.

“Couldn't just you have knocked?” I asked her as we both entered through the now opened door.

“Yeah… but where's the fun in that?” She asked with a chuckle. Upon entering, our eyes were greeted upon a very large mess of discarded dresses scattered around the floor and it was really hard to see in the dark. Blake looked around before finding a lightswitch and pressing it. As the room brightened the discarded dresses were in fact the same kinds as one another, some had stars on it, other rainbow flames, and balloons. There were crumpled up pieces of paper which grabbed one and looked at it. “I think you were right with overworking herself.” Blake said to me as she showed me the paper, seeing it was a a dress design with the words ‘Redesign dress for Dianne #21’.

“This a little too much don't you think?” I asked after seeing the paper. The dresses covered the floor completely which made it hard for us to walk without the risk of slipping on one of them.

“Yes… and that's coming from me.” Blake answered, referring to days when she tested a new recipe for a few days. She started to move some of the dresses aside to make a path. “Maybe she's in the back?” She asked.

“One way to find out I suppose.” I said with a shrug before walking down the makeshift path within the mess of dresses before stopping at Sophia’s workplace, spotting the podium she uses to measure people for the suits or dresses. We then casted our gaze on the desk, seeing a sleeping Sophia laying her head on it without caring for the papers under her. She was snoring loudly as the papers were used as a makeshift pillow. Some drool pooled on the papers as she slept. The two of us stared at her before Blake knocked on the door frame which woke the sleeping Magi.

“Ah! Yes, another change to the dress!” Sophia yelled before looking around to see no one was there than us. She blinked at Blake and me before pulling a page off her side of her cheek. “Oh… hello you two.”

“Hey Sophia, seems like the others got working overtime.” I said in a half joking tone though it didn't hide my concern for her well being. She laughed a little.

“Oh Isaac dear it’s fine… just helping my friends with their dresses… even though they ask to change everything…” Sophia said with a chuckle. Me and Blake glanced at one another, knowing that she isn't fine at all before we looked back at her with our arms crossed.

“You can't let them do this to you, Sophia. They running you dry, you place is a mess, you look like you've been through hell and your hair has several strands out of place.” I said, noting the many things wrong at the moment. She gasped in horror at the mention of her hair before she fashioned a mirror with a wave of her hand.

“Oh my Celestia!” She yelled as a brush appeared and she started to brush her hair. She brushed her hair but it did her no good with her stress being the cause of her hair troubles.

“How long have you been working?” Blake asked her, picking up a navy blue dress with rainbows on it.

“Oh… just a few days… a week.” Sophia answered.

“A whole week!?” I exclaimed in bewilderment. A whole of dress making and the others still want changed!? What the fuck!? “Why are you doing this yourself?” I asked after a second or two of calming myself down. She turned to me with a frown.

“Because they are my friends Isaac…” She said as she massage her head a bit. “But this is starting to become a little hard…” She said with a wince, no doubt from a headache.

“I know they're your friends but that doesn't give them the right to do this to you. You need to tell them that the last design for their dresses are final and if they don't like, tough fucking luck.” I said to her, adding a little of my own humor into this as well which got a laugh from her when I said the vulgar word. She glanced at me and hummed at this. She looked through the pages and pulled a book out.

“Mind… looking at these? They were the first ones that I drew up.” Sophia asked the two of us. We both nodded and walked over to her desk, seeing the original designs for the dresses. Me and Blake stared at them with awe, seeing how amazing they looked. There was even one for Ange curiously enough.

“Sophia… these are amazing…” Blake said as she turned the page and blinked. “Is… this one a cake?”

“That one was one for Dianne.” Sophia explained. This made Blake chuckle a bit as Sophia sighed at the drawings around her. “I just wanted everyone to be happy. Seems that not going to happen.” I sighed this as well, unable to believe how selfish the others are with this.

“You know what… just make these instead, tell them how you feel about the changes and how…” I looked down at dresses around my feet and grimacing at how ungodly they look. “You've only wanted them to he happy.” I said to her, my voice sounding serious. Sophia took my words into thought before glancing at the mess around her. After a minute or two of silence she nodded.

“Alright… I will.” Sophia said with a tired smile, though at least this one was an actual smile. We stayed around to help her clean up the place while she worked with the dresses, which surprisingly enough didn't take long. Sophia was a master in her own art of fashion and it shouldn't be a surprise that she was quick to finish up. Hell she was so fast that she took Blakes dress and made it amazing… even made me a suit. I stared at it dumbfounded as she handed it to me, it even looked like it would fit me perfectly. It was an hour later and the place looked good as new, the discarded dresses were properly taken care of and Sophia stared at her creations, the way she wanted them to be. They were perfect in their own way, better than the discarded dresses in many ways. After some time we all stood in front of five different dresses that match the ones in Sophia’s book. She looked at them in deep thought as she walked from one to another.

“They look amazing, Sophia.” I said with a smile as I tied the last garbage bag full of the discarded dresses.

“Yes…” Sophia said as she went to the dress at the end. “Yes I do believe you are right, they look great.” She said with a smile on her face. Blake took most of the garbages in her hands and looked out of the window.

“Looks like the others are coming.” Blake said, pointing out the rest of Sophia’s friends were heading towards the place.

“Well, I think I should let them see the final product.” Sophia said as she turned to us before gesturing towards the remaining bags. “Can you two handle those as I deal with the others?” Blake and I nodded and took the bags out and dumped them with the rest a safe distance from town before I lit the pile ablaze and with it being a controlled fire, it managed to burn through the pile fast without harming anything. The flames burned until they were nothing but ash now. The two of us turned back and headed to Sophia’s place to see if there were trouble with the others. When we came back, Sophia was in the middle of telling them how she felt when they wanted changes upon changes to their dress, which was meant to be a gift for them. With each word said, Lydia, Jacqueline, Dianne and even Rachael looked down in shame at the pain they caused Sophia.

“We didn’t know that we all were causing problems.” Jacqueline said sadly. “We all just… thought they were improvements to the idea…”

“Jacqueline, I know you were being nice and helpful…” Sophia glanced at me and raise a brow before continuing. “But honestly some ideas were… too much, and really rubber boots on a dress?” Jacqueline didn’t say anything about this, simply hanging her head in shame.

“I know I should feel bad… but I don’t really understand what was wrong with it.” Rachael said, confused at what was wrong with her dress before hand. “I thought it looked cool.”

“Really? You thought that was cool?” Blake asked, remembering what her old dress looked like. I shook my head at the image in my head, grimacing a little as well.

“It was shit.” I said simply to the skyborn. Rachael frowned at me before Sophia spoke up.

“Darling, do I tell you how you keep yourself fit?” She asked the Skyborn. “That’s a no, which should be the same for you all with me and designing clothing.” She then looked at Ange and added. “But when it comes to stitching I’ll take your word over it.” This made Ange smile a little bit. The others seemed to depressed about what they did to their friend. After some more talking and apologizing, they all thanked Sophia for their dresses and saw how amazing they all looked and even modeled in them.

The next few hours went by before it got late and we have to leave Sophia’s place. Both Blake and I walked down the street before Blake, out of nowhere, swore.

“Damn it! I knew I forgot something!” She said, face palming as she did.

“What did you forget?” I asked her, both my hands in my jacket pockets to keep them warm.

“I remembered that I got an important mail today and didn’t have time to see what it is…” She frowned a bit before adding. “I thought I would look at it later but it’s really late.”

“What's the letter about and what's preventing you from reading it when you get home?” I asked her with an arched brow as we walked with our Gala attire in hand.

“It’s a letter from the school that I just got into, thanks again for that, says that it’s important on the letter.” Blake explained to me. I nodded at her as we walked down the road still, passing by the town square and heading into the marketplace. Eventually we came upon the fork in the road, one leading to my house and the other to Blake's. We bid ourselves goodbye for the day and headed towards our respective homes.

It's been a few days since Sophia and her dress issue and I didn’t have any jobs at the moment which meant only one thing: Video games. For the past few days I've done nothing but lounge and play video games. Today was no different until I heard a knock at the front door. Blinking at this since I didn’t expect anyone to come around today. I stood up from the couch and stretched a bit before finally going over to the door. Upon opening it, I was greeted with nothing before I look slightly down, seeing a light purple haired young teen girl. The girl had a two tone hair of pink and purple with pale skin. She wore a light green shirt and purple skirt with a happy smile on her.

“Hi there mister, would you care to buy some cookies?” She asked sweetly. I arched a brow at the question.

“Cookies?” I asked, still with an arched brow. She nodded as she showed me a bag of a dozen cookies with a pink bow wrapped around the bag.

“Yes, my grandma's recipe, you'll die for them!” She said to me. I gave it some thought before ultimately deciding.

“Nah.” I said, not really interested in buying cookies. I wasn't in the mood for sweets at all in fact, the past few days I've been avoiding sweets for some reason. Her smile didn't leave her face as she spoke.

“Are you sure? They are for a good cause.” She said in her sweet voice.

“Which cause?” I asked with my arms crossed. Her expression turned to a sadden one as some tears started to well up.

“Oh for my poor grandma… she’s in the hospital, her health isn’t doing so good and doctors say that she might not make it in a few months!” she said with a few sniffles. “I’m just trying to raise money for her to get healthy. So please mister, can you help my poor grandma?” Another part of me wanted to say no but the other said yes to get this over with. With a shake of my head I asked.

“How much for a box?” I asked, pulling out my wallet as I did. She sniffled a bit.

“It’s… twenty one dollars.” She answered, making me blink in surprise. I looked at her as she gave me a tearful look. I sighed and took out the exact amount needed before giving it to her. She thanked me as I took the box of cookies in. As I closed the door and went back inside I looked at the cookies for a few moments. With a sigh I took one and took a bite of one of them.

… These taste nothing like home cooked. Actually they taste like a box of cookies that Skyler gets when she has enough money. I went and found those cookies and sure enough they look exactly the same. I was scammed.

My thoughts were interrupted with some loud banging from the door. I put the cookies down and opened the door to see a panting Sophia standing there. “Did you… see a teenage girl… with purple and pink hair?” She panted before asking. “And… can I get some water… please?”

“Yeah and hold on.” I said before going inside, leaving the door open for Sophia to come in while I fashioned up a glass of cold water. When I walked by the living room, she was already sitting on the couch with a look exhaustion. “Here.” She took it and downed it in one go. When she was done she let out a sigh.

“Thanks… so, what did she do?” She asked me before adding. “And how much did she take?”

“Twenty one bucks for a box of store bought cookies. On the bright side, saved me time on buying them at the store.” I said to her, gesturing towards the box of cookies. She raised an eyebrow at me.

“You know that a box of cookies are cheaper at the store… like, their three dollars.” Sophia said before pulling out her wallet and thumbing through her bills.

“Meh.” Was my only response. In all honesty, twenty dollars isn't much to me with the job I have surprisingly enough. Sure I'm a work for hire but people pay me a lot by the time I'm done, the reason for it is because they know they can trust me when I say I fixed their problem. Sophia shot me a glare, which was surprising to me, as she pulled out the money.

“You think it’s ‘meh’ but it isn’t for me.” Sophia said before putting the money on the table.

“Umm, that's not really necessary.” I said to her as soon as she did that.

“Well too bad, I’m not taking it back.” Sophia said as she crossed her arms. “I don’t want my sister trying to con my friends.” I blinked at this, the teen was Sophia’s sister?

“That was your sister?” I said in confusion and a bit in surprise as well, I never really knew Sophia had a younger sibling. She groaned a bit at this.

“You really can’t tell huh.” Sophia said before shaking her head. “I've been known for my generosity, looks, fashion and… well my noblish attitude.” She said before making a frowned look. “But Lucille is nothing like me, oh sure she’s sweet and innocent… but that’s a front, she’s a pain in the ass teen that will scam all of your money before you know it!” She yelled before realizing that she swore, which is surprising since she never swear. “Ahem, my apologies… that’s not ladylike of me.”

“It's fine but… why does she do that anyway?” I asked her curious to know why a teen would scam another for their money.

“Because she wants money?” Sophia explained with a shake of her head. “I don’t really know myself but this happens all the time, so much so that my parents asked me to have her live with me instead with them.”

“Okay then, so you have a con artist of a sister.” I said, looking down at the box of cookies with a hum.

“Again Isaac, I’m really really sorry about this. If I knew where she was I would’ve warned you.” Sophia said to me. I simply shrugged again.

“It's alright though I'd recommend you do something about it quickly before she gets into major trouble.” I told Sophia, gaining a nod from the fashionista after I did. After telling her the direction her sister went, Sophia ran off to stop her, leaving me to myself again while Skyler is out hanging out with Samantha again.

End of Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

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After being introduced to Sophia’s con artist of a little sister, the month went by rather dull with the exception of a couple of dates me and Ange went out on but other than that it was playing video games and clean up around the house. Now with it being the last month of the year, the night of the Gala grew closer and with every moment I began to dread it coming closer as it meant that my birthday would too. While others would be happy to celebrate their birthdays, I loathe it as it reminds me of what I went through as a kid, alone on the streets with nothing but the cold and hunger to keep me company. Everyone in town knows that I spend the first day of the new year alone, thinking to myself of the many possible what ifs. Many of the townsfolk worried whenever the day arrives, somewhat expecting me to do something drastic which I have in the past but that was during a phase I was going through.

I sighed as I stared at the calendar, seeing the last day of month marked with a red circle with the words ‘Gala’ inside it. It was tonight… the event highly anticipated by the group was tonight and it was just a few hours before I had to get ready. I sighed at the thoughts as I grabbed the suit I was going to use and headed out towards Blake’s place. The cold air made me shiver a bit as I walked, the streets were barren today as it was a holiday today. It gave me time to think before I arrived at Blakes place. Many thoughts about the event ran through my mind, none of them being good or encouraging at all and it only made me not want to go but… I promised Ange I would and I have kept my promises so far, I'm not going to start breaking them now. I finally came upon Blake's place, seeing the closed sign on the front door before entering, making the bell ring upon doing so. It was a few moments later when the door opened and Blake peeked out.

“Oh, hey Isaac.” She greeted me. “Here to hang out before the Gala?” I nodded at her as she opened the door. “Well come on, we still have a few hours left.” She headed back in, allowing me to follow suit up the stairs before finally reaching her abode.

“I'm not excited about tonight.” I said with a shake of my head. Blake didn’t say anything as we walked into her living room. The place was smaller than mine and had the simple stuff; TV, couch, some chairs, bookcases, etc. The notable thing is that near her TV was many video games and game consoles.

“Yeah well, I’m on the fence about it.” Blake said as she sat down. I sat down as well after putting the suit neatly on a clean table. The two of us spent the next few minutes in silence. I sat there, with a look of deep thought that garnered Blake's concern. “Thinking about your birthday?” She asked me.

“Yeah… how can I not when it's tomorrow.” I said with a solemn tone. To me my birthday is the worst day of the year. “I just wish I could forget about it entirely and just… move on with my life but no… every year is the same thing.” I said, planting my face into my hands. Again we went into silence, Blake didn’t say anything after what I said. It was a few moments later when she spoke.

“You… want some coffee? Or Tea?” She asked me, wanting the silence to end. I shrugged before answering.

“Coffee would do, I think I might need it.” I said to her with a low tone. She really never liked seeing me like this, I was always the carefree guy people know about. She nodded and stood up to go into her kitchen. It was a few minutes later when Blake handed me a cup of coffee.

“Here.” She said as I took the coffee with a thanks. She sat on the couch beside me and stared up at the roof of the place. It was a few moments later when she spoke. “Our childhoods sucked.” I sighed at that, drinking a bit from the coffee.

“At least you know you have parents.” I said quietly, regretting my words soon after I spoke them. I hate to admit it but I was always envious of Blake, at least she knows she had parents while I'm left clueless. For all I know I could be some sort of experiment in a lab somewhere. I looked over and saw her frowning at what I said.

“I know I have a dad, who I don’t see at all and don’t know what he looks or sounds like, but I don’t know who my mom is. Hell I don’t even know that my dad is my dad.” Blake informed me. I looked down at the steaming mug and sighing a little. “But really we shouldn’t be so down right now!” Blake stated as she pushed forward. “Tonight is the Gala, that means one thing.”

“And what might that be?” I asked her with an arched brow. She turned to me with a grin.

“We're going to mess with a lot of nobles.” She said with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes though a smirk formed before I said.

“We're going to end up on so many people’s shitlist.” I said with a chuckle of my own, this bringing me out of my thoughts of tomorrow. I looked at a nearby clock, seeing that the Gala was still hours away. I frowned but I was quickly surprised when Blake tossed me a controller. I looked down at it before at her, seeing her wave her controller with a smirk.

“Let’s worry about pissing nobles off later, we have a few hours and I got some new games a few days ago.” She stated to me. I laughed at this before she turned on the console and putting in one of the new games in. After that, the time spent was a blur as we clashed against one another before ending it all with a tie. I blinked a little before looking at the time again, seeing that it had been several hours since I got here and it was nearly time. Blake saw the time as well. “Ah hell, didn’t think time would go this fast.” Blake got up quickly and so did I.

“Mind I use your bathroom to get changed?” I asked her, grabbing my suit as I did. She nodded as she ran into her room, slamming the door behind her. I was quick to go into the bathroom and change attire but the changing part proved to be a little difficult on account of having never put on a suit. When I finally finished up and setting the bowtie, I looked at myself in the mirror, seeing a well dressed me. A bit of my tattoos were visible on the back of my hand but I didn't care much to cover them. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, telling myself that this will go by quickly over and over again.

I believe that this wouldn’t go by quickly as I now stood in the Gala with Ange beside me. Blake was right, there were nobles… a lot of nobles. Just seeing them made my stomach turn, nevermind hearing them speak in their posh accents.

“Ugh… I hate this already.” I said in a whisper while my shoulders sagged.

“Well… let’s just… enjoy it as much as we can…” Ange said, a little bit clinging onto me. The others already went off, Rachael already off to see the Blue Angels while Jacqueline was setting up to see her apple pastries. Sophia was off to talk to the nobles, something won’t change about her, and Dianne… was being Dianne. Blake went over to see what food they had made for such an event. I looked down at Ange as she held my arm with hers.

“So… what do you want to do?” I asked her, not really knowing what I'm going to do to pass the time here. Ange thought about it for a few moments.

“Umm… walk around for a bit?” She suggested. I nodded before we began our walk around the palace yards, passing by some wondering nobles that glared at the sight of us. I did my best to ignore them but Ange began to tremble a bit at the unwanted attention. When we came up on the palace gardens, we found a bench and sat down before I comforted her with soothing whispers and gentle kisses. She smiled at me for this, pulling herself closer to me. “Thanks…” She whispered softly.

“Anything to make you smile, Ange.” I said to her, placing a hand on her as I did. “To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward for the Gala, dreading it even but… as long as I'm with you I'm happy.” I admitted. It was the truth, these past two months the source of my happiness was Ange and her smile. She blushed at this as the two of us sat there for some time.

“Hey… should we grab something to eat?” She asked me. I smiled and stood up before holding a hand out for her to take. Once she grabbed my hand, I gently pulled her up before we headed back to the courtyard, where the event is being held. It wasn't far but it was a short walk, enough time for us to enjoy the company of one another. Upon reaching the courtyard, we spotted Blake by the food table, sampling whatever laid on a platter. We walked up to her hand in hand.

“Hey Blake.” I said, gaining her attention. She turned with food in her mouth before swallowing.

“Hey you two, how goes?” Blake asked the two of us. Ange and I smiled her, glancing at one another afterwards.

“I mean, the event so far has been boring but we're pulling through.” I said to Blake while Aneg rested her head on the shoulder of my suit, a blissful sigh escaping her lips. “So how about you?” I asked her.

“Eh, you know; walking around, getting glared at by nobles, normal stuff.” Blake answered with a laugh, gaining a laugh from me and Ange as well. Suddenly the sounds of trumpets greeted our ears and our attention was brought towards the main gate, a spotlight pointing down at someone.

“Now introducing Lady Camilla Nicolette Whitlock, the Fire Magi of Canterlot!” Said a man with a posh accent as a round of applause showered the woman that walked through the gate. The woman walked out in a red and bronze dress and her hair done back with red and gold spirals. She walked out with her head held high and the same look of a noble would have. But I felt that there was something… different.

I saw that as she walked in she had a guard but he was about five feet back… actually everyone was giving her a wide berth. It made me questioning it but I kept to myself and I glanced down at Ange before at Blake. Blake simply stared at the woman, blinking a few times.

“You know… I would say she's really hot but… that's a bit on the nose…” She said out loud.

“What was that?” I said, pretending not to have heard it the first time. Blake frowned at me and rolled her eyes.

“She's hot.” Blake repeated before crossing her arms and looking away, I caught a faint blush when she did.

“She's seems… lonely.” Ange spoke up, gaining mine and Blake's attention as soon as she did.

“What do you mean?” I asked her curiously. Ange looked at us before back at the woman.

“She just… looks lonely.” Ange explained. I looked back to see her walk through the crowd, said crowd moved away from her as if she was some sort of plague. I glanced at Blake, seeing her eyes drawn towards the woman with a faint blush. I nudged her a bit my elbow.

“Go talk to her.” I said to her with a smirk. She looked at me with shock.

‘What? Right now?!” She asked me. I rolled my eyes and frowned.

“No, next year. Of course now!” I exclaimed to her. Ange stood by me nodding as well. As Blake stared at us trying to get her nerve or something, I noticed that all the nobles that were around us were gone. The answer to this was that the woman was standing beside us, getting food. Oddly enough she was frowning at the sizes. I nudged Blake a little forward. She glared at me before clearing her throat, making the fire Magi jump in surprise. Up close she was tanned skinned with teal coloured eyes which stared at us in shock.

“O-oh… hello…” She greeted us. From looking at her she was putting up that noble front but she still looked surprised. Blake stood there, blinking a few times at a lost list of words. I rolled my eyes and spoke to the woman.

“Hello, ma'am. Sorry for the sudden surprise, didn't mean to spook you there.” I said to her while Blake stuttered about trying to regain her composure but failing. Her blush was now more noticeable than before. This didn't go unnoticed by her as her teal eyes dart over to Blake.

“It's… fine. I'm just not used to people… well, being so close to me.“ She said with a blush of her own. I nodded a little as she stared at us. “Wait… aren't you… yes, you're the ones that helped defeat Nightmare Moon and rescue Princess Luna.” I blinked at this, remembering the event clearly and the injury that followed.

“Yeah…” I said a little awkwardly, absentmindedly rubbing the arm that broke months ago. At this point Blake seemed to have collected herself to speak.

“Yeah… there was a lot of… hurt that night.” Blake said, rubbing her own arms a bit which, if look closely, there were still scars.

“Oh… you’re feeling better?” Lady Camilla asked Blake, who stared at her.

“Err… yeah, I’m fine.” Blake said, her blush was still there, but less so than before. “Sorry about that. So you’re a noble magi? I would have guessed that from the guy who announced you.” The Fire Magi chuckled a little.

“Yeah… I’m a noble magi…” She stated half-heartedly.

“Right, anyway I'm Isaac, that's Blake…” I said gesturing towards Blake who sheepishly smiled at the magi. “And this is Angelina.” I said, introducing the skyborn holding my hand. She smiled and waved at the magi noble.

“Hello there…” She said before looking around at the others. The Magi frowned at this before sighing. “I’m not going to burn the place down, everyone really needs to chill…” She stated sadly. We all looked at her curiously when she said this.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, breaking the silence. She sighed as she looked at us.

“I… no, it’s nothing you need to worry about.” She said before taking a few cubed cheeses. “You all enjoy the rest of your night.” Without a word she walked away from us, munching on the cheeses as she walked. We watch her leave, the nobles were quick to get out of the way from her as her guard was trailing her.

“Well… that sucks…” Blake said, hanging her head a bit.

“You alright there?” I asked Blake, seeing her shoulders sag just second after she hung her head.

“I couldn’t say a word… at all! I sucked.” She answered.

“I wonder why she’s like this?” Ange asked as the nobles that were away from us slowly moved back in. I shrugged at this, not knowing what to answer. I glanced back at Blake, who watched as the magi walked away and the crowd formed again, she was looking sadly before sighing. “Maybe we find Lydia and ask her? Since… you know, she used to live in Canterlot?” Ange suggested before adding. “If that’s alright with you two.” Blake looked at me, a little hope in her eyes when Ange said this before I shrugged and said.

“Sure, beats just standing around.” I said jokingly to lighten the mood. The three of us soon went off to find Lydia, which only took about a few minutes since she was standing beside Princess Celestia who was greeting ever noble that came to talk to her. It’s a long, long, long, line up. We decided to skip the line up, earning glares from the nobles, and came up to the two.

“Oh… hello Blake, Angelina… Isaac.” the Princess said after a pause when it came to my name. Lydia turned and smiled at us and waved. “What can I help you with?”

“We came to ask about Camilla Nicolette Whitlock.” I said, glancing at Blake when I did.

“Oh? What about her do you want to know?” The Princess asked before getting some angry complaints from the nobles. She made a pained smile at them before saying. “Uhh, Lydia mind doing the explaining.”

“Of course Princess.” Lydia said before giving her a bow. She turned back to us and mouthed the words ‘Thank you’ to us. We walked a few steps away from the princess and the nobles before Lydia spoke. “So… what do you want to know?”

“Who’s Camilla?” Blake asked, earning an arch brown from the Magi and me. She blushed a little.

“Well… Camilla, or the Fire Magi from the South is one of four Magi that completely mastery over Fire magic.” Lydia explained. “From a young age she showed signs of strong ties to fire magic that she draw the eyes of both the Princess, and the last Magi of the South. The Magi took Camilla under his wing as an apprentice and well, fast forward to today and Camilla is the new Fire Magi of the South.” Lydia added informatively. Blake let out a whistle at this.

“That’s something… I heard the Big Four are some of the most powerful Magi, even on par as the Princess.” Blake said, sounding impressed. “But… why is everyone treating Camilla like she’s the plague?” She asked, crossing her arms. Lydia looked around to see that no one was around before getting closer.

“You didn’t hear this from me but… there’s something odd about her fire magic.” Lydia started to explain. “It said that her magic is more… intense than others, a low powered fire spell could destroy a whole barn if she’s not careful. So everyone avoids her just in case something… happens.”

“That’s stupid.” Blake said with a frown.

“I guess now we know why she looked lonely.” I said, looking down at Ange, who nodded sadly at me when I did. “Still though, it's stupid to think people would avoid her because of it.” I said, a little agitated at what the nobles do whenever the fire magi is around. Blake shook her head before walking off. I knew enough about her that when she’s angry, she would rather be alone. I feel bad for anyone who wanted to deal with an angry Blake.

“Well there’s other things about her that maybe interesting for you Isaac.” Lydia said to me. I arched a brow at this curiously. “From what I heard, her father was once a great inventor, said to be one of the few that worked on Clockwork machines. You can still see his work in Canterlot; Grandfather clocks, wind up toys, anything that deals with gears he has his hand in it.” I blinked at this, having always been interested in clockwork stuff but never really had the time to learn much about it.

“Cool.” I said with a little smile. Lydia smiled at this.

“Yeah, honestly she’s a really interesting person… sad that due to her conditions she is treated with both respect and fear…” Lydia sighed before turning away. “If there’s any more questions then say them now, or let me get back… standing around… doing nothing.” Me and Ange looked at Lydia oddly when she said that but stayed silent before the three of us headed back, ignoring the quiet insults and glares from waiting nobles. Upon coming back to the courtyard, Blake looked around in hopes to spot Camilla. Her hopes were dashed as she couldn’t see her.

“Aww man…” Blake groaned. Ange giggled a little as she leaned against me.

“Well… while you go searching for that fire magi, me and Ange will be nearby so just holler if you need us.” I said to Blake with a smile. Blake looked over at me and Ange after I said this. She shrugged and went off again, leaving the two of us alone. We walked over and sat on a bench, Ange resting her head on my shoulder as we watch the night sky. We sat in silence, further away from the event, nearly bordering the gardens. It was peaceful really, so much so that Ange had managed to fall asleep on my shoulder while I simply looked up at the night sky.

“Enjoying the fresh air?” A voice asked me. I turned and saw Princess Celestia walking over to me. Why was she out here?

“Yeah… it's quite calming…” I said in a quiet tone, hearing Ange’s adorable snored greet my ears every now and again. The princess walked over to where I was and looked up at the night sky.

“I used to come out here late in the night and walk around in the gardens before, it’s quite soothing.” The Princess said to me before looking over. “If I may ask, care to join me?” I looked down at Ange.

“Alright but I want to keep her in my line of sight, I can never be too careful.” I said to Celestia as I carefully stood up while holding Ange upright and once fully up, I gently laid her down on the bench, using my suit jacket as a pillow. As I finished I soon felt a warm air blow past me, which made Ange shift a bit and smile. I looked back to see the Princess lowering her hand a bit.

“Just to keep her warm.” She said with a warm smile of her own before moving a little. “Now… shall we?” I nodded and followed the royal celestial. The two of us walked down into the gardens, which were empty than the two of us. The flowers were closed up and all I saw was dark greens and purples.

“Got to ask, is it a good idea to simply leave the Gala like that?” I asked her, which earned me a chuckle from her.

“You believe how many times I simply… ‘Sneak out’ from royal events.” She said with a smirk on her face. “I care for my subjects dearly but even I lose patience from time to time.” I arch a brow at this as she simply chuckled. After a few minutes of walking, and a few times I turned around to see if I could see Ange, which I was able to, the royal Celestia sighed. “I… I want to thank you again, for bringing my sister back to me… I thought I lost her.” I looked at her as there was a moment of sadness on her face.

“Uhh, you’re welcome you’re-”

“Please, call me Celestia…” She said, cutting me off. “When I’m here I try not to think about my duties as a princess.”

“Err, okay? You’re welcome Celestia.” I said to her, earning a smile that seemed to warm the air with it. She looked out at the gardens with a happy sigh.

“I love these gardens, always full of life and smells. They always seemed to brighten my mood when I’m out here.” She stated as she ran her hands over a few flowers, making them bloom from the simple touch of her hand.

“I can see why, it’s really… calming here.” I said to her as she looked at me. She stared at me before the two of us continued walking until we came to another bench which she sat down and I sat next to her. The sounds of the party was distant from us but I could still see the sleeping form of Ange on the bench where I left her. My gaze then move down onto the ground, my thoughts of tomorrow filling my mind and it only drove a sigh out of me.

“Is there something the matter?” Celestia asked me, concern in her voice.

“It's nothing… it's stupid really.” I said admittedly with a low tone.

“If it something that get you mind's attention, then it’s not stupid.” The Royal Celestial said to me. “It’s also better to not hold something that’s bothering you to yourself.” She added with a tone of concern.

“Well… tomorrow is my birthday or at least I think it is… I was found on the doorstep of the orphanage I grew up in on the first day of the new year, so I can only guess.” I said with a shrug, getting off track and catching myself doing so before shaking my head. “Anyway, on the first day of every year, I'm always reminded of the one thing the kid in me never had… Some part of me still wishes for it sometimes and I just can't move on even if it were to save my life…” I said, sighing as my gaze went up to the stars above. Celestia was silent at this, seeing if I would continue before speaking.

“And… what is this wish?” She asked, her voice taking on a more sad tone than before. I chuckled a little at how stupid this would sound.

“Parents.” I said simply with a shrug. “Yeah… kinda childish and dumb but… that's what the kid me always wanted.” I said with a sigh. Celestia didn’t say anything about this. I looked over and saw something that shocked me; tears running down her face as she took a shuddering breath.

“I’m… I-I’m sorry… I’m s-so sorry…” She sobbed. I looked at her with growing concern.

“Prin- Celestia, what are you apologizing for?” I asked her curiously.

“Because she’s been keeping a secret.” Another voice said. I turned to see Wisp sitting in front of me. Wait, why was Wisp here? She licked her paw a bit before looking at me with her ember eyes. “Do you remember who I am Isaac? Why I’m always with you?” She asked me. I looked at the fiery feline questioningly.

“No… not really, I kinda always thought you were my guardian or something… Some mystical force that looks after me.” I said with a shrug, not really knowing what was going on.

“You’re right, I was, and still am, looking after you but I was sent by one person… your mother.” Wisp told me, shocking me. “In fact, she’s still around… waiting for the right moment to show herself, even though the ‘Right’ moment may not ever come.”

“My… mom?” I said, the word itself sounding foreign even as I say it.

“Yes, you see you must understand that what she did is for you safety, sending you away and having me look after you, to be her eyes and ears.” Wisp said before hopping up onto my lap. “I still remember that day, trying to convince her to do it was… well… let’s just say I felt what a sun is like when it goes supernova.”

“Then… Why didn't you ever tell me?” I asked Wisp as laid herself on my lap.

“Because I was told not to until you were ready… but it’s really until she was ready.” Wisp answered me, glancing up at me as she spoke. “But as your guardian, I believe it’s really time for you to know who she is… even if she thinks otherwise.” I thought about this, my answer right there in front of me and all I can do is ask.

“Who is… who is she? Who's my mother?” I asked after a full two minutes of silence. My mind was on overdrive, I couldn't think straight. Wisp hummed at this before turning her head at me.

“Your mother…” She said, before looking away. “Is sitting right beside you.”

The answer sucked the sounds around me. I stared at Wisp for a few moments before I slowly turned my head to see the Princess crying her eyes out. Slowly but surely, the sounds of her sobbing greeted my ears while I was left staring in absolute shock.

“I… I didn’t want to…” She sobbed. “I’m… I’m sorry.” Was all I could hear from her. I felt myself go numb and my mind go blank, I felt like my whole world came crashing down on me.

End of XIII

Chapter XIV

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I sat there in silence, the only sound was the sniffles of the woman beside me who claimed to be my mother. Wisp laid on my lap as she looked at me with one of her eyes. My gaze switched from Wisp to Celestia and back again, my mind thinking that this must be some sort of cruel joke… it has to be right? My mom can't really be her… can it?

I stood up shakingly onto my feet, disregarding the fiery feline that sat on my lap before walking a few feet away towards the railing, seeing the entirety of Canterlot from where I stood now. I kept shaking my head before finally speaking.

“This… This has to be some sort of joke.” I said just above a whisper, gritting my teeth and gripping the railing. Anger was the dominant emotion at the moment and I wish it wasn't.

“I will tell you that it's not.” Wisp said as she hopped onto the railing. Even with such a small surface she was sitting on it perfectly. “And do calm down, you don't want to burn something down.”

“Don't even tell me to calm down.” I said, repressing the anger as best I could but my hands showed differently. While still gripping the marble and gold railing, my hand began to glow a bright orange that began to heat up the marble surface. “Throughout all my life I had to learn how to fend for myself… alone and afraid on the streets.” I said before taking deep breaths.

“I know, I've seen it happen.” Wisp informed me. “And so does she, though it brings great sadness to her.” I looked down at my hand, the once glowing hand of mine stopped gripping the railing.

“I always thought my parents hated me… I mean why else would they leave me at an orphanage.” I said sadly, finally tears began to well up in my eyes and blurring my vision. I wiped the tears away as best I could. “So she really is my mother?” I asked Wisp, wanting to be one hundred percent sure.

“Yes, she's her… the both of you have a tendency to burn stuff down when upset.” Wisp said with a chuckle. I stared at Wisp before looking back at Celestia. She looked like her heart had just been ripped out, a complete reflection of the proud Princess. I looked back down at the city below, simply letting a sigh now that I managed to cool off before doing something I would regret though judging by the suit, I'm already starting to regret. The ends of my sleeves were burnt, which meant an expensive repair. I shook my head but kept a mental note of it for later before facing the royal celestial before walking back up to the bench and sitting down beside her. I didn't know what to say, many questions ran through my mind but I didn't want to make things worse by asking any of them.

“I… I never wanted to give you up…” She said softly, bringing my attention back to her. “Every day I worried about you… I'm…” Tears started to well up in her eyes as she talked. I placed my hand atop hers, surprising her when I did.

“I'm not entirely sure how to properly react to this, a part of me want to be angry and burn something but…” I said, trying to figure out how to say the next bit without screwing up. “The other part of me wants to say… I forgive you.”

The two of us sat there in silence for a few moments before Celestia pulled me into a hug. I felt her shake as she hugged me, repeating ‘I'm sorry’ over and over. At first I was stunned when she did this, having not expected the sudden hug but slowly I returned it with tears of my own. It felt like the hug lasted for hours, she even managed to calm herself a little to stop shaking. Wisp walked up to the two of us and sat just in front of us, swaying her tail from side to side. Soon the two of us parted, tear streaks ran down her face as she smiled at me.

“I'll make it up to you… I promise.” She said to me.

“You don't… you don't have to do anything… just knowing is enough.” I said her with a tearful smile. It was an odd feeling really, finding out that my mom is actually the solar celestial is actually pretty overwhelming. The only reason I hadn't gone into shock was the fact that I would have an eye on Ange if I lost consciousness. “But… what now?” I asked her. She looked at me with a curious gaze before I said. “I mean, what are we going to do? If I'm your son doesn't that make me royalty or something.” I said, a frown forming at the idea of me being some form of noble.

“Well… we could go back to the Gala and bring the news about you…” She hummed a bit before adding. “Or go to this donut shop nearby that's open twenty four hours.” I blinked at her, did she… suggest that we ditch the gala and get donuts?

“But… what about the Gala?” I asked her, unsure of why she would ditch her own event. She shrugged at this.

“It kinda lost its luster a few weeks back since all I do is stand around and greet nobles… I'm very patient but even I start to get bored.” She chuckled a little before adding. “Besides, I think finding my son is a bit more important than nobles.” I glanced back at Ange, still seeing her sleeping at the bench. “Should we wake her? I don't think leaving her here would be wise.” Celestia commented about the sleeping Skyborn. Upon hearing this, I stood up and walked up to the sleeping Ange and gently shook her.

“Hey... Ange.” I whispered to her, not wanting to surprise her. I shook her again after the first attempt being a failure. “Ange.” I said again. She muttered something before opening her eyes.

“Yes…” She asked, still sleepy as she pushed herself up and yawned.

“Hey sleeping beauty, had a nice nap?” I asked her jokingly with a chuckle. I helped her sit up as she was still a little groggy. It took a bit to get her fully awake but by the time she did, Celes- I mean mom I mean fuck it! I'll figure it out later. Celestia came by, surprising Ange with her sudden appearance.

“O-oh… um… Isaac is there a reason Princess Celestia is here?... Did something happen?” She asked me. I quickly shook my head at this before speaking.

“No no, nothing happened.” I said to her, calming her nervousness a little when I did. I held her hand as I helped her up to her feet.

“I'm just here to… talk to Isaac about something.” The royal Celestial explained. “We're now going to a place to eat, if you want you can come with.” Ange blinked at this before looking at me.

“Do you mind?” She asked me.

“I don't mind.” I said to her, holding her hand with a smile. Though still a little groggy, she smiled at me. The two of us looked at the Princess as there was a slight glow. I then realise that we were some other place. We stood in front of a place called ‘Donut Joe's’. “Magic… real life cheats.” I said under my breath. We entered the donut shop and saw that it was nearly empty save for two customers. I held back a laugh when I saw that it was Blake and that Camilla woman. As we got closer we heard them talking to each other.

“Normally I don't have time to get anything sweet.” Camilla explained, making Blake frown.

“That's weird.” Blake said to the fire Magi.

“How is it weird?” The Magi asked.

“Because everyone has to have a donut before!” Blake pointed out. Ange and I sat nearby Blake and Camilla. Celestia sat beside me, a smile on her face as she looked at me. It was then the two notice us.

“Princess!” Camilla said in shock which turned to confusion. “Why… are you here?” This earned a chuckle from the Royal Celestial.

“Oh I just heard the donuts here are really good.” She said with a smile.

“Hey Blake.” I greeted Blake with a smile.

“Hey Isaac, guess what, Camilla here hasn't had a donut before!” Blake said as if it was the most shocking thing ever. Camilla simply gave Blake a off look.

“Why do you say that? Also why am I here?” The fire Magi asked.

“Because I asked you since your guard ditched you.” Blake answered.

“Right…” Camilla said, a little confused at all this. Blake smiled a little. It was a little bit later and each of us got some donuts from the owner, Joe the fifth. As it seems there were four other Joe's in his family. Camilla looked at hers, a little confused on it before taking a bite out of it. “Ohhh… I now get why people like this.”

“See!” Blake said with a laugh. After this we ate donuts and happily conversed with one another, Camilla having most interesting things to say out of all of us though it's safe to say that no one was paying attention more than Blake. Before long Blake looked at me and stared. “Hey… you seem different.” She said to me to which everyone looked over at me. “Something happened?”

Before I could say something Celestia let out a little laugh. “Oh don't mind me, just learned something funny.” I didn't know what she meant so I shook my head and looked back at Blake.

“It's kinda hard to explain to really…” I said, finding it a little difficult to tell them.

“Really? How is it hard?” Blake asked me. I looked down at my burnt sleeve and letting out a sigh.

“I uhh… I found out who my mother is.” I said, covering the sleeve from the eyes of the others before they could notice it. Ange’s and Blake's eyes widen at this.

“No shit! Really?!” Blake said happily.

“Yeah.” I said in confirmation, a little smile forming. I took a bite out of my donut before seeing that everyone was still staring at me.

“Well… who is she?” Blake asked me, both her and Ange were interested in who she was.

“Well just… just look to my left.” Was all I said to them, a little excited to see their reactions once they find out. Everyone stared at me then looked to Celestia. Both Blake and Ange’s jaws dropped at this as the Fire Magi looked surprised.

“You're… kidding?” Blake asked me, not believing it to be true. I shook my head at this before quickly saying.

“Blake you of all people should know that I'd never kid about this sort of thing.” I said to Blake in a tone that showed them how serious I was at the moment. Blake stared at me for a bit before looking at Celestia.

“Okay then… my mind is blown.” Blake said before returning to her half eaten donut. I chuckled as I turned to Ange, who was simply staring at me with a blush on her face.

“Are you okay, Ange?” I asked her, a little worried that I might've freaked her out somehow. Honestly, that's the last thing I ever want to do to her, especially with the happiness she gave me throughout the past few months we've been dating.

“Ummm uh, yes… I'm fine… just surprised.” Ange answered before taking a drink of some water, still blushing. I smiled a little, placing my hand over hers to gently caress it. She saw this and smiled at me before leaning onto me, resting her head on my shoulder once again. Celestia watched this, smiling at the two of us but I could see a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“I can kinda see it.” Camilla said, earning everyone's attention. “From what I hear the both of them tend to burn something down when angry and/or upset.” Upon hearing this, both me and Celestia frowned a little at this, internally denying that we do such a thing. Blake saw me doing this and laughed, no doubt remembering the time the fire department had to put out my garage.

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Celestia said as she took a drink of water.

“You sure? What about that hardware store last month?” Camilla asked, making Celestia spit out her water.

“T-That wasn't me!!” She yelled.

“Okay… now I can see it.” Ange whispered to me. I groaned a little, earning a giggle from Ange before she quickly cheered me up by planting a kiss on my cheek. I chuckled a little after she did this. We ate a little more after that before Blake spoke up.

“So… does this make you royalty now since your mom is a Princess?” Blake asked me out of the blue, surprising me and Celestia.

“Also are you a Celestial?” Camilla asked me as well. I blinked at these questions, not knowing the answers myself. Ange looked up at me, waiting for an answer as well.

“I don't… I mean… I don't know.” I said after a minute of rambling thoughts. Everyone stared at me before shifting there gaze to my mother.

“Well, when it comes to if Isaac is royalty then, in a sense, he is that of royal blood.” She frowned a little before adding. “To if he's a Celestial… I have no idea.” I groaned a little after hearing that I was technically royalty. Blake snorted as well, knowing why I had groaned but Celestia, Ange and Camilla were confused about this. They no doubt thought I would've been ecstatic to hear that I was royalty but in reality, the idea of it makes my stomach turn. “In any case if Isaac wants to live life as a noble-"

“I doubt it.” Blake cut in before Celestia continued with a slight frown.

“That's up to him, I dare not force him to do something he doesn't want.” She finished her explanation. I shook my head and said.

“Not really interested in moving, I've got my own place back at Everfree and… not to mention my housemate and young ward.” I said, adding the last bit in a little bit of a whisper that gained Celestia’s curiosity. Camilla was no different as well, interested in what I had whispered. I let out a nervous chuckle. “What?” I asked them both.

“What did you whisper?” Camilla asked. I sighed a little at this before finally saying.

“Well, there's this kid I've been taking care of for the past few years, I found her trying to pick my wallet out but I caught her before she could.” I said to them before taking a deep breath and adding. “I'm her legal guardian, so like I'm somewhat her adoptive father or brother or whatever.” I said, not really caring much on what I would be technically called by others. “She's my housemate and good friend.” I finally finished. Camilla nodded at this before going back to her conversation with Blake as I looked at Celestia who was smiling at me. “So what's going to happen when word of this gets out?” I asked her. She hummed at this, her smile turned to a frown.

“If word goes out… there'll be an uproar with the nobles…” She started to say. “This plus the tension with my sister looking for a suiter… and failing, this would just make the nobles snap.” Celestia explained with a frown

“That's… tempting. Pissing off nobles is like my favorite thing to do.” I said, holding back a chuckle as I spoke. I noticed something on the corner of my eyes and I looked over to see what it was. “And uhh… don't look now but I'm pretty sure it's going to he hard to keep this under wraps.” I said to her, seeing the many flashes of cameras going off outside of the shop.

“Makes sense after the chaos from the Gala…” Celestia chuckled a bit before standing up. She looked over at me. “You want to let everyone know? “ she asked me. As I thought about it Ange shrank a bit, a little freaked out at the cameras.

“Better now than later, if you ask me.” I said before wrapping an arm around Ange, comforting her when I did. She was never one to be the center of attention, it made her incredibly nervous and shy. The least I could do right now is comfort her. Celestia smiled at me as she went outside to all the reporters. It was a few moments before there was a loud gasp from outside. Joe came out see what's going on.

“My dad did say this place would see surprises…” He muttered to himself. He looked over at me. “Uhh, want another round your highness?” I groaned at this.

“Don't call me that unless you want this place burnt down.” I said through gritted teeth. Ange let out a quiet cough, signifying me to behave before I took a deep breath and said. “And sure.” I said.

“Uhh, alright.” Joe said before going to get more donuts. I felt Ange shift and move before I could ask what she was doing, she was already sitting on my lap before another wave of flashes came. I chuckled before wrapping my arms around her.

“You don't need to be scared.” I whispered to her, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek as she let out an ‘eep' at the flashes of cameras. She shook for a bit before finally calming herself, it also helped that I was gently brushing her hair with my fingers. “You know, I never really told you how beautiful you look.” I said to her. She blushed at this with a smile on her face.

“Get a room you two.” Blake said with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes at her but I did notice that, even though she had just said this, she was blushing as well. When I saw the cause of said blush, I only chuckled. A big red blush on Blake all because Camilla was holding her hand. Joe soon came back with more donuts and Celestia came back in, shutting the door behind and shadowing the glass windows.

“So I'm guessing I'm going to be in the news for a bit, eh?” I asked my mother… that sounded weird and all I did was think of the word. Anyway, she sat back down beside and let out a breath of relief. “Don't like the paparazzi that much, I'm guessing.” I said jokingly.

“No not really, they're a bit of a headache.” She answered as she grabbed a donut. “Even with how I try to downplay it… well its it's going to be big.” I chuckled a little at this while Ange took a bite out of the donut I had in my hand.

“Hey!” I said in surprise as she chewed. She swallowed and stuck her tongue out at me. I started at her for a moment before letting out a little laugh.

The Next Day

After last night's events, with the Gala and the group get together at a donut shop, everyone headed home with the knowledge that they'll remember the night for a long time, especially Blake. After having spent her night with Camilla, the latter awarded Blake a simply kiss on the cheek for having actually hung out with her.

Once morning came around, I struggled to get up with no idea why. After much debate with myself, I opened my eyes to see what was preventing me from getting up and immediately seeing the sleeping form of Ange. Even with how groggy I was I questioned if this was a result of something happening last night, having no recollection of what happened after we stopped by Blake's shop for a few… drinks… oh… oh boy.

Ange snuggled up to me with a smile on her face as she slept. Sure it was nice and would've put a smile on my face but there was the issue of her clothes… or the lack thereof. Speaking of which, I lacked the clothes as well, spotting them just beside the bed in a heap. I smacked myself on my forehead, cursing the stupid drinks we had last night. I could only sigh for now, an arm draping over Ange as she hummed happily with a look of pure bliss. Seeing her like this, her blissful expression was something I could only dream of ever seeing with my own eyes.

But sadly it had to end when Ange woke up. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times she looked up at me groggily and smiled.

“Hey…” She greeted sleepily as her eyes closed. I mentally counted down from five before her eyes snapped open, look back up to me, then down my body, then herself, and turned beat red.

“Yeah… I don't think it was a dream what happened last night, though it's a little fuzzy.” I said to her, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I spook. “So uhh… What now?” I asked her with a shrug. Ange was still as red as a tomato but she didn't move away or attempted to cover herself up, at least not yet I mean.

“I… I don't know…” She answered, moving the blanket so it covered up to her shoulders. She looked up at me still red. “I’m… sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for?” I asked, sitting up a little. The blanket fell from my chest, luckily still covering my waist and below. Ange blushed even more when this happened.

“I… don't know… just needed to say it…” She was silent for a few moments before adding. “Did we… you know… do it last night?” As she finished her face went a little more red.

“Well we're both in bed with not a single shred of clothing and with said clothing being on a heap over there… I can only assume we did.” I said to her after gesturing towards her discarded dress and undergarments. This made Ange shrink a bit, pulling the blanket over her head a bit, luckily didn't show anything.

“Come on… don't just hide under the blanket.” I said with a little chuckle. It took a bit but soon I got Ange out from hiding and pulled her a hug. She looked up at me and smiled a little before giving me a passionate kiss. She gave them to me before but this one… I don't know there was something different about it… something magical. The kiss lasted for a long while and what a while it was, I honest wished it would never end. I was soon surprised when Ange straddled me, pushing back down onto my pillow. She pulled back away from me and looked at me.

“Do you… want to go again?... this time… not drunk?” she asked me. I blinked at this before my brain finally made its decision.

“I'm up for it if you are.” I finally said and my answer was given to me in the form fiery kiss that while passionate, quickly changed into a makeout. It's safe to say that today is going to be an amazing birthday.

End of XIV

Chapter XV

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“Come on Isaac, you’re almost there.” Ange said as I helped her with her animals. It was a few weeks after my birthday and the Gala and ever since both Ange and I never been as close before. It gotten to the point when the both of us were improving something about each other, for instance Ange wasn’t as fearful and a bit of a loner than before, I’ve seen her out and about in town with a smile on her face while I was more into my hobby with working with metal and making metal statues. I already made some small ones that weren’t as detailed as the Hawk but I was still enjoying it. Yup, life is good…

Except right now as I was carrying a lot of animal food to a new shed for Ange. I didn’t know how she’s able to do it so easily but man… these things are heavy! I carried them until finally I set them down in the shed. I let out a breath of relief when I finally dropped it off.

“I think I've gone numb.” I said, unsure if I had gotten numb or not. I heard a little giggle from Ange before she came up beside me and kissed my cheek.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” Ange said with a smile. I turned and smiled at her as she wore her working clothes, dirty white tank top and jeans.

“I like the sound of that.” I said jokingly to her before stretching my arms and wiping off the sweat off my brow. “So what else needs to be done?” I asked her. She shook her head.

“No, that’s the last of it really.” Ange said with a smile. The two of us headed to take a seat where there was some glasses of water waiting for us. I took my glass and handed the other to her. When I sat down, I was a little surprised when Ange sat on my lap and leaned back onto me. With my legs being a little sore it hurt at first but I endured worse. The two of us sat there for a few minutes as the sun shone down onto the ground. “So… how’s being the son to the Solar Princess?” Ange asked, turning her head to look at me.

“Annoying… I've been having to deal with paparazzi for the last few weeks. I managed to get them to back off after threatening to cook one alive, which I wasn't actually going to do mind you.” I said quickly adding that I wasn't actually going to torch the guy that broke into my house and I'm not talking about sneaking in, I mean broke into it, busted down my door and everything.

“Good on you for not cooking one of them.” Ange said as she patted my cheek. That’s another thing that changed, Ange was getting more snarky the longer she hung out with me. “Other than the paparazzi, how are you and your mother?” She asked.

“Well, it's still awkward to call her mom or mother for that matter but it's getting there. She's actually decided to take make some days were she comes here to visit me, it also give her an excuse to leave the palace and I mean, who can blame her?” I said with a little laugh. I shook my head soon after laughing. “We're fine, we're slowly getting to know one another on a personal level.” I said to her. Ange smiled at this and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“That’s nice to hear.” She said before snuggling up to me some more. I've always enjoyed our snuggle times, it could make a bad day turn good and I know they can.

“You know… there's is just one thing I hate about being Celestia’s son.” I said to Ange, catching her attention when I said this. “Some people have started to treat me differently because of me being royalty, hell someone called me Prince Isaac once. Ugh, never in my life have I ever hated something so much.” I said to her. While the majority of the townsfolk treated me the same, there a few who have begun treating me like I'm a prince and it really gets in my nerves. There were even a few visiting nobles that had attempted to join my circle of friends, though each attempt ended with them running away with their pants on fire.

“Well, not everyone treats you like a prince… Blake is a good reminder of that.” Ange pointed out and it’s true, hell she even threatened me that if I was getting too ‘Princely’ she’ll beat the hell out of me. Ange snuggled up to me and smiled. “Besides, I kinda like the idea that some Prince Charming came to get me.” I chuckled at this, moving up to bring her into a passionate kiss that she was quick to return in full. When we parted, we were left panting for how long it lasted and simply enjoyed the closeness of one another. She began humming blissfully when I began caressing her.

“And I like the idea of having found my fairest princess.” I said to her in a loving whisper. She blushed at this as she snuggled up to me. Soon we had to move as there was still some work to done. I said my goodbyes to Ange and headed into town for something to eat. It wasn't a hard to make decision, especially with the fact that Blake's shop was nearby so with an obvious destination in mind, I headed over to Blake's place. The walk, as I said, wasn't long but it sorta felt like it now with the many people looking at me, greeting me as a Prince. I've long since gave up on correcting them but that didn't mean I like the title.

Waking into Blake's shop I saw the normal customers in, two old men in the corner playing chess and a lady eating a sandwich. One of the old men looked over and waved before going back to his game. I smiled at this and walked up to the counter and looking at the menu. There was a new board which says Diner food on it and a list of said diner food. I looked at it before Blake walked out.

“Hey Isaac.” She greeted with a smile. I smiled back at her and waved as I sat down.

“Hey Blake.” I greeted back at her. Once she came up to me I spoke up. “How's it going?” I asked her.

“Eh… it's going. Trying out diner foods.” Blake answered with a shrug as she gestured up at the newly added menu sign. “How are you?”

“Great, just got back from helping Ange out around her cottage.” I said to her and immediately her expression went into a teasin look.

“Ohhhh, you've been ‘helping’ Ange out~.” She teased. I was quick to let a groan when she said this. Ever since the day me and Ange had gotten closer than ever before, Blake was quick to tease us both about it.

“Are you ever going to let it go?” I asked her with yet another groan. She gave it some thought, letting out a hum as she tapped her chin.

“Hmmm…. Nope!” Blake answered with a smile. Of course she wouldn't, why would she stop teasing us. I rolled my eyes as she handed me a steaming cup of coffee while I thought on what to order. Eventually I decided on her duck parm hero and she was quick to cook it up. Her cooking has been getting faster and faster ever since she got in to that culinary school. “Hope you enjoy.” She said as she handed it to me. When took the first bite, it was like a little glimpse into food heaven.

“So how are you and Camilla doing?” I asked her nonchalantly and at the mention of the fire magi’s name Blake nearly tripped on herself.

“I'm… fine and so is she…” Blake answered. I chuckled at this, knowing about her crush to our new friend. Unlike her, I don't tease Blake about it since I know how it felt to have a crush.

“I can't believe it's only been a few weeks and you two are nearly inseparable whenever she's in town.” I said to her with a small laugh before I took a sip of my coffee. Blake blushed when I said this and gave me her well known death glare before shaking her head.

“Got a problem with that?” She asked me. I shook my head and arched a brow.

“No, it just proves to me that you like her.” I said simply. Oh who am I kidding, it's fun to tease the hell out of her. She glared at me before shaking her head.

“I feel like I deserved that.” Blake muttered. I chuckled as I continued eating my late lunch and it wasn't long until I finished up the last bite and downed it with the last bit of coffee. After I paid the two of us chatted before my phone buzzed. Pulling it out I saw it was Ange.

‘Umm… Isaac? I found something in the shed…’ was what Ange sent me in the message. I didn't know what was going on but I hurried along back to Ange's in case it was something dangerous. As soon as I exited Blake's shop, I bolted over to Ange's without care of my sore legs. Upon reaching the cottage, I would've nearly fallen then and there but out of sheer will power I stood strong, I also made a mental note to work out more.

“Ange!” I called out for her, knocking at the door as I did. The door opened, which I stumbled a little. I looked and saw Ange staring at me.

“Did you… run here?” She asked as I panted.

“Thought it was urgent… Ohh I need to work out some more if I'm this out of breath.” I managed to wheeze out before catching my breath and straightening up.

“Well… it’s nothing dangerous but…” She didn’t finish as she led me to her kitchen. There sitting at the table was a girl. From the looks of it she was eight, she had long black hair and light tanned skin. What stood out was her eye, they were teal coloured but they were slited like cat’s eyes. For some reason they reminded me of something, I don’t know what though… “I found her out in the storage shed and rooting around the food.” Ange said to me as I looked at her.

“The shed?” I said in confusion. The only food kept in their are for the animals, perhaps she was desperate. “Has she said anything?” I asked Ange.

“No, from what I saw when I found her she looked homeless.” Ange answered. “Poor thing, she must’ve been out in the forest for a long time.” I frowned a little at this as I looked back at the girl. She was looking down in fear, having been caught while scavenging for food by the owners of said food is quite the fearful experience. I walked up to the kid, each step I took only made her shake more and I stopped just in front of where she sat. I then knelt down, presenting myself to be friendly and not angry.

“Hey kid… are you alright? Need anything?” I asked her, wanting to tend to her needs before asking any serious questions. My answer came in the form of a rumble of her stomach. She blushed at this as she put her hands on her stomach. “I'll go get you something to eat.” I told her before I got up and went into the kitchen after telling Ange to keep an eye on the kid. I may not be a world class chef but hanging out with Blake has its perks, like learning how to cook and prepare food without ending up burning them. I ended up making a perfectly made chicken sandwich, it was big enough to leave the girl with a full stomach. I came back into the room with the plate in hand before placing it beside the kid, surprising her upon doing so. “Here you go, this get rid of that empty stomach of yours.” I said jokingly. She stared at it for a few moments before looking up at me. As I gestured her to have it she slowly reached out and picked the sandwich up. She was hesitant as she took the first bite and, after seeing that no one was stopping her, she started to wolf down the sandwich. While she did that, I went back into the kitchen and brought back a glass of water to wash it down. I gave her some time after she finished eating and drinking, to let herself relax a little. “Now then, mind if I ask you some questions?” I asked the kid in a soft tone. She looked over at me and nodded.

“What's your name?” I asked the kid, my first of many questions. She frowned at this before shrugging. “You don't know?” I asked, having not expected her earlier answer. She nodded at this, shrinking a little bit at this. “It's alright, kiddo.” I said comfortingly. It hurt to find out that she didn't know her name. She rubbed her bare arm, which I now notice the number of cuts and scrapes on her arms. How she survived out in the woods by herself is a mystery to me. Ange saw the wounds and was quick to act, hurrying off to find the first aid kit she has stored away and while she looked for it, I was left alone with the kid. “How long have you been alone?” I asked the little girl. She shrugged again, not knowing but I could see tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She had been answering non verbally which made me wonder… “Can you... talk?” I asked, the question sounded a little stupid when said out loud but I needed to know. The girl lowered her head and simply shook her head no, rubbing her throat a bit. Ange soon came back with the first aid and quickly began to treat her wounds old and new, disinfecting them all with some alcohol that stung but after reassuring the kid, she was less fearful while Ange took care of her. After cleaning up and bandaging her, Ange offered to give the girl a shower to wash off all the dirt. The girl looked at Ange and nodded at this, soon the two of them headed off to the bathroom for the shower. I was left by myself in the living room for the longest time, some of Ange’s animals came in and scurried around the place.

Before long they came downstairs, the girl in some clean clothes that Ange still has when she was younger. Why did she have her old clothes was a mystery but I didn’t question it. Ange made a gesture that she wanted to talk to me alone, so we headed into the kitchen while the kid sat on Ange's sofa.

“What's up?” I asked Ange, wondering what she had to say. As I said this Ange went to a bookcase and pulled a book out and opened it.

“As I was helping her, I found… this on her back.” She said as she showed me the book. On the page was a large image of a tattoo like marking that looked like Tribal wings. I stared at it for a few moments before looking up to see the name of this, ‘Marking of the Dark Celestial’. I read the short information about it and said that the only one that has this markings was the Princess of the Night Luna.

“So… that kid is a dark celestial.” I said in shock.

“Yeah… and this shocked me, here I thought only the princesses could be them.” Ange said in surprise as well. The kid out there is another celestial, a dark celestial at that so that only left me with more questions… Who was she and why was she alone? I walked back into the living room only to spot the kid hugging her knees as she cried. I walked up to her slowly before kneeling in front of her. Ange stood beside me before sitting down beside her. We both hated to see her cry.

“Hey… it's alright.” Was all I could say. While I wanted to help her, I didn't know much about her even after the short questioning. She looked up at us as she sniffled a bit. “Why the long face, kiddo?” I asked her. She stared at me, simply shrugging as she wiped her nose with her arm, sniffling some more. “You're afraid… aren't you.” I guessed simply, my voice taking a sadder tone. Her answer was a quiet whimper while she hugged her knees closer. I looked at Ange as she did the same. I looked back at the crying girl before slowly bringing her into a comforting hug. Doing this reminded me of when I met Skyler and when I thanked the man who helped me get into school as a kid. The girl whimpered as I felt her cry into my chest. I never expected to see myself do this again but… this felt different but how different is still a mystery for me. I let the girl cry into my shirt, giving her the much needed shoulder to cry on and it wasn't long before Ange joined in as well, whispering soothing words into the girl’s ear. It wasn't long before I heard some soft snoring from the girl as she seemed to pass out.

“I can take her upstairs to my room so she can sleep.” Ange offered to me. I gave one last look at the kid, seeing her tear stained cheeks before nodding. I stood up and gently picked the girl up, careful not to disturb her before taking her into Ange's room where I then handed her to Ange so she can put her to bed while I went back downstairs. Instinctively I pulled out my phone but simply stared at the blackened screen, unsure of what to do until taking a deep breath. I opened up the messenger and sent a text to Blake, simply telling her that something happened before putting away my phone.

After a few moments I felt it buzz in my pocket. I looked at it and saw it was Blake asking what's up. The only response I gave was that Ange and I found another dark Celestial. A moment later Blake replied with simply ‘what’ in all caps and a number of exclamation marks.

I sighed at this as Ange came down to me, telling me that the girl was now sleeping. Upon the both of us sitting down, I let out a long held sigh.

“Poor kid…” I said with a sigh, getting Ange's attention upon saying this.

“Yeah… what are we going to do?” Ange asked. I looked up at her curiously after hearing her. “Isaac, you don't think we should simply leave her out there by herself…” Ange added, a slight frown forming.

“No… No, that's the last thing I'd ever do.” I said with a quiet tone, my mind already in debate with itself. “I don't want to leave the kid on her own, she's already been a long time in the forest and I don't plan on letting her go back there.” I said, my voice picking up volume as I spoke. The two of us sat there in silence before Ange spoke up.

“She… could stay here…” She said, offering a room for the kid to stay in. “I have a room that's not being used other than some boxes and food that needs to be moved…” I shook my head, while Ange is the perfect caretaker she already has her hands full with her animals, not mention that some of them are ferocious to others that aren't Ange.

“I don't think that's a good idea…” I said before quickly adding. “Not that you aren't an amazing caretaker, it's just you have all your animals to look after and not to mention that some of them are very… unfriendly.” I said, prioritizing the safety of the kid. She looked at me for a moment.

“Do you have a room?” She asked me. I nodded after being reminded of the extra guest room I have at home, since it's never really used it's used to keep some of my old stuff but I wouldn't mind getting rid of anyway.

“Yeah, it's an old guest room. I can clean it up and throw away the junk kept in there, even buy her a decent sized bed.” I said to her, glancing back at her after saying this.

“Alright, that could work… you sure you don't mind?” Ange asked me. She knew that at after taking Skyler in, it was difficult at first since I didn't know a single thing on how to take care of a kid but now I'm a little more experienced in caretaking.

“I don't mind really besides, it wouldn't be as hard as when I took care of Skyler.” I said, adding the last bit with a chuckle. Ange smiled at this before leaning forward and kissing me. We stayed like this, enjoying the long lasting kiss before a knock on the door interrupted us both. A sigh escape my mouth as Ange went over to the door. Soon I saw Blake walk in, asking us what is going on.

“Ange found a kid rummaging around in her shed for food.” I said to Blake, looking back at her from the sofa.

“Right… and said child is a Dark Celestial.” Blake said before stopping in her tracks and adding. “Which is kinda odd to say.”

“How is that so odd?” I asked Blake as Ange sat back down beside me. She leaned onto me as we both looked at Blake.

“I don't know, here I thought they were some kind of mythical beings of godlike power… do you think there's a city of them somewhere?” Blake asked before rambling off to herself. Ange found it funny seeing Blake ramble on and on without her noticing it and to be honest, so did I but eventually once Blake sat down we brought her out of her ramblings.

“Anyway, there's no doubt the kid is a dark celestia. Ange saw the mark of a dark celestial on the kid.” I said to Blake while Ange nodded, confirming my words to be true.

“Right… so what are you two going to do?” Blake asked us.

“Well Ange and I have already discussed this and decided that we're going to take care of her… if the kid would let us that is, it's best not to force this onto her.” I said and for a moment, I could've mistaken myself as a parent with how I spoke.

“Alright, if you two need anything you can come come get me. I can… uhh… make good food?” She said, almost as if she was questioning herself. I chuckled at her a little before saying.

“That I can always count on.” I said jokingly to Blake before noticing something peeking down from the stairs. When I looked up, I caught glimpse of the girl in question before she hid herself. Blake saw were my gaze headed and looked over to the stairs, wondering what I was looking at.

“Don’t worry, you can come down.” Ange called out. It took a few moments but soon the kid walked downstairs, rubbing her arm and looking down at the floor.

“It's okay, you're not in trouble.” I said, getting up and walking over to her. Upon closer inspection, I saw that her eyes still had the tired look in them. “What are you doing out of bed though? Aren't you tired?” I asked in a soft tone. She simply shrugged, rubbing her eyes a bit. I gave her a little smile before crouching down and gently, ever so gently, picking her up. She looked like she was ready to fall back to sleep at any moment, I would rather not have her fall down because of that. Upon picking her up, she let out an audible whimper before I began gently rock her from side to side in an attempt to calm her. She was lighter than I expected her to be. Soon the kid fell back to sleep as Ange came over with a smile.

“Well… it seems the two of you have things taken care of here.” Blake said with a smile. She quietly made her way out of the cottage, being sure not to slam the door behind her after she left. Just moments later after Blake's departure, the kid in my arms began to squirm, letting out quiet whimpers as she did. I saw she had a panicked look on her face as she squirmed. I began to rock her from side to side again, giving her a comforting rub on the back as Ange wiped the tears that formed in the kids eyes. I sat down with the kid still in my arms and now that I was sat down, I was able to pull out my phone and sent a text to mom… still weirded out about that.

Also the idea that she has a cellphone… sure. As I sent it I was able to calm the child down before I got a reply, which was the same answer I got from Blake. The only difference she wasn't going to come right away due to nobles and be around later, so I had some time to get acquainted with the child in my arms. Ange and I spent the next few minutes soothing her, calming her from her nightmare and soon enough she was happily sleeping though this time, we opted to let her sleep like this in case she has another nightmare. Ange looked at me before resting her head on my shoulder as I held the sleeping girl. I rested my head atop hers before resting my eyes, knowing that if the kid a nightmare I would wake up again.

Later that day, Sundown

I think that's last time I ever take a nap, I felt like I've been out for hours before I could finally feel rested. The weight on me reminded me of the child I still held and once I opened an eye to check on her, I saw her sound asleep with a tiny smile. I couldn't help but think how cute she looked like this. I looked around to see that Ange was not around and I was alone, which meant the place was quite. From the light coming through the windows I believe it was close to or is sundown. I moved myself up, trying not to wake the kid as there was some knocking from the front door.

Not hearing Ange saying anything I moved the kid on to the couch so I could answer the door. What I was greeted with was a person wearing a baggy sweater and their face covered. The being looked up and saw some pink hair peeking through and the face of the princess there.

“Sorry for taking so long, nobles can never leave me alone.” Celestia said with a chuckle. I blinked at this, having not expected her to start changing her appearance to go incognito.

“Hey mom.” I greeted her a little awkwardly. She blinked at me before she chuckled.

“This is one of the few times I heard you say ‘mom’.” she said with a smile. I let a small smile form as I let her inside the house. As I closed the door she removed the hood and I saw her long pink hair, this was even more odd since I never saw her with pink hair.

“I'm going to have to start eventually.” I said to her with a shrug. I have called her by mom or mother a few times, each time her mood would have improved tenfold. “Anyway, she's in here.” I said before gesturing to keep quiet as we walked into the living room, seeing the dark celestial still sound asleep. The both of us headed in the living room where the kid was still sleeping. Celestia stared at her for a few moments before turning to me.

“So you said she was found in a foodshed?” She asked me as she went closer to her. I nodded as I walked behind her, ready in case the kid woke up with a suddenly. Celestia stared at the kid for a few moments before drifting her hand over. Sure enough the markings on her back glowed a little and made the kid shift a bit. “Hmm, well she’s a Dark Celestial, judging by that reaction… Is there anything else you can informed me about her, were there anything odd about her? Mentally or physically?”

“Well there are her eyes, they're slitted like a cat's.” I said, informing her of the child’s eyes. Celestia looked at me wide eyed.

“Really… umm…” she leaned forward a bit and looked like she was going to open her eye before looking at me. “May I?” I sat next to the kid before nodding. She soon slowly put two fingers on the kids eyelids and open them, showing us the teal coloured cat eyes which made Celestia take a breath in surprise before letting go, the kid sleepily rubbed her eye and continued to sleep.

“Is something wrong?” I asked in a hushed tone.

“Her eyes… they are the same as the Nightmare’s…” She said hushly. I blinked at this, releasing what she meant and I remember where I saw those eyes before, they were the same ones as Nightmare Moon all those months ago. I looked down at the sleeping girl, frowning at the thought of her being Nightmare Moon.

“You don't think…” I stopped mid sentence though Celestia already knew my intended question.

“I don’t know for sure, I don’t know if she has the memories of her life as Nightmare… As far as we know she could either be faking it and waiting for the right moment or just a lost scared little girl.” Celestia said. I looked down at the girl who may actually be a younger Nightmare Moon. I know for a fact that it wasn't an act, the desperation in her eyes when I gave her the sandwich was too real to be an act.

“She's not faking it…” I said with a whisper, confident that this was true. Celestia looked at me for a few moments before standing up.

“I can’t make a call on that, so I’m going off your word Isaac.” She said as she looked down at the child. “I believe… everyone is allowed a second chance to live… let’s give her that chance.”

“Yeah…” I said in agreement as I looked down at the girl as she slept peacefully. “Ange and I have already decided to take care of her.” I said to Celestia, informing her of mine and Ange's decision. She smiled at me before leaning down and giving me a kiss on the forehead.

“I’m proud of you Isaac.” She whispered before backing away. “Now… if there isn’t anything left for me I should be on my way out.” I nodded at her before saying.

“Thanks for coming by.” I thanked her for having her come by to check the validity of the dark celestial markings. “See ya around, mom.” I said before she vanished with a flash of light, teleporting herself back to Canterlot and leaving me to care for the sleeping child. The latter began to stir a little. Soon she pushed herself up and opened her eyes before looking around groggily.

“Hey kiddo.” I greeted her with a small wave. She blinked at me a few times before waving back at me. Her mood shifted to one of sadness once she noticed the time and the setting sun through the window. “Hey hey… there's no need for the long face.” I said to her but my words went on deaf ears. I scooted over to her and pulled her into a warm embrace, knowing that this action spoke louder than any word I could've said. “Listen, the nice lady and I have been talking and came to an important decision… we're not going to leave you out there alone and afraid.” I said, gently brushing her hair to soothe her. She looked up at me with those Teal cat eyes and blinking. “If you want, there is an old guest room back in my place used for keeping old things that I can clear up for you to stay in.” I said to her. She simply stared at me before quickly nodding at this, looking a little more hopeful now. I then stood up from the sofa, seeing that it was getting late and should be on my way. “Let's go then, just follow me.” I said to her as she stood up as well, her bare feet touching the wooden floor. We left the cottage but after I said my goodbyes to Ange.

On the way, the kid followed shortly behind me, hiding from the gazes of others that would pass by occasionally. The same happened to me as I walked through town, some people waved, some bowed, ect. We soon arrived at my place where I let the kid in and she looked around. She soon looked back at me when I closed the door.

“Well… welcome to your new home, feel free to look around while I set up your room. Oh and don't be surprised when you see another person here, she's roughly a few years older than you but she's nice.” I said to her as I walked her into the living room, spotting the young teen skyborn in question fast asleep with a history book covering her face. The kid saw this and tilted her head a bit. I chuckled at this as I went to the guest room to start clearing it out.

Fortunately there were only a couple of boxes of old junk, some of which I should've gotten rid of ages ago. The bed in the guest room was a little old but it would have to do for now until I get a new one to replace it… now that I think about it this whole room needs some changing. I moved all the stuff out in the living room to get rid off on a later date and that's where I saw the kid, she was sitting on the couch with the history book in hand, the same one that Skyler had over her head. By the look of her expression, she was intrigued with the book she read.

“Alright, that about does it. The room is somewhat clean, habitable at the very least but I plan to make it better tomorrow.” I said to the girl, bringing her out of her book. The kid looked up at me and gave me a smile. She then yawned loudly, her eyes getting heavier by the second. I led her to the room, showed her temporary bed with newly added sheets and a new pillow. “If you need anything, don't be afraid to knock on my door.” I told her as she walked up to the bed and sat on it, earning some creaky sounds from the old bed springs.

"Don't worry, I'll be getting you a new mattress tomorrow.” I said to her reassuringly, to which she nodded. She laid herself down and draped herself with the blanket, a pleasant sigh escaping her lips as she shifted a little on the bed. I gave her one last smile and a goodnight before I left her new room, leaving the door open in case she wanted something. I headed back downstairs, hearing Skyler snoring in her sleep and reminded me that she was still on the couch. It didn't take much to bring her to her room though I certainly wished she didn't leave such a mess in the living room.

End of XV

Chapter XVI

View Online

After showing the dark celestial girl to her new room and putting Skyler in her own room, I spent most of the night helping Skyler out with her homework for history class. When morning came around, I found myself still sitting at the dining room table with much of her now finished homework. I straightened up and stretched my arms, hearing them pop and crack before letting out a long held sigh of relief. After putting my arms down I felt something poking me, I turned my head and saw the kid standing there looking at me. How did she get so close without me noticing?

“Morning kiddo, what's up?” I asked her a little tired after having slept for only a few hours. She blinked at me before putting her hands on her belly then looking up at me. Getting the idea I nodded and stood up before heading into the kitchen to make some pancakes… I'm in the mood for pancakes. I looked back and saw the kid sitting at the table and waited for food. I could see that her mouth began to water when she caught wind of the scent and chuckled before looking back down at the pancakes, seeing them coming along nicely even without the use of the stove. I had the habit to use my powers to do this sort of thing, it really speeds up the cooking and adds some extra to the flavor. It wasn’t long before I heard the sound of footsteps coming closer.

“Pancakes~...” Skyler groaned as she stumbled towards the table, somewhat a sleep. The kid watched as Skyler sat down, nearly falling off the chair when she did and giggled a little.

“Morning sleepy head.” I greeted Skyler and my response from her was an immediate groan at the mention of her current nickname. Skyler rubbed her eyes a bit and blinked a few times, then looked over at the kid and stared.

“Uhhh… Isaac… why is there a kid here?” She asked before looking over at me. “What did I miss?”

“Ange found the kid in her new shed looking for food. Long story short, she'll be staying with us from now on… until she gets old enough and wants to leave.” I said, adding the last bit nonchalantly. Skyler looked at me, then at the kid, then at me.

“Okay…” She said, not sure how to react to this. I arched a brow at her tone before putting the last pancake on a plate. They were pretty big, not to mention fluffy, so only one serving per person. I brought out Skyler’s and the new kid’s plate out, upon doing so both of their mouths watered comically like waterfalls. Soon I placed the plates down in front of them, Skyler immediately began to devours hers while the kid stared at her disbelief with disbelief in her eyes. I need to come up with a name to give her.

“Everything alright?” I asked the kid with a little concern. The kid looked up at me, nodded her head before starting to eat. The look of bliss on her face made me smile as Skyler as already halfway done hers. I went back into the kitchen and took mine, added a little syrup before I walked back out to the dining room. Before long we have finished eating and took our plates to the kitchen to be cleaned later. Skyler went off to school after thanking me for helping her with her homework and soon left me alone with the kid. Said kid was sitting on the couch with a different book on her lap, this one was an old science book from Skyler’s school. While she was reading, I was busy cleaning up her new room, making it look better than before and even planning on repainting it. It wasn't until around midday that I had taken a break and sat down with the kid, wanting to give her a name so I could stop calling her kid. I've already gone through a long list already. “We've literally gone through all of the names and yet none of them suit you.” I said to the very picky girl. She frowned at this, crossing her arms. As we looked at the names she took a pencil and wrote down three names, at first I thought those three were the ones she liked the most but she then erased some letters until four letters were left. The words together spelled Irin.

“Irin?” I said out loud before a name popped into my head. “Hey, how about… Irena.” This made her kid smile and nod her head. With a smile of my own and said. “Irena it is then.” I said with a joyful laugh. Irena smiled at this before helping me clean up the small mess we made. It was mostly crumpled up paper balls and pencil shavings so it wasn't the much of a mess. It wasn't until I noticed her now dirty clothes that I remembered her lack of more clothing. “Hey, how's bout we get you some new clothes.” I offered. She looked up at me then looked down at the clothes she was wearing. After giving me a shrug she looked up at me again. I smiled at this and then the two of us headed out to get some clothes though before we left I had picked her and carried her, her lack of shoes made it difficult for her to walk on the cobblestone road. I had her up on my shoulders as I walked through the streets, she seemed in awh at everything she sees around us. From houses to stores and even the town park, she awed at it all but what got me laughing was when she saw the town bakery, an actual life size gingerbread house, just looking at it would give someone a craving for baked goods. Sure enough she stared at the place and was mouth watering, I chuckled at this before continuing on before shortly arriving at our destination, Carousel Boutique. We entered through the opened door and our entrance was greeted with a ring of a bell that notified Sophia. She came out with a smile on her face as she saw us.

“Hello Isaac… who’s this?” She asked as I put Irena safely down. I looked back up at Sophia and said.

“This Irena, Ange found her yesterday in her shed looking for food. To make a long story short, me and Ange are looking after the kid now.” I said, not wanting to give a full recap of the situation and it seemed that Irena didn't want to as well. “Anyway, we came by to ask if you could make her clothes and if you have a pair of kid size shoes that'd be swell as well.” I said to her, all with a smile as Irena looked at the fashionista curiously. Sophia looked down at the kid for a few moments, humming to herself before smiling.

“Of course Darling, I would love to make some clothes…” She kneeled down to take a closer look at Irena. “Maybe make them a little… durable as well for the future.” Irena instinctively hid behind me a little more when Sophia did this, surprising the fashionista. “Oh… Oh I’m sorry dear, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It's okay… she's a friend.” I said Irena in a soft tone, one she found comfort it quickly. She stopped hiding behind me, stepping aside so she no longer stood behind me. “She's a little shy.” I told Sophia before I guided Irena to the podium, where Sophia informed Irena of what she was going to do before making the clothes. She took measurements of Irena which she hummed a bit of that. Soon she was finished and told us that it will be a few minutes before she has some clothes ready for her as she walked into the back. When Sophia disappeared into the back, I quickly felt Irena tackle me into a hug, no doubt as thanks for the new clothes. I smiled at this as the two of us waited for Sophia to finish. After an hour passed the fashionista came out with some clothes in her hands. Irena saw the clothes as some were handed to her for her to try but before she did however, she looked at me as if asking for permission. I nodded without a word, giving her the permission she silently asked for before Sophia guided her into the changing room. The two of them walked over to the changing rooms so Irena could change clothes.

It wasn't long before Irena came out with some clean clothes. Upon showing her new clothes, one could easily mistake her for a normal everyday girl, though only her eyes were the odd part of her. She looked down at herself, oohing and awing at her new found clothing. She looked up at me to see what I thought about it.

“You look great, kiddo.” I said to her with a smile. This earned a smile from the kid as she went to look at herself in the mirror.

“Awww… she’s adorable!” Sophia said happily. I chuckled a bit at this before a letter appeared in the air in a puff of smoke. It floated down in front of Sophia before she took it. She opened it and read it quickly. “Oh dear… I’m sorry Isaac but I have to head out right now.” I titled my head at this curiously.

“Why? What did the letter say?” I asked, my own curiosity getting the best of me. Irena heard about Sophia's sudden departure and watched as we conversed.

“It’s something important that’s going on in Canterlot, the Princess… I mean your Mother… I mean…” Sophia gave me a look before saying. “I’m still trying to get used to it!” She pointed out, earning a small chuckle from me as she continue. “Anyway, she called me and the others to Canterlot to try and fix it.” I grew sad at the mention that they all had to go, meaning I wouldn't be able to see Ange until she and the others gets back from whatever is happening in Canterlot.

“Oh… alright. Thanks for the clothes by the way, I'll give you the money for them when you get back.” I said, knowing that with the many clothes she had made would cost a lot. Irena walked up to us just as Sophia handed me the bags with the rest of Irena’s new clothes.

“Oh it’s fine, dear don’t worry about it.” She said happily. “I’m just helping out a friend.” I smiled at this and was a little relieved that I didn't have to count the money in my pocket. Irena peeked into the bag with a smile forming on her lips as she did before I said my goodbyes and left the boutique with Irena in tow. The latter was happily skipping beside me, making sure that her new shoes tapped the ground with each skip. I smiled at this as I lead her back home. Upon getting home however, I couldn't shake off the feeling that someone or something was watching me and it didn't help that I had gotten a sudden headache as well. Irena looked at me curiously as I rubbed my head a bit.

“I'm alright… just a little headache, that's all.” I said to her as I rubbed my head, I could've sworn I heard some guy’s laugh. “I must've not have slept as well as I thought.” I said, sitting down on the couch as I spoke. I had placed the bag of clothes on the table before I sat down. Irena grabbed her book from before and opened it up again, going into her own little world in a science book.

Deciding not to simply sit here and do nothing I did the next best thing; sitting here and play video games. I didn't know how long I sat there, time was nothing to me but… I could notice that everything slowed down to a crawl as my headache worsened. I glanced over at Irena as she read… she seemed to be frozen at first but I saw she blinked… really slowly. Ugh, my head feels like it’s being pounded by a jackhammer. As this happened, I heard a laugh, a low throaty laugh.

“My… my… how have you grown…” A males voice said all around me. “It’s been far too long… I have been dying to meet you.” I didn't know what was going on, the voice that spoke was unfamiliar to me. I tried to get up but found it impossible, my limbs were locked in place. “Oh don’t get up, I’ll let myself in…” The screen of my TV went black, then look tar like as it seeped into my living room. I watched as the tar rose up and took a form of a large man. Before long colour seemed to be appear as the being in front of me turned out to be a man with short brown hair with a crown on top. A royal purple cape wrapped around him as he looked like a king of some kingdom, only his eyes were red and his smile gave off the feeling of madness. He chuckled at me before he spoke. “Greetings my boy.”

“I don't… who are you?” I asked him, cursing my curiosity for once again besting my common sense. The mans smile never left him as he cackled to himself.

“Oh yes, you don’t know who I am… your mother never spoke of me, I bet she wouldn't have even told you about me at all!” this made his cackle turn into a full mad laugh before he quickly stopped and looked at me. “I am Sir Roderick Blackwood, the Mad King.” He said with a bow as he introduced himself. I only looked at him in confusion, his name not ringing any bells yet he knows about me. The man looked at me with a slight frown on him. “Yeah, she told you nothing.”

“Am I supposed to know you?” I asked, now a little annoyed over my immobility and the fact that he is practically invading my home. He chuckle a little before saying.

“In due time, can’t spoil the fun can I?” He asked as he walked a bit in my home. “Let's just say that I know your mom and aunt very, very well…” He chuckled a bit before seeing my expresion. His frown appeared and rolled his eye. “Not that way, seriously get your head out of the gutter.”

“Dude, it's not my fault! That can be taken out of context horribly!” I exclaimed before hanging my head and groaning. “Fuck! Now I have that stuck in my head.” I said with a sigh. He shook his head and pulled out a pocket watch.

“Well, if you don’t mind I do have some things to take care of, but I’ll get straight to the point.” He said before kneeling down to me. “I've got big plans for today and part of it requires your cooperation. You see Isaac, what you have is a gift, a power greater than your mother and even I.” He straighten and walked to the window. “Have you ever seen how people act to one another? Sure it’s nice and all, but when you go up the social chain… things change.” He turned back to me.

“Nobles looking down on those who give them what they want, peasants are more than simple slaves for the nobles, an endless cycle that brings misery to all that are left behind… this is what order brings… this is what your mothers so call Harmony brought.” He turned to me with a smile. “But I’m going to change that, I’ll make everything better… and all I need is your help Isaac.”

“Why do you need my help and why should I trust you?” I asked him with a frown. One of the many numerous downsides to being immobilized is the fact that I can't scratch my nose, it's beginning to itch. He arch a brow at me before saying.

“Well, didn’t you go though the same ordeal? Nobles treating you like dirt? What about the two you live with?” He asked before glancing to Irena. “What would everyone think when they find out that she’s really the nightmare that was about to turn the land into darkness?” He asked once again, a sinister grin forming and showing the one razor sharp fang. He turned back to me. “All I’m going to do is simply make everything even, everyone will be on the same level as one another.” I didn't know what to do or even if I should answer. His idea seemed to good to be true and it made me question him more when he said that I was needed to help. Before answer could be given, he turned to look back at the tv with a hum, having heard something I couldn't hear. “Hmm, seems that some people still think they’re going to stop me…” he turned back to me with a smile. “I’ll be going now, but think about what I have said.” With that he turned into purple smoke that sparkled, with a mad laugh he went back into the TV and everything went back to normal, I lurched forward as my body was able to move again but all I could feel was them ache, as if they were stiff for a long while. Irena looked over at me and tilted her head, wondering what's wrong. I couldn't tell her the truth if what happened really did happen.

“It's alright, I'm fine just… just a little stiff.” I said, stretching my arms a little only to feel them ache even more so but I endured it for now. A feeling of fear crept up within me, it was something I haven't felt since I was a kid. I turned off the game and switch the tv off, letting the silence settle back in. Irena still looked at me, her look of concerned turned to one of worry, I was going to ask what was wrong when I noticed my hands were bright orange and burning the couch. Startled by this, I hopped onto my feet and focused until my hands stopped glowing. I looked back at Irena as she stared at me, worried that there’s something wrong and, probably, wondering why I burnt the couch. “I can't… I don't…” I couldn't answer, unsure of how it happened. I looked down at my hands, the air around them hot after burning couch a little. I rubbed my head a bit before deciding that a cup of coffee might help me out. “Put on your shoes, we're heading out to a friend's place.” I said, my tone sounding a little weak. Irena nodded and got up to go put on her shoes, I did the same, only a little slower. My mind was still on what that weird man said, he said he knew my mom and Luna… maybe I should ask Celestia that, maybe she knows? I shook my head of this before the two of us headed off. The walk over to Blake's was long and excruciatingly slow but it wasn't because of Irena’s interests in the townsfolk but my sore limbs, I felt like I was hit by a truck with each step I took. When we finally arrived at Blake's shop, I pushed open the door but quickly saw my hand emitting it's dangerous orange glow which nearly melted the door handle before I pulled my hand back. I used my other hand to open the door, letting Irena go in first and soon heard her awing at the interior of the shop. When I closed the door, the bell soon rang.

“The hell?” A voice said to me. I looked up to see Blake staring at me. “You… look like shit.”

“I hurt.” I said with a frown, internally sighing in relief that she didn't notice the door handle… yet. She gave me a look as I walked over and sat down, letting out a sigh of relief as I did.

“Dude… did you run like… ten marathons, and then get hit by a train?” She asked me, now worried about me. I looked over at Irena, seeing her reading one of the many menu books.

“I don't know what's going on, half of me thinks I'm high off my own ass with something…” I said, slamming my head against the countertop. The two of them looked at me as I felt Blake raise my head up.

“Here… let me-” She put her hand on my forehead and after a few moments she pulled back with a yelp. “Ow! The hell?!” I watched her put her hand under some water. “You’re hot… really hot Isaac… are you coming down with something to make you feel like a volcano?”

“I don't know… after this weird guy came by my body has been feeling like shit. I'd go to bed and call it a day but I'd rather not have my bed burn down.” I said as I sat up straight only sag my shoulders as it was hard to keep myself up straight. Blake went to the side and made something before pushing a large Coffee with ice cubes in it.

“Iced coffee, maybe that’ll help?” She asked. I stared at it before wrapping my hands around it. The coffee started to boil and bubble crazy before I let go. “Or… not, maybe go ask you mom about this?”

“Can't… I still didn't get my fireproof phone yet.” I said and while it may have sounded like a joke, it really wasn't. A while after it was made public that I was Celestia’s son, Camilla had suggested we find phones that would fireproof so it wouldn't easily burn to a crisp if one of us were to lose our shit. I asked her how she knew and my answer was that it happened to her before. “It's going back and forth into Manehattan and Canterlot in an endless cycle, there looking into the problem but I haven't heard anything from them yet.” I said. Blake frowned at me before saying.

“Do you know the number? I could send a message.” Blake offered, her voice sounded like she was really worried about me. After telling her my mom's number, she quickly sent a message to her regarding my current state. While she was typing, my arm shone though it was a little obscured by the tattoo. It looked like fire… no wait wings? I don’t know what’s going on but it looked like flaming wings here covering my arms that soon rose up to my back. The flames on my skin looked like they were moving as I broke into a sweat. Irena saw this and started to get scared, I don’t blame her, I would be too. “Okay… that should-WHAT THE HELL?!?”

“I don't know!” I exclaimed with panic in my voice. The longer the flames went, the more it became agonizing and while I did my best to endure, the pain was too much. It was fortunate however that as quickly as it came, it quickly went and the fire died out. Exhausted over excessive pain, slumped onto the countertop with yet another slam.

My vision blurred as stuff was happening around me. I closed my eyes to what felt like a minute to open them in a different sight. It looked like the backroom of Blake's shop. Looking around I saw my mom sitting nearby, a look of worry on her face.

“What… Happened?” I asked groggily, I felt as if I've slept for an hour two. On the bright side however my limbs didn't feel like they're falling off. Mom looked up at me as I pushed myself up.

“Oh heavens above you're awake!” She said as she rushed over to me. “Are you okay? How are you feeling?” she asked as she started checking on me. This was the first time I've seen her like this, worrying for my health and well being like she is now.

“I just want today to end…” I said and mom immediately got the idea of how I felt. She let out a sigh at this.

“I understand how you feel. But tell me Isaac, what happened?” She asked me. “I had gotten a message that just said ‘Your son is turning into a volcano, please help.’” She asked me.

“I don't know, my powers have been going out of whack, my body is sore all over and all happened after this dude came by.” I said, rubbing my eyes and remembering the events that transpired prior to my meltdown.

“Who came by?” She asked me, her eyes narrower as she said that. I closed my eyes to remember the guy's name before finally answering.

“Some dude named Roderick Blackwood.” I said with a groan as I laid my head back down. I looked back at my mom and saw a shocked look on her face.

“No… why would he… unless he…” She muttered to herself. As she did this, I tried to move my hand and feeling it ache but with a groan, I raised my hand up and saw it glowing its menacing orange glow. She was about to say something but saw my hand. “Oh dear, Isaac take deep breaths.” I did just that, taking a few deep breaths each thirty seconds. Soon enough it began to dim the glowing before it returned to normal. I looked around once the glowing stopped and spotted Irena poking her head through the door. She stared at me as I put my hand down, my mom letting out a sigh.

“What's happening to me?” I asked her while Irena snuck her way inside, she was sure I hadn't seen her and wanted to be sneaky about it so I decided to stay be oblivious for now.

“It’s… well, what your powers were are just a fraction of what you can do… and that's putting it lightly. “ My mom said to me before adding. “In short it's complicated.” She said. I didn't know what she meant by all that but that wasn't what was important, I was more worried about thing on my arm and how it burned into my skin.

“But what… What are these?” I asked my mother as I showed her my arms.

“Those are… well as you saw Irena’s markings, these are yours… kinda.” She explained. Now this brings up more questions.

“What do you mean kinda?” I asked, narrowing my eyes a little at her. I had the feeling that she was trying to hide something and while I wanted to know what it was, the odd burning sensation on my back occupied my mind after I asked her. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it. This happened a few times and from the looks of it she was having a hard time finding the words. The burning slowly became unbearable and before I could think of taking my shirt off to see what was going on, it simply burnt off of me. The intense fire must've been too much for my shirt, the latter was supposed to be fireproof. I rolled onto my stomach to push myself up but that's when I heard mom gasp.

“Oh my…” Was all she said.she said as the burning pain continued. Before long it dimmed and I realized I was sweating. I turned back to my mom just as the door opened.

“Hey, is he- Uhhhhh what’s going on?” Blake asked as she stopped in the middle of the doorway. I turned to her panting as she stared at me. “Hey Isaac… I didn’t know you gotten a new tattoo… though that’s pretty large one.”

“What the hell are you on about? I never got a third tattoo.” I said to her. She of all people would know that I had sworn off getting tattoos after the two dragon tattoos. I was passed out during the second tattoo.

“Right… so the large phoenix tattoo on your back is my mind playing tricks on me.” Blake said, crossing her arms. I gave her an odd look as she pulled her phone out and took a picture and then showed it to me. “See.” I looked at the photo that she took and sure enough there was a large phoenix tattoo covering my back that extends to my arms. I didn't really know what to say, seeing what my mother said was my mark on my back.

“Well… you’re right when it’s not a tattoo… it’s actually you’re Celestial markings…” She answered, getting a closer look at my back. “It’s interesting to see ones like this.” I looked up at her with an arched brow and said.

“So wait… I am a Celestial?” I said questioningly. My mom looked at me before sighing.

“Yes… and no.” She answered, confusing me more. “You’re half Celestial.”

“That's not really helping me at the moment…” I said, not really appreciating the vague answers. “So I'm half celestial, what's the other half then?” I asked, somewhat hoping I'd get an answer. I felt someone poke my back, surprising me upon doing so before I saw that it was Irena, curiously poking at the markings on my back.

“It’s… again complicated…” My mom said, a bit nervous as she said it. “You’re Celestial side came from me as the other half came from your father… who wasn’t mortal.” We all stared at her for a good long minute before Blake spoke up.

“Wait… wasn’t mortal? Then what was he?” She asked. Celestia shifted a bit, surprisingly blushing.

“A… Dawn Titan…” She answered. We all were silent at this, me blinking a few times as Blake’s jaw dropped.

“Oh shit.” Was all she said. Once again I was left out of the know and it really began to get into my nerves.

“Is that bad?” I asked the first thing that came to mind.

“Oh no no, it’s not bad.” My mom said quickly. “Your father is the sweetest man I have ever met.” I stared at her for a moment before looking at Blake, hoping for an explanation.

“A Dawn Titan is another name for a Primordial, a being that came way before anything was alive, meaning your dad is a flipping cosmic being of untold power.” Blake explained, earning an odd look from my mom.

“How do you know that?” She asked.

“I played a lot of board games.” Blake answered her, which got mom to look at her even more oddly than before. “There’s one that has a book based on the Dawn Titans.”

“Okay… I'm the result of a very interesting relationship.” I said mostly to myself but Irena heard me and found it funny, earning me a giggle from her. It seems my mother heard it too as she blushed even more.

“I… don’t want to get into details of it…” She said before noticing all of us staring at her. “I was young and did weird stuff, moving on.” She added as she blushed more.

“Okay then… So what exactly is happening to me and who the hell was that guy?” I asked, now that the burning stopped and aching subsided, I was able to sit up comfortably and stretch my back a little. My mom shifted a bit, frowning at this question.

“That man is Roderick Blackwood, a very powerful Magi that tapped into the chaotic powers of… well Chaos.” She looked down a bit sadly before adding. “He’s also my… Father.”

We all stared at her for a few moments which felt longer. That man… he’s my grandfather?!?

“Wait if he’s your dad, wouldn’t he be dead then?” Blake asked, only to see my mom shaking her head.

“Again he knows the ways of Chaos magic, time doesn’t really apply to him...” Mom explained before frowning and thinking aloud. “Or… time just doesn’t work with him.” She said. While she rambled on to herself about chaos magic, I was simply silent throughout it all and it began to worry Blake and Irena. Irena sat next to me, putting her hand over mine and looking up at me with the same worried expression as Blake spoke.

“That’s nice and all but why does he want Isaac?” Blake asked my mom, who sighed at this.

“He… wants to reform the world in his image. A world filled with chaos running rampant through the land. He claims that it will help the world for the better, destroying the wall between Noble and Peasants.” She frowned a bit. “But this involves him literally burning everything to the ground to start over.”

“Alright but why does he need me? Doesn't he have the power of chaos or something?” I asked her, reminding her that the man that was revealed to be my grandfather had visited me earlier.

“Well no, that’s not how it works. As much as he will say there’s one thing his power has to follow, the one rule that should never ever be broken: Chaos can not kill. It’s as simple as that, so he needs something else to do this for him… which is why he went to you Isaac.” My mom explained. “The power of a Celestial and a Dawn Titan’s power is so great that it could destroy everything in this world, literally burning it to the ground.”

“So what you're saying is that I'm basically a super weapon capable of destroying the world whenever I please…” I said basically shortening her explanation in simpler words. Everyone looked at me strangely before I finally sighed and hung my head. “I liked it better when I was just a small town guy.” I said with a frown. My mom lowered her head at this.

“Isaac… I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have involved you… I shouldn’t have told you who I was…” My mom said sadly to me. I looked back at her and shook her head.

“It's not your fault, mom… It's just bad luck I guess.” I said to her in hopes it cheer her up a bit. She smiled at me before she looked towards the door.

“I have a feeling he's going to come around to try and convince you Isaac. Don't listen to him, he's now just a madman.” Mom explained to me.

“Right… remind me not to serve crazy men.” Blake said as she walked out of the room. I was silent soon after she left, I didn't know what to do and I just felt lost. I soon felt Irena give me a hug, in hopes to make me feel better. I looked down at her, a small smile forming at the kindness she giving me.

“So what now? Is there a way we can stop him?” I asked my mom, hoping she would have some sort of plan to stop the madman that is my grandfather. I'm actually glad that I didn't learn about all this as a kid, then I'd have made a very weird family tree project.

“Well… I have hope that Lydia and her friends could stop him before anything could happen but he’s… tricky…” My mom explained as she shook her head. “I don’t have the elements and I’m not as strong as I used to be… It’s up to your friends to stop him.”

“HEY GUYS!!!” Blake yelled out from the front of the store, getting our attention. “WHY ARE WE IN CANDY LAND!?!” The two of us looked at one another before quickly heading to the front. Sure enough outside of Blakes store is a land with enlarged sugary confections. Just the sight of it all was unpleasant to me, images of rotten teeth flashing through my mind.

“How-” Just before I could speak, a loud clap of thunder boomed our ears before it began to rain… Chocolate? Sure enough after a small taste, it was indeed warm chocolate. “Is this his doing?” I asked Celestia, turning to look at her.

“Yes…” Was all she said. “As I said, a world of Chaos.” From the way she said that she wasn’t pleased with this. “I need to head back, Lydia might need help with this.” With that she turned into smoke and disappeared. Both me and Blake watched all this as Irena was looking up with her mouth open. I rolled my eyes at the sight Irena trying catch some of the chocolate.

“So what are we going to do?” I asked Blake, not having an idea myself of what we can do to help stop this. It didn't help that I was shirtless and it was pretty windy.

“Well… wait for Lydia and the others to finish what they started… which doesn’t look like it’s working, which means plan B.” She then walked over to some oversized lollipops and grabbed one of them. There was a slight glow as I watched her rip a lolly pop out of the ground. “Which is me smaking your Granddad in the face with this lollipop.” I blinked at this while Irena was oblivious to Blake's actions as she continued to happily gulp down the chocolaty rain. She saw my expression and frowned. “What? It’s not like you have some sort of connection with him, besides I really want to hit someone with an oversized lollipop.” She said with a smile. Sometimes, I wonder who’s crazier, my grandfather or Blake. Eventually the rain stopped and it was my chance to head home for a new shirt, Blake opted to come along just to be on the safe side. The walk back home could only be described as ludicrous, not only were giant lollipops sprouting from the dirt and houses began to defy gravity but there were creatures of odd nature running about, like a an eyeball with bat wings or a giant candy eating bird creature.

“Ugh… I think I'm going to be sick…” Blake said as she watch a building float over head. When we finally got back to my house, we found it fully intact and without any form of oddity surrounding it… in fact it seemed as if the chaotic beings and weird mishaps avoided my house all together. There wasn't even a spec of chocolate from the rain that occurred earlier.

“Umm… you see this?” I asked Blake, looking down at the ground and seeing a border between chaotic lands and my lawn.

“Yeah… Your lawn looks really good.” Blake pointed out, making me look at her with a frown. “What? Trying to brighten up the mood.”

“Right…” I said with an annoyed tone before stepping onto my lawn carefully, thinking that it was some sort of illusion but to my relief it wasn't. Irena was the second to step onto the green grass before Blake did so as well. We all awaited for something weird to occur but it never came. A gust of cold wind reminded me of why we were here and I hurried along inside. Once inside, I sped up into my room and grabbed the first shirt that I saw before I walked downstairs.

“Like the new look of the town?” A voice said. I looked up to see Roderick sitting in my chair with a smile. “Honestly I always believed this place was more of a candy land, there’s already a gingerbread house in town.” I stared at him and saw that both Blake and Irena aren’t here.

“What did you do to them?” I asked, anger already taking control at the sight of him.

“Oh they’re fine, just outside of the building.” He said with a smile. “Just made it only the two of us can be in here.” My frown deepened at this.

“There's nothing for us to talk about so leave.” I said as I crossed my arms. He tilted his head at this.

“Oh come now, I just want to see how you are doing and see if you’re alright… and see if you made up your mind about what we talk about.” He said casually. I simply shook my head and said.

“You're insane if you think I'd ever help you.” I said to him and some part of me kept berating me over the fact that I was talking back to someone of chaotic nature.

“Well… I am insane, quite mad really, but are you sure?” He asked me. “If you do we will change the world for the better.”

“You want me to burn away all life! That's not going to help anyone!” I yelled, after hearing him say that what he had planned was beneficial for everyone, I guess I must've lost it.

“Oh that’s not all that bad, makes things easier to rebuild.” He said with a shrug. I blinked and saw him standing over me, looking down at me. “Now think Isaac, do you want to keep things what they are now or come with me and change this world?” I was a little intimidated by his height over me, unsure if he was as tall before as he is now. I kept my glare at him despite being intimidated and the silence that settled became unbearable even for him. “Not convinced? How about this, if you help me with this…” He sighed a bit before continuing. “I’ll change this place and everyone back to normal.” I would've said something but then I realized that he has said everyone… oh no.

“You didn't…” I said, hoping that my assumptions weren't true.

“Hmmm? Oh right one of those girls was close to you… who was she again?” He asked mostly asked himself before snapping his fingers. “Oh right I remember!... She was annoying, broke one of my rules due how easy going she was.” He shrugged as he looked at me. “She’s fine aside from maybe having a some new found anger issues.”

“What did you do to her!?” I yelled at him, the temperature taking a sudden rise up a few degrees. The man chuckled a bit.

“Temper temper, it's not so bad Isaac. She is the element of Kindness and what is the opposite of kindness?” He asked me. It took me a few moments to realize what he ment. “Yes… simply switching the bearer’s personal and alignment makes their element completely useless… but if you join up with me I can change- AHH!” I saw him flinch a bit in pain. “O...kay? That was-” He stopped again as he looked like he was having an headache, or someone is hitting his head. This brief moment gave me time to calm myself before I burned down the house and once I did, the repetitive thumping greeted my ears and it didn't take long for me to find the source, Blake using some of her own magic against the barrier that separated us. I quickly walked up to the barrier just to see her punch again, making a small shockwave on it. For some reason this was hurting the man inside.

“Open up, Open up, Open up, Open up, Open up!!” She yelled repeatedly as she did this, slowly making cracks in the wall. The cracks kept on vanishing and reappearing with each punch, the dome withstanding each of her hits. With an idea in mind, I placed both my hands on the barrier and tried to focus, as soon as I did my hands began to take their menacing orange glow. I kept raising up the heat and with noticeable results, my hands began to slowly go through the once solid barrier. It got to the point where my hands were ablaze in a fiery in inferno that could mostly likely rival the Sun's. With this results also led to some cracks forming as I saw Blake beginning to punch where I… oh no.

“Wait...waitwaitwaitwait!!!” I yelled just as Blake punched, and broke the barrier. A loud yelled emitted from my house as Blake blinked at what happened.

“Ha! I win!” She cheered. I fell back onto my lawn, my hands still burning with a fiery inferno before they were suddenly put out.

“Ow~” I groaned before sitting up and rubbing my head. “Thanks.” I said though despite my sarcastic sounding tone, I meant it for real. I looked up to see Irena hiding behind a large gumdrop and waved at me as Blake helped me up.

“What happened in there? You walked in and a barrier formed.” Blake asked as she pulled me up.

“My so called grandfather was waiting for me inside and ON MY CHAIR!” I said/yelled, the realization of it hit me like a truck. “Motherfucker sat on my chair!” I exclaimed in anger. Irena stared at me, slowly blinking as Blake sighed.

“You and your chair…” She said, knowing full well my deal with my chair. It took me a moment to calm down again but once I did, I spoke up.

“He came back to see if I made up my mind in helping him or not. He's also messed with the others, switching their personalities with their polar opposite.” I said with a sigh.

“Really, why?” Blake asked me.

“He said that by switching their personalities, they'd be incapable of using the elements of harmony.” I answered sadly. I was really bummed out that Ange was affected by this as well and I can only hope I don't get to see her like that.

“Right… so what's the plan?” Blake asked me. I only shrugged, having no way to answer her question. Before anything else could be said, my grandfather bursted through the front door, literally taking it off its hinges. From the looks of it he didn't seem happy.

“That… was the worse headache I have ever had.” He said before glaring in our direction. Irena hid behind the gumdrop while I looked around, seeing the chaotic area around my house worsen by the second and fearing if I don't do anything soon, he'd end up doing something horrid to both Blake and Irena. With a deep breath and a sigh, I spoke.

“Fine…” I said in defeat, my shoulders sagging as I said this. Both Irena and Blake looked at me as my grandfather looked at me in surprise.

“Fine? Fine what?!” Blake asked me, confused. I didn't answer immediately, simply letting Roderick’s magic take me over to him and placing me at his side. Irena watched horribly saddened at this. I looked back up at my grandfather and said.

“I'll help you… but you're going to have to teach me how.” I said to him, reminding him that my powers were not as vast as they are now. Blake stood slack jawed as she heard me speak but a quick glance told her that I had a plan… A really, really stupid plan. She frowned at this as I looked back at my grandfather who laughed.

“Well… nice it's very nice that you finally see it my way.” He said with a grin. “Though teaching you how will take some time…”

Blake PoV

For how long I knew Isaac for, it’s rare to see him with a dumb plan. This is one of those moments. The man beside Isaac chuckled darkly to himself before both he and Isaac vanished in a flash of light, the man's laughter echoing around us soon after they vanished. Irena stared at the ground Isaac stood on just seconds ago.

“I hope he knows what’s he doing…” I muttered to myself as I looked up to the sky… and saw an hot air balloon changing someone. I shook my head at this, feeling like this day can’t get any weirder. Irena kneeled down by where Isaac was, a frown on her face as she stayed there. I stood beside her as we waited for something. It wasn't until I heard a sniffle that my attention was fully brought back out from my thoughts and I quickly looked down to see Irena sniffling again, eyes welling up with tears. I pulled her into a hug as we waited for him to returned. As we waited there was a bright flash behind me.

“Sorry, I had to send something important.” Celestia said as she appeared. She looked around and added. “Where’s Isaac?”

“He… has a plan… a really really stupid plan.” I told her. Celestia stared at me for a few moments, just long enough for a group of flying eyeballs flew by us.

“What’s this plan?” she asked. My only response was a shrug and it only made Celestia worry greatly. I was about to suggest we head back to the safety of my shop before the echoing sound of a distant explosion greeted our ears. When we looked over at the direction it came from, we were greeted with a large pillar of fiery inferno that stretched all the way up into the clouds. “Never mind… I think I have an idea of what’s his plan is.”

I looked at both the Princess and Irena and open my mouth to say something when something burning landed near us. “Regrets! All of the Regrets!” The voices of Rodrick yelled from the small crater. I looked up at the Celestia as she disappeared, probably headed off to see her son… also where’s Irena? I looked around to see that I was alone, stuff is happening and I’m missing things. I pushed myself up and walked over to the smoking crater and saw the asshole laying in it.

“So… you gave him all the knowledge of using fire magic huh?” I asked him. He opened his mouth and a black cloud of ash came out of it as he cough.

“Yeah… yeah I did… here I thought he was going to get a small case of serious brain damage.” He said. I rolled my eyes as I kneeled down by the hole.

“So, any last words before they come back and beat your head in?” I asked the smoking man.

“Yeah… how did you damage my barrer?” He asked me. “Like, if anyone tries nothing would happen, but you were making dents in it… how did you-” he stopped as he looks over at me. “Oh… OH! THAT’S WHY!!!” He then started to laugh as I blinked at him, confused at what he’s saying before he added. “You’re her kid!”

“Her? Who’s her?” I asked until I realized what he ment. “You know my mom?! Who is she?” His response was, literally, tearing his mouth off and throwing it away. I glared at him and picked up my giant lolly hammer and smashed him. “Damn it, Tell me who she is you asshole!” I continued to smack him for a few times, he kept healing from my attacks. I raised my fist up to give him another punch but I stopped when I noticed a sudden rise in temperature, at first it was just hot then it began to be unbearable before I felt like I was being cooked alive. I looked up to see… a man made out of fire?

His hair was a blazing inferno and eyes glowed white. He stood about eight feet tall as he looked down at us. I was already sweating as I spoke. “Mind turning it down? I’m cooking here.” His eyes narrowed at me when I said this before they were drawn towards Roderick, the once mad king or so I've heard.

“I'm not done with you, gramps.” He said with malice laced within his words. Roderick laughed nervously, now realizing the great error he had committed upon ‘recruiting' Isaac. I blinked at this, wait…

“Isaac?” I said before Roderick was launched out of the hole and got dragged off by flame Isaac. I climbed out of the hole to see if he could stop but he was already gone. “Damn…”

I was soon left alone in the middle of the place, sitting next to a crater as everyone was doing something. My mind was racing at what Rodrick meant by I was ‘Her’ kid. Did he know who she was or was he messing with me?

Isaac’s PoV

I honestly couldn't believe that dumb plan of mine worked, now not only do I have partial control of my full powers and the knowledge to access my celestial form, I had all I needed beat the ever living shit out of the guy who sat on my chair and messed with my girlfriend! I had the man responsible for both in my hand… well his leg anyway, I dragged him behind me as I headed back to ground zero, seeing the smouldering crater of fire just ahead.

“Okay… I get your mad at me and- ow.” he started to say but he slid over a rock. “But if you were in my position you would do the same.” My reply to him came in the form of a torrent blazing hot fury… and a quick gut stomp.

“Shut it.” I said, my voice sounding drastically different than my normal one… And a little older even, weird. We came up the edge of the crater, the fires below roaring upon reaching the edge. “I'd say it was nice knowing you… but that would be a lie now wouldn't it.” I said before picking him up and looming him over the edge, if I were to let go, he would perish in the flames within the moment he would touch them. He looked down at the flames then back at me.

“N-now now, let’s not be too hasty here… this isn’t you Isaac…” he said nervously. “Maybe something a little less… that.” I simply chuckled and said.

“You said you wanted to rid the world of its problems, well that's exactly what I plan on doing… ridding the world of its problem.” I said to him, using his own words against him. He blinked at me before I tossed him into the pit. Him screaming down into was somewhat unsettling at first until I realized that the screaming wasn’t going away. I looked down to see him floating there in a golden aura. I looked back to see my mother holding out her hand as it glowed gold as well. She sighed and pulled back her hand, making Rodrick float out of the pit as well.

“That… was close…” She said as she put her hand down, making her father fall face first into the ground.

“Why save him? You know what he planned to do.” I said to her questioningly. She looked at me with a frown.

“I do, what he was planning was unforgivable, and there was other ways to have deal with him. But he can’t simply die.” Mom said as glanced at the man. “For one, I still have hope that he may return back to the man he was once was before the Chaos took him over.” I then looked down at the man as he kissed the ground he laid on. Before I could say anything, a major headache greeted my senses and I began to feel weaker by the second, shrinking down back to my normal height and my skin returning to its regular not fiery self. Before I knew it, I found myself on my knees in the burnt remains of my clothes.

“Ow…” I said, still grasping my head. “That was unpleasant…” I said, looking down at myself and noticing that newly gained muscles. It was odd seeing them, having never really taken time to work out but now I looked like I had been working out for a week straight. “This is… weird. Is this because of my heritage?” I asked in a low tone, a question meant for myself. I soon noticed that my mom came over to me and kneeled down to me.

“Are you alright?” She asked me.

“I could be better but I'm alright.” I said with a sigh of relief once my headache fully subsided. “I'm still pretty pissed that he sat on my chair though.” I muttered to myself. She stared at me for a moment before shaking her head before pulling me into a hug.

“Well, that’s all nice and sweet.” My grandfather said. “I just… be goi-herp!” I looked over to see him tied up with golden ropes.

“Sorry but you’re not going anywhere.” Mom said with a frown. He rolled his eyes as she looked back at me. “I’ll deal with him, go back to your friends and see if they’re alright.” I nodded and shakingly stood up and stretched a little bit, my attire of torn and burnt clothes almost look like I was wearing a robe. I began to head back to town, following the flaming tracks I left behind like bread crumbs. The rustling of bushes had caught my attention and I looked over towards the direction it came from just before seeing Irena walk out from a bush. Her clothes were a bit ripped up and dirty with dirt and mud but she stopped when she saw me and stared. It was a little awkward for me to stare at her as it looked like she went through a dark forest to try and find me.

“I guess I'm not the only one who had a rough day.” I said jokingly to break the silence. I soon saw her get teary eyed as she ran over and hugged me. I was surprised when she did this but eventually hugged her back. When we finally parted from the hug, I picked her and and opted to carry her since she must've been exhausted. She didn't seem at all opposed to this so I carried her back to town and once we exited the forest, we met up with Blake who was sitting back a crater. “Hey, you alright?” I asked, gaining her attention. She looked at me with a frown.

“Yeah… yeah I’m fine…” She said before pushing herself up. “I think I’m done with today, too much crazy… I want to go home and sleep.” Before I could say something Blake headed off towards her home. I knew something was up because she’s not this quiet before but I'd have to leave that for some other time. Heading into town, I saw that almost everything was back to normal, a few of the houses that defied gravity earlier had crashed down to the ground by the looks of it. As I walked down the streets and finally getting to my home I put Irena down and was about to walk in when I saw Ange from the corner of my eyes… only she was wearing a hoodie and had the hood up with some baggy pants. I could tell it was here because she wore a green hoodie that I bought for her a few weeks back.

“Hey Ange.” I greeted her, catching her attention and when she looked up at me, to say that she was surprised was putting mildly.

“Ah… brah… huh… la…” Was all Ange could say before her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell backwards. Both me and Irena blinked at this before Irena frowned up at me, thinking this was my fault.

“I'll have you know I have nothing to do with her fainting.” I said to Irena. Irena put her hands on her hips and looked at me with said frown. I rolled my eyes before picking up Ange off the ground though when I did, I felt that she was lighter than before and I highly doubt it was because of her. I shook my head from these thoughts before heading inside with Irena in tow. I soon placed Ange on the couch, making sure she was as comfortable as she can be when I did. When I was done I saw she had a goofy smile on her face and a blush. I chuckled at this before heading upstairs to get some better clothes on. I opted to only wear pants for now, enjoying the warm air of the house after being out in the cold forest.

Walking back downstairs Irena was sitting on the floor with a book in her hands as Ange was still passed out. I knew that she wouldn't wake up without a little help, so I headed into the kitchen and began to prepare some tea, which drew in Irena’s interests. Irena sat up on a stool in front of the counter that separated the kitchen with the living room. Halfway through making the tea, the scent of it began to fill the room and it slowly made its way to Ange. After a few minutes, it was finally done and I began to pour some for Irena before pouring a cup for me and Ange. With both cups in hand, I headed back into the living room in time to see her stir awake. Her eyes fluttered open as she pushed herself up.

“Uhh… what happened?” She asked as she rubbed her head. I chuckled a little before answering her.

“I actually wanted to ask you that myself.” I said to her, handing her cup of tea before she looked up at me. She stared at me for a few moments before speaking… or tried to.

“Uhh, brah… fuaaa… oh…” She said in gibberish. I blinked a little in confusion before putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Everything okay, Ange?” I asked her with concern in my tone. She stared at me for another few moments when Irena looked at the both of us, sipping her tea.

“You… look different…” Ange said, normally though her shaking hands suggested that she was trying her best to not speak gibberish again. I then remembered the change in my body, the newly added and very noticeable muscles and even a few inches in height were added. I chuckled a little at this while rubbing the back of my head.

“Is it really that noticeable?” I asked Ange with a little smile. With what little I've learned from my madman of a grandfather, unlocking some of my true potential would have physical side effects on my body. She simply nodded at me as she stared.. “You don't… mind the sudden change?” I asked her, a blush forming on both our cheeks.

“Uhh… n-no…” Ange said, still staring. I blinked at her as she started to drool a bit. We simply looked at one another and before we knew it, we couldn't keep our hands away from one another before we quickly went upstairs into my room. I was surprised when I felt Ange push me onto my bed, having never known she could push me so easily. She didn't say anything, simply straddling me and removing her hoodie before discarding it to the side, that was when she began slowly taking off her top, a simply green tank top she wore under her hoodie. When she took it off, I could only smirk when I saw that she wore no bra though maybe I should question that for later. For now however, we have some fun.

End Of Chapter XVI

Author's Notes:

Sorry for those who wait so long for another chapter

List:
Twilight Sparkle: Lydia Aurora
Spike: Drake
Pinkie Pie: Dianne Pye
Rarity: Sophia Belmont
Sweetie Belle: Lucille Belmont
Fluttershy: Angelina Calliope
Rainbow Dash: Rachael Dawn Wind (Wind is a real surname, it's Finnish)
Applejack: Jacqueline Smith
Applebloom: Samantha Smith
Big Macintosh: James Smith II (junior)
Granny Smith: Sarah Smith
Scootaloo: Skyler Hawk
Prince Blueblood: Wilhelm Nordman LeBleu
Cadence: Cadence Katherine (Miamoré)
Shining Armor: (Captain) Marcus Aurora
Soarin: Simon Fitch
Gilda: Ferea Griffin
Trixie: Selina Crescent
Snip: Titus
Snails: Ralph
Zecora: Kamkhwala (Kam for short)
Vinal Scratch: Sofía Aquino
Octavia Melody: Carole Langstone
Sunset Shimmer: Lady Camilla Nicolette Whitlock
Nightmare Moon (Nyx): Irena
Discord: Roderick Blackwood, the Mad King!

Chapter XVII

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It has been close to a month since the encounter with my Grandfather, I don’t know what has happened to him and honestly I didn’t really care. I didn’t really want to see him after what he did to me and my friends… and sitting in my chair.

Angelina, Lydia, and the rest of them were given their own Therapist due to the events of that day, my mom wanted them to get help since what Roderick did may have had some lasting effects… and for some of them it has been really traumatising. I remember waking up in the middle of the night seeing Ange curled up on the bed scared out of her mind from what happened to her. She has been staying overnight because of this and I wanted to be there to comfort her whenever she had trouble sleeping.

Things in town are… interesting to say at the least, some of it is annoying. Everyone knew about my change, and now I’m getting a lot of stares, mostly from women. Honestly at one point I thought I was going to get chased down from a mob of them from walking down in a tank top due to the heat, I thanked Sophia for giving me a new wardrobe because of this… though I believe she just wanted to get an up close look at me. Whatever the reason was, I got a whole new wardrobe with shirts that won't rip if I as much as raise an arm and pants that won't cut off the blood to my legs.

I haven’t seen Blake much for the past week, mostly due to school or in the back making some new dishes she came up with, and there was also the fact that she needed to clean up her store after the event. Today was the first day for her to be open and things were… slow. Irena, Skyler and I had opted to eat at Blake's after hearing her store reopening and since it wasn't a long walk away from home, it only took us a few minutes. With it being early in the morning, we were the first few to be there. The place was still the same as always, maybe a few new paintings hanging up as we came in with the sound of a bell greeting us. Blake was sitting in a booth reading when we came in.

“Oh… hey guys.” She greeted us with a wave. “Didn’t think you would come.”

“And what gave you that idea?” I asked Blake jokingly as Irena and Skyler sat down in a booth. After the incident and getting Irena properly settled in, Skyler and her have been having out a lot and acted like sisters. Blake chuckled as she closed her book and getting out of her own booth.

“Just a thought, anyway the normal for you?” She asked us before quickly getting Irena a menu. She took it and opened it to look what she wanted. Both me and Skyler nodded while Irena read the menu, eventually picking the pancakes and some orange juice. Blake smiled at this before heading off into the back, saying that it may be a bit before anything would be done. She came back with our drinks and left us to chat amongst ourselves.

After a few minutes Skyler looked out of the window and blinked. “Hey… isn’t that the lady Blake has a crush on?” She asked, making me look out and see Camilla walking around as she was looking at a piece of paper.

“Huh, it is.” I said to Skyler before calling out her name. “Hey Camilla!” I said, greeting her with a wave as she looked at us, a little surprised to see us there. She gave me an odd look before walking into the shop.

“Hey.” She greeted us before looking over at me with an arched brow. “You looked like you’ve been hitting the gym a bit.”

“I've been getting that a lot lately.” I said with a roll of my eyes as she walked up to our booth. Irena saw Camilla walk up, gaining the latter's interests.

“Oh… hello there.” Camilla said with a smile. Irena blinked at her as she stared before waving. Camilla stared at her before saying. “Umm… did I say something wrong?”

“Don't worry about Irena here.” I said, placing a hand atop Irena’s head before ruffling her hair a little bit and saying. “She doesn't really talk… yet. Me and Ange are trying to teach her.” I said to Camilla. Irena smiled at this, leaning into my hand as the Fire Magi chuckled.

“So what brings you here? Another small trip?” Skyler asked her.

“Not exactly,” She answered as she scratched the back of her head. “Truth be told you all might be seeing more of me around here.” We all stared at her as it clicking into our minds.

“You’re moving here?” Skyler asked her, earning a nod.

“Yeah, the Princess told me to find a place here due to what happened here a few weeks back.” She explained before looking at me. “She said I’m here to make sure you’re safe and don’t blow yourself up with your magic.” I blinked at this, not having fully processed her words yet and once I did I could only groan at my mother's overprotectiveness. She had made her mission to see to my safety ever since grandpapi Roderick came to visit.

“I think you said yes because you get to see Blake more~.” Skyler teased, earning a surprised look from Camilla.

“Uhh, that’s… what I’m here for and… it’s not your business.” The Fire Magi said, a small blush forming on her face. I arched a brow at this as from the times she came around Blake and her were really close friends, but due to Sophia and one of a few central hubs of gossip says there’s something between the two of them. Nevertheless, it serged for a good laugh then and even now. I chuckled a little at Camilla’s little blush, it was actually pretty obvious that the two of them have grown to have feelings for one another but both are a little too afraid that it'll make their friendship all for not.

“I'm going to have to agree with Skyler here.” I said with yet another chuckle. Irena giggled as well, knowing of Blake and Camilla’s feelings as well. She frowned at me as her blush was still on her face.

“I… I better go… have to… bye.” With that Camilla headed out quickly.

“Maybe we went a little too far.” I said to Skyler, only for her to suppress a laugh. “Didn't think so.” I said. It was a few minutes later when Blake came out with our food and handed us them so we could eat. “You just missed Camilla, she stopped by and said hello.” I said to Blake. She stumbled a little, almost spilling Skyler’s drink in hand as I said that.

“R-Really?” Blake asked, staring at me with wide eyes. Skyler and I nodded while Irena sat with fork and knife in hand, ready to eat.

“Yup, in fact we'll be seeing around a lot more now. She's moving to town.” I told her with a small smile while Blake took a moment to let that sink in. She stared off into space as the news settled.

“I… uhh… have to go check on… yeah.” She said before quickly heading off back into the kitchen. Skyler was giggling to herself at this, finding it funny to see Blake flustered. It had been so easy ever since she met Camilla but I do know when to back down, especially when Blake threatens to cave my head in if I don't. Skyler and I ate our meals while Irena devoured hers like an animal, sometimes even growling a little as she chewed. As we ate, more people came in and ordered. As we close to finishing the familiar sounds of conversation in the building was heard from around us, giving the place an odd warming feeling to it. It wasn't until Irena let a satisfied burp that everyone turn towards us, getting a blush of embarrassment from having done so. We soon got up and I paid for the food, though I had to do it myself with Blake being busy in the back though having hung out with her for so long, I didn't take long. After paying, we left the shop and headed out into the streets for a a simple stroll.

Even with what had happen everything has returned back to normal as if nothing has happened. It’s quite surprising really, just seeing how much the town bounces back after something that crazy. People were waving at us as we walked by them, some even giving us a friendly hello though there were some that greeted me as a prince but it didn't deter me anymore really, I just accepted that people will call me ‘your highness’ and I couldn't do much to stop them.

Finally we made it back home and inside, Skyler sitting down on the couch with a happy sigh. “That was awesome.” She said with a little laugh. I arched a brow at her curiously while Irena sat beside Skyler.

“All we did was eat out.” I said to her with a little laugh as I went over to the kitchen.

“Yeah well, it was still funny for what happened.” Skyler pointed out. I rolled my eyes as put away the clean dishes. Lately I've been doing a lot of household work here which mostly consisted of cleaning, stocking up on what is missing and throwing away old junk. Ange always came by to lend a hand despite me telling she didn't need to help out but she always argued that she wanted to help. After cleaning a little bit in the kitchen, I headed into my garage and saw my stuff piled atop my desk. They were my old clothes that no longer fit me, all stored in a few box for donations. I moved the boxes off my desk and sat down with a relieved sigh, happy to be able to sit on it again before seeing my laptop before shaking my head. I simply took a out a pencil and paper and began to draw out ideas for the next statue. The next hour or two went by quickly as I had some new sketches drawn out when I heard a knock on my garage door. I turn in time to see Ange opening it in a light blue dress, she smiled at me when she came in and closed the door, letting me have enough time to realize that her time with her therapist was done and she walked all the way over here.

“Hey beautiful.” I greeted her with a smile. She smiled at me and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek.

“Hey.” She greeted back as she straighten. “How’s your day?” I shrugged at first before answering.

“We just came back from Blake's place, met with Camilla, found out that she's moving to town and you're here.” I said with a smile before adding. “So fantastic.” I finished. She giggled as she looked at all the drawings I made.

“Planning on another statue?” She asked me as she picked up one of the drawings.

“Yeah, I just haven't decided which I should do.” I said, admitting my dilemma. There weren't a lot of ideas drawn out but the ones that were ranged from simple forest critter to large predators but judging by Ange's reaction, she found the one I hadn't really finished yet but it didn't take a genius to guess what it was.

“Is that… me?” Ange asked as she looked at the drawing. I chuckled a little nervously when she said this but nodded nonetheless.

“Yeah, I haven't finish the sketch yet but yeah.” I said to her with another nod. She hums at this as she looks at the drawing. She put the drawing down on my desk, atop the others she had already seen before bringing me to a passionate kiss that sadly was a short one. When she parted from the kiss, I was left blinking in surprise.

“I'm guessing you liked it.” I said, my brain having jumbled thoughts at the moment. She giggled at this before smiled at me.

“What's your first guess?” She asked me jokingly. I chuckled and rolled my eyes before asking.

“So what brings you here?” I asked her with a smile. Her answer, while not verbal, spoke louder than words. She simply sat on my lap and leaned back onto me, giving me another sweet kiss on the cheek. This got me to kiss her back, which soon led us to a passionate makeout session that neither of us wanted to end. There was something about her kisses that made everything better… other than her being her. Ange soon wrapped her arms around my neck as we kissed, pressing herself onto me. Luckily for the both of us, the door was locked and the garage door was shut. Too be honest, I doubt that even if we could stop ourselves that we would have and so the next hour or so was spent in a heat of passion. We simply cuddled and enjoyed the afterglow, only our quiet breathing could be heard. “You know, you always make my day better no matter what.” I said, caressing her hair as she nuzzled her head with mine.

She hummed happily at me, nuzzling back as affectionately. Soon we had to get up and head inside. Ange grabbed her dress and slipped it back on, she had to adjust it a bit as she did. I helped her adjust her dress before giving her one last kiss as we headed inside, upon entering we heard the sounds of Skyler's games and soon saw Skyler playing with Irena in one of her many games. Irena was calm though a little confused as to what was going on while Skyler poured her heart and soul into it but Irena seemed to have the upper hand, either from beginners luck or simply just good at it.

“You want anything? Tea, maybe water?” I asked Ange, wanting to be a good host for my guest.

“Oh, tea please.” Ange said with a smile. I nodded and went into the kitchen and started on the tea while Ange went over to Irena and Skyler to greet them both. Irena was the most excited to see Ange, seeing her as a mother figure than a friend.

I pulled Anges favorite tea down as I got the water boiling. After a few minutes I held two mugs of tea for me and Ange. As I walked out I saw Irena sitting on Ange’s lap as she played the game. Ange was caressing the little one's hair as she played before came in with our cups of tea. I handed one to Ange before I sat down with mine.

“I do hope you've done your homework already.” I said to Skyler, my voice taking the parental tone I occasionally use on either Skyler or Irena.

“Yes…” Sky answered without looking. I arched a brow before she added. “Half of it…” I shook my head at this but ultimately knew that she'll end up doing her homework anyway. I felt Ange lean a bit onto me with Irena still on her lap. How funny must the sight be in another angle, we almost look like a family. When both Ange and I finished out tea, I got up and took both cups into the kitchen. As I did I heard a rapid set of knocks coming from my front door… and continued to knock. Blinking at this I went to the door and opened it.

“Hi Isaac! How are you?! Good? Great… you need help with anything?!?” Lydia asked quickly. I stared at her, confused by her question and why she spoke so quickly.

“Uhh… what?” Was all I could say to her. I quickly shook my head to regain my composure and looked Lydia, now seeing her disheveled look. Her hair had various strands popping out, her left eye twitching every few seconds or so and she fidgeted wildly. “What in mother's name happened to you?” I asked her, a little worried that she might've gone off the deep end.

“Me? I’m fine… Really fine…” She said with a bit of crazy laugh. “Oh and talking about your mother, you know that I haven’t sent her a report that I promise he to give every week… and I haven’t missed one, one! But today is the day that I need to send one and have nothing!” she yelled the last word as a few more strands popped out of her hair before smiling at me. “Sooo I’m here to see if there’s anything I can do to help!” I reeled back at this before quickly thinking of something. She smiled at me creepily as I thought but ultimately shook my head.

“Sorry but I've just recently finished up my chores around the house and there really isn't much else to do.” I said before thinking a little and adding. “Besides, what's the problem with not sending a letter? It's just one out of like what, a thousand? Anyway, it's not like it's the end times.” I said to Lydia, and when I did, I realized that I had made a mistake. Her left eye started to twitch more as a few more hair strands pop out of place.

“Isaac… you think this isn’t a big deal but it’s really is a big deal!” She snapped at me. Once again I was left speechless though this time I was also left partially deaf.

“You're insane, woman!” I yelled, having a little trouble hearing my own voice.

“You may call it insane, I call it not wanting to get sent back to magic kindergarten!” Lydia said before turning and walking away from me, marching back into town in a huff. I blinked at this before saying.

“What!?” I yelled, having not heard her fully. Something about magic kindergarten. She didn’t answer as she disappeared down the road. I shook my head, wondering what’s wrong with Lydia. I simply closed the door and tried to regain my hearing, getting annoyed at the never ending ringing and slowly it began to return but not fast enough. Great, I'm left partially deaf by a mad woman who wanted to help with a non-existent problem.

I returned to the living room to see the two were still playing and Ange watching them. She turned to me and looked at me oddly. “Isaac, are you okay?” She asked me, seeing me shake my head rapidly as I walked into the room. It wasn't until the sound came clearly that I answered.

“It was Lydia, she came wanting to solve a non-existent problem so she could send a letter to my mother about it.” I said before rubbing the sides of my head and adding. “She's literally gone off the deep end with this letter business of hers.” I said. Ange gave me a worried look about this.

“Oh dear, I hope she’s alright.” She said softly. I sighed at this as I sat back down on the couch.

“I'm worried about everyone else at the moment. Seriously, she can yell like a banshee.” I said with a frown before rubbing my eyes. “Someone has to get it through her head that not sending a letter isn't as catastrophic as however she think it is.” I added with a shake of my head. Ange shrugged at this as we continue on the day. Some time later Skyler headed out to hang out with her friends and Ange and Irena were together reading, Ange trying to teach Irena to talk. I just hope she doesn’t use her magic as this happen, last time it happen I saw most of my things floating in the air, including myself and it wasn't all too pleasant. I was left to help Skyler with what was left of her homework before I was interrupted by another set of rapid knocks, continuous like that ones before. With an annoyed sigh, I got up from the couch just as another barrage of knocks began. I opened the door and saw Blake there, only looking like a bag of flour burst in front of her.

“Hey, is it cool if I hide here for a bit?” Blake asked me.

“Uhh, why?” I asked, not really looking forward to the answer for some reason.

“Lydia being dumb.” Blake explained. With a roll of my eyes I took a step to the side and let her in before quickly closing the door in fear that Lydia might see her.

“So what did she do to you?” I asked her as I handed her a towel.

“I was working on a batch of muffins and Lydia came over and forced herself to help me… and made a bag of flour explosion.” Blake answered as she wiped the flour off her face.

“She came by earlier and asked if I needed help with anything, after saying that I didn't need anything done, she promptly began to freak out and nearly took out my hearing.” I said Blake, my tone was that of annoyance over the magi's need to send a dumb letter. “All that because she didn't have anything to write for my mother.” I said.

“Yeah… but that’s her crazy.” Blake said as she finished cleaning her face. She then handed me the towel to which I simply left near the laundry room for me to clean later. Blake soon walked into the living room and spotted Ange. She waved at the Skyborn, which Ange waved back before Blake sat down on the couch. I sat down in my chair and sooner or later both me and Blake were playing games. Irena watched us as Ange had to head out to take care of her animals. After giving her a kiss goodbye and went back to playing the game.

Soon I heard a third set of knocks, this time not a rapid set of them. Still however, I was annoyed that I had to get up for a third time to answer the door. I took a deep breath to calm myself down before opening the door. The person I saw was Camilla, looking annoyed as she held a paper in her hand. She looked up and saw me.

“Oh, hey Isaac. I didn’t think I would meet you so soon.” Camilla said in surprise. I arched a brow at her before saying.

“I live here.” I said to her simply.

“Well yeah now I know.” She said as she crossed her arms. I chuckled at this as I wondered why she’s here.

“So what brings you here?” I asked her, leaning onto the door frame. Camilla sighed a bit before showing me the paper.

“As it seems the home that I was going to get is still under renovations, something about a bug swarm a few weeks back did a number on it…” Camilla explained. Right, a day or so before the chaos incident there was an outbreak of bugs that the mayor hired me to get rid of but Ange had convinced me not to incinerate them which left Dianne tol solve the problem by luring them far away with a handful of musical instruments, effectively becoming a one woman marching band.

“Right, so what can I do you for?” I asked, still wanting to know why she had come by.

“Well, do you know a hotel that I can hold up until my place is fixed?” She asked me. It took me only a second for me to shake my head, which left Camilla a little saddened before an idea popped into my head.

“Hold on a sec.” I said before heading inside and finding Blake typing away into her phone before I grabbed and pulled her towards the front door much to her surprise. Luckily my new found strength was enough to pull her. I soon stopped her in front of Blake and said. “I'm sure Blake here would let you stay at her place until then.” I said simply. Blake blinked at this.

“Wait, what?!?” Blake asked, wide eyes at this. Camilla blinked at this, surprised at what I’m saying.

“Yeah, her place has a guest room you could stay in.” I said to Camilla, leaving Blake confused still.

“Wait… what’s going on here?” Blake asked me.

“Uhhh, well, due to some issues with the place… I need a place to stay…” Camilla said, rubbing the back of her head. Blake stared at her, then at me, then back. “Look, if this an issue it’s-”

“No no it’s fine… just surprised.” Blake said. She thought about it for a few moments before adding. “I… don’t mind.” She said as a blush formed on the both of them, leaving me to chuckle silently at this.

“Issue solved, simple as that.” I said as if I had just accomplished something. The two of them looked at me then at each other.

“Umm… I’ll show you the place?” Blake said to the Fire Magi, who nodded. I watched the two of them head off to Blake's place together, chatting to each other. I smiled at the two though I did hope won't try to avoid one another during Camilla’s stay. I was about to close the door when a mob of people ran by, chasing Jacqueline's older brother James, who held an old looking doll… something about it was alluring but I ultimately shrugged and closed the door, wanting to take the day to myself. When I sat down on the couch, Irena hopped onto the cushion beside me before I flipped on the television.

End of XVII

Chapter XVIII

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It's been almost a week since Camilla moved into town, staying in Blake's place while her home gets repaired. Lydia, after causing Blake to flee from her own shop, had actually gone off the deep end and decided that if she could find a problem, she'd have to come up with one and she did by casting a want it need it spell on her old doll that nearly had the entire town fighting over the old doll before it disappeared. Safe to say that the people weren't fond of being allured by a spell, it took the whole town to convince her that she had gone insane trying to come up with a letter for my mother.

The next few days went by with little to no oddities happening to anyone around town though I wish I could say the same for myself. A couple of days ago I had been helping Kam with scavenging somethings she needed in the forest and in doing so I must've caught something that at first seemed like a simple few sneezes but the next day it was worse, I've began to get sick, weak all around and generally feeling ill. Now however, I couldn't get out of bed, there wasn't much stopping me it was just me not wanting to get up in my condition.

I laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling of the room. It wasn’t until I heard a knock on my door that drew my attention. Without missing a beat I spoke up.

“Come in.” I said, my voice sounding weak raspy from the coughing. The door opened and Ange peeked in.

“Isaac? Are you alright?” She asked in a worried tone. Upon looking into my room, she saw the many discarded tissues surrounding an already filled trash bin. There was a cup of water on my nightstand, one that Irena gave me while Skyler was making breakfast this morning.

“Honestly, I feel like keeling over right now.” I said, my voice taking an odd tone due to my stuffy nose. I couldn't really tell what my illness was because it came from the forest, a lot of bad things come from the forest. Ange gasped at this.

“Oh dear!” She said, coming over and kneeling down beside me. She put her hand on my head and frowned. “You’re burning up, what have you been doing?” She asked me.

“I went to help Kam with gathering some flowers she needed for a potion, next thing I know I was sneezing non stop hours later.” I said before letting a low groan of discomfort from having been laying down the entire morning. I needed to get up but half my body protests upon trying. I felt Ange pull the blankets up and shift me around so I was comfortable.

“Is this better? You have to rest so you can get better Isaac.” Ange said as she did this.

“Thanks.” I said to her before wiggling my feet around, having lost feeling to them moments ago from the lack of movement. “Half my body is numb and the other half is crying agony.” I said as I did this. Ange gave me a look before standing back up.

“I’m going to look if you have some medicine and food you can eat.” Ange said before leaving me. For the next hour or so Ange has been in and out of my room, giving me some medicine and some soup that she cooked up. I didn’t know Ange was skilled at this, sure she takes care of the animals but it’s different between an animal to a person.

“I never knew you were knowledgeable in taking care someone.” I said to Ange as she put down another cup of water for me.

“Oh… well uh…” Ange blushed a bit. “It’s kinda embarrassing really.”

“What's so embarrassing? Ange you know I'd never laugh at you.” I said to her, hoping that it was enough to encourage her to tell me. She fidgeted a bit, still blushing.

“Well… I worked at the hospital in town close to a year, it was fine and all but… the problem was that none of the nurse uniforms fit me so… I was stuck with a smaller one and...” Ange said with a blush on her face. It didn't take long for my jaw to hang down, the imagery of Ange in a small nurses outfit was… well it was a nice mental image that I will treasure. I shook my head a bit as I looked at my girlfriend and she took care of me as I was sick, the image was still in my head and, at one point, Ange got a rag and wiped away some drool that I had.

“Sorry about that… I uhh… I zoned.” I said, hiding the fact that I was daydreaming about the image in my mind.

“Right…” Ange said with an arch brow. I chuckled nervously as she continued to nurse me. It was nice having someone to talk to after a whole morning of absolute silence. Irena even came in at some point to help Ange.

It was really nice but soon the two had to leave me alone so I could rest and get some cleaning done for the day. Ange told me that if I needed her then ring the bell that she put on my nightstand. I had to hold back the urge to ring the bell for the longest time, really not looking forward to the silence but I endured and eventually decided to nap a little after my eyes decided to grow heavier by the second. The nap helped me greatly as when I awoke, I felt my body no longer in pain but I was still pretty under the weather as some would say, when I looked around my room I was quick to be greeted by a surprising sight.

“Mom?” I said in confusion, seeing my mother sitting nearby. She looked up at me with a worried look on her.

“Oh good you’re awake.” She said before quickly coming to my side. “Are you feeling any better? Do you need anything?”

“Umm no, not really. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Canterlot?” I asked her, wondering why she was here. I mean it isn't a bad thing, it was just unexpected really.

“Well, I was in Canterlot but I was informed that you were sick and I came right over.” She informed me. I blinked at this before noticing the time, seeing that it was around midday and I knew for a fact that she normally held the noble meetings at this time.

“And what of the nobles? Aren't they going give a hard time for this?” I asked her, just hearing myself saying this made me sound like an grateful ass.

“You’re my son, if you’re heath is threatened then my job as a mother is more important than the nobles of Canterlot.” Mom explained. I smiled at this, hearing she truly cares for my well being is something I've always wanted to hear.

“Thanks, mom.” I said to her, simply thanking her for being here. She smiled at me as I said this.

“Now, how are you feeling dear?” She asked me.

“Annoyed that I'm bedridden, shitty cause I'm sick.” I said my answer rather bluntly with a shrug of my shoulders. This got a chuckle from my mom.

“Well it happens when you’re feeling under the weather.” Mom said as she flicked her wrist, making the once empty cup full with water once again.

“I rarely get sick but whenever I do, it's always the worst.” I said to her. It wasn't as much as brag about my immunity system as much as it was just me saying how annoying it is that whenever I get sick, I'm more worse for wear than anyone else. My mom chuckled a little as she pulled up a chair beside me.

“I know the feeling.” She said, reminded me of the time when I was younger when I heard she had gotten sick, lots of people started to freak out about it. I chuckled at the memory before I let out a sigh.

“You know, it's already been a month or two but I still can't believe my mother is the Princess of the Sun. That's bragging rights if I've ever heard it.” I said with a chuckle. My mom smiled at me as I said this.

“Yes, however some of the nobles aren’t as happy with this idea.” She shifted in her seat with a look of worry before saying. “I hear whispers about their disapproval but won’t do anything about it.”

“I never once cared for how they think of me, not going to start anytime soon.” I told her, which got a chuckle from her as a result.

“I know I know, just telling you that.” She said to me with a smile. I smiled back at her and the two of us chatted for a bit before she had to go. “I wish I would stay but… well, I have my job to do…” I was sad to hear this, always enjoying our chats with one another but it was understandable.

“Bummer but that's what happens my mother is the princess I suppose.” I said jokingly to her as she stood up, allowing me to see that she was still in her regal dress and just by seeing it told me that she didn't take time to disguise herself when she heard of my condition. She smiled at me before saying goodbye and disappearing in a flash of light, not enough to be blinding but still bright. About five minutes later the door opened and Ange came in with a bowl of soup.

“Hey, Blake came over and gave me some soup she made for you.” She said with a smile. I looked back at her with a smile as well until I notice she was wearing a nurse hat on. I arched a brow upon seeing her hat.

“What's with the hat?” I asked her, chuckling a little to myself. She placed the bowl down and looked up at it.

“Oh, Dianne came by and said that, since I’m nursing you back to health, I needed the hat. Something about helping or something.” She stated as she poked at it. “She did hand me a uniform but… no.” I arched a brow at this, now curious to why she said this.

“Why what happened?” I asked her, though I felt like I already knew the answer. She gave me a deadpanned looks that were rare on her before she spoke.

“It’s one of those ‘Sexy nurse’ uniforms… somethings I worry what’s going on in her head…” Ange stated, making me wonder what does go through her head most of the time. I let out a disappointed aww as a joke. She tilted her head at this. “What was that for?”

“Oh nothing.” I said, moving up so I sat up in my bed. She arched a brow before shrugging.

“Is there anything else I can get you Isaac?” She asked. I shook my head while she came over with the soup in hand before handing it me.

“Thanks.” I said to her, feeling the warm bowl soup in my hands. “You know, it means a lot to me that you're willing to look after me.” I said to her, letting her know that I was grateful for her decision on taking care of me. She smiled at me and blushed.

“Happy to help.” She said before leaning over and kissing me. While it was short, it at least was one of care and passion but I didn't know why she would do so if it meant risking her own health. Ange soon pulled away with a smile on her face and went out of the door so I could eat my soup. Once again I was left alone for a while and I've already finished my soup. I could literally hear the ticking of the clock and nothing but it and began to get to me, so with a determined look I put the plate on my nightstand and moved my legs off the edge of the bed with the intentions of getting up. A brief countdown later and a grunt of discomfort, I stood on my wobbly legs before catching my footing. I looked down at my legs, seeing them wobble as I held myself up as I took deep breaths.

I took a step forward, then another, okay I can do this… that is until I stepped on something and was falling backwards, luckily onto my bed. I groaned a bit until a familiar light and heat came up to me.

“You know bed rest means resting in bed Isaac.” Wisp said to me as she sat above my head. I groaned at the mention of this before saying.

“Yeah but it's so boring!” I exclaimed to Wisp, truly I have never sounded so much like a child as I did just then.

“Well I’m sorry but you’re sick, rest is want you need.” Wisp said, slapping my face with her tail as she did before adding. “If you need something to do in bed why not ask your girlfriend to get your laptop?” I groaned at this, not really wanting to use my laptop or even bother Ange to get it for me.

“I'd rather be doing something rather than nothing, I've already wasted away the morning in bed and it was horribly abysmal.” I said to Wisp, sitting up finally though it did not deter her from hopping over to my left shoulder.

“Always restless, always stubborn, honestly you’re more like your father then your mother.” Wisp said in an annoyed tone. I arched a brow at this, having never really heard of my father.

“What was he like?” I asked, which honestly surprised the fiery feline. She hummed at this.

“He was… well he was as if you make fire into a personality, he was creative, strong, always looking forward… and most of all a hothead.” Wisp chuckled a bit at the last part. I nodded as she spoke, interested to hear about my father.

“Is he… you know… not amongst the living?” I asked Wisp, wanting to get that out of the way as soon as possible. She sighed at this.

“No… he’s not amongst the living…” I looked at her sadly, not really up for hearing this. “He’s probably in his own realm or in the center of the planet… honestly I don’t know where he is right now.” Wisp looked at me before blinking and tilting her head. “What? You didn't honestly believe he was dead, did you?”

“Uhh… kinda, I mean with the way you answered how could I not?” I asked her but didn't give her time to answer before saying. “So did I inherit my powers from him?” I asked, somewhat knowing the answer already but I could never be too careful.

“Yes… in a way, the source of your powers stem from you dawn titan heritage but what allows you to wield such power is your celestial genes.” Wisp explained but alas this only left me a little more confused than before. She rolled her eyes before adding. “Think of it like one of your sculptures, the pieces are your Dawn Titan heritage, and whatever you use to hold them together is your celestial genes.”

“Oh… I think I get it know.” I said to Wisp, grasping her explanation more than before. She let out a sigh.

“It’s nice to know that your mind isn’t dull due to the sickness.” Wisp said to me. I chuckled a little as Wisp’s head turned to the door, staring at it for a few moments, the flames on her back seemed to raised up a bit. “Someone’s behind that door.” Wisp whispered to me. I arched a brow at Wisp before looking at the door, seeing that it was open just a tiny bit and it was enough to peek into the room. I saw a shadow coming through a little, meaning someone is there.

“Who's there?” I asked out to whoever was eavesdropping on us. Not moments later the door slowly swung open to reveal a curious Ange. She looked at me and then at Wisp.

“Isaac… who are you talking about… and who’s the cat?” She asked me. The flames on Wisp’s back flickered highly before calming down moments later.

“Uhh… this is Wisp.” I said, having been put on the spot and with no time to come up with a believable explanation. Wisp glanced at me as Ange stared at her before getting a little closer.

“Uhm… hello there… Wisp.” She greeted, a little nervous from getting burned.

“Don't worry, she isn't going to burn your hand off.” I said to Ange, this time in confidence. Wisp was never one for violence, she was always the angel on my shoulder that guided me away from conflicts and to argue with the demon in me… the very, very stupid me. Wisp let out a sigh when Ange still held some hesitation before popping into a cloud of embers and reforming beside her feet, surprising the skyborn as a result. She jumped a bit when Wisp did this, letting out an ‘Eep!’ as she did.

“Really?” Wisp said with an annoyed look on her as Ange looked at me.

“Sorry Isaac, just… never thought you have a cat made out of fire…” Ange said in an apologetic tone.

“It's fine but… she's not really my cat.” I said, which immediately caused Wisp’s gaze to snap back to me. “Oh shush you, people are bound to find out one way or another and I'd rather not appear as an insane person talking to a cat made out of fire.” I said to Wisp before she could utter a word.

“Well… I talk to animals, and no one thinks I’m insane.” Ange pointed out, earning a look from me and Wisp.

“Yes… well, I understand that others will find out, I prefer it was you introducing me to them, not them finding out via hearing you talk to yourself as you talk to me. Because really, that’s dumb.” Wisp said as she started to lick her paw. I frowned at Wisp while Ange was left utterly confused.

“Wisp is, in a lack of a better word, my guardian. She's been looking out for me ever since I was a kid, so I wasn't totally alone back then.” I said to Ange while Wisp returned to the top of the bed with a quick hop. “She's had my back more times than I could count, though I know it rivals Blake.” I said which earned humph from Wisp.

“I believe she gets you into trouble most times.” Wisp said to me, earning a look from me and a confused look from Ange.

“You say that like it's a bad thing.” I said to Wisp which got a roll of her eyes. Ange looked at the both of us and fidgeted a bit.

“I uhh… guess I should leave you two… Since you two are talking.” Ange said to us. I looked at her sadly, Wisp was only able to talk to me and I doubt there’s a way to change that… or is there?

“Isn't there a way she can hear you by any chance?” I asked Wisp, curious to know if there was a way all this time and I have never known. Wisp glanced at me for a moment before speaking.

“There is.” Wisp informed me as she curled up on my bed. I waited a few moments only to see her not saying anything

“Well?” I said questioningly waiting for an explanation. She looked at me for a moment.

“Oh, you want to know it?” She asked, earning a frown from me. “She just needs to eat one of the flames of the fire elementals… and you’re the son of the Dawn Titan which means, she needs to eat one of your flames.” She explained to me. I looked Wisp oddly at this but I could she wasn't joking. I soon looked over at Ange as she looked at us awkwardly.

“There's a way you can hear Wisp talk like I do.” I said to Ange, peeking her curiosity.

“What’s that?” She asked me curiously. I took a little bit to come with a simple way to explain it and it led to me snapping my fingers, causing a small flame to erupt at the tip of my thumb.

“You uhh… you need this.” I said to her simply and a little awkwardly. Ange looks at the flame for a moment before looking back at me.

“Um…Why? And what do I do?” She asked me.

“Wisp says that in order to hear her, you need to consume a flame from a fire elemental and since I'm part dawn titan, I count as one.” I said to her as the flame in my hand flickered and danced. Ange looked at me then at the small flame.

“You… want me to eat… fire?” She asked me. “Will it… hurt?” I quickly shook my head at this, knowing that I can make fire very harmless or very dangerous at will and the thought of hurting Ange was one that I'd rather die than thinking of it again.

“No, I can make so it wouldn't even hurt a fly. The most you'll feel would be warmth.” I said to her as she thought about it some more. Ange soon sat down beside me as she looked at the tiny flame.

“A-Alright…” She said softly. I held out my hand before she placed her on top it, I then slowly moved the flame from my other hand onto hers and she grimaced every second that passed, expecting a burning sensation but upon touching it, she felt nothing and was a little surprised. She looked up at me again, hesitating but an encouraging look from myself gave her her courage to place the still flickering flame in her mouth before promptly swallowing it.

Her expression went through a number of changes, first nothing, then weird out, then nausea, then nothing. “Okay… that was weird.” I soon looked back at Wisp, seeing her curled up on top of my pillows.

“Did it work?” I asked the fiery feline. She looked at me with one eye and then at Ange.

“... Boo.” Wisp said, earning a gasp from Ange.

“I heard that!” Ange said before frowning. “Why did you say ‘Boo’?”

“First word that came to mind.” Wisp said simply. I rolled my eyes before finally speaking up.

“Well… Ange meet Wisp. Wisp… you already know about Ange.” I told them both, formally introducing one another.

“Umm, hello?” Ange greeted the fiery feline.

“Hello.” Wisp greeted back. Ange simply looked at Wisp, intrigued on how she is entirely made of fire yet a sentient being with thoughts of her own. “I do hope Isaac here as been treating with respect and care.” She said to Ange with a glance at me and Ange.

“Oh uhh… he has…” She answered Wisp, earning a chuckle from the cat as she rested on my pillow. I frowned at Wisp for having said that and doubting that I'd treat Ange wrongly.

“One can never be too sure, dear Isaac.” Wisp said to me after seeing my frown. About a minute into the silence that settled in the room, Ange finally noticed that I wasn't laying in bed and instead sitting on it as if I were to get up at any second… which I was but she caught on.

“Isaac, you sure you want to get up?” Ange asked me with a slight frown.

“I don't want to waste away a perfectly good day in bed… it's so boring~” I said childishly and with a whine at the end.

“Yes well you were looking like the dead when I saw you last, you should rest a little longer.” Ange said as she put her hands on my shoulders. I frowned at but only sighed before resting head back onto the pillows after Wisp moved away of course. Now the fiery feline laid atop me, using me as her own pillow. Ange smiled at me as she stood back up and took the bowl. “There’s more soup, I’ll get you some if you want.”

“I'll be fine.” I said, still bummed out that I'm stuck here for the rest of the day as well. Ange gave me a sad smile before leaving the room with Wisp laying on me.

“She’s something, huh?” Wisp said to me, one of her eyes opening to look at me.

“Yeah… She's the best thing that ever happened to me.” I said to Wisp without hesitation in my voice, it showed her how much I meant every word and it garnered a chuckle from the fiery feline. Once again, I was left to curse my ill health and the cause but I couldn't say the day was all bad.

End of XVIII

Chapter XIX

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It's been close to two months since coming down with a bad case of the sniffles and even after being bedridden the entire day, I was told-nay, forced to stay in bed by Ange until she was positively sure. Who was I to argue with her? I stayed in my room for nearly a week, occasionally sneaking out and being told on that conniving fire cat. The only good that came from being stuck in my room for a week was the fact that I had time to finish my sketches and ultimately picking which one I'd make a reality.

As soon as Ange gave the okay for me to go about my normal business, I immediately locked myself within my workshop and began working. From one room to another and Wisp didn't hesitate to speak about this or remind me at the start of every day. Speaking of Wisp, after having been found out by Ange, Wisp decided to reveal herself to Skyler and Irena as sooner or later they'd stumble upon her like Ange. Of course Skyler was the one that found Wisp to be in her own words, totally badass fire cat.

Irena took a shining to Wisp, giving her a hug when she first met her and the thought of her getting burned by a fire cat didn’t cross her mind. Wisp now spends time in the house now, mostly sleeping on a pillow that Irena pulled out for her, luckily I didn’t have to feed her. What did fire elementals eat anyway? Another question for Wisp I suppose but I couldn't bother stopping my work for something so trivial. Even today I spent most of the morning within the confines of my garage working away at a project entirely different to what I normally do. It consisted of fairly large and smoothed out metal sheet in which I will use to burn an exact copy of my sketch onto it. I've already gone through an unreasonable amount of trial and errors, most of which ended with sheet metal onto the floor before I spent six or so hours carving it out to try again.

After many fails and some more sheet metal I finally got what I wanted so I could move on with the project. I went back inside to make myself some food and a drink before going back into my workplace. With a cup of coffee in one hand and the page with the original sketch on the other hand, I could only stare in awe at what many painstaking hours trying over and over again had gotten me. An actual metal portrait of Ange with her sweet smile. If I didn't know any better, I was an artist in the making. I smiled at this as I finished my coffee and last bit of food before heading back inside to put my plate and mug in the sink for later.

As I did this there was a knock on my door. Curious to know of who this was, I walked over to the front door and opened it.

“Yo.” Rachael greeted me with Dianne behind her with a smile on her face. I arched a brow at the two of them, knowing them to be duo of trouble I began to slowly close the door. My efforts were stopped when Dianne put her hand on the door and opened it some more. With a groan I asked.

“What is it you two want?” I asked them, hoping to get this over with to continue my work.

“We heard that you been cooped up in your house for a long time, so we all decided to do something about it!” Dianne said happily.

“Yeah, so with some convincing the others and I are going to head to the beach!” Rachael added with a smile as well.

“Alright, have fun with that.” I said quickly before trying to close the door once again but like last time, the happy go lucky baker stopped me from doing so. I keep forgetting that for such a random woman as Dianne is, she’s strong.

“Isaac, you’re coming too.” Dianne said with a smile.

“Yeah, again you’ve been in your house for days man, time for you to get some sun.” the Skyborn proclaimed.

“Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the beach.” I said with an uninterested tone. Both Rachael and Dianne looked at one another with arched brows and forming frowns.

“Oh come on Isaac, what’s wrong with going to the beach with your friends?” Dianne asked, forgetting my response of me not being a big fan of the beach.

“Also you look really pale, you need some sun man.” Rachael pointed out to me. I looked down at myself, seeing the paleness of my skin.

“Besides we’re all going, Lydia, Jacqueline, Sophia, the two of us, Angelina, Blake and even Camilla.” Dianne pointed out. This was surprising to me since Blake didn’t like beaches as well, mostly for different reasons.

“Count me out, I'd rather stay here than sweat under the rays of the sun.” I said to the two of them, which earned me a frown from Dianne the most before she grew a smirk and said.

“You sure? We're all going to be there… and Ange will be in a swimsuit~.” Dianne teased. That caused me to momentarily stop and even consider it a little but then the thought of the ocean itself came to mind and I quickly shook my head.

“No… No tempting me with imagery, I'm not going.” I said firmly stating that I didn't want to go and that nothing would change my mind. Dianne pouted a bit.

“Come on Isaac, it'll be fun!” Dianne whined before adding. “Ange would be really sad that you're not there!!” I frowned at Dianne, hating the fact that she's using every tactic she has in store to get me to come along. If it meant Ange would be happy…

“Fine…” I said with a sigh of defeat. Dianne beamed at me for this.

“Alright! Get your swimsuit!” She said happily. Rachael looked at her for a moment.

“Yeah… it'll be fun.” She said with a smile. I simply shrugged and went to get my swimsuit that's buried in my closet. As I did this I soon realised someone was behind me. I turned to see Irena standing there. She tilted her head at me, which meant she was wondering what I was doing.

“Oh hey, I'm just looking for a pair of swim trunks. I was invited to the beach with the others and Ange.” I said to Irena before continuing to rummage around my closet for my trunks, seeing no sign of it yet. “I know it's around here somewhere.” I said mostly to myself. Irena stood there as I pulled everything out of my closet until I finally found them. They looked brand new as I held them up. I pushed everything back into my closet, organized be damned, and turned back to Irena who was still there. “Is something wrong?” I asked her.

She looked around at the place before looking back at me with an arched brow as if she was saying ‘You're leaving me here by myself so you could swim?’. Spending enough time with her I pretty much knew what she is thinking. I had taken out a backpack and stuffed it with some of the necessities like sunscreen and a towel, now a pair of swimming trunks.

“You want to come with?” I asked her, not really liking the idea of leaving her here. Her eyes widened at this before she nodded happily. I chuckled a little before realizing that Irena has no swimsuit. I hummed at this and decided to stop at Sophia's place to pick one up for her. Sophia was quick to make one for Irena and generous enough to not charge for it. When everything was settled, I could only dread the moment we arrive at the beach.

And here I was… standing in front of endless water as far as my eyes could see. The sun was bearing down on me as I had a loose t-shirt on and my trunks. I chose a spot as far away from the water as possible, not wanting it anywhere near me at anytime and it had garnered some attention.

Even now I still sat on the blanket that I set up after arriving, simply thinking of future projects before finally laying down. Irena was quick to go into the water, giggling happily as she was joined by Dianne. I was slowly beginning to relax until I heard someone walk up to me.

“Hey Isaac.” The sound of Camilla’s voice greeted my ears. I turned around to see her in a red and orange bikini top and bottom with a half open skirt/ robe around her waist and some sunglasses on her forehead.

“Hey, didn't expect to see you here.” I said to her, glancing up at her as I did. She smiled at this before speaking.

“Yeah… Blake didn't trust me running her shop by myself.” The Fire Magi said with a nervous laugh. From what I heard Blake had Camilla work in her store as she lived in her spare room.

“Hehe, I don't think she trusts anyone but herself to run her shop.” I said with a chuckle before laying my head back down on the blanket covered ground. “So how's your house coming along?” I asked her. Her smile turned into a frown.

“It's slow… when I think it's getting headway, something comes up and delays it.” She said with a sigh. “Something about a mask vigilante or something.” This clued me in at the event Lydia and the others taught Rachael a lesson with her oversized ego. Camilla shook her head at this. “Just getting it repaired is becoming a headache.”

“I know the pain, my house wasn't always fireproof.” I said Camilla simply, letting her know that before fireproofing the house. I remember that I had my own hotline towards the town's fire department. This got a snort from the Fire Magi.

“Tell me about it…” She said before sighing. “I might have to take up Blake’s offer if this happens any longer.” I arched a brow at this before asking.

“What offer?” I asked her, now curious to know.

“Well, since I’m staying in her home and made myself at home, she offered that if my other home is, and this is her words, ‘being a bitch to get’ I could move in with her and simply pay rent.” Camilla explained what Blake had offered her. It was pretty good offer really, convenient too as Camilla had basically already settled into Blake's guest room.

“Moving in with your crush? Heh.” I said jokingly to her and her reaction to this was a very noticeable blush. She frowned at me as she crossed her arms before looking off. I chuckled a bit before she asked me something.

“Why does Blake hate the beach?” Camilla asked. I looked at her before looking over at Blake who was sitting on her own blanket and under an umbrella.

“It's not really the beach she hates, it more of a hate towards the sand as it tends to get everywhere.” I said Camilla, surprising her with my answer. She must've not have expected me to know the answer. “What?” I asked her, noticing her staring at me.

“Nothing… just surprised.” Camilla said before adding. “I’m going to see if I could talk to her.” With that she walked off towards Blake. I chuckled a little as I was left alone. I saw Rachael and Jacqueline were in the water racing as Sophia was sunbathing. Dianne and Irena were building a sandcastle and… where’s Ange? I looked around down the beach before I heard someone behind me.

“H-hey Isaac.” Ange greeted me. I turned and my jaw dropped at what I saw; Ange was in a bikini of her own, a light blue one that she was blushing like a tomato. This image was something my head couldn’t imagine if I could.

“Hey Ange…” I said almost breathlessly before I shook my head. I know for a fact that I'll be keeping that as a close memory of mine, like the image of Nurse Angelina… heh. She shifted a bit as I stared.

“Is this… good? Sophia said that you would like this… though I don’t know why.” Ange stated, adjusting her top a bit and blushing more.

“You look great, Ange.” I said to her, smiling as I did before I sat up finally. “Though are you sure you're okay with wearing a bikini?” I asked her, knowing of how self conscious she is when wearing something so… well risque is the better term.

“I… well… you’ve seen me trying to get out of my shell of being a bit of a… well, a loner from what Rachael said.” Ange said before blushing a little more. “Though, this is a little bit of a big step for me… b-but I’m fine! Really.” She chuckled a bit at the last bit.

“Well if or when you want to cover yourself up, I've got an extra shirt you could use.” I said to her, offering the extra shirt I had brought along in case the one I wore got dirty or wet… preferably the former than the latter. Ange gave me a look that said ‘Thank you’ as she got close and give me a kiss. It was warm and loving like always with her as I wrapped my arms around her. When we parted, she looked at me with a smile and spoke.

“I'm uhh, going to go for a swim… want to come join?” Ange asked me with a warm smile. My eyes widen at this and I quickly shook my head and answered though my voice couldn't keep it's cool.

“N-no, I'm fine… where it's dry… And safe.” I said with a voice crack at the end. Ange looked at me oddly after I said that.

“Isaac… is there something wrong?” Ange asked me. I blinked at this, not sure what to answer or how to pretend to be fine when I could see the blue devil behind Ange.

“Nope nope, fine everything's just fine.” I said before suddenly laying back with a pose and saying. “How are you?” I asked. Ange stared at me for a few moments before frowning.

“I’m… fine, I think?” She said. I smiled at her before she went off towards the ocean. I let out a sigh at this as I rolled onto my back with a sigh. I hated not telling her the truth but... I let out another sigh and cursed my fear of the water. If it wasn't because of nearly drowning as a kid I wouldn't be in this mess.

“Great.” I said to myself, mentally berating myself for having lied to Ange. I looked down at the water just as Ange dove into it. There was some sort of grace to that as I lost sight of her into the water. Countless people have told me how I am missing out on the beach, ignoring the water and sticking to staying out in the sand, sure it's annoying but that doesn't mean I didn't agree with them. Hell I have tried conquering my fear but I forgot one tiny little important thing… I can't swim.

The fear of water scared me to try and learn it and the lack of knowledge of swimming made it hard to get over my fear, or in short I’m screwed. I sat on the beach for some time, watching the others have fun in the sand or water, other than Blake who hated the sand,until I saw someone waving at me. As I looked I saw it was Ange and as she waved she pointed towards someplace. I looked and saw what looked like a small cove where I saw Ange started to swim too. Did Ange want me to go there? Curious as I am, I stood up and walked over towards the cove which wasn't a long walk thankfully enough.

“Ange?” I called out for her. I looked around and soon saw her behind a large rock.

“Over… here…” She said, still blushing like mad, why I don’t know. I walked over to her as she stood behind the rock. “Thank Celestia you came over… can I… have that extra t-shirt you have? Please.”

“Why? Is everything okay?” I asked her, now a little worried about her. I didn't think she would want the shirt this soon.

“Please… Isaac…” She said, on the border of tears. I tilted my head, still confused on why but I did notice something… there was no straps around her- oh. With no other words, I sprinted back towards my spot and took out the extra shirt before hauling ass back. I returned out of breath but with the shirt in hand.

“Here you go, one extra shirt as promised.” I said slightly out of breath as I handed her the shirt. Ange took it and quickly put it on. I looked away just to be modest before she stepped out. Due to the water on her, the shirt clung to her but at least she was decent.

“Isaac… thank you.” She said, still tears in her eyes. I cupped her cheek and wiped the tears away, not wanting to see her cry.

“Don't cry, you know I hate to see you cry.” I said to her, my voice taking a loving tone, one she had grown very used to with how long we've been together. She sniffled a little before putting her head on my chest, her cold wet body on my warm dry body. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. Nothing was said while we were like this, simply enjoying the closeness of one another… well, she was no doubt enjoying the warmth I was providing. It was enough to bring comfort to her and for her not to get cold from having just gotten out of the water. She sniffled a little before looking up at me. We stared at each other before she leaned up and kissed me. When we parted from the sweet kiss, we sat on a large rock inside the cove but it was only me on the rock as Ange didn't want to let go of the warmth so she sat on my lap but I didn't really mind all too much. The sounds of the waves crashing into the shore was soothing to the both of us. She laid on me, smiling as she looked up at me.

“Thank you… again Isaac, I owe you for this.” She said with a smile.

“It's alright, your smile is a good enough reward for me.” I said to her, not wanting to let her think she owes me by any means. She smiled at me before she shifted around so she was facing me and hooked her arms around my neck.

“Isaac… why have you been acting so weird?” Ange asked me. I blinked at her as she continued. “When I asked you to come with me to the water, you lied to me and acted… odd.” I gave her saddened look before taking a deep breath and saying.

“It's because… I'm afraid of the water…” I said in admittance though with a little shame in my voice as well. She stared at me for a moment.

“Oh… oh I’m sorry…” Ange said sadly. “If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked.”

“No no, you didn't really do anything wrong it's just… I've been so embarrassed about it for a very long time.” I said to her with a sad tone as I spoke and added. “I tried getting over my fear, I really did but because of my fear I never learnt how to swim so I couldn't get over my fear.” I said to her. She simply stared at me before pulling herself closer. "Which ended up in this odd hate loop of can't do."

“Maybe… I could help?” Ange asked softly, leaning her head on my shoulder. “Maybe once a week we go to the local pond and try to teach you to swim?” She offered.

“I don't know…” I said hesitantly, the offer wasn't bad by any means. Learning how to swim so I could conquer my fear sounded great but… once again my fear was getting the best of me. I was soon brought out of my thoughts when Ange kissed me.

“Don’t worry, I'll be there with you.” She said softly before giving me another kiss on the lips. To be honest, now I couldn't refuse. I took a deep breath and thought about it a little bit more before finally nodding slowly and saying.

“O-okay… I guess it's worth a try.” I said to her with a little stutter at the start. Ange smiled at this before leaning in and kissing me for the third time, this one slowly turned into a makeout session. Unlike a lot of the times this has happened to us, it didn't escalate further than just a makeout session, not wanting to be caught in a compromising position. When our kisses stopped, we simply hummed at one another. Ange was very appreciative of the warmth as it helped her dry faster without being cold from the wind. “You know, it's times like this I really enjoy.” I said a soft tone. Ange hummed again, resting her head on my chest.

“I do too, I love them.” Ange said softly. The two of us stayed there for a few more minutes before heading back, hand in hand.

When we returned no one seemed to have noticed that we were gone, some waves for some of them but mostly they were busy with what they are doing. Though when I looked over at where Irena I was what was the most detailed sandcastle there was, it even had a drawbridge and moat.

“That's… wow.” I didn't really know what to say really, I could just stand there staring awestruckingly at the sandcastle. Irena was still working on it and smiling at herself for what she has done.

Right until a wave came up and washed it all away. Irena blinked at this before doing an expression of ‘Aww man!’. She took her bucket and moved over to start again.

“Awww, poor Irena…” Ange said sadly. I nodded in agreement before thinking of a good idea that actually might be enjoyable. I simply smiled and walked over towards Irena with Angelina following curiously behind.

“Hey, need any help?” I asked Irena once I stopped and stood in front of her new castle under construction. Irena looked up at me, then at the castle then back me as she held out her bucket. I smiled at this as I took the bucket and started to help Irena with building a sandcastle. Ange even jumped in to help out happily and honestly, it was quite fun. From looking at the three of us it looked like we were a family which, to me, was not a bad thought.

Before long we made a new sandcastle, bigger and better than the last one. It also had the added bonus of being far away from the water. Irena smiled at this, feeling proud at the castle the three of us made together. She thanked us the only way she knew how, by giving me and Ange hugs. When she did, I couldn't help but feel an odd sense of pride over her. It's a feeling I'm very well familiar with, having experienced it with Skyler and I knew it wasn't normal pride over them as it felt more… fatherly, I guess with how I've taken care of them I've become somewhat of a father figure to both of them, though I'd doubt I'm a very good one with my recklessness.

Before long it was time to go, much to Blake's enjoyment for leaving, we all packed up and headed back to Everfree. Ange and I stood by one another on the way back, Irena in between of us as we walked and, after a train ride back, we were back home. Irena was still gleaming with pure joy as evident from her skipping and it only brought us a little happiness seeing her like this. While everyone went their separate ways, me, Ange and Irena all headed back to my house. I had told Ange about my recent completion of a project and she is curious to see how it looks, so curious even that on the train she had constantly asked me what it was but was met with the same response of not wanting to ruin the surprise.

When we entered the house Ange was pouring that I didn't say what the surprise is. Irena ran off into the house, leaving me with Ange. After telling that I'll have to cover her eyes first, she agreed quickly and allowed me to both cover her eyes and guide her to the garage. When we were in the comfort of said garage, I flipped the lights on and stood Ange in front of the metal portrait before finally uncovering her eyes.

“Ta-da!” I exclaimed happily to her as her gaze settled onto the portrait. Ange gasped at this.

“Oh my… is that me?” She asked in awe. I nodded as I kicked a few scraps of previous attempts away before saying.

“Yeah…” I said to her with a smile and a blush forming on my cheeks. The portrait is, as I had mentioned before, a copy of the sketch I drew of Ange. Sure it wasn't what I normally do but I've been to do something special for Ange as thanks for having taken care of me. She stared at it before turning back at me, she still wore the shirt and bikini bottom from the beach as she smiled.

“Isaac… I love it! Thank you.” She said happily. Soon after saying this she wrapped her arms around my neck to pull me down into a deep kiss, one I was returning gladly. I held her closer as we kissed before we finally parted.

“I’d hoped you'd love it.” I said to her as I rested my forehead on hears. I gave her a small kiss on the tip of her nose, earning a giggle from her… music to my ears.

“Well your hopes were right.” Ange said with a smile. I chuckled before going on about my many tries in getting it right as she was curious to know how long and how many tries I took. She was left stunned at my answer, not having expected me to dedicate so much time for another gift to her. The shock soon turned into a smile as we kissed again, which made me pull Ange up and set her on my workbench, makes it easier to kiss that way. In the heat of passion, Ange was the one to take initiative as she began to attempt to strip me but with some help she got what she wanted. It's safe to say that she really, oh so truly loved the gift.

End of XIX

Chapter XX

View Online

I hummed to myself as I slowly open my eyes as I woke up. It was morning from the light coming through the window of my bedroom, luckily it didn’t hit my eyes since that would be a pain. I felt someone snuggle up to me as I saw Ange sleeping next to me. It was a week since the trip to the beach and showing her the gift I’ve worked on. Ange has been coming over more frequently to visit and teach Irena, though while she does leave to take care of her animals at certain times in the day, she would sleep here for the night. Some people had gotten the idea that Ange moved in with me and while I wasn't opposed to it entirely, Ange would be quick to correct those who ask.

Right now I was happy as we laid in bed together for the time being until Ange started to wake up. “Hmmm… morning Isaac…” Ange greeted me as she woke up.

“Morning beautiful.” I greeted back, a little groggy after just waking up. She smiled at me and gave me a good morning kiss before I sat up and stretched, something Ange always enjoyed looking at me do with the fact of me being shirtless and not to mention after being altered by my celestial ascension or whatever it was. After I did that I turned back to see Ange getting out of bed as well, using the blanket to cover herself as she went to the one dresser with some of her clothes in it. I smiled a little as I simply grabbed some clothes and put them on. A simple pair of short jeans and a tanktop, because I have an abundance of them but isn't really so bad as some might think at least for me it isn't. I get to show my tattoos around, I'm very proud of them as the process of getting them was nothing but slow agony. I turned back to Angelina as she put on her green t-shirt and was already in a purple skirt, brushing her hair back as she finished.

We finally headed downstairs and were honestly surprised to find that we weren't the first to get up early. Irena sat by the dining table, munching on some of her favorite cereal. She turned to us and gave us a wave as we came down.

“Morning Irena.” Ange said happily as she went over and gave Irena a kiss on top of her head. Irena smiled as this as she went back to eating. I walked by Irena, greeting her with a simply hair ruffling and a smile before I entered the kitchen and simply served myself some cereal while Ange did the same. Normally I'd cook everyone some breakfast but I think I'll today as an exception.

“Now…” I said as I walked back into the dining room before taking a seat beside Irena. “Why are you up so early?” I asked her curiously. Irena looked up at me and simply shrugged as she continue eating. I simply chuckled and ate my cereal while Ange sat on the other side of Irena, which brought a smile out from the latter. For the most part we ate in silence, simply enjoying the early morning peace before we finished up. With nothing to do so early in the day, we sat on the couch to watch some tv. Irena had recently gotten into certain cartoons and when we passed by one of her favorite shows, she made it clear by letting out a whine that she wanted it on her show and I did without a fuss. Irena was somewhat sandwiched between me and Ange but that was her own choice as she made me and Ange make some for her.

Ange hummed happily as we watched the cartoon, Irena was simply absorbed in watching it as we watched. After an hour or so of watching television, Ange had to leave to check and feed her animals, which garnered a sad whine from the dark celestial but a comforting pat on the back from me assured her that she'll be back in time like always.

“Are you going to stay in today, with it being the Valentine's day festival and all?” I asked Irena as she sat comfortably on my lap. She at some point thought the couch wasn't comfy enough which got me to ask her why and my response was a simple shrug. Too answer my other question and took a few moments to think on it before shrugging. No plans huh. “Why not come with me and Ange? I'm sure it'll be fun, better than being coped up here.” I said to her, my voice taking a very familiar tone. It was a fatherly like tone, one I would use when speaking to either Skyler and Irena at times. “Come on, it'll be super fun!” I said to her encouragingly.

Irena smiled at this and nodded at me. I smiled at this and the two of us spent some time finishing watching the cartoon. When that's done we got ready to head to Blake's shop, I sent Ange a message to meet us there when she could. I had asked Skyler if she wanted to come with but she mentioned that she had already made plans to hang out with her friends. When I got ready and went towards the front door, I saw Irena waiting for me by the door and she soon gave me toothy smile before we went outside. Upon stepping outside, I surprised Irena by having picked her up and carried her on my shoulders. Surprised at first, Irena felt like she was on top of the world. I smiled at her laughter as we continued on.

The streets were already decorated with red and white streamers and some hearts as well, couples were walking hand in hand or hooked arms. Yup, this place is in full swing of the holiday, like every holiday. I carried Irena to Blake's shop and saw that there was a few decorations on her windows and door. Inside I saw Camilla at the till reading as there was a few couples in the store already. Seeing that Blake was still busy at the moment, I walked over to Camilla to give a friendly hello hi.

“Hey Camilla.” I greeted happily while the child on my shoulders waved her hand at Camilla. She looked at us from her book and smiled.

“Hey you two, how's it going?” She asked us.

“It's been good so far, I hope it stays that way really.” I said with a shrug of my shoulders, getting a giggle out of Irena from doing so. I smiled at Irena before I steadied her as she almost fell down. Camilla smiled at this as she put her book down.

“Can I get you anything?” She asked us. Didn’t realized Camilla was working here. I simply ordered my usual coffee while Irena tapped my head for some Mooncakes. Camilla put in the order in and as I paid we heard some giggling from some of the couples that were here as well. Camilla frowned at this and grumbled something to herself.

“You alright?” I asked her, having not really understood what she grumbled. She sighed as she put a cup in front of her.

“Oh nothing, just me hating today.” She said as she pulled a note out from the side. Irena blinked at the Fire Magi as Camilla said this.

“How come? There's not really much to hate unless you hate love itself… or something along those lines.” I said to Camilla, gaining an arched brow from Irena to which I shrugged simply. Camilla glanced at me before seemingly starting to make my coffee.

“No, it’s not that… just…” Camilla paused as if she was thinking of the words to say. “You know that nobles don’t want to get near me? Well there is this one noble, pretty high up noble, that hang out with me when I was younger, she’s fine and all but she just becomes the most lovey dovey person when this day rolls around. Like, ugh!” I blinked at this, not knowing what she was one about entirely and I could tell that Irena was somewhat the same.

“Okay? And how does that bother you?” I asked her with an arched brow. Camilla stopped what she was doing and looked at me.

“You know Dianne, sometimes she just goes on and on about things and never stops?” Camilla asked me before adding. “That, on this day, all the time.”

“Okay~ So I am to guess I won't be seeing you during the festival.” I said to her in a guessing manner. She let out a sigh before saying.

“I… don’t know… maybe I swing by or maybe not. Who knows.” Camilla answered as she pushed the coffee cup to me. “Okay… I think I got that right… I think.” I took a sample sip from the coffee before giving her the meh gesture.

“It's alright.” Was all I said about the coffee. “So… have any idea who's your Valentine's going to be?” I asked her, practically out of the left field came that question. She blinked at me before saying.

“I… why are you asking me this?” Camilla asked, blushing a little. I chuckled and smirked, having gotten a quick reaction from the magi.

“I don't know, curiosity maybe.” I said but it was most certainly a lie. No matter how much the two deny it, Blake and Camilla both have feelings for one another and it's blatantly obvious to everyone in town. There's even a bet going around on who's going to ask the other out first. Camilla raised a brow at this before giving us a bag of mooncakes.

“You know curiosity killed the cat right.” Camilla stared with a frown though there was still a small blush on her face.

“Yeah, and?” I asked jokingly as I handed the bag up to Irena, who quickly grabbed it with a giddy smile. Camilla didn’t say anything as I heard Irena started eating the mooncakes. As luck would have it, Blake came out from the kitchen and broke the silence that had settled in just seconds before.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” She asked the two of us before seeing the coffee cup in my hand before asking. “Hey, how’s the coffee?”

“Eh, it's alright.” I said simply before she noticed the happily eating Irena, munching on a bit of moon cake. She smiled at this and looked at the Fire Magi.

“See, you’re getting better.” Blake said cheerfully, earning another grumble from Camilla.

“I can weave complexe spells as if they were nothing, decode ancient runes and other stuff but why is it I can’t make a cup of coffee!” Camilla complained, earning a snort from Blake before she looked at me.

“First one she made caught on fire, it was funny.” Blake said, earning her a smack from the Fire Magi.

“You promised you wouldn’t tell!”

“I lied.” Blake answered with a cheeky smile. Camilla rolled her eyes at this and muttered to herself. As this went on Irena giggled a little before making fake kissing sounds at the two of them. The two of them frowned at her from this, making Irena stuck her tongue out at them. I simply fist bumped her after she did that and chuckled, which got them to frown at me as well.

“What?” I asked as if I was being accused of wrongdoing. The two of them looked at each other for a moment before looking back at me.

“Nothing.” They both said, earning a giggle from Irena as she started to eat a second mooncake. With that said and done, I headed for an empty booth and sat Irena down before sitting down myself. While Irena ate her mooncake, she leaned onto me and even offered me half of it. I smiled at her and thanked her as I took the half. It was a few minutes later that, after the morning rush calmed down and Camilla went off for break, that I saw Blake deep in though with a troubled expression.
I looked back at the two, Blake talking to Camilla about something I think, couldn't hear from where I sat, which Camilla nodded. It seemed that Blake was going to say/ask something but stopped. Camilla walked away, leaving Blake to blush a little and smack her head a few times before disappearing into the back. I was ever so curious as to what was wrong, so I stood up and followed Blake into the kitchen, spotting her hitting her head against the wall a few times in frustration.

“What's got you so riled up?” I asked her, making my presence here known to her. She stopped banging her head on the wall and looked at me.

“You know you're not supposed to be in the back…” She blinked a few time before adding. “And ow.” I rolled my eyes after hearing her.

“And? Hasn't really stopped me before.” I said to her before shaking my head and going back on topic. “So why are you trying to bang a hole into the wall with your face?” I asked her with my arms crossed. She rubbed her head before answering.

“Will you believe I wanted a new window?” She asked, earning her a frown from me. She sighed and hung her head. “I feel stupid.” I arched a brow at her.

“Come Blake, what's up?” I asked her again, this time a little more sincerely. I really didn't like seeing her so down. She sighed as she leaned against the wall.

“I… can't seem to have the guts to ask her out…” Blake said softly. The way she said it even brought me down from my happy mood.

“I knew you were nervous about this but I didn't think it was this bad.” I said though despite it sounding like a joke, I was actually surprised to find out that even she can't find the bravery to ask out her crush… And she actually one of the few bravest people I know of.

“I know! Every time I tried to ask my whole body freezes up and my tongue twist around into a knot.” She said in more of an annoyed tone. “Ugh, why is this so hard!”

“Because of fear…” I said to her simply, getting her attention as soon as those words left my mouth. “You're afraid that, if she were to say no, it'll put a giant monkey wrench into your already existing friendship and effectively making things awkward for the both of you.” I said, surprising her more and more as I spoke. She stared at me for a moment before opening her mouth then closing it.

“Uhh… yeah that sums it up…” Blake said before leaning back. “I mean… sure I'm not a big fan of nobles but… she's something else.” Blake said with a sigh.

“Well just so you know, it wasn't easy for me either. The day I first went to ask Ange to the fair, there were countless times I wanted to turn away and chicken out in fear of fucking up royally. Seriously, I was sweating up gallons by the second and all I was doing was walking over to her place!” I said even though I added the last part with an unnecessary yell. This kinda got a chuckle from Blake as she sighed.

“Yeah, now look at you two, practically inseparable.” She pointed out to me.

“Yes, that's true but that's because I took that chance.” I was quick to say. It was true, before I had walked up to Ange's place I had doubted it was going to work and contemplated in just leaving. “You have to take that chance as well.” I said to her. She was quite from this, thinking on what I said before nodding.

“Yeah, maybe I should try at least.” Blake said softly. I gave her a small smile once I heard that. She scratched her head before the both of us heard the sound of the door bell ringing. “Ah, more customers… Isaac thanks for everything but really get out of my kitchen.” She said with a smile. I rolled my eyes but nevertheless nodded and left before finally returning to the booth I left Irena in. Upon seeing me, she gave me a toothy smile before I sat back down. When I did Irena handed me another half of a mooncake to me as she smiled at me.

I smiled back as I took the Mooncake as Ange came around the booth. “Sorry that I’m late.” She said as she sat down.

“No worries, Ange.” I said to Ange, gaining a small sigh of relief from her when I did. Irena smiled at Ange before looking down at her bag before pulling out one last mooncake. She looked at it and then in the bag, as if she was looking for more mooncakes. She continued to glance at the moon cake and Ange before finally offering it to Ange, surprising the skyborn from the sudden offer of Irena’s last mooncake.

“Oh… thank you Irena.” Ange said with a smile as she took the last mooncake. Irena smiled a little as Ange ate the cake. “So… what’s your plan for today Isaac?”

“I'm planning heading into the fair later with Irena.” I said to Ange before quickly adding. “Care to join us?” I asked her with a warm smile. Ange smiled at this and nodded.

“I would love too… um, maybe after I get something to eat.” Ange blushed a little at this. “I uh… forgot to get something to eat before I left my home.” I chuckled a little at this and Irena giggled before Blake came up to ask what Ange would like to eat. Ange ordered a sandwich with some tea that she likes which Blake wrote down.

“Alright your order will be ready for you soon.” Blake explained before looking at me. “Also me and Camilla are having s small party, kinda, a little later today, you and Ange want to come?” She asked.

“A party for what?” I asked her curiously. By the looks of their expressions, Irena and Ange were curious about this as well.

“Well deciding that waiting for the builders to fix up the place, Camilla is going to fully move in with me as a roommate and we're having a small party for that.” Blake explained with a smile. I was surprised to hear that Camilla was actually going to fully move in though I should've expected it more with how much of bitch it was to wait for the house to be repaired.

“Huh, neato.” Was all I could say really. It's not really something to rave about but it was certainly something to celebrate but that also meant I needed to look into the source of the delays for the house repairs in case someone else wanted to move in. “Sure, sounds like it could be fun.” I said with a shrug.

“I would love to come.” Ange said with a smile. Blake nodded at this before heading back into her kitchen to make Anges food.

Irena was quietly sitting beside me looking out of the window as the townsfolk walked past. She does this sometimes, simply stare out someplace and in her own little world or something. I was always curious as to what she was thinking of but whenever I ask she would only answer with a shrug and a sigh. It even got Ange's concern at some point. Before long Blake returned with Ange’s food, as well as some more mooncakes which drew the attention of the Dark Celestial. She was about to grab the plate of mooncake before I stopped her hands from reaching the plate.

“Don't eat it all this time, that's how you get fat fast.” I said to her in a serious tone that got a pout from Irena before I handed her one mooncake instead of all four. She whined and gave me puppy dog eyes but I stood by my words and she soon gave up and accepted what could be her last mooncake of the day. Ange happily ate her food and chatted with me and Irena as she did.

Blake PoV

One thing about working on your feet all day is that you need to take breaks once in a while, or simply get off your feet. Better yet; a half-hour break before the lunch rush. I sat in the back, eating a sandwich for my break.

I thought of going upstairs to get a book or something when Camilla came into the back.

“The front is stocked and ready to go for lunch.” She informed me, earning an arch brow from me.

“Thanks, you sure you want to work here? With your skills you could’ve gotten a better job.” I pointed out to her. Like really, she’s one of the four powerful Magi, yet she’s working in my shop… makes me scratch my head a bit.

“Eh, I like it here.” Camilla said with a smile as she pulled out her food. Once she did, she sat beside me and ate and for the most part I did to but I would glance at Camilla every now and again with Isaac's words echoing in my head. I hummed a little as I looked at Camilla, now or never… I think?

“Hey Camilla…” I started to say, earning her attention. She looked over to me with an arched brow before saying.

“Yeah?” She asked, chewing on some food before swallowing. “What’s up?”

‘Gulp’ I thought as I became nervous as I stared at her, trying to ask her out. “Are… you uhh, busy tomorrow?” I asked. She swallowed her food and hummed at me.

“Not really… why?” She asked me, tilting her head. I paused for a moment, trying to get the nerve to go through with this.

“Well I was wondering… Ummm… no, never mind.” I said softly, confusing Camilla and I went back to my sandwich. ‘Stupid, Stupid, stupid!’ I yelled at myself in my head after that, frowning at my choice of words. Camilla blinked at me before going back to her own food.

“What were you going to say?” Camilla asked after a few minutes of awkward silence. I could only mentally berate myself before I spoke.

“Ahh… well...you see…” I fumbled with my words a bit as I thought of something to say.

“I was wondering if you'd want to go out tomorrow?” A voice that sounded a lot like mine said out of nowhere. I panicked and looked around, just seeing it was just us in the room with an open window for some airflow.

“Uhhh… that’s was… umm.” I stumbled with my correction, shit! This isn’t how I wanted to go!

“Sure… I guess.” Camilla answered, earning a shocked look on me as she blushed a bit. I blushed as well as I chuckled a little bit.

“O-okay… so… what you want to do?” I asked, not really thinking this far ahead.

“Umm, walk around town?” Camilla answered. I smiled and nodded, saying we could do that and maybe grab something to eat later. Soon we planned out what we were doing tomorrow on our… umm, date. From the corner of my eyes I could see the open window and there stood a familiar raven, blinking at me before flying off and leaving to my thoughts as both Camilla and I readied ourselves for the lunch rush.

“Hmm.” I hummed a bit, getting Camilla’s attention.

“What’s up?” She asked me.

“I’m just thinking… should I bring out some of my liquor when we have the party later?” I asked out loud. “I know that Ange is a lightweight, so anything heavy would simply knock her out.” This earned a laugh from the Fire Magi.

“You really don’t need to go so far with this, sure I’m becoming a permanent roommate but it isn’t really a big thing.” Camilla pointed out.

“Hey, blame Dianne.” I said with a laugh. The two of us laughed at this before Camilla smirked.

“You know, I have this fireball drink that would be fun to try.” She said with a smile.

“Oh? You made a fireball into a drink?” I teased, making her roll her eyes. “Anycase, bring it out when it starts, I would like to try it.”

“Alright.” She said as the two of us saw the first few customers come in. I will say this now, having someone helping me makes it so much easier than just being by myself working.

Later

It was getting a bit late in the day, which meant it was a good time to have a fun get together. I had some snacks that I made some time ago and some drinks, both non-booze and booze, and most importantly games. A good selection of ones… even the party games that will test Isaac’s friendship with me. As I finish up with my stuff I went out to the living room to see Camilla playing one hard game that Skyler plays a lot, and watch her groan as she died again.

“Damn archer, I’ll get you next time.” She stated as she went back to play. Isaac and Ange sat together, watching and chuckling at Camilla's recent in-game death. I went to sit in the chair near Isaac to munch on some chips and watch as well.

“So I couldn't help but notice your chipper mood.” Isaac said to me, bringing me out of my daydreaming. I blinked at him before looking over at the other two then back at Isaac.

“I took your advice. Got something going on tomorrow.” I told him, blushing a little. He chuckled at this before saying.

“You mean a date.” He said as if correcting me. I rolled my eyes as Camilla laughed happily, finally killing the archer.

“Haha! Got you!” She cheered as she continue on, only to see more undead. “Ah hell.” I chuckled at this. Time went on as we all chatted, played some games, and ate some snacks. I was even informed by Ange that she had convinced Isaac to let her teach him how to swim so he could get over his fear of water. I never really understood his fear but I couldn't judge really, especially when he could burn down my place if I so much as teased him about it.

“Well it would kinda make sense you don’t like the water.” Camilla said, passing the controller to Ange as she looked at us. “As Fire Magi, we don’t like to be in water, messes up our magic.”

“But I'm not a Magi nor do I use magic.” Isaac was quick to point out. Upon being handed the controller, Ange resumed the journey that Camilla had paused and was now in a fight against a large undead… which she was quick to backstab… to death. “The source of my fear is actually from a traumatic experience I went through as a kid, where I nearly drowned in my old school's pool. A couple of guys thought it'd be funny to dump me into the pool and even then I couldn't swim.” Isaac said with a shrug. Oh right… that. I remember the day that happened, he was sent to the nurses office and the perps were expelled for nearly causing the death of a fellow student. It was a really bad day that day… until I found them and beat them for what they did.

“Oh… uh… sorry.” Camilla said, feeling guilty for bringing up that subject.

“It's fine, don't sweat it.” Isaac said with a dismissive wave of his hand, dropping the subject without a care. When I looked back at the screen, I was shocked to see Ange already in the middle of a big boss fight.

“How…” I asked, surprised that Ange was already at a boss already. Camilla was also stunned at this as Isaac simply chuckled at this. We all watched as Ange effortlessly fought the King of Storms.

After Ange successfully defeated both of the boss phases and won the whole fight, which I still couldn't wrap my head around, the rest of the night was spent with simple chats and even board games. By the end of it, Isaac and Ange had to leave as it was getting pretty late. Once they left, me and Camilla were left with the remainder of the booze left and at the time, we were both slightly intoxicated when we saw the rest. We were trying out Camilla’s fireball drink. I took a shot of hit and felt the heat run down my throat.

“Ooo, that burns!” I said, giggling a little as Camilla laughed.

“Told you~.” She said in a teasing tone. The both of us laughed a bit as we sat/ laid on the couch after a few more drinks. Even while on the couch, we couldn't help but have a few more drinks as they looked so tantalizing. Eventually things started to become a blur and before I knew it, I blacked out or at least I think I did. I mean… I don’t remember what happened next after the blur of dark colours of red and orange.

Soon it was morning, the sunlight rays were streaming through my curtains as I woke up. I didn’t know what just happened, again, everything was a blur of colours and fuzz. How much did I drink last night?

I tried to push myself up but I felt something clinging on me. I looked down to see a fuzz of red and orange… no wait, that’s hair… on a body… oh… I realized that Camilla was in my bed… and now I see this, I see that my clothes were scattered about of the room… hers as well… oh hell. I could only hear her quiet snores while internally panicked and resisted the urge to smack myself silly for letting this happen.

I begin to panic, if she wakes up our friendship would be ruined. I cursed myself for drinking so much last night. I tried to pull away from the Fire Magi but I soon saw my arm trapped in her own, hugging it close to her… oh Celestia above. I laid back down, feeling a little light headed from me panic about this. Maybe she wouldn’t be mad at me, maybe this would turn out better than I thought? Maybe we could laugh about this later…

Or maybe she could kill me when she wakes up naked in my bed with myself also naked. I didn't know what to do or even how to escape her surprisingly iron like grip. I felt myself at the brink of tears, I screwed up royally and we hadn't even gone on the first date yet.

The moment of truth came when I realised Camilla was starting to wake up. Her eyes open before she pushed herself up on the bed, luckily still covering herself.

“Ugh… what happ-" She stopped when she realized where she was, what state she was in, and most importantly, who's she's with. “Blake…”

“I-I'm sorry!” I said loudly, making her wince. She quickly placed a hand on the side of her head and said.

“No yelling… please.”

“I'm… I'm so sorry Camilla… I didn't mean for anything to happen last night.” I said apologetic to her, earning an arch brow from her.

“You remember what we did?” She asked me. I blinked at this and thought about.

“Okay no, I don't, but I didn't mean to… I didn't…” I felt tears well up in my eyes. “Damn it I fucked up… why can I simply go out with you normally.” Camilla hummed at this before falling back to the bed with a groan, still recovering over the hangover. Seeing this I shifted my way out of bed. “I'll… I'll leave you to rest and- ahh!”

I yelped as I was pulled back into bed, feeling Camilla wrap her arms around me. I laid there confused on what to do. “Uhh…”

“Just shut up and snuggle.” Camilla said bluntly. “We’ll talk about this after my head feels better.” Soon enough the two of us laid there, me blushing like crazy. On the bright side, she wasn't going to unleash a fury of a thousand suns at me so yay? But then there's fact of the major hangover, ugh… how much did we drink? I'm normally one to rarely get hangovers!

I looked around to see my phone on my desk next to the bed. I reached over and turned it on, wincing on how bright it was. I turned down the light before starting to send a text.

‘Isaac… are you up?’ I asked, sending the text to Isaac.

‘Am now… what?’ A reply was sent soon afterwards.

‘Umm… something happened last night…’ I said to him in the text with the emoji of a wide eyed face. His reply was that of a simple question mark. ‘Uhhh, well… me and Camilla kinda drank a lot last night and… well, she's sleeping right behind me.’

“You mean resting.” Camilla pointed out to me as she was seeing this.

“I thought you were sleeping!?” I yelped in surprise, earning a groan from both of us.

“Please, no yelling…” Camilla said as my phone buzzed. I looked down at my phone only to see that in caps he wrote

‘You guys got drunk and fucked! Lol!’ Was Isaac's reply. The both of us blushed at this.

“Well… I think he's not wrong…” I said as I typed away.

‘Yeah… and we both have hangovers… ugh.’ I texted back. I looked back to Camilla for a moment before I spoke.

“So… do you hate me?” I asked her. She blinked at me before sighing.

“... no, I don't… just surprised that this happened already. Isn't this supposed to happen on the third date?” She asked, making me snort a bit.

“Yeah… but alcohol ignores that.” I said, earning a laugh from Camilla. I smiled at this as my phone buzzed. I looked to see that it was another message from Isaac, telling me that he'll be here in a few minutes with some medicine against hangovers, I hear the ones he uses are miracle workers and I could only hope its true. I sent him a thank you before letting my phone drop into the bed. I looked over to Camilla.

“I guess we have to get dressed huh?” She asked.

“Yeah…” I said to her. There was a few groaning but the both of us got out of bed and made ourselves decent; mostly some underwear and an oversized shirt I had spares of when I wanted to have a lazy day.

The both of us stumbled out of my room, dazed a bit as we made our way to my smaller kitchen where I made a pot of coffee. When I heard a knock on my door, I was quick to make my way over to open it but Isaac was nowhere to be found but on the floor was a bag of medicine. Isaac must've been in a hurry but who cares, the headache is killing me.

End of XX

Chapter XXI

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“Careful!!” Dianne yelled as she was wearing a construction uniform as she was backing up towards the train station. James and Blake were carrying a large four tiered pink cake with edible flowers, apples, oranges and grapes on it. Ange and Rachael were flying over head with some ropes to hold the cake in place as the other two walked and both Sophia and Camilla were there to help if things go south. Near them following behind were two people, one was a chubby woman with dark pink and red hair that and pink eyes. She wore an apron with some splotches of ingredients on it and beside her was a tall skinny man with short orange hair and wore a simple clothing with a orange and white bowtie. I knew these two to be Mister Carlos and Betty Cake, the two who owns Sugarcube Corner and Dianne's bosses. At the moment Carlos was close to have a panic attack as he watches the cake lean to the side.

“Blake Careful!” Dianne snapped at Blake as both Blake and James rightened the cake.

“I am!” Blake snapped back. “This is just a heavy cake!” Sooner or later we finally got to the train station, where both Blake and James set the cake down, James letting out a breath before collapsed onto the ground with Blake from exhaustion. Mister Cake almost collapsed due to terror but was caught by his wife.

“Easy there honey, deep breaths.” She said soothingly to him. Carlos did just that before he could stand on his own, a little shaky but standing. I was standing not to far from the ordeal because I didn't want any cake on my clothes but it didn't mean I wasn't playing some role Dianne's plan, I was told to delay the train from leaving the station and with me being a prince, all I had to do was talk to the conductor.

The next part was… tricky. As it seems it was a little awkward to get the cake into the train, so I stood out with the Cakes as the others were playing tetris with the actual cake.

“Thank you again for helping us Isaac.” Betty thanked me with a smile. I didn't understand their need to thank me, I really didn't do much of anything with the exception of delaying the train.

“Umm… you're welcome… I guess?” I said with a little confusion. Before long the others were done with moving the cake inside and Dianne poked her head out.

“Come on Isaac! We need to leave!” Dianne said, which she sounded like she was in a rush.

“Umm, mind making sure she doesn’t do anything… too crazy?” Carlos asked me. I could just say yes and move on but that would be a lie.

“I'll try but I can't promise anything.” I said to him genuinely though it didn't help him in the slightest. Before anything else could be said, the blaring horn of the train caught my attention and reminded me that the few minutes of delay were up. With a wave and a nod, I quickly boarded the train before closing the door behind me. I turned around and almost yelped as I saw Irena standing behind me. I don’t know how but this kid could sneak up on someone easily. “What… but… whatever.” I said, giving up in trying to understand how she got behind me or even on the train without anyone noticing for that matter and it was too late to tell her to go home as the train began to move. When I joined up with the others, they were also surprised to see Irena tagging along behind me. Even Lydia was there, though I didn’t see her. I asked about it and she said that she was already on the way to Canterlot to talk to my mother, who was also her teacher.

“So Dinna… why did you get us to carry this large cake anyway?” Racheal asked, earning her a glare from Blake who did most of the carring. Dianne gasped at this.

“You don’t know?! Racheal, this cake is not just any cake!” Dianne explained before gesturing to the large cake. “This is the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness! Or the Mmmm.”

“The Mmmm?” Sophia asked.

“Mmhmm.” Dianne responded. I blinked at this as I saw Irena walked to the cake drooling a bit. I pulled her back a bit, earning a frown from her.

“I'd rather you didn't unleash the wrath of Dianne.” I said to Irena simply, knowing how Dianne gets when something she deems important goes wrong. Of course this confused the young dark Celestial before she glanced at Dianne in time to see the latter taping the area off with police tape.

“Hey, wasn’t Jacqueline supposed to be here as well?” Ange asked.

“I believe she’s a bit busy with taking care of the farm since her sister is sick and James… well, sore.” Blake said, rubbing her shoulders a bit. Upon sight of Blake, I was reminded of her newly formed relationship with Camilla that had escalated only a month ago and while waking up in the same bed lacking any clothing didn't deter either of them, it was nice to know Blake and Camilla are happy with one another.

I simply nodded before seeing the train was leaving. I sat on the few seats that were in the desert cart of the train with Irena on my lap. She frowned as she couldn’t have a bit of the cake that was in front of her.

“Cheer up, when we get back I'll buy you a whole dozen mooncakes.” I said to Irena. She brightens up at this as the train stopped, it didn’t stop Dianne’s talking though.

“I’m telling you, the Mmmm will win the bakers competition!” She declared.

“This is not so!” A new voice called out. We all turned to see a beastkin in the doorway to the train. He stood in the doorway in a white chef uniform and had one of those ‘Evil villain’ mustaches. His wings were folded back as he held a large plate in his hand.

“Here we go.” Blake grumbled as she sat down next to me and Irena, sounding like she knew who this guy was.

“You know this guy?” I asked in a low voice while Dianne argued over how the cake was going to be an easy victory.

“Yeah, he’s Gustave Le Grand, a well known pastry chef that I learned about in school.” Blake answered in a low voice as well as Gustave showed off his dish; a plate of Éclairs.

“Yeah I heard of him too,” Camilla added in. “Said to be one of the few chefs that works in the castle.” I arched a brow at her as Blake smiled at her before another person seemed to enter the train. I recognised him to be Joe that runs the Donut shop out in Canterlot. He proclaimed that his dish will win and I saw it was a replica of the city square of a city near Everfree out of donuts. While I'll give him points in style, I don't think simple donuts would do much against éclairs and a fucking colossal cake.

“I have a feeling this ride will take an abysmal amount of time.” I said to the two of them while Irena ogled at the donut city, an audible rumbling of her stomach greeted my ears.

“Wait for it.” Blake said as a third being came in. An older woman with more wrinkles that are needed. Her dish was simply a chocolate moose which Molly, her name, calls it a Chocolate Mousse Moose. This seems to make Blake chuckle at the name alone.

“It’s a moose… made out of mousse.” She laughed. The four bakers seemingly got into an argument on who will win the competition. Was all cooks this competitive?

“I can already tell I'm going to have a headache by the end of this.” I said to myself though Irena seemed to have found my words amusing in some way as she giggled before giving me a playful poke.

After a few hours the sun went down and soon everyone was heading off to their rooms to sleep. After the three bakers went off Dianne stopped the rest of us from going, saying that the other bakers will sabotage the giant cake so one of their dishes will win.

“And why do we have to be dragged into this?” I asked Dianne, not liking the idea that I'm being forced to stay in here. What if I wanted to go to the other cab and chat with some people there, etc.

“Dianne, you’re overreacting.” Lydia said, using her magic to move Dianne out of the way.

“Yeah, I want some shut eye.” Rachael said before she flew off into her room. Soon we all headed to our rooms, Me with Ange and Irena, Sophia by herself since Dianne was going to guard the cake, Lydia also by herself and Blake with Camilla.

“You sure you want to head to bed Isaac? Me and Blake are going to play a few games before crashing.” Camilla offered me. I arched a brow them and thought of it briefly before shaking my head.

“Nah.” Was all I said before giving them a simple wave before entering my room, seeing Irena curiously looking around before seeing the passing scenery outside the window. Ange was getting comfortable in bed as this was happening, she looked over at me and smiled. I smiled back and sat down at my bed and let out a sigh, knowing that with our luck something might end up happening that can either be weird, dumb or quite frankly batshit crazy. It doesn't help that the train ride feels slower than normal, so there's that to fuck with my mind. I was so deep in thought that I hadn't noticed Irena poking me, no doubt to bring me out of said thought. I looked down at her as she rubbed her belly, telling me that she was a little hungry still from seeing all of that food from before.

Luckily Ange was prepared for this as she pulled her bag out and got some sandwiches for us for this trip to Canterlot. Irena was quick to snatch one of the sandwiches and it was only by luck that Ange had made three in total, almost as if knowing Irena’s tag along.

“I still don't know how she got through everyone.” I said even though it was mostly to myself but Ange heard me say this and chuckled.

“I don’t know either, but it’s not so bad.” Ange said, nibbling on her sandwich. Irena hummed happily as she ate her sandwich, already almost done with it as I just took a few bits out of mine. Irena was just about done with hers but judging by her expression, she was still hungry so with a roll of my eyes and a shake my head, I split mine and one to her. She was quick to swipe it off my hand and devour it. It was only after she finished that she let out a burp and a happy sigh. Ange giggled a bit from this as Irena leaned against me happily. I smiled at this as I draped an arm over her shoulder, gaining an appreciative hum from the dark celestial. I looked over at Ange and saw that she had laid down to rest for a bit while I was left to my own thoughts with the inability to rest, the occasional bumps of the train made sure of that.

I half expected for Irena to have fallen asleep by now but when I tried to move my arm back, she let a small whine. So with nothing to do but count the trees that passed by, I was bored and not even five minutes in.

About five more minutes and more tree counting later I heard the soft snoring from Irena as she was now fast asleep. I moved my arm and replaced it with a pillow, which made Irena wrap her arms around it and slept there. I quietly chuckled when did this before leaving the room, wanting to sit down without feeling confined in a small space. So I did and one of the few, if not, only seats available were by the deserts.

I was still close to the doors and I could hear some muffled noises in the room of Blake and Camilla. In the desert car Dianne was nowhere to be seen, so it was me with the four deserts. It wasn't until I sat down that I felt myself get tired, the boredom finally getting to me and the thought of a nap was all too pleasing. I closed my eyes and leaned onto the window before I let sleep consume me.

It felt like ten minutes past but I was jolted awake by a loud scream. My eyes opened and I saw that it was day time, I was still in the desert car and Dianne was screaming in shock. Lydia was also there as the two stood by the ‘Mmmm’ which had a large chunk of it bitten off.

“My ears…” I groaned softly as I rubbed my eyes.

“You!” The voice of an angry Dianne said before I was face to face with an angry party planner. “What are you doing here!? Did you eat the Mmmm? It was you wasn’t it, you couldn’t help it can you, no one can resist the urge to eat the most amazingest cake in all the-”

“Down Dianne.” Lydia said, using her magic to pull Dianne back from me. “Isaac, what are you doing sleeping out here?”

“The room was too small, I wanted to sit down on a comfy chair and before I knew it I was having the greatest nap of all time.” I said to the two of them as I stretched my limbs a bit. “Is that good enough of an alibi, detectives?” I asked them both jokingly. Dianne eyed me for a few moments before Lydia spoke.

“I believe he’s telling the truth.” Lydia said just as the others were coming in, asking what’s going on.

“What’s going on? Someone in this room defaced the Mmmm!” Dianne proclaimed. She then pulled out a deerstalker hat and pipe and added. “But I’ll find out who did this crime!”

“Does Dianne smoke?” Camilla asked before we all saw bubbles started to come out of said pipe. “Never mind.” I would've loved to get up from my chair but Dianne still deemed me the prime suspect, even going so far as to tying me onto the chair and now my nose is starting to itch… great. Luckily Ange was nearby saw my torment of the itchy nose and remedy that by scratching my nose to help.

“Thanks.” I said with obvious relief in my tone after Ange was done. She smiled at me before looking over at Dianne, who was getting talked to by Lydia, who was now wearing a bowler hat, saying that I wasn’t the one and I shouldn’t be tied down to a chair.

“Likely story, but we need to find the one who had dun do it…” She stated before walking towards the window, blowing bubbles out of her pipe. “And I already know who dun do it.”

“You do?” Both me and Lydia asked.

“Yes, it’s none other than… Gustave!” She yelled in the Beastkin face before everything went to black. There was a countdown to an old black and white movie as the scene turned into an old cheese evil villain movie. Gustave was portrayed as the evil villain with billowing cape, evil glass eye with scar, and worst of all: twirling his mustache evilly!

He opened his mouth, which the screen changed to show what he’s saying, to say that he’s finally going to win the bakers competition. The others were portrayed as passengers in old clothing, as the scene changed to Dianne tied up on the train tracks, yelling at Gustave that he will never get away from this as Gustave finished the job by slicing the large cake with a buzz saw. The screen went black and we were all back in the cart.

“Ooo, I love old black and white films!” Sophia said happily, making me realize that her hair was covering her right eye.

“Dianne, it wasn’t Gustave.” Lydia said.

“Oh yeah? How so?” Dianne asked, blowing more bubbles.

“Well for one you stated that you were tied up, so how did you get here before anyone of us?” Lydia asked before pointing at the cake. “And the cake wasn’t buzzsawed, it was bitten into.”

“Can I please be untied now?” I asked out loud, hoping and praying silently that I would be cut loose but as fate would have it, Dianne simply glared at me and I quieted down. “Figures.” I grumbled.

“Okay… so it wasn’t Gustave,” Dianne stated, making the Beastkin let out a sigh. “Then the real culprit was… Joe!” Dianne yelled, again the lights went out and instead of a black and white movie, it started as if it was a spy film. “Or should I say, Double O seventeen!”

“Ooo, a spy film!” Rachael said as it sounded like she was eating popcorn. The scene showed off the main train, only that the inside was some sort of fancy party with everyone in formal wear, I was behind the bar, Blake and Camilla were putting on a show by dancing, and Joe was laughing with Sophia and Ange laughing nearby as he drank a glass of wine. The scene changed to show Joe near the door to the desert car, able to make a hole in the glass and through a gas ball inside, knocking Dianne out. He walked up to the cake and, with a pull of his tie, more gas came out which revealed lasers, which he used a mirror to cut the cake. The scene ended with Ange and Sophia at Joe’s feet worshiping him as he smiled, before it went to black and the lights came back on.

“What do you have to say about yourself, Joe, if that’s your real name?!” Dianne asked rudely, poking the man with the pipe as she did.

“Dianne, it couldn’t be him.” Lydia said with a groan. “Joe doesn't fit the idea of sleek and stealthy spy. He’s more big, gruff and messy!”

“Hey!” Joe yelled with a frown.

“Though you do look good in a tux dear, maybe you can come over to my store and we could set you up with something.” Sophia said with a lady like laugh, earning a dreamy smile from the donut guy.

“Well then there’s only one person left, the only one who could win in the bake off is nothing than… MOLLY!” Dianne stated, pointing at the old woman. This caused the lights to go out a third time and the screen showed a neighponese style movie with the looks of an old style train coming by. I was dressed up as some kind of Shogun with Racheal, Ange, Lydia, and Sophia nearby.

“Ooo, I love the dress.” Sophia gushed over the sight of her in a dress. The scene changed to see Molly, in a ninja outfit with Blake and Camilla in the same outfit.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m some sort of anime side character?” Camilla asked as the scene went on.

“Hey, you look good in black clothes.” Blake said with a chuckle. The scene went on as Molly knocked out Dianne with a frying pan and cutting the cake with her sword. Soon the three of them did a pose and disappeared in smoke. The screen went black and the light came on.

“So it was you! Confess!” Dianne yelled at the old shaking woman.

“Dianne!” Lydia yelled at her. “It wasn’t her! She’s too rattly to be a ninja, and the cake was bitten into, not cut!”

“Fine… then it was… Isaac!” Dianne declared as she pointed at me. Everyone's gaze were casted towards me while I was swaying my head from side to side as I was reminded of an old song I enjoyed.

“No, already got an alibi from him.” Lydia pointed out to her.

“Gustave!”

“No, already cleared him.”

“Joe!”

“No… Dianne…”

“Molly?”

“We just cleared her!” Blake yelled at this.

“Can I please be untied now!?” I yelled in complete frustration. I was chair bound and agitated beyond comprehension, at any second I could suffer a total meltdown that, at the moment, seems like a pretty fucking good idea at the moment. “For my mom's sake, I will burn the cake if I have to sit through another one of your weird short films!” I yelled, my frustration becoming pure anger now. This even spooked Dianne at the mention of the cake’s harm. She was quick to untie me and back away, all in a blink of an eye no less. “Thank you…” I said with a sigh as I rubbed both of my wrists. The others were a bit spooked at my outburst, giving Lydia a way to take control with this investigation as she swapped hats with Dianne. She asked everyone to go to their rooms and wait as the two look around for clues. I didn’t need to be asked twice to head to my room. I marched towards my room, walked inside and flopped onto my bed, groaning a bit as I did. As I laid there I felt someone poke me. I turned my head and saw Irena standing there, staring at me. Right, she wasn’t there when I was tied up.

“Oh, hey.” I said, sitting up as I looked down at her. She waved at me, tilting her head a bit in her way to ask what happened. “Someone took a chunk off the cake and Dianne had me tied down to a chair because I was supposedly the prime suspect.” I told her simply with a frown. She frowned as well, looking at my wrists which was still a little red. She looked at me with a worried look. I gave her a comforting smile before saying. “I'm fine for the most part, a little angry but other than that I'm alright.” I said to her before gently ruffling her hair and adding. “So don't worry about me, kiddo.” I said to her.

She smiled at me before she pulled out a book from a bag she had and sat next to my bed. Soon, maybe after thirty minutes, there was a knock on the door to say come out to the dessert cart. With a sigh, I stood up and stretched my legs a bit before heading out into the dessert cart.

The first thing I saw was the other three deserts were hit with whoever ate the cake, some of the énclars had large bits out of it, the donut city got decimated by the wrecking ball of hunger, and all that was left of the chocolate moose was it's head. The three bakers were upset with this before Lydia got everyone's attention.

“Yes well… it seems that the other three dishes were hit, I'm guessing around the time everyone left to their rooms and Me and Dianne were investigating.” Lydia explained before adding. “But one case at the time. I know who did it.”

“Yes we do!” Dianne said before looking at Lydia. “We do?’’

“What the fuck did I miss?” I asked out loud for anyone to hear. I was seriously confused with the whole ordeal with these desserts.

“Errr, right, well first off Dianne said that she ran all the way to the back of the train, the caboose, chasing the culprit only to miss them. You see it didn't really happen that way.” Lydia explained as she pulled out a brown envelope from her bag. “You see Dianne, the culprit didn't disappear, they flew up to the ceiling.” Lydia explained as she pulled out a glowing blue feather. As if upon queue everyone turned to look at Rachael with a gasp.

“Ah ha! I knew it was you… Gustave!” Dianne yelled, earning both a facepalm from both Lydia and Gustave.

“Dianne, Gustave doesn’t even have blue feathers, and he’s not a Skyborn.” Lydia pointed out. “And I know this is a Skyborn feather is due to the glow. Since Skyborn make their wings appear and disappear, it would make it odd for anyone to see if Skyborn lose their feathers. But in truth they do, just they will glow for some time before they dissipated.”

“So she’s the culprit?” One of the bakers asked.

“No, this leads to the second clue, where Dianne ran to the boiler room, only to see a worker… but that’s not true since I found this in the workers hat!” Lydia said as she pulled out a strand of pink hair. Everyone gasped as everyone, other than Dianne, looked over at Ange who looked around and laughed nervously.

“Ah ha! So it was a pink strand from your Rainbow hair!” Dianne pointed out to Rachael.

“I don’t have pink hair Dianne.” Rachael before having to push Dianne off. “And get off.”

“So it was her? Or do you have something else?” Camilla asked, now sitting in a chair as this was all happening.

“Well, yes… as Dianne was explaining what had happened, the blinds were pulled all of a sudden and heard someone bang into something. Which by the way Dianne, happened because of Magic…” Lydia pointed out to the pink Terren. She walked over to Sophia and arch a brow. “Did anyone ask why Sophia had her hair like this?”

“W-why wouldn’t I? I can change my hair look anytime I-” Sophia was cut off when Lydia pulled back her hair, showing that her right eye had no eyelashes. A lot of people gasped before looking at Dianne, earning an odd look from the party planner “Alright! I wear fake eyelashes!” Sophia cried out and sobbed before adding simply. “Oh and I took a small bite of the cake.”

“Me too…” Ange said softly.

“Ahhh… dang it same here.” Rachel said as well. I looked at all three of them, then at the cake and back before making my bewilderment known with my hand gestures that didn't really mean anything.

“A bite? That's a bite? It looks like you sawed it in half with a chainsaw!” I yelled with pure confusion. This only got nervous chuckles from all three of them. Ange was the one who looked more ashamed than the other two but I guess I shouldn't be too mad at them since this could be centered around Dianne hyping the cake off to epic proportions. I rubbed my eyes with an exasperated sigh and simply sat down on a nearby stool.

The rest of the ride to Canterlot went by better than how it was. The rest of the desserts were eaten by the other bakers because of Dianne, again she has a way to make things so good that they couldn’t help it. I for one didn’t want to deal with the rest of them so I returned to my room with Ange and rested there with Irena quietly reading. Once we got to Canterlot everyone other than Me, Blake, Ange, Irena, and Camilla went to the bake competition while we went to one of the many restaurants in Canterlot for something that’s not train food or something sugary.

It was literally only minutes after we arrived that I was soon the talk of the town and I tried my best to ignore this but it was increasingly hard to do so, especially when every other noble would walk up to me and greet, obviously trying to butt in my circle of friends. It was fortunate however, that I am already very well known for my blunt manner of speaking and kindly told them to fuck right off. For those that didn’t take the hint I have another thing to deal with them; her name is Blake.

When we arrived at the restaurant Blake already threatened four nobles that she will kick their asses if they try again, one of them she had to throw due to… reasons. She was oddly happy because of that.

“Is she… always like that with nobles?” Camilla asked me quietly.

“Not all nobles, just the ones that act like those other ones from earlier and it wasn't this bad before the news of me being Celestia’s son broke out.” I said to Camilla while Irena looked at the restaurant's interior. When I looked at it all I could say about it is it’s… minimal. The walls were a pasty white colour and each table had this purple tablecloth over it. The other thing about this place was a large purple triangle on the wall.

“This place seems… dull.” I said out loud, quickly gaining a few nods of agreement. We walked around a bit, seeing more and more of the dull interior design but along the short walk, we were finally met with an employee of the place and quickly had others set up a table for us but it was only after they saw me. We all sat around a rather large white table that, upon seeing it, must be an absolute bitch to keep clean. Irena was even staring at how bright of a white color it was.

We all took a little corner at the one end of the large table, didn't see why we should spread out to use this table. Before long a woman walked over in a waiter uniform and, from the looks of it, she was nervous being here.

“H-Hello… do you all w-want your menus?” She asked with a stutter. I arched a brow at the waitress’s behaviour before we agreed on wanting the menus and were quickly handed one each. All it took was one skim through the menu and I was put off by its selections, in fact they all sounded so… bland. I could see that it even garnered Blake's attention. Blake frowned at this, turning menu over to see the list of drinks.

“Not a lot to work off of.” Blake muttered to herself, though loud enough for all of us to hear.

“Well, it is one of the few high end restaurants in Canterlot. Some of the Noble Elite eat here.” Camilla explained. I frowned as I read through the menu and just by doing so, the waitress was got a lot more nervous than before.

“Umm… i-is there something wrong sir?” She asked me. I shook my head at this and said.

“There's nothing wrong per say, it's just… everything on the menu is bland and quite frankly unoriginal.” I said to the waitress. There was a slight wince from her as I said that, making me feel like she knew this but couldn’t say anything.

“I… I’m sorry…” She said with a sad look on her. “Ummm, should I get some water for all of you?” We all nodded and she was quick to dash away in a hurry, leaving us to chat amongst one another and while Blake and Camilla were chatting, I was helping Irena with picking her food because as soon as the waitress left, Irena placed the menu down with a frustrated humph, so it was up to me and Ange to pick out something Irena.

Though I didn’t blame her for getting frustrated with picking, other than how bland everything was, a lot of it was a bit confusing to pick, there was no pictures to show what they had. The only thing I kinda know is some kind of a smoke pork dish. While I had a selection in mind to pick, it did little to hide my skepticism of this place. Worst case scenario would be that the food would be… well indelible is the first word that comes to mind. We all ordered, Ange got a salad as Blake had the same dish as Irena and Camilla gotten the soup.

“Okay… e-everything will b-be ready soon.” The waitress stuttered nervous before running off to the back. The rest of us started to talk to one another as we wait. Irena was the most upset out of all of us, though it was mostly for the lack of interesting items in the menu. Ange was trying to cheer up Irena which got a small smile at her but it wasn’t much.

Soon our waiting has ended as the waitress came back with our food. I looked down at everyone's food and, well, it looked nice, bit on the small size but not as small as the noble from the cook off. These were at least twice as big as that one, big enough to satiate one's hunger to an extent at least. Irena's pout returned when she was handed her plate.

“Give it a try first before you judge it.” I said simply to the dark celestial while my plate was placed in front of me. The waitress gave me a bow before she continued on giving the others their plate. When I looked down at my plate, I was nearly shocked at how one could make something that, on paper, would sound like the greatest food one could have here and yet they make it so… dull.

I looked at the others and kinda the same reaction that I had as they stared at their food. Even Ange’s salad didn’t look appetizing. I looked at it and all I got from it is that it’s green. We all took the first bite of our dishes and like clockwork, we all grimaced at the taste. It was lacking in many things to bring out the flavor and even the texture felt wrong. All it took was one bite for us to nearly chug all our drinks down in one go. Irena frowned at her dish and pushed it away.

“This is smoked pork?… This isn’t smoked pork, it’s just thinly sliced pork and salted…” Blake said crossing her arms. Camilla stared at her soup for a few moments before speaking.

“I used to love this soup… now it’s meh.” Camilla said in a surprised tone. Blake glanced at her oddly as she said that.

“I'm going to have to agree with Blake here.” I said, having ordered the same thing as her as it was the only thing that sounded good. Irena gagged when she tried hers and was quick to drink all of her water afterwards. It seems that our waitress overheard us and went off to tell the chef that before Blake stood up.

“I’m going to go talk to the chef about this.” She said as she looked at me, seeing if I wanted to come with. I nodded and stood up before we both followed where the waitress went and it wasn't long until we overheard them talking.

“Well of course they don’t like it! That food is shit!” a loud female voice yelled. “If it wasn’t for that damned critic I would be cooking food I like! Not this, horty torty noble food!”

“Y-yes chef…” the waitress said nervously, earning a sigh from the female chef. Both Blake and I looked at one another for a moment.

“Seems the chef agrees with us…” Blake whispered to me. I nodded at this before we made ourselves known with a simply knock on the open door. This drew the attention of both chef and waitress also a few others cooks that were working there. The chef was a few years older than me and a Beastkin as I saw a cat’s tail behind her.

“The hell you want?” The Chef asked me before the waitress cleared her throat.

“Um… this i-is Princess C-Celestia’s s-son.” the waitress explained.

“Right… What the hell do you want, your highness.” She repeated with enough sarcasm that she could cook with it.

“Ooo, I like her.” Blake said with a smile. I could only chuckle at this as well before Blake spoke up. “So… we came to complain about the food-”

“Let me guess, it’s bland and lifeless.” The chef said, cutting Blake off. “Trust me, I know. My workers know. Everyone in this place damn well knows.” We watched her walk over and pick up a vine of tomatoes and held it up. “You see these? I can think about twenty dishes that I could make that revolves around these. So much I can do but can’t!” We all hear some voice call out in agreement in the back of the kitchen.

“Why not?” I asked, genuinely curious to know as well Blake.

“Because of that damned Critic!” The Chef yelled in frustration. “You know this place wasn’t like this before hand right? This was the one great place to get smoked food, the best smoked food in Canterlot before this critic came and gave us a bad score on how it looked and food. Saying we need to get into modern times. Sure we are still getting money and business but there’s no love, no soul, no fucking anything to what we make.” The Chef was fuming a bit before marching off to some other room.

“Umm… sorry about this… she needs time to uh… calm down… sorry.” The Waitress explained. Blake and I were shocked to hear that a food critic was the cause of all this and were nearly left speechless with the head chef’s words.

“Okay… Wow.” Was all I could say before I shook my head to regain my composure. “Okay, right… food critic ruined the life of the restaurant so why not, just hear me out.” I said, as if I was going to go on a whole elaborate plan before simply saying. “Fuck what the critic says.” I said.

“Umm… that’s not how it works here…” The Waitress explained before continuing on by saying. “She’s one of the most influential critics in Canterlot… if you go outside you’ll see the sign with the three stars on it, making it saying that she approves of this place… it also brings customers in as well…”

“Right… Worth a shot anyway.” I said, muttering the last bit to myself before thinking of an idea that could work. “If she will have it, can the head chef come back so I can talk to her.” I said in a polite manner, which got some odd looks from the other workers as they were surprised by my crude words earlier. They must've not expected me to say something like that, maybe they've grown attached to a royal being someone kind and polite. While I can be both, I prefer to sprinkle in a little bit of bluntness into the mix. The waitress nodded and ran off to fetch the Head chef.

A few minutes later we saw the head chef return with now a bloody fist. She didn’t seem to mind it as she crossed her arms. I could also hear some of the workers saying that they need to fix the wall in the back again, meaning the head chef done this before.

“You okay?” Blake asked the chef.

“Yes.” She said bluntly before looking at the bleeding hand. “Just a flesh wound.” I blinked at this before shaking my head and speaking up.

“Okay then, what I wanted to ask is that if you can make something for me and my friends that, in lack of a better term, you'd give a fuck on?” I asked her, clasping my hands together when I cussed. I awaited her answer patiently while Blake looked at me as if I was crazy. The Head chef stared at me for the next few moments before a smile appeared on her face as she turned to her workers.

“Fire up the stoves everyone! Time to make something good!” She yelled, earning some cheers from everyone. The waitress and us went back to our table and cleared the plates and said that they will fix the food. Of course this garnered some confusion from both Angelina and Camilla, this did however get a cheer from Irena.

It took some time, but soon a few waiters came out without food and, for the first time I enter in here, the food looked good, mouth watering even. The latter couldn't be even more true for Irena as she was salivating just seeing it. The scent was enticing, hunger inducing in a way that I simply couldn't wait any longer. The waitress set our respective plates and for once, I was happy to dig in. The first bite, I had no words that could describe how good it was. Heavenly was the first that came to mind but I digress, it's eating time!

We all ate happily, soon there was a conversation between us, other than Irena who was happily wolfing down her food. We laughed a bit as we simply had a good time. It wasn't until we all finished our meals that I spoke.

“That… Was… awesome.” I said before suppressing a burp that I might regret later on. “I don't care what that critic says, that was the best meal I've ever had.” I said with confidence in my tone.

“You got that right.” Blake said happily as she leaned back in her seat. The waitress smiled at this as she and a few others picked up the empty plates. The waitress didn’t give us a bill, saying that this was on the house and went off to help clean up. Maybe I should convince mom to give this place a try? Thoughts for another time I suppose. We all stood up and were ready to leave… with the exception of Irena who groaned after having eaten so much. I suppressed a laugh and picked her up, simply carrying her as we walked out. She rested her head on my shoulder as we walked out of the building with a happy look on our faces. Upon exiting, Blake pulled her phone and took a picture of the restaurant's name.

“What's that for?” I asked her, regarding the picture she just took.

“When we get home I’m going to go search up this critic and get some info about her.” Blake explained with a frown. “The fact she forced someone to change into being miserable is not cool.” I frowned as well before nodding. Soon we headed over to where the baking competition is supposed to be held and judged. It wasn't hard to find when the smell of sweets was in the air and grew stronger and stronger the closer we got. Upon arrival, we spotted Dianne and the other pastry chefs standing next to a large cake with donuts eclairs and even a chocolate moose adorning the cakes many layers. It was even larger than the cake was before we got here. We watched the judges came over to see the large cake and smiled about it before walking away. A few minutes later they came back and gave the cake a blue ribbon, which meant they took first place.

“That's… that's a really big cake.” I said, still surprised over the large size of it. The others nodded as I saw my mom walking up to the cake, licking her lips at the sight. I chuckled a little when I saw her before we all walked over to Dianne to congratulate her and the other chefs.

The group was happy with this, seemingly surprised that they could pull off a quick cover up with what they had at hand to make something good, surprised that they won. Now the fun part was going to happen; eating the deserts. I stood back while the others ate, even Irena though I did have to remind her that she ate a lot earlier so she couldn't eat a lot of cake. She was a little bummed out by this but her mood quickly changed when she was given a slice.

“Hey mom.” I greeted my mother as I walked up to her. She had her own slice of cake as well, albeit a little bigger than the others.

“Oh, hello dear.” She greeted back with a smile as she cut a little piece of cake with her fork. “How are you today?”

“Exhausted for the most part.” I said before turning to look at the cake and saying. “You wouldn't believe the trouble that cake caused in just getting it here.” I said to her, hinting at the odd murder-esque mystery. She arched a brow at this before shrugging before putting the bit of cake into her mouth, humming gleefully at the taste. I began to retell the events that transpired from getting the cake into the train and train ride itself, she was laughing when I told her about the how the whole thing was solved and she did suppress a chuckle when I told her that I was tied down to the chair I sat on on suspicion that I had eaten half the cake. “And after we arrived at the station, me, Ange, Irena, Blake and Camilla headed to the nearest restaurant for some eats.” I said.

“Well, I can see that you had fun.” Mom said happily, eating the last of her slice of cake.

“Yeah… oh and you should totally give that restaurant a try and if you do, don't ask for anything on the menu. Ask for what the chef recommends.” I said with a smile. She arched a brow at this and hummed, intrigued at what I said.

“I’ll give it a look, maybe bring my sister along… if I can get her out of her room.” She said with a frown. I arched a brow upon hearing this.

“Is she… Alright?” I asked, concern evident in my tone.

“Oh she’s fine… just got into a new hobby… of video games.” Mom said with a sigh. “I don’t know why she does it, she just locks herself up and plays some big game with lots of people that also play it.” I held back a laugh, hearing that my own aunt had discovered the mystical realms of an MMO. Mom shook her head as she was given another slice and happily ate it as well.

After eating some cake, we started to see it was getting dark which my mom was happy to offer all of us a room to sleep in for the night so we were well rested and didn’t have to sleep on the train. I was happy to accept this as I was able to sleep in a better bed than the bed on the train. Blake and Camilla happily went to their room, hand in hand and smiling as Ange, Irena, and I went to ours. After what happened on the train today, I was happy to sleep soundly in a comfy bed.

End of XXI

Chapter XXII

View Online

It’s been a few weeks since the Mystery of Mmmm, something that Dianne loves to call it, something that I would love if it would never happen to me again. Really, I’m good.

I sat in my workroom as I looked through some sketches to see what I want to do next. I hummed to myself as I heard a knock on my door. I looked over to see Irena standing in the doorway looking at me with a smile.

“Hey kiddo, what's up?” I greeted her with a smile. It seems that as more time passes on, more and more people are beginning to think Irena is my kid with the way I act towards her. She walked over to me and looked at all the pages of designs I’ve been looking through before she put a page on top of them. I blinked at this before looking over at the page of a metal cat drawing. I looked at it and saw the title of it which was called ‘Robot metal cat’.

“You want me to make a… robotic cat?” I asked her with a little confusion in my tone. I was a little confused by this, especially as it's practically out of the blue request that I am incapable of doing this on my own. I looked back at Irena as she smiled at me, blinking her eyes as if she was saying ‘Please~!!’ “Irena…” I said, wanting to say that I couldn't but then she gave me her saddest puppy dog eyes. I attempted to resist but alas, I sighed and spoke. “I'll look into it. I can't exactly work on making metal bits move on their own, not one of my forte. Which means I'll need to find someone that can help me make the machinations and such while I work on the body.” I said, explaining to her the best I could. She seemed to brighten up at this before skipping off happily. I shook my head as I looked at the drawing again, humming to myself on how I’m going to do this.

Before long I remembered that Camilla was the daughter of a clockwork smith, maybe she could help? Perhaps I should ask if she'd be able to help. I glanced at the clock, seeing that it was nearing midday. That means Blake’s shop wasn’t busy for the next bit before lunch. I groaned as I pushed my seat out and stood up before stretching my arms and legs with a satisfied hum. I was still doubtful of Irena's request but it didn't deter me from at least trying, so with that in mind, I headed up to my room and got changed into more cleaner clothes before walking up to the front door. After checking to see Irena on the couch with a book in hand, I left the house and headed straight towards Blake's shop with Irena’s drawing tucked away in my pocket.

It was a really nice day out today, no clouds up in the sky and the townsfolk were going out on their business like normal. Soon I got to Blakes shop and went inside to see Camilla sitting at the front register with a book and a sandwich in hand. The place was pretty empty but I knew it wouldn't last for a long while and quickly walked up to Camilla which got her attention out of her book.

“Hey Camilla.” I greeted the fire magi with a friendly wave. She smiled at me and put the book down.

“Hey Isaac, what’s up?” She asked me. I took a second or two to think of the question before finally asking.

“You wouldn't happen to know how to construct an automaton?” I asked her, my question was basically out of nowhere for her and it surprised her a bit. She arched a brow at this before she spoke.

“I know a few things…” She answered before letting out a quick whistle. After a moment of waiting a small bronze blur zoomed around before landing on the table. I looked at it and saw it was a small metal humming bird automaton. There were small clicks and whirring sounds coming from it as it looked around a bit. Camilla smiled at it and petted the birds head. “Yes, I know how to construct an automaton.”

“Great umm… listen, Irena came up to me earlier with a sketch of an idea she wanted me to make and well.” I said before unfolding the sketch itself and showing it to Camilla. She looked at it and smiled at it.

“Awww, she wants a metal kitty!” She cooed at this. I snorted a bit at the reaction Camilla made before she took the page from me. “Let me guess, you want help with this?”

“Yeah, I'm not really adept in the arts of machinations and at best, all I can do is the body.” I said to her with a little shrug. While I was considered a jack of all trades, there were still plenty of things that I'm not knowledgeable with. Camilla hummed at this as she looked at the drawing of the metal cat for a few moments before saying.

“There’s a lot going to go into this, but a clockwork cat is pretty easy to build and have work…” She smiled as she put the page down. “I can help you with building this after the big event coming up.” I arched a brow at this.

“What event?” I asked with curiosity in my tone. I was unaware of any event being held this week. Camilla shrugged before pulling out a fancy card.

“This Royal wedding in Canterlot, the Princess sent this one to me so I could come. Me and Blake are going to see the new happy couple.” Camilla explained, surprising me that Blake is going. I wasn't aware of this, mom didn't really mention anything about it in her last visit and it only sparked my curiosity even more.

“Odd. This is the first I've heard of it.” I said in a low muttering tone but Camilla was able to hear regardless.

“Really, well it’s just a wedding between…” She paused before looking at the invitation. “Ahh hell.” She groans.

“What?” I asked now more curious than before. Camilla didn’t say anything as she handed me the invitation for me to look at. I took it into my hands and read it.

Dear Lady Camilla Nicolette Whitlock,

You and one other are invited to the Royal Wedding of:

Miamoré Cadence Katherine

And

Marcus Aurora

We hope to see you there.

Camilla groaned again at this as she rubbed her head, the metal hummingbird hoved up and landed in her hair, letting out a small whirring sound as if it was chirping. I opened my mouth as if to say something but found myself not doing so before I shook my head and look back down at the invitation, reading the name of the supposed groom.

“Aurora… Lydia has a brother?” I said with confusion having never known Lydia’s sibling or that she even had one. Camilla looked up at me and sighed.

“Captain Marcus Aurora, he leads Princess Celestia’s Royal Guard. Some even call him the ‘Canterlots Solar Shield’.” Camilla explained with some air quotes. “He’s an alright guy, for a noble Magi but past his job he’s a little dorky.” Camilla looked at me as I blinked at this before she smiled. “What? Didn’t realized that Lydia is technically a noble as well? Though to be honest she doesn't really show it at all.” I hummed at this before handing the invitation back to Camilla, if anything I was more upset by not having heard about this beforehand. Oh well.

Before I could say anything out of the corner of my eye I saw Lydia march down the street, looking pretty pissed at something. I watched her walk down the street before disappearing again. I blinked at this before looking back at Camilla who was frowning at the invitation. I remembered that she didn’t tell me why she was annoyed.

“Right… anyway, why are you upset about it?” I asked Camilla as I peeked over at the nearby clock and seeing that I still had time before the lunch rush.

“It’s the bride… I know her...very well.” She groans a bit and continued by saying. “Remember back when I explained that I knew someone that was all about love?” She asked me.

“Vaguely but yeah.” I said honestly with half a nod. It was quite some time ago I'm sure and a lot of things occurred to make me forget other things. Camilla held up the invitation in her hand.

“Miamoré Cadence Katherine, is that same person.” She explained with a sigh. “She’s… something.” I arched a brow again at this but before I could ask, my time was up and it was now lunchtime. Like a herd of stampeding cattle, I could hear them running over towards the shop. Camilla heard this and sighed. “Sorry, but times up.” She said, giving me a sad look. I nodded at this and left before the shop was mobbed by a whole crowd of hungry townfolk. I soon found myself heading back home deep in thought while I walked. I was still miffed about not having been told about the event earlier by anyone, I always hated being out of the loop as it made me look dumb. I are smart!

I made my way back home just to see that, hanging a little bit out of the mailbox was a letter. I stared at the letter before noticing a message on it, saying sorry for this being late. I pulled it out and opened it just to see that it was the same invitation only addressed to me. I took a deep breath and sighed before heading inside with both the letter and invitation inside. It was identical to Camilla's invitation, the exception being that I am allowed whomever I choose to bring whether its one or three people.

As I walked in I saw Skyler playing a video game and Irena sitting next to her with a book on her lap. Irena saw me and was reminded of her request from earlier and grew excited before hopping off the couch before running up to me with a hopeful look. I chuckled a bit as I saw Skyler hasn’t looked up from her game, simply too absorbed in it to know what’s going on.

“Just so you know, yes. I'm going to do that cat you want, though I doubt Wisp would take it kindly.” I said to Irena, giving her a pat on the head and as a result, her smile brightened and she hopped excitedly. I smiled at this before looking back at the letter and saw that the wedding is in a few days. Damn mail service for losing my mail.

I sigh at this before seeing Irena looking at my letter oddly, trying to see what it says. I chuckled at this and simply told her.

“I've been invited to a big wedding back at Canterlot. Says here I'm allowed to invite up to three others.” I said to Irena and it definitely peaked her interest. She smiled at me in the same way she did when she showed me the picture of the robot cat drawing. “You want to come with?” I asked her. This cause the young kid to nod happily at me and with a smile I turned to look at Skyler.

“You're coming with you know.” I said to the young teen, which brought her out of her game trance. She blinked at me before I repeated what I said.

“Wait… do I have to wear a dress?” Skyler asked, earning a shrug from me. “Awww, do I have to?!” She whined with exaggerated tone. I rolled my eyes before sitting down my chair, which prompted Irena to sit on my lap with her book in hand, she must've wanted me to read with her. With nothing to do, I decided why not and read with Irena. It was a surprise to me how long I read, I never considered myself to be an avid reader and even at the occasions that I do read, it wouldn't last more than a few minutes. I sat there with Irena for what was most likely an hour or so.

It wasn’t until I notice that the sun was going down that I stopped reading and saw Irena sleeping on my lap. I smiled softly and closed the book quietly before setting aside. Skyler was gone, no doubt to hang out with her friends. I've even heard she and her friends have formed some sort of club, as long as they don't get into trouble then it's fine by me because the last thing I want is someone beating down my door. I tried to get up take Iilah to bed but found it difficult and soon stopped when Irena let a small whimper, a nightmare maybe? I let out a sigh as I leaned back on the couch as Irena slept. She let out a few whimpers as she clinged to me, it seemed to help as she slowly calmed down a bit as she slept. It wasn't uncommon for Irena to have nightmares and they usually don't get so bad but their have times that she was at point of crying in her sleep and when she woke up one time when that happened, she clung onto me for dear life.

I brushed her hair a bit as she slept, smiling as I did as I looked up to the clock and yawned a bit. I didn’t realize that I was getting tired and seeing that I was getting tired, I gently stood up with Irena in my arms before heading over to her room and laying her down on her bed. After making sure that she was sound asleep with nothing but quiet snores, I headed to my room but on the way I spotted Skyler sneaking up to her room, tip toeing to not make a sound but she soon stopped when I cleared my throat. She turned around and let out a nervous chuckle.

“Hi Isaac… didn’t realize your still awake…” Skyler said with a few beads of sweat running down her face. I crossed my arms with a serious frown.

“Tomorrow morning… you're in big trouble.” I said with a tired tone of voice. She chuckled nervously before groaning in defeat and walking into her room, knowing that she is indeed in very big trouble. I went into my own room and quickly flopped onto the bed. Sleep took me over as I closed my eyes and went to dream land.

I stood at the train station with Irena and Skyler in hand. Skyler was sulking a little as part of her punishment was a whole two weeks without video games. I looked back from them too see Lydia and the rest there as well, Sophia was talking to Ange about clothing and how excited she was about the wedding. It seems that each of them had a job they had to do for said wedding, so everyone was happy. All except Lydia, she was standing a little bit away from her friends with a frown on her face and arms crossed. It seems that she wasn’t happy that her brother was getting married and he didn’t tell her about it.

I shook my head at this before looking over at Camilla and Blake, one was reading a book and the other playing a video game on her handheld game system. I was deep in thought, a habit I've formed as the result of long waiting and I've been known to zone out every now and again even before the habit of thinking too much.

It wasn’t long before we all heard the sound of the train coming close. I watched it pull in and stopped in front of us, letting the passengers off before we grabbed our stuff and boarded the train. Everyone was quick to go into a room within to place their stuff. Me and Ange, along with Irena and Skyler all shared a room. The latter was quick to claim a bed and lay there with a frown, still upset over her punishment. Irena sat on the bed near her, staring over at the upset Skyborn as I looked over to them.

“What happened?” Ange asked me in a whisper.

“She was late in getting home, like way late. It was just about midnight when she came home.” I said to Ange, answering her question. She ‘ahh’ed at this before sitting down on the bed. I stood there for a few moments before saying that I’ll go for a walk through the train. As I did the sound of the click clacks of the train tracks started to get into my head as I went from one car to another, finding Blake sitting at what looked like a bar in the train car. I walked up to the bar and sat on the stool next to Blake.

“Hey.” I greeted her. She turned to look at me and said.

“Yo, what’s up?” She asked me. I shrugged and thought briefly of my answer before saying.

“Nothing much really though I'm still miffed that I didn't know about the ‘big’ wedding before getting my own invitation yesterday.” I said with a huff, as much as it shouldn't really bother me, the fact that my mother had visited the day before yesterday kinda bothers me with the fact that she withheld any information. Blake chuckled at this.

“Well at least you got it, so that’s good.” She pointed out. I frowned at this and looked at her, seeing Blake look… nervous. This got my attention since if Blake looks nervous when something’s wrong or something bad is going to happen. A lot of people told me that she’s just paranoid but I knew Blake.

“Something up?” I asked Blake with an arched brow.

“Nothing… I think… just a bad feeling about this wedding.” Blake answered as she rubbed her arm. I nodded at this, ever since we were young Blake had this sense about what will happen. If she says something bad is going to happen, nine out of ten times something bad will happen. It’s the same with Dianne, which she calls it her ‘Pink Sense’, everyone simply didn’t bother to ask since it was too much crazy to understand. Lydia tried to figure it out, it led her going to the hospital for almost breaking every bone in her body. I was silent for a little while before the bartender came up and asked us what we wanted, we both ordered some light drinks for kicks but we also didn't want to get shit faced. When the bartender handed our drinks, I looked over to Blake and said.

“You shouldn't worry much about… at least not yet anyway.” I said with a shrug as I took a sip of the drink. “Just relax for a bit and enjoy the time with your girl.” I said to Blake, bringing a blush to her cheeks upon saying this. She drank a little from her drink before saying.

“Yeah yeah… you do the same.” Blake said with a smile. I smiled back before we clang our glasses together before gulping the last of our drinks. Some time has passed and I felt my whole body tensed up a bit. I looked to the side and saw some sort of barrier came through and pass right through us. I saw Blake shook at this, shaking her head at this before the intercom turned on and said we were arriving in Canterlot. “Guah… that felt… ugh.” Blake said, shaking her head. I simply stared at her as the door opened and Camilla walked in.

“Hey, ready to get off?” She asked the two of us. I nodded before I headed back to the room in time to see Ange picking up her stuff and Skyler sitting up. Irena saw me and smiled, waving a happy hello before she got up herself. I picked up my bag and Irena’s while Skyler grabbed hers before we finally got off the train and upon doing so, we noticed the sky or rather the dome over the city of Canterlot.

“Okay… talk about excessive security.” I muttered under my breath while Lydia and the others got off the train. I looked and saw a large number of gold plated guards standing at the ready near the exits of the train station.

“This is a wedding? It feels like a lockdown.” Skyler said to us. Everyone else got off as Lydia, without saying anything, walked forward towards the exit. Some of the guards tensed up as they saw this before Lydia walked past them, making four of them break off of the others and followed her out.

As I stepped up I saw the guards looked at me and bowed. One of them stepped forwards and spoke. “Prince Isaac, it’s good to see you. We will escort you to the Palace.” He said in a sorta drone like way. I simply nodded, having given up on making others not refer to me as Prince Isaac long ago when it began to get tiresome. Irena tilted her head at this, she was unaware of my status as a Prince as I prefer the normality of my life I had so far. The guard turned and soon we had a group of guards flanked us before we headed out to some carriages. We all entered them, Me, Ange, Irena, Skyler, Blake, and Camilla entered one while the others entered the others. Soon we were heading to the palace without a word. I looked over at the others and saw Irena and Skyler were staring outside and Blake had her arms crossed. Once again I was in deep thought though this time it was due to Blake's earlier suspicion, the bad feeling she had I now felt though I couldn't tell why and this just led to me thinking deeply about this, though I was brought out of them by Ange.

“Hey, you okay?” Ange asked me, shaking my arm a bit.

“Yeah sorry… zoned out a bit I guess.” I said to her with a smile before giving her a peck on the cheek and saying. “Thanks though.” I said to her. She smiled back at me before leaning up against me. Camilla smiled back as she looked over at Blake… who somehow fell asleep. She frowned before flicking her in the head.

“Huh, what?” Blake asked, now awake and looking around. “What I missed?”

“Nothing… you fell asleep.” Camilla answered, crossing her arms. Blake chuckled nervously.

“Sorry.” She said before giving the fire magi a kiss on her cheek, earning a blush from Camilla. It wasn't long until the carriages came to a stop and the door was opened by a guard. One by one we stepped out of the carriage and we found ourselves at the main courtyard of the palace. Many other people from all around have been invited to this event by the looks of it. Irena looked up at the large palace in awe as Skyler looked around at the place.

“Okay, this is cool.” Skyler commented. I nodded as the guards said we were heading inside so we could get some rooms. Irena, Skyler and Ange were with me, having been informed that we'll be sharing a large room for the remainder of our stay. Ange thanked the guard who didn’t seem to respond. I frowned at this before getting to the door of our room.

When we entered the room they weren’t kidding about the size of the room, it was like we walked into a large apartment suite, with living room, kitchen, bathrooms, walk in closet, even a room for both Skyler and Irena. The two of them ran off to explore as Ange and I stood in the living room, hearing the door closed.

“Hmm, pretty big room.” I said as I walked around the living room, seeing the small kitchen and several bedrooms down a short hallway. The living room was adorned with the latest of today's furniture, it seemed that mom has taken some of my advice in changing the guest rooms. The couch looked very homey and very comfy but once I sat down, I couldn't help but let a sigh of relief as I felt myself relax on the very, very comfortable couch. “Oh this is good.” I said. Ange giggled at this as she too went around to explore the guest rooms. I simply sat on the couch happily as this all happened. I couldn't help but kick my feet up on the couch but I soon felt someone kick them off and saw Ange sitting down, her expression detailing her surprise over the comfiness of the couch.

“Ooo… this is… nice.” She said, leaning up against me. I put my arm over her and helped her snuggle up, enjoying the closeness of one another as we have many times before. I soon planted a kiss atop her head, gaining an appreciative hum from her.

“I think I might keep this couch.” I said jokingly to Ange. She giggled at this as she snuggled up to me. The two of us stayed there for a few minutes before Ange stood back up, after giving me a kiss on the lips, and went to explore the rooms. I was left to my own thoughts for a little while before I decided that I should see mom and see how she's doing. So getting up and stretching a little bit, I decided to first look for her in the throne room.

I walked down the hallways, seeing more and more guards around me, also I noticed that there were some guards outside of my room and one of them was following behind me. It wasn’t a real issue with me but… this was a little excessive on security. I glanced back at the guard, seeing that the guard was female, a little shorter than me with some wisps of red hair peeking out of her helmet and her eyes were an ember colour.

“Hey umm… I don't think you really need to follow me around.” I said albeit a little awkwardly.

“Sorry but I have my orders.” She said without missing a beat. “I have to make sure nothing bad will happen and that’s it.” The way she said it makes me thing she takes her job seriously. Maybe too seriously.

“Okay then…” I said, giving up on convincing the guard to leave me be. It didn't help as it felt awkward to have a guard practically escort me. It wasn’t long before I noticed that we weren't going to the throne room but somewhere else. “Wait, I thought we were-” I was quickly interrupted by the guard when she said.

“Princess Celestia is in her room at the time, normally she wouldn’t take any visitors but since you’re her son… I believe she would want to see you.” The guard said without looking over at me. I hummed at this but said nothing as we stopped by set of doors adorned with gold and the symbol of the sun. The guard walked up to the door and knocked on it. “Your highness, you have an important visitor.” She said before standing back. We waited for a few moments before the doors open and my mom walked out and… wow.

Her hair was a dull pink colour that I have never seen her in before and here eyes were bloodshot and heavy bags were under them. Her clothes, used to be a flowing white gown that flowed off her was replaced with a large t-shirt and some sweatpants. She rubbed one of her eyes and saw the two of us. “Oh… hello Isaac… nice to see you since… uhh…” She paused as she tried to remember something. She looked tired… really tired.

“Maybe this is a bad time…” I said, now regretting my decision in looking for my mother. She was really worse for wear and I swear that the bed is what she needs right now. She simply wave of her hand and smiled.

“No no, it’s fine… come in I have some tea… I think?” Mom said before stepping back inside her room. I glanced at the guard who was surprised to see her like this. Her eyes widened at the sight. I stepped into the room while she thanked the guard and closed the door. Upon seeing the room and the state of disarray, I could tell something was majorly wrong.

“So uh… what's got you so… Well that?” I asked her, having no words to describe her state. She chuckled as she made two cups hover over to the table that had a number of papers on it.

“Oh, you know, taking care of the citizens… dealing with nobles… and now planning a wedding… there’s a lot on my plate.” She said, pouring some tea in both cups. She handed me a cup, careful not to spill any of the tea as she did.

“Yeah, that's got to be a hell of a lot of stress.” I said with a dry chuckle, it wasn't meant to be a joke as she has to deal with many stress inducing things on a day to day basis. “Have you tried… taking some time off?” I asked her. She chuckled at this.

“Why do you think I got Lydia and her friends to come?” She answered as she sips her tea a bit. I arched a brow at this questioningly, having never been told exactly why other than they have been offered jobs to help out with the wedding. She looked up at me before adding. “As they help out, I can take a nice long nap before the wedding tomorrow… or was it the day after?” She asked herself before looking through the pieces of paper. I shrugged as I took a sip of my drink. “So… how are you Isaac?” Mom asked me.

“Alright, I've been getting back into my hobby after putting aside for so long and Irena had requested I make her a robot cat.” I said with a shrug at the mention of the robotic cat. “Camilla is going to help me out with that while I work on the body’s design.” I said. Mom nodded at this.

“That’s… good… it’s nice to have a hobby to do…” She said before letting out a yawn. “Oh, sorry… I didn’t mean to do that.”

“I can come by later if you want.” I said to her, seeing that she is need of some shut eye.

“No no… it’s fine… Umm, I should have you meet Cadence… technically the two of you are cousins and… and...uhh…” She stumbled a bit on her words as she started to nod off. I looked at her worriedly before she smiled. “Oh… I’m fine… I’m really…” She was cut off when her head hits the table, shaking the papers on it. I blinked a few times before hearing her snoring. I was speechless at this but not really surprised to see that she was out like a light and not wanting to let her sleep like this, I took her to her bed and laid her down, doing so I found out that she weigh quite a bit for a woman of her physique. Maybe she'll need to lay off the cakes for a while.

After pulling the covers up I quietly walked out of the room, seeing the same guard standing nearby. She turned to me as I closed the door. “Is everything alright?” She asked me as I turned to her.

“Yeah, she just fell asleep mid sentence.” I said in a half joking manner that got a barely restrained snort from the guard. She covered her mouth as she blushed at this.

“I’m sorry, that was rude of me.” She said in an apologetic tone. With a wave of my hand I said.

“It's alright, it never bad to have a laugh every now and again.” I said to her, dismissing her apology as it was not needed. She nodded and smiled at me.

“So, where do you want to go next Prince Isaac?” She asked me. Internally groaning, I gave it some thought and knowing that if I head back to my room Ange would've been gone by now so with a shrug I said.

“I think I'm just going to walk about the castle, never really explored much of it before.” I said with a shrug. The female guard nodded as she stood there, making me realize that she wasn’t going to leave me alone still. “Nothing I say will get you leave me, huh.” I said in a guessing manner to which she nodded with a bit of a smug look.

“Not getting rid of me that easily.” The guard stated with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at her with a chuckle, already taking a liking to this guard as she is seems a little more carefree than others. Soon the two of us headed out, exploring the castle of all it's grand… grander.

So far it simply looked alright, for a palace that is, other than the large number of guards around. I guessed a lot of people already pointed this out but this number of guards is a bit overkill.

“So what's with the increase of guards?” I asked the guard behind me, hoping that she knew the answer.

“Well, it's a nobles wedding so there's that,” the guard explained. “Also the fact that it's between the Royal Guard Captain and a Celestial, so there's that. Honestly I don't know where most of the guards came from, far out in the country maybe?” she added. I hummed at this, still a little iffy over the amount of guards patrolling the palace.

“Okay right… so since you're going to be my escort, despite me not wanting one, can I at least get your name?” I asked the female guard beside me. She was a little surprised that I asked this but nevertheless answered.

“Roz.” She answered. I blinked at this in surprise before speaking.

“Roz?” I asked her again, earning a shrug from her before she spoke with a nonchalant tone.

“My parent and I don't see eye to eye.” The guard explained, her tone suggesting that she has long since mellowed out on that topic. I simply let the topic go, not wanting to cross the line.

“So how long have you been in the guard business anyway?” I asked her with the intent to spark a conversation as it was awkward walking in the silence.

“Every since I was young.” Roz answered before looking a bit down as she added. “My siblings were more into magic and better than me.” I arched a brow at her, seeing her mood had gone down before nudging her a bit and saying.

“Hey, don't be so glum about it. Just because your siblings are adept in magic doesn't mean you have to as well.” I said, silently hoping those were the right words to say at a time like this. She smiled at me.

“Thanks… you know you're not bad for a prince.” Roz said with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes at this before saying.

“Well that's because I wasn't really raised a prince.” I said with a shrug in a half joking manner. It wasn't haha funny, just dark funny. She chuckled at this as we walked through the halls.

The place was getting decorated for the wedding and all the servants were busy. Again more guards patrolled the halls, now that they past my body shivered as if something wasn't right. I glanced over my shoulder but there was nothing out of the ordinary in sight and it garnered Roz’s attention.

“You okay there?” She asked me.

“Yeah… yeah I'm fine just… I don't know.” I said obviously confused and still shaken up. She arched a brow but kept silent while I calmed down. Finally we continued on and ended up on the gardens outside. The flowers are in full bloom for the event, don’t know how but the gardeners are amazing at this sort of thing. I looked at a bush with some roses in it as Roz kneeled down to a bush of purple flowers. She smiled at the sight of them. “You like these flowers?” I asked her with a bit of curiosity in my tone.

“Yes.” Roz said before standing back up. “Back home, it was really hard for flowers to grow.” I arched a brow at this but quickly saw her expression of sadness and stayed quiet. The two of us continued on for a bit before we found ourselves very high up in the castle. I looked off in the distance as the light of the sun shined down on the buildings, making them light up a little. Roz stood by me as she looked off as well. “Nice view, isn’t it.”

“Yeah, I can practically see all of Equestria from here.” I said with a chuckle as I looked off into the distance as well. We stood there for some time before I felt like someone else was here. I turned my head and saw a woman coming out way. She had long pink hair with has been made to look beautiful, a dark green dress and she held her head up high. Beside her was another woman who as a little bit shorter than her with blue hair and was dress in a blue dress as well, one that matches her hair. Roz saw them and bowed a little.

“Lady...Katherine… it’s an honor to see you up here.” Ros said after a small pause.

“Yes, nice to see you too and…” Lady Katherine looked over at me for a moment. “You’re… Prince Isaac, correct?” She asked me. I groaned at this, once again not liking others calling me prince.

“Yeah, I am.” I said, though now a little annoyed. Great, and I was in a good mood too. Katherine, who I’m guessing her full name is Miamoré Cadence Katherine, looked up and down at me and hummed a bit.

“To tell you the truth… I was surprised that Celestia had a son.” she said in a disinterested manner. I frowned a little when she said that before she added as she looked over at Roz. “Have to say, for a Prince I expected to see more guards than just one.”

I looked between the two and felt there was tension between the two.

“I'd rather not have a full guard detail following me around wherever I go. I think I'd prefer just one.” I told her, it was half true. I honestly would've preferred no guards to follow me around but Roz so far has been good company. Katherine arched a brow at me before speaking.

“If you don’t mind, I have a few words with your guard…” She looked over to the other woman and said. “Nuc, mind showing the Prince back to his quarters?”

“Of course.” She answered, looking over at me with a creepy smile. I arched a brow at this before Roz went with Katherine while I began heading back to my room, the blue haired lady following behind me.

“So… haven’t seen you around before. Just got here?” Nuc asked me with a smile. I looked over at her and saw that she was a little too close for comfort.

“Yeah, about an hour ago.” I said, now feeling uncomfortable with her closeness. She giggles at me.

“Well, I bet you have all the girls fawning over you, quite a looker you are.” She said, giving my arm a poke, which made me frown at her and step away.

“Yeah… but I'm already taken and I made that very clear one of the millions of interviews I gave.” I said to her, frowning still as she only closed in again.

“Well, that’s nice…” She said, stepping closer to me and trailing a finger on my arm. This was getting very uncomfortable and for most of the trip we were walking back and forth in the hall, me trying to get away from her. When I saw my room I went towards it and looked back at her.

“Thanks for the walk back, have a good-” I was cut off when she pushed me onto the wall.

“Now, now, we were just starting, playing hard to get, it’s cute.” Nuc said as she gave me bedroom eyes.

“What the fuck? Lady I don't know what you're thinking or what you're on for that matter but I ain't interested, I'm already taken!” I exclaimed, trying to push her off of me only to find it difficult.

“Oh please, I know when someone is looking at me with interest.” She said as her hand felt me up. Bad touch! I was going to yell before she pressed her lips onto my own. My body locked up at this before slowly relaxing. It was… weird, odd and oh so very wrong. She slowly let go of me me as she kissed me before pulling away and humming loudly. “Thanks for that.” She said before turning away and walking off. I fell onto the ground, shocked and watched her go. I didn’t know what the hell just happened but I wiped my mouth and watched her disappear. Things can’t get worse.

“I-Isaac?” Nope, it could. I froze as I turned my head and saw a shocked Ange staring at me with wide eyes.

“That really wasn't what you think it was Ange…” I told her, out of breath and wiping my lips still. “She forced herself on me, I swear.” I said to her truthfully. She stared at me some more before seeing tears in her eyes.

“I… I thought…” With that she turned and ran off. Shit! I tried to chase her but my legs seemed to be not working… and I was oddly tired for some reason. So now I was laying right outside my door as in less than five minutes my love life crashed around me. If I had the ability, I would run after her and explain to her the truth but my body had other plans. I began losing feeling all across my body before everything finally went dark.

I opened my eyes to see a fire cat looking down at me. I blinked a few times before hearing a voice in my head. “Ah, you woke up finally.” Wisp said to me.

“I wish I hadn't.” I said to her, the memory of a heartbroken Ange still fresh on the mind as I regained feeling across my body. I was still lightheaded but other than that I was alright for the most part. I pushed myself up and looked at Wisp, asking why I was here without saying it.

“The other two came and found you, asked some guards to help you into your bed. It’s the next day and the wedding is going on.” Wisp explained as I pushed myself out of bed and to the window. I saw the sun high in the sky and it looked really nice out… I was miserable. “Isaac, what happened yesterday?” Wisp asked me.

“Some skank literally forced herself onto me and Ange saw, thought it was something else. Before I could actually tell her, I lost all feeling to my body.” I said to Wisp, rubbing my arms and sighing as I felt my hand rubbing against my skin.

“Lost all feeling to your body?” Wisp asked as I opened the window, letting a cool breeze enter the room. I stared out of it for some time before seeing a raven flew down near me. I stared at it before chuckling half-heartedly.

“I don’t know what to do anymore… what you think?” I asked the Raven as I closed my eyes.

“Well… how about Caw Caw Motherfucker?” A voice, a male one, said to me. I spun around, flame in hand and looked around the room for the owner of the voice.

“For fucks sake, whoever just said is getting roasted when I find them. I've had enough shit today.” I said out loud in anger, my breaking point just about reached beyond its limit and I was ready to snap at anything. I looked around and saw that there was no one around, my anger turned into confusion as there was no one here. I looked around before the voice spoke again.

“Down here.” The voice said below me. I looked down and saw… the Raven. What the… “Mind putting that out? You could burned this room down.” He said to me.

“Like I give a shit.” I said, deciding that I just didn't care enough to ask about the talking Raven.

“Well you should. This place looks nice and all.” The Raven flew up onto the chair as Wisp was on the bed.

“Ozul.” Wisp said to the Raven, making it known that she knows who this bird is.

“Ah, Wisp, it been a while hasn’t it… last I remembered was when we were at that dreadful Orphanage.” The Raven, Ozul I guess, said to her. I blinked at this in surprise, the flames dying in my hand as he said the Orphanage.

“It’s been a while, but why are you here?” Wisp asked the bird.

“Well it’s about the wedding, and the possible attack that’s going to happen.” This made me stop in my tracks. Attack?

“Wait wait what? What attack? What's this about an attack and why am I hearing about this now?” I said, marching back up to Wisp and the raven. Looking at Wisp even she was surprise.

“Yeah, the attack on the city.” Ozul said before looking at us. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice all the weird stuff going on? Some guards acting odd, drone like, and see people for some odd reason look tired?” He asked us.

“Funny, Isaac has done the last thing, haven’t you?” Wisp asked me as she looked at me.

“Fuck off.” I said, not in the mood for a fucking joke.

“Well, then you must’ve ran into one of them than.” Ozul said to me before hopping off the chair and flew over and landed on my shoulder, making me twitch to smack him off. “Come now, we better hurry. The attack will happen-” Before he could finished there was a loud shattering sound, like the sound of glass breaking, as the dome surrounding the city broke and dissipated.

“Right about now, well then come on, to the main hall!”

End of Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIII

View Online

I never thought my legs would be able to move this fast before but here I was rocketing down the hallway to get to the main room where the wedding was being held. Wisp was running beside me, not making a sound as her paws landed on the ground and trying not to run under any curtains or low hanging plants as Ozul was flying overhead, giving me information that I never asked for.

“They are called Changelings. A nasty bug like race that has the ability to shapeshift to anyone or anything they want as long as they see it before and remember it. They are also able to drain the energy from anything by contact. They can sap a little bit at a time with simple touches but get a lot more from more intimate acts such as kissing and what not. Leeches the lot.” Ozul explained. That would explain why Nuc kissed me, she wasn’t being flirty, she was hungry for my energy! “Better be careful around them, you especially kid.” Ozul said to me.

“First off, don't call me kid. Second, why?” I asked him, still having plenty of breath through my seemingly endless sprint down the halls.

“Well, you’re the son of Celestia, Celestial of the Sun, making you half-Celestial, which for the Changelings a literal walking gold-mine of energy. Any Changeling that would feed off of you could last for years on you alone, and become addicted to your energy.” Ozul explained. I frowned at this, not liking what I’m hearing as I rounded a corner and stopped when I saw… her.

“Aww, you come back for more?” Nec asked in a sweet tone as she stood in front of me with a smile. “Seems I’m too irresistible for you huh?”

“Fuck off you skank.” I told her before attempting to get by her only for her to block me still. Ugh, seriously!?

“Now why should I do that?” She asked me before frowning. “It’s that girl from before? What do you see in her?” With that she stepped back and in a green flare of fire the woman before me was… Ange?! “Sure she looked alright, but I’m more.” I began to tremble with anger, I can’t believe this bitch changed into Ange! She spread her arms wide and grinned, her teeth were like a predator. “Come, I’ve only tasted a little and I want more! My mother would love to-”

She didn’t finish as Blake, coming down the hallway beside her, punched her in the face so hard that she spun around a few times before falling down, knocked out. There was another green flare and the being in front of us had black skin, insect-like armour like arms and her eyes was a solid blue colour. Ozul was right, they do look like people size insects.

“I saw you change!” Blake yelled at her before looking at me. I was about to say something but she was guarded. “Ahhh no! I don’t know if you’re you and not a bug. Tell me something that only Isaac would know or eat fist.” She said, holding her arms up.

“You and Camilla had drunk sex before you two hooked up.” I said to her, blinking as I did. “And for some reason, you're afraid of snakes.” I quickly added. I watched her face turned red after this before nodding.

“O-Okay… you’re Isaac.” She said putting down her fists as Nuc groaned a bit which Blake stomped her which got a gasp and groan from her. “Jeez, these things are tough!”

“Guessing you already ran into some?” I asked with an arched brow as I looked down at the downed woman.

“Yeah… let's just say I already ran into them…” Blake said before looking around. “If this is what noble weddings are going to be like then I'm sticking with normal ones thank you.” I shook my head before Ozul got my attention.

“Hello~ people are in trouble. One of them is possibly your maybe or not girlfriend.” He pointed out to me. I frowned at this before looking back at Blake.

“Come on, we both have to get to the others.” I told her, getting a nod from her before we both broke into a full sprint. The two of us ran down the hallway, turning around corners and sometimes running into our ‘friends’ in which either Blake or I yell out a question that said friend should know. None of them got it right and got a Blake fist which knocked them out.

We continued on before we came to a stop when we saw a guard in the hallway. They turned around and I saw it was Roz, now with some bruises on her face.

“Roz?” I called out to her, getting her full attention. She simply stared at me for a few long moments before speaking.

“Hello Isaac. Seems you two are on your way to the wedding?” She asked, sounding less happy than yesterday. Blake nudged me a little.

“Uhh, who's the guard chick?” She asked me.

“A friend I met yesterday. Kinda stuck with me as a guard despite me not wanting any guards with me, she turned out to be good company.” I told Blake simply before looking at Roz. “Yeah, we're heading over to the main hall and check on everyone.” I told her.

“Right… this might be a bad time but I'm getting bad vibes from her…” Blake warned as Roz nodded.

“You're a good friend Isaac… sad to say…” She pulled out a sword and pointed at us. “I'm not allowed to let you through.” I stared at her with wide eyes, having truly not expected a guard the palace to turn.

“I thought you said she was good!” Blake asked me.

“She was!” I snapped back as I stared at Roz, no I couldn’t tell if this was Roz or… at this moment I pieced it together. “You… were masquerading as a guard this entire time…”

“Guilty as charged.” She said simply as she stood there. “Have been for the very beginning before you lot came around… sorry about Nuc, she’s a bit needy.” This made me frown a bit, Roz sounding like she knows Nuc personally. I growled at this, having had just about enough I could take today and it showed as well, both my arms lit ablaze in an unstable inferno that managed to shock the living shit out of Blake.

“Holy shit!” Blake yelled as he backed away. Roz seemed to take a step back in surprise.

“That’s… you’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” She said, gripping her sword in her hand.

“Yeah, you done fucked up!” Blake yelled as I stared at Roz with flaming arms.

“I've had about enough of this!” I said before slamming both fists down onto the marble floor, setting it ablaze and creating a wall of the raging inferno before pushing towards Roz, making her step farther back only for me to keep pushing it. This hallway is going to end soon. Roz soon had her back to the wall, her cool demeanour now breaking as she was now panicking at the flames closing in. There were no windows, she was trapped.

“Uhh… Isaac… Maybe you want to calm down there…” I heard Blake said to me. “You’re kinda setting the castle on fire!” I didn’t listen to her as I pushed the flames closer, seeing Roz look at me in fear and soon closed her eyes. I clenched my fists, having the traitor then and there but… I sighed and when I did, the flames died out, leaving me a little winded. I heard Blake sigh as well as Roz, now the flames died down, fell onto her knees and were breathing heavily. “Jeez, here I thought it was my shop all over again…” Blake said, reminding me of the last time I was close to losing it. I shook my head and looked up to see Roz without her helmet on and instead of the wispy red hair I thought she had, her hair was a more solid red colour, and some dark black pointy ears poking out. I guess due to the fear she reverted back to her normal self. Blake helped me up and I thanked her as we both looked at the Changeling.

“Why… why did you stop?” I heard her ask. I took a deep breath and sighed.

“The major reason, I'd rather not be labelled a murderer.” I said to her, rubbing my wrists a bit before saying. “And to be honest… I wanted to believe you were still my friend. I know when others lie to me and what you said to me wasn't a lie, you've been truthful to me the whole time.” I said to her. She looks up at me, the same Changeling look stared back at me only her eyes were red as she smiled.

“You are full of surprises…” She said before sitting down and looking at us. She then nodded down one of the hallways. “That way… that’s the fastest way down there.” She said to us. I arched a brow at this and looked down the hall before back down at her, seeing that she was wounded from cuts and slashes, no doubt from earlier fights.

“Blake, tend to her wounds while I go to the main hall.” I said to Blake. She looked at me with a frown.

“Uhh, you sure about that?” She asked me before whispering. “Unlike you I haven’t met this one before. How would I know she’s not going to try and stab me in the back?” She asked me. I groaned and said.

“Blake, just trust me!” I said to her with a tone that made her know I was beyond serious with this. She pulled back from me after this and sighed.

“Alright alright… but if I end up dead in the hallway I’m sooo going to haunt you.” Blake said as she made her way to Roz, me rolling my eyes at her before going down the hall Roz had mentioned. I didn't know why or how but I felt rejuvenated, as if the earlier running didn't happen. When I managed to reach the main hall, the doors were opened enough for me to burst through them with ease, the sight rewarded to me was less than pleasant.

Inside there was more of those Changelings, their armor was black and green in colour as some of them pushed some nobles in the corner scared beyond belief. Near the altar was a man with short blue hair and wearing a royal guard outfit and had a dazed look in his eyes. In the middle of the room was a tall woman with black skin, same as as the other Changelings, but with long sickly green hair and in a black and green dress. I didn't pay her much mind as I saw near her was my friends bound and gagged in some gross green goo… and Ange was there, knocked out.

“No…” I said as I saw many cuts and bruises, tears that littered her dress. Someone hurt her… they hurt Ange!

My entrance was heard, some of the bug soldiers attempted to attack me both lethal and not. Before they're weapons could even touch me, my arms bursted into the inferno as it did before. My anger skyrocketed, beyond the point I thought impossible to reach. Their weapons either burst into flames or melted off the handle.

They hissed and pulled back as it also drew the attention of the one in the dress. She had a black crown on her head and her eyes was the sickly green colour but the difference was she had a black iris in the middle of her eye.

“What do we have here? Some pest that found itself in here?” She said before looking at me. “Oh wait, you’re him, the boy with enough energy to last a lifetime.”

“If she would’ve heard, I would say that it was a bad idea to call you that.” Ozul said as he landed on the door above.

“Quiet you. Isaac you need to keep a calm head.” Wisp said to me. I frowned even more at this as the Queen of the Changelings, I think, made a hand motion and a few of the soldiers flew over to her.

“Take him and lock him up, he’ll be my personal tank of energy. Oh and find me that disappointment of a daughter of mine.” She said with a wave of her hand, the soldiers pointed spears at me and made their way over to me.

“Calm Isaac…” Wisp said to me.

“Wisp you’re always the patient one… but right now I don’t think it’s a good idea to be calm. I say torch them.” Ozul said to me before adding. “The bugs I mean. Not the others.” I couldn't care less than I do now for what he said. My breathing getting heavier as I closed my eyes, fist clenched with rage… before darkness took me.

-Blake-

“She what?!” I asked Roz as we ran down the hallway towards the wedding. “I never had a mother when I was growing up but that’s fucked up!”

“Yeah well, let's say my mom has a messed up head.” Roz explained as she ran beside me, looking like her guard self instead of her Changeling look. As it seems, Roz here is one of many daughters of the Queen of the Changelings. Each of her daughters is skilled in some sort of magic and said to be able to be queens in their own right. Then comes Roz, who isn’t that skilled in magic and is part of the military, something her mother despised her for. Roz was treated more like a thing than a daughter or sister.

“Again, why stay in that place?” I asked, rounding a corner.

“Sense of duty.” Roz answered before adding. “My mother is cruel but she didn’t toss me out, so I had a place to call home for a time- Not this way, this way.” She said as we did a sharp turn before running down a different hallway. It was longer sure but we didn’t run into any guards or anyone.

“You know this place very well.” I said to her.

“Of course I do, the plan of sneaking into and slowly syphoning energy from people was my idea. My mother took it as an invasion.” Roz said back, making me a little more iffy with Roz after she said that. I frowned a little before asking.

“Did you take energy from Isaac when you were with him?” I asked her.

“Will you promise not to punch me if I tell you?” She asked back. There was a pause before seeing we were reaching the room.

“Fine, I won’t punch you.” I answered her.

“A little, not a lot to be noticeable but enough to get by.” She answered truthfully. “I sap a little bit from anyone that comes near me, unlike my sister Nuc I have way more self control than her.”

“Right… this makes me trust you less.” I informed her.

“As it should.” Roz said with a nod. I frowned at her but didn’t ask any more as she spoke. “Say… is it just me or is it getting hotter?” She asked.

“Hey, I don’t trust you and I’m taken.” I pointed out before realizing that it was getting hot in here… really hot. “Oh that’s what you meant.”

The closer we got to the door the hotter it became, it got to the point when I was starting to sweat. “Ugh, one of the reasons I came out here was to get away from the heat.”

I didn’t say anything as we got to the doors and saw… the handles were melting. We both looked at each other as we sweated. Luckily the door was ajar for us to push open… what we saw was… something.

Everything is on fire. The seats were on fire, the decorations were on fire, the food that I had somewhat helped more were on fire, Even the ice statue was on fire!... right before it turned into steam.

In the middle of the room was a man, glowing as if he was the sun itself as he stood in the middle of the room. Any and everyone that was conscious at the time was staring at the figure in the middle of the room with fear in their eyes… and sweating like crazy. All the soldiers in the room were either backing away from the sun figure or burning alive. One of them, a tall woman who was standing back shooting beams of magic at the figure, only for the magic to catch on fire as well!

“How does magic catch on fire!” I yelled out.

“I don’t know! But the one doing the magic is my mother!” Roz yells before adding. “I kinda wished she gets burned!” The burning figure raised his hand and a stream of fire shot out towards the woman, only for her to narrowly deflect it and in doing so made the beam melt through the wall and continue on outside. The figure frowned even before yelling, a constant barrage of flaming orbs fired from his open palms.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t burn the room, or castle, down!” I yelled as I looked over and seeing some Changeling soldiers standing in front of a group of nobles before looking at Roz. She nodded and the two of us made our way towards the soldiers, which were only two. They soon looked over at us, one of them yelled.

“Roz!?” One of them yelled.

“Sorry!” Roz yelled back as she punches him in the face as I did the same. When we did that I looked at the nobles.

“Well?! Run!” I yelled as they all booked it out of the room. Both Roz and I went over to my friends and worked on their bindings. Even through the heat the bindings were hard to break. “Ugh, what is this stuff?!”

“Binding gel, organically made from Changeling magic! Almost impossible to break due to the magic.” Roz yelled as she wasn’t really doing anything. “I can’t break it!”

“Why not?!” I yelled back at her as she looked at me with a frown.

“What part of ‘I suck at magic’ did you not understand?!” She yelled at me. Right, forgot about that. I looked down at the bindings and put my hand on it, thinking of the way to get this thing off… then my hand started to glow a dark white and blue colour. The green glow disappeared and the bindings started to melt. “How… How did you-”

“Later!” I yelled as I tried to move the others away. We got a few of them out and when I got to Angelina the heat increased to the point of being painful. Roz stared at something behind me with wide eyes as I turned to see the sun being right there. Oh no…

The Sun being had an aura around him, one that basically melted any spell thrown at him by the Queen who was furiously trying to take him down. The Being looked down at us, his eyes bright as the sun itself. His frown softened though when he saw Ange but… why? I looked between the two of them and slowly moved out of the way. I didn’t know what’s going on but I didn’t want to be extra crispy. The being knelt down in front of Ange before raising a hand to touch her, I was about to stop him but was too late though instead of him burning Ange… nothing happened. As this would happen Ange’s eyes slowly opened.

“Isa...ac?” She muttered at the fire being. I blinked at as I looked at the fire being. Wait… the temperature calmed down drastically and the being's light dimmed revealing it to be Isaac in tattered clothing. He was breathing heavily, tears in his eyes as he caressed Ange's cheek.

It would be a touching moment… if it wasn’t for the Queen marching over to them. “Now… this time I got-” She was cut off when there was a bright pink light from the other side of the room. “Oh come on!” She yelled as the light expanded. I had to block out the light with my arm as this happen.

-Isaac-

I groaned as the pink light of fuck you was now dissipating from my eyes as I looked down to see Ange, who was now blinking her eyes a number of times. What just happened?

“Ange… are you okay?” I asked Ange, who groaned as she closed her eyes in discomfort. I didn't care what was happening around me or my suddenly destroyed clothes, I needed to know if she was alright. She moved her arms over her eyes before letting a little whimper of pain. Her arms were covered in cuts and bruises.

“I’m… sorry…” She managed to speak out.

“D-Don't move, I'll get you some help.” I said to her, wanting nothing but her good health. I was terrified, having never gone through anything like this and seeing Ange like this… It hurts me.

I looked around and now saw the room was now very, very burnt as there was some guardsman now coming in to help out. I got one of them to come over to take a look at Ange. I didn’t leave her side as the guard was talking a look of her, wrapping her arms up with some wraps on her arms. The guard told me that Ange will be alright, but she shouldn’t do anything laborious.

“Hey! Where’s the Princess?!” One of the guards yelled which soon got an answer above us.

“Up here…” We all looked up to see mom, hanging upside down in some green goop. Looking very displeased. After some time and some effort, the guards were able to get mom down all the while I was by Ange as she was recovering, refusing to leave her side even for just a second. I soon saw the guard give Ange some wrappings for her eyes, which the guard said that it will help her eyes after the bright pink light. Soon the guard went off which allowed Ange to speak.

“So… I overreacted yesterday?” She asked.

“I wanted to go after you to explain what really happened but… I soon passed out after you left.” I told her with a sad expression. I soon felt her hand move over my own. “I wouldn't ever in my life think of cheating on you with anyone else… I love you Angelina.” I said to her truthfully. I saw her smile at this before leaning onto me. I smiled at this as the two of us stayed like that before I took a glance around at everything. The others were slowly waking up, some of the nobles came in to get checked by the guards and mom talking to some guards. She looked like the image of a leader but I saw a few signs of annoyance of her being strung up in a goobag.

On the other side of me I saw Roz… in chains with four guards around her.

“Hey hey what do you think you're doing!?” I yelled as I got up, getting the attention of the guards and Roz, who looked surprised. The guards looked at one another before one of them spoke.

“Uh, holding the prisoner.” He answered me.

“They saw me in what I really am.” Roz said before one of the other guards jabbed a spear near her.

“Quiet you!” He yelled, earning an eye roll from Roz.

“Would you stop that! She isn't a bad guy, she's a friend!” I yelled at the guards quite angrily might I add. This got a lot of attention from everyone else around us as the guard looked at the other three who didn’t know what to do exactly.

“Uhh, well… you see.” The guard said before another voice spoke up.

“What’s going on?” Mom asked as she came over us, a little annoyed in her voice.

“Princess, Uhh… you see…” the guard stuttered before mom looked at me before saying.

“Let her go, she is in no position to attack.” Mom said to him.

“My princess… you sure?” The guard said to her as she arched a brow and look over to the body shape imprint in the wall.

“I’m sure.” Mom said to them before they looked at one another again and uncuffed Roz, who began rubbing her wrists soon after she was freed.

“Thanks, mom.” I thanked her with a little smile.

“No problem honey…” She said with a sigh. “This may not sound all that nice but… I want this day to be over.”

With that mom walked away from me as Roz walked up to me. “You didn’t need to do that… but thanks Isaac.” Roz said. I arched a brow at this before she looked away. “I’m… not good with this okay.”

“Wasn't going to let the guard lock up my friend.” I told her with a little smile before I glanced back at Ange, who is just a little away from me. Not wanting to leave her on her own, I walked back up to her side and grasped her hand lovingly, to which smiled at me for. I looked over and saw Roz looking around at the place before going over to the wall and just lean there.

The next while went by quickly and soon the whole city was now in less panicked like state. Lydia informed me and the rest of us that her brother and the real Cadence are going to do a simple, small wedding for the two of them in the coming week. Saying after everything, the invasion, imprisonment, the brainwashing, the… everything, they just want to get their wedding over with before something else happens.

Mom had a few questions for Roz which were quick and simple to answer and after a quick recap I can sum them up with ‘Fuck her mother, she’s now exiled, she has no idea what she’s going to do now.’ in that exact order. That was about an hour ago, now however me and Ange exited the infirmary room where I insisted on taking her. I ended up having to walk her out via wheelchair as I didn't want to risk anything.

“Are you sure you're alright now? I can still see you wincing every now and again.” I said to her with worry and concern.

“I am Isaac, thank you.” She told me as she puts a bandage hand over mine. “Really, I think I’ll be alright after sometime.” I smiled at her as I pushed her along. After a while I soon found Roz by herself in the hallway. She saw me before pushing herself in front of us.

“Isaac… I… I came to say sorry for… everything.” She said to me. I was taken by surprise at this but nonetheless said.

“It's… fine. You were practically dragged into all of that by your mom.” I said to her.

“Yes… kinda… sorta… no… most of this was my idea but…” She looked off into a direction before reverting to her normal form. “It was much more less...this.” She explains before going to a little explanation of her plan. It was basically to sneak into cities and siphon energy from people. The way she explains the plan it would take time but it wouldn’t hurt anyone in the long run. “She just blew it up to something bad.”

“Wow.” I said, slightly taken aback by this. Though I'm more confused as to why the Queen would ditch a solid stealth plan and go for an all out war. “That's gotta suck.” I said only to be nudged by Ange. “I'm bad at this, I know.” I said to her.

“No, your right… it did suck… a lot.” She said to us before giving me a smile. “But luckily after this there’s no way I’m going back. I’m done with my mother and my family…”

“So have any idea what you're going to do now?” I asked her. She thought about it before answering with shaking her head.

“I don’t… I don’t know what I’m going to do…” Roz said as she looked off with a sad expression. “Can’t be a guard when everyone knows what I am.”

“Do you at least have a place to stay?” I asked her, not liking the idea of leaving Roz helpless like this. She shook her head at this, much to my own displeasure, fuck. Wait… “I think I can help remedy that, there's a house back in the town I live in, it's just about finished being built. I can probably pull a few strings.” I said to her. This brought a smile to Roz’s face as I felt Ange’s hand on my own. I looked down at her and saw her smiling, which made me smile as well as I looked back up. “I can pay for your train ticket to town, my mom decided to give me some… I guess allowance would be the right term.” I said, which only served to brighten her mood even more.

“Thank you again, Isaac.” Roz said before looking around a bit. “I uh… guess I should go pack then… Huh?”

“Yeah, me and Ange are going to do the same. Hopefully our room didn't get damaged during the attack, it would suck to have to buy replacements for all the clothes. Not to mention the suit I was supposed to wear.” I said, reminding myself of the tux I had rented out. With that said the three of us headed off to go pack. Luckily our room wasn’t trashed during the attack and nothing needed to be replacing other than maybe the windows as they were smashed in. I had to watch my step while I insisted that Ange just sit tight in the wheelchair, she didn't argue with this as the glass was literally everywhere, I feel sorry for however cleans this up.

I decided to not only pack my own things but Ange's as well. The clothes she bought were simple, a couple of spare jeans and some modest blouses. She even had a sundress, she said she had planned to go out into the city for a stroll but that was before all that went down. It wasn't until I got to the underwears that I stopped.

“Uhhh…” I couldn't find any sort of word other than that to show my confusion. Amongst the spare panties she had brought was… well I wasn't exactly sure what to be honest. It looked like a thong that bordered the line between what a thong is and a g-string.

“Isaac? Is something wrong?” I heard Ange asked me.

“Well…” I said before showing the cause of my confusion and blushing face. I looked over and blinked that I forgotten that her eyes were still covered for the rest of the day. “Nothing, nothing just… thought I something.” I said folding the piece of skimpy underwear and putting in her bag. When I zipped up, I sighed and began carrying the bag before picking up my own. I silently thanked my celestial boost of strength as it was quite heavy carrying the two bags if I wasn't so strong at the moment. When a knock at the door caught my attention, I dropped the bags and went over to answer it, opening enough to peek through.

“What?” I asked out before seeing that it was mom on the other side. I opened the door fully and said. “Oh, hey mom. What's up?” I asked her while Ange hummed to herself happily.

“Hello dear, I was hoping if we could speak for a moment… alone.” Mom asked me quietly. I blinked at this before glancing at Ange.

“I'll be back in a little but Ange, don't worry.” I said to her, getting a nod and a thumbs up before I looked at mom as she and I walked out the door. She closed it soon after I exited the room. “So what's so important that we have to talk alone?” I asked her with an arched brow. Mom didn’t say anything at first, seeing her rub her hands together for a few moments before speaking.

“Isaac… how much do you remember after you confronted the Changeling Queen?” Mom asked me. I arched a brow at this as I began to think.

“Well… not much now that I think about it.” I said to her before continuing with. “I got so mad at one point that I sort of lost consciousness and the next thing I knew I was kneeling besides Ange and my clothes were in shreds.” I said with a confused look.

“I see…” Mom said as she looked off down the hallway, deep in thought. “I… never really told you anything about your father… haven’t I?” She asked me

“Other than he was a dawn titan. Other than that I can't recall anything else.” I said to her, rubbing the back of my head as the subject at hand shifted to my father, which only served to make me feel awkward but I endured. Mom nodded again before looking back at me.

“Well, during your loss of consciousness… you tapped into your father’s side of your being.” She explained to me. I blinked at her in surprise.

“What? So… I'm like half Dawn titan as well as Celestial?” I asked her, to which she slowly nodded before I looked off, the images of the main hall covered in soot and half burnt down fresh in my mind. “So what does this mean?” I asked, slowly looking back at her. Mom hummed to herself before saying.

“It means… that if you get angry… like really angry, you’ll tap into your Dawn titan side.” She explained before adding. “And this has me worried.”

“So I'm a danger to anyone.” I said in a hushed tone as the realization dawned to me. If I were to lose it again, a worse outcome is very possible.

“Yes, but I also saw you regain your control of yourself.” She said, frowning a little. Must be due to the fact she was hanging upside down during all this.

“What? When?” I asked, unsure of what she meant by this. She smiled at me before answering.

“When you were with Angelina.” She answered. I blinked at this as I remembered regaining consciousness beside Ange, on my knees and caressing her. She brought me back? “I know that you’re confused… But just know that, even if you are in your Dawn Titan state, you know of those who love you and you love back.” She said to me before bringing me into a hug, a very tight one at that.

“Uhh, a little tight mom.” I said to her with an audible struggle.

“Let me have my moment… and sorry.” Mom said as she loosen her hold on me. I sighed at this before she soon let go of me. “I'll be seeing you and your friends off at the station.” She said before leaving me to go back into the room. When I opened the door, I was greeted with Angie scrambling to get away from the door, leaving me to arch a brow as she smiled nervously. I wasn't mad at her, it was kinda cute. I just hope the train ride home is uneventful, I need a nap.

End of XXIII

Chapter XXIV

View Online

“Okay… Sign here… here… here... And an initial here and here…” The Mayor said as I wrote down my name on a few slips of paper as well as Roz did as well. The house I told Roz about was still getting built and I was told that it will be a bit before it’s ready to be lived in, it was going to be Camilla's but instead, she moved in with Blake so there was an almost finished house just waiting so after pulling some stings I got Roz a place to stay in town. When we finished the mayor took a quick look at them.

“Yup, that should do it.” She informed us as she put the forms in a folder. I nodded at this while Roz was doing her best to hide her excitement.

“Thanks for the help, mayor.” I said to my former frequent employer as she put away the folder. She nods at us and with that we headed out. As we left the town hall Roz looked over at me with a big smile.

“Thank you again Isaac.” She said to me with a smile.

“It's not a problem, Roz. I'm just happy to help out.” I said to her before adding. “You can keep crashing at my place until the house is finished.” I said to her with a smile. It's been an entire week since the whole wedding debacle and after arriving back in town, I had offered Roz to stay at my place but the downside was that she had to sleep on the couch but she didn't really care and accepted the offer.

“Thank you, and if you need anything just ask. I like to repay you after everything.” Roz said to me. I shook my head at this, having heard this a hundred times by now and had already gotten used to it by now, no matter how many times she said this to me, I would always respond the same way.

“Roz, you don't have to repay me anything.” I said to her with a little shrug of my shoulders. She smiled as she brushed her hair out of her eyes, she wasn’t in her normal Changeling form, instead, it was the look when I first met her, just minus the armour.

“Are you sure?” Roz asked, frowning a little.

“Positive. I'm not doing this so you get to owe me favors, I'm just doing to help out a friend in need.” I said to her, putting my hands in my pockets as we walked. “The last thing I needed was the idea of leaving you homeless after what happened, seriously I don't need that in my conscious.”

“Well truth be told that I have the skills to actually survive in the wilderness for an extended amount of time with nothing… but…” She stopped as I was staring at her. “Right… sorry.”

I sighed at this and shook my head as we continue walking down the street. We turned around the corner and I saw Skyler coming our way.

“There you are!” She said as she came up to us.

“What's up, squirt?” I greeted her as she stopped in front of us. She smiled up to me before saying.

“Nothing much, hey you mind coming to help me and my friends out with something?” Skyler asked. I blinked at this, wondering on what she wants help with.

“Um… alright, what do you need help with?” I asked her with an arched brow. “I swear if this like the time you used me as your school project you can forget about it.” I said to her.

“It’s not! And I said sorry!” She said as she led us off somewhere. We soon ended up at Blake’s diner where I saw Skyler's friends; Samantha and Lucille.

“Howdy Isaac!” Samantha greeted me with a wave as well as Lucille.

“Hey Sam, Scammy.” I said greeting the two, using the nickname I gave Lucille, which she frowned at me for as Skylar sat down next to her friends.

“Did ya ask him yet?” Sam asked Skyler who simply shook her head.

“Not yet.” She answered as I arched a brow at this as Skyler looked over at me. “Okay so the three of us were thinking of trying cooking out and we need someone to try our food out.”

“I don’t see why we need to do this, I know that my dish will do great.” Lucille said as she held her head up high. I arched a brow at this.

“Why exactly are you three doing this?” I asked them, crossing my arms as I said this as Roz stood by me still.

“Well, we’ve been going around trying different things and today it’s cooking,” Samantha explained to me. “Just trying to see what we are good at.” I sighed at this before taking a seat out for me and Roz.

“Okay, so what am I going to be taste testing? Should I call the hospital beforehand or no?” I asked them all expectantly, knowing that something bad would come of this. Roz arched a brow at my demeanour though it's mostly due to her not having lived here for long.

“Oh you worry too much, we’re making a few simple things to see how we do.” Lucille said to me as Blake came out from the kitchen.

“Alright you three, I got your stuff set up for you.” She said to the three before seeing me and Roz. “Oh hey you two, guess you got roped in as well?” She asked as the three headed off into the kitchen.

“I did, Roz is just along for the ride.” I said to Blake.

“Well it’ll be interesting,” Blake said as she sat down. “If you’re wondering, the three of them asked if they can try out some cooking and since today was my day off I agreed.”

“I feel like I'm going to resent you for that.” I said to Blake plainly and simply, my gut was telling me bad shit was going to happen and I for one trust my gut.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad…” Blake said though, from her expression she must’ve got the same feeling as me. After some time talking I was told that Skyler was making a burger from scratch, Sam was doing fried chicken and Lucille was doing curry. “Honestly I was surprised that she wanted to try that out. I did give them the stuff to make the base of them but what they do with it is up to them.” I nodded at this and simply waiting, though the silence soon became unbearable and I decided to start a conversation.

“So I managed to get Roz the house I promised finally.” I said to Blake.

“Hey! That’s great!” Blake said before looking over at Roz. “Finally getting off of his crummy couch huh?”

“Hey, my couch isn't crummy.” I retorted defensively at Blake.

“It was the same couch you had for years.” Blake said to me before Roz spoke.

“Actually it’s quite comfortable if you asked me.” Roz said before adding. “Much more than rocks and hard dirt.” Both Blake and I stared at her for a moment. “What?” She asked before the first course came out and it was Skylar.

“Here you go!” She said before putting out a burger for me it looked like any other burger that I’ve had before.

“Have anything special added in?” I asked her as she set the plate down.

“Special? Uhh…” Skyler thought about it before adding. “Salt… pepper… uhhh. Nope.” I rolled my eyes at this before taking the burger and getting a rather large and juicy first bite. It wasn't bad really, just a simple burger but it's really juicy. I gave her thumbs up. Skyler smiled at this.

“Mind if I have a bite?” Blake asked me. “I want to see how it is.” I nodded and handed her the burger before grabbing a napkin to wipe off the grease and bits.

“Well?” I asked Blake with an arched brow. She hummed a bit as she took a bite before looking at Skyler.

“You did just use the stuff I gave you huh.” She said to her before adding. “It’s not bad, but not great. Maybe a bit more seasoning would do but overall a good burger.” This made Skyler smile as the next course came out. This one was from Sam and she had a plate full of fried chicken.

“Hey ya are!” She said as she put the plate down. The smell alone made my mouth water. Grabbing a chicken leg, I took a large bite out of it and hummed at the taste. Blake, Skyler, and Roz grabbed one and took a bite as well.

“Oh, yeah… this is good… really good.” Blake said happily as the other two happily ate as well.

“Yeah, when I heard Sam was making her family's fried chicken, I knew it was going to be good.” Skyler said as Samantha smiled.

“Aww shucks, it ain’t that great, had it all the time when ah was growing up.” Samantha said with a little blush as we ate the chicken happily. When it was all gone however, we were all saddened by this.

“Aww man.” I said as we had finished the last bit of the chicken.

“I think I found the one downside…” Blake muttered to herself before the door opened and Lucille came out.

“Well! Here comes the best for last!” She said as she came closer and- oh gods! The smell! My hand went straight to my nose to cover it but it was too late, the smell burned itself into my brain as she put the plate of curry in front of me. It was black, it was bubbling, and there was an aura of evil coming off of it.

“Lucille! Are you trying to kill Isaac!?!” Skyler asked her friend.

“Is that thing even edible?” Samantha asked as she stared at the curry.

“Of course it is, sure it doesn’t look that great but I bet it tastes amazing!” Lucille said with a bit of a huff. They all looked at me to try the food.

“Isaac, as someone who lived with you for a long time, I beg you… don’t eat that stuff…” Skyler said to me. I stared at the three, Lucille waiting for me to try it before looking down at it. I had many… many reasons to just stand up dump this thing in the trash.

“If I die, keep her away from my shit.” I said to everyone and pointed at Lucille. I was never going to let go of the fact that she conned me once. Lucille frowned at me before I took a spoon full of the stuff and put it into my mouth.

… I should’ve followed my gut and tossed it! It was spicy, and it was no, it was slimy and gritty and overcooked and undercooked. Everything wrong about this was just… just wrong! My body soon expelled the food from my mouth as if it was the plague! I gasped and choked as I reached for some water or anything! I was given both a cup and pitcher as I grabbed the pitcher and drank all of it.

“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad.” Lucille said as I finished the water.

“Fuc- fuck off!” I exclaimed, gasping for air before adding. “Seriously, if anything it should count as an attempt of assassination!” I exclaimed.

“You’re overreacting.” Lucille said to me as Blake gulped a bit as she took a bit. Before I could stop her she took a bight… her black and white hair went completely white and did what I just did.

“Ugh! Ahh fugh na!” She gagged as she went for some kind of drink which she reached over to another table.

“Really Lucille, what did you put in that stuff?!” Skyler asked her.

“Oh you know, some spices, the stuff Blake gave me and other things like ginger, garlic, mushrooms, chocolate, apples…” She list off thing after thing and the more she did the more my stomach flipped.

“Oh you should count yourself lucky that I don't need the hospital, I think. If I do, you're paying the bill.” I said to the little assassin. Blake finally calmed down from her fit before glaring at Lucille.

“You… are never going in my kitchen… ever!” Blake said to her.

“Come on, you two don’t get it. Look, she likes it.” She said which we all looked over at Roz who was eating the food… and not throwing up. She looked over at us and swallowed.

“This isn’t that bad.” Roz said to us, making both Blake and I blink in wonder.

“What… is she made out of?” Blake asked me while I looked at Roz with an odd look.

“Ew.” Was all I could say. Roz shrugged as she continued eating. Blake shook her head before looking at me.

“Well, both are in agreement that Lucille should never cook, at all.” Blake said.

“Definitely.” I said with a nod before Blake took the plate of poisonous ooze and out in a trash bag before she tossed it out the door, where I proceeded to burn it into ash. “It will never hurt anyone again.”

Lucille frowned at this as she crossed her arms as the other two looked at each other. Soon the door opened and a voice ran out.

“Well well well, isn’t it the three losers.” This got a reaction from Samantha, Lucille, and Skyler, as we saw two girls about their age walked up to us. One of them had purplish hair with a fancy tiara in it, fancy expensive clothing and a smug look that I’ve seen from nobles in Canterlot. Behind her was a silver-haired girl with glasses and also wearing some expensive clothing.

“What do you want?” Skyler asked the girl, frowning. “Don’t you have something better to be doing?”

“Well I was going to get something to eat, but since you three are here, I don’t want to catch whatever diseases you three carry.” the Girl said.

“Would ya stop with that?” Samantha asked.

“And why would I do what a hick who’s friends with a wingless Skyborn and-” the bully glared at Lucille who glared back before the bully turned. “Come on Amy, we’re leaving.”

The two of them left which left Skyler in a sour mood now. “Sky…” Samantha started to say before Skyler shook her head.

“Sorry… I need to go somewhere.” Skyler said simply before heading out. The mood of the room turned to a more depressed one as Blake frowned even more.

“Those two are rotten…” Blake said before looking to the door. I frowned as well before standing up.

“I'll be right back.” I said before heading out after Skyler. The others didn’t say anything as I left the restaurant. I looked all over the place for her before I caught sight of someone flying overhead.

“Yo~” Rachael said as she landed down on the ground near me. She looked at me before adding. “You okay?”

“Have you seen Skyler go by here?” I asked her, disregarding her question. She blinked at me before thinking about it.

“No I haven’t seen her go by here… but I think I saw her at the bridge. Something up?” She asked me.

“These two brats came up at Blake's shop and said some… upsetting things.” I said to her simply, getting her to frown at this. “They called her a flightless Skyborn.” I said. This made Rachael flinched a bit.

“Ouch…” She said as she rubbed her one shoulder a bit. “That’s… heavy.”

“Yeah, anyway thanks for the info.” I said to her before heading off towards the bridge. I ran towards the bridge before getting there and seeing Skyler on the side of the bridge looking up at the sky. I walked over to her before sitting down beside her.

“Hey…” She said softly.

“Hey… how are you feeling?” I asked her with care in my tone as I heard her sniffle.

“Like shit…” Skyler said to me, pulling her legs up. “It’s not my fault I haven’t gotten my wings yet…” She said, her voice slightly muffled by her legs.

“You shouldn't let them get you down.” I said to her in a quiet tone. She didn't say anything after I said this. “Look, I know her words hurt but… fuck I suck at this.” I cursed under my breath, though this got a little chuckle from Skyler.

“The thought counts.” She said to me. This made me smile a little as we sat there for some time before Skyler spoke again. “You think… there’s something wrong with me?”

“What? No! No there's nothing wrong with you.” I said, honestly shocked that she would ask this. “Why would you ask that?” I asked her once again in shock.

“Because I’ve tried to do stuff that I read in books supposed to help get my wings but… nothing works.” Skyler said as she pulled her legs closer. “Heck even Irena has wings and she’s younger than me!” Skyler started to shake after this, tears welling up in her eyes. “It’s… it’s not fair!” I looked down after she said this, remembering my own time as a street urchin, how I would envy those around me for the homes and family they had while I… while I was left in the streets. I remember coming down here under the bridge on rainy nights.

I looked at Skyler before surprising her when I pulled her into a hug. She needed a shoulder to cry on, I was giving her that shoulder she needed. I felt her shake and cry into my shirt, her tears damping the shoulder part as this happens. Before long she pulled away, still sniffling and eyes now red. She sniffled as I looked over beneath the bridge before saying.

“I used to come here a lot as a kid, during the rainy days and nights to stay dry.” I said out loud, getting a confused look from Skyler, who sniffled and looked at me questioningly.

“What you mean? Why do you always come here as a kid?” She asked me, wiping her eyes before asking. “Didn’t you like it in the orphanage?”

“It was a roof over my head and the others were nice… but it wasn't to last. The orphanage caught fire and burnt down when I was nine.” I said to her, revealing to her that the orphanage I grew up in burnt down, a fact I had kept secret from her and anyone else. “After the fire, the town couldn't afford to build another orphanage so they held this event, where interested couples would come to adopt us.” I said to her before letting out a sigh. “One by one, everyone else found a new home… except me.” I said to her.

“Didn’t… didn’t Blake knew?” Skyler asked me. I chuckled at this before shaking my head.

“No… This was way before I ever met her.” I said to Skyler. I decided to continue my earlier story. “By the end of the day, I was the last kid left. The mayor at the time allowed me to stay at the town hall for only one night but… after that I was on my own. Back then there weren't any homeless shelters in town, so I was just left in the streets and everyday beyond that was struggle to survive. I'd scrounge around through trash to find food or leftovers from restaurants.” I said to her before adding. “I know it doesn't sound healthy by any means but I got by.” I said.

“Wow…” Skyler said softly as the two of us sat there for some time before she spoke. “Then… how did you get to where you are now?”

“Well, it sort of went the same way I met you.” I told her, getting a surprised look from her. “Yeah, it was my early teen years. I must've been at least fourteen when it happened. By that time I had learned how to pickpocket, I would use the money I swiped to buy myself actual food and it I never really got caught, except for one time.” I told her. I scratched my head before explaining. “It was the weirdest thing, I went to swipe some guys stuff and I got caught by him. But instead like anyone else who would dragged me off to the guards he said ‘A boy like you shouldn’t be out in the streets, they should be in school.’ And the next thing I knew I’ve gotten a letter to go to a high end private school.”

“Wait… what?” Skyler said, confused on this which I didn’t blame her for.

“Yeah, I had the same reaction and not only did he get me in, he covered my entire tuition.” I said with a chuckle before soon continuing. “The guy even handed me enough money to last me two years. I used the money for food and supplies for school. Things were honestly looking up for me… in a way. I mean, I was glad I was able to go to the only school at the time but at the same time… it made more of an outcast. Everyone had cleaned and pristine clothes, I had drabs that were worse for wear.” I said to her.

“Didn’t you say that you and Blake met up in school?” Skyler asked me which I nodded and chuckled.

“Yeah but that was halfway through my first year.” I said to her, glancing over and seeing that she had fully stopped crying.

“I see…” Skyler said, looking off into the distance, deep in thought. Before long she snorted and was smiling. “Seems like our lives are almost the same, you think I’m the daughter to some noble?” She asked jokingly.

“Funny.” I said to her with a roll of my eyes before I added. “You know… I can look for someone to help you summon your wings.” I said to her. This got her attention as she looked at me with wide eyes.

“Really?!” She asked me. I nodded and said.

“Yeah but it's probably going to take some time.” I said to her with a little smile. Skyler gave me a teary smile before giving me a hug. I gave her a hug back before a shadow flew over us. I looked back to see Rachael landing.

“Yo.” She greeted us, making Skyler jump a bit.

“Rachael!” Sky said in surprise.

“Hey squirt, looks like you’re in high spirits.” Rachael said with a smile. I narrowed my eyes at her.

“How much did you hear?” I asked her, finding a little too coincidental that she happened to show up after all this, especially after saying that I'd look for someone to help Skyler with her wings. She blinks at me before shrugging.

“Eh, little of this, little of that, honestly it was the last bit I heard the most.” Rachael said simply. I sighed at this before I asked.

“So you willing to help Rachael out?” I asked her. Skyler’s eyes widen at this as Rachael smiled.

“Do you need to ask?” Rachael asked before looking at Skyler. “Trust me kid, when I’m done you’ll be soaring through the skies!”

Skyler stared at Rachael before a big smile grew on her face. “Yeah!” She said, tears running down her face. I smiled at her before I got up and helped Skyler up soon after.

“I guess I'll leave you two to it?” I asked Rachael, wondering if the training begins now or at a later date.

“Yeah, we need to talk for a bit… and to do this. Hold on!” Rachael said before grabbing Skyler and the two of them shot upwards into the sky. Sky’s screaming turned to laughter as the two flew around in the sky, which left me by myself as I chuckled. Putting my hands in my pockets, I looked around wanting to be sure no one else was around before heading back to the diner.

End of XXIV

Chapter XXV

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After the event with Skyler and a few nightmares of Lucille's cooking, I’ve returned to the one thing that I haven’t done for some time; my hobby. I wanted to get back to doing that and in my workshop, I had Irena’s drawing of a robot cat hanging up at my desk. I have to wait for Camellia to build a body for it so I could finish it. For now, I’ve started making a realistic Owl Statue to pass the time.

It was coming along nicely, I had a wire frame base built already and I had recently finished with the talons. I decided to work my way up unlike last time with the hawk, hoping it would save time and decrease the times I screw up.

“I still don't understand why you're so interested in my work. Not a lot people really take interest in my work.” I said to Roz, who had wanted to see me work for quite a while since she first stumbled into the garage.

“I find it interesting.” Roz said simply before looking over to me. “Never really see a lot of people do what you can do.” She said before looking back at the unfinished owl. Only the talons and belly were done at the moment.

“I don't think anyone out there can do what I do. Sure there are magi with fire expertise but I don't think there's any that have the ability to weld.” I said as my finger was still ablaze similar to a blowtorch. “But thanks, it's nice to know there are people that actually like this.” I said to Roz with a chuckle. She smiles at this as I continue working on the sculpture before there was a knock on the door. We both looked and saw the door open and Irena was there. “Hey kiddo, what's up?” I greeted her, to which she blinked at the sight of Roz. “She's just visiting.” I said to her, reminding Irena that after having signed the papers and a day or two of waiting, Roz had finally moved out into her new home, the same I helped furnish which did took a large chunk of my allowance but it didn't phase me as, despite the large chunk gone, I still had plenty left which only just makes me question why mom would allow me so much money. Irena blinked at me before walking over and grabbing hold of my arm. I stared at her and saw the normal telltale sign of her wanting to hang out with me. “You're that bored?” I asked her and it wasn't that I didn't want to, it's just she had been so busy with her studies and even when she is free I would see her playing with Skyler.

Irena looked up at me and nodded at me, letting go of my arm and looking at the feet and belly of the Owl.

“It's an owl.” I said to her before I stood up, getting an aww from Roz, who was actually enjoying the process of the welding. The two of us looked at Roz which made her realized what she did.

“Ah, sorry… I think I should go…” She said before standing up from her seat. Before I could say anything, she simply said her goodbyes and left in a hurry, leaving me confused by this before I looked down at Irena, who was poking at the belly of the owl.

“You shouldn't do that.” I said to her, stopping her from doing so before I added. “There was a pretty big possibility it would have still been hot.” I said to her before picking her up with ease. She giggled a little when I picked her up, always enjoying when she didn't have to walk, which made me think that she's lazy sometimes. I took her into the house as she smiled at me. When we got to the living room and set her down which she seemed to pout a little. “Don't give me that look, the last thing I want is for you to be lazy.” I said to her before adding. “So what you want to do?” I asked her to which she hummed in thought. She looked over and went to grab a flyer and handed it to me. I looked at it and saw that Dianne’s work is having a sale on some of their sweets, looking up I saw Irena smiling hopefully at me. I sighed and simply muttered. “You and your sweet tooth.” I said before going over to the kitchen counter and picking up my wallet. “Alright, let's get…” I stopped when I saw her, looking at me with puppy dog eyes as she silently requested for me to take her there. Heavens above she's getting lazy… but I can't say no to those eyes. “Alright alright.” I said before picking her up. She let out a silent cheer as I had her up on my shoulders as we went out and headed towards the bakery. She smiled all the way there as we saw there was a bit of a line up for Sugarcube Corner’s sweets. Irena shrank a little, maybe due to the fact we have to wait in line.

“Cheer up, it's just a line.” I said to her before adding. “We can come around a little later if you'd want.” I said to her, giving her an alternative. She smiled at me and nodded before the two of us walked around for a bit… well, I walked around she rode on top of me. It was a nice day out so it wasn’t too bad. As we walked, there were some people that greeted me, either simply or formerly by calling me prince. I've honestly gotten used to it now so it doesn't really bug me as much, the one problem though is that there have been times were nobles come down from Canterlot to befriend me.

It was honestly a pain, I just wish they would leave me alone… I sighed and looked up to see-

“Excuse me, are you...” Ah crap. I saw a group of nobles in front of me. “Ah, you are him. I honestly never expected to see the Prince down here!”

“Yeah yeah, heard it all before.” I said, waving off their surprise. It's like thousandth time I've heard a noble be surprised over me being in this, and I quote, backwater of a town. The noble didn’t seem to be fazed by this as he smiled.

“Well I bet you heard it a lot but one would never expect the Princess’ son to be out here of all places, it’s just so surprising!” He said as the other two nodded in agreement at this. “Say, we’re a little new to this place, mind if say, you show us around?” he asked me nicely that, for me, sounded a little fake.

“No.” I said simply and bluntly, getting a surprised snort from Irena who found this to be funny. This took the noble by surprise.

“B-beg your pardon?” He asked me, that smile now wavering a bit.

“I'm not dumping my plans for a tour.” I said to them, which got Irena to pump her fist a victoriously. This pushed the noble to frown and got a frown from the other two.

“Fine…” The noble said as the three of them left, just for me to hear the one call me a brat before turning around a corner.

“Ha, nothing better than seeing them pissed.” I said to Irena, getting a nod from her before I continued the walk. After a bit of walking here and there, I made my way back to Sugarcube Corner, seeing the line having shortened dramatically to the point where it was now only inside. Irena gasped at this and urged me to go in line now. “Alright alright, geez. Calm down.” I said to her before I entered through the doors, making the bell ring and my entrance known.

“Hey Isaac!!!” Dianne yelled from behind the counter as her boss, Mister Cake, winced a bit as Dianne waved at us.

“Hey Dianne. Busy day?” greeted her jokingly, knowing about the rather large line from before.

“Totally! Like, most of the people here have been here for a while!” Dianne said which caused quite a few of the customers to groan at this. I rolled my eyes at this as I stood in line with Irena, which much to her disappointment, now on the ground beside me. I held onto her hand which she was happy about.

“So decided on what to get yet?” I asked her with a smile. “Don't be shy on going all out, think of it as my gift to you for those good grades of yours.” I said to her with a chuckle. She smiled brightly at this and looked at the menu. I arched a brow at this as she was going to take some time figuring it out. As the line moved, I couldn't help but chuckle at the look on Irena as she thought on her choice of sweet. As we waited the door opened and was greeted by another Dianne yell.

“Hey Blake!” Dianne yelled, earning a sigh from her boss. I looked back to see Blake there, cleaning out her ears a bit, as well as everyone else.

“Hey Dianne… oh, hey Isaac.” Blake greeted me and gave a wave to Irena. Luckily no one was behind me so Blake came up behind us.

“Hey Blake, guessing you're here for the same reason?” I asked her, showing her the flyer for the sale.

“Yeah, was sent out by Camellia.” Blake said with a bit of a sigh. “Girl loves her chocolate.” This got a chuckle from me after she said this.

“I guess I can say the same thing.” I said before looking down at Irena, who was still focused on the menu with laser eye focus. Blake saw her and smiled.

“That’s true… hey did you two run into any nobles on your way here?” Blake asked me before adding. “Honestly they’re everywhere now. I’m missing the quite weird town vibe this place had.”

“Actually yeah, not to long ago I ran into a group of them. They wanted me to give them a tour of the town.” I said to her with a little frown before adding. “Honestly if they think I'd drop Irena to give them a simple tour…” I simply huffed and rolled my eyes.

“I sorta know the feeling. I've tried to hang out with Camellia outside just to run into nobles… if it wasn't for her I would've beat them to a pulp.” Blake said with a sigh. I chuckled at this as the line went up a step.

“So how's it been with you and Camellia?” I asked Blake, glancing at her as I asked this.

“Great! Couldn't be happier.” Blake answered with a smile on her face. Blake soon went on a spiel on what was going on with Camellia and her which I smiled before we got to the front counter to see Mister Cake.

“Hey Carlos.” I greeted the man, seeing him smile a little.

“Hey your high- I mean Isaac.” Carlos shook his head a little. “Dang, thought I got a hang on that.”

“It's fine, don't beat yourself up over it.” I said to him with a little chuckle. “Anyway, I'll be taking a vanilla milkshake.” I said to him before looking down at Irena. She pointed at a chocolate milkshake and a rainbow muffin with sprinkles. I chuckled at this as Carlos wrote that down. “And that's all.” I said to him.

“Alright, it'll be a bit so go sit and I'll bring it out for you.” Carlos said to us. I nodded and took Irena to a nearby empty table while Blake got her order. After a few minutes Blake came over and sat in the empty table.

“Got a few minutes to spare… so Isaac, what's new?” Blake asked me with a smile.

“Same old same old, though I found out Roz has taken an interest in my hobby.” I said to Blake while Irena sat beside me, eagerly awaiting the promised sweets.

“Really? Cool.” Blake said with a smile. “I figured she was uhh, a hands on woman.” Blake said with a laugh. I arched a brow at this but said nothing before soon saying.

“Skyler has also shown progress with her wings, she hasn't made them come out yet but her mark did shine.” I said to Blake, getting a happy clap from the diner owner.

“That’s great! Happy to hear that she’s coming along.” Blake said before adding. “Also you have to tell me when her wings come in, so I could make a feast for her as a celebration.” I nodded at this as Misses Cake came up with mine and Irena's orders.

“Thanks Betty.” I thanked her as I gave Irena her stuff, which she happily clapped for.

“No problem dear, hope you enjoy.” She said happily before walking back to the kitchen. Irena happily dug into her sweets happily. Blake and I chatted for a bit as Irena ate and I occasionally took a sip from my milkshake. Everything was quite fine… that is until the bell rang and a rather sizeable group of nobles walked in. How did I know they were nobles? Well for one, they wore high end suits and dresses as if they were heading to some fancy party. Honestly, I'm beginning to believe they've never heard of casual wear.

“Oh fuck…” I sighed before taking another sip of my milkshake. Blake heard me before looking over at the large group.

“Ugh, seriously… why are they here?” Blake said in a grumble. I shook my head before one of the nobles looked our way and saw me. Her eyes widen at this.

“Don't look now but I think one spotted me.” I said, slouching a little bit in my seat in an attempt to hide… it only served to hurt my back. Irena saw me do this and looked at me with some worry as Blake crossed her arms with a frown on her face. I watched as some of them chat with each other before most of them went to the front counter before one of them walked over, an elderly man from the looks.

“Excuse me, you're… Prince Isaac, correct?” He asked me. I arched a brow at this as this question… actually sounded genuine.

“Um, yeah. That be me.” I said to him, straightening out on my side of the chair with a bit of a struggle. The man hummed a bit before some recognition dawned on him.

“Oh of course, you were there on the wedding day, really dreadful with what happened.” He said with a bit of a sigh before adding. “Well, there was some good that came out of it though, be it a little selfish.”

“What might that be?” I asked with an arched brow as me and Blake were taken aback by his genuine tone. He chuckles at this.

“Well, it reminded me that I’m old.” he said with a smile. “And I believe that the city life isn’t for me. Deciding to go out into the country and live the rest of it in some relaxation.”

“It’s not that relaxing out here sometimes…” Blake cut in to the man which he simply chuckled.

“If you’ve been in the Royal city, you’ll understand why I want some peace and quiet in my life.” He said with a smile. I smiled a little at this.

“Well, I'm sure you'll like it here, it's got some charm to it.” I said with a little chuckle. “But uhh… a little advice for when you move in, don't be surprise for when any weird shit happens here. It's kinda the norm around here.” Just as I said this we all heard a loud thud against the display window, the cause of this was none other than Skyler, no doubt a result of her training. She slowly slid down onto the ground before going out of sight. We all stared at the window in surprised before seeing her hand raise up and give us a thumbs up.

“My word… is she alright?” the elderly man asked us.

“Yeah she's fine.” I said as I saw Skyler stand up dizzily and grasped her head as she caught her footing. “Definitely alright.” I said. The man stared at me for a moment before nodding slowly. He joined the others as they were taking orders as Betty came out and gave Blake a box full of sweets.

“Thanks!” Blake said happily.

“Not a problem dear, I hope Camellia likes them as well.” Betty said before heading back, no doubt to help deal with the nobles. I looked over to Irena just in time to see her finish up her milkshake, the muffin she ordered was long gone by now and when she finished up her milkshake, she let out a loud burp that shook the table, surprising me and Blake greatly. Irena went red at this as she covered her face as Blake snickered a little.

“Nice one.” She said with a smile. I couldn't help but laugh at this before patting her head.

“Aww, don't be embarrassed kiddo.” I said before pulling her into a hug that she leaned into. I looked over at Blake and said. “Hey I'll catch ya later, I'm going to give Ange a little visit.” I said to Blake.

“Say hi for me.” Blake said as the two of us left the store. We traveled out of town and near the forest before seeing Ange’s cottage. A smile grew on my face as we neared. Irena was excited as well, her mood always seemed to brighten up even more whenever Ange visits or we visit her.

“Go ahead and knock.” I said to her, getting an immediate response in the form of her running over to the door and knocking happily before I arrived and picked her up. Just as I did the door opened and Ange peeked out.

“Hello?” She greeted before seeing us. “Oh!” She said before smiling happily. “I didn’t know you both would be coming over… I’m sorry.”

“Thought we'd give you a nice surprise.” I said before we shared a loving kiss before Ange moved over to Irena and kissed her cheek, to which Irena blushed with a smile. She giggled and smiled as well before pushing the door open enough so we all could walk in.

Upon entering, various little animal friends scattered about, allowing us to walk without worry. I sat Irena down before Ange went to make tea, I simply sat beside Irena before Ange walked back into the room a few moments later.

“So how are you feeling? Any aches or pains?” I asked Ange, similarly to how I have for the past month. Even after an entire month, I couldn't help but ask Ange if she was alright despite being healthier than ever before, presumably due to her new workout.

“I’m… fine. Thank you.” Ange said with a smile before asking. “What about you? Are you alright? Did the nightmares go away?” Oh… right… the nightmares of the death curry...

“Yeah, I'm fine and I haven't had a nightmare in almost a week. Yay~” I said with waves of my hands. Irena giggled at this before I simply poked at her forehead. “Not funny.” I said to her with narrowed eyes. She simple grinned at me before Ange giggled as well before asking if I wanted some tea. “Of course, the tea you make is amazing. Why wouldn't I want some?” I asked her back jokingly, getting a little laugh from Ange before she went to get the tea. I sighed at this, not in a moody way, but in the happy way. It was always such a joy to be with Ange.

It wasn’t long before Ange came out with a tray of tea for us as well as some fresh juice for Irena. Irena smiled as she was passed the juice before I got some tea as well. We chatted and joked, even played a few games on Irena's request. Which reminds me to make a mental note, never play Battleship with Irena. Ever. I don't know how but she always beat me.

Before long I looked up at the time and saw that it was getting really late, one small downside coming to Ange’s place; I always lose track of time. I frowned a little at this, a little upset over this before I sighed a little.

“It's getting late.” I said out loud for them both to hear, Irena whined at this as she too didn't want to leave just yet. I smiled a little when Ange gave her soothing hug.

“Come back again soon.” She whispered to me softly before giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“I will.” I said to her before I got up and took a pouting Irena in my arms. “Come on, let's go. You have school tomorrow and I have to work on a design for your cat.” I said to Irena. This got an excited look from Irena after I mention the robot cat. I looked back at Ange and gave a her smile that she returned in kind before I headed back home with Irena in my arms. The walk back wasn't long, having made my own fast route back and it wasn't long before we got home. Upon entering we were greeted with Skyler sitting on the couch playing her game again. She looked over and waved.

“Hey.” She greeted us as Irena went over to her smiling. “How was your day?” Skyler asked us. Irena smiled as I sat on my comfy recliner just before Irena hopped onto me from the couch.

“It was alright, Irena wanted to hang out with me so I treated her to some sweets.” I said to her as I got Irena to giggle happily as I tickled her a little. It was rare for me to this but it's sure as hell fun.

“Really… did you uhh… get me some too?” Skyler asked.

“No but tell you what, I'll buy you whatever sweets you want if you can go the whole day tomorrow without crashing into windows.” I said to her, holding back a laugh as I said this. Skyler when a little red at this and was muttering to herself as Irena looked between the two of us in confusion. I shook my head and left the two alone and headed back to my workshop. When I got there I saw a familiar raven hopping around on my workbench.

“Oh, hello again.” Ozul greeted me before flying over stool. “I have to say, you have a bright mind Isaac.” I slowly blink at this, wondering how did he get in here?

“How did…” I stopped myself from finishing my question. “Nevermind. What do you want?” I asked him, walking over to my desk and sitting on my chair.

“I just wanted to fly by and see how you are holding up, ever since you went all supernova like that.” Ozul said as I held back a groan, remembering the time Blake was making fun of me over that, calling me a Sunnyspot. “In fact, some may call you a sunny-”

“Don't even finish that.” I cut him off with a frown, sick and tired of being called that.

“Jeez, trying to lighten up the mood here.” he said with a sigh before shaking his head. “So, how are you doing?”

“I'm doing fine, just got back home from a day in town.” I said to the raven as I pulled out a notepad and pen before beginning to think of a design.

“That’s good to hear. You’re a strong guy from what I saw, a nice example to your little girl.” Ozul said before hopping back up on the desk. “Say, how’s your friend Blake?” I blinked at this before saying.

“Uhh, she's fine. I saw her go to the Bakery for a box of chocolates to give her girlfriend.” I said to him, a little oddly as well as I didn't expect for him to ask about Blake.

“Ooo, chocolates! Haven’t had some in so long!” Ozul said happily. I shook my head as he asked me something. “Say, what ya working on? Drawing something?” His feathers puffed out before turning his head. “If you need something to draw, I’m a pretty good model. Just remember to get my good side.”

“Right~.” I said to him before shaking my head and saying. “I'm trying to make a design for a robot cat Irena wanted me to make.” I said to him simply.

“Interesting, though if it was me, I would make a robot bird…” he turned his head to the half-built Owl I’ve been working on. “Am I right buddy?” With nothing coming out of the owl statue and looked back at me. “Well, that led me to nowhere. But it's nice to know that you’re taking your kids interest in mind.”

“She's not…” I shook my head at this, deciding not to go one with my sentence as to many others in town, it really does look like I treat Irena as my own kid. “She's a nice kid.” I simply said.

“Well I see that, because she has a good father.” Ozul said before flying off up to the roof of the place. “Remember, you may not be related by blood, but that doesn’t mean you are all not family… Now that I said my peace I’ll leave ya. Be a good person or I’ll come back and pluck your eyes out!” With that he hopped into the shadows. I stared up at the spot and didn’t see him come out. I shook my head once more before an image popped into my head, a possible choice for the cat. I smiled as I began to draw it, taking my time with it as I wanted it to be a really good design.

End of XXV

Chapter XXVI

View Online

If I had to say, there were a few things that I took away from being a street urchin when I was younger, and that’s me being able to sleep soundly when the place is uncomfortable. I could sleep on the hard ground and rock but still was able to sleep soundly.

I wanted to point this out because last night was the rare instance where I slept uncomfortably. No matter the position I was in, I was always met with the same unbearable feeling of discomfort. It got so bad, that when I finally did get a good position, it was morning already with the alarm was ringing.

“For fucks sake!” I yelled in frustration as I grabbed the alarm and threw it across the room, through my tired state I neglected to fully realize that it practically exploded into pieces when it hit the wall. I grumbled a bit as I pushed myself to the side of the bed and stretched, earning a number of pops which was… odd. Was I stiff? I sighed as I stood up and looked at the now shattered alarm clock. Even I couldn’t repair it. “Meh.” I grumbled as I walked out of my room and headed down the stairs, if anyone were to see me they'd mistake for a zombie. When I reached the bottom, I headed towards the kitchen, passing by Irena and Skyler as they both ate cereal. I groaned a greeting as I went to the fridge.

“Morning Isaaaaahh what the heck!?” I heard Skyler said to me. I looked over and saw the two of them staring at me with wide eyes.

“What?” I asked, rubbing my eyes a little before blinking a couple of times. “Why are you two looking at me like that?” I asked them both, my voice still sounding tired. Skyler's spoon dropped down into her bowl before looking at Irena.

“You’re… seeing this too? Yeah?” Skyler asked her which Irena nodded. I frowned a bit before Skyler spoke to me. “Did… you go check yourself out in the mirror?” She asked.

“No? Why?” I asked her back, now thinking that something was up and my back was still aching.

“Oh… you know… make sure you’re clean, checking out clothes and, I think there’s one more- oh yeah YOU HAVE WINGS!!!” Skyler yelled, which made me blink and woke me up.

“Wah?” Was all I muttered before looking over my shoulder only see the top of what is undoubtedly a fiery red wing. “Ahh! What the fuck!?” I yelled as I was completely freaking out, it didn't help that as soon as I said this that they spread open fully and knocked over many of the things on the countertops.

“Whoa!” Skyler yelled as she ducked, as well as Irena before a wing hit them in the head. “When did you get wings?!” Skyler asked me.

“I don't know!” I yelled back at her as I managed to close them up before anything else could happen. I took a moment to calm down, though now that I did. I realized that the backache was gone. “How did… Why…” Was all I could say before seeing that amongst the scattered items on the ground was a box of cereal. I sighed as I felt my stomach rumble before I picked it up and served myself, wanting to eat first before anything. When that was done I went to sit down at the table, adjusting myself as my wings would be more comfortable. The other two were staring at me as I did. “Could you two please stop staring?” I asked them both with a frown.

“S-sorry.” Skyler said as both she and Irena looked and continue eating their breakfast. I sighed as I ate my own, wondering why the hell I grew wings. As I ate, I pulled out my phone and tapped Blake's profile before sending a simple text that read as followed.

‘WTF I have wings!?’ I texted her before placing the phone down, only to see Irena looking in time before she looked down at her cereal. After a minute or two I got a texted back.

‘... What?’ I read before getting another one that said. ‘Is that code for something?’ I looked at this in confusion before shaking my head and simply decided to take a quick picture of my back before sending it to her. After I done that I waited before getting a new message of ‘Uhhhhhh, wtf?!? When did you get wings?!’

‘Last night apparently.’ I sent her back before finishing up my cereal and taking my empty bowl into the sink, all the while my wings twitched every now and again in discomfort. I got into the living room just in time when my wings spread open again, relieving me of the discomfort before closing back up. I sighed before getting another message.

‘Showed image to Camellia, she went wtf as well. Dude, don't think this is normal with random wing growth.’ She texted.

‘No shit.’ I sent back before quickly adding. ‘Imma text my mom, see if she knows why I suddenly have these thing.’ I texted before moving into mom's profile and simply sending her the same picture I sent Blake. Irena and Skyler walked by, heading up to their rooms to change but as they passed the living room, they focused their gaze on me. I looked back at them which caused them to hurry along as I gotten a message… one that didn't belong to mom.

‘WHO IS SENDING MESSAGES TO THIS PHONE???’ The message said in all caps.

‘First off, it's considered rude to text with all caps on. Second, Hi aunt Luna.’ I sent back, knowing by the all caps text that it was Luna, remembering her habit of raising her voice during unnecessary moments. It was a few moments before another message came, only it wasn't a message but a picture of a surprise aunt with bedhead. I counted up to fifteen before getting another message.

‘FORGIVE ME, I'M STILL GETTING USED TO- AH, THE ARROW!’ The message said before getting another one ‘Sorry, I'm not used to… phones yet. Is this better?’

‘Yup. I'm guessing mom is out on business and she forgot her phone?’ I asked, getting a faint memory of mom mentioning that she needed to go to a leaders meeting off the country.

‘Yes, she was with me the night before as part of our regular meetups. Must of left it here by mistake.’ Aunt Luna sent a message back before adding. ‘By the way, why did you send a photo of someone a back?’ Luna asked.

‘That's my back.’ Was my reply. Once I sent it, my right wing extended suddenly before draping me a little, allowing me to feel the feathers as if to prove that they were the real deal before it closed back up. After a few moments to a minute I gotten a message back.

‘Oh my, now my sister really have done it for forgetting her phone as you're now going through a Celestial transform of a child to grown up.’ I blinked at this before getting another message. ‘Or in more modern terms, Celestial Puberty.’

‘...’ I didn't know what to send besides the obvious silence. How could I react when I'm told that I'm essentially going through second puberty!? I gripped my phone as my eyes twitched, only to hear a crack from it which made me stop. When I looked down, I was surprised to see that the screen was cracked. The phone was supposed to be durable, and I've seen it go through hell and back yet a simple squeeze? What the hell. Before I could do anything I saw another text from my aunt.

‘Now thinking about it you're probably going through two or three of them at once due to you being older than when you should've gotten them.’ She said to me, informing of what may come of today. I sighed at this before typing.

‘Okay… well, I'm going to get my phone fixed and probably buy a new alarm clock. If you can somehow notify mom of this, that be appreciated.’ With that sent, I looked up to see Irena waiting for me. Right, it's a school day. She had her bag and lunch box at hand, looking at me with hopeful eyes.

“Alright alright.” I said as I stood up. “Let me just… find something to wear.” I said to her before heading upstairs. When I made it to my room, I immediately stripped off my boxers and got a new pair before finding a clean pair of jeans and a sleeveless top- oh… Yeah, wings…

I looked at my shirt then at my reflection before spotting a nearby pair of scissors and getting an idea. Grabbing the scissors and my shirt, I proceeded to cut holes on the back before putting it on but not without a struggle. It was a pain to do but when I finally put on the shirt, my wings went through the holes without much problem.

“Fuck yeah I'm smart.” I said to myself before heading back downstairs and saw Irena waiting patiently on the couch before looking over to me and doing a double take, seeing that I managed to get a shirt on. I rolled my eyes and said. “Come on, don't want too late for school now do we?” I asked her, going straight towards the front door, hearing Irena run up behind me before grabbing my hand.

The two of us walked out and headed off to the school which… was a bit dreadful as as we walked I stuck out like a sore thumb with, I don't know with my now new red wings on my back. Many of the townsfolk that knew me well stopped and looked at me with wide eyes and looks of disbelief. When we made it to the school house, we were a few minutes early.

“Early as always.” I said with a chuckle before looking down at Irena, who was a little saddened that I had to leave her. “Come on, kiddo we've been over this a million times already.” I said to her, kneeling down as I spoke. Ever since she began school, every time I take her she gets like this and sometimes even more emotional. She looked off to the side before nodding her head. “Hey don't be like that.” I said to her in a hushed tone. As if on instinct or something, my wings spread open and draped her in a comforting embrace.

This surprised the both of us but it seemed to cheer Irena up as she gave me a hug. I hugged her back before pulling away and watching her run off to school. I let out a sigh at this before she went out of sight when she entered the school. I straightened up and soon heard nearby murmurs and whispers before looking back and seeing that a few passersby had seen me and my newly gained wings. I frowned at this before leaving the area and headed off to Blake's diner.

Again walking through town was a pain as everyone stared at me now with wings. I grumbled at this as I made my way to the diner. When I arrived, I was fortunate to arrive early before anyone got here. Blake must be in the back as I saw Camellia out front sitting on a stool in some running gear. I walked in, silently thanking the fact that the doorway was wide enough.

“Hmm? Hello, welcome to- uhhh.” Camellia stopped talking when she saw me. It took her about a minute or so before she shook her head. “Sorry, sorry didn’t mean to stare, I uhh…” She seemed to be a little uncomfortable.

“Trust me, you aren't only one in town I caught staring.” I said to her as I walked up to the counter, taking a seat at the nearby stool. “It hasn't been two hours and the staring is beginning to annoy me.” I groaned.

As soon as I did that Blake came out of her kitchen and place a plate of my favorite food and a large coffee in front of me. “Will this help curb that?” She asked me.

“Yeah… thanks.” I said to her, taking sip of the coffee first before beginning the meal.

“Hey why don’t I get a big meal like that?” Camellia asked, frowning.

“This is Isaac’s ‘Make me less grumpy’ dish, when you’re really grumpy I’ll make you yours.” Blake answered the red hair noble.

“Wait, I have one?” Camellia asked before looking at me confused. I chuckled a little and said.

“We all have one.” Was all I said before I felt Blake poke at my wings. My wings twitched a bit, making Blake pull her hand back.

“Holy shit, they are real!” She said in shock.

“Yup.” I said to her nonchalantly, focusing more on the food that actually being annoyed. “Went through the whole night tossing and turning, couldn't sleep at all and it turned to be because of these things.” I said to her, pointing at the culprits responsible for my lack of sleep. “Which reminds me, I need to find a new alarm clock. I sorta busted mine.” I said.

“You too?” Blake asked me, which I couldn’t tell if she’s joking or not.

“Yes, you do. Really, you need to stop playing games so late at night, it just ends up you breaking your clocks all the time.” Camellia said to Blake, who gave a sheepish laugh. Camellia rolled her eyes before they soon went over to my wings again. “I’m sorry… do you mind if I…”

“Go ahead.” I said to her with a little sigh before adding. “And when I mean busted it, I mean it's in itty bitty little pieces now and it's going to be a pain to clean up.” I said to them.

“Really? Been working out?” Blake asked as her girlfriend got a closer look to my wings as I ate my food.

“Only to keep myself from looking fat, other than that no.” I said before remembering yet another incident. “Oh right, and I managed to crack my screen.” I said, pulling out my phone to show them both. This got Blakes attention.

“Wait, you cracked your screen? The same phone that’s nigh on indestructible?” Blake asked as she stared at the screen. “What did you do, drop a steel skyscraper on it?”

“Uhh… no, I kinda nearly crushed it in frustration.” I said to her just as I finished up the food and was left with the remaining coffee. Blake blinked at me before she pushed the plate and cup to the side. I arched a brow at this before she said.

“Indulge me for a moment…” She said before putting her arm on the counter as if she wants an arm wrestle.

“Uhh, what?” I asked with clear confusion at what she wanted. She only frowned at me when I said this.

“Quick arm wrestling match, Mister I cracked the screen of an indestructible phone.” Blake said to me. I looked over towards Camellia, hoping she knew what's up with Blake, only for her to shrug at me. I ultimately sighed before grasping her hand with my own. “Alright… one, two… hurr!” She put some force into it as my arm started to move towards the counter. I sighed as I put in a little bit of effort to make this a bit harder for Blake.

… My arm stopped moving. From the sounds of it Blake was struggling to push it down. I was honestly taken aback by this as I vividly remember this being an impossibility. Blake was the toughest woman I know and I could never really stand against her in any physical competition… yet here I am, holding my arm from touching table while she struggled greatly. I didn't do anything for a solid minute before finally deciding to end it, pushing Blake's hand back and tap the table. Blake stared at this in shock for a few moments, then a minute before she let go of my hand. No one said anything as she looking around.

“... R-right…” She said before walking back into her kitchen.

“Uhh… what just happened?” Camellia asked, now moving back to her seat.

“I don't know. I talked to my aunt about it and apparently I'm going through what is basically Celestial puberty.” I said to her, smacking my head against the table. Sure, an insane amount of strength can be useful but I'm not known for strength! I don't want to be known for strength! If anything I'd rather be known as the metal artist!

“I… see. That would also explain the wings.” Camellia said before adding. “Though I thought it would be more like Skyborns and the ability to summon wings, not grow some.” Camellia hummed at this.

“I don't know, I'm not a complete Celestial, I'm like half that and half Dawn titan apparently.” I said to her, letting her know that I'm not exactly normal.

“A Dawn titan?!” Camellia said in surprise. “That’s… I thought they were just rumors and stuff they made up in some games. Though it would explain the wings…” I tilted my head a bit before she explained. “Your wings, they’re Phoenix wings. A rare sight for any Skyborn.”

“Well, I'm waiting for word to get to my mom about this. She might have some advice or something… I don't know…” I said, still feeling weirded out by this. The two of us chatted for a bit before Blake came out of her kitchen in silence.

“Hey… you okay?” Camellia asked her.

“Yeah… just the realisation of being overthrown as the strongest person in town… but it was a true shock that it was Isaac who did.” Blake said with a defeated sigh.

“Please don't be depressed because this. I've already got a lot of things going on at the moment.” I said to Blake, genuinely hoping that she isn't suddenly depressed by this. Blake grumbled a little which made Camellia go around the counter and gave her a kiss, cheering her up a bit.

“I’ll be fine.” Blake said with a smile on her face.

“So we still friends? You're not going to pretend I don't exist?” I asked her, really not liking these negative thoughts of losing my best friend.

“Yeah we’re still friends.” Blake said with a smile before adding. “Can’t get rid of me that easily… Sunnyspot.”

“And you can fuck right off with that.” I said before standing up to stretch my legs but in doing… caused my wings to spread open fully though luckily this time they didn't knock over stuff.

“Good thing no one around, else you would hit someone with those.” Blake said with a chuckle.

“I say, they're much larger than a normal male Skyborn…” Camellia pointed out, making both Blake and I look at her funny. “What?”

“Phrasing.” Blake said to her, making the Fire magi more confused.

“Lewd phrasing aside, I still got stuff to do today and I got to finish up that cat body, thanks for that by the way, appreciated your help Camellia.” I said to the fire magi, getting a nod from her with a smile before adding. “I also promised Ange to help with her animals.” I said to them.

“Alright, see you later than Isaac.” Blake said as Camellia waved as I waved back and headed out. I walked through the streets towards Ange’s place with, luckily, no one around. It was peaceful until I heard some flapping and a small shape flew over me.

“Well looky at here! You have wings!” Ozul said as I saw him land on a bench near me. “Didn’t know you were jealous of my wings. I can’t blame you, they are pretty amazing.” I frowned at the Raven as he chuckles. “I’m kidding, but hey, it’s quite surprising to see you grow large wings in a day.”

“Correction, overnight. Went to bed wingless, next morning-” To make my point get across, my wings extended and flapped for show. Hey… I think I'm getting the hang of this.

“A day, overnight, same thing for me.” Ozul laughed which sounded like a laugh from a Raven. Just as he finishes there was a small flash before I saw Wisp came out.

“Don’t mind him, as you can see he can be a pain in the ass.” Wisp informs me.

“Hey! That’s rude!” The dark feather bird said annoyed. Wisp ignored him before saying.

“Congratulations Isaac, your body is now getting used to being a Celestial now.” Wisp said happily, congratulating me.

“Yeah thanks. Guessing you got to tell this to mom?” I asked her, wondering if she has used her link with mom to communicate.

“Oh she will know right about-” Before she could finished the whole ground shook for a moment. “Now.” The shaking caused Ozul to flap his wings a bit.

“Uhh… What was that?” I asked Wisp with a bit of worry as usually when something shakes the ground like that only means leads to pain in one form or another.

“That would be your mother learning about your wings. As I can see… she’s not here so she’s still at that meeting.” Wisp informed me.

“Why do I sense the feeling of something painful going to happen?” Ozul asked out loud.

“Shut it you, anyway was there anything else that happened to you today Isaac? Anything different?” Wisp asked me. I briefly thought about before remembering my strength.

“Well… I managed to beat Blake in an arm wrestle match.” I said to Wisp, getting a curious and surprise hum from the feline.

“If I remember correctly, Blake was stronger than you before. Now looks like it changed.” Wisp said to me. I chuckled nervously at this, still not knowing well enough how I should feel about this. On one side, it's pretty cool that I'm suddenly strong but on the other side, I don't know my own strength anymore and I know that the sudden change won't do me any favors.

“Hm, well that's… something. So when will you start flying around?” Ozul asked me.

“I don't know. Never was taught how to for some reason I wonder- oh yeah, I didn't have wings until this morning!” I exclaimed at Ozul as that question ticked me off… for some reason. Guess I need to watch my temper more.

“Isaac! Watch your temper!” Wisp scolded me.

“Eh, don't be like that. With everything going on, I knew that he would be snappy.” The raven said with a little laugh. I rolled my eyes as I began moving on towards Ange's place, knowing that she would much like it that I come as early as possible. With wisp and Ozul following me, chatting behind me I simply let my wonder about aimlessly. Before I knew I was face first with Ange's door with an odd craving for cheesecake… huh.

I knocked on the door and waited for a few moments before the door opened… and my eyes widen.

Ange was standing there in a sports bra and shorts and her hair was put up in a ponytail. Her eyes widen when she saw me.

“Isaac! What… you have… what?” She asked, surprised at my wings.

“Yeah, I know.” I said with a little sigh before my wings shifted a bit, surprising her even more as that only showed their legitimacy. “I woke with them this morning. Apparently I'm going through what is basically Celestial puberty.” I said to her, hearing her snort as she found this funny and did her best to hold back her laugh.

“I'm sorry...couldn't help myself…” Ange giggles happily. Normally I would get mad or annoyed… but it's Ange.

“It's fine.” I said to her before shaking my head and saying. “So did I interrupt your workout?” I asked her.

“Oh no, I just finished up some time ago.” Ange answered with a smile on her face.

“Well, I'm here to help you with your animals as promised. Not going to let my current condition keep me down.” I said to her with a little smirk, not willing to back down out of my promise. She smiled at me before letting me come into her cottage.

The next few hours were spent helping Ange out with her animals, giving them some food, repairing bird houses and feeders, and some other things. Overall it was a highlight of the day.

“And that's the last one.” I said, having finished placing the last large bag of animal food in the shed. Despite what we did, I was the only one without breaking a sweat, which was still weird even if I knew why. “So that's everything?” I asked Ange, dusting my hands off of dirt and crumbs left from the bag as it was on the floor previously.

“Yes, thank you Isaac.” Ange said as she wiped her head of sweat. “I'm surprised that you're not tired.”

“Well, I kinda got a bit of a boost in strength as well. I think I'm a little taller too.” I said, now noticing the inch or two that… Wait what? I blinked at this, noticing finally how detailed everything was. Though the confusion lasted for a mere second or two as I simply chalked it up to my changes.

“I can see that.” Ange said, stepping up to me and saw that she was a bit shorter than me. She smiled at me lovingly. I smiled at her before pulling her into a kiss. The kiss started off like any other kiss we've shared before but at one point, I felt Ange getting a little too… into it. I felt her tongue request access and after a moment of surprise I let her, allowing the kiss to change into a full blown make out. I picked her up without breaking the kiss and took her inside, using my wings to close and lock the doors and close the blinds of any windows.

With that done we continued on before Ange surprised me by pushing me onto couch and climbed up onto me before we continued. When the kissing stopped, we were panting.

“What got into the mood?” I asked her with short breaths. She giggled at this before saying.

“Been a while hasn't it?” she said. I chuckled as she began feeling up my torso, feeling the newly gained toned body of mine while she bit her lower lip with a purr.

“I guess it has.” I said back to her in a husky tone as I grabbed her curvaceous behind. She giggled again before she kissed me again, moaning into my mouth as I kissed her back. Slowly as ever our clothes peeled off and were discarded to the side but when I stripped off my boxers, Ange's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

“O-oh my…” She said, her face now red from the sight. I blinked at this before looking down at myself and… oh wow.

“I guess I know now why my jeans felt a little tight.” I said to break the silence, looking down at my own endowment. It's fucking massive! “Holy shit…” I said before looking over to Ange, seeing her drooling a little bit as she slowly reached her hand out for it… only for my phone to go off.

I looked at my phone with slight annoyance before picking it up and saw that it was the school. Why was the school calling me?

“Heyoo?” I answered the phone simply.

“Hello Isaac? This is Miss Heart from the elementary school. We uh, have a situation here regarding Skyler.” The teacher said to me. I arched a brow at this before asking.

“What kind of situation?” I asked Heart as I held the phone between my cheek and shoulder as I began to get dressed soon after she said this. Ange was visibly saddened but didn't stop me.

“Well, it also had to do with Irena as well. I was told that some other kids were picking on her and Skyler got into a fight with them.” She explained to me as I got changed. I was surprised by this, knowing Skyler wouldn't have gotten into a fight without reason. “If it isn't too much trouble, mind coming down to the school house?” The teacher asked.

“I'll be there in a few minutes.” I said before hanging up and buckling up my pants. I looked around and saw Ange holding my shirt out for me.

“Have to head out?” She asked me.

“Yeah. Schoolhouse called, Skyler got into a fight.” I said to which she gasped in shock at this as I took my shirt and quickly put it on, at least it was faster than when I first tried it. “Hey… maybe you'd like to continue this tonight? I'll take you out for dinner some place nice.” I said to her with a little smile as I made sure I had everything.

“I would love that…” Ange said before giving me a kiss on the lips. When we parted, we simply looked at one another lovingly before I smiled one more time and headed off towards the school in a sprint. As I ran I felt my wings open up before beginning to flap. As this happened I looked down and saw the ground moving away from me.

I was surprised, sure but at the moment I was more worried about Skyler and Irena so me suddenly taking off isn't all that concerning at the moment. Despite my lack of knowledge in flight, my wings allowed to fly across town in a speed that could rival Rachael's own. When I finally saw the school house, I descended closer to the ground before resuming a sprint as soon as my feet touched the ground and slowed down before coming to a complete stop. I was panting as my wings folded up onto my back and after a quick breather, I entered the school.

I walked through the halls before finding the classroom… and I saw a butler there. He was an older fellow who was standing there waiting. He saw me walking over and nodded as I over and saw Skyler with some bruises on her face and Irena sitting beside her.

“For a rich kid she punches hard…” I heard Skyler mumbled before seeing me. “Whoa, how did you get here so fast?!”

“Forget about that. What happened?” I asked her and Irena before the latter ran up to and hugged my leg desperately.

“Annabel’s flunkies were picking on Irena, I got mad and started a fight. Annabel came over and… well we traded blows.” Skyler explained as she rubbed her face. “She fights dirty for a rich kid.”

I hummed at this before I heard someone running down the hallway. I looked over to see a man in a brown business suit and black hair running down the hall. He stopped and double over.

“Ha… Am I… late… oh boy...ha…” the man gasped as he added. “Other side… town… had to run…” The butler gave him some water which the man downed quickly.

“No, I only just got here too so I'm sure you're on time.” I said to the man before picking up Irena, seeing her eyes red from having been crying. I gave her a saddened look before holding her closer for comfort. The man looked at me after finishing the water and saw Skyler.

“Wait… your, oh…” His face paled a little when the realization came crashing down. He clapped his hands together before saying. “I’m sorry for what my daughter did!”

“Not… exactly what I thought will happen… kinda.” Skyler said from behind me. I closed my eyes and sighed, deciding to pass judgement after I heard what the teacher had to say. I'd rather have the full story.

“Chill out, let's hear what the teacher has to say first then we'll talk.” I said to him calmly as I comforted Irena still. Irena simply hugged me tightly just as the door opened and a woman with dark brown hair walked out and saw us there.

“Ah, everyone is here.” She said before looking at the man. “Well, almost everyone… again.”

“Again, sorry.” The man said which caused the teacher to sigh before looking at me.

“I’m Miss Heart, the one you talked to over the phone.” She explained to me. I nodded before I sat down beside Skyler as she held her bruised cheek. I frowned at this before the teacher spoke. “Like I said, the reason for this is that Skyler gotten into a fight with some kids-”

“They were picking on Irena!” Skyler yelled, angrily pointing at Annabel and adding. “They were Annabel’s lackies!”

“And then you both got into a fight.” The teacher finished as Skyler crossed her arms.

“She called Irena a voiceless degenerate.” She muttered which caused Irena to tear up again. I whispered to her calmly, knowing that she needs the fatherly role side of me.

“It's alright, Irena… you're safe now.” I said to her, combing her hair to soothe her, something I've learned from Ange. The teacher sighed before looking at the man.

“Richard, I know you have a lot of work to do at your job but, please, spend your time with your daughter. Your wife's influence on her is… ugh.” The teacher grimaced as the man sighed.

“I know…” He said before he walked into the classroom, leaving the teacher with us.

“Anyway, this might a little overboard but it might change after a day if this goes how I think it will,” Miss. Heart said which confused me before she continued. “As of today both Skyler and Annabel are removed from school for the next two weeks, I’ll be mailing their homework to their homes so they are not falling behind in their lessons… again if things stay that way.”

“No way! If that happens then Irena is left alone!” Skyler yelled and Irena whimpered fearfully.

“I know and she’s a great student, albeit a little fearful of others as I saw, I could talk to her teachers and have them send the work to your homes as well, simply putting it that she was sick for the time.” The teacher informed us before adding. “But that is if Annabel’s mother decides to let this go for the two weeks.” I nodded at this before looking over at Skyler, seeing her look defeated. I nudged her and gave a smile, knowing that she was in this mess because she defended Irena.

“Wait what do you mean?” I asked soon after the confusion dawned to me. The teacher sighed at this.

“Annabel Helme's parents are Richard Helme, the man you saw, and Mary Helme… the head of the School Board.” Ah… I think I know where this is going. “She’s a strict woman and a bit rude… actually really rude, but if anything happens to her perfect daughter she will over turn anything. Which makes any or all punishments null and void.”

“Okay, I may not like school that much, but isn’t that abusing her power over the school?” Skyler asked, shocked at this.

“Yes, yes it is. We would kick her out of the head spot… if it wasn’t for the fact it’s she that funding everything into the school, so if we kick her out, there goes the funding and that means Annabel is untouchable…” The teacher looked at me for a moment. “Unless…”

“What if I helped the funding?” I asked her with an arched brow, getting Skyler to look at me oddly while Irena simply held onto me quietly. “I mean, I can write a blank check of however much money this school needs and it seriously wouldn't put a dent… my mom kinda went overboard with that but I'm not complaining as it certainly helps.” I said to her. I also don’t pay any money in taxes due to this which is… weird. I've gone through my whole life paying the necessary taxes but after a whole month since finding out that I was the son of the Princess of the sun, mom went all out on making sure I didn't have to pay taxes or anything like that. It was… it's still not a good topic to talk about.

“Oh… I was thinking you just backed this punishment. I doubt she would do anything if someone of royalty would try and stop that but… that could work.” the teacher said, surprised at my offer.

“Just name the price and I'll make it happen.” I said to her with a smile as I stood up after placing Irena on the chair. After a few minutes of talking and some money was spent, again not even a dent, I was walking home with Skyler and Irena.

“Umm… you mad at me?” Skyler asked me as we walked.

“Not really.” I said to her, getting a surprised look from her. “I know you meant well, you wanted to protect Irena and I really can't be mad at you for that.” I said before quickly asking. “So how many hits did you land?” I asked her with a little smirk.

“A few of them… though she hits hard as well.” Skyler said as she rubbed her cheek.

“Bah, I call lucky shot.” I said to her before we made a turn through a corner, heading towards Sugarcube Corner much to the confusion of Skyler and Irena. The both of them looked up at me as I chuckled. “Thought you two needed some cheering up.” I said to them with a chuckle. This caused the two of them to smile happily before the three of us headed inside, ordered, and were eating sweets.

A few days later…

“Hey Isaac, have you read the paper today?” Camellia asked as I was eating some food at the diner. “It seems that there's some commotion with the school board.”

“What's up?” I asked her with an arched brow before sipping at my coffee.

“It says here that the current head of the board threw a fit after the school now rejected her funding due to now getting funded by someone else, even more so than ever. It says that in the coming months there’ll be an election to see who’s going to be the new head.” Camellia said before adding. “I believe I know who she was, Mary...Helme I think? I believe she’s trying to push herself into the more political scene for some time now. This might hurt her chances.”

“Good to know that I'm doing good in the world.” I said to her, getting a confused look from her before she slowly realized what I meant.

“Wait, you became the anonymous funder?” She asked me with an arched brow.

“Yeah.” I answered simply, eating my food without a fuss. Camellia stared at me before nodding, not questioning it further. As I continued to eat, I began to text mom on the progress of my changes and while we chatted back and forth, the door to the diner was opened with excessive force, causing the glass to crack. The both of us looked and saw a woman with dark purplish hair wearing a teal dress and some fancy heels and looked livid.

“You…” She said in anger towards me. If I had to guess I’m thinking this was Mary.

“Me?” I asked to be sure, though it was mostly to fuck with her for a little fun. From the looks of it she was now madder.

“Yes you!” She said before getting up to my face. “Because of you I’m ruined!”

“Oh no~” I said without a single care in my tone as I drank my coffee and texted mom. She soon went off in a rant about me ruining her life and other… stuff. I wasn’t listening as I continued texting. I soon realized she stopped her rant to glare at me.

“I’ll promise that I’ll make your life a living hell!” Mary yelled as she storms off, slamming the door and shattering the glass. The room was silent for a few moments before Camellia said.

“She… doesn’t know you're the princess' son I guess.” She said simply.

“Guess not.” I said to her before sending this to mom, informing of what happened and how the lady doesn't know who I am. The response was a simple laughing emoji with tears.

End of XXVI

Chapter XXVII

View Online

I let out a sigh, my arm around Ange as the two of us laid in bed together after a night of passion. She nuzzled up to me with a smile on her face as she did. I woke up a few minutes ago, the events of last night still fresh on my mind and with Ange in bed with me.

“Morning, gorgeous.” I said with a smile, seeing her open her eyes to look up at me with a loving smile.

“Morning…” She whispered as she nuzzled my head a little. My left wing wiggled out from under me and draped us both, getting Ange to hum appreciatively. “I love your wings.” She whispered to me, running her hand down my wings feathers. I chuckled at this before we shared a sweet kiss before finally getting up.

“Come on, let's go get some breakfast.” I said to her, getting a little whine as she sat up while using the blanket to cover herself. I chuckled at this with a shake of my head as I put on some jeans and the first shirt I saw before cutting some holes in the back of it. I saw Ange put some panties and use one of my shirts that seemed larger on her, going down onto her thighs. “You're lazy sometimes.” I said to her, fully dressed while she wasn't. Ange turned around and put her hands on her hips.

“Well I take care of a large number of friendly animals every day and tend to my small garden as well, I’m allowed to be lazy.” She said to me before a small smile crept onto her lips. I rolled my eyes before surprising her as I picked her up bridal style.

“That is a very good point.” I said with a chuckle, opening the door of my room and heading out into the hall with Ange in my arms. She giggled at this as she wrapped her arms around my neck as I carried her down the hall and down the stairs. Before long I put her down at the dining room, pulling a chair out for her and pushing her in. “I'll go make some pancakes, oh and you know what day it is.” I said to her, reminding her of our plans for today.

“Oh yes, today is Irena’s special day!” Ange answered happily.

“Yup, so just sit tight and let me make my pancakes.” I said to her as I went into the kitchen and did just that. I wasn't so adept in cooking but when it came to making pancakes, I'm pretty good at it if Skyler and Irena's excitement for whenever I do make them is anything to go by. As I was making them, I heard someone come down the stairs and soon saw that it was Skyler. It has been a full week since the incident with her and that spoiled brat, Annabel and by the looks of it, her bruises were healing quite nicely. She smelled the air.

“Pancakes!” Skyler yelled, earning a few running stomps from above as Irena ran down the stairs. I chuckled at this as the two of them ran over to the table.

“Geez, you two are always so energetic in the morning I give you pancakes.” I said from the kitchen as I finished up the last one and served them on plates. I grabbed two plates and went into the dining room before giving the plate to Irena and Skyler before I went back and got mine and Ange's with the bottle of syrup. Irena was about to cut hers up and eat it before I suddenly said.

“Whoa whoa, hold on there missy.” I said to her, stopping her dead in her tracks. Irena blinked at me in confusion as her fork was already in the pancake and knife was at the ready. She frowned at me for stopping her from her pancakes. “One second, your plate is missing something.” I said before going into the kitchen and grabbing the missing item. With it concealed behind my back, I walked up to her side before suddenly embedding it into the pancakes, revealing it to be a number nine birthday candle.

Her eyes widen at this before looking up at me as I smiled. “Happy birthday Irena.” Ange said to her happily.

“Happy birthday!” Skyler said as well. I snapped my fingers, getting my thumb to light ablaze before lighting the candle.

“Happy birthday, kiddo.” I said to her with a smile. Irena smiled as we all sang happy birthday to her which Irena clapped along happily. When we finished I spoke. “Alright, blow the candle and make a wish.” I said to her, feeling happy for her as did everyone else. Irena thought about it before blowing the candle out. We all cheered and clapped before I took the candle out for her to eat her pancakes. “After we're done, I've got a surprise for you.” I said to her with a smile before I sat down. Ange leaned her head onto my shoulder with a smile.

“I hope you like it.” Ange said to Irena as she started to eat her pancakes. We all ate happily, Irena more so than any of us and quite understandably so. When we all finished, Ange offered to take and clean the plates while I got Irena her gift. When I went to my workshop I saw Ozul there near the gift in question, not actually doing anything to the gift, mostly dealing with some random ribbon that was nearby.

“Ah, finally you come, I think you forgot something for this gift.” Ozul asked which got me to arch a brow before Ozul flew up with the ribbon. “You need the ribbon! Every great gift comes with a ribbon!”

“Uhh… Okay?” I said with obvious confusion before I took some of the ribbon, that I noted was purple, before giving the gift a neatly tied bow of ribbon. “How's that?” I asked in time to see Wisp appear in a puff.

“I think it looks lovely.” Wisp said to me.

“Yup, she will love it!” Ozul said cheerfully.

“Well, one way to find out.” I said before picking it up and headed back into the house proper, seeing Irena waiting in the living room before she looked over at me. When she did her eyes widen when she saw the gift; a Metal cat. It took me a bit to get the platting right but in the end the cat’s body looked very lifelike that the only reason one could tell it’s metal is… well, the gray and bronze colour of the metal. Irena was hopping in place as I walked closer. I stopped just in front of her before placing the cat down. “I know you're loving this already but I have one more surprise for you.” I said to her before clapping my hands. When I did its eyes glowed a bit before the cat shook it’s body a bit before looking around, earning a gasp from Irena as the cat started to move.

“Whoa! Robot cat!” Skyler said as she saw it too. I smiled at this before getting tackled into a hug from Irena.

“Whoa!” I said as I was a little surprised by this before hugging her back just as the cat meowed as it looked up at Irena. Irena gave me a big smile before pulling away and started playing with the cat. I smiled a bit as Wisp hopped up to her spot and watched all this.

“You think Wisp is jealous oftit?” Skyler asked me.

“No.” Wisp answered, though her tone says otherwise.

“Yes.” I said to Skyler only for Wisp's tail to lash out at my arm. This got a laugh from behind us and I turned to see Ozul there.

“Haha! She’s totally is!” He laughs before notices everyone staring at him. “Oh no! My masterful stealth is ruined!”

“Aww, who’s this little guy~” Ange says happily before walking over and giving Ozul a scratch on his head which he totally enjoys.

“His name is Ozul.” I said to Ange as Ozul cawed. Ange, the animal lover she is, cooed at the raven who was now enjoying this as much as Irena is enjoying her cat. I smiled happily at all this before everything sorta returned to normal. Skyler and Irena, now with robot cat, sat on the couch playing games while Wisp watched them and Ange was with me. Before anything could happen there was a knock at the door. Arching a brow I went to the door and opened it.

Outside there were three guys there and they looked at me for a moment. “Uhh, you’re Isaac?” One of them asked.

“Aye, that be me.” I said to him with an arched brow before asking. “Can I help you, gentlemen?” I asked them, leaning onto the doorframe. They all stared at me then at each other before huddling up a bit. They weren’t being quiet.

“Uh, we’re sure we want to do this?” One of them asked.

“I was until I found out it was the Princess’ son.” Another said.

“Yeah… I don’t want the guard after me. The bitch can keep her money.” The third said after this.

“So… what now? Make something up?” The first one asked. After a few moments, they all turned back to me.

“You know where the hospital is? One of my buddies is a bit banged up.” The one thug said.

“Yeah- wait what?” Another thug said before the third one punched him in the face.

“See, banged up.” The third one said. I had my arms crossed at them with a straight face before letting out a sigh and saying.

“Two grand to tell the press of your employer and their intent. And it's two grand each.” I said to them simply and rather bluntly. I wasn't really in the mood for this and the fact that these thugs were hired to potentially beat me to a pulp, just doesn't help in getting my good mood back. The three of them stared at me for a moment before the first guy spoke.

“Deal.” He said to me. I nodded and went inside for a moment before coming back with the promised money but not before saying.

“If you back out of the deal with the money, it'll burn.” I said to them simply, letting them know that going back on the deal won't do them any good. They all nodded as one of them was holding their bloody nose. Before long they all left and I closed the door and headed back to the others.

“Who was that?” Ange asked me as I came in.

“It was no one, don't worry about it.” I said to her with a sincere smile before looking behind her and seeing Irena chasing her new friend around, playing with it happily and the giggles were more proof of this. Ange smiled at me before kissing my cheek and going up to get dressed.

“How are you doing?” I asked Skyler as she watched Irena play, a little smile curling her lips.

“I'm good, how about you?” Skyler asked with a smile on her face.

“You seem really happy, just wanted to know why. Though I think I already know why.” I said to her with a chuckle. Skyler looked up at me just as Irena caught her cat and was laughing happily.

“That answers it.” Skyler said. I chuckled again at her answer before looking back at Irena as the cat in her arms purred at the affection. I got to hand it to Camellia, the cat really does act like an actual cat.

“Well, just to let you know, to celebrate Jacqueline invited us to her farm for birthday pie.” I said to her, which caught Irena's attention as I know for a fact that she loves the Smith Family Pies.

“Pie.” Skyler said, she too loves their pies. “When do we go?” Skyler asked as Irena was now right beside her with a big smile on her face.

“Soon, don't worry.” I said to her before looking over at Irena before poking her. “And you, birthday girl, get the first slice of pie.” I said to her. This got a happy reaction from Irena as she began daydreaming about the pies.

As this was going on I soon heard Ange coming downstairs in a yellow dress with pink frills. It left her shoulders bare and two pink straps wrapped around behind her neck. A yellow and pink flowers were in her hair as she smiled at me.

“Is this good?” She asked me, gesturing to the dress that went down to above her knees.

“You look beautiful.” I said to her with a loving smile before walking up to her and cupping her cheek lovingly. “Beautiful.” I said again. Ange blushed at this but continued to smile at me.

“And you look very handsome.” Ange replied to me. With that said we both shared a tender kiss before I looked back at the other two.

“You two better get ready, we're leaving in a few minutes.” I said to them simply while Ozul regained his composure finally, Wisp sitting by him with a straight face but a chuckle from the feline let me know that she was holding back a laugh. Both Irena and Skyler went off to get dressed as Ange and I waited for them.

After a few minutes they both came down and soon, we all headed off into town. We made a few stops first, like at Blake's diner so Blake herself and Camellia could congratulate Irena. After the various stops, we ended up in the Smith family farm, passing by the Archway and into the land filled with rows upon rows of trees. We continued on through the rows of trees before seeing a number of picnic tables in a row and two people setting everything up. One was Jacqueline’s sister Samantha and the other was their older brother, James. They been putting setting everything up before Sam saw us and gave us a wave. I waved back before James saw us and smiled. We got closer before Sam came over to us.

“Howdy y’all, glad you’re here!” Samantha said happily before looking at Irena. “Happy birthday Irena!” This got a giggle from Irena before we all went to the tables. I also saw that Jacqueline wasn’t around which was odd.

“Hey James, where's Jacque? Thought she'd be here.” I said to James, getting a hum from him as he looked at me before speaking.

“She be in the house, still upset about earlier today.” James answered which made me blink in confusion.

“Why would she be upset?” Ange asked worriedly.

“A plan didn’t go through after months of planning and forms.” James replied again.

“Wait… you mean the extensions?” I asked him with an arched brow, gaining a nod from him in return. “What happened?” I asked as I could recall they had the proper documents signed and everything.

“The farm got a new owner and they said no.” James answered simply.

“Huh… so who owns it then?” I asked, curious of the new person now while Skyker and Irena waited by the tables. Skyler and Sam happily chatting while Irena is playing with her cat.

“Never saw the owner, only Jacqueline has and mayor has, all ah got from my sis was that the person was a she and had white scales.” James informed me. I blinked at this before nodding to him and thanking him for the info. Ange looked worried, no doubt for Jacque as this has been planned for almost a year.

“Let's hope she's alright.” I said to Ange in a quiet tone. She nodded as she looked at the house for a few moments.

“I’ll go see how she is.” Ange said before giving me a kiss on my cheek and heading off into the house. I sighed at this before taking a seat beside Irena.

“So… love the cat?” I asked her with a little smile. Irena looked at me and nodded happily as the cat in question was near her. I smiled at this as she looked back at the cat and continue playing with the cat. “Just so you know, eventually it needs to recharge and when it does, it takes a nap.” I said to her, informing her of what it does to recharge. “It's also pretty durable too, so it isn't easy to break.” I added on. She oohed at this while the cat meowed simply before nuzzling up to Irena. “I hope this is everything you wanted when you gave me that drawing of yours.” I said to her, petting her head gently as I said this. Irena smiled at me before giving me another hug which I returned before going back to playing with her cat. I smiled happily as this was going on as we enjoyed our time for some time.

It was at this point Ange came out with Jacqueline, who still looked a bit upset as she was carrying out some pies for everyone. Irena and Skyler saw this and were immediately excited.

“Hey Jacque.” I greeted the Farm woman.

“Hey Isaac.” Jacqueline replied as she set the pies down. It was even in her voice that she was still a bit bothered with everything that happened with the other farm.

“Guessing you're still miffed about what happened?” I asked her, though apart of me wanted to slap myself for asking that. Jacqueline in turned glared at me.

“In a sense, yes ah am.” Jacqueline answered me as she sat down. “And ya be happy to know I’m not going to smack you for saying what you just said.” I raised my hands up in defense at this but said nothing before James handed out slices, giving the first one to Irena.

“Could you at least pretend to smile? This is Irena's day, I don't want anything put a damper in it.” I whispered to Jacque with a little frown. The farmer looked at me for a few moments before sighing.

“Ah’m sorry Isaac… ah know I shouldn’t be this bothered by this but…” She sighed again and gave me a small smile. “Better?” I sighed at this but nodded. We all ate pie and chatted, Skyler and Sam were deep in a conversation while James was simply quiet as he usually is. Irena just finished her fourth slice of pie with a loud burp that echoed in the field.

Irena blushed at this as Skyler laughed. “Nice one!” She said with a smile. I chuckled while Ange frowned a little at her before chuckling as well, not doing so well in hiding the fact that she found it funny. I looked over at Ange and spoke.

“Hey, I was thinking of checking out the next farm, maybe meet the person that owns it. You want to come?” I asked her with a whisper.

“Right now?” Ange asked as she looked around, seeing everyone else having fun before looking back at me.

“Sure, we can come back right after.” I said to her reassuringly. Ange stared at me for a few moments before giving me a nod.

“Alright.” She whispered back. After nodding at this we both looked down to see Irena staring at us. There was a sad look on her face… she heard us. Ange and I glanced at one another before I spoke.

“Do you want to come along?” I asked her quietly, a little smile curling my lips as I asked this. This made Irena brighten up as she nodded at me. Ange chuckled at this as she pulled her into a hug. I smiled at this before Ange and I stood up. Ange had Irena in her arms and the cat stood up when it saw us. If anyone saw us, they didn't say anything as we headed to the other farm.

The farm was actually in the Everfree as we followed the path into the forest. Ange clinged onto my arm as we walked down the dirt path before seeing the trees part and we came to a sign that looks like it was repaired some time ago. The sign simply said ‘Gray's Farm’ and a marrow pointing ahead. The three of us followed the path and came up upon said farm… which looked worse for wear. Large rocks and trees littered the grounds and weeds and grass ran ramped across the land as well. The notable stuff was a large pile of fallen trees and rocks moved towards the one end of the farm.

“This is it?” Ange asked me as we looked around.

“Well, this place has been abandoned for a long time. It's one of the reasons why town hall was offering it up for sale.” I said to Ange, having a little bit of knowledge of this while Irena looked around. The cat hopped up a fallen tree and sat there. Everything was quiet and… peaceful here.

That is, until a large rock came flying through the air and crashing near the pile of rocks. This made everyone jump and Ange hid behind me. I blinked at this before another large rock came crashing down in that area. A few minutes of waiting showed a figure walking over to the large rocks. After a few moments of shock that passed I made my way over towards that figure. On the way I saw a few signs up saying ‘Warning: Falling rocks. Do not past line.’ my eyes trailed down and saw a large line gouged out in the ground.

“Huh.” I said before looking around and spotting someone. Looking back at the other two I told them to wait here before making my way over to the person. As I got closer I now got what James said before; the person was a female wearing a tank top and jean shorts which showed off her arms and legs, which had white scales on them. Horns curved back on top of her head and a white draconic tail was behind her. As I got even closer she turned her head towards me, showing off her short white hair and gray eyes.

“Who are you?” She asked me.

“Isaac Parker, a local of the town.” I said to her simply and calmly. The woman stared at me for a few moments before saying.

“Hello.” She greeted me before looking back to the large rocks.

“Anyway, me and my girlfriend wanted the meet the person that managed to gain ownership of this place.” I said to her, getting her to look back at me with an arched brow.

“That be me.” The dragon woman answered… quite straight forward. She looked back at the rocks for a minute before glancing at me. “What? You want to see the forms too?”

“Uhh no, we just wanted to meet the new person in town.” I said to her with an odd look though I'm sure I know why she said this.

“Okay then.” She said. I didn't get any hostility from her but she didn't give off anything else, other than her straight forwardness. The two of us stayed like this for some thing as I tried to think of something else to say which didn’t make me sound like an ass or rude. Her straightforwardness and emotionless answered were throwing me off until I saw her look back at me in confusion. “Err… need something else?” she asked in a confused tone.

“Uhh sorry got caught up in my thoughts. Anyway is it alright if I get your name?” I asked her before adding. “Rather not have to refer you as ‘the new farmgirl’” I said. Along with the confusion, I saw some other emotions run through her; surprise, embarrassment, and some understandment as she gave it some thought.

“Uhh… Zella… Zella Gray…” She answered before looking around at the place. “And uh… this is my farm.” As she said that some wood fell off of the building nearby. “I’ll fix that.”

“Okay then… not to be an asshole or anything but why buy this place? It's been abandoned for as long as I can remember.” I said to her, curious to know why she got this place despite the place being what it is. Zella thought for a moment before saying.

“Truth be told I didn’t really buy it, it was my grandfathers.” She said before pulling out some forms from her back pocket. I looked at them and saw that one of them was a form of ownership of someone named Alex Gray and the other was a will that was folded over to read the part that all ownership would be transferred to one Zella Gray, his granddaughter. “I went through customs and everything. The one lady that was here seemed a little mad though.”

“Yeah, she had planned on getting the land to expand the Apple tree farm. She had almost everything set up.” I explained to her before adding. “But seeing as it technically belongs to you due to inheritance, the town couldn't give her the permission needed.” I said to her.

“Oh, was that the reason?” Zella asked as she put the forms away.

“Yeah, she had this planned for at least half the year.” I said to her with a nod. Zella thought for a moment before saying.

“As much as I would like to help, I’m not going to give my family’s farm over to her.” Zella said to me with a little frown.

“Hey I'm not here to fight on her side or yours. Just trying to meet the new person.” I said as I raised my hands a little.

“Well… nice to meet you Isaac.” Zella said with a small smile on her face. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have some work to do.”

Before I could say anything, Ange came up to us. “Umm… hello.” She greeted as Irena and the cat followed behind.

“Hello?” Zella greeted back, a bit confused at the number of others here now.

“Oh sorry, this is my girlfriend, Angelina Calliope. She's the town's animal caretaker.” I said to Zella, introducing Ange to her. Irena looked up at the draconic woman and blinked curiously at her. Zella also looked down at Irena, doing the same action that Irena did which Irena soon waved at her. “That's Irena… she's my kid.” I said, taking a brief moment between words to choose the right one. Seeing Ange smile at me, I think I chose the right one.

“Ah, I see…” Zella again looked around at the place. “Sorry if it looks… messy.”

“It’s fine.” Ange said with a smile.

“Hey, if you ever need any help I'd be happy to lend a hand.” I said to Zella, wanting to offer her help seeing as she is new in town. She stared at me for a few moments before nodding which was something I saw and understood before, she must be someone that rarely asks for help. With that said and done the four of us went our way out of Zella’s farm as she continues working to getting it into working order. When we were far enough Ange spoke up.

“She seems… nice.” Ange says to me.

“She was a bit… off at first.” I said to her simply while we both held Irena's hands as she skipped happily between us. The cat followed closely behind Irena.

“You think she’ll be alright?” Ange asked just before we all heard a loud crashing sound. I looked behind us just to see Zella, now with a large hammer, crushing the large rocks into smaller rocks.

“Maybe.” I said back to her while I playfully swung Irena with the help of Ange. Irena giggled and laughed happily as we made our way out of the forest and met up with Skyler. We all headed off to my house where I saw the royal carriage out front which meant mom was here.

This was honestly a surprise for all of us as I've been told of Mom's busy schedule for the week. I looked at Ange as Skyler spoke up. “Uhh, were we expecting someone?” She asked all of us.

“Not to my knowledge.” Ange said as she looked at me.

“Nope.” I said with a shrug of my shoulders before Irena let go of our hands and ran up to the door with her cat following behind. We all sped up to catch up with her We all went into the house where I saw my mom sitting on the couch with some tea. She turned her head and smiled at us.

“Oh hello, sorry for not sending word before hand.” She said to all of us.

“Oh umm… it’s fine Princess…” Ange said as she gave her a bow.

“Hey mom. I didn't expect you to be here today.” I said to her with a surprised tone. Mom chuckled at this as Irena went over to her.

“Well, how could I miss this one's special day, hmm?” Mom asked as she smiled down to Irena. Irena smiled back up at her as her cat went over as well. Mom smiled even more as she revealed a small, neatly wrapped box to Irena. Irena smiled happily at this when she was handed the small box. Not one to wait she ripped the wrappings off and opened the box which revealed a necklace of a crescent moon and a jewell. Irena was in awe at this.

“Huh, you had Aunt Luna's help with this.” I said to mom, getting her to narrow her eyes at me after I said this.

“No, I’ve got it myself for Irena, I didn’t have any help at all.” Mom said which I already knew it was a lie. I arched a brow at this and narrowed my eyes at well, staring off into my mother's eyes as she did the same to mine.

“Aunt did it.” I said simply, getting her left eye to twitch a bit. She didn’t say anything before standing up.

“I’m not going to answer that.” She said before looking down at Irena and smiling. “I hope you like it dear.” Irena smiled up at mom as she went to put the necklace on. When she did, she lit hang around her neck and smiled with glee.

“I think she loves it.” I said to mom before picking Irena up. “I hope you enjoyed the day, birthday girl.” I said before giving her a few playful tickles. Irena giggled happily at this which brought a smile to mom and Ange. It wasn’t long before Mom had to head on out.

“I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day, and if you need anything just give me a message.” Mom said to me before giving me a hug, which was a little awkward with the wings. “I'm still trying to make some free time to teach you the basics, I'll let you know as soon as I'm free.” She said to me.

“Thanks mom.” I said back to her before she let me go and headed out. When she left, it wasn't long before we heard the chariot take off. After that, we spent the rest of the day at home and while sadly Ange had to leave, Irena was still happy after what we did today. When it was finally time for bed, I took Irena and tucked her in.

“There we go.” I said to the now nine year old just as she yawned. Her new robotic cat friend meowed and hopped onto her bed and curled up. “Night, kiddo.” I said to her. Irena smiled before I left her room, turning out the light and closing the door, letting a little sliver of light in through the door.

A few days has past and I saw in the paper that the Helme’s family is now ruined due some info of the wife of the family hired thugs to attack me. This caused a downward spiral as Mary tried everything to salvage anything from this. Word also says that CEO Richard Helme might divorce Mary so the backlash doesn’t affect his own business which, after some looking into, was a chain of supermarkets and stores that sells food and other stuff. Huh… Neat.

End of Chapter XXVII

Chapter XXVIII

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A month passed since Irena’s birthday, which she was overjoyed with her new robot cat. Skyler and her returned to school and it seems their time there improved as the spoiled brat and her flunkies stopped bugging and bullying them as after the fallout of her mother's life took its toll, I was told that she keeps to herself now and stay out of the limelight.

Zella has been mostly at her farm which, from what I saw, has been going slow. Ange and I took this upon ourselves to help her out, even if she says no. As much as she doesn’t like it she did admit that without our help she would be stuck. During the time we cleared enough space from rocks, logs, and weeds that Zella could start planting.

She hadn't admitted it to us but me and Ange knew that she greatly appreciated the help we gave her. When it was around noon we all stopped for a break.

“The place looks better now than what it was before.” Ange said with a smile on her face. I nodded as I looked around myself, seeing a much more cleared off area than the last time we saw it.

“Yup,” I said simply before giving my arms and wings a stretch. “Though I wish we'd at least get thanks from Zella,” I said, referring to Zella's pride and her unwillingness to say thanks. Ange gave me a simple smile as I looked over to the Draconic woman who was staring out into the field, muttering to herself. I shook my head at this and walked over to her. “Hey Zella, we're just about done for the day.” I said to her. This brought her out of her thoughts and blinked at me.

“Huh? Oh yes…” She looked up at the sky for a moment before adding. “I guess it’s that time of day… so uh…” She seemed to be stammering with what to say next.

“We'll just be taking our leave and remember that if you need a helping hand, Ange and I are happy to help.” I said to her, getting a simple blink from her.

“I’ll keep that in mind and… th… mmm, have a good day.” She said before heading off to go do something… was she about to say thank you? I arched a brow but nevertheless said nothing as I walked back to Ange with a smile before leaving the farm hand in hand though when she complained about tired legs, I swept her off her feet and began carrying her.

“Better?” I asked her with a smirk.

“Better.” She answered with a smile on her face. I chuckled and headed towards Blake's diner, wanting to have some lunch there. All the way there, I carried Ange in my arms and even blocked the sun for her with my right wing. Ange smiled at this and snuggled up to me as we got closer to Blake’s Diner. When we got close I had to put Ange down onto the ground which she didn’t say anything but gave me a kiss on the cheek. I smiled at this as we both walked into the Diner, seeing Camellia with another customer and Blake behind the counter. She saw us and smirked.

“Well look it here, it’s the Prince and Princess~” Blake teased which got a blush from Ange while I rolled my eyes.

“Hey Blake.” I greeted her as we walked up to her. Ange held my arm as we did. “Slow day today?” I asked her.

“Yeah, it’s nice out so people want to hang out in the sunshine,” Blake said with a shrug. She looked at both of us and arched a brow. “You two okay? You look sweaty.”

“We just came back from the new farm, we were helping clean up the place and repair some things.” I said to her before she poured us two glasses of water and handed it to us. “Thanks.” I said to her.

“No problem.” Blake said to me as Ange drank her water. “So, guessing it’s the same order?” Blake asked us. Ange and I nodded before we sat down at our booth. When we both sat down, we groaned as our legs were still aching.

“Ugh, my legs are just crying in agony.” I said out loud. Ange gave me a smile but she too groaned as her legs also ached.

“I thought I wouldn’t feel this sore after this.” Ange said as she rubbed her legs.

“Bah, you got me to carry you.” I said jokingly with a laugh. This got her to laugh as well which made both of us smile at each other. Camellia came over with a pitcher of water for us which we thanked her for as we both downed about half of it in a short amount of time while Camellia looked at us oddly as we did. When I lowered my glass I looked at her and said.

“Don't judge, we're exhausted,” I said to her, getting the noble magi to raise her hands up and simply left us. “I still have to pick up Irena in a little while, I was informed that they'd be getting out soon after lunch,” I said to Ange, informing her that I still could not fully rest.

“Oh boo, my Isaac can’t catch a break,” Ange said to me. I pouted at this a little before rolling my eyes at her. This caused her to giggle happily as Blake came around with our meals.

“Here you both are.” She said before putting our meals down in front of us.

“Thanks Blake.” I said, smiling at her as I said this before me and Ange began to eat. We enjoyed our food in relative silence, simply humming at the taste of our food. Out of the window, I notice some townfolk moving out of the way and bowing. I was confused before seeing Aunt Luna walking down the street with two guards flanking her. I didn't know she would come into town today, which was odd as normally she would announce this to me.

“Hey… you know why your aunt is here?” Ange asked as she too saw her walking down the street. I didn’t say anything before taking my phone out, remembering that my aunt didn’t have a phone at all and shook my head. “Should we… go say hi?” Ange asked me.

“I don't see why not.” I said before we got up from our booth after I left the money to pay for it and headed out through the door before I called out.

“Hey Luna!” I called out to her. The three of them turned towards us and Luna smiled as she and the other two came up to us.

“Hello Isaac, glad I could find you.” Luna said to me with a smile.

“What's up? I didn't think you'd be down here today. Normally you'd send a letter beforehand.” I said to her with a curious tone. Truly I wondered what brought her here.

“Well it was mostly an in the moment thing and I wanted to come see you.” Luna crossed her arms before adding. “Your mother has visited you a few times and I haven’t. I wanted to do just that.” She said to me. I nodded at this before Ange bowed at her, wanting to be formal with Luna.

“Umm, okay then I guess. I'm not complaining, it's just a surprise that's all.” I said with a little chuckle before I noticed the crowd that gathered around. “Uhh, can we move this somewhere without the crowd?” I asked before Ange too noticed this and blushed.

“Hmm? Oh yes, I think that’s a good idea.” Luna said before looking around a bit. She then looked back at me. “Uhh… do you know a good place?” She asked me. I nodded at this before pulling out my phone to check the time, seeing that I have at least half an hour before having to pick up Irena. With that done, I lead Aunt Luna back into Blake's place, getting the bell of the door to ring and notify Blake and Camellia.

“Oh my…” Camellia said when she saw Luna. “Princess Luna, what are you doing here?!”

“I’ve come to hang out with Isaac here.” Luna said bluntly and happily. Camellia and I both looked at her oddly but refused to utter a word at this while Ange giggled quietly at my reaction. The guards behind her were doing their damndest to keep a straight face, though one of them could barely contain their laugh from Luna's tone, guess they find it funny when she speaks rather bluntly.

“Right… okay…” Blake said as she stared at the Princess. “So… what do like to eat?”

“Hmm, I don’t know? Do you have a menu?” Luna asked, only for Blake to jerk her thumb back at the large menu behind her. “Oh, how interested…” She then tilted her head at the menu. “Why do I see a part to pay for hiding under the tables?”

This got a chuckle out of Blake as she waited for my aunt to order and looked back at the other two. “Want something as well?” Blake asked the guards, which got an surprised reaction out of two. At this point, I got a good look at the two up close to them. One of them looked like a pale Magi with dark green eyes and the other was like a Skyborn, but with leather bat wings that were out. They both looked at each other before the Magi spoke.

“I don’t think we’re allowed to-” The Magi said, sounding male, before the… Nightborn? Night Skyborn? I don’t know, spoke.

“Yes we are, I’m hungry.” The other, female, said before she looked up at the menu. As she looked up into the menu with her partner, I walked over to Luna and said.

“Hey, I need to head out for a little bit. I need to pick up Irena from school.” I said to her, getting her attention with this.

“Oh, Irena…” Luna paused for a moment before a big smile grew on her. “Did she like her birthday gift?” She asked.

“She wears it everyday. Thanks for that by the way.” I said to her with a smile, getting her to laugh almost in a victorious manner.

“Ha! See, even if she tried, my sister can’t take the credit from me!” Luna said happily before I laughed at this. Ange nudged me, reminding me of my task at hand. I rolled my eyes before she and I headed out to the school house. It wasn't a long walk really as within a few minutes we arrived at the school house. I looked around and saw Irena sitting on a bench, humming to herself. As Ange and I got close she looked up and smiled happily before hopping off the bench and running towards us.

“There's my little girl.” I said before crouching down and picking her up as she practically tackled me. The words I spoke were a surprise for Ange, a happy one at that while Irena giggled happily as I put her up between my shoulders. “How was your day, kiddo?” I asked her. She looked down at me happily as I took that as she had a great day. Ange stood next to me with a smile on her face. The three of us soon started to head back, knowing that Skyler would either be with Rachael or with her friends.

I smiled at this as we continued walking down the street with Ange and Irena… until everything thing stopped when I felt something hit me in the gut. I stumbled a bit and blinked a few times in confusion. Pain slowly built as I lowered my hand down to my guts and felt something warm and wet there.

“Isaac? What’s wrong?” I heard Ange asked me as Irena looked at me. I slowly lifted my hand up and we all saw my hand was covered… in blood… my blood.

“Oh…” I said as there was another hit, this time to my chest. I stumbled backwards as I looked down, seeing my shirt getting stained with blood. I fell onto my knees as the pain was going through my body. I felt some weight leave my shoulders as Irena was now beside me, a scared look on her face as Ange was screaming for help. I don't know what was going on or the fact if I could process it completely but by the time I was fully aware that I was shot… I blacked out.

Blake PoV

“You know this is your third plate, right?” I said to Princess Luna who had now three plates of shepherds pie. The Princess smiled happily as she took a bite out of the food.

“So good!” She said happily. The two guards chuckled at this as Camellia was off with some other customers. Apparently having a princess eat here means an instant boom in business. Like seriously, soon after Isaac and Ange left, people started pouring in and ordering food one after the other. It was great!

“I should allow big names to come in more often.” I said to myself as I went into my kitchen, did a little checkup on the food and came back. Much to my annoyance but Camellia convinced me to hire another cook to help out, which he is as he was silently working in the back. His name was Bob, I liked Bob.

“Why don’t you open a shop in Canterlot? I bet the nobles would love to eat this kind of food.” The Princess asked me which got a chuckle from me.

“Sure I could do that, but I like it here. It’s cozy… for the most part.” I said with a chuckle. “What about you? Unlike your sister, you don’t really seem that into the idea of dealing with nobles.”

“That’s true, I’m not one for working with the nobles and be a public face, I’m more working behind the scenes, where I can take my time.” Luna said as she continued eating. I smiled at this as time went on before I noticed some people outside running in a frantic pace, making me frown.

“What’s going on outside?” I wonder out loud as the music coming from the radio changed to news report.

“Breaking news from the town of Everfree. Fear has struck the town when one of its own was caught in a shooting.” I stopped and looked at the radio with a frown.

“That doesn’t sound good…” Luna said, hearing this as well.

“Yeah… and this sort of thing doesn’t happen here… like ever.” I said as the radio continued.

“The shooter still is at large but the victim is now getting transferred to the hospital for treatment. The victim is none other than Isaac Parker, Princess Celestia’s own son was caught in a shooting. Some say that this was an assassination attempt on his life which-” I stopped listening as my eyes went wide when I heard this. Isaac? Getting shot?! Everyone within the diner that heard this all gasped in horror, their reactions, however, couldn't compare to my own. That was my best friend! And he was shot!

“Got to go.” I said quickly before walking around the counter and out the door, no word to anyone as I sprinted towards the hospital. When I got there, the place was a mess as many doctors and nurses ran about the place with urgency. I went to the the main desk to asked where I could find Isaac.

“I-I’m sorry but you can’t see him. He’s in critical condition and-” The nurse said before I cut her off.

“Which room is he in then! I need to see him with my own two eyes!” I yelled over the noise around us.

“Uhh, still I can’t-”

“Look, you will either tell me where his room is or I’m going to go around asking that same question to everyone which will delay them from whatever they’re doing, you want that?!” I asked her which, after a moment or two of nothing the nurse gave me his room number. I went into the halls of the hospital, desperately searching for the right room before finally spotting it after another turn. Ange and Irena was sitting right outside, tears stains down their cheeks from crying on Ange as Irena was still crying. I looked into the window to show Isaac in there on a bed with an airmask on him and some doctors were working on him. I looked back to Ange and was about to ask what happened but I doubt she wants to talk after all of this.

I looked back at Isaac, my oldest friend and felt angry. He’s hurt and I couldn’t do anything about it! I didn't know what to do… I didn't if I could even do anything. It felt wrong to see him like this and I couldn't do anything.

I clenched my fist, remembering that this was an assassination attempt. Someone wanted him dead, they wanted my best friend dead. It wasn’t long before one of the doctors walked out with a frown.

“Is he going to be alright?” I asked him which the doctor looked at me.

“... Don’t know.” The Doctor said. “Normally as a Celestial, this sort of thing wouldn’t do much to him, as if it’s like a paper cut but… whatever the assassin used is stopping his healing in it tracts, this means we have to get him into surgery to pull the bullets out but-”

“If that’s what it takes why aren’t you doing it?!” I yelled at him, seeing that there’s a way to save my friend.

“Let me finished, we would do that but… something is different… his body is burning up.” The doctor explained.

“You can’t do anything because Isaac has a fever?!” I yelled at him.

“Miss, please quiet down and… no, I don’t mean burning up as in a fever, I mean actually burning up.” He looked through the window and saw the other doctor getting a nurse to wipe his face off with a towel, even though the nurse was sweating as well. “With how it is I don’t think with the tools we have could get close to the bullets to get them out, simply by melting them but there’s a chance that this heat could just… melt the bullets inside him, like the body destroying harmful bacteria or the heat resistant tools I asked for will get here quickly. I just don’t know what will happen.”

I frowned at this as I looked back at the other two, Ange holding Irena in her arms as she was sniffling and sobbing. I couldn’t imagine what was going through Irena's head, a kid seeing someone she cares about getting shot. It wasn't until the doctors and nurses ran out from the operating that I noticed something was up. We both looked inside and saw Isaac’s wings disappear and… he was glowing. This glow was very familiar to me as I saw this once before, back during the wedding.

“Hit the deck!” I yelled as we all ducked as there was a loud burst of heat coming from Isaac’s room. When it died down we all looked in the room to see that everything was burnt, melted, or disintegrated from the heat alone, though Isaac was fine.

“Irena!” I heard Ange yell as Irena jumped down and ran inside the probably super heated room. I looked inside and saw that… she was fine? She ran over to Isaac and hugged his arm which was dangling over the bed. She was crying, silently begging and hoping for him to be fine. By all account she should've been nothing but ash by now but something prevented her from being hurt by the heat or the roaring flames of Isaac's body. As time went on, the temperature of the room began to cool down, the doctors and nurses gathered around in shock as Irena cried onto Isaac's arm as his body's glow dimmed.

The doctor I was talking to blinked at this before checking on Isaac. “He’s not breathing!” He yelled as he went to check on his heart, luckily not burning. “I need a mask stat!” He ordered as the nurses ran out of the room and both doctors was pushing on his chest to do… something I think?

When the nurse returned with a mask the doctor took it and used it to do CPR on Isaac before he called everyone to stop after a minute. He checked Isaac before sighing. “He’s breathing… let’s try and get him into a different room.”

With that we watched as the doctors rolled Isaac down the hall and some other staff came to clean up the mess from the blast of heat. As they carried him, Irena followed beside them despite the many times told to get back. Ange ended up picking her up as they passed by us, much to Irena's dismay. She struggled and squirmed in Ange's grip. I simply stood there in silence as I watched them move Isaac to a new room. If what the doctor said was true I doubt that the bullets in him would withstand that intestady of heat when Isaac went nova.

The three of us moved over to the place where they got him in to do surgery in. we sat outside and waited for them to be done. As we waited some doors were slammed open and we saw Princess Celestia marching down the hallway, and she looks pissed. I looked at her with wide eyes, never having seen her this angry. Her hair was flickering like actual fire!

“Where is he!? Where’s my son!?” Celestia yelled, marching down the halls before seeing us and the operation room and beelined towards it.

“Whoa, hey hold on. They just took him into surgery.” I managed to say, seriously she looked like she could snap at any moment.

“Don't tell me what to do, I want my son!” She yelled, some flames flicked off of her hair as she yelled that. I wanted to say something but the operating room light went out and the door opened a few moments as a dark skinned man walked out of the doors. He saw all of us and arched a brow.

“Let me guess, friends and family?” He asked as Irena nodded at him. We all followed suit as the surgeon continued. “Well the good news is that Mister Parker won't be seeing death's door anytime soon. That stunt he did in the other room burned away the bullets into nothing. We simply patched him up and the rest is his doing with the healing.”

“And… the bad news?” Ange asked him.

“There's quite a few really. One is that Isaac will be out for some time, a day or two if we're lucky, if not a week. Again that stunt in the room took a lot out of him, so he needs rest.” The doctor explained. We all let out a sigh as Isaac wasn't in any more danger.

“Another thing is that due to his heat moment, the bullets were… disintegrated. So we can't give the authorities anything and we need to talk about the damages to a hospital room but that’s something for later. Point being your son is safe and sound.” the Doctor said to the Princess. Celestia took a moment of silence, no doubt calming down a little bit but her hair was still flickering like a roaring fire. She looked like she was about to say something but the doctor stopped her. “If you give us a few, you will be able to see him.”

We all nodded and, after a few minutes of waiting, we were allowed to see Isaac in a new room where he’s hooked up to something that reads his heart. Irena was beside him, holding his hand tightly at the edge of the bed with Ange behind her. Celestia now on the other side of the bed, her hair not flickering with flames and her anger was replaced with worry. With a shaky hand she caressed his cheek, saddened to see him like this.

I was a little bit away from everyone, happy to see Isaac is now safe and sound but now worried that the assassin was still around, maybe waiting to finish the job. Some part of me thought this wasn’t good, thinking that he will just come around and finish what he has started. I looked at Ange and Irena, seeing their tear stained face and closing my eyes, never having seen them so… broken before. I clenched my fist angrily and slammed it against the wall in rage. This got the attention of everyone here before looking back at Isaac, I felt useless… I don’t like it one bit.

I stormed out of the room, down the hallway and out of the hospital and made my way away from the place before having my own little breakdown moment. I was away from town and prying eyes to start kicking up the ground and punching a tree or two, leaving dents in their trunks. Tears ran down my face as I did this before, after some time, it looked like I tore the area up due to my breakdown.

I heard the flapping of wings as a Raven flew down and perched itself on a nearby branch. I looked over at it and had a sense of familiarity since this one looks like the same raven I’ve seen around Isaac’s place… Though there was something about… something that I should know but don't.

“What do you want?” I asked the bird, not really knowing why.

“Hmm, maybe why you’re out here damaging plant life?” The bird… asked. I stared at the raven oddly.

“You talked… did I hit my head on something?” I asked myself, unsure why I heard a bird talk.

“No you didn’t. You’re just letting out some anger.” The bird said to me. “But still, the plant life wouldn't like it if you keep hurting it.”

“Well if you can’t see it, I don’t really care about the plants feelings.” I said to him, not really caring that I’m talking to a talking Raven, Isaac has a talking fire cat, I think, what else is new? The raven shrugged, I think before hopping around a bit as I sat down.

“Penny for your thoughts?” the Bird asked me. I glanced at him for a moment before sighing.

“Friend of mine is in the hospital due to being a target of an assassination attempt.” I explained to him.

“You mean Isaac?” the bird asked me, which got me to look at him oddly. “Yeah, I heard people talk about it… maybe even saw it happen.”

I groaned annoyed at him for this, why did he ask if he- wait. “If you saw it happen, then you must’ve saw the assassin.” I asked him. The bird thought about it for a moment.

“I may have spotted someone run away from the scene of the crime and followed him to some building in town…” The raven said to me.

“They you can show me where he is then?” I asked him.

“I could… don’t know why I would.” the Raven said to me. “I mean, this is a trained assassin we’re talking about. What are you going to-hurk!” I grabbed the bird and brought him close to me.

“Show me where.” I said threateningly.

“Okay…” the Bird said before I let go of him, making him flap his wings a bit before landing on the ground. “That was rude you know. Did anyone taught you to respect your elders?”

“You’re a bird.” I said as I stood up.

“That doesn’t prove anything. I’m still older than you.” The bird said before he took off into the air. I followed him as he flew into the air for some time before getting to mostly to the outskirts of town and a warehouse that has been abandoned for who knows how long. The Raven landed on a box above me.

“Alright, I saw the guy ran into here and so far I didn’t see him leave.” The Raven said to me.

“Thanks.” I said to the bird. He stared at me as I looked at the place.

“Again, this is a trained assassin. I don’t know what you’ll do to him.” he said to me. I rolled my eyes at this as I made my way inside. Once in I saw the place full of random junk and crates of said junk thrown about haphazardly all over the place. I walked through all of this, trying to be as quiet as can be before I was hidden behind some stuff and look out to see an opening where a guy was pacing back and forth.

“Where the hell is the bitch? It's been nearly an hour.” I heard him say as he continued to pace back and forth. After a minute of waiting some more there was a second voice that spoke out.

“I recommend not to calling the one who’s paying you a bitch.” I looked over and saw a woman come out of the shadows and my grip tightened. Mary Helme walked out of the shadows in maybe the last of her nice clothing. She even died her hair that made her look different. Shockingly I could tell she’s Mary at all. “I’ve heard that you did the job.”

“Yeah, I made sure to double tap him like you asked.” The man said while crossing his arms. “You got my money?” He asked. Mary stared at him for a moment before speaking.

“I don’t have the money because you didn’t finish the job.” She said, an edge to her voice near the end. “From what I’ve heard that blasted bastard of a prince is still alive in the hospital.” There was a long pause before I heard the hired gun take a deep breath and sighing.

“Great, I'm guessing you want me to finish the job huh.” I heard him say.

“That would be nice.” Mary said in a smug tone. She makes my blood boil so much.

“Then I better see a bump in my pay for this.” The man said simply and plainly. Mary stared at the man before saying.

“If you kill the brat who ruined my life, my career and reputation, I’ll make sure that you get paid with interest.” She said before adding. “I don’t care who, be it my own family or the Princesses themselves, nobody messes with me.”

I stared at Marry. That… bitch, doesn’t care about anyone other than herself and her states. She would kill her own family to get ahead in life. I gripped down on the crate I was hiding behind, feeling so angrier than I have ever been before. My vision when into a tunnel as I stared at Marry, the only thing in my head is to make her pay.

“Is… is it just me or did it get cold in here?” was the last thing I heard before everything went dark.

Isaac PoV, a day later...

The last thing I knew before I blacked out was… ow. I groaned a bit as I finally opened my eyes up to see the roof of a hospital room. I blinked a few times before glancing around to see Ange and Irena, sleeping in a chair and mom… sleeping beside me in a chair on one side as the other two did the same one the other side.

“Ow… fuck.” I said as I felt my now stiff limbs. Holy shit did it hurt to move them! I began moving arms about so it wasn't as painful later on though I wish I could do the same with my legs but that requires a whole lot more movement that would probably end up hurting me in the long run.

Though through the moving my mom soon started to wake up and her eyes fluttered open. She blinked and saw me. “Isaac?” she said softly before her brain woke up. “Isaac!” She was about hug me before I quickly stopped her.

“Please don't. Everything hurts at the moment.” I said to her, feeling my dry throat from lack of water for… I don't know how long. My mom nodded before sitting back down as the other two woke up.

“Oh… Isaac!” Ange said as Irena saw me and started to cry again. Ohh… right. I couldn't even stop them from hugging me as they basically gave me no time to react. While it did hurt, I managed to endure and even gave mom a hug as she looked a little left out. Irena was the only one that refused to let go, no matter who asked her she'd simply shake her head and hug my arm.

“So how long was I out?” I asked out to either of them as I eventually picked up Irena and, with Ange's help, got her onto the bed where she hugged me fully.

“Luckily only a day.” Mom explained to me before adding. “And it’s a surprise that you woke up so soon, after what happened to you.”

“We were all scared for you Isaac.” Ange said to me sadly. When Ange said this, Irena whimpered a little. I felt bad about this as, and my body protested greatly, I gave her a hug. She nuzzled into the hug as this gained a smile from the other two.

“Umm, excuse me.” A voice said as we all looked to see a nurse there. “Sorry to interrupt but princess, I think you should see this.” With that she walked over and turned on the tv and turned it to the news. This got some confused looks from everyone.

“And that was weather, coming up terror in the Everfree.” the News man said as he continued. “Yesterday there was an assassination attempt on Princess Celestia’s son, the Prince Isaac Parker. This comes to a surprise to all but some new information also happened in that town.”

The image turned to a video of a wearhouse outside of town and from the looks of it the video was paused. “Hours after the incident this happened.” As the video played for ten seconds before the sound of a loud, blood curdling scream and the werehouse was utterly destroyed as spikes of ice punched through the building and grew to the point to be twice the size.

“Officials are baffled at this as it came in that, any closer to this structure the temperature drops rapidly, some say close to absolute zero. No one was hurt though but after some time people found a woman and man in the ruins of the warehouse. The man is said to be a ex-guardsman turned mercenary that had this to say.”

“‘I don’t care anymore! She hired me to kill him sure but after what I saw I don’t care I’m sent to the prison! That...Thing! Is a thing of nightmares!’” The man yelled, looking like fear slapped him in the face. “Reports say that the woman who hired the assassin was none other than Mary Helme, ex-head of the school board and now ex-wife of CEO Richard Helme. Later we’ll have an interview with-”

I stopped listening as the image of Mary appeared on the screen. Her hair was now pitch white and the shock look of fear on her face.

“So she literally tried to kill me because I told her thugs to spill the beans…” I muttered under my breath while mom was… well her hair is flickering like fire.

“Nurse… where would this… Mary be?” Mom asked, the hate in her words when she said the woman's name.

“Uh, well, I believe she’s being held at the local station at the time Princess.” the nurse said to her. Mom simply nodded at this before standing up.

“If you would excuse me… I need to have a small chat with this Mary.” With that she left the room, her hair still flickering flames as she did. Though as soon as she left the door, I heard her speak but to who I don't know and the words were very muffled so I couldn't tell what she was saying. When the talking stopped, which had a bit of yelling by Mom, the door opened to reveal Skyler.

“Hey Sky.” I greeted her with a little wave of my hand. Skyler stared at me before looking back through the door.

“See… told you he knows me!” Skyler said before walking over where mom sat. “So, how are you feeling?” She asked me.

“Stiff.” I immediately answered before I was surprised when she practically tackled my side into a hug. She didn’t say anything but I could feel her shaking as she hugged me. After a few moments I felt her hand move away before she… sorta hit me, it didn’t hurt but I guess she wasn’t trying to.

“J-Jerk.” She said, sniffling a little bit. I rolled my eyes a bit before I finally got the courage to sit up and while my body cried out to stay put, I continued on before finally sitting up fully. I moved Irena up so she sat on my lap as the way she continuously hugged me got a little uncomfortable. I didn't say anything and simply let the three vent out their relief over my well being before a doctor came around and was honestly shocked when he saw me fully awake.

“Oh you’re awake.” The doctor said to me. “I… you Celestial’s give me a headache.”

“Gee, thanks doc.” I said to him jokingly with a roll of my eyes as I rolled my shoulder… Wait. I soon began to feel around my back before Ange spoke out, pointing out the missing features.

“Your wings are gone Isaac.” Ange said to me.

“Yes, after your little… stunt in the other room, you’re wings went away, posabley waiting to be called again.” The Doctor added on before going over to me, beginning to remove the tech on me to read my heart beats. After this he shook his head a bit.

“I-Is he going to be alright?” Ange asked, worried was in her voice as she asked. The doctor looked at her then at me.

“Uhh… do you go by Prince, your highness, all that stuff or just Isaac?” The Doctor asked me. Wow… someone actually asked me that!

“Eh, anything goes really. I used to be annoyed when I get called Prince or your highness but it doesn't faze me anymore but Isaac is good to.” I said to him with a shrug.

“Right so, Isaac, when someone gets shot in the guts and chest there’s a small window to pull the bullets out and get you stitched up. If that goes well, you would be in the hospital for some time, a couple of weeks or months just to make sure that your fine and healed up.” This caused me to frown as the others looked worried before the doctor continued. “That is, if you were a normal being. You actually took all that and tossed it out of the window as your body has been rapidly healing itself and all your feeling is just as if you ran into a wall from a wall. You’ll be able to leave tomorrow.” I nodded at this, happy to hear that I wouldn't be confined in this room for so long.

“Thanks for that doc.” I said to him, to which smile and nodded before leaving the room. I let out a sigh before a smile formed as I had an idea on how to bring up the mood within the room. It was then I surprised Irena with a few tickles, getting her to smile finally before she giggled more and more. Ange smiled at me before leaning over and giving me a kiss on the lips… which made me more happy that after a day of not getting a kiss, felt like centuries. I don't think one day in the hospital is going to be so bad.

Meanwhile

Despite the warm weather in Everfree, near the large ice sculpture it felt more like winter time, even snow was falling down from the sky as the rain fell. Near the ice sculpture was a dark figure with a dark blue dress that now had white spots as the snow fell. Princess Luna looked up at the large ice object in front of her in thought. As she stood there a dark robe was placed over her shoulders.

“You know…” A low voice said to her ear. “You’ll get sick when it’s cold.” Luna smiled at this before moving her hand over the hands on her shoulders.

“I’m not bothered by this, the winter weather does nothing to me.” She said to the figure.

“Hey, let me be sweet for once.” the being said which got a laugh out of the princess as she turned to face a dark haired man who stood there. A warm smile as the two stared into each other’s eyes, one a dark blue teal colour, and the other a crimson red.

“Did you try?” She asked him which he shrugged.

“I did, but I doubt she would listen. She has that rebel stubbornness her mother had.” the man said with a chuckle. This caused Luna to laugh.

“Quiet now, birdbrain.” She teased which got the man to roll his eyes before she said. “Did you find her?”

The Man nodded as he led her around the ice, crunching snow which quickly got covered by the falling snow before they came up to the unconscious body of Blake. Her clothes were tattered and ripped but nothing else of harm though a notable difference is her hair, the short white and black spiral of hair now grew to her shoulders. Luna walked over her and kneeled down beside her and brushed some hair out of her face.

“How was she?” Luna asked the man who also kneeled down.

“The anger and rage she got when hearing that woman plans about her friend. It triggered the transformation and… well.” The man looked at the ice and snow. “Quite a… cool event eh?” this caused the man to get hit with a snowball. “Worth it.”

“Shut it you.” Luna said as she cups Blake's face before leaning down and pressing her forehead onto hers. “I’m sorry… just a little longer.” She whispered before pulling back.

“How’s the trips to the doc?” the man asked as he brushed some snow off.

“It’s coming along, she’s saying I’m close to being a hundred percent mentally sound. Don’t want to go nuts out of nowhere.”

“You mean going dark and evil and stuff or you going chocolate crazy?” the man asked, earning a glare from Luna.

“I’ll bury you.” she warned which again got a shrug from the man as went to pick Blake up into his arms. Both him and Luna walked down the empty streets until getting to the coffee Diner Blake runs and knocked on the door. Soon Camellia peeked out.

“Hello- oh my Princess Luna!” Camellia said before Luna stopped her from doing anything.

“Please, you don’t see this, you haven’t seen me at all. Can we come in?” Luna asked, confusing the Fire Magi before she moved out of the way as the two walked in. The man carried her to her room and put her into bed. As he was getting her covered Luna talked to Camellia.

“Listen, Blake may be going through some things and I’m trusting you to be with her and help her. She’ll be out for a few days so keep her in bed.” Luna explained.

“Uh… okay, but what’s going on? She has been missing since yesterday!” the fire magi said. She was awfully worried of her girlfriend ever since she left and never returned.

“Yes I know, I can’t tell you much but she’s… going through a phase.” Luna explained.

“Think… puberty.” the man said as he joined them. “On the level of Isaac’s level.”

“I… wait… what?” Camellia asked, worry now gone and confusion replaced it.

“Everything will be answered soon, just…” Luna looked back to the room and back. “Keep my little angel safe, okay?”

With that the two of them left the Fire Magi alone, who was trying really hard yo figure out what just happened. She soon ran outside and saw that the two were… gone. She looked around and saw the empty street, not noticing the two dark birds flying off into the sky.

End of XXVIII

Chapter XXIX

View Online

It's been close to a week since I was in the hospital and my life has been… interesting. For starters I had Ange and Irena worried sick about me every time I went outside. If I go outside I have Irena trying to drag me back or Ange keeping an eye on me. Hell one time I woke up and Ange had her closest friend to be my bodyguard… did I also mention that her friend is a six hundred plus pound brown bear.

The other thing is that large ice object outside of town. People came down to try and get rid of it but so far nothing has worked. The ice was incredibly strong and durable for… well ice and no magic could touch it. It was as if the magic in the air was also frozen. The officials tapped off the arena where it was too cold for anyone to get near it but it didn't stop people from going out and having literally fun in a winter wonderland… in spring.

The one thing that I was worried about was the fact that Blake was in some sort of coma. I didn’t know how or why and when I asked Camellia she didn’t know either, though some part of me feels like she knows something but is not allowed to say. I didn't know what I could do for her but wait and see when she wakes up.

After the debacle, mom had apparently cancelled any meetings or hearings planned for the next month or so to stay in town to look after me. This was the perfect opportunity for her to teach me of my celestial heritage and after a lengthy discussion and a rather boring lecture, she taught me how to summon my wings and make them vanish. She even gave basic flight lessons, so now I can properly take off and fly but not at incredible speeds… at least not yet.

At the moment I was with Camellia for a visit. The Coffee shop wasn’t open as much as normal and Camellia was happy to have others visit.

“So… how’s the coffee?” Camellia asked, wanting to see if she could make the coffee the same as Blake does it.

“You're getting there that's for sure.” I said to her, sipping at the coffee once more. It wasn't quite there yet but it's a major improvement from the other times. She smiled at this before asking.

“So, how’s the flying lessons?” Camellia asked me.

“Pretty good. Had my first flight yesterday and I plan on surprising Irena when I'm picking her up later today.” I said with a smile.

“That’s nice, how’s Skyler by the way?” the Fire Magi asked as she sipped her drink a bit.

“She was great, I caught her flying to school.” I said to her, getting a surprised look from her.

“That’s great!” Camellia said happily. “Good to see that all of her practicings are paying off.”

“Yup.” I said in agreement before silence settled between us. “So… How's Blake?” I asked in a hushed tone. Camellia’s smile dropped a bit as she looked down.

“Still sleeping… Isaac I’m getting worried…” Camellia said before adding. “What… what if she doesn’t wake up?”

“Don't say that. Last thing I want is the thought of losing my best friend.” I said to her with a frown.

Just as I said that the door opened and… Blake came walking out. “Sup, coffee.” She said before walking towards the kitchen. We both stared at her in shock but it was for two reasons; one was that she’s up and moving.

The second part was that on her back was two large black wings folded on her back. Blake didn’t pay this any mind as she was pouring herself some coffee… also did her hair grow out?

“Uhh… you seeing this too, right?” I asked Camellia, not even taking my eyes off of Blake's black raven like wings.

“I'm seeing it… still not sure if I'm believing it.” Camellia said as Blake finished her coffee and turned to us.

“So… how's life?” Blake asked the both of us. Both Camellia and I looked at one another before back at Blake and, in unison, said.

“Look over your shoulder.” Camellia and I said together. Blake blinked at this before looking behind her, seeing the wings.

“Oh, right… that's new…” She said before looking back at us and drinking her coffee.

“You're… not freaking out about this?” Camellia asked her, confused.

“Oh I will be… just my head hasn't caught up with everything yet…” Blake looked over at me and added. “Weren't you… in the hospital?” Before I could answer Blake stopped me. “Wait, hold that thought.” Blake put the mug down and went back into her room… and heard her screaming… for a good minute. She soon came back out again. “Okay… why do I have wings!?” She asked, mostly the reaction I figure she would have.

“I don't know!” I exclaimed back at her, equally as shocked as her. It took some time, a few cups of coffee and a bagel to calm her down before Camellia and I asked her questions… which didn't give us a lot.

“I told you, I don't remember anything after Isaac got hurt! I got angry and… did the dumb thing and chased down the guy, then got really angry and blackout.” Blake said to us for the eighth time in a row. I sighed as I soon realized we weren't going to get anything better than this. I had to step outside to take a breather, and as I did this a familiar bird came down.

“Hey there, hot head.” Ozul greeted me, getting me to groan at this before I looked down at Ozul.

“What are you doing here? Usually when you're here bad things end up happening one way or another.” I said to him as I crossed my arms, remembering that he just decided to surprise me during one of my flights yesterday.

“Hey, no need to be rude, it was an accident…” Ozul said before adding. “How's your friend?”

“She just woke up and get this, she has a pair of raven wings.” I said to him, still getting over this fact. I turned around and shook my head at this before speaking again… or tried to before I heard a loud thud from behind me. I turned back to see… a man? He was face down on the ground, short black hair with some silverish white strands through it. He wore dark clothes, black jacket, faded dark blue pants and boots. I stared at him then up above to see Ozul was gone.

“Wait what?! She has wings! How can she-” he pushed himself up to face me, seeing that both his eyes were crimson red colour before looking down at himself. “Ahh, hell bells.”

“Uhh…” Was all I could utter at this as the bird I know as Ozul changed into a terran man. The man grumbled a bit before standing up, allowing me to see that he was around my height or a little taller give or take.

“Well… this is awkward,” he said to me, sounding like Ozul.

“Wait, Ozul?” I asked in shock before he shushed me, not wanting to make a scene. He looked over to see if anyone was listening in before whispering.

“You did not see this, this has never happened, you were just talking to a bird.” He whispered before his form took more of a shadowy form before reforming into the raven I was talking before… I’m so confused. “Now… what were we talking about?” He asked me.

“You're actually a guy… a terran dude no less.” I said, trying to wrap my head around this still. The Raven sighed at this, hanging his head.

“I asked you to forget that! Not poke at it some more…” Ozul said.

“You didn't ask me shit, all you did was say that it never happened. I'm not going to do that and on another note, you seem like you know more about Blake than you're letting on.” I said with a frown, not liking the idea of secrets being kept when it comes to my friends.

“Was hoping that you would go along with it…” Ozul said before continuing. “To answer your question, yes I'm Tarren, yes I know Blake because I have been keeping an eye on her for reasons that are my own. Now I ask you this, please…. Please keep this between the two of us. I really don’t want to get into more hell from- ahh hell bells again!” He yelled as he covered his beak with his wing.

“Trouble with who?” I asked him as I crossed my arms at him and arched a brow.

“No one, already said too much.” Ozul said to me.

“Which is why I'm not going to let this go.” Was my immediate reply to him, getting a groan from him. I frowned at him some more before he lowered his wings.

“Fine fine… I'm going to be in trouble with Blake's Mother.” Ozul answered as he looked around to make sure no one was around.

“Blake's mom?” I asked, arching a brow at him.

“Yes that's what I said.” Ozul said. Knowing that this was as far as I was getting, I decided to get the topic back onto Blake, speaking which.

“You seem to know Blake a lot more than you let on.” I said to him, narrowing my eyes.

“I already told you I've been keeping an eye on her.” The bird said with a sigh. “Have been when she was little.”

“Then why hide it and lie to me that you didn't know her?” I asked him with an arched brow.

“Reasons that I really don't want to get into, it's confusing.” Ozul said. I stayed silent after this, knowing that it'll be a pain to talk more out of him.

“So why does she has wings?” I asked him suddenly. There was a bit of a shutter from the bird as his body started to shift but stayed as a bird.

“She's special…” Ozul said softly. Just as I said this, there was a loud crash inside and when I looked back inside, I saw Blake's wings fully spread out with her freaking out as she tipped things to. The two of us stared for a few moments. “Uhh…” was all Ozul had to say from what he saw.

“Yeah, special.” I said back to Ozul before I entered the shop again, hearing her freak out about how to close her wings and not break anymore things. “Just relax! Roll your shoulders forward!” I exclaimed out to her.

Blake yelped as she heard me which caused her to fall onto her face with her wings spread out. After a moment or two her wings finally folded and she put up a thumbs up as Camellia soon ran over and helped her winged girlfriend.

“Are you done freaking out?” I asked her as I walked over to her as Camellia helped her up to her feet.

“Yeah, I'm done… don't know why that happened.” Blake said, rubbing her head.

“Because you stretched your arms wide. It kinda gets your wings to join the stretch.” I said to her as Camellia quickly went and picked up a broom to clean things up.

“Right…” Blake said before looking at the wings. “This is going to be odd for some time.”

I simply shrugged at her as she went to help Camellia with cleaning up the mess she made. As this was going on I went to see if Ozul was still here, and he was but with someone else.

“I said I was sorry!” Ozul said to the person.

“You better be, if he prodded anymore he’ll learn everything!” The second person said, which sounded like… Luna? I arched a brow at this and kept quiet, using the bit of magic that I had learned thanks to mom to make my steps silence as I listened.

“Is that a bad thing? I mean, he has been around Blake almost as long as I have so I started to think this could be good.” Ozul said to my aunt.

“I would’ve preferred it if it was just between us.” Luna said to Ozul.

“But still, it could work out. Heck I remember seeing him in the orphanage that I had her place into.” Ozul said to her, which got my head reeling a bit. What? I shook my head and leaned my head a little closer to get a better hearing advantage as they continued.

“That’s true but… I just…” Luna started to say before Ozul cut her off.

“You can’t keep this a secret forever… already Isaac knows more now than ever, now that he know’s Blake has a mother, it won’t be long before he figures out who that woman is.” Ozul said to her as I looked over to see the two. When I looked over I saw Luna's expression, it was one of her being ashamed of herself. Even after what Ozul said her expression told the whole story of her sadness… the same look that my own mom showed when we first started talking.

“I-I know… I just need more time…” Was Luna’s response to him.

“What the fuck?” I said under my breath.

“What was that?” Luna said, making me realize that she heard me. “Who’s there!” I pressed up against the wall as she said this and held my breath. I heard her footsteps getting closer and closer towards me, making me sweat a bit as I was about to get caught.

“Hey, maybe it was a cat.” Ozul said to her, making Luna stop. After a pause she spoke.

“Really? You’re worried over a cat?” Luna asked as she walked away from me.

“What? I’m a bird. Cats sorta freak me out like this.” Ozul said, getting a laugh from Luna.

“Nice to know… I should get back. My sister would be wondering where I am.” With that silence overcame the place. I peeked around to see that the two of them were gone, letting me let out that breath I was holding.

“Okay then… so that's… wow.” I said as I let out a breath after hearing all of that.

“What are you doing out here?” I jumped as Blake asked me that. “I mean, I’ve been looking for you for something and you were just standing out here… what did you mean with what you just said?” She asked me.

“Uhh… Nothing.” I said just as the bit of magic I used ran out, leaving me a little exhausted. Blake arched a brow at me before shaking her head.

“I don’t want to know… anyway you know how to make these wings disappear? It’s going to be a pain to cook with them.” Blake asked me, her wings twitching a little with her arm movements.

“I would but you'd just question every step. So to make a suggestion, deal with it and don't stretch your arms or else they'll spread open suddenly.” I said to her simply before looking around and adding. “Also be careful with uhh… being aroused. Your wings will be a dead giveaway.” I said to her.

Blake blushed at this and nodded. “Uhh… thanks for the heads up.” She said to me. I chuckled at this as she and I went back inside where I helped out with cleaning the last bit. When everything was done I said my goodbyes and went on my merry way. While I walked, I decided to check the time and was that there was a minute left before Irena was out of school so with that in mind, I rolled my shoulders, getting my wings to appear in a flash of fiery red light before they spread open and took off towards the school in a slow and steady speed.

It took me a bit and when I got to the school I could already see Irena waiting on the bench right outside the school. I flew down and landed a little bit away from the bench just so Irena could see me and smile happily.

“Hey there kiddo.” I greeted her happily before she ran up to me and I picked her up. She gave me a hug which I returned happily before I smiled at her and spoke. “Come on, I think you'll enjoy this one.” I said to her before my wings spread open again, getting her eyes to sparkle with excitement. With that the both of us took off into the air, Irena was laughing and giggling all the way back home as I flew, again slow and steady.

When we got there I put Irena down and both of us walked into the house. Irena was giggling still even as we entered the house, she was greeted with her robot cat friend while I was greeted by mom, who was already here and dressed in casual attire.

“Hello Isaac, how was your day?” She asked me with a smile as Irena was playing with her robot cat.

“Uhh… pretty good but I did come across… Something interesting.” I said to her, which she arched a brow at before I added. “Did you know I had a cousin?” I asked her simply. Mom didn’t say anything for a long while and then she spoke.

“What?” She asked me, answering my own question with it.

“I may or may not have overheard a conversation involving Luna and heard that she had a kid at some point, one that was sent to the same orphanage as me.” I said to her. This caused her to stare at me for a long moment before looking at Irena.

“Sweetie, me and your dad are going to talk for a bit. Is that alright?” Mom asked Irena who simply nodded and mom grabbed my hand and dragged me to a different room. When we did she spoke. “You learned of this just now?”

“Kinda, almost an hour ago really. So when were you going to tell me that my lifelong best friend was actually my cousin?” I asked her, crossing my arms. “Come on, I thought you could trust me by now.” I added.

“It’s… complicated…” Mom said to me, sounding a little hurt after what I said. “Like… really complicated.”

“I didn't know you were my mom until late last year.” I said crossing my arms at this with an arched brow. Mom groans at this and hangs her head.

“Okay… let’s agree that I’m not the greatest mom ever, and I messed up on things.” She said to me. I arched a brow at this and said.

“Can you at least just tell me the truth?” I asked her simply regarding the subject at hand.

“Okay…” Mom said before telling me the truth, that during Luna’s punishment she found a way to come back much earlier but with no magic at all, locking her Dark Celestial half in the moon. Mom learned about this and kept tabs on her just in case something happens. Nothing happened over the months and years of this before she gave birth of me that Luna… disappeared again.

“I was worried that something has happened to her during this and seeing that you were just born… I didn’t know what to do… that’s when I learned of what happened from Ozul.” Mom explained, telling me that she has come in contact with Ozul himself. Apparently Ozul was the one who suggested the orphanage I grew up in, which is when Mom created Wisp to look over me while Ozul looked over Blake.

“Huh… so that's it then?” I asked her, getting a nod from her before I sat down. “So Aunt Luna is… having trouble mustering up the courage?” I asked her. Mom nodded at this.

“My sister has many things that she’s good at, mostly some behind the scenes stuff but when she needs to talk to someone… it’s quite a challenge. She’s getting better but she’s going through what happened with me to you; How am I going to tell you that I’m your mom.” Mom said to me. I nodded at this before silence overtook the room.

“You have to tell her to suck it up and get her to tell Blake, else she won't ever reveal the truth.” I said to her, mom was about to retort before I said. “You know how she gets the most, and with what I've seen it's pretty bad.” Mom looked at me with an arched brow.

“Has Blake ever been stubborn with you… like, really stubborn?” Mom asked me which got me to think back to the times where she was.

“Yeah.” I answered curiously. This made mom chuckle a bit.

“Who do you think she got that from? But even with that, she… believes that only her and Ozul knows about this.” Mom said to me with a sigh. “It’s funny, I want to help her and I’ve been around for a long time but, even I don’t know how to help without being blunt about it.”

“Okay okay.” I said as I raised my hands up. “So what happens now?” I asked her.

“I don’t know, wait and see what will happen I guess… by the way, how did all this start anyway?” Mom asked me.

“Oh yeah, Blake woke up with wings.” I said to her, remembering the one thing that started it all.

“Oh… well I wonder how my sister is handling this?” Mom asked out loud.

Meanwhile…

“Uhh, Princess Luna… are you okay?” One of the guards asked as he knocked on the door to The Princess of the Night’s room. Luna, at the moment, was in that room with both arms wrapped around a pillow as the information of Blake having wings was now settling in.

“She has wings… She now has wings…” Luna muttered to herself as Ozul sat at her window.

“Uhh…” was all he said as he watched this, unsure what to do.

Back again…

“In any case,” Mom said as she pushed herself up to her feet. “I hope that this doesn’t ruin anything with you Isaac.” I stared at my mom and saw her look worried, that this has ruined something.

“I'm more worried about Blake, eventually she'll start asking questions.” I said to her as I stood up as well. She nodded at this but said nothing, at least at first.

“I understand your worry but let's keep an eye on those two, you with Blake and me with my sister. If things don’t change in some time then I’ll take action and help my sister with this.” Mom looked at me and smiled. “She has grown a lot over the months, I believe that she’ll do it.” I nodded at this before she gave me a kiss on the cheek and was on her way out, leaving to spend the rest of the day in my own thoughts, which I spent working on the owl.

End of XXIX

Chapter XXX

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It's been two months since Blake woke up with her wings and I had that little incident leaving me a little worse for wear. I guess the worry Ange and Irena had for me stuck onto me as I find myself paranoid whenever I'm in large crowds. Nothing really too bad though but I still find it irritating. Mom has said she could send some royal guards to keep an eye on me just for protection but I had to turn her down. As much that could help, I really don't like the idea of someone guarding me. I can take care of myself thank you.

Though this did stop me from doing some things more I used to do often, like giving Irena a ride through the air to school and going out for walks. I mean, I could still do them but I felt nervous which annoyed me. I like doing fun stuff just, just not when I'm worrying for my life or those I care about.

Right now I was in my garage workshop only… just not doing anything. I've been stuck in a rut of being able to muster up the motivation to work. I sighed as I looked at the many metal sheets I had laying around, unable to think of anything to do with them. I frowned as my wings itched. Fuck. These things were so itchy lately. I rolled my shoulders to move them closer so I could give them a scratch which, I want to point out, has the same feeling as scratching one's back, albeit with more feathers. In any case when I found the spot where it itches it felt really good~.

After a few minutes of this I stopped just in time to hear a knock at the door. I turned just to see it open and Irena looking at me. Seeing her put a smile on my face as I turned to face her.

"Hey, need anything?" I asked as she normally comes by the workshop to silently plead for some new trinkets though she does check up on me as she is now apparently. She shook her head as Irena walked up to me and simply gives me a hug, which again she does this as she checks up on me. I smile and give her a hug as well, enjoying the closeness of Irena right now. As I did this I looked over and saw her robot cat sitting at the door, tail flicking as it sat there.

"Thanks. I guess I really needed that one today." I said before looking over at the metal sheets again before sighing. "I think I lost my mojo." I said to her simply. Irena frowned sadly at this before I felt her hug more, this made me smile as she no doubt thinks if she hugs me more, my mojo could return. I found this incredibly cute. I chuckled and looked back down at her. "Thanks." I said to her as I couldn't bear to tell her the reality of things. Irena smiled happily at me as I said this as she pulled away, allowing me to stretch a bit. My wings spread out as I did which made Irena look at me in awe for a few moments, making me chuckle.

"Come on, I'm sure there's more fun stuff you could be doing than bumming about with me." I said to her as I got up from my chair, wings furling back into place before picking Irena up. With her in hand, I headed inside where I could hear Sky in the midst of one of her gaming sessions.

"Ahh! Why you little mother- grr hope I don't see you next game you little piece of-" Before she could finish her string of foul language, Irena grabbed a pillow after I had put her down and lightly threw it at Sky who yelped and looked over at her, before noticing me. "Umm… hi?" She greeted me.

"Maybe not here though." I said to Irena regarding that supposed fun time she could be having. "Want to visit Ange?" I asked the little blue haired girl and her eyes lit up at the mention of Ange. Skyler looked at me and Irena as I could hear voices coming from her headset. I didn't say anything as to let her go about her business while Irena and I left.

Walking through town was uneventful as I held Irena who smiled cheerfully, though at times I couldn't help but take a quick glance around, expecting someone to come out to do something but nothing happened. I frowned at this as this was becoming an annoying habit that's forming. Luckily our trip went smoothly as we walked up to Anges cottage which I knocked on the door. I waited for a good few moments before the door opened and Ange was there.

"Isaac! It's good to see you and Irena again!" Ange said happily, seeing her smile made my day much better already. She gave Irena a quick little hug and for me, a sweet kiss.

"Hey." I said to her before we were allowed in. Irena was fond of the animals here, having been helping Ange for the last month while I dealt with other stuff. "Sorry drop in so suddenly, Irena lit up at the mention of coming here… and I did want to see you. So win win." I said with a shrug as Ange giggled at this.

"Well I am most definitely not complaining." She said happily as she gave me another sweet kiss before saying. "I just made some tea and cookies, I believe I have enough for all of us." She said which made me smile and Irena smiled even more, mostly at the sound of cookies. She made a mad dash for the kitchen as I shook my head. That girl has a sweet tooth that could rival Diane's, I swear.

"So, how have you been doing after your mother had you take Those princely lessons?" Ange asked and my beaming smile dimmed at this. My mother had me take these lessons on proper etiquette for any prince to know for whenever they are needed… and I hate them. My mother knows I hate them, hell, everyone knows I straight up hate them with a passion. I would love to not take them, but I have to. Ugh.

"It blows and I hate every minute I spend doing them." I said to Ange who chuckled as she found my annoyance to be amusing. I've noticed that about her lately. I guess she finds me being a prince who doesn't like being a prince funny.

“Hehe… well at least it’s something useful in the future. And besides…” She smiled at me before adding. “I do enjoy having my own prince charming.” I snorted at this but it did make me smile a little. I soon sat down on her couch where Ange went to her kitchen and after a few moments returned with a tray of tea, and tea cups. Irena followed behind with a plate full of cookies, already a number of them were in her mouth. I rolled my eyes at this as the two of them sat down with me, leaving me in the middle of them both as Irena sat to my right and Angelina to my left.

"Aside from the obviously annoying parts of those lessons, I've been enjoying seeing my mom lose her shit when I do something the wrong way." I said with a chuckle as the idea of the always kind and regal Celestia raging over the use of the wrong spoon is something to be told to all. As I was saying this I felt a nudge from Irena, making me look over at her. She stared at me before using two cookies to act out building something before making a bored face. Oh right, that. I guess she wants me to talk about my demotivation of building stuff. Now that I think about it, it could be depression…

"Okay fine." I said with a roll of my eyes as I looked over to Ange and said. "I haven't been feeling like myself lately. At first I chalked it up to your worries about me going about my days like normal rubbing off on me but… lately I've been paranoid, demotivated and generally feeling like shit." I said to Ange as Irena leaned closer to me to try to make me feel better which did… a little anyway.

"Oh… Oh dear." Ange said as she looked at me with worry. "Is there anything I could do to help Isaac? Anything at all?" She asked me with concern as Irena continued to hug me.

"I feel fine… I just… I don't know." I said to her simply as I didn't know what else to say or even how to say it. "Just having you around is helpful enough." I said to her honestly as that was the only thing I knew for sure about it all. Ange was quiet for a little while before she suddenly got an idea.

"How about you go see Blake? The two of you have been friends for a long time, so she would help somehow." Ange said happily at me which made me hum a bit. That does make sense if you think about it.

"I haven't yet actually." I said as I rubbed the back of my head as that really should've been my first option to begin with now that I really think about it.

"It was just a suggestion, hopefully it helps." Ange said with a caring smile which cheered me up a bit more. I was silent for a few moments, deciding on what to do next as Irena ate cookies and Ange drank some tea. For a little while I kind of just sat there in silence before Ange saw this and looked at Irena.

"Irena, maybe you could go outside and play with some animals, many of them were waiting for you to return so you all could play." Ange said which excites Irena before she ran off to do just that… not after grabbing more cookies. When she was gone, Ange sat right beside me as she spoke. "Okay, what's going on Isaac? You don't really get like this offen… or at all." Ange asked me, sounding and looking serious.

"I wish I knew myself, babe." I said back to her as I wasn't so sure myself like I had mention before. Ange didn't seem to like this answer much.

"What do you mean by 'I wish I knew'?" Ange asked, sounding frustrated with me which was the first time ever and… man, she looked cute. I could only shrug as I tried my best to stop myself from chuckling at her serious face.

"I got nothing. Nada." Was all I said as I raised my hands in defense to my own lack of an answer. She stared at me in her serious face for a few moments before sighing.

"Alright… again, I wish I could do more." She said sigh a huff.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. The fact that you care is really enough." I said to her with a little chuckle before I kissed her softly which did bring a little smile. Before she gave my arm a good punch. Ow?

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Ange said, now worrying about me and checking the spot she just hit. "I… I was just being playfully… I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine, it actually didn't hurt… n-not to say your punch didn't do anything." I said now backtracking at my words fearing that I was going to gain her wrath before hearing her giggle and I sighed. "I'm just… going to see Blake, maybe she can help me figure stuff out." I said to her and saw her nod.

"Okay, I'll then keep an eye on Irena just so she's safe… and maybe tonight we could be a bit intimate~" Ange purred at me which… damn. I chuckled a little nervously at her sultry tone as lately she has been very… active in bed with me. It's honestly starting to hurt thinking about it. With that said I soon said my goodbyes to Ange and headed off into town. As I was walking I had a few moments to myself and my thoughts, humming a bit as my hands were in my pockets. I looked up at the sky as I walked, seeing it was a nice day out right now. This put a small smile on my face.

I began my walk to Blake's cafe only for Wisp to appear beside me, walking along as she looked up at me, her flickering whiskers leaving behind small embers before I heard her speak.

"Well, you seem a bit more of a chipper mood now." She said to me as I hummed a bit as she continues. "But I can tell you're still upset about something. What's on your mind Isaac?" Wisp asked me.

"Why ask the same question? My answer isn't going to change." I said down to her as I knew for a fact she was nearby listening to me and Ange talk. "Irena thinks it's because I'm down in the dumps depressed." I said to Wisp as she hopped up onto my arm and sat curled around my neck. "Nice to see that you care so much." I said jokingly to her only for her tail to whack me in the face.

"I do care about you Isaac, very much so." Wisp said to me before adding. "And if it is depression, I suggest talking to your mother about this, should it be bad she could have a therapist come and the two of you could talk." She offered. I hummed at this, as good that sounds it wasn't it… though I can't put my finger on it.

"I doubt a therapist is something I'd actually need." I said to her simply with a look that said it all. I'd rather not have to deal with unneeded therapy.

"I'm just giving you an option, nothing is making you do it. I believe your mother would do the same." Wisp said before pausing for a few moments. "Actually she would do everything in her power to make you feel better before offering therapy." Wisp added which made me snort.

"Yeah, she definitely would." I said with a held back chuckle as my mother has gone through great lengths to make sure I knew she loved me. Or rather, I suppose she's making up for lost time. Whatever the case, it was nice having a mom. With that thought in mind I continued my way to Blake's place which came to view as I turned the corner. I didn't see many inside so that's good to know and I saw Camilla manning the till.

"Do you wish for me to stick around or no?" Wisp asked me and I thought about it.

"For a little while. I think I'm rocking this cat scarf look." I said jokingly to her which rewarded me with yet another whack from her flickering fiery tail. With that said I walked in with Wisp around my neck. Once inside I walked up to the counter and saw Camilla looking away, a smile on her face as I looked over where she was looking and saw Blake talking to a few people. Other than the large black wings she looked pretty much the same, navy blue tank top, some jeans and her hair was tied back in a ponytail.

"Hey." I said out to Blake, catching her attention before her wings twitched much to her annoyance. "Still getting used to them?" I asked her simply as I walked up to the counter top.

"Yeah… Yeah I am…" Blake said with a sigh as she turned to face me and walked over, talking some extra time so her wings couldn't knock anything over or smack someone. I chuckled at this, mostly due to knowing the feeling of this all too well.

"Huh? What?" Camilla said, coming out of her daze when Blake and I came up. "Oh, hey Isaac." Camilla greeted me and taking note of Wisp.

"Hey. Just coffee this time." I said to Camilla who nodded as Blake walked over to me, being careful not to knock things over while I had to hold back a chuckle. Wisp however didn't, simply chuckling as she watched.

"My, this reminds me when you're wings came in, you were worried of accidentally hitting someone." Wisp chuckled which made me frown a bit as Blake spoke.

"It been… a struggle to say at least. Damn wings get in the way all the time when I don't want them to." Blake said with a sigh. "Lucky for you that you can summon and get rid of your wings with ease." Blake said with some annoyance, making me chuckle a little.

"Practice is all I can tell you." I said to her with a little laugh as Wisp meowed, catching Blake's attention as I said. "Right… I came here to talk." I said to her as I took a little serious tone upon saying this.

"Oh? You want to talk here or somewhere private… or in a booth?" Blake asked me as I hummed at this as Camilla pushed my coffee on the counter. Wisp looked at me for my answer as well.

"A booth sounds nice." I said before grabbing the mug of coffee and walking over with Blake to an empty booth where we sat down. "These past couple of months, they've been weird." I said to her which made her chuckle.

"Weird how? You have to be specific Isaac, we're in Everfree." Blake said to me with a smirk as Wisp hopped off from around my neck and sat on the table, licking her paw. I sighed and gripped the mug saying.

"Something feels off. Something feels wrong. Like this creeping foreboding feeling of something looking for me, watching me." I said to her as I went into more detail that surprised both her and Wisp. "I didn't feel right telling this to Ange earlier, I already made her worry nearly to death during the incident." I said to Blake as she was silent for the better part of a couple minutes before Wisp gave me a look, one that told me that I should've said this to Wisp first.

"Well… that's ominous." Blake said finally as she was tapping the table in thought. "And a bit worrying, if something is making you feel like this then… Hmm…" Blake didn't finish as she was lost in thought for a moment or two. "I can see why you didn't bring it up to Ange, if she hears this she would worry like all hell for you." Blake added which made me nod a bit as Wisp stared at me.

"And you didn't think to tell me about this fully?" Wisp asked me, sounding a bit annoyed as she flared a little bit.

"Hey hey! No burning my table!" Blake said as she watched this. I shrugged at Wisp, preferring to keep my mom out of this one as the last thing I'd actually want is for Everfree to become heavily militarized because of me. I wouldn't put past her to do that.

"The weird part is that those weird feelings I've been getting came about a month or so ago." I said to them which made Blake all the more concerned. She knew this had the word trouble written all over it. So could I. But why?

"Shit man… if what you're saying is true, I feel like some shit is about to happen." Blake said as her wings twitched a bit. "But whatever this is going to be, just know you'll have me there." Blake added with a small smile. I couldn't help but smile as well, knowing that Blake would say that.

"Well, here's hoping it's just some dumb feeling." I said before sipping my coffee finally as Blake nodded and chuckled at my words. Wisp however was silent as she looked deep in thought. Wonder what's going through her head?

Somewhere deep in the Frozen North

The heavy blizzard showed no mercy to those unfortunate enough to be caught within, it's piercing cold rendering any form of warmth unobtainable. The howling of the wind only grew louder as a hooded figure trekked through the frozen tundra.

"T-t-this sucks!" Spoke the lone traveler, their heavily clothed form shivering as they pulled out a map. "I b-better get p-p-paid big for t-t-this." They said, shining their light down on their map before trying their damndest to see through the raging blizzard. "Fucking b-blizzard, coming out o-of n-n-nowhere!" They yelled in frustration as there were no landmarks to be seen. Putting away the map and light, they continued forward and struggled against the winds until eventually, a faint light could be seen.

"G-Gotta make i-it there. Maybe t-they know t-t-the way." They muttered to themselves as they trekked closer and closer to the light, being able to make out the source of it. "A s-street lamp?" They said in confusion and not just any streetlamp, an oil lamp. As the confusion riddled their mind with questions regarding the lamp, they noticed the blizzard clearing. When the dense snow fog rolled back, the wandering traveler could not stop themselves from looking in awe.

"W-what?" They said in pure shock as he looked down an abandoned snow covered crystalline road. Oil lamps lighting the path but only revealing its state of abandonment. "S-Streets of p-pure crystal." They said in awe as they looked further down the road and their jaw dropped. Before them was a large, Crystal palace that, even though it stood towering above them it looked old and in disrepair, having been left in the middle of the Frozen North. The oil lanterns' light shined off of the palace's walls, making them shine a bit of their crystal light but it was dim and showed cracks and pieces broken off.

"Yes! Haha! I've found it! I actually found it!" The traveler said as they jumped for joy at their discovery. "I actually found the lost empire of the north!" They yelled as they scrounged up their map for the surrounding area circled around their location. "I'm going down in history for sure." They said to themselves as they looked back up at the streets only to see that the light of the lamps were gone.

It was at this moment they felt cold… so very cold… it was more so than their trip through the blizzard as their body started to shake from this deathly cold.

"What is a king without a kingdom… an emperor without an empire." A voice spoke out through the streets as it grew darker. "History will indeed remember this moment." From the shadows walked out someone, clad in ancient, battle scarred armour that looked like it could fall apart at any moment with a tattered and torn royal cloak flowing behind him. Long black hair fell back down his back as his face showed the face of a mad man. "As the time the Lord of Shadows makes his triumphant return." The man said as his hands began to radiate a sinister aura, his eyes focusing on the traveler. And a smirk soon formed.

End of XXX

Chapter XXXI

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Train rides are fun. That’s what I’ve been told and I’ve been on a few, and yeah they are fun. The only thing that’s not fun is the hellish cold! See, I’m not the biggest fan of the cold, winter is just the worst season if I had to pick and it was due to the blasted cold. So much so that even wearing many layers of warm sweaters and jackets, wrapping the heaviest blankets and next to the hottest of fires, I’m still cold! It doesn’t help the fact where we’re going is way up north… in the frozen north. Basically my personal hell.

I sat in my seat while everyone else was happily chatting to each other, they all wore basically sweaters or jackets or simple styled winter wear while I wore double or triple that… and again, STILL COLD!

"Ange… why did you insist on me going with you again?" I asked, shivering and trying my best to stay warm throughout but failing as even my powers don't work. Ange herself was sitting beside me, an apologetic look on her as she stared at my condition while not far from us was Blake, laughing.

“Well… I honestly thought it would be a fun outing. I didn’t think it would be… um, t-this bad.” Ange said softly before bowing her head at me. “I’m sorry Isaac, I shouldn’t have asked for you to come.” She added as I was shivering while over with Blake…

“Oh lords! You’re shivering like a wet chiwawa! Haha! Man, it’s so rare just seeing you cold! Hehe!” Blake was laughing her ass off before Camilla punched Blake in the arm with one arm and her other hand reading a book.

"Blake please, be nice." Camilla said before shifting a bit in her seat. I said nothing and held onto my own mishmash of jackets and sweaters. I remember why Ange wanted me to come along, aside from it being an outing as we weren't just heading to the north for nothing.

Apparently about a month back, some adventuring type guy stumbled through the gates of Canterlot Palace, mumbling about an ancient empire in the north and it's long forgotten king. I wasn't told the full story as Mom was… jumpy around the subject. She wouldn't even tell who this king was, hell even Aunt Luna wouldn't say anything about it.

But long story short, Lydia's brother former Captain of the Royal Guard Marcus, whom recently received a huge promotions that gained him his own battalion to command, were sent out to secure the palace of the lost empire and we're… well… I guess we're ending up being dragged along by Lydia herself as she is the most excited out of everyone.

“Oh this is going to be great! A whole place that was once lost for ages! Who knows what’s there! What history… what books that were meant to be read!” Lydia said with a little squeal of happiness as the others chuckled at this while I was left shivering from the cold. I can’t even look outside since there’s only snow out there, and seeing that makes me more cold.

"I just want to be back home." I let out a sigh before the entire passenger cart shook and left the lights flickering. Everyone went silent at this, and I was… tense. What was that? Before anyone could say anything there’s was another shake, only this one was way more violet, so much so that Rachal and Jacqueline fell onto the ground as if something crashed against the car.

“What in tarnations was that?!” Jacqueline asked as she pushed herself up from the floor.

“Maybe a snow yeti slammed into us?” Dianne said as if that would happen but I frowned at this, my nerves were on edge after this. I looked of the window once more but…

"What the fuck!?" I yelled in shock as I jumped my seat as through the window was a large red eye peeking through before the owner of said eye pulled away to reveal. "Dragon!" I yelled which made the other react similarly to I did before the dragon outside slammed against the cart like before, this time letting out a beastly and horrendous roar that nearly deafened us before it flew out of view.

“Why is there a Dragon all the way out here?!” Rachal yelled out as she pushed herself upwards as Camilla yelled.

“Now isn’t the time for asking there’s a dragon out here, a better question is why a dragon crashed into us!” Camilia yelled out while the others were a bit more shaken and shocked by this. Ange was visibly shaken as she was gripping my arm tightly for support. Before anyone could say anything else or do anything, the whole train itself violently shook before the sounds of bending metal were heard… we were derailed.

As soon as this realisation hit me, we were sent tumbling about inside the passenger cart as it rolled off the track and into the snow. When it stopped, I could hear the roar of the dragon grow distant as I was the first to get up.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked out to all as they all looked injured but alright… except for. "Ange!" I exclaimed as I saw her against one of the overturned cushions, whimpering and shaking as on her leg was a knife embedded to it.

“I-Isaac, I’m… ah!” She yelped as she tried to move her leg a bit as I went to her, a wave of worry and panic washed over me as everything else didn’t matter to me other than Ange. I was by her side as she was panting in pain. She looked at me and smiled a little. “I-I’m alright… i-it’s not so b-bad.” she tried to say but I knew she was putting up an act for me. From behind me, I could hear Blake and Camilla in a similar situation but I was hyper focused on Ange as I grabbed the handle of the knife.

"Deep breath, this is… it's going to hurt." I said to her as I was ready to apply pressure to the soon to be open knife wound.

“W-wait… You s-shouldn’t remove- ah!” Ange gasped in pain as I was ready to help. I knew from some basic reading that removing a knife or anything from a wound was a bad idea but I was a bit too panicked to care about that and pulled the knife out quickly and placed my hand over the open wound before seeing it glow brightly. Ange gasped and groaned at this as I held my hand over the wound before her painful expression started to ease. “I… It doesn’t hurt… as much.” She groaned at me which made me blink at this before I saw my hand dimmed. I slowly pulled my hand back and saw that the wound… had closed. Ange and I stared at her leg for a few moments in utter shock. “How… did you know you could… do that?” Ange asked, sounding somewhat in pain from what happened.

"I don't…" I couldn't finish my words as there was a voice coming from outside. It was shouting out, what it was they were saying I couldn't hear through the snow storm but soon a nearby unsheltered window was busted open and low and behold, a relieved Marcus looked through.

“Oh thank Celestia you’re all alright… and oh fuck!” Marcus yelled in a panic before seeing Lydia nearby before going to help her and the others before I started to hear Blake panicking.

“Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck, this isn’t happening please fuck…” She said as I saw Camilla in pain.

“Fucking… ow…” She groaned as she was in shock and pain as I looked over and… oh her leg isn’t supposed to bend that way… And Blake was panicking at this as she was trying to fashion a splint for her. As this was going on I saw Marcus help his sister up to her feet before Lydia spoke.

“Thanks, but how did this happen? I didn’t expect something like that to happen.” Lydia said before Rachal spoke up.

“I’ll say! I didn’t expect to be attacked by a dragon!!” Rachal yelled out as despite looking annoyed, she also looked freaked out by this.

“Do… do dragons even come up to the Frozen North?” Jacqueline asked out loud as Marcus didn’t say anything at first as he was helping everyone else up before going over to Blake and Camilia and kneeling down.

“There’s… it’s a lot to deal with. But for now we really need to move and get back to the palace.” He said to all of us which made me realise… we have to go out in the cold. But when I heard Ange grunt in pain, my dislike for the cold was the least of my worries as soon, one by one we were helped out of the overturned passenger cart by some soldiers with Marcus.

I held Ange up so she didn't have to walk in pain as we were escorted away and the distant roar of the dragon above let us know that it was there, hiding it's time as we trekked through the storm and through it, I nearly collapsed several times but kept it together luckily. Blake was on the same boat, carrying Camilla like I was with Ange.

Something began to feel wrong, very wrong. The cold… it was becoming unbearable… almost painful.

"C-cold…" I said as my vision began to get blurry and I turned towards another soldier. "Carry her… please. I don't…" I said and I even struggled to form words now. This… it felt awful. It felt as if I was being drained of energy. This was worse than any other snow storm I've been through. The soldier nodded and took Ange, carrying her away while I was falling behind the others. "No… C-can't… stop." I said to myself only to find myself falling onto my knees as the voices of my friends grew distant. I tried to call out one last time before I simply fall forward, feeling the cold snow on my skin and everything grew… dark.

I honestly thought I was dead right then and there which made me both scared and sad, scared of the idea of death itself and sad that I would be leaving my friends, my family, Skylar, Irena… and Ange… That alone scared me even more but before I could dwell on this I… felt warmth nearby which made no sense right before I opened my eyes and found myself… in a cave? I looked around at the place and saw I had a blanket over me, a soft pillow and a small fire nearby me. Where am I?

"What…" my voice was raspy, which only added on to my confusion. How long was I out? I looked around, noting the cave wasn't any regular cave… it was ice! An ice cave! It was both neat… as well as a worst thing for me as being around so much ice, it makes me feel cold! I shivered a bit as I looked around some more, just seeing ice and more ice and a path way where I guess is the way out as I saw what looks like a blizzard going on outside.

“Careful, best not move so suddenly.” A voice of a woman said to me which made me pause as I look around, didn’t think there was anyone else here. “Any longer out there and you would’ve been in way worse than you are now.” The voice added. I didn't say anything, mostly out of pain from a dry throat but I did as the voice said and sat still, only looking around, seeing things such as a makeshift bookshelf and an alchemy table. Who was this woman? “I’m making you some tea, it’ll help warm you up.” She added as the smell of tea filled the air. I didn’t say anything before I heard footsteps coming over which I looked over and… wow.

The woman in question was a tall woman wearing a simple robe that didn’t seem to be helping her with staying warm, if it wasn’t for the fact her skin was that of actual ice. Her hair flowed down her back which was odd as it too was ice. In her hands was a tea cup that was steaming with something hot. “Here, this will help.” She said as she handed me the cup. I looked down at the cup and back at her before taking it.

I took some careful sips as she gave me an odd look when doing so but I ended up drowning the tea soon after I figured it wasn't poisoned or anything.

"Thanks…" I said as I handed her the cup back before looking down at myself, seeing the many layers of clothing I wore was now just a single layer… but… I wasn't cold. I didn't feel like I was freezing. At most, I feel just slightly chilly.

“Feel better?” She asked me and after a moment I nodded. “That tea helps you be unaffected by the harshness of the cold, it mostly helps your Fire Titan side in this instance.” She explained which made me pause. Fire titan?

"My what?" I asked in pure confusion but she seemed to ignore this as she walked off deeper into the cave. My thoughts soon left the woman and focused on… on… "Ange… fuck. I have to get back." I said as I was about to get up only to have an icicle shard pin me back down at the cot by my pants. What the fuck!?

“I told you, don’t make sudden movements.” She said with a bit of a huff. “Honestly, you’re just like your father, rushing off without a second thought.” she added in annoyance. My eyed winded and my thoughts practically shattered then and there.

"Whoa whoa… back up a sec there." I said before trying to see where she was but she must've been to deep in the cave for me to see. "How do you know me? Better yet, how the hell did you know my dad?" I asked as I getting cautious now, my hands beginning to glow orange with burning flames. She saw this and rolled her eyes at this.

“I have known him for many eons and…” She paused as she thought about it, not really giving me an answer but I felt as if I pushed for more, I could either get yet another icicle or worse. But I wanted to know, truly. This is the most I've talked about my own father, and I still barely know anything about him. “Judging by your expression, your mother hasn't talked much about your father.” the woman said, sounding a little annoyed by this.

"Why do you care?" I asked back in defense of mom. She must've had her reason but this woman was… well she didn't seem to like her much by the way she spoke. The woman frowned at me but didn’t really say anything at first but soon spoke.

“That doesn’t matter right now, right now your father needs help, badly.” She said which made me blink at this, part of me wondered what was her deal with my mom but the fact my dad was… wait what?

"He's in trouble? Like as in he's still alive and in trouble?" I asked her as I got from the bed, pulling the icicle off of me before doing so.

“Of course he’s still alive, it’s hard to take down a being like him, and yes he’s in trouble.” She answered in a more serious tone before walking back into view. “And if he isn’t saved soon, the whole world would be consumed.” She added. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"What? Why-" I was stopped from asking these questions with a raise of her hand and a look that really told me not to try it. She then showed me a small vial containing some bright pink potion of sorts before handing it to me.

“You need to take this potion and make the beast out there drink it or somehow inject it into him, I’ll do the rest by getting the ritual ready.” She said as I stared at the vial. Ritual? What does that suppose to mean? And how the hell am I to know what this… beast is? Or how it looks like? Was it the dragon?

"I need to find my friends first." I said as my priorities were the same and this seemed to annoy her greatly but she soon said.

“They are most likely in the Empire by now, which is about an hour or so walk from here.” she said which caused me to look towards the exit… in the snow… fuck. I have to walk through that?! I looked back and was going to ask if she had anything to help me get there faster, but she crossed her arms and stared at me, almost saying ‘No’ to me. “And don’t worry about the cold. The tea you had will help you combat the chill and more through the blizzard.” She explained to me. I frowned at this as just staring outside still gave me chills and shivers. Damn cold…

With nothing else said, I walked closer to the exit of the cave and was able to see some distant lights. It was faint through the storm but they were no doubt lights. I began my tek with a deep breath, expecting the harsh winds to greet me once more but as the woman promised, the winds of the blizzard did nothing but make me feel a little chilly thanks to the tea. The issue was mostly due to the waist high snow which I had to push through just to get towards where the lights are. I grumbled as I continued on and on, the howling wind the only thing that I could hear right now which was a bit annoying. It didn’t help due to the fact that when I tried to burn away the snow but every time I tried it just fizzled out.

"Fucking hell…" I said through gritted teeth as I continued to trudge through the waist high snow before a roar from above made me look up in time to see the dragon barreling down towards me. "Fuck!" I yelled as I did my best to get out of the way as fast as I could.

I had to dive out of the way just as a torrent of flame came through as the dragon sailed over the snow covered ground, making me push myself upwards just as I saw the dragon turn around in midair flew towards me, dark flames coming out of it’s mouth as the flames that was still somehow burning just felt and sound… wrong. Like demonic screaming but I didn’t have time to dwell on it as the dragon was getting closer.

I pushed myself up and booked it across the snow, running as fast as my legs could take me. I looked back just to see the dragon getting more and more closer every second and I already dreaded at the fact that it’ll catch up to me without issue. Case in point the damn thing was now diving at high speeds at me that didn’t give me time to dodge out of the way. Shit.

"Faal In fen lost fos rok laan!" The dragon roared as it was unmistakably its voice. I managed to somehow dive beneath the snow to avoid its grasping claws. A loud thump greeted my ears as soon as I got up from the snow, I saw it had landed, growing and looking for me.

"Hi nis iliis nol zey sen!" The dragon roared out before I began to haul ass away as there was no way I could sneak around this thing in the snow! Having heard the snow crunching under my foot, the dragon turned to look at me before lunging towards me and it was as if time seem to slow to a crawl.

This was it. I was going to die here to this dragon… thing. I couldn't even tell if it was really one with how distorted it was.

I raised my hands up to brace for the dragon except to my utter shock, bright red flames erupted from the palms of my hands as if normal. This wasn't. My flames were the usual orange but this… this is red, bright fucking red and it seemed to enguld the dragon and halting it in its place.

The sounds of the howling winds were soon drowned out by horrific screams and demented howls before I saw some… black ooze melt onto the snow before disappearing. When the flames stopped, I looked back. The dragon before looked more dark and ominous looking and simply… wrong but now the dragon's dark scales were a more bright fiery red colour, fire seemed to come out when it breathed and its eyes were smothering like small suns. Honestly, it still looked terrifying to see up close as it towered over me but didn’t attack me. All could be heard was the howling wind… and its breathing.

"Sonziik. Hi lost ok yolos nuz Zu'u honah zos wey tol. Hi... los ok fron." It rumbled out, it's voice having a much less threatening tone than before but I ready to run if needed. It raised its head up high before letting out a roar into the sky and setting it ablaze with a torrent of fire. "Vos daar duraal strun wahl ven fah yol do yun bok!" It roared out as the storm was… lessening. The fire was somehow making the storm vanish! I stared up in awe as the dragon looked down at me, it’s flaming eyes stared at me as I stared back… unsure what to do or say as the storm was gone and even the clouds were dispersing, showing off just how… blue the sky was.

It said nothing this time and looked off towards the distant palace before letting out another torrent of flame into the snow… clearing a path for me. Huh… okay. So I made it friendly? Cool… it helped me along by continuing to melt the snow to make me a better path but I could tell that it would still be awhile.

Sometime earlier at the Palace, Blake

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HIM!?!?” I yelled at the guard who was carrying Ange into the palace with the rest of us. The blizzard and snow was a pain to get through, but soon we arrived at the palace, which was heavily guarded with a large number of soldiers. Marcus got some people to take a look at both Camilla and Ange with their injuries, which was around the time I saw that Ange was being carried by a guard and Isaac was nowhere to be seen and well, I wasn’t happy.

“Blake, please let me handle it.” Marcus said to me and with a huff as he now stood in front of the guard… before grabbing him by his armour. “WHAT YOU MEAN YOU LOST HIM!?” He yelled which honestly made me frown a little more. I already yelled at him.

“I-I uhh, well… he was struggling with carrying his friend and thought he was right behind me. A-and the blizzard was coming down hard, it was already hard to see sir.” The guard explained through a few stutters.

“He was wearing like, twenty layers of clothes. It was quite hard to miss him trudging through the snow.” I said as I crossed my arms which caused Marcus to frown at the guard, who shrank at the sight before Marcus groaned and rubbed his eyes.

“Just one thing after another… Great…” He grumbled. I glanced over at Marcus and he was pretty much the same from the last time I’ve saw him, two tone blue hair, tall, look like a knight from a fairy tail, all that but he seemed way more haggard, more tired judging by the dark rings under his eyes and how beat up he looks. In fact a lot of the guards looked pretty much the same, some look like they are barely standing in place. It looks like they all went through some tough fights back to back without rest. "Listen, I'm sure the prince is fine but we can't divert attention from the current issue." Marcus said to me in a serious tone before gesturing over his sister and her friends.

"I put you all into this by inviting Lydia to see the palace but the situation has changed drastically since I sent that letter." He said to me before gesturing towards his men and saying. "As you can see." He said. Lydia stared at the others with a worried expression while the others were equally worried, though Ange was a bit busy with huddling close to Camilla, no doubt extremely worried for Isaac. Heck when Marcus said they didn’t have time to go look for him she buried her face into her knees and I could hear soft sobbing.

“Ah have to ask, what is happening here? From the looks none of ya look like ya slept in a fortnight.” Jacqueline asked.

“Yeah, what gives?” Rachel asked which Marcus was silent for a few moments, trying to come up with an answer before his sister spoke.

“Marcus… what’s happening?” Lydia asked in a worried tone.

"I don't know much myself but-" Marcus couldn't finish what he was about to say as one of the soldiers posted by one of the many windows yelled out.

"Sir! They're coming!" The soldier yelled to which Marcus ran towards the window and looked out. Wanting to know what the hell was going on, I went behind them and peeked through. What I saw was shadows… long, shorts, wide and thin shadows twitching and moving their way closer and closer here. I didn’t see anything else on them other than they were coming closer and closer. What was worse was the fact that when I looked at them I had a sense of… wrong, just… they were simply wrong.

“What… what are they?” I asked Marcus as he stared out of the window with a frown and, without a word he made a gesture and most of the guards hurried out as there were bells ringing.

"We don't know." Marcus answered before shots began to ring out from the other guards, using their rifle catalyst to blast those shades below. Each blast evaporating a shade only for another to take its place. As we watched the others came over to look out of the window.

“Man… feels like we’re in some kind of horror movie.” Rachel said as they simply kept coming and coming.

“It reminds me of the night of the Nightmare so long ago darling.” Sophia said which… yeah I can see with the number of shadow creatures but part of me felt like this was worse. I glanced over at Marcus who simply stared out and watched as more of them fell and more of them just filled in ranks.

"We've been fighting these things for the last month or so since taking the palace. They come in horses like this and just-" There was glass shattering nearby and scream of terror. When we looked over to see, we saw a soldier being pinned by one of the shades and I reacted as quickly as I could. And what I could was charge towards and try to punch the shade. I didn’t know if it was going to work but once my fist made contact with the shade’s head I basically caused it to evaporate, allowing the guard to quickly back away from the window and I stared at my fist, seeing some ice formed on it.

“The… fuck?” I said mostly to myself as I stared at my hand, seeing it shimer a bit. The odd part was that it felt… familiar… I don’t know, it's a bit like deja vu or something… weird.

“H-Hey, thanks for that.” The guard said which brought me out of my thoughts as I noticed the others were bordering the broken window up quickly.

“Uhh… yeah no problem…” I said as I looked back at my hand. How… did I do that?

"Keep hitting them!" Marcus's voice rang out through the chaos around me as I closed my hand, seeing it get covered in ice when I did. I focused on this ice as it seemed to glow a bit brighter with a whitish silver colour before I forced my hand open, causing said icey glow to shoot out around me.

“Uhh… what was-” before I could finish loud explosion sounds could be heard and the shooting slowly stopped as we all looked outside, seeing large walls of… ice? The wall seemed to surround the whole of the palace and all the guards were confused by this.

“W-What the living hell happened?!” One of the guards yelled out as we saw the shades tried to get close to the ice walls but as they did their forms started to react violently at it, almost like they were dissipating as they got near. While this was happening, a few guards looked at me, the ones that were near when I punched the one shade.

“Was… that you or…?” One of them asked as I looked at him.

“I… Maybe?” Was all I could say as an answer before seeing Marcus look out the windows while the soldiers around us looked out in awe and confusion before a loud humming made me look out the window. The walls of ice were glowing more and more before beams of silvery light shot out towards the shades, wiping them out in an instance. Everyone stared in shock, me included as they soon turned to look at me.

“How… did you…” One of them started to ask before I looked at them.

“I… I don’t know?!” I yelled out as I walked away from the windows as there was… a lot going on. My thoughts soon went to one important thought; my thoughts went to the fact that Indigo was missing still… and he’s out there!! I turned to Marcus who was now getting over the surprise. “Marcus, Isaac is out there with all those shades! We have to go find him!”

"We can't!" He yelled back at me before taking a deep breath to calm himself. Afterwards he spoke again. "You just saw what's out there. We can barely hold the fort let alone send anyone on a search party. We're trapped, simple as that and until we figure out why these things are coming in droves we can't-" He stopped mid sentence as did everyone around me. I waited for him to finish but his words never came. I blinked a few times and waved my hand over his face and saw no reaction, hell I moved over to the others and did the same and soon I was surrounded by everyone who’s frozen.

“What the hell? What happened?” I asked out loud before going over to Camila, who was also frozen. Damn it. It was at this point that I realised that it was cold… really cold. Normally I’m used to the cold but this was way more colder than normal. So much so that I was rubbing my arms a bit to keep warm. “What’s with this cold?” I said out loud.

"So you're the one that put up that wall, I must say… very impressive~" I heard a dark voice echoing around me before it was followed by echoing laughter. "But you… your power is nothing." As these words greeted me, a sudden force began to push down on me, making it hard for me to stand.

“Gah! F-Fucking… hell…” I grunted as my knees bent from the great force but I was able to hold off with standing… barely. “Who… the fuck are… you?” I struggled to say.

"The rightful ruler of this kingdom." I heard the voice say before the cold winds rushed passed me and I saw someone… walking towards me. The being was a tall figure, wearing battle scarred armour that from the looks of it the armour is about to fall apart, tattered royal cloak flowing behind the being. I didn’t see much of his face but I did see long black hair that fell down his back and shoulders. As he got close enough to see some of his face, it was somewhat like a mad man's face. I stared up at him as the force was hard to stay standing.

“The… rightful ruler… yeah, and I’m the lady of the… the moon.” I struggled to say with a bit of a smirk. This only made the man laugh loudly which… didn't really put me in any ease.

"Oh how right you are. But I couldn't give a rats ass who you are." He said before waving his hand aside and the invisible force threw me to the wall. "You are an annoyance. A pest I need to deal with myself." He said as my hands began to glow a faint blow. He raised his hand up, a sword of shadows forming in his tight grip.

“G-Gaa! F-Fuck off you… edgy fuck!” I yelled as my hands started to glow more and more brightly, like silvery light which started to cause him to shield himself with a hand. The more the light grew, the more he slowly faded away. I heard him growl more and more before finally he was gone, causing me to fall onto the ground and everyone started moving.

“-can’t just split our attention when our lives are… at… stake… huh?” Marcus said before looking around until seeing that I fell onto the ground. “What the hell?!” He yelled as everyone turned to look at me.

“Blake?!” Camilla yelled to me as they came to me, Rachal and Jacqueline pulled me up.

“Darling are you alright? What happened?” Sophie asked me as Marcus came over with Lyndia. I saw Camilla looked at me with a worried look, wanting to be near me but couldn’t due to her leg before I looked at Marcus.

“I uhh… met with the shades leader.” I said to him before explaining what happened.

"What?" Was his reaction to this but I felt exhausted, too exhausted to even try to explain. Sensing my exhaustion, he quickly ordered for me to be put onto a bed for some rest while other soldiers were still recovering from the recent attack.

"Sir!" Someone yelled out for Marcus and when we all turned to see what it was… whoa… off in the distance I saw a torrent of fire shooting off into the sky, causing the the blizzard to dissipate and the clouds to… well, burn away to show off the blue sky. We all stared at what happened as the flames died off.

“Uhh… is that good?” Rachal asked as Ange was also staring out the window.

“Isaac…” She said softly and sadly. I wanted to say something, to tell her that it’ll be alright… but man, I was so exhausted that I started to pass out right then and there. Last thing I saw was some of the guards rushing towards me to catch me before I was escorted to a bed… yeah, what just happened to me just… fuck it took everything out of me as if I ran a whole marathon.

End of XXI

Chapter XXXII

View Online

Isaac’s PoV

From all that I have read, the way into the palace is open and allows anyone to just walk on in with ease… no real walls to block one's path or anything. So… I’m pretty sure there shouldn’t be a massive wall of ice barring my way into the palace itself. Both the dragon and I stared at the ice wall as it was very tall and went on for as far as I can see, and then some. The dragon growled a bit and took one of its claws to scrap at the wall, pulling the claw back after scrapping on it.

"I don't think I could even think about melting through this. This is… not the typical kind of ice." I said out loud, maybe the dragon could understand me but I highly doubted it as it gave low rumbling hum. The dragon seemed to stared at the ice for a long moment as I looked around us before looking straight up. If we couldn’t melt the ice, we could most definitely fly over it as I did not see the wall extending into a dome. Now the question is, would the dragon allow me to ride on it’s back so it could fly over?

“Daar los kolos mu malur ven fah Zu'u ko praag wah lahvraan dii mul. Zu'u korah tilro nearby yolstrunmah tol Zu'u vis brah. Till mu grind ontzos.” The dragon spoke as it turned it’s head over to me to speak. I blinked a few times as it spread it’s wings and with a mighty flap it shot into the sky… and flew off in a direction. Some cold wind blew past me as I stared off where the dragon went… wait…

"Fuck…" I said before looking back at the wall and groaning as I was stuck out here with no way through. I leaned against the wall as I was exhausted from the walk itself… before feeling myself fall through the ice itself. "Oh fuu-" My voice became muffled for only a second before I felt the softness of the snow cushion my fall. "Uck!" I yelled now through the snow before a familiar voice above me.

“Isaac? Holy shit is that you?!” The voice in question was Blake as I looked up just to see her hand in front of me, which I happily took and was pulled upwards. “Where have you been? We all have been worried sick for you. Some more so.” She added as I was about to answer when I noticed her state; ragged hair, ripped up clothes and cuts, bruises and more as if she went one hell of a fight.

"What… listen, I'm just as confused about a lot of thing right now and I don't think right now is the time to talk about it." I said to Blake before sporting something a bit away behind her, a creature made up entirely of shadows on full sprint towards us.

“Huh? What do you mean by-” Before she could finish I pushed her out of the way when that shadow lunged at us. Out of instinct, I thrust my hand forward and a gout of raging flames slammed into the shadow creature, burning it into ash… I think? Could Shadows turn to ash? A question for later as Blake stared wide eyed. “Never mind… thanks.” she said to me.

"What the hell was that thing?!" I asked out in pure panic after witnessing some monster out of hell almost get us. Blake shook her head and grabbed my hand.

“No time to explain! Just… Come on!” She yelled as she pulled me to run just as we heard the sound of the howls of the damned around us. I didn’t need to be told twice as we ran into the Palace, running like there was no tomorrow, which was a good thing as more of those shadows gave chase as we ran through the halls.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Was all Blake is yelling as we ran. Any shadows either get too close or appear in front of us I torched them with my flames and any that I miss Blake was able to punch them. Now, I’m not one to question things but how can one punch a shadow? Well, be it the adrenaline pumping through me or something but I was hyper focus in front of me and when I saw one of the shadows get punched by Blake I saw her fist was incase of a silverly glow.

“We need to get the the throne room!” Blake yelled as we ran forward. I blinked a few times as there was a slight problem with that.

"I don't even know where that is!" I yelled back at her, which was clear that she thought was annoying but hey. Can't say I ain't lying. Soon after I yelled this, the windows of the halls shattered as more abominations broke through only for me to clear the path ahead of us with some of my fire… but there's one small issue. The intensity of my flames started to lessen as well as a chill ran though my body. Shit… that wasn't good.

"I can't keep them off much longer!" I yelled as we kept running, Blake herself was making sure to leave no shade behind by punching through every last one of them.

"We're close! Just around this corner!" She yelled as we did just that and ran to the corner where we saw a pair of guards standing at attention. They turned their heads as we ran towards them, looks of confusion soon turned to fear as the shadows crashed into the wall and chased after us. One of them went to quickly open the doors for me while the other raised their rifle and started firing bolts of magic at the shadows.

“Come on!” One firing yelled as the other soon pulled his rifle out and started firing as well as we ran faster. When we ran through the door, the shut it behind us as the sounds of blaster fire was heard through the door, albeit it muffled by the door itself. The two of us were left panting, having ran for a good while before finally stopping. When I looked up to see around me, I saw everyone else was in here as well, I also saw a large number of guards here as well, some of them pulling their rifles away. I didn’t pay much mind to that as I saw Ange, she saw me and looked like she was on the verge of tears as she was trying so hard to stand up, her leg being bandaged up with some magic bindings.

I wasted no time and went towards her, ignoring the coming cold. Upon arriving by her side, she held onto me for dear life.

“I-I-Isaac… I-I thought… Y-you were… I-I w-was so w-w-worried.” She cried as I held on to her close, a smile on my face as I was with her again, though I felt terrible for making her worried like that. Nearby I saw Blake and Camilla seemingly discussing something. I tilted my head to hear them talk.

“No… no leads. Kinda got distracted when I saw Isaac appeared next to the wall.” Blake said to Camilla, looking a bit sorry to Camilla. “Sorry bout that.”

“It’s fine Blake, and honestly it’s better now that Isaac is here. Hate seeing Ange worrie for him sick.” Camilla said before sighing. “But we have to find it. With it we can push back all these creatures back.”

“I know I know… see, why do ancient people have to hide stuff like this in like… a broom closet or something, not like… really hidden or something.” Blake complained which made Camilla shake her head a bit with a bit of a smirk.

“Oh yes, hide an artifact from Imperial age, able to ward off demonic powers and more with an unlimited power source… in a broom closet.” Camilla said, trying holding back a laugh. I looked away and back down at Ange, seeing her still holding tightly around me.

"I really had you that worried huh…" I said down to Ange simply and rather quietly enough for her ears only. She nodded at me as she squeezed me a bit more as I smiled as I kissed her forehead and simply held her close. After the whole day I had, this was the best thing that ever happened to me.

“W-What… happened?” Ange asked me, making me blink as I thought back on it. Oh yeah… I almost forgot everything that happened. The question was how do I even begin to answer. I sat down beside her spot and took a moment to think.

"Where do I begin…" I said with a simply sigh before I began to retelling the events… how I passed out in the snow and almost died to even meeting the ice woman. I made sure not to leave out the dragon bit but I wish I did.

"Isaac you… you could've died! If what you didn't work you would've… and I… I couldn't…" Tears welled up in her eyes as Ange spoke, making me feel bad telling her all of this. I held her more, comforting her as best as I could, which helped a bit. "Just… just don't do anything reckless like that again, okay?" She asked softly.

"I promise." I said but I wasn't so sure if I would be able to keep it. I looked off towards the door and so did everyone else as the sounds of a… a struggle was heard outside. What's happening? Were those screams the guards? "I don't like where this is going…" I said as I got in front of Angie. The other soldiers guided the others away through a sideway before coming for Angie and Camilla. Right as the last person went out, leaving me, Blake, Marcus, and a few armed guards just as the throne doors burst open, a wave of cold air rushes past us as I saw stumbling in were two more shades, only these ones were in Solar armor.

“Oh… fuck.” I heard Blake mutter as that wasn’t all. Stepping in was something that made all the cold I felt before was nothing more than a summers breeze. The being that walked in was adorn in old tattered armor, a long flowing cape that had multiple holes and tears in it, long shaggy black hair and a crazed look in his eye as he walked in… and something familiar about them as well.

The air was tense as nothing was said, the two shades clad in armor were dismissed by the sinister man himself as Blake and Marcus readied their magic.

"You have… something of mine." Said the sinister man while I was more confused than ever. Marcus and Blake seem like they knew him. Marcus stepped forward, his grip on his sword and shield tightened as he spoke.

“If you expect us to hand whatever you want over to you, you’re sadly mistakened.” Marcus said as his magic glowed off of his sword and shield became much brighter. The sinister man chuckled as he twist his head a bit, making his neck pop a bit.

"Oh but you already have." He said with a smirk before with a blink the eye, I was held by the neck and lifted off the ground. What the fuck!? I struggled but to no avail as his strength was… it was other worldly! Marcus tried to swing his sword at him but the crazed man simply made a lazy gesture which caused Marcus to be sent flying into a wall, causing to gasp out from the impact while Blake punched the man in the cheek… only to not move at all.

“Oh… fuck. Mistakes were made.” She said before he kicked her in the stomach, sending her sliding against the other side of the room. He snorted and chuckled as he continued to stare at me, his eyes not moving away from me as I struggled.

"Your powers of the moon are weak compared to this one's." The man said to Blake… maybe. Getting kind of hard to focus with the lack of air and everything.

“F-Fuck… you!” I heard Blake yell as she ran back over to try to grab him. “Let… him go you… you fucking edgy ass!” She yelled as she tried kicking and even pulling at his arms, but nothing was working as the man’s crazed smile turned to still crazed annoyed frown. He again simply slapped Blake away, a bit harder than the last time. I just needed to… to focus on whatever I've got left… I needed one strong push and…

"We have business to attend-" Just as he was saying this, I felt the heat surge through me before… NOW! With a raised hand, a jet of scorching hit fire engulfed his face and in the shock he let me go. I let out a breath of air as the man took a step back, allowing me to scramble away from him as the man growled in anger. Caught off guard I saw Marcaus charged forward to slam his shield against the man while Blake was by me, looking a bit more haggard after getting tossed around like a nothing.

“C-Come on!” She said as she tried to lift me up to help me walk. “We have to get you away from him…” She added though from the sound of it she wasn’t sure that would help.

"What? Why? What does he-" Blake didn't even let me finish as she yelled at me.

“Isaac for once can you listen to me and not question it! He wants you for some reason and I’m not letting that happen!” She yelled out as she pulled me up more, almost carrying me. What got me was that she didn’t yell out of anger, it was out of worry for me. She held me up with my arm around her shoulders before we fled the throne room… or tried to anyway as we didn't even get close to the door before the shades blocked it off.

"The master will have his vessel." A pounding voice echoed in my head which made me grunt in pain and grip it. Fuck… this is… what…

"You will be going nowhere." The voice of the man greeted our ears as it felt as if we were stuck in place and no amount of struggle could even show! We were forced to face him and stare in horror as he held a beaten Marcus up with… magic? I don't know if I could even call it that. From the looks of it he was in some kind of bubble, beat and bruised as his shield and sword was broken on the ground. He wasn’t even moving, making it hard to tell if he was alive or not. The man walked towards us, looked at me before looking at Blake who stared at him with anger before the man grabbed her by the neck and pulled her away, her body trying to move but couldn’t.

"Let her go!" I yelled through, slowly but sure being able to move from this unseen grip. This seemed to shock the man before he grinned.

“Oh yes… a powerful new body for me indeed~” He said which made my eyes widen. New body?! The fuck did he mean by that as he soon tossed Blake into a wall, and I do mean into a wall as the wall broke and she was pinned into said wall. She tried to break free but couldn’t.

"I said let her go, asshole!" I yelled, my voice echoing through the ancient throne room. My own voice sounded louder than I even wanted it to be… what was… fuck it! Save Blake first, questions later.

My whole body began to burn up. The cold I felt before was going away, as if was never there to begin with. I soon managed to break free from the invisible hold, my body burning bright and my wings on full display. This surprised and even amused the man himself.

“Well, this is somewhat a surprise. No matter, I’ll get what I want and nothing will ever stop me!” The man laughed as he thrust his hand out and tendrils of… dark something, shot out towards me, causing me to twist around, allowing one of my wings to swing around and burn away those tendrils and flap away from him, causing the crazy fuck to frown. “Grr, get back here!” He yelled out towards me. More of those tendrils came out of him and started to move him upwards, almost like some creepy ass spider.

Whatever the case is I opened my hand and formed a few motes of fire before throwing them at him, causing small flaming explosions that made him dodge out of the way. The more I did this, the hotter I felt, so much so that I flapped my wings I noticed them on fire! It didn’t hurt but at the moment I didn’t really care as the man launched himself up at me to grab me, only for me to punch him in the face and sent him back down onto the ground.

I stayed in the air just as more of those tendrils, this time looking more like black chains, shot up and wrapped around my arms and I felt myself getting pulled down by him. I frowned at him as I grabbed hold of one of the chains, my arm now smothering with heat and flames, and pulled him up so I could swing him into a few of the pillars, destroying them before slamming him into the wall.

I pushed my hands forward and unleashed a torrent of fire down onto him, engulfing him completely before more chains shot up, this time wrapping around my leg tightly before it soon thrashed me around the throne room once more before spinning around him and throwing me through a window and when the glass shattered, it melted due to my rising heat. I tumbled onto the ground before coming to a stop, groaning a bit as I pushed myself up, seeing the man appear before me.

“Honestly, didn’t expect you to be… such a pain. But no matter, I’ll get what I want.” He said before I thrust my hand out, causing a torrent of flame to shoot out towards him. He raised his arm up and some blackend chains formed into a shield that blocked the flames. “You honestly think I’ll fall for that again?! Think again you brat!” He yelled before pushing back, blowing me back into the ice wall right before I felt the chains wrapped around my leg and he pulled, throwing me over him and slamming back down onto the ground before giving another pull, throwing me through the now melting ice wall and onto the other side.

I groaned a bit before flapping my wings, shooting into the air and pulling him with me, seeing that he was hanging on I flew close to the ice wall and slammed him into it, dragging him through the wall and destroying it before the chain dissipated. I turned back and raised my hand up, forming a spear of flame and sending it where he was, causing an explosion of flame to erupt. Afterwards I kept into the air, staring down at the dust as I saw the man stumble out. He looked up at me with annoyance.

“Okay… you’re really beginning to aggravate me!” He yelled out towards me. A few chains shot out and wrapped around a large chunk of ice and with a flick of his hand he sent the chunk towards me. My eyes widened before I flew out of the way of that and retorted with another, more concentrated fireball but… I could feel myself getting angrier by the minute. As I got more and more angry the more hotter I became… also I noticed everything started to get brighter. Honestly that didn’t matter right now as I held the concentrated fireball, which was simply a little white dots before flinging it at the man. As soon as it did he put his arms up, covering himself in blackened chains as the fireball dentiated, a massive explosion went out, melting a large part of the ice wall and anything else around. I floated down just above the ground to see the man was still up, though now panting as he looked around.

“Damn… never expected… this…” he groaned as he then glanced upwards. “Well… that’s a sight.” he grumbled before raising his arm up, sending out a wave of blackened chains and other black things. I raised a hand up and a wall of fire erupted around me before I pushed it out, sending it out like a wave that burned the chains and other stuff to… ash. Going with ash. “Damn it all! Why are you making this hard!” the man yelled angrily, which just pissed me off more. It became harder and harder to focus as rage began to build up by vision fading to a sea of pure red.

Blake PoV

“Son of a… grrrah!” I yelled as I tried to free myself from the wall. It was so annoying that I was left like this while Isaac was fighting the shade lord guy. It didn’t help the fact that it was getting brighter and hotter. I saw Isaac was slowly turning into that flaming form from back when the wedding happen, and this time we didn’t have Ange here to calm him down. I heard a number of loud explosions and yelling from outside the palace as I continued to struggle to free myself.

"Grahhh!" Came a guttural yell that rumbled the ground and managed to get me free from the wall itself and caused me to fall hard onto the ground. Its getting hotter by the minute, I have to think!

Just as I got up from the rubble, I looked over and saw Marcus groaning as he was out of that weird shadow bubble. I ran over to him to help him up.

“Hey, hey… you okay?” I asked him as he coughed a few times before groaning again.

“I… I’ll live. What happened?” he asked as he looked around at the place. “I was fighting against him… then he waved his hand and… now I’m here.” he said, sounding confused. I frowned at this before shaking my head.

“A lot, Isaac is now fighting him and is going full on fire form and…” I didn’t finish as I noticed the room getting even brighter… and hotter. “Fucking hell, this place is known as the Frozen North, why is it feel like an oven here??” I asked out loud to no one.

"It wasn't always known that way. Fuck…" Marcus said as he grunted and gripped his side. "We need to get out of here… warn the others." He said but I was more worried about Isaac!

“What about Isaac?! We’re not going to just leave him here with… with that asshole?!” I asked him, kinda shock that Marcus wanted to leave him behind. He looked over at me for a moment before glancing over behind me, which were the windows were. I looked back and saw that outside was super bright, whatever snow that was there was now gone. “What in the name of…” I said, confused at what I saw before me.

“Look I understand he’s your friend, but we really need to-” before Marcus could finish I cut him off angrily.

“Yeah, Isaac is my best friend and I’ll be damned if I’m going to leave him behind!” I yelled before standing up and walking towards the hole where the window was, Marcus was going to be fine without me.

Everything outside however, isn’t fine. For starters it was so bright outside that it was almost blinding. I took a step forward and heard a small splash as I stepped on a rapidly diminishing puddle of water. The Frozen north was lacking the Frozen part as all the snow that was around was melting rapidly. Also, it was so damn hot out! I had to fan myself from the heat before glancing around and found where all the explosions were coming from. I saw a figure flying around in the sky, shooting torrents of fire down at someone and… I couldn’t tell if it was human or not. I could just make out the fact it had a humanoid body with wings but other than that the rest was… a blinding white colour that was hard to look at directly.

“Isaac?” I said to myself before looking over, seeing it was quite aways high up from the ground. Whatever the case was, Isaac was far from where I was and I needed to get closer. “Okay… hope this works…” I said as I took a few steps back before rushing forward and leaping off. “YeeeeaaAAAAHHHH!” I yelled as I fell down, just before my own wings formed and made a quick flap, slowing my fall so I could land. “Oooookay, not doing that again…” I said as my heart was beating like crazy before I took a few breaths and headed towards where Isaac was… I think.

"I wouldn't get any closer to that if I was you." A new voice spoke from behind me and out of instinct, I jumped and turned around to face them, ready for a fight but when I saw who it was… I froze up.

"No… it can't be… I saw you turn into a statue!" I yelled as I saw the Mad King before me, looking very much not like a hunk of giant rock.

"Now isn't the time for the why and how regarding my wellbeing." He said, giving me a more serious look before adding. "At this very moment we stand at the edge of annihilation and it only grows closer as the fight rages on." He said just as another yell full of hatred echoed around me. Fuck… its getting worse… but what does he. "Look up." I heard him say. I was confused by this but I did what he said and looked up. What I saw was Isaac, still glowing like a bright beacon, raised his arm up and… grab something in the sky. The sun seemed to pulse as it grew brighter and it got even hotter.

“What… what the hell is happening?!” I yelled out as I watched this in horror. I watched as he soon drew out a made as bright as the sun and even pulsing like it was too. I soon heard the sound of fingers snapping before a giant magical veil began ti envelope the palace with me and the mad king inside it.

Before I could do anything I heard a loud, echoey demonic crazed laugh as I watched growing from nearby was some kind of dark, demonic beast of shadow that grew wings and fly straight at Isaac. My jaw dropped as I watched all of this happen and before I could question it I watched that shadowy creature reach out towards Isaac only for it to get hit by some kind of… bright sun mace that came crashing down onto it, sending it back down onto the ground with a thunderous slam that was followed up by a blinding explosion, one that sent me down onto the ground from the resulting earthquake and shockwave.

"It seems he isn't quite done." The Mad King spoke in a matter of fact tone as I struggled to get back up only to fall back down at the result of another earthquake and explosion. What the fuck is happening! I let out a yell as this is happening before I noticed the very ground started to crack from below and through those cracks I saw some kind of glow coming from this.

“What in the world…” I said as I stared at said cracks before another earthquake shook the ground and out from those cracks was… lava. “L-Lava?! Why is there lava?!” I yelled out as the mad king hummed in thought, seemingly not minding the earthquakes and explosions.

"You clearly didn't read up on your history." The Mad King said to me before I looked back up as Isaac flew up high once more, this time gripping his head as his body began to pulsate a bright blue light. He screamed out in rage and agony at this point.

"YOU ARE MINE!" The voice of that demonic beast echoed through the chaos as he flew up to reach for him once more… only for Isaac to grab his arm. The beast himself was stunned by this as the light of Isaac grew brighter… before he plunged his arm deep into the beast. As this was happing my attention was soon pulled by a distant, loud explosion which caused me to look up to see something that I never expected, and part of me never wanted to see; the sun was exploding!

“W-what the hell is happening to the sun?!” I yelled out which made the Mad King sigh a bit, as if I should know this already which earned him a scowl from me, though said scowl didn’t hide my fear of what’s happening.

"It's a supernova." He said to me once more in a factual tone before I looked back up to see it… the end… I… I was at a loss. What could I… huh?

I had to strain my eyes a bit but I saw something forming around the sun… a bubble? Why is there… I looked back at the Mad King and saw him staring up at the sun, eyes narrowed and his hands were glowing. Was he…

"You're… helping us?" I asked him which made him snort at this as if I told a dumb joke. I didn't ask anything else as there was another quake that shook the ground, making lava sport out from the ground. Looking back at Isaac, instead of being a bright white being he was very… blue. Like, very blue as he fought the shadow beast before he slammed into the beast, his hands diving into it and then some. It made me wonder what he was doing before Isaac pulled back and… was holding someone in his arms. Isaac tossed the person to the side, who fell onto the ground before Isaac raised his arms up then bringing them down, causing a pillar of bright light to incase the beast and made it roar out in fury and pain which lasted for a good bit before it faded, the pillar disappeared leaving nothing left of the beast.

"Whoa…" was all I could say after all of that. Looking back up at Isaac I saw he was still glowing like crazy… he's not turning back! "He's not turning back… he's not turning back!" I yelled as before I knew it I ran out towards where Isaac was, not stopping for anyone or thing as I ran into this hellish landscape.

My ran got me much closer to Isaac which was the good news, the bad news was that he was floating in the centre above a newly made volcano… just, lovely. I let out a little groan of annoyance as I tried my best to get closer to him. I kept going and going up the valcano, trying to reach Isaac and as I did I got close enough that I could yell out at him.

"Isaac! Isaac it's me! You need to calm down, you torched the asshole to nothing!" I yelled out in hope he would hear me. When nothing came of it, I tried again but now worried that I wasn't going to get through to him. "Damnit Isaac, say something to me! Anything to show that you can hear me!" I yelled out as I grew closer. The heat was almost unbearable at this point but I kept going.

"-ake?" I heard his voice echoe around me before I looked up and saw him staring down at me. "Blake… I feel…" He said, his voice holding the sounds of pure struggle, pain and… confusion?

"Isaac…" I said as I stared at him, his body was more… frazzled, almost like it couldn't really hold his form. As I looked I noticed the sun, seeing it going… backwards? Like, it was reverting from being a supernova. I looked back at Isaac with a worried look. "Isaac… what is happening to you?" I asked, unsure what to say at this moment.

"Blake… I… feel… funny." I heard him say as he looked down at his hands before within a blink of an eye he fizzled out then and there… before an odd looking gem appeared before it split off into three pieces and vanishing. My eyes widen at this before glancing up and seeing the sun… splitting into three Suns.

"What… the actual…" was all I could say at this before looking around frantically. "Isaac?! Isaac!!" I called out to him. When nothing came of it and I grew more worried. "Isaac!!" I yelled out as I ran up to a building and, using my wings, flew up to the roof to get a better view. "Isaac!!" I called out, trying to see if I could see him. I mean, how hard is it to lose a glowing being as bright as the sun? Well it seems very hard as I couldn't see him which made me more worried.

"He's gone." I heard the voice of the Mad King Behind me before I turned to look at him. "Don't even attempt to give me such a look. It won't make him come back." He said to me as a matter of factly.

"What do you mean not coming back?" I asked him as he simply stared at me. "Don't give me the silent treatment, I asked you a question!" I yelled at him.

"I'm not going to into full detail just to repeat myself later on." He said to me before he gestured upwards to the shattered sun itself. "With the sun being fragmented there can be no Isaac." He said to me and… no…

"He… he can't be dead… he just can't be…" I said as I stumbled back a bit, shocked by the news. No… no it can't be true. "Y-You're lying. He can't be dead. He can't." I said as my body shook. I felt like I was about to break myself… Isaac can't be dead. He stood by and watched as it all sunk in… my best friend was gone… and I couldn't do anything about it.

End of XXXII

Firestarter

by Uncle Smiles

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIII

Chapter XIX

Chapter XX

Chapter XXI

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIII

Chapter XXIV

Chapter XXV

Chapter XXVI

Chapter XXVII

Chapter XXVIII

Chapter XXIX

Chapter XXX

Chapter XXXI

Chapter XXXII