> The Reason I Don't Date
>  by LyNx_X_PiE_PiE
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Dark Decision
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was moving, sweeping my brush from left to right as I cleaned up at the end of the day. I was working in a bar after all, so it was bound to get messy from time to time. I looked at the floor as it did nothing, I was hoping that all of it would just, I don't know, jump into the bin for me. I stared at a single piece of rubbish on the floor and tried to move it with my horn… nothing!

I was a Unicorn stallion that couldn't perform the simple act of using my horn to magically lift something… I could not remember the word for it.

"What did they call it? Telecommunicate! No. Telephone! Nah. Ah! Telekinesis! That's the one I meant." I stated quietly to myself. I looked up at the clock as it struck 2am. I was the last person at the bar and so I had to take some responsibilities and lock up after the place was spotless from top to bottom.

I looked back at my brush and pushed it across the floor, creating a soft scratching noise that penetrated my over sensitive ears. It was a loud day at the bar earlier, back when everypony was watching the hoofball game. There were cheers as many ponies cheered out for the Canterlot team. From what I heard of it, they were quite good!

I spent another 20 minutes sweeping the floor with the wooden broom before putting it back in the side storage room before locking the door to the storage room and going to the counter. I grabbed the rag I normally used with a hoof and wiped of the counter to make it look significantly better than it was. I then deposited the rag in a bucket and walked to the door. I opened it to let myself out before closing it behind me with a firm 'Click' and locking the door before checking that it was locked shut.

I began to stroll home, amongst the harshly dark moonlight. It was a beautiful night. Princess Luna was doing a very good job as I could see. I looked up and saw the most beautiful sight that I had ever seen. The light of the crystallized moon shone down and littered my head with little reflected rewards that brightened me as a whole. I looked back down at the roads as faint lights dimmed my pathway to make it easier to see. These dim lights were the lampposts. They were bright enough to capture the area below them like sunlight. I had a feeling that Princess Celestia was behind the mechanical devices, but that was just a suspicion.

I continued to walk down the road until I saw some ponies sitting on the walls. They were wearing dark clothes of the blue and black nature. I could also make out some purples there too. I guessed that it was just a bunch of ponies enjoying the night, but I always had suspicions when it came to the night. I usually walked home late at night and I had even had some ponies try to mug me. At that first moment, I was a little scared, but had nothing on me at the time. They eventually allowed me to leave because they 'wasted their time on me'. I kept my eyes on the group as the looked at a slightly younger mare that was heading in their direction. I definitely had my suspicions caught when I saw that the mare walking past the group was holding some items in a bag, which I noticed… and so did a couple of stallions as they locked onto the bag and began to follow. I didn't dare waste time walking this direction, so I slowly turned until i was walking towards the mare with the bag.

I continued to walk at the same pace, as the mare quickly spotted two of the stallions pursuing her and began to speed up to a trot. She looked behind her again and saw the stallions close the distance instantly and stopped her in her tracks. They looked at the bag that the mare was holding more closely, admiring the craftsmanship of the bag. It was a posh bag, and they knew it.

"What's in the bag!" One of the stallions questioned with anger in his eyes. The mare didn't answer, to scared to react at the time. She just stood her ground.

"Leave her alone Tremor!" Commanded one of the mares that was in the group. From what I could make out, she was the only pony in the group that was wearing purple. She wore a purple hoodie with short dark blue tights. I would have noticed more things that she was wearing, if I wasn't trying to help the scared mare from getting mugged or robbed. I closed the distance before bringing out a knife with my forhoof and placing the handle in my mouth.

"I would leave her alone if I was you!" I stated with a little rage as I mumbled the words past the handle that was in my mouth. The stallion turned to look at me and froze. His face went from anger, to fear in all of two seconds. The mare that called out the stallions name came to stand beside me. I slowly backed away from her as I turned to her, slowly breathing lightly through the piece in my mouth. I didn't want to trust anypony, apart from the mare that was being robbed. I could feel all eyes on me right now and saw the rest of the group come over. They stood next to the mare in the purple and looked at the stallions that were In front of the mare being robbed.

"I… I have to do this Nightshine. I… I just need to!" He mumbled at her with both sorrow and fear rattling his voice. The other stallion looked at me and then took a step back.

"We talked about this Tremor, just relax and let the mare go…" Nightshine said before Tremor tried to grab the bag from the unaware mare. He grasped the bag from the mare's grip and made off with it. The mare followed him as fast as she could and so did the group. I placed my blade back in the custom made holder on my side and gave chase.

They were fast, but not as fast as the Unicorn that couldn't use magic. I caught up to them within seconds and past the group. The stallion in front of me must have regretted his action in an instant as I tackled him and brought me and him both crashing down onto the floor.

"Get off me!" Tremor shouted as loud as he could. I slipped my hoof over his muzzle and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Your lucky that you got friends here mister. If you didn't you would be going to a special place that ponies like you are meant to go. Now quiet!" I whispered furiously into his ear. I could see his eyes close as he stopped struggling to get me off him. I slowly raised up onto my hooves and then grabbed the bag and brought it back to the mare.

"Thank you so much… umm." She stated clearly with a little confusion in her voice.

"Oh sorry! The name's Mist!" I announced, as I did a little bow to the mare.

"Blossom." She replied. I looked down the alleyway that we were in that lead to the road.

"Do u want me to accompany you to your destination?" I asked, not really caring about the response.

She looked confused and then shook her head. "Nah! I live just around the corner. I should be fine." She proudly promoted. She grabbed her bag with her magic and then brought out some bits. "20 bits for your help!" She stated before gave me the bits. I caught them with my mouth and hooves as she gingerly dropped the rest below me. "Are you not able to use your horn or something?" She asked, curious about my non working horn. I nodded and dropped the bits in my mouth to the floor. With that, she quickly scampered off and into the darkness.

"Tremor! What were you thinking!" Stated Nightshine from behind me. I gathered the bits and placed them in a little bag for better storage. I turned to see Nightshine gleaming at Tremor with anger in her eyes. The other ponies in the group looked on in a mixture of emotions, ranging from scared to worried to anger.

"What did I do wrong Nightshine! I need all the bits I can get around here!" He said with a blinding rage as he got to his hooves and move towards her.

"What did you do? You just tried to rob somepony! Is that not bad to you? Last time I came out to see you, you almost killed somepony over some seats at the movie theater!" She said with a roar gradually growing in each breath.

"Calm down! You ain't my mum! For Celestia's sake are you an idiot? I bring you out her as a mare friend and all you do is tell me how to live my life." He states getting closer to the group. "This is the reason that I slept with…" He laughed just before he got cut off.

"What?" Nightshine questioned, hoping the thing he said was not true. Tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes.

"Yeah! Get all sad and cry why don't you! I slept with this beautiful mare right here. Hoof in hoof… I loved it, all of it!" He stated grimly as he lifted his hoof to wrap it around another mare and watched the dam that was going to break inside of Nightshine.

I drew back out my knife and looked at Tremor and the rest of the group. "Get out of here… I don't take kindly to you lot now. You got five seconds before I chase you and try to stain this thing as much as I can with you!" I stated in a controlled stern voice that sent fear into them all as I pointed at the knife now in my muzzle.

"Nightshine, I don't want anything to do with you. Don't ever speak to me again!" Tremor stated before running down the opposite direction. The group of ponies shortly followed him and walked away as fast as they could, without looking scared.

All that remained was me and Nightshine. I dropped the knife back into the holder and looked at the mare. She was in tears and I could hear the faint sniffles as she tried to replace the emotions that were coming out of her with actions to try to forget them.

"Hey, Nightshine is it?" I asked, being careful not to hurt her anymore than she was. She looked at me and nodded.

"Yep! The pony that can't do anything right!" She stated loudly. I slowly walked up to her and sat down, so that I was close to her.

"Why would he do that? It was a stupid thing to do!" I said with frustration. Nightshine didn't say anything. "I know the feeling of what you just experienced and I know it hurts, a lot, but your a strong mare. From what I've seen anyway!" I stated proudly which perked her up ever so slightly. I noticed this and smiled at her when she looked at me. "I'm sorry that that pony was an idiot and made the wrong choices, you were right and he was wrong. He missed out on somepony truly remarkable!" I charmed, which made her smile more before she looked up at the sky. I could still see tears in her eyes and hoped that she would feel better looking up at the sky.

I turned to see Nightshine looking at me with a little smile, while tears were still making themselves known around her eyes.

"It ends with me getting cheated on… great! H...have you had this happen before… umm M...Mist?" She said with worry in her tone and sadness in her eyes. I looked up at the sky and stood up.

"Yeah! It was my first mare friend that I truly loved, or at least I thought I did. We went to the Gala together with her friends. It was a blast of a time, I could assure you. Anyways, after that, she… she said that some stallion rutted her without her consent… Then she tells me about it and said that she wanted a break…" I stated before I felt a cold hoove rub my shoulder. I looked at Nightshine and she was looking worse as I told her the sad story.

"Please… continue!" She stated as she rubbed my shoulder with her soft hoof. I sat down on the floor and she followed my movements and sat down too.

"After she told me about having a break, I was mortified, but also a little bit sceptical of her decision. She left me when she would have needed me the most. About a week later, after my depression started to disappear, I get told that my previous mare friend was rutting another stallion from her friends and then they show me… The video that shows my mare friend kissing another stallion on the video. I looked at the date that the video was created on and nearly dropped the device. It was the day after the Gala and turns out that the stallion that rutted her, did have consent, she was at his house, in his bed…" I stated with tears forming at the corners of my eyes, like Nightshine's had.

"Wow…" Nightshine muttered under her breath and began to feel bad for me. She kept looking at me and then back up at the sky. I just began to lie down on my stomach and look down at the floor. 

Suddenly, a crack of thunder shook my ear as lightning blinded my vision. I tried to cover my still very sensitive ears as the loud bangs and flashes crashed closer and closer. I put my hooves over my ears and closed my eyes, still feeling the tears in my eyes as they began to stream done the side of my cheeks.

"Mist! It's ok!" Nightshine convinced me, but it didn't work. All of the anger and sorrow that I had in my life flooded out onto the floor."Hey Mist? Please look at me! She asked lightly, trying not to startle or disturb me. I slowly turned around and looked into Nightshine's eyes.

Her pupils were just thin black slits that pierced her eyes like a wound from a sharp thin object. This made me aware that she was a Bat pony. She was also the first Bat pony that I had ever met or seen.

"Oh… y...your a Bat pony?" I asked with hesitation lingering in my voice. She nodded and looked up at the sky again as a crack of thunder hit mine and Nightshine's ears repeatedly. She covered her ears this time as the thunder was even now too much for her to handle. I began to raise myself up and could see that she followed. "So… you want me to walk you home?" I stated giving Nightshine a little smile. She nodded and turned.

"My house is this way!" She announced for beginning to run into the darkness.

"Walk… not run!" I commanded with a chuckle. She looked back at me and got out of a certain stance and began walking slowly, allowing me to catch up.

We crossed dimly lit lights again that guided us both to Nightshine's house. She stumble over as she got within range of the grass of her small garden. She laid down for a small window of time and then got to her hooves again.

"I am really sorry about tonight Nightshine!" I stated calmly, ears splayed back. She looked at me before giving my cheek a quick peck, which made me blush deeply. I looked at her with a shocked expression as she smiled in delight.

"Don't worry about it, if Tremor can love another pony, then so can I!" She proudly said, allowing a faint blush appear on her cheeks.

"Look, my boss is taking me to a festival tomorrow and is allowing me to bring one friend with me. You wanna join me tomorrow?" I asked with a deep smile. She got closer to me and smiled.

"Sure Mist! I would love to!" She stated with another amused look before planting her muzzle to mine for a short and brief kiss. My eyes went wide and I could see her wings spread wide from the contact. She broke the kiss and gasped for breath. "You wanna come in or?" She asked, hoping that I would say yes. I shook my head.

"I would love to Nightshine, I would, but I got to get to work early and open up the place before making sure the staff are ok and then I come and pick you up and take you to the festival." I stated calmly. She nodded in acknowledgment and the grabbed my hoof. I looked back up into her crimson eyes as she stated the final sentence of the night.

"Ok then, see you tomorrow and hope we can keep this going!" She whispered into my ear as she let go of my hoof. She smiled at the sentence before letting me go and going inside her home. She watched as I turned around and began to trot happily home, knowing full well that I might have a date tomorrow.

Life was going to get a whole lot more fun I thought.
> Chapter 2: Traumatic tensions
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I awoke suddenly! I banged my head against the headboard of my bed and sighed.

"Why did I have to buy the bed with the weird headboard?" I stated quietly as I sat up properly, not banging my head this time. I looked at the clock on the wall and sighed with relief. "Eight o'clock!" I mumbled through my teeth as I slowly dragged myself out of bed.

I walked to the closest mirror in the house, which was located in the bathroom and froze. I looked terrible! I had multiple streaks on my face that looked like somepony had tried to cut through my face. Little indents that glaced the outer fur without moving or damaging the bone underneath.

I began to tame the once wild mane that I had achieved and quickly noticed that with each stroke of the brush, my mane got less and less wild and more exotic than it had ever been. This was harder to do with no magic, but I managed to brush my mane normally, like any other day.

I was about to step out and lock the door, but froze as I looked at a certain painting depicting one of my closest friends that had passed away earlier in the year. A little tear grazed my cheek as I smiled almost uncontrollably. This was my best mate after all, and I loved him to bits, but something happened. Something that I swore that I would give up after his death.

I didn't have time to have sorrow as I made my way for the bar down the road. As I strolled down the road on this bright and beautiful day, thank Celestia for it, I stumbled across one of the same ponies from last night. He was the other stallion pursuing the mare last night. I glared at him with eyes that could pierce into his very soul. He didn't dare take a glance in my direction as he narrowly walked on by. I always had to be vigilant when walking about. I had a heavy resemblance to my older brother. My brother was not the nicest pony, that's all I can say.

Ponies stumbled about the place as I finally got to the bar. I could see three employees waiting at the door, ready to start the day off. They all took one look at me before they all smiled in unison.

"Hey Mist!" One of the stallions said as I approached them. I simply opened the door with the key and headed inside, pursued by the other three stallions. They all came in and carefully placed their bags in the storage room that I had also unlocked. They then stood next to each other with smiles lingering on their faces.

"Alright! You guys need anything? Or are you completely set today while me and the boss go to this event?" I asked, wanting to make sure that these ponies were ok doing this.

"Mist just stop! We have worked here a little less than you have and have not screwed up yet. I'm sure that we can take care of it. Just stop worrying!" Another one of the stallions stated before sticking his tongue out at me in a playful manner. I laughed nervously as a faint blush appeared on my face.

"Ok then! I shall see you all next week then!" I stated from my blushing state. I waved my hoof at them before making my way out the door and down the road to find my guest for today.

I continued to stroll down the road before I came across the house that I had been outside last night. I went up to the door and knocked. Nothing happened. I waited about 30 seconds before trying again. Again nothing. It was about 3 minutes in when I could hear the door unlock and out stood a mare that was having a worse mane day than me.

Nightshine stood in the doorway with bags under her eyes and a certain dryness within her eyes, suggesting that she had been crying… for a while. She tilted her head as she looked at me.

"Hey M...Mist! I haven't been taking this break up thing properly and it's got to me last night. I barely got any sleep!" She stated as she rubbed her hoof on the ground. "You want to come in?" She asked. I nodded and then stepped inside.

"Wow!" I stated as I looked around the place from the doorway. The house was beautifully clean and very, very colourful. "Your living life better than me I see Nightshine." I calmly stated before looking at her. She looked like she was about to burst into tears again.

"Sorry! I just can't forget about last night!" She stated with a blind panic. I placed my hoof on hear shoulder as she practically melted into the contact. She looked into my eyes. "Oh yeah, sorry about last night with the kisses. I was in the head space to just help myself. Is… is it ok that we start over?" She asked, panic rising in her voice as she realised that she had made a mistake.

"I was fine with you Nightshine. It was a bit of a shock yes but... but you made the choice to start over, so I'll respect that." I calmly announced as she smiled. "I'm Mist! Nice to meet you… umm... Nightshine!" I joked. I gained a smile and a hard punch to my shoulder. "Haha… I deserved that…" I laughed.

That helped to perk up Nightshine and put a smile on her face at least.

"Thank you for the laugh, but I do need to get ready for today!" She stated with a scarce look. As she slowly walked into the next room and brushed her mane, I felt something wrong… I couldn't put my hooves on it, but I had a feeling that it was watching the mare brush her mane.

"Pass that here!" I stated before taking the brush off Nightshine and proceeding to brush her mane for her. She was enjoying every second of this as I drifted the brush down her mane. I received different sounds from her, ranging from satisfaction to relief. She was not going to let me stop I presumed. I stopped for a short second to test my theory. She slowly turned her head to me.

"You finished or what?" She calmly stated, secretly wanting me to continue. I gave her mane one last brush before dropping the mane brush off to the side.

"You were enjoying that more than I thought." I stated clearly as a little blush spread across her face. She tried to hide it, but it was too late. I laughed as she tried to hide the blush beneath her hooves as they pressed into her cheeks. "Ok… I'll let you get ready!" I commanded as I began to get up and walk around.

I looked around at all of the fancy paintings that dotted the walls and smiled, remembering the one picture that I had on the wall of my friend, my closest friend. He died in the Changeling attack on Canterlot, back when Twilight Sparkle was not an Alicorn. He risked his life to protect me from the attacking Changelings that littered the streets like the swarm of insects that they were. They punched and bucked him senseless until blood began to form at the corners of his mouth. They beat him up until he was dead, and I watched the events unfold as I protected his Colt. My best mates son watched his dad die right in front of him. He was in shock for a couple of days before coming out of it and being depressed and sleep deprived. He told me recently that he couldn't go to sleep because all he could see was his dad being punched over and over again. At the time, I was defenceless, a weak individual who lacked the strength to do anything. That was the reason that I kept a knife with me. Only for protection sake.

"Umm… Mist? Are you ok?" I heard briefly before coming full circle into reality again. I shook my head drastically and stopped. I was stunned by the beautiful mare that was stood in front of me. The finely dark bluish purple fur reflected light in an amazing way and her darker cyan blue mane looked amazing. She stood tall before sitting down and looking at me. "Something is definitely up!" She stated angrily as she couldn't describe what it was. She instead shimmied behind me and grabbed my noticeably shorter mane with her wings and began to work the brush into my mane like I did hers.

"Really!" I gasped between breaths as the sensations were too much to resist. A low moan or a growl of some sort escaped my muzzle before I clasped my muzzle with both hooves. Nightshine dropped the brush and hugged me from the back.

"You want to tell me what's wrong with you then?" She asked in an almost scary manner. I shook my head as she headed for the brush again.

"Can I tell you later, maybe when we are back here?" I stated quietly as I looked pleadingly into her crimson eyes. She nodded and hugged me tightly.

"Ok, but only if we have a good time today!" She commanded in a more sultry tone. I didn't respond as much as I looked at the clock. It was only 9:35. The even didn't start until 11 o'clock. We waited together and passed the time before heading down to the event that was going on just outside of the princesses castle.

We arrived and were immediately greeted by my boss. His name was Storm. He ran a couple of businesses in Canterlot and I was in one of them. He raised his hoof to me and I shook it with pleasure.

"Thank you for coming! You two please enjoy yourselves, you have earned it after all Mist!" He stated, making me remember what I had done to be here. I had just past my third year working at the bar, so Storm invited me out to relax and unwind… it was a Friday after all. "Who do we have here then?" Storm asked, holding up his hoof to shake Nightshine's with a little bit more strength that was necessary.

"I'm Nightshine! I'm Mist's close friend." She convinced, as she looked at me with a stern but fearful look. I smiled and shrugged but didn't look away from her. I don't know what kept me looking at her. It was either her beautiful maple and crimson coloured eyes, or it was the lighting that surrounded the area. It was a beautiful orange and blue sky that seemed to radiate positive thoughts into my mind.

"Well, nice to meet you Nightshine! Mist here has the only one from his workplace that is here. He is only here to relax and unwind I can assure you." He stated with clear pride in every word. I blushed a little at that. Only Nightshine could make out the slightly that I was blushing and mischievously grinned at me.

"That's good! I think Mist should relax too, he has done more than you think. He is a true magnificent stallion and should make all the mares tremble on their hind legs." She confidently announced out loud, which got some more ponies to look our way.

I began to blush a little harder and then tried to cover her mouth with my magic… but my horn didn't work, so I was stuck with embarrassment as my only option.

"Why's that then Nightshine?" Storm asked, curious about the  that happened last night.

"He stopped me from getting robbed!" Somepony stated in the background. A pony moved through some of the others as she walked to the front and stood next to Storm. "Hello Storm! Nice to see you again!" Blossom stated, sounding more confident than last night. I froze as I looked at Blossom being here.

"Sweet Celestia! Blossom!" Storm said, becoming more and more excited as the seconds went on. Blossom looked at him and wore a happy smile. I on the other hand, was thinking about trying to slip away.

"I… it wasn't a big deal I can assure you Storm!" I stated as I watched Nightshine slowly walk away to where the food was getting placed. I began to worry about her as she began looking down the table at some different foods. I looked away and back at Storm.

"You're right, this wasn't a big deal. It was a massive deal!" Blossom said as she grabbed her bag and lifted out some notes. "If it wasn't for you, I would have lost all of this work that I have gathered on plant life among the Everfree forest." She added. She displayed some notes that showcased the the plant life among the Everfree forest. Plants that I didn't even know existed.

"Now that is a lot of notes!" Storm announced, looking down at some of the papers. "Welp, I've come to a conclusion after hearing all of this." He stated loudly. I didn't know what to make of the situation at that moment in time. "How does a promotion sound?" He asked me. I was stunned.

"Sounds good to me!" Blossom stated with enthusiasm. They all looked at me and stared. I could see hungry eyes lingering over me like vultures as I scanned the crowd of ponies behind them.

"Then that settles it! You're getting a pay raise starting Monday!" Storm charmed loudly.

"T...thank you Storm!" I quietly called out to him, my mind still trying to catch up to the present.

I looked around as all of the ponies dispersed in different directions, including Storm and Blossom. I was the only pony left motionless. I scanned my surroundings to try to find Nightshine, but I couldn't find her anywhere.

I began to walk around and loosen up from being so tense. I stumbled around looking for somewhere to stand and lean on my two hind legs. I found a railing that protected ponies from plummeting down to the floor and went to lean against it. I was sceptical at first, but then I trusted the pony made structure. I put my weight on it and nothing happened. I began to relax as I watched the clouds drift motionlessly towards the horizon, made only more beautiful by the brightly lit orange and blue sky.

I saw a figure move past me and saw a Pegasus mare flying in the sky in front of me. Only it wasn't a Pegasus, it was a Bat pony, Nightshine to be exact. She clenched her pointy fangs around an orange, or maybe a mango. I wasn't sure due to the light that was radiating behind her. She then sat on the cloud closest to me and bit harder into it, causing the fruit to bleed juice. Her eyes locked with mine as I smiled at her, making her blush a little and making her smile a little more. If I could capture a moment in time just one, I would capture this one. She looked so beautiful in this light and I loved every minute of her sat down on the cloud.

She began to eat the fruit, still not breaking eye contact with me. I didn't want to look away until I saw a mare,out of the corner of my eye, walk up to me from my side. Nightshine kept her distance but could hear every word that was being said as I engage in a conversation with the random mare. So she was eavesdropping pretty much.

"Hey are you Mist?" The mare asked in a quiet whisper, probably trying to make it so that Nightshine couldn't hear her.

"Yes i am! What can I do for you?" I asked, being louder than her, just to make her speak up.

She grabbed something in a bag and then drew it out. Aimed at me was a blade that resembled a dagger, but was heavily eroded, making it all the more dangerous. I froze completely still as she looked at the weapon that was pointed towards me. "Tremor has had his life ruined because of you!" She whispered quietly to avoid getting any attention.

"Well it is his fault for trying to rob somepony!" I stated a little louder and then had the weapon pointed with the tip literally touching my throat. I didn't dare move. I didn't lose eye contact with her, but I could make out somepony noticing this.

I held my ground for a moment before mare from within the sky kicked the weapon out of the mares field of focus as it plummeted with a loud 'clang' on the floor, which got the attention of everypony that was there. Some guards trotted closer and saw the weapon that Nightshine had just saved me from. I began to gasp for air as I regained freedom to move.

"What have we got here then?" One of the guards asked while looking down at the weapon. He grabbed it with his magic and held it facing down.

"Tremor sent you to do his bidding did he?" Nightshine asked, anger in her eyes as she spread her wings out to protect me. She bares her fangs at the Unicorn mare as she slowly began to back away. She backed away and began to run as a guard grabbed her with his magic.

"You're under arrest for being in possession a harmful weapon!" The guard bellowed out in the original Canterlot voice, hurting mine and Nightshine's ears in the process.

The guard teleported away with the mare in his magic. Another guard was holding the weapon in his magic.

"This is one rusty dagger!" He stated before coming to me with it. Nightshine stepped aside with anger still in her eyes. "Are you ok sir?" The guard asked as I drew another short sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I'm fine! I'm just glad that my close friend was here to help." I said looking at Nightshine. She looked at me and blushed a little before staring at me with a blank smile. "Are you ok Nightshine?" I asked, looking worried as I waited for the response.

"Yeah, I'm alright! Just more concerned about you having that blade against your throat!" She casually stated as the guard looked at her and then back to me.

"If you're all ok, then I don't need to keep asking questions. Sorry about that, we will try to keep our weapon detection spells up for the next time to try to avoid this again." He calmly said with sympathy in his voice.

"It happens, no pony is flawless." I stated loudly to him. He smiled and then teleported the dagger away and returned to his position.

I looked at Nightshine again as she walked up to the table again and popped a mango in her mouth before coming to me and sitting down by my side. I lied down on the floor and watched her about to eat her mango, as she followed my actions by lying down too.

Everypony was back to doing their usual business, mingling amongst each other as me and Nightshine lied next to each other. Nightshine carefully bit down with only her two top fangs and cut down the middle of the fruit, while her hooves held the fruit. She took her first half of the mango into her mouth and chewed on it. I rested my head on the floor and then started to close my eyes. Not to go to sleep, just to relax like my boss told me to do. I was shortly interrupted by a poke to my shoulder and I opened one eye to see that Nightshine had left half of her mango in her hooves. I then looked up into her eyes, as they stared into mine.

"Do you want some? It's great!" She said, eyeing the fruit with a lustful hunger for more, after she asked me. I looked down and eyed the fruit. Juices ran down onto Nightshine's hooves and stained then slightly darker than her bluish purple fur.

"Can… can you cut that piece in half?" I stated a little weakly. She used her sharp thin fangs again and cut down the fruit. I took a piece and ate it piece by piece. Once I had finished, I looked up at Nightshine with a smile starting to creep across my face. "The last piece is for you… eat it!" I ordered with a cough at the end. She happily accepted my order and scoffed it down with one bite.

She began to smile and placed her head down to mine.

"Is this our first date?" She asked with a yawn.

"Probably." I whispered to her. I moved closer to her and rested my hoof on hers before whispering again to her "Thank you for saving me!"

She looked at me without moving her head and smiled. "I haven't done that to any other stallion before. I didn't have the confidence before, but I did today!" She admitted proudly.

A guard approached us and we both looked up at them towering over us both. "We could use somepony like you in the guard. Have you ever thought about becoming one?" He asked. Nightshine froze in thought and then looked at me. I nodded my head in approval and she looked up at the guard.

"I guess I could try!" Nightshine replied with a slight grin. Nightshine got up and followed the guard to talk to commander Shining Armor about her role in the guard and to get the times of her work. On the other hand, I went to find my boss and talk about some ongoing work I had to get done.

Time seemed to fly as the day went straight to sunset before I noticed it. I had finished talking about my work to Storm and mingled with Blossom a bit to find out how she knew Storm. I perched myself back at the railing I was at earlier and remained on two hooves again. I began to lean more over and look down to the bottom of the hill. It was a steep drop, but it wouldn't kill you, would it? The thought of it plagued my mind enough that I didn't realise the Bat pony mare next to me. I found out that Nightshine was the only Bat pony at the whole event.

The event was about to start as I heard the noise of fireworks being fired up into the darkness. With a sudden 'pop', the show had started. We both looked up in awe as the fireworks spiraled into the air in different ways and exploded into many different patterns. I could feel a wing being wrapped around me tightly and then looked at Nightshine. I placed my hoof around the back of her neck and pulled her closer.

She blushed slightly as we both ignored the fireworks by looking into each others eyes.

This was the show!

I couldn't take my eyes away from hers and I had a feeling that she had the same problem. We both looked into each others eyes for a solid minute. We then closed our eyes before placing our heads together as be bathed in the sense of love. I opened my eyes and planted a kiss on her cheek this time, before blurting out "I love you!" under my breath. She caught that and we looked back up at the fireworks that flashed with different colours.

I heard a faint "I love you too!" from her and looked back to find her furiously blushing. I laughed and then looked back up at the fireworks and smiled.

This was a relationship that I wanted to keep. With that, we enjoyed the rest of the night as the fireworks brightened our future. Together!

Tomorrow was going to be another fun day, I hoped.
> Chapter 3: Resting Redemption
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I regained consciousness in an unusual place. It wasn't my house and it looked pretty similar to Nightshine's house. I began to sit up and felt a sharp pain in my head followed by lightheadedness.

I looked about for the time, but there was no clock on the wall. I began to struggle to get myself up and then collapsed on the floor. All I wanted to know was what had been done to me! I was unable to speak, unable to talk, and now unable to walk or take a simple step.

I tried to get up as much as I could. As hard as it was and as much as I tried, I fell flat on my stomach again every time. So I settled on crawling everywhere. I had the feeling that I didn't know what I was getting into and really, really didn't want to find out.

I was about to reach the door to the room. I could hear breathing on the opposite side of it. I went to call out to them, maybe ask them to help me, but nothing came out. I went to grab the handle and tried to turn it. Nothing. I tried harder. Nothing. I then tried something else that I instantly regretted. I tried my magic!

The door opened with a 'click' and I shuddered at the sound that echo that followed. 'click', 'click', 'click'. I tried to move normally, but that still didn't work. I tried to move my arms, but now they were useless. I was completely paralysed, from head to hoof.

"So I can't move, but I can use my magic! What type of nightmare is this?" I questioned quietly to myself. I used my magic to lift myself to my hooves and began to move my hooves with my magic. I was not able to do this ever, so this had to be some sick twisted nightmare that I wasn't able to escape from. Nice!

I awkwardly shimmied along the pitch black corridor that extended from the room I was just in. Before I was able to react, the light behind me faded as the door to the previous room was shut. I began to breath heavily as I began to feel my heartbeat. Every pulse from my heart shook the corridor floor and then completely stopped altogether.

Voices began to talk to me. I picked up the voices as they circled me.

"Hey are you Mist?" One asked.

Another asked "Are you ok sir?"

A third one entered the voice list and stated "You're the reason that she isn't happy!" 

I then thought of something that didn't add up. I began to think harder and harder to gain a chance at a thinking space opportunity. I had heard the first two from the previous day. One from the mare that pressed the knife to my throat, and the other from the guard, checking that I was ok. The third one I didn't make out. It sounded familiar, but not that familiar. I then began to think back through the years. I began to remember what it was and when. It was on my best mates birthday. We were all going to go paintballing for his birthday. It was his treat after all and he wanted to practice with a fake firearm, before moving up to the bigger thing, a real firearm!

My special somepony was with me at the time and she was convincing me not to go, saying that I would hurt myself or that something could go wrong and I could end up in the middle of it.

Colt was my best mates name, not the colt as in 'child' but as in 'weapon'. My mates name was a name of a weapon! That was cool! The Colt Mist was the joke that bonded our friendship together. It was the little name that was given to us when we used to hang out together.

Anyway, back to the memory that I was explaining. My special somepony was very worried about me at the time and I didn't listen to her. I went paintballing and enjoyed it as me and Colt got the most people out. They didn't like it at all that a bunch of newbies came out of the blue and destroyed their team. The group then came up to me and began to say some harsh and violent things with lots of vulgar language for added hardness. Colt took notice of that and he too came over and listened to the group. We were both amused at the sight and laughed a little in between their sentences. Then one got to me that Colt noticed. He said the very sentence and watched as a frown grew on my face, replacing the smile I had. "You're the reason that she isn't happy!" As soon as Colt saw my face, he rushed towards the stallion that said it and bucked him in the chest. Hard! Little did I know was that that stallion was the one that my special somepony cheated on me with.

"Don't you dare talk about his mare like that!" He roared, standing in a zebra-like stance. The rest of the group moved back and looked on in shock as Colt stood above them all.

I was cut from my loving memory when I saw somepony standing in the hallway with me. I used my magic to lift myself up. The figure approached me with light fast speed as Colt pinned me against the wall.

"Colt?" I stated in silence. No answer. I looked at the figure again and saw a rusty dagger slide towards me in the air.

I was then murdered, by my best mate.

I woke up with a gasp as I felt pressure being relieved from my neck, where the knife had just been plunged. I was alive! It was a nightmare I guessed. I looked around at where I was and found that I was a Nightshine's house. I began to hold my head with my hooves. I looked around and found that Nightshine was lying next to me. She had one eye open and the other closed. I didn't think she was awake until she came closer to me.

"Hey! Are you alright there Mist?" She calmly asked, as her hooves began to rub my sides, reassuring me that I was in the real world. I shook my head as I slowly looked down at her.

"I really don't know Nightshine!" I said, shaking a little. She had the last straw of me being upset so she rolled on top of me and gave me a loving hug. I didn't have the best reaction to the hug. I tensed a little in response to it. She looked up to me with worry.

"Is this not helping?" She asked, hoping to Celestia that it was. I shook my head slowly as I wrapped my arms around her too. She could feel how tense I was and then pondered on a thought for a minute.

"Nightshine, I do love you, but I'm not in the right frame of mind right now!" I stated, getting a sad look of the mare. She came up to eye level with me as she began to pant with what seemed to be lustful desire. I was going to say that this mare was turning me on, but I had to stay strong. I didn't want to do anything with this beautiful mare but cuddle up to her for the day.

"Mist? You know that you can just call me Night or Shiny right?" She asked with a smile. I nodded my head before pulling her body to mine for a hug. She gladly accepted it and almost purred into it.

She couldn't hold back any longer. She kissed me in the muzzle. I was a passionate and long kiss. Our bodies compressed together while our muzzles locked in place. She was getting into it and tried to allow her tongue entry, but I quickly denied it. She broke the kiss with a wet 'slurp' before looking down at me with disappointment.

"Wha...why?" She mumbled to me, being in a loving mood. I brushed her cyan blue mane out of the way before looking deep into her crimson eyes.

"Today we are going to relax and maybe go out and have some fun. Together." I said, with a smile. She looked at me with more anger now.

"Just answer this then. Why didn't you allow me to enter your muzzle?" She asked with an uninterrupted anger build up in the eyes.

I simply answered with a laugh. "Oh that! Yeah about that, that isn't the only entry I'm going to be blocking tonight!" I announced with a devious grin present on my face. I watched her go from confused to furiously blushing bright red within two seconds. "Do you get it now?" I asked her with a bemused look. She nodded slightly, still furiously blushing.

"That still doesn't answer my question." She calmly said.

"Oh that! Yeah...I did that to set myself up for that joke." I laughed. She wasn't laughing at all. "You wanna try again?" I asked her with a little hesitation.

"Nah! You're just a little mood killer aren't you!" She pointed out. I smirked at that response and began to laugh. "But I got to say that I do indeed still love you!" She announced quietly, gaining a response from me. I blushed a little before getting up with her still attached to me.

"I love you too, but can I also say that I am not a tree that you cling to." I blurted out and made her realise that she was gripped very tightly around me. With that, she started to slowly slip down my body, like she was sliding down a pole. I was amazed that I was able to keep my balance on my hind legs. My Grandad was a zebra after all and my dad was part zebra and part pony. I think that Nightshine wanted me to topple over as she began to grab my hind legs and began to pull them.

I got to my normal pony posture and looked at her with amusement. "Tremor missed out on a real catch!" I loudly rasped with a big smile and a big cough to follow it up. She blushed a little at that and got to her hooves.

"You're ex is really missing out as well!" She charmed clearly. I smirked at that and then shook my head furiously. "Hey umm… do you want to grab a coffee or something in a minute?" She asked with just a smile. I nodded and instantly went to the bathroom down the corridor.

I closed the door and then looked in the mirror. I looked a lot better than yesterday, that much I knew. I took the time to look myself over. I was ready to go I thought. I opened the door and locked eyes with the mare that I had literally just slept with. She was clean, mane was straight with no bed mane in sight and wearing an attire that made her blush a little when I scanned her over. She wore a black hoodie, which was about a size too big for her, and also a pair of black running tights.

I looked in shock at her and then looked back to the bathroom. "How long was I in there for?" I questioned out loud, which to my surprise, made Nightshine drop to the floor with a laugh.

"I rushed to put this on just to do this to you!" She said between laughs. I wasn't having any of it.

"After the nightmare that I had that woke me up, slipping away for a certain time scares me now." I stated with panic. She instantly stopped laughing and sighed. She inspected my mane for a second before going into the bathroom that I just came out of. She grabbed the brush that was laying on the side and twirled the brush in her hooves.

"You want me to brush your mane again Mist?" She asked, a smile growing on her pretty little muzzle. I hesitated at first, before going to sit on the floor in front of her, making it so that my mane faced her. I looked in the mirror and could make out a faint frown form across her face before she took the brush and stroked it down my mane. This sent pleasure to my mind and I relaxed into her gentle touch as the brush made my mane as straight as it could be.

About five minutes later, Nightshine stopped brushing my mane and I turned to look at her. "Are you ok Night?" I asked, using the nickname she told me I could use for her. She just stared into the mirror and I watched, not knowing what to do. I built up enough strength to push myself up and then blocked the mirror with my body and pierced my eyes into hers. She instantly snapped out of it. "What's wrong?" I asked, getting slightly worried as she didn't answer.

"Nothing Mist! I'm just… just thinking." She stated, trying to assure me that she was ok. I wasn't buying it, not for one minute.

I took the brush off her and placed it to the side of the sink. I then proceeded to go behind Nightshine and slowly, and playfully, began to put pressure on the tip of her ear with my mouth. Pretty much biting her ear to get her to snap out of it.

It took her a couple seconds to realise what I was doing. "Hey! Ouch! Stop it!" She yelled, trying to hit me with a hoof. I dodged it and released her ear. "That only works when somepony is in the mood, and I'm not now!" She angrily announced.

I began to laugh a little as she looked at me with a mixture of emotions. I then went quiet and smiled at her, which she returned happily.

"Ok then! Let's get some coffee!" I shouted with excitement. We both walked out of the bathroom and then hurried to the door.

As I watched Nightshine close and lock the door behind us, I felt a fresh tingle as I breathed in the morning air. It was about 7 o'clock from what I saw before I went to the bathroom this morning. I turned around and saw the figure of Nightshine fly past me.

"You up for a race Mist? First one to the Coffee Cream wins?" She asked, being confident that she would win. I nodded in approval as she flew off towards the main part of Canterlot, flying over the houses and out of my line of sight. I sighed and then began to trot to the center of Canterlot.

I had seen the business called Coffee Cream before. It was one of the buildings that I passed to get to work. I would always get a whiff of coffee as I walked past it and enjoyed the smell before going into the bar to work.

I was about to pass my workplace when I noticed a pony shouting in it. I checked that I had my blade on me, just in case anything happened to go south. It was there alright! I looked at the door as I approached it. I got to the door and casually opened it. I found that Storm was inside on the phone, arguing with one of the managers over what I could hear to be the payouts of the hoofball game that took place two days ago.

I coughed and smiled at Storm as he turned to see me in the doorway and frantically waved his free hoof at me.

"Well I was right about the money then. So the deal is won by me then!" He shouted down the phone before ending the call and sighing softly. "Ponies not liking it when their boss beats them!" He stated with a wink at me.

"Hey Storm! What are you doing here this early?" I asked with curiousness. He smiled brightly and pointed at the storage room. I'm getting some builders to build a bigger storage room for all of the beverages that need to be chilled." He stated flatly.

"Ah! I heard shouting so I came to check that nobody had tried to rob the place." I stated, feeling better that Storm was here and not some random pony trying to steal something. "Ok then, I'll leave you to it. I got to meet Nightshine at the Coffee Cream!" I said with a little amount of excitement. He nodded and then went to check something in the storage room. He waved at me as he looked back and I exited through the front door to see Nightshine gleaming at me with hopeful eyes.

"There you are!" She stated loudly as she pounced at me and gave me a hug. I returned the hug and smiled.

"Sorry! I got too competitive! Again…" Nightshine said with a sigh. I broke the hug and looked down the road to see the Coffee Cream. I pointed and then began to gallop as fast as I could. Nightshine took notice of that and then spread her wings and leapt into the air before heading for the business like a bullet. I stopped outside and looked to see Nightshine flapping above.

"I won!" We both called out in unison. We both sighed and got to the same level, her flying to the ground and me standing up tall. We both nodded before entering the shop, ordering the same type of coffee, before sitting down at a booth that was next to a window.

I sighed as Nightshine began to take a sip of her coffee. She stopped after the sip and looked at me as I daydreamed out the window. "You didn't tell me what was wrong with you last night." She stated, gaining my attention.

I sighed as she placed her hoof on mine. "I… I miss my best mate! He...he was killed in the changeling attack on Canterlot." I whispered as tears streamed down my face from the memory. Nightshine started to rub my hoof as she tried to change the subject immediately. "What were you thinking about this morning Night?" I asked, hoping to get an answer this time. She sighed before looking down at the coffee cup she had.

"Promise me that you won't get mad? She asked with pleading eyes as she looked up at me. I nodded and leaned forward a little. "Please don't tell anypony this!" She added shortly after.

"Night I promise! I wouldn't do anything to hurt you." I assured her. She looked at the table again and sighed.

"I can't stop thinking about Tremor! If that mare was right, I'm the reason that…" She announced quietly before I cut her off. I put my hoof against her muzzle. I got a surprised response from her from the action.

"Really? Is that all? I'm the reason that Tremor has ended up in as bad a state as he is. The stallion was putting money ahead of his mare. That was the first wrong move." I stated quietly to her. "Also, I know that you can't stop thinking about him. I've known from the night that we met. It's the same thing with my ex as well. I can't forget about that mare because she did something so bad to me that it burnt a patch in my brain, making herself never forgotten from my mind." I calmly spoke.

Nightshine smiled a little at that and then looked out the window to see that it was now raining. "Perfect weather for this I guess." She muttered. I heard it. I got out of my seat and stood right next to her. I then proceeded to give her a hug, followed by some short, sweet kisses down here neck. She shivered a little with a smile present on her face now, along with a noticeable blush irradiating her cheeks.

"You… creep! You just want something from me!" She playfully said.

"Only for you to be and feel ok!" I demanded as I then gave her one last kiss on the neck before giving her a firm lick on the top of her muzzle. "I just licked you so nobody else can take you away!" I announced quietly. I received a very prominent blush from her. She instantly grabbed me with her wings and licked the top of my muzzle.

"And now you're mine!" She playfully announced, a little louder than I did. I went to the other side of the table again and sat on my chair.

"Oh...so cold!" I whispered as I rubbed my muzzle with my hoof. At that sound, she began to laugh.

All I wanted to do was keep my mare happy, it didn't matter if I was unhappy at all. I was happy however. This made me feel like I was part of a group.

"Mist? What was your best friends name?" She asked with a little curiosity lingering at the corners of her mind. I was snapped out of my happy daydream by that question.

"His name was Colt!" I admitted to her. "He was my everything, but now he's gone. He's been gone for a good solid year now and… and I haven't spoken to anyone since, until you showed up and I witnessed something that was relatable to me." I added.

I looked at her with a worried frown as my ears splayed back.

"He was your everything… you must have loved him strongly then." She said, watching me as she began to feel bad for me.

I looked at my cup and then looked up at Nightshine. I drank the now coldly warm coffee in one massive chug before placing the cup on the table again.

"You help me deal with the loss of my best friend these last couple of days. Everytime that i have felt bad, I would just look at you and you would remind me that my best mate loved me, just like you do. That would make me smile and eventually, I would begin to stop thinking about him, but he would always have a place in my mind." I said as more tears began to stream down my face as I looked up into Nightshine's beautiful crimson eyes, that seemed to glisten brighter in the rain.

She looked at me with a huge amount of worry dwelling up in her mind. "What happened this morning then Mist?" She asked with a sceptical look. I tried to fake a smile at her, which instantly failed as she took another sip of her coffee.

"I had a nightmare about not being able to move unless I used my horn. I heard a voice and got stabbed in the throat by my mate Colt. I think it was just my mind trying to forget that my best mate got punched and bucked to death." I stated flatly. She looked shocked hearing the sentence coming out of my muzzle.

"Oh… Sweet Celestia! I feel terrible for asking now!" She admitted as she looked down at the table.

I began to get uncontrollably uncomfortable in the chair and got up to stretch my legs. "I guess we should get back while it is like this." I stated as I pointed out to the rain. She nodded before lifting herself up. I was going to thunder like mad later.

She stood outside and spread her wings and waited. "Come on… are you getting on or not?" She asked. I looked stunned for a second before I hesitated to speak.

"What? Are...are you sure that you can hold my weight?" I asked her as my brain began to fear the thought of me plummeting from more than a building. She nodded and smiled sharply.

"I was able to carry 3 stallions that were slightly overweight last time I checked." She calmly convinced me. I hesitated but got on her back in the end.

I grabbed a hold of her shoulders and then felt her push off the ground as she began to lift us up to the clouds. Within a matter of seconds in the air, we pierced through the cloud layer that was raining on us and then sat above it at a steady pace.

"So we have talked to me about my story, what's yours Night?" I asked as she began to slow down. She began to brace herself as she landed on the cloud layer.

"Don't get off my back or you will fall through and died!" She commanded with a frown. I knew about this so I gripped her shoulders tighter. "I was raised up by my mother, who is a Bat pony too and my father, I never knew my father. He… he died before I was born. I have a younger brother called Fang and an older sister called Bluewing. Haven't seen them for a while because I have had stuff going on with Tremor at the time." She said sadly.

"Sorry about your dad!" I stated, feeling bad that she never knew him. He could have been an awesome dad and she didn't know it.

"Mist? Can I ask you something?" Nightshine asked with pleading eyes locked to me.

"Sure go ahead!" I said, bracing myself for any question.

"How did you lose the ability of your horn?" She questioned.

I looked at her flatly and stated "I was born without magic." She looked shocked as she heard it and tilted her head. "True story!" I added.

Nightshine plunged through the clouds as I grasped onto her shoulders tightly. She was going fast enough that I was losing grip on her shoulders. I watched as she began to pull up and I clenched her shoulders tighter and tighter.

I looked around at the sights speeding past me as Nightshine carried her speed. She looked back at me for a second before smiling. I looked down into her eyes and smiled at her. She turned her head to find that she was too close to a building. She stopped lapping forwards and began to flap backwards in a desperate struggle. She stopped so fast that I was launched from her back.

Seconds felt like minutes as I began to fall towards the building. I hit the building with a loud crack and then fell downwards. I hit my head hard and I looked up in time to see the last image before I was knocked out or even killed. 

My last image was of a wide eyed Bat pony mare with her mouth agape, as a single tear pierced the surface of her fur.

I faded into blackness with pain...
> Chapter 4: Conscious Contol
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I could feel a very heavy pain spread quickly across my body. I slowly began to open my eyes and watched as my vision stayed blurry for a good solid minute before focusing, allowing me to gain my sight back.

I was in a hospital! I began to panic as even more pain spread across my nerves as I tried to move me hooves. No words could describe the pain that I was in as I tried to move. I was almost in the state of thinking that I had returned to the nightmare, but in there, I wasn't able to feel pain.

I began to relax, knowing that I was only going to hurt myself it I tried to move. As I began to relax, I watched as the doctor entered the room and looked at me with a smile.

"Hello Mist! I'm your doctor! My name is Needlehorn." The doctor announced. "You have had quite the accident recently!" He added, looking down at some papers that he shuffled through with is magic.

"Question… How long was I out for?" I asked sceptically. He continued to read the papers and then placed them down on a table and looked at me.

"You have only slept through to Sunday." He clearly said. I showed a little bit of panic in my expression as I scanned the room.

"Did anypony visit me while I was out of it?" I asked, hoping that someone had noticed. He smiled and nodded.

"Three to be exact!" He prompted, bringing the record book to hoof. He flicked to the last page and scanned it for a brief second. "Ok I've got their signature and initials if their names. Tell me if you recognise any of them." He added. I nodded and then focused. "Initials of S.W.A, T.F.S and N.B.C." he ordered clearly.

"The first one is my boss! The second one I have no idea, and the third one, I'm not to sure about, but I think it is my mare friend." I stated as calmly as I could. I would have been fine if it was only the first and third ponies, but since I didn't know who the second pony was, I was beginning to become a little tense.

The doctor nodded his head in approval and was about to walk away before he turned and looked at me with a smile. "Your mare friend is a bat pony right?" He asked, still feeling confident. I nodded my head and smiled up at him. He left the room and I began to think.

"Who would it be?" I asked myself quietly. I began to think about it more and more until a certain name entered my mind. "Surely it couldn't be Tremor, could it?" I said out loud. I had nothing else to do, nobody else to talk to. The only thing I could do was think and daydream. I chose the former first.

I began to worry. I hadn't seen Nightshine since the incident and I really, really wanted to see her. I began to think about what she might be doing right then and there. Believe it or not, I would think that she would be just a little upset about this. How wrong I was…

I began to ponder on the thought. She might have thought that it was her fault and done something stupid. I didn't want to think so negatively of Nighshine. She was a strong mare and I believed that she could survive without me. I just had a feeling that she wouldn't cope well due to all of this going on.

After a little amount of time, a strange unicorn rushed into the room. They looked at me with wide eyes as they saw me in the hospital bed. They slowly walked up to me and stopped just beside my bed. I looked confused, but still thankful that somepony was here with me.

"Are you Mist?" They asked curiously. I nodded and then they smiled. "I am Professor Starfall! I came in yesterday afternoon and got told to leave because they were treating your injuries. Anyway, I was a very close friend of Colt. He talked to me when he was in Saddle Arabia about you. He talked about you not being able to use your magic." He stated quickly.

My head nodded at him and he smiled with glee. "Wonderful, well not really! Have you had this since birth of did you have an accident to make it not work?" He asked. I looked him over as he waited for my input to the conversation. He was a bright yellow unicorn with a white mane that complimented his fur beautifully.

"Since I was born!" I quickly answered. He smiled and grabbed a needle from his bag on his back. As he drifted the needle closer to my neck, his horn glowed from a nice orange to a black aura with green spots. This was dark magic! I knew this because I watched a documentary about it not to long ago. He plunged the needle into my neck and I whimpered. 

"Sorry! I need to make sure that it's in your system!" He stated as he released the magical tension on the needle as it fell out.

I looked down at it and sighed. "Didn't you have a bigger needle?" I asked, trying to forget about the blood coming out from the side of my neck.

Starfall shook his head. "Nope, smaller needles work better. They make the process ten times quicker!" He stated loudly, which got the attention of the doctors. Needlehorn came in and looked at the wound in my neck and then down at the blood covered needle on the floor.

They didn't even look surprised from the props left out in the open. "Did it work professor?" Needlehorn asked, as he turned to Starfall. He nodded and then looked at me.

"Try using your horn Mist!" Said the professor. I looked at the needle on the floor and focused. I put all of my concentration into picking up the needle with my horn. I began to smile as I watched a dark blue aura surrounding the needle before dragging it towards me. This was amazing I thought.

They admired me lifting the needle as I happily did so, making the needle fly across the room and back again to me.

"Mist, Colt said for me to tell you something when I next saw you!" He blurted out as my blissful moment of happiness came crashing down. "He said that he still owed you… and that he hoped that this was enough to compensate for it." I froze at that very sentence hit my soul like a train. I just looked on in shock.

"I need Nightshine!" I commanded quickly. They both looked at each other in confusion.

"Mist, I filled in the paperwork and you're free to go… when you want to that is!" Needlehorn stated calmly.

I slowly got to my hooves with ease and began to think about how powerful that formula in the needle was to restore magic to me and cleansing any pain that I had, before looking at them both. "Thank you, both of you are what ponies nowadays need to be perfectly fine." I stated before pushing out of the door and racing down the hospital corridor. There was only one place I was going to go.

I raced down the streets and roads to reach Nightshine's house. I slowed down as I entered garden section at the front of the house. I walked across it to the door. I used my new power to open it quietly. I thought it would be locked… it wasn't!

I entered the house quietly and could definitely hear something making a noise. I checked most of the bottom floor before going upstairs to her bedroom. I could definitely hear something I thought again. I stopped as I was about to open her room. I could hear muffled cries from her room and prayed that she was alright.

I entered slowly and saw her. She looked perfectly fine. "Knock knock?" I whispered from a distance. She flinched and then looked at me. She had tears streaming down her face.

She was in such a state. She had liquor on the table in front of her and she had… a knife. "Night?" I asked with a worried look. She looked away and down at the knife. I knew exactly what she had done and knew that she was going to do it again. She thought that it was her fault that I nearly died. Apart from the bandage around my back hind leg and a little hole at the top of my ear, I was completely fine.

"They did something to me that I am grateful for and they did a dam good job fixing me up as well. It is not your fault that I got hurt!" I bellowed out at her. She sat motionless as I looked her dead in the eyes. I didn't want to look anywhere else. The reason for this? She was covered in blood and marks. She shivered as we looked into each other's eyes. "They fixed my horn because of you!" I loudly announced as I marched closer and swung the knife away with my magic. "Why did you harm yourself?" I asked.

"I… I would have, if somepony didn't al... already do it for m… me!" She nervously stated. I froze with a black expression to look at her with a blank expression. I then sighed.

"He's behind the door, isn't he?" I stated quickly before turning around to look at an insane Tremor stood behind the door, pointing a gun at me with his magic. I began to feel anger as my eyes locked onto his.

"You ruined my life you little scumbag! Now I'm going to make sure that you don't get to see it." He angrily growled at me before he pushed the gun to my head.

I ducked down and rammer my horn into his side as he shot a bullet right through the same ear that had the little hole once in it. It was now a hole that gushed blood out from it, not to mention that I didn't give a damn about myself. My job was to protect the ones I loved, and I was damned if I was going to let one messed up unicorn stop me!

I began to think back to one memory that I never wanted to remember. My Colt getting bucked to death! I played the thought over and over again as a rage grew within me.

I wanted to kill the sick and twisted bug out of existence before my friend passed away at the time. This was that moment playing over again. The changeling wanted me and my best mate dead, and now this mule wanted the same thing to happen. This time with my soul mate. I promised him that I would protect others if he passed away. I wasn't about to let him down!

I felt another shot grazed my leg as I released my horn from his side and grabbed the gun, still in his grasp. We struggled with our magic as we decided who was having the gun next. I was using my horn as much as I could before I felt the pressure of something being pushed towards me. It was Nightshine, and she was after something in my holder.

Tremor was to busy trying to kill me to notice Nightshine trying to steal my blade. She grabbed it with her muzzle and then pulled it out. To her horror, she had just cut my side open. Blood began to rush out from it as she winced with sorrow before getting back up and pointing the knife to his throat.

"Drop it or I'll end you!" She commanded, showing her fangs at him. The unicorn laughed at her.

"Oh Nighty, you do make me laugh, but either you die or he does." He listed as he looked at her for a brief second.

Taking advantage of this, I picked up the knife that I had thrown away from Nightshine with my magic and did what I should have done to the changeling that killed my friend. I stabbed him in the back as hard as I could with the knife.

Nightshine rushed away in an instant. Tremor wailed out in pain as I kept the knife in his back and then let go of it, allowing it to be tested and see if I needed to add magic to it. I lifted up his gun that he had lost focus on and pointed it to him.

"Game over Tremor!" I stated loudly so that he could hear me. He didn't reply. Moments later, a couple of guards came up, accompanied by Nightshine.

I looked away from Tremor as a kissed grazed my muzzle. This time when she wanted entry into my muzzle, I allowed it. We spent a good solid 15 seconds in that state before I broke the kiss, only because I needed air to breathe.

Nightshine panted from the moment before looking at the guards who had restrained Tremor.

"Sorry that he hurt you both. We are just glad that we got him before he finished you two." One of the guards stated proudly.

They took Tremor away with a puff of magic and then me and Nightshine were all alone.

"I was really thinking about hurting myself, but I guess Tremor beat me to it." She stated with a frown. I looked into her eyes and then began to get a little angry with that sentence.

"Why would you want to do that for?" I asked, not being amused.

"Because I got you put into hospital!" She added with a tear marking her face.

"And allowed me to gain my magic so that I was able to deal with Tremor!" I listed. She paused at that and looked blankly at me. I looked down her body, finding cut marks and blood patches on her fur.

"First though, we are getting you washed up and sorted." I commanded, being rewarded with her blushing slightly. "Oh! And I'm coming in with you for three reasons. One, I am making sure that you don't make it worse. Two, I am helping you to get it out of your fur. And three, I need a shower too!" I said. Her blush had risen to new levels and enveloped her whole head with a pinky redness.

She stepped into the shower as I shortly followed her. She turned on the hot water and I was rewarded by a hot rush of adrenaline down my spine. Nightshine on the other hand, wasn't having such a good time. Her back burnt from where the knife had been and she began to cry lightly before stepping out of the shower.

"I can't do it Mist! It hurts way too much." She gasped. I stepped out and quickly rushed to her medicine cabinet. Inside the cabinet was some painkillers, as well as some other medical drugs. I popped out a couple before passing them to her with my magic. I was getting good at this, I thought. She ate the painkillers and then went numb as she stepped back into the shower. I shortly followed her again and began to guide her hooves to her sides.

"Let me look after you Night!" I drilled with a firm confidence. I began to grab the showerhead with my magic and guided it closer to her body. The powerful water blasted the blood off of her fur with ease. This made the cuts a lot more easier to see.
I scanned her body as she blushed furiously.

"Don't think that you're doing this all the time!" She angrily snapped. I ran my hooves down her back as I got to her bottom. I grabbed her tail and raised it higher up.

I didn't dare look down. I respected all mare's privacy and didn't take advantage of anything that I could have.

"You can clean yourself down there!" I warned, not being in the lovely mood because my mare was covered in cuts and bruises. She nodded slowly and began to clean her more 'private parts' with her hoof. I could make out that her hoof had been there for too long and began to grab her foreleg with my magic and keep it raised up, stopping whatever she was doing. "I said clean yourself, not pleasure yourself!" I fiercely growled at her. She shivered and smiled.

"I love you Mist!" She called out.

"I love you more Night!" I claimed.

It took another 5 minutes to wash the rest of Nightshine and the whole of myself. We both sat down on the sofa and watched some TV. Nightshine didn't come to lie on me though. 
She was hurting I guessed. I leaned over a little to give her a peck on the cheek. She looked at me as I got her attention.

"I don't blame you for thinking that my injuries are your fault, because they really aren't. I need you to stay strong Night!" I stated with a tear falling down my face. "I… I need you to stay the stronger pony!" I added. Nightshine looked at me with a questionable glare and didn't change her expression. I felt an awkward silence approach as neither of us said anything for about five minutes as we just watched TV.

The show that we were watching was about ponies coming on stage and being confronted on different things. Either it was about their relationship, or about ponies lying or being a father or mother of a foal. I didn't know why I enjoyed it, but i found it incredibly relaxing to watch.

As I began to focus on the TV more, I could make out something on the sofa with me beginning to shimmy towards me very slowly and probably hoping that I wouldn't notice.

"What are you trying to do?" I asked while still watching the TV. She didn't reply as I then turned to her. I looked into her eyes as she glared at me. "I only go for mare that have great personalities you know. Looks are just an added bonus! You're the complete package, smarter and whittier than me, but so cute as well!" I stated proudly, seeing a prominent blush spread across her face again.

She was speechless. I was about to be when out of the blue, she got up and turned the TV to a music channel. I liked the music that began to pour out of the speakers. I watched in amazement as Nightshine slowly began to dance. She was pretty good, especially for a bat pony.

A faint blush grasped my cheeks with a firm stain or red as I watched my mare friend gesture for me to join her. Knowing that I wasn't going to get out of this, I joined her on the floor. 

We slowly moved to the music, ranging from fast beats, to slow and steady melodies. I couldn't lie, this was bliss!

I moved her slightly closer to me with my magic as I then gave into my inner self and kissed her lightly on her muzzle, slowly dancing to the soft melody that irradiated the entire room with love and passion. I backed away from the pony and smiled. This made me and Nightshine both blush from the action as we tried to get back into the frame of dancing.

"Wow… this is wonderful!" Nightshine whispered into my ear as we got closer together. I didn't reply as I lifted her entire body up and spun her around slowly with my new magical powers. I was only missing one thing in my life at this moment and it hurt me a little thinking about it.

Nightshine noticed this and turned my head with her wingtip. She admired my dark blue eyes as my eyes enjoyed the sight of her crimson beauties.

"Please stop thinking about him!" She said with a sudden worry. I tried to relax as she began to hug me and instantly recoiled as she shrieked loudly into the hug. I held my ears tightly as she rasped out in pain.

"You absolute shit! Why the hell Tremor had to cut me this deep I have no idea!" She cussed loudly looking down at all of the marks on her fur. She shortly looked back up to me and watched as I uncovered my hooves from my ears.

"Ouch!" I stated calmly as I felt my ears again. She blushed a little at that and shook her head. "I'm thinking about getting my head down for a little bit. Is that ok?" I asked. She nodded and then gave me a little playful nip on my neck before heading off into a different room.

I lied down on the sofa before closing my eyes and sighing. I wanted to sort something out. Something with my mind. So I was going to sleep, only wanting to be put into the same nightmare as last time. 

The nightmare before today was getting erased from my mind. I wanted to confront my mind.

I wasn't scared at all...
> Chapter 5: Enveloped Emotions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Was this it? Was this the dream or nightmare that I was wanting to enter? I was ready for anything regardless of what was going on. I opened my eyes to see the exact same room as last time. I moved off the bed and began to think.

I was moving! Last time I wasn't able to move, was I? I looked down at my hooves as I balanced on two legs. I was able to move them! I began to pick myself up with my magic as the dark blue aura enveloped my form and lifted me slightly. I cancelled my magic and stood on the ground again with all my hooves planted against gravity.

I rushed forwards towards the door and smacked it open with the weight of my body. The door surprisingly broke at the top as a very prominent crack scarred the outer surface of the door. I wasn't in the mood to stop. I needed to do this! I began to slow as I literally strolled down the corridor. Lights flickered on and off, trying to scare me out of this place. I didn't hesitate.

As I followed the corridor downwards, I began to see a change. The corridor looked more real and life-like. Even though it was run down with beds, chairs and tables filling the debris that were flipped over and broke, I didn't stop! I watched as things became a lot more like the movies. It almost felt like I was in a post apocalyptic setting, with no pony to talk to.

I could see a figure in the distance. It wasn't bright enough to see who the pony was. I approached slowly, not letting my guard down. I got behind the pony as the light flickered again and illuminated… Nightshine! She turned to me with a crazed smile as my thoughts seemed to stop. I looked at her as another flicker lighted my vision. Her coat was matted red and black. A knife was also present in her hoof.

I began to hear a voice in my head that began to play with my mind as I watched the fake Nightshine lip sync the words.. "I would do this for you! If you were to get hurt, I would only have myself to blame! I must be punished!" She stated, directing the anger she had back at her self. I watched in horror as she looked at me with pleading eyes. I didn't look away as she held the knife up to her throat. "Y... you're my everything!" She whispered as she dragged the knife through her neck and then turned into dust. I looked at the dust before it slowly diluted into the ground.

"What did I just watch?" I asked myself out loud. I walked down further into the corridor and noticed another figure. This time the figure was leaning over the wall.

I move past Tremor with the knife still pressed into his back. I locked eyes with him as I walked past. Chains and locks became present on his hind legs as I got further away from him.

I then stopped as I was placed into a room. No doors to leave, no windows for light, even though there was light all over the room and no beds or tables. Only two chairs facing each other. I carefully walked up to the chair and sat down before looking at the other chair to find Colt sat there.

"Hello Mist! How are you doing?" He stated with no emotion. This was wasn't him, that was sure, but what was it? I thought.

"Who are you?" I asked as I began to stand up in protest. Colt looked at me and tilted his head.

"I have no idea what you are on about there Mist, but I can assure you that I am just Colt!" He lied. I looked furiously at them with anger dwelling in my throat, ready to shout with all my might.

"What are you I mean?" I stated quietly, almost like a growl.

Colt stood up and placed his hoof on my shoulder. "That's the question I was waiting for! Ok, so how do you want this? Tough to believe and simple, or descriptive and easier to believe." He state with all the time in the world at his hoof. I pondered at the thought before looking at the pony that was imitating my friends appearance.

"Descriptive!" I stated.

"Take a seat then!" They ordered with a smile and a chuckle. I slowly returned to the seat and sat on it, looking them dead in the eyes.

"Ok which one first?" Colt asked.

"Descriptive then short!" I calmly announced, readying myself for anything.

Colt took a deep breath before sighing. "You know the accident that occurred a couple of days after the paintballing thought that you had in the last dream, the one where you were unconscious for a couple days, well… I secretly cast a certain spell behind the doctors back…" He admitted, looking down at the floor. "I used dark magic from a spell tome that I had acquired in Saddle Arabia and it worked with the intention of what I wanted it to do." He added.

"What?" I asked. Before he continued with the story.

"The purpose of the spell was to split my soul in two, one part of my soul would stay in my body, while the other, entered the body of the patient. You!" He stated, with a muffled growl.

I looked at him with a mixture of emotions racing through my mind. "So, you're soul bound to me?" I asked with a hint of curiosity. He nodded.

"Mist bud… everything that I am saying right now and in your head, is me. I'm alive inside you, but not inside my body. The spell had diminishing returns to the caster!" He stated with a sigh.

"Like what?" I stated, wanting to find out more.

Colt stood up and walked to the wall behind me and made a window. The window had bright light shining through it, as an image of a valley appeared from the outside of the window.

"After I cast the spell from the book, it gave me two years to live! The changelings didn't kill me, even though it may have looked like it with the blood spewing out of my muzzle. It was the spell taking hold of me. My insides must have been destroyed by the spell and that is why you saw blood forming at the corners of my mouth, as you put it anyway!" He guided as I tried to keep up with him.

"So you didn't get killed by the changelings?" I asked as I tried to process it.

He nodded at me from the window and signalled for me to come over. I approached him before he balanced on two hooves and wrapping his forehooves around me for a hug. I hugged him back as I stood on two hooves as well. I embraced the hug as much as I could before letting go and peering out the window. The valley landscape was beautiful and I watched as it slowly dissolved into a bright velvet night. The stars shone brightly like punctures in the endless void. I looked back at him and smiled.

"I just wished my stallion was here to be with me, but you're good enough to be with until you die." He blurted out, gaining a confused look from me.

"I thought you had a mare friend Colt?" I asked.

He nodded before he turned to look into my eyes. He held my hoof in his as he began to speak. "There are some things that I don't want to tell you because it would bother you, but since I am bound to you bud, I guess there isn't much I can hide. After I had my colt Firerush, I sort of had problems with my relationship. She left me and left Firerush with me. I spent my days looking after him and found a stallion that was up to the task of looking after him while I was working in the guard. His name was Whiplash, he was a pegasus from Cloudsdale that had come to Canterlot to get something for himself. I met him way back, before I had even thought about joining the guard. Anyways, he came to see me and I asked if he could look after Firerush for me while I worked. He accepted it and we kind of grew. Together! Eventually we found out that we both had feelings towards each other and… yeah." He spoke, trying not to remember the good days.

I looked shocked, but still continued to look into his bright green eyes that reflected the stars coming from the fake window.

"You could have told me that bud. You could have told me that you liked stallions!" I stated.

"I like both, but now prefer stallions." He muttered to me with a slight blush.

"Ok then… don't go getting any Ideas mister! I don't want to have thoughts of any stallions I see to go through my mind. Only yours!" I commanded as I pointed at him. "Anyways, was it you who killed me in the nightmare?" I added, questioning him further. He nodded.

"I needed to get rid of you until you got your horn fixed by Professor Starfall! I would have kept killing you otherwise!" He stated with a mischievous grin growing on his face.

"Thanks for that by the way!" I stated quickly after.

He nodded before looking at the night sky that was being displayed on the window. "I am able to hear, smell, taste and think as you do, but I am not in control. I probably could speak to you from inside your head!" He blurted out.

I smiled to see him perk up like that. "Maybe if you like, I could go to see Whiplash and Firerush sometime, that's if you are able to point me in the right direction and want me to." I instructed.

He looked back at me with his beautiful green eyes. God damn it, was I falling for him? I thought.
"Yes… yes you are bud, but hold yourself back. You have your mare friend and I have my stallion!" He warned, reading my thoughts like they were displayed in front of him. "And yes to the former question… it would be amazing to see them both!" He stated with a happy sigh.

I blushed a little, knowing that if I had any lewd thoughts, that he would be able to know and would probably pick me up on it. He smiled at even my thoughts just then. I sighed and swore at him with my mind. He laughed. Then I smiled.

"I will try to talk to you once you wake up, is that alright?" He questioned. I nodded at him before he paused. "Oh and umm… you might want to explain to Nightshine and when you get to it, you might also want to do the same for Whiplash and Firerush too!" He reminded me. I nodded before rapping my hooves around him again as I hugged him tightly.

He then drew out a display of weapons with his magic. "What one do you want?" He asked with a little amusement in his voice. I looked concerned as he looked at me with no emotion. "I have to kill you here to make you wake up! I would try to kill myself, but as you can see…" He announced as he brought a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. The gun crackled and lit up the room with a flash as the bullet passed through him and hit the wall on the opposite side. I frowned at the scene before picking up my knife from the table.

"Always use this one, just to give me a reminder that you're with me whenever I draw it out!" I stated as a tear made its way to my face. Colt smiled and held my hooves with each of his. He held the knife up to my throat and waited.

"Until we see each other again…! He blurted out as it was muffled by sniffles as he began to cry as well. He sliced my neck as my vision faded to black…

...I could hear muffled whimpers and cries drowning out in the background as they got more distant, until there was nothing left but blackness...
> Chapter 6: Lingering Love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I awoke again, for the second time today and instantly froze as I watched Nightshine messing with my hind legs. I saw a cut that was pretty deep and my mind instantly raced to the word 'cannibal' for some reason. I grunted as she touched my hind leg with a cold rag. It was wet, wet enough that it just stuck to my leg with the slightest contact.

"Nightshine, what are you doing?" I asked with a little concern, not for her, but for my poor leg. She looked up at me with a little worry in her eyes and froze at the sight of me glaring angrily in pain at her.

"My bad… I wanted to try to fix your leg from yesterday." She stated, pointing down at the massive cut that went down the length of my hind leg. My eyes went wide at the sight.

"What? H...how did that happen?" I asked with a little shock. Nightshine's ears splayed back and I instantly got the hint.

"It… it was my fault! I didn't mean to… i… I went to get the knife out your holder and I put a lot of pressure one you and…" she muttered loudly, being paused by my hoof covering her pretty little muzzle. She blushed a little as she quickly pushed my hoof to the side and went to grab some rags and some more bandages. I looked at my leg in worry as she came back. I winced as he placed the cold rag against my wound. The coldness counteracted the pain with a numbness that felt almost pleasant at this point in time.

I watched with curiosity as Nightshine wrapped the bandages around the rags on my legs with ease before cutting the bandage with my knife that she didn't place back in my holder from earlier. I sighed as she placed the knife on a table to the side of us.

Out of nowhere, a voice echoed from inside my head, which caused me to go wide eyed. The voice stated over and over again to tell her.

"Tell her what?" I stated loudly before I instantly remembered the events of the unconscious dilemma that I experienced.
"Nightshine? I need to talk to you about something." I prompted, which made her look at her wide eyed.

"You already getting bored of me Mist?" She joked. I smiled, getting the joke before commanding that she joined me on the sofa. She was only too happy to help as she flew up over me and landed on the space that I wasn't using on the sofa. She snuggled up to me and relaxed. I looked into her eyes as she gazed up into mine. She smiled slightly, which I found super cute.

"What do you want to tell me then babe?" Nightshine stated, making me blush slightly because she had never called me babe before. It felt nice!

"You know that I gained my magic today right? I also gained something else!" I calmly announced, getting a worried look from her.

"Don't break my heart and tell me it's something bad!" She blurted out. I shook my head and then looked at her holding my hoof against her hoof.

I stammered a little before letting it out. "I...I am able to talk to my best mate!" I blurted, getting a surprised response from Nightshine. She didn't look totally convinced, but I guess that she thought I was going crazy or something.

"Are you sure that it's him?" She stated raising an eyebrow.

I nodded and then began to hear the same voice repeat the phrase like a rhetorical question. "Are you sure that it's him? Cause it is you silly mare, didn't you just hear him stammer like that…" Colt echoed through my thoughts before I cut him off with a 'please be quiet' thought. He stopped.

"If it is him, ask him what he thinks about me?" She asked looking deeply into at the TV, then immediately back into my eyes.

I repeated word for word what Colt said and then sighed. "Thanks Colt, that makes me feel better!" I stated sarcastically. "He says that he thinks your cute, but he would still prefer his stallion, and that you could do so much better than me." I added.

She was about to speak but then paused. "Are you his stallion?" She asked. I shook my head.

"Nah. His stallion is called Whiplash and his colt is called Firerush!" I stated, getting a smile from Nightshine.

"Good! I don't want to be competing for my stallion!" She announced with a lustful grin. I smiled and began to blush a little at the sound of her actually owning me. The thoughts sent shivers down my spine as Colt listened.

"Saucy!" He briefly stated. I began to blush furiously and looked away from Nightshine.

"Is he reading your thoughts or something?" She asked. I nodded as she shook her head. "I feel bad for you! You can't have a simple dirty thought about me without him noticing. Damn!" She stated sadly. I laughed slightly that she felt bad for me, before I rested my head back on the sofa cushion.

I noticed that she slowly started moving up to be eye level with me. She placed her hoof on my chest and nuzzled my neck. I was in pure bliss. I was comfortable and best of all, I was loved! Someday, she would have something happen to her, but I would be there to counteract it, putting my life in danger. Just for her.

"That's my boy!" Colt echoed in my head. I smiled at that before closing my eyes and relaxing for a couple of seconds. This was shortly interrupted by some vigorous knocking at the door. I lost all relaxation as Nightshine flew instantly to the door. I struggled to my hooves and winced at my leg. I didn't feel it before. Why did she have to mess with it? 

"Because she loves you!" Colt stated inside my head. I shook my head as if I wanted him to stop speaking and continued on three legs, the fourth leg in the air slightly, just millimetres of the ground. I walked up to the door to see a guard pony talking to Nightshine. I tried to inspect the package that was now visible on Nightshine's wing, but it was just cardboard, no markings or anything. I slowly walked back to the sofa before I heard the door slam shut and the sound of hoof steps coming closer.

"I'm going to try this on, can I ask you to do something for me when I come back here?" She asked. I watched as she waited for my response.

"Sure?" I questioned. She flew upstairs with the box in her hooves as I began to heave myself onto the sofa again. I relaxed instantly as I got back to the position that I was in previously and instantly sighed. Got to go to work tomorrow with an iffy leg! I thought. No response. That surprised me a little.

Nightshine approached the room before stepped in and saw me watching TV. She coughed and I turned to see her stood there. My jaw dropped as I saw the enchanted mare stood there, fully kitted up in the royal guard attire. I was completely stunned by her beauty!

Her armour was a mixture of a normal celestial guard, but had nocturnal guard designs on it. This surprised me a little, but maybe this was some sort of training armour? I thought.

"Yep! The Canterlot standard issue training armour. It shows the patterns because the pony wearing it is not part of either of the guards. Purple it celestial, and dark blue is nocturnal!" Colt stated. His knowledge was specifically better with the army and with firearms. Of course it was!

I snapped back to reality as the beautiful mare posed in different directions, showing off her armour more and more. She wore a smile on her face all the time as she turned about, almost as if she was dancing. I inspected the armour and admired the craftsmanship of it, as well as the craftsmanship of the pony underneath. My mare, to me at least, was the most beautiful mare I had ever met. She was gorgeous and sweet. I was right, Tremor really did miss out.

"So, what do you think?" She asked, snapping me out of my daze. I inspected her more and more. The armour seemed to fit in place, leaving no more room for things to slide through.

"You want my honest opinion? You look amazing! You look like a mare that could do so much better than a pony like me!" I stated with a hidden smile. She looked at me with a blush forming at her cheeks as she pushed herself onto me with her armour still on.

"Ahh! Hey! Thats cold you know!" I blurted out, raising in my voice. She instantly froze as I broke her from what seemed to be a seductive trance. She looked both angrily and sadly at me. I didn't just kill her lustful mood, I also made her feel bad. Great!

She got off quickly and I followed as she stood on all four hooves and I stood on three. "Get on your two hind hooves! That's an order!" I commanded with a slight blush. She did so as she flapped her wings to keep her from toppling over. I put pressure on my back hind hoof and then noticed that it wasn't that bad. I stood on two hooves as well, as I got to eye level with her. She wrapped her hooves around me and gave me a tight hug.

"This isn't as nice!" She stated before loosely shaking off the leg guards and taking the full chestplate off with her wings. She made it looked surprisingly simple, but it looked very difficult to take off. The lack of room made this look harder than it actually was.

She stepped away from her armour and was nude again. "Much better!" She said as she got on two hooves again and hugged me tightly. It did feel better to be able to feel her fur against mine. She looked fiercely into my eyes, lust driving her wild at the thought of having me for the rest of the night.

"Well Mist, we have all night to do whatever you want! What do you wanna do?" She asked, hoping that lust was driving me too. I pondered the thought for a second before I made up my mind.

"Let's go out and grab a coffee and some food!" I stated, getting a mixture of emotions flooding through Nightshine's face. The emotions ranged from anger for me not rutting her, to happiness and excitement because she was hungry. She looked at her armour and then back into my dark blue eyes.

"Ok, but first, I want to thank you for saving me earlier and thank you for everything that you have done to get me to where I am right now!" She stated surprisingly quickly before she locked he muzzle with mine for another long kiss. This had some passion behind it, and a lot of lust as well. I opened my mouth and felt a brief tingle on my leg. Her tail thrashed wildly on the same side as my bad leg. I grabbed her tail with my magic as I proceeded to kiss her back, allowing her to gain entry to my muzzle.

We broke the long kiss after about a minute and took the biggest gasp of air as we could to replace the oxygen that we needed from the kiss. She dragged me onto the sofa and laid on top of me.

"Why do you keep avoiding this? I know you want it as much as I do!" She stated as inaccurately as she could, being drunk by lust at this point. I didn't want it, she knew that, but still she wouldn't accept it. I dragged her closer to me.

"I don't want this yet… please!" I whispered in a whimper. She instantly stopped being lustful.

"Why what's wrong babe?" She asked, sounding troubled by my distress.

"I… I don't want to do it now. Maybe we can do it later… if that's ok!" I stated quietly.

She smiled and kissed my horn. Pleasure raced down it like she was kissing a certain part of my anatomy. I pushed her back a little before she looked worrily at me.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked. I nodded.

"Kissing my horn is like kissing…" I paused, pointing down at my crotch. She immediately started to blush bright red.

"Sorry, I didn't know!" She commented. I shook my hoof in her face and looked into her eyes before dragging her face closer to mine.

"Do you want to know why I don't want to do it now?" I questioned her. She nodded her head slowly and I sighed. "I was meant to do the same thing to my mare friend, for the first time, but she cheated on me after the Gala so I never got the chance." I added, gaining a stunned expression from Nightshine.

"So you're a virgin?" She asked curiously. I looked down at the floor to the left of me and then sighed as I nodded my head. She looked shocked and then came to hug me tight. "I'm so sorry!" She stated sadly.

I looked up at her and pressed my hooves against her chest. "I guess that there is a positive outcome from this! I get to lose it to someone who loves me and me only!" I stated quietly to her. She smiled a little more than usual.

"So… you wanna skip the coffee and food and go straight to it!" I stated calmly. Nightshine perked up quickly and rushed upstairs to the bedroom. I followed slowly as I climbed the stairs that lead to her bedroom.

I got to the top of the stairs and peeked through the door to see her ready. "Hey, I'll go easy on you!" She stated excitedly. I closed the door and then went to lie on the bed. She stopped me at the bed and kissed me quickly, before throwing down onto the bed.

I was in for one hell of a good night tonight! I thought. "Yes you are my friend. Yes you are!" Colt stated before being silent for the rest of the night.

My life was getting somewhere!
> Chapter 7: Imagining Immortality
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was in a bed with my mare! What we did last night shall not be spoken about… ever! All I can say about the night is that it really relaxing and not at all stressful for me, and it was also the best experience I had ever had.

I looked at my mare friend, that was sound asleep, before looking at the time. It was around 4 o'clock in the morning. What I wanted to know was why I was up this early after the events of last night? Colt didn't listen. He was still quiet inside my mind.

"Colt, you there?" I asked quietly. I could feel something inside my head shift, as I began to become light headed. Probably from the events of last night.

"Yes? You called?" He called from the confines of my head. I shook my head to try and evaporate the light headedness, but I wasn't successful at all.

"Just wanted to see if you were ok?" I commanded lightly, trying not to startle him in my head. I found that he was a little out of it. This shocked me a tiny bit.

"I'm fine, just that I was put through 2 hours of you two going at it. It makes me wish that I could have joined in!" He stated sadly, within the confines of my head, like a prison that he couldn't escape. I sighed at the thought, feeling bad that he couldn't enjoy the actions that were being demonstrated during the night.

"Sorry that you had to go through it!" I stated, still feeling bad for him. He then smiled and began to echo his voice inside my head as he began to laugh.

"Don't be sorry, you do remember that I said that I could feel what you feel right?" He announced inside my head, gaining an unexpected blush from my cheeks, as they grew brighter. " Oh yes, I felt everything you felt bud! The only reason why I am a little upset is because it isn't my Whiplash!" He stated clearly. I sighed before thinking of his stallion.

"What does he look like?" I asked, trying to paint a picture in my head.

"Don't worry about it! I'm sure that you'll see him soon enough!" He stated with a brief echo. I paused at the sound of it and regained my sense of time shortly after. I was going to have a shower. Colt had to watch me.

I pondered on the thought for a minute before he butted in. "I won't look bud, I promise!" He stated, reassuring me instantly as I quietly rushed out of bed and into the shower.

Time seemed to have flew past as 6 o'clock drew closer. I was watching TV on the sofa and trying to enjoy it before I had to race off to work shortly. I hear the clopping of hooves approaching me. Nightshine entered the room. She could see that I was ready for work and looked at the time.

"How long have you been up for?" She asked curiously, as she drew closer and closer to me. A smile grew on my face as she bumped her nose against mine as we both smiled, while gazing into each other's deeply coloured eyes. She then proceeded to kiss my nose lightly, gaining a little blush of amusement from me as she did so.

"So we both have work to do!" She stated calmly, as she grabbed her armour that was still in the same position as she left it last night. She slipped the armour on with ease as she then tightened up all of the straps on her pads before looking at me.

"Right then, I'm off!" She announced. "I need to lock the door, so you need to be out of the house, since I only have one key!" She stated quietly as she pushed me out with her head and wings. I stumbled out onto the grass of her front garden and sighed as I laid there.

"I'll get another key made for you if you want to stay with me!" She stated hesitantly. I shook my head as she looked at me on the grass.

"I'll be alright, it's not my house, so it isn't my rules!" I blurted out. She looked blankly at me before sighing.

"I got to get to work!" She stated as she then vanished in a flash as she spread her wings and flew away. I stayed on the grass as I pondered the thought of moving in with her. I had only met her a couple days ago, it was way too quick for that! I thought. Colt agreed, with nothing else to say.

I slowly began to make my way to the bar. Taking as much time as I could. I found it to be quite relaxing, walking this slowly. Not only did it allow me to admire the sights from a different light, as the sun shone on everything, it also made me able to waste time. I arrived and sat outside for about five minutes, taking in some of the day. I was going to be inside for the rest of it anyway.

"Hey Mist!" Stated someone behind me. I looked around instantly and saw one of the employees, stood under some shade. I raised my hoof with some effort as I waved to her. She smiled and then went back to looking about under the protection of a roof, protecting her from the sun's rays.

I got up with the keys I had, and vigorously tried to open the door. It unlocked with a crack of the lock and I opened the door to see a nightmare of a situation.

The bar had been ransacked, from top to bottom! It took me a moment to respond to the scene as my muzzle hung open in the air. I went inside to look at the chaos that occurred here and was completely shocked. As I looked back at the door, I could make out Storm standing out at the door.

"You sure that you hired builders?" I asked, looking back at the mess. Tables and chairs were broke and flipped over. The next thought that raced through my mind was one that I didn't want to wait around for. I rushed to the storage room and looked around. They had been builders, because the room was a lot bigger than the last time I saw it.

I looked at the still locked refrigerator unit, where we stored most of the drinks and sighed. The lock was still on, barely! I looked closer at it. It looked like somepony had came in after the builders were finished. I found that the lock was partially broken on one side, but was still locked. I tried to put the key in to open it, but the key now wouldn't fit in it properly. This was a disaster! I looked back at the door to the storage room and remembered that I didn't need to unlock. I worried at the thought of it and turned to look at the window. It was broken, just enough that a small pony could fit through it. I began to worry!

I raced out and saw Storm on the phone. I assumed that he would be calling the guard to come her and investigate what had happened here. He then cut off his phone call and asked for all of us to come to him. He was still stood in the doorway as he was before I had left to check the storage room.

"We need to get to the bottom of this!" He prompted. We all nodded in unison as we all looked at each other.

"Should we review the camera footage?" I asked with scepticism. He smiled and nodded in my direction.

"Good idea Mist! I have called some guards to come and investigate the scene here. They shall be here any minute now!" He stated calmly. "As for work, it shall remain off for a couple of days sadly." He added, getting a couple of sighs and yells of joy from us all. I was amongst the sighing group. My work was the only distraction I had from the everyday problems that occured and I kind of enjoyed working at the bar.

As soon as I was done processing my ramblings, with Colt listening to them, I noticed that the guards had arrived. There was a stallion, a mare and a recruit wearing a mask with the same armour that Nightshine was wearing. Their mane was combed over to one side and looked kind of cool. It was also really straight, but it was the same colour as Nightshine's mane.

What gave it away was the ears. As well as them being splayed back, they were different to normal pony ears. They were clearly bat pony ears! Her wings were covered in a thick black cape, that seemed to reflect back little amounts of light from it. I was only fixated on her. I was nearly 100 percent sure that it was her.

She took off the helmet with golden crimson eyes lighting up the room. She scanned the area before looking at everypony to check that they were ok. The two other guards turned to brief her on what they were doing. I overhead that her assignment was to make sure that everypony was alright. I looked back at the bar as I slumped against the counter, or what remained of it.

Several minutes went by as the guards got ponies on their way. I was still lent against the counter as Nightshine walked up to me.

"Sir, are you alright?" She asked carefully. I sighed and then looked up to the TV that was smashed with a blunt object. I then slowly turned to her with a mixture of emotions on my face. She paused as she stared at me, realising that my job was here.

"Yeah, I guess I'll have to be Night." I stated sadly. She still didn't move. I felt a little bad for her. "Sorry about this!" I added, snapping her back into reality. She shook her head before looking at the other two guards as they came back in.

"This pony is experiencing a little bit of stress! Should I stay with him to make him relax a little more?" She asked the other two guards as they approached me. I didn't look bothered at all and they smiled. They looked back at her, smiles sinking into their faces as they began to laugh.

"He... he's fine you know! We know that you two are together! We saw you both at the event on Friday." One of them stated, pointing her hoof at me.

"Are you sure that all of the others are alright?" The other one stated. Nightshine simply nodded. He looked at me with a grin. "He's all yours, but keep an eye on the others, please!" He added. Nightshine lit up with glee as she took my hoof and began to fly out of the room. She didn't count on me being resistant to fly again, and stopped at the sight of me pulling her back.

"What's wrong?" She asked, carefully getting on her hooves again. I smiled as she was on the floor and walked past her.

"You have legs for a reason!" I blurted out, still smiling at her. "I like your mane! What did they do to make it like that?" I added, questioning her. She touched her mane with a hoof and stroked along it.

"They used magic to style my mane. It felt great! Just like last night!" She stated with a slight blush and a wink in my direction. I blushed a little too much and I smiled awkwardly at her.

"Yeah… please don't talk about that!" I stated, trying to get away from the topic. I sat on my haunches and closed my eyes slowly, almost like I was trying to relax. She crouched down and held my cheek. I then slowly opened my eyes.

"The only thing I'm going to brag about is how good it was!" She whispered in my ear. I blushed even more.

"Please... " I stated, looking down at the floor. She kissed me on the horn as a tingle of pleasure shot down my spine. I recoiled and then relaxed as she smiled at me with comforting eyes. 

"Don't worry, I won't if it makes you feel better. I won't talk about it in public." She tried to convince me. She walked beside me and sat down.

"So what's it like being a guard then?" I asked, staring into her beautiful eyes. She hesitated before looking at her hooves.

"Patrolling around the castle, trying to get from point A to point B to point C, at the same time as everyone else." She stated quietly. "It's just walking around and a little paperwork. That's about it I guess." She quickly added.

"Do you enjoy it though?" I asked, hoping that she did. She nodded and frowned.

"I do enjoy it… it's just that it isn't what I thought it would be. I thought that it would be fighting or something along those lines." She spoke clearly. I shook my head.

"You didn't think that I was falsely convinced in working at a bar. You didn't think that it would be bar fights all the time did you?" I questioned.

Nightshine's ears perked up as she heard a guard shouting. She turned her head to look at a pegasus that was running away from our direction. She loosened the cape and I grabbed it with my magic and literally slipped it off her body with my magic as she turned to me with a smile.

"Go get them then!" I commanded. Without hesitation, she disappeared into the sky and then hurled herself down at the pegasus, before they could fly away. Nightshine plummeted down onto the pegasus just before I was able to blink. Now that was a mare I did not want to chase me, I thought. 

Colt agreed. "Yep! You ain't getting away from that bat!" He stated quickly as I fixed my eyes on the pegasus from where I was.

They were light grey with a bright blue and green mane. I was surprised that they came out of the bar. I probably would have stayed inside until they left. He must have been hiding somewhere.

Nightshine had them pinned. She sat on them and placed her hooves on theirs, preventing them from being able to move. I guessed that she weighed significantly more with her armour on. Probably some weight altering spell or something like that.

The guards picked up the pegasus after Nightshine slowly got to her hooves. She eyed them like they were her next meal. That kind of scared me a little.

One of the guards vanished in a puff of smoke as the other stayed behind, probably to keep an eye on Nightshine. I got up and slowly began to walk in their direction. I took a quick glance over to the bar, just to check that another pony wouldn't be coming out. I caught a glance at a pony I didn't know in the bar, sneaking about quietly.

Nightshine was proud of herself! I was as well, but this pony was sneaking about, trying to either steal more, or get away, and that other pony must have been a distraction.

Nightshine looked at me and was a little confused as I slowly placed her cape on the ground. I slowly looked at her and then back at the thief in the bar. I was going to catch him! I slammed the door open, shocking the stallion in place. They froze at the sight of a unicorn in the doorway. That unicorn was me.

They rushed away and knocked over a glass, which then smashed. That got a strange curious look from the guard and a hungry look from Nightshine.

I used my speed to catch up to the fleeing stallion. He smashed through the broken window in the storage room, leaving glass shards everywhere. He had many cuts and bruises at this point. I leapt out the same window, but caught my back, neck and back left hind leg on a very sharp piece of glass. This proceeded to cut me deeply, almost as deep as the wound on my right hind leg. Actually, screw that! The cuts were significantly deeper than the one on my leg. Blood fell from the wounds as I continued to give chase to the criminal.

He began to stumble and slow as I began to catch up with him. I took a risk that instantly worked and leapt for him. I tackled him and brought him to the floor. We slid for a second before I pinned him to the ground.

"This is what happens when you run!" I said insanely, as blood dripped off my fur and down onto his back. He looked up at the bloody mess that I now was. I was glad that I wasn't able to feel the pain at this moment because if I was, I would be in agony!

I pinned his head to the floor with my magic as Nightshine landed on the floor beside me. "What happened to you Mist?" She asked, pain growing in her chest as she looked at me with horror.

I didn't look at her, only at this stallion that ruined my job. He didn't completely ruin it, just made a distraction from me doing something that I liked.

"Get the other guard here or pin him down for me!" I stated, anger rising in my voice, due to both the growing pain across my body and the mule below me still trying to struggle. I began to feel light headed as I kept my eyes firmly planted on the horse.

He kept looking to my side and then back at me, almost like he saw my weapon in the holder beside me. He pushed up with all his might to get me off him. Surprisingly, he managed to make me get off him, as I lost grip on him. He drew out the knife from my holder with his hoof and placed it dangerous close to my throat.

I looked at Nightshine, who still didn't move as the guard she was with stood behind the thief. "Drop the weapon!" The guard shouted at the top of her lungs. She had her focus on a spear like item. It looked weird to me, but it would have been quite effective in multiple situations.

The stallion turned slightly and I took my chance to turn around. With a swift motion, I turned around and balanced on my forehooves, before lifting my legs up backwards, towards the stallion's head. I made contact with the stallion. I didn't use all of my force that I could, but I used a lot of force. The sound of my powerful hind legs hitting the back of his skull was horrible.

His body went stiff and locked up instantly. I winced as a rippling pain tore through my back and back left hoof. The stallion was on the floor at this point, and I was close to joining him. I turned slightly to see the guard looking at me with amazement and shock. She froze as she looked at my body. Dark red covered most of my fur and my mane was slightly red too. Nightshine looked down at the stallion and shook her head. She walked towards the stallion and then touched him, trying to get a response.

"Nothing!" She stated. She knew that I hadn't killed him, and she knew that I knocked him out with a simple buck to the head. What she didn't understand was why I was still up, or why I was still conscious. She slowly looked up to me and scanned over me with her eyes. "You need to get to a hospital!" She commanded. I didn't listen as I walked past them both and smashed the window fully before hopping in through it.

Blood began to drop on the floor as I made my way to the front. I could make out a crowd of ponies forming around the entrance and I froze. I looked to see Storm talking to the commander of the guard. I slowly began to walk again, trying as hard as I could to get back to my normal walking speed, but I failed.

I was spotted by Storm and was painfully reminded that he was my boss. His jaw dropped as I looked at him with no pain, just anger. He quickly walked inside, with the commander quickly following.

"What the hell happened?" Storm asked, wanting desperately to know the answer. I didn't speak, or at least I couldn't. I had too little air remaining in my lungs to force out the answer. I began to well up with tears in my eyes. I shot past him and stumbled outside.

The world went from loudly chatting to nothing within a second of me getting identified in the sunlight. I pushed past them and began my short trip home. I needed something that only I had available.

I was losing blood quickly and didn't want to bleed out from just these major cuts.

I needed to put this right, even if it was the last thing I would do...
> Chapter 8: Family Forever
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hospital was about a 10 minute journey. My home was a 5 minute journey. I stopped outside my home and fumbled with my keys with my hooves. I was too distracted to be able to hold my keys with my magic. I got the key in the hole and twisted it until it clicked.

I opened the door quickly and headed upstairs. I needed to get to my bedroom! I thought frantically. I paced to the top of the stairs and lashed out at the wall next to me, due to me being in so much pain. I winced as I was still losing blood. It wasn't as much as at the bar, but it still was significant enough to make me wince. I slammed open the door to my room with my head and then rushed over to the draw, next to my bed.

I pulled the draw lightly, as my vision started to pulsate from clear to blurred every second. I could feel my light headedness peaking soon and then I would be dead. I continued to lightly pull the draw until a little hatch appeared in my line of sight. I quickly stumbled the hatch open!

Inside the hatch was a gun, some bullets for it, and a potion that still contained it's contents. The potion was the first thing I grabbed. I pulled off the lid and chugged it down.

This was a gift from my from Colt's father. He learned to brew potions from certain leaves and plants. I found this amazing at the time and wanted to know how it worked. He brewed a potion that could repair all tissue damage on the target. Sadly, there was some negative points to this. Colt's father messed up on an ingredient, adding a little too much to the recipe and then found out the hard way.

He cut his hoof a little and drank a little of the drink. It healed him for his injury, but then left a scar on his body. He was very annoyed by this and offer it to me and Colt at the time. I accepted it and then looked up at Colt's father. He warned me and Colt to never drink this, unless it was an emergency. We both nodded in unison before we kept the potions in a safe place. I then transferred it here, to keep it safe.

Now the time had come to drink it! I didn't care about the scars at all. I just wanted to get back to normal. I could feel the potion going to work, but it didn't feel right. I slowly walked to the bathroom and looked at the mirror. One of my eyes was dark red, almost as red as the blood on my fur. My wounds were slowly closing, but they left a whitish mark on my skin underneath my fur. They were very visible as they grew and grew, until it stopped when my wounds were healed. All that remained was the white scars on my skin, my fur being stained dark red, and now my red eye.

I sighed as I looked myself over. I was now a walking mess! I would have died by the time that I had gotten to the hospital. I concentrated on the marks for a quick second. I kind of looked like a zebra with these scars on me. It stood out around my dark blue fur. It was like an inverted zebra pattern. I kind of liked it! I thought.

"So that's where you put dad's potion!" Colt stated quietly in my mind. I nodded in the mirror at his response.

I didn't have much free time to think because just then, I heard the door in the next room getting slammed open. I could hear frantic hoof steps approaching me. It sounded like two or three ponies heading in my direction. I held my blade out by my side with my magic as they closed the distance to the bathroom.

I froze as I saw Nightshine looking at me with a mixture of horror and relief. She paused at the entrance as the other guard pony stood behind her. The guard pony drew out her spear again. This time pointing it towards me!

"Drop the weapon!" She shouted at me. She was interrupted by the stallion guard as he approached the door, being behind Nightshine. He lowered the spear with his magic as he looked at the female guard.

"It's ok! It's Mist for crying out loud. I think that he should be able to raise his weapon in self defence when we burst into his house. He does also have a license to have that blade!" The stallion stated, with a smile in my direction.

I looked back at him cautiously and then placed my weapon back in the holder. They all stared at me with confusion and wonder.

"Long story short, I healed myself with a potion that I had!" I blurted out to them. The lost the concerned look, which was replaced by a look of sympathy. I didn't realise it, but Nightshine was quietly crying. I slowly walked up to her and held her cheek with my hoof.

"I need to get out of Canterlot for a couple of days. I didn't want to spend any longer in a hospital bed, so I drank a potion that healed me instantly, but leaving scars in their place." I announced to her and the guards. She looked at me with shock, as I magically sat her on the ground and pushed her backwards playfully. "Why are you crying?" I asked quietly, only loud enough that she could hear.

"Because I don't want to see the ones I love in pain!" She blurted out with a little whimper, so that only I could hear. I stared into her pretty eyes for a second before looking up at the others.

"Could you give us a minute?" I asked. The both nodded with a slight blush present on both of their faces. They closed the door and stepped away.

I looked back down at my mare and assaulted her neck with little kisses. This made her gasp quietly with happiness and I pulled away from her neck for a second.

"Finish me off!" She whispered quietly. I didn't hesitate as I rammed my muzzle against her muzzle. She moaned softly around my mouth as she relaxed into it. I opened my mouth and slipped my tongue into her mouth for a brief second before then pulling away.

"Was I really great last night?" I asked loudly, hoping that the guards could hear. She nodded.

"Of course you were! Never had a stallion rut me like that in years!" She announced proudly, a deep blush spreading across her face.

She began to stroke my face as I nuzzled into her fur. She shivered as she felt the new scar that I had acquired on my neck. I felt her shiver and rubbed her cheek with a forehoof. We both managed to keep eye contact with each other as we continued to feel each other. I began to have one or two lewd thoughts about my mare being in this position, but I quickly wiped those thoughts out of my head in an instant as the guards knocked on the door.

I rolled off Nightshine with a sigh and opened the door. They were both stood there, probably waiting for Nightshine. "Nightshine! We need to go!" The stallion calmly commanded. Nightshine got up off her back and wrapped a hoof around me and embraced me with a hug, before heading past me and down the stairs. I followed shortly after and they slammed the door shut.

Again, I was alone! Colt was here though, so I could never literally be alone anymore, but I felt like I was at this point. I walked over to the blood that pooled on the floor and sighed.

"Better get that up before it stains the carpet!" I stated to Colt loudly. I rushed to the cupboard downstairs and filled up a bucket with a fluid that washed away any stains that it was placed on. I thought it was magic at first, then I found out that it was indeed chemicals that got the stains out.

I returned to the spot and began to scrub. It took me about two minutes to clean it up. I then returned the bucket to the cupboard while pouring the now horrible contents of the aftermath into the sink.

I walked upstairs to the bathroom and closed the door as I proceeded to have a shower, washing off all of the dust and blood that had gathered on my coat. It took me about 10 minutes to clean myself and dry myself off.

I walked downstairs, into the living room and plopped myself down on the sofa. I didn't know what to for a second before a thought hit me.

I walked to the bookshelf in the living room and picked up a book called 'Magic and You' and then returned to the sofa. I flipped the pages over until I came to the section that I wanted. Teleportation! I read the spell and tried to do it shortly after. It worked partially. I teleported a small object. It vanished without a trace before being thrown several meters, before hitting the wall. I tried again and again. This was just a case of trial and error.

After about an hour of trying and failing, it worked. It finally worked! I teleported the gun to me with my magic and loaded it by teleporting a magazine to my side. I slide the magazine into the weapon and slid the chamber back to load the first bullet in. I teleported the weapon back to the hatch and sighed.

"Just in case I need it!" I stated to Colt, inside my head. He didn't reply, but I knew that he got the message. I didn't need approval. All I needed was a single word that would tell me that he didn't want to go through the actions.

"This will make me happy Mist! They live down the road from where I used to." He briefly stated. I began to walk to the door and paused. I looked at a cap that I used to where there. I placed the cap on my head as I stumbled outside and closed the door to my house. I then locked the door with ease, before turning around and walking down towards Colt's house. It was a long walk, but at least it wasn't a painful one. After about 15 minutes, I arrived at Colt's home.

There were some ponies inside. The home consisted of some of his closest friends, that weren't me. I really wanted to knock on the door, but a force prevented me from doing so. They bought the home not too long ago. They were going to leave a section to remember Colt, but I guessed that they needed to try to forget about him. It would have been painful otherwise.

Colt guided me in the direction of the area that I wanted to go and I paused as he stated that I had arrived at the house. I slowly knocked on the door and waited. A pegasus walked out to greet me.

"Hello! M...may I have a quick talk with you Whiplash?" I asked, using his name, which stunned him a little. The whitish orange pegasus looked at me with confusion.

"Umm… how did you get my name? I haven't seen you around have I?" He asked repetitively. I nodded my head.

"I was Colt's best mate!" I stated, getting a smile from the pegasus.

"Did he do it then? Is he inside your head?" He asked. I just looked at him with shock. "He didn't ask for your permission did he?" Whiplash added. I shook my head. "Feel free to come in!" He stated as he opened the door with his wing tip.

"Yeah! He's in my head alright! The little shit!" I whispered, gaining a smile from Whiplash as Colt began to chuckle. I stepped in and held my head for a second before shaking my head.

"Mist… can you grab something for me?" Colt asked. "Can you go to the bookshelf in the living room and pick up a book called 'dopplegangers'!" He added slowly.

"Why dopplegangers?" I asked with confusion. He didn't answer. I walked slowly up to the bookshelf and picked up the book and turned it to the first page with my magic. It was a hologram spell.

"Colt! It will take ages to learn this with my ability!" I pointed out loudly. This was caught by a voice running into the room in response to this. Firerush rushed into the room with an excited smile on his face, to be completely replaced upon seeing me.

"Oh… hi Mist!" Firerush stated, a smile slowly forming on his face. I stayed away from Firerush as he drew closer. I wanted to tell him that his dad was still here, but he was stuck inside of me. He was inside my head After all! I look down at Firerush as he rushed to give me a hug, I quickly embraced him as he drew closer.

He hugged me like I was Colt. Like I was his dad. I wasn't far from it because he was inside of me. I huffed a small breath and sighed. "Colt is inside my head!" I calmly stated to him. He froze from the saying, but he then instantly got what I meant.

"Oh, so dad is inside your head is it? He did love you nearly as much as Whiplash!" He stated, a firm blush becoming present on Whiplash's face. I smiled as I hugged Whiplash with some fatherly pride. I knew that Colt could feel every action, so I was sure to hug Whiplash as best as I could.

"Stop it Colt!" I commanded as picture after picture flew by my vision. I could thank Colt for those lewd thoughts of Whiplash! I wanted him to be happy after all. I stayed for several hours before heading off in the direction of Canterlot, or the center of it at least. I frowned as I left the homestead of Whiplash and Firerush. I liked them like I did my family, or extended family at least.

I headed back to my house and unlocked the door as I found nothing waiting for me. I was home, but not for long.
> Chapter 9: Healthy Heartaches
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn't want to get to sleep, as there was something else that I needed to know. I opened the bathroom door and then stared into the endless blue that was my reflection. I had gotten worse every day! I thought. Colt silently approved this, further enhancing my thought.

I was a mess! Scars and marks littered my now lifeless like form. I wanted all of this to go back to how it was. The only thing I wouldn't change would be the mare that was now in my life. She was so much more beautiful than the mare friend that I originally had. One million times over! I wanted Colt to be alive! I wanted Colt to be happy!

I was interrupted by a knock at the door. I slowly eased my way down the stairs and stopped at the door. I slowly opened it and then held in the sight before me.

It was Nightshine! She didn't have her armour on and she looked slightly annoyed. I looked into her golden eyes as she pierced her pupils in my direction.

"Your not going anywhere yet are you?" She asked, with a little hesitation. I nodded my head as I could feel something about to happen.

"I've already been out and have literally just got back!" I announced with a little concern. She instantly lost the strange emotions that I could feel and smiled a little. I she walked in with a smile and sat on the floor behind me. I closed the door and turned to face her.

"So… how are things then? Also, where did you go to?" She asked constantly. I paused her with a hoof to her muzzle. She was obviously excited about something, but what?

"I'm good! I went to see Colt's colt and stallion." I stated blankly. She smiled at me even more.

"So… the guards have invited me to go to a Gala, and I wanted to know if you wanted to come too. I wanted to know if you wanted to be my date for the night!" She awkwardly put it.

I was stunned by this for many reasons, but one of them she picked out instantly. "I know that it might make you think that it would end badly because of your ex, but I truly love you Mist!" She responded, blushing furiously at the words. I was still stunned at this point. My mind had to make a simple decision, but why was it so hard?

I looked down at my hooves and thought. Not only did I have to look good, with a suit and my mane brushed, I had to know that my mare friend might find somepony else that she liked other than me. My heart was racing at this point. The thoughts began to overwhelm me as I went into a mini panic attack.

Nightshine took notice of this and quickly rushed to my side. She rubbed my back with a hoof as she tried to help me deal with this. I began to have vivid memories of the events and in a way, it emotionally scarred me. I needed her there, before and after the Gala, if I was going that was.

My breaths were still long and strong, like the oxygen levels were low on the level that I was standing on. Nightshine meant the world to me… i didn't want to ever lose her. She knew that.

Trying to make me more relaxed, Nightshine slowly nuzzled my neck and moaned softly into my fur, sending vibrations through my entire body. I could tell that she was going for the weak approach at this point. Her ears splayed back as she looked worryingly into my eyes.

"I'm yours Mist! You are the only one who could tame me!" She announced quietly, like she was actually scared of making a bad move. I looked at the door and then down to my mare friend. I began to blush again when I saw her laid down on the floor, belly point to the sky and legs spread. I look back at the door instantly and she sighed.

"Look, if you're this worried about it, don't go! I'm ok with whatever you want!" She stated quietly, regaining sanity from her lust. "Or if you want, I could let you rut me! We would need a safeword for it if we did!" She added. My cheeks were practically burning!

"No! Just no!" I blurted out, a smile grazing my face. The smile wasn't a happy one, just one to make her stop saying those stupid things. I slowly got up and walked to the bathroom, Nightshine followed me there, probably just to make sure that I wasn't going to do anything stupid like hurting myself or something. I walked over to the sink and turned on the cold water tap. I waited for the water to go ice cold, before throwing it over myself with my magic.

Nightshine squeaked, as a little amount of water hit her fur, surprising her instantly. I looked at her and then I sighed. "My bad!" I quietly admitted. She walked up behind me after I had turned back to the sink and began rubbing my sides with her wings.

"You are tense and tired. If you lie on your stomach, I could give you a little massage if you want!" She quietly whispered into my ear. I pondered on the thought for a quick minute before looking at her and walking into my bedroom.

"Fine! I guess you can… if that's what you want to do." I sadly admitted. I laid down on the bed on my stomach and Nightshine flew into the air with a frightening creek from the floor, as she then landed with a soft hop, onto the bed beside me. She then sat down and began to rub my fur with both her hooves and wings. I was in bliss, for the third time.

I relaxed in an instant and began to feel like I was instantly at a spa. Her movements over my back were complete harmony to my back muscles. I sighed as I relaxed into her warm touch. She kept going for minutes as my mind was inches away from drifting away. I didn't want to daydream, I wanted to enjoy the blissful moment of pure ecstasy as she loosened the muscles in my back. I was tempted to start swearing with how much I was enjoying it, but I wanted to keep silent, so that I wouldn't ruin the moment.

"Quit your guard job and work in a Celestia damn spa for crying out loud!" I moaned out aloud, quickly covering my muzzle with a hoof. "Sorry!" I added quickly after.

"So you're enjoying it are you?" She asked with a sheepish grin. I turned over to face her, knocking her over onto her side as she continued to gaze at me. I nodded and then rolled on top of her. I gained a very prominent blush from her as she looked at me with a mixture of emotions, consisting of both confusion and lustfulness.

"I need to show you how good it feels!" I stated with a smile and a slight blush, before I began to massage her chest. She instantly relaxed and let out a soft moan, which she then quickly proceeded to block her mouth with her hoof, blushing even more. I let out a slight chuckle at her response.

"Enjoying it much! Well… now at least you know how good it feels! You've had a long day at work, and now it is time to relax!" I blurted out quietly. She gave me a seductive smile as she held my hooves with her own hooves, as mine continued to move along her fur, massaging her chest and stomach.

"I love you Mist!" She muttered out as she looked into my eyes, still blushing. I moved a hoof to her cheek and massaged it gently.

"I love you too Night!" I quietly announced. I continued to rub her cheek as she then slapped my hoof away with her wing, before lifting herself up, pressing her muzzle forcefully into mine. My eyes went wide from the sudden action and then closed almost instantly as she knocked me onto my back. I swore that we kept alternating positions to try to be on top of each other.

She broke the kiss and looked out the window to see that it had just begun to rain, thunder and flood. "I just want to spend time with you, that's all I could ask for!" She blurted out, still staring out the window. "Want to go for a walk?" She asked shortly after. I looked out at the rain and thunder with a frown then looked back at her, a smile quickly growing on my muzzle. I nodded and launched her off me in a playful manner and rushed downstairs to the door.

Nightshine squeaked and flew after me, slamming herself into the door so that it wouldn't open. I picked her up with my magic and she squeaked loudly, hurting my ears in the process and making me lose focus of her with my magic. I dropped her and she pushed me back out of the way of the door, before opening it and flying out. I regained my senses and rushed out of the house, closing and locking the door in an instant behind me.

I stepped into the inky black downpour that was constantly battering my fur and mane with water droplets. I looked around for Nightshine, but I couldn't see her anywhere. She was definitely here though, because I could hear the faint screeching of a bat pony. My bat pony!

I began to trot down the now slick road, to be interrupted by a crackle of thunder and lightning. It wasn't my favourite type of weather, but at that point in time, I didn't care at all for anything other than my mare. I could hear the swoosh of wings pass me to my left. I looked in that direction and saw nothing. Out of nowhere, I could see the glistening of crimson eyes, piercing out of the darkness to illuminate me in her sights.

I stopped completely to look at Nightshine. Her eyes were very visible and made the street lights look like cheap jokes. Her fangs were present as she flashed them at me, scarring me slightly in the process. Lightning flashed behind me, lighting up her whole form as she stared at me like I was some type of bat pony pray. She was hung upside down, gazing into my soul. I did feel like she was my soulmate after all, so I didn't mind this. It was just the way that looked at me, baring her fangs, that threw me off a little.

"You like the weather then Night?" I asked as she flew out from her hiding place. She gave me a blank look, in the air, before she landed beside me and began to slowly walk along the road, hinting for me to follow. I did as I was instructed and followed her, instantly catching up to her.

"I do indeed enjoy it… but there is something that I want to speak to you about." She stated with a soft smile. I looked around and saw a bench on one side of the road. I pointed to it as Nightshine looked at me. She turned to see a bench that stood out under the moonlight. It looked like Luna herself had placed this bench just for us to just talk on. It was in the perfect setting for it.

We both sat on the bench, which was surprisingly dry for where it had been. That made me think that the princess of the night was watching us. Nightshine looked at me with a small smile on her muzzle and sighed, holding mine and her hooves together.

"You wanna tell me what's on your mind then Night?" I asked, trying to be as caring as I could. She nodded and hugged me instantly. Our wet fur colliding with one another's and our manes slapped together as we pressed out heads together. She released me from the hug and then looked into my dark blue eyes, that barely stood out in the dark.

"I… I can't thank you enough for everything that has happened in the past couple of days! I have had my ups and downs, but nothing comes close to the time we have spent together. I love you, more than I have any other stallion, or even mare for that matter." Nightshine admitted, as I began to smile. "I don't think that anypony else can compare to you! You're smart, you're kind, you're funny and you're also too good… to good for me!" She blurted out. I began to frown at her negative emotions and continued to listen. "You're everything that is meant to be good in a stallion! You're the perfect stallion in fact! I don't think that a mare like me deserves a stallion like you. I know that you are going to say don't be stupid or something, but I'm generally worried that…" she pause as I kissed her tightly on the muzzle. She was tense at first, but then loosened up a couple of seconds in. I didn't want her to have such negative emotions running through her mind. So I improvised and made her shut up before she said something that she shouldn't.

I broke the kiss and held her cheek with a forehoof. "Don't you dare say that you are not good enough or that you might lose me! I'm far from perfect and it is the imperfections that link us together to make our bond so special. At least you are a pony that I can trust!" I blurted out with the slightest of blushes. "I will never leave you, unless you leave me!" I quickly added.

She paused to think and I saw her become more stressed. Her ears splayed back and she looked very sheepish and shy. "I… I'll never leave you Mist!" She quietly whispered, giving me a slight smile through her anxious look. I hugged her tightly again and wrapped my hooves together behind her back, not allowing her to break the hug. I then proceeded to nuzzle into her neck and sighed in contentment.

"Well then… it's settled! We are stuck with each other!" I commanded with a wicked grin. She smiled seductively at me and nuzzled into my neck too. We didn't care about the rain. All we cared about was each other!

About 2 minutes later, we broke the hug and looked at each other. "I guess that I have to get a suit, if I'm still going with you!" I explained. She perked up at that sound and jumped off the bench, sending me with her. I hit the floor with a loud 'splash' and looked up at Nightshine. She looked at me and instantly gasped.

"Sorry! I am so sorry!" She quickly blurted out in panic. I pressed my hoof to her muzzle and laughed quietly.

"We both worry too much!" I stated loudly. She held out her hoof and pulled me up, shortly after I accepted her offer. I was now soaked, both from the rain and the puddle on the floor. "I have a suit already, but I need to go home to check that it still fits." I stated with a smirk. She flew up and then hovered by my side.

"Am I staying the night with you or what?" She questioned me. I looked at her with a little amusement.

"When is the Gala?" I asked, not sure what to do at this point. My nerves began to try to take control of my body, but I fought off the urge to begin shaking.

"Tomorrow night!" She stated flatly. I pondered the thought a little more and then came to the conclusion.

"Ok… I'll go, but only if you say with me while I am there!" I commanded. She nodded and then became a little confused at the statement.

"Why's that?" She asked with curiosity. I looked up at the flash of lightning above and shivered.

"Because my ex left me to be alone for most of the night. Also, I want to enjoy it with you, not without you!" I quietly informed her. She looked a little puzzled and then held her hoof on my chest.

"I won't ever leave you! I might have to go for some work related stuff, but I would never want to leave you behind." She stated clearly. "I would never chat to another mare or stallion seductively without your permission… ok?" She added hesitantly, ending with a question. I nodded and sighed.

"I really have to stop worrying about this!" I angrily admitted to myself. I pushed onwards back down the road. "I need to check that my old suit still fits! You coming?" I asked. She instantly flapped her wings and sawed to the sky. I lost sight of her within a heartbeat. I took that as a hungry yes and marched forward, trying to reach my home so that I could dry myself off.

It took me a couple of minutes to get in from the intense shower and I locked the door after Nightshine flew in past me. She was soaked, I was too, but not as bad as her. Her mane and fur looked like it had been made together, like it was almost one. It made her look like she had plastic around her, but she didn't. I began to dry myself off with a blow dryer from the front room. Don't ask me why I kept it there, I had no idea.

I began to dry myself off when Nightshine grabbed my hoof, forcing me to look up. She pointed at the blow dryer and then turned around with a sheepish, wicked grin.

"I could make a pun and say blow me first, but I didn't think that it would fit for the situation that we are in." She chuckled. I smiled at the stupid pun and giggled slightly. My sense of humour was great. I would laugh at most jokes and puns, even though they weren't that good. I got to work on her fur first, guiding the hot air over her back and wings, with my magic. I looked at her in amazement as she stretched out both her wings, until she was at full wing span. She was the beautiful one in the relationship for sure. I spent several minutes drying her back, wings, neck and hooves. I even went there and dried her more private areas. I still respected her privacy, but I had to look at what I was drying. She snatched the dryer out of my magic with her mouth and pushed me back.

"My turn!" She said in a seductive manner. I could only blush at that moment. She pushed me up, until I was balanced on two hooves. I was in a zebra stance at the moment. It was surprisingly comfy to stand like that. Not only was Nightshine able to clean me more easily, she was also getting closer and closer to my private areas.

"Nightshine! No!" I blurted out in a loud shout, treating her like a tamed animal. She had hungry eyes staring directly at my crotch. "Do it and I won't go to the Gala with you!" I roared out with a mixture of both scaredness and anger. She instantly looked up at me and continued to dry off the rest of my body.

She finished drying me off and looked at me as she spat out the dryer. "Later?" She asked in a sad voice, like I had taken something from her. I nodded slowly and watched as a smile crept across her face. I walked slowly up the stairs and entered my bedroom. I opened a wardrobe and grabbed the neatly placed suit. I slammed the door shut and walked into the bathroom and tried it on. I closed and locked the door to prevent Nightshine from watching. I could hear a sigh from on the opposite side of the door. It fitted I thought. Colt was silently judging it as I began to take it off.

"Is that the same one you wore to the first Gala Mist?" He asked carefully. I nodded into the mirror and then sighed.

"Brings back bad memories!" I muttered quietly. I got the suit off and opened the door to see that Nightshine was standing there. "Right! I'm ready for tomorrow then!" I stated sarcastically. She took notice of this and smiled.

"I've still got to wear my guards uniform, but it shall be a little nippy tomorrow, so the armour will keep me warm outside." She huffed. I began to walk to my bedroom and stood next to my bed.

"You staying tonight Nightshine?" I asked with a smile. Without a warning, she flew into me and knocked both of us onto the bed.

Last night before the event I thought. Let's make it a big one!
> Chapter 10: Writing Wounds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I opened my eyes and was instantly met with a shooting pain in my head. It was like a hangover, but not as bad as one. I turned about in my bed, trying to get comfy under the covers. I felt nothing in the bed with me strangely. I was sure that Nightshine and I were together in the same bed last night.

I opened my eyes wide and looked around slowly. I saw nothing. Nothing but a perfectly placed note. I rolled over to the note and then stopped as I picked it up with my magic.

"Had to go in the morning! Thanks for last night also! I love you lots and I'll see you at the Gala. Meet me at the front gate of Canterlot castle at about 7 o'clock." I muttered to myself. I was alone for the most part and didn't really want to do anything, or at least I couldn't do anything.

I shook my head and slowly got out of bed. My head beated like somepony was slapping me over and over again in the back of the head. It kind of hurt just thinking about it. I looked at the clock to try to forget about the painful thought. It struck 7 o'clock dead. I had a long day ahead of me.

"12 hours of nothingness left until my life changes, for better or worse." I stated a little loudly. I shifted about and stood on my hooves softly, still trying to fend off this disappointing headache. I slowly and carefully walked, or should I say wobbled, down the corridor and straight into the bathroom. I felt a little sick and sat on my haunches for a quick second. I was getting a little dizzy. I picked myself up and balanced myself at my sink.

My left eye had become bloodshot! It was so bad that it looked like it had rushing blood going through it. It shone a bright, reflective, crimson like red, like a glowing red orb mixed with Nightshine's eyes. I was a complete mess. I didn't want to be a complete mess though, at least not for tonight, at least not for Nightshine's big night. I wanted to look my best for her. I instantly forgot about the problems of my eye for the time being and shifted my focus to my mane. It was also terrible!

I got the brush I had from a cabinet and brought along some mane spray. This mane spray was some old, magical piece of work that kept ones mane from retreating from its state, so it said on the can. I shook it up with my magic and winced as my magic shaking was a bad idea for my head.

I dropped the brush by accident and then picked it back up. I gave my mane a quick brush, making sure that my mane was straight. I then sprayed a little amount of the spray on my head and my mane felt like it had froze. The spray left my head with a burning cold feel, which agonized my already hurt head.

My mane finally looked good for once. I turned to look out the window and stared into the sunlight was bombarding the outside with its brightness. I smiled at the sight, taking some of the pain in my head away and replacing it with a bigger urge for a coffee.

"Might as well leave and get some exercise!" I muttered loudly to myself. I couldn't hear Colt in my head for some reason. "Colt? You there?" I asked aloud. Still nothing. My head rushed with even more pain trying to think about what had happened to Colt. I had to get distracted… and quick!

I rushed down the stairs and fell down half of them as I lost my footing from being so dizzy. I landed with a 'smack' on the door and winced as I got up to see if I was injured. My back was hurting a lot now! I put my hoof on my back and winced as I felt over the injured spot. I brought my hoof back and saw out of the corner of my eye, that my hoof was stained red. I inspected my hoof and found that I was seriously injured on my back. I went weak at the thought.

I would have thought, at worst at least, that my scar on my back had split, allowing an excess amount of blood leak out. I might have been right, but I couldn't see my back properly. I just couldn't get a good angle on it.

The thought of coffee still lingered on my mind. That was my one main thing I wanted to get today. It was a beautiful day, so I would walk, admiring the day. The only bad thing was that I was bloody. My hoof and back and even sides were stained painful red. Red enough that it would cause concern around Canterlot. I needed something to cover it up. Something dark, something like a coat. I saw one of the rigid cloaks that I used to walk about in the rain with. I planned on using that.

I opened the door and was met with a particularly cloudy day, even though it was super sunny when I looked out of the bathroom window. I looked like it was going to chuck it down right there and then. I stepped out into the world, locking the door behind me. I then proceeded to walk calmly up the road. It was still a pleasant day, so I was going to be sure to enjoy it while I could.

I walked along the studded roads until I entered the paved confines that was Canterlot's center. It was more crowded than normal, but that might have been because I hadn't seen the busiest time of day for a while. I would always be working, so I wouldn't be able to see Canterlot like this. Since I couldn't work, I was able to see things going on that I would never see. Mares and stallions going into shops and purchasing different things. I walked past workplace and sighed.

I passed it without a second look back and traveled out to the Coffee Cream. It was something about the coffee that made me want to keep going there, that and the little scene that me and Nightshine had there.

I entered the shop and pulled down the hood of the cloak and looked at the menu. There was a vast selection of sweet and standard drinks. I was greeted by a mare in uniform. Her uniform consisted of just a red and pink shirt. It seemed to suit her for some reason. She was a nice looking grey earth pony with a yellow mane. She looked like that mail pony, just without the weird eye thing. She had two white stripes that went through her mane, adding a little style to it.

"Hey! Aren't you that stallion from the bar down the road?" She asked with a curious look. I nodded quietly and she sighed sadly. "I'm so sorry about what happened there! I wish that I could have done something to help." She added.

"There wasn't anything you could have done! It was probably done late that night. It's just a shame that I have nothing to do now." I admitted sadly, noticing that she seemed interested in the fact that I had nothing to do.

"As a gift for not being at work, and for making me feel bad for you, I'll make you a coffee free of charge!" She stated with a little smile, trying to make me feel better about it. I looked at her with a mixture of emotions, ranging from thankfulness and sorrow.

"What about your manager? What if they found out?" I blurted out emotionally.

She smiled brightly and chuckled a little. "Cut your worries! I am the manager, I'm also the boss of the shop!" She stated, sticking her tongue out at me. She gave me a coffee and lent on the counter. "You free later?" She asked. I stood on my two hind legs and placed my forehooves on the counter.

"Sadly not. I'm getting ready to go to a Gala later! Also, I'm in a relationship with the mare of my dreams right now!" I stated confidently. She smiled and then winked at me.

"So you caught me trying to hit on you then?" She asked with a wicked grin. I nodded and she sighed. "Oh well! Worth a shot… wait! Why have you got blood on your hoof?" She questioned. My ears instantly splayed back and I frowned.

"I kind of hurt myself earlier and split a scar on my back, I think at least!" I admitted sheepishly. She now looked at me with concern. "I'm fine by the way!" I lied, trying to convince her.

"If you're fine, then I'll leave you be. If anything is wrong, don't be afraid to come back here. I'll help you out!" She commanded. I nodded in appreciation.

"Thanks again for the coffee! I really appreciate it!" I stated before turning away. "Maybe we could be close friends still!" I added just before I got to the door. I looked back at her as she kept nodding at me and waved. I opened the door and stepped out to see that the sun had come out again. This day was confusing enough already.

I began to stroll down the road and stopped as I came to a bridge. I leaned over and looked at the water rushing beneath. The sound of the rushing water calmed my nerves. It always did! It had to natural water, like rivers and streams, not the water that you get from a tap.

I began to relax. My muscles relaxing in place, like Nightshine's massage last night had done. I was in heaven, but something felt off. Maybe it was my back, hurting and bleeding. I had no litteral idea what was off, but I wanted to find it out, and fast!

I stood back on all fours and felt a shooting pain trigger on my back. It was like a piece of glass was still in there, underneath all of the marks that I had acquired. I stood motionless as multiple ponies just looked at me. Most of them showing the expression of worry. I slowly walked away from them and could instantly see why they were looking at me. Not only did I whimper a little too loud, but I had blood dripping off my tail, from me leaning on the rail, allowing the blood to flow down my back, rather than collecting in the cloak.

I began to worry! Not only did I have ponies looking at me oddly, I was bleeding out slowly. I began to back away from them and turned to gallup away. I needed to be fast! Faster than Nightshine! My head was still painful, the sun didn't help the matter. I became dizzier and dizzier until I hit a wall, bruising my face a little and making my neck ache. My day was going great.

I placed my hoof on my neck and instantly regretted it. I winced at the sudden pain that was flowing through my system. I would have been fine if I was at home. I was waiting for a response from Colt… nothing! I was on my own for a while I guessed. I slowly paced my way up the narrow paths and onto the main road that lead to my home. I wanted to be somewhere where I won't get hurt. My back, neck and face hurt.

I finally arrived and unlocked the door. I then swung the door open and stepped inside. My coffee was just about the right temperature, so that I could drink it like a warm drink. I gulped it down and sighed. I threw my cloak on the floor and slowly shifted to look at it. It was plastered with a thin amount of blood. My blood. I moved cautiously up the stairs and into the bathroom. I didn't dare look at the mirror and I refused to look at it. That was until I caught a glimpse of some blood trickling down my side. I instantly looked and dropped the plastic coffee cup with shock.

My coat was stained red, making my fur go purple, with little splashes of blue and red along all of my body. I looked like a pony out of a horror film. The scar on my back was split, but there was also a big hole there. An indent that made me feel light headed just looking at it. I looked at the scar on my neck, that too was split. That let out some of the blood that I could feel.

I then proceeded to look at my face. My eye looked as red as the sun. No blood was leaking from it though, which I was thankful for. I slowly opened a cabinet in the bathroom to get some bandages, to wrap myself in. I moved the bandage roll around my torso and back, gasping at the pain I was in. I then proceeded to cover my neck, wincing as I tightly wrapped it around. I was in agony and I didn't care. I stopped at the top of my neck and cut the bandage off. I was a walking corpse, or a pony mummy!

I thought wisely for a couple of seconds before coming to a conclusion! If I was going to wear my suit tonight, then I would have to wear it over the bandages. I was just a mess! I couldn't allow anypony to see me like this, so I decided to stay in the house.

Minutes felt like hours as I slowly whittled down the time. I was tired, hurting and not quite right. I was still a little dizzy, but not as much as this morning. That was terrible! Throughout the hours, the blood loss faded, only to be replaced by uncomfortableness. It was about 6 o'clock. I was just laid on the sofa, watching a little bit of TV. I was still in pain, but that has subsided a little. My bandages were red a couple of hours ago, so I quickly changed them to stop my bandages from dripping blood.

I didn't feel like I wanted to go to the Gala, but I had to! For Nightshine's sake! I slowly got up and walked upstairs. I wanted to arrive a little before, so I could have a little look around. I got to the top of the stairs and walked into my bedroom. I opened the wardrobe and pulled out the suit. It was cleaner than I was. It had a magical enchantment that prevented it from collecting dust. 

The suit was a pure black, with a bright white shirt. There was also a black tie on the suit. I would be wearing said tie to the Gala! I wanted to try to speak more Canterlot like, but it was far to posh of an accent to nail. So sophisticated! So instead, I planned to just relax and unwind at the Gala. This wasn't going to end like last time!

I put on the white shirt first, wincing a little as the fabric pushed down on my wounds. I then proceeded to place on the waistcoat. I could look good in just this, I thought. Good wasn't enough. I had to be perfect for the occasion. I slung the suit jacket over me and felt a lot heavier. It was a bulky piece, but it completed the final look. I slowly shimmied to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. I was like a completely different stallion. 

The suit brought out my eyes, a lot more than anything else did. I didn't realise how good I looked in the suit, despite the red eye and bruised face. I looked back at the time and then began to trot down the stairs, making sure that I wouldn't fall again. I made it to the bottom and sighed.

"It's either now, or never!" I announced to myself loudly. I then opened the front door and then locked it with a soft 'click'.

I walked down the road, while the street lights dimmed the air around my every move. I crossed over a big bridge and found a massive flight of stairs, leading straight to the gates. I gulped loudly and slowly ascended up the stairs.

As I was walking up the stairs, I looked out to the sky on my left. The sun sent shimmers of blissful light onto me, irradiating me with a glowing warmth as I looked away and continued to pace up the stairs.

I reached the gate and stopped. I noticed one of the guards on duty and waved to them. They saw me and looked back in shock, before heading over to me. He was the stallion that took the crazed mare away, when I was at the event earlier in the week.

I nodded at him and he nodded at me. "Are you here for the Gala?" He asked, curious about why I was here. I nodded and sat on the ground.

"It's a long walk up here isn't it?" I questioned him, not needing a response. He didn't give me one. He looked down at me and leaned to one side. He was looking at my flank I guessed.

"You got your weapon on you tonight?" He asked, looking kind of surprised that he couldn't see it. I shook my head to confirm to him that my blade was not here.

"I left it at home… wait! How did you…?" I asked before getting interrupted, with a smile on his face.

"We know all of the ponies with weapons! Don't you have a gun too?" He pressed further. I nodded. He walked back to the gate and looked back at me. "Nightshine will be here shortly!" He announced, still bearing a smile on his face.

I blushed a little and stood up, getting a feared look from the guard. "What have you done to yourself?" He asked super loudly, snapping me out of my motion. I looked at him with worry and truthfulness.

"Please don't tell her!" I stated to him with pleading eyes. He paused to look at me and opened his mouth, to find that nothing was being said. He then closed his maw and looked me over.

"She's going to notice instantly mate!" He told me flatly. I didn't respond to him, I just walked to the railing and then stood up on my two back hind legs. I leaned against it and sighed, letting myself relax as the cooling winds passed through my shiny blue mane. The wind tickled my fur and brushed against my ears, which were splayed back at this point in time. I yawned and closed my eyes slowly.

As soon as my eyes were closed, visions started to appear. These visions ranged from my past, to events that didn't happen, or at least I didn't think they did. I was in an endless sea of emotions and experiences. My mind regained focus and removed all but one memory in my view. The one of Colt dying by a curse, not the changelings. I felt a set of hooves on my shoulder and turned to see… Colt's colt Firerush, only he was a little younger. I turned to the railing and saw Colt getting beaten in slow motion. I was able to move freely, like I wasn't trapped in a dream.

I looked at the changelings and rushed up to them both as the world resumed at normal speed. I rushed up to the first changeling and kicked them in the head. With one swift buck, they were down. The other changeling looked at me and drew their fangs out at me. I didn't hesitate in punching the changeling in the head. I missed and hit my hoof on a corner of a building, splitting my hoof a little and drawing an alarming amount of blood.

The changeling looked at me and laughed hard. I tried to pick him up with my magic and lifted him up a tiny amount. This wasn't fake, this was real. This was the present, but inside my head. I then remembered my teleportation spell. I focused enough to allow the gun I had vaulted up in my house to appear. I help it with my magic and then pointed it at the changeling.

"Please… don't kill us! We are only following orders!" The changeling I was pointing the gun at said, under pressure. I pulled back the slider and then slammed a shot into his head. The bullet passed through him as he then turned to dust. This was exactly what had happened to Nightshine in the previous nightmare. I turned and shot the other changeling. He too had turned to dust. I rushed over to Colt on the floor. Panting and gasping for more air. Blood leaked out of his mouth as he looked at me.

"I'm glad that you're thinking the same way I was!" Colt stated, the world slowing to a standstill, as he got onto his hind legs. I watched him with shock, amazement and confusement.

"What is this?" I asked looking around.

"This is my final memory, I died here, but I now have a new angle to look at it from." He admitted.

"Where have you been all day!" I asked angrily. He smiled and brought a forehoof to my cheek and rubbing it softly along the base of my jawline.

"Nothing lasts forever… not even Immortality!" He stated as he held my head. "This spell only worked for a certain amount of time. That time is up!" He stated calmly. I began to stammer and sputter uncontrollably.

"Wait! You're going?" I asked worryingly. He sighed and nodded slowly.

"I guided you to happiness!" He lied. I caught him and challenged him.

"No you didn't, I was happy before you popped into my head!" I said confidently, before realising what I had just said. "I… I didn't mean it like that!" I blurted out shortly after. He smiled and looked up.

"I know you didn't bud! I know you didn't…" Colt admitted as he then began to fade. I looked on him horror and began to tear up.

"What about your family?" I asked with a worried frown. He looked at me as he then put a forehoof on my shoulder.

"There your's now… please take care of them!" He stated out as he too began to tear up. I began to cry as I saw him fade to an almost unseeable level. I held his hoof on my shoulder and then I was left holding my shoulder…

He was gone… I was alone again… but not alone entirely… I had Nightshine with me, and she would do anything for me… within reason of course. I still had my gun with me, and Colt mentioned that I had to die to escape. I began to point the gun at my head and think about this… was he actually gone?

Somehow, I knew that he wasn't actually gone… I felt his presence inside my body and then smiled as I pulled the trigger.

Light exploded into my vision as I opened my eyes to see me stood on my hind legs, looking out at the beautiful rays coming from the sun. I felt a pair of hooves on my back and turned a little to see Nightshine. She looked a little concerned and then wiped the tears from my eyes with he hoof.

"Wanna tell me what's up?" She spoke, being a caring and thoughtful mare. She held my hoof on the rail and began to rub it slowly. It felt great to have her here. My headache was getting terrible, but I didn't care about it. I looked at her and forced myself to hug her. She was slightly shocked and then relaxed into it. I needed her to be here for me right there and then.

"He… he's gone!" I whispered into her ear. She pulled back a little and looked at me with a smile. She kept her eyes locked onto mine as I waited for her to say something.

"It's ok Mist… I'm here for you. I'm… I'm not leaving you ever!" She stated, splaying her ears back with forceful emotions. She rested my head on her neck and I tried to relax into it, but it wasn't good enough. She was good enough, but sadly, it wasn't helping. I closed my eyes and pictured Colt hugging me for the last time. I wrapped myself around her tightly and kissed her cheek. I then opened my eyes and saw that she was blushing. I smiled a little.

"I guess that if he is truly gone, you won't have anyone picking up that you are thinking dirty thoughts!" She stated, getting a slight blush and a quick stammer from me in response. She laughed quietly and I smiled a little more.

"You're all I need Night!" I stated quietly. She picked up on it and retracted from the hug. I looked out at the endless void that was lighting the way. It was truly beautiful! The sun was going to set soon, and I wanted to be around to see it.

I looked back at Nightshine, who had a curious look on her face as she looked at the bandage sticking up from my suit. She slowly walked closer to me and I retracted a little. She raised her hoof, as if to tell me to halt and I followed her orders.

I followed her orders and stopped my movement. I didn't want her to see this mess of a body that I had, but I didn't want her to feel like she was in the wrong or for her to even feel bad for me. I just wanted her to leave it alone for the time being.

She slowly placed her hoof on the bandage that was underneath my suit and looked at me. "Did you hurt yourself?" She asked with a slight hint of anger and confusion present in her voice. I didn't want to make her angry either.

"Yes I did! I'm not going to lie to the one pony that means the world to me. I fell down the stairs and hit my back on something, making the scar on my back split, and I also hit my neck on something too, making that scar bleed too." I blurted out with rapid succession. She froze a little at the words and then looked cautiously at me.

"Are you in pain at all?" She asked with a small smile grazing her muzzle. I thought about my answer in my head for a second before coming to a conclusion.

"A little I think, only in my back though!" I admitted. She didn't hesitate to take action, getting a medical box out of her saddle bag that she had on.

"I'm going to give you an enchanted painkiller that eliminates all pain to one location." She stated dominantly. She opened the box with her wingtip and grabbed a little packet. It contained a single painkiller within. She looked at me with a smirk. "Are you going to open your muzzle like a good Colt, or am I going to have to force you to swallow it?" She asked, a lustful and powerful look on her face.

My imagination processed the wrong image. Celestia damned! I thought."I'd like to see you try to make me swallow it!" I stated jokingly. She didn't take it as a joke, as she flew at me. I moved out of the way quickly and then watched her. "I'm just joking night! I'll take it on my own!" I shouted at her. She didn't respond. I knew that she heard it, because of the way that her ears perked up at the sound of my voice. She wasn't having it any other way.

She flew directly at me and then tackles me lightly, not enough to bring me to the floor, but enough to make it so I couldn't move with her wrapped around me. She placed the painkiller in her mouth and kissed me deeply. I didn't take into account that she had slipped the painkiller into her mouth. She entered my mouth with her tongue and placed the pill into my mouth. She then forced my mouth shut and wrapped her wings around my muzzle, allowing me to not open my mouth. She looked at me with hungry eyes and placed her mouth next to my ear.

"Yeah! Swallow it! Swallow it like I would you!" She whispered with a slight giggle. I blushed furiously at the lewd thought and instantly swallowed the horrible tasting drug. I gasped as she unwrapped her wings from my muzzle and tried to get as much oxygen into my lungs as I could.

"That was so cheesy!" I blurted out in-between a breath. She smiled with a lustful grin. She didn't nod or anything, she just sat down and then looked at me with a similar feeling that I knew now. Love. She was my everything. She was the best pony I could have asked for.

She stated at down and tapped the ground for me to sit down. I was about to before a literal ton of ponies stormed up the stairs. The gates to the Gala had opened and I looked back to Nightshine and then held out my hoof. She gladly accepted it and I pulled her up and followed the crowd into the palace.

It was a beautiful sight. I didn't have the words to describe it. The paintings were so detailed, that you could make them out to be cameras of the surrounding towns and cities. Photos were like there was a pony inside of them, and stained glass windows brightened the once gloomy hallway with a barrage of colours, bombarding my eyes with its brightness. I turned to Nightshine and then froze as I saw her ears splayed back. I forcefully tugged her to be hip by hip by me, with my magic. She noticed what I was doing and I felt something wrap around my tail. Nightshine had wrapped her tail around mine. It felt weird, but slightly relaxing at the same time. She looked up at me with a nervous smile and a slight blush on her cheeks. I kissed her on the nose and smiled back at her.

"Everything is going to be ok!" I stated, hoping to Celestia that I was right. We entered the main party room and caught sight of the main six, together with the commander of the guard, his wife and the two princesses. They were all chatting and then turned to see all of them. The princesses proceeded to speak to everypony, after they all came in, about the party and why it was happening. Apparently the commander felt like the guards deserved a reward for all of their hard work. They stopped talking and began the Gala. It was a beautiful night there. Ponies were dancing, food faster great, and was free! The princesses were having a good time and everything was good!

As soon as ponies were done eating, the princesses offered a reward to the most romantic pair of ponies. It was a dance party pretty much. Everypony strolled happily down to dancing area, apart from me. I was curiously looking at one of the stained glass windows. It was of a creature with great flexibility and the main six surrounding the creature. It looked like they were trying to catch it or something.

I was interrupted by a hoof step on the floor beside me. I turned slightly to see a towering figure standing next to me. One of the princesses. Celestia to be exact. She coughed loudly, getting my attention.

"Sorry princess! I'm completely out of it today! My apologies for that!" I blurted out as calmly as I could. She stepped back, allowing Nightshine to come into view. She was smiling at me. Nightshine didn't say anything until she got by my side.

"He's all your Nightshine!" The princess of the sun stated with a casual grin and a slight chuckle. Nightshine looked back at the princess and smiled at her.

"Thank you princess!" She pressed softly. Princess Celestia walked back to talk to the commander of the guard, as Nightshine reached around me with her wing and pulled me closer.

"You don't understand what it means to me that you're here with me Mist!" She blurted out happily. I smiled at her and rested my head against her neck and sighed. I was enjoying our time together and wasn't wanting it to ever end. I sighed happily and relaxed greatly into her. Her armour was still hard, but I sunk into her embrace.

"I'm glad that you put up with me!" I stated calmly. I felt like I was drugged! I was technically!

"Mist?" Nightshine asked, looking into my eyes. "I love you!" She stated lovingly.

"I love you too!" I blurted out… just before she kissed me. As she did, the sun sunk into the ground, creating a beautiful red glow from the outside of my eye. She pulled away from the kiss and sighed. 

"Never leave me!" She said with a pure desire to love me more.

"I never will." I stated before giving her another kiss.

This was bliss… true bliss!