> A Love To Remember
>  by SapphireWings999
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter I:  A Rush Of Emotion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            I was pissed off and rightfully so.

            It had been several months since I’d last visited all of my pony friends in Equestria and confessed my love to Fluttershy.  I’d needed to come back to my world for several reasons, one of which was to figure out what had gone on in Equestria since I’d stopped watching the show after Season 6.  Certain things that I thought I knew didn’t seem to hold water any more and I was determined to figure out the truth no matter how long it took.

            But that wasn’t what had me pissed off at that moment.  What had me pissed off the most was what I’d found out regarding Discord.  The last time I’d been to Equestria, Fluttershy briefly mentioned to me how Discord had brought King Sombra back from the dead as well as bringing back a few other villains, the former resulting in the Tree Of Harmony being destroyed.  All of this couldn’t help but make me wonder why in the everloving fuck would he bring villains back like this!?!

            I’d had my suspicions over who some of these other villains might be; one such villain I knew full well that if they’d been brought back, that it would’ve been absolutely idiotic on Discord’s part as this villain had already tricked him before.  Sure enough, that villain, Lord Tirek, had been amongst the assembly he’d gathered together.  Except that he hadn’t gathered them as Discord.

            All throughout the final season, Discord had been masquerading as the evil ram necromancer Grogar, which wasn’t revealed until the Ending of the End 2 parter, whereupon I found myself completely dumbfounded on how Discord, for a millenias old chaos spirit, could be that incredibly fucking stupid.  Not just by bringing back Sombra, Tirek, Chrysalis, and even a newer villain, a young Pegasus filly named Cozy Glow, but also because of all the lives that he’d put in danger with this idiotic stunt.  Probably even more disturbing and infuriating to me was the fact that he’d put Fluttershy in danger!

            I wouldn’t normally make it a point of singling Fluttershy out as being more important than the others if not for the fact that Discord had gone on and on in the past about her being the one pony he cared the most about.  If he really cared that much about her, he wouldn’t have constantly put her life in jeopardy like that.  A real friend would never put their close friend in harm’s way as often as he had.

            He told me that what he’d done was all blown out of proportion and that it wasn’t that serious, but, after finding out what had happened, you can’t say something on this kind of apocalyptic scale was blown out of proportion.  If anything, he wasn’t being serious enough about what he’d brought upon my friends, nearly resulting in all of their deaths which only unsettled me even moreso than previously.

            Normally, I’d be less angered at Discord himself and more angered towards the writers of the show for making him this mind-numbingly stupid, but I’d been to Equestria several times before; I’d seen that all of it and its inhabitants were real.  The writers of the show were simply transcribing what had been revealed to them as the show went on.  That being said, Discord was not free from my wrath.  Every bad thing that had happened in Season 9 was his fault.

            Another detail that I thought was really messed up, aside from bringing Sombra back to life only for him to be killed off again, was the fact that Discord had brought these villains together, set the idea in their minds of attacking Princess Twilight and her friends, and then, after these villains were defeated, he got to decide what their punishment was.  I couldn’t be the only one to see how screwy that was, right?  It’s all because of him that they were united in the first place!

            It had already been bad enough when he’d betrayed the entire pony race to Tirek back in the Season 4 finale, but knowing that he’d pulled off this kind of bullshit, even bringing back Tirek who had already tricked him before, any respect that I might have had for Discord was now shot straight to Hell.  Not to mention the fact that he had the ability to bring ponies back from the dead was all the more unsettling.  I wouldn’t trust him with getting his powers back like he did afterwards because he’s far too reckless and dangerous with them, much moreso than when he was a villain back in Season 2.

            At the same time, though, I couldn’t help but think back to when I’d watched The Last Problem, wherein all of my friends had gotten older and moved on with their lives.  Sticking out strongest in my mind was when all of them had gathered for their counsel meeting and Fluttershy had arrived there from a portal to Discord’s realm, Discord himself handing her a paper lunch bag before he went off to his Ogres and Oubliettes convention.  Fluttershy exiting Discord’s realm couldn’t help but make me worry that I might have interfered with something that could’ve possibly developed between them in the time between past and present.

            As much as I held a deep loathing towards Discord for fucking everything up in the final season, I still respected Fluttershy far too much to stand in her way if she truly wanted to be with him.  I didn’t want it to be said of me that I was a homewrecker, especially when it came to one of my closest friends.  At the same time, though, was it really wise for her to be in a relationship with someone like Discord who had so thoroughly disregarded her feelings and safety in that manner?  Not to mention toying with her emotions by faking injury when Sombra struck him with his shadow blast.  That was a huge dick move on his part and not something that I myself would ever even think of doing to the mare I loved.

            However, that wasn’t the only thing on my mind in that moment.  I was also troubled by the fact that my friends seemed to have completely forgotten that I was an Alicorn Prince the last time I’d visited them.  I’d hoped that watching their show would provide some kind of answer as to why they couldn’t remember that, but it only brought up even more questions.

            I’d been informed of my royal ancestry by Star Swirl The Bearded several years ago when I’d first arrived in Ponyville and wound up in some weird kind of limbo after sacrificing myself to the hag who had threatened to destroy all that I’d come to know and love while there.  However, the Season 7 finale showed me that Star Swirl had been trapped in limbo with 5 other ponies, the Pillars Of Old Equestria, as well as the Pony Of Shadows.  If the Star Swirl that I’d been talking to back then was the real one, why hadn’t I seen any of the others who were trapped in limbo with him?  And if it wasn’t the real one, then who the hell had I even been talking to?  Was the real Star Swirl even around in Equestria any more for me to ask him about this?

            During my time of getting caught up on the show, I’d also come across this really bizarre spin-off called Pony Life that had been done in a completely different art style with a completely different tone.  At first glance, I’d gotten very strong Teen Titans Go vibes from it and yeah those thoughts weren’t unwarranted, but, after watching a few episodes, I much rather preferred this over Teen Titans Go any day.  I obviously knew that none of these episodes of Pony Life were canon so it didn’t really bother me all that much.  Just another glimpse of another reality.

            As I stepped out of a nice hot shower, that had helped to melt some of the stress away, and put on a new change of clothes in my bedroom, I banished all of these thoughts from my mind for the time being.  What was most important was that I was finally going to be heading back to my homeland after far too long.  Several months here in the real world seemed even longer since I’d last visited Equestria.  Along with catching myself up on the show, there had been one other detail that needed to be taken care of before I could return there again, something that was more financially sensitive with longer lasting implications.

            Ever since my first wife, Savannah, had been murdered; our daughter, Ariel, was stolen when she was an infant; and I’d been in and out of mental wards for the past few years, I’d focused a good amount of whatever disability checks I got into finding the man who’d done this and bringing him to justice with rather unsuccessful outcomes.  As a result, my finances were pretty much non-existent so I had to save up the money I got from these checks til I finally had enough to buy a proper wedding ring for my beautiful Flutters; a ring with a blue diamond that matched her eyes as well as a silver chain for her to wear the ring like a necklace as she had no fingers or horn on which to wear it.

            It might’ve seemed weird that I would go to all of the trouble of buying a wedding ring here on Earth rather than in Equestria where I already had a sizeable number of bits stored up from working as a masseur at the Ponyville Day Spa, but there was a method to my madness.  You see, if I were to buy a wedding ring in Equestria, it would arouse way too much suspicion.  Being that I was the only human in Equestria, it would already be pretty obvious that I’d be proposing to Fluttershy and word would spread way too quickly, taking out the element of surprise when I did propose to her.

            Along with that, I still meant to visit her parents to make sure that I had their blessing and news of my intentions to propose before I’d even received said blessing was not the kind of impression I wanted to leave on them.  I wanted to make sure that everything leading up to my proposal would be absolutely perfect and therefore would need it to be as discreet as possible.

            Making sure that I had the small velvet box in my pocket, the time had finally come.  Seeing as I’d already left a good amount of my stuff back in Equestria from the last time I’d visited, there wasn’t really all that much for me to pack before my return.  Putting on my favorite leather jacket, in which one of the pockets held the feather Fluttershy gave me from herself before I last left Equestria, and taking my necklace in my hand, I read the inscription on the back of the pendant.

            “Equestrian Son/The victory won/Return to thy home.”

            Just like all the other times, no sooner had the words escaped my lips then a bright lightning flash struck the floor of my room whereupon the portal opened that would take me home again.  I immediately stepped forward into it, falling through a magnificent rainbow of colors flashing by me in a rapid rush that was hard for me to register all of it at once.  Despite this, as I felt my great feathered wings sprout from my back and my pony ears emerging from the top of my head to replace my human ones, I was more confident than ever that it would be smooth sailing all the way through.  Little did I know of what awaited me on the other side of the portal.
> Chapter II:  Mixed Blessings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Meanwhile in Canterlot, Princess Twilight was looking over a rather unsettling letter from Fluttershy that had been sent to her only a short while ago.  Reading the contents of the letter, a look of concern crossed her face.  This was quickly picked up by Spike who was standing next to the throne on which the princess was seated.

            “What’s wrong, Twilight?” he questioned.

            “It’s this letter from Fluttershy.  She says that Discord’s magic has disappeared for some reason.”

            “That’s never a good sign.”

            “No it’s not.”

            The princess then got up from her throne and walked over to one of the many windows that lined the walls of the room.  Looking out from the window, snow was coming down heavily outside.  Not quite at Windigo levels, but definitely not a light dusting either.  A solemn look remained on Twilight’s face as she spoke back up to Spike.

            “David’s been gone for quite a few months now.  I hope whatever he had to deal with back in his world wasn’t too serious and that he’s doing alright.”

            “I’m sure he’s fine.  He can handle just about any situation no problem.”

            “The fact that Discord is without his magic and that none of us know why this is the case doesn’t sit well with me.  Outside of Starlight and possibly even David himself, Discord has some of the most powerful magic I know of.”

            “Don’t forget about yourself.”

            Twilight blushed.

            “I was trying to be modest.”

            Spike opened his mouth to continue, but a loud thunderclap sounded outside.  Looking out the window, the two of them saw the ever familiar dark blue clouds gathering over a distant Ponyville as lightning flashed brilliantly against the heavily falling snow.  Bolts of lightning then came forth from the north, south, east, and west, striking the very center of Ponyville with blinding luminosity.

            “Welp, there’s David right now,” Spike finally stated.

            “He’s probably freezing out there.  Let me see if I can summon him here.”

            And so, with a flash of violet from her horn, Twilight used her magic and brought forth a rather familiar looking individual into the throne room.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Although I still couldn’t see after my blinding arrival back to Ponyville, for a brief few seconds, I could feel the bitter coldness of winter as the snow came down hard all around me.  But just as quickly as I’d felt that frigid chill, I soon felt a warm, welcoming sensation after having heard a loud zap that I immediately recognized as magic being used.  As I waited for my eyesight to return, I was greeted by a familiar voice.

            “David.  It’s great to see you again.”

            “Twi?” I asked. “Is that you?”

            “Mhmm.”

            “Where am Ah?” I continued with my heavy accent coming through. “Ah still can’t see quite yet.”

            “You’re at Canterlot Palace,” Twi continued. “I thought you might want to be somewhere warm rather than standing out in the snow for however long it took for your eyesight to return.”

            “Well Ah definitely ‘ppreciate that a lot.”

            “Hey, David,” Spike greeted. “Long time no see.”

            “Hey, Spike.  Tell me ‘bout it.  How’ve things been goin’ since Ah was last here?”

            “If you’d asked me several minutes ago,” Twilight began, “I’d say things were going along perfectly.”

            It was at that moment that my eyesight had fully returned and I was able to see the look of worry etched across her face.

            “What’s wrong?”

            “I just recently got some bad news from Fluttershy.”

            Upon hearing that there was bad news from my beautiful Flutters, I immediately gasped as a sinking feeling formed in the pit of my stomach.  I was almost too nervous to ask what said bad news could be.

            “Did… did somethin’… terrible happen ta her?” I asked out of concern.

            “No.  Nothing happened to Fluttershy.  I had just gotten a letter from her saying that Discord has mysteriously lost his magic.”

            With that piece of news that it was something that had happened to Discord rather than Fluttershy, my expression changed from genuine concern to rather cold-hearted indifference.

            “Oh.  Well at least it’s nothin’ too serious.”

            Twilight then looked at me with an expression of reserved alarm on her face before she spoke back up.

            “Why would you say that it’s nothing serious?  His chaos magic is out there somewhere where it could potentially cause severe damage if it were to fall into the wrong hooves.”

            “With all due respect, Princess, Ah personally think that Discord already caused plenty o’ damage himself when he had his powers.”

            “What makes you say that?”

            “In tha time between when Ah las’ visited here ‘n now, Ah got maself caught up on yer guys’ show whereupon Ah saw what had happened with Discord pretendin’ ta be Grogar ‘n gatherin’ those villains together ta ‘ttack you guys.  All that bullshit he pulled could’ve nearly gotten all o’ y’all killed, Equestria destroyed, ‘n yet he was far more concerned over tha fact that he’d lost his magic rather than bein’ concerned ‘bout tha threat he’d unleashed upon tha land!  If ya ask me, he’s far too dangerous with his powers as an ‘ally’ than when he was a villain.  Not ta mention tha unsettlin’ fact that he can jus’ bring ponies back from tha dead, like King Sombra, is not tha kind o’ power that would be used by a good guy!

            “Most importantly, Ah care too much fer Fluttershy ta see her get hurt ‘n, seein’ how Discord’s negligence nearly got her killed on several occasions, Ah can’t in good conscience say that he had her best interest in mind when he was pullin’ all this bullshit!  Aside from puttin’ her life in danger multiple times over, there’s also tha fact that he was purposefully toyin’ with her emotions when he was fakin’ injury from King Sombra’s shadow blast!  As far as Ah’m concerned, no true friend would manipulate another friend’s emotions like that!  All Ah know is that Ah certainly would never even think o’ doin’ that ta her or any o’ you guys because Ah genuinely care for y’all’s safety ‘n wellbein’!”

            Impassioned by the words coming out of my mouth, I paused briefly as I felt a bit of emotion getting caught in my throat before continuing.

            “If y’all had gotten killed off by those 3… before Ah was able ta see you guys again…, in all honesty… Ah… Ah’d be devastated.  That’s why… Ah don’ think Discord can be trusted with his powers… ‘n why… it’s better with him… not havin’ ‘em at all.”

            Twilight and Spike stood there in stunned silence for several seconds after I’d made my emotional, heartfelt case before them, unsure of what to say.  Finally, though, Spike broke the silence.

            “He does kind of have a point there.  I mean, I’m still haunted by that moment when Chrysalis was threatening to rip my wings off to this day which never would’ve happened if Discord had never united them the way he did.”

            “I understand your concern for us, David, which is quite admirable on your part and you do bring up some valid points,” Twilight began, “but, at the same time, we need to make sure that Discord’s powers haven’t wound up in the hooves of somepony who would use them for more sinister purposes.”

            “Personally, Ah can’t think of any purposes more sinister than yer guys’ immediate demise, but Ah get what yer sayin,” I stated.

            “Was there anything else that you wanted to bring up?” she questioned in a motherly tone.

            “Well, now that ya mention it, Ah did wanna follow up on yer proposition fer me ta take up that singin’ career ya’d mentioned tha las’ time Ah was here.”

            “Ah yes.  I remember that now.  Did you have a specific time frame when you wanted to start?”

            “Fer tha time bein’, Ah’m not entirely sure.  Tha thing is that… Ah already have a… proposition o’ ma own… fer Fluttershy.”

            Twilight’s eyes lit up at my statement before replying.

            “David, that’s incredible!”

            “Ah know.  In fact, Ah was plannin’ on goin’ ta her parents’ place ta make sure that Ah have their blessin’ before proceedin’ ta ask her.”

            “Well, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but Hearth’s Warming Eve is coming up within the next couple of weeks.  Maybe that would be a good time for you to consider popping the question to her?”

            “Ah ‘ppreciate that a lot, Twi,” I replied as I went over to hug her.

            “Oh you’re welcome,” she followed up, accepting the hug from me.

            Pulling apart from the hug, I then gave a “brohoof” to Spike before speaking back up.

            “Well, Ah best be makin’ ma way over ta Fluttershy’s parents’ place ta see ‘bout gettin’ their blessin’.”

            “We certainly won’t keep you from that,” Twi replied.

            “Good luck, David.”

            “Thanks you guys.”

            Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.

            “Oh.  Ah almos’ forgot.  Twi, do ya know if Star Swirl The Bearded is still ‘round any more?”

            A grave look crossed Twilight’s face before she spoke back up.

            “Star Swirl The Bearded passed away about 10 years ago.”

            My stomach dropped down to my feet at this recent revelation.

            “Oh.  Ah’m sorry ta hear that.”

            “Why were you asking?”

            “It’s not that important.  Ah can jus’ tell you ‘n tha others later.”

            “Oh.  O.K.  I guess we’ll see you later then.”

            “Yup.  See ya later.”

           And with that, I left the palace and flew off to meet with Fluttershy’s parents in the hopes of receiving their blessing to propose to her.  As I flew through the snowfall, I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Discord’s powers.  I made no point of hiding the fact that I was relieved that he didn’t have said powers as I was sure that there wouldn’t be any chance for him to cause anymore bullshit that put the lives of my friends in jeopardy.

            However, Twilight had brought up a crucial point that I hadn’t originally thought of.  That point being that someone out there might have stolen his powers from him for their own nefarious purposes.  While I didn’t have any idea who might’ve done such a thing, I honestly hoped and prayed that this wouldn’t come back to haunt me later on.  That and the fact that Star Swirl was no longer around hit me hard as I was now back to square one in regards to figuring out why my friends had forgotten about my royal ancestry.  As I made my way to Flutters’ parents’ house, these were the thoughts that lingered in my mind the strongest.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            After a good several minutes of flying through the snowy skies, I finally saw my destination.  Coming in for a landing on their front porch, I popped a mint into my mouth and made sure that my hair was well groomed enough before walking up to the front door.  I then knocked out my familiar greeting upon the door itself.

            Tap.  Tap.  Taptap Tap.

            After several seconds of waiting, the door finally opened whereupon I was greeted by Mrs. Shy.

            “Oh.  Hello, David.  How are you doing today?”

            “Pretty good, thanks fer askin’.  How ‘bout you, Mrs. Shy?”

            “Can’t complain.  Would you… like to come in?”

            “Sure.”

            She then moved aside to allow me entrance into the house before speaking back up.

            “I feel like I should let you know that Fluttershy isn’t here at the moment.”

            “Oh Ah know,” I answered. “Ah actually came here lookin’ fer you ‘n yer husband.”

            “Oh?  Is everything O.K.?” she posed the question as we made our way into the living room.

            “Yes.  Everythin’ is great right now.”

            It was in that moment that we were joined by Mr. Shy as he came into the living room from the back of the house.

            “Oh.  Hello David,” he quickly spoke up upon recognizing my presence there. “How are things going with you?”

            “Pretty good, Mr. Shy, thanks fer askin’.”

            “David has something important he wanted to check with us about,” Mrs. Shy followed up.

            “Indeed.  It actually has ta do with yer daughter.”

            “What about her?” Mr. Shy questioned, his curiosity piqued.

            “Well… Ah was hopin’ that… Ah could get yer blessin’… fer when Ah propose ta her.”

            Mrs. Shy then gasped as a smile simultaneously spread across her face.  Mr. Shy also let a smile cross his own face before his wife spoke up.

            “Of course!  Yes!  We wholeheartedly approve!” she exclaimed.

            “Couldn’t think of anypony more worthy of our daughter’s heart than you, David,” Mr. Shy followed up, taking his wife’s hoof in his.

            I blushed at his compliment before speaking back up.

            “Ah definitely ‘ppreciate yer words of affirmation.”

            “May we see the ring you have picked out?” Mrs. Shy asked.

            “Mhmm,” I replied, reaching into my pocket.

            Pulling out the small velvet box, I opened it up for them to see.  Mrs. Shy’s eyes lit up at the sight of the ring.

            “It’s beautiful, David!” she uttered. “The diamond matches the color of her eyes perfectly.”

            “Ah’m sure it even sparkles jus’ like ‘em too,” I smiled.

            “So have you thought about how you’re going to go about proposing to her yet?” Mr. Shy posed the question.

            “In all honesty, Ah hadn’t entirely thought it through yet.  Ah was mostly jus’ concerned ‘bout gettin’ yer guys’ blessin’ before goin’ ahead with tha actual proposal.”

            “Which we greatly appreciate on your part.”

            “Thanks.  Anyhoo, Princess Twilight informed me that Hearth’s Warmin’ Eve is comin’ up within tha nex’ couple o’ weeks ‘n that might be a good time fer me ta pop tha question ta her.  How Ah’ll go ‘bout doin’ that, however, Ah’m still tryin’ ta figure out.”

            “Well we’re sure that you’ll come up with something,” Mrs. Shy assured. “Knowing you, I have no doubt that you’ll make it extra special for her.”

            “Oh yeah.  Definitely,” I followed up, turning to leave. “Ah wish Ah could stay here longer, but Ah really mus’ be headin’ out.  Ah’ve got some friends who might wanna see me now that Ah’ve come back ta Equestria.  Thanks fer yer time, Mr. ‘n Mrs. Shy.”

            “Oh it was no problem at all.  Anything for our future son-in-law.”

            I couldn’t help but smile at Mrs. Shy’s remark before Mr. Shy spoke up.

            “Don’t be a stranger.”

            “Sure thing.  Bye.”

            “Bye,” the two of them simultaneously stated.

            And with their blessing obtained, I left their house and made my way back towards Ponyville, eager to see my old friends as well as the mare who I hoped would someday soon become my wife.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Before long, I found myself back in Ponyville after a relatively short flight from Fluttershy’s parents’ house.  In the time that it had taken for me to fly back there, I was unsure which of my friends I’d come across first.  It had already been a good while since I’d officially arrived back in Ponyville and I hadn’t exactly been there long before Princess Twilight had summoned me to the palace.  I could only imagine how confusing that must’ve been for my friends who had seen my entry back to Ponyville, but hadn’t arrived there in time to greet me.

            The snowfall had cleared up significantly since leaving the Shy’s residence as I came in for a landing in the Town Square.  It wasn’t long after landing that I saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack exiting Sugarcube Corner together, chatting amongst themselves.  As I made my approach towards the happy couple, they soon recognized my presence there, Rainbow Dash being the first to speak up.

            “Twin!!!” she exclaimed, flying forward to greet me.

            “Hey, Rainbow,” I replied, pulling her towards me in a sibling-like hug. “Good ta see you too.”

            “Dayvid,”AJ followed up with a smile on her face, “great ta have ya back, pardner.”

            “Great ta be back.”

            “Where did you go too?” Rainbow questioned. “We came here as soon as we saw the lightning storm, but couldn’t find you anywhere here.”

            “Well, Twilight had summoned me ta tha palace with her magic because she didn’t want me ta be stuck waitin’ out in tha cold fer ma eyesight ta return.”

            “Makes sense,” AJ remarked.

            “Had you 2 been here tha whole time?”

            “Well, not tha whole time.  Rainbow ‘n Ah had jus’ come here ta make an apple delivery ta Sugarcube Corner.  Got plenty of ‘em stored up from our last harvest o’ tha season, more than we know what ta do with ‘em if that’s even possible.”

            I let a smile cross my face at AJ’s statement before I heard someone call out my name.

            “David?” a soft-spoken voice reached my ears.

            I knew without a doubt whose that was as my pony ears perked up and I turned to face her.  Sure enough, standing several feet away from me, looking like a vision of beauty, was my beloved Fluttershy.

            “Flutters!!!” I exclaimed as the 2 of us ran towards each other.

            Pulling her close in my arms, I pressed my lips against hers in a passionate kiss, never wanting to let her go.  Our tongues wrestled with each other for several seconds before we finally pulled apart, me gazing into her beautiful eyes while gently stroking that silky mane of hers with my fingers.

            “Ah’ve missed ya soo much, Flutters.”

            “I’ve missed you even more, David,” she replied.

            “Ah’ve missed ya most.”

            Fluttershy smiled softly before posing a question to me.

            “Where had you gone too?  I came flying over here as fast as I could the second I saw your lightning storm entrance, but I couldn’t find you when I first arrived here.”

            “Twilight summoned him to the palace,” Rainbow stated. “She thought it would be more considerate to have him there where it was warm rather than having him stand out in the cold while waiting for his eyesight to return.”

            “That,” I began, “‘n Ah also had a quick errand Ah needed ta run.”

            “Oh?  What kind of errand?” Fluttershy asked.

            “Ah’ll tell ya ‘bout it sometime later.”

            “Oh.  O.K.”

            “How were things back in yer world, Sugarcube?”

            “Pretty O.K.  Spent a good amount o’ time gettin’ caught up on yer guys’ show.”

            “And how was that?” Rainbow questioned.

            “It was… O.K.  Kinda confusin’ in some realms.  Certain things that Ah thought would’ve been answered by me watchin’ it only brought up even more questions.  Ah’m no closer ta figurin’ out why none o’ ya can remember me bein’ an Alicorn Prince ‘n Twilight informed me shortly after Ah arrived that Star Swirl The Bearded, tha only pony who might have any semblance of an explanation fer ma little conundrum, passed away many years ago, even long before Ah last returned ta ya guys.”

            “Oh my,” Fluttershy uttered. “I’m sorry that you’ve reached this dead end, David.”

            “Ah wish there was some way that Ah could help,” AJ stated.

            “Definitely,” Rainbow affirmed.

            “Ah ‘ppreciate yer condolences, guys,” I followed up.

            “That’s what we’re here fer, Sugarcube.”

            “Umm,” Flutters began, “had Twilight told you about the situation with Discord?”

            It was at Fluttershy’s mentioning of Discord that I immediately got flashbacks to The Last Problem when she’d been exiting that portal from his realm to meet with the rest of the Friendship Counsel.  Fear swept over me as I thought over it and the possibility that by me pursuing this relationship with Fluttershy I’d been interfering with any potential relationship she might’ve had with Discord at the time.  Had I jumped the gun in asking her parents for their blessing so that I could propose to her?  I had very little (if any) respect for Discord in that realm, but I had mountains of respect for my beautiful Flutters and didn’t want to get in the way of her happiness.

            Finally, I made my reply.

            “Yes… ‘n Ah actually have somethin’ ta talk with ya ‘bout that at a later time when tha two of us are alone.”

            “Oh.  O.K.”

            It was then when Fluttershy’s attention turned to one of the pockets in my leather jacket where her feather was sticking out from.  She spoke back up soon after that.

            “You kept my feather with you!”

            “Of course Ah did.”

            “That reminds me that I should probably get you your grandmother’s ring back.  If you want, I can take you back to my cottage and get it to you there.”

            “Ah’d like that a lot, babe.”

            Flutters blushed at my statement before AJ followed up with her own statement.

            “Well, me ‘n Rainbow best be gettin’ back home.  Big Mac ‘n Sugar Belle could prob’ly use our help right ‘bout now.  It was nice gettin’ ta catch up with ya, Dayvid.”

            “Same here, AJ,” I answered back.

            “See ya later, twin,” Rainbow offered a hoof bump.

            “You too, Dashie,” I reciprocated.

            And with those parting words, Fluttershy led me along to her cottage to get me my ring back all while the ring I had for when I proposed to her weighed heavily in my pocket.  Weighing just as heavily on my mind, though, were how I would go about expressing my true feelings regarding Discord to her and how I felt that him not having his powers any longer was more beneficial than anything else.  I guessed that I’d just have to wait and see where that train of thought took me, though I honestly hoped with everything in me that I wouldn’t end up burning a bridge between myself and the mare I loved.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            A good several minutes had passed along by the time the two of us arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage.  Letting me come inside with her, Fluttershy led me up to her bedroom where she began looking through one of her drawers for my grandmother’s ring.  It wasn’t too much longer before she finally found the ring and returned it to me.

            “Here you go, David,” she stated, passing the ring back to me.

            “Thanks, Flutters,” I gratefully accepted the ring, pocketing it immediately.

            “You’re welcome.  Umm… did you wanna talk about what you’d mentioned earlier now that the two of us are alone?”

            I was instantly reminded of the statement I’d made earlier in the Town Square, regarding my thoughts that I had about Discord.  Despite my apprehension, now seemed as good of a time as any for me to tell Fluttershy how I truly and honestly felt about him.  Taking a deep breath, I finally let the words escape my lips.

            “Ah jus’… think that things are better off now… with Discord… not havin’ his powers at all?”

            With the expression that came across Fluttershy’s face, you’d think that I’d slapped her (not that I ever would do that to her obviously).  It took several seconds before she spoke back up to me, not accusing, but still firm nonetheless.

            “Why would you say something like that?”

            “Because Ah care ‘bout ya ‘n Ah’m tryin’ ta look out fer yer own wellbein’.”

            “And how exactly are you doing that?” she puzzled, sporting a confused look.

            I let out a heavy sigh before finally speaking back up.

            “While Ah was back in ma world ‘n watchin’ yer guys’ show ta get caught up, Ah saw how Discord had gone behind yer backs pretendin’ ta be Grogar ‘n unitin’ those villains inta launchin’ an attack on Princess Twilight ‘n you guys.  Upon doin’ so, he put all o’ yer lives in jeopardy on several occasions ‘n yet seemed far more concerned over tha fact that he’d lost his magic rather than thinkin’ over tha threat that he’d unleashed upon tha land.   Not ta mention tha fact that he was purposefully playing with yer emotions when he was fakin’ injury after bein’ struck by King Sombra.  That is somethin’ that Ah’d never do ta any of ya.  'N don't even get me started 'bout tha time he manipulated tha Friendship Map ta send ya guys on a fake mission where y'all nearly got eaten by giant worms all so that he could boost his ego 'round Starlight.

            "Because of all that bullshit he’d pulled, you guys could’ve died ‘n he would’ve been directly responsible fer all o’ yer deaths.  He said that he had good intentions behind what he was doin’, but there’s an old sayin’ where Ah come from that says ‘tha road ta Hell is paved with good intentions’ ‘n he very clearly didn’t think enough of this idiotic plan through before enacting it.  Ah mean, fer Christ’s sake, he brought back Lord Tirek who had already tricked him before ‘n never stopped ta think he might stab him in tha back… again!  Which is exactly what happened anyway!

            “It was already bad enough that Ah’d lost you guys that first time when Ah denied our friendship after Savannah’s murder…, but… if y’all had died before Ah saw ya again… because of his stupidity… Ah… Ah don’ know how Ah’d ever be able ta live with that guilt.  That’s why Ah don’ think he can be trusted with gettin’ his magic back ‘n that we’re all better off without him havin’ it anymore.”

            My eyes began watering heavily after my heartfelt confession to Flutters which she seemed to pick up on relatively quickly as she tenderly placed her hoof in my hand and spoke in a tone as soft as melted chocolate.

            “I appreciate your concern for us, but all of that is in the past now.”

            “How can ya be sure ‘bout that?  Can ya honestly look me in tha eye ‘n say that he won’t try pullin’ another idiotic stunt like that again?  Can ya promise me that yer life won’t be put in danger because of him?  Promise that ta me ‘n Ah’ll take back everythin’ Ah’ve ever said ’bout him.”

            Over the next several seconds, I could see the gears turning in Fluttershy’s mind as she thought over and weighed everything that I’d just told her.  Finally, she let out a long, sad sigh before speaking back up.

            “No.  You’re right.  I can’t make promises to you like that, even as much as I wish I could.  Discord is still a friend of mine, but, after what you’ve said to me, I now realize that truly loyal friends would never put another friend’s life in danger like that.”

            “Ah wish that it didn’t have ta be that way,” I followed up, “but, as yer boyfriend, Ah hafta be lookin’ out fer yer best interests which Ah can’t in all honesty say that he was doin’.  Ah jus’ don’ wanna see ya gettin’ hurt.”

            I then pulled her close to me in a tender, loving embrace, not wanting to let her go.  It was then that I was thinking over whether or not there had been a relationship between her and him that had formed in my absence that I was possibly interfering with.  I soon voiced said concern to her.

            “So you ‘n Discord are still only friends?  Nothin’ else has gone on between you two at all?”

            “Of course not,” she answered back. “I’d had a crush on you ever since the first day you came here to save us from that hag, but, after finding out that you already had a girlfriend, I was willing to accept you as just a friend.  Even after Savannah’s murder and your denial of our friendship, I still always held on to a sliver of hope that you’d eventually come back to us.  I never stopped caring for you even after these past couple of decades.”

            Fluttershy’s dedication to me warmed my heart as I pulled her in for a passionate kiss before speaking back up.

            “It’s been nice bein’ able ta get this all off o’ ma chest ‘round ya, Flutters.”

            “Of course.  That’s what I’m here for as your girlfriend,” she smiled back at me.

            “Well, Ah’ve gotta go ‘n get somethin’ ta eat, but Ah’ll be sure ta catch up with ya some time later, ma love.  Thanks fer tha ring.”

            “Oh it was no problem at all.  See you later, David.”

            And with that, I left Fluttershy’s cottage to grab lunch for myself, feeling somewhat relieved that my talk with her had gone as smoothly as it did.  I’d spent that time being worried about what she’d think, but, aside from a rocky subject like my belief that we were better off with Discord not having his magic anymore, things had gone pretty swimmingly between me and Flutters.  As I went about the rest of my day, I was full of confidence that my upcoming proposal to her, once I had it figured out, would be just as easy to pull off when the right time came about.  What I couldn’t have foreseen was just how complicated things were about to become.  A dark force from my past was about to threaten all that I knew and loved.  I just didn’t know it yet.
> Chapter III:  Love Lost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the few days that had passed since I’d returned to Equestria, I’d gotten reinstated back into my old job of working as a masseur at the Ponyville Day Spa as well as reacquainting myself with how things worked around here.  I’d also had a good amount of time to think over how I’d go about proposing to Fluttershy.  The idea that I’d come up with was that I would take her on a date around Ponyville wherein we’d be able to drink in the sights of all the winter decorations of the town amongst other things, ultimately culminating with my proposal to her on that same hill where we’d confessed our love to each other the last time I was here.

At this current time, I was busy with getting myself some breakfast from Sugarcube Corner.  Making my way into the building, it wasn’t too long before I was greeted by Pinkie Pie at the front counter.

“Welcome, Davey.  It’s great having you back here again.”

“Great ta be back, Pinkie.”

Since my return to Equestria, I hadn’t really gotten much interaction with Pinkie as she was particularly busy this time of year.  With it being the holiday season, she was up to her eyeballs in orders for various and sundry baked goods that many other creatures were ordering for their own holiday celebrations.  Fortunately, she still had the help of the Cake twins when it came to handling all those orders.  That and I’d managed to come by Sugarcube Corner early enough in the day to grab breakfast before the mob showed up.

“What can I interest you in today?” she began. “I’ll let you know that one of our brand new holiday specials is Cinnamon Swirl Muffins.”

“Sounds good ta me.  Ah’ll gladly take one o’ those ‘n a mug o’ hot cider please.”

No sooner had the words escaped my lips when Pumpkin Cake came in from the back with a tray of freshly-baked, steaming muffins she carried with her magic.  The sweet smell of cinnamon filled my nose with its enticing aroma.

“Wow.  What great timing,” Pinkie remarked. “It looks like we just got a fresh batch right out of the oven.  Pumpkin, would you mind getting one of those muffins for Davey here while I get him a cider?”

“Not at all, Auntie Pinkie,” she answered with a smile, using her magic to remove one muffin from the tray and place it in a brown paper bag.

Before long, Pinkie was back with a mug full of the sweet, yet tangy beverage, a small cloud of steam emanating from the mug itself.  Passing off my bits to Pinkie, I then gratefully accepted both the mug and the bag from her and Pumpkin Cake.

“Thanks fer yer help, ladies.”

“No problem, Davey,” Pinkie piped up.

“Come again soon,” Pumpkin stated.

And with breakfast obtained, I exited the establishment, making my way over to the spa while eating my muffin and cautiously sipping on the still piping hot liquid, trying not to burn my taste buds in the process.  The pairing of both the muffin and the cider perfectly complemented each other quite nicely.  It was on my way towards the spa that I wound up running into Fluttershy.

“Hey, Flutters,” I greeted after washing down a swallow of cider. “How you doin’?”

“Oh hi, David,” she replied. “I’m doing pretty good.  How about you?”

“Pretty good.  Jus’ grabbed a quick breakfast from Sugarcube Corner before ma shift starts at tha spa.”

During this time, the thought occurred to me that I should check with Fluttershy about whether or not the date I had planned for us would work out well enough for her, but I was also running short on time before my shift would start.  In that case, I came up with a different proposition.

“Hey.  Would ya mind if Ah came by yer place after ma shift is up?  Ah have somethin’ importan’ ta tell ya, but ma shift starts in tha nex’ few minutes.”

“Not at all,” she smiled. “I’d love to have you at my place after work.”

“O.K.  See ya later, ma li’l cutie beauty.”

She blushed heavily at my playful nickname for her before speaking back up.

“Yup.  See you later, David.”

And with that, the 2 of us parted ways as I made a beeline over to work, polishing off the rest of my muffin and cider in the process.  Even as my shift began and I went about massaging customer after customer, nothing else lingered as heavily on my mind as the upcoming date I planned on proposing to my beautiful Flutters; a proposal that would hopefully lead to the ultimate proposal of her becoming my wife.  All I knew in that moment was that my shift couldn’t be over fast enough.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


After seemingly countless hours of work, my shift was finally up for the day as I quickly punched out and made my way over to Fluttershy’s cottage faster than you could shake a stick at.  Arriving in a matter of seconds, I knocked my ever familiar greeting on her front door.

Tap.  Tap.  Taptap Tap.

It wasn’t that much longer before the door opened to reveal Flutters on the other side.

“Hey, David,” she greeted. “Did you just get off of work?”

“Ya know it, babe,” I answered with a smile.

“Would you like to come in?”

“Sure.”

She then moved aside to grant me entrance into her home before closing the door behind me.

“So what was it that you wanted to talk with me about?”

“Well, Ah was hopin’ Ah’d be able ta tell ya while given’ ya one o’ ma massages ya seem ta enjoy soo much.”

“I’d like that a lot,” she smiled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve last had a massage from you.  I’ve honestly missed them.”

“Well you jus’ get yerself all comfortable on tha couch ‘n Ah’ll work ma magic.”

And so I followed Fluttershy over to her couch, sitting down on one end while she assumed the position.  After several seconds of popping my knuckles and flexing my fingers to prepare for the massage, I finally placed my hands along her back, right at the base of her wings where I started the circular movements as she melted into my touch.

“Mmmm.  That feels lovely, David,” she moaned out of pleasure.

“Glad ya ‘pprove.”

“Did you want to talk about that thing you previously mentioned now?”

“Sure,” I stated while running my hands along her spine down to the base of her tail. “It’s recently come ta ma ‘ttention that we haven’t gone out on a proper date in quite a while.”

“That’s true.  At least, not since you were last here,” she concurred before moaning again as my hands made their way down her body before my massaging reached her flanks.

“Precisely.  So Ah was hopin’ that ya might be interested in goin’ on a date with me in a couple o’ days from now.”

“That sounds incredible to me, David.”

“That’s good,” I answered back as I began massaging the base of her neck and the back of her head, her silky mane slipping through my fingers in the process.

“What exactly did you have in mind for our date?”

“Ah want that ta be a surprise fer ya.”

“Oh.  O.K.”

I continued massaging her for several more minutes before I finally had to let my hands rest.  She then turned towards me with a smile plastered across her face.

“Thanks for the massage, David.  I’d almost forgotten how talented you are at them.”

“Yer welcome, Flutters.  Anythin’ fer ma girlfriend.”

Looking out her window, I saw that night was falling pretty quickly.  This made sense as it was winter, meaning that the days would be getting shorter and shorter, but, as much as I didn’t want to, I knew that I had to leave Fluttershy for the time being and head back to my place for the night.

“Welp, Ah should prob’ly get goin’.  Gotta make sure Ah’ve got everythin’ all set up fer our date.”

“O.K.  I guess I’ll see you later then?”

“Definitely.”

“I love you soo much, David.”

“Ah love you more.”

“I love you most.”

And with a quick kiss on the lips, I left Fluttershy’s cottage, making my way back to my place where I’d officially call it a night.  Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice from above me as I was heading back.

“Hey, twin.”

Looking up, I saw Rainbow Dash hovering in place.

“Hey, Rainbow.  Whachu up too?”

“Not much.  Just doing a quick fly over before heading back to Sweet Apple Acres.  How about you?”

“Well, Ah jus’ came from Fluttershy’s place where Ah asked her out on a date in a couple o’ days.”

A sudden realization came to me as I was talking.

“Actually, would it be possible fer me ta ask a favor of ya?”

“Sure.  What did you have in mind?”


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


Just a couple short days later, it was finally the day of my date with Flutters.  I had just stepped out of a nice hot shower before putting on some proper dress clothes for the occasion.  These included one of my favorite dress shirts that featured a blue flame design and a pair of black skinny jeans.  I then ran my favorite Axe Dark Temptation deodorant along my pits before spraying myself with some of my Nightmare Before Christmas “Bone Daddy” cologne and brushing my teeth.

With all those proper grooming measures taken care of, I put on my favorite leather jacket while also making sure that I had both my ring for Fluttershy as well as a decent amount of bits for our date.  After confirming that I had all that I needed, I was finally able to leave my home and make my way over to Fluttershy’s.  It had hardly been a minute before I reached her place and knocked out my ever familiar greeting on her front door.

Tap.  Tap.  Taptap Tap.

Even as I stood outside waiting for her to answer, I knew it was best for me to give her all the time she needed in order to get ready for our date.  Fortunately, it wasn’t snowing at that time.  Not yet at least.  After nearly a minute and a half, the front door finally opened to reveal Fluttershy standing in the entrance.

Decked out in a purple winter coat, a long scarf wrapped around her neck, and a pair of earmuffs, she looked purely angelic as I gazed upon her before finally speaking up.

“Hey beautiful.”

“Hey handsome,” she replied with a soft smile. “You just about ready for our date?”

“Ah am if you are.”

“O.K.  Let’s go then.”

And so, after Fluttershy had closed the door of her cottage, the 2 of us made our way over towards Ponyville.  It was about late evening by the time we were going on our date, but that was perfectly fine with us.  As long as we were together, nothing else really mattered.  Casually, I struck up a conversation with Flutters as we walked along.

“So how have things been goin’ at yer animal sanctuary?”

“Oh they’ve been going O.K.  Not a whole lot to really do this time of year with all the birds having flown south for winter and most of the other animals hibernating.”

“Sounds pretty low maintenance ta me.”

“For the most part, yes.  So are you looking forward to spending your first Hearth’s Warming Eve here in Equestria?”

“Oh yeah.  Definitely,” I swiftly replied. “In fact, Ah’ve already got ma gift fer ya picked out ‘n purchased.”

“That sounds great.  I’ve actually purchased my gift to you just a couple days ago and it should be here by the time Hearth’s Warming Eve comes around.”

“Good ta hear,” I smiled back at her.

It was by that time that we’d reached Ponyville whereupon I was quick to point out all of the winter decorations that adorned the houses and businesses around us.

“Hey, Flutters, check out all tha decorations they’ve got out.”

“I know.  They’re soo beautiful.  All the wreaths, tinsel, bows, lights, and ornaments.  I just love whenever this season comes around.”

“Tell me ‘bout it.  Makes me think o’ how durin’ winter, when me ‘n ma siblings were younger, ma parents would take us out fer a drive at night so we could see all tha lights people had out decoratin’ their houses.”

“Sounds like it must’ve been a great time for you guys.”

“It certainly was.  Hey.  Do ya feel up fer goin’ ta Sugarcube Corner?  Ah was thinkin’ we could get somethin’ warm ta drink from there.”

“That sounds lovely, David.”

And so, the two of us made our way over to the gourmand of sweets where we were swiftly greeted by Pinkie at the front counter upon entering.

“Hey you 2 lovebirds.”

“Hey, Pinkie,” I followed up.

“What can I get you guys this evening.”

“We’d like ta get 2 mugs o’ Mint Hot Chocolate.”

“Coming right up.”

As Pinkie was getting us our beverages, Fluttershy caught my attention.

“David, look above the doorway!”

Looking up towards where we had come in, I could immediately make out a sprig of mistletoe hanging directly above it.  Flutters soon spoke back up.

“You know what that means,” she teased.

“Ah sure do.”

With that, the 2 of us leaned into each other, locking lips for several seconds before Pinkie finally came back with our mugs.

“Here you go.  2 mugs of Mint Hot Chocolate.”

“Thanks, Pinkie,” me and Fluttershy answered as I handed some bits off to her and gladly accepted both of our mugs.

“No problem.  Come again soon.”

And with our beverages purchased, the 2 of us left Sugarcube Corner while enjoying the sweet, minty, hot drinks, me holding my mug with one hand and using the magic from my other free hand to hold Fluttershy’s mug for her.

“How’re ya enjoyin’ yer drink, Flutters?”

“It’s beautiful, thanks for asking.  Really helps warm me up inside.”

“Good ta hear.”

Upon leaving Sugarcube Corner, we had noticed that it was now nighttime as the full moon took its place in the night sky amongst the clouds.  It wasn’t long afterwards that a gentle dusting of snow began to fall upon us, precisely as I'd planned with Rainbow just the other night.  This gave me an idea.

“Hey, Flutters, wanna see somethin’ cool?”

“Sure.  What did you have in mind?”

Taking hold of both mugs in one hand, I turned my now free hand towards the sky.  From my fingertips, lightning flashed forth and flew into the clouds where it created a dazzling display around the gently falling snow, brilliantly lighting up the night sky even if just for a moment.

“David, that’s beautiful!” Fluttershy marvelled.

“Glad ya like it.”

After my little display, I returned to holding Flutterhy’s mug with my magic as we continued to walk along.

“Winter is honestly one o’ ma favorite seasons o’ tha year,” I stated. “That ‘n Summer.”

“For me, every season has their own special qualities that give me a reason to like all of them,” Flutters followed up after a sip of her drink.

“That’s fair.  Hey.  Do ya feel up fer checkin’ out one more place before tha night’s up?”

“Definitely.”

And with that, I led Fluttershy along in the direction of the hill where we’d confessed our love to each other the last time I was there; the same hill on which I hoped to propose to her, whereupon she’d finally become my wife in the future.  What I couldn’t have possibly known at the time was the dark force that would completely shatter the plans I had… and worse.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


After a few minutes of walking along under the gentle snowfall, the 2 of us finally reached the hill in question.  Making our way over to it, Fluttershy was quick to speak up.

“Wait a minute.  I know this hill.  This is the hill where you and I confessed our love to each other the last time you visited Equestria, isn’t it?”

“That it certainly is, ma love,” I replied as we made our way up the hill together.

Finally coming to the hill’s peak, we finished off the last of our drinks before Fluttershy posed another question to me.

“Not that I don’t mind reminiscing about our past together, but why exactly did you decide to bring me to this place specifically?  Was there a particular reason why you chose here?”

I knew immediately that now would be the best time for me to pop the question to her.  Taking a deep breath and looking her right in the eye, I finally gave her my answer.

“Yes.  There is a reason why Ah brought ya here.  You ‘n Ah have been through quite a lot together ever since Ah first arrived in Equestria.  In ma world, it’s been ‘round 8 years total while it’s been over 20 here in Equestria, but it’s neither here nor there that matters.”

I then took one of her hooves in my hand while continuing.

“Ya’ve always been there fer me regardless o’ tha situation.  Even when Ah turned all o’ y’all away from me ‘n denied our friendship, ya never stopped believin’ in me, regardless o’ tha time we spent apart from each other.  Ya’ve displayed much greater ‘n unfailin’ friendship towards me than Ah possibly ever deserved.  Ah realize now that there’s no other mare that Ah wanna share those experiences with, even sharin’ tha rest o’ ma life with.”

Flutters’ eyes began watering as I spoke while a smile started to cross her face.

“David…, a-are you doing… what I think you’re doing?” she asked.

“Ah think Ah am,” I answered back. “Ah was thinkin’ of givin’ this ta ya fer Hearth’s Warmin’ Eve, but Ah believe now is just as good a time as any.”

I then dropped down to one knee while reaching into my pocket to pull out the small velvet box with my ring to her inside it.  However, before I had even pulled the box from my pocket, we were interrupted by a mad rush of wind swirling around us.  Sheltering Fluttershy with my body from the cold, violent wind that had arisen, we both soon noticed a blackish, yellow portal opening up before us.  Out of the portal stepped the last thing I would’ve expected: another human.

Standing in our presence, this other human was about the same height as I was if not an inch or 2 shorter, was decked out in a dark, brown cloak, and gazed upon the 2 of us with his equally dark, green eyes from under his hood.  Something about this individual seemed familiar to me, particularly the eyes, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was (must’ve been because of the cloak).  Finally, I broke the silence that had arisen amongst us.

“Who tha hell are you ‘n what’re ya doin’ here?”

Unshaken by my rather harsh greeting, the mysterious stranger finally spoke up.

“My name is Claude.  As for why I’m here, it’s actually quite simple,” he stated plainly in an equally familiar sounding voice before switching to a slightly more sinister tone. “I’ve come to ruin your life just as you ruined mine.”

“What’re ya talkin’ ‘bout?  Ah don’ even know you.”

“Really?  Have you honestly forgotten me that quickly?”

With a wave of his hand, something happened that I was completely not expecting: he began to change his form into that of a pony.  But this was no ordinary pony he took the shape of.  As I watched the transformation take place, Claude turned into none other than Star Swirl The Bearded.  Aghast at what had just taken place, I struggled to find the right words to speak.

“Wait… i-it was y-y-you?  Y-... you were tha one… tha one Ah-Ah came ‘cross… in limbo?”

“Yes.  You thought that you and Crystal were the first humans ever to come to this land, but I’m the true original.  I mysteriously found my way here well over a millenia ago, but I had no knowledge of how I’d gotten here at the time.  It wasn’t until a good while later that I realized it was through Discord’s chaotic magic that I’d arrived in Equestria.  Not only that, but I soon discovered that I too had special powers I’d never had before.  One of my greatest powers I had was my ability to turn lies into reality.  Taking on the form of Star Swirl The Bearded after he and the Pillars trapped the Pony Of Shadows in limbo, I altered the memories of those I came across like the Princesses and even used my powers to create another Alicorn Princess: your ancestor Destiny.”

At this sudden revelation, a look of shock crossed my face before Claude continued.

“I’d merely created her just to prove to myself that I could, but something unexpected happened after I’d created Destiny: I fell in love with her.  I’d never known love before, but, upon falling for her, I planted fake memories in her mind as well as in Celestia and Luna’s minds that she’d always been their sister and they welcomed her as their own blood.  With these memories altered, she ended up falling for me right back.  However, trouble soon struck afterwards.

“I already told you about how I was trying to learn a new spell that would allow me to travel between here and Earth as well as how Destiny wound up back in your world millenia earlier, but there was more to it than that.  When Destiny was accidentally sent to Earth, Crystal arrived here in her place.  She knew all about my being a human and tried to convince me to move on from my grief over losing Destiny, but I was too caught up in my feelings for her to care, even after it had been revealed to me through a magical mirror belonging to Crystal that Destiny had started her own family on Earth without me.  I was determined to find a way to get back with her again and pushed myself even harder with the spell I was working on.

“Unfortunately, it was during one of my attempts at the spell when I wound up in limbo for over a full millenium, where my powers were ineffective.  Over those thousands of years, all I could do was languish in regret that I’d never listened to Crystal or tried to move on with her after losing Destiny.  Then you came along and I saw a chance to finally be released from my imprisonment and start anew with Crystal.  Sure enough, I was released right alongside with you, albeit in a completely different location.”

He then reverted back to his original human form before continuing to speak.

“But of course you just had to go and fuck everything up by stripping Crystal of her powers and sending her away to Tartarus.”

“Look, there was no way that I could've known who you were at the time,” I began. “I'm sorry.”

“You're sorry?!?  Like you think that's automatically supposed to make it O.K.!?!  You took away the future that I could’ve had with her.  My powers, after 1,000 years of not using them, were nowhere near the level they were before I wound up in limbo and so I bided my time waiting for the proper moment to exact my revenge against you.  Finally, after your wife was murdered, your daughter kidnapped, and you denied your friendship with these ponies, I altered their memories so that they’d forget about you ever being an Alicorn Prince.

“But then you came back to your old friends in Equestria and also started a relationship with your little girlfriend here.”

“O.K. Hello!” Fluttershy snapped after being silent since Claude had started talking. “His ‘little girlfriend’ has a name.”

“Quiet you!” Claude snapped right back.

“Hey Hey HEY!!!  Don’t you dare talk to Fluttershy like that!” I followed up, harshly.

Claude then let out a sinister laugh before proceeding.

“When I’m done with you, you won’t even remember her anymore.”

We then saw dark magic begin to form in his hands, the palms glowing with an unusual eye shape on them before he unleashed a powerful blast directly at me, giving me no time to react.  However, with almost superhuman (or superpony) speed, Flutters leapt in front of me taking the full impact of the blast right to her chest, crying out in pain before collapsing at my feet.

“NO!!!” I cried out as I knelt down and cradled Fluttershy’s body in my arms.

Reaching towards her neck, I was able to make out a pulse before feeling her start to stir.  Her eyes then fluttered open, but upon seeing me, a look of fear came to her face as her pupils dilated.

“Ahhh!” she screamed, jumping out of my arms and backing away. “Wh-who are you?  Where are m-m-my friends?  Where-where’s Princess Twilight?”

“Whataya mean ‘Who am I’?  I’m your friend, David.”

“I-I don’t know of any D-D-D-David.  I-I-I don’t even kn-know what kind of c-c-creature you are,” she panicked.

I then looked at Claude with rage in my eyes.

“What’ve you done to her!?!” I demanded.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he answered back. “No matter.  By the time a full week is up, you won’t be around anymore for her to care.”

And with that, Claude merely snapped his fingers and vanished from our presence, leaving me with a scared and confused Fluttershy.  At that time, I had no idea what had just happened to her, but I knew that it was urgent that I find out as quickly as possible.  Princess Twilight immediately came to mind as the most likely candidate to help me out with my dilemma, but how would I get Fluttershy to come along with me when she seemed to have no recollection that I’d even existed nor any real desire to join me anywhere?

Thinking it over, the idea then came to me that I could just teleport us directly to Canterlot Palace without even having to worry about dragging Fluttershy along.

“Ah hope that ya can forgive me fer this,” I stated while grabbing her hoof.

“Forgive you for wha-”

But her voice was cut off as I teleported the both of us to Princess Twilight where I hoped that I’d find answers for what had happened to Fluttershy’s memories of me.  However, nothing could’ve prepared me for what I was about to find out when I got there.
> Chapter IV:  Dark Magic With A Dark Purpose
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One bright flash of emerald later, me and Fluttershy were immediately in Princess Twilight Sparkle’s throne room.  The princess herself seemed to be the most surprised by our sudden appearance there as she spoke up.

“Hey David.  Hey Fluttershy.  How are-”

“Twilight?  Wh-what happened to you?” Fluttershy cut off in a panicky tone. “I… I thought you were still unconscious.  Where are Celestia and Luna?  Why do you l-l-look soo different?  How do you know D-David?  Did he just use magic?  Wh-what’s going on?”

Twilight had a look of total confusion on her face before she finally posed a question of her own.

“What’re you talking about?”

I then made a suggestion to Twilight.

“Twi, would it be possible fer you ‘n Ah ta discuss this matter privately on tha balcony?”

“I… I guess so.”

As Twilight rose from her throne, she spoke these final words to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, I’m gonna need you to stay here for the time being while I have a brief talk with David.  O.K.?”

“Umm.  O.K.” she answered back, somewhat unsure of herself.

And with that, me and Twilight stepped out onto the balcony located directly behind her throne.  Once we were outside of ear range from Fluttershy, she finally asked me the question lingering heavily on her mind.

“What happened to her.”

“Well,” I began, “tha 2 of us were on a date where Ah was plannin’ ta propose ta her, but, before Ah could do that, we were interrupted by an unusual individual.”

“Unusual how?”

“Unusual in tha sense that he was… another human.”

A look of genuine surprise reached Twilight’s face as I continued with my explanation.

“He said that his name was Claude ‘n that he was tha first human ta ever come ta Equestria, even long before Crystal ever did.  Apparently, he’d arrived here as a result o’ Discord’s chaos magic whereupon he discovered that he had special abilities too.  One ability he mentioned was tha ’bility ta make lies inta reality.  With this power, he masqueraded as Star Swirl Tha Bearded after tha ‘riginal Star Swirl wound up in limbo ‘n altered tha memories o’ those he came ‘cross, includin’ tha princesses, while also creatin’ Destiny.”

Twilight gasped before speaking.

“The princess you told us was your ancestor who wound up in your world over 1,000 years ago.  At least by our measurement of time.”

“Yes.  Claude ended up fallin’ in love with his own creation before accidentally sendin’ her ta ma world where she met someone else ‘n started a family without him.  Apparently, when Destiny was sent ta ma world, Crystal wound up here in her place.  Crystal knew o’ Claude’s true identity ‘n tried ta convince him ta move on from Destiny, but he refused, tryin’ everythin’ within his power ta get back with her, only ta wind up stuck in limbo himself where his powers were ineffective.

“Durin’ those 1,000 years he was trapped there, he held major regret over tha fact that he’d never moved on with Crystal when he had tha chance.  Then Ah wound up in limbo too after sacrificin’ maself ta Crystal so that all o’ ya could live ‘n he was tha one Ah came ‘cross while Ah was there.  Claude, as Star Swirl, saw this as an opportunity ta finally escape ‘n be with Crystal.  However, he’s held major resentment towards me fer strippin’ her of her magic ‘n sendin’ her ta Tartarus.  After regainin’ his powers, he’s been tryin’ ta ‘nact revenge against me fer that.  First by erasin’ tha memories y’all had o’ me ever bein’ an Alicorn Prince ‘n jus’ now with what had happened ta Fluttershy, although he originally tried ta strike me with that magic.

“Ah don’ know that much ‘bout tha magic he used, but Fluttershy seems ta have completely fergotten that Ah even exist ‘n also appeared ta think that ya were still in that coma from tha firs’ time Ah ever came here.”

Twilight ran a hoof under her chin in silent contemplation before finally answering.

“Something about that kind of magic sounds strangely familiar to me.  It's possible that this is a form of magic similar to that of the Memory Stone that wound up in the human alternate reality I had visited long ago, but that stone was destroyed a good while back.  Just to make sure, I might need Spike to send an urgent letter to Starlight Glimmer so she can help with figuring out this situation.”

Making our way back into the throne room, we saw that Fluttershy had been joined by Spike, who was quick to notice the 2 of us entering from the balcony before speaking up.

“Twilight, why is Fluttershy asking me why I’ve gotten larger and have wings now?  What’s going on?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” the princess answered. “I actually need you to write an urgent letter to Starlight Glimmer.”

“Who’s that?” Fluttershy puzzled.

“Tell her that we need her help with Fluttershy,” she continued, ignoring Fluttershy’s question. “That she seems to have lost memory of all events that happened after we first defeated Tirek, including any memories of ever meeting David.  Tell her that, if need be, she has access to any book in my library in order to find out what’s causing this.”

Spike was writing the letter with such speed and tenacity that I was amazed the paper itself didn’t catch on fire from how fast the feather pen was flying across it.  Before long, Spike had the letter finished, rolled up, and, with a quick breath of his flame, sent off to Starlight.  As we waited for Starlight to respond to the letter, a very unsettling feeling came over me: the realization that my whole life had been a lie.

This Claude I’d come across less than an hour ago had created my ancestor Destiny as part of his ability to make lies into reality.  All that I’d ever been this whole time was just a byproduct of someone else’s own imagination.  Every descendant of Destiny’s leading up to me weren’t even real.  This scary realization that my whole existence had been in the hands of another individual was incredibly hard for me to swallow in that moment.

As seconds turned to minutes while we waited for Starlight’s answer to the letter, all I could think of was, if Claude still had this kind of power over my fate, what else could he possibly do to me?  Or even scarier still, what else could he possibly undo to me?


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


After what felt like an eternity to me, though in reality it was only several minutes, Starlight Glimmer finally zapped into our presence, startling Fluttershy in the process.

“Ahh!” she cried out while hiding behind Twilight. “Who’s th-that?”

“Sorry for taking so long,” Starlight spoke up to us. “As soon as I got your letter, I teleported straight to the Canterlot library and began looking through all the books that were there.”

It was then that she produced a sizable book before continuing on.

“Granted, I’m not as fully familiar with the Canterlot library as some others might be, but I finally found what I was looking for in this book titled, ‘An Account of Chaotic Curses and Calamities’ which I found in the restricted section of the library.”

“What exactly did ya find out?” I posed the question.

“That,” she started, “I’ll need to discuss with you and Twilight privately.”

“Spike, would you mind accompanying Fluttershy outside of the throne room for the time being?” Twilight asked. “I’ll fill you in on the details later.”

“Sure thing,” he replied.

And so, after Spike had led Fluttershy out of the throne room, me and Twilight turned our attention over to Starlight.

“So what were you able to find out?” Twilight questioned.

“Well,” Starlight began, opening up the book that she had to a specific page, “I believe that what’s happened to Fluttershy is that she’s been struck with ‘The Curse of Forgotten Love’, a curse that dates all the way back to the time when Discord ruled over Equestria.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that he was originally the only one who was ever able to use that curse.”

“Well, I think that answers where Discord’s magic has disappeared to.”

“Did this curse have any kind o' connection ta tha Mind Stone from long ago?” I posed the question.

“Memory Stone,” Twi corrected, a playful smile crossing her face. “Someone's clearly been watching way too many Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.”

A look of confusion came to Starlight's face for a few seconds, but then she seemed to think better of it before speaking up.

“Yes actually.  Apparently, there was a powerful sorceress who called on Discord to unite their powers into the creation of the Memory Stone itself.  He held the primary power for the stone within himself while this sorceress had the strength to stabilize this power in the form of the stone, serving as a vessel for this dangerous form of magic.”

After Starlight had turned a page in the book, I saw an image of the Memory Stone on one of the pages and the familiar eye shape it held with 3 triangles above and 2 curved, scrolling lines that didn’t quite line up right beneath.  That easily recognizable symbol left me aghast upon seeing again.

“That’s tha same shape Ah saw glow ‘cross Claude’s hands before he fired tha blast!” I exclaimed.

“Then there’s no doubt that this same curse is the cause of your troubles,” Starlight stated.

“What exactly does tha book say ‘bout this curse?” I asked her.

“Basically, the curse causes somepony to completely forget about their significant other, whether it be somepony they’re dating or even married to, similar to the Memory Stone.  However, there's some differences between the power of the Memory Stone and the curse in question.  With the Memory Stone, any memories of somepony would be permanently gone after 3 days of the stone being used on them.  As far as this curse is concerned, the individual who's memory has been forgotten by their significant other slowly begins to fade from existence entirely.  After a full week has passed, that pony vanishes as if they’d never existed.”

Starlight’s revelation to us only made me all the more uneasy.  First, Discord had the ability to bring other ponies back from the dead and now this?  All of this gave me even more reason for concern that Discord couldn’t be trusted with this kind of power anymore.  Knowing that any pony could’ve been erased from existence like that was not the kind of power that should belong to anyone, especially not Discord.  Still, I was sure that there had to be more to this curse than what Starlight had just mentioned, some form of counter measure that could break it.

“Does tha book say anythin’ ‘bout how ta undo this curse?”

“There is only one way that the curse can be broken: with True Love’s Kiss.”

After this realization, I couldn’t help but groan inwardly before speaking up.

“Really?  That’s tha solution ta all o’ this?  Couldn’t’ve come up with somethin’ a little more original than that?” I sighed. “O.K. then.  Ah guess Ah’ll jus’ go kiss Fluttershy ‘n this’ll all be over.”

“Wait!” Starlight called out as I turned to leave.

“What?” I paused in my tracks.

“It’s not as simple as it may sound.”

Of course it’s not, I thought to myself. Why should I ever expect it to be?

“In order for it to qualify as True Love’s Kiss, it must be given willingly by both parties involved.  Fluttershy would have to want to kiss you in order for the curse to be broken.”

“But how am Ah supposed ta get her ta wanna kiss me?  She’s absolutely terrified o’ me right now.”

“Knowing how charming you can be, I’m sure you’ll be able to win her heart again, no problem,” Starlight smiled at me before her face turned serious again. “However, you’ll only have about a week to break the curse before you vanish out of existence.”

“One week?  Hearth’s Warmin’ Eve is one week from now.”

“At least you know what the deadline is to aim for,” Twilight spoke up. “That’s a plus.”

“I honestly wish that there was some way that we could help you more,” Starlight began, “but winning Fluttershy’s heart back and breaking this curse is something that can only be done by you.  Knowing how much you truly love and care for her, I have no doubt that you’ll find some way to win her love back.”

I offered a tiny, weak smile at Starlight’s statement towards me before I came to realize something that I’d meant to bring up to Twilight.  However, with my current situation being as precarious as it was, I wasn’t sure if it would even be anything all that important if I were to fail at getting my beautiful Flutters back.  Still, I felt it necessary to voice my concern to Twilight on the off chance that I was able to succeed.

“Hey, Twi?”

“Yes, David?”

“On a completely unrelated note, if Ah am… able ta win Fluttershy’s heart back… ‘n break this curse… Ah… Ah have somethin’ important… that Ah need ta talk ‘bout with ya.”

“Why don’t you just tell me what it is right now?”

“Because it’s somethin’ that Ah’d like ta do personally.  Ya know, after all this mess has been taken care o’ first.”

“O.K.  If you feel that way, I’ll be right here waiting for you when the curse has been broken.”

“Thanks, Twi,” I stated as I hugged her gently.

“You’re welcome, David,” she reciprocated back to me.

Pulling apart from the hug, I was reminded how late it was as Starlight yawned before speaking back up.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I think it’s time to hit the sack.  I’ll just return this book to the library and then I’ll be out of your manes.”

“See you in the morning, Starlight.”

With a flash, she was gone.

“Ah should prob’ly be headin' out too,” I concurred. “Now that Ah think ‘bout it, Ah’d need ta get Fluttershy back ta her house also.”

“Good luck, David.”

And with that, I exited the throne room where Spike and Fluttershy were standing right outside.  Both of them soon took notice of me, Spike being the first to speak up.

“Did you find out what the problem was?”

“Yes.  Twi will fill ya in on tha deets.”

“Umm, is it O.K. for me to go home now?” Fluttershy posed the question.

“Ah don’ see why not.  If ya want, Ah could escort ya home no problem.”

“Umm... I don’t know,” she replied nervously.

“Aww c’mon, Flutters.  Usin’ ma magic, Ah could get ya back ta yer house in a matter o’ seconds.”

“Well… O.K. if you’re offering.”

“Ah’ll see ya later, Spike.”

“See you later, David.”

And so, gently taking Fluttershy’s hoof in my hand, I summoned my magic to bring her back to her cottage, the 2 of us vanishing in a brilliant flash of emerald.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


Within the blink of an eye, me and Flutters were back inside her cottage, though I knew that my time there would be brief.  It wasn’t long before Fluttershy herself spoke up to me.

“David?”

“Yes?”

“I… I just wanted to let you know… that I do greatly appreciate you… going out of your way… to bring me back here… even if I don’t really know you all that well.”

“Hey.  It’s no problem at all.”

It was then when Fluttershy let out an absolutely adorable yawn before I followed up.

“Welp, Ah should probably let ya get some rest,” I turned to leave. “Jus’ know that, if ya ever need me fer anythin’, ma place is right within flyin’ distance of here.”

“Oh.  O.K.  I’ll keep that in mind, though… I’m not sure if I’ll really need that much help.”

“Well ma offer still stands all tha same.  See ya later.”

“Goodnight.”

And with that, I left Fluttershy’s cottage and made my way back to my own place for the night.  As I laid down to rest, sleep didn’t come easily for me.  Running heavily through my mind was the realization that this Claude character had been responsible for me even existing in the first place.  Even worse still was what I’d found out from Starlight about the curse that he’d cast, knowing that he’d originally meant to cast it on me before Fluttershy sacrificed herself to take the hit in my stead.  I was filled with rage at the thought that he would’ve erased my memories of ever knowing Fluttershy while she would’ve eventually been erased from existence entirely.

Equally disturbing to me was the fact that this curse that he’d cast was a form of dark magic that had come from Discord himself.  Knowing that that kind of power existed to begin with was bad enough, but the realization that it was something that Discord had once had in his reserve of magic made me all the more distrusting of him and more certain that power of this magnitude shouldn’t belong to anyone at all.  Finally going off into nervous, troubled sleep, one question lingered the strongest in my mind: Was there any possible way for this terrible, deadly magic to be destroyed completely?  Even in that moment, I couldn’t come up with the right answer.
> Chapter V:  Marshmallow Massage And Much Needed Support
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            The next day came around, seemingly just like any other day.  However, I knew full well that it wasn’t just like any other day for I was one day closer to being erased from existence entirely unless I could get Fluttershy to fall in love with me again.  That being said, I still had the responsibilities of my job to take care of at the same time.  But how was I supposed to balance that with winning Fluttershy’s heart back?  My job took up a pretty sizable chunk of my normal day, not allowing as much free time as I would’ve liked, so it was even more important for me to make the most of the time I had with Fluttershy if I was ever to get that Kiss Of True Love to break the curse.

            As I made my way over to the Ponyville Day Spa to start my shift, the thought occurred to me that it might be a considerate gesture for me to stop by her cottage after my shift was up to make sure she was doing O.K.  I could only imagine how strange and jarring this experience must be for her, having over 20 years worth of memories taken away from her just like that.  In that regard, I was positive that she’d need as much support and encouragement as she could get, having someone there to listen to whatever concerns she might have, even if she’d just said yesterday that she most likely wouldn’t need my assistance with anything.

            Arriving at work, these thoughts still lingered heavily on my mind even after I’d punched in and started working my massaging magic on all my clients as they came in.  Lyra was among the first clients I saw that day which was of very little surprise to me.  Ever since I’d first started up working at the spa, she’d been one of my most faithful customers, always seeing me for her massages every opportunity she got.  This was perfectly fine by me, though.  Having a customer as loyal as Lyra was clearly showed that I must’ve been doing something right around here.

            Before long, I’d completed my massage session with Lyra as she hopped off of the table before speaking up to me.

            “Great job as usual, David.”

            “Thanks, Lyra.  Guess Ah’ll see ya sometime later then?”

            “Yup.  See you later.”

            And with that, she exited the chamber as I called out for my next client.

            “Ah’m ready fer tha nex’ customer.”

            It wasn’t long after I’d made my announcement that the next pony entered the chamber.  The pony in question was a familiar marshmallow Unicorn with a wavy violet mane and tail, both of which were highlighted with a streak of silver that made her look even more glamorous.

            “Oh.  Hey, Rarity,” I spoke up. “How ya doin’?”

            “Pretty well all things considered.  Just dealing with the normal rush of the holiday, so I decided to come here for a little bit of much needed R&R, a little escape from the hecticness if you know what I mean.  How have you been doing?”

            “Ah honestly wish Ah could say things were goin’ well with me.”

            A look of concern crossed Rarity’s face before she posed her own question towards me.

            “What’s wrong, darling?”

            “Ah’ll tell ya in a little bit, but first Ah’m sure ya mus' want that massage ya came here fer.”

            “Oh.  O.K.,” she replied as she made her way over to the massage table and assumed the position.

            After a quick popping of my knuckles and flexing of my fingers, I finally laid my hands on Rarity’s back and began slowly working my way up and down her spine.

            “Mmmm.  David, this feels absolutely divine!” she moaned happily.

            “Glad ya ‘pprove.”

            “So what exactly is troubling you?”

            “Well,” I began, my hands reaching the base of her tail in the process, “las’ night, Ah went on a date with Fluttershy where Ah was plannin’ ta propose ta her, but it got interrupted.”

            “That can indeed be frustrating.”

            “Unfortunately, it gets even worse than that.  Ya see, tha guy who interrupted ma proposal was another human, someone who’d apparently been here even before Crystal had come.”

            “Another human?” Rarity gasped. “Where do all these humans keep coming from?”

            “It’s a pretty long ‘n complicated story, but all that really matters was that he put a curse on Fluttershy that caused her ta forget everythin’ that had happened between y’all defeatin’ Tirek tha firs’ time ‘n now, completely erasin’ any memory that Ah’d even existed, although he was originally plannin’ on strikin’ me with that blast o’ his before Fluttershy leapt out in front o’ me ta sacrifice herself ta tha curse.”

            “Oh my!  That sounds awful.  Were you able to find out what the curse was that this barbarian had cast on her?”

            It was then that I switched to my knife-hand technique, chopping up and down her back before continuing.

            “Well, Starlight was able ta find that tha curse in question was ‘Tha Curse O’ Fergotten Love’, an ancient curse datin’ all tha way back ta when Discord ruled tha land.  It’s even believed that he was originally tha only one ta possess that curse.”

            “Twilight had mentioned to all of us a few days ago how Discord had mysteriously lost his powers.  It would seem that this particular individual is the reason behind what you’ve just mentioned.  Were you able to find anything else about the curse?”

            “Apparently, tha curse itself causes one ta completely ferget ‘bout their significant other whether it be someone they’re datin’ or even married to.  Tha pony who’s memory had been fergotten by their significant other begins ta slowly vanish from reality.  Once a full week is up, they’re gone entirely as if they’d never existed.”

            “Wait a minute.  That means that you’re vanishing from reality!”

            “Unfortunately, yes, though nothing’s happened ta me yet.”

            “Well there must be some form of antidote or countermeasure to this curse, right?”

            “There is one solution fer tha curse ta be broken.  That bein’ True Love’s Kiss.”

            “Huh,” she protested. “Sounds awfully stock and cliche to me.”

            “That’s what Ah felt too, but it’s not quite as simple as that.  Ya see, in order fer tha kiss ta work, both parties involved mus’ perform tha kiss willingly.  Fluttershy would hafta want ta kiss me in order ta break tha curse.  Unfortunately, she seems ta be far more terrified o’ me at tha moment ‘n doesn’t want that much ta do with me.”

            With those words off of my lips, Rarity’s session with me was over as she got up from the table before answering.

            “Well, I’m sure that with your charming nature, you’ll be able to win her love again no problem.”

            “Ah sure hope so.”

            “As a side note, I really enjoyed my massage from you.  I think this is the first time I’d ever had you as my masseur and I’ll definitely be sure to make any and all future appointments with you from now on.”

            “Thanks, Rare.”

            “You’re welcome, darling,” she smiled back. “In the meantime, I really must be going.  Far too much to do for Hearth’s Warming Eve coming up, but I’ll definitely see you later.”

            “Yup.  See ya.”

            And so, Rarity left the chamber as I continued on with the rest of my shift, massaging customer after customer as time passed on.  With that passage of time, I could hardly wait for my shift to be over so that I could check up on my dear Flutters.  With her having lost over 20 years worth of memories, I couldn’t begin to imagine all the things that could come as a shock to her.  I wanted to be there as a supportive friend for her, to comfort her, and help her get through this confusing time.  One question burning deep in my mind as my shift went on was, Would she ever be able to accept me as a friend (or even more) again?


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            After what seemed like countless hours of work, I finally punched out of my shift and made my way over towards Fluttershy’s cottage to check up on her.  I wasn’t entirely sure of what to expect when I got there, but it was far more important that I be there as a support for her should she need me.  Reaching her cottage after a quick flight there from the spa, I went to knock my familiar pattern on her front door only to hear a soft noise coming from inside.  Pressing my ear against the door, I was able to make out that it was the sound of crying; Fluttershy crying.

            My heart broke inside upon hearing her weeping, even if from the other side of the door.  Considering my concerns for her wellbeing, I hoped that she’d be able to forgive my slight breach of etiquette and decorum as I opened up the door to reveal Fluttershy lying on her couch, face buried in a pillow as she sobbed.  Seeing that she didn’t seem to notice my entrance, I quietly made my way over to where she was before finally speaking up.

            “Flutters?”

            Letting out a startled “Meep!”, Fluttershy swiftly raised her head from her pillow, eyes red and puffy, pupils dilated, before posing her own nervous question to me.

            “D-David?  Wh-wh-what’re you d-doing here?”

            “Ah’m sorry.  Ah-Ah jus’ heard ya cryin’ ‘n Ah wanted ta make sure ya were alright.”

            Wiping the tears from her eyes, Fluttershy finally gave her reply.

            “No.  I-I’m not alright.  I went to ch-check up on m-m-my animal friends earlier, particularly Angel.  B-b-but…, he’s gone and… I-I don’t know why.  My animals told me he died years ago, but… it seemed like he was just here the other day.  How… how can that be possible?”

            Heart full of compassion for my amnesiac girlfriend’s plight, I sat down on the couch next to her as she continued.

            “Not only that, but when I went to look in my mirror earlier after waking up, I… I couldn’t even recognize myself.   What I saw reflected back at me… was an old mare I have no memory of ever becoming.  What’s even happening anymore?”

            With that last question, Flutters began crying all over again as I tried my best to think of how I could possibly help ease her pain over these memories she’d forgotten.

            “Ah might not know tha pain yer goin’ through at tha moment,” I began, “but what Ah do know is that ya’ve got plenty o’ friends who’re more than willin’ ta help ya through this hardship yer dealin’ with, includin’ me.”

            I then softly placed my hand on her forehoof before continuing with my thoughts to her.

            “Ya might not be able ta remember much ‘bout me, but Ah’m still here fer ya nonetheless.  While Ah don’ know what kind o’ hardships might come in tha future, Ah’ll be there ta stand by you, just as Ah remember tha times ya stood by me even if ya can’t recall those instances at tha moment.”

            “But how can you be soo faithful and loyal to me when I don’t even know who you are?” she puzzled.

            “Because that’s jus’ who Ah am ‘n it’s what true friends do.  Even when Ah was much younger, ma mom was always quick ta point out how loyal Ah am towards those Ah’m closest with.  You ‘n yer friends are some o’ tha closest individuals Ah’ve ever had tha pleasure o’ gettin’ ta know ‘n be friends with.  Plus, even if ya can’t remember who Ah am, Ah still remember who you are ‘n Ah’m willin’ ta fight whatever battle needs ta be fought if it means gettin’ yer memories back.”

            It wasn’t long after I’d spoken to Flutters that I noticed a slight blush forming across her cheeks.  Could this possibly be a sign that she was more likely to give me that Kiss Of True Love even sooner than I’d originally expected?  Could it be that I’d managed to win her heart back that quickly?

            “I appreciate your concern for me,” she began, “but… I wish I could actually remember us being friends.  A small part of me wants to know while another part is scared to remember everything I’ve forgotten.  According to my animal friends, the memories I’ve forgotten go back as far as 20 years ago.  That’s a lot of memories for me to forget and I fear that, if I ever do get them back, they’ll be far too overwhelming for me to take in all at once.”

            “Then all of us will be here ta help ya face those memories when they do come back ta ya.  Ya have no shortage o’ friends who want ta be there fer ya whatever challenge comes along.  All ya need ta do is simply ask ‘n we’ll  offer any assistance we can.  Yer not alone through any o’ this, no matter how alone ya might feel at this current moment.”

            At my statement, Fluttershy’s eyes began watering again as I did the only other thing that I could think of to do at the time: pull her close to me in a gentle, comforting hug as the tears ran down her face onto the shoulder of my shirt.  This didn’t really matter much to me as I just focused on being the support Fluttershy needed most in that moment, gently patting her back during this friendly embrace.

            “There there,” I spoke soothingly. “Let it all out.”

            It took a good couple of minutes before she finally pulled away from me, the tears ceasing as I reached my hand out to gently dry her eyes much to her appreciation.

            “I hope,” Fluttershy finally spoke up, “that you and I can become as good friends again as you say we were before I lost my memories.”

            “Ah honestly hope so too, Flutters.”

            She smiled softly back at me before I noticed how late it was getting.  Even with Fluttershy not remembering the fact that we’d ever been lovers, time with her seemed to go by way too quickly regardless of that detail.  As much as I didn’t want to, I knew that it was time for me to leave Fluttershy’s place and go my own way, possibly grab something to eat as it was dinnertime.

            “Ah’ve really gotta be goin’,” I broke the silence, standing up and making my way towards the front door. “Gotta see ‘bout gettin’ dinner fer maself before callin’ it a night.”

            “Oh.  O.K.,” Fluttershy answered back, a twinge of disappointment in her tone.

            “Hey.  Ah’ll still be ‘round if ya ever wanna spend more time with me.  Ma place is just a short fly away from here.  If ya ever have any problems or need someone ta talk too, ma doors are always open.”

            “I appreciate that offer, David.  Guess I’ll see you sometime later then?”

            “Definitely.  Goodbye, Flutters.”

            “Goodbye.”

            And with that, I exited Fluttershy’s cottage and made my way back towards Ponyville to see about getting something for dinner.  Thinking over my most recent visit with Fluttershy, things had gone somewhat better than I’d expected they would considering her amnesia.  But reminding her that we were friends again was something entirely different from reminding her that we’d once been soulmates.  Something of that level of significance and magnitude would take even greater time to convince her of.  Time that I was rapidly running out of with each passing day.  As these thoughts circled around inside my mind, I could only hope and pray that I’d be able to remind Fluttershy of the love we’d once shared before my time ran out permanently.
> Chapter VI:  Ponderings Over Peppermint Tea
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Waking up the next morning, I tossed my blankets aside before standing up from my bed.  However, no sooner had I stood up then I immediately fell down flat on my face.  Trying to stand up again, I had the same result as last time.

            That’s weird, I thought to myself. Why can’t I seem to stand up straight?

            Looking down at my legs, much to my horror, I finally found out why this was the case: my left leg from the knee down was entirely gone.  I realized in that moment just how this process of me vanishing from existence was apparently going to go about.  Thinking through my options, I remembered that I at least still had my wings for getting around if need be, but for how much longer?  I only had about 4 or 5 more days left before Hearth’s Warming Eve and my complete and utter erasure from reality.

            As I was thinking this over, another thought occurred to me that I hadn’t realized until now.  I’d spent a lot of time thinking about being erased from existence in Equestria and what a tragedy it would be for my friends who knew me here, but what about my family back on Earth?  How would they feel if I vanished out of their lives without any form of notice or foreknowledge to even alert them of my dark, tragic fate?  I hadn’t really thought that much about something like this since the first time I’d visited Equestria when I was worried about how I’d actually get back to them and my late love Savannah.

            For the time being, I realized that I might have to invest some of my bits into buying a crutch so that I’d at least still be able to get around on foot without worrying about exhausting my wings too much.  But how long would that truly last for?  How long would it be before another part of me started to vanish?  And what about my job?  I couldn’t very well do my work properly in the condition I was in now.

            These thoughts and more swirled through my mind in rapid succession, nearly providing me with a bad headache in the process.  Trying to quiet these thoughts, I instead focused on the most important detail in that moment: getting a crutch for myself as soon as possible.  Flying over to the safe I kept in my room for all the bits I’d earned, I opened it up and grabbed a pouchful of bits that I figured would help cover the cost of my crutch.  With my pouch secured and my safe of bits locked up, I then made my way out of my house back towards Ponyville on swift wings.  With it still being relatively early in the morning, not many others were out and about quite yet and several stores were only just now opening.

            Before long, I arrived at a store in Ponyville quite appropriately named “Canes & Crutches” that had just opened up.

            What great timing, I thought to myself upon flying through the front door.

            It wasn’t long after entering the establishment that I was noticed by the shopkeeper: a middle aged female Unicorn with a rich tan coat and a bright orange mane.

            “Good morning, David,” she greeted.

            “Mornin’,” I replied, still hovering above her on my wings.

            “What can I do for you today?”

            “Ah’m jus’ here lookin’ fer a proper crutch fer maself as Ah seem ta be missin’ a leg here,” I answered back, showing off where my left leg used to be.

            Much to my shock, though, I found out that my left leg was now entirely gone, not just from the knee down.

            “Oh my!” the shopkeeper replied upon noticing my now missing limb, moving a nearby chair with her magic towards me. “Here, let me sit you down in this chair and I’ll bring you over a selection of some of our best crutches we have.”

            “Ah ‘ppreciate that a lot,” I answered back, settling down on the chair that she’d provided.

            She then went over towards one of the racks along the wall that had a vast display of crutches of varying sizes.  Using her magic, she drew several choices from the rack before bringing them over towards me.

            “These are the tallest ones that I could find.  Try them out to see which one works best for you.”

            Taking the first one in my hand, I stood up from the chair to test it out.  This crutch was a rich shade of mahogany and quite sturdy.  Attempting to walk around with it, I unfortunately realized that it was a little too short for someone of my height and stature.

            Next up was a crutch that smelled very strongly of cedar and was a much taller crutch than most others, but was also kind of skinny by comparison.  Trying out that one, it seemed to hold up pretty well at first.  However, I heard a slight creaking coming from it under my weight and I feared that this one wouldn’t be strong enough to properly support me if I were to go out and about with it.  This crutch was a definite pass.

            The next crutch that I tried out was thicker and had the fresh scent of pine emanating from it.  It also appeared to be of proper height for me to use it beneficially.  Hobbling along with this one, I found it to be a perfect match.  With my selection made, I brought my purchase over to the shopkeeper pony in order to pay for my new crutch.

            “Ah’ll take this one,” I stated, pulling out my pouch of bits to pay for it.

            “Ah.  A very good choice,” she replied while ringing me up. “Your total for today comes up to 25 bits.”

            Counting out the bits, I finally passed them over to her as she gratefully accepted them.

            “Thanks fer yer help,” I spoke up, turning to leave.

           “No problem.  Hope you have a great rest of your day.”

            “You too.”

            And with my purchase made, I left the store, shuffling my way along.  It was during this time that I realized that I’d need to take some time off from my work at the Ponyville Day Spa.  I very well couldn’t be expected to massage other ponies properly in my condition.  So I then made my way over to the spa to explain my predicament and that I’d need to be off of work for a little while.  I just hoped that it would only end up being for a little while rather than never again.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Before too much longer, I finally arrived at the spa.  Hobbling through the front door, Lotus and Aloe were quick to notice my presence there before speaking up.

            “Good morning, Daveed,” Lotus greeted.

            “Vhat are you doing vith a crutch?” Aloe posed the question. “Are you veeling O.K.?”

            “Not quite, unfortunately,” I answered back. “Apparently, Ah seem ta be missin’ a leg fer some reason.”

            I already knew damn straight what the reason was for why my leg was missing, but I didn’t need any other ponies feeling sorry for me or worrying about my predicament.  The last thing I needed was a pity party.  This didn’t stop the twin sisters from expressing concern towards me in that moment.

            “Oh my!  Zat is quite unfortunate.  I take it zat you vould be needing zome time off from verk here?”

            “If ya 2 ladies don’ mind.  Ah’m not sure how well Ah’d be able ta perform ma massages in ma current state.”

            “Ov course it’s no problem,” Lotus replied. “It vould be vay too unrealistic ov us to expect you to properly carry out your verk here vhen you’re not quite veeling like yourself.  Take vhatever time you need.  Ve’ll be able to get by for zee time being.”

            “Ah greatly 'ppreciate yer understandin’,” I followed up while turning to leave. “Ah hope ma current predicament will be taken care of relatively quickly.”

            “As do ve,” Aloe concurred. “Zee you later Daveed.”

            “See ya,” I spoke, before exiting the spa.

            With that little bit of business taken care of, my thoughts swiftly returned back to my beautiful Flutters.  Obviously, she’d show concern towards me if she were to see me missing one of my legs.  However, I couldn’t very well tell her about why this was the case or I’d risk hurting the spell along with any chance of it ever being broken in time.  That being said, I couldn’t very well avoid her for the rest of the time either if I really wanted to break the curse.

            It truly was quite the dilemma I found myself in.  Even in a situation like this where Fluttershy could no longer remember who I was, I still couldn’t bring myself to lie to her.  Still, how could I go about telling her what was happening to me without worrying about negating the effectiveness of our True Love’s Kiss whenever it happened?  If it ever happened?  This kiss would have to be performed out of a genuine desire for both of us to do it, not under compulsion, by force, or out of pity.

            I thought about this long and hard as I slowly hobbled my way over to Fluttershy’s cottage.  I certainly had plenty of time to think it over as the walk to my destination was even longer with only one leg and a crutch to support me.  Finally, I came up with what I believed to be a reasonable solution to my problem just as I reached Fluttershy’s front door.  With my free right hand, I went ahead and knocked out my ever familiar greeting.

            Tap.  Tap.  Taptap Tap.

            After only several seconds of waiting there, the door finally opened to reveal Fluttershy standing on the other side.  She looked quite surprised to see me there as she spoke up.

            “Oh.  H-hi David.  I… I wasn’t expecting to see you here this early.”

            Turning her gaze downward, she finally noticed the crutch I was leaning against as well as the fact that my entire left leg was gone.

            “Oh my!” she immediately gasped. “What happened to your leg?”

            “Oh it’s nothin,” I remarked. “Jus’ a little bit o’ magic gone awry.  Ah hope ta have tha problem fixed within a few days.”

            “Still,” she followed up, “I think you’d better come inside and sit down for a little while.”

            “Ah really wouldn’ wanna intrude on ya.”

            “Seriously, David, it’s no problem at all.  I just don’t like seeing you having to stand around on one… hoof?  Paw?  What do you call it?”

            “Foot.”

            “Right.  I just don’t like seeing you having to stand around on one foot like that.  Please come on inside.”

            She then moved aside to let me in to her cottage before leading me over towards one of the chairs in her living room and making sure that I was settled down there.

            “Thanks, Flutters,” I gratefully replied.

            “Oh, it’s no problem at all really.”

            It was then that a piercing whistle sounded from Fluttershy’s kitchen.

            “Oh.  Sounds like the water is finally ready for tea.  Would you… like some, David?”

            “Ah honestly wouldn’t wanna inconvenience ya.”

            “Not at all.  There’s plenty of hot water for several cups of tea if the need arises.”

            “Well… O.K. if you insist,” I finally gave in.

            Fluttershy then headed for the kitchen to get our tea prepped.

            “I hope you like Peppermint Tea,” she called out from the kitchen.

            “That sounds great, thanks.”

            “Do you take anything with your tea?  I’ve got some honey as well as lemon juice if you’d like.”

            “Yes, please, ta both o’ those.”

            It was only a few minutes later that Fluttershy finally came back from the kitchen with a teacup balanced on each wing.  Walking over to me, Flutters held out her left wing for me to take my teacup whereupon I held out one hand, magic enveloping the cup before drawing it toward said hand.

            “Thanks, Flutters.”

            “No problem,” she replied, taking her seat across from me.

            I then took a small sip of the still hot liquid, being careful not to scald any of my taste buds in the process.  The tea was quite enjoyable, helping warm me up more after several minutes of having to walk here in the cold.

            “How’s your tea, David?” Fluttershy posed the question to me.

            “It’s delicious.  Thanks fer askin’.”

            “Oh you’re welcome,” she followed up before taking a sip of her own tea. “So what’s your story?”

            “What exactly do ya mean by that?” I puzzled.

            “Well, I’m just curious to know more about you.  Being that you’re the first human I’ve ever come across, I’d like to know where you’re from, what your life is like, what’re your interests, that kind of stuff.”

            “How much time do ya have?”

            “Just about all day if need be.”

            “O.K.  Ah’ll try ta give ya as much information as Ah can.”

            And so, settling in for however long it would take, I began to tell Fluttershy everything that I could think of in that moment.  All the while, I was secretly hoping that this moment of bonding between us would lead up to me getting that Kiss Of True Love to break my curse.  I guessed I’d just have to wait and see where the moment took me.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            About a couple of hours later, I’d just finished explaining to Fluttershy about the family that I used to have in the form of my wife, Savannah, and my daughter, Ariel, many years ago.  Even before that, I’d told her about my immediate family I have back on Earth, my passions for singing, acting, and writing, how society works back on Earth, and jobs that I’d previously held while I was still living there before coming to Equestria among other things.  After hearing about the loss of my wife and daughter, a look of genuine shock came to her face.

            “Oh my!” she spoke up. “David, I’m soo sorry to hear about your loss.”

            “Ah ‘ppreciate yer condolences, Flutters.”

            “Have you ever tried looking for the one who murdered Savannah and stole Ariel from you?”

            “Oh yeah.  Definitely.  Back on Earth, Ah spent tha las’ 5 years takin’ whatever money Ah got ‘n investin’ it inta tha best private investigators Ah could afford.  Even with all that money goin’ towards them, though, Ah’ve never gotten anywhere past where Ah started out.  It’s all jus’ been dead end after dead end.”

            “I wish that there was some way that I could help you out,” Fluttershy stated after taking a sip of tea.

            “Ah wish so too.”

            “In all those years since then, have you ever considered trying to find somepony new to be your mate.”

            My pupils swiftly dilated while I was taking a sip of my own tea.  Her question caught me very heavily off guard with how direct she was being.  Of course I’d found somepony new who I hoped to eventually be married to; she was sitting right across from me!  However, I couldn’t very well tell her that she was the one my heart was set on when she still didn’t have any idea who I even was.  I thought long and hard about a proper answer before finally speaking up.

            “Actually,” I began, “there is this one girl Ah know.  She ‘n Ah used ta be really close friends fer quite a while ‘n Ah was even gettin’ ready ta propose ta her, but, recently, someone stole her memories o’ me ‘n now she doesn’t even know that Ah exist.”

            “Oh!  Well I hope that you’ll be able to get her memories of you back as well as winning her heart again.”

            “As do Ah.  She’s a very special girl ta me ‘n Ah’m doin’ everythin’ within ma power ta get her back.  Ah’d even move Mount Aris if it meant restorin’ her memories ‘n winning her love again Ah love her that much.”

            I then noticed a soft blush slowly creeping across Flutters’ face before she posed another question towards me.

            “Do you think it would be possible for me to meet her sometime?”

            Once again, I found myself caught off guard by her straightforwardness.  For all of her memories that had been erased between the time they’d defeated Tirek and now, Fluttershy seemed to slowly be getting back that boldness and spunk that I’d come to know and love as their show had continued on as well as my interactions with her ever since the first time we’d met.  I could only hope that this refreshing of her memories would continue, ultimately leading up to the curse being broken.  For the time being, though, I offered the only reply I could think to make.

            “Ah could try ta ‘rrange that fer ya.”

            “Good.  From what you’ve mentioned of her, she sounds like somepony I’d definitely want to meet.”

            “Ah’m sure ya would,” I smiled back.

            Flutters softly returned the smile before changing the subject.

            “So do humans back on Earth have pony ears and wings like you do?”

            “Not really.  Humans don’ have wings at all ‘n their ears are much more like those of a chimpanzee,” I answered before taking another sip of tea.

            “If that’s the case, though, then why do you have pony ears and wings?” Fluttershy questioned.

            “That in ‘n of itself is quite a complicated story that Ah’m not sure if Ah have tha time ta go inta great detail ‘bout.  What Ah will say is that Ah’m actually a descendant of somepony who used ta live here in Equestria long ago before she accidentally wound up on Earth as a human many years past.  Ah don’ think it’s anypony you would know, though.  None o’ ma other friends seem ta remember her either.”

            There was a brief moment of silence between us as I let my explanation to Fluttershy sink in.  Finally, after several seconds, she spoke back up with a soft smile on her face.

            “Well, I don’t know what any other pony says about it, but I think that the pony ears and wings are a good look for you.”

            “Thanks fer that, Flutters.”

            “Oh you’re welcome.”

            No sooner had the words escaped her lips then my stomach immediately growled like a manticore before I made my statement to Fluttershy.

            “Well, it’s been nice bein’ able ta chat with ya, but Ah really mus’ be headin’ off ta get some lunch fer maself.”

            “Oh.  O.K.,” she answered back, that same twinge of disappointment in her voice that seemed to come up whenever it was time for me to leave her.

            With that twinge in her voice, my heart sank quite a bit before I came up with what I was sure was a proper solution to the problem.

            “If ya want, Ah can come by again within tha nex' day or 2 ‘n we can talk more then.”

            “I’d like that a lot,” Flutters’ face lit up. “I’d like to know even more about your culture the next time you get the chance.”

            “Will do,” I replied, reaching for my crutch and pulling myself up to my feet before making my way over to the front door.  “See ya later, Flutters.”

            “You too, David.”

            And with that, I left Fluttershy’s cottage and made my way back towards Ponyville to figure out my lunch plans.  Thinking over my most recent interaction with Fluttershy, she seemed to be warming up to me quite considerably despite not really remembering anything about me beforehand.  It made me think of how she’d pretty swiftly warmed up to me the first time I came to Equestria to save all of ponykind from that hag.  I could only hope that Flutters’ warming up to me would continue on and that the curse would finally be broken, allowing for us to have the life together I hoped we would.
> Chapter VII:  An Arm And A Leg
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Not too long after leaving Fluttershy’s cottage, I made my way back over towards Ponyville, all the while pondering what my best lunch option would be.  It was during this time that the thought occurred to me that I hadn’t even had breakfast that day.  I’d been soo caught up in the fact that I was missing one of my legs as well as trying to make the proper accommodations to this new development that I’d unfortunately neglected this most basic of needs.

            With this realization, it only figured that my best meal option would most likely be something within the realm of “brunch” and no place would be better for that than Sugarcube Corner.  Hobbling my way over towards the court of confectionaries, I could only hope that there wasn’t too much of a line of customers when I finally arrived.  Being the holiday season, Sugarcube Corner was particularly busy with customers who all had various and sundry orders of baked goods for their own celebrations.  Normally, I’d try to make it there as early as I could to avoid these long lines, but that hadn’t exactly been in the forefront of my mind on that particular day.

            Fortunately, by the time I got there, there only seemed to be a few customers ahead of me.  Those customers turned out to be a Unicorn, 2 Yaks, a Changeling, and a Dragon, the latter 2 seemed to be together as a couple.  In fact, looking at them from behind, something struck me as strangely familiar about these individuals.  My brain was going through everything I’d remembered watching from the show over the past few seasons during the time that I’d been back on Earth.

            Suddenly, it all came back to me at once.  I now knew who these 2 individuals were in front of me as I spoke their names.

            “Smolder?  Ocellus?”

            Upon hearing their names mentioned, the 2 of them turned to look back at me before speaking up themselves, eyes wide with surprise at my presence there.

            “David?” Ocellus followed up, a smile making its way across her face. “It’s great to see you again.  I didn’t know you were back here in Ponyville.”

            “Neither did I,” Smolder stated. “How’ve ya been doing, bud?”

            “Ah’ve been doin’ O.K.  Jus’ business as usual.  How ‘bout you 2?”

            “We’ve been doing pretty good,” Ocellus replied. “Just getting some desserts for Hearth’s Warming Eve.  Some Sapphire Cupcakes for Smolder, a few Cinnamon Swirl Muffins for me.”

            “Ah can mos’ certainly vouch fer tha muffins.  Tha cupcakes, not soo much as Ah’d prob’ly crack a tooth on one of ‘em,” I smiled.

            It wasn’t until after I’d made my reply that Ocellus first noticed the fact that I was using a crutch and that my left leg was missing.  Upon that realization, she let out a gasp before speaking back up again.

            “David, what happened to your leg?!?”

            “This?  Well that’s kind of a long ‘n complicated story.  Let’s jus’ say that there was some magic that went awry ‘n Ah was caught in tha crossfire.  It’s nothin’ too serious ‘n should hopefully be resolved soon.”

            “Even so,” Smolder began, “I think it would be best if you were to take a spot ahead of us so that you won’t be waiting around as long on just one… hoof?  Paw?  What do you call that thing again?”

            “Foot,” I stated.

            “Right.  You won’t be waiting around on one foot for very long and can just be on your way that much faster.”

            “Ah really wouldn’t wanna cut in front o’ you 2.  Ah could jus’ wait.”

            “What were you planning on ordering?” Ocellus posed the question.

            “Just a quick muffin fer brunch,” I answered.

            “Then it’s perfectly fine for you to go ahead of Smolder and I.  We have a larger order when compared to you so we have no problem waiting a little bit longer while you get your muffin.”

            As the 2 of them stepped aside for me to go on ahead of them, I couldn’t help but smile at their giving spirits towards me in that moment before speaking back up.

            “Thanks you 2,” I answered, shuffling on ahead.

            “No problem,” Smolder commented. “Tis the season and all that.”

            I let a soft chuckle escape me at Smolder’s remark just then as we continued to wait our turn in line.  It wasn’t that much longer before the Unicorn and Yaks had left with their orders and I finally stepped forward to make mine.  Briefly looking behind myself, Smolder, and Ocellus, I noticed that the line behind us had grown significantly in that time.  Good thing I’d gotten here when I did as I turned back to face Pinkie Pie at the front counter.

            “Welcome, Davey,” she cheerfully greeted. “What can I get for you today?”

            “Hey, Pinkie,” I followed up. “Do ya happen ta have any more o’ those Lemon Muffin Surprises ‘round here?”

            “For you, your good buddy Pinkie Pie always keeps an extra few of them around.  Let me just go and grab that for you.”

            As Pinkie headed into the back to grab my order, I waited patiently for her return.  It was during this time that somepony else came from the back of the store; a little yellow colt with a frizzy pink mane and tail to match his mother’s.

            “Hey, Li’l Cheese,” I called out to him.

            “Oh.  Hey, Uncle Davey,” he replied before noticing my missing leg. “Where’d your leg go?”

            Trying to think of the best way to explain something like this to a colt of his age without scarring him, I realized that, as much as it pained me to do so as well as knowing how much Applejack would’ve disapproved, I had no other choice but to lie to him about the details regarding my missing leg.

            “Well,” I began, “it’s kinda like a game.  Ma leg has gone missin’ ‘n Ah need ta find it.”

            “You mean like hide and seek?”

            “Yeah.  A lot like that.”

            Pinkie then came in from the back with a Lemon Muffin Surprise for me in a brown paper bag.  Reaching into my pouch of bits, I pulled out a few before passing them off to Pinkie with my free hand while gratefully accepting the bag from her.

            “Thanks, Pinkie.”

            “No problem,” she piped up. “See you later and I hope you find your leg.”

            I smiled softly at her farewell to me as I made my way out of the establishment and back to my place to enjoy my muffin.  Now that I had more freetime on my hands without having to worry about working for the time being, I really wasn’t sure what else I would do with my time.  With all this extra time that I had now, the thought occurred to me that I now had even more of it to focus on trying to win my beautiful Flutters’ heart back.  How exactly I would use that time, I didn’t know.  As I hobbled along back to my home, I knew that figuring that out would be the most crucial conundrum for me to solve, hopefully before it would be too late for me.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            A few hours had passed by since I’d gotten my muffin from Sugarcube Corner as I reclined on my bed reading one of my books that I’d brought along with me, having consumed my muffin quite a while ago.  The book in question that I happened to be reading was called Cress, a book that was part of a larger series known as The Lunar Chronicles.  I particularly loved the series for the way that it took these classic fairytales like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White and set them in a distant, futuristic, Sci-Fi/Fantasy setting while also interweaving them together so that they created kind of a shared universe.

            I was just a fan of shared universes in general when they were done right.  The Marvel Cinematic Universe was the only good example that I could think of at that time.  Most attempts at creating shared universes like that were not nearly as successful like the DC Extended Universe or even the epic failure that was the Universal Dark Universe that couldn’t even make it past one movie.  The latter was dead in the water before it even started half a decade ago.

            Literary universes like The Lunar Chronicles were something that I genuinely hoped would eventually be picked up for a movie series just so that there was more variety in regards to quality shared movie universes; the author of the series, Marissa Meyer, had even stated years ago in an interview promoting Cress (based off of Rapunzel) that the first book in the series, Cinder (guess what that’s based off of), had been picked up by a yet unnamed studio and was looking for a director.  The only other examples of book series’ like The Lunar Chronicles that had that type of larger universe feel to them were the works of Rick Riordan, who had created a fascinating blend of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythologies, among others, as a cohesive whole with his books, and Cassandra Clare with her Shadowhunter Chronicles, a series that had grown soo large and spanned many different time periods that I seriously doubted I’d ever be able to get completely caught up on it.

            Even as I lay in bed reading my book, I was unable to fully focus on what I was reading at the time.  Lingering heavily in my mind was how I would go about spending the next few days in regards to trying to win Fluttershy’s heart back.  With me being off of work for the time being, I had more time available to spend with her and I seemed to be making progress in regards to rebuilding a friendship with her, but rebuilding a friendship is completely different from rebuilding a romantic relationship; the latter taking even more time that I was rapidly running out of.  Hearth’s Warming Eve was only a few short days away and, with it, the last days of my existence if I failed to win her love again.

            Sitting there in thought, I was suddenly drawn out of my ponderings by a knock at my door.  Setting my book down, I used my magic to draw my crutch over to me before standing up and shuffling my way over to the front door, a process that took nearly a minute for me to complete.  Reaching the door, I opened it to reveal Rainbow Dash standing in my presence.

            “Hey twin,” she greeted, before noticing that I was missing a leg and using a crutch. “What happened to your leg?”

            “Hey, Rainbow,” I followed up. “Jus’ a little bit o’ magic gone awry.  Ah’m hopin’ that tha issue will be rectified relatively soon.”

            “Oh.  O.K.”

            “Was there a reason why ya stopped by here?”

            “Oh yeah.  I’m just going around to let everypony know that the weather team has a major blizzard scheduled for the day after tomorrow and advising them not to go outside at all during that time.”

            “Why a blizzard?” I questioned.

            “Some bonehead at the weather factory made some major miscalculations in regards to our scheduled snowfall so we have a massive backlog of snow that needs to be gotten rid of and fast.  I just found out about it earlier today and figured that it would be best to give everypony here at least tomorrow to focus on getting prepared for the upcoming storm.”

            “Well Ah ‘ppreciate ya givin’ me tha heads up on that, Dashie.”

            “Anytime, bud.”

            It was then that I knelt down to her level in order to give her a gentle, sibling-like hug which she gratefully accepted before speaking back up again.

            “Well, I should really be going.  Got a lot of ponies and other creatures too I still need to notify about the upcoming blizzard.  It was nice getting to see you again, twin, and I hope that you manage to get your leg back.”

            “Thanks fer that, Rainbow.”

            “You’re welcome.  Hope you have a great rest of your night.”

            “You too, Dashie.”

            And, with a quick smile, she turned away and flew off into the night as I closed my front door.  Hobbling my way back over to my bedroom, I thought about what had just transpired.  Rainbow’s news that there was an intense blizzard coming a day after tomorrow along with the need for everyone to stay inside during that time led me to a startling realization: I now had one less day to spend with my beautiful Flutters to try and get that Kiss Of True Love.

            The time that I had left to attempt getting the kiss from her was already far too short, but finding out that I was now losing an entire day on top of that was extremely unsettling for me.  With that factored in, I realized that I only had one full day for certain to try and win her heart back.  Sure there was Hearth’s Warming Eve the day after the scheduled blizzard, but I had no guarantee that I’d have the entirety of that day to try and break the curse.

            Settling myself back down in bed and having lost interest in reading my book, I decided to call it a night, setting my crutch and glasses off to the side.  Sleep wouldn’t come easy for me, though, as I continued to play those thoughts over and over in my mind.  All the while, I could literally feel the time ticking away; time I was rapidly running out of, time that I’d never get back, time that was not on my side.  I knew right then and there that this was going to be a long night.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Morning finally came about after far too long as I woke up to yet another unsettling fact.  Just like the previous morning, I now found myself missing an additional limb.  In this case, it was my entire right arm.  Being without an arm made it all the more harder to pull myself up straight from my reclined position and being that my right arm was my dominant one was even more problematic for me.  I just hoped that I wouldn’t be called upon to write anything in the near future.

            With no small amount of difficulty on my part, I was finally able to pull myself up from my bed, even with only one arm.  Putting on my glasses with my one hand, I then tried to use my magic to draw my crutch over to me, but it was then that I came to a strange, unsettling realization.  When I stretched out my hand to magically pull my crutch towards me, I found out that my magic was rather unstable, lifting my crutch for 2-3 seconds before dissipating, causing the crutch to fall still outside of my reach.

            A rather discouraging thought occurred to me that I hadn’t originally considered.  I’d known all about how this curse was causing me to slowly vanish from reality over the course of about a week, but what about my magic?  Was it possible that the more of me that vanished out of existence, the more my magic would begin to falter and go awry?

            After several attempts of getting the crutch to magically come over to me, I finally managed to get it close enough where I was able to grab it and use it to pull myself onto my feet… or foot in this case.  It was then that I began to think about what the day had in store from a schedule standpoint.  I knew that I’d obviously be going over to Fluttershy’s to spend more time with her and hopefully get that Kiss Of True Love I needed to break our curse, especially with as little time as I had to do so now, but I also knew that I would need to grab breakfast from Sugarcube Corner first before I forgot about it like yesterday.

            During my ponderings in that moment, I thought to myself why not get something for both myself and Fluttershy while I was there?  Gathering up a pouch of bits for myself, I hobbled my way out of my house and began the lengthy walk towards Ponyville to get breakfast for myself and my dear Fluttershy.  I just hoped that she’d appreciate the surprise.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Several minutes and a short wait in line later, I’d purchased a Cinnamon Swirl Muffin for each of us as I made my way from Sugarcube Corner back towards Fluttershy’s cottage.  Being that I had only one arm now, it was relatively difficult for me to manage holding my crutch and the bag of muffins with the same hand, but, by some miracle of God, I was able to manage it well enough.  While shuffling my way over towards my destination, I couldn’t help but think about what exactly the 2 of us would talk about while I was there.  I planned to be there for as much of the day as I could in the hopes that the curse would finally be broken, but, as for what we’d talk about during that time, my mind was a mad flurry of thoughts at that moment.

            Before too much longer, I’d finally arrived at Fluttershy’s where I was suddenly faced with yet another conundrum: how exactly would I go about knocking on her door?  The only hand that I had at the time was already holding onto both my crutch and the bag with our breakfast, not to mention that I couldn’t even tap on the door with my crutch as I would risk falling flat on my face with only one leg to balance me.  As I stood there in thought, the front door suddenly opened before me to reveal my beautiful Flutters on the other side.

            “Oh.  Hi, David,” Fluttershy pleasantly greeted. “I thought I heard someone outside.”

            “Hey, Flutters.  How ya doin’?”

            “I’m doing pretty good,” she replied before realizing that I was completely missing my right arm. “Oh my!  What happened to your arm?!?”

            “Same thing that happened ta ma leg.  It’s just a minor inconvenience really.  Nothin’ too serious.”

            “How can you say that it’s nothing serious?” Fluttershy questioned, a twinge of worry and concern in her tone.  “I think that you should have this looked at by somepony.”

            “Ah have,” I began, “‘n they informed me that tha problem should go away relatively soon.  All that really matters ta me now is gettin’ ta spend time with one o’ ma closest friends.”

            Fluttershy let out a soft blush before speaking back up.

            “Why don’t you come inside and sit down for a bit?” she moved aside, granting me entrance into her cottage.

            “Thanks, Flutters,” I gratefully accepted, making my way over towards the couch before settling myself down.

            I then set the paper bag down on a nearby table before continuing.

            “Ah hope ya don’ mind, but Ah stopped by Sugarcube Corner before comin’ here ta get us some Cinnamon Swirl Muffins fer breakfast.”

            “That sounds lovely, David.  I appreciate you being soo considerate.”

            “Yer welcome,” I answered with a smile while pulling our muffins out of the bag and passing one off to Fluttershy.

            Gratefully accepting her muffin from me, Fluttershy then took a seat on the couch just across from me as the 2 of us ate our muffins happily.  Not too long after polishing off my muffin, I posed a question to the beautiful mare sitting only a short distance away from me.

            “So, Flutters, was there anythin’ in particular that ya wanted me ta talk ta ya ‘bout?”

            “Not really.  I’m pretty much open to just about anything you wanted to talk about.  We do have the whole day to ourselves, after all.”

            “That we do,” I agreed.

            As I thought long and hard over what we’d talk about with each other, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this might very well be the last chance I had to win Fluttershy’s heart again, get True Love’s Kiss from her, and break the curse that had afflicted us both.  This much I knew: I was determined to make sure every last moment I had with Fluttershy didn’t go to waste.  My very life depended on it.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Despite some worries at first in regards to coming up with something for us to talk about, I did manage to come up with a few topics to discuss with Fluttershy as we sat and talked for hours, Fluttershy herself only pausing for a few minutes to fix us a lunch of cucumber sandwiches.  She listened quite intently as I told her some more about my immediate family and even about some of the media I enjoyed back on Earth like favorite movies, TV Shows, and music.  The concept of the former 2 was particularly alien to the amnesiac Fluttershy, yet by no means any less interesting as I did my best to explain it in terms that she’d understand.

            “So… these movies and TV Shows… are like… moving pictures… but with sound accompanying them?” she puzzled.

            “Precisely,” I stated. “Some o’ them can be live-action, some can be animated, but there’s still a wide variety o’ movies ‘n shows ta choose from.”

            “Animated?”

            “Yeah.  Tha best example Ah can think o’ fer animation that ya might understand is actually right here in Ponyville.  Everythin’ in this land is animated, even Ah’m animated, a fact that took me a little bit o’ time ta ‘djust too when Ah first arrived here.”

            “But if this place is… animated, as you say, does that mean that… we’re part of a movie or TV Show?”

            In spite of having lost all of her memories of me and everything we’d been through just a few days prior, Fluttershy was still managing to pick up really fast on stuff that I talked about with her, sometimes even before I’d said the words myself.

            “Yes, it did,” I began. “Where Ah come from, there was a TV Show a while back that had ta do with tha err day lives of all 6 o’ y’all called My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.  Tha show itself was quite successful, runnin’ fer a total o’ 9 seasons, 9 years, ‘n over 200 episodes altogether.”

            “Oh my!  I never would’ve thought that anypony else would be that interested in our daily goings on, at least nowhere near as long as you’ve said our show ran for… but…, if there was this show back in your world that had other… humans putting it together, does that mean… none of us are real?   That we’re just figments of someone else’s imagination?”

            “No.  O’ course not,” I replied. “Every single one o’ you guys here are very real.  There are jus’ certain special storytellers back in ma world known as ‘Authors’.”

            “Authors?”

            “People who witness many different stories, both wonderful ‘n terrible, ‘n write ‘bout ‘em fer others ta experience.  These Authors are given a glimpse inta other worlds ‘n are tasked with recordin’ what they witness as it’s revealed ta them, not changin’ any details o’ these stories fer personal gain or satisfaction.  Yer guys’ show was a revelation that came ta these people, allowin’ them ta share yer stories with ma world.  Does that make sense to you?”

            “Umm… I guess so.”

            “There have been many great Authors throughout the ages, but it’s definitely not a power that’s ta be taken lightly either.  Regardless, all o’ y’all are very real ta many others back home.  Yer real ta tha showrunners, yer real ta tha viewin’ audience, ‘n, most importantly, yer real ta me.  Growin’ up back on Earth, Ah was exposed ta many different stories ‘n other worlds, worlds that Ah always longed ta visit, but never got tha chance too nor did Ah think Ah ever would, worlds that were inaccessible ta me.  Ah always figured that Ah’d jus’ be stuck with ma normal err day life in ma normal err day world.

            “But, then, Ah was magically brought here ta Equestria many years ago ‘n Ah got ta witness this wonderful land fer tha firs’ time as well as meetin’ ‘n becomin’ friends with all o’ y’all, some o’ tha only friends Ah had left anymore.  Havin’ friends like you guys has greatly altered tha course o’ ma life fer tha better ‘n Ah can’t even begin ta imagine what ma life would be like without y’all in it… ‘specially you, Flutters.”

            As the words came out of my mouth, I came to realize that this was my big chance to make my move and try to get that kiss needed.  First, I just needed a little more patience when it came to hopefully reeling her in as I continued speaking.

            “Ya’ve been one o’ tha closest friends that Ah’ve ever had here in Equestria, even if ya can’ remember at tha moment.  You were always a pony Ah could go ta whenever Ah had somethin’ that was troublin’ me, always willin’ ta listen ta ma concerns.”

            A heavy blush formed on Fluttershy’s face as I softly placed my hand on her right forehoof, much to her surprise.

            “‘N as a fellow friend o’ yers, Ah wanna do everythin’ within ma power ta help ya get yer memories back so that ya can remember bein’ that friend Ah know you are.  Ah care deeply ‘bout ya, Flutters, even bein’ willin’ ta move Cloudsdale itself if it would get ‘em back fer you.”

            “What about that girl you mentioned before?” Fluttershy posed the question to me. “The one you used to be really close friends with?”

            A smile crossed my face as I answered her.

            “Ah’m lookin’ right at her.”

            Her pupils dilated and an even heavier blush came to her cheeks as she rubbed one forehoof against the other, a smile of her own slowly making itself present.

            “Why, David… I’m honestly flattered,” she started, “and a little relieved too.  You… you might not have known this…, but, over these past few days, I… I slowly began to develop… feelings for you through our interactions, feelings… I didn’t quite understand at the time… with you being human and I a pony.  However, I was worried my feelings towards you…, strange and confusing as they might have seemed, weren’t reciprocated.”

            She then stretched out her other forehoof to gently brush some of my hair aside before continuing.

            “But, now that I know you feel the same, it… it’s like a great weight has been lifted off of me.  I… I love you right back, David.”

            Smiling softly back at her, we gazed into each other’s eyes before I spoke back up.

            “Trus’ me, there’s nothin’ strange ‘bout that at all.”

            It was then when we slowly leaned in towards each other, eyes closed and hearts racing.  My heart was racing even moreso as I was finally about to get the Kiss Of True Love necessary to break our curse.  The distance between us closed as our lips got even closer to one another.

            However, at the most inopportune time that it could’ve ever happened, we were interrupted by a knock at the front door, snapping us out of the consensual liplock that would’ve restored my body and her memories.

            “Who could that be?” Fluttershy asked as she got up from the couch and went to the front door.

            Opening it wide, we were greeted by Discord.  The sight of the draconequus produced a mixture of feelings within me, one of them being nervousness when taking into account my personal feelings over the fact that he was without his magic and my belief that it should stay that way.  It was probably a good thing that he had no way of reading my mind at that moment to know these thoughts I had.

            “Fluttershy, it’s soo good to see you!” he exclaimed. “Sorry that I wasn't here earlier, but, when one is without their magic, it makes traveling from place to place much more of an exercise.  I do hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

            “Not really,” she answered back. “Me and David here were just having a pleasant chat together.”

            “Good to know.”

            “But, what did you mean when you said you were without your magic?” Fluttershy puzzled.

            “What do you mean?  Have you already forgotten what I told you about it over a week ago?”

            “There’s been an incident that occurred recently ‘n Flutters has lost some o’ her memories,” I chimed in, more than a little peeved at this interruption when I’d been soo close to getting the kiss needed for everything to return back to normal, though I did my best to hide it for Fluttershy’s sake. “Even all memory of me.”

            Discord looked absolutely shocked by this revelation, but I also could’ve sworn I saw a slight, possibly mischievous gleam in his eyes before he followed up with Fluttershy.

            “Anyways, I came here because I have something important I need to talk with you about… privately.”

            I could immediately feel the fear stirring up inside me, swiftly replacing my annoyance from not only being cockblocked out of the kiss that would break our curse, but also fearful that that moment was now gone forever and I’d never get it back.

            “I don’t see any problem with that,” Flutters spoke before turning to me. “Are you O.K. with heading back to your place, David?”

            No I’m not O.K. with leaving when I won’t have any other opportunities to get the Kiss Of True Love from you ever again, were the thoughts that swirled around in my head at the moment, but I bit my tongue and said what I figured she’d want to hear.

            “Sure,” I replied as I reached for my crutch and pulled myself up before shuffling over to the door. “Thanks fer having me here, Fluttershy.  Ah hope ta see ya ‘gain later.”

            I doubt I ever will, though.

            “I hope so too.  Bye, David.”

            “Goodbye, Flutters.”

            Goodbye forever, I thought to myself as I left her cottage into the night and made my way back to my house.

            Step after heartbreaking step I took on my way back home, an uncontrollable wave of panic spread over me as I realized that this had been the only chance I’d had left to win Fluttershy’s love again and break the curse.  That chance had now been shot straight to Hell all because of that one interruption from Discord.  With the blizzard scheduled for all of tomorrow, I didn’t have any guarantee that I’d even get another chance with Fluttershy the day after said blizzard: Hearth’s Warming Eve.  By that point, who even knew if there’d be anything left of me.

            As I finally reached my house to call it a night, I was haunted not by the bitter cold of Winter that I’d come in from, but the bitter cold of death that awaited me in a couple short days.  There was no longer any hope for me as I fell into troubled, restless sleep.
> Chapter VIII:  Lips Of An Angel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Waking up the next morning, it came of very little surprise to me that yet another limb of mine had vanished during the night.  This time, it was my other leg meaning that all that was left of me at this point were my torso, my head, my left arm, and my wings.  Aside from my wings, all the other parts of me that were left couldn’t help but remind me of the title character from Alita: Battle Angel after most of her body had gotten sliced up by the evil cyborg Grewishka’s bladed fingers, “grind cutters” the movie called them.  As I recalled from that movie, though, even then with only one arm, she still managed to find a way to fight him off.  If only I had that same fighting spirit she had left in myself to help me through this unfortunate turn of events.

            Quick to catch my attention was the loud howling of the wind that came from the blizzard outside.  Picking myself up as best as I could from my bed with only one arm, I was faced with a dilemma in regards to how I would even get around my house.  With no legs left, my crutch that I’d only bought about 2 days ago had now been rendered obsolete to me.  The thought then occurred to me that I still had my wings which meant that I could probably just use them to hover around throughout my house wherever I needed to go.  I mean, it wasn’t like I had anywhere else I could go.  Still, I’d probably exhaust my wings pretty quickly from having to use them to such an intense degree.

            My thoughts were immediately drawn back to the events that had just happened the day before.  I’d done everything within my power to work my way towards getting that Kiss Of True Love from my dear Fluttershy to break our curse and I was even very close to getting it to actually happen, but then Discord had to barge in at the worst possible time, ruining the moment.  With that chance at the kiss now gone, there was no longer any hope for me to get it after the fact.

            Today was the day of the big blizzard that Rainbow Dash had informed me and all the other citizens about just a couple short days ago.  With how severe this blizzard was, we’d all been advised to stay inside the whole time and not go outside for anything.  This meant that any chance I had of getting that kiss again was now shot.  Tomorrow, Hearth’s Warming Eve, was the day in which I’d completely vanish from reality as if I’d never existed.  Who even knew for how much longer there’d be any of me left when tomorrow came around.

            Flying over towards the nearest window, I looked outside to see that Rainbow Dash hadn’t been joking.  The snow was coming down soo hard that I could barely see within a stone’s throw from where I was and I could throw a stone pretty far if need be.  I couldn’t even make out Fluttershy’s cottage through this intense blizzard, the closest structure to where I lived.

            Just thinking of Fluttershy caused me even more pain inside in regards to how close I’d been to getting the kiss from her.  The 2 of us had already confessed our love towards each other only a short while ago so I was positive that the kiss to follow would’ve done the trick.  Both of us were definitely more than willing to kiss each other in the moment that much was certain.

            But, with Discord’s interruption, that moment was gone with no way of ever getting it back.  Now, I’d be doomed to vanish out of existence and, even worse to me, my beautiful Flutters would never know what had happened to me.  Knowing that we’d been soo close to kissing each other and ending this period of suffering that we’d endured was all the more heartbreaking to me.  If only we’d had just a little more time then everything would’ve been back to the way it used to be.  I’d be able to go ahead with my marriage proposal to Fluttershy that had been interrupted by Claude several days prior and we could’ve had a life together.

            Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be in the cards for me or her.  There wouldn’t be any “happily ever after” for the 2 of us.  I was now fated to pass on from this current life into the next one leaving her behind.  I wouldn’t even have a body left behind for a proper burial; Fluttershy would have no idea why I had mysteriously vanished.

            Looking out on the heavy snowfall coming down outside, I was suddenly struck with a rather morbid thought: what if I were to just fly out into the blizzard and freeze to death out there?  In my mind, I found very little point in prolonging the inevitable and at least that way there’d still be something left of me for my friends to perform a proper funeral afterwards.  Better to get it out of the way now instead of extending my suffering.  Yes it would be terribly cold out there, but I had a much higher tolerance towards cold than most others might.  In all honesty, it didn’t really bother me all that much.

            As the thought was swirling around inside my head (the first time I’d considered suicide in a long while), my attention was suddenly captured by something unusual outside.  Looking through the window, I could’ve sworn that I saw a small flash of color against the blinding white.  In that case, the color I’d seen was a flash of light rose that immediately caught my eyes.  There was only one mane and tail that I could think of with that shade of color and only one mare that that mane and tail belonged too.  The biggest question in my mind at the time was what in the name of the 2 sisters was she doing out in this kind of weather?

            Flying over towards the front door, I immediately opened it and headed out into the storm, leather jacket in hand.  I soon discovered that flying in and of itself was hard with this barrage of freezing snow and stinging ice, but I fought my way through it as best as I could.  All that truly mattered in my mind was getting to Fluttershy and making sure she was O.K.

            After a few minutes of fighting the storm, I finally reached Fluttershy.  She was nearly completely covered by the snow by the time I got over towards her and she wasn’t moving much to my quite visible concern.  Setting down my leather jacket, dusting the snow off of her, and reaching for her neck, I felt a slight, but still recognizable pulse that put my spirit at ease.  Taking my jacket and, with difficulty, wrapping the unconscious Fluttershy up in it, I then picked her up with my one arm and turned to head back to my house with her.

            Unfortunately, when I looked back towards where I thought I’d come from, my house was no longer visible through the storm.  Panic set in before I thought to myself that I could try to take her back to her cottage.  Looking around me for any sight of the structure, I finally spotted it faintly in the distance.  With Fluttershy firmly bundled up and under my arm, I flew towards her cottage, fighting the storm all the while, nothing more important in my mind than her own safety and wellbeing.  What hadn’t occurred to me at that time, but I would come to realize later, was that there was possibly a slight glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, this curse could still be broken.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Finally arriving at Fluttershy’s cottage after far too long of fighting the snowy barrage, I was faced with yet another dilemma: how was I supposed to get her door open to bring her inside?  The only hand that I had left was already being used to hold onto Fluttershy and I didn’t think it would be that wise of an idea for me to set her back down in the snow when she was already cold enough as it was.  That being said, I couldn’t stay out in the cold for much longer unless I wanted both of us to freeze to death.

            After a brief moment of thinking it over, I came up with a solution that I hoped would work out beneficially for both of us.  Firmly tucking my dear Fluttershy under my left armpit, I raised my hand towards her front door and focused hard on my magic to get it to open up for us to get inside, my hand already too cold and trembling to properly grip anything else at that time.  It took a great deal more concentration than normal as my magic had slowly been diminishing as my body did.  After a little over half a minute of trying to use my magic, the door finally opened ever so slightly and I was able to bring Flutters inside.

            Closing the door behind me so as not to let anymore of the cold in with us, I immediately set Fluttershy down on the couch before flying upstairs to get whatever blankets I could find for her.  With how cold she was at that moment, she needed more than a blanket, she needed a heap of blankets!  During my search upstairs for blankets, I was able to find about 4 good sized ones that I was sure would warm her up nicely and immediately brought them down to Fluttershy to get her wrapped up in as much warmth as I could possibly provide.

            Having gotten her properly tucked in with her blankets, my wings were absolutely exhausted from all the hovering they’d had to do for the past several minutes, though it honestly felt more like a half hour that I’d been using them.  I knew deep down inside that there was more that needed to be done for my beautiful Fluttershy, but I also needed to rest and warm myself up for a little bit so as not to overdo it.  With that thought in mind, I set myself down on one of her chairs across from where she was currently lying where I could more properly keep an eye on her.

            Sitting there in silence, the thought soon occurred to me that there was no way that I’d be able to make it back to my house for quite a while, if ever.  I’d already had to fight the blizzard hard enough just to get here.  I wasn’t about to risk my life getting back there again, not when Fluttershy still needed me.  It was true that I’d just been considering suicide before I’d found Fluttershy unconscious outside and brought her back here, but such a mindset that I originally thought was more honorable on my part, I now realized, in retrospect, was a rather selfish one when I still had friends around me that still loved me and cared for my wellbeing.  If I was going to fade out of existence come tomorrow, I’d much rather do it while knowing that the mare I loved the most was safe, possibly even get to spend my final moments with her while I had the time.

            It was during my silent contemplations when I realized that it might be important for me to get Fluttershy something hot to eat for when she woke up.  With my wings rested enough from the reprieve I’d taken for the past several minutes, I then made my way over towards the kitchen to see what kind of food she had in stock.  During my search through her kitchen, I was struck with the idea of finding soup that I could heat up quickly and have a bowl of it ready for Fluttershy when she came to.

            Looking through her pantry, I found a can of tomato soup that I was sure would work out quite nicely.  I then set the can on the stove while also grabbing a pot, a bowl, and a spoon, the latter 2 for Fluttershy to eat (or drink) it when it was ready.  In the middle of my prep, I soon remembered that I’d need a can opener for the soup which would require 1 hand more than what I currently had.  Looking for a possible solution around this, I suddenly spotted a set of knives and realized that I could possibly use one of them to puncture a hole in the top of the can and pour it into the pot that way.  It would be slow waiting for all of it to come out, but what other choice did I have?

            Grabbing a knife and holding it firmly, I then made a stabbing motion to the can’s lid.  It took a few tries, but I finally managed to pierce through it, a little bit of the soup splattering out in the process, but not making too much of a mess.  Laying down the knife, I grabbed the can and began pouring it into the pot before turning the burner on to cook the soup.  All that was left for me to do now was wait for the soup to heat up as I took a seat on one of the kitchen chairs to rest my wings again.

            While sitting in the chair, I decided to use the time I had waiting for the soup to heat up to do a little bit of meditation.  Closing my eyes, I let all thoughts fade away as I just focused on my breathing and relaxed.  Meditation was something that I’d taken up in the time between now and when I’d last visited Equestria as a way of trying to keep negative thoughts from controlling me, but, with all that had been going on since I’d come back, I hardly had the time for it anymore.  On that note, however, I think it was safe to say that I needed it now more than ever.

            Before too much longer, I could hear the ever soo slight bubbling that indicated the soup was finally ready.  Flying over towards the stove, I turned the burner off and, grabbing the long handle of the pot, poured the soup into the bowl.  Setting the pot down in the sink, I grabbed the bowl and spoon in one hand before bringing them back into the living room and setting them down on the table next to the couch where Fluttershy still lay unconsciously.

            Reaching my hand out to touch her neck, I felt the same pulse from earlier, except stronger this time.  A smile crossed my face as I sat back down on the chair across from her, waiting for whenever she might awaken.  However, I felt very tired all of a sudden and fought to keep my eyes open.  It might’ve been from all the work I’d had to do in looking out for Fluttershy’s wellbeing or it very well could’ve been from the lack of sleep I’d gotten the previous night.  Regardless, I fought hard to stay awake, eyes still fixated on the sleeping Flutters before me, but my weariness won out as my eyelids, heavy as cinder blocks, finally closed and I soon drifted off.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            “David?”

            I was suddenly startled awake upon hearing my name mentioned in spite of how softly that voice had spoken it.  Sure enough, it was Fluttershy who had called out my name.  Standing only a few feet in front of me, she had a concerned look on her face as she looked at me sitting there.  Looking myself over, I now saw that all of my limbs had vanished.  Judging by this information, there was no doubt in my mind that it was now Hearth’s Warming Eve.  I’d been asleep for over a day.  Finally, I spoke up.

            “Hey, Flutters.  How you doin’?”

            “I’m doing O.K.  Just concerned about you is all.  You don’t have any arms or legs anymore.”

            “What were ya doin’ out in that blizzard yesterday?” I questioned. “Ah thought that Rainbow Dash had said that nopony was supposed ta go out durin’ that time because o’ how intense it was.”

            “I was trying to get over to you.  I… I thought that if I left early enough, I’d be able to make it over to your house before the blizzard started.  Unfortunately, it came too suddenly, catching me off guard before I’d even reached you.”

            “Why were ya tryin’ ta get over ta me?”

            “Because I felt bad that we never got to finish spending time together before Discord had come over 2 days ago.  After you’d left that day, Discord came straight out and asked me to marry him.”

           That cheeky little 2 faced bastard, I thought to myself. He tried to steal my girl by taking advantage of the fact that she’d forgotten about us ever having had a relationship.  I mean, c’mon Discord.  That is low, even for you.

            “Wh-what did you say?”

            “Well, to be completely honest… I turned him down.  The 2 of us are close friends, but I don’t think I love him that way.  Not to mention I’m still getting over the fact that he’d betrayed all of us to Tirek, even though other ponies inform me that that was a long time ago.  Anyhoo, I was trying to make it over to you so that we could have more time together and finish what we’d started.  I guess I just didn’t plan it out properly ahead of time as the blizzard came upon me faster than I expected it would.  As I was out there in the cold, I… I was honestly scared.  Scared that I was going to die alone out there and that I’d never get to see your face again…, the face of the one… I truly love.”

            With those words from her, I honestly wished that I still had my arms so that I could’ve embraced her in a warm, comforting hug.  After a brief moment of taking it all in, I finally replied.

            “Ah understand what yer sayin’ ‘n Ah ‘ppreciate yer concern, but Ah don’ want ya puttin’ yerself in danger on ma ‘count.  Yer safety is far more important ta me than anythin’ else.”

            “I realize that now.  At the same time, though, your safety is just as important to me and seeing your body slowly disappearing like this can’t help but make me feel just as equally concerned for you.”

            “Ah guess that’s yet another thing that we have in common: our desire ta protect others, ‘specially those we love.  Reminds me of an instance many years ago back in ma world.”

            “What instance was that?” Fluttershy puzzled.

            “Well, a little less than 2 decades ago Earth time, ma mom was in tha hospital after havin’ recently given birth ta ma second youngest siblin’, Matthew, ‘n, because o’ that, ma dad needed me ta watch one o’ ma other brothers, Stephen, while he was takin’ part in a park ‘n rec softball game cuz ma dad was watchin’ another siblin’ o’ mine durin’ a swimmin’ event they were takin’ part in.

            “So ma dad gave me a slip o’ paper with his phone number on it fer tha coach, who we all knew, ta call him as soon as tha game was over.  However, when me ‘n Stephen got there, tha coach who was there was a replacement that none of us knew.  Still, Ah gave him ma dad’s number, tellin’ him ta call it when tha game was over so he could come ‘n pick us up.  Game finally ends ‘n err’body leaves, but our dad still wasn’t there almost a full half hour later.”

            “Oh my!  That sounds awful.”

            “It was pretty bad.  So, ‘bout a half hour later, ma dad still hadn’t shown up ‘n Stephen, not even a teenager at tha time, was at tha point o’ tears.  Thinkin’ over our situation, tha only other solution that Ah could come up with was fer both of us ta start walkin’ back ta our house, even though it was a few miles away.  So we began walkin’ home ‘n made it ‘bout halfway there before ma dad pulls up after seein’ us walkin’ along tha side o’ tha road.  Turns out, that coach had never called him at all ‘n ma dad only realized somethin’ was wrong when someone else from the softball game showed up at tha swimmin’ event.”

            “I’m terribly sorry that the 2 of you had to go through an experience like that.”

            “As am Ah, ‘specially as far as Stephen was concerned.”

            “That being said, I think it was very brave of you to take action like that when things went south for you guys and I can see that you cared just as much for my safety yesterday as you did for your little brother back then.”

            “Ah truly do care fer each o’ ya,” I affirmed. “In fact, did Ah ever tell ya what my favorite letter is?”

            “No,” Flutters puzzled, “I don’t believe so.  What is it?”

            “F,” I replied.

            “Hey!” she exclaimed. “That’s the same letter that my name starts with.”

            “Favorite letter fer ma favorite mare, ”I softly smiled as Fluttershy came closer to me, hopping up onto the same chair I was sitting on.

            It was a little surprising to me that the chair was somehow large enough to fit both of us in it at once, but I wasn’t complaining.

            “Now,” she began, “I think it’s about time that you got a proper reward for saving me from that blizzard as well as looking out for my wellbeing with how you bundled me up with those blankets and even left that bowl of soup for me to make sure I got warmed up properly.”

            It was in that moment when she got on top before leaning in towards me, lips at the ready.  Realizing that this was now the perfect opportunity to get that Kiss Of True Love needed to break the curse, I closed my own eyes as the distance between us narrowed.  Finally, our lips connected in a warm, passionate kiss, both of us willing participants in the moment.  I also felt a warmth come over me as my limbs finally returned, my arms wrapping themselves around my beautiful Flutters in a loving embrace, hands stroking her wings, never wanting to let her go.

            Pulling apart from the kiss after several seconds, Fluttershy let out a gasp before speaking back up to me.

            “David!  I… I remember now!  I remember everything!” she squealed with delight.

            A smile crept across my face at her remembrance.

            “That’s great ta hear, ma love.  Also, Happy Hearth’s Warmin’ Eve ta ya.”

            “Same to you, my handsome stallion.  While you were sleeping earlier today, I stopped by the post office to get your present that had come in recently.  I didn’t know much about the gift at the time, but, now with my memories back, I’m sure that it’s something you’ll really like.  Shipped straight from the far off land of Horsetralia”

            Fluttershy then passed me a small pouch that had been hanging up nearby.  I wasn’t sure what to think at first until the pouch started moving.  Before long, 2 tiny baby albino Sugar Gliders, one boy and one girl, poked their heads out from it before leaping over towards my arm and running up my sleeves.

            “Sugar Gliders!" I exclaimed. "How did ya know that those are one o’ ma favorite animals?”

            “Because of when we were inside your mind the second time you came here,” Flutters answered back.

            “This is a great gift, Flutters.  Ah really do love ‘em.  Ah think Ah’ll name ‘em Mike ‘n Lisa.”

            “You’re welcome,” she smiled as the 2 marsupials perched themselves on my right shoulder.

            “Now Ah jus need ta get ma gift ta you,” I started as I was reaching into my pocket for the small velvet box that was in it.

            “The answer is ‘yes’,” she stated.

            I was a little caught off guard by her sudden reply as I wasn’t even sure what it was directed at.  Confused, I inquired further.

            “Yes ta what?”

            “Yes, I’d love to marry you!” she smiled. “I remember when you were going to propose to me that one night several days ago and there’s no other pony I’d want to marry than you.”

            Smiling back at her, I pulled out the box before opening it up to reveal the ring on the necklace I was going to give to her.  Her eyes lit up even brighter upon seeing it.

            “David, it’s beautiful!  The diamond even matches the color of my eyes.”

            “That’s why Ah picked it out,” I replied as I placed the necklace on her, “‘n there’s no other pony Ah’d want ta marry than you.”

            Fluttershy then placed her forehoof on the ring itself as it hung from her neck.

            “Thanks for making this the best Hearth’s Warming Eve ever, my love.”

            “Yer welcome ‘n thanks ta you too, ma beautiful mare.”

            Cuddling each other close, we knew that we’d have to break the news of our engagement to our friends eventually.  However, after all we’d been through these past several days, we’d earned some much needed time to ourselves to just relax and focus on each other now that the curse had finally been broken.  Little else mattered to us in that moment as we simply enjoyed each other’s company while looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together forever.
> Chapter IX:  Kiss Of Judas
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Several weeks had passed by since I’d made my marriage proposal to Flutters and all of my friends were happy to find out that the curse had been broken as well as my body having returned back to normal, congratulations abundant all around.  In that time, there’d been a fair amount of preparations that needed to be made for our upcoming wedding set to take place at Canterlot Palace.  Rarity was hard at work making my suit and Fluttershy’s dress, Pinkie Pie was in charge of planning the party for afterwards, Applejack was handling the catering, I’d asked for Rainbow Dash to be my best mare, and Princess Twilight would be officiating the actual ceremony itself, which was set for a few weeks before Hearts And Hooves Day.

            On this day in particular, I was reminded of an entirely different proposal that I had for Twilight since about the same time that the curse had originally been cast.  Making my way towards her palace in Canterlot, it was a rather pleasant day as Winter was nearing its end.  Ponies were already beginning preparations for Winter Wrap Up, only a couple of days away.

            It was during this flight towards Canterlot Palace that I was thinking of my proposal to Twilight and how she might take it.  The proposal itself was an unusual one that I thought would most definitely be met with some opposition.  However, deep down in my heart, I felt that it was the right thing to do.  I weighed very heavily how I would go about wording the proposal when I finally made it to the princess.  Before too much longer, I’d finally reached the establishment and came in for a landing whereupon I was met by Gallus at the front door.

            “Hey, David,” he greeted. “Congrats on the proposal.”

            “Thanks, Gallus,” I answered with a smile. “Is Twilight here by any chance?  There’s somethin’ really important Ah need ta talk with her ‘bout.”

            “Yes she is.  If you want, I can take you right to her.”

            “That would be greatly appreciated.”

            “No problem,” he replied as he led me through the doors into the palace.

            During the long walk from the entrance towards Twilight’s throne room, I decided to strike up a conversation with Gallus to pass the time.

            “So Gallus, have you ‘n Silverstream finally gotten married in tha time since Ah was las’ here?”

            “Yes actually.  We were married about a month to a month and a half before you just now came back.”

            “How’ve ya been enjoyin’ married life thus far?”

            “It’s pretty good.  Definitely an adjustment, but one that I think is ultimately worth it in the end.”

            “Ah felt pretty similarly when Ah was still married ta Savannah before her murder all those years ago.  Ah’m jus hopin’ ‘n prayin’ that Ah’ll be able ta have an even longer life ta enjoy with ma beautiful Flutters.”

            “I’m sure you will as well as having a life with just as much happiness as your marriage to Savannah had supplied.”

            “Thanks Gallus.”

            It was in that moment that we realized that we’d finally made it to the throne room.  Reaching the doors, Gallus opened one of them to announce me to Twilight.

            “Excuse me, Your Majesty.  David is here to see you.”

            “Thank you, Gallus,” I heard Twilight’s voice from the other side. “Please send him in.”

            Gallus then stepped aside to allow me to enter the room before closing the door behind me.  Making my way towards the throne, I saw Twilight sitting there with Spike at her side.

            “Hello, David,” Twilight greeted, getting up to hug me. “How are you doing today?”

            “Pretty good,” I answered, accepting her hug. “Lot o’ weddin’ preparations ta go through.  Me ‘n Fluttershy have been busy workin’ on writin’ out our own marriage vows fer tha ceremony.  Ah’ve nearly gotten mine done.”

            “That’s good to hear,” Spike spoke up.

            “So what brings you to the palace today?” Twilight posed the question. “Is everything alright?”

            “Yeah.  Everythin’s good.  Ah jus’ had somethin’ that Ah needed ta touch base with ya on, somethin’ Ah’d been meanin’ ta bring up after ma proposal ta Fluttershy, but tha curse cast on us got in tha way.”

            Twilight’s eyes lit up with the spark of realization at what I was talking about.

            “Right.  You’d mentioned that before when you were here previously trying to figure out what had happened to Fluttershy.  What exactly did you intend to propose?”

            “Well,” I began, “Ah was gonna suggest… that Ah be allowed ta… release Tirek, Chrysalis, ‘n Cozy Glow from their… stony imprisonment… ‘n send ‘em ta Tartarus instead.”

            Twilight stared at me for several seconds, apparently trying to process this proposition that I’d made.  Finally, she answered.

            “Why would we move them from one imprisonment to another?  Especially when their current imprisonment is perfectly fine?”

            “With all due respect, princess, Ah personally don’ feel it’s right fer ‘em ta be placed in stony triple solitary confinement like that when what they did wasn’t entirely their fault.”

            “Whachu talkin’ ‘bout?!?” Spike questioned, incredulously.

            I took a deep breath before finally making my case.

            “Yes, what they did was wrong.  There’s absolutely no denyin’ that, but Ah believe that Discord is tha one who’s far more at fault here.  Chrysalis was alone in tha Everfree Forest slowly losin’ her sanity, Tirek ‘n Cozy Glow were locked away in Tartarus, ‘n, on a similar note, Sombra was already dead.  All these villains were not in a position where they could’ve caused any harm ta anypony.  However, Discord as Grogar not only brought all of ‘em together, but set tha idea in their minds of attackin’ you guys ta begin with.

            “None of ‘em were able ta really do anythin’ before Discord united ‘em tha way he did.  Not ta mention, what Ah personally find ta be tha most messed up, after all this bullshit that Discord pulled with settin’ up their attack on you guys, he got ta decide what their punishment was.  Ah can’t be tha only one ta see how messed up that is, right?  That’s like tha ‘quivalent o’ me tellin one o’ ma friends ta commit a crime ‘n then lettin’ them take tha fall fer it, all tha while denyin’ any responsibility o’ ma own fer even puttin’ tha idea in said friend’s head.

            “Ma point is Ah’m not tha kind o’ person who can jus’ stand by idly when Ah see injustices like this in tha world.  It’s never been in ma nature.  Yes, these individuals are evil ‘n yes, they did some terrible things.  Ah’m not tryna diminish that.  But Discord had no place ta decide their punishment when it’s all because o’ him that they were brought together, set on this destructive path, ‘n nearly put all o’ Equestria in jeopardy.  If Ah couldn’t let injustices like this happen in ma world when Ah was jus’ an average boy, how much moreso must Ah be willin’ ta practice that same mindset as a prince in this world?”

            After stating my case to Twilight and Spike, there were several seconds of silence between us, seemingly as the 2 of them tried to process what I’d just said.  Finally, Twilight broke the silence.

            “Well, now that you put it that way, in retrospect, I’m able to see how messed up it is that Discord purposefully brought that upon them, even though they are clearly evil.  That being said, if you put them in Tartarus, won’t it just be possible for them to be broken out again?  Discord’s magic that he used to summon Tirek and Cozy Glow from Tartarus is still out there.”

            “That’s why Ah only plan on placin’ ‘em back in there after said magic has been destroyed.  When Ah make sure that that magic no longer exists, they’ll never be able ta get broken out o’ there again.”

            Twilight then cleared her throat before replying.

            “In that case, I grant your request to have them placed in Tartarus on one condition: they are to be placed there when, and only when, you’ve made thoroughly sure that the magic used to summon them is permanently gone.”

            “On ma honor,” I answered, crossing my right arm over my chest and bowing before continuing. “Now Ah really mus’ be goin’ ta make sure Ah’ve got all tha weddin’ plans taken care of.  Tha weddin’ itself is only a few days away.”

            “Well we certainly won’t keep you from that,” Spike smiled.

            “Thanks fer yer time, Twilight.”

            “You’re quite welcome, David.  See you at the wedding if not sooner.”

            “Yup.  See ya guys later.”

            And with that, I turned around and left the throne room, making my way back to my house as quickly as I could.  As I headed back, I was greatly relieved at how well that meeting with Twilight had gone.  I’d presented my case well enough and she was quite understanding of my reasoning behind all I’d said.  With all that off my chest, I looked forward to mine and Fluttershy’s upcoming marriage in the coming days.  What I didn’t know at the time was that life was about to throw me yet another curveball that would threaten our very future together.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            A couple of days later, it was time for Winter Wrap Up.  This was my first time ever taking part in the day (hell it was the first time that I’d ever been to Ponyville during the Winter time in general) and, as such, I was determined to do the best that I could to help out.  It also served as a brief, yet pleasant, reprieve from all the wedding planning, the wedding itself only a day away by this point.

            As this was my first Winter Wrap Up I’d ever taken part in, I wasn’t immediately sure what group I’d be put in.  I did remember from past viewings of their show that these ponies were completely dead set against using any kind of magic for the whole wrapping up process and so I was committed to honoring their wishes.  Still, I guessed that I would have to check with Apple Bloom, who had become the new mayor in the time between when I’d first returned to Equestria after several long years and this most recent return, to see which group she thought I’d fit best in.

            Waking up with a start, I was eager to get down to the Town Square and help out with Winter Wrap Up in whatever way I could.  Heading immediately out the door, I reached the Town Square in almost no time at all where a large crowd had gathered pretty quickly.  Something I was quick to notice upon arrival was the fact that Winter Wrap Up didn’t seem to be a “pony exclusive” kind of event any more as there were several other creatures gathered in the square to help out.

            Looking through the crowd that had assembled there, I finally spotted Fluttershy at the very front, facing the entire crowd, along with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Mayor Apple Bloom.  As I recalled from the Season 1 episode on Winter Wrap Up I’d watched what felt like an eternity ago, there were 3 main groups that everypony was broken into: 1 group handled weather, 1 group cleared the ground, and 1 group helped out with waking up all the animals who’d been hibernating over the course of winter.  From what I’d observed, it would appear that Rainbow, AJ, and Flutters were the respective leaders of each individual group.

            Standing well above most of the assembly gathered there, I made a quick wave to Fluttershy which she noticed and reciprocated with a smile.  Before too much longer, Mayor Apple Bloom finally spoke up.

            “Howdy everycreature ‘n thank y’all fer comin’ out today ta help out with Winter Wrap Up this year.  Looks like we’ve got yet another solid turnout as well as havin’ a relative newcomer ta tha wrap up this time ‘round.  Please give a warm welcome ta Equestria’s very own local hero, Dayvid.”

            No sooner had she finished speaking when I was greeted with a loud cacophony of clapping from hooves, paws, and claws all around me.  It had been quite a while since I’d gotten this level of attention from a group so large and it was kind of a lot to take in at once.  Soon, the applause died down as the mayor continued.

            “With tha ‘mount of able bodied workers we have here today, we should be able ta get Winter Wrap Up done in no time at all like tha past several years.  Now since tha previous years have gone soo smoothly with every creature here, all o’ y’all’ll be stickin’ ta tha groups ya were assigned in tha past.  As fer Dayvid, he’ll be assigned ta tha Creature Wake-Up group, led by Fluttershy.  Now let’s get on out there ‘n have another successful Winter Wrap Up this year!”

            I couldn’t help but let a smile cross my face at the news that I’d been grouped up with Fluttershy’s crew.  Not just because I’d get to spend time with the beautiful mare who’d become my wife in just one short day, though that was definitely a bonus, but also because I’d get to be waking up all the animals which was easily very agreeable for me considering my love for animals.  I then made my way over to Fluttershy along with various other individuals who I only knew a few of them from previous run-ins.

            “Hey Flutters,” I greeted her with a quick kiss upon reaching her, much to the enjoyment of the adoring public gathered around us.

            “Hey handsome,” she followed up. “Glad you were able to make it today.”

            “Hey.  Ah’m more than willin’ ta help out.”

            Fluttershy then gave me a quick smile before addressing the rest of our group.

            “Alright everycreature.  This is my very close friend and future husband David who some of you might already know of.  As this is his first time taking part in Winter Wrap Up, I hope that you’ll all be welcoming to him and willing to help him out if he has any problems.  Generally, he can pick up things quite quickly, but please be patient with him as he’s still learning.”

            I truly did appreciate Fluttershy looking out for me in this way.  In all the time that we’d known each other, she’d grown to be much more understanding of all my little idiosyncrasies that came with my condition.  Whenever I was learning something new, it might take a fair amount of explanation for me to understand how to do it, but once it was explained well enough, I could complete pretty much any task that was put before me with very little problems.  Not everyone I’d come across in the past was fully understanding of that fact which made it all the more special to me that my future bride had that level of patience with me and I cherished moments like that.

            After our group, which included Ocellus, Sweetie Drops, Silverstream, even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon among others (the latter 2 I found a little surprising to be in this group), had received our instructions from Fluttershy on how to go about waking up all the animals, we split up into different sections and swiftly got to work.  Even Mayor Apple Bloom’s husband, Tender Taps, was there to help out.  It wasn’t too much longer before I got the hang of how to best go about waking them all up, Fluttershy and the others helping to serve as guides for me throughout the whole process.  Once I knew what was expected of me, I began making great progress with waking up all the animals from bunnies to snakes to skunks to otters and even squirrels.

            Before we knew it, a few hours had passed by and we were completely done.  Not only our group, but the other 2 had gotten their work done in record time also.  Having completed our tasks, all of us met back up at the Town Square where Apple Bloom was waiting.

            “Well, y’all,” she began, “Ah’m happy ta say that it looks like we’ve had another great record year fer Winter Wrap Up.  All o’ y’all should be proud o’ tha work ya got done today ‘n in such a swift amount o’ time.  Give yerselves a round of applause.”

            None of us needed to be told twice as we all began cheering for all the hard work we’d been able to get done in the time we’d had.  I turned towards Fluttershy who was standing right by my side and the two of us shared a smile, both of us happy that my first Winter Wrap Up had managed to go as smoothly as it had.

            However that wasn’t the only thought that lingered on my mind in that moment.  It also occurred to me that this was the last day before our wedding.  Just one more day and we’d finally be united for life as man and mare.  As the crowd began to disperse and go their separate ways, I was reminded that I still needed to go by Rarity’s to try on the suit she’d gone through the trouble of putting together for mine and Fluttershy’s wedding.  I didn’t know what she’d put together for me to wear, but, while making the short trip over to her boutique, I had no doubt in my mind that whatever it was would be absolutely perfect.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Making my way over towards the Carousel Boutique, I was eagerly looking forward to seeing what Rarity had come up with as far as my wedding outfit was concerned.  It was during this time that I thought back to several months earlier when she’d designed my getup for the Grand Galloping Gala and how absolutely stunning the piece was.  I had no doubt that Rarity was definitely a master of her craft, yet even I found myself amazed by what she could come up with when it came to fashion, fashions that I certainly never would’ve thought of at first.

            Finally reaching the boutique, I knocked out my familiar greeting upon the front door.

            Tap.  Tap.  Taptap Tap.

            After several seconds of waiting outside and receiving no answer, the thought suddenly occurred to me that it was quite possible that Rarity wasn’t there as she herself had most likely been busy helping out with Winter Wrap Up like I had.  With this realization in mind, I turned to walk away, thinking that I could always try coming by again at a later time in the day rather than the alternatives of either waiting there for however long it took or hunting Rarity down.  The latter option especially could come across as way too stalker-y.  As I turned to leave, however, there was Rarity approaching me.

            “Why hello, David,” she pleasantly greeted me. “Here to pick up your outfit for the big day tomorrow?”

            “Ya know it, Rare,” I smiled back at her.

            “Well let me just open the shop back up and I’ll show you what I’ve got put together.”

            As I stepped aside to allow more room for Rarity to navigate, she unlocked the front door before opening it up to grant us entrance into the establishment, Rarity herself leading me over towards a small stage that was obscured by a large curtain.  Much like when I’d been there to pick up my Gala outfit, I could only guess that my wedding suit was behind that very same curtain this time around.  Sure enough, Rarity made her way over towards the stage before using her magic to grip a pull rope.

            “Are you ready to see your new outfit?” Rarity posed the question.

            “As ready as Ah’ll ever be,” I answered.

            And with that, Rarity pulled the rope and the curtain parted to reveal my wedding suit.  Worn by a full size mannequin at the time, the suit coat itself was of the darkest black, matching my hair quite well, accented with bright, gold buttons and equally golden epaulets adorning each shoulder.  The pants were of an equal black to the suit coat while also having a gold stripe racing down the outside of each leg.  Finally, perched atop the mannequin’s head was a high silk hat, almost reminding me of the hat the villainous Dr. Facilier wore in The Princess And The Frog.  The main differences between the 2 hats was that mine didn’t have a skull and crossbones design on it, there was no feather on mine, and my hat had a wide, gold ribbon wrapped around the hat just above the brim instead of the red one Dr. Facilier had on his own hat.

            “While it’s more traditional for the stallion to wear the usual black suit,” Rarity began, “I was looking to go with something that stood out while still remaining true to that ideal.  It was during this time that I got the idea of using gold in minimal doses to accent the piece as a whole, knowing that the gold color would go great with your blue wings and blue pony ears.  As for the epaulets and top hat, the former is to symbolize the role you’ve played as our protector/soldier in the past as well as into the future and the latter is to symbolize your nature as a true gentlecolt- er… gentleman.

            “In summary, those 2 parts of the piece in particular would be reflective of the dual sides of who you are: both a Lover and a Fighter.  I hope you like it.”

            I then turned to Rarity with a smile plastered across my face, eyes watering with emotion before finally speaking back up.

            “Rare?  Ya’ve absolutely outdone yerself this time.  Ah… Ah’m at a loss fer words right now.”

            “You… you really do like it?” she posed the question.

            “Like it?  With a piece as beautiful as this is, likin’ it isn’t even scratchin’ tha surface o’ how Ah feel ‘bout it!”

            Now was the time for Rarity to start tearing up as I knelt down to her level to hug her gently.

            “If only you knew how much your words of appreciation mean to me.”

            “Ah think Ah’ve got a basic idea,” I replied, pulling out of the hug. “You ‘n Ah are both artisans at heart ‘n, as such, when we put a fair amount of effort inta our projects, we have that same level of insecurity, fearing that others might not appreciate that time ‘n effort we’ve put inta tha final product.  Ah’m pretty sure that all of us creatives deal with that self-doubt on a regular basis ‘n there’s really no way that it’s ever gonna leave us.”

            “You’re certainly quite right about that, darling.  Would you like to try it on now?” she questioned.

            “Oh yeah.  Definitely.”

            “I’ll give you some privacy behind that curtain while you change.”

            “No need fer that, Rare.”

            “Whatever do you mean by that?”

            I answered her with a quick snap of my fingers.  In that simple motion, the full suit suddenly appeared on my body with the clothes that I’d been wearing before now on the mannequin.  Needless to say, Rarity was shocked at what she’d just witnessed.

            “Sweet mother of Celestia and Luna!  David, where did you ever learn that kind of magic?”

            “Starlight’s been a wonderful teacher ever since tha las’ time Ah visited y’all ‘n Ah’ve picked up quite a few new tricks from her in that time.”

            Walking around in my wedding suit, it was quite comfortable, reminding me of the suit Rarity had made me for the Grand Galloping Gala last Summer.  However, this suit somehow felt even lighter than my gala outfit.

            “It’s absolutely perfect, Rare.”

            “Happy to hear that, David.”

            I then pulled out a sizable Emerald as payment for my suit before passing it over to her.  When I’d brought up payment previously upon hiring her to make my suit, she didn’t want to hear anything about it, but I was persistent as I felt that not paying for it would go against my integrity and she finally gave in, but only on the condition that it be a single gemstone.  What she’d failed to specify at the time was the size of the gem itself and the one that I had on me was the size of a coconut.

            “Here's tha payment we agreed upon.”

            Rarity looked surprised by the size of the Emerald, but quickly shook it off before gratefully accepting it from me.

            “Thank you, darling.  Your generosity is always appreciated.”

            With a smile on my face, I turned to grab my regular clothes while continuing to talk.

            “Welp, Ah’d best be headin’ out now.  Still got a lot o’ preparations fer tha big day tomorrow.  Ah’m sure Ah’ll see ya there.”

            “But of course.  Wouldn’t miss it for anything else, darling.”

            “O.K.  Catch ya later, Rare.”

            “You too, David, and good luck.”

            And with that, I instantly teleported from the boutique back to my house to finish getting ready for the wedding.  What I didn’t know was who I’d find when I got there.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            One quick flash later, I was back at my house.  Thinking over what still needed to be done before the wedding, which I now realized was in less than 24 hours, I just had a few more finishing touches I’d planned on making to my wedding vows to Fluttershy.  It was hard to believe that the magical day was nearly upon us, much harder to believe considering all we’d been through since the first time I visited Equestria soo many years ago.

            Sitting down at my writing desk I’d purchased in the time between when my home’s construction was finalized and now, I labored over the wedding vows I’d already gotten written up, trying to figure out what the best way would be for me to close them out.  It took several minutes of thought, but I finally came up with the proper note to end on as I took my feather pen in hand and wrote the rest of my vows down.  Looking over what I’d written down in its entirety, I was finally satisfied with what I’d come up with for the vows themselves.  I was positive that this was exactly what the mare of my heart deserved as we’d be starting our life together.

            It was then that I made my way over to my bedroom to change back into my normal clothes.  Even though I was alone in my house, it still felt more appropriate for me to change out of my wedding suit in my bedroom for some reason.  While changing back into my regular clothes in my room, I was spending as much time as I could memorizing the vows I’d say to my beautiful Fluttershy the very next day.

            Suddenly, as I was taking off my suit pants, I heard a voice come from behind me.

            “David?”

            Startled by the voice that I heard, having thought I was all alone at the time, I swiftly turned around, clutching my pants to cover my groin even though my boxers did a fine enough job of that on their own.  Looking towards my bed, I saw Fluttershy.

            “Fluttershy?”

            My mind immediately began racing.  How had she managed to get into my house?  How had she managed to show up in my room so unexpectedly?  I didn’t remember seeing her on my bed when I’d entered so had she been here the whole time and I’d just missed it?  Something didn’t feel right to me, but I didn’t know what exactly.

            “How’d ya get in here?” I puzzled.

            “I flew in through the window.”

            “‘N ya’ve been here tha whole time?”

            “Of course.  I originally wanted to surprise you at first, but you seemed soo wrapped up in preparation for our wedding that I didn’t want to disturb you.”

            Something still wasn’t sitting well with me as I put my normal clothes on before joining her on the bed.

            “Ah’m not sure what tha traditions are here in Equestria, but, back where Ah come from, it’s strongly considered bad luck fer tha groom ta see tha bride this close before tha weddin’.”

            “Oh,” she reacted disappointedly. “I wasn’t aware of that.  In that case, I guess I’d better be going.”

            “Ah’m honestly sorry that Ah didn’t mention this ta you sooner, but Ah look forward ta-”

            I was immediately cut off from my reply by Fluttershy pulling me in for a deep, passionate kiss.  Her tongue ran along the inside of my mouth as she reached for my pants, apparently attempting to pull them down.  Stunned by how extremely she was going into this, I pulled myself away from her before speaking back up.

            “What tha hell was that?!?”

            “What?” she questioned playfully. “I just wanted to give something special to my handsome stallion before our wedding.”

            It was in that moment that I came to the conclusion that this wasn’t Fluttershy.  Sure the 2 of us could get passionate in regards to our displays of affection towards each other, but never to the point of having sex with each other outside the context of marriage.  I also picked up a rather unusual smell from “Fluttershy” that I hadn’t originally noticed.  The smell itself was the smell of burnt wood, a far cry from the usual aromas of either Lavender or even Lemon and Mint.

            “Who are you?” I demanded.

            “What do you mean?  I’m Fluttershy, the love of your life.”

            “No yer not.  Tha Fluttershy Ah remember never acted this way towards me ‘n never smelled anythin’ like tha way you smell.  Now tell me who tha hell a-”

            I was cut off once again as a painful headache hit me, causing me to collapse to the floor as my brain screamed out.  It was during this time that “Fluttershy” let out a cruel chuckle, but the voice was changing as was “her” appearance as “she” walked over towards me.

            “I never expected you to completely fall for this little charade.  I just wanted to get close enough to enact my magic against you through that kiss.”

            The figure above me slowly but surely turned into none other than Claude as my vision started to blur.

            “Now, with you finally out of the way, I’ll be able to enact my ultimate revenge against you.  Everything you own, everything you love, will be mine.”

            These were the last words I heard from him before I blacked out entirely.
> Chapter X:  This Animal I Have Become
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            After a period of time, I had no idea how long, I slowly began to regain consciousness.  It was during this time that I noticed that I was in some kind of dark cave with my arms and legs tightly bound with chains against the cave wall.  I tried in vain to shake myself free from them, but the chains held tight.  A voice then reached my ears after my attempted struggle.

            “Try as much as you like.  It won’t do you any good.”

            Hearing that voice, I immediately looked over to see Claude standing several feet away from me.

            “Claude!” I spat his name out with venomous hatred.

            “Nice nap?” he continued. “I almost wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up in time before I had to leave.  I do have a wedding I need to catch.”

            “You mean my wedding!”

            “Your wedding.  My wedding.  It makes little difference one or the other.  That being said, with you out of the way, I guess that it may as well be my wedding to Fluttershy.”

            With a swipe of his hand, he transformed into a perfect likeness of me, complete with the wedding suit I’d planned to wear.

            “After you took away the future that I could’ve had with Crystal, simply consider this me returning the favor.  I’ll marry Fluttershy, have children with her to carry on my legacy, everything that you’ll never have.”

            “Don’t you dare lay a finger on her!” I demanded angrily.

            “Why not?  What’re you gonna do about it?” he taunted. “You’re in no position to attack me.  Those chains you’re bound with prevent you from using any magic at all.  As for you, I have special plans in mind.”

            It was then that he began approaching me, rubbing one hand against a necklace he wore, a necklace with a pendant the appearance of a snake’s eye, a necklace I had only just now realized he had.  He seemed to be drawing energy from it into his hand as he came towards me.

            “I’ve thought to myself for a good while what would be the best way to dispose of you.  I couldn’t just kill you right now in your current form.  Ponies would begin asking questions if they ever found your body, questions that could possibly expose me for who I truly am.  That was when it hit me: what if a giant, ferocious monster attacked Ponyville, a deranged beast with the only thoughts in its mind being to kill other ponies, but then I as David would be the conquering hero, killing this beast and saving countless lives in the process.”

            With his hand full of the energy from his necklace, he then placed said hand over my heart.  I immediately winced in pain as I felt the dark energy of his magic working its way into my heart before coursing through my body.  I fought it as hard as I could, which Claude seemed to pick up on pretty quickly.

            “It’s no good trying to fight it.  This magic is far too powerful for even your likes to resist and there’s no way for you to stop it from taking effect.  You will turn into nothing but a mindless monster, hellbent on destruction and death, while I’ll be the hero, saving everypony from your villainous evil.”

            “I… I refuse… to let that… happen,” I protested, struggling to fight this dark energy inside me.

            “Fortunately, you have very little say in the matter,” Claude followed up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a certain mare to wed.  I’ll be sure to let you know before I kill you how it felt to make love to her, not that you’ll know what I’m talking about in your feral form.  Arrivederci.”

            And with that, he immediately vanished from the cave, leaving me full of rage at that last remark he’d made.  Alone in this cave, I could feel the dark magic like poison running through my veins.  Even with this cursed power I felt inside me, I fought long and hard to hold on to my right mind, even though doing so was far from easy.  I thought about the friends that I’d managed to make here in Equestria over the past several years, I thought about the adventures that I’d been on in the past and how they’d drawn me even closer to my friends.

            But most importantly of all, I thought of my love for my beautiful Flutters.  I thought of how we’d originally started out as friends the first time I’d visited Equestria to save all of them from this evil hag, but, as time went on, we became even closer and closer to each other before finally leading up to my marriage proposal where she’d said yes to me.  In that moment, she’d made me the happiest person ever as we confirmed how much each of us loved the other and looked forward to sharing a future together.

            But then I began thinking of the fact that Claude was now trying to take that future away from both of us and that anger returned to me, burning hotter than dragon’s breath.  I was determined to find some way of getting out of my imprisonment and putting a stop to Claude’s evil.  He would not take my future with Fluttershy away from me that easily and I was sure that I’d never fall into this mindless, violent state that he said I would as whatever monster he had planned to turn me into.

            Fighting the chains that held me back, I felt almost like Quasimodo from the Disney version of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame when he’d been fighting back against the chains that held him in the belltower of the cathedral, incorporating almost Herculean strength to tear down the columns he was chained too.  Unfortunately, the ends of my chains seemed to be encased in solid rock that I wasn’t nearly as strong to break through at that time, even reminding me of how, in my friends’ movie from a few years back, Twilight’s magic was ineffective when she was trapped in that fully metal cage by Tempest Shadow/Fizzlepop Berrytwist.  This didn’t stop me from trying, but my outcome looked rather bleak in comparison.  Still, I had to fight hard, fight for my future with Fluttershy, fight for my freedom, fight so that Claude wouldn’t win.  These thoughts and more were what ran through my mind all throughout that moment as I fought hard for my very life.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Back in Ponyville, Fluttershy had just finished final preparations for the upcoming wedding and was about to leave her cottage in order to catch the next train to Canterlot when she heard a knock on her door.  Opening the door, she saw David standing before her in the entryway.

            “David?” she puzzled. “What’re you doing here?”

            “Just had to see my favorite girl,” he replied. “I’ve missed you.”

            In that moment, Fluttershy knew something was definitely off as “David” wasn’t speaking with his traditional Southern accent.  Still, she was smart enough to know that it probably wouldn’t be in her best interest to confront whoever this was about that for fear that it might put the real David in grave danger.  Not yet at least.  But, with the wedding only a short while away, she couldn’t very well go ahead with marrying this total stranger either.  Casually, she decided to play along with this for the time being.

            “While I do appreciate that, I thought that it was considered bad luck for the groom to see the bride this close before the wedding.”

            “Oh.  I’m sorry.  Must’ve forgotten about that.  I just thought you’d appreciate the surprise.”

            Now, she definitely knew something was wrong.  The real David wouldn’t have forgotten a detail as important as this was.  She couldn’t be expected to go forward with the wedding when a problem as glaring as this was before her.

            “Actually…, I’d been thinking that… we might want to hold off on the wedding for a little while longer.”

            “Why would we want to do that?  You’re not getting cold feet are you?”

            “Well… I just… want to make sure that the moment is absolutely perfect.  It is something that I’ve been waiting for for a while now and I don’t want it to come off as too rushed.”

            “Babe, we’ve already waited long enough for this.  I’m beginning to think that you’re not taking this seriously enough and that you don’t really want to marry me.”

            At those words, Fluttershy immediately felt a sharp pang inside from “David’s” comment.  She was serious about marrying the real David who she knew for certain that this person before her was not him.  If he were really David, he wouldn’t have spoken to her in such a manner as this that was clearly meant to guilt and manipulate her into going ahead with this whole arrangement.

            “Of course I want to go ahead with this marriage,” she began. “It’s just-”

            “Great,” “David” cut her off. “That’s just what I wanted to hear.  In that case, I’ll see you at Canterlot Palace in a few hours.  Bye.”

            And with a quick flash of light, he was gone, much to Fluttershy’s annoyance.

            It’s just that I want to marry the real David. She thought to herself. The David I originally fell in love with, the David who would actually listen to me.

            As she checked one more time to make sure that she was ready for the wedding, she sent a quick prayer, to David’s God, to Celestia and Luna, to whomever would hear it, that all would turn out alright, that the real David would be safe and able to make it in time, that she wouldn’t be stuck with making a mistake that she’d ultimately regret.  Heading to the train station to catch the next train to Canterlot, these prayers lingered heavily on her mind more than anything else.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            My mind was pushed to its limits as I fought long and hard not just to escape the chains that bound me, but also to fight the poison that was seeping it’s way into my very being.  Even with it only having been several minutes that I’d been trying to resist it, it felt like I’d been fighting against it for days.  My thoughts were becoming jumbled as I struggled to hold onto my sanity, hold onto my memories, hold onto my humanity.  Dark, twisted thoughts of murder and mayhem threatened to make their way out, but I continued to defy them to the best of my ability.

            Even with these dark thoughts running through my mind, I did my best to channel all of that rage and hatred towards Claude and the atrocities he threatened to commit.  This further pushed me to break free from my bonds so that I could make him pay.  Despite my best efforts to break out of the chains, they still held tight.  That didn’t stop me from continuing to try and break free, but I unfortunately had very little progress to show for it.

            Suddenly, I felt a terrible pain come over me as I screamed out in anguish.  My screams gave way to inhuman roars as a horrifying transformation came over me.  My mouth extended out into a sharp fanged muzzle like that of a wolf, my hands turned to sharp claws as long as bananas, my feet painfully curled up into thick hooves, my eyes changed to those of some kind of a reptile, my pony ears became like those of a bat, a scorpion’s tail sprouted forth, curved horns topped my head, my clothes ripped away as my body grew in size, and my wings became like those of a dragon as the feathers that had once coated them fell away.

            With how much I’d grown in size, the chains that had once held me tight snapped away.  Something told me that this was quite possibly how Claude had originally planned it out: use the chains to hold me there until the transformation was complete so that I’d have no way of warning anypony else what was happening to me.  What he hadn’t counted on was that I would still have some of my memories and thoughts from my right mind still intact.  Even in my feral, monstrous form, I could still remember my love for Fluttershy as well as my hatred for Claude.

            It was then when I was reminded of Claude’s plan to marry her in my place and this filled me with even more rage towards him.  I had to get out of there and try to stall the wedding.  Searching for a way out of the cavern, I couldn’t help but recall the similarities of my situation to that of Ariel from The Little Mermaid when Eric was going to marry Ursula in disguise or Cadence from the Canterlot Wedding episodes where Shining Armor was going to marry Chrysalis in disguise.

            As I continued my desperate search for an exit, I could only pray that I got to that wedding before Fluttershy married this imposter and he had his way with her.  If she were to wind up having children with him, who knew what other possible evils could be wreaked upon Equestria.  I couldn’t allow this to happen.  I had to make it there for the sake of Fluttershy, my friends, and the land I’d sworn to protect.  One way or another, I would prevent this tragedy from occurring.  I swore that, by everything I held sacred, Claude would be stopped.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Not much longer after arriving at Canterlot Palace, Fluttershy was still greatly unsettled by her earlier realization that the David she was about to marry in only a short while wasn’t the real David.  The entire trip to the palace, she’d been thinking long and hard about any possible way that she’d be able to stall the wedding until she could find out what had happened as far as the real David was concerned.  However, no matter how long or hard she thought about the matter, she couldn’t come up with any possible solution that would work out in her favor or his.

            She stood in front of a mirror in one of the larger rooms of the palace, still fussing over how she looked, purely for distraction.  The thought had occurred to her that this was probably her own way of trying to prolong what was eventually coming in the hopes that the real David would finally show up in the nick of time.  If she could just have more of that much needed time to ensure she wouldn’t make a mistake by marrying the wrong David.

            She’d considered telling her friends about her concern that this David was someone entirely different, but how could she possibly prove that to them?  Most importantly, how could she possibly prove that to them without inciting a panic?  There was also the fact that she had no way of knowing who this David really was under the facade.  He might be this Claude character that she and David had previously encountered a few months back, but she wasn’t certain about that nor had any of her other friends interacted with him in the past, much less knew what he truly looked like.  Even she didn’t know entirely as she’d only remembered him mostly being concealed under that cloak he wore.

            Time seemed to be going by much too fast for her as she was trying to think over other possible ways to buy more of it between now and the actual ceremony, but nothing she thought of would satisfy that need.  Suddenly, a knock sounded outside her door.

            “Hey Fluttershy,” AJ called out from the other side. “Ya almos’ ready in there?”

            No.  I’m nowhere close to ready. she thought to herself before stating her actual reply.

            “I’ll be ready in just a few minutes.”

            “Alright, Sugarcube.  See ya out here shortly.”

            After Applejack had left Fluttershy alone with her thoughts again, she felt tears come to her eyes as she realized she was out of time.  All her worries and prayers that she had offered up before had gone unanswered.  Wiping the tears from her eyes, she made her way out of her room and got in position as she dreaded the long walk down the aisle towards a future she’d meant to share with the one she truly loved, not this imposter.  What she couldn’t have foreseen in that moment was that her prayers had been heard and would soon be answered in a way she’d never have expected.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            I stumbled around through the darkness as I tried to find my way out of the cavern I was still trapped in.  This stumbling wasn’t soo much out of clumsiness as it was out of me struggling to fight the dark urges that threatened to take over me, urges of murder and mayhem, death and destruction, cruelty and carnage.  Up to this point, I’d still been able to hold onto my right mind and the thoughts that came along with it.  I could still remember my love for my beautiful Flutters as well as my hatred towards Claude and the evils he planned to commit in my name.  That being said, those thoughts were becoming ever harder to hold onto as I was racked with painful headaches every time I tried to resist these primal, animalistic behaviors threatening to take me over.

            No matter how much these thoughts threatened to make their way out, I was determined more than ever to prove Claude wrong, that he had severely underestimated how strong I was and that I could resist this dark magic that he’d placed over me.  That being said, the need was still there for me to find a way out of the cave and stop him from marrying my girl.  Strangely enough, along with the headaches that I’d been experiencing, I also felt this really weird tightness around my throat that I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was.

            This wasn’t nearly as important to me as I finally managed to reach what appeared to be an exit from the cave that had been sealed away with heavy boulders.  With my current size and strength, I knew that I could make quick work of these boulders and finally be free to make my way over towards Canterlot to put a stop to the wedding.  I curled up my hands into thick fists before using them to assault these heavy rocks.  It took several hard blows against the wall to finally dislodge the rocks, but all that really mattered to me was that they did get dislodged.

            Stepping out of the cave into the open, I saw that it was about late afternoon by this point, the sun nearly blinding me with its luminosity after the lengthy period that I’d spent in total darkness.  Once my eyesight had returned, I tried to get my bearings as to where I was in relation to Canterlot Palace.  The cave that I’d come out of appeared to be the same one that that dragon had previously taken up residence in from the episode Dragonshy.

           Looking off in the distance, I could finally spot the palace a good ways away from where I currently was.  Knowing how much larger and stronger my wings were now, I figured that I could get to the palace in hardly any time at all, even if I didn’t have my magic to teleport there as quickly as I used to.  Taking flight, I made my way to the palace as quickly as my wings could bring me there, praying long and hard that I wasn’t too late.
> Chapter XI:  Twas Beauty Saved The Beast
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Fluttershy stood at the doorway into the main hall where, within only a short period of time, she’d be walking down the aisle towards her future, her future with this stranger who she knew full well wasn’t the real David.  She’d strongly considered running away from the wedding that awaited her, but what would that mean for David?  Would her backing out of this arrangement cause further harm towards the man she loved?  That was not something Fluttershy was willing to risk.

            No matter how she looked at it, there was no possible escape for her.  Her back was up against the wall at this point with no way of avoiding her union with this imposter.  Tears ran down her face as she realized the hopelessness of her situation, while at the same time relieved that the veil hiding her face wouldn’t give away her sadness to anyone else when the time finally came for her to make that long walk towards an unavoidable, unchangeable future with a man she didn’t really love.

            As these thoughts were running through her head, the wedding march started as the doors in front of her opened and everycreature there was looking at her, waiting for her to take her walk up to the front.  Fluttershy had used to be incredibly nervous whenever this level of attention was directed at her, but, as the years went on, she’d become more used to it to the point that it didn’t bother her that much anymore.  At least, not on the level that it had bothered her before.

            However, in this very moment, all that nervousness came flooding back to her as she briefly hesitated making that lengthy walk.  Time was up as far as she was concerned.  She’d now be stuck having to marry this charlatan just to spare the real David from whatever evil might be planned out for him.  Finally, taking a deep breath and choking back any remaining tears, Fluttershy slowly but surely walked down the aisle towards the front of the hall where “David” stood with a smile on his face at the sight of her, but there was also something else to his expression, a certain gleam in his eye that she was all too familiar with.

            Being around Discord as often as she had been, she’d noticed whenever he had a mischievous gleam that always meant trouble for somepony.  Even before meeting Discord, Fluttershy had always been more of an observer, oftentimes watching the daily interactions other ponies had with each other and picking up little bits of body language between them that most others wouldn’t even notice.  Seeing this gleam in “David’s” eye automatically told her that things weren’t in her favor as she finally reached him.  The 2 of them then turned their attention towards Princess Twilight who spoke up after the music had ceased playing.

            “Creatures of Equestria, we are all gathered here today to witness the union of David and Fluttershy in the bonds of holy matrimony.  Although coming from 2 entirely different worlds, they developed a close friendship with each other as time has gone by, even when hitting a few hiccups along the way.”

            In a sideways glance, Flutters noticed that “David” seemed to be getting a little too antsy, as if wanting this whole ceremony to be over with faster.  Still, she said nothing as Princess Twilight continued.

            “These 2 are living proof that true love knows no boundaries whether it be distance or entirely different dimensions or even entirely different species and that it can survive through anything thrown at it.  As long as both parties are willing to invest the time and effort into making it work, it’ll truly never fail.  And so, without further ado, the 2 of them have each prepared their own marriage vows that they’ll recite to each other before all of us.”

            As the 2 of them faced each other, a deeply sickening feeling came over Fluttershy, starting in the pit of her stomach before working its way through the rest of her body.  This was the point of no return.  Once the 2 of them said their vows, it’d be all over for her.  She felt weak as she opened her mouth to recite the vows she’d written for the real David as it was Equestrian tradition for the mare to state their vows first in a given wedding ceremony.  Her tongue felt dry as sandpaper as the words finally came forth, reluctantly.

            “David,” she started, “I… I fell in lo-”

            Suddenly, she was interrupted by a loud shattering of glass as her unexpected salvation burst through one of the windows.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Crashing my monstrous frame through a window into the great hall of Canterlot Palace, I was greeted by terrified screams and panic upon my arrival, no doubt because of my hideous, frightening appearance.  This didn’t matter nearly as much to me as making sure that I found my beautiful Flutters and got her as far away from Claude as possible.  Looking around, I finally spotted her standing next to Claude as me, both with shocked looks on their faces before Claude turned towards her.

            “Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” he spoke up. “I’ll protect you from this fou-”

            He was cut off from his statement as I delivered a powerful, rage-filled, open-clawed swipe at him while he was preoccupied with upholding his whole charade around her, sending him careening into a nearby wall.  With him out of the way, I reached forward and grabbed Fluttershy in my giant hand, Fluttershy herself apparently in a state of shock from all that was transpiring in this moment.  Having grabbed a hold of my love, I turned towards where Claude had been plastered into the wall before letting out a monstrous roar directed at him.

            “MINE!!!” I shouted to Claude before turning towards the window I’d broken through and flying off.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            “What in tha hay was that thing?!?” AJ spoke up after the monster left.

            “I dunno,” Rainbow followed up, “but, whatever it is, it’s taken Fluttershy and we’ve gotta get her back!”

            “Quite right!” Rarity concurred.

            “Shouldn’t one of us check on David?” Twilight posed the question.

            “I don’t think so,” Pinkie piped up. “Davey’s been through far worse than this before so I’m sure he’s fine.  The most important thing for us is making sure we save Fluttershy from that beast."

            “Then what’re we waiting for?” Starlight replied. “Let’s go save our friend!”

            And with that, the 6 friends went off to save Fluttershy, all the while not knowing what they’d ultimately discover or even what awaited them when they got to their destination, wherever that may be.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            With Fluttershy in my clawed hand, I began flying off towards the Everfree Forest, more specifically the Treehouse Of Harmony.  It was the first place that I could think of that was a good enough distance away from Claude that would also avoid attracting any additional unwanted attention.  Fluttershy herself struggled to escape my grasp during our flight over there, but my fist held her tight.  Additionally tight was this weird feeling around my neck that I still hadn’t been able to figure out where it had originated from or what was even causing it.

            One thing that I would say about my massive wings was the fact that they made flying to different places a hell of a lot easier and faster.  Still, I’d much rather prefer my magic where I was able to teleport wherever I wanted to go.  Would I ever have my magic back again?  Would I ever be able to return back to my normal appearance?  At that time, I had no way of knowing for certain.

            Finally, I saw the Treehouse Of Harmony in the distance.  As I could recall from the last season of the show, this place was meant to be a form of safe haven for any creature who ever found themselves in any moment of crises.  In that moment, I knew that I needed a safe haven like this more than ever and I was sure that my beautiful Flutters would be safe there also as I came in for a landing before finally setting Fluttershy down on the ground gently.

            “Who do you think you are stealing me away like that?!?” Fluttershy finally lashed out at me. “You’ve interrupted what’s supposed to be the happiest day of my life!  Do you not have any remorse for what you’ve-”

            She suddenly stopped as she seemed to stare a good while at my neck.

            “Wait a minute,” she followed up. “I remember that necklace.”

            Of course, I suddenly realized.  The necklace that Rarity had given me that first time I’d come to Equestria.  I’d completely forgotten about it, but that explained why my throat had suddenly felt as tight as it had.

            “There’s only one pony I know of who that necklace belongs too.”

            Fluttershy then looked directly in my eyes before posing a single question to me.

            “D-David?”

            It was after that name had escaped her lips that I let out a slight nod to let her know that I understood.  Even with me still being somewhat in my right mind, words were hard for me to express outwardly as primal instincts threatened to take over.  With my assurance provided, Fluttershy then burst into tears before throwing herself at my massive frame, she herself being rather tiny by comparison.

            “Oh David,” she uttered through her tears, “I was soo worried for you.  I prayed that you were O.K. and that you’d make it back to me safely, but I began to lose hope that they’d ever be answered.  Who even did this to you?”

            It took me a while before I was able to verbalize it, but the name finally came to my lips.

            “Claude."

            “Was he also the imposter who was posing as you at the wedding?”

            I let out a very sad nod at which point she hugged me even more.

            “I was scared that I’d wind up marrying him rather than you.  I knew that there was something off about him from the very beginning.  He wasn’t the man who I truly loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with.  That man could only ever be you.”

            I felt tears come to my own eyes as I gently hugged my beautiful mare back, being very careful not to crush her miniscule frame.  Suddenly, I heard the noise of approaching figures.  Turning toward the noise, I saw that it was my 6 friends coming our way with great speed, Rainbow and Twilight flying towards me and Flutters.

            “Let her go you foul beast!” Rainbow demanded.

            “No!  Stop!” Fluttershy cried out as she positioned herself between me and our friends. “Don’t harm him!”

            “Fluttershy, this monster attacked David and stole you away from us!” Starlight reacted “How can you tell us not to put a stop to him?”

            “Because none of it is what you think.  This creature is David."

            Our friends then looked at us with stunned expressions of confusion across their faces.  After a lengthy pause, Rarity finally broke the silence.

            “How?  How is that possible?”

            “I’m not entirely sure,” Fluttershy admitted, “but the person who we thought was David is really Claude, the same individual who tried using the Curse of Forgotten Love to erase David from reality.  Now, it would seem that he was trying to take David’s place so that I’d wind up marrying him instead of David.”

            “Tsk tsk tsk,” a voice sounded behind my friends.

            Turning our attention towards the voice, we all saw the fake me approaching us.

            “I always hate it when someone spoils the ending,” he continued. “Everything would’ve gone just fine if the real David hadn’t decided to interfere with my plans and the rest of you could’ve been spared.”

            It was then when he let his illusion fall and reverted back to his normal self before continuing.

            “But, now that the cat’s out of the bag, I can’t possibly allow for any of you to live.”

            “Just try it, buster!” Rainbow cockily retorted.

            “Don’t think I won’t,” he spoke back up, full of snark, as a ball of dark energy formed in his hands before he fired it towards us.

            Twilight was too quick for him, though, and erected a powerful energy field  before us.  Even with the field up, the ball still tried forcing itself against it.  Twilight tried to hold it back, but Starlight resorted to teleporting us out of the way as the dark force burst through the field striking a nearby tree and disintegrating it on contact.  My friends were shocked by how powerful Claude’s magic was.

            “How’re we supposed ta stop him if he’s that powerful?” AJ asked.

            “I don’t know,” Twilight admitted.

            I knew full well how, but struggled to try and get the words out to my friends so that they could act accordingly.  Finally, with some effort, I was able to state the needed information for them.

            “Neck… lace.  Power.  Des… troy."

            Fluttershy seemed to be the quickest one to pick up on what I’d said as she noticed the necklace Claude was wearing before expressing that information towards the rest of our friends.

           “There,” she pointed out. “Claude’s necklace is the source of his magic.  If we destroy that, he’ll be powerless against us.”

            “Sounds like more of a plan than any of us originally had,” Starlight agreed. “All of you, try to stay away from his magic if at all possible.  If we split up, there’s no way he’ll be able to keep track of all of us at once.”

            “Let’s do this!” Rainbow exclaimed.

            And with that, we split up so as to make ourselves harder targets for him to follow.  Me, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rainbow took to the sky in order to perform aerial attacks on Claude from above while Pinkie, Rare, AJ, and Starlight served as multiple distractions on the ground, Starlight doing her best to keep us safe with her constant teleporting us out of the way of Claude’s attacks.  The sheer number of us was too much for Claude to handle all at once as his attacks on us continued to miss, yet he still somehow kept his necklace well out of reach for any of us who tried approaching him.  Finally, Claude seemed to be pushed to the edge of his frustration at our attempts at attacking him.

            “ENOUGH!” he shouted as he unleashed a blinding flash of light that struck all of us.

            After a few seconds of blindness, our eyesight finally returned, but there was no sign of Fluttershy anywhere.  Panicking, I looked all around for a sight of her, but to no avail.  I wasn’t the only one to notice this.

            “Where’s Fluttershy?” Pinkie puzzled.

            Suddenly, in another flash of light that wasn’t nearly as blinding, 2 Fluttershys appeared before us, both of them wearing the same necklace that Claude wore.  These 2 figures were locked in fierce combat, but one of them was clearly winning over the other, laying the smackdown on their opponent.  Finally, the other one fell to the ground, weak and helpless before speaking up to me.

            “Help me, David,” she pleaded, weakly trying to get up.

            Knowing deep down what needed to be done, I made my way over towards the Fluttershy lying on the ground, picked her up, and, without hesitation, ripped the necklace off of her before body slamming her into the ground, much like how the Hulk had done to Loki several times at once in the first Avengers movie.  Necklace in hand, I crushed it within my grasp like I was snapping a toothpick.  Sure enough, the Fluttershy that I’d just body slammed turned out to be Claude as the illusion faded away.  With his power gone, I also reverted back to my normal self.

            But there was something different about Claude.  For the first time ever, I saw his face, no longer obscured by the hood of his cloak and the sight of his face filled me with shock and rage.  The face I saw staring back at me was the same face of the guy who’d murdered Savannah and stolen Ariel from me all those years ago.

            “YOU!!!” I spat out with venomous anger in my tone as I telekinetically grabbed him tightly by the throat and lifted him up before me. “You were the one who took my life away from me!”

            My friends seemed to be just as shocked by this revelation as I was, all of them equally angered upon seeing his face for the first time.

            “What did you do to his daughter?!?” Fluttershy firmly demanded, wings flared.

            “I’ll never tell you,” he choked back, a smirk spreading across his face. “What’s been done to her cannot be undone.  She’s as good as dead to all of you.”

            “So be it!” I answered. “You’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life.”

            “What’s that?” he strained against my constricting grip.

            “Underestimating who I am and what I’m capable of,” I stated as I called upon all my rage filled power in that moment.

            Fueled by fury, I used my magic to cause Claude to burst into flames, his screams of agony causing great pleasure to me as I watched him burn.  I also heard Claude speaking in a strange tongue above his painful cries.

            “.ƨϱniǝd lυʇiɈiq ˎʞɒǝw ǝƨǝʜɈ ǝɈɒϱυįdυƨ bnɒ ɿǝʜɈǝϱoɈ bnɒl ǝʜɈ ǝlυɿ oɈ nooƨ bǝɈinυǝɿ ǝd ǝw γɒM  .ɿǝwoq ɿυoγ ǝɿoʇǝd llɒʇ oɈ bǝƨɿυɔ ǝd bnɒl ǝloʜw ƨiʜɈ γɒM  .noiɈɔυɿɈƨǝb ƨiʜ Ɉυodɒ ϱniɿd oɈ ǝno ǝʜɈ ǝd υoγ γɒM  .ƨƨɒq oɈ ǝmoɔ ɿǝɿǝbɿυm ǝʜɈ ʇo ƨniƨ ǝʜɈ nǝʜw Ɉnǝmnoƨiɿqmi ɿǝʜ moɿʇ ǝʇil γm ʇo ǝvol ǝʜɈ ǝvɒƧ  .ǝiɿγʞlɒv γm ˎǝƨɒǝlꟼ”

            “David, wait!” Starlight called out.

            But I was too caught up in my rage to care.  His cries of pain rang loudly in my ears while his entire body disintegrated into ashes, blown away by the wind.  But that wasn’t all that was left behind.  There was also a dark ectoplasmic substance like an inky, yet still starry, blue midnight sky with an occasional twinge of green that still remained after the fact.  Thinking back to when Discord had his magic absorbed by Lord Tirek after the latter double crossed him, I knew damn full well that this was the very same magic that had been stolen by Claude.  I couldn’t very well let this magic be put back into Discord’s chaotic… talons where he could possibly cause even more dangerous bullshit in the future.

            Instead, I channeled my rage even hotter towards destroying this magic to the point where Mount Doom from The Lord Of The Rings trilogy would look like the iceberg the Titanic struck by comparison.  Just as Claude’s screams had rung out loud as he burned so did this ungodly substance cry out with a screech like nails on a chalkboard, but amplified.  The sound of its shrieking was enough to make me want to stop and cover my ears on account of how horrible the sound was, but I knew that this was just something I’d have to suffer through if I truly wanted this dark magic to be destroyed.  So I gritted my teeth and continued launching my fiery assault on the vile substance until there was never any evidence it had ever existed.  With Claude and the magic destroyed, my anger began to subside… and I immediately realized that I’d been completely naked the whole time, quickly summoning my wedding clothes that covered me at the snap of my fingers.  Looking back at my friends, they all had expressions of shock on their faces.

            “What?” I questioned.

            “I remember you being descended from an Alicorn Princess now,” Rarity spoke up.

            “So do I,” Flutters concurred.

            “I think we all do now,” Twilight stated.

            “Must’ve been when you got rid of Claude’s magic as well as Claude himself,” Pinkie piped up.

            “Also, how’re ya still ‘live after completely destroyin’ him?” AJ asked.

            “What’re ya talkin’ ‘bout?” I puzzled.

            “Claude was the one who had ultimately created you,” Starlight began. “If you got rid of him as completely as you just did, you would’ve been erased from existence also.”

            This was quite a shocking revelation to me that I’d never thought of in the moment.  I’d been soo caught up in my rage that I never thought that Claude’s destruction could very well be my own.  Fortunately, I seemed to be perfectly fine from what I could tell.

            “How did you know that I was the real Fluttershy and he was the fake?” my beautiful mare questioned me.

            “Cuz Ah know ma girl too well,” I smiled back at her. “She’s a strong, confident mare who don’t need anypony else ta come ta her rescue.  She can stand up fer herself jus’ fine.”

            She then let out a soft smile back at me before Pinkie spoke up.

            “While that was certainly eventful, I’m pretty sure that we still have a wedding to attend to.”

            “That we certainly do.  You jus’ bout ready ta make this official, ma love?”

            “More than you know,” Flutters replied.

            And with a quick flash of Starlight’s magic, we were gone from the Everfree Forest, ready to get this wedding done right.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            After a couple of hours of informing everycreature what had just happened and making sure that the wedding preparations were properly set up, it was a little bit later in the evening by the time we were finally ready to proceed with the ceremony.  I stood in front of a mirror fussing over my high silk hat and epaulets, trying to make sure that I looked my best, but even then I was still relatively nervous about my upcoming nuptials.  It was during this time that I received a knock on my door before a familiar voice called out from the other side.

            “Hey twin.  You almost ready?” Rainbow questioned.

            “Uh… yeah.  Yeah, Ah’m almos ready,” I answered back nervously.

            Rainbow must not have believed what I said as she soon opened up my door before poking her head through.

            “What’s eatin’ ya, bud?” she asked out of concern.

            Clearly there was no way for me to hide the way I truly felt from my honorary twin so, with an audible sigh, I finally confessed to her what had been bothering me the most.

            “If Ah’m bein’ completely honest…, Ah’m scared ‘bout mine ‘n Fluttershy’s future together.”

            “What’s there to be scared about?  The 2 of you truly love each other, right?”

            “Y-yes.”

            “So what’s the problem?”

            “Ah’m scared ‘bout tha fact that… Ah’ll possibly end up… outlivin’ her.  With me bein’ descended from an Alicorn princess ‘n her bein’ a Pegasus, who knows how much time we’ll have together.  Her life could jus’ be a blink of an eye when compared ta mine.  Ah already lost Savannah at a young age.  Ah’m scared o’ tha same thing happenin’ ta ma beautiful Flutters, ‘specially with her bein’ 20 years older by this point.”

            Rainbow’s heart softened towards me as she noticed the tears coming to my eyes at this revelation.  After several seconds of silence, she finally spoke back up.

            “I should probably tell you about something that Princess Luna told all of us a long time ago, back at around the same time she and Celestia stepped down from the throne.”

            I then turned my attention fully towards Rainbow Dash and what she had to say to me.

            “Over 1,000 years ago, Luna had befriended a blind young Pegasus filly who was actually one of Fluttershy’s ancestors.  Despite this filly being blind, she still had a great love and appreciation for Luna’s nighttime, even claiming that she could hear the stars twinkling every night.  In fact, this filly had become friends with Luna at a special celebration of the 100th Spring Sunrise where she had presented the princesses with the first ever snowflake, what she referred to at the time as a ‘star for Winter’, which she’d crafted all by herself from a single speck of ice.

            “However, even with Luna having this one blind filly who appreciated her night, it wasn’t enough for her as Celestia was still loved far more than her.  It was during the sisters’ attack on King Sombra soon afterwards when both of them were struck hard with his shadow powers.  But, while Celestia was incapacitated by this dark magic, that same dark magic was what caused Nightmare Moon to finally be released, much to King Sombra’s horror, after which she defeated him while also banishing the entire Crystal Empire.  With Nightmare Moon let out of her cage, so to speak, Luna was now determined to force the night upon everypony else in order to get the love and respect she was sure that she deserved.

            “But then you already know about what had followed afterwards with Celestia banishing her to the moon for a full millennium.  Needless to say, this blind little filly lived the rest of her life apart from her royal friend, saddened that her own love for Luna’s night was never enough for the princess.  When Luna was finally freed from the power that Nightmare Moon had over her, she was just as equally saddened by the fact that her closest friend was no longer around, having died off centuries ago in the past as well as regretting that she’d never treasured their friendship like she should’ve back when she had the chance.

            “My point in all of this is that nopony knows how much time we have with those we’re closest to, just like how you might not know how much time you have together with Fluttershy.  You may have a few years, you may have a few decades, who knows?  By some miracle of Celestia, you might not even have to worry about it at all.  What’s most important is that you value the time that you have with Fluttershy in the now because, once that time is gone, there’s no way to ever get it back.  Do you think you can do that, twin?”

            It was after Rainbow had made her case to me that a small smile began to form on my face.  I truly did cherish these rare moments where I could talk a bit more personally with my favorite twin sister.  Following that little confidence booster from her, I spoke back up.

            “Yes.  Ah can definitely do that.”

            “Good to hear.  Now get on out there and make Flutters your wife.”

            “Will do, Dashie.”

            And with that encouragement, we took our positions as the wedding ceremony officially began, me eagerly awaiting my coming marriage now more than ever.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Before too much longer, I was standing up at the front of the sanctuary with Rainbow Dash by my side as my best mare, the anticipation killing me as I waited for my bride to make her grand entrance.  Rainbow’s little pep talk that she’d given me beforehand had definitely helped ease some of the stress that I’d been dealing with at that moment.  That being said, I find it hard to believe that those type of “jitters” could ever truly be gone entirely, but they were at least more manageable than before.

            Finally, the wedding march sounded as all of our attention turned towards the end of the aisle where the doors opened and Fluttershy began making her walk down the aisle towards me, walking with assurance and confidence in her stride as well as looking like a heavenly vision of beauty as she approached the front.  I watched her make her way towards me with a genuine smile on my face as I thought of how lucky I was to be able to marry such a beautiful, kind-hearted mare as her.  Though I couldn’t see through her veil as she made her way forward, I was pretty sure that she was smiling right back at me.

            Reaching the front as the wedding march came to an end, me and her turned our attention towards Twilight as she officiated the ceremony.

            “Creatures of Equestria, we are all gathered here today to witness the union of David and Fluttershy in the bonds of holy matrimony, for real this time.  These 2 have been friends for quite a long time despite having come from 2 entirely different worlds.  Their friendship has definitely been through many obstacles and challenges during that time, but, even then, they’ve been able to move past those hindrances and have come out stronger than ever, even going soo far as to confess their undying love for each other in that time.  Through that love, these 2 individuals are living proof that true love knows no boundaries.  Whether it be distance or entirely different dimensions or even entirely different species, true love can overcome any barriers and can survive through anything thrown at it.  As long as both parties are willing to invest the time and effort into making it work, it’ll truly never fail.  And so, without further ado, the 2 of them have each prepared their own marriage vows that they’ll recite to each other before all of us.”

            Me and my lovely bride then turned towards each other before she spoke up first.

            “David, I fell in love with you many years ago when you first came here to Equestria to save us from that evil hag.  However, when I found out that you already had a special somepony in your life, I was willing to put those feelings aside and accept you as a close friend of mine.  After that terrible tragedy struck in which you lost both her and your daughter, it hurt me to see how much you were hurt by that turn of events.  It was in that moment when I thought I’d lost you as a friend.  But now, having confessed our love towards each other, I’m the happiest mare alive knowing that I get to live a life with you in it.  I swear to always be by your side through whatever else life throws our way.  I look forward to sharing all of those special moments with you for the rest of our lives, no matter how long or short they may be.  You’ll always be the stallion who my heart belongs to, no matter what.”

            With her vows already stated, I cleared my throat before speaking my vows towards her.

            “Fluttershy.  Ma beautiful, sweet Fluttershy.  When Ah first came ta Equestria many years ago, you were tha first ‘n closest friend Ah’d made at that time ‘n remained that way long after tha fact.  Back then, Ah remembered bein’ scared over tha fact that Ah might not be able ta return ta ma own world, but, when Ah was given a way ta return home at tha price o’ never bein' able ta come back here again, Ah was just as equally terrified o’ never gettin' ta see tha friends Ah’d made here ever again, you most of all.  Through divine providence, though, Ah’ve been blessed ta spend as much time with ya as Ah have ‘n Ah look forward to a future with you by ma side ferever ‘n always.  Ah promise ta you an eternity full o’ love, joy, ‘n happiness.  Ah promise that we’ll never be apart from each other ever again.  Every moment that we get ta share with each other, Ah consider maself tha luckiest stallion in all Equestria that Ah get ta share them with you, ma beautiful mare.”

            Having finished my vows to the mare I looked forward to sharing a life together with, it felt like a Herculean weight had been lifted off of my chest as Twilight brought the ceremony to its close.

            “By the power vested in me,” she stated, “I now pronounce you stallion and mare.  You may kiss the bride.”

            Turning towards my wife, I removed the veil to see her smiling face matching mine as we pulled each other close for a long passionate kiss, my hand pressed against the back of her neck all the while.  However, during our kiss, something strange began to happen.  There came from Fluttershy an unnatural glow that only got brighter as it seemed to gradually engulf her.  All of us were quick to notice this as Fluttershy herself spoke up nervously.

            “What’s- what’s happening?!?”

            Before anyone could give her an answer, the ball of light engulfed her completely before instantly vanishing, taking Fluttershy with it much to the shock of all there.

            “She’s gone!!!” Pinkie gasped.

            “Where’d she go!?!” Rainbow quickly posed the question.

            In that moment, none of us could come up with a proper answer.  What we didn’t know at the time was that we’d find out her fate soon enough, a fate that would shock us all upon its eventual revelation.
> Chapter XII:  A Royal Ascension
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

            When Fluttershy opened her eyes, she found herself in a rather unusual place.  She was now in an ethereal backdrop where she stood amongst twinkling stars and varying nebulae.  Unsure of what had brought this particular set of events about, she began to feel quite nervous as loneliness set in.

            “H-Hello?” she spoke up. “I-Is anyone h-h-here?”

            It wasn’t too much longer before she was joined in this space by a familiar figure, a tall, dark blue Alicorn with a crescent moon for a Cutie Mark.  Fluttershy recognized her immediately.

            “Princess Luna!  What’re you doing here?”

            “I came here for you,” she replied, plainly. “It’s time for the next part of your life to commence.”

            “What do you mean?” Fluttershy puzzled.

            “In all the time that you’ve known David, you’ve shown the most admirable qualities towards him regardless of the situation.  Aside from your kind nature, you’ve also displayed an honest tongue, an optimistic heart, a generous spirit, and a loyal nature all throughout your years of friendship with him.  No matter what challenges you’ve been through with him, your spirit has never given up on him as time has gone by.  Because of this, I now know that you’re finally ready for the next stage of your life with him.”

            Before Fluttershy could ask further, there was a small yellow light that came from where her heart was that began to swirl around her very being, cocooning her in its luminosity as a bright white light emerged from her center to engulf her once again.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Back at Canterlot Palace, the rest of us were all in a state of worry and unease after Fluttershy’s mysterious disappearance.  Many were filled with questions as to where she could’ve possibly vanished to, but none knew for certain.  The more time passed by without answers, the more anxious everyone there got.

            Suddenly, there was a great, blinding light that shone down on us from above.  Looking up, we saw the shape of a large, pink butterfly slowly making its way down towards me.  Upon landing, the light faded away to reveal a familiar figure within it.

            “Fluttershy?” I finally spoke up.

            It was indeed Fluttershy who emerged from the blinding light, but even then she looked significantly different.  For one thing, she was slightly taller than she’d originally used to be.  She also had the same appearance as what she used to have 20 years ago including her old mane style and not having any lines under her eyes.  But the most noticeable difference of all was the fact that she had a sizable horn sticking out of the top of her forehead.

            “Y-You’re an Alicorn!” Rainbow remarked in shock.

            “How?  How’s that possible?” AJ puzzled.

            “I think I know,” Twilight replied. “It’s because of her dedicated spirit to David even through the many challenges she’s faced over these past years.  Her giving nature, compassionate heart, optimism, honesty, and dedication towards David combined with her marriage to him, an Alicorn Prince, resulted in her becoming an Alicorn Princess herself.”

            “I-I don’t know what to say,” Fluttershy finally stated. “This is all completely new territory for me.  D-Do I have m-m-magic now?”

            “Ah’m sure ya do, ma love,” I answered, “but we can always figure out more ‘bout that at a later time.”

            “For now, let’s get started on celebrating your marriage to each other,” Pinkie piped up.

            None of us could argue against that as the entire assembly there made our way towards the grand hall to continue the festivities, none more happy than me and my dear wife, Fluttershy.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            After a couple of hours of celebrating, feasting, socializing, and dancing, the time had finally come for me and Fluttershy to depart on our honeymoon.  I’d already set the honeymoon itself up at Las Pegasus for a full week together as I figured that would be more than enough time for the 2 of us to enjoy ourselves.  Congratulations were abundant as me and my bride made our way to the train that would bring us to our destination.

            “Hope you guys have a great time together,” Twilight called out to us.

            “Thanks, Twi,” I replied before remembering something. “Oh!  Ah almos’ fergot.  After our honeymoon, Ah was thinkin’ o’ takin’ ya up on that proposition fer me ta pursue a musical career.  Gotta think ‘bout tha future.”

            “Sounds good to me.  See you guys when you get back.”

            “See ya.”

            And so, with me and Fluttershy aboard the train, we began the long ride towards our honeymoon in Las Pegasus.  Not long after getting seated, we were approached by a familiar figure.

            “Fluttershy!” Discord greeted. “What a pleasant surprise to see you here.”

            I inwardly groaned for quite a few reasons regarding Discord’s presence there.  One of the biggest reasons being the fact that I’d have to break the news to him that his magic was destroyed and that he’d never get it back.

            “Discord?” Flutters reacted. “What’re you doing here?”

            “Oh just taking the train to Las Pegasus for a bit of a vacation.”

            “What a coincidence.  Me and David are going there for our honeymoon.”

            “Well goodie for you 2.  Actually, now that I look at you, I can’t help but notice something different about your appearance.  You look much more… youthful.”

            “She is,” I spoke up. “Flutters here became an Alicorn Princess soon after we were wed.”

            “Well my congratulations to you on your ascension and on the 2 of you’s marriage.”

            “Thanks,” I remarked.

            Discord’s congratulation of our marriage sounded off to me, probably because of how he’d tried popping the question to her previously when he found out that she’d lost all memory of us ever being soulmates.  I wasn’t buying his reaction now even one bit.

            “So how was the wedding itself?”

            “Pretty chaotic,” Fluttershy answered. “There was an imposter posing as David while the real David was turned into a giant monster meant to attack us.  This imposter was the same one who had stolen your magic from you.”

            “Oh!” Discord reacted out of astonishment. “I’ve been wondering where that magic had ever gone too.  Were you able to get my magic back from him?”

            “No,” I replied. “It was destroyed along with him.”

            “Oh,” Discord reacted out of disappointment. “I was hoping that my magic would’ve been recovered and returned back to me.”

            “But the important thing is that we’re still friends,” Fluttershy stated. “Besides, you still have your immortality so it’s not a complete loss.  Just something for you to get used too.”

            “I suppose you’re right about that.  I guess I’ll catch the 2 of you some time later then.”

            “Uh huh.  See you later, Discord.”

            And with that, the downturned draconequus made his way through the train car away from us.

            “Are ya sure he’s gonna be O.K., Flutters?”

            “I’ve known him for well over 2 decades now.  He’ll eventually get over it.  For now, let’s just focus on our time together leading up to Las Pegasus.”

            And so the 2 of us got comfortable on the long train ride to Las Pegasus, cuddling each other close and enjoying each other’s company all the while.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            It was quite late at night by the time the 2 of us finally made it to our destination and got checked into our “stable” at the hotel.  With that little bit of business taken care of, we made ourselves comfortable in our bedroom, getting our stuff unpacked and finally just settling down together on our bed.  But we weren’t going to sleep quite yet.  We had far better ways to spend our time together before we were ready to call it a night.  A playful smirk came to Fluttershy’s face as she looked at me lying next to her.

            “So you ready to finally make me your mare?”

            “Ya know that Ah am, babe.”

            “Then why don’t you take off those clothes, bring your sexy body over here, and show me how much you truly love me?”

            “With pleasure.”

            It was then that I undressed for her before pulling her body close to mine.  Kissing her passionately, I finally slid inside her as we enjoyed the sensation of my skin against her coat.  As I made sweet love to my wife, her long, silky tail curled up along my back from in between my thighs, there were a couple of things that came to mind in that moment, thoughts and reflections really.  The first was me thinking back to a line from when I’d watched A Clockwork Orange many years ago.  The line in particular was “Oh bliss!  Bliss and heaven!  Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh.”  That line, spoken by the main character, Alex, had been used when he’d been listening to his beloved Beethoven.  That being said, at that time of sweet intercourse with my wife, I felt like that line could be used just as easily here to describe the enjoyment and pleasure I felt in that very moment.

            The other thought that came to mind was the John Mayer song “Your Body Is A Wonderland”.  I’d never really been one for John Mayer’s music, for several different reasons, but, thinking about that title while making love to Fluttershy, her body indeed was a Wonderland, one that I was looking forward to exploring greatly in this moment and in the rest of our life to follow afterwards.  Nothing could ever take away how I felt in this beautiful instance of pure ecstasy.  Great moans of passion and pleasure escaped past our lips as we marked each other as our own for life.
> Epilogue:  3 In, 1 Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


3 months later…


            I made my way into Tartarus through a portal that Twilight had opened up for me, carrying the heavy statue of Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow with my magic.  Enough time had passed that I’d been able to confirm that any magic that might’ve been used to free someone from Tartarus no longer existed and therefore posed no threat to these criminals ever being set free again.  The statue itself was quite heavy, even when using my magic to carry it.  Finally, after I’d made it far enough into this dark prison that I was satisfied with where these villains now were, I set the statue down.

            This was my first time ever being in Tartarus and I was incredibly surprised by how cold it was there.  Gripping my leather jacket tightly around me, I shivered as my surroundings that reeked of frost and death brought to mind when I’d gone out into that blizzard to save Fluttershy only several short months prior.  Tartarus, though, was absolutely bone-chilling, making that blizzard I’d been in seem like a calm summer breeze by comparison.

            Not long after my ponderings, I remembered my purpose for being in this literal hell-space.  Calling upon some new magic that I’d learned in that time, I targeted the statue that held these villains encased in stone, a bright rainbow of color striking it with full force.  Cracks formed in the statue itself, growing larger and longer before finally shattering, releasing the terrible trio from their triple solitary confinement.  Before any of them even had a chance to react to what happened, I snapped my fingers and they were immediately locked up in separate cages from each other.  Tirek was the first to speak up upon release, his voice like a snake hissing.

            “Who’re you supposed to be?”

            “Ah’m Prince David,” I replied. “Savior ‘n protector of Equestria.”

            “Wait a minute,” Cozy Glow followed up, “you’re the same David that Twilight and her friends talked about at the School Of Friendship?!?”

            “Exactly tha same.  Of course, over 20 years have now passed between when all 3 of ya were first imprisoned ‘n now.”

            They seemed to be greatly shocked by this latest revelation aside from Chrysalis who spoke up next.

            “You think that those 20 years mean anything to me?  As soon as I break out of here, I’ll have my revenge on every creature who calls this land their home.”

            “Actually, no.  Ya won’t,” I bluntly stated. “Ah’ve made sure that that will never happen.”

            “And what makes you soo sure about that?”

            “Because tha magic that allows that ta happen no longer exists in this land.  Ah destroyed it.”

            “But that would mean,” Cozy Glow began, “that Discord no longer has his magic anymore.”

            “Ding ding ding!  Give tha filly a prize.”

            “But why would you destroy such powerful magic?” Tirek puzzled.

            “Because Ah couldn’t very well let Discord hold onta his magic ‘n risk anymore life-threatenin’ bullshit ta come about as a result o’ that.  So, when a certain other villain from ma past stole said magic, Ah destroyed it along with him.  Ah have friends whose safety is far too important fer me ta risk that kind o’ magic still bein’ ‘round.  Not ta mention Ah also have a future ta think of.”

            Tirek looked at me for quite a while before a certain spark of realization came to his eyes and he spoke up once again in his whispery, haunting tone.

            “There’s more to it than just that… isn’t there?  You’ve mated with one of these friends of yours and she now carries your seeeeeed.”

            I have no idea how he could’ve possibly read that off of me soo easily, but I wasn’t about to allow him to get inside my head like that.

            “Regardless,” I continued, “all o’ y’all should consider this an act o’ mercy on ma part.  Ah’ve only brought ya guys ta Tartarus because Ah firmly believe that Discord had no place in passin' down judgement on y’all when he’s tha ‘xact reason why ya were united against ma friends in tha first place ‘n, without his magic, ya’ll never escape here again.”

            “There’s no way that Discord would ever approve of his magic being destroyed,” Chrysalis protested.

            “He took it hard at first,” I admitted, “but Ah’d only destroyed his magic, not his immortality.  Consider that his punishment fer tha bullshit he’d pulled off.  He’ll get used ta it, eventually.”

            “We don’t need his magic to break out of here.  I’ll scrape my way out of here with my own hooves if I have to and I’ll have my revenge on everypony you care about, especially your little marefriend whose love I can sense from you, strong and delicious.”

            It was in that moment when I was glad that I’d put enough distance between me and Chrysalis so that she couldn’t possibly feed off of my love.  Instead, I replied to her hollow threat immediately.

            “Ya know, as an Author, one o’ tha powers Ah have at ma disposal is tha ‘bility ta completely erase someone from reality with tha simple stroke of a pen.  Normally, Ah wouldn’t hesitate ta use that same power on ya right now, but that same recklessness could’ve possibly gotten me erased from reality, which it didn’t by some miracle even Ah don’ fully understand.  As it turns out, Ah have quite a few friends who are Changelin's ‘n, if Ah were ta just eliminate ya that way, Ah’d possibly risk those friends o’ mine bein’ erased from history also.  So, fer that reason, ‘n that reason only, yer still alive.”

            “Ha!  You think those kind of threats scare me?  You have no idea who you’re dealing with.  I’ll take everything you love from you easily.  You won’t know true revenge until you suffer the wra-”

            Getting quite annoyed with her pompous attitude, I snapped my fingers immediately, which took away her tongue, resulting in her threats turning into nothing more than unintelligible gurgling.  A look of absolute horror came to her face at this realization as I continued my statement.

            “But that don’t mean that Ah have ta put up with yer endless blather.  Ah’ve been merciful ta let ya guys not remain trapped in stone.  Don’t make me regret that.”

            “What if I were to just steal your magic right now?” Tirek posed the question, an evil smile on his face.

            “Ah’d like ta see ya try,” I scoffed with confidence, resulting in Tirek looking less sure of himself. “Ah’ve got pure Alicorn blood runnin’ through ma veins.  Yer not powerful enough ta even attempt ta take it from me.  Ah could destroy ya long before ya even got tha chance.”

            It was then when I finally turned my attention towards Cozy Glow before continuing.

            “Do you have any objections ya’d like ta make?”

            “N-N-No sir,” she stammered, nervously.

            “Good.  Now, Ah believe ma time is up here.  See ya never.”

            Turning to leave, I was suddenly struck with one final statement to make as I turned towards Chrysalis.

            “Oh.  ‘N she’s not ma marefriend anymore.  She’s ma wife, soon ta be a mother, ‘n Ah’d take on all o’ y’all 1,000 times over ta protec those Ah care most about from any evil.  Suck on that while ya rot away in here!”

            With those parting words, I made my way over towards the portal that would take me back to Canterlot.  As I was leaving, I took account of the inhabitants who were in Tartarus aside from the Mean 3.  I couldn’t help but feel like there was someone missing from the lineup.  Who that individual was I couldn’t quite figure out.  What I didn’t know at the time was that this particular individual would come back to haunt me when I least expected it.

To be continued…