The reception area was near the gardens, it had large windows that rose from the floor to the ceiling and several tables for the delegates. A buffet had been set up near the windows, obstructing the view of the snow covered gardens. Dominic didn’t mind though, he was busy devouring the food he had piled onto his plate. The delegates had resigned themselves to discussing matters that didn’t concern him, and he was happy not to deal with them. Even Twilight and Luna had been roped into a few conversations, leaving Dominic to his thoughts.

Mainly, he was thinking about how wonderful the meal tasted. He normally would have turned down the buffet, considering his history with the castle’s cooking, but if the delegates were eating it then it had to be safe. Dominic was glad that Luna had gotten rid of Blueblood, he had come far too close to loosing it at the conference. That raised another question to Dominic, what was he supposed to do now? There was no place for a man with his skillset, and he doubted they had need of an automotive student. He was dead weight and he hated it.

“Excuse me?” A voice snapped him from his internal debate, Dominic recognised it as Remea, the male griffon. The young man looked up from his plate and swallowed his food. “May I sit here.” Remea gestured to the seat across from Dominic, he received a shrug as an answer.

“Why not?” Dominic replied, wiping his mouth with a napkin. The griffon took a seat, his armor clinking as he moved. Dominic went back to his meal, making an effort to use better table manners. Remea was silent for several minutes, just watching Dominic with his hawk like gaze. “Can I help you with something?”

“You eat as a warrior eats, yet you deny that is what you are.” Remea commented, Dominic stopped eating and looked at the griffon again. “I noticed earlier, you said you never got your chance. Chance for what?” Dominic put his fork on the table and rubbed his hands together.

“I never had the chance to enlist.” Dominic said flatly. “My family had a man in the military every generation, even before we came to America. All the way back to the Roman Empire.” Remea thought for a moment.

“What stopped you from joining this line of warriors?” He asked, Dominic’s face lost all expression.

“I’d rather not discuss the past, it clouds the view of the future.” He replied, Remea was going to persist but saw the finality in Dominic’s eyes. He wasn’t out to anger the man, he had displayed a distinct hatred for people who angered him. It took a lot of courage to openly state a hatred of a noble, but to denounce the princess of the world’s strongest superpower, it took nerves of steel. Nerves that had to be forged in the fires of conflict.

“Very well.” Remea nodded. “I hope we will be able to speak more in the future.” He stood from his seat and went back to the group, Dominic went back to eating in silence. His mind drifted back to the problem at hand, finding a purpose. He wasn’t willing to give them weapons, he had no way of training them, and he wasn’t willing to join their guard. There was nothing for him. Sighing for the umpteeth time, Dominic looked up at the delegates again, Twilight and Luna were discussing something with the zebras while the griffons spoke with the minotaur. That left one of them unaccounted for.

“Looking for me?” Asked a female voice from behind. Dominic whipped around, his hand flying to the revolver in its holster. When he saw that it was Princess Dunai he relaxed slightly, taking his hand off the handle of the weapon and turning to face her. “I’m sorry if I startled you, but I wanted to see your reaction.”

“My reaction? My reaction is shoot first, ask questions later. Your lucky I didn’t take your fucking head off!” Dominic snapped back, the Princess looked hurt for a moment before she concealed it under false condescension.

“Right.” Dunai said, walking in front of the young man and taking a seat across from him. “Tell me, what set you in such a heightened state, hmm?” Dominic glared at her and went back to eating his food. “Why do you brood so much? Why not share with us, if your species is so advanced…”

“Would you like the short, or the long version?” Dominic growled, Dunai hummed for a moment.

“Short.”

“Global Thermonuclear War.” The princess blinked several times, Dominic ignored her.

“W-What?”

“Global, as in the globe, Thermonuclear, a weapon of my species, war, a conflict between two or more nations.” Dominic said slowly, the princess blinked several more times.

“What’s that?”

“Total destruction of every habitable piece of land on the surface of the planet.” Dominic said it as if it was no big deal. “And the lucky ones will be the ones who die in the war, they won’t have to endure hell on earth.” Dunai shuddered and silently rose from her seat, Dominic paid her no mind as she walked away. Instead, his mind went back to what he was going to do with so much time on his hands. He went to take another bite, but his fork made contact with only the plate. Dominic sighed and stood up, then started walking towards the buffet.

Princess Luna excused herself from the conversation she had been dragged into and trotted over to the young man. He was perusing the buffet table, staying away from the vegetarian meals.

“Tried it… Tried it… Don’t wanna try it…” He mumbled, when he noticed Luna he stopped and turned to face her. “What’s up?”

“I dislike the zebra delegates.” Luna huffed, Dominic raised an eyebrow. “They continue to call for you imprisonment, for disrespecting my sister.”

“Fuck ‘em.” The young man commented, turning back to the table. “If they want to fight over it, I’ll be glad to fight.” He took several scoops of mashed potatoes before moving to a pan that hadn’t been opened yet. “What are you hiding?” He asked the pan.

“The zebras are traditional ponies, they would most likely take you up on your offer.” Luna said, watching Dominic lift the lid off of the heating pan. His face brightened and a smile came across his face.

“They’re…They’re beautiful…” He used his fork and stabbed it into the pan, then pulled out a large, juicy steak. He placed it on his plate and turned to leave the table, then paused to motion for Luna to follow. She wasn’t going to miss this, she had yet to see a genuine smile on his face. Dominic sat down and cut a piece of steak, Luna sat across from him.

“What did you want to talk about?” She asked, Dominic chewed his food before speaking. His smile faded for a moment, knowing that the question wouldn’t ask itself.

“They asked earlier, but you didn’t have an answer.” Dominic began, leaning his elbows on the table. “What am I going to do?” Luna blinked, a thoughtful expression crossed her muzzle.

“What would you like to do?” She finally asked, Dominic shrugged. “I assume that before the… problem, you had some sort of skill set?”

“Nothing that would come in handy here. I was learning to work on cars, after that… Well, the marines looked good. But, there stopped being a marine corps before I could enlist, so…” Dominic sighed. “No marketable skills, whatsoever.” Luna looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’m not joining the guard, if that’s what you’re thinking.” The princess sighed.

“May I ask why?” Dominic nodded.

“For all I know, I’m the last American alive. I won’t forsake my nation, ever.” He said firmly, looking at the princess with determined eyes. Luna nodded, Dominic could rival Rainbow Dash for the Element of Loyalty. “Doesn’t leave many options open, but I don’t intend to sit in my room all day.”

“We will think of something, together.” The princess said, nodding as she did so. “I only wish there was time for us to do so. Tonight, I must return to my night court. That will leave me quite exhausted, ruling out a meeting during the day.” Dominic shrugged and leaned back in his seat.

“Well fuck…” He muttered. “Maybe Twilight has something for me.”

“As much as I like Twilight, I believe you would go mad within fifteen minutes of working with her.” Dominic chuckled, getting a chuckle from the princess. “It is strange seeing you this relaxed.” The young man looked down at his plate, then back at her.

“It’s the first time I’ve been able to really relax, I guess. Gotta enjoy the little things.” He said, shrugging. “Before everything went to hell, a meal like this would be common. But, after eating beans cooked over a space heater, perspective changes I guess.” Dominic removed his helmet, then scratched his head. He paused and ran a hand through his hair. “Speaking of little things, I’m gonna need a haircut.”

“I’m sure that we’ll be able to arrange for a stylist to have it done.” Luna said, Dominic shook his head.

“This is my first haircut in a long time, I don’t want a stylist, I want a barber.” He said, Luna raised her eyebrow.

“What’s the difference?” She asked. Dominic took a bite of his steak and nodded at its flavor before answering.

“Don’t know, call it nostalgia.” The young man looked around, noting the delegates were still speaking to eachother. The zebras were getting rather loud with the minotaur, while the griffons and Princess Dunai seemed to be placing bets on who would win. Twilight looked like she was about to have a stroke, her mane was becoming frazzled and frayed. Luna looked over as well, then brought a hoof to her forehead with a sigh. “What?”

“They’re fighting over Twin Island again.” Luna muttered, Dominic motioned for her to continue. “Twin Island is an island on the border between Minotaur and Zebra waters, each has laid claim to it but neither will accept the other’s claim.” The young man nodded, things really didn’t change over the borders of space and time.

“Wonderful…” Dominic groaned, he finished the food on his plate. “Well, is there anything else that has to be done?” Luna shook her head.

“No, you can return to your room if you wish. I will remain here and deal with them.” She said with a sigh, Dominic stood up and walked to the doors. Luna trotted over to the argument, letting Twilight make a hasty escape.

“Dominic!” She called, the young man paused as he was about to close the door behind him. “Hold the door!” Twilight skidded out the door as Dominic closed it. He looked at her, surprised. “I hate it when they fight like that…”

“Yeah, politicians are like that sometimes.” The young man replied, he started walking down the hall. Then stopped. “Hey Twilight?”

“Yes, that’s the wrong way.” The alicorn deadpanned, she began trotting in the opposite direction with Dominic tagging along behind her. “We’re going to have to get you a map.”

“You think so?” Dominic asked.

“Yeah, now that the world knows about you I don’t have to worry about you being spotted in the halls. I’ll be able to run some more studies.” Twilight said cheerfully, Dominic paused for a moment.

“You’re not going to leave me alone if I don’t help you, are you?” He asked in a mock annoyed tone.

“Nope.”

“Fuck.” Dominic sighed a content sigh, it felt nice to be able to joke around, if only for a bit. He was full of good food, he didn’t have to worry about lynch mobs, and he loved every minute of it. For several minutes he went on in silence, letting the worries about what he would do fall onto the almost unused back burner. A he began to hum a soft melody, catching Twilight’s attention.

“What’s that?” She asked.

“Just a song from home.” Dominic replied, his steps fell into a beat as he continued walking.

“Does it have lyrics?”

“You want to hear ‘em?” Twilight nodded to the human, who cleared his throat. “Okay I’m a little rusty at this, so bear with me.” He paused and began the song in his head again. “And I heard as it were, the noise of thunder. One of the four beasts sang, come and see, and I saw, and behold a white horse...” Dominic and Twilight continued down the hallway, and though he was unsure of the future, he knew he would survive. He always survived...

Author's Notes:

That's it for Act One! Hope you've liked it so far! Been great fun writing this so far, but I don't just write for myself, I write for you guys. I know I've said it before, but fuck it, I'm saying it again. You guys are awesome, without you I'd just be some raving lunatic. I love you all.

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I'll see you all next time.