Chapter 1

Watching the towering sandstone mesas dotted amongst the terrain pass whilst you were on the train had been the most interesting part of your journey so far. You were heading to a frontier town named Appleloosa as part of a group of ponies sent from Princess Celestia’s court on a diplomatic mission. The purpose of this mission was to attempt to snuff out violence that had been escalating once more between the townsfolk and a local buffalo tribe since the town had started to grow.

Nopony from the town had so far been able to work out what was causing the new spate of unrest, as no diplomat had been brave enough to even consider re-starting some sort of contact with the savages since the Elements of Harmony had visited the town last and almost sparked all out war. In the six months since the elements’ visit, there had been rumours about lawless bandits seeking out the buffalo, quite literally hunting them looking for a fight. With Appleloosa now being the biggest town on the frontier, it was safe to suggest that they would be staying there.

This was where you came in; you had orchestrated diplomatic solutions with many of the realm’s enemies before, including talking the current leader of the gryphon clans into an almost profitable peace treaty. With you was a small contingent of her Majesty’s own guards, the gruff looking Captain sucking at a pipe with the eyes behind his helmet closed, seemingly asleep. He was usually partially responsible for the personal safety of the Princesses as a member of the elite personal guard, but for some reason he had been chosen to lead this specific excursion.

You knew of course that should anything happen during the journey he would snap into action, barking orders to his comrades whilst doing his best to protect you, the Ambassador. The white stallion snorted, his eyes opening half way and he skilfully tapped the ash from the pipe out of the open window.

Eventually, the train pulled into the station at Appleloosa and stopped with a jolt, the huge earth ponies at the front having allowed the front carriage to slam into a rusty spring based stopping system after trying to slow them down as best they possibly could. You heard the Captain curse loudly, the pencil held between his teeth tearing through the note pad he had been writing a letter to his sweetheart on since having woken up.

You’d offered to scribe the letter for him, as a unicorn you were far more used to writing and the potential content of his letter didn’t really bother you, despite the gruff demeanour of the earth pony. Sighing and tucking away the note book for now, he rose to his hooves and began waking up the rest of his unit. As the other soldiers woke, there wasn’t as much swearing as you had expected and as the group moved single file down the centre of the carriage, you could see into the town through the windows.

You stretch just a tiny bit too far on exiting the train, gravity completing your step as the gap between carriage and paving was slightly larger than you had expected. Bringing your head back up from watching your step, your sight is filled by the vision of the bustling small town before you. The roads were nothing more than the arid dust of the desert for miles around, but you could see the tips of trees around a hill that presumably led to the contested valley in the background. Ponies of all types flooded the streets going about their lives and you were addressed sharply whilst lost in the vision of wooden houses and saloons.

“Ah guess you’re them city slickers sent to try and deal with the buffalo.” said a slightly imposing coffee coloured stallion, nudging his red-banded black stetson hat further back on his head with a hoof. Every word caused the thick black mustache on his face to wobble slightly and if it hadn’t been for the grave situation of the matter you had been sent to discuss, you’d have probably cracked a slight smile. The Captain had been watching you, waiting impatiently for you to introduce yourself before speaking up.

“Yes. Her Majesty informed us that you’ve been having renewed trouble with the buffalo, even though your trade deal for food seemed to have stopped the problem. Did our request for accommodation make it here with the last D-mail?”

“Sure did. Ah’m still getting used to it myself, don’t feel right being able to get a letter the day after it was written in Canterlot. You soldier types are being put up at the local cathouse; we’ve asked the madam to tell one of the girls to bunk up with her friend. Mr Ambassador here will be staying in a room above the Salt Block.”

You see the Captain do the first nervous thing you’d ever seen him do in your years at court, nudging at a necklace hanging over his armour, holding a picture of a magenta coloured mare, with his hoof.

“I’m not comfortable staying in a brothel; I’m to be married soon. Ambassador, I’ll be taking your lodgings.”

You nod in agreement, not wanting to aggravate the tall and slightly scary armoured stallion. You were admittedly a bit unsure as to what a brothel was, you obviously knew the meaning of the word, but was it really as bad as the books you had read? More to the point, weren’t they illegal? You clear your throat before asking, getting a laugh from the Sheriff, which in turn caused the Captain to snort disapprovingly. You could see his anger begin to surface and suggest that the group of you move on. With the Sheriff out of earshot explaining the sights of the town to the other soldiers in the group, the Captain lowers his head to your ear before speaking in a hushed manner;

“Her Majesty is very aware that such misgivings and more are happening in this town and that is something that I will be dealing with. For now your job is to deal with the buffalo, not to play politics with the abusive bastards that run this town. Stay with the other guards, I’ll look after myself.”

The Captain is dropped off at the saloon and the rest of the group continue to an extravagant looking red-painted wooden house. It appeared to be stretched over close to five floors and piano music could be heard coming from the bottom floor windows, the occasional loud giggle bursting from windows further up the building.

You notice a slightly strange smell as you enter the building, the musky scent of sweat formed from countless immoral activities filling your nostrils, mixed with the sweeter smell of perfume used to try and mask such sin. You pass the occasional mare exiting various rooms of the establishment, many in dresses similar to those you had seen in books about the town in the royal library, their manes held up in a manner that used a technique you didn’t think you’d be able to emulate even with help.

The group of you are eventually led to one room of the establishment holding a huge four poster bed, which is soon taken by the sergeant; the lower ranking members of the squad taking positions on the floor, mats from their saddlebags being unrolled on the carpeted floor. As the ambassador, you were given a chaise longue in the corner; for a little more privacy you drag a set of ornate folding screens in front of it as you are tossed the blanket from the end of the sergeant’s bed.

Whilst the squad discuss the idea of going down to the Salt Block for a drink you think about having a wander around the town; hoping to see some of the sights you had missed out on when the Captain had been talking to you before he left. Deciding you’d rather not have to hang around with the soldiers (who were undoubtedly a bit too much for you, you usually being the quiet bookish type) you make an excuse about needing some air and quietly and quickly try to slip out of the cathouse un-noticed.

Hoping to get back to the station where you had begun the tour with Silverstar, you follow the street down past the Salt Block. You pass a pair of brown-coated stallions and over-hear them discussing pie dishes; one offering his friend “Fillion” his prized dish, affectionately named Vera, in exchange for the contact details of Fillion’s ex-wife.

Chuckling as you pass them, you see a strangely familiar rusty coloured stallion stride out of the door of the Salt-Block wearing a poncho, matched with a dragon-leather Stetson hat. As you pass, you’re sure you see a golden eye wink at you before he disappears into the crowd. Deciding not to dwell on your curiosity of the un-named stranger, you keep walking down the street; looking at different buildings until you reach a blacksmiths shop.

You can’t seem to remember the way past there and choose to take the alley next to it to try and get to the next road on the other side of the row of buildings. Entering the alley you see two stallions, a unicorn and an earth pony, that block your path and force you against a wall as a third member of their group, a Pegasus, growls at you in a deep and cracked voice.

“We don’t appreciate no damned city boys comin’ here to change thangs.” He kicks you, managing to catch your underside with his front hoof, causing you to fall to the ground. “Now stay down.”

Not certain of what is going on and reeling slightly, you stupidly stand up. This was obviously a bad idea as you feel something jabbed with some force into your side, feeling your skin split, pain roaring from the wound as you fall again, bleeding heavily. You see the spattered face of the unicorn who had stabbed you grin as the three of them trot off down the alley calmly.
As the pain becomes too much to bear, you feel yourself lifted from the dusty ground of the alley. Your eyes gently close and you slip into the sweet dreamless embrace of unconsciousness.

“BRAEBURN! Hold him still darn it!”

“Sorry Sweeney, I’m tryin’, he’s just thrashin’ so...”

“Sweeney, what’s the prognosis?”

“His organs are alright Smithy, but I can’t get in to stitch the artery... We’re going to have to cauterize it instead, let the other vessels nearby take the strain. Something about the size of a pencil should do the job; get it as hot as possible.”

Cauterize? You know that word... What did it mean again? Your fuzzily returning vision shows a bright orange spark held in glowing pincers being lowered to your stomach.

“Just there, you see it? BRAEBURN FOR THE LAST TIME HOLD HIM STILL!”

Ah, yes, that’s what that word meant.

You scream.

Chapter 2

Your eyelids open slowly, showing that you have moved from whatever dimly lit dungeon you must have been in before, as you are now in a soft, four-posted bed. The pain was still present in your side but you manage to take a peek around the room, seeing a caramel coated mare in a yellow dress sat toying with her mid-length brown mane at a mirror edged with lights. The strain of moving your neck becomes too much to handle and you pass out again.

Feeling the warmth of sunlight on your face, you wake to find the curtains of this new room open. You can move a little more before the pain instantly throws you back into unconsciousness.

It was night this time, the cool air drifting in through the window and you can see a set of rolling screens similar to the ones cordoning off your sleeping area in the cathouse. A light from behind shows the silhouette of a filly removing a dress and you can see a feather bobbing about over the top of the blinds, obviously in her mane. The dress is then carefully hung on a hanger, hanging over the top of the screens; you notice that it’s yellow like the one the mare you had seen earlier was wearing.

Tearing away from this image (something that being such a sheltered colt you had never really been exposed to) you see a plain white pinafore on a chair, blood coated bandages next to it and a bottle of something brown resting on top. You fall unconscious once more.

This time you dream; putting together things you had seen in your head over what felt like the last day or so. You think about the thugs that had ambushed you... could they have overheard your comments whilst talking to the Sheriff? Or maybe the Captain had sold you out? No, that couldn’t be right. He had been serving the Princesses for years and seemed genuinely angry at what was going on in Appleloosa... what about the rusty coloured stallion who had winked at you? Or could it be the mare that had been in the room those times you had woken up? The image of her undressing floated back into the front of your memory; you knew that your entire race spent a great deal of its time naked, so why was this image so appealing?

You wake up again, this time with something alarmingly heavy on your chest. You manage to tilt your neck to look at it, seeing a mass of brown hair and a slender caramel coloured foreleg, ending in a pedicured yet still slightly rough hoof, stretched over your chest. You hear a gentle snore come from the mass and the thought occurs to you that it must be the mare you had seen the night before.

‘I guess that this isn’t too bad.’ You think, attempting to wriggle a foreleg free. It eventually comes loose and with a slight twinge of pain you manage to pull it from underneath the dozing filly. Unsure what to do next, you simply run your hoof through her mane hoping to wake her gently; she moves her head just slightly up your chest, making it easier for you to stroke her – gentle snores still escaping from the other side of her head. Wriggling a little more, you manage to shuffle further up the bed, now fully awake and aware of the young mare laying on you, realising that you were on the edge of the bed and she was sat in a chair at your side – obviously watching over you and changing your bandages when she was awake.

With her in the way you couldn’t assess your own wound, so you lay there; kind of pleased with your first real physical contact with a filly outside of hoofshakes and hugs from family. It wasn’t so much that you weren’t interested in the opposite gender, more that you had always thought you’d have time for that sort of thing after completing your studies; realising a little too late that outside of the university, you didn’t really know anypony apart from the fillies you had studied with, who had all assumed that you were into other colts, something that had put you permanently in “the friend zone”.

Feeling a little braver, you start to move your head and take a look around the room. You started by looking at your companion; her face still wasn’t visible, but she had a very attractive figure. Her cutie mark was three blue horseshoes arranged in a triangle on the upper middle of her flank.

As you thought about how pretty she must be, her head rolled and you were pleasantly smug about having had your theory confirmed; she was beautiful indeed. Running a hoof around the edge of her face and through her mane, her eyes slowly opened. The shade of blue around her pupils had taken you by surprise at first; it was so bright, so pretty and full of life.

“Oh, you’re awake.” She says in a gentle Appleloosian accent, pulling away from you and sitting properly in the chair. You could see the white pinafore that you remembered from your brief visits to the conscious world tied around her, a light pink smudge on it from where your blood hadn’t completely washed out. Feeling the pressure released, you feel down to your stomach, your hoof meeting a neatly stitched scar near the top. As you touch it, you snort, pain contorting your face. Her eyes widen and she grabs the bottle you had seen in her mouth, tipping a small amount of whiskey into your mouth.

“It’ll help the pain, don’t worry.” She coos after having put the bottle down. You swallow it, checking off another first from your mental list.

“My name is Toffee, can you tell me yours?”

“Where am I? Am I back in the whorehouse? I need the Captain, I think I’ve been stabbed...” you blurt out, panicking. You realise your mistake just as the look of offense reaches Toffee’s face and quickly decide to try and save the bridge you had just set alight,

“You’re my doctor, aren’t you?” you add, seeing the look leave just as soon as it had arrived, replaced with the one of concern that she had when she told you her name.

“No, you’re at my home, we found you next to my pappy’s shop. It looks like Silverstar’s boys took a dislike to you; you’re lucky me and Braeburn found you. Now, Ah know that accent, you’re from Canterlot right?”

“Yes... I’m sorry Toffee, but I really need to find the ponies I came here with, they’re staying at the...” Your words are stopped by a calming yellow hoof placed on your lips.

“You’ve been out for six days sweetheart, you ain’t doing anything.”

“SIX DAYS!?” you yell, “I’m supposed to have been opening negotiations with the buffalo! Oh Celestia, what am I going to do?” You try to get out of the bed, but are pinned down again by Toffee whilst your wound twinges with pain once more.

“Stay down sweetie, my pappy has spoken to your Captain. Somepony else was sent from Canterlot and the negotiations are going... fine. Don’t move too much, you don’t want your stitches ripping again, Sweeney’s busy today.”

“Who?”

“He’s the barber. Serves as a doctor to us folks too, he was the one who patched you up, I’m just supposed to be watching you and keeping your wound clean.”

“You’ve been at my side for six days?”

“Yeah.”

“Th... Thank you. I don’t know what else to say...” She rises and gently places a kiss on your forehead, you get a sniff of her mane as she leaned in; it’s a dry scent, almost like the whiskey she had fed you but without the alcoholic twang that accompanied it.

“You’re sweet; I’ve been hoping that you’d be as nice as you’ve turned out to be.” She says, looking down at you once more, long elegant eyelashes fluttering slightly, “I’ve never really had anypony to care for.”

“Well, I don’t think I would want anyone else looking after me at the moment.” You say, nervously trying your luck. Toffee blushes, little pools of deep pink appearing on her cheeks and she once more places a tiny kiss on your forehead, causing you to melt a little inside.

“You should try and sleep. I’m right here, so don’t worry ‘bout nothin bad happenin’.”
Feeling tired, you place your hoof on hers as she sits by you, slowly falling asleep.

Chapter 3

Surprisingly, you don’t dream about Toffee that night. You see yourself returning to the castle at Canterlot, still with a bandage wrapped around your midriff, bowing before Her Majesty, Princess Celestia. The place feels surreal, shadows elongated more than usual by the high arched windows, adding to the deep fear you can feel working it’s way up from your hooves, tingling along your spine to your brain.

“Well, Ambassador? What do you have to say for yourself?” the unusually ice cold queen before you demands, a golden shod hoof tapping impatiently against the marble floor of the throne room, her taps echoing in the hall.

“I... Ma’am” you stutter, words unable to leave your lips.

“You abandoned your duties. You took the time to get yourself injured and spent your time in the bed of a WHORE!” Celestia screams, drawing huge anger filled eyes in front of your face. She was a caricature of her usual self, heavily outlined eyes narrowed, teeth bared, almost snarling at you - her normal kindness and level thought replaced by hatred. Over the furious sounds of her Majesty, you begin to hear a gentle laugh, similar to that of someone almost insane, coming from next to the towering white alicorn.

“My dear sister, what do you think we should do with this foolish colt?” the shape of Princess Luna asks, cast in shadow beside Celestia, “Maybe we should have him executed, as a gesture of good will to the buffalo, like we did with the foolish ponies who abandoned him to get drunk?” motioning with a hoof to a series of severed heads on pikes behind her throne; you recognise the captain, sergeant and guardsponies that had accompanied you, grimacing open mouths, wild dead eyes staring into your very soul, judging you.

“Please, your Majesties, I didn’t...”

“Off with his head.” Celestia says, quietly.

“OFF WITH HIS HEAD!” Luna cheers ecstatically before giggling and clapping her hooves together, fetching a sword and levitating it with her horn. You feel the blade press against your neck as the younger Royal prepares to take a swing, she pulls back, and you hear the whoosh of metal through air.

Chapter 4

You scream, almost leaping out of the bed in fright, hooves at your throat, not realising that you weren’t alone between the warm comfy sheets. Toffee sits up immediately next to you, her look of panic matching your own, placing a hoof on your back as she pulls you close to her.

“What’s wrong, what happened?” she asks, giving you a quick visual check and looking at your stitches.

“It... It was just a nightmare.” You reply, deflating slightly as your surroundings become familiar once more. She coos, pulling your face to her chest and runs a hoof through your mane to try and comfort you.

“Uhm... Why are you in bed with me?” you ask, “Not that I object to it or anything.”

“Where was ah supposed to sleep?” she replies, warmly yet slightly deadpan.

“I guess that makes sense, I’m sorry... Thank you for looking after me Toffee, I really don’t know what would have happened if you good folks hadn’t found me.”

“Not a problem... Ah kinda like havin’ you with me here.” She says, letting you go and looking at you with those eyes, like a pair of tiny oases in the desert. You gingerly raise a hoof to her chin, running it around the edge of her jawbone to her ear and then stroking her mane. Her eyes close and she smiles deeply, enjoying the feel of you caressing her before slowly leaning in, her mouth slightly open.

You stare at her lips as she edges closer, a sort of light dread filling you as you realise what is about to happen, like a train crash in slow motion as you feel her breath on your skin and your lips meet; the sensation is amazing... how could you have possibly survived so long without discovering this!? You exhale through your nose, melting into the lovely kiss, the southern belle giggling slightly yet staying in contact. As slowly as she had leaned in, she pulled away, leaving a ghost of the gentle pressure her lips had made on yours. She blushes once more, her lower lip slipping between her teeth as she turns a deep crimson.

“Ah’ve always wanted to do that.”

“Me too...” you reply, lost in her eyes again.

“That was your first time too? How come?”

“It’s a long story. How about you?”

“Well... I’m the daughter of a blacksmith and pretty much ready to take over when pappy decides to retire, so I’m usually covered in Celestia-knows what and ah guess no colts have ever seemed to like that.”

You look back, confused.

“But what about the dress? I saw you wearing a dress, I thought you were a showfilly?”

“It was my mommas. She used to sing in the Salt Block, before she passed a couple of winters back... I kept it to remind me of her, but can’t really wear it unless I’ve scrubbed up; with you here, I’ve needed to stay clean so I figured why not wear it, do my mane up nicely, pretend I’m a glamorous mare. It must be so silly to you.”

“Not at all, you look lovely in it...” You manage to squeeze out before being kissed again by an appreciative looking Toffee. This time, you push at her, causing her to lean back onto the pillow she had been resting her head on, your mouths moving together as she just gently slides her tongue between your lips, probing your mouth softly as if testing the technique read in a book. A hoof is raised behind your head and you feel yourself being pulled further into the kiss, readily accepting more of her tiny pink tongue sliding within your mouth. You rest a hoof on her chest, able to feel how quickly she is breathing through how rapidly it rises and falls.

“These last six days... they’ve been special to me, looking after you, it’s given me so much” she gasps, pushing you away, “I think I’m falling for you.”

Her statement pulls enormously at your heart strings - nopony had ever said that to you before, you kiss her again, running a hoof up and down her torso, tiny moans occasionally forced into your mouth. The thought of her having protected you, cared for you, given when she didn’t have to... You were falling for her too... The words were forming in your throat, begging to be let out!
“I... I think I’m falling for you too.”

Suddenly, in the calm and looking at her, you realise something... you couldn’t hear the town outside, the usually bustling streets sounding abandoned.

“Can you hear that?” You ask Toffee, motioning to the open window leading to the street outside. She blinks, focusing on reality again.

“Ah don’t hear anything?” she says, still lost in the romance of moments ago before catching on, “Oh no. No, no, no. It only gets this quiet when someponys about to be run out of town... Silverstar and his boys, if they know where you are, Oh Celestia No.” the filly leaped out of the bed, quickly pushing a chair under the door handle, closing the slotted wooden shutters of her window and drawing the curtains; beams of light coming through the slots and illuminating the room in a gloomy manner. Not quite understanding her panic, you manage to haul yourself out of the bed and approach her from behind, sitting down carefully next to her trying to avoid pulling your now painless stitches.

Chapter 5

“Can you see what’s going on out there?” you ask, leaning on her slightly as she slips her head between the curtains trying to look through the slats of the shutters.

“I don’t think it’s you they’re after, it’s some stallion in a hat and poncho, he looks pretty mean.”

“Wait, what colour is his coat? What about his mane?”

“Sort of orange, kinda almost rusty. I can’t really see his mane, but his tail is sort of... off white. Hold on, I see Silverstar, no sign of the others though.”

Seeing as they’re not trying to find you, Toffee opens the curtains and shutters, allowing for a better view. You see the stranger at one end of the dusty road, the sheriff at the other.

“The people have had enough, Silverstar. I’ve got your associates in custody. I suggest you come quietly.” The stranger said, moving the hat to the back of his head, giving him a better view, “We know that you’ve been organising the hunts on the buffalo. They know it too. Our only chance for peace-”

“You know nothing, city boy.” the sheriff spat, “You think I don’t know who you are? You think ah don’t remember the great Sergeant Snapshot of the Royal Protectorate from mah time in the guard?”

“You were lucky Her Majesty let you keep your head for your negligence. Do you think you’ll be that lucky this time? Considering the hurt you’ve caused? You almost had Duke coming down here to deal with you himself. You’re lucky they sent me. Oh, and it’s Captain now.”

“So what? Hoofsbury rules? You gon’ take me down, all civilised like?”

You see the captain grin as Silverstar lowers his head, pawing at the ground with one hoof, ready to charge. He calmly nudges the hat further back on his head as a single small rock impacts the side of the Sheriff’s head. Silverstar wheels around to a small unicorn, barely twelve years old by the look of the child, snarling. Another rock hits him, this time large enough to cause the stallion to lose his footing, propelled by another unicorn from across the road.

The captain just stands there, smiling confidently as the rest of the town come out from their hiding places, converging on the bruised Sheriff, various implements levitated or held between teeth, a pie held in a beautiful red dish hovering with pride of place above the crowd.

“Stop.” Snapshot says, nearing Silverstar, “He’s had enough. I’m taking him in, he has to have a trial.”

Another earth pony, clad in a heavy looking apron and bearing a mark very similar to that of the mare sat next to you joins the captain and addresses the angry mob bearing down upon them.

“He’s right. We owe this fella all kinds of hell, but that ain’t nothin’ compared t’whut the courts can do to him. Y’all should get back to your homes, it’s over. We ain’t gon’ be at war with the buffalo no more.”

The two stallions hold their ground, the crowd looking slightly uneasy. You see the sergeant that had accompanied your group flap down into the circle, manacles held between his teeth.

“Silverstar of Appleloosa, I’m arresting you under suspicion of corruption, including but not limited to the organisation of ethnic cleansing parties, unlawful imprisonment and conspiracy towards the attempted murder of a government official. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you choose not to reveal information that you later rely on in court. You have the right to a defence lawyer, if you cannot afford one then one will be provided for you at no extra cost; but I’ll warn you, mate, he’s a bit shit.”

“Sergeant...” the captain sighs, kicking at the ground with a hoof impatiently.

“Scrap the last bit.”

The scene soon dissolved after that, the townsponies soon giving up their arsenal and trotting off back towards their abodes. You saw the old blacksmith look up at you, a wave of brief surprise crossing his face when he saw you and his daughter cuddled together, observing him through the still open window.

You’re sure he raised his eyebrows at her, and she nodded her head in response before kissing you on the cheek. He raised his hoof to between his eyes, looking at the ground in frustration.

Chapter 6

“Well. Good to see you’re back on your hooves, Mr Ambassador,” Snapshot said, grinning.

It still took a great deal for you to have even managed the walk from Toffee’s room over the shop to the train station, and she pretty much had to carry you most of the way there. It had been close to a week since Silverstar had been arrested and most of the guards had already gone home, leaving you with the captain and the other diplomat, who had spent a significant amount of time trying different herbal blends the buffalo had suggested as part of various friendship ceremonies.

You were silently glad that you hadn’t been chosen to experiment with the herbs yourself; the time you had shared with the beautiful caramel mare had been far better than any narcotic experience you could have possibly hope for, and you intended to speak to Princess Celestia the moment you returned home to see if there was any way you could find your way to the town more often.

The nightmare you had had about her and Luna had repeated itself at least once since it’s original occurrence, but you figured that they wouldn’t react too badly should you choose to leave your position. You hadn’t told Toffee about this thought at all, she had encouraged you to keep at your work, promising to spend the weekends together whenever she could, suggesting that you meet at her twin brother’s home in Ponyville.

The two of you had kissed for the last time on the platform before you had gotten on the train. Her father had gotten used to the idea of his daughter finally having found herself a colt-friend, but had quickly moved you to a small and admittedly uncomfortable bed near his forge to prevent any “complications”.

Thinking back on your experiences of last few weeks, you had realised the place you had first woken up after being stabbed had been the inside of the blacksmiths rather than the torture chamber your anxiety and pain had conjured, and this had been a source of great amusement as you recounted the tale to the old blacksmith and some of his friends one night.

You had been relieved when he had told you that he couldn’t think of a better mate for Toffee, but had been saddened when he said he doubted the relationship would go anywhere because of the distance between Canterlot and Appleloosa - you knew that he wouldn’t be able to bear his other child leaving home for some far-off life.

When the train had finally pulled in at the city below the castle itself, you had immediately requested an audience with Celestia, a letter of resignation in the saddlebag wrapped around your still-bandaged side. Judging by the state of the city, Canterlot had recently received a huge amount of rain; certain districts looking like they had been flooded severely, the castle now home to those whose homes had been destroyed.

Picking up a copy of Equestria Daily as you waited for your turn, you caught up on recent events; a new drug craze was sweeping the poorer areas of the city, a serial killer had mysteriously vanished and there had been a prisoner escape from the castle the night before; apparently a gryphon who had managed to assault Princess Luna before evading the guards.

The double doors opened, and a brown earth pony trotted out followed by an orange pegasus, cursing under her breath as she rustled her wings with agitation. He appeared to shrug off whatever was bothering her, suggesting that they head back home and offering to cook her something and suggested she take a swim in the library.

You shake your head, genuinely unsure if you heard that correctly, but decide to wander into the throne room. Celestia immediately rises from her throne and helps you to walk the distance from the door to the foot of the small flight of steps before the towering chair and disappears for a moment, retrieving a large pillow and hauling it to your hooves. She motions for you to lay down, before sitting on the red carpet. She nods to somepony out of your line of sight and you hear the doors to the room close with a bass thud. Seeing you’re now alone with the Princess, she speaks;

“My dear ambassador, it warms me to see you have returned in one piece. Now, a mutual friend of ours informs me that you have something you need to say?”

Still slightly wary of her Majesty, following the nightmares, you shakily opened the saddlebag. Celestia raised an eyebrow, before tugging the letter free using her magic and reading it. She frowned at first, shortly before her usual beaming smile made it’s reappearance.

“I really don’t think you meant to send this.”

“Ma... Majesty?”

“If you were to leave my service,” she began, watching your every move, “How would I be able to appoint you as the full time representative of my court in Appleloosa?”

You gasp as what she said sank in. Celestia smiled.

Everything was going to be alright.