Pyre/ Luna
Vivmay/ Rarity
Tupomi T'mi/ Pinkie Pie
Etpinego/ Applejack
Vemsa Hewl/ Rainbow Dash
Paxxila/ Fluttershy
Gilzia/ Celestia
Xamspona Tevopi/ Twilight Sparkle

The next couple of days that followed the incident saw me growing steadily more desperate in my attempts to reach the two princesses. I even went as far as to write a message in one of Xamspona's reports to her fellow princesses, but no matter the method the reply was still the same, silence. Yet even without them getting in contact with me I could still feel their presence through our bond. Always there yet just out of reach, like a whisper to my soul to let me know that they were there. Yet why wouldn't they talk to me? I briefly found myself angry at the whole situation and angry at being ignored, but it would never last, as I couldn't remain angry at them whenever I would remember them in tears. Damn these females and their tears.

In the end I decided to let them have their space, hoping they would come to me when they were ready to talk. During the day I focused all of my attention completely on the engine for the XP-27, attempting to remain on some semblance of the schedule that my team and I set for ourselves. At least that's what I would tell anypony who asked me, but there was a part of me I guess that secretly hoped that our efforts would garner the attention of Gilzia and Pyre.

Yet at night, when all the workers had gone and I was left alone with nothing to keep me busy, I would usually find myself sitting on my couch in the dark as I nursed a bottle... or six... or eighteen of the hard cider. Trying to keep my thoughts away from two certain celestial princesses and even a certain orange farm mare, who seemed to continue to haunt my mind as I sat in the darkness like a trio of specters. Theses thoughts would continue to plague on my mind long into the night until I would usually drift off into an uneasy sleep.

It was on one such night, a couple of days before the Ball and the day before the unveiling of the engine, that I found myself asleep in my bed. It had been a particularly busy day as we had to tear down the bottom end of the engine because of fear of having spun a main journal bearing when we suddenly lost oil pressure on a test run. Luckily for us, though, all the bearings turned out to be okay, having shut down the motor in time before something catastrophic had happened. A change of the faulty belt running to the oil pump and flushing of the engine oil and we were back in business.

In my sleep, I tossed fitfully while my mind continued to wander before I felt a calming essence wash over me. Waking up with a start I was surprised to find Pyre sitting on the edge of my bed, startled at my sudden awakening. At realizing that she had been found out I saw her horn begin to glow a deep blue as I reached out to her, not wanting to lose my chance.

"Pyre wait!" I frantically pleaded as I grabbed her wrist, causing her magic to immediately dissipate.

"Please, let go of me Eric," she said as she lightly tugged against my grip, but I held firm, "I should not have come."

"Then why did you?" I asked her firmly as she stopped struggling and refused to look at me, shame and embarrassment beginning to roll off of her.

We sat in silence for a few minutes and I was about to implore her again when she spoke in a voice so soft it would have put Paxxila's to shame, "Because I missed you."

As she said that, she swiftly turned her gaze towards me. I found her eyes wet with unshed tears and found it hard to be upset at her as I gently pulled her towards me in an embrace, but she pulled against my efforts.

"No Eric! My sister and I did wrong by you. Please stop," she pleaded with me, but I refused to listen as I pulled her onto my lap, cradling her like a small child. I tucked her head in the crook of my neck as I gently began to run my fingers down her back. This seemed to quiet her down as she gave up all attempts at struggling until all that was heard in the room was the steady sound of our breathing.

"I am sorry," she whispered, her breath tickling my neck.

"I think that's my line," I said with a chuckle as I pulled her back a little so as to look her in the eye.

"No," Pyre began as she averted her gaze again, "you were justified in your response to our advances. My sister and I were affected by the bond and our heat more than we expected. It caused us to act on our feelings for you and treat you as your position in the herd dictated."

There was that word again. Herd. I needed to get that subject cleared up first before I could deal with anything else at the moment. But I needed to talk about it with the lead member, I needed to talk with Gilzia.

"Pyre," I began and even though she didn't reply I continued on, "I need to talk with Gilzia. Can you help me?"

She remained silent and try as I might I couldn't pick up anything from the night princess through our bond. Gently hooking my fingers under her chin, I lifted her head again to look at me as I pleaded with her, "Pyre, please."

"Are you going to leave us?" she asked as she tried to remain strong, but I could tell from the tremble in her voice and the single tear that was slowly making it's way down her cheek that she was on the verge of breaking down.

I brought a hand up to her face as I cupped her cheek. I felt her lean into my touch as I wiped away the tear with my thumb. I wasn't quite sure if I really wanted to answer that question, but at the same I time I couldn't bring myself to lie to her either.

"I don't know," I told her as I continued to stroke her cheek with my thumb, "But-"

I didn't get a chance to finish my statement as I felt the Princess of the Night's lips meet mine and her body slowly pushed me back to rest on the mattress. Softly her lips moved across mine, silently begging me for my forgiveness with each gentle caress. Yet as soon as she had begun she stopped and rested her head upon my chest, listening to the steady thudding of my heartbeat as the smell of violets entered my nose.

I wanted to say something to her but wasn't sure where to start, either way Pyre didn't allow me to voice my concern as I heard her speak again in that soft voice. Like if she spoke any louder she would scare me off.

"Tomorrow, when Gilzia and I come to view the unveiling I will ensure that you are able to talk with Gilzia."

"Thank you, Pyre," I said as I ran my fingers through her starry blue mane, "but why did you kiss me?"

"Because you might come to hate me tomorrow," was her reply as she rested her chin on my chest to be able to look up at me briefly before hiding her face again.

"Hate you? Why would I-," I tried to ask, but was cut off again.

"Tomorrow, please worry about it tomorrow," she pleaded as I felt her hands grab onto my sides desperately, like I could disappear at any moment, "For now just let me stay like this, if only for a little longer."

I didn't say anything as I pulled the covers over us before wrapping the Princes of the Night in a comforting embrace. As I stroked her back and wings I still didn't know what she meant. I may have been more than a little upset about the herd thing, but it was no reason for me to hate her and her sister. So I would do as she asked and worry about it tomorrow as my eyes began to grow heavy and I drifted off to sleep once again.

The next morning came too early for my taste as I wearily opened my eyes to a bright new morning. Remembering my guest from last night I reached my arm over to the opposite side of the bed to find it empty. The cold sheets making me wonder if Pyre had ever been there to begin with, or was her visit the night before just some wishful thinking on my brain's part. Either way today was an important day and I needed to get ready.

Sitting up, I threw my legs over the edge of the bed and ran my hands through my hair. Strange enough though it wasn't the demonstration that I was worried about. My team and I had been test running and fine tuning for the past week, and minus a couple of hiccups like yesterday, I knew it would go smoothly. After all, only a dumbass would show off something before testing it out in private first. It would be almost as smart as waving your dick in front of a rattlesnake. Maybe it would bite you, maybe it wouldn't. Either way I wasn't taking that chance.

No I was more concerned that this would be my first opportunity to talk with Gilzia and Pyre since that morning. That is if my meeting with Pyre last night wasn't just some kind of alcohol induced dream. Then there was also the situation with Etpinego to take into consideration, for her and the others would be there as well. Still, until I had my questions about my current relationship with the celestial sisters figured out, I had to place that one on the back burner for now. Because until she came forward with her feelings, if she did indeed have a crush on me, it was all rumor mill. No matter what it may have looked like to the casual observer. With another sigh I rose from my bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

By mid morning I had pulled myself together and my team and I was finishing up on preparations for our presentation as the crowd began to gather outside. Apparently this was quite the big event as not only the families of the workers and some of the locals had shown up, but also some of the nobles and dignitaries who had come to attend the Ball tomorrow had come early to see this strange machine that this creature from another land was building. I was going over the final items on our checklist that needed to be done to ensure that the engine start went as quickly and efficiently as possible. When I heard a familiar group of voices from the hangar door.

"Greetings Eric,"

Turning to the door I saw the girls, minus Xamspona, walking through the door as Vivmay, who was dressed in an elaborate dress and sunhat, waved to me and I returned the greeting. As I saw Etpinego I felt my heartbeat increase as I felt a lump begin to rise in my throat. Even if they were just rumors it was hard to look at her now and not think of something. Luckily none of them noticed as Tupomi rushed over to look at the motor, wedging herself between two of my workers who were busy trying to adjust the carburetors as they shot a look of irritation at the pink party mare.

"Ooo, is this it Eric?" she asked excitedly as she made her way around the engine stand to get a look at it from all sides.

"Yeah, this is it Tupomi," I said to her as I turned to address the other girls, "Y'all are just in time. We were just about ready to push the stand outside."

"Why does it need to be outside?" Etpinego asked as she came up beside me, causing me to nervously shift ever so slightly, "I was here a couple of days ago and y'ah ran it in here?"

"Well that was without any fuel being pumped into the motor. We were testing the oil and ignition systems at the time to ensure that they worked properly. I promise this time it'll be a lot louder and we need to have the motor somewhere where everypony can see it and we all don't choke on the exhaust."

"How considerate," Vivmay said as she adjusted the sun hat on her head, "I would so hate for my newest creation to get dirty. Not that I wouldn't if it would help you out."

"It's alright Vivmay, " I reassured her, "I wouldn't want you to get dirty either. Just enjoy the show."

"This thing is super duper, Eric!" Tupomi said as she was busy examining the weight we had attached to the front of the motor in place of the propeller, "How many stages is your oiling system? Two?"

"No," I said slowly, confused at how she knew about oiling systems, "It's a five stage dry sump system."

"Displacement?"

"Six liters."

"Compression ratio and ignition timing?" the pink mare asked as she moved around to the right bank of cylinders.

"Twelve to one and thirty-two degrees," I answered as all of us just watched Tupomi continue to inspect, dumbfounded at her innate knowledge on internal combustion engines.

"And how much power do you think it'll make?" she asked as she smiled wide at me, eager to know the number.

"Don't know," I said as I watched her focus back on the shiny motor. Moving the throttle linkage as she watched the butterfly valves on the carburetors actuate, "but if I had to guess I would say somewhere around four hundred or so horsepower at three thousand rpm.'s."

"Horsepower? What's that sugar?" Etpinego asked as I looked away from the inquisitive pink mare and into her emerald green eyes.

"Well where I come from horsepower is one of the ways we can measure the power output of an engine. Horsepower originates from a land called the United Kingdom, where an engineer was trying to figure out a unit of measure to compare the output of a steam engine to the pulling power of a draft horse."

"You made horses do your work for you?" Vivmay asked as she gave a huff at me before rolling her eyes, "Honestly darling, that sounds absolutely barbaric."

"Barbaric?" I replied absently as I mulled it over for a second before responding, "I guess I can kinda see why you would think that, but like I said human's aren't the strongest or fastest creatures on the Earth so we had animals, like horses, help us to perform tasks that would otherwise take multitudes of humans."

"Still sounds like you humans took advantage of those poor things," was Vivmay's reply as she crossed her arms under her bosom and held her nose in the air.

"Look, I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say that for the hundreds of thousands of years that humanity has been implementing the use of work animals that everyone of them was treated fairly and lived a good life. Heck, I can't even say that about humanities treatment to others of the human race. But I can say that for the majority of humanity, we have been more than grateful to the animals that loaned their strength, speed, and endurance to us. Most societies throughout history placed those animals in high regard, even going as far in some instances to treat them better than they treated their human workers.

"But since the invention of the engine like the steam engine and also the internal combustion engine like this one," I said gesturing towards the block of metal perched on the stand, "We have pretty much stopped having to use animals to do our work, now relegating them more to lives of pampering and relaxation. Because now we have machines that can do the same job faster than any human or other species could."

Vivmay looked at me out of the corner of her eye at the mention of being pampered, but didn't do anything else for a few moments before giving a small sigh, "I know it may have been that way on your planet, but I still can't help but find the act a little demeaning to be strapped to a cart and forced to do work for someone else."

I could see where she was coming from and I didn't entirely disagree with her, but it seemed odd that Vivmay would be the one so upset about it as opposed to, say, Paxxila. Maybe there was something behind her feeling that way, but I chose not to delve into it. Letting her keep her secrets to tell whom she wanted, when she wanted.

"How fast?" Vemsa Hewl asked, always interested in any subject that had to do with speed.

"Well, take this motor for instance. On a modern assembly line, this same motor could be built probably in a couple of hours, if not sooner."

"Wow that is fast," she said surprised, "it took you and your whole team about two weeks to do the same."

"True enough, but we were building the first one here in Equestria, so we had a lot of bugs to work out and we don't have an assembly plant either."

Vemsa seemed satisfied with that answer as Paxxila spoke up from the back, "Um, you were explaining about what horsepower was Eric? That is if you still want to tell us."

"Yes darling please continue with what you were explaining before, and excuse my behavior. It was very unladylike of me." Vivmay said as she gave me a small smile to let me know she was okay.

"Not a problem at all Vivmay and I should apologize for upsetting you," I reassured her before continuing, "Anyways like I was saying this engineer needed to find a way to measure the power of his new steam engines that were being developed at the time to replace the horses that were currently being used to do work at the time. So using a horse pulling a certain amount of weight for a certain amount of time, he devised an equation to figure out the working power of a horse. Which, along with torque, became the two main terms people used to describe how powerful an engine was."

"So yer saying that this here hunk of metal can do the same amount of work as four hundred horses?" Etpinego said as she looked over the motor closer along with Tupomi.

I could kind of imagine that earth ponies would be more interested in motors as opposed to unicorns and pegasi because of their manual labor background, and as someone who had done my fair share of manual labor in my life, I could see where they were coming from. As rewarding as it was to do a hard days work using only the muscle in your back and the sweat on your brow, you were always interested in anything that would make your life a little easier."

"Well that's a guesstimation through. I have no real way of knowing all I can do is go by the measurement of the internals to try and come up with an estimation, "I told them with a shrug of my shoulders, "I mean, we hooked it up to a device that measures electrical output in a manner similar to the turbines at your dam outside of town, and we got about three hundred and thirty thousand Equestrian Electrical Units, and from talking with the engineers, it almost sounds like a similar value of measurement to the Watt from back on Earth. So using that value I got a little over four hundred horses, which would be about right for a motor of this size."

Looking around I saw that I had rambled a little as all of the girls, minus Tupomi surprisingly, looked at me with looks of confusion.

"Sorry about that, I guess I kind of rambled a little," I said sheepishly as I rubbed the back of my head, "Anyways I should be getting this thing outside before the guests of honor show up."

All of the girls nodded in approval as they allowed me and my crew to push the run cart outside the hangar. As we got it into position and anchored the cart down I took a quick look at the crowd that had gathered. There seemed to be about fifty guest that had gathered in the viewing area. There seemed to be quite the diversity as I noticed the dignitaries that had made it from their foreign lands.

From talking with the others, I could make out a couple of the species such as the griffoness who was talking to a large minotaur, but most of their species were a mystery to me. As I scanned the crowd, my eyes met those of a beautiful zebra mare who was staring directly at me. Normally I wouldn't have thought anything strange of it, but for some reason her eyes seemed to bore into me like a predator looking at it's next meal. Luckily, I was distracted by the sound of a horn signaling the arrival of the princess's pegasi drawn carriage approaching from the sky. Looking back to where the strange mare had stood I found her now gone. Tossing the thought from my mind, I focused again on the approaching carriage. As the carriage landed on our grass runway and slowly came to stop in front of the hangar, everyone presented the proper bow to the ruling monarchs of the land as I approached the open top carriage.

The princesses were sitting quietly talking amongst themselves as I approached, and even though Gilzia and Pyre didn't look immediately my way, the mixed feelings I could pick up through our bond let me know that they knew full well aware that I was there. I felt apprehension, fear and grief coming from the sisters as they continued to talk with Xamspona like nothing was wrong, but as soon as I placed my hand upon the carriage's door handle and spoke to them it was all replaced by a single emotion, one that I could only best describe as melancholic.

"Good day Princesses," I greeted to them as I opened the door and bowed my head slightly. Not only to show them the proper respect they deserved to be showed in front of their subjects, but also to give me those brief few moments more to steel my resolve. Wanting to wait for when we could be in more private settings to have our much needed conversation, "It is a great honor for you to grace our facility with your presence."

"The pleasure is all ours, Eric Broussard of Earth," I heard Gilzia reply as I felt the carriage shift ever so slightly as the three mares rose from their seats, "it is always a pleasure to come here and see all that you and your team have done."

As I saw her white hand come into my vision, I looked up to see her standing there in all her serene beauty. However one look into her eyes and I could see the same longing that I could feel emanating from her. Grabbing her hand gently in my own I helped her down from the carriage, and I noticed her quickly grace me with a sideways glance of her eyes as she passed while I turned to assist Pyre and Xam.

Pyre, like her sister, was very good at hiding behind her mask that she put on for the public, and one wouldn't think that anything was wrong. Like they were above any of the problems that plagued their mortal subjects, but through our bond I had come to know better than that. They felt everything that their subjects did, if not more so because they had to deal with the added pain and loneliness of immortality as their subjects died and they lived on. As I helped Pyre down from the carriage, I could feel every bit of those emotions as I looked into those eyes that shimmered like two pools of water.

Once Pyre passed, I was already so weary from the flood of emotions that I was feeling from the two sisters that I acted on autopilot as I helped Xam out of the carriage last. My mask must have not of been as honed as Gilzia and Pyre's as I felt the lavender alicorn secretly give my hand a reassuring squeeze as I helped her down. Once they were all out of the carriage I shut the door before falling beside the princesses on their left as I led them to where the motor sat.

"My sister-in-law Princess Gehluli and my brother unfortunately could not make it today. Business kept them in the Crystal Empire, but they reassured me that they would be able to make it in time for the Ball tomorrow," Xamspona told me as we walked along, seamlessly falling into her royal tone of voice when performing official duties.

"It is alright Princess, I understand and look forward to finally getting the chance to meet them," I replied to her as we finally arrived to where the engine sat.

"So this is it?" Pyre asked as they looked over the motor.

"Yes Your Highnesses."

Even though her and Gilzia had seen it on many occasions from their many after hours visits to my apartment, they had yet to see the motor in it's complete state. The three princesses gazed over the lump of metal as I answered their questions about it, but I could tell that only Xamspona was truly interested in my answers as I found Gilzia and Pyre casting glances my way. As I would do the same to them, the tension so thick that I truly believed that I could have cut it with my knife.

Once the Q&A was done, I directed them towards the viewing area with the others, where a couple of my unicorn workers were positioned to cast a sound deadening spell so as to protect their sensitive ears from the noise about to be made. As I watched the trio walk towards their area, I tried to clear them from my mind as I focused on the task at hand. Turning to the engine stand, I grabbed my David-Clark headsets from the throttle quadrant where I had draped them and placed them over my ears as I nodded to my assistant to apply the external electrical power.

Once I had power, I turned on the control station, hearing the steady humming of the transformers and went down the final few items on our checklist.

- Fuel tank selector for tank to be used turned ON, check

- Throttles positioned to 20%, check

- Mixture controls set to IDLE, check

- Generator switch ON, check

- Battery selector switch to BATT/EMER, check

- FUEL BOOST PUMP for tank to be used turned ON, check

- Prime the motor with 3-5 pumps from PRIMING HANDLE, leave primer UNLOCKED, check

- FUEL BOOST PUMPS to OFF, check

- Turn MAG switch to BOTH, check

- Engage STARTER switch until motor fires regularly, ...

Saying one final silent prayer I held down the switch and heard the starter engage like it should, whining as it struggled to overpower the compression of the pistons and turn the big block. It started slowly as puffs of unburnt fuel vapor coughed out of each of the eight exhaust pipes, before it looked like cylinder #2 finally caught belching out a fireball as it burned the fuel residue out of the exhaust. Once the first cylinder had fired it was immediately followed by the others as the motor roared to life. As soon as it looked like the motor was self sufficient in it's process, I disengaged the starter and turned the fuel boost pumps back on as I leaned out the air/fuel mixture until the motor smoothed out.

Giving a thumbs up to my assistant she came over and watched the controls as I went over and gave a quick look over on the motor for any leaks. Finding none I went back to the controls and looked over my assistant's shoulder at the gauges. Everything was running within limits, and I thought we would give our guest the display they had come to see, so I gave my assistant a pat on the shoulder as I motioned to where on the tachometer gauge I wanted her to go. With a nod in agreement, she grabbed the throttle lever and moved it to full power as I kept an eye on the gauges. The engine responded beautifully as it's unfiltered exhaust noise became deafening and I could feel each combustion thudding in my chest like a second heartbeat as it screamed up to the red-line. All the while torches of bright orange flames shot from each exhaust pipe as the engine tried to catch up to the mixture level I had set it at.

Letting it run like that for a few minutes, I relished in the raw unbridled power of the motor. I loved every moment of this. There was something primal that every gearhead thrived on when they heard the sound of a motor at full throttle, grew light headed off of exhaust fumes, or when they would get a whiff of high octane fuel. It was something not everyone would understand. The ability to build something so powerful that it could kill you in an instant if it wanted to, and then to try and control that power, right on the brink of that line between safe and catastrophic. This was my drug, my addiction to horsepower, and I was finally getting my fix. Looking to my assistant, the look of fear and excitement on her young face said it all as she felt the vibrations of the motor through the throttle lever. She was hooked and there was no going back now for her.

I noticed the engine temps slowly began to rise as we reached the five minute maximum time limit for MAX POWER settings and I slowly brought the throttle back to idle to let the oil temperature cool back down before we began our shut-off checklist. Once everything was within limits again, I cut off the fuel as the motor gave one last bout of fitful coughing and wheezing as it's food was suddenly cut off, before finally settling back into quiet slumber. My assistant and I removed our hearing protection and I patted her on the back, congratulating her on a good job, the motor all the while popping as the metal began to cool and retract.

As I made my way over to the audience, the rest of our engine crew, lead by my foreman Alvirg Lieh, made their way to the motor to get it over to the engine shop for a look over. Stopping the old stallion I told him that I wanted to take a look at the wiring on the left cylinder bank's head temperature sensor because it fluctuated quite a bit at max power, and I wanted to make sure it hadn't come loose again. He reassured me that they would take a look at it and headed off to supervise the movement of the precious motor.

The crowd was very excited by what they had seen and were all talking amongst themselves, but I was more focused on three of the eight mares in front of me. Etpinego, Xamspona and the others were all thoroughly impressed by the display, especially Vemsa Hewl and Tupomi. Meanwhile, Gilzia and Pyre, while still proud of my accomplishment and smiling like the others, I could feel them growing steadily more nervous as I got closer. We all knew that before the end of this visit we were going to have to have a talk, no matter whether we wanted to or not. Because I knew that I couldn't go on like this any longer, not being able to talk with them or see them, and if they felt half as much I thought they did then they were probably feeling the same pain.

"That was amazing!" Vemsa Hewl said excitingly as she flew over to me and began to babble like a fangirl. "At first I didn't know what to expect and then it made all that noise and shot fire out of it and I heard it from over here. It was all going blub-blub-blub-blub-blub and then you made it all go BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! That had to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen."

Vemsa then realized the spectacle she had made as she landed on the ground as she tried to regain her composure with a cough, "I mean it wasn't as cool as me you know, but it was pretty cool."

"Thanks Vemsa that means a lot coming from you," was my reply as I gave a chuckle at having seen the usually cool acting mare go crazy as Tupomi wrapped a pink arm around the rainbow-haired pegasus.

"I give you good marks for your presentation, but you just need to work more on your delivery and I think you'll have it down pat," and with that the pink mare disappeared again leaving a befuddled Vemsa Hewl at being critiqued on her recent display, while the rest of us shared a lighthearted laugh.

"She's right though Eric, that was mighty impressive, " Etpinego said as she gave me a quick hug, causing me to nervously swallow at how the gesture might have been perceived by the celestial sisters.

"Yes Eric, like Etpinego mentioned, it was very impressive indeed. Everything that you said it would be," I heard Pyre say as I looked to her and her sister. I could feel the sadness coming from them, despite the smiles they wore, and even something else that almost felt like jealousy. Probably in reaction to my nervousness around the orange earth mare. I decided that this was probably my best bet at being able to talk with them as I reached out to them through the link.

'It's good to see you two again,' I told them and I figured I might as well lay all of my cards on the table, 'I really missed both of you.'

'And we have missed you as well, although it looks like you have picked up another admirer.' Gilzia spoke to me through our link as I saw her narrow her eyes ever so slightly in Etpinego's direction.

I continued to talk with the others so as to not draw their suspicions as I responded to the sun princess, 'Yes, so it may seem, but I'll worry about that later. Right now I need to talk with you two. I need to make right by us and have some questions answered.'

'I am sorry Eric but it will have to wait till another day-,' Gilzia began to reply but was cut off by her younger sister.

'No sister he deserves to know now,' Pyre said as she shot a look at Gilzia with her eyes before she looked back to mine. That same sadness I had seen in her eyes from my vision of her from last night was there as plain as day for me to see and let me know it had truly been her that visited my room last night, 'He needs to know the truth, and if he chooses to leave us then it will be our fault for having deceived him in the first place.'

Gilzia remained silent through our link for a moment, as she continued to speak with Xam and her friends before replying, 'Very well, we shall talk.'

'Thank you, both of you,' I said as I gave them a smile but it did little to cheer their mood.

The rest of the visit went smoothly enough as I showed all of the guest around the facility and answered any questions they might of had, through the help of my translator Wipziv Sykri. I even showed them the progress on the actual plane as we had begun work a little over a week ago, after we had the motor assembled and in place to get the measurements we needed. As it stood, there was just the basic airframe, the monocoque woodwork making it look more like that of a canoe than an actual airplane.

After I had completed the tour, I thanked all of my guest for coming and released my workers for the afternoon so that they could go and celebrate with each other and their families. The girls tried to get me to come with them to celebrate, but I politely declined stating that I wasn't feeling too good from headache I had. Saying that I might have ingested too much exhaust for my own liking. Being a little downtrodden, but knowing that none of the spells they had to help me would do any good with my resistance to magic, they reluctantly accepted my position. Although Tupomi seemed the most down by it because she hadn't been able to throw a party with me since my arrival to Ponyville all those months ago. I would have to make it up to her one day, maybe let her do something small for my birthday that was coming up.

Gilzia and Pyre also declined, stating that they still had royal duties that needed to be attended to for the ball that was happening tomorrow, but told Xamspona that she had been kept away at the castle for too long the past week and should take a break with her friends. With a little more reassuring from the two sisters that everything would be under control she readily agreed, happy to spend time with her friends again.

I escorted Gilzia and Pyre back to the carriage as the guards were hooking back up to the carriage. As I opened the door and helped them back into the carriage they gave me a sad smile as they sat down.

'We shall return shortly,' I heard Gilzia's voice say in my mind.

'I shall be here waiting,' I told them mentally as I shut the door and gave them a final bow of my head as the carriage took off heading back to Canterlot.

Once it was out of sight and I had seen the girls off I headed towards my apartment for the few minutes of intermission I had before my conversation with Gilzia and Pyre. Upon entering the hangar, I made my way to the fridge to grab a drink to help calm my nerves over the upcoming meeting, and as I took a swig of the hard cider, I dwelt back on what Pyre had told me last night.

"Because you might come to hate me tomorrow."

I still didn't know what could have been so bad to where she thought that I would hate her or Gilzia, but I figured I would be finding out soon enough as I finished the bottle. Come to find out I didn't have to wait long as they soon appeared before me on the hangar floor.

"Thank you for coming," I greeted them and extended my hand towards stairs that lead to my apartment. "Would you like to go upstairs and have a seat?"

"No, we shall stand for we do not intend to be here long," Gilzia said as she raised her hand dismissively.

Shrugging I leaned back against the workbench that was positioned behind me, "Very well then. I guess it'll be best to start at the beginning and see where we go from there. Am I in a herd with you two?"

"Yes," was Gilzia's simple reply.

"Who all is in this herd?"

"My sister Gilzia and I," Pyre answered this time.

"Is this herd informal or is it a romantic herd?"

Gilzia paused for a moment and I could see her trying to find the right way to word her response.

"The truth," I demanded as I crossed my arms as Gilzia gave a small sigh before answering.

"It is an informal herd, although Pyre and I have inadvertently stated our intentions to begin courting you."

"Inadvertently how?"

"During our last heat cycle when we came here and came in contact with you, our magical defenses that are normally in place to keep our urges in check were neutralized and we succumbed to our desires." Pyre explained as I felt that same wave of guilt begin to come from them again.

"What desires?" I inquired as I pointed to Gilzia, "You said that our bond doesn't affect who our feelings are for, just the intensity of those feelings. So when both of you said you loved me, is that what you meant?"

"Yes," the both said silently as they looked to the ground submissively and I felt that feeling of guilt turn to one of fear but it also held a shimmer of hope. As much as I wanted to go give into the pulling I felt on our bond to go and comfort the two alicorn mares, I needed my questions answered.

"Why did you two form a herd with me to begin with? I find it hard to believe that it was just to be able to talk to me. You two represent the highest level of authority in the land and could have told your nephew to shove it and no one would have questioned you. So what was the reason?"

"We needed to gain your trust." Gilzia replied.

"Why?"

"Because your life is in danger and we needed to have a way to protect you and it was only a matter of time before you would have been found and killed. Normally, we would have just cast a protection spell on you, but your resistance to magic prevented us from doing that. So we had to use our physical powers to create the mental link, which placed you in a herd with us and therefore under our protection if you were ever threatened. It was my decision to form the bond, my sister only joined because the possible risk could have been too much for me to handle alone." Gilzia said, as she stepped forward, taking the full brunt of the blame.

"Threatened from who?" I asked her, most of the other info I either already knew about or had pieced together on my own but this news about being in danger, even now, was new.

"Our mother." Gilzia replied simply.

"Your mother? You said your mother had sealed herself away before you and Pyre came to rule Equestria. So how can she be threatening my life?"

"Because our mother is the planet," Gilzia tried to explain but at my confusion she tried again." Just like I am tied to the sun and Pyre is tied to the moon, so too is our mother tied to this planet, and as such is fully aware of everything that happens throughout the world. We needed to act fast because your resistance to the Magic of Harmony would have made it easy for her to find you once she became aware of your presence. It would have been like finding a black spot on a piece of parchment. Yet our bond gives you almost a cloak of invisibility from her, as she will only detect the traces of my sister and I that remains in your head from the link, instead of nothing at all.

"You remember what my sister and I told you of the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the species of this world from yours? Their systematic extinction by humanity," I nodded , remembering well her story from the castle. "Then I should let you know that our mother has not forgotten what humanity had done, and she would not be thrilled to find out that a human had made it through her barrier she had set up to protect her remaining children. She would view you as a danger to all of her children, including my sister and I. A danger that would need to be eradicated as quickly as possible to ensure the safety of her children."

"Then why help me? Why not just simply leave me to die in that jail cell at the hands of your nephew," I told her as I pushed myself away from the table and walked up to her.

"Because my sister and I have learned that no being is above redemption." Gilzia stated as she cast a glance back towards Pyre, who looked back at her sister with love in her eyes as Gilzia whispered, “None."

As she looked back at me again, I found that same look of love that she held for her sister now directed at me, and I felt my body move on it's own accord to her until I was standing before her. I reached out with my left hand and cupped her warm cheek, as Pyre came over to stand next to Gilzia and I did the same with my right hand to the Princess of the Night. As I stared into their eyes, I fought to suppress the urge to comfort them more, for I still had questions that needed answers.

"Why didn't you just ask me then?"

"Would you have accepted our offer if we had told you that our mother wished to find and kill you?" Pyre asked in return as she closed her eyes and leaned into my touch, relishing in the warmth of my hand as she gave the appendage a gentle kiss.

I didn't answer them right away as I thought back to when I was in the jail cell and unable to communicate with any of them, and I realized she was right. I more than likely wouldn't have accepted their offer, instead believing that their loyalty to their mother would be stronger than that to a complete stranger. At the very least I would not have been able to trust them, not completely that is.

"No, I probably wouldn't have," I said as I removed my hands form their cheeks before turning away from them. I could feel their yearning for the comfort that I had taken away as I walked over to stand by the skeletal aircraft. "But why not tell me about being in the herd then later, or at least about your mother's vendetta against me?"

"We thought it best that the less you knew the safer you would be," Gilzia said as I heard her step closer to me. "If we had told you, we ran the risk of you asking more questions, and possibly finding out that was a risk we could not take. Originally, the herd was supposed to remain very informal, only centering around your protection, which would not have required you to know about it necessarily."

"But it didn't stay that way, did it?" I asked as I looked back over my shoulder at her when I felt her hand touch my back.

"No," the sun princess whispered apprehensively.

"And why me? What was so special about me that you couldn't find it amongst your own subjects?"

"At first, it was because you saw us in a manner that nopony has since before we came to rule all those centuries ago." I heard the Princess of the Day say, raising my curiosity.

"What was that?"

"Equals," she answered simply, letting the word simmer for a little before continuing, "You viewed us like you would any other mare, one that was not perfect or without faults and it was refreshing. For so long we have been viewed by the species of this planet as untouchable, that it was nice to be viewed by someone who didn't."

Pyre decided to take over explaining from her sister, "At first, we were simply content to be simple acquaintances with you, a friend that we could talk with. But the more time we shared with you, through both the bond and personally, we got to know the man beneath the rough image that you like to portray. It was only when it was too late that we realized that we were starting to have feelings for you beyond what we had intended to."

"You both fell in love with me." I said, my words coming out more like a question than a statement.

"Yes." Pyre said as she came around to my left side, their mere presence calming me. Their touch warming my soul as it fed off the contact that it had yearned for for the past couple of weeks.

We stood in silence for a few moments, just enjoying the presence of each others proximity. I wanted to say something to them, but alas, my words were failing me. Honestly, I should be furious about the whole situation, but I couldn't bring myself to be for some reason. Yes, I was upset about being kept in the dark about the whole herd thing and the threat on my life. I wanted to say something to them, anything, to break the silence, but Gilzia beat me to it, shocking me with what she had to say.

"Sorry," she softly apologized, "we didn't mean to keep things from you, but we-"

"It's not that Gilzia," I interrupted her as I turned to face her and Pyre, "the thing is you two lied to me."

"That was not our intention," Pyre tried to protest but I stopped her with a raise of my hand before she could continue.

"Omitting the truth does not make it the truth, just a well concealed lie."

The look of regret in their eyes let me know that they agreed with me, as much as they may not have wanted to, as Gilzia finally spoke, "Yes, you are right, and you have every reason to hate us for that. That is why I shall not hold you to any commitments regarding my sister and I, and a herd."

"And what of the mental bond we share?" I asked.

Gilzia took a slow breath in as I could see her struggling to maintain the royal facade just until she was able to leave. "My sister and I shall try to find a way to separate our connection to you while still ensuring your safety from our mother, but until then we shall respect your privacy and no longer contact you."

"No," I stated firmly, causing both of the sister's to look at me, their ears perked up in surprise.

"W-what?" Pyre asked, obviously as confused as her sister by my statement.

Sighing, I rubbed the bridge of my nose unsure about what I was about to say, "Look, I'm not going to say that I'm not upset about you two keeping me in the dark about the whole situation. Heck, I should be furious. I should just wipe my hands clean of this whole situation, of everything. Especially both of you." I said pointing to the princesses, who looked down at the ground ashamed.

"But..." the sisters slowly looked back at me as I struggled to find the right words, "I can't. I just can't bring myself to hate either of you, and even though I may not know jack about this whole herd relationship thing, I still want to give a try. Because just like you two, I've come to care for the both of you too much to just let you go."

No sooner did I say that, I felt a wave of relief come from the alicorns as they each grabbed one of my hands. Slowly I ran my thumbs along the back of their hands, trying to gather the strength to tell them the part that had been bugging me more than anything.

"But unfortunately, I don't know how long I'm going to remain here, or if I'll even have a choice in whether I stay or not. I might be here for the rest of my life, or I may just disappear tonight. I-"

My confession was cut-off by the gentle lips of the Princess of the Day, which was immediately replaced with those of the Princess of the Night as soon as her sister had pulled away. Their kisses were soft and slow, reassuring in their nature, as they let me know that they had already accepted that fate.

"We know," Pyre said as I looked into her pools of aquamarine, seeing the love she held for me in their depths. "You forget that we are immortal Eric. Your passing is inevitable for us. Whether by you returning to your own world or by old age, but that is all in the future. This is the present, and it is here, now, where we are together. And just being able to love you now, for however long it may last, is more than enough to compensate for the eternity we shall have to endure without you."

I was flabbergasted. Not once had I thought about the fact that either way, they would still outlive me, as foolish as that may have sounded. Yet, still they were willing to risk an eternity of heartache for a chance of love, even if for the briefest of moments in time.

Reaching out, I quickly pulled each of the princesses in for a kiss of my own, and I was busy enjoying Gilzia's lips again when I heard a gasp from behind us. Separating quickly, the three of us looked to where the noise had come from to find Etpinego standing in one of the doorways at the side of the hangar. A look of shock and betrayal etched on her face, but only for the briefest of moments as her anger soon took over.

"What the hay is goin' on here!" she shouted as she slammed the door shut behind her, the fire in her emerald eyes set on only one person in the room, me. Slowly she stomped the short distance towards me, "I come back here thinkin' that you were sufferin', and what do I find? You makin' out with tha princesses."

"Calm down Etpinego, I ca-," but I didn't get a chance to finish as she slapped me squarely across the face with such force that I was knocked to my knee as spots momentarily filled my vision, "Ow! What the fuck was that for?"

"That was fer makin' us worry about you, y'ah idjit. Fer makin' me worry," she said as she stood over my crouched form. Gilzia and Pyre moved to intervene, but I stopped them with a raise of my hand. I needed to deal with this on my own, even though the timing may not have been the most opportune.

As I rose back to my feet Etpinego went to slap me again, but I was able to grab a hold of her arm before she could strike home.

"Let me go y'ah no good snake in tha grass!" she yelled at me as she struggled to get out of my grasp, but I was having none of it as I wrapped my arms around her from behind, pinning her arms against her side, She continued to struggle in my grasp for a few more minutes, shouting obscenities at me before she finally went limp in my arms. Her yells of protest having quieted down into silent sobs, "I thought y'ah cared about us, ... cared about me."

As we fell to our knees I brought her against my chest, her fist hitting me but lacking any real strength behind them. Silently, we sat there as I cradled the crying young mare as I reassuringly ran my fingers through her long blonde mane. It tore me up to see the normally strong-willed mare reduced to tears, and to know that I was the reason for it didn't make me feel any better. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried lately, I couldn't do anything but make these mares who cared about me cry.

"Look, I do care about you Etpinego," I eventually told her once her sobs had receded, "and I did suspect that you may have held feelings for me, but I had to settle some things before I could address those suspicions."

"Is that why yer here, with them?" she asked as she cast a glare towards the princesses, who shot her one right back. Gilzia and Pyre looked like they wanted to say something to the upset farm mare, but my words beat them to the punch.

"Yes, I am in a herd with them," I responded as Etpinego looked at me incredulously.

"In a herd? Why didn't y'ah ever tell me you was cavortin' around with them?" she asked me as I saw the fire begin to reignite in her eyes.

"That is enough of that," Pyre admonished as she stepped forward, but Gilzia stopped her with a silent shake of her head. Pyre huffed frustratedly but stayed where she was, as I sent a thank you to them through our bond.

"Because I didn't know about it until recently. Apparently when our mental bond was formed, it was to place me under their protection in an informal herd. It wasn't until recently that it grew romantic, and due to the suddenness of it all I needed some time to think things over. I invited Gilzia and Pyre over to better understand the parameters of the herd before making my decision to stay or not."

Etpinego seemed to be pondering it over quite a bit as I saw her narrow her eyes at me. Trying to find any indicators on my face that could lead her to a lie in my story.

"What Eric says is the truth," Gilzia intervened, directing the farm mare’s attention to her. "But take solace in knowing that he cares for you as much as he cares for my sister and I, and thinks of you often."

'What are you doing Gilzia?' I asked the day princess through the link.

'My duty as your mare and helping you by telling her the truth. As much as you may deny it, you care for her more than you are willing to admit, my stallion,' she replied back to me, as Etpinego looked back my way, a light blush now on her checks.

"Is that true?"

For the briefest of moments I thought about telling her something about never wanting to lose her as a friend, or some shit like that. Yet all it took was one look into those captivating green eyes to know that Gilzia was right and all those ideas were just bullshit excuses.

"Yes it's true Etpinego, every word," I admitted before I was pulled into a sudden kiss by the small orange mare. I could feel her tongue as it made it's way inside my mouth, snaking around my own as I felt mixed feelings of jealousy and envy coming from the mares of my herd. The kiss only lasted mere moments before she pulled away from me, leaving me flabbergasted as I struggled for a response. "Et-tpinego, why did you do that?"

"There's no way I'm gonna give up on y'ah that easy," she said with a wink to me, "Ah'm not gonna lose my chance because of something you had no prior knowledge of. It ain't fair."

With that she got off of me and headed towards the defensive princesses. Walking straight up to Gilzia, who spread open her wings wide in challenge to the smaller mare. Etpinego held her head high as she tipped her hat back off her head, letting the stampede string go taut against her neck.

"Princess Gilzia, lead mare of the Royal Herd, my name is Etpinego of the Etpi family, and I formally declare my request to court you and your herd."

"Wh-!" I began to shout but was silenced as Pyre placed a hand over my mouth.

'Do not worry Eric,' Pyre said through our bond, 'it will be okay. This is just one of the ways that our society allows new members into an already established herd. Etpinego has presented herself for Gilzia's examination to see if she will be considered as an acceptable addition for the herd to begin courting. It is something that every member has a right to vote on, but in the end the final decision rests with our lead mare.'

'But why is she doing this?' I asked Pyre, unsure why Etpinego would do what she was doing.

'She is doing it out of love,' she simply stated, admiration evident in her voice as she leaned in and gently kissed my cheek as I heard Gilzia speak up.

"Etpinego, why should I let you join our herd? I know that you hold strong feelings for Eric, but you should know all too well that a herd is not about just one member but the herd as a whole," the tall alicorn said as she began to slowly walk around the much smaller earth mare, scrutinizing every detail as her wings brushed against the farmer. Sending a slight shiver through Etpinego's frame. "What evidence can you provide us of the truth in your intentions to court my herd?"

Etpinego didn't waver as she held her head high, "I have no evidence, short of my words, to prove my devotion to you and yer herd. But my words are the words of Etpinego, Bearer of the Element of Honesty, and you know the weight that them words hold as prior Bearers of the Elements of Harmony yerselfs."

"Indeed I do," Gilzia declared as she gave me and Pyre a quick glance and a gentle smile, "and that shall be enough for me, for now. But know that during this courting process, if at anytime I or any other member believe that your continued membership threatens the integrity of this herd. Then the courting process will be terminated immediately. Do you understand and accept these terms?"

"I understand," Etpinego replied as Gilzia came to a stop in front of her again, "and I accept."

"Good," the sun princess said as she gently embraced Etpinego to her, wrapping her wings around the orange mare before addressing us, "and what does the rest of the herd say about our new suitress?"

"Yes," Pyre answered.

"And you my stallion?" Gilzia, my head mare, asked me as I felt all eyes on me. Etpinego in particularly silently pleading with me to answer.

"Yes," was all I said as a small smile spread across all three mare's faces.

"Good," Gilzia said as she turned her attention completely back to Etpinego as she gently stroked the orange mare's back with her wings, "then it is agreed upon. Etpinego of the Etpi family-," Gilzia cupped the smaller mare's face in her white hands as she tilted the younger mare's head up to meet her lowering one. Briefly she paused, just a breath away from the trembling lips of the farm mare, a caring smile tugged at Gilzia's lips, before she claimed Etpinego's lips with her own. The kiss started out soft and gentle, as Etpinego gave control over to her new lover. Gilzia's more experienced technique however soon had the smaller mare moaning as the sun princess was no doubt exploring every inch of her mouth. After a few minutes, Gilzia ended the kiss. As she pulled her lips away from the now flushed and breathless Etpinego, a silvery strand of saliva remained, bridging the gap between them. As Gilzia's magenta colored eyes met the emerald green of her newest herd sister she smiled that same loving smile, "-welcome to the herd."

Author's Notes:

OMG this chapter was too damn long. I started writing and wanted to make sure I hit as many points as I could, and before I knew it I had this monstrosity of a chapter. A public apology goes out to my editor AidanPryde sorry your first chapter from me was almost 11k words. I promise for it to not become the norm. I hope

Anyways, hope everyone enjoys the chapter and we'll see if there's any burning torches and pitchforks on the horizon for me because I made Eric stay in the herd, for now.

Now, on to the Ball.

Edit 20140226: WOW! 200 likes and only 10 dislikes, I'm really feeling the love on this one. Thank you everyone for enjoying my attempts at writing and hope to continue to meet everyone's standards.