What do you do when the one person you want comfort from the most is the one who caused your pain? How can I want so desperately for him to wrap me up in his arms but also want so much for him to leave me alone.”

―Amanda Grace.

Once again, my morning alarm clock were the birds outside of the balcony, those irritating little things’ calls making me quietly groan while I sleepily nuzzled Shining.

“Bucking birds…” I muttered, wrapping my hooves around the big—and for some reason, oddly smooth—stallion, while I nuzzled his cheek.

Shining’s really warm today, my sleepy mind thought as I felt him stirring slightly. With a happy little hum I leaned up and planted a gentle but loving kiss on the stallion’s lips, rubbing our noses together while I slowly opened my eyes…

—To see that, not only was I not in my room, I hadn’t even kissed Shining. Though Ares looked a little grumpy while, in my surprise, I tried to wiggle out of his grasp in shock and embarrassment.

“It’s still sleepy time, Pillow,” the human murmured, his grip keeping me from wiggling away while it also brought me closer so his head was under my chin. “Stop trying to run away to Candyland…” He gave me another nuzzle while I, now fully awake, broke out into a full-body blush.

Almost instinctually, my wings re-wrapped around his body, Ares humming quietly in content as I looked down at him, my mind racing to come up with a reason as to why I was in Ares’s room.

It hit me like a ton of bricks after about a minute of thinking. Oh, we were watching Twilight and Flash and we had that thing yesterday… My tired mind chugged out while I sighed in relief. It’s just Ares, I just kissed Ares..… My eyes widened. Oh shoot! I KISSED ARES!

Now, you may be looking at me that like because I, a princess should be able to compose herself, especially if it was something as silly as an accidental kiss, but I was just tired okay!

Tired ponies aren’t the most logical ponies in the world.

…And that was the only reason.

The funny thing about that was, now that I think about it, since I didn’t want to awake Ares up, I was pretty much silently screaming and wiggling around while my wings held the human against my chest tightly.

Did I look silly? Probably, but like I said, I was tired.

Omigosh Shining’s going to be so mad and then Aunty Celestia is going to be so disappointed and—

This situation got even worse for my tired self when the human, disturbed by my silly wiggling, slowly started to wake up, Are’s eyes opening blearily to see me with my silent-scream face.

Rubbing his eyes with a hand sluggishly and blinking to wake himself up a bit, Ares asked, “The fuck is wrong with you, Candy?” I froze, my blush returning when I saw that he was awake. “You look like you’ve just seen some shit.”

Now that I realized that I looked silly at best and stupid at worst, I shimmered out, “O-Oh I just really needed to…go to the bathroom! Yes, The bathroom! I had to go to the bathroom and you wouldn’t let go!”

Tiredly blinking at me a few more times, Ares let me go while he yawned. “Alright, but you could’ve just woke me up; you didn’t need to just lay there holding it.”

I gave him my best big, fake smile, realizing that the two of us were practically touching noses. “Oh I didn’t want to wake you up!” I said a little too loudly.

“Okkkkaay,” he said confusingly, looking down for a second. “Go ahead then.”

I blinked. “Go where?”

“To… the bathroom?”

Blinking again, I nodded rapidly. “Oh yeah, Yeah, the bathroom!”

“Um, Cadence, your wings…”

Looking down, I noticed that I that my wings were, in fact, still around Ares. With a ‘eep’ I let go and kinda, sorta, fell off the bed with a thud.

“—Ow!” I groaned before hopping back to my hooves in a flash, giving a very confused Ares a smile. “Well, I’m just going to… I’llseeyouatbreakfastAres!” Doing the right thing, I spun around and promptly fled the room.

…

The human watched as his friend all but knocked his door down and galloped down the hallway with all the cares that a man that just woke up could conjure. Yawning hugely, he looked over at the clock that was in the room , frowning when he saw the time.

“The fuck is her problem?” he muttered, grabbing the covers and pulling them back up around him. “And why and the hell does she have to lose her shit at six in the fucking morning?...” Licking his lips, the human’s face scrunched up.

“AND, why and the hell do I taste cotton candy for some reason?” Faced with all of these questions, some of them important and some unimportant, Ares did the most responsible thing that he could think of.

“Man, why and the hell am I thinking when it’s six in the morning and I could be sleeping?”

With a little nod, Ares closed his eyes, not realizing what was going on in his pink friend’s mind.

...

Lye Lane looked over the previous patient’s form with a bored sigh, the mare chewing on her stale bubble gum while she eavesdropped on the yelling match that a married couple were having in the doctor’s room.

“Holy hay, those two are loud,” the mare muttered. “Why did the doctor decide to take up marriage counseling? He doesn’t even—“

“Secretary pony, I need to borrow you for a second.”

Before the Lye could look up she was lifted up and brought into the arms of a determined and almost haunted-looking Ares. “M-Mr. Ares?” Lye squeaked while the human offhandedly started to scratch her belly. “What are you doing here?!”

Ares rolled his eyes. “I need some advice and I figured that you could help me out.”

“I barely know you!”

Ares shrugged. “You’re a belly rub buddy, and belly rub buddies have to always help the guy that rubs their belly. There’s a law that says that somewhere.”

“Put me down right now!...And that doesn’t make any sense!”

Ignoring the struggling mare, Ares looked over at the door that led to the doctor’s office. “The Doc’s got an appointment right now, right?”

Lye let out a relieved sigh, thinking that he was going to be reasonable and let her go. “Yes, Mr. Ares, he—“

She yelped again when Ares, still carrying her, all but kicked down the door, revealing a surprised Doctor Mind Free-- who was wearing those glasses with the big nose attached to it for some reason-- and a mare and a stallion, who looked at the giant monkey that was carrying a red-faced Lye Lane under one arm with concern.

Ares frowned as the doctor looked up him with a smile. “Oh Mr. Ares! What a surprise!”

Before the stallion could said more, Ares put Lye Lane down and picked the doctor up. “Sorry, can’t deal with your shit today, Doc, I gotta get some advice.”

The doctor gasped dramatically. “Then why are you here, Mr.—“

“Shush and go out for lunch or something.”

“But—“

“Shush!” Ares handed the doctor a small bag of bits. “Shoo!”

Taking the bag with more than a little confusion, the doctor left his office while Ares made his way back into the room.

The troubled married couple, who had watched the whole scene in confusion, finally snapped out of it, the mare looking up at the human. “What and the hay are you?”

Are looked down at the little mare-- ignoring the stallion, who was narrowing his eyes at him for some reason-- patting her on the head with a small smile. “I’m no one, random pony,” he told the mare. Grabbing Lye, he walked over and sat down in the crazy person’s chair/sofa.

“Haven’t I seen you before…?” The stallion asked, joining his wife in sitting right next to the human, who was looking up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

“I don’t think so,” Ares said dismissively. “Now how about the two mosey on—“

“Wait! You’re that minotaur at that movie theater!”

The stallion’s wife frowned. “And when did you go to the movies?”

The stallion stopped, looking at his wife sheepishly as Ares looked down at him. “W-Well you see h-honey—“

“Wait,” the human interrupted. “You’re that stallion that was blowing his boyfriend behind me and Candy.”

“WHAT!” Lye, Ares, and the stallion flinched while the mare’s mane started to smoke.

“H-Honey, just give me a second to e-explain!” the stallion said, backing away from his angry wife. “The minotaur’s lying; I just went to the movies with Ratchet and—“

Ares blinked in confusion. “Oops, my bad dude,” he said, grabbing the angry mare’s tail and bragging her into his lap. With a little shrug he started to play with her ears. “I just thought you swung that way cause you were sitting pretty close to that guy…”

The mare, who was trying to fight a losing battle against Ares’s fingers, muttered, “Slip, when this monkey thing lets me go I’m gonna kick you so hard in the nads that you’ll be walking funny for a week!”

The stallion started to swear. “But Bonnie—“

Bonnie tried half-heartedly to wiggle out of Ares’s grasp while the human looked at the two. “Wow, that’s a great relationship you two got there,” he muttered teasingly.

The two stiffened while Lye covered her mouth with a hoof to keep from snorting.

Bonnie the mare found something in her that day, when Ares said that, that did two things.

One: she realized that her reasons for forcing her husband to go do these silly marriage counseling meetings really didn’t look all that justified when somepony—although Ares really didn’t mean to—was insulting her, her husband, and her marriage.

Two: that she had an ability that most mares didn’t; as in, if she got angry enough, she could ignore his powerful fingers.

“The buck did you say?” Bonnie snapped, Ares’s eyes widening in pain when he felt a hoof smash down on his boys. “I’ll have you know, monkey, that I love my bucking husband very bucking much!”

The human squeaked in pain as the mare pressed down a little harder while she looked into his soul with her big, anger-filled eyes. “Do. You. Got. THAT?”

“Yes, yes!” Ares squeaked, his voice higher than normal. “You two have a happy, loving relationship and you’ll be together forever! Please let my balls go!”

Glaring at him for a few moments longer she ceased her crushing , hopping off the sofa as Lye and the husband looked on in shock while Ares cupped his baby banks, rolling off the sofa in pain with a soft thud. “Oh sweet Jesus, I think you busted one!”

Ignoring him, Bonnie went to her husband and gave him a loving peck on the cheek. “Come on, Honey, let’s get out of here.”

Nodding slowly, Slip looked at Lye, then at Ares before he shrugged. While in one hand he was cringing internally and using his hind legs to protect his stallionhood, internally happy that he was getting out of this counseling thing early and that the human had been put in his place.

“Alright, babe, let’s go home.”

As the two left, Lye called, “I’ll send you what you owe in the mail!”

Her secretary duties finished, she made her way over to the human to see if he was okay.

After all, they could be sued since he was injured on their property, so it was smart to be the caring citizen.

“Mr. Ares? Are you okay?” She asked while she gently patted him on the side.

Ares groaned, slowly uncurling from his pain-ball. “Just… give me a minute…”

The mare couldn’t help but smirk. “I would say this is what you get for poking the bear—“

“That wasn’t a mare, that was some adorable demon in a mare’s body!”

“—But I should at least thank you for helping them out… in your own little way,” Lye shrugged. “I guess that sometimes all a couple needs is a common enemy to help bring them back together.”

The two drifted off in silence after that, Lye watching as the human finally sat up and crawled up into the sofa/chair to look up in the ceiling.

Sensing that she was now needed for the whole talking thing, Lye made her way over to her bosses chair and sat down on it, quietly asking, “Ares, you had something that you wanted to tell me, right?”

The human slowly nodded, still looking pointedly at the ceiling. “Yeah.”

Lye scooted her chair closer to Ares, patting him on the thigh. “Just take your time, Ares. I may not be a psychologist but I can at least try to help you.”

He was silent for a few more seconds before he said. “Secretary pony—“

“Lye Lane, Ares,”

“Have you ever liked someone?”

“Well I ca--”

“ I mean… have you ever liked someone that also happened to be married? Not someone that was single...or--you know what I mean...”

The mare blinked at the question as the man rambled. “…What do you mean in ‘liked’, Ares?”

To her surprise, he growled, his eyes showing pain and worry. “We’re both adults here lady, you know what I mean!” His attempt to look fierce was ruined by the slight blush on his face, not that Lye was going to comment on it.

Thinking on her answer carefully, she said, “Honestly, Mr. Ares, I really can’t say that I have,” she hummed in thought for a moment. “Well…there was a lawyer when I was younger but…”

Ares waved her comment away before sighing. “I figured. You don’t look like the kind of person that’d be a piece of shit and ruin a relationship.”

The mare flinched at Ares’s angry tone, not saying anything as the human continued.

“You know, I didn’t even think about it until a couple days ago, and then it just…hit me I guess,” the human laughed bitterly. “It couldn’t really come at a worst time for her, I guess, which makes me feel worse.”

He finally looked over at the Lye with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ve damn near ruined her fucking marriage by just staying around her and her husband while this poor girl’s going through some stupid bullshit because God’s a fucking dick…now I can’t stop thinking about how I could help her and her fucking husband throw in the towel!”

Thoroughly lost now, Lye tried to rein in the conversation. “Ares—“

“And it hurts me; it fucking hurts me to think like that! Those two saved my life; they bathed me, clothed me, and fucking fed me and—“

Ares, with tears in his eyes, finally stopped when he felt a confused Lye pressing her hoof against his leg. “Ares,” she finally said. “I’m honestly not really the pony to dump all of this on…maybe you should talk to the doctor when he gets back; he might know what to make of your situation…...Whatever it is.”

Even though she felt terrible saying it, she couldn’t bring herself to lie to the human. She was a pony that did the math for her boss’s business and made sure that ponies wrote everything correctly on their paperwork, not a pony that dealt with things like this.

It almost hurt her when she saw the flash of pain in Ares’s eyes before they went dead, the human quickly getting up and making his way toward the door.

“Yeah, you’re right; I’m sorry for that,” the human said emotionlessly, looking over his shoulder. “I just didn’t know what to do,” he sighed, his shoulder slumping in defeat. “I don’t even know why I came here…well, see you around.”

“Wait! Mr. Ares,” Lye called, her voice breaking slightly before she finally worked up the courage to say, “What are you going to do?”

Not looking back at her, the human smiled a sad little smile. “Nothing, absolutely nothing. Damn the hurt, damn those butterflies, damn love, damn everything; I’m doing nothing.”

…

The past week really wasn’t great, but Shining and I were trying our best.

The two of us just kinda refused to talk about what happened between his mother and I to keep things from getting worse, and it was working…... I even saw him smile the other day!

…Wow, that really doesn’t sound too great said out loud, does it?

—Anyway! Like I said, we were just taking baby steps to help get our marriage back in track, and after a careful few days the two of us thought we were okay enough to go back to the hospital today.

“So, Honey,” Shining said as the two of us ate breakfast sitting on our bed, me draping a wing over my husband’s shoulder. “Are you sure that you’re up for see those three weirdos today?”

I giggled, giving Shining a nuzzle before I popped some toast into my mouth, chewing with a thoughtful hum before swallowing.

“Yeah, I’m sure that they’ll be gentle,” I said while the stallion wiggled slightly under my wing hug; Shining always thought my wing-hugs were too itchy. “Besides, didn’t they tell us the other day that they had to tell me something important?”

Shining shrugged, drinking the last bit of his cereal-milk. “Knowing them, it’s probably something about how big your flank is and how it enhances your magical fields or some nonsense.”

I couldn’t help but look down at my bottom self-consciously. “It’s not that big…I mean, I know I haven’t been working out that much lately, but…”

I tried to keep the smile off my face as Shining’s eyes bugged out in his head when he realized what he said. “W-Wait, I didn’t m-mean—“

I sighed sadly, looking down and off to the side. “I’m sorry that I look so ugly to you, Shining…” I had to bite my tongue hard to keep from laughing at the look on his face as he shimmered out apologies and excuses.

Yes, that was a little mean, but you should never tell a mare that she’s getting fat. NEVER.

Eventually, I couldn’t help but break down into a full belly laugh, grabbing my husband and nuzzling his nose while he tried to wiggle away from me. “You should see the look on your face!” I giggled, giving him another nuzzle before I let the grumbling, red-faced stallion go,

Shining hopped off the bed with a huff. “That wasn’t funny…”

I just grinned, hopping off the bed to join him with our bowls in my magical grasp. “That’s what you get for calling me fat,” I said smartly. “Now, come on, let me put these on the table and we’ll get ready to leave.”

Without waiting for an answer, I trotted toward the door-- putting the bowls down with a spell-- a grumbling Shining following me as I made my way down the castles corridors.

We both stopped when he walked past Twilight’s room.

I caught Shining’s frown, a knowing smile on my face. “I think Twilight’s responsible enough not to let Flash sleep in her bed after the first date, Shining,” I said to the stallion, my smiling growing with his frown.

“The Private better have the common sense not to, too,” he growled. “I already had a nice little talk with him on that subject, but that doesn’t stop everypony.”

I nudged him playfully. “Well, maybe it wouldn’t be that bad if Twilight had a little cuddle buddy. Not in a sexual way,” I quickly said when I saw Shining’s look. “It’s always nice to have someone to help keep you warm is all.”

The stallion snorted. “It looks like Ares’s finally got to you…”

I blinked in confusion. “…What are you talking about?”

It was Shining’s turn to look confused, the stallion blinking slowly before saying, “…You don’t know what I’m talking about? Seriously?”

“If I knew what you were talking about I wouldn’t be asking you now, would I?”

For some reason, Shining facehoofed. “You really don’t know that Ares goes around sleeping with ponies?”

I laughed at the silly stallions attempt at a joke. “Shining, I think I would know if Ares was some sort of cuddle-fiend!”

…

Twilight yawned, blinking as the sun just started to break the horizon. Usually, the mare would’ve been up hours ago to either start breakfast or to open her library, but she was in a bit of a pickle at the moment.

“Purple,” Ares grumbled, opening an eye to look down at the squirming mare. “Will you stop wiggling for Christ’s sake? Some people are trying to sleep.”

Luna poked her head over the shoulder of the human to look down at her, the Princesses’ mane frazzled with sleep. “We agree with Ares, Young Twilight, we have a few hours more until breakfast starts, so we’d appreciate it if you’d stay still,” the princess of the night looked all around her at the various assortments of guardsponies, maids, and even a noble or two, all of whom were nodding in sleepy agreement with their princess.

“Yeah, go to sleep.”

“Quiet wiggling, Emerald.”

“Could you move for a second, everypony? I really have to use the bathroom.”

Ares groaned quietly, his arms going around Twilight to bring her close to his chest, the human nuzzling the top of her head while careful to watch out for her horn. “Will you all shut up?”

“Sorry,” at least twenty ponies mumbled while a red-faced Twilight looked up at the human.

“Ares,” she said quietly. “I think this whole thing’s gotten way out of hoof. I’m pretty sure that this bed is one pony away from breaking.”

The unicorn felt him nod slowly. “Yeah, I think you’re right, Purple,” he said. “There is a point that I needed to stop this and I clearly passed the point of being reasonable,” though she couldn’t see it, Ares was smiling thinly. “But I kinda want to keep going to see what happens. Besides , if this thing can hold Celestia, this ol’ bed can hold at least thirty more ponies.”

Celestia, the princess of the sun, who was holding two of her guards like they were teddy bears in the same bed, opened a bloodshot eye to tiredly glare at the human. “Even though I don’t appreciate what you just said, Mr. Ares, I will not fight you on it.”

“But you can go buck yourself,” A maid helpfully added.

“Thanks, random pony.”

“You’re welcome, weird monkey guy.”

…

Shining raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you sleep with him the other week?”

Though I know he didn’t mean it like that I still blushed slightly, pointedly looking forward. “That was different…”

“Whatever you say, Cadence…” Shining muttered under his breath, sounding slightly angry, which I didn’t call him out on.

Shaking his head again, the stallion continued. “Anyway, where’s he been lately? Usually he’s with you or one of the princesses like some lost puppy,” he snorted good-naturedly. “Is he trying to play matchmaker for more ponies?”

He was right of course--not about the matchmaker part, I think, but about the him being distant-- for some reason, Ares was spending less and less time with me doing anything, and when we were doing something together he always had this weird, hurt look in his eyes, which made me concerned.

Over these past few months, Shining and I had helped and learned from Ares and in that time he had irritated, harassed, and all around made my way of life stressful and hectic. But honestly, he grows on you, and I can safely say that there’s nopony else I’d want to spend a day with just doing nothing with.

…Other than Shining, of course.

So when I saw that my friend was obviously hurting for some reason, I tried to do the right thing and asked him what was the matter, maybe try to bring a smile to his face, only for all of my attempts—and everypony else that I sent his way—to be either ignored or angrily told off.

Shaking my head of those and other…thoughts I shrugged, muttering, “Everypony’s been pretty busy lately, Honey. He just might have the time to see us.”

Shining nodded. “There’s that, but I think something else is going on with him.”

My eyebrows furrowed, sighing to myself before admitting, “Yeah I think something’s bothering him. I keep trying to ask him what’s the matter but I get nothing; he’s just been so distant lately.”

The two of us shared a worried look before Shining muttered, “Did you know that he almost spends all if his time with the Princesses’ when they’re looking at all of those worlds now?”

“Maybe he’s homesick?” I said, not really believing it.

“Maybe…” Shining shook his head, nudging my side playfully. “Hey, how about we go out for a little fun before we go to the hospital and stop being all mopey?”

Despite myself, I giggled, nudging him right back. “Well, we do have a few hours to kill… How about we go necklace shopping?” Shining’s playfully fake groan almost made me forget about my hurting friend.

—Almost.

…

Ever since he was little, Ares really never watched T.V. When he was little that was because his parents couldn’t afford cable so, as he grew older, he didn’t really understand why people would just sit in front of a screen for hours and hours when they could go outside and do something

The only real joy that he got out of the thing was whenever he went to friends' houses and saw people fighting over a remote. Sure, it was a little shallow, but he always thought it was funny seeing grown men and women fighting over a small piece of plastic to change the thing.

Which was why he couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched Princess Celestia and Luna fight over who was going to be working the portal today, like two kids that wanted to pick the channel.

“But thou worked the portal the other day, sister! We demand that we work it on this day!”

“The last time you worked it, Luna, something tried to break through the portal!”

Though she tried to hide it, Celestia and Ares could see her blush slightly through her dark blue coat. “That…was not our fault…”

Ares shrugged to himself, kicking his feet in the air in boredom. “That world was pretty sweet, though.”

Celestia snorted, looking over her shoulder at the human in bewilderment. “Were we looking at the same world, Ares?”

A happier and less conflicted Ares would have stuck his tongue at the mare, but all Celestia got was another lazy shrug.

“That big wizard guy was throwing lightning bolts at that big fire monster while those giant troll thingy were attacking those soldiers. That was so awesome that if someone would’ve seen that back on my world they would've made a heavy metal album out of it.”

Celestia nodded, raising an eyebrow as the human rose to his feet, stretching. “Hey, while you two work out who’s messing with your rune-remote thing, I’m going to go and get something to eat.”

Without waiting for an answer, Ares made his way toward the door, the two alicorns exchanging worried glances before Luna said, “Sister, thou may cast the spells. We will accompany young Ares to acquire something to eat.”

Celestia nodded as her sister rose to follow the human. “While you’re in the kitchens could you get me something?” she asked. “I’m getting peckish as well.”

Muttering that she would do as her sister asked, Luna hurried to the door, opening it and all but rushing toward the human, who was looking down with his hands in his pockets.

“Wait for us, Ares,” the princess called, trotting toward the human, who gave her a small smile. “We wish to also get something to eat. The three of us have been at this for a while after all.”

The human couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty about that. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” he muttered, half-heartedly patting Luna on the head as the two turned a corner. “I’ve been taking up so much of your time up looking through like a thousand worlds when the two of you could be doing something important…”

Luna responded by giving her friend a nuzzle. “Helping thy friends is important, Ares,” She told the human, looking up at him knowingly. “Thou know that my sister and I are happy to aid thee.”

Ares gave her another smile and a scratch behind the ears as the two made their way into the empty kitchens, Ares going into one of the cabinets and grabbing an assortment of snacks while Luna watched him slowly move around in concern.

“Ares, thou seem troubled with something,” she carefully said as the human looked over at her, his eye losing what little emotion that they already had. “Would thou like to speak of thy troubles?”

Sighing, the human made his over to the counter, hopping on top of it while the princess sat next to him. “I don’t know, Luna,” he lied, shrugging. “I guess I’m just feeling a little homesick.”

He gave her another smile, leaning down and picked the little princess up into a hug. “You guys helped bait it off for a while but not seeing your family for months starts to grind on a guy, you know?”

“So thy sadness doesn’t stem from young Cadence?” She asked, Ares stiffening slightly before he looked down at her.

Chuckling weakly, he muttered. “So you’ve been poking around my dreams again huh?”

Though Luna tried to keep a brave face for her friend, it almost physically hurt her to see the hopelessness in Ares’s eyes. “We have seen some of thy dreams, yes,” she whispered, gently nuzzling his cheek.

“And I hope you haven’t told anyone about any of those particular dreams; your sister doesn’t know about them?” Ares didn’t bother asking if she told Cadence, the pink princess would have confronted him about it already if she had.

“Thy dreams are between thou and I,” the princess calmly replied, looking up at Ares with those big, blue eyes.

“Good, we’ll keep it that way, huh?”

The princess gave him a sad smile, hopping out of the human’s grasp. “We would listen to thy troubles, if thou wish to tell us.”

Ares looked down at his hands before looking up at the alicorn. “I don’t know what to do,” he whispered as Luna sat down in front of him.

“I’ve been keeping away from her so the feelings don’t get worse but I can’t stop thinking about her,” he put it head in his hands. “And every time I do I can’t help but remember that she’s married and I can’t help but feel worse about these feelings…”

Luna leapt up in the counter her draped a wing around him. “Keep going, Ares, you will feel better if you let it out.”

The human’s attempts to discreetly wipe a tear from his eyes was not brought up by Luna as he continued. “It's wrong, I know it is,” he muttered. “But why can’t I stop it…” Luna placed her head in his shoulder.

“I can’t joke this away, Luna, I can’t give it a smile and hope it’ll get the picture. Even though I want it to, I can’t laugh this doubt away…”

Luna held her friend and the two stayed there, the alicorn silently comforting her friend as he sniffled.

“We have no answers for you on this, Ares,” the princess murmured, giving him a nuzzle. “But what We can do is give you a shoulder to cry on if you wish,“ he grabbed his chin and made him look at her. “Just remember that.”

Giving the princess a smile, Ares nodded hopped off the counter, grabbed all of the treats and making his way out of the kitchen with Luna following.

After they left the kitchen, he wiped his eyes and said. “I’m sure that I’m just being a baby about this,” he waved dismissively. “All I probably need is a good lay and I’ll be over it.”

Though Luna didn’t believe that for a second, she was willing to humor him, giving him a lusty look and a bump with her rump. “Well, Ares,” she said in her sultry voice. “We would be happy to aid thee in that endeavour if you so wish~”

For the first time that week, Ares laughed, hip-checking the princess right back. “I just might be take you up on that, Luna,” he said with a genuine smile while he looked down the hall. “Not right now, but maybe eventually.”

With a smile of her own, Luna said, “We shall hold you to that.”

“Do you think that you’ll be able to find a way to get me back home, Luna, honestly?”

The question caught the princess off guard, and her mind had to race to give the fragile guy and answer. For a second she toyed with lying to him but thought better of it. It is bad enough that I cannot help him with his troubles, I will not tease him with falsehood.

She sighed. “Honestly, it seems as though there exist an infinite number of worlds to sift through; it could take decades or even centuries to find thy home.”

Ares’s smile lessened. “If you could ever find it,” he whispered, Luna patting him on the leg.

“Thou must not lose hope, Ares, we could find it tomorrow.”

She stopped when Ares halted in the middle of the hallway, the human looking out one of the hall’s many windows. “I’m stuck in the middle of a land full of ponies, I’ve fallen in love with a pony that happens to be married and I can’t deal with it like a big boy, and I wouldn’t do anything about it; no matter how much it hurts,” he chuckled darkly. “I’m running a little low on hope right now.”

…

“That necklace looks really nice on you, honey,” Shining said, eyeing my new jewelry, which was just a simple golden chain with a heart-shaped locket.

I gave the stallion nuzzle. “Well, you did pay for it, Shining,” I teased as we made our way toward the hospital.

Shining stuck his tongue out at me playfully, making me giggle. “And I had to pay for that on a captain’s salary!”

The two of us laughed as we made our way to the hospital, going through the lobby and toward the right wing of the hospital. “So what do you think they’re going to do to you today?”

I shrugged, smiling at a pair of nurses that we passed. “Probably more bloodwork,” I said sticking my tongue out in distaste. “Why can’t they figure out how to get the blood out of a pony in a way that doesn’t hurt?”

The stallion rolled his eyes as we opened the doors to the Department of Experimental Theories on Conception, or as I liked to call it, ‘the Tartarus zone’, to see something that was really disconcerting.

The three doctors were huddled together in the little office that held some of their more sensitive contraptions, the three stiffening when the door behind us slammed shut.

Doctor Hooves, looked at his fellow doctors and nudged his head in our direction before he opened the door and made his way toward us, with Doctor Scalpel following behind him closely.

While the doctors talking together was always kind of ominous it sometimes didn’t mean anything—I’m sure that they would have to talk about things other than doctoring; I like to think that they talk about puppies—but I could tell that something bad happened by the two’s expressions.

Doctor Hooves hid it the best, his look only slightly off from its usual grouchiness, but Doctor Scalpel looked like she had been crying, the mare’s eyes bloodshot and her cheeks slightly wet.

Confusion and more than a little bit of panic started to well up in me as Shining and I shared a look as the Doctor’s sat made their way toward the two of us, Scalpel sitting down in front of Shining as Hooves looked me up and down before nudging his head toward Doctor Holster.

“Come here, girl, we need to talk to you in private.”

I cleared my throat as calmly as I could. “What for, doctor?” I asked, that empty pit in my stomach getting bigger as the Doctor Scalpel sniffled, using a hoof to wipe the tears out of her eyes.

Doctor Hooves’ frown deepened. With another nudge of his head he turned around and started to walk toward the little office. “Hol and I will tell ya when you get in here.”

Shining tried to say something but the doctor cut him off, “Just stay here, Shining,” the stallion said quietly, my eyes widening in shock. Doctor Hooves never used Shining’s name before. “Scalpel will try to help fill you in; she’s never been good at this part of the job, bless her.”

Have you ever felt that continued pain of slowly trying to take off a Band-Aid? You know, you try to peel it off as slowly as possible to try to take the sting out of it but it only makes it worse and when you finally do take it off it seems to hurt more?

That was how I felt as I stared at the doctor, how was looking back at me with an emotionless mask that he barely seemed to be able to keep up.

She’s never been good at this part of the job…

I wasn’t stupid, I knew what that meant, and I couldn’t help but feel like a little foal for trying to keep hope throughout all of this. Just like a little foal I just didn’t grow up and just dealt with the fact that I wasn’t going to have kids of my own.

The little barrier that I had surrounded myself with for the last couple of days just crumbled all around me, and that little heart necklace felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, the little thing mocking me.

Quietly lost to my own thoughts as tears started to run down my face, I felt my body move almost automatically toward the also sad-looking Doctor Holster, who had what looked like a bunch of x-rays in his hooves while he stood by one of those light thingies that illumined x-rays.

I was wrenched out of my thoughts as Doctor Hooves held the door open for me, muttering, “Come on, lass.”

To his--and even my-- surprise, I leaned in to give the stallion a tearful nuzzle, which was my way of saying sorry.

Here I was, wasting his time dealing with a lost cause when he could be helping somepony that could actually be helped. But no, I spent months wasting this stallion’s time and energy, and no—

I-I’m sorry, j-just give me a m-moment…

…Thank you, Yes, I’m alright, I’m alright.

Doctor Holster nodded his head at me in greeting as I made my way toward him, Doctor Hooves closing the door behind the two of us.

Deciding not to beat around the bush I said, “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

The two stallions stiffened slightly before Doctor Holster cleared his throat, putting up a bunch of x-rays that really didn’t mean anything to me.

“We ran every test that we could think of,” the stallion said quietly, almost hesitantly. “We tried to look at your biology from every possible angle, but your body’s just too…different.”

I felt a hoof touch my shoulder, Doctor Hooves looking up at me kindly. “Our fields of biology are just too new, Princess,” he said quietly. “With a lot of work we can synch up the chromosomes of everything from a gryphon to a zebra with a pony, but your DNA... it's like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Honestly, we could spend years studying your genetic make-up….”

He trailed off, me sniffling while Doctor Holster slowly walked over and pulled me into a hug. “I’m sorry, Princess, but there’s no way for you to conceive; at least until we figure out how to fix you.”

I closed my eyes, wincing slightly at the Doctor’s choice of words. I can’t be fixed… I bit back a sob, Doctor Hooves patting me on the back awkwardly.

“That doesn’t mean that there’s no hope, Princess,” he said, though, to me, it really didn’t sound like he meant it. “We find new information every day about the equine body. Give it a year or two and we might be able to help you.”

Doctor Holster gave me the fakest smile that I’ve ever seen. “Or maybe Princess Celestia can let an archmage look at the Elements of Harmony. Maybe if we—“

The doctor yelped when I, sobbing, wrapped the stallion into a bone-crushing hug. Though I didn’t notice it, my necklace’s chain broke and the little pendant fell to the ground, smashing into a hundred little pieces.

I was tired of the false hopes, of the sadness, and the second-guessing. My dark musings were right, and I couldn’t even begin to describe to you how much that hurt me.

…

Ares sat on the edge of the balcony that was right outside of his room, the human calmly looking out at the sunset, thinking about nothing and everything, until, shaking his head, he muttered, “Well, at least the sunset’s really pretty.”

Looking down, he was greeted with open air, Ares humming as he looked down at the landscape below. “Boy, is this dangerous,” he said with some amusement, wiggling around so he was more securely on top of the thin slab of metal that held him. “One wrong wiggle and splat.”

He shook his head, rubbing his temples with one hand while his other kept a tight grip on the railing. “It’d be a really nice view before the end of the fall though…” The human hummed again, kicking his legs in the empty air. “Thank god I’m too good-looking to even think about taking the dive…but it would be kinda neat to go out like this.”

Ares chuckled darkly. “Falling to your death as the only one of your kind on top of a magical, pretty princess pony’s castle during a pretty sunset...…even if it wasn’t an awesome way to go at least it’d be pretty…”

Snorting, Ares looked back into his room. “Maybe I’ll go ask Luna if she wants to go out for dinner or something….. Maybe I’ll just ask Celestia; she’s a more reliable sort of girl. Hell. I could ask that one maid that wouldn’t stop looking at my ass whenever I walk past her.”

He sighed sadly. “Or maybe I’ll just sit here and be a fucking baby for a few more days until I man the fuck up an—“

The human froze slightly at the sound of someone knocking at his door, almost falling off the ledge he yelled, “The door’s open!”

I wonder who that could be? He thought as he looked back at the sunset, once again making sure that he wasn’t going to be an asshole and fall off the railing. I wonder why I’m not getting yelled at whoever’s in the room yet? Maybe I should quit staring off into the distance like a space cadet and see who’s in my room.

Carefully looking over his shoulder, he blinked as he watched Cadence make her way over to him, and using her magic to make it a little safer for him and help to her sit on the railing, the princess hopped right next to him and staring silently at the sunset.

“Candy?” Ares said in confusion, sensing something was wrong. “Are you alright, there?”

For a few seconds, the human could have sworn that the alicorn hadn’t heard him, but then she said, in a warped version of her usual kind, happy voice, “Ares, have I ever told you what happened at Shining’s and my wedding?”

Ares raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t think you have,” he said carefully, looking out into the distance. “What? Did you have an uncle pass out while your priest was making you say your—“

“Three days before our wedding, I was captured by a race called the Changelings and replaced by their queen, Chrysalis. On the day when I was supposed to be married, she somehow took control of Shining’s mind and came very close to taking over Canterlot.”

For the third time that day the human almost fell off the railing, the alicorn absent-mindedly catching him with her magic and putting him back where he belonged. “No shit,” he said in mild awe. “Well, that’s way worse than Uncle Phil’s wedding…”

Cadence continued like she hadn’t heard him. “I remember when she captured me. I was in my room looking over my new wedding dress, so happy that my special somepony and I were finally going to get married, when I heard a spell discharging.”

“ Somehow, probably using her shape shifting powers that all Changelings have, Chrysalis snuck into my room and took me by surprise.”

“This ‘Chrysalis’ seems like a bitch,” The human commented, wiggling closer to his friend in concern.

Cadence sighed sadly, looking down. “I’ll never forget how scared I was as she stood over me, looking down at me like I was the most worthless thing in the world. ‘Such a pretty little princess,’ she said to me while her body slowly changed into mine.”

Ares wrapped an arm around the alicorn as she sniffled, Cadence leaning carefully into his one-arm hug. “She told me that she was going to leave me to die in the Crystal Caverns….”

“Well, she didn’t,” Ares said lightly, gently patting her on the back. “You must have gotten free and kicked her ass, right? Now why don’t you—“

“I kind of wish that’s what would have happened.”

It wasn’t the statement that concerned Ares, it was just how casually she threw it out there like that she was talking about the weather. She didn’t sound angry, she didn’t sound sad, she just had an unsettling casualness about her that screamed pain and hurt.

The alicorn looked over at the human, almost smiling at his shocked expression. “Yeah, I’m sure that there was moss and mushrooms down there so I wouldn’t starve,” She carefully blew a lock of hair out of her face. “And I remember it being warm so I wouldn’t have freeze to death in the winter so I probably could have spent years down there.”

Cadence chuckled darkly, closing her eyes as tears started to run down her cheeks. “Then, when Twilight found out about Chrysalis, they could’ve just given me up for dead and Shining would have mourned me for a few months, maybe for a few years; he wouldn’t have to deal with...this...”

It didn’t take to genius to figure out that something bad had happened and that Cadence needed some kind of help, but Ares was silent, the human letting the alicorn vent while he tried to figure out how to help his friend.

“Everything would have been better. His Band-Aid would have been ripped off faster and cleaner and then he could’ve looked for some nice filly and the two would have gotten married and they’d of lived happily ever after.”

Cadence gave her friend a strained smile. “But nope, everything went ‘perfectly’. Twilight found me and Shining and I got married to live ‘happily ever after’, with the two of us staying in love forever and ever.”

“Something happened at the doctor’s, didn’t it?” Ares asked quietly, Cadence once again ignoring him.

The pink alicorn said looked at him, her eyes, filled with more pain than Ares had ever seen in another, all but burrowing into his soul. “Ares, could you please tell me what love is?” She whispered randomly before closing her eyes again. “Because I don’t think I-I’m doing it r-right.”

For once, the human couldn’t think of anything funny or witty to say to help his friend when she muttered this odd and out-of-place sentence. It’s that funny feeling I get when I look at you.

“It’s what you and Shining feel for each other, Cadence.”

It’s that feeling that hurts me, and a feeling that wouldn’t go away no matter how wrong I think it feels.

“I don’t know what happened today, but something obviously happened. It might look bleak right now; some bullshit happened, the doctor’s said this or that, but I know you still love your boy.”

Every day I can see how easy it’d be to break you and your husband apart. A smaller piece of me can see the two of us together, that smile on your face that you get when you’re happy while I kiss you. It’s that feeling I get when I see you laugh and I’m the one that made you chuckle…..

Resisting the urge to jump off the railing, Ares gave his friend a small smile, trying to stay strong for her. “Come on, Cadence, just tell me what happened so I can see if I can help you. Maybe we can talk to the Princess or—“

“ There’s a good chance that I’ll never have a foal.”

“…Oh.”

Whimpering, Cadence leaned her head on the human’s shoulder, whispering, “I can still see the look on Shining’s face…I s-saw something die in his eyes.”

Sniffling himself, Ares gave his friend a squeeze. “Come on, Cadence, everything will be alright, you just have to have a little hope,” he almost smiled at the irony as he said it, ‘hope’.

The alicorn finally broke down, knocking the two of them onto the balcony-- though either of them felt the pain of hitting the stone-- as Cadence wrapped Ares in her wings, the sobbing alicorn tightly holding him as he rubbed her back.

And it’s one of those few emotions that I’ve come of fucking, fucking hate.

…

Shining raced through the hallways, the stallion spurned on by panic and guilt while dark thoughts swirled around in his head.

You’ll never have a foal with your wife and—Angrily, Shining shook that thought from his head, almost bowling over a pair of servants as he searched for his wife. You heard the news and you just stood there like a bucking moron when she started to cry! The stallion thought while he kept his ears on a swivel. Oh, Cadence…

After what seemed like an eternity to the stallion, Shining finally heard the sounds of soft, muffled weeping. Skidding to a halt, the stallion pressed his ear against a door, listening closely. Is she in here? Straining his ears to their limit, the ex-guard captain heard what he thought was his wife’s crying.

Beating down his feelings, he used shaky magic quickly open the door. Don’t worry, Cadence, I’ll get through this door and we’ll take a few seconds to calm down and I’ll make everything better and—

His heart skipped a beat when he opened the door to see Cadence with her hooves and wings around Ares, the alicorn weeping on his shoulder as he gently patted her back.

Fears and doubts quickly turned to anger as the stallion’s irrational, grief-stricken mind surveyed the scene. Despite himself, Shining couldn’t help but grit his teeth anger. There was the human again, like he bucking was every time, comforting his Cadence.

These angry thoughts started to shift into dangerous waters. This was Ares’s fault, everything was Ares’s fault!

His loss of sleep, the trouble that he and Cadence were having, all of his doubts, and probably what had happened between Cadence and his mother! All the work of this human.

Gently taking a few steps backward and closing the door, Shining slowly started to make his way down the hall, painful and angry thoughts shouting his mind.

Later that night…

I stared down at the human, who was nuzzling my neck with an adorable little smile on his face, feeling a mixture of comfort and…something else. The other emotion was a little hard to describe, one I don’t think I’ve experienced or, if I had, it was long enough that I’ve forgotten it.

My emptiness, sadness, and everything else was almost forgotten as I looked down at my friend. I sniffled sadly, leaning down to gently kiss him on the forehead; an action that I can’t defend or explain. With a sigh, I muttered, “Goodnight, Ares, thanks for keeping me from losing it, for making me smile, and just all around brightening my day.”

Nuzzling the top of his head, I couldn’t help but feel like I hadn’t said something as I drifted off to sleep, my wings wrapped around my warm, nice-smelling friend.

Author's Notes:

Oh shit, I'm breaking out the quotes out now! Get nervous people!

Not my favorite chapter, but I think it gets the job done.

Also, the next ch is probably going to come out a little late; I've had to rewrite the damn thing like six times and finals are starting to creep around the corner so yah...

Oh, and if I send it out in the same day as this, I have a neat little one shot coming out To service a Queen . I thought it was great because I heckled one of my editors for lolz during its making. :)

As usual, comment, point out errors, etc