I awake slowly and try to rub my face, but find myself chained to a bed. Ah... well, I guess it's time to go down the list. Clothes... *shuffles around* nope, nude. Injuries... I check my side, and see my waist has been wrapped up, as well as my feet. I look around to get my bearings, I’m pretty sure that I'm in the Ponyville hospital, same green walls as before. I lift my head and see that I'm in my own room, with the other bed having all of my belongings laying on top of it. I look out of the window and see that it's now night time as well. Damn, hopefully this time I only missed a day or two. I try to sit up but a searing pain shoots from my side, forcing me back down. Fucking perfect... well, may as well get some rest for the night. I can always heal myself up in the morning.

Tick...tock........tick..................tock...........................tick....................................

Fuck this, way too boring. I begin to try and break free when the door slowly opens. A pony with a large black coat walks into the room and comes up beside me. I feel a little apprehensive at first, but when she removes the hood to reveal her face I sigh in relief.

"Luna, man am I glad to see you." I say that, but my nerves return to me when I see the marks of dried tears on her cheeks.

"Yes, it is good to see you again Miles. Though I wish it were under better circumstances."

"What do you mean? What’s going on?"

"Well... with the paparazzi incident, the fight with the dragons, and the strange event that happened when we were both knocked out, my sister and I got into an argument and... I am no longer going to be the one to watch over you..."

"What... no. None of that was-"

"I know, you did what you had to do, and you kept the ponies of Equestria safe in your efforts, but things have been blown to such a high point that my family has decided that I should step down from this project."

"Well... if not you, then who?"

"Prince Shining Armor."

"Who?"

"He is the captain of the royal guard. He will be the one to watch over you from now on."

"Well... wait, what about Storm?"

"He's been relieved of his duties due to incompetence-"

"WHAT! No nononono, being in the guard was all he had, they can't do this!" She turns away from me and looks out at the night sky. This isn't fair. Storm did his job; I did nothing wrong. They have no right to do this! I hear a sniffle come from Luna and immediately forget about that. "What about you?" I ask calmly, "what happens to you after this?" She looks to me for a second before she turns back to the night sky.

"Me... I go back to the way things were before. Sleeping all day, holding night court and raising the moon every night. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Will I ever see you again?" She turns back to me and puts on a hard face.

"No... maybe... I don't know." She lowers her head and begins to let tears form again.

"Hey, we’ll see each other," I say, making her look up to me with hopeful eyes, "whether it’s from a distance or a secret scrying, you'll see me."

"Miles... I..." She shakes her head a little and walks up to my side. She leans over and gives me a soft kiss. My heart starts to race from her soft lips meeting mine. She ends the kiss and pulls back a little to look into my eyes. Without thinking about it I lean forward and return the kiss with more passion. Everything else in the world fades away as I focus solely on her soft lips. She returns the kiss with equal passion, leaning into me to get a better position over me. After what feels like an eternity we pull back from one another to take a break to breathe. She begins to run a hoof up and down my chest, which I enjoy until she runs over my wound, making me jump in pain. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry about my scratch, I'll be fine."

"Yeah... scratch."

"Luna..." Before I can finish she pushes back into me, getting onto the bed and kissing as if we'll never see each other again. I return the passion and try to hold her, only to rediscover that I'm still tied up. "Mind giving me a hand?" I say through her lips, making her look up at the chains.

"I can't. They're enchanted to set off an alarm if they're removed."

"Well... I guess kissing will have to suffice," I say with a light chuckle. She chuckles with me and lays her head across my chest as she holds onto me. I drown myself in her presence, taking in every scent, focusing on every touch, sound, the taste of her lips against mine.

"Miles... you realize that... if we were to be together... it would have to be a secret. Nopony would be allowed to see or hear of this."

"If it meant that I could be with you, I would go to the most reclusive parts of the world." She looks up to me again and gives me another smile, before she leans in and begins kissing me again. We play our little game of passionate kissing until a sound down the hall catches our attention. She quickly gets off the bed and pulls the hood over her head.

"I have to go."

"I know."

"I'll try to find ways to be with you, but it may take some time... I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, but don't worry, we'll see each other again, I know it." She comes back to me and gives me a long hard final kiss before she backs away and flashes out of the room. I lay back and reflect on what just transpired. I just made out with a pony. I feel as if this should be wrong, but I don't really care. I close my eyes and focus on her lingering scent. It reminds me of the rain, and somehow the night - wonder how she does that. I have to find a way to see her again, any way possible. I lay back and try to think of possibilities, but sleep finds me before any ideas come to mind.

"Is he awake yet?" I hear a female ask from the side as I slowly wake up. I look over and see two ponies standing in the now bright room.

"Ugh... what? What's going on?" I ask as I look up to the two ponies. One is an all-white male unicorn, with blue hair that has a strand of light and dark blue in it. He's wearing purple armor with gold trim. In the center of his chest plate is an insignia of a purple star that resembles the one on Twilight's cutie mark. He seems to be the same size as Big Mac, but a little buffer. The other one is an all pink alicorn with yellow, pink, and purple hair, that seems to be a little smaller than Luna. Wait... an alicorn. There's more than just Celestia and Luna... I guess that makes sense, Luna did say she had family and all.

"How do you feel, Miles?" asks the pink one as she approaches my wounded side and takes a look at it.

"Do I have to answer?" Because then I would talk about how awesome I feel because Luna and I kissed, and then she would get mad at me for ruining the secret so early.

"Do you feel fit enough to travel?" asks the unicorn.

"Umm... I don't know. Probably when I'm let loose and able to heal myself. Who are you?"

"Oh, where are our manners? I am Princess Cadence, and this is my husband Prince Shining Armor."

"Lieutenant Miles Eremita, first battalion, Spartan regiment."

"Lieutenant... I wasn't informed you were ranked military personnel, another flaw to add for Storm Cloud-"

"I thought his job was to answer to Luna, not you."

"Well... yes, but I am the captain of the royal guard, I still should’ve been informed."

"Calm down rent-a-cop. He did as he was told, what more could you ask?"

"Rent-A-Cop! Do you have any idea who you’re talking to!?" he says as he gets in my face.

"Yeah... a guard. I'm military, I actually get into the shit and come out on top. You chase kids who run in the shopping center..."

"I protect the princesses and Canterlot! And how good of a fighter could you be if you nearly died from a young dragon!?"

"First off, how was I supposed to know they're bulletproof, and secondly there were three of them - and who would the Princesses need protection from that they couldn't handle?"

"AHEM! Please, let’s keep our voices down, we are in a hospital after all," Princess Cadence says, getting Shining Armor out of my face.

"Sorry dear," Prince Shining Armor says as he nudges her face a little. "So, back to business. Miles, I am here to take you to Canterlot for extra supervision. Luna will no longer watch over you, I will."

"Where's Canterlot?"

"It's about three hundred miles northwest of here."

"...what? How would you... how many kilometers is that?"

"What's a kilometer?" We stare at each other for a while until the door opens up, as Twilight and Storm walk into the room.

"Twilight, what are you doing here?" says Shining Armor as he walks up to her and give her a quick hug. "And what are you doing here? Weren't you discharged?" he asks, making Storm back up a bit.

"Whoa... slow down Rent-A-Cop, he's here to visit a friend," I say, getting a nasty look from Shining.

"Miles, behave," Twilight says as she walks into the room and comes to my side. "And I'm here to check on Miles, I am the one who is supposed to watch over him, brother." Brother! That explains the similarity of their marks.

"That was your job, he's under my watch now. I'm taking him to Canterlot to keep a close eye on him."

"What! You can't do that..." Storm starts, but stops when Shining turns to him.

"I can and I will. He nearly blew up an entire town, killed three dragons, and nearly destroyed the sanctity of our family name! He's too dangerous to be left alone."

"He never meant to harm anypony! He was saving a reporter’s life when he fought those dragons..."

"A reporter’s life that he put in danger. You’re no longer in the guard and have run my patience dry, please leave the hospital before I have you arrested." Storm looks between me and Shining before he turns to leave.

"Storm, if you can, watch over my place, and let Applejack know I might be a tad late for work," I yell out to him. He stops at the door and nods to me before he leaves. Once he's gone the room falls silent for a while. Shining turns and walks back to Cadence, who looks to be deep in thought. Twilight is just staring out at the door where Storm left.

"So... what's Canterlot like?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"Don't worry about the city, you won't be anywhere near it."

"Brother, can I have a word with you, in private?" Twilight says as she walks out of the room. Shining gives Cadence a kiss on the cheek before he walks out of the room.

"Quite the charmer," I say sarcastically.

"He's just under a lot of stress because of this mess. The royal guard looked really bad because of this. Being the head of the guard, he's been taking it pretty hard."

"Hmm..."

"Miles, may I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything, it's just a matter of whether or not I answer."

"Oh... well... I'm told you held Luna hostage for a while. Rumor even says that they tried to saw your hand off but the blade melted, is it true?"

"*sigh* I'm not sure. I remember waking up while holding onto her horn, but I don't recall ever grabbing it. As for the hostage thing, I would never do something like that."

"I want to believe you, but you haven't really given me much to hold onto..."

"Not to be rude, but I don't need you to believe me. I know what happened, and so does Luna. That's all I need." Before Cadence can answer, Twilight and Shining walk back into the room, Shining looking aggravated and Twilight looking very triumphant.

"Well... after some... encouraging words from my sister, I've decided to give you a chance to clear your name. I'll give you a week in Canterlot to prove to me that you’re not a threat to the ponies of Equestria. If you succeed, you gain your freedom, if not... then you better get used to being in Canterlot."

"I'll agree when you understand one thing, there are only two people who could possibly retain my freedom, and you are not one of them. I do this, to clear my name, not because you think you’re commanding me to." His face contorts with frustration and anger as he tries to swallow this. He finally composes himself and straightens himself out.

"We'll see about that... so, we have an understanding, should we get going?" he asks as he releases the chains around my hands. I bring my hands up and flare my magic, making Shining get into a readied stance. I slam my hands into my chest and send surges of healing magic throughout my body. After about fifteen or twenty minutes of this I finish up and shut off my magic.

"Alright, let’s get going," I say as I sit up and begin to remove the bandages from my feet and waist.

"That's impressive," Cadence says, getting a look from Shining. I keep the sheets for cover as I go to the other bed and grab my clothes. I only have some underwear and most of my pants. Fuck it, better than nothing. After I get dressed, I put on all of my weapons and turn to the other three.

"Alright, waiting on you now." I follow them out as we head out of the hospital. Canterlot, here we come.

Next Chapter: Chapter 45 Train Ride Estimated time remaining: 78 Hours, 50 Minutes