I slowly open my eyes as a bright light brings me out of sleep. The sun’s shining down straight onto me, as birds sing in the distance. I look down to see Luna still sleeping peacefully, holding lightly onto me as she breathes down my neck, her bangs covering most of her face. I smile as I brush her hair out of her face and push it around her ear. Last night was amazing... I just wonder if...

"Mmmm..." she mumbles as she lets go of me and rolls over. I reach over and kiss the back of her head before I get out of bed. I walk around and try to see if there's anything in here we can use. I pick up the multi-fruit and set it on the table, leaving it for Luna. Most of everything in here is empty, but one of the cabinets has something that I find strange to have in a place like this - a book with a quill and ink. I pick it up and blow the dust off before opening it. It looks like some kind of lecture, having a column of scribbles on the left with dash marks on the right. I really need to learn to read pony text. "Miles?" I look over to see Luna looking at me.

"Hey, how did you sleep?" I ask as I walk over and lay beside her. She reaches over and gives me a quick kiss before laying beside me.

"Good. Better than in a long time. What’s this?" she asks as she looks at the book.

"I don't know. I was looking through the cabinets and this was the only thing in here. What is it?" I ask as I hand her the book. She takes it with her magic and flips through the pages a bit until she gets to a small paragraph in the front, where her eyes go wide as she reads it. "Well, what does it say?"

"Well... uh... I'll just read it to you. ‘Welcome to the Love Shack. If you have sex in here, you have to write your name in the book, as well as your partner’s name, and dash off the number of times you did it. Be sure to mark off the columns that apply to your style, as well as the amount of times you and your partner came. Have fun.’"

"So..."

"Do you have a quill?" she asks as she flips to the first available page.

"You can't be serious."

"It’s in the rules."

"If we write our names in there and someone finds it, we could get in a shit load of trouble."

"True, but if you write it, then nopony can read it. Quill?" I stare at her for a bit before I nod and retrieve the quill and ink. I lie back down and take the book from her to write our names in their slots. As I do, Luna lays against me as she looks in the book. "OK, so the first column you get three and I get one."

"Alright."

"Next column, you get two and I get one."

"OK."

"Umm... OH! I get one in that column, and you get two in the one after it."

"Right... what exactly am I marking off?"

"What? You can't remember?" she says as she continues to read the columns. "Alright... that's all we get." I look at the number of columns we didn't mark off and try to figure out what things we hadn’t done.

"What more is there to do that we didn't do?"

"Well... some of these I don't know the meaning of, but I can tell you right now that we're never doing this one," she says as she points to one of the columns.

"And what would that one be?"

"Uh... don't worry about it. Lets just put this away and head out," she says with a blush. I give her a look before I get up and put them back in the cabinet I found them in. I'll get her to tell me another time. I walk over to the table and toss Luna the multi-fruit before sitting down.

"Eat up and then we'll head out."

"What about you? What are you going to eat?" she asks as she looks over the fruit.

"I'll be fine, go ahead and eat."

"Miles, you need to eat too. Here, we'll share it," she says as she splits it in two with her magic and gives me a half. I’m about to protest when my stomach yells at me, making Luna raise an eyebrow to me as she begins to eat.

"Uh... I'll just eat then," I say before I take a bite from the red fruit. It's crispy while being juicy... a good contradiction. It tastes like a watered downed apple, not bad overall. We finish quickly and begin to head out. I hold the door for her as I take one last look at the room, savoring the memory before I shut the door and follow Luna down the path.

"So what’s the plan now?" Luna asks as I catch up with her.

"Well, first things first we need to find out where we are. Then we work on getting you back home."

"I meant with us."

"Oh... huh?" She shakes her head a bit before she leans against me, making it a little awkward to walk.

"I mean, how do we move on from here? Do I stay in Canterlot or do I move in with you? Or the other way around?"

"Well... I think we should be separate until we let Celestia know about us. But the minute we do, we become inseparable, right?"

"Right," she says with a big smile.

"So, that's the plan. But be sure to visit as often as possible. Also, when you get the chance, let me know your schedule so I can visit you as well."

"I'll do that, but I think I can guess my schedule. Wake up, eat, court, eat, sleep, and repeat. Maybe even less when I make it back."

"Well... that... hmm..." I try to think of what to say, but nothing really comes to mind.

"Don't worry about it. It's been like this ever since I've been back. But now at least I get to have something to look forward to." I smile at her when I catch onto something.

"Wait, been back? Where did you go?" I ask, making her stop in her tracks.

"Uh... well... I was... imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years..."

"WHAT!? You were imprisoned there for a THOUSAND years!?"

"Well... a thousand years ago... something in me changed. I began to resent the world for not liking my night, so I chose to shroud the land in eternal darkness. My sister defeated me with the Elements of Harmony..."

"YOUR SISTER USED THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY ON YOU!?" I yell, making her back up a bit.

"Miles..."

"Sorry, sorry," I say as I try to calm down.

"It’s OK. I needed to be stopped. I was destroying the land in my blind rage. I had to be stopped."

"That still doesn't make what she did right. She could have really done some damage to your soul."

"I know, but don't worry, I'm fine..."

"How did you even survive a thousand years on the moon anyway?"

"Well, she didn't physically put me there, she more... put... my soul within it." My eye starts twitching. "Please stay calm."

"Right, one moment please," I say as I walk over to a tree. I take a deep breath before I begin to punch the trunk.

"What are you doing?!" Luna asks as she runs to my side.

"Staying calm. Please tell me the rest of what happened," I say as I continue to punch the tree.

"Well, after a thousand years, the stars aided in my escape and I returned to Equestria. I tried to take over again, but was stopped by Twilight Sparkle and her friends... with... the Elements of Harmony..."

CRACK

I put a little too much energy into my punch when I hear this, making a chunk of the tree blow off.

"So you've had the Elements used on you twice."

"Yeah. The second time cured me of my anger and put me into my innocent form, as well as cutting my power in half."

"It didn't cut your power, it destroyed it," I say as I move to the next tree and begin to punch it.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you see the way I used it back at the fort? It doesn't affect anything physical, it goes after your soul. I was cutting their souls to pieces. If you had lost enough of your soul, you would’ve gone comatose."

"Oh... that actually explains a lot. When I would try to use my magic, it seemed to be weaker than before, by a lot actually. Well, that was until Soul Fire gave me my own soul fire."

"...You have a soul fire?"

"Yeah, when I went into your subconscious he gave it to me. She doesn't speak much, but I've heard her a couple of times."

"Huh... my soul fire must’ve repaired your soul, as well as given you some extra power, to make you able to have soul fire... have you ever used the attack yet?"

"I think I did once during the attack on Ponyville, but I don't really remember. So... you made me stronger?"

"Probably not. You were strong to begin with."

"No I wasn't. I..."

"Take it from someone who's taken a hit from you, you are strong. You defeated Chrysalis. You fought back the Diamond Dogs. You held your own against the bots. Celestia couldn't even beat you without using the Elements of Harmony. You could do anything you wanted to do if you put your mind to it. You. Are. Strong." She takes a few steps back from me as I say this, but I keep up with her as she tries to back away.

"Miles... I..." Before she could say anything I drop to my knees and pull her in for a kiss. I feel her tense up a bit before she melts into the kiss. I break the kiss to look her in the eyes, only to find her bangs back in her face. I bring my hand up and push them back behind her ear, making her blush a bit. She throws her legs around me as she pulls me into a tight hug. I lay my arms around her lightly and hold her there as I feel tears fall onto my back. "Thank you... for believing in me."

"I'll always believe in you," I say into her ear, getting her to hold me a bit tighter - a little too tight, but I'll deal with it. I lose track of time as I hold her there, slowly losing the feeling in my arms. She finally lets go of me and takes a few steps back, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"We should get going," she says with a smile.

"Yeah, you wouldn't happen to know where we're at, would you?" I ask as I stand up.

"Well, these were eucalyptus trees, which doesn't make sense. There are only a few beaches that I know of that have them, and none of them are in Equestria, well, not that I know of at least... I'm going to try something, if I'm right, it should take us to Canterlot..."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then I waste a lot of energy and make us have to walk back."

"Well, alright. Give it a go." She takes a few breaths before she closes her eyes and concentrates at... whatever it is she's planning. The world suddenly goes white as we teleport away.

---

When I open my eyes I find us... not where I had been planning to be.

"I don't get it. An open field..." Miles says as he looks around. There's a mountain in front of us with hills taking the sides and a forest to our backs... that mountain looks familiar.

"I think I over shot... that's Canterlot," I say as I begin to walk towards it.

"Are you sure?" he asks as he follows me.

"It seems different because we're seeing it from behind, but that's definitely it."

"Cool. So... I guess I'll just head home after I drop you off. I'm sure Celestia wants to spend time with you, now that you’re back."

"She will. I'll visit you next chance I get... and I'll be sure to give you some warning so you remember that I'm coming."

"Hey... yeah, that was bad." We share a laugh as we continue to walk down the path. When we come to the top of a small hill we see a caravan of ponies heading towards us, making Miles jump in the brush on the side of the road.

"What are you doing?" I ask as I walk up to him.

"I'm naked."

"And?"

"Luna..."

"Oh! Right. External. Uh... scoot over some," I say as I jump down beside him. We fidget around some before we finally get comfortable. Miles is hovering a bit above me as I lay underneath. The first few carts begin to pass by, making Miles duck down a bit.

"...Dodge was hit. What do you think Princess Celestia will do?" says a mare. Dodge... hit... what happened? I lean forward as I try to hear more of the conversation.

"I don't know. She seemed really disturbed by something. Makes you wonder what could possibly have happened to make her not care about an entire town being... BUTTERSCOTCH! I said leave your sister alone!" yells a stallion.

"But she started it!" replies a colt.

"No I didn't!"

"Yeah you did!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Ye-huh!"

"Nuuu-uh!"

"Yeeeee-huuh." As they roll away I look back to see that Miles is missing. I stand up and look around for him, but can't seem to see him anywhere.

"Miles?" I call out as I step onto the path.

"LUNA!" he yells from behind, making me fall on my back, landing in a pit of mud. He laughs a bit as he finishes tying off a dark green sheet around his chest.

"Don't scare me like that! Where did… did... did you steal that from them!?" I yell as I stand up and wipe some of the mud off.

"Well, yeah. Could you imagine what your sister would do if we walked into Canterlot with me naked?"

"Well... you could have asked them for it!"

"Yeah, because ponies always help the naked human with the glowing gems on their arm," he says as he begins to walk towards Canterlot.

"How did you even get that?" I ask as I follow after him.

"Are you kidding me, I was a master pickpocket by the time I was seven. The orphanage never gave us enough to truly live off of, so we had to learn to steal from the markets. Stealing from people is a lot easier than stealing from bots."

"Yes... well... I still don't like you stealing..."

"And I don't like stealing either. That's why I only do it when I truly need to. I figure not pissing off your sister is a little more important than them having a burnt sheet."

"It's burnt?" He pulls a corner up to show the scorched edges, along with a few blood marks. "What happened to Dodge... we have to get to Canterlot as soon as possible," I say as I quicken my pace down the road.

"That's my girl," Miles mumbles as he follows after me. I smile and shake my head a bit as I begin to run down the path. We make it to the base of the mountain in an hour, running the entire time.

"OK, I'm going to try teleporting again," I say as I close my eyes and focus on the location in my head. I set the spell off and we flash away, appearing in the court room. I look around to see two guards standing before the throne, where Celestia sits. She has her head draped off the side as she holds her eyes shut, a few tears falling down her cheek. I motion to Miles and the guards to stay quiet as I slowly approach her, getting nods in response. I sneak my way up to her and get ready to pounce on her. "TIA!" I yell as I jump on top of her.

"AAAAHHHHH!" she yells as we tumble off the throne chair and fall onto the marble floor. "LUNA!" she yells as she wraps me up in a massive hug. "You're back... you're finally back... I missed you so much, sister..."

"I missed you too, Tia," I say as I hold onto her, tearing up a bit.

"I feared that I had lost you forever... are you OK? What did they do to you?" she asks as she looks me in the eyes. I take a few deep breaths as I recall my capture.

"Well... sister... uh... I-I'll tell you about it another time. Just know that Miles saved my life, multiple times in fact," I say as I look back to him and smile, getting a smile in response. We both stand up and approach him, Celestia taking the lead.

"Miles, thank you. I know you and I... don't see eye to eye, but just know I'm eternally thankful for what you did."

"There's a Spartan saying that I think fits for us. A spear has two ends, though they differ in use, you could not make a spear without them. You can always count on me to be by your side, both of you." He raises his right arm and gives a salute. Celestia gives a small bow before she begins to charge her horn.

"I'm sorry to cut this short, but we must get Luna some rest now. Thank you again, Miles, knight of Ponyville."

"Of course. If you ever have need of the Spartan regiment, you know where to find us," he says with a wink to me. I blush a bit as I silently pray that Celestia didn't see it.

"Of course," Celestia says before she teleports him away, leaving us alone. I feel my heart sink a little as he disappears from the room, but at the same time I feel glad to be home and with my sister. "Right, so let’s get you a bath and then something to eat. You... uh... well..."

"I stink. I know. A warm bath sounds amazing right now." Celestia smiles as she teleports us to the royal bathrooms. She walks over and begin to get a bath ready for me. I look over to a mirror and do a double take from my reflection. I'm absolutely filthy. Why did Miles have to scare me like that... well, it was funny. Plus it was some pretty good payback from the time I scared him.

"Luna?" Celestia calls as she finishes setting the bath. I walk over and give her a smile before I slowly sit inside the large round tub.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH... hot water... how I missed you as well," I say as I sink into the water. I see Celestia begin to back away, so I charge my horn and teleport her over the tub, making her splash down.

"LUNA!"

"What? I just got back and you were about to leave the room."

"I was getting the shampoo..."

"Oh... heh, sorry," I say with a sheepish grin, getting her to smile as she levitates the bottle over to her. She motions to me to come over so I get up and take a seat between her legs. She gets to work washing my mane as I begin to unwind.

"I must be honest sister, you seem to be faring much better than I thought you would be."

"Yes... well, Miles helped me a lot."

"Well, I'm glad he helped you. He certainly helped more than those lackeys he trained."

"What do you mean?"

"I went to them and asked for them to assist in Dodge, but they told me that they couldn't leave because their orders were to watch Ponyville..."

"What happened to Dodge?"

"A strange storm blew in and destroyed most of it. Most of the ponies there have left to start over somewhere else, but a few have decided to stay. Some were here earlier, claiming it was the work of some griffins, but my weather reporter told me a rogue storm was to blame."

"That's horrible... what exactly did you need Storm Cloud and Big Mac to do?"

"I asked them to assist in escorting the refugees to their destinations, but they said that without a lieutenant they couldn't disregard Miles’s order. I know he said we could count on them in the future, but I don't trust them... but enough about that. You're here, and that's all that matters right now."

"Right... well, let me tell you about my journey back here, you won't believe some of the things that happened."

"I'm all ears," she says as she starts to rub the soap onto my back.

"Well, after Miles blew up the fort that held me, we wandered into the woods together..."

---

I flash in front of my home and sigh in relief. It's good to be home finally. I walk up to the door and go inside. Everything seems to be normal, nothing’s missing at least. I walk up the stairs to my room where I find the door slightly open. I push the door open and see Lupus's head pop up from my bed. The look on his face screams ‘guilty’...

"What did you do?" I ask him, making him look away as a second wolf's head pops up from behind him. It's a bit more slender than him, being a lighter shade of grey as well... "You just had to do it in my bed, didn't you?” Lupus jumps off the bed and runs over to me, rubbing his side against my legs as he looks up to me.

"Miles! You're back!" Storm yells from behind as he leaves his room.

"Why did you let Lupus use my room!?" I ask as the other wolf runs over to me and starts rubbing against me as well.

"Believe me, I tried to get him out. But every time I went in there they would just growl at me!" he says as he approaches me, only to back away as they begin to growl at him.

"Hey! Cute and cuddly!" I say to them, getting them to continue to rub against me. "So did I miss anything?" I ask as I walk into my room and pull out some clothes.

"Actually, you're just in time."

"In time for what?"

"I'm about to pop the question to Twilight, you have to come with!"

Next Chapter: Chapter 90 The Greatest Proposal, The Biggest Slip Up Estimated time remaining: 67 Hours, 11 Minutes