Chapter 18

We were all quiet for a few seconds, just processing this information that the pink spa pony has just told us. After a few seconds of silence, Lotus began to panic.

“W-w-what? P-Princess C-Celestia? B-but what is she doing here, w-why does she want a massage here, why-”

Before she could continue, Aloe quickly placed a hoof on her sister’s mouth, silencing her. Once she was sure that she had her attention, she said, “It’s simple. Celestia told me that Drak had offered to massage her when he was at the castle, and she decided to take him up on his offer.”

She removed her hoof from Lotus’s mouth, and Lotus look at me for confirmation, to which I nodded. Lotus began to calm down, but then she gained a quizzical look, and asked, “Wait, why does she want a massage from you?”

I smiled sheepishly and said, “Well, it might have to do with the fact that I was massaging Luna back in Canterlot when she just joined our herd, and Celestia might have overheard the commotion coming out of her room and mistaken it for…something else…so, yea.”

They were both quiet at this, and even Aloe blushed at my explanation. Before we could say anything, we heard somepony clearing their throat, and we turned and saw the Princess of the Sun herself.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” asked Celestia, an eyebrow up in amusement. The three of us quickly shook our heads. I was able to quickly gain my composure and said, “Well, I didn’t expect for you to be here so soon, is all.”

“Well, turns out that something turned up that required my sister to be a part of, and since I was around, I decided to take a quick stop here, for my muscles are quiet strained from a few thousand years of pent up stress.” I nodded, understanding her point, and said, “Well, if you’re ready, we can begin now. Just lie on the table and we can start.”

Celestia nodded, and she placed herself onto the table. I paused for a moment, and then asked, “Anyplace in particular that you want me to focus on?”

“If you could, could you try to relax the base of my wings, for they are very sore, especially since I flew all the way here from Canterlot”

I nodded again, and began her massage, starting with her shoulders, doing the same thing that I did with Rarity’s massage. Celestia sighed in relief, saying, “Oh my, now I can see why Luna loved it so much.”

We were quiet for most of the time, me just massaging Celestia, while the spa sisters were watching in anticipation. I assumed that this was the first time that they had any royalty in their spa, so it was most defiantly understandable that they would be nervous about this. Once I finished her shoulders, I began to work on her mid back, paying extra attention to her wing bases. As soon as I placed some pressure on them, I noticed that Celestia flinched slightly, and worried that I might have hurt her, I said, “Oh, sorry, was that too much?”

Celestia giggled, saying, “Not at all, please continue, you’re doing a wonderful job so far.” I mentally shrugged and continued from where I left off, once again paying extra attention to her wing bases, kneading them with firm but gentle strokes, making her sigh in delight. Once I finished with her wing bases, which took about ten minutes of solid kneading, I began to work on her lower back and hips, making her give small gasps every time I hit an especially stiff spot on her. Once I was finished with that, I hesitated again, and then I realized that she was most likely expecting it anyways, I began to work on her flank as well, still avoiding the cutie marks. She was suddenly quiet for a few seconds, but before I could respond, she said, “Um, if it’s ok with you, Drak, y-you may…um…y-you may massage m-my…c-c-cutie…m-marks…”

I was stunned for a second, even pausing in the massage while I just absorbed what she said. I quickly glanced at Aloe and Lotus, and they had just as equally confused looks on them as well. Everypony was quiet for a moment, and then I was finally able to speak.

“Um, a-are y-y-you s-sure, Celestia? I don’t w-want to do it if y-you’re not sure.”

Celestia was quiet for a few seconds, before she slowly nodded, saying, “I’m sure, but only if you’re comfortable with it. And don’t worry, I’m just curious about what it would feel like with a human doing it, is all.”

I stayed quiet for a little longer, and then I shrugged, and ever so slowly, I rubbed a single finger over her blazing sun cutie mark.

As soon as my finger made contact with it, she gave a sudden gasp, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as she shivered with pleasure. I continued to massage her cutie marks for another thirty seconds, until I decided that I should stop before it became too uncomfortable. Celestia was gasping for air the entire time I was massaging her. I began to quickly but still with careful attention to all of the muscles and pressure points massage her rear legs. Once that was done, I noticed that Celestia extended her right foreleg as well, so getting the hint I began to massage her foreleg. Once I reached her hoof, though, she began to moan in pleasure again, which confused me until a realized, ‘Oh, right, she’s an Alicorn, so her fore hooves are sensitive too.’ Nevertheless, I continued with the massage, and once I finished with both of her front hooves, I motioned for her to stand back up. As she did so, she gave an experimental flap of her wings and took a few steps with her hooves, and giving a big smile, she surprised me with a kiss on the cheek, saying, “I appreciate the massage, Drakalian, I haven’t felt this good in over a thousand years.”

“W-well, g-glad that I could be of s-service, Celestia.” I said, blushing. Celestia giggled at my expression, as well as Lotus and Aloe. As she walked away, I noticed that she swayed her hips ever so slightly, her tail floating along behind her. Realizing that I was staring at her plot, I quickly looked away, blushing even more. Unfortunately, the spa sisters noticed this, and Lotus quickly placed a quick peck on my cheek, saying, “I don’t mind, for I know now that you have enough love for all of us.”

I was silent for a moment, and then I said, “I…I…I…” which just caused them to burst out laughing. Once they calmed down, I said, “Well, now that she is done with her massage, what now?”

I left the spa a few hours later, a bag of bits attached to the belt of my shorts. Lotus and Aloe told me of were they lived, which was a small duplex near the spa itself, so that I would most likely be there once I picked up Dinky, though knowing her, she would most likely want to do something with me. Honestly, I was looking forward to hanging out with my daughter; it would be a new experience for the both of us. After another few minutes of walking, I approached the school building, I noticed that all of the fillies and colts were already out and leaving the area. Well, all except for a certain group of fillies that I was able to notice as the CMC. As I got closer, I noticed that they seemed to be talking to another pair of fillies next to them. I was able to tell that the other two fillies were both Earth ponies, one was pink with a dual light purple and white mane, while the other one was light grey with a silver mane. Both of the ponies had their cutie marks as well; the pink one had a tiara as her cutie mark, while the grey one had a spoon as hers. They also appeared to be wearing some sort of jewelry, the pink one had a tiara on her head that matched her cutie mark, and the grey one had a blue beaded necklace, and she also was wearing some light blue glasses as well. Once I was close enough, I was able to hear what it was that they were saying.

“Why don’t you blank flanks just give up already? You haven’t found your cutie marks and you never will.” Said the pink filly in a boisterous manner. The grey filly nodded, seeming to follow her friend’s lead.

“We’re never going to give up on it, Diamond Tiara, and this time, we’re sure that we’ll get our cutie marks!” Said Applebloom, a small frown on her face. The other Crusaders seemed to be annoyed as well, though they were also slightly bored by it too. My guess is that they dealt with these two before.

“Yea, so how about you two just leave us alone, you’re always picking on us for not having our cutie marks, and that is just so uncool.” Said Scootaloo, puffing her chest out to try and make herself more intimidating. The pink Earth filly that I now knew as Diamond Tiara began to laugh, and soon her grey Earth pony friend began to laugh as well.

“And why should I, it’s not like you blank flanks have anything better to do.” Said Diamond, a smirk on her face. The more that I listened, the more I became annoyed at these two myself. I could tell that they were just a couple of bullies like the one that was bothering Ditzy when I first met her, and I was debating whether or not to step in, when suddenly, Dinky appeared out of nowhere and said, “You two should stop, you big meanies, or my new Daddy will kick your flank!”

The two bullies stopped their laughing and turned to the pink unicorn filly. “I’m not afraid of him. All he did was scare off some brutish Earth pony from your mom, and I don’t think it was worth it, for everything that he said to her was true, right Silver Spoon?” Said Diamond, turning towards her friend. The grey filly, now known as Silver Spoon, was hesitant before she nodded slowly, saying, “Yea…I guess…”

“What do you mean, you guess, Silver? She is just some wall-eyed freak and the only pony that would go out with her isn’t even a pony at all!”

“Don’t you dare say anything bad about Drak! He could beat you with both of his…uh…hands, behind his back!” Said Sweetie, giving them her best evil eye, which only seemed meh to be honest.

“HA! I’m not afraid of him, in fact, I bet I could beat him up without even having to look at him!”

“While I normally don’t back down from a challenge, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline this one, for I don’t fight little fillies that are way over their heads.” I said, once I was behind them. Once I heard them insult Ditzy, I had already made up my mind to intervene, and I put my hood up as well to increase my intimidating factor, for I really didn’t want to physically hurt them, even if they were being this mean.

All of the fillies jumped in surprise, giving little “squeaks” in the process. Slowly, Diamond and Silver turned to face me, and once they saw me, they began to tremble slightly. While I normally hate making others afraid of me, I sometimes made an exception, since I knew that these two deserved it. I then took a couple of glances into their eyes to see if they really were being this mean just for fun. What I found surprised me.

When I looked into Silver Spoon’s lavender eyes, I noticed that she was not only scared, but didn’t fully agree with everything that her friend was saying, though I could already tell that she was more of a follower. When I looked at Diamond’s light blue eyes, though, I saw that while she was terrified, she still seemed to not be backing down, and she made this more clearly when she suddenly puffed her chest out, trying to make herself seem more intimidating.

“Why is that, human? You scared?” she said, laughing at her own comment. I saw that this time, Silver didn’t seem to laugh with her, still shivering in her own hooves. I was quiet for a few seconds, debating what to say. I then said, “I’m not scared of somepony like you, though I am curious as to why you would pick on these fillies simple because they lack a cutie mark. If I recall correctly, you need to earn your cutie mark, which means at some point in your life, you must have been a so called ‘blank flank’ yourselves, am I right?”

As soon as I finished speaking, I saw a flash go across Diamond’s eyes, and I was able to notice what it was before it disappeared from her eyes.

It was fear from the past.

I then was able to connect all of the dots, why she bullied them, why she made fun of others, why she didn’t even seem to be that bad of a pony, and also why I saw here show some fear from the comment that I made. She was doing this simply because she was bullied before for the same reason, and the reason that she picked on the CMC as well as Dinky was simple because she just wanted revenge for what she had to go through. Once I figured it out, I began to pity her, and I knew exactly what I should do to solve this problem.

I sighed as I bent over to sit down in front of them, bringing me to eye level with them. As I sat down, I took my hood down so that they could see my face. I was quiet for a few seconds, before I said, “You know, Diamond, bullying isn’t the answer to your problem.”

Diamond looked at me like I was crazy. “What do you mean, ‘problem’? There isn’t any problem here, unless you’re talking about these-”

I covered her mouth with my hand, looking her in the eyes, and said, “Don’t lie to me, I can tell that you have been bullied before for the same reason. Your eyes give it away.” This caused the others to gasp in surprise, including Silver, who was staring wide-eyed at the whole thing. Diamond was quiet for a while, my hand still against her mouth. Suddenly, I saw a few tears slowly sneak out of her eyes and drop on my hand. I slowly brought my hand away from her mouth, and I noticed that she was at the burst of tears, most likely thinking back to her times of being bullied. After a few moments of silence, she finally spoke.

“I…I just…they were so m-mean and…I don’t w-want that to h-happen to me e-ever again.” She said, more tears starting to poor out. I gave a sad smile, and slowly I embraced her into a hug, which she just as quickly gave into. I looked at the other fillies to see how they would react, and thankfully, they seemed to have similar sad faces on themselves as well. After a minute of hugging, Diamond released her grip from me slowly, and sniffling, she looked back at me. We were quiet for a few seconds, before I asked, “You feeling better?” She gave a few sniffles before she slowly nodded, saying, “I…I’m sorry for everything that I did. I just…I just wanted to not have the s-same thing h-happen to me.”

“Well, I’m not the one that you have to apologize to.” I said, gesturing to the others. She turned around and looked at the CMC and Dinky, a few tears still in her eyes. After a few seconds, she said, “I’m sorry for bullying you girls all the time, and calling you blank flanks, and I’ll understand it if you girls don’t forgive me.”

The CMC looked at each other, and then huddled together, seeming to whisper to each other. After about thirty seconds, they broke their huddle, smiles on all of their faces.

“We forgive you, just as long as you never do it again.” Said Sweetie. I then noticed that both Silver Spoon and Dinky were still quiet. I quickly brought them both into a hug, which caused them both to “squeak” in surprise. Immediately, Dinky hugged me back, while Silver seemed hesitant to do so, so I said, “I know you were just following Diamond because she’s your friend, I just want to let you know that the next time she does something, or if anypony makes you do something that you don’t want to do, just tell them no.” She was silent for a while, and then she quickly nodded, embracing herself into the hug as well. As we were hugging, Diamond came up to us and said, “I’m sorry that I insulted your mom, Dinky, will you ever forgive me?”

Dinky was quiet, before she spoke. “I’ll forgive you if Mamma forgives you too.” Diamond was quiet for a second, before she nodded, saying, “Ok, I’ll go and apologize to your mom right now. You want to come with me, Silver? We can go to Bon Bon’s sweets shop once we’re done.” Silver nodded, and wiggled out of my hug. Once she was free from my hug, she and Diamond quickly left us and went back to town. We were all quiet for a few seconds, and then the three fillies suddenly tackled me while I was still holding onto Dinky, suffocating me in their group hug.

“That was awesome, Drak, how you just made Diamond turn from bully to friend.” Said, Scootaloo, a huge grin on her face.

“Well, I don’t know about friend, but she definitely isn’t going to be bullying us no more.” Said Applebloom, also with a huge grin.

“I just hope that she will actually apologize to Mamma. You think she will, Daddy?” Asked Dinky. I smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead, avoiding the horn, and said, “I think so, she didn’t seem like she was lying when she said she was going to apologize.”

We stayed like that for a good while simply hugging each other. Finally they released me, and I got up, dusting the snow off of myself, and said, “So, Dinky, you ready to go back home, or do you have some other things that you want to do first?”

Unsurprisingly, she shook her head, saying, “I actually want to hang out with the Crusaders for a while, they’re going to go see…well…they didn’t tell me yet, but I really want to join them. PLEEEEAAASSSEEE?”

I was quiet as my daughter began to give me the puppy eyes, and I said, “Well, maybe, but were is this pony that you’re going to meet?”

“They’re somewhere inside the Everfree Forest.” Said Sweetie.

My eyes widened as she said this. “On second thought, I really think you shouldn’t go there, what would your families say if you girls got hurt in there?”

“They won’t say anything, especially if you join us.” Said Applebloom. At this, they all began to give me the puppy eyes. However, I was stubborn, and said, “I said no, now come on, let’s go home, Dinky.”

“…”

“It’s not going to work on me.”

“…”

“Come on, drop the act.”

“…”

“…Please…”

“…”

“Ugh, fine, you win. I’m going to come with you girls though, ok?”

“Yay!” they all shouted, jumping up into the air. I couldn’t help but smile at their happiness, and it was at this point that I noticed that we were being watched.

I turned around and saw a maroon Earth pony with a dual pink mane and three white daisies as her cutie mark. When she noticed that I saw her, she seemed to blush slightly and then slowly approach me. Once she was in front of me, she hesitated, and then, clearing her throat, she spoke.

“Um, h-hi, there. You must be the human, Drakalian, right?” I nodded. “Well, my name is Cheerilee, and I’m the teacher here at the school. I must say, what you did there with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon was incredible. I’ve been trying to get through to them for ages with no results, and yet you get her to open up like it was nothing. Could you tell me how you did it, please.”

I smiled at her, and said, “Well, it’s kind of simple, but takes a while to explain it. I would be happy to tell you how I do-”

“Come on, Daddy! Let’s go!” Shouted Dinky in an impatient voice. I gave a chuckle at this, and turned around, saying, “Ok, Muffin, just give me a second.”

I turned back to Cheerilee. “Well, I’m kind of busy at the moment, as you can see, but I believe I have some free time tomorrow morning, if you would like to join me for breakfast.”

The Earth pony looked at me, a blush forming on her face. “A-a-are you a-asking m-me out?”

My eyes widened at this. “Oh, no, no, I just want to talk with you, is all.” She then gained a mournful face, and I quickly tried to recover from my blunder. “I-I mean…not that I wouldn’t go out with you, b-but…um…”

Suddenly, Cheerilee giggled, saying, “Don’t worry, I know exactly what you mean, and I would love to have breakfast with you.”

I sighed with relief, glad that was over, and said, “Well, I better get going, don’t want those fillies getting into trouble without me.” Which caused us both to laugh. I then began to walk with the CMC, waving goodbye to Cheerilee as we left.

It seemed like a pretty long trek through the forest, and I was starting to get numb, on the fact that I still wasn’t wearing any pants and only had my shorts on along with my hoodie. The CMC and Dinky all had scarves around their necks to help them stay warm. I was hoping that we were close to our destination.

“We there yet?” I said, for probably the tenth time during our trip.

“That’s like the tenth time you said that so far, and the answer is still the same; we will get there when we get there.” Said Applebloom, a look of excitement still on her face.

“Geez, Drak, I would have thought that Scootaloo would be the one to do that sort of thing.” Said Sweetie, glancing at the orange filly.

“Hey, what’s that suppose to mean?” Questioned Scootaloo, a look of playful hurtfulness showing from her face. We all just laughed as we continued into the Everfree Forest, thankfully, we weren’t in a particularly forested area. Soon, we hit a clearing, similar to the one that I found Trixie in.

Inside the clearing was something that I could only describe as a cross between a trailer home and an old time entertainer’s stall that seemed like it has seen better days. As we got closer, the Crusaders went to the front of the door and then Applebloom knocked on it. After a few second, the door opened, and there was Trixie herself, still wearing her hat and cape.

“Who dares interrupt the Great and Powerful Trixie from her magic casting?” She said in a strict but seemingly playful voice. I was worried for a second, before I noticed that the fillies were still smiling at her.

“Hiya, Trixie! Remember you said that you would teach us some magic tricks? Well, we’re here to learn.” Said Applebloom, huge smiles on all of their faces. Trixie was quiet for a moment, and then she noticed Dinky, and said, “And what is this one called?”

“Hi, I’m Dinky. I decided to join the CMC and to try and get my cutie mark as well.” She said in a happy tone. This caused both Trixie and I to chuckle, and then she said, “Well, do you girls think you got what it takes to become star performers?”

“Yes we do!” They all shouted. Trixie laughed again, and said, “Well then, come on into my humble abode, for it must be freezing out here.”

“I’ll say.” I said. Trixie apparently heard me this time, and when she looked up on me, I noticed that her eyes widened and I could have sworn I saw a small blush forming on her cheeks.

“Oh, I-I didn’t see you there.” She said in a quiet tone. I just smiled, saying, “If you don’t mind, could we continue this conversation inside, please?”

She then noticed that I was shivering the entire time. “Oh, of course, come in, come in.”

We entered her ‘mobile home’ as Dash would have called it (well, did call it) and the inside didn’t seem like it fared any better then the outside, the walls were in poor condition, and there was barely any furniture inside either, only a table, a couple of chairs, and a bed. I looked at the entire place, a sad look in my eyes.

‘This is no way for a pony to live.’ We all found our spots, Applebloom and Sweetie sitting in the chairs, Trixie sat on her bed, while the rest of us just got comfortable on the floor.

We were quiet for a few seconds, as we got comfortable, then Trixie said, “So, what brings you here, human?”

I smiled, remembering that Trixie most likely left before she could hear my new name. “It’s called Drakalian now, and I came because my newest daughter here wanted to join the CMC on whatever escapade that they were going to do.” I said, giving a hug to Dinky, who giggled and hugged me back. Trixie was quiet for a moment, a sad look on her face, before she said, “S-so, you’re g-going out with Ditzy?”

I was about to reply, when Applebloom interrupted, saying, “And mah sister!”

“And Fluttershy!” Said Sweetie.

“And Luna!” Shouted Scootaloo.

“And…wait, that’s it.” Said Dinky, wanting to be a part of it, but then realizing that they already named them all. Well, they did miss one.

“I’m also going out with Lotus, girls.” I said, causing an “oh!” from all of them, and then some more giggling. Trixie seemed to brighten up when she heard that I was going out with other mares as well, giving me an idea of what might be happening, though I thought that it could be my imagination.

“Oh, so you decided to start a herd, then?” Asked the magician pony, to which I nodded. She was quiet for a few more seconds, and then she said, “Well, all that aside, what would you girls like to learn from the Great and Powerful Trixie today?”

Overall, it was a pretty unique time with Trixie teaching the CMC and Dinky about all sorts of different magical acts, mostly simple ones, such as card tricks, though they were still enraptured by the entire thing. Sadly, they didn’t earn their cutie marks from it by the end of the day, which turned out to be an hour later. Once we were done, we began to say goodbye to Trixie, and as I was about to leave, the azure pony stopped me for a second.

“Um, Drak, is it ok if I call you that?” I nodded, wondering were this was going. “W-well, I’ve been wondering…well…um…if you want to…w-we could, you know…h-hang out, sometime?”

I smiled, seeing what might be going on here, I think. “Sure, though it might be in a few days, since my schedule is pretty packed right now. Just come on over to the library whenever you have the time, ok?”

She seemed to pause at this, then she said, “Oh, s-so you’re living in the library now?” she said, a sad tone in her voice. I raised an eyebrow, wondering where this was going. After a few more seconds when she didn’t respond, I quickly knelt down next to her and wrapped her in a hug. She looked up, startled for a second, before she slowly relaxed into it. We stayed like this for a minute before I spoke again.

“Is there anything you want to say to me?” I asked her, hoping that she would open up to me. She was quiet for a moment, and then she shook her head, saying, “N-no, not right now, anyways.”

“Are you sure, I’m here to help if you need it.”

“…Well, I’ll tell you when I meet you next time, ok?”

I smiled, nodding, saying, “Ok, just don’t hold it inside for too long, It can be bad for your health.” Trixie giggled at this, and then suddenly, she kissed me on the cheek.

“Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me, to have somepony listen to me and help me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What about your parents?”

“They died when I was young, and I had to take care of myself at a young age.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault. Besides, I like to think that I turned out alright, well…sort of…” At this point, I noticed tears starting to form in her amethyst eyes, so I held her tighter, and she did the same to me. We stayed like this for another few minutes, and then Dinky came back into the room, saying, “Come on, Daddy, let’s…” before she quieted down as she saw Trixie and I holding each other tightly. I looked at her and whispered, “Trixie needs comforting.” Dinky nodded, and then went back outside for a second, before she came back in with the other fillies. Before we knew it, the fillies surrounded us and gave us a giant group hug.

“We will always be your friends, Trixie. We don’t care what you did before, for we know that you already apologized for it, and that you feel bad for doing such things.” Said Applebloom, with the others nodding in agreement.
Trixie was quiet for a few seconds, and then she began to giggle a little, saying, “Th-thanks, girls, I just wish that the others would be as understanding as you all are.”

I smiled. “Well, I guess I could try to do that.”

Trixie looked at me in awe, and then said, “Y-you w-w-would do that for m-me?”

“Of course, besides, I don’t like seeing others in pain, physical, or emotional. Trixie was quiet for a moment, and then she once again gave me a kiss on the cheek, though it was a little closer to the mouth then the one before, and nuzzled into my chest and deeper into our hug, saying, “Thank you so, so much.”

We stayed like that for another few minutes, and by that time, we decided that we needed to head out. So, with everypony in better spirits, Trixie decided to meet me by the library around tomorrow afternoon, and the CMC, Dinky and I began to leave to head back to our homes.