Fluttershy just stood there, shocked, unable to move. Seamus and Sky had long since separated from each other, but still she stood like a statue, her eyes flitting from one colt to the other. Seamus and Sky looked away, extremely embarrassed. She had just walked in on them, she hadn’t knocked, she didn’t give any warning whatsoever, she’d just barged in. Now she was paying the price, the image of those two in the throes of their passion was now burnt onto the inside of her eyelids. She still wasn’t talking, it had been ten long minutes of simmering awkward. Seamus finally piped up and said.

“Um… did you want something?” He stuttered, his voice meek.

She looked at him and took a moment, but finally said. “Twilight wants you two.” Was all she said, then she turned and walked out.  

The two looked at each other and shrugged. “Well,” Sky began. “It was her fault for walking in. She should have knocked.”

Seamus nodded and looked at Sky, his mane was disheveled, his backside was coated in syrup and other bodily fluids, but he had a smile on has face, and that made it all worth it. So, with a flick of magic, Seamus erased all evidence of the recent affair, their manes became clear and silky again,  neat and brushed, and the feathers on their wings perfectly arranged. Everything was at it was before they had sex… well, it was a little different. The constant urge to hump each other was gone, for the moment at least.

Seamus leapt down, soon followed by his partner. He put his wing over him and Sky did the same, the pegasus equivalent to holding hands. They left the room looking as it had before, save a tray of food and a large stain on the bed.  

An hour later they all met in Rarity’s boutique . The entirety of the mane six was there except Rainbow Dash. The two young stallions went inside with their wings over each other, smiling happily. The six just looked at them like nothing was wrong, save for a certain apple-bucking farmhand. AppleJack regarded them sourly, her eyes narrowed and her tongue in between her teeth to keep it from throwing out a nasty comment. The rest of them thought nothing of it, Rarity and Pinkie actually though it was cute that the two handsome stallions were wing-in wing. Twilight knew about the whole thing, so she was happy for them, it was better than them being miserable.

The librarian cleared her throat and began. She held out a signed note from both the Princesses, it had the alicorn’s signatures at the bottom-left hoof of the scroll. It was very formal and written in old Equestrian, so only Twilight could even hope to read the fanciful calligraphy. At once, the studious mare began her lecture.

“I have received a letter from the princesses that you two have to make a choice. She is offering you two options. The first is that you be educated in Canterlot with them, Seamus will be in the castle being tutored by Luna and Celestia, he will live there. Sky, you would go to a regular Canterlot school. The other is that you two remain here in Ponyville and I’ll tutor Seamus after regular school. You can live with anypony you want to, Sea.”

The two looked at each other and Seamus asked. “Where will Sky live?”

Twilight looked at the letter and bit her bottom lip. “Celestia said that you aren’t an alicorn and you hold no real value to her. She will either send you back to the Northern Counties or have you put in an orphanage.”

Sky blinked in shock, he knew that the princess frowned upon him, but did she really loathe him so much as to deport him? Seamus grew furious and his voice rose to a startling volume, his accent made him seem even more angry. He stamped his hoof on the floor and snatched the scroll from Twilight, then, after a moment’s reading, he dropped it and stormed back over to Sky.

“Sky is going to stay with me, no matter what! Tell Celestia that she can shove her scroll up her pompous arse, because if I’m going to get special treatment, he does too!” He roared.

Twilight had just picked  up the scroll again, but she dropped it and stared at him. “Did you just say that Celestia could-”

“You heard me. Tell her I said it, I won’t care. She isn’t laying a hoof on Sky.” He embraced the pegasus tightly to prove his point.

“May ah ask why you two are so darned fond of each other, now?” AppleJack butted in.

Twilight looked to the farmhand and replied. “Just please, please don’t ask that. I don’t want to explain this yet.”

“Why? Is it that bad?” She asked. “It’s not like they’re queer or nothing’.” She laughed.

“Well um…” Twilight turned to Rarity, who was actually riveted on the dramatic situation. “Can you lie to the Element of Honesty?”

The overly dramatic unicorn gasped and fainted backwards onto her favorite couch, holding a hoof to her forehead. “Oh! The drama! The suspense! The strangely fascinating plight of two young colts, doomed to be partners in this cruelly fated plot!” She wailed theatrically. “I must know why, Twilight, why would one lie in this situation?”

“Well… well… because… um…”  She stuttered and looked to the two colts, who were shaking their heads frantically.  “Well…”

“Because they are! They DO love each other!” Pinkie crowed and hugged the two together, smiling. “How CUTE is that! It’s adorable!”

Seamus teleported them across the room and turned away from them, embarrassed. Sky stood tall, though, proud… until AppleJack narrowed her eyes again, her tail switching back and forth like an agitated bobcat, her voice was low and menacing.

“Is that really true?“ She spat the last word out like it was some foul piece of food she had eaten, trotting closer, leering at them threateningly.

Twilight appeared in front of AJ and tried to stop her. “AppleJack please! So what if they like each other? It’s fine!”

The stronger farmhand pushed her aside. “So what?! So everthin’! It’s wrong! A violation a’ nature is what it is! It ain’t nature’s way to have two stallions together. It was meant to be a mare and a colt, nothin’ else! Besides! How’re the two of ‘em gonna get along if the princesses find out, huh!”

“AppleJack, they already know, Celestia doesn’t like it, but it’s not like she wants to kill him over it. It’s just you that’s acting like this! Nopony else wants to hurt them, just you.” Twilight retorted. “Besides, what will beating him solve?”

“Everythin’!” The enraged farmhand yelled. “When Cousin Braeburn got the idea to like other stallions, we had Macintosh beat the hay out of him and he ain’t so much as looked at another of ’em since.”

“Well that wasn’t right!” Twilight argued. “I have half a mind to talk to Braeburn right now! That poor guy… you really beat him?”

“Eeyup! Had Macintosh kick him in the jewels after he was done, just to make sure he got the point. And that is what it’s gonna take to get them two to listen.”

Seamus was beyond angry now. He was absolutely berserk. He wanted to grab the mare by the throat and slam her into a wall. “You beat another pony, a family member, just because of who he liked!” He screamed. “You are disgusting! If you are so correct then why do you have to prove it by kicking ponies in the groin?!”

“’Cuz that’s the only way to get you fags listen!” She yelled back, stepping toward him again.

“STOP!” Fluttershy screamed. “Just stop! I can’t stand to see you all fighting! It doesn’t matter! They really do love each other, and you can’t change that!”

They all froze. When Fluttershy yelled, you know it was the end of that argument. AppleJack backed away and stood with her hat low over her face, brooding and spitting derogatory terms under her breathe. Twilight took a deep breathe and let her nerves settle. Back to business.

“Okay, “ She resumed. “Moving on. I‘ll get Celestia to keep Sky with you, Sea., but do you want to stay here or move to the Canterlot Castle?”

“I like it here.” Sky piped up. “It’s not like in the city. I didn’t like it in the hospital. There was always noise and things going on and I couldn’t sleep.”

Seamus nodded in agreement. “I want to stay here in Ponyville too. I’m already friends with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and I know all of you, so we’ll just stay here.”

“Aw no! That ain’t happenin’!” AppleJack protested. “Ah ain’t havin’ AppleBloom hanging around either of ’em! Two little miscreants ’ll corrupt that filly’s mind!”

For once, Twilight ignored her. “Okay. I’ll send the princess a letter back right now.” The lavender mare responded.

The farmhand was enraged, but she held her tongue as the unicorn got out a quill and wrote back.

Meanwhile

Rainbow pulled at her chains again, straining every muscle in her super-strong body to break free. She was starving, she hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours and she was ravenous. She was in the Canterlot dungeons, she had remembered that only the bars of this cage had contained Jakben, so she locked herself in here, knowing if she broke free she would kill somepony. She’d left a note on Soarin’s nightstand. Explaining her plight, she hoped he understood.

She tried to break the manacles again, but to no avail, the metal was magically enhanced and she wasn’t going anywhere. She cursed herself and the cell, her life and especially Jakben, that conniving, traitorous monster that put her in this position. She hated him with every fiber of her supernatural being. She was almost white, her coat had lost it’s color and she her lips were pale. She didn’t cry because she needed to preserve every bodily fluid she could.

To set the mood...                                                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv8mytA0pN0

Outside the castle, a cloaked figure stood on the ramparts, his long blonde mane blowing in the gale. Soon, a guard wandered along to see the figure. With a shout, the guard lowered his spear to him. The worst mistake he would ever make. He seized the spear, reversed it and drove it through the guard. He smirked and trotted over the body as it lied in it’s death spasms, ignoring the blood spilling out onto the stone walkway. He looked over the wall to the castle and chuckled. With a heave, he jumped off the wall.

He landed on another guard, pulverizing every bone in his body. The guard didn’t even have time to scream, he died instantly. The figure stood and continued into the castle dungeon, a smile still on his gaunt face. Two guards by the gates to the prison lowered their weapons at the figure; they collapsed a second later, the weapons embedded in the bases of their skulls. He continued on his path into the prison, any guard who dared blink at him, he would destroy them with a careless flick. At last he arrived at the maximum security cells, he tore the diamond-reinforced hinges from the wall with the ease of a blacksmith bending sheet metal. He lit the torches on the walls with a whispered spell, then proceeded down the hallway.

He came to the cell he was looking for. He finally pulled back his hood. Jakben grinned down at Rainbow and held up the corpse of a guard.

“You’ll need your strength.” He opened the cell door and unlatched her chains. “No more putting it off. He dies tonight.”

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