High Moon Ch. 25:

A Cage Bird’s song

“Can you freaking believe him,” Applejack shouted as she and the other elements followed Celestia out the door with the Solar guards close behind her. None of the elements could believe the things Dusk accused them of, not only that, he indirectly called everything they been through pointless.

Insulting their friend while she wasn’t there to define herself, saying they weren’t worthy of the close bond that they shared with each other, and acting as if he was better than them for some reason. Not a single one of the girls had ever met an attitude Dusk displayed towards them until now and they simply didn’t know how to deal with it.

“Yes, he was quite rude,” Rarity followed up, still shaken that he was able to stop her with mere chopsticks without even look at her, and angered at the way he downed Rainbow Dash. “How dare he insult Rainbow like that, she everything but a coward.” Twilight and Pinkie nodded their heads in agreement with Rarity and Applejack while Fluttershy held her head down low. “Why, I have half a mind to-”

Celestia stopped in her walk turned around to face each of the elements with a deep frown. “Girls stop it,” she started with a displeased tone in her voice. “I’m deeply disappointed in all of you.” Twilight’s body tensed at the disheartened tone of voice as her mouth opened to explain for why they were acting like that. However, Celestia didn’t on want to hear another word come from any of the five mares. “No Twilight, Dusk may have said it in a derogatory way, but he’s right none the less. I want all of you to think about what he’ve said and confront him about it tomorrow. End of discussion.”

Without waiting for anyone to say a thing to her, Celestia started to walk towards the air-transport to head back to Canterlot with her guards following her, but stopped when Obsidian whispered something into her ear.

To whatever he said, Celestia nodded her head, and resumed walking towards the air-transport with the other three guard following while Obsidian stood and watched. “He was right you know,” Obsidian started, turning around to face the elements, and nodding his head. “About you girls not knowing what it really means to have a true bond.”

While he said this, Dusk was already making his way into his mare’s arms, and held them close vowing to protect them from any that threatens their dreams. “How could you all anyways,” Obsidian asked as Dusk pulled Jinx into a kiss while he rubbed a hand over Sketchy’s breasts. “I mean, if it takes the world to be endanger, just for you all to call yourselves friends, then it can't be a real bond.”

“What the hay that’s supposed to mean,” Applejack asked while Jinx and Sketchy toyed with Dusk’s ears and the base of his wings. “We’re closer than any other so what make him so special?”

“It’s the fact that he was able to be friends with others without having the world in danger.” Pinkie, who was friends with everyone in Ponyville even before she became an element, was going to prove Obsidian’s words wrong before he continued; “It’s because of the fact that he was able to find others to share pieces of his heart.” Fluttershy and Twilight started to blush when they realize that Obsidian was talking about finding someone to love and the others soon did the same for different reasons.

Obsidian looked into the blushing faces of the elements and started to shake his head. “Look at all of you,” he started waving his hand over to them with a slight look of disbelief. “Full grown mares blushing like little fillies.” The dog’s blunt words caused the heated blushing to grow in size along with the smallest signs of tears in Fluttershy’s eyes.

“Look girls, I hate to say this, because I don’t know everything ya’ll did in these last four years, but,” Obsidian paused to take a deep breath, the next few words are going to hurt them, badly. However they needed to be spoken. “But, just cause all of you are elements, does not mean you share the same bond as everyone else, and that don’t mean it’s any stronger. Furthermore...”

Obsidian paused again, seeing the distorted looks in the elements’ eyes after the series of self-revolutions Dusk shoved them through in the last twenty minutes, but pushed on for their betterment.

“Just cause you’re elements, don’t make you friends.”

Suddenly, Fluttershy took off from the scene before anyone could process what the dog just spoken, and Pinkie’s mane started to deflate along with her fur darkening. Obsidian watched the mare fly straight home, no doubt crying the whole way at the realization that she’d never shared a real bond with any of the elements. The remaining four cast their eyes to the ground as they soon thought the same thing.

It wasn’t the truth, so why did it feel like it?

“You shouldn’t take everything I just said to heart,” Obsidian started again, only managing to get Twilight to look up from the ground, and fingering that’s the one he needed to speak with. “Like you’ve said princess Sparkle, you girls share a friendship that's stronger than I’ve ever seen before, but that don’t mean that you all are closer to each other than anyone else.”

“Then, what should we do?” Lost, that’s the only thing Obsidian could hear in her voice, and she somewhat had a right to this. For years, Twilight built her life around her friends, and the bonds they shared. Only for that to start falling apart when the twins ran away to that other diamond dog and his pack. Now, all she was hearing and seeing was how weak they truly were.

The elements of harmony are supposed to be the symbols of everything that’s powerful about friendship. However, in twenty short minutes, a halfbreed from a different country tore apart the illusion of the bond that they thought they held for each other, and now they didn’t know what to do.

This was especially bad of Equestria, with half of the militant force of the Lunar Republics, numerous times have the elements been called for to ‘save the day,’ but if this self-doubt continued; harmony will soon fall.

“You should keep doing what you’re already doing,” Obsidian said, knowing that they had something that is, in fact, worth calling a bond. They wouldn’t have been able to use the elements for as long as they have if they didn’t. “Like I’ve just said, don’t take all of this to heart. Dusk...he was just trying to wake you mares up from your filly-pouting.”

“So...we’re really are friends?” Obsidian looked over to Pinkie, whose fur had somewhat brightened up a bit at the mere thought that nothing has changed between her friends. “N-no one is mad right? Everyone…everyone can go back to smiling?”

Obsidian almost drew his own blood from biting down on his lips, he may be a soldier, but that don’t mean he don’t have a heart. Seeing the tears in the party-mare’s crystal-blue eyes was almost enough to get Obsidian to tell them what they wanted to hear, not what they needed hear.

Obsidian dropped his with a long droning sigh, Twilight could have sworn she saw small sliver-red embers shining in his mouth, but played it as a trick of the mind. “Now, if you have to ask me that,” he started not daring to look up to the mares. “What do you think the answer is?” All four mares dropped their heads, ready to go back to their home, and cry to sleep like Fluttershy is most likely doing right now.

However, was stopped when Obsidian snapped his head back up to them. “Who am I for telling you that you’re friends or not,” he started to laugh with an unreadable look on his face. “Are you really going to let a half-blood tell you that every little misadventure that you girls somehow find yourselves in was worthless?” Obsidian waited until the girls started to shake their heads before continuing; “Then why the absolute fuck are you all taking his words so heavily?”

“Because he had no right to say them,” Applejack shouted, waving her hands in the air in anger, and still upset with Dusk’s attitude towards her and the others. “Who does he think he is anyways?”

“You still don’t get it,” Obsidian scoffed, taking a short walk around in a circle to keep him from shouting at the mares. Once he was fully turned around, all he saw was the confused looks on the mares’ face that didn’t help with him not yelling. “He was testing all of you.”

To his displeasure, the looks on the element faces only became more bewildered, and it became that much harder to not yell at them. “Dusk was seeing how strong your bonds were. He knew that if he told the straight blunt truth about Rainbow, you girls would react, but he wanted to see how you would react.”

Twilight soon figured the rest on her own, and by the way both Rarity, Applejack, and herself handled the situation, they failed the test. Celestia knew this too, if anything, she was able to pick up on it before Obsidian did. That’s why she was disappointed with them, they couldn’t even tell when someone was testing their bonds, and only reacted when they should have acted.

“We’ve failed it didn’t we,” she asked Obsidian, who could only nod as an answer. “We’re not weak because we became friends to be elements. We’re weak because we only see that.”

Obsidian started to bob his head around to get the mare’s words to process in his own way before answering. “Yeah...you could say that,” he said, not really sure if that what he was looking for, but they had to start somewhere. “Or, you could say that...I don’t know, you’re weak because you failed to see the real bonds that all of you share.”

“Yeah, you’re right Sargent,” Twilight said with a bright smile, now finally trusting Obsidian’s judgement to let the twins stay in Everfree two months ago. After seeing the twins a few days ago, she was somewhat relieved that they were still together, and growing healthy. “Come on girls,” Twilight started turning around to her friends with a brighter smile on her face. “Let’s go talk with Fluttershy, and then Rainbow. Thank you, Obsidian.”

Before the mares could run off, Obsidian stopped them with a hand, and started to chuckle a little before speaking. “Okay, okay, I’m happy that you all finally know what’s important, but why don’t you talk to Fluttershy first, help yourselves--by that I mean talk with Dusk--and then go get Rainbow. How’s that sound? I’m sure she’ll be angry with you all if you break apart as soon as she start acting cold to you.”

Twilight nodded her head before rushing over to Obsidian to wrap her arms around him with the others. “Thanks Obsidian!” Soon, the hug ended with the mares running off to Fluttershy’s house to tell her all the things that Obsidian told them, and to forge a plan to confront Dusk tomorrow.

Obsidian watched the mares run down the street until they rounded a corner towards the shy mare’s house and started to shake his head. “Those mares need a stallion,” he muttered underneath his breath before walking towards the air-transport, and making his way up the platform.

“Well,” Celestia started as soon as Obsidian made his way to his seat across from her. “How did it go,” she asked, only able to see their reactions to his words from the transport’s window. Obsidian didn’t answer the mare’s question, only telling the earth-mare polite to get them in the air, and then finally taking his seat across from Celestia. “From the look of things, you were able to get through them?”

Again Obsidian didn’t answer any of the mare’s questions as he started to take off his work gloves while the transport was finished with preparations for takeoff. However, after he ran his hand through his black hair, and placed it back on the the steel wall, did he look Celestia’s way.

“Princess,” he started with a tried tone in his voice as he wasn’t the best to deal with emotional situations due to the way he look at things but still was able to lead the elements onto the right path. He hoped. “Those mares are the densest things I’ve ever met in my entire life and I worked with a salamander drake in the republics for three years of my life.” Celestia softly giggled at the unintended joke that he made about the elements, which he overlooked due to how tied he was.

“I need a drink.”

The next morning at Dusk’s house was even more lively now that Arctic was staying with them until she feels like she can stay on her own. Both Jinx and Sketchy, who had already eaten themselves, were hard at work fixing the the two others breakfast while Arctic and Dusk sat on the couch watching whatever Dusk could find on tv.

Soon, Arctic gave up on watching the rather dullish cartoons Equestria had compared to the republics, and started to sketch something into her sketchbook that she carries around with her.

Already, Dusk’s day looked to be filled with things that needed to get done. First was to head to the temporary town-hall to get Arctic registered as a legal citizens of Ponyville, then there was the last few things Sketchy wanted to plan for their big date-night with Jinx, and finally--he didn’t know why--deal with the elements again.

Call it him being paranoid, but something was telling Dusk that he hadn’t seen the last of the elements. After last night, all he could gather from them that they were truly nothing but a band of spoiled fillies that couldn’t take the truth.

He honestly knew that it wasn’t fair to test their bonds and wills the way he did, but from what he overheard from around town, someone needed to set them straight. Dusk still couldn’t believe that they allowed their lives to come at a complete stop for two months because of the twins running away.

It was truly one word to describe them: pathetic and petty. Okay, so two words or like a lot of words, but the point still remains that they had two months to get over it. Rainbow was no better, in fact, she was the worst of them all. She did nothing but run away when her friends needed a strong shoulder to lean on and a stronger arm to push them.

She was that strong shoulder and arm, or so he first though. All Rainbow turned out to be was a mare with a short fuse, and when back into a corner, crumbles like a cookie. Dusk meant all of the things he said about Rainbow, it was just the way he said it that set the elements off.

In hindsight, Dusk could have done that much better, but the past is the past. No changing it now.

“Say Dusk,” Arctic started, pulling Dusk out of his thoughts from last night, but not looking up from her sketch-book. “That yellow mare with the pink mane, what was her name?” Dusk raise an eyebrow towards his friend for the odd question. “Just out of curiosity,” Arctic quickly started when she didn’t hear anything from the dog.

“Um…” Honestly, Dusk didn’t know all of the elements’ names, and Fluttershy was the one that he failed to learn. “Well that easy, its um...okay um, I dunno.”

“Fluttershy.” Dusk and Arctic looked towards Sketchy as she and Jinx walked over to them with plates of hash-browns and eggs floating in their magical grips. “She came to visit Rarity one time while I was working at the boutique,” she continued to answer as she handed Arctic her plate while Jinx handed Dusk’s his. Sketchy and Jinx sat on either side of Dusk while Arctic made room for Sketchy. “Why you want to know?”

Arctic’s face started to heat up at the real answer that screamed to be revealed but pushed that away. “N-no reason,” she muttered to herself as she hid behind her sky-blue mane, which was much longer than Sketchy remembered it was.

Sketchy was going to further question the mare when the doorbell started to go off. All three lovers raised an eyebrow towards the wooden door as none of them were expecting anyone to show up at their house this early in the morning.

After getting another ring, Sketchy got up from the couch and went to answer it while Dusk silently prayed that it wasn’t who he thought it was. Once at the door, Sketchy opened it to find that it was all five of the elements of harmony standing at the doorway. Sketchy flat stared at the mares, already having to put up with them for five whole hours yesterday, and knew they were only here to speak with Dusk.

Sketchy turned her back to the elements and started to walk back to the couch. “Dusk, you have five fillies that want to talk with you,” she said before Twilight could say a single thing. None of the elements reacted to the mare call them fillies as that is just how they were acting for the last two months.

“Fine,” Dusk sighed, knowing that there wasn’t a way out of talking with the mares. After setting his plate on the table, Dusk got up from his seat, and started to walk over to the mares. The closer that Dusk got to them, the more they saw every muscle on his body as he was only in a pair of black gym shorts with a purple stripe down the sides.

However, one look over towards his mares, they all soon stop staring when they caught Sketchy's dark look. “So fillies,” Dusk started, resting his arm on the door-frame, and crossing his legs. “Are you lost and need a big-bad halfbreed to guide you all home. Or am I speaking with grown mares?”

Pinkie started to laugh at Dusk, admittedly, funny joke, and now seeing how his cruel humor was just the same as her lighthearted one when she didn’t take it to heart. Twilight, however, just rolled her eyes as she was not going to let his bluntness get in the way of what needed to be done.

“You would be speaking with mares, thank you,” she started, holding her nose up high with her eyes closed, and getting Dusk to chuckle a little. “We just came here to say, sorry for last night, and that you’re right. All of us have been acting like school-yard fillies.” Dusk nodded his head as he couldn’t put it in any other way possible. Okay, he could, but wasn’t going to for the sake of moving things along. “We also wanted to come here to see if you could...train us how to really fight.”

’Well, well now…’ Dusk and the others were taken back by the alicorn’s request as they didn’t think that they would take such drastic steps so quickly. “Um, princess, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Twilight raised an eyebrow towards Dusk’s words as well the others, minus Fluttershy who was too busy staring at Arctic to pay any attention to the conversation.

“Why’s that,” Twilight asked, having being forced to take self-defense classes while she was studying under Celestia back in Canterlot. Dusk took a glance back towards his mares and Arctic, who all were watching tv, or nose deep in a sketchbook.

“See, here’s why.”

Dusk leaned in to whisper to the elements, closing the door a little while his mares and friend watched tv. “My father, trained me, my brothers, and my sisters in our respective fields of elemental-magic. By the age of fifteen, I had gotten into more fights than I can remember, and the only time I’ve ever lost is against my older siblings and my father. When I got to my second year in high school I had gotten in a fight with the entire rugby team at our school.”

“So,” Applejack started, only mildly shaken up by Dusk’s long list of reasons not to ever piss him off. “Big Mac did ta same thing when he and ah went to school, what’s the difference.”

A wicked smile came of Dusk’s face as he started to slowly nod his head. “The difference is, the whole team was taking illegal muscle enhancers during the time, and not a single one of them can look at a kitten without flinching.”

“Okay, tah’s bad,” Applejack whispered to herself and taking a step back from the halfbreed.

“Yeah, broke my left shoulder and had severe head concussion, but you should have saw them,” Dusk continued in a dark tone with an equally dark chuckle at the memory. “So,” he paused to look into each of their eyes. “you mares still want to train with me, or do I need to call your ma’s.”

Twilight looked back towards the others to see if they were still full on with the plan. Admittedly, she saw doubt and hesitation in their eyes as she had some herself, but she also saw the determination for when they needed to do something for their friends.

Dusk, who saw the same thing Twilight did, started to grow impatient with waiting for them to give an answer. “Still waiting for answer, princess.” Twilight turned around to met Dusk in his powerful purple eyes, having the same effect as Celestia’s eyes would when she was asking a question.

“We’ll do it.” Those three short fiery words could have the power to raise armies, call for control of a situation, or have the power to take down any threat to her friends or her home. A part of Dusk was mildly impressed with the alicorn, most ponies would run from him at the first thought of fighting him, but here she is with four of her five friends willing to do just that.

’Five out of six huh?’ However, another part of him was harshly laughing at the mere thought while another wanted to congratulate them for making the correct steps to growth. Although, he was still mildly unimpressed by them, and needed more proof of what they could do.

But, his mares didn’t slave over a hot stove just for him to let the food get cold. “Kay sure, bye,” Dusk said, closing the door in their faces, and walking way back to his seat with an amused look on his face.

Dusk sat back down to a giggling Jinx and a stone-faced Sketchy while he went back to finishing his meal. As he was enjoying his mares’ cooking, Dusk could feel Sketchy’s stares, and knew that they weren’t going to go away until he acknowledge them.

“Yes Sketchy, my love,” he asked in the fake romantic voice to mock some of the ‘books’ Sketchy reads in her spare time. “Is there anything I can do for you, ‘cus you know I’ll travel to the ends of the earth just to make the both of you smile,” Dusk finished, expanding his wings out around both Jinx and Sketchy, and pulling them close to the fire in his chest.

Jinx blushed from Dusk’s sudden move but soon started nuzzled at the close contact with her halfbreed, especially after last night. Sketchy, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and snorted at him with a blush of her own. “Yeah, right.” Dusk started to laugh at the flat tone in Sketchy’s voice, only making her that P/O’ed about his mocking. “Dick.”

Both Jinx and Dusk busted in laughter at Sketchy while she stole the last of his hash-brown. Arctic, who already finished eating the well-made breakfast, looked up from the book to the smiles on all three, and started to smile herself. Although, hollowly.

She was happy for her friends to find something that a lot go without, but she just wished that she had the chance to share moments like that with Dusk; only with Dusk.

Arctic shook those thoughts out of her head so she could go back to her drawing of a bare-chested male diamond dog-dragon halfbreed holding a barely dressed pegasus mare in his arms. The only color of the whole thing was the purple highlights in the halfbreed’s eyes and the sky-blue highlights in the pegasus’s eyes.

“Hey, earth to Arctic.” Dusk’s voice finally broke through the daydream Arctic was having about the drawing, forcing her to look towards the alpha drake. “You alright,” Dusk asked in concern after calling out to the mare several times before she reacted to his voice. “I called your name out like five times.”

Arctic started to blush as it was because of the halfbreed that she was in that state but kept it hidden with her face behind her mane. “Y-yeah I’m fine,” she quickly started, standing up, and closing the sketchbook without letting anyone see what was in it. “I’ll be in the shower.” Before Jinx could further question, or even try to bath with her friend again, Arctic ended it with a slightly sharper leer than she attended with one eye.

“Alone, I’m not the same filly from two years guys.” Jinx flinched from the sudden cold tone in Arctic’s voice while Dusk and Sketchy frowned. “Sorry,” Arctic sighed, knowing where the sudden coldness came from, but never want to deal with it.

“It’s okay Arctic,” Dusk started after pulling Jinx closer with his wing. “We know you’re not the same from two years ago,” he continued, talking about her past suicidal tendencies she had due to the incident in Nebula. “Go on, a grown mare knows how to take care of herself.”

Arctic, hiding behind her mane, and feeling bad for how she reacted to her friend’s concerns, nodded her head as she turned to the stairs, and started to make her way up them. Dusk and his mares watched at she made her way towards her room to grab clothes for the day. However, right before she could close the door, Arctic heard Jinx muttering apologizes to her.

Arctic took another look down to find both Jinx and Sketchy still looking up to her with concern looks while Dusk had his head turned before she closed the door and got ready to grab some clothes.

’Way to go filly,’ she shouted to herself in her head as she grabbed a pair of blue jeans and a sky-blue shirt with a pair of black lace panties and some white shocks. ’You doing just the best job at proving to your friends that you don’t want to kill yourself any more. No, just keep doing what you're doing, and you’re sure not to be forced to take those nightmare damned pills again…’

“No.” Arctic took in a slow breath to calm her nerves, she promised her mom that she wouldn’t fall down that path again, and she didn’t want her friends thinking the same thing. “I’m not going to do that. This is a new start, I’m a new mare,” she recited before grabbing a towel from the closet and stepping into the guest bedroom.

Arctic toss her clothes on top of the hamper in the corner and started to strip out of her father’s large T-shirt and her old gym-shorts before stepping in the shower. Once she had the water at the right temperature, Arctic started to move her hands over her body to work out the aches that came with flying from Baltimare to Ponyville, but was unable to reach the knot in the base of her wings.

However, the hot water did provide her some aid in healing the slight aches and pains she had in several parts of her body, but could only do so much. While her hands moved over to her breasts, Arctic wished she had someone to help cure of of the pressing tight pains in her wings.

Someone strong, kind, and caring. Someone like Dusk…

“No Arctic,” she shouted at herself, stopping her hands from moving down to her marehood, and taking them off her body altogether. “No, I-I can’t. He already have both Jinx and Sketchy, I don’t need to ruin what they have. I have no right…” Moving to Equestria with Dusk and the others were to have two meanings. One, to prove to her friends that she was over the past, and two, to be closer to the only ones she trusted.

The one she secretly loved, and shamefully, lusted over.

“Maybe...a little quickie couldn’t hurt,” Arctic started, letting her hands move down to her marehood, and hoping that she’ll have enough time. “Foreplay can suck it for now,” she said, sticking two of her fingers in her marehood, starting to pump away, and imaging a certain halfbreed being in the shower with her.

This isn’t the first time she’s ever played with herself, nor was it the first time she thought about Dusk being the one to do it. Oh, just thinking about him walking in on her one day while she was doing this, and then claiming her as one of his mares, made her find even more pleasure in it.

And, as this not being her first time playing with herself, Arctic knew all of her own weak points, and had to merciless attack them. She even had to use the back wall as a brace so she don’t fall to her knees.

In her mind, she had image Dusk sneaking his way into the bathroom without her knowing, and have him ‘taking care’ of the grown mare. In reality, she had managed to stick a third finger in her marehood while the other hand moved to her average sized C-cup breasts to twist harden nipples. However, in her state she couldn’t tell which was dream and which was real, and she didn’t want to.

Just as she was reaching a peak, the sound of someone knocking on the door started her, but she didn’t, couldn't, stop masturbating to Dusk breaking the last bit of her innocence. “Hey Artie.” The sound of Jinx’s high-pitched voice, usually carrying enough energy to light a house, called out to Arctic as her body was forced forwards. “Me and the others will be waiting for you outside if you need us.”

“O-okay,” Arctic cried out, doing her best not to make it sound like a moan. Just two more minutes, that’s all she needed. Just two more short minutes of her fantasy of Dusk, that’s all she needs.

Hell, if just thinking about the halfbreed was more joy than the anti-depressant pills she was forced to take, then she’ll gladly lock herself in her room just to do just that. However, it seemed that she’ll won’t have such luck. “Alright, and remember we got to get you registered as an Equestrian citizen so you can get a job.”

“F-fine...t-thanks Jinx,” Arctic again cried out as her thumb rubbed over her swollen cliterous, pushing her closer towards the edge. She needed a way to hurry up and finish before the others become too suspicious of what she was doing.

After fighting back another moan, Arctic took her left hand off of her breasts, and moved it down to her clit to take it in two of her fingers. Suddenly, a mind-ripping shock went through her spine, and forced her wings to flare out. “Artie, are you okay?” Arctic’s eyes shot open wide as a blissful climax overtook her body, forcing her to let out a satisfied moan, and lay her head back against the wall.

“Yes…” Jinx faintly heard Arctic through the falling water before Sketchy called out to her. With the mare gone, Arctic was able to fully bask in the glow of her longed dream, and gave her a moment to fully enjoy it.

Even if she never truly have it.