Author's Notes:

Yo, Sid here with a few messages. To all that's enjoying the story, thanks, and keep reading. To all that are questioning why Spike is...not up to par, let's just say that things get better--and worse--as they go. For everyone.
-That is all.

High Moon Ch. 3:

Choices

“Alright team, pack up, and let’s head back.” Deep within Everfree forest, Obsidian and his team were just now getting ready to head back to Canterlot as the sun rose above their heads. The dog’s small team of engineers, mechanics, and a few low-ranking soldiers all have spent a total consecutive sixteen hours in search for the missing twin dragons. Yet Lady Fortune wasn’t on their, nor the other teams of Solar guards’ sides as their strenuous searching came up with nothing, and some of the other guards were starting to lose hope in the matter.

Obsidian walked over to a pegasus light-blue mare as she start to have trouble standing on her feet, the long exhausting day of flying about the ground looking for any signs of the dragons drain her of most--if not all--of her energy, and Obsidian could see it in the mare’s eyes. “Private Windworks, is everyone accounted for?” Windworks looked up towards Obsidian and forced her body into a salute.

“Y-yes sir, everyone is…” Windworks collapsed in Obsidian’s arms from the long day of combing through Everfree forest. The dog sighed, knowing that the rest of his team wasn’t in any better shape than the unconscious mare. A quick glance around along with a quicker headcount told Obsidian that they were all ready to head back.

“Okay team, grab a shoulder to lean on, and let’s head to the extraction site.” Obsidian placed Windworks on his back so he could easily carry the mare’s lightweight while the rest of the team started to either lean on each other or offered to carry one another to the extraction site.

While the team followed the path back, the cooling winds of the late morning air did help alive some of the stress on their bodies, but Obsidian was too busy thinking about the twin dragons and the mass search for them.

One of the other members of his team caught the look on his face and started to pull against the stallion soldier to move closer to the dog. “Yo boss-dog is everything alright,” The mare--known as Gizmo--asked Obsidian, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Obsidian looked over to the lime-green unicorn mare that he’s come to trusts as his second in command. “Yeah everything is fine, just think about a few things.” Gizmo continued to stare at Obsidian, she knew him long enough to know when he’s thinking about something important.

“Care to share? It may help you figure out the problem, that’s what I do,” Gizmo said with a cocky grin that got Obsidian laughing.

“Heh, yeah you do don’t you? Have been since we’ve met.” The close friends started to laugh at Obsidian’s poor excuse of a joke, it serving to lighten the mood of their wary day. “Alright, I’ll humor you,” Obsidian started as he kept his gaze forwards. “Its about the twins and the way Celestia is treating the matter.” Gizmo raised an eyebrow toward the dog but kept quiet to allow him to continue. “I’ve heard of other times they ran away after something goes wrong, also how it was only the elements to go looking for them, but this seems different. Its like she has a higher purpose for them and doesn’t want them out of her sight.”

Much of that Gizmo and the rest of the--conscious--team can agree with, over the last few years the dragons have been know the run away from the Golden Oak’s library over just about anything that completely upset either one. The biggest case was when they last got into an argument over Rarity again and from the reports a few words were exchanged between them, forcing Spike to run away in.

A few days later he was found in Dodge Junction, working as a cherry framer under the alias of Spikcardo, and it would have worked if it wasn’t for an off-duty Solar guard go to the town to visit his marefriend recognizing him.

“Now she has nearly the entire royal guard looking for them, when we should be looking for Discord.” As head of the engineering department, Obsidian was given a debriefing about the situation that accord the day before. In the debriefing, the stallion guard that last saw the twins said that he heard Discord’s voice behind the doors as well as the twins’ shouting. “I don’t think we should be letting him run around all willy-nilly like he most likely is.”

Gizmo nodded her head, as usual Obsidian had a point, and she agreed with the dog. “I hear ya boss-dog, but what can you do? I mean Celestia practically raised them herself, it must be hard for a mother not to know where her children are,” The mare reasoned, the thought gave her an urge to give her own parents a much needed phone-call just to say hi and catch up with them.

“As true as that is, any mother knows when to let their child go, and allow them to face the world on their own. There’s caring for them, then there’s being over-protective.” The whole team thought on what Obsidian was saying, none of them wanted to question the princess, but his words did hold a ping of truth to them. Some of the could even relate to his words as they all had made the same choices.

“So boss-dog, which one do you think this is,” Gizmo asked, breaking the collected thinking of the small team.

Obsidian didn’t answer right away, taking his time to think on everything that’s happened over the last twenty-four hours, and thinking back to the sort few month--even years--after he left his old den home. “This, this isn’t overprotectiveness, but it’s not out of pure concern. I’m telling you guys, Celestia has plans, and she doesn’t want anything to happen to those two.”

“Or maybe you’re overthinking this,” The earth-pony stallion helping Gizmo walk--known as Zeal Defiance--spoke up. “I mean, come on Sargent. We’re talking about Celestia, the one that’s protected Equestria for generations, and the one who defended Nightmare Moon ending the Nightmare Rebellion. I’m sure--just like any other mother--she just wants her kids home and safe.”

“Defeated is a relative word don’t you think, last time I’ve checked princess Nightmare and Luna are still running the Lunar Republics, but you’re right. I could just be over thinking things, Celestia may actually have other plans for them, or-”

“Or you could be over thinking things as you usually do.” The team turned their head down the path to a clearing in the forest to see an air transport, not only that but a dark-red unicorn mare fully dressed in a military armor even though her mission was just a search and rescue; Major Endive, but Obsidian calls her Major E. to mess with the mare. “Sargent Obsidian, yet again questioning the actions of the royal crown I see,” Endive said, flatly staring at the dog as his team struggled to get in the transport.

“You should know me by now Major E, I question everything in this world, and last I’ve checked princess Celestia is in this world,” Obsidian retorted, placing Windworks in the transport, and turning to face his superior. “I take it that your team is taking over for mine’s?”

“Yes, and where you failed, we will success.” Obsidian flatly stared at the mare and let out a quick snort of laughter. “I don’t see what’s so funny with failure mutt,” Endive said, displeased with Obsidian’s lay-back out look on the situation.

“Good luck, we’ve covered this entire side of the forest, and even doubled back over several times. If they were here, we would have found them by now, but you know Lady Fortune shines on those that don’t deserve it sometimes.” Endive gritted her teeth in annoyance towards the dog but Obsidian wasn’t fearful of the high-ranking unicorn. “Also try not getting anyone lost or worse, we ran into several packs of timberwolves and other creatures in there, and I hate to see you come back with less than what you started with.”

“Watch your tongue mutt. As far as I’m concerned, you and your team of slackers have no right to speak.” A light-brown pegasus mare gritted her teeth at the Major’s words and one other member of the team had to hold her back from lashing out to the other mare.

Obsidian looked back to the mare, his piercing silver eyes was able to get the mare to calm down enough for him to continue. “Look Major E, as far as I’m concerned, you will have just as much trouble finding them as we did, and even if you did find them what are you going to do? They ran of their own accord, so I doubt that they’ll come back because you point a sword at their necks.”

Endive snorted in response to the dog’s claims as she turned around facing the forest. “Only time will tell that, Sargent.” She walked off the transport's platform, crashing the grass underneath her feet as she started to yell orders to her team.

Obsidian continued to watch as the mare’s team quickly disappeared into the forest. Endive herself was going to start her own search, when she stop and turned around to lock eyes with Obsidian. The dog’s team watched as he and Endive continued the staring match before Gizmo decided to break in. “Sargent?”

Obsidian turned around and started to walk to the front of the transport. “Get us in the air, we’re heading home,” He order to the pilots of the transport. They quickly started launch sequences to take the exhausted team back to Canterlot. I’m over thinking things huh? Watch something going to happen, I can just feel it in the air.

Wolf led the twins along with Lily through the tunnels connecting the city ruins to the temple that he uses as a home. During the walk the twins were going over their old lives with the ponies in Ponyville, the crazy adventures, and the events leading up to why they were caught in the forest by themselves, however Quill was the main one doing the talking while Spike continued to hang his head low to the ground. “I see, so now you two are running from the sun-bringer,” Wolf said after Quill finished the short version of the story.

“Yeah, all we wanted to do was learn more about dragons, but Twilight wouldn’t tell us anything.” Just thinking about how Twilight would push their questions aside as mere legends, irritated Quill to no end, and each time she looked back on it Twilight did always get defensive when they would call her out about it. “I mean, information on dragons can’t be that scarce right? It’s not all legends and myths right?”

“Actually Quill your right,” Lily said, getting the dragons to turn their attentions towards her. “Dragons themselves may not frequently call Equestria their home, some even going out of their way to remove this land from their lives, but at this day and age it isn’t that hard to know about dragons.”

“See, that’s what we’ve been saying this entire time, but Twilight just says dragons keep to themselves too much for anyone to learn anything about them.” Wolf and Lily simultaneously stopped in the tunnel, they gave each other a quick glance before turning back to the twins. “What, was it something I’d said?”

The elder two shared another quick glance at each other before continuing the trip through the tunnel. “Quill, that’s not relatively true. In fact most dragons welcome other with open arms, if you have something they want, and you don’t enter their cave.” Quill stared at the flutterpony with wide eyes, even Spike snapped out of his sadness to stare at the mare. “In fact, there’s another dragon not too far from here, but he doesn’t like others within his territory without his permission.”

“I’ve been trying to get him to ease up a bit, but the sack of scales is just too stubborn to listen to reason,” Wolf added in, furthering the wander in the twins’ eyes.

“Really, wait. Is he a full grown dragon, with green scales, and red spines,” Quill asked, remembering the first time she and Spike ran away from home, and the first time they’ve met a full grown dragon up close.

Wolf raised an eyebrow towards Quill, surprised that she got the dragon’s depiction right on spot. “Yeah that’s him alright, why you’ve met him?”

“You can say that,” Quill answered, the memory of running into the massive dragon freighted her a little. “So you guys have been her for eight years?”

Lily nodded her head, a look of remorse overcame her face as she thought a back to the day she was lost in a storm. “Yes, I was separated from my hive by a storm some time ago, and I found these ruins to be a replacement home.” She was sadden to not be able to see her hive members any more but there’s wasn’t much she could do. “I would have tried looking for them if it wasn’t for my hive-mind giving out on me.”

Both dragons looked towards the equine with empathy towards her sorrow, truefully they couldn’t understand how it feels to be removed from their family since they were hatched by Twilight and cared for by Celestia, but they did have times where they would wander what it would be like to know their real parents.

“I just wanted my own territory,” Wolf started, breaking through the dreading silence that overtook the caves. “Of course, my reasons have changed over the years, but at the end of the day I’m just like any other diamond dog.” Spike looked towards Wolf with a light bitterness after hearing that Lily was forced to call the ruins home while it was his choice to live there. However Quill looked at him in a different light, Wolf was just following his dreams, and so was she and Spike. So there was nothing wrong with his reasons to her.

The group came up towards the arcane-stone door to the temple. Wolf passed the torch to Lily as he walked closer towards the slab of stone and revealed the it to the fire-stone on his arm-braces. The door responded with a bright crimson glow that blinded Spike but captivated Quill. Once the glow was over, the door-slab moved aside allowing the group to enter the large room.

Spike and Quill looked around the large room, impressed by the size of it as it somewhat reminded them about Zecora’s hut, but had a slightly different feel to it. Wolf placed the still lit torch back on its petal on the wall and started to make for the opened door while Lily stood back with the twins.

“Blaze, Blaze are you up? There’s something I need to show you,” Wolf called out to his mare from the opened door, gaining her attention as she started to make her way down the stairs. Wolf raised an eyebrow at the fact she was actually dressed in a loose top-cover covering most of her breasts but still showing off her stomach and some his baggy long pants, which she hand tied to her ankles to keep them from dragging on the floor. “Really?”

“What, I didn’t think it was good to stay nude all day,” Blaze answered, not sure why Wolf was shooting her a questioning gaze.

“Its not that, its that you kind of look like Lily now,” Wolf joked, seeing the similarity between the mare’s outfits. Blaze blushed from the dog’s teasing as she crossed her arms and stuck out her bottom lip to pout like a little filly. “Oh don’t be like that, you look great in it. Now come on there something I’ve got to so you,” Wolf said, taking Blaze’s hand and leading her down the stairs into the large room.

Blaze was going to question why Wolf was acting weird when she saw the two new faces of the twins along with their pet phoenixes. Spike and Quill intensely blushed when they saw Blaze’s loose clothing and her ample chest-size. “Blaze I would like you to met Quill and Spike Dragul, they’re twins, and they are-”

“Dragons,” Blaze finished for Wolf in a enthusiastic shout, running over to the two, and pushing their heads in the chest. Peewee and Cinder barely had time to flap away onto Wolf’s shoulders before their owners’ heads were buried deep in the joyful mare’s chests. “Oh and they are so young too, this is great! I always wanted to met a dragon but Wolf would never let me go met the other one near here, but now I’ve got you two. Oh Wolfie please let them stay, please, please, please.”

Lily placed a hand over her mouth to keep from breaking out in a fit of laughter at the mare’s excitement and at the twins ‘misfortune’ while Wolf flatly stared at the mare. “Blaze, you’re suffocating them,” He said, knowing by now he shouldn’t be surprise at how light-headed the mare could be sometimes.

Blaze blinked a couple of times, as if she didn’t understood Wolf’s words, but they soon made a connection inside of her head. “Oh whoops.” She let the twins heads go, allowing them to pull their heads from the fluffy pillows, and take a huge breath of air. “Heh, sorry about that,” Blaze apologize, feeling bad that she nearly suffocated the life out of them.

After a few more breaths, the twins were able to stand upright again, and both waved off the mare’s worries. “It’s alright,” Both dragons said at the same time. They along with Blaze and Lily shared a quick laugh together while Wolf rolled his eyes.

Weirdest pack, ever. “Anyways, as I was saying,” Wolf started, gaining the attention of his small pack. “These two will be staying with us until they decided on something else. Just like with Lily, anytime either I, or Blaze needs either of you to do something you do it. Understood?”

“Got ya,” Quill said with the same salute from before.

“Same here,” Spike said with a bit more energy from the first time, which was a good sign that he was warming up to Wolf.

“Good also Blaze, these two fire-birds are their pet phoenixes, Peewee.” Wolf motioned towards the red and orange phoenix, who gave a loud screech in response. “And Cinder.” Now Wolf motioned towards the other purple and black phoenix, who flared out her larger wings as her show of power. Wolf motioned his hand towards the twins and the birds followed his command, landing on the twins’ shoulders, and starting to clean their wings.

“Wow, first twin dragons, and now a pair of fire-birds. Well I guess its time I introduced myself,” Blaze started walking back over to Wolf and wrapping her arms around his body. “I’m Blaze Soul, also Wolf’s marefriend. It’s a pleasure to met you two, Spike, Quill.”

“Same here Blaze, I promise that me, and my brother will do our best to help out in anyway we can,” Quill said, liking the new living arrangements since it beats sleeping on the forest floor, and the thought of learning more about dragons from the three adults was a bonus as well.

Wolf nodded his head with a smile, enjoying how smooth everything was going. “Good, because I’m need some new hands with gathering meat, and two dragons should fit the bill,” He said, getting the two to shoot wide-stares at him. “You do know how to hunt right?”

“N-no not really,” Spike finally spoke up after being nearly silence for the entire time. “I manly cooked vegetables, fruits, and other stuff but I’ve never did anything with meat before.” Wolf sighed a growl, thinking how could Spike’s skill be useful for everyone.

“Yeah, I can’t cook,” Quill admitted much to Wolf’s further annoyance. “But I’ve been camping before, and if dragons need to eat meat then I’m willing to learn how to hunt.” Wolf looked over Quill’s slender body, lean, slight muscle-tone, and a pair of growing wings on her back. All of these made her a much better hunter than Spike, who had everything else, but the wings or the willingness like his sister.

“Alright,” Wolf started after figuring out the twins roles within the valley. “Spike you’ll stay here and help Blaze with whatever she needs while Quill you’re with me.” Wolf removed himself from Blaze’s grip, much to her displeasure, and started to walk towards the door. “You might want to leave your jacket behind, it’ll just get in the way.” Quill quickly followed Wolf’s orders, taking her green jacket off, tossing it to Spike which covered his head, and followed Wolf out of the temple.

The two walked up the last set of stairs before Wolf closed the arcane-stone door with the fire-stone on the braces. “So what’s first, a wild-boar, a manicorn, or maybe even a hyda,” Quill asked stretching out her wings and ready to face any dangerous monsters Everfree had to offer for her.

Wolf was impressed with the young dragoness’s excitement and energy. Lily was right, with time the twins will grow to be a big help around the temple and city ruins, but first Wolf need to teach Quill everything he knew about surviving in Everfree. And that first step was; “Rabbits.”

Quill excitement faltered a bit from the dog’s word, for a moment she thought that he was joking, but the flat look on his face easily told Quill that he wasn’t joking. “Rabbits, like little, couldn’t hurt a fly, rabbits.”

“Yes, come on I know of a good spot for them,” Wolf said, leading Quill away from the temple, and into the nearby brush. The two pushed passed the thick vegetation as they continued the journey to the mass rabbit burrow that Wolf uses to catch the quick meals.

Quill looked to her left at Wolf, questioning why of all animals he could have picked for her first lesson in hunting he picked rabbits. The dog sensed the dragoness’s questioning gaze and came to a stop in front of the burrow. “Now I know what you’re thinking, rabbits seem like a waste of time, but they aren’t,” He said turning his head towards Quill’s, gaining her attention before continuing. “Rabbit in fact are really fast, their first instinct is to run away at the first sign of danger, and their burrows are the first--and only--thing they think of.”

The dragoness didn’t have to be told that, having dealt with Angle and all of Fluttershy’s ‘animal friends’ before, but as she watched the rabbits hopping around unaware of their presents on question shined over everything else in her mind. “Than what’s the point of hunting them if its so much trouble,” She asked, guessing that their wasn’t much meat on any of the small forest-rabbits.

Wolf smiled towards the young dragon, he could already see her thinking like a real predator, and it won’t be long before she can make decision on her own. “We all have to start somewhere, they’re the safest things in this forest to hunt, and I don’t want you got get hurt on your first day.” Quill blushed from the gentle concerning sound of Wolf’s voice, she didn’t think that the diamond dog was capable of caring for others, but she should have know better if he had the same marefriend for eight years.

Quill looked away from Wolf’s soft green eyes, she didn’t want to seem weak in front of the commanding dog, and as soon as she was focused again she turned her head around. “Oh alright, so how is it done,” She asked, ready to get to work.

Wolf smiled again and nodded to Quill. “Right, well the first step in hunting is picking out your targets, and finding the best way to approach them without getting yourself hurt. That’s the name of the game Quill, you can’t help out if you’re hurt, and that’s when you become a barren on the rest of us. Understand?”

“Yeah I got ya, get the meat, but don’t do anything to get hurt,” Quill said, making it into a motto that she knows she’ll be using every time she hunts.

“Good, keep that mindset you’ll need it for later,” Wolf encouraged, conforming Quill’s thoughts. “Now that you got the basic rule, the next step is to find which one will be the easiest for us to grab.” The two refocused their attention to the herd of rabbits still hopping around. Quill’s untrained eye scanned over the small clearing and over all of the rabbits in it, unable to keep an eye on just on, but Wolf’s more seasoned eyes examined the herd. “Alright, see the one near the tree to the far left?”

Quill followed Wolf’s directions and looked over to the area he pointed out, it took her a moment, but she spotted a fairly large rabbit alone and far away from any burrows. “Yeah, what makes him special,” Quill asked, only seeing the size difference from the others.

“That one is special because its a elder male, far from his time of mating, and has no further use for the herd or nature itself. So it’s our job as predators to make room for the next generation,” Wolf explained, moving closer towards the lone rabbit, and motioning for Quill to follow. “Alright,” He started once they was in position. “Now after you found you’re target, next is the approach. Since this is just a herd of rabbits this is easy but it always won’t for every time, keep that well in mind.”

Quill nodded her head, making sure to pay close attention to Wolf’s words. “Okay I got you, so how do you approach a rabbit?” Wolf nodded back to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Watch and whatever you do, don’t look away.” Wolf locked his eye to Quill’s, forcing a nod from her. Wolf turned away from the dragoness, placing both of his hands on the ground with is claws at the ready, and eyes sealed on the lone rabbit. The dog’s breathing was slowed down to the point where Quill could barely hear it; matching the stillness of the forest around them.

Seconds stretched on for hours as the dead-winds brushed against the two hunters, going completely unnoticed by the both of them. Quill had to force herself to keep her eyes on the rabbit instead of Wolf, the weighing silence ate away at her mind, making it hard to think clearly.

Just as the winds die down a little, a sudden gust of air pushed passed them, and Wolf followed that gust of wind. The dog was over the rabbit in mere seconds that Quill didn’t have time to see what exactly he done but a line of blood on his mouth and on the forest floor filled the blanks for her. By the time she looked over to the rest of the clearing all of the other rabbits were gone, most likely hiding away in their burrows.

“Quill come on out,” Wolf called the dragoness over, whipping some of the blood from his mouth, and standing to his full height again. Quill walked over to the dog, keeping her eyes on the--very much--dead rabbit. “You didn’t look away did you?” Wolf’s question was enough to break Quill from her gazing over the dead rabbit as she looked into Wolf’s eyes again.

“No, no...I saw everything,” She said, looking away from Wolf’s eyes, and biting her lips a little. Wolf sighed when he recognized the dejection in her eyes, he kneeled down, and carefully forced Quill to look him in the eyes.

“Quill, you should know something about dragons,” Wolf started in a soft quiet tone to get the young dragon to listen to his words. “You and Spike had made it this far without eating meat because you have been able to eat diamonds and gems as much as you wanted. But that was your old life, out here stuff like that isn’t common, and until we can find a quarry you and Spike needs to eat meat. It’s the only way your bodies will mature correctly and even if you could only eat gems, you’ll still would need to eat meat every now again.”

Since she didn’t have any knowledge of dragons herself--and what she did knew was of the most basic--Quill saw no reason to argue with Wolf. “O-okay…”

Wolf could still see a ping of doubt in the dragon, he knew it’ll be a while before either dragon truly accept their heritage, but with time he could only hope for the best. “I know its a big change for you but its for the best. Remember Quill, I will never ask you to do something that you uncomfortable doing, but I at least need you to try.”

Quill closed her eyes and took in a deep breath to calm her nerves, Come on Quill, you can do this. For Spike. she reminded herself why she was out learning how to hunt, and vowing to keep her brother safe. Once her resolve was set, she snapped open her determined eyes and stared straight into Wolf’s eyes. “I can do it.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Wolf said with a smile as he stood back up to his full height again. “Come on, I know a bigger spot for use to head to.” Quill gave a firm nod as Wolf started for the next hunting site.

Meanwhile the two hunters of the small pack were out gathering food, Spike was left with the two mares, and put himself to use by cleaning Blaze’s work area. In mere moments, he was already done with the mare’s worktable, and now was sweeping any dust off the ground into the tunnel.

Blaze stood in amazement at the drake’s attentiveness towards the mundane task, something the mare seldom does, and was impressed by the speed of which he worked. “Wow Spike, I’ve never seen this place in such a good shape before,” Blaze said as he finished the last bit of sweeping. “You can take it easy, I’m not really doing anything but studying some ancient tomes from the ruins.” Spike whipped the small bit of sweat from his forehead and walked over to Blaze and Lily as they stood around her work table.

Spike pulled out a pen and notebook from his book bag and flipped to an empty page. “Let me help ya, I can make a list on what spells you need to read, and which ones you need to practice,” He said, trying to make himself useful for the mares. Both Lily and Blaze stared at the drake with curious gazes, which made him feel slightly awkward.

“Spike sweetie, calm down, I’m just looking over something. Just um…” Blaze looked around the room to see if there was anything for the helpful dragon to do but after his cleaning, there wasn’t much anything else for the drake to do. “Um...maybe just draw or something, we’ll call you over if we need something.”

“Oh, o-okay,” Spike said with a downcast in his voice that got both mares feeling sorry for the drake.

Glancing down to her hand, Lily quickly got an idea of what to do with the drake. “Actually Spike,” She started, swiftly gaining the dragon’s attention. “Since Wolf is teaching your sister how to hunt, I figured that you could do some good to learn about your fire-breath.” Both Blaze’s and Spike’s eyes lit up with a bright shine that matched the sun. “And it just so happens, here’s a book on fire magic. You are of the fire-element right?”

Spike’s smile flatted under the flutterpony’s question. “Fire...element?” Again both Lily and Blaze shared a glance towards each other before turning back to the drake.

“Spike, you do know that you’re fire-breath is just one thing that dragons can do, and that you have your own element right?” Spike’s eyes widened from this new bit of information, telling Lily all she needed to know. “I see so you don’t, well since that you and your sister are twins, whichever element you have her’s should be the opposite. Spike let me ask you, have you ever enjoyed burning things?”

The drake’s body tensed up, memories of the Canterlot library burning down because of his fire-breath, and having to be dragged out by Quill so they could get away from the guard flashed through his head. “N-no, no I haven’t,” Spike answered with a sorrow filled voice.

Lily and Blaze heard the sorrow tone in his voice, a quick glance from Lily told Blaze that they’ll have to deal with it later. “I see, well is their anything that you’ve enjoyed doing?” Spike thought back to the many things he had to do when he and Quill were helping Twilight around the library but none of the tasks seemed to coincide with any element of nature. “Anything at all, particularly something that you’re good at, and Quill isn’t.”

Spike crossed his arms well he closed his eyes in thought. “Well, every time we would go swimming, Quill couldn’t stay above the water for more than two seconds without some floaties,” Spike chuckled at the memory of the last swimming trip they went on with Twilight and the others. The chuckle soon ended when he realized that trips like that were to never happen again, and the dark-cloud of sadness came over his head again.

“Swimming huh, that must mean that you are of the water-element, which to the best of my knowledge that’s fairly rare.” Spike looked towards the mare with wander in his eyes at the thought that he was some kind of special type of dragon. “Well looks like you won’t be much help,” Lily said to Blaze, who snorted a little, and returned to her book. “I myself isn’t that familiar with water-magic but I fairly sure that there are some books on the topic within the archives in the ruins. I hope you don’t mind waiting do you?”

“No ma’am,” Spike said with a cheerful voice, something the two were starting to think her couldn’t do.

“Great, we’ll start looking when Wolf and your sister get’s back,” Lily said with a warm motherly slimed that reviles Celestia’s. Spike gave the mare a excited nod and ran off to the side of the entrance to the tunnels to patiently wait while he read the only book he managed to grab from the Canterlot library. Lily continued to watch the joy and wander on the young drake’s face, the warmth from his genuine smile brought a brighter warmth to her heart.

Blaze caught the look through the top of her book and decided to put it off for later. So, our little family is growing.

A few hours have passed since Obsidian’s team had made it back to Canterlot, the moment everyone was in their rooms was the very same moment everyone was asleep, however Obsidian and Gizmo laid awake working on a long-rang commutation prototype. Obsidian laid under the large monitor screen trying to fix the virtual problems the device has been suffering through while Gizmo made sure that all the energized crystals were in their proper places.

Obsidian lifted his head from under the machine to give Gizmo a nod. “Okay, try it now,” He said, hoping the contraption would work. Gizmo returned the nod and stood in front of the device’s keypad to type in a fix position to a receiver that they had set up far in the middle of town. Once Gizmo hit the switch, the prototype’s screen started to flicker in and out of a clear image to a hazy one.

Gizmo looked towards Obsidian, knowing what the dog was thinking. “Turn it off,” He said in a sigh, walking over to a small leather-couch that he had order for the barracks. Gizmo did as he instructed, turning the machine off and, walking over to the couch with him. Obsidian placed his hand on his face and dragged them down. “This is getting on my nerves.”

“Hey, that’s invitation for you,” Gizmo said, running a hand through her dark-green and dark-blue mane, and lighting her horn teleporting two lime-flavored energy drinks in front of her. “You want one boss-dog,” She asked, floating one to the dog, who took it in his hand and pop the top of it with his claws.

“Thanks Gizmo,” Obsidian said before taking a quick drink. Gizmo pop the top of her drink with her magic and also took a quick drink. Obsidian whipped the lime drink from his lips, the light caffeine taste in it along with the heavy lime taste did give him the ‘bubbly’ effect which picked his mood up slightly, but the long day had already done it’s damage to him and the team. “By the way, that’s not what I meant,” He said after a short pause.

“Still thinking about the twins and Celestia,” Gizmo asked, knowing the dog better than anyone else on the team. Obsidian nodded his head but kept his thoughts to himself. “Well, if they ran away before, then they’re sure to learn from their mistakes. I doubt that we’ll find them and if we did, not like we could force them to come back with us.”

“That’s the thing Gizmo,” Obsidian started, looking up towards the ceiling. “What if we don’t find them? What do you think Celestia will do?” Obsidian realized that if she was willing to send out a good portion of her guard to comb through Everfree one after another until they dropped, what would she do if she had to go out there. Obsidian didn’t dare think of seeing Celestia in her full fury rage tearing through Everfree in search of the twins.

“I don’t know Sid,” Gizmo said, breaking Obsidian out of his thoughts, and looking towards the dog. “I would imagine it be hell on earth.” The friends shared a much needed laugh after the long day of looking for the twins.

“Yeah, with raining fire from the heavens, and volcanoes erupting from the ground drowning everyone in a blazing sea of lava.” Obsidian continued to laugh at his dark joke while Gizmo sat next to him in complete silence, of which he soon caught on to. “Too much?”

“Don’t take a job as a stand-up comedian, Sid.” Obsidian blushed a little, and added imagery to the very long list of things that he can’t make as jokes. “But yeah, I’m guessing it’ll be something like that.” The two again sat in silence, keeping their busy thoughts to themselves, and simply enjoying what little peace that they had on the job.

However that peace was shattered by a firm knock on the door, Gizmo looked towards Obsidian, and cast back the curious look back to the mare. The dog eventually got up from the somewhat comfortable couch to answer the persisted and unexpected knocking.

He opened the door to a dark-brown earth-pony guard, tailored in full royal gear and armor, and the usual stone-face of the military. “Sargent Obsidian?”

“Yeah, what’s up,” Obsidian asked, trying to figure out what the pony could want. “If you’re here to pick up the report, tell Celestia I haven’t had the chance to write it just yet.” The dog was going to close the door but the guard stopped it with his foot.

Obsidian growled and opened the door again to find that the pony was unresponsive to the him trying to close the door on him. “Princess Celestia wishes to have a private audience with you, now.” Obsidian remained silent, wondering why Celestia would want to see him at this moment of time. He looked back to Gizmo, who just shrugged her shoulders as she was just as puzzled as he was.

“Fine, tell her I’ll-”

“She requested to be now, even if I had to drag you there, and I plan on doing my job.” Obsidian let out another growl of irritation but still fully opened the door and stopped to turn around to Gizmo.

“Gizmo, you’re in charge until I get back, and if anyone ask tell them I’m in a meeting with Celestia. Understood?” The mare got up from the couch and nodded her head.

“Sure boss-dog, don’t do anything dumb,” She said before walking to her room down the short hall. Obsidian turned around to the pony and gave a nod, which wasn’t returned. Instead the guard started to lead Obsidian towards Celestia’s private chambers.

The dog took advantage of the pony’s lack of talking to think of all the possibilities that lay await for him in Celestia’s room, most of which wasn’t favorable for the dog. Great, no doubt this is about the twins, and no doubt she going to yell at me. Looking back to all the other input he gotten from the others about the twin’s latest attempt of running away, he did make the mare seem like some kind of control-freak, and not the mother he knew she was.

I deserve it anyways, no mother likes to be told that their children may ever be seen again, and that’s exactly what I’ve told her. The only reason he knew that his mother wasn’t grieving over her lost was that she was the one to let him leave. Though, he knew it still hurt her, to lose either of her young pups, but at least she was able to tell him goodbye.

In this case with the twins, Celestia may never get to say those words, and every moment that they’re in Everfree forest is another moment something could happen to them. It has to be tearing her apart, she’s stuck here while they are out there. Maybe I did jump the gun a little.

The pair of Solar soldiers reached the doors to Celestia’s chambers faster than Obsidian thought possible. A quick glance to the doors gave the dog a scare, usually there was a pair of guards at the large golden doors, but now there wasn’t a single soul in the halls.

Obsidian stopped in his tracks, something about the air in the hall was unsettling to him, yet the pony continued to walk down the halls. “Hey what’s the big idea, why is no one guarding Celestia,” Obsidian asked the pony that led him to the ruler’s room. The pony didn’t stop walking towards the doors, making Obsidian let out a quick roar, and running to catch up to the guard. The pair reached the doors, the heavy looming feeling growing with each step, but Obsidian pushed through the flight instincts that were kicking him in the head.

The pony turned around to Obsidian and hand him a golden key with a sun-flare key-chain at the end. Obsidian examined the key, the feeling of magic was clearly evident of the oddly shaped key. The dog looked towards the pony after he finished examining the key to find that his stone-face hadn’t change a bit. “She waiting for you inside.” The stallion gave a salute, which Obsidian returned before he walked off.

Obsidian turned around to the pony as he hurried down the hallway, furthering the dog’s suspicious of what awaits him behind the door, but still placed the key in the keyhole to unlock the door.

Once it was unlocked, Obsidian pushed opened the door to the ruler of Equestria, and was shocked to find that the room was pitch dark to a point where his canine night-vision had to be used to know what’s in front of him.

What was in front of the dog was Celestia, the radiating image of beauty and grace, laying in the bed with her celestial mane down, and in a nightgown. Her room laid sporadic and in complete shambles, dressers of clothes laid opened in just as much mess as the room, and a mirror over the top of the dresser was shattered with evidence of blood on the sharp fragments.

“Close the door.” Even her once elegant and soft caring voice was cracked with the obvious signs of her many hours crying for her adopted children. Obsidian quickly followed the broken mare’s instructions, of the two and half years of being a guard, he’s ever seen the mare so demoralized and defeated.

Just seeing somepony as graceful as Celestia in such a state was enough to make Obsidian feel somewhat sadden but he had a feeling that he was going to be need to be strong for the mare. Celestia’s body started to move upward in an unnatural manner that further sickened the dog, the movement was forced, and not truly something she wanted to make, but did anyways.

Her arm started to move towards the dog in the same sickening motion and her finger was used to call the dog over. “Come here, Sargent.” Obsidian took an uneasy breath but did as he was commanded. With every step towards Celestia’s shadow-self, the dark looming cloud of emptiness grow to an unbearable levels, but Obsidian forced his body to continued onwards.

After a long span of time, he stood in front of the former proud mare, and awaited her next order. Celestia’s body started to move again, her hand patting an empty spot on the bed with hollow thuds. “Sit.” Obsidian tried to force his body to move but the overwhelming force of his flight instincts fought back for all its worth. “I said sit, Sargent.” The mare’s commanding voice was enough for Obsidian to grab hold of his own subconscious mind as he took a seat right next to the--what he was sure of--source of the disdain in the room.

The ticking of the clock above the bed started to drag on longer each time, even when it finally made the presented ticking sound, Obsidian had to fight back another wave of instincts. However the dog’s battle for control of his mind was ended by the mare’s full weight--which felt like a dead-body’s.

Obsidian took in another shaky breath to calm his nerves as he sat in near silence for the mare to speak up. Celestia’s head slowly started to lift off of Obsidian’s shoulder but continued to use it as a sort of head-rest. Through the corner of his eyes, Obsidian could see Celestia’s inattentive stares falling on his face.

The mare’s body started to move yet again, her hands grabbing onto Obsidian’s fur to lift herself up, but--yet again--used his body as a large furry pillow. “Sargent, do you have any idea why I called you in here?”

“N-no ma’am, I was hoping you would be kind enough to reveal that to me,” Obsidian said, keeping his eyes locked towards the doors, and a small voice in his head screamed at him to run. Of course he didn’t listen to the tiny voice begging cries, no matter how right they may have been, running from an alicorn is a losing battle from the start.

Celestia’s body started to move again, this time pushing Obsidian to the bed, and pinning him under her weight. The mare’s arms found their way around Obsidian’s head as the sound of the clock repeated its periodic ticking sound, snapped the dog out of his daze a little. Obsidian--still surprise by the princess’s movement--stared up towards the darkness that was the ceiling.

“P-princess what are you doing,” He asked, blushing that the object of most of the guard’s affection and beauty was laying on top of him barely dressed in any clothing, but it was a good thing that Obsidian had a marefriend or this situation would be a lot worse for the dog.

“I’m a horrible mother.” Celestia’s sorrowful voice echoed through the room in a hollow cry. Obsidian was going to tell her wrong when she continued. “This is the fourth time they’ve ran away since I sent them to live with Twilight.” As the broken mare continued, Obsidian could feel tears staining his dark-fur coat, but he stay quiet to let the mare cry her sorrows away. “I should’ve know...Twilight was always too focused on her studies to properly care for them. I should have kept them here with me, they would have been safe, and they wouldn’t have a reason to fight over her.”

The mare’s cries betrayed Obsidian’s ears, princess Celestia--the ruler of Equestria--was bad mouthing the elements of harmony, and even doubting the skills of her own personal student. On top of that, he’s never heard the mare bad mouth anyone before, not even Discord as many times he caused trouble for everyone in his path. Yet no matter how much he tried, Celestia’s voice still rang through his head, and her words did find a place within his mind.

“What kind of mother...sends her children away with somepony who barely can take care of herself? What mother, what mother abandons them, and leave them with somepony that uses them for labor,” Celestia continued to question herself, her grip around Obsidian’s neck tighten, and her sobbing started to grow louder. “They should have been treated like royalty, anything they could want should have been theirs.”

The more the mare cried, the more of a criminal Obsidian felt. He had the gall to tell a mother that she’ll never see her children again, even went as far as telling her that she had no idea what they needed, and to top that he was proclaiming that the mare had alternative motives for wanting her precious children back. The urge to tell Celestia to do him harm for all of his accusing claims overtook him but at the state the once proud mare was; it wasn’t a good idea.

“I should have known better than to trust somepony that was too captivated by her studies to care for them. Who was I kidding when I allowed them to stay in a one-horse town after all the trouble those six cause for it.” To much of that, Obsidian had to agree, and it only made him feel worse. He himself had to pay the town a visit after a curtain pink-mane party pony destroyed the town’s clock tower with one of her ‘pranks.’

The only reason he didn’t think much of it is because she offered to help with the clean-up while he worked on the clock itself. However still, he didn’t enjoy the time wasted fixing a clock that was nearly a hundred years old.

The mare’s body started to move again, this time her head was ripped from Obsidian’s dark-blue fur. “You want to know why they never have to pay for any damages, hm Sargent,” Celestia questioned, locking her dull blood-shot magenta eyes with Obsidian’s slightly glowing silver. From the long pause, the dog could tell that it wasn’t a rhetorical question, and his mind searched for any explanation that may correctly answer the mare’s questions.

If only he was that lucky.

“Um...because they’re the elements of harmony, princess?” Obsidian failed to make his answer sound remotely believable to the mare.

“No,” Celestia started with a shout her enraged voice echoed through the large room, almost as if it was trapped inside the walls, and startled Obsidian as new tears formed on the mare’s face. “No, it is because I’ve sin.” Obsidian thought it was unspeakable, the sun goddess ruler of Equestria, and purest being the dog had ever met; sinned.

“Princess, what are you talking about,” Obsidian asked, the mere thought of the mare sin about anything was unimaginable.

“I-I’ve been sending those six to face the dangers of Equestria instead of doing it myself. Discord could have easily killed them if he wanted to, the changeling army would have done just that if it wasn’t for you and your brother coming to their aids.” Looking back, the mare did have a point. At any point he wished, Discord could have simply removed them from reality itself, but he didn’t simply because he wanted to have ‘fun’ with them.

During that time, Obsidian wasn’t in the guard, but he was a blacksmith for the Baltimore sea-port. News of the god’s escape arrived in the form of nine foot tall rabbits rampaging through the town. After he insured the safety of Sky Bloom, his marefriend, he along with other townsfolk started to lead the rabbits out of the town, and he took led of the improvised operation.

Then there was the changeling invasion during Shining Armor's wedding. The changelings had the girls completely surrounded because Celestia told them to go retrieve the element. Luckily for the girls Obsidian and his younger brother Stone, arrived on time to help fight of the swarm, but even with their collective strength the sheer number of the swarm outweigh them.

“I’m not worthy to call myself a princess anymore, nor am I worthy to call myself a mother.” The two laid on the bed in silence, only the sound of the ticking clock, and the mare’s sobs would periodically break the quiet stillness of the room. Hesitantly, Obsidian started to place his hands on the mare’s back, and pulled her closer.

Celestia’s body became tense from his touch but soon the flood-gates opened and she began to openly cry into Obsidian’s fur. He realized that what the mare was feeling now was the same thing his mother went through when he left home. Also that Stone’s shoulders had to be the ones for her to cry on.

Now I’m paying my debt. Obsidian had his own brand of laws that he lived by, going along with the legal laws of Equestria, and adding them to it. One of the dog’s laws was that no matter what anyone does, it comes back around for them to repay. Obsidian abandoned his home in the republics, leaving his brother to fill his spot as the next alpha of the den, and tearing a hole in his mother’s heart. Now here he was with one of the most powerful beings in his arms, crying her heart out to him, and he was criticizing her not four hours ago.

Obsidian started to rub Celestia’s back, trying to ease the mare’s sorrows. “Princess, that’s not true.” The mare’s body started to shake under the dog’s gentle voice. “You’ve done nothing wrong, it is not your fault that the twins are out in Everfree, and you know that. The girls know the risk that they take when they’re called to duty and even they can make mistakes.” Obsidian tried to think of anything he could do to keep the mare calm but only half-words of encouragement were the only thing he could think of. “I’m sure that we’ll find them, I know we’ll, but it’ll take time. I know its hard princess but please be patient.”

Time slowed as Obsidian waited for the mare to give a response. The room filled with the same dreaded silences from before as the clock above slowly made its automatic sound. “Princess?” Soft snoring came as Obsidian’s answer while the streams of despair cries drained Celestia of all of her already drain energy and she drifted off to much need rest.

The dog sighed, guessing that she had been up ever since yesterday morning, and that the bearing stress of worrying about the twins took their toll on the mare. Obsidian carefully moved Celestia’s body towards the head of the bed and managed to get out of the mare’s gasp.

He started to tip-toe towards the door but before he walked out, he turned towards Celestia as she peacefully found joy in her dreams. I’m truly sorry princess, you don’t deserve to be put through this, but I won’t let you force them to go against their choices. Obsidian closed the door and started to walk back to his barracks, dreading what’s could happen for the next few days.