“Come on, cheer up! There are so many mares; you’ll find the right one someday.” Gale gripped the mug the barmare had dropped in front of her and shoved it over to Celsius. “You were way too good for her anyway. My little brother needs a proper mare, not some deformed minotaur.”

Celsius rolled his eyes. “She’s a human, the only one on the planet. Unique, so very unique. She’s a good mare.” He took the offered drink and gulped down half the cider in one go. “And we didn’t really break up. We decided to take a break.”

Winter Gale, his older sister by five minutes, sighed and motioned for the barmare to bring a drink for her as well. Then she took off her golden helmet, allowing her long white mane to fall free and her fur to turn blue. She opened the first buckle of her golden armour and laid the helmet on the counter.

“I know you can be a little slow at times, but that’s what all mares say when they want to break up and don’t know how. It’s cheap and, yeah, I’ve said it a few times myself. In my defence, you stallions can get clingy pretty fast and you instantly bring out the puppy-dog eyes when you realize it’s over.” She patted him on the shoulder. “But like I said, you’ll find the right one someday. What mare would say no to an ex-royal guard who’s now seasonal manager in a famous town like Ponyville. I mean, it’s where the freaking Elements of Harmony live.” Winter Gale hummed for a moment. “Maybe you should try with one of them. I hear the fashion designer one is always looking for the right stallion. It was hilarious watching her go at Prince Blueblood at the Gala. It was like she didn’t even know he was gay. I also could hook you up with a friend of mine, and I know just the…”

As his sister continued to ramble, Celsius thought back to his own time in the force. He had just been a logistics guy, the one who counted the spears, how many bottles of weapon and armour polish were still left, and to requisition new stock if necessary. His sister, on the other hoof, went straight to officer school and had become a major soon after. Even hundreds of years after equal rights for both genders had been declared, the royal guard was still a mare’s club. Stallions often found themselves in the kitchens, logistics like himself, or patrol duty in the city. There were only two ways for a stallion to get to the higher ranks. Either you signed up for the house guard of one of the princesses as eye candy, or you got lucky in the form of the mare above you getting pregnant and needing to be replaced. That was how Shining Armor had become captain. Well, it helped that one of the princesses was his marefriend. To the stallion’s credit, he’d had the magic skill for the job, just like his sister. For Celsius, after three years of checking list after list, it had become clear that Shining’s fortune wasn’t his fortune. He’d handed in his papers and took the first job that had been offered to him.

He looked back at his sister. “I really don’t know why you left the force, you know? You had a clean record, and I’m sure you could have been promoted any day.” Since she was still at it, he lifted his mug again and emptied the rest of the cider. Sometimes he wondered how his life would be if he had been born as a mare. Would he still be with the Royal Guard? Maybe he would be major by now as well. On the other hoof, he liked being a stallion, and the time he had spent with Melody had made him realize that every day. When he had been with her, the world was more than fine. The sun was brighter and the night full of love. He missed just resting his head on her full teats and hearing her heart beat at the same time. And wasn’t that why they had agreed on a break? To make sure they liked each other? Celsius didn’t just like the human mare, he loved her. She was smart, funny, and good-looking too—just about everything he wanted in a mare.

“Just a little break. If you still want to come back, then I’ll be here. I need to know if you’ll be here for me, for my child, if I can count on you. Think long and hard,” he remembered Melody saying. And now, nearly two weeks later, he was sure. He would go back, make Melody his mare, and claim that foal as his own. After all, it really could be his. He never told her, but he hadn’t seen her for the first time in Berry’s Bar. It had been a few weeks prior, at the start of spring when he was alone and horny. That was when he had seen her for the first time, this exotic beauty of a mare. She had been just lying on her stomach on a towel in the middle of a small field.

“Want to have some fun?” she had said and wiggled her butt at him without even looking up. “No need to be shy; it’s the same as any other mare, maybe even tighter.” And how right she had been. Celsius had even returned later that day to find her in the same position. He didn’t know if she had been with any other stallion, so that foal could very likely be his. He had burned with a desire to see her after that, and when she walked into the bar with the Element of Honesty at her side, he had jumped at the chance to talk to her.

“—And Stellar Night likes to watch the sky, just like you did as a little colt. She also—”

“I’m going home,” he interrupted his sister and stood up. He scooped up some bits from his bag and threw them on the counter without looking. “See you later.”

“Just think about it!” she cried after him, but since he didn’t really listen, he couldn’t even if he wanted to. No, his thoughts circled around Melody as he walked the streets of Canterlot. Night had since reigned supreme from when he had entered the bar, and the streetlights made the old city glow sombrely, as if the city reflected his mood. Not many ponies were out after the sun went down aside from several taxi drivers, ponies heading for the nearby movie theatre, and the guards, of course. One even waved to him, a stallion he couldn’t recognize with the cloaking spell on. Celsius waved back anyway, even if it was only half-hearted. All in all, it took him nearly half an hour to reach his parents’ cosy city home, the one they had bought after he and his sister had moved out. It was in the lower district, but still retained that noble visage. This was Canterlot, after all. Even the smallest of homes had to look fit for royalty. Celsius grabbed the spare key from under the flower pot on the windowsill and stepped inside.

“Is that you, Celsius?” he heard his mother yell from the kitchen. “I thought you wanted to spend the evening with your sister?”

“That was before she wanted to introduce me to all of her friends,” he called back and rubbed his hooves on the doormat.

He could almost hear his mother’s eyes roll. “And would that be so bad? I can’t take it that my cute little baby colt isn’t married still.” He joined his mother in the kitchen, eyeing the food she was making. His father sat at the table, reading the newspaper. The same newspaper that he had been reading this morning.

“Hey, dad,” he greeted the stallion, who instantly reacted by coughing.

“Oh hey, Celsius. Didn’t even notice you’re back. Really thrilling article.”

“Sky, tell your son that he should take his sister’s offer. He should be going home to his own wife by now, not to us. Well, at least not without grandfoals.” Blazing Sky rolled his eyes before he trained them on Celsius, a frown marring his face.

If his dad was getting involved, he knew he was in trouble. “Your mother is right. I know you had a bad breakup with this hooman mare, but it’s time to get back into the game, my boy. Just ask Gale to set you up with a nice mare. Even if it’s just to get our guest room empty again.”

“I suddenly don’t feel hungry anymore,” Celsius muttered and turned around to leave.

“Oh, before I forget. There was a letter for you in the mail.” His father shoved a piece of paper over the table. “From Ponyville’s weather office. Didn’t you take overtime leave?”

He was right. Celsius had worked the entire previous winter without missing an hour, going beyond what had been required of him. He had been bunking with his parents for the past two weeks, and could remain for one more without any issues. With that in mind, the letter could only be concerning an emergency. But what kind of emergency had befallen Ponyville this time that they needed their winter expert back? And even if it was an emergency in the first place, he’d already had a few ciders too many to be flying in the dark. Nonetheless, he took the letter and opened it.

Dear Celsius,
How are you doing? I hope you’ve missed me as much as I miss you, and that you’ve been thinking about us. I’ve done a lot of thinking myself over the last few weeks and have so much to tell you, things better said in person. I booked us a table at a restaurant for this Friday evening. It’s called ‘The Prancing Pony’, and from what I was told, it’s a good place. A new friend I made was so kind to help me with that. The reservation is for 8pm, just after sunset. I hope to see you soon.

With love,
Melody

PS: You totally forgot to tell me your address in Canterlot. I had to ask one of your work friends to send this.

PSS: I have a big surprise for you.

“Looks like that hooman mare has come to her senses!” Celsius winced at the voice of his mother from right next to him. “Looks like she noticed what she lost. Taking you to The Prancing Pony is a good start.”

“I’ve heard about that place,” his father muttered from the other side. “Very fancy, very expensive. You need to make reservations months in advance. I’ve never been taken to a place like that.” Sky glanced over to his wife.

Storm Front rolled her eyes again. “If we ever win the Celestial Lottery, we’ll go, promise.”

“Do you mind? Personal letter. Personal.” Celsius folded the letter and hid it under his right wing. “I’m going up to my room.” As he left, he still could hear his parents bickering in the kitchen, and even in the guest room upstairs, he could still make out their voices. However, his slightly cider-fogged mind was elsewhere. With all the talk about how Melody had actually broken up with him, he had been on the verge of believing it himself. But here he had proof that that wasn’t the case. She clearly just wanted some time to herself to get her life in order, just as she had promised. A weight fell from his heart that he hadn’t even noticed until now.

With a relieved sigh, Celsius fell onto his bed and kicked his hooves in the air. The letter came out from under his wing, and his eyes continually scanned the lines just to be certain. He would need to get a suit. Other stallions would just borrow one from their fathers, but with him being nearly a head shorter than most stallions, that wasn’t a possibility. He would have more luck fitting in one of his sister’s dresses. Renting one was the only option since Friday was the day after tomorrow. He’d also need to visit the spa and get his mane and hooves done. He didn’t want to look like a slob… or like a stallion that had rarely left his parents’ guestroom for the past few weeks.

Yes, he would show Melody how good of a stallion he was.

Already working on 18. These thing take some time because JBL has to translate them from Denglish to proper English first.

Thanks to JBL for editing this chapter.