...A What Now?

Author's Notes:

A direct sequel to 'What is Love' so you, you know who you are--the one with that beard--that wants to read this without reading the prequel, I promise you that you will not understand what's going on.

Remember to comment, like, etc... I want to hear from you, really.

...I can already feel this fic's gonna be a long one. Crazy and long...

At least I didn't put in a song for the title this time....

“Come on, Ares,” I muttered, walking through the back alleys of Canterlot as quietly as I could. “We need to hurry up and get to the Sparkle house.”

Now, you may be wonder why I, Princess Cadence, was trotting around a dirty back alley like a criminal who was also tired and had a pretty nasty hangover, but there’s a pretty good reason ... really.

You see, recently I kinda sorta revoked my self-title of princess of love because, incredibly, I fell out of love with my husband, Shining Armor, and fell in love with my best friend. So, doing the right thing, I was going to go tell my ex-husband’s parents this and hope for the best. So yeah, a good reason.

Come on, Cadence, I thought to myself, stopping and closing my eyes in exhaustion.

You can do this. You HAVE to do this. They deserve to know! There’s no waiting until tomorrow, you have to do this NOW…. Despite my little pep-talk, I was shaking a little.

That is, until I felt a hand gently touching my shoulder.

Looking up, a warmth filled my chest as I looked up at Ares, my Ares, who was looking down at me with those pretty green eyes of his—though he reallllly didn’t look that good; he was probably as hungover as I was—which were filled with concern and bemusement.

“Candy, are you alright there?”

I leaned over and nuzzled him. “Yes, Honey.” Just saying that was weird, not in a bad way, it was in the best way in fact, but still weird. “I’m just worried about us telling everypony … I don’t know how Shining’s parents are going to take this.” I looked away from him, dread hitting me like a kick to the stomach. “I don’t know how Twilight is going to take this….”

Ares knelt down and wrapped me in a hug. “Do you just want me to tell them?” he asked, making me crack a small smile.

Don’t tempt me, I thought before shaking my head. “I can’t do that, Ares. Velvet and Night Light deserve to hear me say it.”

He nodded, standing up and running a hand soothingly through my mane before we started down the alley again.

I know it might sound silly, but I didn’t want anypony to see us go to the Sparkle house. Ponies might tell my aunts and then they might start asking questions before I was ready to tell them about everything, so ‘ninjas’ we needed to be until we got back to the castle.

Don’t get cold hooves, don’t get cold hooves, I desperately thought, fighting back a whimper when I saw that familiar mansion that might just ruin what was supposed to be a pretty good day.

Throwing all caution to the wind, the two of us scrambled to their front door. Ares gave my shoulder a squeeze as I looked at their door. “Are you ready, Candy?”

“No,” I instantly answered, firmly tapping the door.

A small part of me really hoped that they weren’t going to answer, but then I heard hoofsteps coming toward the door. “Come on,” I muttered to myself, listening as the doorknob slowly started to turn. “You can do this, you can do this.”

I flinched when the door flew open, revealing Velvet, whose eye’s widened in joy as she saw us. “Oh, hello, Cadence, Ares, how are you two—” She stopped when she saw the looks on our faces, her look of joy becoming a look of concern.

“Is there something wrong?” she quietly asked, leaning on the doorframe. “Did something happen to Shining?”

I gave her a fake little smile, trying to keep my legs from shaking and trying to figure out what to say next.

Thankfully, Ares saved me. “Mrs. Sparkle, can we come in? We have something very important to tell you and your husband.”

Velvet cleared her throat, looking at me. “Of course. Just make yourselves comfortable in the living room while I go get Night and something for us all to drink.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat as the mare let us into her house before trotting up the stairs. “Ares,” I said, looking at him, “I don’t know if I can do this. I know earlier that I said I would be able to but—”

He shut my mouth with his hand before picking me up and carrying me to the living room. It was the same as I remembered it, a spacious, blue-walled room with a bunch of pictures and sofas all around it. It was the place where I had spent nights playing with Twilight, helping Shining with his homework when we were younger, and it would be where I told my in-laws what was going on.

Plopping me onto the couch, and sitting down next to me, Ares said, “you can do this, Candy.” He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my forehead. “Just give them that big, pretty smile of yours and bat your eyelashes a few times. That’ll make everything a lot less awkward and weird.”

I slugged him with a small smile on my face. “Now’s not the time for jokes, Mister,” I chastised, getting a dry chuckle out of him.

Don’t ever change, Ares, I thought, leaning into my human, while we heard a pair of hoofsteps clopping toward us.

I had to resist the urge to move away from Ares. No, you let them see, I firmly said to myself as the Sparkles made their way into the living room, Velvet holding a tray of drinks in her mouth. The two looked at me and Ares oddly before sitting down next to us.

Night Light cleared his throat awkwardly, “Ares, Cadence, it’s nice to see you.” We nodded, smiling at him. “Now, Velvet here is saying that something’s wrong,” he waved a hoof in our direction. “Is there something that you want to tell us, Honey?”

Steeling myself, I hopped off of the couch and sat in front of them. Bowing my head, I started, “Velvet, Night, you two are wonderful, great ponies, and I have to tell you something that might make you hate me.”

I took a shaky breath and closed my eyes. “I’m divorcing Shining…”

I heard them gasp, and I forced myself to look them both in the eye. “I … don't think I love him … anymore." I gave the two a weak smile, sadness hitting my stomach harder and harder the longer I looked at the two. "But it could be worse, Shining deserves another mare that’ll make him happy; a mare that’ll give him—”

I stopped when Velvet growled, getting up and pressing our faces together. “None of that, Cadence.” I flinched when I felt her hoof touch my chin. “Don’t you dare sell yourself short like that.”

I sniffled when she wrapped me into a hug. “B-But—”

Her grip tightened around me. “Whatever happened, whatever is happening, just remember, Night and I love you.”

I bit back a sob while Ares and Night looked on, a little sad smile on the stallion’s face as

Velvet looked back at him. “I’m just sorry that it took me so long to realize it.”

I wrapped my wings around her, now crying my eyes out, my mother-in-law holding me, patting me on the back and cooing into my ear.

Stop crying, you baby, I thought to myself. S-Stop, you need to tell them why.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that those weren’t tears of sadness, but happiness, scared and shaky happiness, but happiness none-the-less.

When I finally calmed down I told them everything. Why Shining left, my feelings toward Ares, our drunken confession that could have come out of a storybook, my insecurities about if what I was doing was right.

I told them everything and more. Velvet held me as Night listened, his head bobbing but his expression unreadable, his eyes seemingly staring through me as he went over every word I said.

“A-And that’s it,” I muttered, wiping my nose with a hoof. “I just told you how bad of a pony I am … I-I’ll understand if you hate me for this … I’d hate me for this.”

To my surprise, Night snorted good-naturedly, “I had an uncle that was married seven times.” He ignored his wife’s squeak as he looked at Ares and I. “I asked him one time why he didn’t stay with a filly for more than a few years. He laughed and told me that he didn’t know; that something just wasn’t right with any of them.”

Night got up, trotting toward me and placing a hoof on my shoulder. “You know what happened to him? He married a stallion from Dodge City twenty years ago; he’s been with him ever since.”

His warm blue eyes looked down at me, full of forgiveness, something that I don’t think I deserved. “Love is a fickle thing, Dear, it doesn’t know what it wants until it has it.”

He looked over at Ares knowingly before he looked back at me. “You’re like a daughter to me, and there’s nothing you can do to undo that…. Shining and Twilight, on the other hand, might be a little harder to please.”

I nodded, smiling weakly at him. “I know. I’m going to tell Twilight and my Aunts as soon as we leave here.” That was something that I was dreading way more than this little sit down, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“I know they might not forgive me, but I hope they will talk to me so I can explain it to them.”

Velvet and Night smiled at each other before looking back at me. “We’ll be praying for you, Cadence,” Night said, “and remember to come and visit us sometime. We feel lonely and old when there’s nopony younger than us running around our house.”

~~@@~~

Celestia couldn’t help but sigh as she looked down at her daisy sandwich. They put mayo on it again, she thought distastefully, crinkling her nose as she used a spell to lift the bread. I know I asked for it without mayo; the chefs know that—

“Sister, are you well? You’ve been staring at your lunch since it was brought out.”

The sun princess looked up at her sister, who was munching away at her hay fries, before looking back down at her lunch. “I’m fine, Luna,” she answered, making Luna raise an eyebrow.

“If thou art fine, then eat.”

Celestia looked down at her sandwich before looking back at her. “They put mayonnaise on my sandwich ... again.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Sister, thou art over two thousand years old, thou can take a little mayo on thy sandwich,” she waved a hoof at her. “Do not waste it. Eat up.”

Celestia stuck out her lip, pouting as she crossed her forelegs. “I don’t like mayo, Luna,” she insisted.

The Princess of the Night hummed thoughtfully before levitating the sandwich in front of her.

“Fine, if thou wilt not eat it, We shall.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in panic, trying to snatch away her food from her little sister, who was cackling madly while trying to take a bite.

“Give that back this instant, Luna!”

“Nay sister, you snooze, you lose!”

“It’s myyyy food!”

“Well, We—”

Twilight cleared her throat nervously, throwing a glare at her coltfriend, who was trying hard not to chuckle. “Um, excuse me, Princesses?” The two alicorns stopped their little game of tug-of-war to look at the little unicorn, who gulped.

“Maybe you could just take off the mayonnaise … with a knife?”

Celestia looked at her sister, who looked back at her with an equally stunned expression, before snatching her food and grabbing a knife from the table. “Thank you, Twilight,” she said while her student beamed.

There’ll still be some of that awful condiment on it though, she glumly thought, trying her best to wipe as much of the horrid white substance off her lunch as she could. But I guess I’ll have to tough it out, as it were.

As she took a big bite out of her daisy sandwich, trying not to cringe at the flavor, Flash finally spoke up. “Hey, does anypony know where Ares or the Princess are?” He looked around the kitchen. “I tried to see if they were in their room but nopony came to the door when I knocked.”

Luna shrugged. “We have not seen them since the day before,” she said, sounding slightly irritated. “Though we all should have wished young Ares a happy birthday, not just young Cadence.”

Celestia smiled gently at her sister. “Luna, you know that Ares didn’t want a party.”

The younger alicorn huffed. “We did not need to have a party; giving him a gift would have been enough.”

“It was Ares’ birthday yesterday?” a confused Flash asked, getting a nod and nuzzle from Twilight.

“That’s what he put on the paperwork that he signed,” she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “He told me the other day that he reallllly didn’t want to have a party though, so we didn’t have one.”

Flash looked around again, now slightly nervous. “I should still go get him a card or something…”

Celestia grinned. “Yes, my little pony, and I think Luna and I should do the same.”

Luna was about to say something when she saw Ares and Cadence quietly slip into the room, odd looks on their faces.

Oh, there they are, she thought, cocking her head in confusion. For some reason, neither of the two were making their way toward them. In fact, it looked like they were almost scared; the two whispering to each other as they looked at Luna and her little group at the table. The night princess pretended not to notice them.

Now what are they do— She couldn’t help but grin a little bit as Ares quickly leaned down and kissed the pink alicorn on the lips. Ahhhhh, We see what is going on.

For a second, Luna couldn’t help but feel a little bit smug as she looked at her sister out of the corner of her eye. It seems they acted as We thought they would.

For her part, Celestia was acting a lot calmer than she should have—Luna knew her sister also saw that little bit of affection, she was just a lot better at hiding it—but Luna could tell that Celestia’s mind was churning the same as her’s was.

It appears that they are going to tell us, instead of hiding it. Once again you were wrong Sister…; which is odd, you are usually very good at guessing these types of things.

Luna herself didn’t really know how to take this now that it was suddenly thrown into her lap. On one hoof, she was a little jealous—she had made it pretty clear that she wanted Ares after all, though he always thought that she wasn’t serious—but, on the other hoof, now she saw an opportunity.

Hopefully young Cadence has already told Shining Armor. We do not want to defend the human from the captain’s wrath … but even if she did, this is still going to be quite the mess.

She watched as Cadence and Ares nodded at each other, their backs straightening before they slowly made their way toward the table. Luna’s eyes brightened as an idea hit her like a speeding cart, the alicorn grinning as the two came ever closer.

Luna had to resist the urge to rub her hooves together. Yes, that could work…. The nobles do not like me anyway, and We will not be taking no for an answer from either of them! Ohhh, I honestly cannot wait to see sister’s face!

But now wasn’t the time, she knew that is was a very touchy period for Ares and Cadence. She needed to be serious and solemn … at least until they had finished, then she could spring the trap and get what she wanted too.

Finally, Cadence cleared her throat, everyone looked at the two, who started to sit down.

Twilight smiled at them, popping a fry into her mouth. “Oh, hello, Cadence, Ares, how are you—” She stopped when she saw the looks on their faces, her ears pinned back against her head in worry. “…Are you two alright?”

Flash cocked his head at Ares. “Yeah…, Ares, you look like you’re gonna throw up; are you alright there?”

The human chuckled humorlessly, sitting down next to Cadence. “Hey guys, we have something to tell all of you.”

Everyone at the table looked at each other before nodding slowly.

Come on, Luna thought. No need to be coy, just tell us what’s going on.

Cadence cleared her throat. Luna couldn’t help but notice, she was also shaking slightly.

“U-Um, I don’t really know how to say this.” She looked toward Ares, who gave her a questioning glance—the two having whole conversations with just a few gestures and looks. The alicorn just shook her head before looking back at them. “I-I sent Shining a letter the other day…”

Twilight smiled, the only one not really noticing that something wasn’t just wrong, but very wrong--or solemn; Luna thought that was a better way to say it. “Oh? Did my BBBFF send you anything back yet? How is he doing in Trottingham? No no, he wouldn’t be able to send something back that fast.” The unicorn tapped a hoof against her chin in thought.

Celestia, who was looking at her niece emotionlessly, said, “And, Cadence? What did you say to him?”

Cadence sighed, looking down at the table. “Aunty…, I-I’m going to have to revoke my title as the Princess of Love.”

Flash and Twilight gasped, and even Luna showed a little surprise. Well, We were not expecting that. She thought.

Twilight violently rose from her seat. “WHAT?!” the bookworm demanded, making her way toward Cadence, who still wouldn’t look up at them. “What would make you do something like that, Cadence?!”

I finally worked up the courage to look at her. “In the letter I sent Shining, I asked for a divorce.”

You could have heard a pin drop as Twilight slowly churned around in her mind what her ex-sister-in-law had said.

“W-What?” Twilight croaked out, sitting on her rump with tears in her eyes. “W-Why would y-you do something l-like that?”

Luna looked over at Celestia, who was calmly taking a sip of her sweet tea, the white alicorn not taking her eyes off the scene in front of her.

Cadence rose from her chair, her wings dropping onto the floor, as she looked at Twilight. “I-I … don’t love him a-anymore, Twilight … I’m—”

“No!”

Everyone in the room watched as Twilight’s sad look instantly turned angry, the little pony getting back to her hooves. “No, you’re not Cadence. Cadence wouldn’t do that!”

Luna watched with concern as her niece slowly started to cry. “T-Twilight—”

“Cadence loves my brother! She wouldn’t do something like that!” Her horn glowed, encasing the pink alicorn in a purple glow. “You have to be some changeling!”

Celestia quickly rose from her seat. “Twilight—”

“NO! All I need to do is use this spell and it’ll show—”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and she backed away from Cadence, who was staring toward her, raising a hoof.

“Nononono…” The unicorn muttered, looking around the room before sobbing. “The spell didn’t work. W-Why didn’t i-it work? … C-Cadence—”

Before anyone could stop her, Twilight was gone in a flash. Ares stopped Cadence from rushing toward where she had been.

“Let her be, Cadence,” he muttered, wrapping his arms around the now-sobbing alicorn. “Just let her be for a little bit,” he looked over at Flash. “Flash, you sit right back down. I’ll take it from here.”

And he did, not leaving anything out as the human spun his little tale of everything that had happened the night before. Celestia, Flash, and Luna didn’t say a thing as Ares—who was still holding a semi-calm, but still crying, Cadence in his arms—finished.

“So, that’s pretty much everything…”

Ares looks far more ashamed than I thought he would, Luna thought as Flash calmly made his way toward Ares. That is odd.

Looking at his Princess, the private said, “Is that true, Princess?”

Cadence nodded, letting go of Ares. “Yes … and that’s why Twilight, you, and everypony here has every right to be mad at me.”

Ares patted her on the head. “Don’t leave me out of it, Candy, I—”

With a grunt, Flash’s hoof cocked back as he stepped forward, hitting Ares in the stomach as hard as he could, the human rolled in the air before hitting the ground hard with a thud.

Before anypony could do anything, Ares lifted a hand up. “No, no,” he wheezed as Flash stood over him. “You all … stay … out of … it.”

The private looked down at his friend, his face an unreadable mask, before he offered him a helping hoof. “You deserved that,” he said simply, Ares tried to grin through the pain as he was helped up. “You’re still one of my best friends, but you still deserved that.”

“Shining … can have … a free hit … if he … sees me.” Ares said, letting Flash help him toward his seat.

Luna took a drink, trying to hide her smile with the glass. Stallions always had an odd way of doing things, she mused, watching Cadence fret over the man, who was rubbing his stomach tenderly. Now to see what sister says.

Celestia had watched everything, not with the look and attitude of someone who was angry, but of someone that had known this was coming.

“Well…, that is news indeed,” Celestia calmly said, making her way over and wrapping a wing around Cadence. “Are you sure about this, Sweetie?”

The pink alicorn looked up at her Aunt with fire in her eyes before looking over at Ares. “I think so, Aunty, I think that I have to follow my heart on this one.”

“It’s also why you are giving up your title?” Celestia questioned, nuzzling her.

Cadence nodded. “I don’t think I know what love is, I don’t even know if I’ll ever know what love is, so I don’t think I can call myself the Princess of Love.”

The sun princess nodded understandingly. “And what are you going to do now?” she asked gently while Flash rubbed his friend’s back.

“Flash,” Ares muttered, still holding his probably now bruised stomach. “You hit like a fuckin’ monster.”

Despite the situation, the stallion smiled. “Thanks, I’ve been working out a lot lately.”

While Luna snorted quietly, Celestia and Cadence ignored the silly conversation.

“What are you going to do now?” the elder alicorn repeated, looking at Cadence with concern.

Cadence shrugged half-heartedly. “I thought that Ares and I would go back to the empire. There’s really nothing keeping us here anymore.”

“And when are you going to do that?”

“Probably within the week,” Cadence wiped a tear from her eye. “I want to go talk to Twilight, try to explain to her why I’m doing what I’m doing first…. Or I at least need to try.”

“Well, Honey,” Celestia smiled down at her, “you do what your heart tells you. I will not tell you to go against it.” Finally—in Luna’s opinion at least, her sister always took too long—Celestia looked over at Luna.

“Sister, you have been awfully quietly after everything you’ve heard. Do you want to say something to help Cadence or Ares with this difficult situation?”

This time, Luna’s princessly mask really cracked, a hungry look coming to her eyes as she hopped out of her chair and very slowly made her way toward her niece.

It’s now or never I suppose, she thought, using a spell to pull Ares and Cadence close together. “Yes, Sister, I actually have something very important to say.

<<@@>>

I couldn’t help but gulp as my Aunt looked down at me, something in her eyes made me nervous. Well, more nervous than I already was.

But as she looked at me, I couldn’t help but think of Twilight and that look of hurt betrayal she gave me before she teleported away.

No, Cadence, I thought, blinking away on-coming tears. You can talk to Twilight in a little bit. Right now you need to listen to what Aunt Luna has to say.

“Ares, Cadence,” my Aunt said, slowly starting to walk around us. “We ourselves do not find it particularly offensive that the two of you have done this,” she shrugged. “We could go through a dozen stallions, and mares, in a fortnight back in our day.”

A little more insensitive than I’d like, but it works, I guess.

“But what We do not like, Niece, is that you have taken Ares from us,” Ares was about to comment on that but Aunt Luna shushed him, continuing, “I’m sure that you know that We have had Ares in our sights for a long while, Cadence. We find that he is a good stallion; he does not fear us, he makes us laugh, and we enjoy his hugs, the same things We are sure that attracted him to you, so We- I’m, slightly irritated.”

And now I was a little more concerned than I should have been. I know that Aunty wouldn’t hurt me—or if she tried, Aunty Celestia would stop her—but Aunt Luna was from the time where mares would beat each other to death for the hoof of a stallion.

So, naturally, I was a little leery, though I kind of wanted to know where she was taking this.

“Ares, while We—I.”

That’s weird…. Is Aunt Luna trying to get rid of her old talk right now for some reason?

Aunty Luna huffed quietly to herself before she started back up. “I know that you are not the sharpest sword in the armory—”

“Now wait a sec—” Ares started, before his mouth was closed by Aunt Luna’s magic.

“Hush, We are still talking,” Aunty barked—Aunty Celestia rolled her eyes and Flash snickered—before she trotted in front of us and sat down.

“You may not be the smartest, but you know that We have wanted thee.”

Ares looked away from her, rubbing his arm. “Well, Luna…, I really don’t know what to tell you now,” he gestured toward me before shrugging. “There’s nothing I can do about that right now.”

Aunty brightened at that. “Ah, but We can do something, my little human.”

What is she—I thought before Aunty Luna looked at me, her gaze becoming … sultry?

“Cadence,” she purred—heat rushed to my cheeks for some reason as I backed away from her. “You know you are not our niece by blood, correct?”

I nodded slowly, trying not to yelp when I felt my rump hit the wall. “Yeah…, Aunt Celestia said that…, but what does that—thmp!”

Annnnd my Aunt is kissing me…. Wait … myauntiskissingme!

My eyes widened; Luna looked into them as her lips pressed gently against mine—the kiss was surprisingly nice—before breaking it a second later, leaving me an embarrassed, panting mess.

“Awesome,” Flash whispered, and out of the corner of my eye I saw that he was scrunching his face with his hooves.

“Luna,” Celestia barked, her cheeks also red. “What in Faust’s name are you—”

“We are getting to that, Sister,” Luna interrupted, looking over her shoulder at Ares with a little smile, like she enjoyed all of our confused looks.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, I, Princess Luna, Lady of the Moon and the Night, Defender of Dreams and of Equestria, have determined that to win the young Ares’ affection, I have to win over the two of you by courting you both.”

Celestia took a step toward us. “Luna,” she said. “These two are going through a very

emotional time right now—”

“Which means that they’ll need a shoulder to cry on. I will also be able to help them through this with all of my experience. So, Sister, you should be thanking me,” Luna interrupted again.

“—and you just can’t do this!” Celestia huffed.

Luna winked at me before looking back at her sister. “And why not? Herding was a very common practice before We were banished.”

Celestia stomped her hoof. “It’s not a practice now!”

Aunty—nono, it’ll be too weird if I think of her like that—Luna shrugged. “So we are an old-fashioned kind of mare then. We are over two thousand years old, Tia, and half of that time we were banished. Not once have we had a serious special somepony in all of that time. And you may forget, but We are a grown mare that can make our own decisions.”

Her little grin was starting to grow. “We—I think that I deserve to be happy, isn’t that right, Sister?”

Celestia looked at us, as confused as the rest of us were, trying to think of something to say to her sister. “B-But—”

“And,” Luna once again interrupted, leaning in to nuzzle Ares. “Would you believe me if I told you that I am also following my heart on this?”

Ares finally cleared his throat. “But what if Cadence and I don’t want this, Luna?” he asked, making me want to hop up and kiss him. At least he was trying to be level-headed amidst all of this craziness.

Luna faltered before looking up at him a second later, a fiery look coming into her eyes. “Then We will wear the two of you down. We care not what the nobles say. We care not if ponies say if this is wrong, or if it is improper. It is what I am going to do.”

With a nod, she stood back up, and, tickling me under the chin with her tail, she slowly made her way toward the exit. “I will give you a few weeks to get situated at the Crystal Empire,” she called over her shoulder. “Then I will begin the wooing. None are undiddlable, Cadence and Ares, to the Princess of the Night. You shall see this in time.”

“Also, remember to acquire something nice to wear, Ares. Because I am taking you both out to somewhere very nice.”

C.F.O.A.C.N

I think that Ares had the best reaction of any of us as Luna left the room to go…wherever she was going to go.

Hitting his head against the table with a groan, he said, “Oh sweet Jesus, I’m way too hungover to deal with this!”

He turned his head to look up at me, hope in his eyes. “Wait, this isn’t some weird booze-dream, right?" He looked at his hand. "This might actually just be a dream…”

I, on the other hoof, was still trying to pry my mouth from the floor out of sheer shock. Whatthehayjusthappened?! I thought, while Aunty Celestia growled to herself.

“I can’t believe that Luna would do something like this now,” she murmured, while Ares pinched himself to see if he was dreaming.

“OW! Alright, not a dream,” He picked his head up from the table with a disappointed sigh. “Candy what in the—Cadence?”

AuntyLunajustkissedme,ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!

Aunty Celestia stopped her angry muttering to look over at me in concern. “Cadence, Sweetie?” She took a step toward me, and I had to take a step back. I honestly didn’t know if Aunty Celestia was going to try the same with me. One of my Aunts kissed me, kissed me, so anything was possible.

Aunty stopped when she saw my look of panic, giving me a hurt look, before it was quickly replaced with one of understanding, as she took another step toward me. “Cadence, it’s alright, Honey,” she told me. “Just take a deep breath; I’ll just com—”

“N-no,” I muttered, squeaking when my rump hit the wall. “S-stay back. I don’t want to make out w-with you t-too!” I started hyperventilating while my heart beat wildly in my chest, my eyes wildly searching for a way to escape.

I tensed when I felt a hand touch my neck, fingers digging into my fur, trying to ease my tension, as Ares leaned down and looked me in the eye.

“Candy,” he said. “I know that you’re flipping your shit right now—you’re hungover, Luna kissed you, and I’m sure that you just want to go to bed—but you need to calm down, alright.”

His other hand started to stroke my neck, an embarrassed feeling fighting a comforting one when the small part of my mind—that wasn’t losing it—realized that my human was doing this right in front of my Aunt.

“Just breathe, big, deep ones. No one else is gonna make-out with you, alright? The Princess said that she’s going to do something about this, so just don’t go and have a stroke or anything on me, okay?”

I took a deep, shaky, breath, closing my eyes as I pressed myself against Ares while I let out a little whimper. “Ares,” I whispered. “I think we should’ve just told them at dinner, then we would’ve been sober for all of this.”

I saw my Aunt lean in to nuzzle my cheek out of the corner of my eye, the older alicorn eyeing me carefully as I gave her a shaky smile. “I’m alright, Aunty,” I told her, almost not lying. “I was just a little overwhelmed for a second.”

My Aunt nodded, eyeing where Luna left from with a scowl. “Don’t worry, Cadence, just give me a minute and I’ll sort this all out,” She slowly turned away from us and trotted toward the exit. “My sister and I are going to have a little chat, don’t you worry.”

Flash, Ares, and I watched her go before my guard looked at us. “Um, guys?” he said hesitantly. “Would you be upset if I said that made my day?”

While I usually don’t like it when Ares throws things at Flash, now, when he whipped his shoe at him, I couldn’t help but feel that he deserved it when he got clocked in the face.

@#~$$~#@

“I can’t believe her,” Celestia grumbled, glowering as she stalked the halls, ignoring guards, maids, and nobles as she looked around for her little sister. “I knew she liked Ares, but she didn’t—”

She stopped, and narrowed her eyes as she turned a corner to see her sister, who was calmly making her way down the hall with a little skip in her step.

Taking a deep, calming breath, she called out, “Luna!”

The Princess of the Night stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, hello, Sister, didst thou need something?”

Celestia nodded, quickening her pace. “Yes, Luna, you and I need to talk about what just happened.”

Luna shrugged dismissively. “You will not change Our mind, Sister. We will go through with this whether thou like it or not.”

“Luna, did you know what Cadence was doing in there after you left?” the Solar Princess asked, trying to reason with her sister. “She was this close from having a panic-attack because of what you did!”

Luna blinked in concern. “Is that so?”

Celestia walked in front of her, forcing her to stop. “Luna, you have to stop what you’re doing,” she said. “I’m saying this as your sister, please just listen to me.”

She pointed down the hallway. “Those two spend months dealing with their emotions, probably staying up at night and almost killing themselves over their feelings. You just throwing your hat in the lot is going to make something that’s already going to be difficult a thousand times harder.”

For a brief, brief second, Celestia thought that she had talked her sister out of this crazy nonsense, the younger alicorn sitting in the middle of the hallway with a lost expression.

“Come on, Luna,” she patted her sister on the shoulder. “Why don’t we go back so you—”

“No.”

Celestia blinked as she looked down at Luna, who was looking at her in determination. “No, Sister, I will not do that,” She took a step toward the older alicorn, forcing her to take a little step back.

“As I said before, I am not just doing this for a quick rut,” She looked down. “Your subjects still fear me, still whisper Nightmare Moon when they think that I cannot hear them.”

“Luna…” Celestia began, getting cut off angrily by an absolutely livid Luna.

“Just because We are thousands’ of years old, doesn’t mean that I do not wish the company of another. Not everypony can be as strong as you; I need somepony to help me.”

The Lunar Princess kept walking, tears in her eyes, as she looked up at her older sister. “I need somepony to ask me how my day was, somepony to share things with, somepony to tell me that they love me.”

“Luna, plea—”

“I want somepony to love. Nay, I will have somepony to love that is not a family member.”

Celestia flinched as her little sister looked up at her.

Luna could’ve easily brought up what happened when the Nightmare took her, she, and Celestia, knew that there were a thousand ways for the younger sister to cut the older one to the bone. She could have just told her to buck off, told her that it was none of her business. But Celestia had ways to defend, or at least to talk through, that. Even if they hurt, she could deal with them

But with just a simple look of achy, heart-felt, desperation, Luna defeated her older sister.

“If you loved me, Tia, you wouldn’t be trying to stop me from being happy.”

With those words, the Princess of the Sun automatically stepped to the side to let Luna pass. “I can’t support you on this, Sister,” she said desperately before sighing. “But… I will not stop you. If you wish to find some kind of happiness in this, you may do so.”

Luna smiled up at her, giving her a happy little nuzzle before she passed her and continued down the hall.

“Don’t be surprised if you fail, Luna,” Celestia called after her little sister, still hoping that she could still persuade her.

The younger alicorn just grinned. “And when I do not, Sister of mine, I will not be smug about it,” She giggled quietly. “And, if you want, We can see if we can somehow get you a, as they say, a ‘roll in the hay’ with Ares.”

Her giggle became a chuckle when she saw the look on Celestia’s face. “After all, what are sisters for?”

@#$~~%%~~$#@

You know, if your Aunt ever decides to make out with you—and you’re not drunk enough not to remember it the next day—be sure you have a coltfriend that has hands, because you’ll need those suckers to keep your flank calm, cool, and collected.

“So,” Flash said as I leaned into Ares, letting the man pet me. “Princess, have you guy’s…”

Ares grimaced. “No, Flashy boy, we haven’t had a roll in the sack yet, if that’s what you’re asking.”

I blushed, throwing a glare up at my stallion, but it was ruined when he just smiled and kissed my nose.

Flash blinked slowly. “I wasn’t going to ask that.”

I nudged Ares as he snorted. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Flash. You know, I don’t ask you about your sex-life.”

“Yes you do!” my guard said, pointing a hoof at Ares. “You ask me every time you see me!”

Ares hummed, tapping his chin with a finger. “I can’t say that I ever remember doing that.”

Flash scrunched his face up while I giggled quietly. “You know what? Never mind…”

He turned away from us. “I’m going to go see if Twilight’s okay.”

I flinched at that, my ears pinned to my head as I looked at the stallion. “Flash, could you…”

My guard nodded with a little understanding smile. “I may not be the best talker, Princess, but I’ll try to explain it to Twilight the best I can.”

I nodded. “And could you tell her that I’d like to talk to her before we leave?”

“Of course, Princess.”

That just left me and Ares in the room, the human leaning me against his chest as I sighed. “Are you alright there, Candy?”

I nuzzled his chest and closed my eyes. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I said, letting him rock me back and forth. “Everything went a lot better than I thought it was going to go, but it’s still a little much.”

He brushed my mane out of my face. “Yeah, other than the weird Luna thing, it went just peachy.”

I smiled. “And I’m hungover,” I mused. “You know, neither of us have eaten yet.”

Ares kissed my nose. “I’ll go find someone to bother then; can’t let my Candy go hungry. If you don’t eat, then you lose weight, and then I can’t watch your ass jiggle around.”

I snorted, but said nothing, as he left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

With a little sniffle, I put my head on the table and closed my eyes, what happened between me and Twilight going over and over in my head.

How the hay am I going to explain this to her? I thought

Twilight wasn’t my Aunts, she wasn’t even Shining—who I was still worried about what he was going to say to me the next time he saw me.

For the longest time, I was practically the little unicorn’s sister, and you should have been there when she found out that I wanted her to be my bridesmare; the happiness in her eyes when she realized that her big sister in all but name was actually going to become her big sister.

But now that I’m pretty much leaving her alone again—not in the physical sense; she has a lot of new friends, but I was one of her firsts—how is she going to take it?

Or better yet, what might she do to Ares?

She would never hurt him, I thought, shaking my head. She’s a sweetheart; She still might hold a grudge, and maybe hate me, but she wouldn’t hurt either of us.

How was I going to explain it to her in a way that makes sense?

Hey Twilight, I fell out of love with your brother and fell in love with an alien that I’ve known for about a year for reasons?

Yeah, that wasn’t going to work…

I was pondering how I was going to tackle this so aggressively that I didn’t notice that a wing had wrapped itself around my body while I was being nuzzled.

“Cadence, Honey,” Aunty Celestia said. “Are you alright?You haven’t fallen asleep, have you?”

I looked up at her with a little chuckle. “Nono, I’m fine, Aunty, I’m just thinking about,” I sighed. “Everything.”

She nodded. “I can understand that,” she said gently. “But a word of advice, give Twilight a day or two to cool off. She’s rather,” her mouth silently moved, trying to find the right word. “Rash when she’s upset, so just let her calm down and then you two will be able to talk about what you have to talk about.”

“Alright, Aunty,” I looked at her hopefully. “Did you talk to Luna?”

She gave me this expressionless look. “Yes I did.”

“And what did she say?”

She sighed. “It seems that my sister will not veer from her path, Cadence.”

I groaned. “Of course she’s not. Why, why did she have to do this now?!”

My Aunt’s wing tightened around me. “Ever since my sister’s return, my little ponies have been… a little more cautious of her than she likes.”

I nodded. There were still more than a few ponies that were worried—even scared—about being around Luna, even with Celestia there with her.

Aunty Celestia’s look turned sad as she looked away from me. “She tries her hardest to make herself seem like a good pony, like a pony that her subjects could love, but I think she wants it too fast. She just needs to let them get used to her for a while longer and I’m sure that every stallion in the country will be asking her hoof for marriage.”

“So that lets her do this to me and Ares?” I asked, honestly getting a little upset.

She shook her head. “No, Cadence honey, but you can at least see this her way. Ares is one of the few people—excluding a few nobles and her guards—that has been kind to her, treated her like a real friend and not just a princess.”

“He’s done the same to you and you’re not jumping all over him,” I muttered, trying not to smile when my Aunt gawked.

“I-I would never—”

I nuzzled her. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, Aunty, I know you’d never do something like that.”

It took a bit longer for her to collect herself than I’m sure she liked—I spent every second of that trying not to laugh, if you want to know—before she said, “As I was saying,” she said, clearing her throat. “Luna sees all of this, and, if it’s natural or not, she became drawn to him.”

“But then I came in.”

“But then you came in,” she agreed. “And I think she thinks that she’ll lose Ares to you and she’ll never see him again if he loves just you, so she’s trying this.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, kinda understanding what she was talking about. “So what do we do then?”

Aunty smiled. “Go to the Crystal Empire, get readjusted with everything there, and let me try to deal with Luna. I’ll try to set something up with a stallion or two, see if I can get somepony else to catch her eye.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“Then, I say, that you just go on a date with her,” she raised a hoof to stop me from talking. “Let her take the two of you out, be gentle with her when you shoot her down, show her that she won’t lose Ares’s friendship just because he’s going away. That is all I ask that you do.”

I blinked. “That... actually makes a lot of sense, Aunty Celestia.”

She was right! Luna could take the two of us out as many times as she wanted, that didn’t mean we had to say yes!

Grinning, I broke the wing hug and turned toward her. “Thanks, Aunty,” I told her. “I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have your advice.”

She waved me away with a hoof, though that didn’t stop a little prideful smile from creeping on her face. “I'm happy to help," she said, sitting down beside me. "I only wish I could be more help."

I smiled when I heard my Ares whistling. “At least I’ll have Ares to help me through everything.”

I laughed when my Aunt rubbed her hooves together evilly. “I can’t wait to have a nice ‘civil’ conversation with that stallion on what will happen to him if he decides to do anything—or anypony—that you don’t want.”

You should have seen Ares’s look when the two of us fell on the floor, laughing like fillies. It didn’t help that he had a big stack of pancakes in both of his hands and a jug of syrup in his mouth.

“Hey, they were serving shit for lunch so I got—what’s wrong with you two?’

@~~<><>~~@

Luna closed her eyes and concentrated hard; long distance spells weren’t the easiest, even if you were an alicorn, so it was lucky that nopony was distracting her at the moment. Last time that happened… Well, let’s just say that none of the royal family liked to talk about it.

With a pop, a letter disappeared from her table, Luna smiling at her little achievement as somepony else in the room snorted.

“Jeeze, Mistress,” Luna heard the indistinguishable sound of something being bitten into. “I always thought that magic was pretty kooky, but you really sent that thing all the way to Trottingham?”

The Lunar Princess sighed, slumping into her seat, a little more tired than she liked to admit. With another spell, she levitated a glass toward her person, along with a bottle of wine.

“Would you like some?” she asked her guest. “It is a very fine year.”

The pony shook her head. “No thank you, Ma’am,” There was another crunch. “I’m not a wine kind of pony. But if you have any more of these amazing mangos, then I wouldn’t say no to one.”

Luna giggled quietly. “They are good, are they not? We had them imported from Saddle Arabia yesterday, a whole crate of them in fact.”

Though she didn’t bother to look, she knew that the pony next to her was practically drooling.

“A whole crate huh?”

Luna nodded, turning toward the speaker. “Yes, my Subject, a whole crate of mangos—that We would be happy to give thee—if you decide to take up the assignment that We told thou about.”

The pony hummed, golden eyes shining in the darkness for a second, before she sat down in her chair. “Sure, I’d be happy to do it, Highness. It sure beats the heck out of staying here and doing nothing.”

“I have to ask though, why me? Isn’t there another pony watching that human,” She spat out the last bit, her face scrunching up in irritation. “Wouldn’t it be harder for his guard and I to work against each other—or however you said it,” she wiped a bit of juice off her chin while she hummed in thought.

“Couldn’t I just go incognito and make sure that nothing happens to him?”

Luna shook her head. “Nay, Echo, We will not betray his trusts by having ponies watching him in the shadows.”

“But you’re going to make sure that I go with him?”

Echo didn’t like the look that the princess was giving her. “Trust Us, everything will work out, my Guard,” she looked away from her. “You may leave,” she murmured, taking another sip of her wine.

“Make ready for your departure; you will be leaving within the week. We will make sure that none give you trouble.”

Echo the Thestral—or batpony to the common rabble—Sergeant of the Lunar Guard, grinned, revealing a set of long, slender fangs, before she saluted. “Of course, Ma’am,” She said brightly hopping out of her chair and making her way to the door. “I can’t wait to see what the Crystal Empire looks like.”

@~!!~@

It took a lot longer, and I probably looked a lot more sluggish, than I would have liked getting back to my room, but I got there eventually.

After everything that had happened today, and after my big meal of pancakes, I thought it was time for a little cat-nap. Hopefully that would help the throbbing in my head and give me enough time to think of what I was going to say to Twilight… Or Luna.

Maybe she would just leave us alone if I talked to her, I mused, leaping into the bed and using a spell to close the blinds.

She’s a pretty reasonable-ish pony. I’m sure that the two of us can just have a little talk, mare-to-mare, and sort this all out. Then Aunty Celestia wouldn’t even have to go through with her plan…

I wiggled under the covers and wrapped my hooves around a pillow.

Or maybe—

I smiled when Ares poked his head through the door, a slightly haunted look in his eyes.

With a giggle, I asked, “How did it go with you and Aunty Celestia?”

My human ran a hand through his hair as he sat down at the edge of our bed. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he grumbled while I, giggling, crawled toward him and wrapped my hooves around his back, placing my head on his shoulder.

“That’s what everypony says,” I nuzzled him. “Was it really that bad?”

He let me drag him backwards and under the covers. “It wasn’t great,” he said after a minute. “There was a lot of fire and yelling and death-threats and fire and yelling…”

Grinning, I took his shoes, socks, and shirt off with a spell, before placing my head on his chest. “You said fire and yelling twice,” I remarked, cooing silently as Ares ran a hand through my mane.

“There was a lot of those two things,” he said, shivering slightly. “I think she almost burned my eyebrows off.”

“That just means she likes you.”

Ares snorted, wiggling upward and placing his head under my chin. “Whatever you say, Candy. As long as I don’t get thrown into the sun, ol’ Sunbutt can be as scary as she wants.”

I snuggled closer, a little smile on my face as I draped a wing over him. “We’ll take a little nap,” I whispered. “Then we can go to dinner.”

“That’s not going to be fun,” my human commented, my grip tightening around him.

“Yeah, you’re probably right, but I can’t just hide,” I sighed. “I’ll go talk to Twilight after dinner; maybe before it.”

I felt a hand drumming against my side. “Didn’t the Princess say that you should do that in a few days?”

I raised an eyebrow down at him. “And where did you hear that?”

“Celestia told me after the-- thrashing, that’s a good word-- she gave me. She also said to keep you from doing that.”

“But I feel like I should talk to her today,” I explained, wiggling my body downward so I could nuzzle Ares’s neck. “I think she deserves that much…”

Ares gave my belly a quick tickle. “You’ve done enough today, Candy. Purple can wait for a day or two. I’m sure that Flash is in their room telling her everything that we told him. And guess what?”

I kissed my human’s neck. “What?”

Ares started to scratch my ears. “She hasn’t knocked down that door in a fit of rage or anything, so maybe she’ll listen to what you have to say.”

I shook my head to keep from drifting off, a little frown on my face. “Or maybe she just wants to wait to sock me in the face…”

Ares chuckled. “Hey Candy, what’s gonna be purple and pink and bruised all over?”

I slugged him. “You, if you don’t be quiet.”

@$%~~%$@

Dear Shining Armor,

It has recently come to our attention—We hope that you have received the letter from Cadence—that thou are a bit lost.

Though it is really none of our concern—and we send you our condolences, by the way—might We suggest that thou return to thy roots as it were. Thou were a fine Captain of the guard, and We heard that the position has not been filled in the Crystal Empire.

We are sure that Young Cadence would love to have thee fill it.

Yours,

Princess Luna

Shining Armor had received many, many letters in his short life. From urgent news from the princess to junk mail to chain letters, the stallion had seen and read it all. But, honestly, this had to be one of the strangest letters that he had ever received.

What are you playing at, Princess? Shining thought as he put down the letter on his nightstand, unable to sort out his feelings.

“Shining, are you alright there, Lad?” Shield, one of the stallion’s best friends’, asked, trotting over to him.

Shield’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Did that ex o’yours send ya another letter?”

Without saying a word, Shining passed his friend the letter, a puzzled expression still on his face.

Shield guffawed. “The bloody hell is the Princess thinkin’? Has she lost ‘er bloomin’ mind?”

“…That’s a…very good question, Shield,” Shining said. “Or maybe it’s just some sick joke?”

Shining, while he had already forgiven his wife—mostly—about her breaking up with him, he wasn’t particularly ready to see her again just yet. That wasn’t even thinking about Ares and what he was going to say to that man when he saw him.

“I could get a few of the lads and we could go with ya,” Shield offered, nudging him. “Then we could ‘ave a little talk with this Ares fellow…”

Shining shook his head before getting out of his seat. “Nono, we’re not going to do that, you’re not going to do that,” he started to pace. “Just stand there for a second and let me think.”

“Ya know... maybe ya should go.”

The unicorn stopped to look at his friend in confusion. “Shield, have you been drinking again?”

Shield grinned. “That’s not the point, is it, Laddie? Think about it, ya need a job, and ya don’t want ta work there—”

“No I don’t,” Shining said quickly. “It’s fine seeing you guys once in a while, but for the long run,” he hummed, trying to think of a way to put it delicately. “I’d rather not.”

Shield slapped his chest. “Exactly! I know ya, Shining, lad. Yer a stallion that needs somethin’ ta do or ya’ll lose yer mind.”

He sat down in Shining’s bed and pulled out a flask. “And you’ll be able ta reconcile with that lass an’ all of that nonsense.”

Shining sat down next to him. “…The guards there do need a bit more training…” he said, still not convinced.

Shield took a swig of his drink. “Exactly, ya said that ya want ta be there for the Princess, and what better way than ta guard ‘er?”

@$%~##%$@

I woke up with a yawn, doing a little stretch as I cracked open an eye. Oh sweet Faust, I thought, rubbing my eye. How long was I out?

I smiled when I heard a little sleepy snore, Ares shifting in the bed, the man curled into a little ball as I held him, his back against my chest.

Aw, he looks so cute, I thought, rubbing my human’s belly, trying to coax him out of his little ball. He grunted, rolling over and pressing his face against my chest, trying to get away from my hooves.

“Oh no you don’t,” I giggled, leaning down and nuzzling the top of his head, while my tail tickled his back.

I teased the sleeping man a little more before wrapping my hooves around him. “You’re such a silly man,” I murmured, ready to get a little more sleep.

“He’s silly? You’re the one tickling him.”

My eyes shot open and I sat up when I heard somepony talking in our room, a my horn glowing with a spell powerful enough to really mess somepony up.

“Hey, hey, easy there!”

I blinked, frowning as a batpony, who was sitting in a chair across the room with what looked to be a mango in her hoof, stared back at me sheepishly.

“What the buck are you doing in my room?!” I demanded, while I laid a wing protectively over Ares, who was starting to stir.

The batpony rubbed the back of her head before getting out of her chair, putting her fruit down, and bowing. “Sergeant Echo of the Lunar guard at your service,” she said brightly. “Princess Luna sent me here to act as the human’s personal guard!”

“Whash that?” Ares muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly before looking around. “Candy, what’s going on?”

I could almost feel the hate when he looked at the mare, who bared her teeth at him with a little growl.

“The fuck you doing here?” he demanded, sitting up.

The mare grinned savagely, before taking a step closer toward our bed. “Well, ol’ monkey chum of mine,” The two didn’t break eye-contact as the mare hopped up on the bed and kept coming until her and Ares were butting heads. “I was ordered—well, more like bribed—to guard your flank.”

“The fuck you are.”

I couldn’t help but notice how long the mare’s fangs were as she licked them. “It’s not your call, Big Boy,” Turning around—and hitting Ares with her tail—she hopped out of the bed and trotted back toward her chair, picking up her mango with a smirk.

“I’m your personal honest-to-goodness guard now; for Equestria, for the night, for fruit!” She took a big bite out of her mango before waving a hoof around dismissively. “Now, do me a favor and pretend I’m not here. You two aren’t supposed to know about me until tomorrow.”

“Candy, go get a guard, I’ll hit her in the head with something before—”

Before Ares could say anymore, I shut his mouth with a spell and wrapped my hooves around him, closing my eyes. “Just… Just pretend she isn’t there,” I pleaded. “We’ll deal with the crazy pony in like ten minutes, please?”

After a minute, he leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Alright, Candy, we’ll ignore the crazy pony that somehow got in our locked room and will probably murder us in our sleep.”

The batpony huffed. “I wouldn’t murder you in your sleep!” she said, sounding undignified as she ate more of her fruit. “If I did, then I wouldn’t get my fruit that I’m getting to watch you.”

“You’re the worst.”

“Well, you’re not the first one to say that, so nah!”

Author's Notes:

I'm not too happy about this story-title ALSO being a love song... I try to get out and they pull me back in!

Once again, this fics is gonna be LONG, new batpony characters, Shining Armor, etc...

Comment, blah, blah, I'm going to sleep now...

Pizza Night!

Flash made his way through the corridors of the castle sluggishly, the Private trying not to shuffle his hooves as he wiped what felt like a river of sweat from his face. And Ares wonders why I always try to skip back-leg day, he thought sourly. I can’t bucking feel my butt, for goodness sake!

Flash’s mind slowly started to wonder as he auto-piloted the hallways. Going from average thoughts, like what he had eaten for lunch, to more… sensitive matters.

I wonder what she’s thinking, he mused, giving himself a little shake. Princess Luna can’t be that cruel, can she? Not that Flash was bothered when he had found out that his friend was getting his own guard.

Really, he was perfectly happy with it.

Echo seemed like a perfectly adequate guardspony—even if Ares and the bat mare didn’t seem like they liked each other very much—and he was looking forward to an easier workload; having to watch out for the princess and him at the same time was a little much.

That being said…

Clearing his throat, he gently but firmly knocked on his bedroom door. “Twilight,” he said. “It’s me, Flash. Could you unlock the door please?”

The stallion rocked back and forth until he heard a sigh, which was followed by a loud click. “There you go,” a voice quietly said through the door, Flash resisting the urge to smack his head against the floor in frustration.

Don’t worry, Flash, he thought to himself, opening the door and stepping into his and Twilight’s pitch-black room. You just need to be there for her. Twilight will be herself in a couple of days. A coltfriend needs to be there for his fillyfriend.

Yep, all he needed to do was look cool, give Twilight a smile--and maybe a back rub-- and she’d be that much closer to getting better.

Thud!

“Ooof!”

Flash, caught up in his day-dreaming, tripped over the rug and stumbled forward. It looked like he was going to save face, until he rammed right into the nightstand. “Oh horseapples!” With a pained squeak, he crashed onto the floor.

A bundle of books that were sitting on the stand tumbled off, hitting the poor stallion on the head, finishing off his humiliation. Pulling what looked like an encyclopedia on everything and trying to keep a blush off his face, he mumbled, “Why does this always happen to me?”

On the other side of the room, there was a weak giggle, Flash squeaking when an unseen force helped him back to his hooves. “You need to watch where you’re walking, silly.”

Suddenly, the room was flooded with light, Flash blinking before he looked upon his tired, and sad-looking, marefriend.

Now, he would never ever say that Twilight looked anything less than stunning in his eyes, but he had to admit to himself— very quietly-- that she looked a little… ‘off’.

The purple mare looked haggard. A pair of dark rings under her eyes, along with her messy mane, made Flash want to walk over, pick her up and hug the heck out of her. At least she looks better than she did the other day, he thought, limping over and giving her a nuzzle, which she returned after a moment’s hesitation.

“How was your workout, Flash?” she asked, giving him a sniff. “It smells like you were working hard.”

Flash had to keep himself from smiling. She’s joking now? Good. Hopefully that means that I can get her out of this room so she can talk to the princess.

“It was fine, honey,” he said, trying not to blush as she giggled.“You know, everypony missed you at lunch today.”

Days ago, that would have been the wrong thing to say. Days ago, when Twilight was still fuming and angry and throwing things, that would have gotten him kicked out of the room with an angry shout. But now, all she did was sigh and look away from him.

“I was mad at them days ago,” she told him, her ears pinning themselves to the side of her head. “Really mad, but then with everything you said and when Shining sent me that letter and…” she trailed off, looking back up at him with those sad eyes that almost broke his heart.

Keeping himself calm, Flash nodded understandingly, walking over and wrapping his hoof around her while trying to ignore his still-fresh boo-boo’s. “And you don’t know what to think?”

Come on, stallion up!

“Twilight,” he started, trying to figure out a way to get the bookworm out of her little funk. “I know it might be hard, but maybe you should go and talk to Princess Cadence.” He stroked her mane while he smiled down at her.

“She and Ares are leaving tomorrow, and I know she’s real beat up about how you’re taking this. Heck, even Ares keeps asking about you, and I know Princess Cadence would love to see you before they went back to the Crystal Empire.”

Twilight nodded, wiping away a stray tear from her eye. “But what if we get into a fight, Flash? What if I say something that I’ll regret?” she whispered, Flash blinking away his own tears as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“Just say what feels natural, Twi,” he advised. “It might not be nice; in fact , it might hurt you both, but I know that if you keep avoiding each other, you two will regret it.”

Twilight looked up at him, a little smile on her face and she reached up and yanked him into the bed and wrapped him in a hug, the two staying like that until she finally said, “I’ll go talk to Cadence later today.”

“And thank you, Flash. You’re the best coltfriend a mare could ask for.” Flash blushed as she kissed his cheek. “Your hygiene could be a little bit better, but other than that, a grade-A stallion.”

“You just ruined the moment, Twi.”

“Go take a bath, Flash.”

“...Yes, ma’am.”

#~~@@~~#

Have you ever been in one of those situations where there are two ponies that hate each other—for some reason—and you don’t know why they hate each other but you have to basically be a referee when they see each other so nopony starts throwing chairs?

Well, I can now officially say that I have.

After the little scare that Echo gave us the other day, and after she apologized, we all went to Luna to get an explanation as to why Ares now had a guard that he didn’t want and didn’t like. At first I was upset with her, but the more she explained it, the more I was kind of grateful for it.

The Sergeant had one of the most impressive records that I have ever seen: over five thousand hours’ of combat-training, she had seen some action in Saddle Arabia, she had been in the guard for over five years, and she knew how to guard a single individual because of all of her time protecting Luna.

So all-in-all, she was a pretty tough cookie.

Other than her helping keep Ares safe, she could help train my guards back at the Crystal Empire. So, the longer I thought about it, the more I saw the mare as a gift from Luna.

Not that Ares thought of it that way, the man not breaking eye contact with her as they glared at each other across the table we were all sitting at.

“You better watch it, colt. If you keep looking at me too long, your marefriend over there might get jealous.”

Are snorted, glaring at the mare like she was a dangerous animal. “Mangos are the worst fruit.”

Echo squawked before slamming her hoof against the table and pointing at him. “You shut your whorse mouth!”

My human leaned across the table with an angry snort. “And you’re the worst bat pony.”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“If I am then give me one good reason why I’m so bad!”

Ares narrowed his eyes dangerously before roaring,“You keep trying to bite me!”

Echo shrugged, pulling a mango from… her armor? “It’s not my fault,” she said defensively. “Your blood is tasty.”

I blinked in confusion, looking between the two. What’s... Why?

Ares leaned back with a little wince and crossed his arms. “You guys aren’t even supposed to drink blood.”

The batpony shrugged. “Maybe I’m a vampire pony; not some silly bat that just eats fruit.” She showed us her fangs. “I have fangs, I sleep upside-down, and I want to drink blood like a vampire dammit!”

I fiddled with my drink, looking away from the two. “Um, Ms. Echo,” I said, getting the mare’s attention. “You’re fangs are made to bite through the skins of fruit, not necks, batponies don’t naturally sleep upside-down, and I think drinking blood is bad for ponies.”

And they said taking that Oddity's of Equestria anatomy course in highschool was a dumb idea, I thought smugly, crossing my hooves as I looked at the two.

They looked at me, confused looks on their face, as, with a nod of my head, I got out of my chair.

“I guess that you two don’t like each other for,” I waved my hooves. “Some reason, but, Ares, I want somepony else to guard you. Flash might want to stay here with Twilight, and I don’t want to break them apart, so this might actually be better for everyone.”

“I looked at Echo’s credentials and she’s actually really qualified,” I walked over and nuzzled his cheek. “I know you don’t like it, but I just want to make sure that nopony hurts my human, so could you please just try to get along with her, please?”

The angry look that Ares had been sporting for about an hour vanished as he looked down at me. Touching my cheek, he sighed, “I don’t like it,” He scrunched his face up. “I don’t like how Luna threw her on us. It was a shitty thing to do when she knows that I hate this bat’s guts.”

“I’m still here, ya know,” the guardspony said irritably, leaning back in her chair and huffing when we ignored her.

“But,” he continued, giving my ear a scratch. “If you want her to watch me, I guess I’ll try to deal with her.”

I smiled, nuzzling his hand. “I just don’t want any more fighting between you two,” I looked at Ares, then at Echo. “Pretty please?”

The two looked at each other before grumbling, “Alright.” I nodded when they leaned over and shook hands/hooves.

There we go, I thought brightly, looking between the two. At least I could nip that in the butt before it really escalated.

Knock, knock

We all looked at the door.

“Somepony’s at the door,” the Sergeant said, rubbing her mango against her chest before taking a bite out of it. “Somepony should get that.”

“You’re my guard; aren’t you supposed to make sure that no one’s behind that door with a knife?” Ares asked the batpony, who guffawed.

“There’s a stallion behind the door,” she said, taking a bite of her fruit. “He has no metal on him and his heart rate isn’t accelerated, so there’s a good chance that he isn’t here to stab you or any of that stuff.”

Ares and I looked at each other in bewilderment. “And how do you know that?”

Echo grinned at us before pointing at her ears. “These babies are sensitive enough to hear a fly from across a valley if I concentrate hard enough, so one pony behind a door that’s twenty feet from me is nothing.” She tapped her nose smugly. “There’s a reason that Lady Luna picked me to be your personal guard, big guy.”

Knock, knock

I stopped Ares from getting to his feet with a wing. “I’ll go get it,” I said, making my way to the door. “Some people being paranoid about being murdered and all…”

“I’m not being paranoid; it’s her job to open doors and stuff,” Ares said, trying to defend himself while Echo giggled.

“That’s not my job, silly,” she tittered, while I opened the door to see Flash smiling nervously at me.

Saluting, he said, “Hello Princess, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

I shook my head, giving him a smile. “No, we’re just,” I looked back at the two to see if they were behaving. “Getting situated.” I cocked my head at him. “Did you need something, Flash?”

My guard nodded. “I talked to Twilight a little while ago.” My heart skipped a beat but I let him continue. “And she said that she wanted to talk to you.”

I sat down. “She does?”

Flash looked past me to Ares. “And the Princesses said that they wanted to talk to you too, Ares.” He hopped in place. “Princess Celestia said that we all were probably just going to order pizza today and stay in, so we don’t have to worry about going to dinner on time.”

He smiled at me, rubbing his hooves together. “I can’t wait!”

A full grown adult and he’s still excited about a pizza night? I resisted the urge to pinch the stallion’s cheek. Please, Flash, please never change.

“Did she order out from Tin’s again?” I asked, not able to help myself. If whatever me and Twilight were going to talk about went bad, I needed to remember this something to keep me smiling.

Thankfully, Flash nodded, almost hopping in place. “Yeah, they’re—”

“You’re a big boy, Flashy,” Ares interrupted, appearing at my side. “You can buy pizza whenever you want; there’s no need to get so excited over it.”

I frowned up at him. “Don’t be like that, Ares,” I chided.

“He can just go and walk to a place; there’s like ten pizza shops in Canterlot!”

Flash looked away from us. “It’s not my fault that I like pizza,” he muttered.

I patted him on the head. “Well, if Ares wants to be such a big boy, he doesn’t need to get any pizza, he can go get something in the kitchen,” Flash grinned as Ares frowned.

“I want pizza,” Ares muttered, before looking back at Echo. “We’ll be back in a little bit, so don’t touch our stuff, ya hear?”

The mare snorted, leaning back on her chair. “Yeah, yeah, just go. You don’t want to keep them waiting, do ya?”

My human narrowed his eyes at her before getting down on a knee and wrapping me in a hug. “Don’t worry, Candy,” he whispered, giving my neck a kiss. “Everything’s gonna work out.”

I closed my eyes and smiled, leaning into him for a few seconds before breaking the hug. “Thanks, Ares.” I gave him a peck on the cheek. “I needed that.” With a little smile I added, “And I’m sure that Aunty Celestia won’t try to light you on fire this time.”

Laughing, he hopped up to his feet and made his way into the hallway, leaving me with Flash and Echo, who was eyeing Ares’ cabinet in a way I didn’t like. “Um, Ms Echo?” I said carefully. “You can go back to the barracks if you want; Ares and I won’t be needing you for the rest of the night.”

The mare blinked before nodding and rising from her chair. “Alright, I’ll be here in the morning with my bags,” she said before saluting. “Goodnight, Ma’am.” She winked at Flash before leaving the two of us alone in our room.

“Um, Princess?” Flash said, gesturing toward the door. “Would you like me to walk you to Twilight’s room?”

I smiled at him thankfully. “Yes please, Flash. I’d appreciate it.”

I turned off the lights before the two of us made our way out of the room, me, nervous as all Tartarus, and Flash, who looked like he was trying not to look as nervous as me, as the two of us slowly made our way down the hallway.

“So, Flash,” I said, trying to keep my mind off of what I saw going to say to her, or what she was going to say to me. “How HAS Twilight been doing? Nopony’s seen her in days.”

Flash ruffled his feathers in irritation, a scowl coming to his face. “I’ve been making sure that she doesn’t starve herself, but other than reading half of the castle’s books, she’s just been laying on her bed, so she’s fine.”

I smiled at him. “It’s good that somepony like you is there for her, Flash.” I frowned gently before touching him with a hoof. “You know, Flash, if you want to stay here with Twilight, I’m sure that my Aunt would be happy to have you in her guard.”

He frowned at that. “But I’m your guard, Princess,” he said stubbornly.

“But if you’re here then you get to stay with your marefriend,” I pointed out. It wasn’t like the two couldn’t have a long distance relationship, but if I had the power to make it easier on the two, I was going to do it. I wasn’t going to step in the way of love; if anything, I wanted to encourage it.

To my surprise, Flash waved that away dismissively. “Twilight said that she was looking into something that would make a long distance relationship easier,” he told me. “Some kind of super teleportation spell that she wants to start working on.”

When he stopped in front of a door—and when I realized it was the door to Twilight’s room—my heart almost jumped into my throat out of sheer panic, but I resisted the urge to run away. You can do this, you big baby, I thought, taking a deep breath and giving Flash a weak smile before knocking on the door.

All you need to do is make sure that you remember that shielding spell Shining taught you. You don’t want to get smacked with furniture or anything.

“Come in.”

I stopped for a second, resisting the urge to groan when I remembered that I didn’t remember how to cast that particular spell, before I reached for the doorknob.

~~##$$##~~

Despite himself, Ares couldn’t help but feel a little nervous as he made his way toward the royal chambers, whistling a little tune as he waved at a group of guards.

Let’s hope that Candy is alright with Purple, he thought. I don’t want a big yelling match to be the last thing she does with her before we have to go back home.

Truth be told, he was looking forward to going back to the Crystal Empire. A little worried about all of that cold and ice and snow and how he was going to deal with it—just because he went a head-doctor a couple of times didn’t mean that it helped— but he was looking forward to see the Crystal ponies again.

I wonder if the Doc got that stick out of her rump, He thought in amusement, turning a corner. Or if one of the nurses’ finally told her to piss off.

As soon as he made it to those giant familiar doors, his stomach reminded him that it actually wanted pizza with a loud growl. Looking down, he patted it. “We’ll get something to eat in a little bit,” he said, before knocking on the door. “So shut it, I need to get some discussing done.”

“Come in,” a gentle voice said, the door creaking open to let him in.

Squaring his shoulders, Ares grabbed the handle and opened the door…

To see Celestia, Luna, and about six boxes of pizza, all sitting on a couch.

Celestia smiled when she saw him enter, the alicorn opening a pizza box and passing him a paper plate. “Hello, Ares,” she said brightly. “How are you doing?”

He looked at the plate before, rolling his eyes-- and resisting the urge to throw the plate over his shoulder--he walked over, grabbed a whole pizza, threw open the lid, and sat next to her, shrugging. “I was talking to my new personal guard,” he said, giving Luna the stink-eye, the Princess of the Night ignoring it as she helped herself to a piece. “We came to an agreement,” He grabbed a slice of his pizza.

“I don’t know if it’s gonna work out. Someone knows that I don’t like the mare, and she knows that we don’t get along, and it was idiotic of her to make the bat my guard, but I promised Cadence that I was gonna play nice; so I’m playing nice.”

Celestia-- along with Luna-- ignored the slowly rising tension in the room, gesturing toward a small projector that was behind them. “Well, since this is your last day here, I thought that the three of us could just sit back, relax, and enjoy a good movie.”

Luna decided to sit close Ares, her muzzle buried in a pizza box that she had levitated over. “Yes, we thought that thou would like to see the newest action movie before thou went back to the Empire,” Ares shied away from her as she tried to scoot closer toward him.

Ares couldn’t help but shake his head, a big grin forcing its way to his face as he quickly ate another slice of his pie. “A pizza and movie night? Thanks mom.”

Celestia snorted, using a series of spells to turn off the lights, pull down what looked like a white bedsheet, and turn on the projector.

Luna leaned away from him. “We were also hoping that thou would humor us with one last night of cuddling,” she said innocently, while the man looked between the two, now feeling nervous and a little uncomfortable about how things were turning out.

“I don’t know about that last bit,” he said quietly, as the previews started to flash on the makeshift screen. “This movie and pizza stuff is fine, but with everything going on with me and Cadence,” he almost seemed to crawl into himself. “I don’t know if sleeping with you guy’s is okay anymore.”

Celestia patted him on the back while Luna frowned. “I understand,” she said. “But you should expect to sleep alone tonight then. Cadence and Twilight are probably have a heart-to-heart with each other at the moment and, if they’re anything like they were when they were little, I’m sure the two will be sleeping in the same bed.”

She gave him a ‘look’. “And I’m sure that you know neither of us would do anything like that,” she make vague gestures with her hooves. “You’ve slept with the two of us enough times to know we’d never take advantage of you. You know it’d just be sleeping.”

Ares pointed at Luna. “I’m sure that you won’t do anything. Her on the other hand…”

Luna huffed quietly, crossing her hooves. “We would never force thee, Ares,” she said. “We told thou and young Cadence that we would court thou at a later date and that is what we will do.”

The two leaned away from each other, angrily eating their pizza, while Celestia shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Well, she thought. Hopefully those two won’t bite each other’s heads off until after the movie.

“We cannot understand as to why thou wouldst think we would just jump thou like some bandit in the night.”

“You set me up with a guard that keeps trying to drink my blood for some fucking reason, Luna. I honestly have no idea what you’re going to do with me if I don’t keep both eyes on ya.”

“What I’m doing will ensure that everypony will be happy in the end, Ares, and that is all.”

Celestia sighed, hopping off the couch. “I’ll go get the three of us something to drink.”

@@~~##~~@@

Pleasedon’thitmewithanything, I thought, poking my head through the door, ready to hop back encase a chair was coming my way.

I creaked open the door enough to look around the room, seeing Twilight, with a few boxes of pizza and a big bottle of pop by her bed, looking at me with a small smile.

“Hello, Cadence,” she said quietly, levitating me a plate.

Wellll, Twilight’s not attacking me; she doesn’t even look mad, I thought in confusion as she stared expectedly back at me. Goooood?

I smiled back at her, trying to mask my confusion. “Hello, Twilight.” Trying to keep myself composed, I made my way over toward her and sat down a across the bed from her; not enough to be distant, but enough to give her her space.

Imagine my surprise when she crawled across the bed, leaning into me as she passed me a piece of pizza.

Flash poked his head through the door while I looked down at her. “Um, I’ll be back in a little bit,” he said. “I have to, um… go get another bottle of Maretain Dew! Yeah, that!”

Twilight and I giggled quietly as the stallion quickly closed the door, leaving the two of us alone with each other in the quiet room.

“The Princess gave me a projector and a bedsheet for a movie night,” she said, nuzzling my neck.

I wrapped a wing around the mare. “Oh, what movie is it?”

I don’t know why Twilight was snuggling up to me, why she was acting all calm and cool and collected and not throwing me off her her balcony, but I was kind of happy about it. It almost felt like there wasn’t anything wrong.

But, since I wanted to talk to her, try to explain to her why I did what I did, I decided to go right into it.

“Twilight, I—”

The mare sighed, looking away from me. “I’m sorry, Cadence,” she said with a little sniffle. “I’ve been hiding in my bedroom like a little filly for no good reason.” Her shoulders sagged. “I was sitting in here, mad, but now? Now I don’t know what to feel…”

I nuzzled her cheek. “No, Twilight, I’m sorry,” I told her, looking down at my plate sadly. “I should have told you personally instead of bringing it up like a pony talking about the weather in front of everyone,”

I looked away from her in shame. “I should have chased after you and tried to explain myself, but I acted like a coward and pretty much avoided you,” I looked back down into her eyes, trying to calm myself with a deep breath.

“And I’m sorry about that. I’m so, so sorry. You deserved better, you deserve an explanation why I did what I did with your brother.”

Taking a leap, I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I just want you to know that I know that there’s nothing I can do to make you forgive me—”

Twilight shook her head, sniffling again while she blinked away tears. “I forgive you, Cadence,” she said quietly. “I just don’t want anypony being miserable at the end of this. I want you and Shining and Ares to sit in a room together as friends. I want mom and dad and both of the princesses all proud of us…”

She nuzzled my cheek again, the tears that were streaming down her face wetting my face “And don’t want to lose my sister,” she whimpered while I sniffled, my wing tightening around her.

“I don’t want to lose you either, Twily,” I murmured, the two of us sharing a hug before, wiping a tear from my eye, I hopped off of the bed and made my way over to the projector. “Now,” I said brightly. “How about we set this up?”

Twilight smiled, wiping her muzzle and face with her blanket. “I’ll set up the projector,” she said, getting up.

With a spell, I had the bed sheet in my hooves. “I’ll get this thing up.”

“Remember to use pins this time; last time you used duct tape you had to buy me new sheets.”

“Don’t remind me, please. Your dad still won’t let me live that down.”

~~$$##~~

It had not been a good couple of days for Luna. She had been getting dirty looks from half the castle staff, her sister wouldn’t stop giving her this sad/disappointed look, and now, to top it all off, Ares wouldn’t even let her snuggle up with him during the movie.

To be fair, you WERE being a little pushy; everything considered, a small part of her mind said, making her snort as she scarfed down another piece of pizza.

We only wished to protect Ares from harm, she countered, trying to focus on the movie. He and Sergeant Echo may not like each other, but the Sergeant is one of the best of my guard. She will be able to help Cadence with her troops and keep my Ares safe.

He’s not your Ares. He’s Cadence’s Ares.

The Lunar Princess faltered, almost losing her grip on her box, tears coming to her eyes. B-but—

“You know, I’m still upset with you.”

Luna blinked, looking over at Ares, who was calmly eating another piece of pizza, not looking at her.

“You could’ve done this later; when all of this bullshit with me and Cadence was all over and done with,” he continued, pointedly looking at the screen. Luna looked down and sighed sadly, perking up when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder.

“But.” Ares finally looked down at her, his expression tired, but at least he was looking at her. “I know you don’t mean anything by it.” He handed his pizza box over to Celestia, who was ‘watching’ the movie like her life depended on it.

“And besides, Luna, you’re my friend; I can’t be pissy with you just cause you have a crush on me. If I did then I’d be like every one of those girls that slapped me in highschool.”

Luna wiped a tear from her eye and smiled up at him. “We thank thee, Ares,” she said quietly, snuggling up to him.

Ares just chuckled, winking at a now-smiling Celestia. “It might just be the pizza talking, so don’t go thanking me.”

Celestia levitated a piece of pizza toward her face, the alicorn sizing it up for a moment before bringing it closer. Rolling it up and taking a big bite out of it, she said, “That’s why I got pizza tonight.” She licked the cheese off her lips. “Nopony can stay mad during a pizza night.”

@~~%%~~@

“Are ya sure that ya want ta leave already, Shining lad?” Shield asked as Shining quickly packed. “Me an’ the boys would be happy ta hold ya up fer a few more days.”

Shining shook his head with a small smile while he turned his head toward his friend. “No thanks, Shield,” he said, checking to see that he had everything in order. “I’ve been here long enough. You were right; if I don’t start doing something soon, I might just lose my mind.”

And if I stay here any longer, there’s a good chance that I’ll either get arrested or get alcohol poisoning… Or both, he thought to himself, walking over and pulling his friend into a hug.

Shield grumbled good-naturedly. “Well, make sure ta write or come see us again. Ya ‘ave us worrying after ya like a mother,” he said, as Shining broke the hug and made his way back over to his pack.

“I’ll make sure to keep in touch with you guys,” the unicorn promised, slinging the pack over his back and making his way toward the door.

“Ya didn’t tell me where you were goin’,” Shield said offhandedly.

“I’m going home for a few days; let my parents and Twily know that I’m okay,” Shining said without stopped, his hoof going to the door.

“An’ after that?”

Shining stopped at the doorway, not turning around as he said, “You know where I’m going.”

“The Crystal ponies do probably need ya.”

“They probably do. Even if they don’t, I’m sure I can make myself useful up there.”

“Did ya tell ‘er that ya were coming back?”

I don’t even know what I’m going to say to her when I see her, he thought before making his way out into the hallway. “Nope,” he said, making his way toward the exit. “To be honest, I’m just making this up as I go along.”

Though he didn’t see it, Shield had pulled out a bottle of wine from under his stack of armor, a small smile on his face as he turned to the door. Biting the cork and pulling, he said, “It’s yer funeral, Lad,” Spitting the cork onto the ground he took a big gulp of his drink. “I’ll be sure that yer buried next to me mom; that old lass might need a special somepony in the afterlife.”

“Buck you, Shield.”

“Don’t tempt me, Lad!”

Author's Notes:

Stuff happened, and the author was late in getting this out and can't find a kur to give.

Train Rides

While I know that most ponies don’t like leaving home for the first time—for college, to get a job, to see the world, stuff like that—and they get butterflies in their stomach that just makes them want to go back into their house so they can sleep in their own bed I’ve never had that problem.

I’ve always loved seeing new places, and I was actually going back home to keep my subjects happy and safe, so I was raring to go back home and back to work. So much so that I was actually ready to sit down and do some paperwork. Paperwork!

Twilight, Luna, and Aunty Celestia were there with us at the train station, with Flash and Echo standing off in the corner with our bags all around them, ready for us to say our goodbyes so we could leave and I’d get away from my crazy family.

Don’t look at me like that. It was nice to be home for a little bit, but I’m an adult that needs to get adult things done!

…And my family is crazy; did I mention that yet?

“All aboard!” the conductor roared as the train let off a whistle, leaving Ares wincing and jamming a finger in his ear.

“Jesus guy, the station’s not that big, we can hear you without you yelling in our ears like we owe you money,” he muttered while I turned around and wrapped Aunty Celestia in a hug.

Like I thought she would, she had tears in her eyes and a rag held in her magic, the big mare almost broke my back as she wrapped her wings and hooves around me while she cried and sniffled.

“Don’t forget to write,” she said, nuzzling my cheek as I tried to wiggle out of her death-grip, “and make sure that you don’t get into any trouble, and—”

“Sister,” Luna said with an amused twinkle in her eye. “It appears that thou art close to killing young Cadence.”

My Aunt just hugged me tighter while I forced myself to pat her on the back. I’m gonna die, I thought, my vision starting to turn a little fuzzy. I’m going to die because of a hug and nopony is going to get in trouble for it because there’s not a court in this country that will prosecute my aunt.

“Um, Princess,” Twilight said. “Cadence is starting to turn blue.”

Aunty nuzzled me again while I slowly went limp in her grip. “She’s just as sad as me that she’s leaving, Twilight,” she said, using her ‘mommy logic’. “She’ll be fine w-when s-she’s … GONE!!!!”

Somepony … please … avenge … me

I heard Ares snort behind me, a pair of hands gently, but firmly, pulling me away from my crazy aunt. “Christ, Women,” he said to her while I wheezed and gasped, desperately trying to get as much sweet, sweet oxygen into my lungs as I could. “We need to get Candy here back home and you’re trying to murder her.”

She just sniffled while Ares looked down at me. “Are you alright there, Candy?”

“I … love … you … Ares,” I said in-between breaths while he put me down. “I … saw … a … bright … light.”

Ares just rolled his eyes and looked over at Flash, who was busy nuzzling his marefriend. “Flash, bat-horse.” Echo snorted in irritation. “Do me a favor and get those bags in there.”

Flash nodded, saying something in Twilight’s ear and kissing her before he trotted into the train. Echo followed slowly while she muttered obscenities.

Aunty had collected herself enough to look up at Ares sadly, spreading her forelegs wide as he smiled before saying, “I’m coming you—urk!”

Twilight walked over and nuzzled me as Ares was caught in the vice-grip that was my Aunt’s hug, Luna also trotted over with a smile.

“Goodbye, Twily,” I murmured, bringing her closer with a wing. “Make sure that you come back up to the Empire sometime. Bring those friends of yours too if you want,” I added with a sly smile. “I’m sure that Ares would love to meet them.”

She smiled back at me. “I’ll be sure to,” she said brightly. “The girls really want to see what’s kept me away from Ponyville for so long, and I’m sure Pinkie would want to throw a party for an alien.” She looked away from me for a second. “Cadence?”

“Yeah?”

“Would I be a bad pony if I told you I couldn’t wait to get back home?”

I chuckled. “If you were then I’d be as bad a pony as you.” I mussed up her mane. “When you get back, tell Spike I said hello and—”

“Aaaaaarrrreeesss, help me with these bags!”

Ares, who looked like he was somehow overpowering my Aunt, hoisting the mare up into the air as she held him with both sets of legs while she cried, looked over at Flash as he and Echo tried to lug a particularly heavy bag into the train.

He grunted, trying to get my aunt off him. “Kinda … busy … Flashy”

Twilight and I giggled before I frowned gently. “Twilight,” I said. “You know that Flash can just stay here with you if you want. Then you woul—”

She raised a hoof, a knowing smirk on her face. “Don’t worry about that, Cadence,” she said pridefully. “I’m working on something that’ll solve that long distance problem.”

“Just don’t work yourself too hard,” I said hesitantly, looking at Luna as she took a step forward.

“Cadence,” she said simply, before wrapping me in a much gentler hug than what her sister had given me.“We wish you a safe trip.”

I smiled slightly, hugging her back. “Thanks, Luna,” Feeling brave, I gave her a little nuzzle before awkwardly taking a step away from her. “Don’t forget to write.”

I know it was a little lame to finish it that way, but I really didn’t know what to say, and I was struggling to think of anything to say at all, so of course it was a little awkwardly handled.

Thankfully, she just nodded once while the conductor whistled his whistle and hopped up into the train as it bellowed and blew a cloud of smoke from its smoke stack. “All aboard that’s coming aboard!”

The two of us looked at the stallion before Luna said, “You two should get a move on.”

I nodded as Ares appeared next to me, scratching Twilight under the chin and patting Luna on the head. “WegottagoCandy!”

Before I could say anything, he was bounding up the train’s steps, the train bellowed again before it slowly started picking up speed.

My eyes widened. “Oh horseapples!” I swore, turning to Twilight, Luna, and Aunty Celestia—who had a little teary-eyed smile on her face. “I gotta go, see you gir—”

Luna stopped me with a hoof, her horn glowing as she leaned in and whispered, “We shall begin the wooing in a month’s time.” I shivered slightly as her hot breath caressed my ear. “So make ready, young Cadence.”

POP!

I blinked as Ares, Flash, and Echo appeared in front of me, all three of them looking back at me in confusion. “I guess Luna teleported me,” I murmured, looking around the cab and realizing that it was empty.

“We got our own section of the train,” Flash said brightly as the train picked up its pace, puttering down the track. “Apparently, not very many ponies are going to the Crystal Empire.”

Echo threw a few of the bags onto an empty seat before sitting down and pulling out a pack of cards. “Alright,” she said with a grin, looking at each of us. “Who wants to play poker? I’ll be first dealer.”

@#~~@#

Luna watched quietly as the train slowly disappeared over the horizon, the alicorn looking at her sister with a smirk. “Art thou well, Sister?” she said teasingly. “If thou weep anymore, Canterlot won’t need rain for another year.”

Celestia ignored her sister, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief as she looked over at her student. “Twilight,” she all but whimpered. “Luna and I will wait for your train to see you off.”

Twilight smiled nervously. “Thank you, Princess.” She took a step backward when Celestia eyed her in a way she didn’t like. “But you know that I’m not a day’s train ride away, right?”

Celestia blinked before she stepped back and cleared her throat. “Yes, of course, forgive me Twilight,” she chuckled weakly. “I’m just a little emotional at the moment, nothing that a bit of cake won’t fix.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, sitting down on her rump. “I’ll make sure that I start sending you—urk!”

When the unicorn closed her eyes Celestia pounced, the alicorn hugging her while Luna bit back a chuckle. Sister always needs somepony to baby, Luna thought, using her magic to pull her sister off Twilight before the poor mare’s bones were broken. “Come sister, we must return to the castle; we have work to do.”

With a yank, Twilight hit the ground and scrambled away as Celestia sobbed.

“They grow up so fast,” Celestia moaned, letting Luna carry her away. “My nest is empty! I don’t have anypony else to baby anymore!”

“Thou still have Blueblood, sister.”

Celestia went on as if she hadn’t heard her. “I’m going to have to buy cats like some crazy mare so that they can keep me company!” She tried to swim toward a terror-stricken/highly amused Twilight. “I need somepony else to baby!”

“Thou art thousands of years old, Sister, please try to act like it,” Luna grunted as her sister grabbed a bench. Sweet Faust, this is like what happened when Cadence first moved out.

“Bye Princess Luna, goodbye Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, giving them a little wave. “Thanks for those notes, Princess Luna, I’ll make sure to send you my findings when I’m done!”

Luna gave the unicorn a smile as she marched through the cobblestone streets, ignoring ponies as they gawked at the sight of her carrying their ruler while she cried and moaned and muttered to herself like a crazy pony.

“Sister, please compose yourself for mother’s sake. This is becoming embarrassing.”

“I’m so lonely!”

@~~#$~~@

The first day on our train ride was a pretty normal one. The four of us got a few meals, I lost two hundred bits playing poker, and I got halfway through a trashy romance novel. Pretty much what happens every time I get on a train.

Luckily for us, since there weren’t that many ponies on our train, we were able to pretty much get our own bunk cab to sleep in, the ones with that one big curtain for your privacy, so that was pretty nice.

I yawned as I snuggled into the bed’s thin-ish mattress, pressing my back against Ares as he laid a hand over my stomach. “I can’t believe I lost all that money,” I muttered with a huff.

Ares started to scratch my belly while he chuckled. “Just because you didn’t see that she was cheating half the time and you’re a poker addict doesn’t mean you can complain, Candy,” he teased.

“I’m not an addict,” I growled, trying not to smile when he rolled me over and kissed my nose.

“Oh? Is that why you lost all of that money even though I told you that the bat was cheating ten minutes in?”

I narrowed my eyes and gently swatted him with a wing. “Be quiet,” I muttered, wrapping my hooves around his neck and pulling him closer.

“I guess I’m gonna have to make sure that Echo keeps those cards of hers in her armor,” my human mused while I grumbled good-naturedly. “We’re on this train for a while longer and I’m sure you still want to keep your crown and stuff.”

“I’ll make sure she burns them when we get back,” I joked, looking up while Ares looked way from me, his eyes slightly glazed.

“Ares, are you okay?” I asked after a moment.

He sighed and gave me a weak smile. “I’m just a bit worried about all of the snow we’ll have to go through before we get into that kingdom of yours,” he admitted, idly running his fingers through my mane. “I know that I went to the doctor for all of that stuff, but you never know.”

I rubbed his cheek with my hoof while I nuzzled the nape of his neck. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you’ll be alright,” I promised, leaning up and pecking him on the cheek.

The smile on his face turned genuine as we stared a look, my feathers fluttering as my human stroked my cheek, leaned down, and captured my lips with his own.

My eyes slowly closed as I leaned a little more into the kiss, using one of my wings to cup the back of Ares’ head, deepening it. I pressed my body closer against his, a small blush on my face as I poked his teeth with my tongue, quietly asking for entrance.

He felt soft, he smelt nice, and tonight, while the two of us were riding on a train that was probably in the middle of nowhere right now, I was going to finally properly make out with my coltfriend!

I felt Ares’ heartbeat increase, and he was trembling a little bit, as he slowly opened his mouth and let my tongue in. I opened an eye as I teased his tongue with my own, giggling quietly at my silly human, whose face had taken on this adorable shade of red, his eyes shut tightly in concentration while our tongues wrestled each other for dominance.

He put up a heck of a fight, but my tongue was longer and stronger, and I was able to beat his tongue down into submission so that it laid at the bottom of his mouth. With a little giggle, I played with it a little more before breaking the kiss, taking a deep breath, and diving right back in.

I slowly explored his mouth, my tongue traveling over every ridge, bump and imperfection. My eyes shot open when I felt the sharpness of one of his canines, and I couldn’t help but let out a little groan.

He could hurt me with these, I thought, almost savoring the odd thrill that shot through me. One little bite and… I growled aggressively, laying a wing over him as I closed my eyes again.

My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest as my body quickly heated up and trailed—

“You know the Private and I can hear you two going at it, right?” Ares and I froze as somepony knocked on the wooden frame that separated our beds. “Because we totally can.”

My face felt like it was going to combust when I heard the Sergeant chuckle in mirth. “Why don’t you two wait to do that when we’re all back home, hmm?” I could almost see her grin through the wood. “Unless the two of you are into doing it in public; I won’t judge and—”

Too embarrassed to take it anymore, I cast a dampening spell around my bed, silencing the Sergeant as Ares and I awkwardly looked into each other’s eyes.

Ew, he’s covered in my spit, I thought, disgusted and … filled with pride? What the hay is wrong with me?

Not that I wasn’t kinda proud that I had turned the usual confident and sauvé Ares into a red-faced, slightly sweaty, and just plain adorable-looking colt with just a simple kiss, because I was.

Actually, there might be something wrong with me, because that sounded weird.

Huh, my tongue’s still in his mouth, I thought before finally breaking the kiss, a train of saliva still connecting our mouths as we looked at each other.

“…”

“…”

I forced myself to say something first. “Are you alright, Ares?” I asked quietly, still feeling the pounding of his heart against my chest. I waved a hoof in front of his face when I saw that he wasn’t blinking. “Ares?”

I gently slapped his cheek. He just blinked in confusion. “What? How? Huh?” he muttered, while I had to force myself to keep from laughing.

“Are you okay, Ares?” I asked again, scrunching my face up a little bit when one of his hands reached up and tried to wipe his face clean. Ewwwww!

“Y-Yeah, I’m alright, Candy,” he quietly said, laying his head back down on his pillow. “That was just a bit,” He ran a hand through my mane while I tried to cool myself off by giving my wings a little flap. “Intense.”

I looked down and saw that we had messed up our bed sheets. “Well—”

“And you were growling.” His blush came back full-force. “And I think your tongue went all the way down my throat.”

Annnd I was rolling out of the bunk, landing on the hard wooden floor, with a pained yelp before giving myself a shake while I giggled in embarrasment. “I’m just going to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back!”

I tried to ignore the red-faced Flash, who was poking his head out from his curtain, trotted into the bathroom and slammed the door.

“Stupid, stupid, STUPID!” I muttered looking at myself in the mirror. “Why did you have to mouth rape your coltfriend?!”

I ruffled my feathers again while I clenched my back legs. Groaning, I looked over at the shower. Deal with your human later, I thought with a grimace. Get yourself cooled off first.

It wasn’t a very big shower—it was on a train though; I was lucky that they even had one—so I kinda had to do a little wiggling to get into it and close the glass door. With another grunt, I turned on the faucet, making the water as cold as I could. I arched my back as the water hit it.

Ares kissing your neck, those sharp teeth of his nicking your fur while you moan.

A pang of lust rushed through me while I gasped in surprise, blushing. Stop it, I commanded myself, glaring up at the showerhead. “Why aren’t you cold enough?!” I demanded.

His fingers trailing down your stomach before they start to play with you—

I groaned quietly and rubbed my temples. “Come on, get a hold of yourself. You’re a princess, not some horny teenager!”

You screaming in lust as he thrusts into you and—]

I realized that my body was starting to really heat up again—at least a specific part of my body was—and knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to get out of the shower without relieving myself, I bit my lip and cast the damping spell all around the bathroom so no one could hear.

“I can’t believe that I’m going to clop in a shower on a train,” I muttered, leaning myself against the shower’s back wall while a hoof slowly inched downward. I tensed when my cold hoof gently touched my sex, another pang of lust making me groan quietly.

Let’s hurry up and get this over with, I thought, aggressively rubbing myself as I imagined Ares standing over me, naked. I let out another little squeak, my body tensing slightly as I rubbed myself a little harder. I closed my eyes, my knees becoming weak as I used my other foreleg to help steady myself.

I spread myself open a little bit and moaned when I touched my button. “T-There you a-are,” I gasped. My body curled inward as my moans and squeals of pleasure increased in volume. Almost…there…

I started panting, butterflies angrily flying around in my stomach as I climbed higher and higher. He’d pick you up while he rut you, slam you against the wall while he bit and kissed your neck. I finally sat down, leaning back against the wall of the shower. Biting my lip to keep from screaming as the water teased my sex, I attacked my button almost savagely.

“Oh yes,” I moaned, arching my neck as my eyes flew open.” OOOH~!” With a final moan, I came. Stars assaulted my vision as I rode out my orgasm, my body slumped to the shower’s acrylic floor while my tongue stuck sideways out of my mouth.

“Bucking … awesome” I panted, with a stupid look on my face, getting ready to will myself back to my hooves.

Fifteen minutes later…

I awkwardly made my way back toward my bed after cleaning and drying myself off, a little smile on my face as I poked my head through the curtain to see Ares wide-awake. He looked back at me with a small blush still on his face.

Still in my afterglow, I hopped into the bed and laid my head next to Ares’, not breaking eye-contact as I tried to figure out what to say. “Um, Ares, I’m—”

I squeaked a little bit when he reached over and pulled me against his chest before leaning down and kissing me on the lips. “I didn’t know ponies had tongues like that,” he said with a small smile while I looked up at him stupidly.

“Yours is really kinda small,” I blurted out while he started to play with my wings, “and it’s a lot softer,” I looked away from him before going on, “and those sharp teeth you have felt weird; not in a bad way, but they felt weird.”

He kissed my nose. “Well, thank you, Candy,” he said in amusement, apparently back to his normal self. “I don’t think I’ve ever been told how soft my tongue is.”

I pushed him gently with a snort before looking back into his eyes. “So you’re not mad that I got a little aggressive?”

He kissed my nose again and rolled his eyes. “Fuck no. In fact, I’m fine with it,” He patted my side while I wiggled closer to him. “I was just getting my head around a pony French kiss; I’m sorry that you thought I was freaking out,” he apologized.

I rolled over and pressed my back against his chest. “Well, we’ll have to do it again then, huh?” I said, giving my rump a little wiggle, pausing when I felt something prod my backside.

“Ares is that—”

A hand clamped over my mouth. “Shush, just ignore it,” my human said quietly. “If you ignore it it’ll go away and it makes this a hell of a lot less awkward.”

Not able to help myself, I looked over my shoulder at him with a giggle. “Was I that good of a kisser?”

“Yes,” he admitted, “and I couldn’t go to the bathroom to ‘cool’ off like you, so the two of us are just going to have to deal with this until it goes away.”

I blinked before turning around, resisting the urge to curl up in embarrassment. “Touché.”

“Dammit, Candy, just go to sleep.”

“You two know that that spell of yours wore off like five minutes ago, right?”

“… Go to sleep, bat horse.”

@~~$$~~@

It’s an awkward breakfast when you’re sitting with two other ponies that know you were furiously making out with you coltfriend right next to them the night before, but I was doing the best that I could with the situation, namely I kept my gaze glued to my plate and didn’t say anything.

I was picking at my pancakes, still not looking at anypony, when I heard Ares say, “Candy, could you please pass me the syrup?”

Echo snorted, her golden eyes sparkling in amusement. “That’s not the only thing I’m sure you two passed.” She nudged Flash while I tried to make myself as small as possible in my chair. It felt like I was a little filly again and I was getting teased about my first kiss.

Ares snorted, looking back down at his food. “Piss off bat,” he muttered while the mare laughed.

“Aw come on, we’re all adults here,” she said, poking at my human with a wing. “I’m sure the Private here has done more than that with his fillyfriend. Isn’t that right, son?”

Flash looked away from her, mumbling nonsense as he blushed. Echo looked at each of us, her smile diminishing slightly. “Wow, tough crowd,” she muttered, leaning forward while her face became serious. “If any of you need the ‘talk’ about the birds and the bees then—”

I snorted when Ares smacked her right in the face with a pancake. He looked over at her smugly as it slowly fell off her flabbergasted face. “Talk shit, get hit, bat horse,” he said, looking back down at his meal. “We’re getting back to the Empire after today, right Candy?” he asked while Echo got out of her seat, muttering something about washing her face.

I nodded, leaning over and kissing his cheek for stopping that awkward situation before it could get any worse. “Yeah, and don’t be surprised if we get a really warm welcome.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

I finally passed him his syrup. “I guess everypony got really excited when they heard that you were coming back.” I looked over at him. “One of the nobles sent me a letter telling me that they were going to have a massive party when we got back.”

Ares grinned while he cut his food. “Let’s hope that they don’t have it until tomorrow, the two of us are probably going to be tired as all hell when we get there.”

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. “It’s going to be tomorrow,” I looked away from him nervously, “but Doctor Stitch will be at the edge of the barrier when we get there.” I looked up at him with a weak smile. “In case anything happens.”

The smile on my human’s face slowly faded away as he looked down at the table. “In case I go and lose it again,” he somberly corrected.

I reached over with a wing and touched his shoulder. “I’ll be there with you all the way,” I said encouragingly while Flash nodded.

“Yeah, and I’ll be ready to carry you to the doctor if you need it,” the stallion said, flexing his muscles with a silly look on his face. “I’ll be able to get you through that storm faster than you can say rain cloud.”

I smiled at Ares, touching his cheek with my wing. “But you won’t need our help,” I said, “you’ll get through that tundra just fine.”

He smiled before looking at the two of us. “Thanks guys,” he said quietly, “you really make a guy feel looked after.”

I nodded. “I can’t let my coltfriend pass out in the middle of all of that cold now, can I?”

“And I can’t let my best friend have a heart attack,” Flash added. “He still has so much to live for.” He gave Ares a slightly nasty smile. “Like making-out with his fillyfriend for one, and—thmp!”

“Good shot, Honey,” I complimented calmly, watching as my guard tried to get a shoe out of his mouth. “I didn’t even know you were taking it off until the last second.”

Ares gave my wingtip a little kiss before he went back to eating. “Some guys have great athletic gifts, Candy, and I guess I got the rare shoe-throwing gift.”

We watched as Flash fell to the ground with a little thud before spitting the shoe out of his mouth.

“I’m sure that usually it’s a stupid gift, but here, it has actually worked to my benefit.”

@#$~~$#@

It took the four of us almost half an hour to get ready to go into the tundra. We had to make sure that Ares was bundled up nice and tight, I convinced flash and Echo not to bring any of our bags so they could fly Ares to the doctor if he needed it, and I made sure to put myself in the best position to help him if he needed it.

“Are you sure that you don’t need a coat, Candy?” Ares asked me while I awkwardly climbed onto his back. “Don’t want you catching a cold or anything.”

I smiled, wrapping my hooves around his neck as I hoisted myself upward, careful to keep myself balanced so Ares could walk easier.

I had a simple plan: Ares was strong enough to carry me around even in the snow, so I’d let him carry me on his back so I could use my wings and my body to keep him warm all the while just talking to him to keep his mind off it. Sure it probably wasn’t the best plan, but I thought it was pretty clever at the time.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, nuzzling my cheek. “Alicorns deal with the cold better than most.” I used his hips for support as I wrapped my hind-legs around them. “What about you? Am I too heavy? Am I holding on too tight? Am I—”

He patted my rump with a chuckle before he looped his arms around my legs, trying to keep up his whole tough guy act even though I could feel one of his hands shaking slightly. “Calm down, Candy. Like you said, everything’s going to be fine.”

I adjusted the hat on his head, making sure that it was covering his ears while I tried to keep myself calm. “Are those gloves warm enough? Do you want another pair of socks to put on?”

My human rolled his shoulders, shifting from one leg to the other. “I’ll be fine,” he repeated, “and I bet you look adorable right now.” He slowly made his way toward the open door, shivering even with everything that he was wearing as the cold air hit him.

“I need to give you piggyback rides more often. I mean, you weigh less than some kids I knew.” I wrapped my wings around him—not enough to confine his movement but enough to keep most of the wind from getting to him as he made his way outside.

“Yep, you could get on my back while I ran around the castle—” I knew he was rambling, and I’m sure he knew he was rambling, but I let him do it; whatever he needed to do to keep his mind off the cold was fine by me.

I placed my head on his shoulder, putting my hooves through the collar of his coat to try to warm him up a bit more with my body heat. “Just keep going Ares,” I murmured, seeing Flash and Echo out of the corner of my eye. “We only have a few hundred feet left. You’re doing great.”

My grip tightened on him when I felt his rapidly beating heart thumping in his chest. Please don’t stop, I pleaded. If he stops then he might have a panic attack an—

“You know, this isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Ares commented, breaking me out of my stupor. “Sure, it’s a lot colder than I would have liked, but it’s really not that bad.” He stopped and looked around the icy wasteland.

“In fact, it actually looks kinda pretty.”

Flash nudged him with a smile—a smile that I’m sure was just as big and relieved as mine and Echo’s—and said, “Come on, Ares, we need to get to the barrier.”

Ares nodded slowly. “Thanks, Candy,” he said over the winds, which didn’t seem as loud anymore. “I’m sure you’re the one keeping me from just losing it.” I kissed his cheek before nuzzling the nape of his neck. “So thanks. Really.”

“No need to thank me, Ares,” I whispered in his ear as we neared the barrier. “You can carry me like this any time you want.”

The two of us chuckled as we made our way through the barrier, Ares shaking the snow off of his head with a little shake. “Alright, Candy,” he said, squatting down. “Let’s get you down so the two of us can show the doc that I’m not dead.”

With a smile, I slid off his back and quickly stood by his side while he stood back up with a grunt.” Alright, let’s just—” I blinked when Ares was tackled to the ground by an orange blur.

“He’s pale; nurse, get the adrenaline! He’s going into shock! No, nevermind, get the defibrillator! His heart might have just stopped! Just bring them both over here, we’ll use ‘em both.”

Ares looked up at a frantic and stressed out-looking Doctor Stitch, who was hopping up and down on his chest, before protesting loudly “Doc, get off!”

The nurse quickly trotted over, a shot in her mouth and a little machine on her back. My mind tried to process what was happening as the doctor took the syringe, grabbed the cap that protected the needle with her mouth and spat it to the ground, and lifted it over her head.

“Don’t worry, Monkey, I’ll fix you right up!”

I looked over at Echo, who was calmly watching the scene before her while she took a bite out of a mango. “That’s right, Doc,” she said, while Ares tried to wrench the adrenaline out of the doctor’s hooves. “You give him that shot; make sure to get him in the heart.”

“FUCK YOU, BAT HORSE!!!”

Homecoming

It took a little bit longer to calm the doctor down—and for me to stop laughing—than I would have liked, but eventually everypony had calmed down. Sure, I had to use my magic to keep the doctor, and nurses—who were still looking at me like I was going to attack them—off him, and I was still glaring at the Sergeant for her ‘help’, but everything was nice and calm right now.

I was helping Ares get his jacket and extra thick mittens off while the doctor kept fussing over him like a mother hen, forcing him to sit down so he could “catch his breath.”

“It doesn’t look like you’ve developed any signs of frostbite. No red-ish, irritated skin, nothing turning black.” She sat down in front of Ares, leaning forward and asking, “Do you feel any discomfort, any icy or burning sensations?”

I could tell that Ares was starting to get a little tired of being swarmed. Flash wouldn’t stop asking if he was okay, we all had to stop Ares from lunging at the still-laughing Sergeant, and I, happy that he was okay, wouldn’t stop nuzzling him. I’m sure if I had to deal with all of the poking, the giggling, the baby-talk, and the hugs, I would’ve snapped and asked for a little personal space too.

So imagine my surprise when he just patted her on the cheek. “I’m fine, doc,” he said, wiggling out of his coat with a determined look.

Ms. Scalpel sighed in relief. “Good, good.”

My human gave the doctor a big, hammy grin “I gotta say, doc, I didn’t know you cared that much. Miss me, did ya?”

She snorted. “I’m just simply making sure that my investment survives,” she said, waving a hoof dismissively. “I’ve been writing a paper on you; a little tid-bit that will probably win me the Star Swirl award for medical excellence.”

“…What’s it about?”

The doctor took off her glasses, pulled out a little hanky, blew on her lenses, and started to clean them. “Oh, nothing you’d understand, I can assure you,” she playfully sneered with a little smile while she got back to her hooves. “Come on, let’s get you back to the castle. Half of the empire is out ready to greet their princess and favorite human.”

She looked at everyone before nodding and muttering to herself.“I’ll let the nurses here take you to the castle.” She turned away, Ares and I watching her go. “I have some … things to do.”

I smiled, wrapping my forelegs around Ares’ neck and kissing his cheek. “Come on, Ares,” I said, giving his side a little tickle with a wing tip. “My little ponies await.”

He rubbed his cheek against mine as the doctor retreated down the path with a little pep in her step. “Alright, but you’re gonna have to get off me, Candy. Flash, be a bro and come over here and help my fat ass up.”

I let go of Ares and picked up his jacket as Flash trotted over to help him up. Turning toward Ms. Echo, who still had a smile on her face, I said, “Alright, Sergeant, thank you for helping ensure that Ares made it through the tundra alright.”

The batpony nodded. “It’s my job, Princess,” she said simply while I matched her grin.

“Well, since it’s clear that he’s going to be alright, could you go and get our bags?” I asked innocently. I watched the Sergeant’s smile vanish from her face.

“Sweet Faust, Ares, how much do you weigh?” Flash grunted as he struggled to get Ares up.

My human grunted. “It’s not my fucking fault I have to wear all of this stuff to keep warm.” He looked down at his massively thick pants in disdain. “I can barely move with all of this stuff on.”

“Too bad you don’t have a coat like we do, huh?”

“You guys may be warmer than me, but at least I don’t have to worry about shedding.”

I know that it was a little mean of me, but I almost let out a little giggle as Echo looked out at the tundra and shivered. “As the princess commands,” she finally said.

My smile grew. “Thank you, Ms. Echo, I appreciate it.” I watched her turn toward the barrier before adding, “Oh, and Sergeant?”

The mare turned back toward me, an eyebrow cocked. “Ma’am”

I looked over at Ares. “Try not to help a doctor shock my coltfriend back to sub-consciousness or stab him in the chest when he’s perfectly healthy next time you’re in that situation, or I promise you that a little cold will be the least of your worries, alright?”

She paled just a little bit when my look turned slightly angry. “Yes, ma’am.” My sweet smile back on my face, I trotted over toward Ares, putting his coat in his hands.

He gave me a little wink before looking over and watching the Sergeant hurry through the barrier. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked, sounding puzzled.

I rubbed up against his side and ruffled my feathers. “Oh, she’s fine,” I brightly told him. “She and I just had a little conversation about keeping you safe and sound and not stabbed with an adrenalin shot.”

He chuckled, mussing up my hair. “I didn’t know you had it in you, Candy.”

I stuck my tongue out at him playfully. “Nopony messes with my colt friend,” I said, before tapping him with a wing. “Come on, let’s go and see how everypony’s doing.”

@~~##~~@

While I love my subjects, and I wouldn’t trade them for anypony else in the world, since they had been sealed away from the world for a thousand years, they weren’t exactly … up-to-date with everything.

In some aspects it was adorable, like when I first showed them a bean bag chair, but other more official things, it was a little tedious, like trying to explain to them how horrible their medicine was and why they should be going to doctor Stitch and not some priest when they had a cold.

They also had the ability to scare the heck out of me. Their jousts, how their nobles were always ‘challenging each other to duels’--i.e. yelling and getting into hooffights with each other--their really crazy love of violence; these cornerstones of their culture that made them who they were, took a lot to get used to. In fact, I was still trying to get used to it all.

As soon as Ares, Flash, and I had set hoof in the city, at least thirty ponies, all in their best togas, saw us and yelled, “It’s the princess!” They began slamming their hooves against their chests, making this horrifying thumping sound that made me think of soldiers marching.

Ares rushed over and picked up one of my ponies, who looked at the human with a happy squeal. “Aw, did you guys miss me?” he asked, while somepony else yelled something about the ‘cuddle monkey’ being back. With a yell, my ponies rushed my human, tackling him to the ground.

I shook my head and looked over at Flash, who was chuckling. “What am I, chopped oats?” I asked him jokingly as Ares gently tossed around a few ponies, laughing as they tried to force him back down to the ground.

“At least you’ll get them when they're tired, princess,” Flash said as more and more of my subjects appeared, smiles on all of their faces as they looked at me. “Should we—”

“WHAT THE HAY’S GOING ON?!?!”

Everypony, and I mean everypony, stopped what they were doing and looked at a fuming Sergeant Echo, who was in turn glaring at the group piling on Ares. She dropped all of our bags onto the ground. “You lot put him down right—”

My subjects gasped, slowly making their way toward the mare. “What in the name of the gods are you?” one of them asked, causing Echo to back up, a wary look on her face.

“I’m the human’s personal bodyguard,” she said, her chest puffing out while she bared her fangs, trying to keep what looked like a hundred ponies away from her. “The name’s Sergeant Echo, now why don’t you—”

“You look like a bat!”

I was really trying not to laugh when the batpony’s eye twitched in irritation. “They’ve never seen a thestral before,” I managed to mutter to Flash, who nodded.

“I don’t think that Princess Luna brought any last time she was here,” he responded, as Echo slapped away a hoof that was trying to poke at her.

She looked like she was about to reach for the sword at her side, and from this distance I could almost hear her hissing in anger. “Will you all bucking back up and give me some breathing room?!”

“But we just want to touch your wings!” Somepony cried, the group getting closer and closer toward her while Ares started laughing.

“Looks like you’ve got some groupies, bat horse,” he said in amusement.

A filly cocked her head in confusion and looked up at her mother, “Mommy, what’s a bat horse?”

Her mother leaned down and nuzzled her. “You heard the cuddle monkey, sweetie, that mare is a bat horse.”

Flash had to keep me from falling over when I finally burst out laughing.

@~~#~~@

The castle was just as I remembered it, big and blue and clean-looking, and its floor made this neat tapping sound that you could almost dance to whenever you walked on it. The crystal heart was floating under my castle, shining brighter than ever, as I looked up at it.

Ares—the Sergeant and Flash had made their way to the barracks—whistled in appreciation. “Looking at that thing never gets old,” he said breathlessly, reaching up and starting to scratch my ear.“Doesn’t it look brighter to you?”

I leaned toward his hand while I closed my eyes in bliss. I wish I had hands, I thought while I let out a little coo. “The heart’s shining shows how happy my subjects are,” I said, leaning against his leg, “how much love they carry in their hearts.”

He got up on his tippy-toes to get a better look at it. “You know, it’s a little hard to believe that you nuked the last ruler of this place with this thing. It’s neat, floating and stuff, but I still have a hard time believing it.”

“I couldn’t believe it either when it happened,” I said, my smile dampening a little at the mere thought of Sombra, “but it did happen and everypony is better off for it; Sombra was a monster …”

I shook my head, clearing myself of dark thoughts, and nudged him. “Come on, we can look at the heart in the morning.” I yawned, covering my mouth with a hoof. “The two of us are going to have a pretty big day tomorrow, so we should get to sleep early.”

I giggled when he picked me up, cradling me like a filly. “Yeah we do!” my human said excitedly. “A feast, some Olympic games stuff—”

“I still can’t believe that they wanted to do that,” I mused almost to myself, and swatted him with a wing when he pinched my flank.

“They’re happy to see their princess, Candy.”

I blew a raspberry. “They’re having three days worth of games and feasting just because I got back!” I exclaimed.

Ares chuckled, rubbing the space in-between my wings. “What would Celestia or Luna get if they had just gotten back after being gone from Canterlot for months?”

“That’s not the same!” I argued. “I’m not them! And Canterlot wouldn’t do something like that.”

He kissed my neck. “Well, good thing for us your people are awesome enough to entertain and liquor us up for three whole days.”

I tried to keep my frown. “There’s no need for it,” I muttered. “A simple parade would’ve been alright.” I know that that sounded a little … elitist of me, but ponies, honestly, wanted an excuse to have a party or a parade and nobles coming or going was the best time for it. If I told them I didn’t want one, they’d just ignore me and have a party anyway, or they’d have one in secret.

“You’re being a baby,” Ares told me while he carried me up the steps of the castle and through the main doors.

I scoffed. “I’m not!” I argued, crossing my forelegs. “What if we have a bad winter or something? The food that we’re going to waste these next few days could be needed to keep us from starving!”

My human stopped in the middle of the hallway, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You know, since I have no idea how your food is grown and your economic stuff is handled, I really don’t know if you’re right about that or not.”

I smiled.

“But that still kinda sounds like shit to me … you baby.”

I pushed his shoulder with a wing as Ares turned a corner. “I just don’t like these festivals,” I admitted, blowing my mane out of my face.

“Sure, they’re fun and everything, but then there’s the clean up afterward. You have to get ponies to clean up the garbage that’s left, you need to see if there’s any damaged or defaced property.” I waved my hooves around. “The list goes on and on and it’s just a pain for everypony involved in the end, and I don’t want to be the one that causes it just because I finally decided to bring my flank back home.”

Ares whistled. “Boy, Candy, I didn’t know you hated parties that much.”

“… I don’t hate parties.”

I playfully snapped at his hand when he tried to pinch my cheek. “Your subjects want to show you how much they missed you,” he said. “Stop being such an old lady and have some fun.”

I smiled and nuzzled his shoulder. “I don’t even know if the party is for me,” I said mockingly. “Did you see how excited everypony was when they saw the ‘cuddle monkey’?”

Ares chuckled. “That’s the cutest name that I’ve ever been called in my life.” He started rocking me back and forth like a foal. “Cuddle monkey.”

I squirmed out of his grasp, shaking my head and ruffling my feathers when my hooves touched the ground. “Did you even know where you were going?” I asked, looking around. “It looks like you brought us to the southern part of the castle.”

My human shrugged. “It’s been a while since I’ve walked around here, Candy, of course I didn’t know where I was going.”

“Then why did you start walking around without asking me for directions?” I asked, shaking my head.

He bopped my nose. “I thought that I could just bullshit my way around until I found something that looked familiar.”

Why don’t stallions just ask for directions? I lamented, turning around so we could retrace our steps and I could get us into the main hallway. I don’t see why not knowing where you’re going is better than just sucking it up and asking somepony where to go.

“We could have been in the bedchamber ten minutes ago,” I muttered, looking up at him with an eyebrow cocked. “Now we’re going to have to work until the sun’s down to get all of your clothes put away.”

Ares placed a hand on my neck and gave me a little tickle. “I asked you the other day if I could just leave most of them back with the other princesses, so don’t try to guilt me with that.”

“If we did that then you’d have to get all of your other clothes remade,” I pointed out. “You know, if you didn’t wear them every day then the Sergeant wouldn’t have had to make all of those trips back to the train.”

He shrugged. “It’s not my fault that I have this silly human skin and not your fur.” He flicked my ear. “And I don’t remember bat horse having to go back to the train that many times since you made Flash go and help her.”

“No, Flash offered to help her out,” I responded quickly, which earned me a nudge.

“And you giving him those puppy dog eyes of yours didn’t sway him at all?”

I looked away from him, trying not to laugh. “I’m sure that Flash was doing that out of the kindness of his heart, and I don’t use doe-eyes on a stallion when I want something; I’m a princess, I could have just asked him to do it,” I said in amusement.

“You liar, I saw you and your quivering lip,” Ares joked.“Hey, do you know what I just realized, now that we’re back here for probably ever?”

I couldn’t help but smile when he said that he was going to stay here with me forever. “What?” I asked, cocking my head up at him.

He stopped for a second, looking around the hall while I stopped to see what he was doing. “What am I going to be doing here to keep myself occupied?” he finally said.

My mouth opened in an O expression. “You want a job?” I asked.

He nodded, opening and closing a hand while he looked down at it. “I can’t just lay around and do nothing,” he told me, while I walked back toward him. “You’re going to be doing Princess stuff, Flash has a job, even bat horse is going to be working.”

I patted his back with a wing understandingly. “And you don’t want to feel like you’re doing nothing?”

He grimaced. “I don’t think that I could keep myself from working.” I gently started to lead him back down the hall with a wing. “When we were back in Canterlot I always had something to do: mess with you or one of the princesses, go see the doctor, bother ponies, but here? I have no idea.”

“Why don’t you go out and look for a job then?” I asked. “I’m sure that somepony could use a six foot tall human for something.”

I could almost feel the relief coming off Ares. “I thought that you were going to offer me a job at the castle,” he mused.

I frowned. “What would be wrong with that?”

“I’d feel weird having you as my boss,” he said while I let out a little unamused snort. “You’d yell at me for breaking a vase or something and then the two of us would go to bed,” he paused, shuddering slightly. “I don’t think you’d want that; I know that I really don’t want that.”

“You don’t want a mare to be your boss, is that it?”

He leaned down and kissed my nose. “You can boss me around all you want, Candy.” He reached up and started to play with one of my ears. “But I want to feel like I earned the job. I guess I just don’t want to feel like you hired me because I’m dating you”

I couldn’t beat down the grin that came to my face. “You think that I’d hire you because of that?” I laughed quietly. “The castle has a very strict hiring system, Ares. Everypony goes through lots of training before they can get a job here: my guards, the maids, even the cooks. Even if I wanted to make you a janitor you’d probably want to quit after a few days because of the workload and training.”

He looked down at me with a puzzled expression. “Is it really that bad?”

I nodded. “Two-thirds of the ponies that try out for a job here quit in the middle of training,” I told him. “And the training here is nothing compared to what they have to deal with when they try to work for aunty Celestia.” We finally made it to my bedroom, me sighing before I started to open the door.

This was the last place where you told Shining that you loved him…

“So I’ll go and look for a job outside the castle then,” Ares said, pushing open the door and walking past me while I just stood there, mouth agape. “It looks like they got our bags in—Candy, are you okay?”

It was the same as I remembered it, back when Shining and I still … loved each other. Our old bed with the purple covers was still as nice and neat as it was when I made it before we left for Canterlot. I could almost see us still sitting at the table in the corner, eating breakfast, finishing paperwork, or just talking at the end of the day.

Seeing the inside of this room kind of felt like getting slapped in the face at the end of a fight. Sure, the worst is over for you, you’ve taken the brunt of the beating, but it’d still sting. I didn’t regret what I did—I felt bad for Shining, but I wasn’t going to give up Ares—but the sight still made me think of him.

Look … there’s a picture of me and him on the tab—

I stiffened when I felt Ares wrap his arms around me, hugging my neck while he knelt down. “Cadence?”

I leaned into his hug. “I’m alright,” I whispered, my eyes still scanning around the room, “I was just thinking of everything Shining and I did in here.” I placed my head on his shoulder. “And how much everything has changed.”

His grip on me tightened. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, while I wrapped a wing around him.

“No no, I was just overwhelmed for a second; I’m alright.” I may need to change those covers though, I thought privately to myself

I nuzzled his cheek before breaking the hug. “Come on, let’s get your clothes put away, then we can do a little dusting.” I crinkled up my nose a bit. “I can almost smell all of the dust in the air.”

He looked at me carefully for a few seconds before giving me that smile that I really, truly loved. “Alright, where’s the closet?”

…

It was nice going through my room, looking over pictures on my counters and my old clothes in the closet. It almost had this therapeutic quality to it, like learning to play a guitar or whittling, and it helped brighten my mood so much that I kept joking with Ares, swatting him with my tail whenever he passed me and trying not to laugh whenever he yelped in surprise.

I wonder what Shining’s doing right now, I idly thought, while Ares tried to shove a few more socks into an already stuffed drawer. I hope he’s doing alright… wherever he is.

“Alright, that’s the last of it, Candy!” Ares said brightly, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. “Everything’s put away that needs putting away.”

I put down the rag that I had been using to dust. “I think that I got most of the dust off of everything,” I said, stretching while taking off my crown. “How about we hit the hay? Like I said, we’re going to be getting up pretty early tomorrow.”

Ares looked toward the balcony, nodding when he saw how dark it was outside. Yawning, he said, “Alright, let’s see how comfortable this bed is.” With a grin, he raced toward the bed taking a final big step before launching himself through the air and landing on his new bed… and sending up a cloud of dust.

“Son of a bitch!” He cried, and I had to watch as he got a mouthful of dust.

I winced as he went into a coughing fit. “Oops,” I muttered, using a spell to open the balcony door. “I forgot to clean the bed.”

Ares, trying to get the dirt out of his eyes, rolled out of the bed. Gasping, I used a spell to catch him before he hit the ground. “You *cough* think?” he rasped, while I set him in a chair.

“Are you okay there, Ares?” I asked, using a wing to send the rest of the airborne dust through the balcony door while casting a spell to clean up the bed.

He opened an eye, looking down at his blackened body. “Did the maids even try to clean up in here?” Grunting, he started to pull the shirt off his body, and used it to try to clean the soot off his face. “It’s like no one was in here for a hundred fucking years.”

I giggled quietly when he threw his shirt to the ground. “It looks like someone needs to take a shower,” I said teasingly.

He nodded and looked away from me. “Yeah,” he muttered, getting to his feet. “Hey, Candy?”

“Yes, my dirty human?” I was about to giggle at my little joke name, but then I saw him wince, nervousness clear on his face. Taking another step toward him I softly added, “What do you need?”

He rubbed his arm, a blush slowly starting to spread on his face. “I was wondering,” he cleared his throat, “how about you join me in the shower?”

He almost looked like he was about to jump out of his skin when my eyes widened. “Not in the way you’re thinking,” he quickly added, frantically waving his arms around. “J-just for cleaning each other off and—“Groaning, he covered his head with his hands. “Never mind, just forget I said anything, I—”

“Ares.“

“—just thought that it wouldn’t be such a big deal when I thought it in my head but now I that I said it outlouditseemsalittleshittyofmeand—”

“Ares.”

“—Ijustthoughtthatwecoulddoitbecauseit’snotabigdealsinceyou’renakedallthetimebutIunderstandif—”

I giggled. Oh, look how red he’s getting, I thought, levitating a pillow from the bed and gently whacking him in the face with it. “Ares,” I calmly said, taking a step toward him. “Calm down and take a breather, okay?”

He nodded, clearing his throat before taking a deep breath and running his hand through his hair. “Alright, just give me a second,” he muttered.

Trying hard not to grin, I trotted toward him, getting on my back legs and putting my front legs on his shoulders. I cooed when he flinched, my human’s face redder than a hearth's warming eve decoration. Aw look at him, I thought, bopping his nose with mine.

“Oh, look how flustered you’ve gotten yourself,” I teased, rubbing our noses together. “I don’t understand why you’re getting so worked up about asking me to take a shower with you.” He tried to back up and look away, but I just followed, awkwardly taking a step forward while I mushed his cheeks together with my hooves. “We’ve been sleeping together for almost two months after all.”

He winced slightly. “It just means,” his face scrunched up in thought, “more to humans I guess? Back at home you’ve got to be in pretty deep to ask them something like this.”

I nodded understandingly, a smile coming to my face. “Well, I’d be happy to,” I told him while he gave me a relieved smile. It must have taken him all day to work up the courage to ask me that, I thought, trying not to giggle. Sweet Faust does he look cute right now.

I remember how uncomfortable Ares had looked when he and I bathed with my aunt. Though he tried to hide it, he must still be uncomfortable being out of his clothes around me.

I then realized that, other than the time when the two of us were almost too drunk to stand, and that time with my aunt—though Ares was pretty much clothed the whole time—the two of us hadn’t showered together before.

But he’s trying to change that, I thought to myself, ushering Ares into the bathroom. He wants to get more intimate with me. My eyes widened at the thought, almost forcing me to sit down while my human walked into the shower, turning it on and hopping out before he was sprayed with cold water.

“Alright, Candy,” he said, almost keeping a little squeak out of his voice. “Let’s get cleaned up.”

You need to make this more comfortable for him, I thought, taking off my horseshoes and chest plate and putting them in the counter before giving myself a little shake. Remember to let him take this at his own pace.

“Alright, Ares,” I said, resisting the urge to glance back as he quickly hopped out of his pants and boxers, now as naked as I was. Keep your eyes above his waist, no flirting, let him lead this.

I flinched when the water pattered against my face. “Too cold,” I muttered, using a spell to turn the shower knob to make it a more comfortable temperature. I looked over at Ares, giving him a gentle smile as the water cascaded down my back. “Could you get my wings, Ares?” I asked, giving my wings a little flap. “It’s always hard to clean these things by myself.”

He nodded jerkily, taking a deep breath that I pretended not to notice before stepping into the shower with me, taking the wing conditioner and a rag from me while I spread a wing halfway.

Just look ahead, I instructed myself, shivering slightly when I felt him pour a dollop of conditioner on my wing, putting the rag in the middle of my back while he scrubbed the soap into my feathers with his hands. He’s used to doing things with your wings. He should be a little more at ease when he’s done with them.

I sighed happily as Ares stretched my wing out a little more, his fingers delicately splaying over every feather, all the way down to my wing joint, before he poked my flank with a finger.

“That one’s done, Candy, now move over a little bit so I can get at the other one,” Ares said, sounding a whole lot calmer than he had a minute ago. I did as he asked, spreading my other wing while I let my mind wonder.

Other than the party tomorrow, I’m going to have a lot to do for the next couple of weeks. I giggled when I felt Ares touch a ticklish part in my wing. I’m sure the council has a lot for me to sign and look over. New laws, new sanctions, building permits..

I looked over my shoulder to sneak a peek at Ares, who had his tongue stuck out in concentration. I might not get to spend enough time with Ares. I shook off that thought violently, gritting my teeth. No, I’m not going through another situation where I can’t see my special somepony because of paperwork!

I didn’t care if I had to hire a dozen secretaries, set up a lower council, hop around dressed as a bucking clown, I was going to make darned sure that me and my human were going to spend some bucking time together. I wasn’t going to let paperwork run my life like last time; I had learned my lesson the hard way.

I’ll go talk to some of the nobles, I silently promised, not able to resist the urge to rub myself against Ares as he knelt down and started scrubbing my side, I'll See if they have any ideas on this.

I hummed thoughtfully. I’ve been trying to run this kingdom the same as Aunty when there might be a better way. The council was able to do my job for months without me really having to do anything, so maybe I could set something up where they look over the laws and I have the final word.I smiled when I felt Ares give my neck a little kiss.

I could even ask Ares about his world’s politics. I couldn’t contain a snort at the thought of Ares, sitting me down and trying to explain alien governing systems to me. We’d either be at war in a month or ponies would complain, I mused with a giggle, while Ares stood up back to his full height.

“Alright, Candy, you’re all squeaky clean,” he said while I looked up at him with a pouty face. While it was a bit disappointing not having my colt friend run those hands of his over my body anymore, I saw an opportunity to return the favor.

Smiling, I grabbed another rag and squirted a bit of soap into it. “Alright,” I said cheerfully, after washing myself off. “It’s time to get you cleaned off. Turn around so I can get your back first.”

Remember not to pinch him, you don’t want him jumping through the ceiling, I thought, starting to scrub his shoulders in small, circular motions, humming a happy little tune. You can play grab-flank with him in the shower another day.

“Thanks for this, Candy,” Ares said quietly, trying to keep still while I scrubbing him all over.

I chuckled, taking a moment to trail the muscles in his lower back with my rag. “No, thank you, Ares,” I said gratefully. “I know you must have been nervous asking me to do this.” I smirked. “And seeing you blush like that was cute.”

He grumbled while I took a step backward into the water. “Alright,” I cleared my throat. “I need you to turn around, Ares, so I can get your front.”

He paused, statue-still, while I patiently waited for him. He might just want to do it himself, I thought, ready to just give him the rag. Let him— I blinked in surprise when he suddenly turned around, giving me an eyeful before I wrenched my gaze upward.

Ares chuckled when he saw a blush coming to my face. “Aw, don’t be bashful, Candy,” he said with a little grin. “I could just do it myself if you’re uncomfortable.”

Brave enough to tease me now, huh?

I responded by beginning to scrub his chest, trying not to grin when his smile faltered. “I’ll be done in a minute,” I sweetly told him, getting his arms when he spread them. “And after, we can go to bed and you can preen my wings.”

“You know,” I continued, going lower. “If you're comfortable with doing this again, we can use the bathtub tomorrow instead of the shower. I know it’s not as big as Auntie's, but it’ll get the job done.”

Ares winced when the rag touched his lower stomach. “If you want, Candy,” he said with a wink. “You can break out the rubber duckies and the bubbles and we can have a grand ‘ol time.”

I giggled. “I do have some bubble-making soap somewhere around here…”

I 'snuck' a look at the odd patch of hair around his manhood. Huh, I wonder why that’s there, I thought in confusion, ignoring the look that he was giving me for openly gawking. The rest of him is pretty hairless then… all of that. I shied away from scrubbing in that particular area because he was looking a little uncomfortable, just quickly cleaning his legs before brushing past him.

“Alright, get watered off so we can dry off and go to bed,” I commended, giving him a little wink… and maybe just a teeny-tiny flank wiggle.

“Alright, hold your horses… Aw, you get the joke? Cause you’re a... alright then, I’ll just get this soap off.”

@~!!~@

“You know,” I said to Ares’ sleeping form, draping a wing over his body as he wiggled closer to me, “I don’t know how someone so much bigger than me could look so cute when they’re sleeping, but you're pulling it off pretty well.”

I couldn’t sleep myself, too many thoughts running through my head; the little situation with the shower had forced me to try to answer some questions. How well was my kingdom getting along and how could I help make it prosper now that I was back? How was I going to deal with Luna if Celestia couldn’t?

…How was I going further my relationship with Ares?

I’ve never dated anything other than a pony, and Ares didn’t even have any other species' that he could date except humans, so we were pretty much stumbling around in the dark on this. The two of us were going good for now but what about when we got into the deeper parts of a relationship… like sex?

What were my subjects going to say when they found out that I had let Shining go and that I was dating their ‘cuddle monkey’? Then there was even further than that; how the hay would the world take it if we ever got married?!

I resisted the urge to groan, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath before looking down at my colt friend. It doesn’t matter, I finally thought, leaning down and gently kissing him on the lips. “If he’s willing to fight for us then I’m more than happy to.”

It didn’t matter, whatever the world was going to throw at us, whatever weird, freaky secret things we learned around each other, I was going to try my darndest to make sure that the two of us were going to live happily ever after.

“Sweet dreams, Ares.” I wrapped my hooves around his neck and pressed my body up against his. “We have a long, strange couple of weeks ahead of us.

Party Hardy

“Will you stop squirming for five seconds so I can put this on you?”

“But it’s iiiiiitchy!”

Frowning, I jerked the cloth that I was wrapping around Ares’ neck, causing him to stumble forward with a yelp.

“Watch where you’re pulling, sister!” My human squeaked, trying not to fall on his face. Rolling my eyes, I patted out his soon-to-be toga, trying to smooth out the rough cotton while trying to figure out how the hay I was going to wrap the toga around Ares so it wouldn’t fall off.

“Will you stop complaining?” I grumbled. “You’re only making this whole beginning process harder for the two of us.”

Remember when I said that my little ponies were sometimes a little tedious to be around? Well, this went doubly so when they were about to celebrate something. There were rituals that you had to go through—us putting togas on at five in the morning being one of them— and we were going to have them heaped onto us for the party.

What would usually warrant a few days of rest and relaxation for the normal pony was two days of ceremonies, greetings and meetings, and watching over, and doing, things that I’d rather not do...

...I’ll never forget the look on my subjects faces when I told them that I wasn’t going to sacrifice a bunny for some household god that was supposed to protect the crystal castle…

Anyway, like I said before, I was trying to help wrap my human up in a presentable toga fashion. Never mind that he almost looked like a mummy from the waist down

Ares looked at his cloth prison before gently taking what was left of the cloth—since we didn’t have anything his size, a few of the castle’s maids had stitched together two table cloths—out of my magic and started to try to unwrap himself.

“Candy, not that I don’t… appreciate you trying to make me look fancy for this party, but do I really need to put this thing on?”

I nodded, levitating my toga toward me. “Of course, Ares,” I said while he, in his underwear and shaking a little bit from the cold, walked over with his giant bundle of cloth in his hands and sat on our bed. “A toga has a very important place in the Crystal Empire’s culture.”

Because I had done this before—the Crystal Empire had a lot of holidays where you needed to wear these things—I wrapped the cloth around my body with practiced ease, starting near the base of my tail “They help show status, togetherness, and they’re supposed to be our napkins for the rest of this festival.”

I looped it around my back legs a few times, then around my barrel, leaving room for my wings so I could move them if I wanted to. “Now come over here and hold this end of this cloth while I finish this up.”

What many ponies don’t know—and they should wake up every morning thankful of that fact—was that, even if you knew how to do it, putting on a toga was hard. These weren’t something you could go out and work in; these were things that showed your wealth, showed that you could walk around in something that no sane pony would wear because you were better than ‘normal’ ponies.

While some would wear the finest material that they could afford—spider silk with pearls and diamonds and such—I decided just to wear a simple pink-dyed wool cloth. Nothing fancy, but it got the job done and it’d keep me warm when it got cold at night.

Putting the finishing touches on my toga and holding the end of it with a hoof, I giggled and asked Ares, “How do I look?”

My human looked over at me and whistled. “Looking good, Candy,” he said, hopping off the bed and walking toward me, “but how are you going to walk around when you need to hold that bit of cloth there?”

I looked down at said end of cloth with a small frown. “I’m just going to have to hold it.” I hummed in thought. “Or maybe I could tie it around my leg so it won’t slip or anything.”

Ares snorted. “Why don’t you just use a clothespin?” he asked, poking at my toga while I looked up at him in awe.

It took me a minute to collect myself before I could say, “How did I never think of that?” With a spell, I pulled a pin out of a cupboard and fixed myself right up. Smiling, I leaned up and kissed Ares on the cheek. “Thanks, honey,” I said, watching as he ran over and hopped onto the bed, groaning.

“Can’t we get a few more hours of sleep?” He yelled through a pillow while I, being very careful, walked over and crawled into the bed with him. He rolled over and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest while I nuzzled the nape of his neck.

“We only got like three hours of sleep,” my human said while I laid a wing over him.

“We need to get up and go outside.” I told him, though I didn’t move from my increasingly comfortable position. “If we aren’t up before the sun rises, there’s going to be ponies knocking on our door.”

“Can’t we just write your aunt a letter asking her if she could raise the sun at like nineish?”

I giggled, giving his neck a playful little bite. “Come on, we’ve got to get you in that toga. It’ll warm you up and keep you from shivering like you are.”

He just let out a little growl, reaching down, grabbing, and throwing our blanket over us. “I wouldn’t be shaking if it wasn’t freezing in here,” he quietly complained, closing his eyes. “Come on, I’m sure that a few hundred ponies won’t notice us missing if we just sleep a little more.”

I tried to push him away so I could drag him out of bed and get him in his toga. “Come on, we have to get up,” I repeated, really resisting the urge to close my eyes. It was getting harder for me to stay awake, and I—

“Are you two ready to PARTY?!” Someone yelled from the door, pounding on it a moment later while Ares tried to cover his head with a pillow.

“Noooooo!” he moaned, trying to hide under the covers. “Flash, I’m going to throw you out a window with something heavy wrapped around your furry ass!”

Trying hard not to laugh, I called, “Flash, could you come in here and help me get Ares out of bed?” I was able to roll myself out of Ares’ grasp with only a little bit of regret. “He’s trying to go back to sleep!”

The door flew open, and Flash, decked out in a plain white toga, trotted through it with a happy smile on his face. “Morning princess!” he said with a little salute.

You mean it’ll be morning in a few hours, I mused, looking at the big pillow and blanket cocoon that Ares was making himself. “Good morning, Flash,” I greeted, while an exhausted-looking Echo sluggishly made her way through the door.

“Don’t forget about me,” she muttered, yawning and rubbing her eye with a hoof. “The life of the *yawn* party has just entered the room.”

“Oh, hello, Sergeant,” I said, giving Ares another poke to try to get him to stop being a baby so he could get his toga on. “How was your night? Did you sleep well?”

The mare twisted her neck sideways sharply, a loud crack making me shudder. “Sleep? Ha, I wish,” she muttered, hopping onto the bed and nudging Ares with a hoof. “I’m not going to be getting any sleep for about a week or so.”

I frowned. “Why? Is there something the matter with your chambers?”

She waved my concern away. “Nah, I’m still just trying to get used to staying awake during the day.” She hopped on top of Ares’ little fort and sat down, a muffled muttering about bat horses coming from under the covers. “I’ve been trying to get adjusted for a while but I still have a ways to go.”

“You didn’t get any sleep on the train ride here?” I asked, now legitimately concerned for her health.

“Nope, I was just staring at the ceiling for the last two days.” She yawned again, covering her mouth with a hoof. “But don’t worry about me, princess, a soldier is used to a lack of sleep.”

I trotted closer to her and gently grabbed her face, frowning when I saw her bloodshot eyes and the bags under them. She looks exhausted, I thought, taking a step away from her.

“You should have told me that you weren’t able to fall asleep, Sergeant,” I gently chastised, a spell that would help the poor mare coming to mind after thinking for a minute. “I might not know as many sleeping spells as Luna but I know one that’ll knock you right out for a good twelve hours. Here, let me cast it on you so you can go back to the barracks and get some sleep.”

She just rubbed her eyes again. “Thank you for the offer P—“

I hit her with the sleep spell before she could finish her sentence, the mare stopped and glared at me while I smiled. “It wasn’t an offer, Sergeant,” I said, lifting her off the bed and putting her back onto the floor. “I can’t have my guards killing themselves for no good reason other than some silly pride.”

“It’s my job to keep the monkey here safe, Princess,” Echo replied with a huff, sitting down and crossing her forelegs. “A little sleep deprivation is nothing.”

I nudged her with a wing toward the door. “Well, it’s something to me, Sergeant, so go to your bed before that spell takes effect.”

“The party’s going to last days, Sergeant,” Flash said, finally pepping up. “I’ll make sure that Ares and the princess are looked after, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

The mare looked at the two of us before blowing a raspberry. “Alright,” she said, walking toward the door. “If I don’t have a choice in the matter then I guess I’ll get some sleep.”

“You do that,” I said, looking at Flash. “Flash, could you escort the Sergeant to the barracks and make sure that she makes it to her bed? While you’re doing that I’ll keep trying to get Ares out of bed.”

Flash nodded, following Echo out the door. “I’m on it, Princess,” he said cheerfully while he adjusted his toga.

How the hay is he so awake right now? I pondered before poking Ares one more time. “Come on, my little human, we have to get to the party soon.”

I got no response.

“Come on, I’m serious.”

Still nothing.

Frowning, I said, “Ares, if you don’t get out from under those covers right now then I’m going to go into that little fort you made yourself and make you get out from under those covers.”

All I got for that was a muffled snort.

Nodding, I hopped onto of the bed and forced myself under the covers, my horn glowing with a little lighting spell, finding my human curled up in a little ball with his hands covering his eyes. “No,” he murmured, while I leaned over, nuzzled my way through his hands, and gave him a little peck on the lips.

“Come on, I think I know how to put the toga on you this time,” I promised, giving him another, longer, kiss, which he sleepily returned after a second. “We’ll go out and say hello to my subjects, get something to eat, and have a good time.” I kissed him again, adding a little tongue this time, thanking every deity that I could think of that Ares’ didn’t have morning breath. For a second he tensed, but eventually wrestled with my tongue for a minute before breaking the kiss.

“We can sleep in tomorrow if you want, but we need to be at some of the opening ceremonies,” I whispered, giving his nose a little bite, “so get out of that bed and let me get you dressed.” He tried to grab me but I swatted his hands away with my magic and started to nuzzle his face a little harder.

“Cannnndy, leave me alone!”

“Come on, my silly human; it’s time to rise and shine and start the day!”

Grumbling, Ares slowly uncurled himself from his little ball and crawled out from the covers, trying to get away from my nuzzles until he fell out of the bed with an ‘oomph!’

Hopping out of the bed with a smile, I remade our bed and put my human back on his feet with a spell. “There we go, Ares!” I brightly said, grabbing his toga cloth. “Now hold still while I figure out where to start with your wrappings.”

Flash trotted through the door with a little skip. “Mornin’ Ares!” he said with a happy smile.

Ares spread his arms wide, letting me start under one of his arms, looking down at my guard in contempt with his bloodshot, and exhausted looking, eyes. “Go die in a fire, Flash.”

////~~@@~~////

Shining’s train ride back to Canterlot was a calm, if boring, little trip that could’ve taken a lot longer in his mind. Even with all of the mental prepping, all of the pep-talks while looking in a bathroom mirror, he still couldn’t help but feel nervous as he set his hooves down on the wooden-plank floors of the train station.

Thank Faust that I didn’t tell anypony that I was coming back today, he thought to himself, quickly getting out of the way of a group of what looked like tourists, who rushed past him with cameras at the ready.

Sure, it was a little rude, if not mean, of him to just show up out of the blue, but now he could attack this any way he wanted. He could go talk to the princesses first, or maybe he could drop in on his family and see how they’re doing, or he could take the low road, not do any of these things and just go to Pony Joe’s while he tried to work up the courage to talk to anyone.

After a very brief but telling inner battle, the stallion sighed. “It looks like I’m getting donuts then,” he muttered, slowly trotting out of the train station and toward the market district.

“I mean, that’s probably the best place to go right now,” he continued to mutter, weaving through crowds of ponies. “Everypony likes donuts, so I can get a dozen of those jelly-filled ones that mom and dad like to help ease anything that might need easing when I see them.”

After a little bit of walking, Shining reached the familiar little donut shop; a place where the local teenagers loved to go, where the A on the window was as real as you wanted it to be, and an establishment that always looked like it was going to fall over if it was nudged too hard.

Why Joe just didn’t go to a different location always baffled Shining, but the unicorn was always steadfast.

“It’s a good spot here,” Joe had said when Shining, on a drunken binge with a few of his friends, had asked the question. “I’m close to the castle so there’s always guard ponies coming in and out, which keeps me from getting robbed, and if I moved it’d take my customers days to find where I relocated myself; ‘cause I’d be an idiot and forget to tell them where I was setting shop.”

Shining walked through the slightly dirty glass doors absentmindedly. “You know, I could get those sugar covered donuts that the princess likes so when she demands to know why I ran away from Canterlot, without telling anyone but Cadence, she won’t fry me with a spell.”

The thought of a horribly angry Celestia suddenly grinning stupidly when he presented her with a box of donuts flashed through Shining’s mind, making him chuckle as he sat down at the counter and looked over at his longtime friend, the stallion himself, Pony Joe.

Said stallion was looking over at him—there wasn’t much space behind the counter so they weren’t that far from each other to begin with—with a small smile.

“Hiya, Shining,” Joe calmly said, walking toward him and leaning on the counter. “Haven’t seen you in a while.” He raised an eyebrow. “You look like you have something that you need to get off your chest, big guy, care to talk about it with your ol’ chum?”

Shining chuckled, putting his head on the counter. “You know what, Joe? I could actually use some advice.”

!!!!~~#~~!!!!

“—And may the gods of ice and fire be pleased by these sacrifices of gold, myrrh, and silk, so that—“

Please let this be over soon, I pleaded, trying to keep myself from slouching in my seat as I tried to pay attention to what a pony in front of a sacred fire—which had supposedly been kept burning since the empire’s founding—was saying; a high priest of something or other, I can’t for the life of me remember what that pony was a priest of.

Maybe he kept that giant fire lit? Or maybe he just did this on weekends or something? All I knew was that this pony had fancy robes on and was talking to my subjects, so that made him the high priest of whatever ceremony I was watching.

For some reason, everypony that was participating in Ares’ and my party—which was pretty much everypony—had to convene at the seventh hill, one of the seven that made up the city, so we could all listen to this pony beg the old, old gods for this to be a grand and amazing festivity.

This was the reason that I was having a hard time not falling asleep like Ares, who I was pretty sure had already fallen asleep but somehow painted eyes on his eyelids when I wasn’t looking. That was the only explanation that my hyper-bored mind could come up with because I could even see a few of my subjects hiding yawns; there’s no way that Ares wouldn’t be bored out of his mind by something like this.

It wasn’t the prayer itself that was boring; it was the voice of the pony that was giving it. Imagine the most boring, sleep-inducing voice that you’ve ever heard and multiply it by a thousand, then you’ll get close to what this stallion sounded like. He was like every math teacher I had ever had all rolled up onto one slightly pudgy pony in a silly robe.

Leaning over toward my human, I whispered, “Ares… ARES!” Making sure that nopony was looking, I nudged hard him with a wing.

Ares cocked his head toward me with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, Candy?” he said. “Did you need something?”

…Oh, he wasn’t asleep, I thought, frowning in slight disappointment. “I was just making sure that you weren’t sleeping,” I told him, resisting, once again, the urge to yawn.

He smiled, reaching over and tickling my side. “Oh, is Candy bored?” he asked, amused.

“Are you not bored?” I asked, grabbing his hand with my hooves and guiding it toward my belly. Ares and I were seated in the balcony of this house that looked over this fire, with Flash guarding the entrance, so most of my subjects couldn’t see us. It probably couldn’t be a better location for public belly rubs, so I was going to take advantage of it.

Rolling his eyes, my human got up from his seat, picked me up, sat down in my seat, and put me in his lap. Wrapping his arms around me and scratching my belly, he muttered, “Not really.” I wiggled back into his chest, trying to make myself more comfortable. “I actually find things like this pretty interesting; it’s neat when you get to see other peoples’ culture, you know?”

I tried not to giggle when he gave my chest a little tickle. “Well, it should be over in about an hour or so, so we can go and get something to eat before we go see the jousting.”

Ares pressed his head against my neck, giving me a little kiss. “And we’ll have to watch that through the whole way, huh?”

I nodded before stifling a yawn; the priest’s voice coupled with what my human was doing was making it harder and harder to stay awake. “For today we’ll have to watch everything, but we can do whatever we want tomorrow or the next day.”

My human hummed, stopping his scratches and just holding me. “Well, that jousting stuff will be pretty cool to watch,” he said, looking past my horn at the priest and the fire. “I have to ask though, are they going to hold the lances in their mouths or?...”

I smiled, turning my head to give him a little nuzzle. “They have a notch in their armor that holds the end of the lance,” I said sleepily, “and I’m sure you’re going to get tired of that after the first day.” I would have told him that, along with the jousting, there was going to be feats of strength, swordplay, archery, all of that stallion-y stuff the males loved, but I was accidently drifting off to dreamland.

“You tired there, Candy?” Ares whispered, giving me another little tickle.

“I’m just resting my eyes,” I muttered, yawning hugely.“Just make sure that I’m up when the priest finishes his prayer, alright?”

He huffed. “Alright, but you owe me one.”

With my eyes still closed, I turned and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Alright,” I murmured. “I owe you one.”

…

“Candy, you have to wake up. Cadence, come on, that priest wants you to say something.” I grumbled when something nudged me roughly.

“Noooo, wanna sleep,” I murmured, nuzzling myself deeper into my mattress.

“Cadence, I’m being serious, you need to wake up,” someone said, gently lifting my head up and moving it from side to side. “Your subjects look confused as to why their pretty pink princess isn’t saying anything.”

I just gave my head a little shake, trying to ignore whomever was rude enough to try and wake me up.

“CANDY-ASS!”

I fell out of my ‘bed’ with a yelp, landing roughly on the ground. Looking around in panic, I shouted, “Who, what, where?!” Then it all came flooding back to me; we were still waiting for the beginning of the festival to be over.

I saw Ares looking down at me with a slightly annoyed expression. “Candy, the ceremony is over,” he told me, getting out of the chair with a grunt. “The priest asked us to say a blessing or something so come on, we gotta go down there and stand next to the fire.”

Since I was still a little hazy from being violently wrenched out of my sleep, I was naturally having a little trouble sorting things out, so after he told me that all I did was narrow my eyes at him and ask, “Did you call me Candy-ass?”

My human pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes, Candy, I called you Candy-ass, now let’s get down there before your little ponies start getting worried.” Ares then pretty much led me through the house, down the stairs, and outside. It was in this short span of a minute and a half that I had to think about what I was going to say to my subjects, which didn’t make me feel the least bit concerned if you’d like to know.

Flash looked at the two of us with concern. “Are you alright, Princess?” he asked me. “You guys took a long time getting down here.”

I gave him a smile, trying to fight back a yawn. “I was just thinking of what I was going to say, Flash,” I lied, looking up at Ares, who gave me a little wink, before we waded through the crowds and toward the priest, who bowed.

“It is an honor, Princess,” he said, giving us each a scrap of what felt like silk. “Will you do us the honor of starting this celebration?”

I nodded, turning toward my subjects, trying not to show the panic that I was feeling. Buck it, just wing it, I thought before opening my mouth. “My little ponies—“ I nudged Ares when he snorted. “—we have come here today to celebrate, feast, and enjoy each other’s company.”

The little cheer they all gave me took away most of the tension that I was feeling, so I continued. “May there be a thousand more celebrations like this one, only better and bigger, and may the Crystal Empire grow so that it becomes a shining jewel to the whole world.”

“FOR THE EMPIRE!” the crowd roared, cheering when Ares and I tossed our offerings into the fire.

My human leaned toward me. “Short but sweet and made on the fly,” he said over the cheering and yelling. “Now I know why you got this sweet princess gig.”

Even though I pushed him, I couldn’t keep a little proud smile off my face. “You’re just jealous that you wouldn’t have been able to think up anything better,” I snarked as the crowd slowly started to disperse.

I felt his hand touch my back. “I never said that I was any good at making speeches,” he said as we made our way back into the city proper and toward the market district, where the heart of the party was. “I prefer being a hype man; there’s none of the pressure that the main guy has to deal with,” he scratched my ear, “but I reap some of the reward… Candy-ass.”

I giggled, giving him a nudge with my rump. “I’ll give you ‘Candy-ass,” I huskily replied, looking around and, seeing nopony looking at us and Flash nowhere in sight, I pushed Ares through a big red curtain. It was an empty wagon-looking thing, and we were the only ones there, so I decided to have a little fun with my favorite human.

He deserves a little treat for getting up early and not complaining when I went to sleep, I mused, tickling him under the chin with a wing.

Ares was looking around, slightly red-faced, while I rose up on my back hooves and slowly walked forward until I backed him into the wall. I kissed his neck and he chuckled nervously. “Come on, Candy, we gotta go do that thing with the joust,” he said, making me laugh quietly and kiss his nose.

“That isn’t for another thirty minutes,” I purred, giving his cheek a little lick, “and this is what you get for calling me Candy-ass, my little human.”

I was worried for a second that I was pushing him a little too far when he gave me a slightly worried look but then he leaned forward and gave me a kiss, cupping my cheeks with his hands while he leaned forward. I smiled, letting out a happy hum as I returned the kiss.

Making out in some random little building like a teenager? I let out a little growl, putting my front hooves on either side of my human so I could get a little more stability. Wow, why haven’t I done this more?

Ares started running his hands down my neck, his hands scratching and caressing me while his tongue wiggled into my mouth, my tongue coming halfway to meet his. He was a little more aggressive than he had been last time, trying to use that little tongue of his to beat mine down into submission.

I couldn’t help but smirk, breaking the kiss for a second to let us both get a breather before diving right back into it. Time to show you who’s the kissing master, my little human I thought, before attacking his mouth with everything I had.

Wherever his tongue tried to go mine was there, trying to wrap around his while I gasped and panted and tried to keep my eyes open so I could see the look on my human’s face. The little wagon was really starting to heat up, the two of us let out little moans, my body twitched with each touch of those amazing hands of his, which were going lower and lower and—“

“Are you all ready for a puppet show?!”

The two of us froze when a thunderous cheer erupted from in front of the wagon, which was then followed by the stomping of what sounded, and felt, like hundreds of ponies. In my shock, I quickly tried to get off of Ares, but since I was on my hind legs and couldn’t really balance myself very well I, um, well… tripped.

Not really tripped per se; it was more like I just wobbled a little and the earth tried to leap up and see if I was okay… and I think Ares might have kicked my hoof just a little bit and stuff so I didn’t trip and look silly at all.

Really-really.

I cursed, trying to regain my footing before Ares rushed over and tried to grab me. Somehow, the two of us went stumbling around into ground, our momentum making us roll around on the wooden floor of the wagon; a ripping and tearing sound filled my ears before we finally stopped.

I groaned, my eyes closed while I tried to ignore my newly acquired bumps and bruises. “Why can’t I just kiss my coltfriend without anything ridiculous happening?” I muttered, putting my head on my human’s chest. “Ares, are you alright?”

He sighed, one of his hands reached up and patted my cheek. “I’ll live, Candy,” he muttered, leaning up and giving me a peck on the chin. “Did I ever tell you that you get heavier every time you fall on me?”

I smiled, wiggling on top of him and giving him a teasing kiss. “At least I weigh less than you do, tubby,” I teased, cracking open an eye to look down at him. I was about to restart our make-out session—I could make our new position… interesting and it would’ve been something that the two of us would have enjoyed—but I heard a gasp; make that many, many gasps.

Eyes widening, I looked upward at about three hundred ponies, all dead silent, looking at me and Ares.

Ares and I looked at each other before I realized what a compromising position we were in. We’re laying on top of each other, they all saw me and Ares kissing, and I didn’t tell them that I had divorced Shining yet, I thought, not bothering to get off my human. We were already so bucked that it wasn’t worth the energy, so we just stared awkwardly at my subjects, who weren’t blinking, and let the silence roll on.

“Shit,” Ares muttered, looking up at me before throwing caution to the wind and giving me a long, loving kiss. There were more gasps, and I’m sure somepony passed out, before my human broke the kiss and gave me a smile. “Well, the kids know now,” he mused aloud, giving my side a pat. “So how about we go and get something to eat?”

Even though that red face of his, and the horror in his eyes, told me that he was panicking as much as I was, I still couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

$$$@~~@@~~$$$

Joe was an usually quiet pony and that was good for the customers that needed someone to lend an ear. He would never interrupt in the middle of a tale, nor would he ever look at you in disgust. All Joe would do was look at you, while eating a donut of course, and wait until the end to either give you a word of advice, a word of wisdom that he had read from the newspaper that morning, or a smack to the back of the head; whichever was the most appropriate at the time.

Joe didn’t even bat an eyelash when Shining finished his tale, and took a deep breath, happy that he could finally vent to someone. “Well, Joe, that’s it.” Shining looked up at him with a weak smile. “Do you have any of that famous Pony Joe advice for me?”

Joe pulled over a stool and sat across from him. “Well, Shining, that’s pretty bucked up,” he said calmly, grabbing a donut from under the counter and taking a bite out of it. “Not the whole Cadence-falling-out-of-love-with-you thing, but how you’re handling everything.”

Shining blinked slowly in confusion. “Okay,” he said after a second, sounding a little unsure, “and what was wrong with how I handled everything?”

Somehow, when Shining wasn’t looking, the unicorn had gotten a cup of coffee and was now dunking his donut into it. Taking another bite of his sugary confection, Joe said, “Well, Shining, you just kind of ran away from everything for no good reason.”

Shining bristled. “I was trying to do what I thought was best at the time,” he practically spat. “I wanted a little alone time to think about what I could do to help save our marriage; is that so wrong?”

Joe snorted. “No, you were trying to let your ex-wife solve everything herself, and from a guy that’s already had two ex-wives, I can tell you from experience that that never works out in your favor.”

Shining grit his teeth and resisted the sudden yet intense urge to put his friend’s head through a table. Joe’s just being blunt like he usually is; that’s no reason to hit him. He’s trying to help you, so you listen, he thought, taking a deep breath. “Care to explain what you mean?” he asked, a little more harshly than he had intended.

Joe just nodded, either not noticing Shining’s hostility or ignoring it. “Well think about it, Cadence had all of this stuff: you and her were having problems, she had to watch and take care of this human, and she couldn’t have a kid and you just left her—“

“I made Ares promise that he’d watch her,” Shining quietly said while a little pang of sorrow smacked him in the gut. “I thought at the time that me being away was going to help the two of us.”

Seeing that his friend looked like he was a hairsbreadth away from crying, Joe leaned over and patted him on the shoulder. “Maybe what you did was the best for the both of you.” Joe lightly smacked his chest with a hoof. “The problem is that she’s the only one that got any sort of closure,” Joe shook his head. “No, not closure… something else; maybe this Ares guy is helping her out, keeping her from acting like you are.”

Shining looked at him in bewilderment. “So you’re saying that I should find a fillyfriend?!”

Joe rolled his eyes. “I’m saying that you either need closure or someone to help you get through what you’re going through.”

With a grunt, he reached back under the counter and pulled out two plain white boxes and slammed them in front of Shining. “There’s two dozen raspberry triple glazers, go and talk to somepony so you can stop being so mopey.”

With that, the unicorn turned away from Shining. “Go on, and you keep those bits to yourself or I’m going to make you swallow them. Unlike somepony around here, I actually have some work to do.”

Shining snorted, picking up the box with a little smile on his face. “You’ve never really worked a day in your life, Joe,” he said, trotting toward the door.

Joe laughed. “I work more in two hours then you’ve done in two years, big colt. And remember to come and see me before you leave Canterlot; we can go out and get drinks or something.”

%%~~@@~~%%

“So you disowned Sir Shining to be with the cuddle monkey, Princess?” A filly, who was sitting right next to me—I was in the nobles section so there was only her, and a few other ponies sitting there with me—as we watched the joust, asked.

I winced. “I didn’t disown Shining, little one,” I said, looking over at her. “I still want the two of us to stay close, if he’s willing, but…”

“But you don’t love him anymore?”

I resisted the urge to groan. How are kids so good at knowing things before you tell them?! I thought while the filly leaned on the side of my chair, looking up at me intently. “…Yes, little one,” I finally admitted, all of those years of foal sitting coming in handy since they were keeping me from telling the little filly to leave me the heck alone.

To be fair, having a foal talking to me about this was a heck of a lot better than hundreds of angry ponies demanding answers from me via pitchfork and torch. My subjects were taking it better than I thought they would though, so there’s that. Nopony started screaming, Ares didn’t get stabbed, there were no looks of disgust. All that happened was a lot of awkward looks and Ares disappeared from my side after the awkward, awkward jousting ceremony.

“Princess, are you in heat?” the filly asked, almost making me fall out of my chair.

“W-What?!” I squeaked, horrified that somepony her age even knew about that.

She just gave me a big, bright smile. “My mommy told me that mares act funny around their stallions when they go into heat and since you were acting funny around the cuddle monkey I thought that you were!” she told me before looking over her shoulder. “You don’t know about going into heat? I could go get my momma—“

“NO!” I shouted, before I took a deep breath to calm myself. “No, there’s no need for that, little one, I know what heat is. And no, I’m not going through it.”

The filly nodded once again. “So why did you kiss the cuddle monkey?” She asked. “Did you do it because you like-like him?”

That got a little smile out of me. “Yes, little one, I really do like-like him,” I told her before sighing. “Though I don’t know if he’s going to be kissing me in public anytime soon, not after what just happened.”

“How come?”

Since she was pretty much in it anyway, I picked her up and set her in my lap while I frowned. “Well you see...“

“My name’s Sapphire Shimmer, princess,” the filly helpfully supplied.

“Little Sapphire, when adults grow up they get really silly about showing displays of affection in public, especially if the relationship that they’re in is a new one,” I said with a sigh. “I’m trying to make sure that the cuddle monkey doesn’t get too freaked out since we’ve been seeing each other, but it looks like doing that is going to be a little harder than I thought.”

Sapphire—who looked like she wasn’t a day over nine by the way—hummed, tapping her hoof against her chin in thought. “Wellll, whenever my mommy gets scared, my daddy will give her a hug, so maybe you should try that with the cuddle monkey so you could be happy around each other and hug and kiss and stuff.”

I patted her on the head, wondering where my human had run off to. “Maybe I’ll try that, Sapphire.”

“And after that, you could go into your bedroom and make a whole bunch of sounds like mommy and daddy do!”

“…Where are your parents?”

!!@~##~@!!

“Why are we going to the library, Ares?” Flash asked, trotting by his friend’s side while the two snuck around back alleys to keep away from the prying eyes of the crystal ponies.

Ares grunted, his gaze nervously looking around. “I’m gonna look around; I think I might pick up a book or two,” he said. “You wouldn’t happen to have a library card, would ya?”

“The guards have full access to the empire’s grand library,” Flash said with a hint of pride in his voice.

“And does this giant library have any modern books?”

“Yeah, the princess brought a train full of them when she first came to the empire. She brought everything imaginable; I think that she wanted to use the books to help the crystal ponies get used to the modern era.” Flash stopped his friend with a wing. “What’s going on, Ares? Why are we running around when we should be back at the party?”

Ares sighed, leaning up against a wall and holding his head in his hands. “I’m sure that you heard what happened with me and Cadence, right?” The guard nodded. “Well, I realized that I don’t know anything about you guys?”

Flash cocked his head at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Ares groaned, getting up and starting to pace around his friend. “I mean that I don’t know how me dating a princess is going to work out. I don’t know how you ponies deal with relationships, I don’t know what to touch and what not to touch and—ARGH!!!”

Punching the wall—and nursing his now-hurting hand a second after—Ares just sat down and closed his eyes, hugging his knees to his chin. “I really like Cadence--no, I fucking love Cadence,” he muttered; Flash walked over and sat next to him. “And I don’t want to ruin anything for her. I want to make her happy dammit and I’m—“

Humming quietly to himself while his friend had his little meltdown, Flash did the only thing that he could think of. Raising a hoof into the air, the Pegasus brought it down, hard, on the back of his friend’s head. Ares yelped before he hit the ground, face-first, hard.

“The fuck was that for?!” the human snarled, holding the back of his head and rolling around on the ground in pain.

Flash looked down at him with the slightest of smiles. “I was just knocking some sense into you,” he said, pulling Ares to his feet with a grunt. “I know you’re nervous, but you shouldn’t be freaking out for no good reason. Go and talk to the princess if you want to know anything; flipping out about it isn’t helping anypony.”

Ares, still rubbing his head, coughed awkwardly. “Actually, I was going to try to surprise her with something.” He looked down at his friend. “I was gonna go get some pony culture books and… other ones.”

“…Other ones?”

“I heard one of the guards back at Canterlot talk about a book called the pony sutra…”

The two of them awkwardly looked at each other, both of them blushing, before Flash said, “Oh… um, you guys are already ‘there’ huh?”

Ares gave him an unsure nod. “I think?” he said, giving a little shrug. “Even if we’re not, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, right?”

Flash looked him up and down for a minute. “ I’ll let you use my library card,” he finally said.

Ares grinned and slapped him on the back. “Alright then! Let’s go to the library, get some books, hide those books in my bedroom, and get back to Candy before she notices,” he practically cheered, doing a little hop in the air before taking off down the alley and leaving Flash there in the dust.

…Maybe I should get one of those books too, Flash thought. Ares was right; it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

Nodding, Flash spread his wings and took off into the air, recalling after a minute that he was almost positive that the human had no idea where he was going. “Ares, stop running right now!”

“NO!”

“You don’t know where you’re going!”

“...Then hurry up and get over here! Daylight’s burning!”

Questions Lead to Questions

Celestia sighed, gazing longingly at her bed for a second before she trotted over toward her bean bag chair.

They thought I was crazy for ordering this, she thought with a wry smile, plopping down onto it with a happy groan, but who’s laughing now? I’m here sitting comfy while everypony else is breaking their backs on their silly office chairs.

She absentmindedly levitated a small stack of papers, envelopes, and documents toward the little table next to her, her smile turning into a small frown. “I hope all of this is only mail this time,” she muttered, also levitating a quill and a jar of ink for safety’s sake. “I don’t know if I’m ready for anything else, especially with the emotional trauma that I just suffered…”

She looked out her balcony window with a little pout. “Why couldn’t my student stay in the city for a while longer?” Steeling herself, she took the plunge and opened the first envelope. “Now I have an empty nest with nopony to baby or cuddle; there’s just Luna and I.”

She couldn’t help but growl when she thought of her sister, who could be compared with a steel wall as of late. Like she had told Cadence, she had spent almost all of her free time with her sister, trying to sway her from the path she was dead-set on.

Incognito trips through the city to scour the city’s nightclubs, ‘casual’ trips to restaurants where a hunky stallion ‘happened’ to worked, even one or two blind dates had done nothing other than irritate Luna and exhaust her.

It’s not even that I disapprove of the whole herding fiasco, she thought, balling up a spam letter and tossing it toward the fireplace-- and missing-- but when she’s trying to court two people that don’t want to be courted AND the disaster that could follow it, that’s when I get a little nervous.

Celestia snorted. “Maybe I could see if she’s interested in something other than a pony,” she mused, putting down the papers, getting up, and starting to pace. “That may be the problem. A gryphon might work; they look fuzzy and warm and snuggable at a distance…”

She stopped at that thought, casting one last glance at her big, comfortable, and lonely bed. Oh horseapples… I’m so spoiled rotten sleeping with everypony else! It’s going to take Months to get used to sleeping alone! She sat in the middle of her room, tapping her hoof against her chin in deep thought, I’m sure I can ask one of the servants if they’d like to—

Tap Tap!

She turned toward the door, her head cocked to the side. “Who could that be at this hour?” she muttered, trotting toward the door and using a simple spell to open it, revealing a determined-looking Shining, who hoofed her a white box.

“It’s good to see you, Princess,” Shining said with a bow, while she opened the box and peered inside. “Could you and I talk? I’ve been in the city for a while, running around like a chicken with my head off, and it hasn’t gotten me anywhere.” He brushed past her with a frown. “I got you a box of donuts, the ones that you like.”

Celestia nodded slowly, trying to process everything that had just been presented to her all at once. “…These are from Pony Joe’s, are they not?”

“Yep.”

Shining watched as the princess licked her lips, spread her wings, and smiled. “Well then, Shining Armor, why don’t you sit down and tell me why you’re at my doorstep. Just let me call a servant so we can get some milk; these babies here deserve more than simple water.”

$@!~~##~~$@!

“AND THE WINNER IS… SHIELD SLASHER!”

I tried my best to smile when the crowd roared in approval as a batter but beaming stallion raised his hoof into thee air. How can you be this happy when all this stallion did was win an eating contest? I thought, leaning back in my chair with a small shudder of disgust.

Sure, seeing somepony eat their weight in hay burgers and fries in under ten minutes is impressive, I guess, but I can honestly say that I could go without seeing it happen again for a few… hundred years. Not that I had been paying particular attention to that horrific event; all I had been doing for the last hour or so was wonder where the hay my human had gotten off to.

Hopefully Flash is with him, I thought, giving a pony a smile when they hoofed me a glass of water, I don’t want Ares breaking anything…

My frown deepened when I realized that I had just pretty much compared my colt friend with a dangerous child—which, in my defense, was pretty close to the mark—and that nopony should think their special someone like that.

“He might just be looking around the city,” I muttered to myself, while the tables and chairs from the eating event were carried off to start the day's main event: the beginning of the jousting tournament, “I did tell him that he could go and look for a job, so he might be getting a head start on—“

“Did I miss the pony joust?”

Before I could turn I felt a pair of lips press against mine, Ares’ face flashing in front of mine. Before I could reply, he was already sitting beside me, a big smile on his face. Well, he looks cheery, I thought with a smile before my mouth twitched. Sweet Faust, please don’t let him be smiling because he--no, NO, Cadence, your Ares is an adult; he doesn’t go around breaking stuff when you’re not looking, so stop thinking like that!

Throwing caution to the wind, I leaned over, rubbing my side against his. “Where did you run off to?” I asked, giggling when he wrapped an arm around me, giving my side a tickle.

“Me and Flash were just running around, looking at this and that,” he said, looking around. “So since no one’s been trying to kill me I guess that your subjects are okay with me making out with you.”

My smile almost turned into a frown. “We’ll see about that in a week or two,” I said, neutrally. “A few of the city’s clan-head’s might have a thing or two to say about it, so we’ll have to keep our eyes open.”

They were also the main reason that I had been more than a little nervous about telling my subjects about Ares. The four great clans of the Crystal Empire: the Grounders, Diamond Smashers, High Riders, and the Smelters. Families that had been with the empire since its founding, families that had helped the city flourish and grow and had once turned this little city into one of the biggest empires in the history of the world. Obviously ponies that you needed to pay attention to.

I had met the heads of the families a few times—they made a point to come to every royal declaration, law passing; pretty much anything that was considered political—and they might be some of the nicest, yet terrifying, ponies I had ever met. If they wanted Ares, or me for that matter, hurt all they’d have to do was stamp their hooves and we’d wake up with some ponies fixing some diamond shoes to our feet so we could take a ‘swim’ in some lake.

My human must have noticed my sour mood because he pressed me closer against his side. “So how’s this gonna go down?” he asked. “Do you flip a coin to start this whole ‘ponies-hitting-each-other-with-sticks’ thing to see who goes first?”

I snorted, placing my hoof on his thigh. “They already have a list of who’s jousting against who,” I told him, “and this is just the opening, so don’t expect anypony to do anything crazy today.”

There was no way in Tartarus that I was going to tell just how crazy it was going to get the next day or two. Ares had talked about his people’s love for horrible violence and I had no intention of him hooting and hollering and demanding that he see some really bloodsport.

Seriously, he said that humans loved this kind of stuff, and have been perfecting it over the years. He even told me that they have this sport where stallions drive really, really fast in these metal boxes called cars so everypony can watch them crash while they drank and ate horrible food. I think it was call Nascar or something like that...

I felt Ares shrug. “I just think it’s gonna be adorable seeing those little guys running around with a pole strapped to their sides so I could care less if they’re pulling off any tricks or anything,” he said, awing when he saw a few of the knights make their way into the field. “Aw, look how silly they look!”

“Didn’t you said that they used to have something like this back where you’re from?” I asked, closing my eyes and blowing my mane out of my face.

“Trust me, Candy, I’m sure that my ye’ oldie joust is a whole lot different from yours is.”

“How so?”

“Is there a chance that anyone where will die from doing this?”

See? Horribly violent; just like my subjects…. I’d really hate to see what a human and a crystal pony would to when they were put in a room together...

I froze, tensing at the thought of that before I felt my human pat my side. “You know, I really don’t think I want to know that particular part of your people’s history,” I muttered, snuggling against my human as best as I could in my seat.

“Alright, Candy.” Ares snapped his fingers. “Hey waiter, could you do me a favor and bring us a couple of glasses of something with a little kick? You’re supposed to get smashed at these things and I plan on continuing that glorious tradition!”

$~@@~$

Most ponies, when standing in front of Celestia: Lady of the Sun and one of the proud rulers of Equestria, would have had to exert quite a bit of self-control to keep from flipping out and groveling before her. Shining, having known the princess for many, many years really wasn’t fazed by the big alicorn anymore. More often than not, she was actually a lot more childish than most ponies, so that helped a bit. Like right now for instance he had the almost hysterical view of her with her muzzle buried in the donut box with about five donuts on her horn; obviously to keep somepony else from taking them.

This is a ruler of a kingdom that has prospered for over two thousand years, the stallion thought, trying to keep himself from laughing when the princesses’ head popped out from the box with a sugary treat in her mouth.

“Um, Princess, should I leave or?...”

Celestia took a massive bite of the donut before putting the box down on the table. “Oh excuse me,” she apologized, “It’s just been a while since I’ve sent anypony out to get me a baker’s dozen.” With all of the grace that a pony with donuts on her horn could produce, she turned toward him and sat down. “Now, why don’t you say what’s on your mind?”

Shining awkwardly cleared his throat. “Oh, of course.” Getting out of his chair, he started pacing, Celestia intently watching him while she finished off her donut with another big bite and pulled another off of her horn.

“I’ve been wondering, after the… news that I got that related to me and Cadence, what I was supposed to do.” Sweet Faust, if she doesn’t get those donuts off her horn… “I thought about going back to the guard,” he said, trying to keep focused on the conversation, “but then I got a letter from Princess Luna…”

Celestia groaned. “Of course she sent you something.” She grumbled, finishing her donut in three big bites. “Why can’t she just go and date that cute pizza colt that I tried to set her up with last week?”

“…What was that, Princess?” Shining asked, confused.

Celestia waved him away with a donut. “Forgive me, I was just mumbling to myself,” she told him. “Please continue.”

Still more than a little unsure about how seriously the princess was taking this, the stallion continued pacing. “She said that she was sure that Cadence needed somepony to help train her guard.” Shining flinched when he noticed how intently Celestia was staring at him now.

“I was in Trottingham, as happy as someone in my situation could be, and even considering getting a job there, when your sister sent me that letter.” With a sigh, Shining sat in front of her, his head held low, “And now I’m here not knowing what I should do. Should I go and help Cadence? Should I stay here? Should I go somewhere else and think about what I want to do with my life a little more?” He snorted. “ If I decided to go to the empire, could or would I know what to say to her, or, Faust forbid, Ares, or be able to properly do my job there?”

“I’ve imagined more scenarios that I can count about what I’d do if I ever saw them again.” Shining shook away oncoming tears, not noticing that Celestia had gotten out of her seat and had draped a wing over him until her feather tickled his coat.

“I lost my wife, princess. I watched her slip from my hooves and did nothing about it while a shaven monkey took her away from me!” Celestia leaned down and nuzzled his cheek as he continued. “I don’t know what to feel lately, I really don’t. I’ve lost all of this to Ares, and I should HATE him, but I don’t even know if I’m angry or sad or happy or…”

It almost broke Celestia’ heart when Shining looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. “..I just don’t know about anything anymore, Princess…”

@~~!#$~~@

I told Ares that I wasn’t going to drink during the joust—a princess shouldn’t get tipsy in front of her subjects; the drunk silly I mean—but after they had to carry the third knight out on a stretcher I decided to have a few glasses of wine; just a little something to steady the nerves.

Ares, on the other hand, looked like he was having the time of his life, cheering with my subjects whenever somepony was horribly knocked down or beaten over the head with a lance. He drank a little less than me—I had no desire to deal with drunk Ares; once was enough—but I could tell he was a heck of a lot looser than he had been after our… incident.

I should go ask Flash where the two of them went, I thought, raising my head off of Ares’ lap to take a small sip of my wine, Ares seems REALLY excited; despite what happened before…

I stifled a yawn, wishing for this silly thing to be over so I could go back to the castle and hit the hay. For hours we had been watching this, and, since this was the most popular event of the day, there were no other vendors open, so I couldn’t go and do something else even if I wanted to.

“Ares,” I murmured, nuzzling my head in his lap. “Do you know where Flash ran off to?”

He looked down at me, a bag of popcorn in one hand and a little glass of beer in the other. I cracked open an eye to look at him, frowning slightly when I saw a big grin on his face. “Oh, I’m sure he’s around.” he told me, putting his drink down next to him and patting me on the head. “In fact, we’ll be seeing him in a minute or two.”

“What do you—“

“LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS!” the announcer of the joust roared, cutting me off. “WE’VE SEEN SOME OF THE GREATEST KNIGHTS OF THE KINGDOM DUKE IT OUT IN THE AREA, BUT TODAY WE HAVE A STALLION HERE THAT WANTS TO TEST THE EMPIRES METTLE!”

All of the tiredness drained out of my body as I sat up and looked at Ares. “Please tell me you didn’—“

“COMING ALL THE WAY FROM EQUESTRIA, THE PERSONAL GUARD TO OUR FAIR LADY, PRINCESS CADENCE, PLEASE STOMP YOUR HOOVES TOGETHER FOR PRIVATE FLASH SENTRY!”

My jaw dropped when Flash trotted into the arena, his head held high while he held his lance in a hoof, the crowd roaring and jeering when he put on his helmet. Raising the lance that he had in between his forelegs, he turned toward where Ares and I here seated and gave us a little salute.

“Flash was bugging the officials to let him in the tournament this morning.” Ares told me, that big smile still glued onto his face. “Some of ‘em didn’t want him to join since it was at the last minute and he wasn’t a noble and some other stupid stuff but I worked my charm and got his furry little ass in!”

Ares leaned back in his chair. “I even got one of the knights to let Flashy borrow one of his spare suits of armor.”

“Flash is going to get himself hurt,” I heard myself say as Flash dropped his lance, which earned him some more jeering and laughing from the crowd.

Ares scoffed. “I’m sure that they’ll go easy on—“

“WE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL CHALLENGER FOR THE EQUESTRIAN!” The announcer pointed toward the opposite end of the arena, where a very big pony was slowly making his way toward its center. “I GIVE YOU THE SHINING EXAMPLE OF KNIGHTHOOD! HE WHO HAS BEEN CALLED THE TEETH OF THE EMPIRE! LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS, I PRESENT TO YOU: LORD GREY SKULL!”

I facehoofed when the giant pony, who suddenly looked familiar, pulled off his black helm, revealing the scarred and battle-weary face of the head of the Diamond Smasher clan, who gave me a wink with his good eye before bowing.

“Good evening, Princess, cuddle monkey,” he said in that deep, rumbling voice of his.

I tried to smile. “It’s nice to see you again, Lord Skull.” I said, giving him a little bow of my own. “It’s nice to see that you feel well enough to attend another tourney this year.”

The stallion frowned, thumping his chest with a hoof. “I may be getting along in years, Princess, but that doesn’t mean I’m too old to crack a few skulls,” he said with a huff.

My eye twitched. “I was speaking about the head wound you received in the last tourney,” I told him apologetically. “I heard that you wouldn’t be able to attend anything like this for much, much longer because the doctor was worried that you might have seriously hurt yourself.”

Grey Skull laughed. “Oh, I’m sure that I’ll be able to put this colt through his paces just fine, Princess; hurt head or not.” It was then I remembered that the Diamond Smasher clan was renowned for their skill at close-quarter combat and Lord Skull didn’t fight in the joust.

“I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT THIS IS THE LAST FIGHT TODAY, LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS, AND YOU ALL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, DON’T YOU?!”

I glared at Ares as the crowd roared, “ONE-ONE FIGHT! ONE-ONE FIGHT!”

One-one, a absolutely horrible one on one close-quarters fight where usually only one pony would be able to walk out of the area unaided; and even that was rare. I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you how angry hearing that made me.

“Ares,” I hissed, “You go down there right now and make sure that Flash doesn’t get hurt!”

Ares looked toward Flash, who was suddenly looking a lot smaller in that shiny armor of his. Nodding, he said, “Alright, just met me—“

“And I swear to Faust if he gets really hurt I’ll kick you so hard that you’ll be walking funny for a week, Mister; do you understand?”

Sure, that might have been a little harsh, but it was Ares’ fault that Flash was now in this situation; I wasn’t really going to kick him where the sun don’t shine…. probably. And that would be nothing compared to what I’m sure Twilight would do to him if she found out that he had helped Flash put himself in the hospital.

Saluting, my human trotted toward the railing and hopped over it, the entire crowd watching as he landed and pointed at my guard.

Even from that distance, since the arena was built to carry any type of sound and it was dead silent, I heard him tell Flash, “Flashy, do me a favor and not die, will ya? I don’t want Candy knocking my boys off.”

I facehoofed again while I heard snickering all around me. “Just start the Faust-damned fight already.” I muttered. “I want to go home and take a nice, long bubble bath.

….

It had taken a few ponies about ten minutes to set everything up for the one-one. A smaller ring had to be set up, doctor Stitch had to be called, and Flash had to borrow a tourney sword from a laughing knight before they set up stool for the fighters to sit on so they could wait until they found a proper referee.

Flash was doing his best not to panic while Ares was rubbing his shoulder. “I don’t think I can do this, Ares,” Flash said with a whimper, looking over at the towering stallion, who was giving his mace a few practice swings. “He looks a lot tougher than me…”

Not being much of a fighter himself, Ares tried to think up of something to say to his friend to give him the courage to get out there and win. But, since the only fighting that he knew absolutely anything was a few old fighting games, and ‘lameing it out’ was going to help in this situation, the human decided to just wing it.

“You can do this, Flash,” he said, grabbing the privates helm and placing it on his head. “You’re just the underdog and--”

“Fighters!” A referee-looking pony said front the middle of the ring. “Let’s get this started!”

“Aw come on!” Ares complained, throwing his hands up into the air. “I was going to give Flash an awesome speech about winning against insurmountable odds, ref pony!”

“I’m just doing my job, cuddly monkey. Private, you need to meet you opponent in the center of the ring before the fight starts, so could you please come here so we can stare this?”

Flash gave his friend one pleading look before he rose from his stool and trotted to the center of the ring, not noticing that Ares was eyeing a stick that was nearby. There was just something about that stick, it wasn’t too thick, wasn’t too thin; you could almost say that it was the perfect whacking stick in the right hands….

Sometimes scum-bag tactics are needed to win the day, he thought, trying to be sneaky as he got up and made his way over to the weapon. Don’t worry, Flash, if you can’t beat that fucker I’m sure the two of us can… probably….”

@~!!~@

Celestia looked down at Shining with a mixture of worry and concern. This wasn’t the once confident and brave captain of the guard the she had come to know over the years, he was more like a colt that had just set out in the big, scary world and needed someone to guide him.

And the one he’s looking to for answers has half a dozen donuts on her horn, she thought, almost cracking a smile.

“You wish me to tell you what to do, my little pony?” she asked him, Shining leaning into her half-wing hug.

“I just want some advice,” Shining said quietly, still staring at the floor. “Should I stay here? Should I go someplace else? Should I suck it up and go up to the empire? Should I up and do something else?”

“It sounds like you want me to tell you what to do, Shining, not give you advice,” the princess said gently, her wing tightening around him.

The stallion shrugged half-heartedly. “I’ll take either advice or an order, princess.”

Celestia hummed, looking away from him. “You could stay here,” she said with nod, “that would be the easiest and least painful thing to do. I’ll give you back your old guard position, you’ll be able to see your mother and father anytime you want and Twilight—“

“But I don’t think I want to do that,” Shining interrupted.

Celestia nodded to herself. “You could try another profession if that’s the road that you’d like to take.”

Shining snorted. “I’m sure I could get a job at Joe’s in a heartbeat if I wanted…”

“Or I could pull some strings and get you a job as a guard anywhere in Equestria.”

Shining finally looked up at her. “Even?...”

Celestia shifted uncomfortably. “That’s would be Cadence’s call, dear, not mine,” she said with a wave of a hoof, “and I wouldn’t worry about the guard’s training, if that’s what makes you want to return to the empire. A very capable guardspony has been reassigned to fill that position.”

Celestia took her wing off Shining and walked toward the little table in the center of her room, grabbing a little glass of milk and taking a sip of it. “You’re going to have to confront Cadence sooner or later, Shining, but it doesn’t have to be now.”

Smiling, she spread a wing and tapped him on the muzzle with it. “There’s the advice you were asking for, I hope that it’ll help you with whatever you decide.”

Shining watched her levitate a donut from her horn and take a bite out of it, humming and nodding to himself. “Princess?”

“Hmm?”

“Princess Luna wouldn’t happen to be around, would she? I’d like to talk to her about the letter she sent me.”

“She’s three doors down from the left,” Celestia said without missing a beat, “but I have to insist that you stay the night, Shining. You look exhausted.

“You don’t need to do that, Princess,” Shining protested, “I’m—“

Celestia shushed him, taking another bite out of her donut. “My sister’s not going anywhere,” she told him. “You go and get a good night’s sleep, think on what I’ve said, and talk to my sister in the morning.”

Shining was about to open his mouth but the princesses’ raised eyebrow snapped it shut. “If you insist, Princess,” he finally said. “I’ll just go and hit the hay in my old room.”

“Remember not to tell anypony that you brought me donuts,” Celestia called before he left. “I’m supposed to be on a diet!”

@#`#$!`%$

“You two should be ashamed of yourselves,” I chastised, not looking back at the bruised and battered forms of Ares and Flash. “Especially you, Ares. You’re lucky that Grey Skull couldn’t stop laughing when you walked up behind him and hit him with that stick!”

Ares, who I was sure was leaning on Flash for support, whined, “You told me to make sure Flashy here got out of out that fight alright! What, did you want me to just stand there while the big scary horse beat him with that hammer of his?”

“You could have used something other than that,” I retorted.

“How was I supposed to know it was made out of freaking balsa wood?”

“Neither or you should have been out there fighting in the first place,” I growled. “Just wait until I tell Twilight that you almost got yourself killed, Flash.”

I could hear Flash gulp as we turned the corner and made our way toward the castle. It was a good thing that the Diamond Smashers had decided to invite the whole city to Grey Skull’s victory feast after he beat the heck out of my human and guard. Otherwise, there would’ve been many, many ponies either poking fun at Flash or just plain laughing at Ares.

“Come on, Candy, you can’t be mad at me for trying to make sure a friend didn’t get fucked up.”

I scoffed. “All you did was make it worse, Ares,” I told the thick man. “Grey Skull’s been fighting in tourneys all his life. And there you are, wearing no armor, swinging a stick around like a mad stallion. You’re lucky he put down his hammer to fight you, otherwise you’d be back at The Ward with the doctor right now.”

“Thanks for trying to help though, Ares,” I heard Flash say. “Even though I think you might have hit me more than you did him…”

“What do you want from me? I’ve never been in a fight before!”

“I would have liked somepony with more hoof-eye coordination than a foal to help me out,” Flash said with a giggle. “And—ouch! Don’t poke that!”

I shook my head. “Will you two stop it? We’re almost at the castle.” I looked over my shoulder. “Flash, go to the doctor, I’m sure she’ll be able to get the rest of that broken armor off you no problem. Ares, come over here and get on my back; I don’t want you limping back to our room.”

It almost looked like the two of them had been mauled by a tiger. Most of Flash’s tourney armor had been knocked off or ripped apart, leaving a bruised and battered stallion beneath. My human looked a little worse than him, with most of his shirt missed along with half of his pants, and he was almost covered from head to toe in small cuts and bruises. All in all they were okay, but I was sure that they were going to feel it in the morning.

I had no idea how the two had walked away from that beating with minimal injuries—I’m guessing that is was Grey Skull’s skill more than luck though—but I was quietly thanking Faust that they had walked away from that relatively intact.

Flash and Ares did as I ask, though my human did so with more than a little grumbling as he climbed into my back. Rolling my shoulders to get used to the new weight, I slowly made my way into the castle.

“…I was going to stop the fight right when you jumped in,” I finally said. “And no, I’m not mad at you; in fact I’m more than a little proud.”

Ares wrapped his arms around my neck, letting out a little groan. “I got my ass kicked,” he mumbled, making me giggle. “Like really, really hard, by a four foot tall furry horse in armor...”

“A nice warm bath will fix you right up,” I told him, opening our bedroom door and trotting through it.

“Hooves hurt when they hit you.”

I gently levitated my human into the bed.

“I’m sure,” I said, making my way toward the bathroom.

“It hurts worse when those hooves are covered in metal.”

Even though he couldn’t see me, I nodded. “You’re really lucky that Grey Skull didn’t want to hurt you, otherwise we’d still be scrapping you off the arena wall.”

Humming, I went to the tub and turned it on, throwing in a bit of bubble bath just for fun.

“Come on, Ares, its bath time!” I called, starting to take off my royal finery.

“…I don’t think I can get up,” Ares called, making me roll my eyes.

“I’ll come and get you then,” I sing-songed, placing my tiara on the bathroom counter before trotting back into the bedroom, where I was met with the amusing sight of my human trying to take his clothes off.

“Do you need some help?” I gently offered with a little smile.

Ares looked at me for a second before he just went limp on the bed. “Be gentle; everything’s starting to hurt.”

I guess I finally get to undress him, I thought, trying to curb my excitement as I slowly started to take off his shirt. He groaned. “Eh, it hurts!” He moaned.

“Quit being a baby,” I said with a smile, trying to unlace one of his shoes. “I have a nice hot bubble bath waiting for the two of us. And afterward, I can get the servants to whip us up something to eat.”

He nodded, fiddling with his pants while I took his other shoe and both of his socks off. “You’re gonna have to help me with these, Candy.”

I chuckled. “Aw, come on, I’m sure that you’re alright enough to take your own pants off,” I teased.

He shook his head, grumbling, “I’ll throw your pink ass out the window… never got in a fight before and you start poking fun at…” he sighed, looking over at the counter before looking at me hesitantly. “Candy, after we get that bath I wanna show you something.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And I going to like this something?” I asked, gently yanking on his pants.

If I had bothered to follow where Ares was looking I would have, in fact liked this something, but since I didn’t Ares chickened out.

“...Actually, nevermind, I’ll show you it later,” he mumbled, blushing slightly when I slowly started to pull his boxers down.

I just shrugged, too tired and ready to end the day to bother pressing him. “Alright, but I’ll want to see it eventually,” I teased, gently picking up his naked form and carrying him toward the bathroom. “Now, I hope you like bubble baths!”

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the late Ch. I've been busy getting ready for school.

This is the unedited version of this ch (my editors been very busy) so if you find any errors, please tell me.

Also, these chapters might come out a little later in the upcoming weeks; school's starting, etc, etc. So instead of these coming out every other monday, they might come out every other wed or fri or sometime around there.

Duty

It had been another long, thankless night for Luna. Her night court had been very busy as of late, with noble after noble trying to bring their trivial complaints to her. It had been amusing the first few nights, but now each night seemed to be a test of whether or not she’d bring back the death penalty.

We swear if We even SEE a ‘noble’ when we awaken there will be Tartarus to pay, she sourly thought as she slogged down hallway, trying her hardest not to just plop down in the middle of the hallway and fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion.

“Just a few dozen more feet and We will be able to finally get some rest,” she muttered with a wry smile before a frown replaced it. “Back to that cold, lonely bed of ours…”

Even though she wouldn’t admit, she had almost been counting down the days for when she could finally get off her blue fanny and go and get her stallion—and his mare—so that she wouldn’t be the only one to warm her bed at night. As the days dragged on, the thought of her just going to the empire with a bouquet of flowers seemed like a better and better idea.

Nay, she thought, giving her head a tired shake, We promised Ares and Cadence that we would wait and We are a mare of our word. We have a mode of transportation to see them easily when we want, We have the perfect place picked out to take them to, and We have even had a dress commissioned for the event of our first date!

Ignoring a pair of saluting guards, Luna turned and corner and smiled slightly when she saw the promised land: her bedroom. With an almost relieved sight she picked up her pace, just ready for a nice bubble bath and her bed.

Everything is prepared; all We need to do is wait a little longer and follow the plan. Within the harvest moon, We will have somepony to go to at night.

Now with a genuine smile on her face, Luna trotted toward her bedroom door and threw it open. Whistling a happy tune, she walked through it, closing the door with her rump before giving her room and once over.

Humming, she muttered, “Maybe we could acquire a snack before beginning our bath,” she mused. “Then we would—“

Knock Knock!

Luna looked over her shoulder at her door, frowning gently. “Who could that be at this hour?” She pondered aloud, reaching for the door with her magic. “We are sure that most ponies know that we sleep during the day and the punishments for disturbing us.”

Ready to tell the would-be intruder to kindly shove off, she walked over and turning the doorknob. She almost hopped backward in surprise when the door was thrown open, revealing a slightly disheveled Shining Armor, who trotted into the room with a white box caught in his magic.

“Good morning, princess,” he said, dipping his head in the most pathetic bow that Luna had seen in a week before trotting past her and putting the box on a table.

“…Good morrow, Sir Shining,” she said after a minute confused as to why he was here and what he wanted with her. “It is good to see thee again... Thou looks that thou haven’t gotten a wink of sleep in a while.”

Shining nodded, throwing open the little box and sticking his head in it. “Yeah, I didn’t get any sleep last night. I was too nervous to talk to you, so I just spent the night walking around my guest room instead.”

He popped out from the box with a donut in his mouth. “I went out this morning and got you a box of donuts,” he explained, taking a big bite out of his. “You and I need to have a talk, but first you should eat one of these. I got them from Pony Joe’s; they’re cream-filled.”

@~~@##@~~@

For once in a rather long while, Ares woke up without a pink alicorn having to poke, prod, bribe, or threaten him, and boy was he not happy about it. Grumbling to himself, he cracked open an eye and looked around the too-bright room.

Man, fuck me, he thought, debating whether or not to throw the covers over his head and go back to sleep when he noticed that Cadence was still asleep with her hooves wrapped around him. I got like four hours of sleep and I got my ass kicked yesterday! Why and the hell don’t you want to get some rest, body?

His stomach just growled, making him wince. Aw, you’re hungry, he mused, smiling when he felt Cadence sleepily nuzzle her nose into the nape of his neck. Leaning over and kissing her, he closed his eyes. Well, you can wait for another hour or two; I’m still tried as balls and I think I deserve some sleep. His stomach responded the only way it knew how, by rumbling even louder.For about ten minutes, Ares was able to ignore it, until his patience finally snapped.

Fine, FINE! I’ll fucking get up! He thought, his eyes snapping open. Trying not to groan, he kissed his favorite pink pony’s forehead. Man, I didn’t get anything to eat after my ass kicking yesterday, his stomach growled again, I’m so hungry I could eat something horse-sized.

If he was careful he could rush to the kitchen, stuff his face silly, and get back to snuggle-time before Cadence woke up, so, trying to exert some sort of willpower, he slowly tried to force himself to rise. Grunting, he started to unlace Cadence’s hooves from around his neck. “Alright Candy, just let me go for a minute… gonna get some pancakes or something…”

He just about had her off when she growled. “Nooooo,” she muttered, her hooves re-wrapping themselves around him. “Staaaay!” Nuzzling his cheek, she grumbled a bit before she went back to her quiet snoring.

Ares closed his eyes, one of his hands reached up and started playing with her mane while he cursed his bad luck. “You’re lucky I don’t have to take a piss, Candy,” he muttered, reaching into his pillow with his other hand and grabbing the book that he had hidden there, “’cause if I had to, your pony ass would be waking up…”

Cadence frowned for a second, almost like she had heard what she had said, before her face was back to looking peaceful while she sleepily kept nuzzling him.

Even though he felt a little bad about not showing Cadence any of these books—the look on her face would have been worth the embarrassment… probably—he still kinda wanted to do the whole I-learned-about-pony-sex thing on his own.

Looking down, he spent a minute admiring his filly friend’s slender body. It was almost a work of art, or to put it in perspective, a vehicle, and he had to read the manual to push the buttons right. At least this isn’t some thousand-page book, Ares thought, gently stroking her side while he leaned down and kissed her on the nose, because I’d rather just ask Cadence about this than reading that much shit!

Sighing to himself once again, Ares cracked open the book and started reading… And reading…. And reading, until he realized something; actually he realized quite a few things.

Just looking over that little black book for an hour or two had shown him just how different mares were from human women. Different ways to show affection, subtle changes in mood, the list had gone on and on and on, so much so that it had made him more than a little nervous… not that to would admit that to anybody, including himself.

He smiled slyly, watching as one of Cadence’s ears twitched. You know… I could try something that the book talked about, he thought, reaching for her ear and gently grasping it. She might appreciate me waking her up like this instead of just shoving her…

A neat little thing that he had learned during his late-night reading last night--while Cadence was asleep of course-- was the sensitivity of a pony’s ears.

You see, during pony-to-pony mating a stallion, while ‘doing his duty’, would usually either bite onto the mare’s mane or one of the ears to get a better hold of her so he could thrust easier and deeper. So, due to this happening for tens of thousands of years, the pony mare adapted so that instead of pain, biting, pulling, and stroking of the ear produced pleasure. A lot, if what the book was saying was true.

Trying to beat the smile off his face, Ares very gently pulled Cadence’s ear into his mouth and started to nibble on it. Well, let’s see if this works, he thought to himself, starting to play with her belly after a moment’s consideration. If this is some stupid hooky-kooky bullshit then I’m gonna—

He raised an eyebrow when Cadence started to squirm, nuzzling deeper into his neck while her ear tried to flick its way out of his mouth.

“Pink is the new yellow…” Cadence sleepily muttered, one of her wings twitching at her side.

…What the hell are you dreaming about? Rolling his eyes, Ares grabbed his marefriend’s other ear and started to tug it, not hard enough to wake her but hard enough to be felt. The pink alicorn’s breath started to quicken, her grip tightening around him when he bit her a little harder, and he could swear that she had whispered his name.

Stroking her cheek with his free hand he hummed to himself, looking down so he could see her expression.

A mild blush was working its way into Cadence face, the mare’s eyes rolling behind closed eyelids while she continued to mutter nonsense to herself. After a few minutes, Ares started playing around with the biting and tugging, seeing what his sleeping marefriend liked or disliked. A hard nip on the ear got one of her hind to legs buck slightly, throwing the blanket off her and him. A gentle flick coupled with a bite got him a sleepy moan and a kiss on the neck.

Ares frowned when that oddly familiar bubble gum aroma wafted up to his nose. There that is again, he thought, giving her ear another flick and enjoying the almost whisper-like moan that he received. Where the hell does that keep coming from?...

He looked down and noticed that Cadence was rubbing her hind legs together and her tail was slapping against the bed. Taking what little he had read from that little black book from his, and making a few simple guesses on where the smell was coming from, Ares couldn’t help but blush.

…Her mare mayo smells like bubble gum? He asked himself, quickening his actions to see if he could get more and louder squeaks and groans and moans out of her. That’s pretty weird... And note to self: never think or say the words ‘mare mayo’ again; it really throws the mood.

“Hmm~” Cadence hummed, giving his neck a sleepy lick. “The postman is churning the butter…”

Ares had to spit her ear out, and bit his lip hard to keep from laughing. “What the hell are you dreaming about?” he asked her, only getting another sleepy nuzzle in response.

Smiling, he started a trail of kisses starting at the base of her horn and slowly went downward, Cadence’s quick breathing turning into panting as she ruffled her feathers, flapped her wings, and moaned; loudly.

@~~##~~@

I always enjoy those little gems that you get dreaming every once in a while. Not that one dream where you’re falling, or the dream where you don’t have your homework and the teacher sends you back the magic kindergarten, I’m talking about a plain ol’ sex dream; the kind that makes your hooves curl even after you wake up.

I while I rarely had such dreams—unfortunately—when I do they were doozies, like ‘I have to get up and change the sheets’ kind of doozie. This particular dream… I’d rather not tell since I’m in polite company, but what I will tell you was that it got me worked up, so much so that I think a moan jolted me awake.

I slowly cracked open an eye, quietly groaning and using a spell to shut the blinds from across the room. “Too bright,” I grumbled, nuzzling into the warm snuggliness that was my human. I could go for a few more hours of sleep, I thought, closing my eyes and wiggling myself under Ares’ arm.

It was then that I noticed a few things. One: the covers were nowhere to be found—I had probably been moving around a little too much during my dream. And two: I had absolutely, unequivocally soaked myself, the sheets, and a good part of Ares’ lower body with my… juices.

With a quiet ‘epp!’ I magicked our blanket over our bodies to hide the mess. Sweet Faust, did I pee the bed? That fear was dispelled when I smelt bubble gum, but then it brought on an even more disturbing/confused/whatever you want to call it question:

Did I bucking cum like five times?!

To be fair, the only other time I had ‘relieved’ myself was back on the train, so I could have been a bit pent up sexually, but you should have bucking seen the mess I made! I bet you if we go to my room right now you could still smell bubble gum on that bed!

…Don’t look at me like that…

Anyway, there I was, trying to keep calm, trying not to panic or lose it or wake up poor Ares, who was…’

“Why the hay are you nibbling my ear?” I wondered aloud, looking up at him. Even though it felt great, I couldn’t remember my human ever doing that before. Sure, some sleepy kisses I’d get once in a while or maybe he’d pull me back into the bed, but never the ear biting. His teeth were really doing things for me too...

Anyway, pleasure aside, due to the face that I didn’t want Ares waking up to something like this, I honestly hoped that the was a one-time thing… At least until we were together sexually, then I would be happy to be woken up with ear bites any day, but not when we were still trying to figure things out.

I sighed when I felt something nudging my backside. “It looks like you got the both of us worked up,” I muttered, gently getting my ear out of his mouth before leaning up and nuzzling his cheek. To my delight, he hummed happily, his arms slowly tightening themselves around me.

“Sweet Faust are you cute,” I told my silly sleeping human, crawling on top of him and placing my head on his chest. The little voice in the back of my head told me that I probably should be getting up so I could get some new covers, clean up myself, and get Ares and I ready for the day, but I just wanted to spend a few extra minutes enjoying Are’s warmth.

Speaking of my favorite human, his ‘little Ares’ seemed awfully insistent that it be given some attention, since it was digging into my flank and all. For a second I debated whether or not to relieve him—relieve us might have been a better way to say it-- but I thought better of it. I’m really going to need to have a conversation about that, I thought, biting my lip as I ground my hips a little, rubbing myself against little Ares. I had to bite my lip harder when I felt it twitch; he must be as excited as I was...

That really made me want to wake up my human with a ‘special’ good morning present, but I once again beat it down, untangling myself from his arms sitting up in the bed. “We’ll have all the time in the world to do that once I figure out how to bring it up with him”, I said aloud, looking over my shoulder at Ares’ sleeping form.

“I’ll let him sleep a little longer.” I hopped off the bed and made my way toward the bathroom. “He had a long day yesterday and he did kind of get beaten up,” I tapped a hoof against my chin in thought, “I’ll go and get the two of us breakfast after my shower, then we can have breakfast in bed before we go back out to the festival.”

@~~@@~~@

By some miracle, divine or otherwise, Ares had somehow become the greatest ninja/actor/ James Bond guy in the history of men trying to fake-sleep in front of their girlfriends the instant that Cadence had moaned herself awake. Throwing the book that he had been holding under the bed, he closed his eyes and pretended that he was asleep. When he felt Cadence stift around, he decided to throw out a quick prayer to anyone that was listening to help him lame this out; and imagine his surprise when it worked.

Sure, he had a raging stiffy and Cadence wasn’t making that any easier, but at least he didn’t have to try to explain to her that he had pretty much had sex with her while she slept.

Not opening his eyes until he heard the shower turning on, Ares sighed explosively, running his fingers through his hair. “Sweet Buddha that was close,” he muttered, quickly grabbing the book from under the covers and placing it back into its hiding place. “I can’t believe she didn’t know that I wasn’t sleeping…”

At least that little stunt got some answers that he was kind of looking for; in more ways than one. Now that he knew--pretty much-- that Cadence was ready to jump his bones as it were, he could make certain that he had a few surprises for her when the candles were set and the pony Barry White was playing.

“I guess that we’re gonna have that little conversation sooner than you think, Candy,” Ares muttered, looking down at the sheets. Raising an eyebrow, he carefully pulled it down the covers and eyed the wet patch near his left leg. “Jesus, that ear nibbling thing worked a hell of a lot better than I thought it would.”

Every breath he took, the scent of bubble gum invaded his senses, so, after a second of thinking about it, he reached down and touched the wet patch. Making sure to get his fingers nice and damp, he popped two of them right into his mouth, his eyes widening at the flavor.

“Holy shit, it actually tastes like bubble gum,” he muttered in confusion, popping his fingers out of his mouth after he had licked them clean. “…What the hell do these ponies eat?”

#!@#$@#!

This hadn’t been the first time that Luna had had somepony practically burst through her door with thin excuses so they could find out what she was planning for them. And while most of the accusations that were brought before her were utter nonsense, she could, at the very least, humor Shining for a little while. He had been—and still was—one of the family… And he had brought donuts, so she could at least have the decency to listen to what he had to say before she threw him out and took her bubble bath

Shining himself looked like he had had a very long night. He had bag upon bags under his eyes, he looked paler than usual, and his eyes would droop every few seconds before he shook himself to stay awake; all-in-all he looked like a walking trainwreck. Luna had been just about ready to shoo him back to his room so he could actually get some sleep before she was his eyes.

That fire, that determination to find answers… There is a good chance that We are going to be blamed for something, she thought, eyeing Shining as he sipped the coffee that a maid had brought in. Though We cannot blame Sir Shining; it DOES appear that we are using him to one that doesn’t inspect every little detail…

To be fair though, she might be using him just a teeny tiny bit. A stallion with as much raw magical power as Shining brought to the table could help ensure the security of the Crystal Empire and its subjects for years to come. Coupled with him and the Sergeant and Cadence, the Empire could see its former glory within decades, so it could almost be forgiven that she might be using him to make sure that Ares was kept safe.

Was it a little much to have so many protecting one little human when no one was rearing to attack him? Maybe so, but it never hurt anyone to be prepared for everything.

“So thou said that thou wished to speak to us about a few things?” Luna calmly asked before taking a sip of her own coffee.

She grimaced, forcing the distasteful beverage down her throat. It may make our sleep that much shorter but We need to be alert for now, she thought, watching as Shining’s tired brain tried to chug out sentences. Hmm, it is not the usual decaf that We get; when We awaken the maid will be made known of her error.

“I just wanted to know something and maybe get some advice,” Shining said, obviously trying to hold back a yawn, “If that’s alright with you, princess.”

Luna nodded once. “We will do everything in our power to answer your questions to the fullest of our ability,” she answered, mildly surprising Shining with how seriously she was taking this. “Please, ask your questions.”

Exhaling the breath he didn’t know he had been holding, Shining looked her right in the eye. Don’t beat around the bush, just bucking ask her, he thought, staring into those big blue eyes of hers and trying not to blink. You were up all night, you brought the donuts; it’s time to kick flank and take names and get your answers!

“Princess, why the hay did you send me that letter?”

@!#$%

Since it was the second day of our little party, and since Ares and I had slept in and had decided to take our sweet time getting ready, it was almost noon before we went out to go see my ponies. I let Flash take the day off because he was still get over the lumping he got the other day, and instead decided to take the Sergeant, who looked adorable in her toga, so she could watch over us for the day.

I can tell you with the utmost certainty that Ms. Echo was not a happy camper after being out there more than an hour.

“So if you’re not a bat, how come your ears and teeth are like that?”

To my amusement--well, mine and everyone watchings amusement-- the little ones seemed particularly fascinated with the bat mare, so much so that a whole little group of them had been hounding the poor mare for about thirty minutes with their silly questions.

Echo looked over at me, then at one of the children who was trying to touch her ears, before biting her lip. “Will you just trust me kid?” She pleaded, trying to push away a filly that was grabbing her tail with a wing. “And could you little mon—er, I mean little guys, please give me a little more space?”

I giggled, looking over at Ares, who had a bag of popcorn in his hand. “Where did you get that?” I asked, looking around the various vendors.

“I got it by the basket making guy,” he answered, nudging his thumb in that direction. “Why, you want me to get you a bag of something?”

“Do they have any candy popcorn?” I asked.

“I’m sure they do.”

“Then could you get me one of those please?”

He nodded, leaning down and giving me a peck on the cheek before looking over at the Sergeant. “Hey kids,” he called, all of the children stopping what they were doing to look at him, “you know what a bat horse loves the most?”

“What’s that, Mr. Cuddle Monkey?” one of them asked.

Smiling, Ares spread his arms wide. “Well, random child, what a bat horse loves the most is to be jumped on by kids, so guess what you can do!” It took them, Echo included, a few seconds to process that, but when they did they all jumped into action. Echo, wide-eyed, spread her wings, trying to fly off, but the filly’s and colt’s were faster.

“HUG THE BAT HORSE!!!” one of the kids yelled, jumping into the mares back.

“Get off me you little—urk!” With an adorable battle cry, they all swarmed her.

“BUCK YOU, ARES!” Echo cried, shaking a hoof through the pile of children at him.

Me, along with almost everyone that could see them, started laughing, Ares giving me a wink before he went to get me my popcorn. What should we do now? I thought, biting my lip to calm myself. We don’t really have anything to do today… Hmm, we could go and see the jousts or just walk around until we got bored or—

“Oh Mi Amore! Honey!” My eyes couldn’t even widen in horror as my face was pressed against an overly chubby mare’s chest. I tried to get away from the crazy pony, but her iron grip held me in place as I was rocked back and forth. There was only one pony in my kingdom that would assault me with hugs like this. The head of the High Riders: Shining Higher.

A mare well into her fifties, and somepony who would either heckle everypony in the room, buy something for everypony in that room, or do something horrible to them, depending on what mood she was in, Mrs. Higher was one of the friendliest, wealthiest, and most terrifying ponies in the Crystal Empire. Not because she was mean or cruel or anything—though she could be if you happened to get on her bad side—it was because of how she had this bad habit of smothering ponies in hugs.

Me included in that unfortunate number.

“Urk! Hello… Mrs... Higher,” I rasped, forcing myself off of her to get in a breath before I was once again smothered. “It’s… nice… to see… you… again.”

I could hear her chuckle before she released me, giving me a quick look over while I tried to get some air back into my lungs. “It’s good to see that you’ve returned from Equestria safe and sound,” she said brightly, smoothing my mane out with a hoof, “and you’ve gained a little weight too!” She winked when I blushed in embarrassment. “Ohhhh! There’s nothing to be embarrassed about! You were too skinny anyway; it wasn’t healthy, honey!”

One of her guards, a serious-looking stallion decked out in the colors of house High Rider, bit his lips to keep from laughing at me while the mare continued to poke and prod. Please let this be over soon so I can see what she wants, I thought desperately, trying to keep a smile on my face.

I would have been babied over for the rest of the day if Mrs. Higher had a say in it I’m sure, but Ares, like a knight in shining armor, swooped in to save me.

“What the heck is going on here? He asked, looking at us ike we had all grown a couple of heads.

Mrs. Higher looked him up and down with an inquisitive smile on her face. “Oh, you must be the one that everyponies been talking about,” she said, slowly making her way over to him. “The ‘cuddle monkey’ something or other, if I remember correctly. You’re the princesses’ new courter, yes?”

“…Yes I am, Mrs…”Ares said carefully, offering her a hand.

The mare chuckled, shaking her head. “You can call me Mrs. Higher, honey; momma if we get to know each other well enough,” she said with a wink. “Now how about you put that paw of your’s down and give me a big ol’ hug as a hello!”

Ares eyed me for a second, probably trying to figure out what was going on, but I could only shrug helplessly, take my popcorn out of his hands and mouth ‘hug her’ to him.

For some reason, Mrs. Higher really hated hoofshakes—something about her being afraid of what other ponies run around in—so she just simply hugged anypony and everypony as a greeting. To refuse the hug would’ve been bad, so it was better that Ares get this over his so I could find out why Mrs. Higher had graced us with her presence.

With a little shrug, Ares leaned down and picked the mare up, getting an excited squeal out of her and a slightly upset look from her guards. “My, my,” Higher almost purred, wiggling in my human’s grasp and wrapping her hooves around his neck tightly, “I can see why so many ponies gave you that silly little nickname of yours…”

“My name is Ares, ma’am,” Ares politely said, gently putting the chubby mare back down onto the ground after holding the hug for a second, “and it’s really nice to meet you… I guess.”

Higher almost looked disappointed that her hug was over, her ears drooping slightly for a moment, but then she was back to her old cheery-looking self. “Well, Mr. Ares, it’s very nice to meet you at last,” she said, nudging him toward me with gentle push. “You can’t believe all the rumors I heard the other day about Skully beating the hay out of Mrs. Cadenza’s mate!” She jiggled in place as she shook excitedly. “I was so enraptured about that little tale I decided to come down here to see my princess and you young stallion.”

Ares smiled while I tried to hide my frown. “Flash and I didn’t get beaten that bad the other day,” he said, chuckling awkwardly to himself as he rubbed the back of his head. “I’m not too beaten up, and I’d like to think that I threw that big knight around a bit.”

Higher nodded encouragingly, patting his thigh with a hoof. “Skully told me that the both of you fought better than he was expecting,” she said kindly before turning toward me. “Now, princess, how about you show this old mare around?” She gave me a grin that I didn’t particularly like. “I can tell you what’s happened in your kingdom while you were away and your new mate and I can get to know each other a little better.”

I was trying to think of a way to politely say no so Ares and I could get away from this mare, who obviously had some other motive, when my human gave her a big smile. “Um, Mrs. Higher?”

“Yes, dear?”

“I’m guessing you know a lot about this city, huh?”

Higher nodded, giving him another wink. “My family’s been in this city since the very beginning, Mr. Ares,”’ she told him. “The High Rider clan has owned many of the cities stores for over a thousand years,” she chuckled. “‘We are the lifeblood of the people’, some brown nosing ponies like to tell me when they think I’m in a bad mood or they want something from me, but all we are is a few shopkeepers that like to see our city grow.”

That’s a load of horseapples if I’ve ever hear it, I thought, placing myself in front of Ares protectively. While she was technically true about owning a lot of shops; there was a slightly darker reason as to why the High Riders had become one of the city’s most powerful families: Deception, spying, blackmail, and assassination .

The lower level ponies of the clan, those who were the actual shopkeepers, kept an open ear out for any juicy information that could be valuable to anypony, which they would then send up further up the food chain to see if they could use the information. I heard the back in the day, and some ponies still whisper that it still happens once in a blue moon, that the clan might have toyed with the dark arts to get information from ponies; deepest, darkest secrets, fears, hopes, dreams, things like that.

But, from what I heard, Mrs. Higher had largely pushed her family away from that kind of stuff. And compared to some of the other clans, the High Riders weren’t really all that horrible, but I was still a little nervous being around a mare who probably knew more about what I did this morning than I did. Hopefully Ares would pick up on that unease that I was feeling and he’d—

“I guess I can tell you a little about me, ma’am, but I’d like to talk about looking for a job around any florists places, if that’s alright with you?”

Higher squealed happily while my eye twitched, the chubby mare giving Ares’ leg a nuzzle before brushing past us and walking toward her guards. “Fantastic!” she chirped happily. “How about I take you two to a nice little diner down the street? We’ll have a nice, quiet little place to talk and I’ll introduce you two to a couple of my granddaughters that happen to work there!”

I guess that the Sergeant had finally wrestled herself away from the children, because she was by my side as Ares followed the mare down the street, listening intently to whatever she was chatting about.

“Where is that bucker?” she growled, looking around. “I’m going to break his bucking jaw!”

“He just went with one of the ponies that might have him killed if she doesn’t like him,” I answered.

Echo blinked, all the anger draining from her face. “…Oh,” she said lamely. “I better go and watch him then, huh?”

I sighed, rubbing my temple with a hoof. “No, we are going to go and watch him,” I corrected her. “Come on, let’s go see where we’re being taken…”

@~~@@~~@

For a second, Shining was almost afraid that he had been a little too blunt about his questioning as Luna calmly looked at him, the Princess of the Night not breaking eye contact as she took a long sip of her coffee.

Just keep a straight face, he thought, trying not to sweat. You just keep asking until—

“Did thou knowest that our sister dislikes her job, Sir Shining?” Luna calmly asked him.

Shining blinked in confusion. “Um… no, I didn’t…”

Luna nodded, placing her coffee mug on the table. “Tis true,” she said, leaning over the table until their noses were almost touching. “Tia hates dealing with the nobility, she hates sending out ponies to protect and guard and maybe die in her name.” Luna frowned, her eyes turning slightly sad. “We know for a fact that she hated what she had to do to us.”

Luna sat back in her chair, much to Shining’s relief. “My sister hates all of these things about being one of noble blood but she continues to rule his land, continues to protect her little ponies, and do you know why she does?”

Shining bit the inside of his lip; he honestly didn’t know if he wanted the answer to that question.

“My sister does this: ruling this kingdom, raising the sun, and keeping ponies safe, because she feels it is her duty.” Luna got up from her seat and stood before Shining, her wings slightly spread. “One may not enjoy their duty, in fact they may hate it with every fiber of their being, but only cowards or those that have weakness in their hearts forswore it.”

She looked away from him. “It is difficult; We will readily admit that we are one of those who has been corrupted by weakness, but we know that thou art strong-willed, sir Shining.” She tapped his chest with a wing. “My sister named you captain for a reason, thou art a good stallion, and We knew that thou needed somepony to give thee a gentle nudge in the correct direction after what happened to thee.”

“But I—“ Shining tried to say, only to be cut off.

“However thou feel about Young Cadence and Ares is moot; thy place is in the Crystal Empire, helping bring it into the modern era and possibly back into greatness.” She gave him a kind smile, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “We understand that thou are still confused and angry and thou don’t know what to do, but thine duty is what should matter the most to thee: a soldier’s duty to their princess.”

Shining looked away from her. “She’s not my princess anymore…” he muttered.

Luna forced him to look at her by placing a hoof under his chin. “Even though Cadence is no longer thy lover, she is your princess still,” she told him. “She and the empire are what thou should be focusing thine attention on, not wallowing in a pit of despair!”

Luna could see that she had him by that little spark that she saw in his eye, so she decided to push him further. “You wish to find a new path in life, you wish to stop the pain and hurt, and We feel that thou need to do that in the Empire, Shining; not here, not somewhere else, but in the empire.” With a small nod, she turned around and sat back down in her seat.

“That being said, thou are not sworn to us, and thou art an adult, so the decision must be made by you and only you. Tia or I will not order thee anywhere; from this day forth thy path in life is of your own choosing.”

She watched the stallion process that while sipping her coffee, Shining looking up at her with slightly narrowed eyes. “And that’s the only reason why you want me to go up there, princess?” he asked.

“Nay,” she said, not bothering to lie.

“And could you tell me any other reason why you want me to go up there?”

“We will simply tell thee that there is no ill intent in our actions, but that is it.”

Shining nodded again, slowly getting out of his chair and making his way toward the door. “Thanks for talking with me, princess,” he said gratefully. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, so I’m going to hit the hay so I can think through this with a clear head.”

Shining’s hoof was on the doorknob when Luna said, “Did thou know that Ares still beats himself up about what happened?” Shining looked over his shoulder at her with a raised eyebrow. Luna shrugged. “Many a night we have looked into his dreams, Shining, and We can tell you with the utmost certainty that he’s just as afraid as you about what the future will bring.”

Shining looked at her for a moment longer before turning the doorknob and opening the door. “…I’ll try to see you and Princess Celestia before I leave to go where ever I’m going to go.” Without waiting for an answer, Shining left the room.

Luna finished her coffee with a final gulp. He will do whatever he thinks is the right thing to do, she thought, closing the donut box and making her way toward her bathroom. What he thinks is the right thing might be the pressing matter unfortunately.

!@$#$%$

You know, after spending a whole day with a hyper-dangerous pony, it was nice just to snuggle up with Ares on our bed. I had the blanket over the two of us and my eyes were closed, and I was getting closer and closer to drifting off to dreamland.

At least Ms. Higher promised Ares that she’d look around to see if she could get him a job, I thought, taking a deep, content breath. Sure, whoever he’s going to be working for will probably be in Higher’s pocket, but at least Ares will get to work with flowers like he wants to.

Said human was leaning on the bed post and was running his fingers through my hair. He must not have been all that tired or he’d be—

“…Candy, are you awake?”

My ear twitched but I kept my eyes closed. It didn’t sound like Ares was asking me for anything; he probably just needed to go to the bathroom of something, and I was pretty much asleep anyway, so I just laid still, waiting for him to get out of the bed so he could do his business.

I frowned gently when he gave me a light shove. What the hay are you doing? I thought, shifting around under the blankets. Just go and pee already; you don’t have to see if I’m asleep or not… My ear twitched again when I heard the very quiet, but distinct, sound of pages being turned.

Ares is reading something? I thought, confused. When the hay did he get a book? I knew it was a book because I had spent years watching Twilight, a mare who, as a filly, would stay up all night reading, so I knew pages turning when I heard them. That confused me even more, because I knew that Ares wasn’t much for reading.

Overcome with curiosity, I very slowly rolled over and cracked open an eye, my tiredness draining out of my body as I read the bold black print on the front of the book:

THE PONY SUTRA

“Well…that’s a relief,” I said aloud. Ares almost jumped out of his skin in fright while I looked up at him. The blush on his face and horror in his eyes made me laugh quietly as he looked down at me.“I thought we were going to have to dance around that for weeks, but here you are, making this a thousand times easier for me.”

Getting up with a little grunt, I leaned up and pecked my horrified human on the cheek. “Oh, is that the eleventh edition? You could have just looked over at the counter there; I have every edition, including ones for different species.”

I hummed thoughtfully, leaning against Ares, who still hadn’t moved an inch. “In fact, you might actually want to go and read the third edition before—Ares?” I waved a hoof in front of his red face. “…Ares, Honey, are you doing okay there?”

I patted his cheek with a hoof and sighed. “Alright, you’re not okay…” I hummed, looking down at his book. “I wonder if this thing has a chapter about fixing petrified coltfriends…”

After thumbing through a few chapters, I found out that it, in fact, did not.

Author's Notes:

unedited version; my editor has some real life stuff he has to do so I'm on my own for maybe another update.

Good Mornings

“Alright Ares,” I said, holding a bucket of cold water over my head with my magic. “Now, I know you might be a little horrified right now and you might think I’m mad at you but trust me, I’m not.” I gave him my best smile. “I love you, and I’m happy that you’re trying so hard to make sure I’ll be sexually satisfied, so there’s no need to be embarrassed. In fact, how about the two of us crack open a pony sutra that I have on the shelf over there? I even have one that has pictures! Come on, whatcha say?”

“….”

“…Please? I really don’t want to have to dump this water on your head.”

“….”

“I put ice in it and everything, so it’ll be cold,” I warned my human, who appeared to be frozen in place with an expression of utter horror etched onto his features. I mean that he was frozen in an almost literal sense; it was almost neat how he was just… not moving, like somepony had hit him with a paralyzing spell or something.

It was funny to poke him with a hoof for a few minutes, but I was getting worried; hence the ice water. Hopefully this would bring him back sputtering back to life so I could calm the man down and we could talk about this like two adults that cared about each other.

“Alright, I warned you, Ares,” I said, levitating the bucket over his head. “I’m sorry, but you leave me no choice!” Slowly, I upended the water over his head and into his lap, soaking him, the bed, and even some of the floor (I had used a big bucket), leaving my human dripping wet but still frozen in place.

Now I was starting to get a little worried. “Ares?” I said hesitantly, hopping onto the bed and nuzzling his cheek. “Can you please say something so I don’t have to go and call the doctor?” I nuzzled the nape of his neck before gently planting a kiss on his lips. “Please? You’re starting to scare me a little…” Whimpering to myself, I gave his cheek a kiss, hoping that that would do something.

It was just a little peck, but for the first time in about ten minutes, Ares blinked. My eyes widened in hopeful caution. Wrapping my front legs around his neck, I gave my human a deep, long, passionate kiss. Come on, come on, work, I thought, rubbing my lips against Ares’ before taking a breather and kissing him even deeper.

It was like I was giving him love CPR. Except I was making out with him, and he was frozen for some reason, but it was still pretty much the same thing. All I needed to do was dump enough affection on Ares and he’d come sputtering back to life, and then the two of us could have an adult conversation like big ponies and humans.

My tongue prodded his lips, and, after a few seconds, his mouth slowly opened to let me inside. Slowly, my tongue played with his, the human’s wet muscle lying limp and lifeless. Oh no you don’t, I thought, growling to myself. Using my longer tongue, I traced and tasted every inch of his mouth, being careful of his canines.

Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup! I kept the kissing up until a burning sensation in my chest reminded me that I needed to take a breath. Breaking the kiss with a gasp, I couldn’t help but glare at my human.

“You know, most stallions would love to have their fillyfriends sit in their laps and make out with them.” My expression softened, and I leaned down and gave Ares another kiss on the lips. “Come on, silly,” I pleaded, rubbing our noses to together before kissing him again, “just wake up…”

My eyes sprang open when I felt a tongue prod my lips. There you are! I thought, stroking Ares’ head with a hoof, encouraging him to break himself out of his frozen funk. You’re almost there, I thought, licking his tongue, which was vainly still trying to enter my mouth, before I started to suck on his lip. Just a little more kissing…

I pressed myself closer against his chest, finally playing with his wiggling tongue. I kept playing with his hair with a hoof while I used my wing tips to tickle his cheeks; Ares responded by slowly wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug.

If I didn’t have my tongue down Ares’ throat, I would have smiled. There you are! I thought, relieved. Feeling that burning sensation that told me I needed to breathe again, I sadly broke the kiss and sat back, gasping for air and wiping a trail of spit from my mouth, and looked down at my also gasping for air human, who was looking at me with the most adorable expression on his face that I had ever seen; it was somewhere between dopey-happy and horrified and it made me want to kiss him again, but I restrained myself. Passing out because I was kissing Ares too hard would’ve been silly.

“Thanks … Candy,” Ares panted, breathing hard, “I … needed that.”

I giggled, placing my head on his shoulder. “I‘m happy to help,” I whispered, wrapping my wings around his shoulders. “You had me worried.”

Ares rubbed his cheek against mine before giving me another little sweet kiss on the cheek. “I was going to tell you eventually,” he muttered, his gaze going over to the book that I had placed on the counter by the bed, “but I wanted to at least look some things up.”

“You could have asked me,” I chastised, smiling when he brought up his hands and cupped my cheeks, “I would have been happy to tell you anything you wanted to know.”

Ares kissed me on the nose, a guilty look on his face. “I wanted it to be a surprise,” he said with a bit of pink on his cheeks, “and I wasn’t sure if you and I…”

With a little shove I had my human on his back. “I didn’t know if you were going to be ready for that—“ I nudged my head at the book, “—for a while, and if you’re unsure about it we can take as much time as you want,” I sweetly told him.

He grimaced. “Well, considering what happened the other day—“

“The other day?” I asked, realizing that I was lying on top of my naked coltfriend and then trying to stay calm about it.

Ares looked away from me. “I … might not have been asleep when you woke up with the whole ear biting thing.”

My mouth opened in an ‘O’ expression before I slyly smiled. “Well, I suppose I should thank you,” I purred, giving him a peck on the cheek. “That was one of the best good mornings I’ve had in a while~”

“I really didn’t think ear biting could do that,” my human said, flinching slightly when I wiggled my wings completely around him, fully trapping him under me. “S-Sure, I rubbed you a bit and poked you a few-umhp!”

Growling to myself, I crashed my mouth into his, assaulting his mouth with my needy tongue. I was ecstatic; Ares had made my intimacy talk with him a heck of a lot easier, and he was already practicing, on me thankfully.

The only thing I was a little sore about was not being awake when he was touching, nipping, and biting me. Even the thought of those hands of his slowly kneading my body, Ares listening to my sleepy moans to see what touches felt good and what touches felt great, and then the silly man faking sleep when he made me orgasm so hard I woke up.... The very thought of it was making my body heat up.

Ares already had one up on me, I thought, breaking the kiss and looking down at Ares with lust-filled eyes, it’s only fair that I make us even.

I could feel that increasingly familiar poke against my flank, telling me that my coltfriend was happy with this turn of events, and I was about to continue the kiss, and maybe, probably, more, when Ares looked up at me with a red face and a beaming smile.

“I love you, Candy.”

Much to my mild irritation, my feeling of lust was being overtaken by that ‘butterflies in the stomach’ kind of love. You cheater, thought, trying to beat down the smile that came to my face. Going all lovey-dovey on me when I’m trying to do dirty things to you.

I kissed my silly human before putting my head on his chest and magicking the blanket over the two of us. “I love you too, Ares,” I said, closing my eyes. I’ll get you back for the ear thing, I thought as Ares wrapped his arms around me and sighed in contentment. Just you wait; I’ll get you back so hard you’ll be walking funny for a week.

&^%^&

Like it always was, the clan leaders meeting place was grey, dark, intimidating, and more than a little bit damp. Four stone tables, tables that were hewn from crystal and which had been in use for over three thousand years, housed each of the clan leaders, two of their guards, and usually an official looking pony or two.

The four ponies that were seated at these tables were the most powerful and influential citizens of the Crystal Empire. With a word they could ruin a noble, free a prisoner from imprisonment or the gallows. With a wave of the hoof they could destroy a city street and have it rebuilt within the hour. These ponies were wealthy, these ponies were powerful, and these ponies may or may not have a problem with a certain alien monkey.

“You played with the human for the whole day, Higher,” Draugre, a stocky brown earth pony, who happened to be the leader of the Smelters, said before stifling a yawn. “What did you think of him?”

Higher, who was gingerly taking a sip of some tea, looked over at the stallion with a giggle. “Oh, he was such a sweetheart,” she tittered, looking around the room. “I can see why our princess is so taken with him; other than him being rather … exotic of course.”

Draugre yawned again, this time covering his mouth with a hoof. “Alright, he’s a sweetheart, but what else do we know about this ‘Ares’?”

Hearth, a little blue mare who was the leader of the Diggers, cleared her throat. “Well, everypony has been calling him the cuddle monkey,” she said in her squeaky voice, “and I think we all know why that is.”

Collectively, each of the clan leaders nodded.

“My niece told me that young man had two beds full of ponies sleeping with him before he went to Canterlot,” Higher said with another giggle. “I remember her commenting on how odd his coat felt against hers.”

Grey Skull grunted. “I heard the same from my granddaughter,” he said, slowly spinning the top of his mace around the stone floor. “But the question is: will he be a problem or detriment to the princess? And if he is, can we get rid of him quietly enough so nopony will be any the wiser?”

Yes, these four ponies had more power and influence than anypony in the city, but they cared about this city, almost as much as the one that helped saved it, Cadence. For longer than many of them could remember,everyone of them had all been under the tyranny of Sombra, slaves in name, body, and mind, and she, along with Spike the dragon, had saved them from the tyrant.

Unlike Canterlot nobles, who wouldn’t know honor or decency if it walked up and bit them, these four clan leaders knew that they owed the princess their lives. It was why they had allowed her to rule, it was why they had made sure that the city continued to run smoothly while she was away, and it was why they were here today talking about the creature that the princess had become smitten with.

The four looked at each other, each one of them waiting for the other to say their piece first. Higher, thankfully, interrupted the silence with a quiet cough. “Well, I for one think that Mr. Ares will not be a problem,” she calmly said, a calculating look in her eye. “He is new here, he has no political or financial power that I know of. In fact the poor dear has nothing to his name; even the clothes off his back were given to him by others.”

Grey Skull grunted again. “When I fought him in the arena I could tell that I was fighting no warrior.” The old stallion subconsciously started to rub his still sore side. “But I have to admit that he is far stronger than he looks; the monkey threw me halfway across the arena while I was in full armor.”

Draugre chuckled. “I know, I’m still trying to beat out the dents. If memory serves—“

“You can’t remember what you ate this morning you old cook,” Grey muttered.

“And you can’t sleep through the night without getting up ten times to go to the bathroom you old donkey,” Draugre shot back, leaning on his chair.

Hearth cleared her throat. “Gentlemen, please,” she squeaked, glaring at the two, “can we just stay on task without you two trying to kill each other for once?”

Higher nodded in agreement, waving a hoof in Draugre’s direction. “As you were saying Draugre?”

Draugre glared at Grey Skull before clearing his throat. “If what I remember is true, Mr. Ares jumped in only when you were gaining the upper hand on the princess’s personal guard, isn’t that right?”

Grey nodded. “The colt had good reflexes but he was too scared to go in for the kill,” he said to no one in particular. “I would have brained him if the monkey hadn’t hit me in the back of the head with that stick.”

Draugre hummed. “We know that the private and human are friends correct?”

“I’ve gotten that information, yes,” Higher said before taking another sip of her tea.

“Then we can assume that this ‘human’ is not shy about fighting for the ones that he cares about.”

“Even if he’s not much of a fighter,” Grey agreed, “though we don’t know enough about him to draw any conclusions.”

Higher smiled. “That might be where you’re wrong, Skully,” she said playfully. “I happen to know that a certain human is going to start work at one of my florist shops, a nice little place run by my niece Tulip, so we might actually get to know the new consort of the princess quite well if we wait long enough.”

“So we wait a bit longer to see what this human’s about?” Hearth said.

Draugre shrugged. “It’s better than coltnapping the boy and forcing him to tell us everything about him.” He yawned again. “So we’ll wait, see what he does, and if we have to, we’ll deal with him.”

Grey rose from his chair, picking up his mace and giving it an experimental swing. “Yes,” he muttered, looking at his weapon of choice, “we’ll deal with him if we have to.”

$#@#$

You know, I think I’ve always hated birds. They’re dirty, they eat the kind of seeds that you need—apple seeds, orange seeds stuff like that—and always, before the bucking crack of dawn, they fly right outside your window and start being as loud as possible.

I think morning gales were outside my window this morning, the bird which also happened to be the Crystal Empire’s national bird, and boy did they make me want to go outside with a slingshot and a hoof full of rocks.

Bucking, bucking, BUCKING birds! I thought, groaning to myself. Can’t you at least wait until the sun’s up before you start being BUCKING JERKS?!

With my magic, I levitated over a trash bin and chucked it through the window, smiling and cracking open an eye when I heard a bunch of surprised squeaks. “Next time I’ll hit you with a bolt of lightning,” I muttered, snuggling closer against Ares. “You rotten birds.”

I was just about go back to sleep when I realized that I should probably get up and do something instead of sleeping in. Our party was just about over, which made it a fantastic time to go and check on any reports that the council I had set up had, or maybe I could go see if those particular ponies would want a job on a more permanent council. But to do that, I needed to get out of my warm bed, away from my snuggly coltfriend.

Yawning hugely, I groaned and closed my eyes. “Five more minutes,” I muttered, crawling on top of Ares and throwing the covers over my head. Ah, much better, I thought, humming to myself while I wiggled around on top of my human.

I opened my eyes when I felt something brush against my flank. Poor little guy, my tired mind thought, what are you doing up before Ares? I wiggled myself against my human’s manhood, smiling when I felt him shiver.

Ares must be really pent up by everything that’s been happening the last couple of days, [ I mused, kissing his neck before I got a wonderful idea. Ares had his fun with me while I slept, now that I knew he was okay with it I could have a little fun of my own!

Tiredness now gone, I gently untangled myself from Ares and rolled to the side of our bed. With a big smile on my face, I looked downwards, shivering when I saw the tent that my obviously pent up human was pitching. “Aw,” I cooed, “there you are~”

As gently as I could, I threw the covers off of Ares, revealing his very naked, and aroused, form. I didn’t know if he was toned or muscular for a human, (I still think that it’s weird that he had teats) or if he was even considered good-looking for a human, but I could honestly say that the sight of him was really heating me up.

Now to do something that I’ve wanted to do for WEEKS! I thought, carefully walking to the lower end of the bed to play with my prize.

Giggling to myself, I looked over Ares’ toes before encasing both of his feet in my magic. “Look how adorable they are!” I whispered, wiggling each toe in every direction that they would go. “His toes are like tiny little fingers!”

I played with them for a little longer before letting go of his feet and sitting back up. “Alright,” I said, still smiling, “now that I got that out of the way I can get to the real fun!” The ‘fun’ itself was gently throbbing in the cold night air with a bit of pre cum dripping off its head.

Now that I could, I leaned down and looked it over. I knew his manhood was different than a stallion’s; I’ve seen it more than once, and it was the same when it was aroused. His head had ballooned, almost making it look like the top of a mushroom. I could see veins trailing down his shaft, and his whole penis had elongated. It was different, but I won’t lie to you, it was making my mouth water.

Trying to ignore my wildly beating heart and my shaky knees, I very slowly, very gently, bopped my human’s cock with my muzzle, wincing when I felt something sticky land on my nose. Huh. it still looks like it could get bigger, I mused, watching it bob back and forth with Ares’ heartbeat.

Looking up to see if Ares was still asleep, I slowly started to stroke him. Let’s see if I can get you a little bit bigger, I thought, sticking out my tongue in concentration. By now I could smell this musky saltiness in the air, a sure sign that Ares was liking what I was doing to him. Leaning down slightly, I took a deep breath. Oh sweet Faust, I’m already wet! I thought, biting my lip. Using my other hoof, I started to play with his balls, giggling to myself when he let out a sleepy moan.

Looking up, I noticed that Ares was grabbing at the sheets and his eyes were shut tightly. I almost frowned in suspicion. Is he just pretending to be asleep? I wondered, narrowing my eyes at him for a second before shrugging. It doesn’t matter, I thought, giving his shaft a squeeze, starting to quicken my pace. If he’s awake then maybe the two of us could play a little more. I couldn’t keep myself from quietly whimpering in need at the thought.

My human’s cock was now continuously leaking pre from his head and down his length, coating my hoof as I continued to play with him. I wonder how it tastes, I thought, bringing my other hoof up so I could play with myself.

I looked at the clear liquid before giving it a lick, my eyes widening at the oddly pleasant flavor. Biting my lip again, I scooted myself up until I was breathing on his length. Taking another deep breath and wetting my lips with my tongue, I grabbed his cock with my magic and opened my mouth wide.

&!@!&

Ares wasn’t usually a heavy sleeper—when one worked in a store where you had to open at four in the morning it was a necessity—and even with the lack of sleep he’d been having he was easy to wake up. All he would usually need was a shove or someone calling his name and he’d be awake; he would bitch and moan and try to go back to sleep if he could, but it would wake him up.

As his luck would have it, he wasn’t awoken by a push or a shove or even someone calling his name this time. No, when he was jolted awake by an intense burst of pleasure, he noticed that his fillyfriend was propped up on his thigh, her lips wrapped around the head of his cock while she played with herself.

Ares could honestly say that that sight was better than any coffee or energy drink when it came to waking up.

HELLO! His mind screamed, his sleepiness draining away in the blink of an eye. WHAT THE FUCK IS GO— Cadence, who was so focused on her task that she didn’t notice that he was staring at her wide-eyed, gently moaned, the vibrations sending an almost painful jolt of pleasure through the poor human, making his head hit the pillow in bliss.

His lower head quickly took over all of his decision making. He forced himself to open an eye to watch what Cadence was doing, and boy was he getting a show.

She was slowly positioning herself so that she was sitting in-between his legs. Her face was flushed and her hair cascaded around her head, her wings were just drooping around Ares’s legs, like the alicorn was too busy with his dick to keep them at her sides. Ares could also see a blush that seemed to be covering her whole body, but what really struck the human was how pleased she looked.

Ares bit his lip hard to keep from groaning, though he couldn’t stop his body from tensing. He heard, and felt, a muffled giggle escape Cadence, the alicorn seemingly not aware that he was awake yet. Ares tried to take a deep breath, to calm himself and to steady his heart, which he had just noticed was beating so rapidly that he swore that he could hear it thumping in his ears. He tried to wonder to himself if he was actually dreaming, when his fillyfriend, with seemingly little effort on her part, made his body erupt with pleasure once again.

This time he let out a little squeak, his head hitting the pillow with a thump. His mind now little more than mush, the only thing he could do was lie there and try to get his legs to stop twitching. What Cadence was doing, if that was actually Cadence and not another one of his weird sex dreams, felt good, really good. Since the poor man had, for reasons not even known to himself, neglected to relieve himself for months, it was making Ares whimper to himself as he cracked open an eye and peered downward, a part of him eager to see what Cadence was doing and another part of him strangely dreading it.

Her eyes were half-lidded, and it looked like she would be smiling if she could, like doing this was going to make her whole week. Ares could even hear her trying to hum a tune around his dick as she continued to just play with the head of his cock, not bothering to move her head at all, but just sucking and licking and gently nipping his very sensitive flesh.

The sight alone was almost enough to make him lose it, Ares biting his lip hard to keep from giving Cadence a nasty surprise. He could feel that familiar starting to reach its peak, so, with more willpower than he knew he had, he forced himself to sit up a little bit, the act stopping Cadence in her tracks, her teasing stopped as she froze in surprise before she looked up at him.

The pink princess herself regarded him with an unblinking eyeball as he looked back down at her. Still trying to decided whether or not this was, in fact, a dream, Ares tried again. “Cadence?” he said a little louder, his mind trying to chug out complete thoughts and failing when he noticed that the alicorn still had her lips snuggly wrapped around his head. “...Cadence?

Cadence blinked for a second before she smiled around his shaft. “Gutheoritmhphm,” Ares thought she said from around his shaft, the vibrations of her voice making him tense again. Gritting his teeth, he managed to say, “Try talking without out your mouth full.”

He tensed again when she giggled, taking him out of her mouth with a pop. Giving his head a final lick, she looked at him and smiled as she sat up. “Oh, good morning, Ares,” she said brightly, bringing up a hoof so she could stroke his still achingly hard member, “you mind helping me out here?” She spread her legs, giving him a view of her soaking wet sex.

“As you can see, I’m a little heated.”

@!~~!@

There’s my sleepy human, my lust-addled mind thought while I presented myself to him.

I couldn’t help but giggle when he just blinked at me in confusion and sleepiness, his mouth opening and closing. “…Um… what?”

I leaned down and gave his head another teasing lick, smiling to myself when I saw him biting his lip. “Well, honey, I felt this little guy poking my flank this morning,” I said matter-of-factly, giving his cock another squeeze, “I thought, since you had your fun with me the other day, I could have a little fun with you.”

Seeing that he was still confused, I fought back the raw hunger that was building in my stomach and crawled upwards towards his face, squashing his cheeks together with my hooves while I pressed my face against his. “So what do you say, my little human,” I asked, nibbling the tip of his nose while he stared back into my eyes, “will you help your fillyfriend out?” I nudged his length with my tail, smiling when he bit his lip. “I’d be okay if you just want to watch me—umph!”

My eyes widened when I felt Ares’ lips crash into mine, his tongue all but forcing its way into my mouth. Laughing in delight, I wrestled with his tongue for a second before breaking the kiss. “Easy there, Ares.” Nuzzling his cheek, I looked back at his throbbing manhood. “You can use that tongue of yours all you—epp!”

I expected my little remark to get a blush out of Ares, maybe some stuttering or silly talk, heck, I thought that he was at least going to let me finish my sentence, but no, my human got a little … aggressive.

Something flashed in his eyes, and almost before I knew what was going on, Ares spun me around, which almost gave me whiplash—not that I’m complaining—dug his fingers into my flank, and gave my marehood a big, sloppy lick.

The only thing I could do was gasp, a moan escaping my mouth as a jolt of pleasure forced my wings to snap open for a second before I wrangled them back to my sides. “S-Someone’s e-eager,” I said, my eyes crossing when I felt his tongue brush against my nub. “O-oh m-my…”

I had a thin sheen of sweat coating my body, and my legs were wobbly and weak. It had been so long since somepony had done this to me that I knew I wasn’t going to last as long as I’d like. With Ares and everything that he was doing, there was no way I was going to be able to savor our first time doing this together.

I wanted to savor this; I wanted the two of us to take our time with the other, learning what we liked, what felt good, and what made the other happy.

Ares took his hands off my flanks for a moment so he could pull me down onto his body, almost making me impale his leg with my horn. I tried to take a deep breath, tried to loosen up my tense muscles, but then he started to aggressively knead my cutiemarks, tensing me right back up in the best possible ways. “A-A l-little slower, A-Ares,” I panted, gripping his legs like my life depended on it, “I d-don’t want t-to finish too e-early.”

For a second, I thought that he didn’t hear me, but then his almost frantic licking stopped. I looked over my shoulder to see my human looking down at me with a slightly ashamed expression. Reaching down, he grabbed me, gently spun me around, and lifted me upward.

“I’m sorry, Candy,” he muttered, burying his face into my neck. “I didn’t mean to get carried away…”

I smiled, giving his nose a little kiss. “It’s alright, Ares. In fact, I’m happy that I’ve gotten you all ready and raring to go.” I giggled when I saw a blush sweep across his face. “But since this is our first time doing this together, how about we just take our sweet time?” Humming to myself, I leaned down and captured his lips in mine and played with his tongue before the kiss as quickly as I started it.

“Alright, Candy,” Ares said breathlessly, stroking my neck with a hand, “well, go as slow as you want.”

I nuzzled his cheek. “Alright, Ares,” I said sweetly, not noticing that his hands were slowly making their way downward, “now what do you want to--epp!” I couldn’t help but squeal when I felt one of my human’s hand’s giving my flank a squeeze.

Ares kissed my jaw while he grinned like a madman and I blushed like a filly with her first crush. “How about you and I take the scenic route, my pretty pink princess?” he almost teased, giving my flank another hard pinch.

My legs twitched and I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from moaning. “N-no fair,” I pouted while he give my neck another tender kiss. “S-Starting without m-me.”

Ares’s green eyes stared up at me mischievously . “Did I ever tell you that you look adorable while you’re blushing like that?”

My already red face flushed even more. Nudging him with my nose, I shakily huffed and muttered, “Just get to touching me already!” Laughing to himself while he gave my neck another little kiss, my human did just that.

Very slowly he started touching me everywhere, starting from the tip of my horn and inching downward, all the while stealing kisses from me whenever he could. I, not able to really do anything in my position, could only lean away from his kisses or dart in to lick his neck whenever I felt the need as he played with me.

Those fingers of his kneaded my shoulders and neck for a few minutes, relaxing me, before he started to tickle my barrel. I squirmed and laughed, until I was almost ready to cry. “I’m going to bite your ear off if you keep doing that,” I warned, only getting another kiss on the nose for my troubles.

That almost primeval hunger that I had been feeling was being replaced by that warm, butterflies-in-the-stomach kind of feeling again. I could hear Ares laughing in synch with my giggles as I tried to squirm away from his fingers. It was then, when I managed to look down and see that he was smiling and his eyes were lit up in happiness, that I realized just how much my human loved me, and it made that warm feeling in my stomach almost hurt.

He wanted to see and make me happy, and he didn’t care if I was a pony or not. He cared about me, and loved me, for me.

Not able to help myself, I grabbed my human and and all but forced him into another kiss. “I love you,” I whimpered, pressing my forehead against his and closing my eyes, trying to keep the tears from coming out them. “I love you, Ares.”

Ares hummed to himself as he looked up at me. “I love you too Mi Amore Cadenza,” he said, kissing both of my cheeks, then my forehead, and then finally kissing me on the lips. His hands stopped what they were doing so they could wrap around me and pull me close, Ares and I just enjoying our closeness for a minute while I sniffled.

“I must looked real sexy now huh?” I joked, rubbing my eyes with a hoof.

Ares gave my flanks another squeeze. “Sexiest pink pony I ever met,” he said.

I gave him a playful shove and giggled, frowning to myself when I felt something throbbing against my leg. Looking down at ‘little Ares’, I said, “Oh, it looks like I’m just sitting here and doing nothing.” Teasing his length with my tail, I smiled and kissed Ares’ neck. “You got to play with me, now it’s time that I got to do a little playing of my own~.”

Ares pouted. “Aw, I still wanted to go for a few minutes,” he told me, though I could see a little fire in his eyes that told me the contrary.

Willing myself onto shaky hooves, I batted my eyelashes at him. “Too bad,” I told him while drinking in the sight of his naked body one more time. “It’s my turn to play~.”

Before he could say anything, I snuck in and gave his neck a nip, making him squeak in surprise. Before he could recover, I started kissing and nipping his neck, then I started kissing his chest, all the while keeping an eye on his face to see his expression.

My human was looking down at me, his face red, and his breath started to quicken. That little red in his cheeks spread when I reached his stomach, and seemed to spread up and down his whole body by the time I got to his lower body. I myself was having nothing short of a blast playing with him, kissing every bit of his body that I could reach in the position that I was in. I could practically hear his heartbeat all the way from his belly, which I was gently nipping.

I smiled when I saw Ares gripping the sheets like his life depended on it. Heh, I knew that It’d be better taking our time I thought, trying to keep myself from speeding up. Though I was getting a kick out what I was doing, I knew for a fact that I only had a few more agonizing inches until I reached the promised land, and just knowing that was bring back that hungry feeling again.

Getting more than a little impatient, I stopped my kissing and looked up at my panting human. “Are you ready to do something else, my little human?” I asked, wiggling my flank at him.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone nod so eagerly before in my life. “Y-Yes,” Ares sounding a bit shaky, “but how do you--”

He stopped when I spun around and laid myself down on top of him with a little plop. Looking over my shoulder at him, I said brightly, “There, now we can have fun with each other at the same time.” Oh sweet Faust, please don’t let him feel me shaking like a leaf…

Ares gulped and nodded, his hands going to my back legs and pulling me upwards until my flank was in his face and I could feel his hot breath against my marehood.

“T-there we go,” I said, taking a few deep breaths to try to stop myself from panting, “n-now you j-ju—ah~”

I felt my human’s teeth, most of them sharper than anything that I had in my mouth, very gently nipping one of my lips as he moved his head back and forth, rubbing his nose against my sex before he straight up kissed my other lips. It was slow, and it was slightly awkward, but sweet Faust it felt awesome.

I squeaked, stars filling my vision as every muscle in my body went limp. Trying to keep some semblance of mind, I managed to twist my head to keep from poking my human with my horn as my head hit his thigh with a little meaty thump.

I tried to open my mouth to say something else when I felt him give me a little tentative lick. My back arched and I bit my hoof to muffle my moan. Ahh, this is the best morning ever! I thought, rolling my hips, trying to push Ares’ tongue deeper inside me. Every other thought that wasn’t about rutting was now gone from my mind, replaced with my human’s tongue and the amazing things that he was doing with it. With each lick and kiss, Ares seemed to be getting bolder and more confident , his fingers digging into my flank as he pressed me down so hard that I was worried that he wasn’t going be be able to breathe.

I closed my eyes and bit my lip; it felt like everything that he was doing was being multiplied by a thousand. Every hot breath against my sex made me shiver, every time his fingers pinched and stroked and played with anything my body clenched, an—

I cracked open an eye and I felt something slapping against my forehead, seeing my human’s throbbing cock towering above me. Oh shoot, I’m just sitting here letting Ares do all the work! And that was ab-sol-utely unacceptable! Mi Amore Cadenza was raised better than that! I needed to make this memorable for Ares, I needed him to think back on this moment and bite his lip at how amazing our first intimate moment together was.

Forcing my head upwards, I weakly moved my hooves towards it. You just need to concentrate, I thought, gently grasping it and bopping it against my nose. You don’t want Ares thinking that you’re bad in bed!

Taking a deep, shaky breath, I savored his scent before lowering his length towards my lips. You need to move up a little bit, some small part of my mind thought while I very slowly licked my new favorite toy from base to head. Ares tensed for a second, letting out a startled moan, before easing back into his licking and groping.

Butterflies in my stomach, I popped his head into my mouth with a slight slurp, humming in pleasure. I was rewarded with another startled moan, Ares bucking his hips, and a little spurt of frosting, which I licked and swallowed with relish.

My eyes widened in surprise. Here I thought I was probably going to be rusty and I already have him more than ready. It doesn’t look like Ares is gonna last long, I thought, using a hoof to once again cup his balls. I must have let the poor guy work himself up more than I thought.

Thankfully for me, he wasn’t girthy enough to choke me, but it was still a little difficult to take more than a few inches of him at a time, at first. I would be the first to admit that my skills had gotten a little rusty, but as I went on it felt like learning to fly again, and that’s something you never really forget. Flap your wings hard, pay attention to wind currents, and keep your eyes on the skies is practically the same as suck, slurp, and deepthroat if you sit down and think about it enough.

It took a few minutes, and I knew for a fact that my throat was going to be sore in the morning, but I slowly found out what was working. Ares seemed to go nuts when I used a lot of tongue so I did just that, my wet muscle teasing and toying and trailing up and down and around his length. I wanted to take my time with him, so I just started off nice and easy; I wasn’t going to try deepthroating him or do something that could hurt either of us since we were still trying to get used to each other.

What I was doing was high school grade at best, and my technique could have been better, but after a few minutes of ‘getting to know him’ I already could feel him starting to twitch in my mouth. Wanting to make him last a little longer, I started to just kiss his tip and stroke him so I could use one of my trade secrets.

“Does this feel good, my little human?” I patted his stomach to get his attention.“Your princess blowing you like the little whorse she is?”

I heard him groan and I had to steady myself when he tried to buck into my mouth. “Or maybe you just like eating me out like this?” I wiggled my flank back and forth, forcing his face deeper into me. “I could wake you up every morning like this you—“

I paused when I felt Ares’ hands clenching my flanks as he tried to lift me off him. Because he was either too aroused to do it or because I got heavier all he managed to do was rock me forward, but from his twitching legs I think I knew what he was trying to say.

That alone almost made my morning. Most stallions would just grin and shoot their load down your throat without any warning, so it was really nice to know that I had a lover that respected me enough to think I might want a say in whether or not I had a taste of him or not.

Oh, you have to cum? Ares lightly patted my back, obviously trying to tell me to get off. Well, you’re going to give me a taste, whether you like it or not~

When I felt him twitch again I inhaled half of his length, my tongue swirling around his head as my hoof continued to gently play with his sack. I wanted him to remember this; I wanted him to look back at this while biting his lip when he remembers how hard I made him cum.

And I’m only going to get better as the days go by, I thought, sucking as hard as I could as I closed my eyes, using my front legs to keep Ares from bucking upwards. I started to bob my head as quick as I could, spit and pre flying everywhere, ignoring my slightly aching throat and focusing on the task ahead.

I tried my hardest, my very, very hardest to ignore that warmth that was building in my loins, but in the end my body just kind of got fed up and rudely reminded that I was also receiving a lot of pleasure. It had been building up and building up and now was the time for all of the pleasure to peak.

My whole body started to curl in on itself as my eyes widened, every bit of pleasure that I had been trying to ignore seemingly hitting me all at once. Pulling Ares out of my mouth, I tensed again and screamed, “OH BUCK!” as my orgasim hit me like a runaway wagon.

Every muscle in my body went limp, my head hitting my human’s thigh once more as I twitched and wheezed and watched all of the stars that invaded my vision as I rode out one of the hardest orgasms in living memory.

For what seemed like an eternity, all I was able to do was twitch and pant and grin like an idiot as I rode it out, leaving me feeling exhausted, sweaty, and happier than you could imagine… or I would be, once I managed to get myself up and finish off my human.

Oh wait… I have magic… I thought, my horn managing to sputter to life. Being as careful as I could, I started to stroke him as fast as I was able. Gathering what little strength I had left, I reached out with my hooves and scooched up a little bit so I could wrap my lips around Ares’ cockhead. Closing my eyes in contentment, I started to gently suck while my magic continued to play with him.

I felt Ares’ body tense as he moaned once again, though this one sounded desperate, or maybe hungry was a better word. I could tell that he was so close, so close to giving me what I wanted; so like any good marefriend, I happily obliged him.

COME ON! I WANT IT I WANT IT I WANT IT! I desperately thought, my tongue swirling around his head so his seed wouldn’t just shoot down my throat. GIVE IT TO ME GIVE IT TO ME GIVE IT TO ME!

I couldn’t help but moan when the first spurt of pre cum hit my tongue , the salty-sweetness of his essence making my eyes roll into the back my my head. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, I lost my grip on my cock, and with a twitch it popped out of my mouth .

“Oh shoot,” I muttered, closing my eyes as the first strand of cum hit my face. Strand after strand after strand spurted from Ares as he bucked, forcing me to hold onto his leg for dear life to keep myself from being thrown off the bed. Soon though, Ares just went limp, giving me the chance to scramble in and put his twitching cock in my mouth so I could taste his seed.

I hummed and bobbed my head up and down the cock, trying to milk it for all its worth. Come on, you have a little more for me to taste I desperately thought as the tide of cum started to lessen and finally stop.

...Well, at least I got a little bit of it I mused, taking Ares out of my mouth. Swishing everything I was able to collect in my mouth to savor the taste, I swallowed, humming in delight at the flavor as I used a spell to get the some of the cum off my face so I could open my eyes and assess the damage, breaking into an utterly and thoroughly satisfied grin as I opened an eye.

I could feel most of my human’s cum on my chest and face, and I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t gotten more to taste from the tap, but then I just mentally shrugged. It wasn’t like we couldn’t do this again, and again … and again. I’m sure that I was going to be able to taste all the cum I wanted in the very near future.

With a tired sigh, I set my head back on my human’s thigh. “Bucking … buck,” I moaned, licking the cum off my lips. “Can’t … feel … my …. legs…”

I lay there for a long while, trying to catch my breath and will the strength back into my limbs, just basking in my afterglow and listening to mine and my human’s heavy breathing. I couldn’t be happier with how this turned out, I hazily thought while I cracked open an eye to see that I was absolutely covered in cum; my face, Ares’ cock, and his lap, just covered.

It looked like my human had been a little more pent up than I thought.

Giggling to myself, I used my wing to wipe off what I could from my face before giving Ares’ rapidly softening member a quick licking. I cracked a smile when I felt little Ares twitch in my mouth, trying to rise back to full mast but unfortunately failing. Don’t you worry little guy, I thought, taking the little guy to the base and sucking as hard as I could—and giggling when I saw Ares’ leg twitch—You and I will have plenty of time to play together; I can promise you that.

Swirling my little treat in my mouth for a second, enjoying the flavor one last time, I swallowed. “You were wonderful, Ares,” I complimented, chuckling to myself when I realized that I was pretty much still sitting on his face. “Whoops, hang on, I’ll get off you.”

With a little grunt, I rolled off of Ares and looked at the cum-covered, naked, and sleeping man. For a second, I thought my big flank had accidentally suffocated him, and I kind of panicked. Scrambling around, I patted his cheek, , “Ares,” I said, trying to keep myself calm, “Ares? Are you alright?”

I lowered my head to his chest and listened for a heartbeat, sighing in relief when I heard his heart thumping steadily. “It looks like I was a little too rough on you, my little big human,” I said with a nervous giggle, levitating some tissues over and cleaning his face up.

Seeing that I hadn’t sexed my human to death, I calmed down and realized just how tired I was. “Boy, I almost forgot how tired this makes you,” I mused aloud, yawning hugely while I rubbed my eye with a hoof. “Too bad though; I would have liked to play with Ares a little more.”

Looking down, I couldn’t help but smile at how cute Ares looked sleeping. “After the workout we just had I think we deserve a little rest.” Snuggling up against Ares, I threw the covers over us and closed my eyes. “When we wake up we can take a bath, get something to eat, and then I can rut your brains out.”

Yep, it looked like today was going to be a good day.

Author's Notes:

Sorry this took a little longer than I would have liked cause the sex scene, cause my editor said, 'Hey bro, fix this' and I did my bestest. So here you go.

...Also, for any of my fellow gym buffs, you'll get what I did with the title of this chapter

Lipstick and ICE CREAM!!!

You know, after somepony wakes up from a very fun-filled afternoon and they’re just laying in their bed with their coltfriend, sometimes they happen to remember or think of some very odd things. And trust me, I might be the spokesmare for the weird-thinking-after-sex thing. Here, let me give you an example.

I’ve heard the term ‘sex marathon’ tossed around when I was younger and still living back at Canterlot. I’m sure you’ve heard it. A stallion walks by another stallion who's had an interesting night, the two of them get to talking, and he says, ‘Boy did I have a sex marathon last night! I could barely keep the mares off me in the club!’, the one stallions congratulates the other on a job well done, and the two go on their merry way, whistling some happy tune.

This is all well and good for the stallions, but to pretty much every mare that hears it, through their coltfriend’s saying it to their faces or they just accidently happened to hear it, it seems like a dirty, horrible thing to say. I mean, how would you like your special somepony to look up at you, smile, and say, ‘Hey, honey, thanks for the sex marathon last night!’

…Yes, this was actually what I was thinking after I woke up in my bed, and no, I do not appreciate the look you’re giving me, so just let me get back to the explanation, alright?

Me, being the young, inquisitive mare that I had been—and still am thank you very much—I decided to do a little research about the phrase and why so many ponies used it in the city, and without a doubt, what I found surprised me.

You see, before the founding of Equestria, when the three tribes were separate, the Pegasi and the Gryphons broke out into war. For years and years and years the two races fought the very long and very bloody war. Hundreds died each year, fields and mountains and the very skies seemed soaked with blood, and it had looked like it wasn’t going to end without the complete and utter annihilation of one of the races.

Since the other two pony races had refused to help, and since the Pegasi were starting to get desperate trying to find a way to end the costly war, they decided to do something extreme. Calling the gryphon chiefs to a parley, they sat together and talked.

For days and days they sat there, yelling and arguing with each other about this and that until somepony finally figured out something that would end the war and make both the Pegasi and the Gryphons happy. So you see, instead of some final battle or actually having somepony say that they were sorry, they figured out that the best way to solve their dispute was to get a whole bunch of ponies and gryphons in a pit and have an orgy with only one rule: the last race standing would win the war and the other race would surrender.

Sometimes history is weirder than anything you could make up, huh?

Well, to make a longish story short, after it was all said and done, one Pegasus was left standing amidst a crowd of sweaty, exhausted creatures: an up and coming young soldier named Hurricane, who would later become a leader and founder of Equestria.

I still have the history book if you want to see if I’m lying or not; it’s actually a pretty book to look through when you have nothing better to do.

After that whole debacle, the term ‘sex marathon’ came into being. Back in the day it was actually used as a term of respect, it meant that you were able to persevere through any hardship, sexual or not … even though it was usually reserved for sexual situations most of the time.

Even now, when stallions are ‘talking’, it’s still a term that they use with pride.

Now, you may be asking yourself, ‘Cadence, why the hay did you just tell me that weird and slightly dumb story out of the blue like that?’ Well, after Ares and I had our fun and our nap, I was the first one to wake up. And let me tell you, it smelt like Ares and I had a sex marathon in this room.

The hot, sweaty, savory…

You know what? You probably know what that after-sex smell smells like; you’re a grown pony that probably has had a few partners, so I’m not going to tell you about it; you’re red in the face enough as it is, but you know what I’m talking about, right? You know that oddly comforting smell that puts a smile on your face, well at least it puts a smile on my face.

It had been a while since I’d smelt that smell, the smell of my arousal mixed with the odd scent of my human, but the bed reeked of it.

Closing my eyes I took in a deep breath before smiling. Yep, we’re going to have to change the sheets, I thought, giving my human a nuzzle. ...the two of us are probably going to have to take a shower or two to get the smell off us.

Smiling even wider, I laid a wing over Ares when I noticed that he was shivering from the cold. I heard my sleeping human sigh, and I felt his arms tiredly grabbing for me. Giggling to myself, I scooched upwards until I was face-to-face with him.

“I hope you always look so cute when you’re sleeping,” I muttered, rubbing my nose against his cheek, inhaling that familiar bubblegum scent. I giggled nervously, a blush coming to my face when I realized what was covering Ares’ face.

I kissed his nose. “Yeah, we need to get you cleaned off when you wake up,” I murmured, giving his lips a little lick. “Then we can spend the rest of the day getting dirty again~.” My tail swished eagerly at the thought, I once again leaned forward and tried to give my human’s nose a little lick. Unfortunately for me, that was when Ares sprung his trap.

I froze when Ares turned his head and opened his mouth, gently catching my tongue with his teeth. Ares opened an eye and gave me a sweet smile as he let go of my tongue. Leaning up, he pressed his lips against mine. Not one to make my coltfriend feel like he was doing all the work, I leaned down and returned the kiss. Grinning, I pressed myself against him, squealing happily when I felt his hands slowly sneaking their way downward from my barrel to my flank.

Well, good afternoon to you too, I thought, giving him a teasing but heated kiss before breaking it.

Ares smiled at me with half-lidded eyes. “Howdy here, Candy,” he murmured, giving my flank a playful squeeze while he reached up with the other hand to stroke my cheek. “And how was your nap?”

I kissed my cheek and wrapped my hooves around his neck. “I’m sore,” I admitted, giving him a little wink. “It’s been a while since I’ve cum that hard.”

Relief and more than a bit of happiness seemed to seep out of my human when I said this. He tried to hide it and his look was gone in an instant but I saw it. Leaning up a little bit and kissing his cheek, I tightened my grip around his neck. “You were great,” I promised, closing my eyes.

He chuckled in what I assumed was relief. “Thanks; you were pretty amazing yourself.”

I grinned. “How would you like to see how amazing I really am~?” I purred.

Rolling off Ares and toward the edge of the bed I stood up and got into a pouncing position, with my head low to the ground and my rump up in the air. Giving my flank a little shake, I growled playfully, eyeing my human like he was a piece of meat.

“Ready or not,” I gleefully said as Ares, grinning at me, got on his knees in what I assumed was a defensive position, “here I come~!”

#@!@##

It had been a rather boring day for our favorite-ish guardspony Flash. With the promise of a horrible day of training until he passed out from exhaustion, Flash had only one thing on his mind now that he realized that his little vacation was over and he was about to really get back to work.

I wonder if Ares would want to go out and get some ice cream? Flash thought as he made his way down the hallway. I bet he’d go if I ask him… I could really go for a scoop of vanilla.

Now that the private had returned to the Empire, he could honestly say that he was happy to be back home. Sure, it had been nice going on ‘vacation’ in Canterlot, and getting a fillyfriend, but it was better to be at home where you knew everypony and everypony knew you. Well, at least most of the guards here knew him well enough, so that had to count for something.

The thought of the guards made Flash frown slightly. Other than a few veterans that had been brought to the empire from Canterlot, the guards had been limited to them and the new guys that had finished their basic training a few months ago. The guards in the Empire were understaffed and they knew it, but before they could get more ponies to join and train for the guards, they needed someone to come in and crack a few skull and whip a few ponies unto shape to get what little of the guards they had into tip-top fighting shape.

Even a private like Flash knew that to do this, they needed one heck of a leader, and the Pegasus prayed to every god that he could think of in hope that Echo was the mare for the job. Without Shining, she was supposedly the next best thing for the Crystal Empire.

Not that Flash had a problem with being led by a mare—he did have a fillyfriend, and that’s all he needed to say about that—but she seemed a little too… yell-y for his taste… AND too grumpy, grouchy, she got upset too easily, and the crystal pony guards were still poking at her ears and demanding to know whether or not she was going to drink their blood while they slept.

Looking at all of these flaws that the Sergeant seemed to have, Flash couldn’t help but be a little nervous about his new commander, and that wasn’t even thinking about his fellow guardsponies. They were all supposed to be brothers and sisters,or at least that’s what Flash had been told in boot camp, but that didn’t mean that a unit or two wouldn’t hesitate in bucking the bat mare up if they didn’t like her.

I’m sure everything will work out fine, Flash thought with a shake of the head, turning the corner and entering the royal wing of the palace. Princess Luna herself gave Sergeant Echo the job, so I’m sure she’s more than qualified to lead and train everypony.

Flash smiled as some of his worries abated from his little pep-talk. “Yeah, I’m sure all everypony needs is a few more days to get situated, then everything will be running like a well-oiled machine!”

With a little hop and a skip, the private made his way over to the Cadence and Ares’ door. He was about to knock when he noticed something odd about said door, namely that it had a bluish tint to it. “What the hay is that?” Flash pondered aloud, tapping the magicked door with a hoof. “It looks like the princess’ magical aura… maybe it’s a dampening spell?”

Flash scratched his head. “But if it is, why do they need one?”

He thought quickly, trying to remember if there was anything important happening today that would require the princess to do something like this to her door. ...Maybe they’re just doing something important, he decided, not bothering to think about it anymore. Probably something government-y that’s too far above my paygrade for me to understand…

Chuckling to himself, Flash turned around and started to make his way down the hall, ready to just go back to the barracks, that is until his stomach grumbled loudly. Looking down at it, Flash frowned once again. “I still really want that ice cream,” he muttered, looking back at the blue-hued door.

Now the private was left with a decision on what to do about his grumbly tummy; two choices that could affect his, Ares, and the Princess’ night. One: he could just go by himself and get ice cream, like a no-friend loser. Two: he could try knocking on the door, hoping that they could somehow hear him, and get Ares to go with him to the ice cream parlor where they would have a great time being buds together.

It was either pull Ares away from his fillyfriend, and maybe something very important, or get no ice cream. If he actually interrupted something, he ran the risk of getting in trouble … or he and Ares could get ice cream. Heck, he could even be ruining some special moment between the human and alicorn that might be a defining part of their relationship, and as the human’s almost-probably-maybe best friend Flash should just suck it up and go by himself! ...Or get ice cream with one of his friends; triple chocolate with sprinkles if they still had it.

“Um, Princess?” Flash said after knocking on the door. “Princess? Can, if Ares isn’t busy and stuff, you send Ares out for a second? I want to see if he wants to go out and get some ice cream.”

When Flash was met with silence, he did what came naturally; namely, beating on the door like it owed him money.

“Princessprincessprincessprincessprince—“

Flash hopped backwards with a yelp as the door was thrown open, revealing Ares, whose only covering was a towel. The human looked sweaty, was covered in what looked like lipstick kisses, had this odd scent that Flash knew but couldn’t quite place, and he looked like he was trying his hardest to kill him with just an angry stare.

Oddly, Flash couldn’t help but feel that he may have, in fact, interrupted something a little more important than ice cream.

“What. Do. You. Want. For. Fuck’s. Sake. Flash,” Ares said through gritted teeth.

Flash backed up a little from the angry man. “…Um, I wanted to know if you wanted to go out and maybe get some ice cream?” Coughing anxiously, Flash looked up at his friend and flashed him a winning smile.

When he noticed that Ares hadn’t attacked him him yet, or done anything other than stand there with his eye twitching, Flash decided to state the case for his need for ice cream. “I know this great place down the road that sells this scoop that will knock the horseshoes off a—“

Slam!

Flash blinked in confusion as the door was slammed in his face. The private blinked a while longer before finally saying, “So… is that a no?”

@!##!@

I knew I should have cast a stronger dampening spell on the door, I thought, trying to fix my mane a little bit as Ares stormed back into our room with a look that would have given a dragon pause.

“Ice cream, fucking ice cream! I got cock blocked by Flash because he wanted to go out and get ice cream!” My human muttered, walking over to the bed and sitting down next to me. “I swear to God if that wasn’t so silly and adorable I’d have thrown him down the hall!”

Giggling, I crawled forward and sat next to my human, giving his neck a little kiss. Because our foreplay had been getting a little… heated, some things had gotten knocked off tables while the two of us had been kissing, and one of those things was a tube of cherry-red lipstick.

After a few more minutes of playing around with said lipstick, I had discovered that my silly human had a thing for mares that wore lipstick and being kissed by said mares. Having acquired that little bit of helpful information I did the only sensible thing that I could; I teased and tormented my human by leaving lipstick kisses all over his body. Right now I was covered in lipstick, as was a lot of our room, but I had a wild-eyed, red, and panting human because of it, so I considered the mess worth it.

I had gotten him so worked up that when I kissed his neck I heard a little whine escape his throat as he shivered. I was about to kiss him again, just put up a shield spell, ignore Flash, and get back to the foreplay, but I stopped myself. Now, now, Aunty Celestia raised you better than that. You can’t blow off your guard like he was some noble!

“Why don’t you go and play with Flash for a little while, honey?” I said, wrapping my wing around the visibly angry Ares’ shoulder. “You know that Flash didn’t mean to interrupt us; he just wanted to take his friend out to get some ice cream and spend time with him.”

Ares sighed. “But we were just about to get to the good part,” he muttered, sounding so disappointed that I couldn’t help but kiss his neck again.

“All we were doing was chasing each other around the room and kissing,” I said gently, rubbing my cheek against his. “It’s not like he caught us ‘in the act’.” Smirking, I started to nibble his neck. “We can have our fun for the rest of the night after you go out and get some ice cream.” Ares started to lightly pant, a blush starting to spread downwards toward his chest with each one of my little bites.

Getting up from my spot, I sat down in Ares’ lap and faced him. “Aw, don’t give me those puppy-dog eyes,” I teased, kissing his nose when I saw his look. “Tomorrow you and I have to go to work, along with Flash, so you should go out and do something with him.” I leaned toward his ear and gave it a gentle bit, “Tonight, after you get back, I’m going to make sure you’re walking funny to that flower shop in the morning, buster~,” I whispered huskily.

Ares chuckled nervously. “You know, the guy’s supposed to say that to the girl…”

He squeaked when I nipped his neck, not enough to hurt him but enough to leave a red mark. “You go and get a quick shower,” I told him, rolling out of his lap and off the bed, “I’ll go and talk to Flash while you’re getting ready to go.”

“Don’t forget, Candy, you’re covered in lipstick!”

Without turning around, I cast a glamor on myself to look like the normal, non-lipstick covered Cadence. “Thanks for reminding me, Ares,” I said, slightly embarrassed. “I might just have opened the door like this.”

“That’s why I love you, Candy … that and that ass of yours.”

Just as I reached the door, I looked over my shoulder at my cheeky human. Giving my flank a wiggle, I said, “I love you too~ Oh, and while you’re out, would you be a dear and get me some pistachio ice cream?”

I kept wiggling my butt back and forth to tease my human. You’re right I have a great butt, I thought, pleased with myself when I saw that Ares couldn’t keep his eyes off it. I had better after all the working out I do to keep the thing from getting bigger.

“Ares,” I said in amusement, “did you hear me?”

All I got was a nod from Ares as one of his hands reached for the bathroom doorknob.

“So are you going to get me my ice cream?”

Another nod.

I smiled again, fixing my mane with a hoof before I opened the door. “Good; now go get a shower, get some clothes on, get that bag of bits on the counter, and go and have some fun. Because,” Reaching up, I grabbed my human’s shirt collar and yanked him down. Leaning forward, I whispered in his ear. “Tonight you are I are going to buck like rabbits!”

@$#!!$@

“Alright, you two have fun,” Cadence said as she slowly started to close the door behind her. “Make sure you get Ares home before nine, Flash. He and I have … things to do.”

Flash saluted while Ares, now cleaned and dressed, rolled his eyes. “You can count on me, Princess,” the private said as she closed the door, leaving Flash and Ares alone in the hallway.

The Pegasus started to trot in place, looking like he was about to burst from excitement. “Oh, you’re just going to love this place, Ares,” he told the human, barely able to contain his glee, “it has over a hundred different flavors and I think it’s all you can eat Tuesday!”

Ares nudged his friend down the hall with a foot before following him. “That’s great, Flash buddy,” he said, still a little grumpy about the whole cock blocking thing.

Flash must have heard the tone in his voice because he stopped and looked back at him. “I’m sorry if I interrupted anything that was going on between you and the princess, Ares,” he said, actually sounding genuinely sorry. “I just wanted to take you out to get ice cream and everything because you’re going to start work tomorrow and we might not get to see each other as often since you’re working and I’ll be busy in the barracks…” Ares couldn’t help but feel a little bad as Flash trailed off, looking sadly at the ground like a puppy that has just done something bad.

Is it wrong to think one of your guy friends is adorable? Ares thought as he walked up and patted Flash on the back.

“Aw, come on, Flash, you didn’t really interrupt anything,” Ares lied, giving his friend his best smile, “and I’m sure that the two of us will get to hang out with each other all the time!”

Flash looked back up at him and sniffled, wiping his nose with a hoof. “Really?” He weakly asked.

Ares slapped him on the back. “Yep! How about the two of us just sit down one day and figure out our schedules to see whats up. I can get up real early and go and work out with you or we could do something later. How does that sound big guy?”

Flash smiled and nodded. “Alright.”

“Alright then, let’s go and get some—“

“And where do you two think you’re going?” Echo demanded, her sudden appearance made Flash and Ares jump into the air.

“Stupid batman bat horse,” Ares muttered, holding his hand to his rapidly beating chest. “Popping up and scaring the shit out of people for no reason...”

His reflexes taking over, Flash saluted. “We’re going to go out and get some ice cream, ma’am,” he said not looking her in the eyes. “I’ve finished the duties that you’ve assigned for me for the day and—“

“Shush, private,” Echo interrupted, rolling her eyes, “we’re not in the barracks, and I happen to be off duty myself, so why don’t you get that stick out of your flank.” Flash sighed in relief as Echo glared at Ares, who was glaring back.

“And what the heck’s got your panties in a bunch?” Ares asked. “And why can’t you just not pop up like that? You almost gave me a heartattack.”

Echo growled. “You’re lucky I don’t start beating your monkey flank up and down this hallway,” she told him, poking his thigh. “It took me twenty bucking minutes to get away from those kids!”

Now smiling, Ares reached over and ruffled her mane, almost losing a finger when she snapped at him. “Aw, come on, Echo, those kids were adorable!” He looked her up and down. “And I think you’ve still got some snot in your mane from that little interaction,” he told her, pointing out the slightly discolored glop of something in the bat pony’s mane.

Echo growled again, her look becoming murderous as she took an angry step forward. Flash, not really wanting to have to break up a hoof fight, stepped in-between the two.

“Um, Sergeant, ma’am,” he said, trying not to flinch when Echo gave him a withering look, “I’m sure Ares is really sorry about what he did—“

“Not really, no,” Ares said with a shrug. “It’s what she gets for almost letting me get stabbed by the d—“

“Like I said,” Flash interrupted, glaring at Ares before looking at his superior with a weak smile, “I’m sure he’s sorry; in fact, why don’t you come down to the ice cream parlor with the two of us? Ares can get you a cone or something to apologize!”

Ares was about to protest when Flash kicked him in the shin. “Alright,” the human grumbled, rubbing his leg. “Yeah, Flashy here is right; I’m sorry.”

Echo narrowed her eyes. “Even though I know that that’s a load of horseapples, monkey, I accept your apology.” She threw a nasty grin his way. “And you know what? I’d love to get some ice cream with the two of you.”

Wrapping a hoof around Flash’s neck, the bat pony chuckled and gave Ares’ shin a little kick of her own, making the human hop up into the air.

“Mother fucker!” he cursed as Echo grinned. “Will you both stop kicking me there?!”

Echo stopped and looked back at him, a hammy smile still on her face. “Stop being a big baby and come on; we have some ice cream to eat!” Doing a little hop in the air and clicking her hooves together, the mare rolled her eyes before she all but dragged Flash down the hallway.

Ares looked her over while he continued to rub his aching leg. “Stupid crafty bat horse,” he muttered, limping after the two, “If I get kicked once more I’m just eating one of the funny bastards … that fucking hurt.”

“Stop talking to yourself and get that monkey flank moving!”

Ten minutes ago I was JUST about to get laid. Now I’m going to go get FUCKING ICE CREAM instead of spending time with my beautiful girlfriend… Ares couldn’t help but pinch the bridge of his nose and close his eyes in irritation.

“You know,” he muttered to himself, “I don’t think I’ve ever been so mad about going out with some friends and getting ice cream before.” Looking back over his shoulder at his bedroom door, he couldn’t help but remember what Cadence had said.

Well, at least I have something to look forward to, he thought. And hopefully she uses some more of that lipstick again, He shivered. That was pretty hot...

@!##!@

As Ares closed the doors behind him, I dispelled the glamor that I had put on myself and took a minute to look around my room, which could have been compared to a warzone. Here were chairs knocked over, I had make-up and jewelry all over the floor, the bed just looked like an angry bear had been at it; all in all I could tell that it was going to take a little bit of elbow grease to clean this mess up.

“Maybe I should go and take a shower before I tackle all of this,” I muttered to myself as I took the sheets and comforter off the bed and put them in the dirty laundry bin. “I don’t want this lipstick staining my coat… and I really don’t want Ares to think I stink when he gets back.”

Checking to see that nopony was about—call it silly paranoia but I just wanted to make sure—I did a quick sniff test, wincing at my … mature odor. Boy I can’t do any kind of workout without sweating like a noble at a charity, I thought, putting on some new bedding and going over and fixing the chairs.

“Yep, I’ll get a shower, clean the rest of this up, and wait for my ice cream and my human,” I said, doing a little skip in excitement. Sure, it had been a teeny bit awkward when I found him reading that book, but did I have to dance around the issue? Did I have to hint and tease and pray that he’d get the message? Nope, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had a stallion that made it a thousand times easier for her to get into his pants!

Wow, that sounded not great know that I think about it…. Well, moving on.

After taking that shower, and getting everything put back where it belonged, I went over and sat down on my bed. “Well, it looks like I have a good bit of time until they get back,” I said to myself, looking around my room for something to stave off the wait.

I always could get a little dressed up for Ares, and I could go and set up some candles to give the room a little something, I thought, trotting around and inspecting the room. I smirked when my gaze rested on my bookshelf full of erotic literature. Grinning hugely, I got up and trotted toward the bookshelf and pulled down the third edition of the pony sutra.

“All you need to know about pleasing your biped,” I read from the title, carrying the book toward the bed. “You know, it also wouldn’t hurt to read up on some things while I’m waiting…” I murmured, levitating a batch of candles from a cabinet and setting them on the table. “But first, I’m going to make sure this room blows Ares’ socks off when he sees it.” I giggled. “Hopefully that makes him lose his other clothes too.”

@#!@#

“We’ll be stopping at the Crystal Empire train station in twenty minutes, fillies and gentlecolts,” The ticketmaster yelled, breaking Shining out of his stupor.

Why the hay is he even yelling? Shining thought, glaring at the aging stallion before he went back to looking out the window. I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one on this train other than him

It had been pretty painless to tell his parents goodbye. It was a little harder when he had sent that letter to his sister explaining what he had been doing and where he was going. She wanted him to stay in Canterlot, or at least come down to Ponyville so the two of them could talk about it.

Even now Shining couldn’t help but snort at the thought. Heh, she wanted to be rational about all of this, he mused. Like I’m a sane pony at the moment anyway. At least there was something to be said for his stubbornness at least. Not very many stallions would go this length to get some closure.

He chuckled at the thought of one of his old guard buddies standing outside of one of their ex’s houses and demanding that they be allowed in so they could have a ‘talk’. They always said that I was the sentimental one, Shining thought to himself as he stared out the window, a small smile on his face.

Even though he had no idea how anypony was going to take him coming back like this unannounced, Shining couldn’t help but look forward seeing the Empire again. During his short time there he had grown to love the culture, the food (Gods did they make some BUCKING good food), and the people there and was happy to come back and witness it again.

Sure, he wasn’t coming back as a prince, and sure, there was a good chance that Cadence was just going to take one good look at him and throw his flank out into the tundra but--

None of that, Shining Armor, he thought fiercely to himself, trying to clear his thoughts by shaking his head, you know Cadence wouldn’t do that to you! Shining sat up in his seat with his chest puffed out. You wanted to get your bucking closure? Well buddy, you’re going to get it, even if you have to crawl all the way to the castle! So what if Cadence might not give you a job? That’s not the reasons you’re here!

Deciding that now out be a good time to get his bags, Shining reached up and started fiddling with cabinet above his seat. You’ll talk to Ares and Cadence, have a heart-to-heart with them and then you’ll ask Cadence for a job. If she says no you can go back to Canterlot and get an assignment there, and if she says yes…

Shining slumped back into his seat with a sigh. ...Well if she says yes, then I’m going to have to think about what to do when I get to that… If I get to that.

Shining was on the only train that went to the Empire; a train that only went to said place a few times a month, so if he was going to get flat out rejected then he was stuck there for a while. But that didn’t matter, he was a stallions who was going to the Empire to take names and chew bubblegum. ..And he was all out of bubblegum.

Later, Back at the Empire…

“Alright, see you in the morning, Ares!” Flash said, waving at his friend before walking into the barracks with Echo.

“See you Flash, bat horse!” Ares said with a wave, exceptionaly happy that he was done eating ice cream. Why the heck did Flash even take us there? he thought as he made his way to the kitchen to get Cadence a bowl and a spoon for her ice cream, a gesture he was sure that she was going to appreciate. I swear to god that was a kiddie parlor! I’m an adult dammit, I should be going to adult ice cream places, where they’re playing pool and there’s that AC/DC song playing in the background that everyone knows!

Not that he was particularly sore about going out with Flash and Echo; it had been a fun time, but now he had another ‘fun time’ that he wanted to get to. He and Cadence had work in a few hours; he’d be seeing what his new job is like, so he’d have get up even earlier than usual to make a good impression. That only gave him a few hours until he had to leave. So he was going to spend that time the right way, going on a little date with his favorite pink princess; the kind of date where you skip past all of the boring stuff and you tear each other’s clothes off.

After getting the bowl and spoon from the kitchen, Ares made his way back to his bedroom. I wonder if I got the ice cream Candy wanted, he thought, looking down at the container of ice cream as he pawed for the bedroom door I don’t feel like getting yelled at because I got her pecan.

“Hey, Candy,” he said, not noticing that the room had been lit by candles because he had to make sure that he wasn’t going to drop anything and look like a putz. “I got you your—“ Ares froze in place when he finally managed to look up and see Cadence, who was lounging lazily on the bed, her mane tied up in a ponytail, sucking on a lollipop.

Cadence gave him a sultry look, taking her lollipop out of her mouth with a pop. “Oh, hello, honey,” she said in a mixture of happiness and erotic glee that almost made him forget his name, “did you get my ice cream?”

Still not able to form words, Ares silently lifted the carton of ice cream to show her.

“Thank you, baby,” the pink alicorn said, looking him up and down while he just stood there. Giggling when she saw his slack-jawed expression, she carefully levitated the carton , bowl, and spoon out of his hands and floated them over toward her. “Did you get me pistachio like I wanted?”

“Um … they were out so I got you pecan?” Ares lied, trying, and failing, to compose himself. Sweet Odin, just fucking look at her!

Cadence giggled again, opening the carton and peering inside. “Well, lucky for you you got my second favorite kind of ice cream,” she said, making sure he saw her sensually licking at her frozen treat.

Not able to stand it anymore, Ares whimpered, trying to keep himself quiet by biting his lip. Cadence’s ears perked up and she raised an eyebrow. “Aw,” she said sympathetically, spreading her legs and giving him an eyeful, “does someone need a treat too?”

Putting the container of ice cream down on the counter, she gave Ares a come-hither wave. “Well, I’m all you can eat, honey~?” She purred, batting her eyelashes at him.

At that moment, something snapped inside of Ares the human, changing him from the carefree and loving guy that he always thought himself to be and into nothing less than an animal. Being an animal, he did the only sensible thing that one could do when presented with a pretty girl that wanted to bang his brains out; he ran over and got to the boning.

With an animalistic roar, Ares charged. In five giant steps, He managed to rip off his pants, his shirt, his shoes and socks, before leaping into the bed and crawling toward Cadence, who was laughing in childish delight. He was about to kiss his favorite pink alicorn when she stopped him with a hoof.

“Hang on for a second,” she said, her horn glowing. “I just want to make sure no pony will interrupt us this time.”

Even though he really didn’t want to, Ares held back. Being a sex-crazed animal was fine and all, but at least he could make sure Cadence was comfortable with everything before he just threw her down onto the bed and banged her brains out until neither of would be able to move in the morning. Sure, it was hard being a gentleman, but someone had to do it.

Trying to steady his breath, he asked, “How are you gonna go that, Candy?” Not able to completely stop himself, he slowly started running his hands down her body.

Cadence giggled, giving him a light shove as her horn glowed. “Ares. Stoooop! I’m trying to cast a spell!” She whined, though not really trying to stop him in any way.

Kissing her neck, Ares asked, “What spell is that?”

“Oh, I’ll just turn our door into stone; that should do plenty.”

Ares couldn’t help but laugh before kissing his marefriend’s neck again and reaching for his boxers. “Here’s hoping that you know how to change it back. I really don’t want to have to jump through the window to get to the kitchens,” he joked, reaching around and giving the alicorn’s rump a little squeeze.

Cadence growled, grabbing Ares by the neck and pulling him into a kiss. “You don’t need to worry about that now,” she told him heatedly. “You need to worry about me bucking your brains out until the sun comes up!”

Ares almost yelped when he was shoved onto his back, Cadence climbing on top of him with a pleased hum. Looking at his boxers for a moment, she looked him right in the eye. “Now be a good boy and get those boxers off,” she commanded, her wings flaring a little bit in impatience, “you and I have a long night ahead of us!”

When God Closes a Door...

“Alright fillies, lights out in five minutes! Make sure to brush your teeth, put on your jammies, and rest up, ‘cause we’ve got PT in the morning!”

Flash sighed in contentment as he cleaned his helmet.Well, it looks like I’m back to running my flank off and being yelled at by my superiors, he thought, oddly happy about his predicament. Even though it was fun running around with Ares, there was just something about guard duty that put him at ease.

A sergeant will almost burst a blood vessel yelling at you and you might just throw up from exhaustion when they decide to punish you because you didn’t have your armor on its rack properly, but they would never throw you into highly tense, touchy-feely scenarios where you felt far too tired to even lift your head afterwards. No, life in the military was simple, upfront, and you pretty much knew what you were getting into when you signed up.

All he was going to have to do was guard the princess for a few hours a day, he might have to do some patrolling, but that was it. He could do that and have his fun with Ares or another one of his fellow guards, or do pretty much anything else during his down time. Yep, everything was going back to the normal, orderly, and boring life that Flash was more than ready to get back to.

It almost made up for the fact that he was going to be running, training, scrubbing, running, lifting, getting yelled at, and running until his feathers fell out. Did he mention that he was going to be doing a lot of running? Because he was, probably more than most ponies run in their lives in fact.

Echo, it seemed, did not like the physical fitness of the crystal guard, so she decided that a mini boot camp was in order to get everypony back into tip-top shape; and Flash couldn’t be happier about it. He was going to lose the bit of weight he had gained during his little vacation, and hopefully this would get the guard and Echo acquainted with each other.

I’ll try to make sure to talk her up to the fellas he thought, yawning as he hopped into his little bed. Hopefully she’ll show them that there was a reason that the princesses picked her to replace Shining.

Tomorrow was going to be a new day full of excitement and sweat, and he couldn’t wait for it. All that he needed to do was hear Echo yell for lights out, then he could go to sleep, but for now he was just going to have to wait, so wait is what he was going to do.

… And wait…. And wait…. And wait.

What the heck is taking so long? He thought. frowning. We should have had lights out already. Is time just moving REALLY slow for me or is something happening?

With a sigh, Flash put down the helmet and placed it next to the rest of his armor—all of which were so shiny that you could see your reflection in them—noticing, for the first time, that there was nopony in sight within the barracks. Where did everypony go? He wondered, quietly trotting towards the door to see what was happening.

Is this like that one nightmare I had after eating too many jelly beans? I swear to Celestia if a monster jumps out and tries to sca—

“Hello there, Private; long time no see.”

Flash’s head whipped around at the voice, his eyes widening in confusion and shock. That’s not the cap, he’s still in…

Shining Armor couldn’t help but smile tiredly as Flash froze at the sight of him, the unicorn adjusted the pack on his back to a more comfortable position. “You know, I was wondering where you were. As soon as I got within sight of the castle I had about half of the guard running out in their nightcaps to come see me.”

Flash still hadn’t moved from his spot, but Shining carried on regardless.

“I got to talk to your new CO; I heard a lot about her from back when I was at Canterlot years and years ago. She’s a good mare once you get to know her, I’ve been told.” With that tired smile still on his face, Shining took a step forward and patted Flash on the back. “So private, how’s life treating you?”

Somewhere, in Flash’s jumbled, confused mind, he realized two things. One: He should really get somepony in the guard to tell him when something’s happening so he just didn’t sit on his bed and clean his armor like a putz; And two: it looked like things were, in fact, not going to back into some form of normality. No, either something good was going to happen, or something very bad was going to happen.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

It’s always nice to know that your special somepony notices and appreciates just how far you went to set the mood just right. Whether it’s a happy mood, sexy mood, or anything in between, I always like it when my hard work is appreciated.

While Ares was gone I had decided that our special night needed a little more oomph to make it memorable, so I decided to pull out all of the stops.

I covered most of the room in candles so the room would be getting just the right amount of light, I changed our bedding from its silly white and orange color (Those were the only clean sheets that I had at the time, so don’t look at me like that) to red, the color of love, and, for most ponies that would have just been great. But me? Nope, I wanted to go the extra mile to really make this night memorable for the two of us.

I had some very good wine chilling by our bedside; I had some soft, sweet music playing in the background; I even decided to throw some rose petals on our bed for fun. I also gussied myself up, tying my mane up into a ponytail and applying a little lipstick, so you could say that I had gone the extra-extra mile for my favorite human.

Ares REALLY needs to get back, I thought, idly sucking on my lollypop as I lay in bed. He and I have a lot of … experimenting to do. For the fifth time, I snuck a quick peek at my pony sutra book before looking at the door in impatience.

Let’s see, the music’s on, I have everything Ares and I can play with right on the nightstand so we can reach them easily, I know how to do the Manehattan Masher backwards and forwards, all I need to do is keep myself busy for a little longer.

I shifted around my bed, my brow furrowed in thought.

You know, now that I think about it, I might need to ask Ares how flexible he is before we try to do anything like this, because I really don’t know if Ares’ back can bend like—

My eyes widened when I heard the doorknob turning. OhmygoshIneedtogetready! I thought, tossing my little black book under the bed and sitting up.

Looking around the room to see if everything was perfect, I magicked over a little mirror to check that my lipstick was still on alright before lying back down on the bed in the sexiest pose I could manage and sticking the sucker back into my mouth.

Have you ever been in one of those situations where something seems a thousand times longer than it usually is; time just seems to stand still? Well it felt like Ares took about an hour opening that door. In that span of two or three seconds, my adrenaline-filled, excited mind went ahead and did the worst thing imaginable; it started to make me doubt myself.

Was Ares going to be in the mood now after I had basically kicked him out to spend time with his friends? Was all of this—the candles, the music—too much? Was he going to laugh at me when he saw my make up? Did he get the kind of ice cream that I asked for?

I was actually making myself so nervous that it was a wonder that I didn’t fly out the window as my human opened the door and stepped inside the room.

“Hey Candy,” he said, looking out into the hallway while he closed the door, “I got you your—”

When he finally brought his eyes up to look at me, he froze him place, and I swear, even with the dim light and how far away he was, I could see his pupils dilate.

Alright, I thought, it looks like you’ve got him in a state of shock-arousal, now’s the time for a sexy look!

Bringing out my best one, I took the sucker out of my mouth and looked him up and down. “Oh, hello Honey,” I purred, “did you get me my ice cream?”

I giggled quietly when I saw Ares’ mouth just open and close for a few seconds while he stood there. Hah, I knew I didn’t go overboard! I cheered to myself while I just levitated the sucker close to my mouth. Giving Ares another sexy look, I stuck my tongue out and started to lick at it.

My human almost looked lost as he showed me a carton of ice cream that was in one hand and the bowl that was in the other. I smiled. “Thank you, baby,” I said giggling. I took the carton and bowl out of his hands with my magic and floated it over toward me. “Did you get pistachio like I wanted?” Not that I really cared whether or not he got me the right ice cream. I just wanted to keep this up a little longer to see what my little human was going to do.

“Um … they were out so I got you pecan,” Ares said.

Seeing that he was starting to pant, I opened up the carton and looked inside, seeing the pecan-y goodness, though a little thawed, was still frozen enough to eat. “Well, lucky for you you got my second favorite kind of ice cream,” I told him, giving him a little wink.

For a minute, Ares looked like I had just kicked his puppy. His lips stuck out, he was shaking, and I swear to Faust that he had tears in his eyes. I, Mi Amore Cadenza, had actually brought a full grown stallion to tears because of how sexy I was. Not to sound like a narcissist or anything, but I was pretty happy about that.

I gave him a gentle smile. Alright, enough playing, I thought before lying on my back fully. “Aw, does someone need a treat too?” I asked my human, spreading my legs and showing him how much my teasing was affecting me. Seeing that the ice cream had served its purpose, I set it down on the nightstand and watched as Ares’ eye started to twitch.

Wow, I REALLY have him worked up, I thought with a mixture of pride and glee, but now I really have to bring it home ... what can I do? Pulling Ares onto the bed would’ve been fine but I kind of wanted him to come to me.

Then a little light bulb lit up over my head. All I needed to do was just say one more thing and I was sure that Ares would be charging this bed as fast as his legs could take him! Come on, you’re a pro at dirty talk, I thought. This is going to be as easy as pie.

I dug deep, trying to remember everything that I had learned from books, magazines, and my personal experience and using all of that collective knowledge to think up something truly awesome. They will be writing about what I say tonight; mares will tell their daughters, in hushed whispers, about my words tonight, and they will use them to win any stallion that they want!

Batting my eyelashes at him, I arched my back and said, “Well, I’m all you can eat, honey~”

The words came out of my mouth before I could stop myself, but when I heard them out loud I almost facehoofed. So much for building myself up; if I was lucky Ares would just laugh at me before leaving the room after how horrible that was. What the buck was that?! I thought to myself. I’m all you can eat honey? That sounds like it came out of a bad porn—

“ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!”

Once, in my life, I had the misfortune of being up close to a Hydra as it roared. Let me tell you, it was something. It was so loud that the force of the yell hit you in the gut like a punch and it sounded so angry and animalistic that you knew that there was a reason why this creature was so infamous.

I promise you, as Faust is my witness, the yell that came from my human’s chest sounded louder than any hydra. Louder and hungrier too. As soon as his cry ended, my eyes snapped upwards, back toward him, where I saw that Ares was already out of his pants and shirt and he was halfway across the room, giving me the hungriest look that I had ever seen in my life.

Boy… maybe I need to take it a little easier next time. I thought, a goofy smile coming to my face. Hah, and I thought that I wasn’t going to knock his socks off!

I swear he made it to our bed in five steps, and was just in his boxers in three, and then jumped on with so much force that he almost catapulted me off of it. I couldn’t keep myself from laughing in delight and relief. It looked like this night was going to be one to remember.

If it’s a night the two of us want to remember, then I should make sure that nopony is going to be interrupting us.

I eyed the door while Ares wrapped his arms around me and started to lean in for a kiss. “Hang on for a second,” I said, gently pushing him away with a hoof and giggling when he kissed it. “I just want to make sure that no pony will interrupt us this time.” When he looked at me questioningly I just pointed at the door. He looked at it and nodded, kissing my neck as my horn lit up with magic.

“And how are you going to do that, Candy?” My human asked, sounding a little winded while his hands slowly started to run over my body.

I giggled when one of his hands tickled my belly. “Ares,” I whined, “Stoooop, I’m trying to cast the spell!”

Ares kissed my neck again as I swatted the hand playfully away. “And what spell is that?”

I shivered at the feeling of his hot breath tickling my neck. Grabbing his hand with my hooves, I brought it up to my face and gave the back of his hand a little kiss. “Oh, I’m just going to turn the door into stone,” I replied nonchalantly, casting the spell and watching the door turn grey, “That should keep pretty much everypony out.”

Ares quietly laughed against my neck before giving it another kiss. “Well, here’s to hoping that you know how to change it back,” he said, kissing my jaw. “I don’t want to have to jump out the window to get to work in the morning.”

I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything as I concentrated on the spell. While it was a convenient little bit of magic, if I do say so myself, it actually took a good deal of time and effort to cast, so it took a few minutes of watching it and molding the magic just so, so that it actually turned the wood and iron of the door into stone.

“Huh, that’s actually pretty neat,” I heard Ares say as the door thickened and turned stone-like. “You’ve got to tell me how to do that, Candy. I bet it’d be neat to break that out some other time.”

Seeing that my spell had been fully cast, I grabbed Ares by the back of the neck and pulled him into a kiss. “You don’t need to worry about that right now,” I growled, eyeing the bulge in his boxers. “What you need to worry about is me and you and everything we’re going to be doing tonight.” I looked back down at his boxers in disgust. “Now, be a good boy and take off those boxers. You and I have a long night ahead of us!”

I giggled when Ares grabbed my head and kissed my nose tenderly. “Why don’t you take ’em off, Candy?” he suggested, wiping the lipstick off of his lips the best he could with the back of his hand.

I smiled, and gently pushed Ares down until he was lying flat on the bed. “I was hoping that you’d ask,” I told him, toying with the edge of his boxers. I bit my lip. “I always love undressing you; it’s like unwrapping a hearth’s warming present.”

Slowly, as slowly as I could, I slid those pesky boxers down, right until—

CRASH!

I yelped when I felt Ares wrap his arms around me and roll the two of us off the edge of the bed as the window beside me practically exploded. Whatthebuckwasthat?! I thought, covering my head with my hooves at the sounds of expensive things in my room being broken into a million pieces.

There was a pained grunt, and some more glass breaking, leading me to believe that A: there this was not just some freakish accident, and B: there were at least two ponies in my room breaking my things and possibly coming in here to try to hurt either me or Ares.

The very thought made me angry. How dare somepony come in here and try to assassinate me while I’m trying to get lucky with my coltfriend! Couldn’t they at least have some class and wait until tomorrow?!

With an angry snarl, I rolled out of Ares’ protective hug and got to my hooves. “You picked the wrong night to try something like this,” I spat, my horn charging a rather nasty offensive spell as I looked around for my intruders. “Now come out and I’ll only hurt you a little— what?”

My righteous anger was replaced with confusion when I saw Sergeant Echo slowly getting off a groaning Flash and onto her hooves, the mare muttered to herself as she picked up the sword. “Private, I am so making sure you get demoted if we get…”

She looked over at me. “What the he—“

BOOM!

~-~-~-~ Ten minutes before ~-~-~-~

Echo watched as Shining Armor talked and joked with a few of her soldiers, a contemplative look on her face. Sweet Luna he looks tired, she thought, eyeing the bags under his eyes. It looks like he hasn’t slept in days.

For most of the crystal guard, and Flash, the return of Shining Armor was something to celebrate, but for Echo it looked like it was going to be the beginnings of a headache. A headache and maybe something more serious.

To her, the ex-captain had no reason to come here; he didn’t lead these ponies anymore, she did, and he didn’t have any connections that she knew of other than the princess, who dumped him. So that lead to the question of why the hay he was here, in her barracks, standing in front of her.

After a few minutes of watching carefully, Echo thought she had it narrowed down to two reasons. One: Shining and Private Flash Sentry were secret lovers and Shining had come back to get his man. It may have sounded silly, but Echo had seen and heard about stranger things during her time in the guard. Then again, it might have just been all of those cheesy romance novels that she had been reading lately.

The other more probable reason was that the unicorn might be here for more nefarious reasons. His wife had kicked him to the curb and he wasn’t that happy about it; plain and simple. Maybe he became depressed, maybe he wants to come here and hurt the people that had hurt him.

Echo knew Shining from hearsay amongst the guard; she knew how much power he could bring to bear if he ever got angry enough. There wasn’t a single unicorn in the Crystal Guard of his caliber, which would make a difficult fight—if it came to that—a heck of a lot harder. The princess might have to get involved if Shining decided to fight his way up to the royal bedroom to pay Ares a visit. Echo had no idea about his mental stability at the moment and she wanted to make sure he was actually okay before letting him anywhere near Cadence or Ares.

I just need to get him secured for the night, she decided, leaving her little corner and making her way over toward him. I’ll talk to a few of the veteran’s and explain the situation.

If she could get Shining out of the castle, maybe let him stay at one of the hotels under watch, Echo could have the night to think about what to do. If he willingly came with them, it’d look good on his part if not, well, he couldn’t stop all of them from jumping him at the same time, and Echo knew for a fact where the magic inhibitors were lying around, so she liked her chances.

I’ll get that big guy standing over there and that mare with the red mane. I think those are the ponies that came from Canterlot with Private Flash Sentry. They’ll be able to—

“Um, are you alright, ma’am?”

Echo blinked, looking around and seeing Flash staring at her. “What was that, private?” she asked, giving her head a little shake. By Luna’s moon, I need to get some sleep. Why the hay do things like this happen right when I’m about to go to sleep?

Flash took a step toward her. “You were just staring off into space, Sergeant,” he said with concern. “I was just making sure that you were okay…. You’re okay right?”

Echo took a moment to look him over. Even though the private and Shining seem like friends he should be willing to help me get Shining out of the castle until the morning, she decided, laying a wing over his shoulder and leading him to the other side of the room. Or at the very least he won’t be stupid enough to try to stop us.

“Private, I need you to get Hoplite and Grinder over here,” she whispered, eyeing Shining. “We’re going to have to get the ex-prince-consort out of the castle for the time being and get someone to watch him for the night.”

“Why?” Flash asked, confused. “Shining just wants to go and talk with the princess, and I’m sure she’ll make sure he has a room to sleep in tonight.”

“I don’t know the mental stability of that stallion at the moment,” Echo said calmly, looking him right in the eyes. “He might do something everypony will regret, so we’re going to get him out of the castle until I know for certain he’s here for the right reasons.”

Flash frowned. “Ma’am, look at him; he’s not here to hurt anypony, he just wants to—“

Echo narrowed her eyes at him. “Private, I was not asking you, that was an order,” she said warningly. “Now get you flank over there and tell the—

“ARRRRRRRGH!”

As one, everypony looked up at the ceiling.

“That sounds like it’s coming from the floor above,” somepony said.

“All the way through the floor?” Another said, scoffing. “That’s like five feet of stone.”

“Isn’t the royal bedroom right above us?” All of the guardsponies looked at each other.

To most of them, that sounded like someone screaming in pain, and to hear it through that floor meant it had be have been loud.

“Who’s on guard duty tonight?” Echo asked quickly as she rushed over toward her armor and weapons. Some ponies, seeing this, followed her example, calmly strapping on armor and putting on their helmets.

“There’s nopony on guard duty ma’am, the princess told us to take the night off.”

Of course she did, Echo thought sourly, checking her sword before strapping it to her back. It’s one thing after the bucking other isn’t it?

Hopping up onto a bed, Echo looked at her fellow guardsponies. “Alright, listen up,” she said loudly. “You, you and you, I want you to take a look around down on this floor to see if there’s anypony sneaking around who shouldn’t be sneaking around.”

The guards she pointed out saluted before racing out of the barracks. “The rest of you come with me. Even though this is probably nothing I want to go and make sure that it isn’t something.” Echo scowled. “BUT, if it is bucking something, I want you all to be ready for anything. The main priority is making sure the princess and Ares are safe; is that understood?”

“Sergeant!” Shining pushed his way through the crowd and looked up at her. “Is there anything that I can do to help?”

Echo smiled when she heard the unicorn’s tone. She could tell that he was just asking her to be polite; even if she said no, he was going to come with them. Hopping off the bed, she gestured toward a spear on the rack.

“Shining Armor was it? Well, you can come with us to see what’s what if you’d like, but you and I are going to have a talk when this is over.”

Instead of the confusion and even anger that she was expecting, Shining just nodded. “I understand, ma’am,” he said. “I would be a little confused why somepony would just drop by in the middle of the night for seemingly no reason.”

Nodding, Echo looked back at the group. “Alright, everypony, let’s get into formation and get through this castle nice and easy. We all want to get to the princess’ room in one piece, don’t we?”

With practiced grace, from the veterans to the rookies, the troop fell in line, eyes scanning and weapons at the ready.

~~A few minutes later~~

“Where the hay did the bucking door go?”

That is a very good question, Shining thought as he looked at the wall where hi—the royal bedroom was supposed to be.

After an uneventful but nerve-wracking march through the castle, Shining and the guards had made their way toward the royal wing of the castle and into an empty, doorless hallway. For every guard, it raised more than a few red flags.

Transfiguration was a school of magic that very few ponies could even do because of the amount of power it took for even the simplest of spells, so each one of them knew that not only were they dealing with a spellcaster, but a powerful one at that. That or there was an entire group of unicorns trotting about with unknown intentions, which might have been even worse.

“What are we going to do, Sergeant?” One of the guardsponies asked, eyeing the wall. “Do you want us to just smash through and buck up anything that isn’t pink or a monkey with clothes?”

Shining almost shook his head. If there’s somepony of the other side of the door that might be exactly what they want; we need to think of another way to get in there undetected. He thought that, but he kept his mouth shut, he wasn’t running this ship, the Sergeant was. Hopefully she’s as good as the princesses say.

Echo shook her head, glaring at the wall. “We won’t try that yet,” she said. “We don’t want to go and hurt the princess or the monkey if they’re still in there.” Cautiously, she trotted over to the wall and gave it a tap, putting her ear to it and listening intently. “But at least now we know that something’s obviously going down in there.” She closed her eyes and hummed quietly before moving back toward the group.

“Shining, I want you and the rest to stay here. “ She looked over at Flash. “Private you’re coming with me. You and I are going to fly outside and see if we can get at the windows.”

Flash saluted, walking over and standing next to her. “Now listen up, if you hear the private or I hollering, or you hear the princess, I want you to tear down that wall and secure the area, understood?”

“Yes ma’am!” They all whispered.

Echo nodded one more time before looking at Flash and spreading her wings. “Let’s go, Private; and no stupid stuff or I’m going to throttle ya, you understand?” Flash, trying to hide the fact that his legs were shaking, nodded. Gripping his spear tightly, he took off into the air with Echo, flying through the hallway.

“Through the window!” Echo hissed, eyeing the window pane to her far right.

Flash said nothing, instead following the mare through the window, much to Shining’s displeasure. Well, I would have wanted some ground forces backing me up but that’ll do, he thought, looking at the troopers, who just looked lost and worried.

Even though he had no business sticking his hooves into this and ordering ponies around—well, he did, but not really—Shining could see that maybe these stallions needed somepony that had been around the block once or twice to help them out.

“You all heard the Sergeant,” he said loudly, getting their attention. “We’ll stay here and act as her backup incase this goes south!”

“But sir, how are we going to get through that wall without hurting anypony?” a guard asked.

Shining couldn’t help but smile as he lit up his horn. “Don’t you worry about that. I’ll have that wall in pieces in a flash if I need to.”

I swear to Celestia, Ares, if you’re dead in there I’m going to kill you. And Cadence… Cadence, please be okay…”

~-~-~-~-~-~-

“Do you see anything in there, Private?”

“No ma’am, it doesn’t look like there’s any movement coming from inside the room.”

It had been a quick flight around the castle, toward the high window that lead into the royal bedroom, but there were still a number of problems that were keeping the Sergeant from just crashing through the window.

There was a good chance that the balcony was being watched, so they couldn’t use that. Another problem was the window itself. Layered with magic, the window didn’t let anypony looking in from the outside see a damned thing, and it was also made out of a very tough compound that made it more than a little difficult to just break. So, seeing that they had a few serious problems to deal with, Echo and Flash were forced to come up with something literally on the fly, in the dark and cold, when every second of them being idle could be putting the princess and Ares’ lives in danger.

The worst part was that the private wasn’t handling the stress very well. Even though he was trying his hardest to hide it, Echo could see his nervous twitching as he eyed the window. It was a look that she couldn’t say she cared for.

“Private,” she said warningly, tapping his helmet with her spear. “Don’t you get any stupid ideas. I know what you’re thinking but it’s not going to help anypony right now so get those superhero thoughts out of your head.”

A little whine escaped Flash’s throat. “But there’s nopony moving in there, Sergeant,” he said desperately.

Echo grimaced. He was right; as far as she could see, and even she could barely see with that stupid window, the room was dead, which was either a really good or really bad sign.

I doubt that any assassin would be able to take down the monkey and the princess this fast, she thought, beating down her worry as she carefully eyed the door, trying to will the magic off the stupid thing so she could actually get a good look inside.

The monkey is a heck of a lot stronger than he looks, and the princess is a bucking alicorn, so there should still be a fight going on. So why isn’t there one? What could be—

Out of the corner of her eye, Echo saw Flash’s wings flare. Her eyes widening, she tried to fly in front of him. “Private, you bucking—“

With a mighty flap, Flash flew past the mare and toward the window, his eyes wild. “Don’t worry Princess, Ares, I’m coming!” he shouted.

Cursing, Echo followed right behind him. “Flash, you moron, I’m gonna kill you!” she shouted, turning her head away so no glass would get into her face when they went through that window.

Please don’t let us just bounce off the stupid thing

~Present Time~

Boom!

The second that he had heard Cadence yelling from the other side of the wall, Shining unleashed the spell he had been holding. With a boom and a shower of rocks and a cloud of smoke, the wall was gone.

While he was sure that somepony was going to be waiting for him as soon as he breached, probably with some sort of weapon, that didn’t keep him and about thirty other guardsponies from charging through the gap in the wall with their battle cries of “For Cadenza and the Empire!”

We need to act fast, Shining thought, his spear at the ready as he scanned the room for enemies. They’ll be coming right about now.

No matter the enemy, Shining had his magic on his side and the guard at his back. It didn’t matter what happened to him, as long as Cadence and—

Thump!

Before the unicorn could so much as blink, he was spinning in the air and yelping in pain as something smashed itself against his muzzle. “Bucking, BUCK!” Shining cursed before hitting the ground hard.

“What the fuck is wrong with you horses!” Someone shouted angrily. “You just broke a window and a WALL!”

Shining cracked open an eye to see that the guard had stopped in their tracks and were looking at an enraged Ares, who was in his underwear and holding a shoe in his hand, with a mixture of confusion and fear.

…At least the two of them are okay, Shining thought, resisting the urge to groan in pain. Sweet Luna, how did he throw that thing so hard? If he had thrown that a little harder I’d be a head shorter!

“…Shining?”

Shining closed his eyes when he heard the voice, which sounded weak, confused and … hopeful? “Hiya Cadence,” he said, rubbing his muzzle and flinching when he saw that it was covered in blood. “I think Ares broke my face with his shoe. Sorry about the wall; I’ll get that fixed as soon as the world stops spinning.”

...Just Blow a Hole Through the Wall

You know, not to sound paranoid or anything, but I think that there might be some otherworldly being hell-bent on making sure that I never have sex with my coltfriend. Two of my guards busting through my window is a little strange but I could just chalk it up as bad luck and that’d be it, but when my ex-husband, whom I’ve lost sleep thinking about, happens to blast through my door like a crazy pony? That’s when I feel I have the right to look up at the sky and shake a hoof angrily at my divine tormentor.

It took a few seconds of staring at my guards, then at what was left of the wall, and then at Ares, before I was able to collect myself and think, Sweet Faust, somepony’s going to get fired for this.

Couldn’t I have five seconds without something like this happening?! Couldn’t I just be a normal pony that didn’t have to deal with ponies blowing holes in their walls or their crazy aunts or super powered evil villains?! Is that really too much to ask?

Ares, it seemed, shared my frustration. After grabbing me and shielding me when the wall exploded (which I really appreciated by the way), my human picked up his shoe that was lying next to our bed and tossed it through the gaping hole in the wall as hard as he could.

“What the fuck is wrong with you ponies?!” he snarled, still in those silly smiley face boxers of his. “You broke our fucking window and a god-damn wall!” stumbling forward in rage, he plucked his other shoe from the ground and cocked his arm back with a murderous look in his eyes.

I was about ready to start throwing things myself, more of the deadly magical kind than the shoe kind, but I was able to calm myself down with a few deep breaths. While it would have made me feel better just launching a few fireballs through the hole in the wall all willy-nilly, I was a princess and a princess does not conduct herself in such a manner. I was just going to have to make do with throwing a few ponies in the dungeons.

“Somepony come through that hole right now and explain yourself!” I snapped, almost shaking in anger. I was one step away from flying through that hole and giving whoever the heck did this a piece of my mind, along with a pretty thorough flank kicking. “Do it now or I’m going to come over there and—“

“Hiya, Cadence.” A pained, nasally voice croaked out.

Ares froze in place, his red, angry face turning slightly pale as the debris around the hole cleared, revealing the stallion who broke through my bedroom wall.

S-Shining? I somehow managed to think, my mouth opening in shock. All of my anger just seemed to drain away; the anger of these ponies ruining my night and all the hard work that I had put into it, the anger from thinking that somepony might have been trying to hurt either Ares or me, all of it just disappeared when I looked at Shining.

…Thank goodness that they barged in on us before we went all the way. I saw Ares drop his shoe in shock as he walked over and gently yanked Shining to his feet. This would have been a million times worse if Ares was naked right now.

With as much pride as somepony in their undies could manage, Ares knelt down and looked Shining over. Shining, his nose absolutely dripping blood, smiled at him—or at least tried to smile—it came out more like a grimace.

“Hello Ares,” he said, tenderly touching his nose with a hoof. “It looks like you got me pretty good.”

Ares, who looked almost too pale, somehow managed to chuckle. “Yeah, it looks like it.”

Shining tried to touch his nose before drawing back and wincing in pain. “You might have broken it,” he said calmly, like him and Ares were just casually talking in the street and not in my bedroom with my human in his underwear and Shining with a busted face. I would have made a joke about stallions if I wasn’t frozen in place staring at Shiny like an idiot.

Shining looked back at the hole in the wall before looking over at me, a small frown on his face. “I’m sorry about the hall,” he said, something flashing in his eyes for a second before he looked away from me. “We all heard somepony screaming bloody murder up here and we all thought something had happened to you.” He looked around the room. “I guess we were wrong huh? I’ll make sure to fix it up as soon as I get this nose looked at.”

A million things flashed through my mind, some of them questions, some of them apologies, and some of it just gibberish, but there was only thing that came out of my mouth,.

“S-Shining? Is it really you?”

Oo ~~~oO

Cadence seems to be taking this better than I thought she would, Shining thought as he nursed his nose with a hoof. If I was her I’d be freaking out and throwing—Shining watched as Cadence started to lose her footing. Before anyone could do anything, the princess hit the ground with a light thud.

Shining gasp, his eyes widening as he took a step forward, intent on running over to the fallen princess to see if she was okay, but Ares beat him to it. With a terrified look on his face, the human leap over Shining and raced over to the alicorn, everyone else in the room forgotten.

“Cadence?” Ares said, sounding panicked as he knelt down and gently picked her up. “Cadence?!”

“Take it easy, Ares,” Echo, who had hidden behind an upturned table with Flash, said as she looked the princess over. “I can hear her heartbeat from here; she’s fine, just probably passed out.”

Ares looked down at the mare in his arms before walking over and putting her in the bed and putting an ear to her chest. “Oh thank God,” Ares said after a minute, covering his face with a hand in relief.

You could have heard a pin drop in that room as the guards looked at each other. Every single one of them knew that, without a shadow of a doubt, they were absolutely, undeniably bucked. That being said, that didn’t stop a few of them from rushing out of the room to go and get the doctor so she could have a look at the princess. They might all have their heads on the chopping block, but they were still guards and a guards duty was to their princess.

“Echo..., did you guys really hear a yell all the way in your barracks?”

Echo raised an eyebrow at Ares actually using her name. “Well, we heard something that sounded like a roar coming from above us, so we thought that something had happened to you two.” she said, rocking back and forth uncomfortably.

Ares nodded, placing a hand on Cadence’s side. “Alright,” he said after taking a deep breath, “so I understand you guys going through the window, but that wall?”

Echo took a step back at the human’s change in tone. It may not have been abrupt enough for most to hear but she could almost taste Ares’ underlying anger. That wasn’t what worried her though. No, what worried her was how Ares wasn’t up screaming in her face, or throwing anything, or attacking anyone, he was just sitting there, staring at her with with emotionless look.

“Are you alright there, Ares?” Echo asked, sneaking a look to check and see if she still had her sword strapped to her side. “You seem to be taking this pretty well.”

The human patted Cadence’s side before getting to his feet. “I’m not taking this well at all,” he told the batmare, dusting off his clothes, that had been thrown all over the room, and putting them on. “I was trying to have a nice night with my girlfriend and people started flying through the fucking walls, Candy passes out because she sees the motherfucker who knocked down the wall,” Ares pointed out Shining, who was trying to decide if he’d actually prefer a screaming Ares instead of this calm and collected one, “and to top it all off I have to go to work in about six hours.”

For the briefest of instances, Echo could see just how angry he was. Ares’ stance became wider, his chest and shoulders became tight, and he looked ready to just snap, but then it was gone as quickly as it came. So to answer your question, Echo, no, I’m not taking this well at all. I’m actually pretty fucking mad right now.”

Shining tried to say something but Ares just silenced him with a finger before continuing.

“But me being mad isn’t going to do anything for anyone right now.” He swept a hand all around the room. “You all know that you fucked up, and when Candy gets up she’ll let you have it.” He shushed one of the guards when they tried to say something. “Now, I’ve had enough excitement for the night, so how about you get this wall fixed and you all go back down,” Ares pinched the bridge of his nose. “Actually, I don’t care where you go, just get the fuck out of here…. Except for you, Shining; I want to talk to you.”

The guards, all of whom were feeling more than a little horrible, scurried out of the room, just leaving Ares, Shining, and the unconscious Cadence.

Shining resisted the urge to chuckle. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anypony yell at the guard like that,” he told Ares, who put his head back in his hands. “Who’d have thought that talking to a fully grown pony like a disappointed father would be more effective than just yelling at them?”

When the human just didn’t say anything, Shining almost trotted over to him intending to help out but he stopped himself. No, he thought, let’s just give him a moment to simmer down while I get everything fixed up.

Closing his eyes, Shining willed his magic to flow through his horn, picking up chunks—all of which were no bigger than a pebble; he hadn’t wanted to hurt anypony when he destroyed the walls—of the wall and moving them toward the hole. The crystals seemed to melt into each other, shifting and moulding around the damaged wall.

Alright, now’s the hard part. Gritting his teeth, Shining forced the liquid crystal to harden and shape to his will, slowly but surely becoming a good-as-new wall, though Shining was mindful enough to put in an opening for a door. He may have been a stronger than average unicorn but that didn’t mean he was anywhere strong enough to transfigure that crystal into wood and steel for a proper door.

They’re just going to have to deal with an empty hole in the wall until Cadence gets somepony up here to put in a new door.

When the last of the wall had been put in place he stumbled, shaking his head to get the ringing out of his ears. “Might have overdone it a little bit,” he muttered, weakly righting himself as he eyed the room. Buck it, I may as well fix up the rest of this mess, he thought, willing more magic into his horn. I need to go to the ward for this nose anyways. The doctor can just give me something for magic exhaustion as well.

With practiced ease, Shining lifted up tables and chairs, put clothes and pictures back where they belonged, and cleaned the carpet until the room was spick and span, leaving Shining exhausted but happy. Well, at least I did one thing right before Cadence kicks my flank out of the country. Shining, with a sigh, sat down on his rump trying to catch his breath and ignore the pain in his nose as he stared at Ares.

Maybe I should say something to him? He thought. Try to start the conversat—

“You know, I really want to throw you out the window now, right?” Ares said, one of his hands petting Cadence and the other rubbing his temple.

Shining blinked. Not really able to help himself, he asked, “Is it because of the wall thing?”

He cracked a smile when he saw Ares looking at him like he was crazy, and he might just be, but what did that matter? He had pretty much assaulted a princess. Even if he could explain that this was all a big misunderstanding there was a pretty good chance that he was going to be booted onto the next train that went back to Canterlot, so he may as well have a little fun; it was either that or he was going to start hitting his head against the wall because of his own sheer stupidly.

So, for the sake of the wall that he had just repaired, he was going to look the alien that stole his wife in the eyes and throw a few witty remarks his way until said alien got up and beat the horseshoes off of him or he ran out of wittiness.

Ares’s mouth twitched. “Yes, it was because of the wall thing.”

Shining hummed, trotting over and hopping onto the bed next to the human.

“Well, I’m sorry about that,” he said, staring at the little hole in the wall that he had made. “We all thought that you two were in trouble.” He chuckled. “It sounded like somepony was roaring up here.”

Ares blew a raspberry. “You heard that all the way through this floor?”

Shining nodded. “You’d be surprised what you’re able to hear in the barracks here. I remember one of the guards telling me that they could hear me snoring from their bunk once.”

The two were silent for a while after that, Shining just quietly sitting there while Ares kept looking down at Cadence to see if she was okay. Both of them knew that they should be saying something, but because the two were tired, irritated, Shining had a broken nose, and Ares was still trying to get over the fact that his shout was so loud that someone could hear it through like two feet of crystal(and trying not to feel too proud about that), they stayed quiet and waited for the other to say something.

During these few minutes, Shining was able to get a good look at what had once been his bedroom. To his mild surprise, the room had remained largely the same. There were still those pictures on the coffee table that always wobbled, the bed was in the same place; heck, he would probably be able to find the Playmare that he had hidden under the mattress if he bothered to look.

That being said, the room did look different at the moment. There were unlit candles—which he had probably blown out with his little blast—littering the room, there was a music player that was sitting in the corner of the room, and there were even a few rose petals on the floor and the bed. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had been happening before Shining and the guard had decided to break down the wall.

All of this has Cadence written all over it, Shining thought, sneaking a glance at the mare and Ares. She always liked doing this when she got in one of those ‘moods’. Thank Faust that nopony knocked down any of those candles; I’d have really felt bad if I accidently burned down Cadence’s room. Shining looked back at Ares. And thank goodness we all did this before the two of them were really going at it.

Was it kind of weird that he had to think about someone else having sex with his ex-wife? Honestly, and Shining didn’t know if it was the because of the nose or something else, but he was kind of okay with it.

Well, not okay, but he felt that he could deal with it at the moment. It also helped that Shining knew for a fact that Ares really cared about Cadence; so much so that he had been willing to fight fifteen armed guards to make sure that she was safe. Sure, he was going to use a shoe to do it, but it was the thought that counted.

“You should probably go get that nose checked.” Ares finally said. “You’re getting blood everywhere.”

“You wanted to me stay,” Shining pointed out.

Ares frowned. “You know why I want to talk to you,” he almost growled.

Shining rolled his eyes. “That’s why we’re both sitting here waiting for the other to say what they want the other to say.”

Ares looked unsure for a second. “We could just go outside and beat the shit out of each other you know. “he offered. “We’ll both probably feel better after we take a couple of swings at each other. "

You know, that sounds oddly tempting, Shining thought before shaking his head. No, we need to clear the air by talking, and I’m sure Cadence wouldn’t want to see either of us bloody and bruised.

With a sigh, the unicorn looked up at the human, who turned to look at him. Both of the them were tired, both were more than a little battered, mentally and physically, and both wanted nothing more than to just get this over with so they could go to bed.

Ares reached down and grabbed his fillyfriend’s hoof, running his thumb around the edge of it while he looked at the wall. “You know, Cadence and I were worried about you; when you left I mean.”

“I told you that I was leaving,” Shining said, scooting closer toward the human.

“I don’t remember you saying where you were going,” Ares grumbled. “For all we knew you were in pony Mexico doing body shots off strippers with a Mariachi band playing in the background.”

“...What?”

Ares sighed, tiredly slumping down. “Forget I said that,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m a little too tired to deal with this bullshit.”

Shining nodded sympathetically. “I could always come back another day.”

“You could, but now that you’re here I may as well ask why the hell you just popped up here out of the blue like this.” Ares’ eyes narrowed slightly. “No letter to tell us you were coming or anything.”

Shining shifted uncomfortably, trying to ignore Ares’ burning gaze. I don’t even blame him for being mad, he thought, forcing himself to look back at Ares after a moment’s hesitation. I’d be pretty mad if my fillyfriend’s ex just happened to appear at her house one day.

“I’d actually like to talk to Cadence about that, alone, if you don’t mind, Ares,” he said apologetically. “I know the two of us need to clear the air, and I really want to do that, but I want to just talk to Cadence first.”

Ares looked at him a long moment before nodding slowly. “That’s fair, Shining,” he said calmly, making the stallion smile slightly. “But let me just give you a little warning.” For a brief, brief moment, the human seemed bigger and more threatening to Shining, who flinched under the human’s withering gaze. “I’ve told you already how shitty I feel about what happened, and I still feel pretty shitty, but you have another think coming if you’re thinking about trying to get Candy back.”

Every one of Ares’ muscles were tense, his normally calm, green eyes were steely and almost wild, and his teeth were bared in a snarl. Sweet Faust, it sounds like his voice is getting deeper, Shining thought, resisting the urge to scurry out of the room at whatever he saw now sitting next to him at the moment, because it sure as hay wasn’t Ares. No, this was someone else, someone who was a stark contrast from the usually calm, cool, and collected human that Shining had known; this was someone who could actually be very dangerous if the situation got out of control. Ares leaned forward, his green eyes staring through the ex-prince.

“I love this mare right here more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my life, more than my friends, my family, anyone. Because of her kindness, her generosity, I am still alive. Because of her I wasn’t treated like some animal or kicked back out into the cold, like you wanted.”

This time, Shining couldn’t stop himself from flinching.

“I owe her for that and a hell of a lot more. She’s the only family I’ve got here, Shining, and I’m going to make damn sure that she’s happy and healthy until she’s an old, fat mare sitting on a rocking chair.” Ares’ eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t you fucking try Shining; that’s the only thing I’m going to tell you. Don’t even think about trying, because I will give you such a fucking fight that even if you win you’ll lose, you understand?”

He’s willing to fight for her when I wasn’t, Shining thought, looking up at Ares with a hint of awe. Yet all he really wants to do is make her happy.

For the first time that night, Shining genuinely smiled. “I understand, Ares,” he said, his sense of unease going away as the human’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry about ruining your night with Cadence.” He waved a hoof around. “It looked like it was going to be a full night.”

This time, Ares flinched, a blush coming to his face. “Yeah, you laugh it up, funny guy,” he muttered, looking down at Cadence. “When she tells me my dick’s bigger I’m going to piss myself laughing.”

With a chuckle, Shining hopped off the bed. “Threatening aside, did you tell me everything you wanted to say?”

Ares nodded. “Everything I wanted to say to you right now,” he said, shooing him with a hand. “Now you better go and get that nose fixed. Cadence will come and talk to you when she’s ready.”

“Afterward, the two of us can have a real talk ourselves,” Shining said over his shoulder as he trotted toward the hole in the wall.

“You know, the whole us beating the shit out of each other thing could still be on the table.”

Shining stopped, once again considering it. “No, let’s try it my way first. If that doesn’t work we’ll try your way.”

“Well, if you finally feel up for doing that, I’ll make sure not to beat your furry little ass too hard.”

Shining cracked a smile. “You couldn’t kick your way out of a paper bag that had holes in it. For Cadence’s sake, I’ll make sure to beat that ugly mug of yours; with any luck it’ll make you a little prettier.” Looking back at Ares, his grin turned smug. “And when Cadence tells you my dick was bigger, don’t come crying to me.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ares grin, making his own smile bigger and more genuine. Maybe things weren’t so bad after all, a small part of Shining thought. Just because life slams a door in your face doesn’t mean you can’t crawl through the window. Maybe he could still find his place here; maybe he could fill the emptiness in his chest.

But none of that really mattered now. No, what mattered now was how bucking bad his nose hurt, and how much he needed to get that sucker fixed.

~-~-~-~-~-~

“Candy, come on, just open your eyes for a second so I can see if you’re alright.”

“…”

“Please? I just want to make sure that you don’t have brain damage or anything. You know, like any good boyfriend would.”

I grumbled at the voice, rolling over on my other side and curling into a little ball under my blankets. Couldn’t a princess have a good night’s sleep without somepony coming in and trying to wake them up?

Some of my decisions have the very country balanced on a needle. If I don’t have a good night’s sleep, my sleep deprivation could affect my work. I might not be able to focus on anything and that might end with me doing something disastrous like accidently going to sleep in the middle of some important meeting. I offend the king of the Gryphons, and bam, the Empire’s at war. So, with my duty to my subjects in mind, I simply ignored the voice and nuzzled myself into my pillow a little more.

I was about to take the train back to Sleepytown when I felt somepony nudging me. Just ignore them, Cadence, they’ll go away when they see that you’re not paying them any mind.

I was nudged again; harder this time.

Just keep your eyes closed and your breath steady, they—

I perked an ear up when I heard somepony sharply inhale right above me. Before I could do a thing, my covers were thrown off, my legs were grabbed, and I was given one of the quickest but most aggressive raspberries of my life. It wasn’t long enough to make me laugh or anything but it sure as hay was long enough to wake me right up.

My eyes snapped open as I wildly started to squirm. “Alright, I’m up!” I snapped, trying to shove my tormentor off me. “Can’t you let a pony sleep for five—epp!” I was lifted off of my warm, soft, safe, and comfy bed and brought into a crushing bear hug.

“Thank Christ! I never thought that you’d wake up Candy!”

Instinctively, I wrapped my hooves around my hugger. “…Ares?” I said yawning. “What’s got you in such a tizzy?”

My human nuzzled my cheek, not letting up his hug a bit. “Are you alright, Cadence? Do you remember what happened?” Ares asked, sounding slightly panicked.

I frowned, squinting in thought as I yawned. Maybe he had a bad dream? I thought, idly rubbing his back with a hoof. Because I have no idea what he’s—

Then my memory came back and hit me like a speeding train. Me trying to have a ‘fun’ night with Ares, the guards breaking through our windows and wall…

I tensed against Ares for a second before going limp. “Is Shining really here, Ares?” I quietly asked.

“Yeah, after you passed out I took him to the doctor to get his nose fixed up,” Ares replied, making me wince.

Passing out?... Well that’s embarrassing, I thought, nuzzling Ares when I noticed that he was shaking as he held me. “Is the wall still…”

“No, Shining made sure that it was fixed before he let me take him anywhere; though we’re going to have to get a new door put in.”

I nodded, reaching up and grabbing Ares’ face, forcing him to look at me. His eyes were bloodshot, his face looked a little pale, and he looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion. “Ares, what time is it?” I asked, nudging him with a wing.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, like four or five in the morning.”

Wiggling out of his grasp, which was starting to get so shaky I was getting worried, I forced him into the bed. “You have work tomorrow,” I scolded, hopping into the bed and making him lie down. “You should have gone to bed hours ago!” When he tried to sit back up I simply crawled on top of him, pinning him to the bed.

“Someone had to make sure that everything got situated after that whole shit-show,” Ares answered with a tired sigh, reaching up and sticking his hands under my wings. “And I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

My glare softened. “Thank you for doing that,” I softly said, looking down onto my human’s tired, stressed out face.

“You’re going to have to yell at those guards and stuff but other than that I made sure that Shining got taken care of, I got the doc to look at you, and the wall got fixed,” he yawned, “so you won’t be that stressed out when you wake up.”

I almost chuckled at that. I was already a little nervous about getting back into the swing of things with ruling my country, but now I was going to have to wake up and deal with my guard and Shining. I didn’t even know what I was going to do with that stallion when I saw him.

Why was he here? What did he want? Why the buck did he knock my wall down?!

I was about to just get up and start my day, it wasn’t like I was going to get any more sleep anyway, but then I just sighed and laid my head next to Ares, burying my head in his pillow.

“You know, I was supposed to buck your brains out tonight,” I said, my words muffled by the pillow. “Why couldn’t that have just happened without any interruptions?”

Ares weakly chuckled. “I wanted to make sure that you were going to be walking bow-legged to work, Candy,” he told me. “But I guess we’re just going to have to do it another time, huh?”

My eyes opened when I heard his tone of voice change from slightly mirthful to doubtful. Oh no you don’t, I thought, sitting up and pressing my nose against my human’s.

“You better believe it, mister,” I said, a little louder than I meant, wrapping my hooves around Ares’ neck. “I don’t give a rotten horseapple about why the hay fate is stopping us from bucking but we’re going to have sex, my little human.”

I nuzzled his cheek. “I don’t care if Shining’s in the other bucking room watching us! Don’t you be getting cold hooves on me, Ares.” He opened an eye to look at me questioningly, and I responded by kissing him.

“I think I know how you’re feeling, Ares,” I said, breaking the kiss for a second before kissing him again. “I know that you feel bad about what happened between me and Shining.” I kissed him again, this time more desperately.

“But you shouldn’t; for good or for bad, I chose you.” I smiled down at him before falling back on top of him, once again trapping him under me. “I don’t know about you, but even after what happened, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I got the greatest, sexiest, most loving, and most interesting coltfriend in the world, one who makes me laugh and makes my life interesting, so don’t you think what I think you’re thinking or I’m going to just lay like this until you understand how much I love you, buster brown.”

Giving his ear a final little bite, I let my wings drape along my sides and closed my eyes. “Whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me, Ares.” I smiled when I felt slightly shaky hands wrapping themselves around me. “Nopony’s going to change that.”

“I love you, Mi Amore Cadenza.”

I smiled and closed my eyes. “I love you too, Ares,” I wiggled on top of my human bed, trying to make myself a little more comfortable, “but the two of us are going to stay in this bed for a good while I think.”

“I have work in the morning,” Ares pointed out.

I snorted. “I’ll send somepony out in the morning to tell your boss that you’re not going to be able to make it tomorrow. You haven’t slept at all, I had to watch somepony smash through my wall, and it’s almost six in the morning, so I’m sure we’ll be forgiven for taking one more day off.”

I could almost feel my human smile against my neck. “You’re taking the day off too?” he asked, running his fingers through my mane.

I sighed happily. “Blame it on external stress,” I muttered, not bothering to really say why I just wanted to spend a little more time with him before dealing with what I knew was going to be one heck of a headache. “Do you know what relieves stress, my little human? Wing preening, belly rubs, and cuddling; a lot of it. So guess what you’re going to do be doing when we wake up again?”

One Day More

Like he had expected, Ares didn’t get a wink of sleep that night. It seemed that having a hole knocked through your wall really keeps your heart racing throughout the night. That, along with having to deal with the stallion that knocked through said door, meant that there was no way that Ares was going to be able to do anything other than just stare at the ceiling for the rest of the night and think. So, in this rather bleak situation, Ares did the only thing he could to help improve his dampened mood; he was cuddled by his beautiful girlfriend and waited until the sun rose up in the sky.

At least Candy’s getting some sleep, Ares thought as Cadence wiggled herself closer to him with a happy sigh. She needs to get her rest after the whole passing out thing. He ran a hand gently down her side, careful not to wake her. Hopefully she’s alright like the doctor said.

“Why couldn’t they have just let us have another twenty minutes before breaking down the wall?” He muttered. “Is that really too much to ask?”

He had seen the disappointment, the anger, on Cadence’s face when the wall had gone boom. He had known how excited she was for all of this to happen, not that he hadn’t been more than ready for sex himself, and then it had literally blown up in their faces. The only reason Ares knew that heads weren’t going to roll in the guard was because he knew, or at least thought he knew, that they had a pretty good reason for doing what they did. That may not have made the fact that he didn’t get laid any better, but at least he knew why they did it.

Well, at least I get to cuddle my favorite princess, Ares thought with a yawn, wrapping both of his arms around Cadence and pulling her as close to his body as he could, earning himself another happy sigh from the alicorn.

He closed his eyes, taking in the soft, delicate scent of his Cadence. “All I needed was twenty minutes,” he muttered, kissing the top of his mare’s horn. “Then they could have broken down that wall.”

Cadence wiggled herself upward and flipped herself over to face him. “You say that,” she said, her eyes still closed, “but I would have actually loved for them not to have done that at all.” Leaning up, she gave his cheek a quick kiss, “and I’d prefer to have you all to myself for the entire night, not just for twenty measly minutes.”
Ares smiled weakly when Cadence cracked open an eye to stare at him. “How long have you been awake, sweetie?” he asked, trying to decide whether to be amused or embarrassed.

Cadence giggled and kissed him again. “Long enough to hear you muttering to yourself like some crazy pony,” she chirped before her tone became more concerned. “Have you been up all night, Ares?”

Ares raised an eyebrow. “What, no comment about the little pet name I gave you?”

Cadence raised an eyebrow right back at him. “You must have been up all night,” she muttered. “You can’t even change the subject without sounding tired.”
Ares was about to argue before realizing that he wasn’t going to get anywhere by lying to her. “No I didn’t get any sleep,” he admitted, rubbing his eyes with a hand. “I’ve been too busy just… thinking, I guess.”

Cadence buried her muzzle in the nape of his neck. “You know, us taking the day off isn’t going to mean anything if my favorite human is too tired to do anything with me.” She draped a wing over him and closed her eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” he told her. “This isn’t the first time I’ve spent the whole night awake. All I’ll need is some coffee, then the two of us can do whatever you want for the whole day.”
Cadence nuzzled his neck. “Well, I know what the two of us would be doing if there wasn’t a hole in the wall,” she purred, giving his neck a little nip, “but I think I’ll settle for just staying in bed the whole day with my snuggle-puss.”

Ares flinched. “Please don’t call me that, Candy.”

“Aw, what’s wrong, my widdle Ares Wearies?”

“Please stop.”

“My honey bunny.”

“Cadence.”

“My little monkey man.”

“I swear to god I’ll get up and toss your pink ass out the window.”

“Snookums, sweetie pie, my great big stallion.”

Despite himself, Ares couldn’t keep a smile off his face. “Alright, alright, I get it: no more pet names.”

“That’s what you get for bringing it up,” Cadence said sweetly, bopping his nose with a hoof before pushing him downward. “Now,” she forced his head against her chest and wrapped her legs around his neck, “the two of us are going to get at least a little bit of sleep whether you like it or not.” Her tone was forceful, but caring; it showed Ares that she cared about him enough, even with all of this stuff that had just been thrown at her hooves, that she had been willing to stop everything—her duties as a princess as prime example—to make sure that he was okay, comfortable and happy.

Ares pressed his face against his princess’s coat and closed his eyes, trying not to sniffle. “Hey, Cadence?”

The princess looked down at him with a loving smile. “Yes, honey?”

The warmth and softness of Cadance’s coat was easing Ares’ mind, which let the full weight of just how tired he was crash down on him.“I don’t know if I’ve told you enough, but I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have you.” Sure, it sounded cheesy even to him, but it was from the heart, and from the look Cadence was giving him it was more than appreciated.

“Aw, you sweetheart,” Cadence, said, sounding a little choked up.

“I mean it,” Ares murmured, Cadence’s warmth and his tiredness finally getting to him. “I couldn’t have picked a better girl in the whole world; yours, mine, anywhere.”
Even though he couldn’t see it, Cadence was looking down at him, tears in her eyes. “I’m so happy that I’ve got you, my little human,” Cadence said to the now asleep human, leaning down and kissing the top of his head.

@~~~@

Like he had expected, Shining, along with the rest of the guard, did not get a wink of sleep the whole night. Every single one of them, Shining included, couldn’t help but wonder what their princess had in store for them once she woke up. Was she just going to go and fire them all, like a lot of them thought, or was she going to get more creative in her punishments?

Banishment, incineration, a five mile spanking machine, being sent to Tartarus, these ideas, along with more… inappropriate ones were thrown around through the night with so much vigor that, by the time the sun had peeked over the horizon, many of the guards were literally shaking in their beds from fear.

Oddly, the only pony that didn’t look worried at all was Echo, who, after coming back to the barracks, had gone into her office for about an hour before calmly trotting over to her bunk and hitting the hay.

That mare really has some stones on her, Shining thought as he stared at her sleeping form from the comfort of his own bunk. If I was in her position I’d be more than a little worried about being shipped back off to Canterlot.

To be frank, he was still worried about that, but he was thinking about the Sergeant, not himself, at the moment so he was going to start panicking… yet.
If we’re lucky, Cadence isn’t going to be awake for another few hours or so. Shining rubbed an eye and fought back a yawn. I wonder what time it—

As if a silent alarm had gone off, Echo suddenly sat up and threw off her covers. “ALRIGHT FILLIES!” She roared, starling everypony in the room. “IT’S TIME TO RISE AND SHINE AND GET TO WORK! GET OFF YOUR FLANKS AND SHOWER, YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO GET A PEP IN YOUR STEP BEFORE WE START WHAT I PROMISE WILL BE THE WORST DAY OF YOUR MISERABLE LIVES!”

Confused, the guard just stared at her in silence and confusion, each of them wondering if the mare had lost her mind. To many of them, there was going to be no PT today; today, if they were lucky, they were going to receive their punishments.

“DID I STUTTER?” she demanded, suddenly sounding angry. “I’M NOT GOING TO BUCKING ASK AGAIN. GET OUT OF YOUR BEDS AND HIT THE SHOWERS!”

Fear overcame confusion, and stallion and mare alike scrambled off their beds and raced toward the shower room, leaving Shining alone with Echo, who just sighed, all of her vigor gone as suddenly as it had come.

“There’s no doubt about it, we really bucked up last night,” she muttered, so quietly that Shining had to strain to hear her. “But that doesn’t mean the world’s going to stop spinning!”

Shining heard her quietly growl. “I wrote my report explaining everything and I will not apologize for wanting to protect my charge. I could care less if the princess hog-ties me, throws my flank in a crate, and ships me back to my lady with stamps on my forehead; I was sent here to do a job and I’m going to do it to the best of my ability for as long as I’m permitted!”

Whether it was because of the mare’s determination, or her little pep talk, Shining found himself right beside her. “You know, ma’am,” he said, not looking at her, “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about the princess doing anything more than just yelling at you. Trust a guy that’s known her for years; if you properly explain to her what happened then you won’t get worse than a slap on the wrist.”

Echo snorted. “I hope you’re right,” she muttered. “I’d really hate to be sent back to my lady because I broke down the princess’ wall while she was about to get lucky.”
“Nopony was hurt last night, and everything that was broken is already pretty much fixed up,” Shining said, trying to sound upbeat. “And, technically, I broke the wall,”
Echo nodded. “That’s what I put in the report,” she said matter-of-factly. “If I’m lucky she’ll be madder at you than me.”

Shining couldn’t quite stop a chuckle from escaping his throat. “Oh, I’m sure she’s plenty mad at me,” he said before pausing, a thoughtful and slightly worried expression coming to his face. “Ma’am, I have a favor to ask you.”

Echo cocked her head at him. “What would that be, Mr. Armor?”

“There’s a good chance that I’m going to be thrown onto the first train that goes back to Canterlot.” Shining muttered, looking away from her.

He paused for another moment, as if debating with himself on whether or not to say more, but then he shook his head and continued. “The reason I came all the way up here was to make sure that these soldiers were in fighting shape. If they were still lacking in some places I wanted to be the one to make them the best soldiers that they can be.”
He raised up a hoof when he saw Echo tense up. “However, since I’ve seen that the princesses have sent one of the most experienced mares in the Night Guard to get the job done, I think that I might just want to join the guard up here, see where it goes and all that.”

Echo blinked. “You want to join the Crystal Guard?” she asked, disbelieving.

Shining nodded. “Yes I do.”

The batmare narrowed her eyes at him. “You want to guard the mare that kicked you to the curb?” She shook her head. “You know how crazy that sounds, right?”

Shining grimaced. “I know that there’s a good chance that Cadence will laugh me out of the castle when I ask her, and I know you probably think I’m trying to join just so I could do something to get back at either her or Ares—”

“That did cross my mind,” Echo muttered.

“I know all of that, but I’d still like to know if you’d be alright with me joining if Cadence actually lets me into the guard.” Shining looked at her desperately. “I know you don’t trust me, Sergeant, but please just give me a chance...”

Echo looked at him for what seemed like an eternity before quietly asking, “And why do you want to join my troop, Shining Armor?” Her eyes looked like they could see through him for a moment. “If it isn’t revenge, then why did you come all the way up here?”

“I just want to protect my princess,” he all but whispered, not realizing that he was shaking. “Even if she isn’t just my princess anymore; I want to make sure that she’s safe…”

“And what if I say that that’s a load of horseapples, Armor?”

Echo almost took a step back when the unicorn’s look turned angry.

“I’ve known Cadence since the two of us were little,” he growled, his whole body tensing like he was ready to pounce on her. “I was there when she got her cutiemark, she was there when my sister first became Celestia’s student!” He took a step toward her. “She watched Twilight grow, the two of us would help each other with our homework whenever she came over, she was my first bucking kiss!” By now Shining was in Echo’s face, panting in anger.

“Even if she doesn’t love me anymore, even if she doesn’t love me anymore, she’s like family to me, and because of that I bucking think I have just as much right to make sure that she’s safe as you, Sergeant.”With a final little growl, Shining took a step away from the batmare to collect himself. “And even if she doesn’t want me to, and even if you just think I’m some crazy pony, I just want to be there to make sure nothing else bad will happen to her.”

From the look on Echo’s face, Shining expected her to just tell him to get out of her barracks. Her eyes were narrowed down to slits and a scowl came to her face as she stared him down, Shining tried his best not to flinch under her intense gaze.

“I’ll tell you what,” she offered him a hoof. “Why don’t you join in our little training day? I don’t know about the princess, but if you work hard out there, I’ll give you a chance.” She smiled. “Not much of a chance, to be fair, and I’ll make sure that you’ll be hurting in the morning but…”

A big grin coming to his face, Shining saluted again. “I’d be more than happy to, ma’am,” he said brightly.
Echo nudged her head toward the showers. “Then you best be getting cleaned up huh? I’d hurry if I was you, you only have a minute or two so you’d better GET YOUR BUCKING FLANK IN GEAR! YOU HEAR ME, ARMOR?!”

With a big smile on his face, Shining spun around and sprinted toward the showers. Well, at least I’ll be too tired to feel anything if Cadence kicks me out, he thought, far more excited about P.T. than anypony had a right to be.

@()()@

I don’t know why, but as soon as I managed to get Ares to sleep I wasn’t able to get anymore shut-eye. I don’t know if it was because I had pretty much slept like ten hours—If you count the time I was unconscious—or if it was because I was still giddy about what my sweet human had told me, but I just couldn’t close my eyes. All I was able to do was giggle to myself while holding my favorite human as I planned out what the two of us were going to do today.

We’re going to be staying in the castle, I decided. I really don’t feel like walking around the town today.

That settled, I then had to decide what the two of us were going to be doing. Staying in our bed and bucking each other’s brains out would have been ideal, but I think that I may want to sort out Shining before I rip Ares’ pants off and… do things to, and with, him. No, instead the two of us are going to be doing more family-friendly activities today, unfortunately.

For about an hour I pondered what we could do, but then I had an amazing idea; why didn’t I go down to the kitchen and make the two of us breakfast?
I could just skip down to the kitchens, make some pancakes for the two of us, maybe some bacon for Ares, bring all of that food back into our room, and the two of us could stuff our faces and decide what we wanted to do together. It was a sweet thing to do, it wouldn’t take long, and after that we could decide what we wanted to do together.

Excited, I wiggled out of Ares’ hug. “I’ll be back in a little bit, honey,” I whispered to my sleeping human, kissing his cheek. “I’m going to make sure that the two of us are going to have the best day ever, and the best day ever needs to start with the best breakfast ever!”

With a giggle, I hopped off the bed and trotted toward the hole in the wall, the sight of it made me frown. I should probably get a few things done before I start breakfast. I thought, looking back at Ares before I trotted out into the hallway, my smile coming back to my face. I need to tell Ares’ employer that he’s incapacitated for the day and I’ll need to get this stupid wall fixed.

I was also going to have to deal with my guardsponies, but buck it, I could deal with them tomorrow. What mattered now was me, Ares, our bed, and some delicious, made-from-scratch food.

Sometime later…

“Ares! ARES! ” A cheery voice said, which was then followed by a light shove.”Come on, honey, time to get up!

Ares grumbled, trying to shield himself with his blanket as he rolled over on his side. Whatever time it is it’s too early for this shit, he thought, stuffing his head in between his pillows in a vain attempt to hide from whomever was touching him.

“Come on, Ares! I know that you didn’t get much sleep but I thought the two of us could start our last day of freedom early.” Ares was nudged again. “Please? I made you some breakfast.”

Oh, it’s just Cadence, Ares thought, before begrudgingly pulling his head from his feathery hidey-hole and sitting up. “Whatcha say, Candy?” he mumbled, rubbing an eye as he looked at the beaming alicorn, who had a food trolley to her left.

With an excited giggle, Cadence hopped onto the bed and nuzzled his cheek. “How is my honey-bunny?”

Tired, he thought, giving his fillyfriend a smile. “You know, the whole pet name thing is starting to grow on me,” he said, wrapping his arms around her neck and pulling her close. “Now what’s got you so excited?”

Cadence ruffled her feathers, the pink mare practically bursting with excitement. “I know last night wasn’t really what the two of us wanted to happen and I know it was probably pretty stressful for you, so I decided to go down and make the two of us some breakfast!”

Ares looked around the room. “It looks like you got the door fixed too,” he commented. “And is it just me or is that door made out of metal?”

“Made out of the strongest and most sound proof metal that money can buy!” Cadence said, wiggling out of Ares’ hug and hopping off the bed. “Now, how about the two of us start eating?”

Ares smiled warmly when he saw his fillyfriend slowly lift off the covering of the tray. “You didn’t have to cook for me, Can—“ With another quiet giggle, Cadence threw off the cover, revealing what kind of looked like two plates of, what might be generously described as, food?

Ares had to struggle to keep the smile on his face when he saw that everything on the plate was just black and burnt and unappetizing. “…It’s your first time cooking, isn’t it, Candy?”

Levitating the plates off the cart and hopping onto the bed, Cadence nodded. “Yep! Nopony ever let me cook when I was a babysitter.” Her smile turned a little sheepish. “And they wouldn’t let me cook at school after I accidently almost burned down the home ec. kitchen. The chef offered to help me, but I wanted to do something for you!”

Ares almost couldn’t bring himself to look at what was on those plates. The white plate was covered in a thin layer of black soot with thick, coal-like lumps surrounding even bigger lumps, each one more unappetizing and unfood-like than the last. In fact, it took Ares a minute to actually figure out that what he was looking at was food.

Plopping the plate, a fork, and a knife onto Ares’ lap, Cadence looked at him expectantly, which left him in an awkward position. There was no way in hell that he wasn’t going to eat this. Cadence had probably spent an hour burn—er cooking all of this up, and he knew that she probably really tried to make all of this, even if it didn’t look like food, so he was going to eat it with a smile on his face.

It was for love and all that; and besides, he had a pretty strong stomach, and if push came to shove he could always excuse himself and go see the doctor for a quick stomach pump.

Leaning over and kissing the mare on the cheek, Ares grabbed his fork and knife and stared at his food like a man that was waiting for the gallows. “It looks fantastic, Candy,” he said, trying to cut what he thought was a pancake, which somehow had the look and consistency of a rock.

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil…

For minutes, Ares battled through his meal to the best of his ability, forcing himself to eat every last thing on his plate, ignoring the horrible, burnt taste, ignoring his protesting stomach, his aching teeth, and his taste buds, all the while trying to make it sound like he was actually enjoying the food.

The whole time Cadence just stood there, a big, beaming smile on her face as she watched her human stuffing his face with the food that she had made. I knew he’d like it, she thought, not noticing that Ares’ knife broke when he tried to break apart one of the larger pancakes.

She had been a little nervous when her head chef had left the kitchen screaming when she said that she was going to try to stir-fry the cereal with a little bit of sugar to give it more flavor, and she had almost just thrown everything out when it all came out black and hard, but now that she saw how much Ares liked her cooking she couldn’t be happier.

I might even start doing this more often, she thought, finally looking down at her own plate and picking up her fork just as Ares finished his last bite. Now, let’s see if this is actually any good…

@>~~<@

You know, sometimes a pony will have a special talent that they’ll never know about unless that try it out once or twice. Like a mare that finds out that she’s a natural at gymnastics or a stallion that can juggle really well after doing it a few times. I like to think that there’s an opposite of that, where somepony will find that they’re actually really, really bad at something. Which, to be honest, isn’t as bad as you’d think it would be. It’s always good to know what both your strengths and weaknesses are; it’s a good character builder and keeps you from getting too full of yourself.

I can honestly say that I found something that I’m really, really not good at and, without a shadow of a doubt, I, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza should never, ever set hoof in a kitchen with the intent of cooking anything ever again. I thought it wasn’t going to be that hard to cook, but after tasting my… food and suffering the consequences doing so, I now know that cooking isn’t my strength and I should stay away from setting hoof inside a kitchen for awhile.

I honestly have no idea how I bucked everything up so badly. All you needed for pancakes was some sugar, flour, water, and a few eggs and bam, you have pancakes. But no, I somehow managed to make something so horrid, so foul tasting, that just one bite of it had been making me puke my guts out for the last half an hour. Ares, who had been holding my mane back and rubbing my back while I had my head in the toilet, must have had some kind of iron stomach, because he was taking the disaster that I had served him far better than I was.

“You should have gotten one of the chefs to help you, Candy,” Ares finally said as he rubbed my belly.

I managed to stop dry-heaving long enough to spit into the toilet and look up at him. “You… may be…. right,” I rasped, setting my head on the edge of the lid and closing my eyes, my stomach empty and my body exhausted.

My human sat down beside me, wrapping an arm around me. “If it makes you feel any better, my first time cooking was a heck of a lot worse than that.”

I leaned into him. “When… was… that?”

Ares paused for a moment. “Um, I might have been five?” he answered. “And even after cooking for myself for years and years the best that I can usually do is microwave something.“

I took a few deep breaths and continued to spit in the toilet, trying to calm myself down and get the foul taste out of my mouth at the same time.

After about a minute of this I managed to chuckle. “Thanks, Ares,” I said gratefully, trying to ignore the pain that had started in my stomach and had spread everywhere else after the fifteen minute mark of me puking. Please body, will you settle down? I begged, looking down at my belly. I’m sure you don’t want me dry heaving for another hour when I could be filling you with something that isn’t poison.

“That’s not really helping the pain in my stomach though.” I looked up at him. “You know, you could have just told me that that my food was bad.”

Ares made a disapproving noise. “It wasn’t that bad, Cadence,” he protested. “You just need some practice is all.”

“Ares, you’re the sweetest man in the world and I love you to bits, but my food almost killed me,” I replied, wrapping a wing around him. I tried to lift my head off the toilet seat, giving up halfway with a pained groan. “How did you even manage to eat all of that?”

“I’ve eaten worse,” he replied, shrugging. “But I’m telling you, all you need to do is get a little practice.”

I don’t know if it was the dizzy feeling or if it was just a spur of the moment thing, but as soon as Ares said that, I realized what the two of us could do today. Cooking with each other. This time I could get one of the chefs to teach us to cook something and I’d get to see him in a chef's hat and apron; it’d be a win-win for the both of us.

“Ares, if I could get up right now I’d shove my tongue down your throat,” I said happily.

My human snuggled closer to me. “That’s great and all, Candy,” he said, “but you might want to rinse your mouth out before you go and do that.”

#@~~@#

When one of the guardsponies had been stupid enough to ask the Sergeant what they were going to do today, Echo had just muttered something about them working up a sweat on some farms. And while this didn’t seem that big of a deal to the ponies that had been shipped up to the Empire from Equestria, the crystal ponies knew better.
You see, for thousands of years, the few farms that surrounded the city’s hills had been the lifeblood of the empire since its founding. Many of these farms had been passed down for generations, from father to son, and, though their produce were usually just wheat or hay, simple ‘peasant’ food, each one of these farmers knew that because of their efforts the empire was able to sustain itself.

Through hard work, dedication, and ingenuity, the farmers had even figured out how to grow crops of all kinds year-round and keep the soil full of nutrients after each ‘season’. There was no field rotation for a crystal farmer, there was no break, just work and work and even more work.

If one looked at these little farms one might not be able to tell them apart from a farm from Equestria, except for one small detail: the way that the soil was tilled. Where the simple Equestrian would use some modern day technology to tear up the soil with less workers and effort, the farmers of the Empire still clung to the old ways. To them, the crops grew because of the strength of one’s back, the sweat and blood that it put into turning a lifeless hunk of land onto a thriving oasis of food. To a farmer of the Empire, it was not love that grew the plants, but suffering, something Echo was more than happy to give, courtesy of the guard.

“Put your backs into it, you maggots! These fields aren’t going to plow themselves!”

Shining resisted the urge to wipe the sweat from his brow as he tugged his plow through the hard, unforgiving earth with all of his might. Just keep pushing, he
thought, shutting his eyes and gritting his teeth. Just keep pushing and don’t you dare throw up!

When the Sergeant had learned that a few of the farmers were in need of farmhands, she had jumped at the chance to get her soldiers suited up with old, dull plows, uncomfortable iron bits, sledgehammers that must have weighed fifty pounds, and yolks that were so big and blocky that they didn’t even look like they had been made for ponies. Echo had assured the farmers that the guard were more than happy to help each and every one of them, and soon, to the Sergeant’s continued delight, they were helping more than them.

Some of the smelters and miners, hearing that there was a chance to get some free labor themselves, had gone over to the bat-mare asking if they could borrow a stallion or ten.

“Ab-so-lutely,” Echo had said while she sipped her lemonade from under her umbrella. “Just go and nab whomever you want; they’ll be more than happy to help you out!” So they did just that, taking over half of the soldiers to dig ditches, break rocks, and drag support beams around.

The remaining guards had been happy to learn that they weren’t going to have to break rocks the whole day, until Echo had happily pointed out that each and every one of them were going to have to complete a field themselves now that the farmers were so understaffed. “We told them that we’d till all of their fields, fillies,” Echo had said. “Don’t you dare make me a liar.”

Shining had been at this horrible, exhausting, and dirty work since before the sun had gone up and he was just about ready to pass out. His lack of sleep was hanging over his head, slowing him down and making his plow even heavier than it looked.

The sun, which had been mercilessly been beating down on him since they had left the castle, looked like it was only going to get hotter as the day dragged on, further irritating and exhausting him. A stallion and a mare had already dropped from heat exhaustion and Shining was starting to wish that he would have been given a job with the miners. Sure, that would have been just as terrible, but there was a chance that it would have been cooler underground than it was above ground.

“Get your flank moving, Shining Armor! Remember, you only get to go back to the castle when you finish your field!” Rousted from his thoughts, and realizing that he had just been standing there looking dazed, Shining started pulling again.

Over and over again he kept muttering to himself to pull, that all of this would be over sooner if he pulled harder. With each step, his muscles cramped, his lungs burned, and sweat poured off of him and onto the ground.

With each step, he was just a little bit closer to passing out from dehydration or exhaustion. With each step that little voice in the back of his head was becoming louder and louder, telling him that it would be alright to give up, that there was no shame in packing up and going back home if staying in the Empire meant this. Each step was becoming a trial, a trial that was getting harder and harder to overcome.

Yet Shining couldn’t have been happier about it. Because this was what he needed, for somepony to try their hardest to break him down and make him give up. He wanted, no, needed to test himself, needed to deal with a simple, yet daunting, task like this. He was going to finish tilling this entire field by himself, not because Echo wanted him to, or because he thought that it was something that Cadence would want him to do. No, he was going to do this because HE wanted to do this.
“Shining! If you got enough energy to smile, that means that you got enough energy to bucking push harder! SO BUCKING DO IT!”

~~---~~

“Wow, Ares, this pizza is really good! I didn’t think we were going to be able to make something like this!”

Ares, covered in flour and tomato and cheese and far more tired than he had been this morning, couldn’t stop himself from grinning in pride as he watched Cadence scarf down the pizza that the two of them had just finished making.

After apologizing for the mess that Cadence had made in the morning, Ares and Cadence had gotten the head chef herself to help the two of them cook something edible, which, as it turned out, was a good deal more difficult than the human or alicorn expected it to be.

The poor chef had watched the couple burn, ruin, and destroy everything from stew to pastry to quiche before throwing up her hooves and all but forcing the two to just make a few simple pizzas with a batch of chocolate-chip cookies as desert. “Anypony could bake a pizza,” she had thought while shoving the list of ingredients and a recipe sheet in Ares’ face before going over and turning on the oven. “There’s no way that these two could get this one wrong!”

She was right. After watching the two like a hawk during the making of the pizzas and cookies and putting the food in the oven herself, she had found something that the two could actually make… kind of.

It had taken a lot to make the three pies and three dozen chocolate chip cookies—the chef had made them work as slowly as possible so as not to damage anything—but after accidently making enough dough to feed a village, grinding a little too much cheese and getting the mixture of mozzarella, fiesta, and pepperjack wrong so many times that the chef had thrown her favorite underling-whacking spoon out the window in anger, and putting too much onion, garlic, and salt in three different batches of sauce, they had actually made something that could actually be eaten and held down.

Every one of Ares’ ancestors were slowly rolling in their graves and Cadence’s mane may have caught on fire once or twice because she got too close to an open flame, but when their pizzas came out of the oven steaming, with the cheese evenly melted and the crust golden brown, all of that cooking seemed like it had actually been worth it. Sure, both of them were filthy, and Ares was sure that he was going to have to get a new shirt, some socks, and pants, but they had had that cliché, silly, amazing fun that only couples can have together.

Cadence had cheered as she watched the dough that she had been kneading start to rise, Ares had done a little happy dance (when he was sure that no one was watching) when the chef’s face didn’t scrunch up in disgust as she tried the sauce that he had made. Both of them had had a blast, giggling, laughing, joking, and teasing each other throughout the day.

But, like all good things, their day as chefs ended, with the relieved head chef tossing the two out of the kitchen as soon as their food was finished, throwing the pizzas, cookies, some plates, silverware, and two glasses onto a food trolley before shoving it out into the hallway, which left the two where they were at the moment, Ares staring down at his girlfriend as she nommed on the piece of pizza that she had gotten when he wasn’t looking.

Leaning down, the human wrapped his arms around his mare. “I told you that you could be an awesome cook, Candy,” he said, tickling Cadence’s stomach.

Cadence giggled, nuzzling his cheek, before taking another bite out of her pizza. “I love you, Ares,” she mumbled through the her half-chewed food, leaning back into him. “The two of us may be horrible cooks and I don’t know if we’ll ever be allowed in the kitchen again, but thanks for getting me to do this with you, it was actually really fun.”

With a satisfied smile on his face and a warm, happy feeling welling up inside him, Ares leaned forward and took a bite out of Cadence’s piece of pizza, trying not to laugh when he heard an angry squeak.

“Come on Candy, let’s go get all of this food back to our room,” he said, cleaning a bit of cheese off of Cadence’s mouth with his thumb. “I kind of want to sit down and eat all of this instead of, you know, just eating it out in the hallway like a slob.”

With a princessly sniff and with her nose raised high in the air, Cadence trotted past the food trolley that was holding all of their food. “Excuse me if I want to taste my food to see if it’s actually any good,” she said with a huff. “Silver Platter wouldn’t even let us taste these babies before throwing us out of the kitchen.”

Ares hummed thoughtfully as he positioned himself behind the trolley and started to push it forward. “She didn’t even let us clean up after ourselves,” he commented, poking his head back through the kitchen doorway to look at all the dishes, pots, pans, and kitchen utensils that had been stuffed into the sinks. “That’s going to take her forever to clean up.”

Cadence shrugged uncaringly. “It’s not our fault that she was in such a bad mood.” She frowned. “Did you hear her yelling at me the whole time I was trying to make the dough?”
Ares patted her on the back. “Weren’t you hitting the dough with a rolling pin and yelling at it to rise?”

Cadence stopped in her tracks, a tint of pink coloring her face as she stomped her hoof. “I’ve never cooked before, Ares!” She protested. “It’s not my fault that I have no idea how ponies make bread!”

While Ares could have pointed out that no person in their right mind would have done that to bread, and while he could also have asked himself why he and Cadence were so horrible at cooking, he decided to keep his trap shut and let his princess vent.

I’ll just send that poor mare some apology flowers or candy or something, Ares decided, scratching Cadence’s ear and trying to ignore the loud clattering of pots and pans and rather colorful swearing that was starting to come from the kitchen.

Was I really that bad of a cook back home? He wondered to himself his face scrunched up in thought. I don’t remember being HORRIBLE at cooking.
Ares gave his head a little shake to clear it of those silly thoughts, he reached down and picked up Cadence, pulling her into a hug. The alicorn giggled, wrapping her hooves around his neck.

“Ares,” Cadence whined, kissing his neck. “Come on and put me down; I want to get back to our room before our food gets cold!”

Ares’ grip only tightened, a happy smile coming to his face. “I love you, Candy,” he murmured, nuzzling the top of her head. “I don’t care if the two of us cook for shit; you’re the best girl a guy can ask for.”

Cadence awed, rubbing her cheek against his. “I love you too, my little human,” she told him, patting his back with her wing, “and don’t worry about the two of us not being able to cook. If we play our cards right all we’ll need to do is get you to show your cute little butt to some cooks and we’ll be eating for the rest of our lives!”

With another playful giggle, the alicorn wiggled out of his grasp and raced down the hall, the food trolley caught in her magic, leaving Ares by himself, the only sounds the chef’s swearing and his own breathing.

Sighing in contentment, he thought, Sweet Jesus, today was a pretty sweet day.

&@~~@&

“Alright, fillies,” Echo roared, looking over her dirty, exhausted, and ragged bunch of soldiers. “I think that’s enough exercise for today!”

The soldiers looked at the mare, wondering if what she had just said was some sort of cruel joke. Out of their group, only about a third of them could actually stand, including the hard-bitten veterans, and most of those paragons of stamina were panting, pale, and just a few short steps from passing out.

Everypony else who wasn’t so lucky was on the ground or leaning on one of the ponies that could actually stand for support, these poor, unlucky ponies covered in sweat, foamy saliva coating their mouths, and their eyes drooping in undeniable, spiriting-breaking tiredness. To his dismay, Shining found himself with these ponies, trying to desperately catch his breath and get the feeling back into his hooves as he leaned on Flash.

Sweet Celestia did I let myself go, he thought, pawing at the carton of water that he had been given after a few hours of working. The carton looked like it would be able to hold about a gallon and a half of water, and even though Echo had made sure that every guard had kept theirs full while they worked, Shining still felt that it hadn’t been enough. Without a doubt, this had been one of the most grueling and mentally difficult things that he had ever done in his entire life. Compared to this, his own time at boot camp may as well have been a cakewalk.

He had heard that the Night Guard’s training was a little stricter than the Day Guard’s, and that they still, proudly, used older methods of training, but if this was what a batpony had to go through to become one of Luna’s protectors then Shining was ecstatic that he had been born a unicorn.

Echo looked at each and every one of them with nothing less than utter contempt. “What you have just experienced, fillies, was what I had to go through as a recruit.” She turned her head and spat. “Except that I had to do all of this in a pitch-black cave and we had to use stones and stalactites as plows.”

The mare’s chest puffed out. “That little warm up is just the beginning, fillies and gentlecolts, of what I promise will be the worst few days of your lives!” She started to pace back and forth. “From what I have seen, your training was obviously insufficient, but I will forgive that on the basis of you all receiving the sub-par training regimen that the Day Guard is famous for.”

For the ponies that had originated from Canterlot, Shining included, this little jab hit a little too close to home, and each one of them would have voiced their opinions if any of them could actually breathe, but they couldn’t so Echo continued her little ‘pep talk’.

“Right now not a single one of you has the right to call yourself a guard. You are all trash; right now the dirt I’m walking on has more value than any one of you sorry salt-lickers. I was hoping to actually have stallions and mares to mold, but it looks like all the Crystal Empire has to provide are colts and fillies!”

Many of the Crystal ponies bit their tongues at this, each of them resisting the urge to defend their country’s honor by walking up to this outsider and giving her a good smack on the mouth.

“But don’t worry your little heads. I promise you, if any of you manage to stick this out you will be able to look yourself in a mirror and be able to call yourselves guards!” She smirked. “For those of you that want to quit, just tell me and I’ll be happy to throw your flank out of the castle by morning.”

Echo paused, looking in Shining’s direction before finishing, “Do I have any takers now?” She waved a hoof encouragingly at them. “Come on, I won’t bite, just trot on over here and tell me that you want to quit and I’ll let you walk away right now. You won’t have to do anything like this again in your lives; all you need to do is walk up to me, look me in the eyes, and tell me that you quit!”

As tempting as that sounded for most of the guards, not a single one of them moved. The Canterlot guard wouldn’t move because they had been called out by some bat horse Night Guard that thought she ran the place, and the Crystal wouldn’t even dare think about dishonoring their clans by submitting to defeat. So, no matter how hard this was going to get, they were going to stick this out, even if it killed them.

And from how today went, the Sergeant might actually be trying to kill us, Shining thought with a small smile. Willing every last ounce of energy he had left in his body, Shining forced himself off of Flash, stumbling, and almost falling, before he managed to stabilize himself.
His knees shook and even that little bit of effort was making him pant, but he still managed to give Echo a defiant smile; the absolutely best buck you that he could think of doing in this situation.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow, ma’am!” he said, saluting. “Then I might actually break a sweat!”

All around him, tired, dirty faces broke out into smiles, each of the guard silently cheering the stallion as he stood his ground under Echo’s glare. Stallions and mares, who were too tired to even think about standing on their own seconds before, raised themselves off the ground and stood with their old captain.

They might have been exhausted, and they may have gotten their flanks kicked up and down today, but they were still standing, and as a group they would continue to stand. Shining felt himself choke up with emotion. He couldn’t even count himself among these soldiers at the moment, but even now they trusted him to lead.
You know, I almost thought that they wouldn’t be happy to see me, Shining thought, a great big smile coming to his face. And here I always thought the real soldiers were supposed to hate the officers.

Echo looked at the group converging around Shining with a raised eyebrow before, with an annoyed snort, she looked back at the stallion. “You didn’t break a sweat, eh, Shining?” she said, her voice becoming low and dangerous. “Well then, you and the rest of the guard wouldn’t mind running back to the barracks then, would you?”
Just like that, the looks of brotherhood and the feeling of admiration died and turned into looks of horror, irritation, and even anger, all of which were directed at Shining, who couldn’t stop himself from flinching, and nearly facehoofing, at his own stupidity.

Seeing that he had trapped himself, he forced himself to say, “Of course not, ma’am!” Oh buck me why did I have to say that? He thought, his exhaustion once again making itself known.

Because of a slip of the tongue, something that had been meant to put spirit back into the tired soldiers behind him, Shining had inadvertently given his exhausted trainees another twenty mile run. A twenty mile run which he was sure to be thanked for in the form of being held down and beaten with bars of soap in socks by his fellow soldiers while he slept.

Well, I hope that they don’t beat me too hard, Shining thought as Echo started shouting orders for the troop to form up for the run. We all probably have one heck of a day tomorrow. For some reason, the thought of another day of horrible, grueling training brought a smile to his face as the Sergeant stood in front of the tired group of ponies and started off toward the castle at a steady but brisk pace.

“Let’s go fillies! If I catch one of you falling behind I will not hesitate to run back and kick your flank all the way to the bucking castle, do you hear me Legionnaires?!”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”

Next Stop: A Flower Shop

“Um, sir… Sir, it’s time to wake up.”

Ares sighed, trying not to groan or pull the covers over his head when he felt someone tentatively poking his side. Grumbling, he tried to swat at whatever was poking him, to try and scare it away, but the poking continued undaunted after a second or two.

Please god, he begged, please let me have a little more sleep; I don’t need that much, just another hour or two… Please?

“Sir, you have to get your lazy flank up for work.”

It was the day that Ares had been waiting for for weeks: the day that he could go out and make himself useful by becoming employed. Coming from a family that was used to working hard from five in the morning to ten at night, it had been killing him to just sit on his butt all day and do nothing. He was a man dammit; he was supposed to make a living, not leeching off others!

It was why he jumped at the chance to get a job as soon as he made it up here to the empire. Sure, he might love Cadence, and sure, she might made him do a lot of things that he usually would do, but there was no way in hell that she was going to stop him from getting a job; even if he had to wash dishes he’d do it with a smile on his face if that meant to had something to do.

Luckily for him he didn’t not have to work as a dishwasher; he actually managed to get a job as a florists, something he had been doing since he was little,and he couldn’t be happier about it. Now he didn’t need to bother other ponies because he was a jobless shmup, walking around and doing nothing and pretty much being useless; he was the one that was going to be bothered!

He had really had looking forward to going to work the other day, but because of the whole Shining-knocked-a-hole-in-the-wall-and-it-was-awkward thing Ares feared that he might have made a bad first impression on his new boss by not coming to work. So, to make it up them, he had asked one of the maids if she’d be kind enough to go ahead and make sure that he actually got up at the ungodly hour of four thirty in the morning to head on in early.

And why did he have to leave the comfort and warmth of his bed to go out into the cold, cold world at that hour; an hour where most shops were still closed with their owners tucked away in their beds?

Well, being someone who had worked in a flower shop most of his life, Ares knew that it actually took a lot of work to make your merchandise look good so people would buy it. One had to get up bright and early to ‘feed’ the plants, get the shipments of new stock, pesticides, soil, and what have you, you needed to make sure that all of your plants looked healthy and if they didn’t you needed to either throw them out or trim the plant to make it look better; and that was stuff you needed to do before your customers came through the door.

So, instead of going into work at eight like he had been told, Ares had decided, in an effort to look like a good new employee, to actually get up and help out when the owner of the store was actually doing most of her work. The problem with that was that he actually had to get out of his bed at three in the morning.

“Sir? Are you awake yet?” The maid pony asked, giving his side another poke while he tried to get his brain up and working. “Come on; rise and shine!”

With a quiet groan, he groggily swatted away her hoof with a hand. “I’m up, I’m up,” he muttered, opening an eye to glare at her. “Just give me a minute…”

The mare looked around the room, adjusting the collar on her dress. “Um, I can’t do that, sir,” she said apologetically, poking his side again. “You told me to keep pestering you until you got out of bed so you wouldn’t just go back to sleep.”

Cadence, who was sleepily clinging to him with a wing draped over his body, and who also still smelled like pizza and chocolate from the night before, frowned and grumbled to herself, pulling him closer. “…No,” she muttered, nuzzling his cheek. “…Sleep.”

Ares smiled, leaning down and kissing her on her forehead. “Even though I’d love to, Candy, I have to get up and go to work.”

The princess’s wing tightened around him and her hooves latched around his neck. “No,” she murmured again. “It’s national sleep-in day.”

Looking over at the maid, who was watching this little scene unfold with a little smile on her face while she quietly awed, for support, and receiving none, Ares then tried to reason with his fillyfriend whilst also trying to wiggle out of her iron grip.

“Come on, Candy,” he pleaded. “I don’t want to be late.”

Cadence just buried her muzzle deeper into his neck. “Maid,” she grumbled loudly. “Make sure to note that your princess has decreed that today is national sleep-in; a day in which everypony has to sleep in and or actually go to work when they’re supposed to; not hours beforehand.”

The maid saluted with a giggle. “At your command, your majesty.”

Ares gave the mare a dirty look before pressing his cheek against Cadence’s. “Come on, babe; I already made a shitty impression by not going in yesterday,” he muttered into her ear while trying to unhook her hooves from around his neck. “If you don’t want me to keep going this early that’s fine, but I need to at least go early today to make up for not going yesterday.”

“You had a good reason not to go yesterday,” Cadence grumbled. “And I sent a messenger to tell your boss that you weren’t going to be able to make it in, so I don’t see what you’re all worked up for.” With a grunt she pulled him back against her and wrapped her wings fully around him.

“Now be quiet and let your princess use you as her teddy bear.”

The maid cleared her throat. “Sir, you really need to be going.”

Ares growled, trying to resist the urge to just go back to sleep. “Just give me a minute…” He looked up at Cadence. “Come on, Candy, it’ll only be this once,” he begged. “And I’ll even make sure to get you some flowers to eat when I get off.”

Cadence cracked open a blood-shot eye and eyed him critically. “You’ll get those yellow roses that I like?” she demanded with a sleepy yawn.

Ares nodded. “I’ll get a dozen of them for you, but first…”

Cadence just grumbled before letting him go, her wings tucking back to their sides. “Alright,” she said, yawning. “Go and have fun at your job.” She waved her hoof toward the door and sniffled sadly. “Go and leave your marefriend to sleep all by herself so you can get some brownie points with your boss.”

“You monster,” the maid added a dramatic gasp and another giggle.

Ignoring the maid, Ares leaned down and kissed Cadence on the cheek. “I’ll see you later today, Candy,” he said, tucking her in. “Go and get some more sleep; I’m sure you’ll need it.”

Cadence nodded. “You make sure that you don’t burn anything down,” she said, nuzzling her cheek before letting her head fall back onto the pillow. “And make sure to come back to the castle for lunch, alright?”

“Alright, I will.” With a grunt, Ares rolled out of the bed, trying not to fall over anything in the dimly lit room, and walked over to the closet to throw on some clothes.

“You better throw on a coat, sir,” the maid suggested, watching the tired human as, with a little more stumbling and swearing than was really necessary, he threw on some clothes. “It gets chilly out this early.”

Doing just that, Ares looked around the room to see if he had forgotten anything before rushing over to the bed and kissing his half-awake marefriend again. “Alright, I gotta go, Candy. Have a good day, I love you, bye.”

Not waiting for an answer, Ares walked over, picked up the maid, and jogged toward the open door; closing it quietly behind him. The maid, who was holding her little candle so she wouldn’t accidently burn herself or Ares, squirmed in the human’s clutches until he carefully put her down in the brightly lit hallway.

Clearing her throat, the maid pulled a plate from… somewhere. “Sir, I thought that you’d like to eat something before going out to greet the day,” she said, hoofing him a plateful of donuts, buttered toast, and even bacon.

Grinning, Ares quickly snatched the food from the plate and started to sprint down the hallway.

“Thank you!” he called over his shoulder before stuffing the toast in his mouth.

The maid shook her head as he turned the corner. “At least he remembered his coat,” she muttered, yawning hugely as she slowly started to make her way toward the maids quarters where a warm bed was waiting for her. “Why the hay anypony would wake up at this hour just to play with dirt and plants,” she shuddered in disgust, “when winter is around the corner is beyond me.”

&^^&

Tulip woke up, just like she had every morning, with a big smile on her face. Sure, she might have to wake up a little earlier than most ponies to open her flower shop, and she was probably going to have to wear a warm hat and a scarf out when she needed to go out to get that new shipment of soil from that grumpy old stallion that sold it at the supply store, but at least she woke up bright and early doing what she loved.

Being a shop keep was a quiet, calm, and fulfilling life to her. She wasn’t running around worrying about every little thing, she didn’t have ponies running into her store yelling at her for no reason, all she had to do during that day was take care of her plants and deal with a few customers; one could almost say that it might be one of the most stress-free occupations out there. Which was good for her in more ways than one.

You see, Tulip was a mare that didn’t like loud noises, or loud ponies, or large crowds, or surprises, or mean ponies that yelled at her when she was just trying to help, and she tried to stay away from all of those negative things; for her heart if nothing else, and that was where her plants shined. The plants never scared her, nor did they yell or scream; all they did was sit there, looking pretty and sucking up carbon dioxide while she cared and nurtured them.

And this day, like most of her days, would have just been perfect, if not for that fact that her new employee, that weird cuddle-alien thing named Ares, was going to be starting work today.

N-not that she thought he was going to be a bad employee or anything, her aunt had told her that he had been a florist on his home planet (Darth or something like that) and she had put a good word in for him, so she already kind of knew that he wasn’t going to be one of those meanies that would yell at her or bully her. No, she wasn’t concerned with his work ethic, or the type of worker her was going to be, she was concerned for his well-being.

The messenger that had come to her little flower shop had been vague, but she, and almost half of the city, had heard the explosion the other night, and though not many ponies were worried because they had seen the guard running around the other day, Tulip was concerned that her newest employee might have hurt himself in some way. He was her first employee after all, and she wanted to make sure that he was in tip-top shape.

It might have been a silly thought, and she knew she shouldn’t be worried when her aunt had come by the other day saying that he was alright and he’d be more than ready to come to work tomorrow, but a nagging feeling lingered and she was sure that it wouldn’t go away until she actually saw him alive and whole.

I hope he takes another day off if he needs it, the mare thought as she trotted into her bathroom to brush her salmon-colored coat and wrestle the tangled mess that was her mane. I don’t want him straining himself if he’s hurt…

After grooming herself, putting a clip in her mane to keep it in place, and eating a simple but filling breakfast, Tulip left her home and slowly made her way toward her little flower shop: Flowers and Flattery.

It was a little shop on the corner of Ruby Street and Platinum Avenue that got just enough traffic that she was able to live actually quite well, which was why she needed more help in the store in the first place. It seemed as the weeks and months went by more and more ponies would wind up in her store to buy a little something to nibble on while they were on their way home, which was great for business, but doing everything by herself was really starting to wear on her.

“But now it’ll be easier,” the mare muttered, her breath fogging from the frigid morning air. “I may even be able to expand my store like I’ve wanted!” With a little squee at the thought, along with a little happy skip, Tulip quickly made her way toward her little shop and unlocked the door. As soon as she opened it, the smell of her plants with just a hint of soil assaulted her, making her little happy smile all the bigger as she trotted over and threw on the light switch.

“And how did my babies sleep?” she cooed, quickly closing the door behind her to keep all of the warm air in.

Row after row of plants, some common, some not, each of them on specially heated tables that also had a sun lamps that kept the plants happy and warm, lined the main room of her little store almost to the point of bursting. For many ponies, the humidity and all of the flowers so close together and just out there like they were may have been a little odd but there was a method to Tulip’s madness.You see, unlike many of her competition, she wanted to show her customers that she grew her plants with just love and care; hence why she didn’t have them hidden away from the publics eye.

She didn’t trim up the plant so much that you could barely get anything edible out of them, nor did she pump her plants full of nasty chemicals. It made her flowers a little smaller than some other flower shops, and a bouquet may cost a little more, but when you bought something at Flowers and Flattery you knew exactly what you were getting, which was how Tulip liked it.

After trotting around to see if all her babies were healthy and delicious-looking, making sure that she watered them, and going to her strongbox in the back to see if everything was where it was supposed to be (a habit that her aunt had told her to pick up) Tulip made her way out of her little shop and into the chilly and foggy outside with a happy smile.

By now the sun was just peaking over the horizon, and the once deserted streets were starting to fill up with ponies either going into their own shops to get ready for the day or farmers bringing in their wares. Soon the streets would be filled to the brim with ponies; something that Tulip would like to avoid.

I hope that Mr. Sow is in a good mood today, she thought, quickly making her way through the streets and toward the supply store where she got her soil. He always tries to make me pay more when he’s—

The mare stopped in the middle of the street when she heard the sound of somepony charging through the streets toward her, though it sounded a heavier than a pony, and the sound that was being made was more of a thud than a clop. That isn’t a pony…

Straining her vision to pierce the fog that surrounded her, she could just make out the outline of what appeared to be a yeti. Just the thought of meeting one of those monsters almost made the mare bolt, but then she remembered that the barrier around the city kept those monsters out.

Then what IS it? She thought, racking her brain as the mystery creature quickly came closer. Taking a shaky breath, she took a step forward and called out, “Um, e-excuse me?”

The creature, supposedly noticing her, slowed down to a walk. “Oh, hello,” it said, sounding out of breath. “Do you need something?”

…I know that voice from somewhere, Tulip thought as she slowly trotted over toward what sounded like a male. The closer she got to the creature the more familiar he became, until she was standing before the cuddle monkey himself: Ares.

The man smiled down at her before looking down the road. “Did you need something, ma’am?” he asked again. “I actually need to hurry up and get to work…”

Tulip looked up at him with a mixture of embarrassment and shame. Oh dear, I didn’t even remember what he looked like! In her excitement to get the day started, Tulip had forgotten what her newest employee had looked like! Sure, the fog had made him a little hard to see, and she had been a little too nervous about him actually being a yeti to think clearly, but to her that was not excuse. What kind of boss am I if I can’t remember what my employees look like?

“Oh, hello, Ares!” I mean, how many other giant monkey things are running around?! It’s not like he’s a zillion time different than a pony or anything! “It’s me, Tulip, you’re boss.

Ares cocked his head and peered at her intently, before a look of recognition came to his face.

“Oh, hello ma’am, I didn’t recognize you in all of this fog,” he said politely. “I was just about to go to you flower shop to see if you needed anything help with anything. I know how early a florist needs to get up, and I thought you might need someone to help with some heavy lifting.”

Ares took a step forward, frowning when he noticed how strained Tulip’s smile appeared. “…Are you alright there, ma’a—“

“Oh, please, just call me Tulip,”

“—Tulip? You seem a little... off.”

Don’t tell him that you didn’t remember what he looked or sounded like, the mare thought as she trotted up to him. Don’t you bucking dare!

“I’m fine,” she said with a cough. “I just had something else on my mind.” She smiled up at him again. “And thank you for coming down so early; I could actually use some help carrying some soil, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Ares smiled, letting the mare lead him through the streets. “I’d be happy to help Tulip,” he said, an excited pip in his step.

&<><>&

“Move your bucking hooves more, Armor, or Watcher’s going to make your ugly mug even uglier!”

Shining grunted, barely registering the advice as he rolled out of the way from the hulk of a stallion that he was trying his hardest to beat him into a fine paste.

What do you think I’m trying to do?! he thought with a tired snort, bracing himself as his opponent threw a haymaker. It’s not my fault that Watcher takes up half the damned courtyard!

Shining had been looking forward to sparring with a pony or two, to see if he could take a punch like the old days, but now, after losing at least three matches to the Sergeant before him--a usually nice stallion that went by the name of Watcher--, he really looking forward for his beating to end.

The Sergeant was over a head taller than Shining and probably could knock an Manticore out with a kick; which was really not making this fun for him. Just raw strength wasn’t the only thing that Shining had to deal with; the earth pony was also a good deal faster than his size suggested. That along with being a five year veteran of the guard, which meant that he had a lot of experience under his belt, had made the last two hours a rather painful experience for him.

“She’s right, Shining,” Watcher calmly said, almost knocking Shining off his feet with a well place shoulder bump. “You need to keep moving or you’ll—“

Weaving under another punch, Shining swing with as much force as his tired, shaken, and beaten body was capable of, hitting Watcher squarely on the jaw, causing the stallion to stumble. For a second, Shining almost thought that he was going to hit the ground, but then Watcher simply shook his head and stared at him with an almost bored expression.

Sweet Faust why did I get paired up with the giant? He thought, steeling himself as his opponent came charging toward him with a roar. Why couldn’t they have parted me with Flash?

While this would have been a simple fight if he was allowed to use his magic, Shining wanted a fair fight with his opponent… Or at least Echo did, since the mare, with a big smile on her face, had placed an inhibitor on his head and told him to buck up. So, even if he wanted to, (And he really wanted to) he just couldn’t simply pick up Watcher and slam him into the ground until he gave up. He was going to have to win this spar with his wiles, and he was going to have to do it quickly, because if he took anymore punches he was pretty sure he was going to get some kind of brain damage.

Come on, give me something! Shining begged, gritting his teeth in frustration as he dodged and weaved around and rolled from his foe, not bothering with throwing any punches because they weren’t doing anything other than annoying him, trying to find a weak spot in this monster of a pony.

Watcher simply kept driving the unicorn backward, his punches and jabs controlled and calm as he waited for Shining to tire out so he could land a finishing blow. “You’re not going to beat me by hopping around like this, Shining,” he said calmly. “You know you could just surrender; there’d be no shame in it.”

“Shut… up… Watcher,” Shining growled, sweat dripping off his face as he distanced himself from the earth pony. “Give… me a… minute and… I’ll have… your flank… laid out… in the dirt.”

Watcher simply smiled before charging Shining again. I’m not going to be able to outlast an earth pony, Shining thought, crouching low to the ground and tensing his muscles. Watcher seemed to increase his speed, probably intending on just steamrolling him; which was just thing that he needed. For the first time in all two hours of fighting him, Watcher had finally made a mistake, and Shining was more than happy to make him pay for it.

Trying not to let his smile show, Shining held his ground. Come on, just a little closer, he thought, his lips drawing back into a snarl.

Watcher smiled when he saw that his opponent had seemingly given up, increasing his speed and lowering his head to make his finishing blow all the more powerful.

Almost….THERE!

With a snarl, Shining darted forward, launching himself into Watcher’s legs and pointing his horn downward. (He didn’t want to gut his opponent by accident.)

Watcher, not able to stop himself in time, hit Shining’s shoulders with an almost bone crunching amount of force. Ignoring the pain that was coursing through his body with his little stunt, Shining grabbed Watcher’s forelegs, and, with a mighty roar and every bit of strength he had left, he lifted the bigger stallion off the ground and let inertia do the rest. Watcher yelped in surprise as he was launched into the air, spinning a few times, before he hit the ground hard, landing face first and sliding for a few feet before going limp with a pained groan.

Getting back on all fours, Shining spun around and launched himself at the fallen stallion, rolling him onto his back and pressing his hooves against his throat. “Yield,” he growled, his whole body shaking from exhaustion.

Watcher tried to weakly rise but Shining just shoved him back into the earth with a grunt.

“Watcher, if you… don’t yield right… now I’m going… to hop on your sack… until you cry like… a filly.” Shining tapped the stallion’s lower belly with a hoof, making Watcher squeak like a in surprise and fear.

.
“I… yield,” he grumbled before letting his head fall back into the dirt with a groan. “Good match, Shining.”

With a tired grin, Shining hopped off the bigger stallion and helped him up. “I got lucky during that last bit,” he said modestly, not noticing that someone was making their way toward him with nervous, but, hopeful, hoofsteps. “If you weighed any more than I’m sure that my back would have bro—“

Shining’s eyes widened when he felt someone’s hoof touch his shoulder. Wondering who it could be, and realizing that the training field was now silent, he slowly turned around, only to be pulled into a pink, furry chest, and wrapped into a tight hug.

The unicorn stiffened in surprise as the pony wrapped her wings around him. “Hello, Shining,” she said, sounding a little apprehensive, leading Shining to guess that she had been gathering her courage to walk up and hug him like she had. “I’m glad to see you didn’t go and run away before I could get a chance to talk to you.”

Shining leaned into the hug and closed his eyes.“Good afternoon, your highness,” he answered, looking into Cadence’s purple eyes.

The small smile that had been on the princess’s face faltered. “Now, don’t be like that, Shining,” she quietly said, sounding hurt.

Shining sighed. “What? I thought that you had to be formal during a trial,” he said casually, cracking open an eye to see that every one of the guard was staring intently at them.

“A trial?” Cadence asked, sounding confused before a look of realization flashed across her face. “Oh, you mean what happened yesterday with the wall?” Giving him another nuzzle, the princess stepped away from him and turned to address the rest of the guard. “I had almost forgotten about that. Sergeant Echo?”

As if she had teleported, the Sergeant was beside the princess in the blink of an eye, the bat mare saluting before saying, “Was there something you needed, ma’am?”

Cadence regarded her with a critical eye. “I’ve read the report you sent me the other day explaining you and the rest of the guard’s actions. After some thought, I thought it would be best to come down here personally to speak to you about it..”

Echo simply nodded. “Ma’am yes ma’am,” she said.

With a thoughtful hum, Cadence began circling the mare. “As you know, Sergeant, every action has a consequence,” she said calmly, though her face was unreadable. “The other day you decided that the best plan of action, after hearing somepony yell, was to break into my room using excessive and frankly unnecessary force, knock down a section of my wall in the process.”

All around the training yard, stallions and mares alike flinched at the accusation, but Echo may as well have been made out of stone because she didn’t so much as flinch.

“I did what I thought was right at the time,” she said, a bit of stubbornness coming into her tone. “I will accept any punishment that you give me, but I will not apologize for trying to protect you.”

Cadence stopped in front of the mare, her eyes narrowing. “Alright; I AM a busy mare, so I’ll just cut to the chase.” Spreading her wings, she continued. “Sergeant Echo, for your actions the other night I, Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of the Crystal Empire, hereby relieve you of your rank as Sergeant—“ This made Echo wince slightly, her body tensing, “—and elevate you to the rank of captain.” Pulling her wings back to her sides, the princess giggled quietly to herself as Echo, along with the rest of the guard, stared at her like she had just grown a second head; open mouths and all.“Congratulations!”

After a moment, Echo finally managed to find her voice. “…What?”

Cadence nodded, a bright, cheery smile on her face, walked over and placed her hoof on the mare’s shoulder, she said, “You thought Ares and I were in danger and you responded quickly.”

She smiled ruefully. “Maybe a little too quickly, but you managed to make a plan and enact in with a group of ponies that don’t even know you and led them as a single, cohesive unit. It may not have been much of a plan, and you may have jumped to conclusions, but you didn’t panic; you went through what could have been a dangerous situation with a clear head. That, along with previous recommendations from princess Luna and Celestia, and having judged your character myself in the short time you’ve worked for me, I thought that promoting you would be the best. ”

With a nod, the princess turned back to Shining. “And, I also read from the Captain’s report that you, Shining Armor would like to join the crystal guard; is that correct?”

Shining nodded once. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, trying to keep his voice even, though his back legs were shaking slightly.

Cadence nodded. “I’d be more than happy to have you in the guard, Shining… as long as this is something that you really want to do.” Cadence took a step toward him. “I would be happy to give you a recommendation to any troop in Equestria, or I’m sure that my aunt would love to have you back as her captain…” She took another step closer toward him.

“Shining,” she said quietly. “I’m happy that you’re okay, and I’m happy to see you again, but if you’re doing this for the wrong reasons…”

Shining bowed his head. “I’m not here for anything like that, Cadence,” he assured. “I just think that I need to be up here,” he motioned toward the soldiers watching them intently. “I trained a lot of these ponies myself; it’d only be right to see it to the end.” Shining smiled at her. “I want to make sure you, and the empire, are in the hooves of trained, experienced guards.”

Cadence still looked unsure, though Shining could tell that she was trying hard to hide it. “…Alright, Shining, but I’m not going to play favorites with you. You’re going to have to work your way up from the bottom…”

Shining grimaced, looking down at his hooves. He had had expected Cadance to be a little… resistant. It might have been nothing; he might have been imagining it, but it actually seemed like she genuinely didn’t want him protecting her. Maybe it might not have been the best idea to come this soon. he thought. Maybe I should try to ease into thi--

“Well Private, are you going to just keep your face in the dirt or are you going to say something?!”

Blinking in surprise, Shining turned toward Echo, who was looking at him with a scowl and a borderline angry expression.

The mare smacked him on the shoulder. “You were going on about wanting to join my guard yesterday, and now that the princess herself just told you that you were allowed to join, you get cold hooves?! Do you really bucking need to be a bucking captain to join my command?!!!””

Shining took a nervous step backwards. “Well, um—“

“NO! I’ll bucking tell you what you’re going to do,” Echo butted heads with him. “You’re going to do what you came up here to do, and you’re going to like it! DO YOU GET ME CREAMPUFF?!”

Eyes wide, Shining found himself saluting. “Ma’am, yes ma’am!” he squeaked.

Echo growled. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU, PRIVATE! WHAT THE BUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!”

“MA’AM YES MA’AM!”

With a nod, Echo pushed him out of the way and saluted Cadence, who had watched the whole scene with a mixture of confusion, surprise, and amusement. “I’ll make sure he gets the proper paperwork filled out, ma’am. Now, if you’ll excuse us, the days still young and these slackers have a few more hours of sparring to do. DO YOU HEAR ME, FILLIES? BREAK TIME'S OVER, GET BACK TO WORK!”

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the wait; finals have me bent over a table, and my editors been busy, so please be a bro and point out and errors.

The Hazards of Magical Flowers

“Um, Ares?”

Ares looked up from the orchid that he had been trying to carefully put into pots to look up at his boss, who was smiling down at him with an expectant look. Wiping his hands on his pants and making sure that the plants weren’t going to go anywhere, he stood up with a grunt.

“Do you need something, Boss?” he asked politely.

Tulip looked past him at the plants, her smile becoming just a little bit wider. “You’re doing a good job, Ares,” she complemented. “Most ponies don’t know how fragile orchids are.”

Ares looked at the plants that he had spent the last ten minutes prepping and potting, his chest puffing out with pride. “Oh, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with these fragile little bas--buggers,” he told his employer, his smile diminishing slightly as he looked off into the distance with a thousand-yard stare. “Back home we had people always asking for the things, then coming back into the store complaining about how they died two weeks later…”

Almost before he could walk, Ares had been around his uncle’s flower shop; at first as a little kid that did more to mess up the place than to help, then as an actual employee, and then as a sort of co-owner. In that time he had gotten to know a lot about being a florists and the people that spent their lives supplying people with some of the most beautiful flowers possible.

Back home, flower shops were becoming something of a dying breed. Nowadays people just bought their flowers online from some big-wig company that mass produced everything instead of helping out the mom and pop stores around their towns. The big companies could make more, sell more, and keep their prices lower than the smaller locally owned flower shops, and everyone in the flower business had been hit in some way.

Ares, as a young man, had seen some of the nicest people in the world get thrown out into the streets because no one would buy their flowers, and for a while, he had considered not following his uncle’s legacy as a big macho-man powerlifter who also happened to own a flower shop. His parents warned against it, outright forbidding him at one point, and told him to go get an “education” to get a “real” job. To his shame he had almost caved in to his family’s wishes, even going so far as to look into a few of the local colleges, but in the end he could couldn’t bring himself to abandon his uncle and all the beautiful flowers.

So, against the wishes of his parents, his friends, his high school guidance counselor, and pretty much everyone else that he knew, Ares moved out of his parent’s house, moved into a crummy little apartment on the bad part of town where it always seemed to rain, and began his life as a professional florists.

Almost as soon as he had settled down to work he had to buckle down and hit the ground running, fighting tooth and nail with his uncle to keep “their” little flower shop thriving and relevant.

Endless nights were spent keeping the shop maintained and looking pretty, and Ares had lost more nights of sleep that he cared to think about spreading the word about “his” flower shop in any way he could, using everything from facebook to twitter to even paying a homeless man to stand out in front of the store with a sign (it wasn’t one of his better ideas, and in the end he almost got arrested along with the bum that he had paid, but at the very least it had been an interesting day).

They tried lots of things, some silly, some inefficient, and some that may or may not have been a teeny tiny bit illegal but, for a while, it seemed like all of their hard work was paying off. The shop was busier than ever and it almost looked like they were going to have to expand the shop because of all of the customers. Most of their clientele might have been hipsters, who for some reason kept asking for them to put a coffee shop in their store, but at least they had enough money to feed themselves, pay the rent, and to keep the store open.

Ares and his uncle couldn’t have been happier with their work, and Ares in particular couldn’t help but rub his success in his family’s face, but, like all good things, it had to end; and for Ares it ended with him waking up in the middle of a tundra in the middle of a world filled with magic and talking horses.

It had been hard losing everything that he’d ever known. What made it even harder was that he had no way of knowing how his family was doing, or if his little shop was still running at tip-top shape, or how everyone was holding up after his disappearance. In fact, if it wasn’t for Cadence, Twilight, and the other princesses, he still might not have gotten over it.

Despite all of this though, losing his family, his life, and his little shop, he had managed not to lose hope on any of it. His uncle was a smart, strong-willed kind of guy; there was no way in hell he was going to let the shop go under while he could still move around, and his family was a tough bunch, they’d be alright. All they’d need to do was hunker down together and they’d be able to get on with their lives just as he had.

The fact that he had been dropped into a world where florists were thriving also took a bit of the sting out of losing everything he knew too. Sure, most ponies were using flower shops as sweet shops, but at least he wasn't going to have to worry having to stop doing what he loved because people were too busy to go into his store. In fact, maybe in a few years, he’d be able to open his own little store in town somewhere; teaching a colt or two about how to water a sun flower while muttering some life lesson that would always center around lifting, just like his uncle had done before him.

Tulip’s shop was like his uncle’s had been, so much so that he had been expecting a six foot seven hulking old man to pop out the back asking Ares if he’d watered the Good Morning’s yet.

The flowers were all out in the open, like they should be, there was a little rickety little cash register in the corner on top of an oaken counter, the walls were just the right color of off white, and everything smelled like dirt.

And to make things even better, Ares had found out that his old green thumb hadn’t left him during his months in ponyland. His hands were steady and all of the old tricks that he had learned over the years seemed to just come right back to him as soon as he started working; and work he did.

For hours he had did what he did best, trimming and planting and restocking and watering and even dealing with a few customers, quickly becoming dirty and sweaty, but he couldn’t keep a smile off of his face. His new boss had been ecstatic when she had seen his work ethic, complementing him and telling him how much easier he was making the whole new employee thing on her by already knowing how to do everything, which made the job all the more sweeter to him.

Tulip herself seemed like a sweet mare, albeit a shy one. It had taken half the morning of working with her before the mare had finally warmed up enough to him to begin an actual non work-related conversation, and even then it was a little touch and go for a little while.

After a few slightly awkward questions, and more than a bit of dancing around each other, the two hit it off, Ares telling her about his time working at his uncle’s shop along with a few tales about his old life and Tulip telling a few stories of her own.

“Hey, it’s about lunch time,” Tulip said, blowing a bit of her mane out of her face before smiling up at him. “I was just going to see if you were going to take your lunch break.”

While he really wanted to tell her no, he was having a little too much fun to stop now, he nodded. “Yeah, I promised my fillyfriend that the two of us would have lunch together,” Ares said with a slightly embarrassed grin. “Is it alright if I take my lunch break now, or do you want me to—“

“Remember you can take your lunch break anytime you like,” Tulip interrupted. “I don’t want you rushing back and forth trying to get something to eat. Just make sure that you don’t go missing all day and you’ll be fine.”

Ares nodded. “Okay, ma’am, but I’ll still make sure to keep my lunch breaks at an hour max.”

Tulip nodded. “Just make sure to get something to eat, Ares; a full employee always works harder than one who’s barely eaten,” she pointed toward the sink in the corner. “Now go wash up before you get outside; I’m sure the princess doesn’t want to see you covered in dirt.”

“Alright, thank you.” Ares was about to walk to the sink but he stopped. “Ms. Tulip, would it be alright if I snagged a few of those yellow roses?” He smiled at his boss. “I promised my—“

Giggling to herself, Tulip waved a hoof dismissively. “Take as many as you like,” she said kindly. “And since you’ve been working so hard today why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”

Ares frowned. “Are you sure? I don’t wanna leave you here with the rush hour on the way.”

Rolling her eyes, Tulip trotted over to him, nudging his leg with a hoof. “We’ve already had the lion’s share of customers here today; most ponies only come here in ones and twos after lunch, so you don’t need to worry about me.”

She giggled again before trotting toward her register. “Now go on home and enjoy your lunch! No buts; get that fanny of yours out the door.”

“...Are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure; now get!”

What a nice mare, Ares thought, cleaning himself up before making toward the section of the store dedicated to roses.

He casually walked through the aisles until he came upon what he assumed to be plain old roses yellow roses. “There you are,” he mumbled, leaning in and intently staring at the big, thriving bushes. “I thought you guys were here…”

Though the human was, admittedly, an experienced florists, he failed to take into account that there were different species of flowers on this plants that he was unfamiliar with. He also failed to assume that his boss might have a magical flower or two out in the open along with the normal flowers, but, since everything, at least in the flower shop, seemed to look and smell the same as they did back home, one could forgive Ares in his lapse of judgement.

Since Tulip was busy at the counter she wasn’t there to tell him that instead of taking a bakers dozen of just plain yellow roses, the poor human took a bouquet of the rare and magical plant fleur de la luxure, which, to be fair, looked exactly like a rose. Since she knew so little of his world, and since she may have forgotten what her aunt had said about the human, and since he had shown that he knew what he was doing, she automatically assumed that he knew what to watch out with magical flowers. And, since every magical flower in her store was safe (all except the one that he was now handling, as a matter of fact), she didn’t bother showing him the different flowers or how similar some of them were with other normal flowers.

The fleur de la luxure was one of these flowers that blended in with the common yellow rose; in fact, the only significant difference between the two was the very slight glow that the magical flowers gave off, something that Ares assumed to be a trick of the light as he carefully cut the flowers from their bushes and placed them into a little plastic cone.

The fleur de la luxure happened to have another name, as it were: often it was simply called the “lusty rose”. Ares would find out why it was called this in the best of ways.

<><><>~_~_~_~<><><>

The streets were crowded with ponies, all who were probably trying to get something to eat, but all of them stopped what they were doing to go and say hello to the infamous cuddle monkey. Ares waved and chatted with a few of them, and played with a few kids, but he made his way to the castle as quickly as possible, the thought of filling his belly spurring him on.

I wonder what we’re gonna eat, He thought, nodding at a few of the guards as he made his way through the castle’s entrance. I could really go for some more piz—

“Hey, Ares!”

Ares stopped and turned toward a smiling Flash and a stone-faced and statue-like Shining Armor, both who appeared to be guarding the hallway. Ares raised an eyebrow when he saw that Shining was armored and armed with a spear.

Huh, it looks like he got the job, he thought. Well… good for him.

For a second, he wondered why the hell Cadence had given him the job, but after giving it a second thought, he mentally shrugged. If Shining got the job that only made it easier for the two of them clear the air with each other, and that was just what Ares was going to try to do. If he wanted to be a Crystal Guard that was fine by him, and since they were probably going to be seeing a lot more of each other now, he felt that the least he could do was offer an olive branch and at least try to be friendly.

“Hey Flash,” he said, hoofbumping his friend when a hoof was offered. “What are you two doing?”

Flash’s chest puffed out. “The Cap-er, Shining here got the job this morning, and the two of us got assigned together!” Flash winked and nudged Shining. “I’m supposed to show him the ropes.”

Shining’s eye twitched slightly. “I was a guard a heck of a lot longer than you,” Shining muttered in annoyance. “And the two of us are supposed to be watching this hall, Flash, not just talking to ponies will-nilly.”

Not able to help himself, Ares said, “Well, lucky for you I’m not a pony then huh?”

Ares and Flash looked at Shining expectantly, the two of them frowning when Shining simply ignored the comment. Ares and Flash looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, a silent conversation going on between the two, one that simply said awkward.

While Ares had just told himself that he was going to try and play nice with Shining he couldn’t even pretend to ignore the slight tension that was building in the hall. He didn’t know if Shining had a beef with him or not, but he couldn’t help but admit that, until the two of them managed to talk it out, it was going to be weird being around each other, since Ares had the whole I’m-probably-going-to-be-having-sex-with-your-ex-wife-while-you’re-in-the-same-castle-on-the-regular thing going on.

It was honestly a situation that he had never been in, and he really wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Should he talk to Cadence about this whole thing first? Should he bring it up with Shining right now? Should the two of them just go and beat the shit out of each other like he’d first offered? He didn’t know; but what he did know was that he probably should stop just standing around like an idiot and say something to make this whole situation a little less tense and weird.

Come on you pussy, stop just standing there and say something!

“Hey, good for you, Shining,” Ares said with a smile. “I’m happy that you got the job.” Shining frowned when Ares flicked his helmet but remained silent.

Biting his lip, Ares fumbled, trying to come up with something to ignite the conversation. “...So you’re all suited up now? You’re looking pretty spiffy.” He crouched down and looked him over. “Did Candy give you your old rank back or…”

“Cadence made me a private,” Shining said, eyes still forward.

Ares nodded, reaching over and patting Flash’s side before getting back up. “Well it was nice talking to you guys... but I gotta go and get something to eat.” Ares turned back toward Shining, who was still looking forward, debating on saying something more before shaking his head before starting to walk down the hall.

“Ares!”

Ares looked back at Shining, who was still looking forward.

“…You have a good day and thank you; it means a lot to me to be back in the guard.”

Ares nodded, cracking a smile. “I’ll see you two around.”

Flash smiled as his friend made his way down the hall and around the corner, turning and smiling at his old captain. “I told you that it wasn’t going to be that bad,” he chided with a shove.

Shining shoved him back, almost knocking the pegasus over. “Will you be quiet and stand still,” he growled. “I swear I’ve seen green recruits move around less than you.”

With a grin, Flash looked forward and adjusted his grip on his spear. “Whatever you say… Private.”

“… Buck off.”

^#@#$

You know, I was surprised with how little paperwork that was waiting for me in my little office. Don’t get me wrong, there was a stack that reached the ceiling, but I was honestly expecting there to be ten times as much. Drafts for new laws, approval for construction around the city, even letters from some of the local schools; pages upon pages of things that I had to read and either sign, hold for later, or throw out.

I’d gotten up bright and early (not as early as Ares, but it was pretty close) and after having that slightly awkward conversation with Shining, I had trotted to my office eagerly with the intent to work my flank off.

Surprisingly, diving headfirst into my work wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be; in fact I may have enjoyed myself just a little bit. I breezed through most of the bills; put aside any letters or cards from foals that I had gotten to look at later, and wrote at least fifty letters, all with a big smile on my face.

My little vacation was just what I needed, I thought, dipping my quill into my inkwell and quickly putting my signature onto a document and putting it in the finished pile. I hummed a little tune as I started reading another paper. I might be able to get all of this work finished in an hour or two in fact!

I know that sitting behind a desk signing and writing things all day may not have sounded like the most excited job, but I could honestly say that it was good to be back. After being gone from my ponies for months, I was back with a fresh mind and lots of new ideas on how to make their, and my, lives easier and better. With each letter read and with each document thought over and signed, be it a draft for a law, somepony asking for a building permit, or just somepony asking me for a recommendation for this and that, my little ponies lives became better and better.

Now I just need to make sure that this work ethic stays around for a while longer, I thought with a giggle, frowning when I finished reading a nobles written request to tear down a museum next to his house so he could put in an in-ground swimming pool.

“The nerve of some ponies,” I muttered, crumpling up the letter and tossing it in the trash can. “I swear to Faust there’s something wrong with the gentry…”

I was about to reach for the next piece of paper from my ever-decreasing “need to look at” pile but I heard a knock on my door.

“Candy, are you in there?”

There’s Ares, I thought with a smile, putting down my quill and leaning back into my chair. I guess I don’t have to send a guard to get him after all.

“Come on in, Honey,” I called. “I was just finishing up some paperwork.”

The door was opened, revealing a tired-looking, but smiling, Ares. “There you are, Candy. I was wondering where the hell you were holed up.

I eyed the roses in his hand hungrily, my stomach suddenly reminding me that it had been empty since early this morning with a quiet growl. “I see you got me my snack,” I said, quickly hopping out of my chair and trotting toward my human. “Thank you; I was starting to get a little hungry.”

Giving him a peck on the cheek, I took the roses out of his hand and started nibbling on one of the buds as Ares started walking around my office.

Boy, these taste weird, I thought, eyeing them. And, now that I look at them…Wait, are these GLOWING?...

“...Ares, honey, are you sure that these are roses?” I asked, staring down at the bouquet. “They taste a little… odd.”

Ares snorted good-naturedly, eyeing me and crossing his arms. “Candy, I think I’d know what a rose looks like,” he replied, pointing at my trash can. “But if you want to stop eating them if you want.”

I hugged the roses against my chest protectively. “No, that’s alright,” I said. “These might taste a little… funny, but they’re still good. And besides; I’m hungry.”

Ares nodded, going back to walking around my room while I went back to eating my flowers, which seemed to be getting better and better with each one that I ate.

“So this is where you do all of your princess-y stuff?” Ares mumbled, his hand sliding along my
desk.

I nodded, finishing a rose in just a few bites before all but attacking the next one. “Yep, this is where the magic happens,” I chirped. “Make sure you don’t touch any of those papers; I need to still look at some of those.”

Ares walked around my little office for a minute or two, poking or picking up this and that, before becoming bored, walking over and hopping into my chair with a plop and a thoughtful hum. “You know, you should think about putting something interesting in here,” he said, waving around the, admittedly, Spartan room.

I nodded in agreement. “You might be right,” I admitted, walking over and plopping myself into his lap, still stuffing my face. “I’ve been thinking about giving this office a more personal touch for a while now.” I leaned back against him. “But I’ve just never got around to it.”

Ares wrapped his arms around me, one of his hands tickling my belly. “I’ll make sure to get you one of those little water bird things.”

“How was work?” I asked, finishing another one of the odd tasting roses. I cooed as my human hand rubbed my stomach in a slow circular motion.

“It was great; my boss is a little too quiet for my taste, but I’m sure I’ll get her to warm up to me in a week or two,” Ares replied.

“How longs your lunch break?” I tried to get myself to move around to look at my coltfriend but found that I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I guess finishing all of that paperwork was more tiring that I thought it was going to be.

“I got the rest of the day off,” I giggled when Ares laid his head on my shoulder and kissed my neck. “She said that she didn’t want to keep me any longer since I got in so early.”
I brought the bouquet closer with my magic, and I was about to take another bite out of the yummy flowers, but then I noticed that I had finished each of the roses down to the stems.

Wiping my face with a hoof, I tossed the remnants of my snack into the trash can. Wiggling out off my human’s lap, I said, “Well, that’s great that you have the rest of the day off, honey.” I looked back at my paperwork with a small frown. “How about I spend the rest of the day with you after I get all of this finished, hum?”

It was a reasonable suggestion; I was, after all, a princess that had duties to her kingdom and her people. Ares though didn’t seem to be in the reasonable mood.

Getting out of my chair, he nudged his head toward the door. “Naha; you wanted the two of us to eat together so don’t give me any of that.”

I tried to move toward my desk but he stopped me, nudging me with his foot while keeping his arms spread out wide. “But honeeeey! I have to finish all of--epp!” I yelped as my human picked me up, placing a hand firmly under my rump, and began carrying me toward the door.

I was about to struggle, but then I noticed that there was something… odd about Ares at that moment; or rather, there was something odd about his scent. I couldn’t help but inhale the oddly intoxicating scent of sweat and flowers, pressing my nose against Are’s neck, to my own surprise.

Sweet Faust does he smell nice, I thought, letting Ares fiddle with whatever he was fiddling with in my room.

My tail curled partly around his waist, and my wings encircled his back; Ares’s smell was honestly… doing things to me, starting to make me want to do things with him in my office that would be considered wildly inappropriate.

...I’m I going into an early heat or something?! I thought in confusion , managing to getting some sense back into my head by giving it a shake. Biting my lip, I looked up at Ares with a mixture of trepidation, eagerness, and worry. Because it bucking feels like it!!!

I knew for a fact that I wasn’t going into heat for at least another three months (I had been dreading having that conversation with Ares for a while now) but I swear to you that I could barely think straight. I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself, but all I did was breath in more of my sexy honey’s scent, which made it worse and worse until I was ready to just jump him and tear those clothes of his right off!

You need to calm down and figure out what’s going on, I thought, wiggling out of my human’s grasp, trying to look as calm as possible. Maybe there was something in those flowers, or maybe…

I couldn’t get the thought of my Ares standing over me naked, with a hungry look in his eyes as he tackled me into our bed. I tried to rub my back legs together to try to calm myself down, tried to do some breathing exercises that I had taught Twilight when she was little, but nothing was working. I wanted, no, needed to feel Ares inside me, rutting me again and again and again until either of us could so much as think.

Youreallyneedtobuckingcalmdownand--

I froze as my human threw open my office door and walked out into the hallway, eyeing his flank. Against my better judgement, I slowly cast a very weak love spell, the small heart floating into the air before hitting Ares’s back.

Pleasedon’thurthim!

Ares stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking around before looking over his shoulder at me. “Are you coming, Candy?” He asked, seemingly normal, to my relief.

“Y-Yeah!’ I squeaked, trotting after him. “I’m coming!”

I had barely put any magic into that spell, so there was a good chance it wasn’t going to hurt him; at worst it might give him a little stomach ache or something like, but if it works…

Then momma’s getting some tonight!

~--~--~<><><>~--~--~

“Spike, could you please get me Silver Salon’s book of advanced magical formulas and logarithms?”

Twilight watched as her little assistant saluted before darting toward another section on the library.

“Hang on, Twi, I’ll have it for ya in a second!” Spike called.

She leaned back into her chair and eyed her notes with a smile. “Just make sure that you don’t knock over anything, Spike,” she called back. “I don’t wanted either of us making a bigger mess than we already have.”

Even though it had been nice to take a little vacation from her studies, Twilight was happy to be home with her friends and her books. The girls had been curious, and worried, as to why she had seemingly just left out of the blue one day (she hadn’t been able to tell them about Ares at first), but, as the weeks had gone on, and she had written more and more about the alien that had become her friend, they understood why she had to go away. In fact, it seemed like they were almost disappointed about not seeing the “alien” for themselves..

That and Rarity still can’t believe I got a coltfriend, Twilight thought with a smug smile, quietly thanking Spike as he handed her the book she had asked for.

The little dragon himself, for the hundredth time that day, took a second to just look around the room. The main lobby of the library, usually spick and span, was covered, from the floor to the walls, in notes, papers. Looking to his left, Spike saw a dozen little projects, in various stages of completeness, scattered around tables and chairs, along with cups and cups of coffee.

While he was pretty much used to Twilight’s study-binges, he hadn’t seen a doozy like this in a while; which could be a really good, or a really bad thing. And, since he really didn’t feel like dealing with another one of Twilight’s accidental world-ending spells (he was still cleaning up from the last one) he decided to dragon up and call her out on it.

Twiddling his thumbs, the drake looked up at his boss/sister/mentor. “So, Twi, why are you trying to create a long-distance teleportation spell?”

“Because Princess Luna asked me to look into it, Spike,” she said matter-of-factly, quickly writing down a few squiggles of what looked like gibberish on an ink-stained piece of paper. “She wants to see if we can teleport a pony long distances without having to waste an impossible amount of magic doing it.”

Twilight giggled excitedly, clutching her notes. “Just think about the social applications of this, Spike! We could send a pony from one point of Equestria to another in an instant!”

Spike, a frown coming to his face, slowly crossed his arms as the unicorn practically skipped around the room.

“Nopony would have to worry about the dangers and general stress of travel. All you’d need to do is find a unicorn that is sufficiently powerful and bam: you’re anywhere you want to be!”

“…But you need to find somepony with enough power to do it, right?” Spike questioned, getting up on his tippy toes to look at the notes. “If this actually works…”

Twilight stumbled, her excited grin fading slightly. “Well, at first the princesses will probably be the only ponies that would have the power to ever be able to attempt the spell,” she allowed, before her grin came back full force, “but if this spell works, that means there’s a chance that it can be modified until the average pony could do it.” Twilight giggled again. “And I’ll be the pony that pioneers something like this! Ponies will be writing books about me, Spike; books!”

While Spike could have pointed out that he had been helping with the spell just as much as Twilight, therefore earning him at least some of the credit, and while he was also sure that ponies must have tried to make a spell like this before, and obviously failed, he just decided to keep his mouth shut; trying to argue with Twilight would be worthless at the state she was in.

He would try to explain to Twilight why this might not be the best idea, she’d argue with him that this was, in fact, an amazing idea and that whole world would be revolutionized when she made it work, they’d argue some more, he’d leave, something bad would happen, she’d apologize to him and buy him a load of gems, he’d forgive her, and the cycle would then start again.

The best thing that he could do was let the crazy scientist do what she wanted until he either had to call the princess to come down here and beat the snot out of some other-worldly creature, she actually managed to do it, or blew up in their faces. Luckily for Spike, dragons were a hardy race, so he was sure that he’d be alright… probably.

You know, I wanted to go see Rarity today, he thought, waddling over and grabbing another stack of clean paper. But I guess going to sit here and make sure that Twilight doesn’t summon some archdemon… again.

“I swear to Celestia I don’t get paid enough for this,” Spike muttered.

Twilight, overhearing him, said, “Spike, I don’t pay you at all silly!”

Spike looked back at her stone-face. “Exactly.”

~-~-~-~-<>~~<>==<>~~<>~-~-~-~-~

“Do you require anything else, your Majesty?”

Luna looked up from her book at the servant that was looking back at her with a smile. Humming in thought, she shook her head. “Nay; that will be all,” she waved a hoof at the door, “thou may leave.”

Luna looked back down at her book as the pony quickly left, a small frown on her face as she quickly read the lines. “It appears that this spell may be more difficult than We thought,” she muttered, leaning back into her pillow.

Since she wasn’t able to woo Ares and Cadence for a while longer, the Princess of the Night had focused her attention elsewhere: namely on her sharpening her wooing/cooking/swave skills. Romance novels, how to guides, even asking ponies for advice, Luna had been busy making sure that she’d be able to woo their socks off the next time she saw them.

They will be eating out of our hooves in mere moments, she thought with a giggle. Young Twilight Sparkle simply needs to complete her task and all will be well.

Though it didn’t sound like a particularly difficult task for one who rose the moon, long distance teleportation was something that had always eluded Luna. For a number of years her, her sister, and their teacher had tried to come up with a spell to travel long distances in the blind of an eye, something that would greatly benefit pony kind as a whole, but they always seemed to end in failure.

Traveling a few feet or even a mile or ten was doable, tiring but doable, but any more than either left one of the sisters incapable of using magic for a long while, or not all of them made it to where they teleported (thank Faust that the only thing that they had lost was their manes and a bit of dignity), or they accidentally summoned something from a spectral plane. One would think that all you needed to do to travel further was just add a bit more magic for a simple teleportation spell but it seemed like it went deeper than that.

Sister and I may have failed but We are sure that Twilight will be able to think of something.
With a hum, Luna flipped a page. She always seems to “think outside the box”, as they say.

The countless nights wondering if what she was doing was selfish or cruel wouldn’t matter, all of those evenings of her sister begging her to stop the little “crush” and go out with that nice pizza colt down the street would be just another day dream if she could just feel Ares’ hand on her cheek. Luna was tired to dancing around nobles, and her sister, and the world, she just wanted to look up at somepony, tell them that she loved them, and hear them way it back. Was that really too much to ask; couldn’t she just have a little love and happiness for herself?

Pausing mid page, she looked out her window at her sister’s sun. “Everypony should be settled in now,” she muttered, ears splaying back. “We do not wish them to hate us; even with our confession they are still our favored companions, so if they truly wish us to stop we will end it.”

Luna gulped at the thought but still looked into her sister’s bright star. “But all we ask for is one chance; one chance to show Ares, and Cadence, that we truly, truly care.”

A frown came to her face. “If we fail, there is always that pizza colt; sister would hound me until
Tartarus rose up from the earth if I didn’t at least give the poor colt a chance…”

Author's Notes:

Sorry if there are any errors in the ch, my editors busy moving and stuff, but the edited ch should be out in a day or two.

Also, sex in the next ch, fair warning.

I Just Had Sex

Warning: This Chapter contains horse X human relations of the graphical manner.

This Chapter can be skipped if you'd rather not read something like that, blah blah blah, scene go!

Though Ares wanted to go to the kitchen’s to get something to eat, ASAP, Cadence insisted that the two of them go to their room to get something first; what she wouldn’t say, but Ares still sucked it up and followed his marefriend.

The walk to their room was a quiet, yet comfortable one, Cadence stopping every once and a while to chat with a guard or a servant or two, Ares letting her do what she wanted while he let his mind wander to this and that.

I wonder if Candy wants to stay in or just go out and get something at one of the little restaurants around town, he pondered, humming a quiet tune to himself. I’ve been wanting to go to another one of them since--

“Ares?” Cadence turned to look at him, a sly smile on her face. “I’d watch those hands if I were you mister~”

Blinking, Ares looked down, wincing when he noticed that his hand had wandered from the middle of Cadence’s back dangerously close to her flank. “Oh shit,” he muttered, pulling his hand away with an embarrassed blush when he realized that he had almost been groping her in public, “I’m sorry, Candy.”

Cadence just giggled. “Oh don’t worry about it, Honey,” she said, bumping his hip with her rump. “Just make sure that you wait until we get to our room before you start playing with my tush.”

Giving said tush a teasing wiggle, the princess trotted away from the embarrassed human, looking over her shoulder and giving him a wink before disappearing around a corner.

I guess I deserved that, Ares thought, giving his head a little shake before following her. I really need to watch where the ol’ wigglers go from now on; I don’t want to make this weird for anybody… especially now that Shining’s here...

Before he took three steps, his stomach suddenly growled, so loudly that it almost seemed to echo off the hallways stone walls. Jumping in surprise, he looked down at his belly.

“Maybe I should have gotten a snack or something before I got back,” he muttered, frowning. “I’m hungry as shit…”

Now frowning slightly, Ares increased his pace to a jog, hoping to catch up to Cadence so he could see what she wanted to do about lunch.

He had expected her to be halfway down the hall when he turned the corner, but to his surprise, Cadence was just standing right there, in his jogging path, a smile on her face as she just looked at him and gave her rump another wiggle. Though he was a little confused with the alicorn’s continued, and almost aggressive (for her anyway; especially in a public place like this) teasing, Ares couldn’t help but give his girlfriend’s ass an appreciative look, taking a moment to run his eyes up and down that toned, round work of art.

Because of the momentary distraction, Ares didn’t notice that he hadn’t slowed down, and almost ran smack dab into his fillyfriend’s rear as a result.

“Shit,” he mumbled, eyes widening as he tried to stop himself before colliding into her. “Cadence, watch it!” Even though it was close, he managed to stop a few inches short from her.
The mare just giggled again, sticking her butt up in the air a little as she just stood there. “You better be careful, honey bunny,” she almost purred, giving him yet another teasing wiggle before starting to walk down the hallway.

He took another good, long look at the royal flank before giving his head a shake and walking after her.

What the fuck’s wrong with me today? He wondered. Do I need to have a little “private time” with myself or something? Stopping for a second, he looked down at his pants and noticed that he was sporting a halfie.

…Jesus Christ; I can’t just look at my girlfriend’s ass for a minute without popping one like some virgin? Fuck, I REALLY need to get laid… Cadence wasn’t helping matters either, swaying her hips with each step while he hummed a happy little tune to herself.

No matter how hard he tried, Ares couldn’t keep his eyes off his marefriend. For some reason, Cadence seemed… different to him; more alluring more beautiful, more desirable; hell, even her voice sounded different. Every moment she made was more graceful, more sexy, and it made him want to get down on his knees and praise her like the goddess she wa--

No! NO! Jesus, calm the fuck down man… he thought, breaking out into a jog so he could walk beside his marefriend. I just want to get something to eat and sit down for a few hours, and now I’m walking down this hallway with a rager?!

He closed his eyes, recalling, with a smile, each and every time Cadence yanked him into a kiss, along with every time she bite and licked and whispered sweet nothings—

Ares’ eyes snapped open when he heard a throaty giggle. “You better watch where you’re going, Honey,” Cadence said with a smile. “I don’t want you running into anything with your eyes shut like that~.”

Ares was about to open his mouth and say something, but only managed to lick his lips nervously as the two of them came within sight of their bedroom. Cadence, still humming to herself, trotted toward the door and threw it open before walking in.

Stopping at the door, Ares said, “So what do you want to do about lunch, Candy? Because I was thinking that the two of us could—“

“I’ll send a letter to the kitchens to bring us up something,” Cadence interrupted, disappearing into the room. “And we’ll see if you’ll settle for eating a pony instead…”

“What was that, Candy?” Noticing that he was just standing out in the hallway yelling into his bedroom like a moron, Ares quickly made his way inside the bedroom before closing the door.

I guess we’re eating in then, he thought, reaching down and pulling at his shoelaces, untangling them before throwing his shoes off.

“Now what do you want me to order from the kitchens, Ares?” Cadence said from somewhere in the room.

Ares opened his mouth but his stomach shut him up with an angry growl that made him slightly light-headed. Looking down at it, concern started to creep its way into the back of his mind. “Maybe there’s something wrong with me?” He mumbled. One second he was so hungry that he was ready to eat his own shoes, the next he was willing to rip off his pants and fuck his grilfriend out in the hallway, and he had absolutely no idea why he was acting like this.

“I don’t know but I think I need to eat a shit ton of food right now,” Ares half-mumbled, smiling when he saw Cadence at the table with a paper, ink, and a quill in hoof. “I swear to god it feels like I haven’t eaten for like two days…”

If he would have bothered to look up, he would have seen Cadence’s face scrunch up in confusion before quietly Ohhing. “Well… I’ve seen weirder side-effects to spells…at least he looks alright...”

Clearing her throat, she said, “Alright… how does three cheese sandwiches with bacon, some pasta, a bowl of rice, two fish, and a couple of oranges sound?”

Ares, still looking at his stomach, nodded absentmindedly while making his way toward his bed. “That sounds about right.” He flinched when his stomach growled again, almost bent over in pain that time. Coupled with his throbbing, angry erection, meant that he wasn’t having the best time at the moment.

Still, he tried to put on a brave face for Cadence and pretend that nothing was wrong and that he actually didn’t want to pick her up, slam her into their bed, and fuck her brains out until neither of them could walk.“…Actually, maybe you should double that?”

I just need to calm down, Ares thought. I just need to— Ares sighed explosively. I… think I just need to suck it up and ask my girlfriend if she wants to get laid… Yep, I’m sure that that’ll turn out fucking perfect…

<><><>~-~-~-~-~<><><>

After making sure that I sent a letter to the kitchens, I hopped out of my chair and made my way toward Ares, stopping about a foot from the bed. It looked like the spell wasn’t causing any negative effects on him. That said, I was still just a little bit nervous that my lust spell was going to hurt him.

Even though a little bit of magic, or the little bit of magic that I had used in the spell, probably wasn’t going to have and negative or lingering effects, that teeny tiny chance that he could get hurt bothered, worried, and scared me, so much so that I was just about ready to bring him down to the Ward to get the doctor to check up on him.

“Um, Ares,” I muttered. “Are you alright there, Sweetie?”

I’ll just tell him what I did then take him to The Ward to get the spell removed, I decided. I should have asked him first about it before—

“I… think so?” Ares said, looking up at me with an odd mixture of confusion and lust. “I’m just really hungry all of the sudden; like painfully hungry.” He shifted around the bed uncomfortably, looking away from me with a red face. “Hungry and…”

“Horny?” I guessed, flinching in guilt when he almost jumped off the bed.

“It’s not anything that I can’t control--” I could instantly tell that that was an outright lie but I kept my mouth shut and let him continue, “-- but… yeah,” he looked back at me. “How did you know?”

Taking a deep breath, I took a step forward and placed my hoof onto his leg. “I have something to tell you, Ares,” I said, forcing myself to look into his eyes.

Please don’t hate me…

“You see, some couples, whenever they want to spice up their relationship or take that next step, will sometimes use a spell to get each other “in the mood”.”

Ares was about to open his mouth, but closed it a moment later, his eyes widening in realization, which made me feel even worse.

And now he knows what I did, I thought, trying really hard not to just burst into tears. He didn’t look mad now but I expected that to change any second now.

Still though, he deserved to hear me say it. “I thought that, since you might be a little nervous about cementing our relationship with… sex now that Shining’s here, and since I’ve been feeling a really in the… mood, it might help to use the spell on you.” I couldn’t help but let out a pitiful little sniffle, looking down at his feet. “It was wrong of me to—“

I stopped when I felt a hand squeezing my hoof. “Come on, Candy, don’t you go crying now,” Ares said, his other hand grabbing my chin and forcing me to look up at him smiling face.

“There’s no reason to get so worked up over you just wanting the two of us to finally bang each other.”

I was about to open my mouth to protest, but two hands hooked under my armpits and pulled me up and onto Ares’s lap and wrapped me in a hug.

<><>-`-`-`-`-`-<><>

Ares looked down at his sniffling marefriend with what he hoped was a reassuring smile before wrapping her in a hug. You know, I knew that the two of us dating would be weird, but I didn’t think it was gonna be this hard, he thought, nuzzling his face into her neck.

Sure, he knew that it was going to be… different dating a talking space horse— a space horse he loved to bits but a space horse none the less— but he was starting to feel like he and Cadence were going about this the wrong way.

Even since he had told her that he loved her, and she said the same to him, it seemed like the two of them were dancing around each other, trying not to step on each other’s toes. They weren’t laughing or joking or having fun like they used to, the two of them there just being … lovey dovey; which wasn’t a bad thing, per say, but all lovey and no play was starting to make the two of them a little crazy.

We’re going to have to just sit down and talk to each other, Ares thought with a frown before his mouth twisted upwards. Huh, look at me; thinking like an adult and shit…

For months Ares had come to the conclusion that he did, in fact, love this wonderful pink horse. It took a little more time but he had also, after a bit of soul-searching, come to the conclusion that he did, in fact, want to have sex with this wonderful pink horse.

And, since he was in the position that he was in, the doors were closed and locked, all of the crazy guards ponies were off elsewhere, and Cadence’s little spell was starting to make him horny enough to start humping the furniture, Ares decided to throw caution to the wind and give Cadence what she wanted; damn Shining, or the fucking invisible deity that seemed hell-bent on making sure that he was never going to get any, whatever spell Cadence had cast on him, and his dick, had made the decision for him to give this sweet, wonderful mare the lovin’ she deserved.

Slowly starting to run his hands along Cadence’s back, Ares leaned in and gave Cadence a kiss on her long, slender neck, smiling when he heard Cadence gasp in surprise.

“Ares, what the hay are you—“

The muscles in Cadence’s back tensed as his hands trailed over them, Ares’s fingers delicately tracing and massaging the barely pronounced muscles of her upper back, those making way to the bigger and more developed flight muscles in her middle back. “Ares, s-stop and let me just talk t—“ Cadence tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he held her firmly in place, pressing as much of her body against his as he could.

The pony princess was now held firmly in place, Ares took a moment to enjoy whatever Cadence’s spell was doing to him. Every sense was heightened; he could smell that delicate bubble gum and strawberry scent as he gently trailed kisses and bites up his mare’s neck, the feeling of her soft silky coat was almost mind-numbing; Ares could even hear Cadence’s heartbeat starting to quicken.

He didn’t know if whatever spell she had done to him was going to have negative consequences but, right now, he couldn’t find himself to care. There was only one thought on Are’s mind as he gently played with his Cadence: the need to feel her against his naked body, the need to feel his lips against hers, the need to be in her, to finally breed with his mare. From within the confines of his pants, Are’s cock twitched in anticipation.

Cadence, after a minute or two under his tender care, finally loosened up and stopped struggling, sinking into his lap with a barely held back groan. Her head slowly found itself on Ares neck, using it as a base to rest her head while she kissed and licked his collar bone and neck.

“Ares, we should really get you to doctor Stitch,” Cadence mumbled, sounding dazed while she started to kiss his jawline. “I… don’t want… that spell hurting you… and… and...”

Ares tensed as each kiss sent a bolt of pleasure down his spine, his fingers playing and groping harder and harder until he finally reached his filly friend’s ass. For a moment he stopped, hands just straying from the holy land, almost as if he was afraid or unsure whether to proceed.

Cadence, whose wings were starting to rise from their sides, wrapping around Ares’s back, wiggled her rump in anticipation. “It’s alright, honey,” she said breathlessly, grinding into his lap harder, the feeling almost making Ares scream in frustration, throw Cadence off him, and rip off his pants to let his cock swing free. “You can play with whatever you want~.”

Ares couldn’t help but groan as her wings reached under his shirt and tickled his back. “I sure plan to play with you~.”

Almost as if they had a mind of their own, the human’s hands grabbed Cadence’s hips and slowly, ever so slowly, slithered downward. Cadence’s rump, he found, felt as wonderful as it looked; mostly muscle with just enough fat to play around and squeeze. Perky and firm but with enough give to grab onto and squeeze and sink your fingers into.

Cadence, muttering incoherently and now beginning to twitch, pawed at his head almost desperately as he ran his hands down her rump; one hand idly tracing her cutiemarks with a finger while the other played with the dock of her tail, pulling, tugging and tickling at the bit of muscle and skin.

So enraptured was he that he didn’t notice that Cadence’s worried look had long been replaced with one of desperation, lust, and hunger. Her gentle and sweet kisses on his neck were becoming long and more aggressive, the alicorn’s long tongue tickling his neck, tasting him and the beads of sweat that were starting to form on it.

Cadence’s smell, the heat that she was giving off, the feeling of her tail swishing back and forth on his lap were intoxicating to the magicked human; the sound of her heart thumping in her very veins, the quiet gasp and moans, which were becoming louder, longer, and needier as time went on, was music to his ears.

At that moment she was all he could think about, the only thing that he cared about; she was his goddess, a divine, beautiful being that he wanted to spend the rest of his life just worshiping. His touches were prayers, his kisses were hallelujahs; his own pleasure meant nothing to him, so long as he could hear the chorus of moans and feel her twitch against him. Ares would have spent the rest of the day simply touching his mare, but Cadence had other ideas.

A growl and the sound of magic being used was the only warning Ares received before he was lifted up and tossed onto his back a few inches, a quiet poof breaking the monogamy of the pants and moans that had filled the room as he looked up at the ceiling with a dazed expression. He was about to sit back up, to see where his Cadence had went, when he suddenly felt a weight on his lower stomach, pinning him to the bed.

Cadence, a slightly crazed look in her eyes, looked unflinchingly at him as she panted like a dog, trying to force her lust-addled to form words. Her royal finery seemed to have vanished off her, allowing him to take just a second to appreciate just how worked up he had gotten his marefriend.

Her coat was disheveled and sweat drenched, her mane was messy and clung to her face and neck, her wings were still outstretched and twitching slightly, giving her a bit of a fearsome look. Even though he really wasn’t in the rightest of minds, he couldn’t help but mentally pat himself on the back. Hah, look who still has i—

“Pants… off… now.”

Ares almost had time to open his mouth before, with another borderline angry growl, Cadence spun around and started to paw at his pants. “Never mind… I’ll do it,” the princess muttered, trying to grab his belt with her mouth.

Ares tried to reach down to help her out, but his hands were swatted away with magic. “No, let me unwrap my present,” Cadence demanded, taking a step back and wiggling her hips. “Now be a dear and play with yours.”

Eyes drawn upward, Ares noticed that a very excited marehood was right over his head; a red, swollen, glistening marehood that looked like it was in dire need to be tasted.

Reaching up, he gently grabbed Cadence by her thighs, tenderly pulling her downward while he licked his lips and stared at his prize like he was afraid that it was going to up and disappear on him.

He started off slow, licking the juices that had dripped down into Cadence’s thighs, grinning stupidly when bubble gum tickled his taste buds. From between his legs, he heard Cadence moan needly, her legs becoming shaky from the stimulation.

“Don’t you bucking tease!” she growled, almost ripping the buckle off his belt with a particularly savage pull.

Ignoring her, Ares started planting kisses on either thigh, getting tantalizingly close to her marehood before drawing away, causing her to buck in frustration. Groaning, she looking over her shoulder to glare at him.

“I swear to Faust, Ares!” she growled, attempting to sit on the human’s face to get the satisfaction that she so craved. Ares simply held onto her hips, keeping her aloft, obviously not ready to stop his teasing.

This was the last straw for Cadence, who then started to wiggle furiously in his grasp. “If you don’t star—“

Leaning up, ever so slowly so he could just savor the moment, Ares turned his head and pressed his lips against Cadence’s, causing the mare to freeze while whatever she was about to say erupted into a moan.

“T-that’s a g-good h-human.” Trying to keep herself from slumping over, Cadence went back to pulling at his pants to get at what was pitching the tent that she had been staring at for the last ten minutes. “L-Let me j-just… get this o-off…”

Ares, though not for lack of trying, did not hear a word she said, instead solely focusing on the task in front of him.

Still kissing his goddesses perfect lips, he let go of her thighs, letting her full weight fall into his face before he stuck his tongue out and slowly trailed it up her slit. He was rewarded with another moan, along with more of his Cadence’s delicious nectar.

Sweet Jesus I could do this all day, he thought, licking his lips before attacking his mare’s marehood like some savage predator.

While the teasing had been fun while it lasted now was the time to enjoy the lust spell that had been placed upon him. He didn’t even bother being gentle, biting and licking and sucking her as hard and as fast as he could without hurting her. Cadence made her appreciation known by moaning again and pressing down on him harder, burying him in her heat. The world was starting to turn blurry the tighter Cadence’s legs squeezed against his head, but Ares soldiered on, trying everything he could think of to coax an orgasm out of her.

Cadence twitched and moaned with every touch; from the licking to the stroking to just the simple tugging of her tail, the alicorn moaned and groaned and shook, all the while cursing the damned belt that was stopping her from taking her human’s pants off.

Not wanting to just rip the whole thing off (the pants and belt had been expensive and gifts from Celestia and Luna) she had, and still was, just trying to use her mouth and hooves to take the thing off. “A-Ares… stop—OOH! Just hold still for a second so I—OH YES! Can you just—“
Coated in sweat, with a fire in her belly and close to finishing and horny as all hell, poor Mi Amore Cadenza finally snapped.

"I’MGETTINGTHISBUCKINGBELTOFF!!!"

With a roar, the alicorn’s horn sparked to life, casting the whole room in an eerie blue glow. Ares yelped from under her legs as his belt, his pants, shirt, and even his socks violently exploded off his body and disintegrated into nothingness. With another spell Cadence lifted herself bodily in the air, spun herself around, lifted and pulled Ares into a semi-seated position, before plopping herself right down in his lap

The two moaned when soaking wet marehood rubbed against throbbing, dripping cock, the sweaty and heaving couple stopping themselves for a second to look at each other.

Cadence leaned herself forward, kissing Ares on the lips. “I love you, Ares,” she murmured, lining herself up. The time for teasing and foreplay was over; Cadence’s needed him inside her, and to be honest, Ares needed to be inside her.

Ares brought up his hands and cupped her face, bring her back into another, deeper kiss. “I love you too, Mi Amore Cadenza,” he replied, hands going down to steady her hips.

The two looked down, watching intently as Cadence lowered herself. The two moaned when the tip prodded lips, these moaned almost grew to screams when Cadence lowered herself further, and further, and further, until finally hilting in what seemed to take too long but not long enough.

Don’tcumdon’tcumdon’tcumdon’tcum! Ares prayed, hands reaching and pulling a shaking and rasping Cadence against his heaving chest, his fingers digging roughly into her rear.

His goddess’s heat, the way her walls tugged and teased at his member made him dizzy and the far off yet extremely pleased look that his sweat, shaking, and gorgeous marefriend was giving him made not finishing early really really hard; in fact he was actually surprised that he hadn’t finished right there.

Cadence leaned her head on his shoulder while the two got used to each other, her sweat mingling with his as the two enjoyed finally sealing their communion.

Just breath and think about something else, justbreathandthinkaboutsometh—

Taking a deep breath, Cadence lifted herself off of his member until just the tip was inside, groaning, before roughly slamming back down.

Pleasure exploded through Ares, his back arching as he answered Cadence’s hungry moan with his own. Everything, his concerns about finishing, what was going on with him, even his name, was thrown right out of his head and replaced with pleasure, pleasure that he desperately needed to feel again.

Grabbing Cadence’s hips he lifted her up before slamming her right back down with lewd, meaty slap. Again and again and again he slammed her against him. Cadence answered him by grinding herself against his shaft, arching her back and moaning with each thrust.

Squeezing Cadence’s rump with one hand, Ares trailed a hand up her leg, ticking the alicorn’s mound, before coming upon her teats. Cadence gasped, staring wide-eyed at Ares as she started to pinch and tease the sensitive bits of flesh.

“N-Not too hard, baby,” she stuttered, slamming herself down on him and beginning to just lazily grind, almost too drunk on lust to even talk clearly. “Do it easy… e-easy… h-here, let me get
you…”

Ares watched her as her horn once again lit up, and he couldn’t help but flinch, expecting something else to get blown off his body. Instead, he felt an odd tingling in his balls, which caused him to shift around in discomfort. What the hell did she—

His toes curled, and he almost bucked Cadence off when he was hit with a earth shattering, mind numbing amount of bliss. It felt too good to think, it felt too good to hold anything back, it felt so good that Ares could hear the beating of his heart and the thumping in his ears as he continued to thrusts with wild abandonment. Whatever willpower that he had been building to keep himself from coming was absolutely and indefinitely destroyed.

Ares’s cock twitched and his balls tightened, ready to bring about his final release; a release that oddly, didn’t come. Whatever Cadence did to him only seemed to increase, pleasure building and building until it was making it hard to breath as he desperately thrust into Cadence, all the while whimpering in need.

Cadence leaned down, crashing her mouth against his. “I’m going to make you cum buckets,” she purred her stutter gone and replaced with a husky and hungry tone, staring into his eyes heatedly while biting his lip. “But you’re not cumming until I say so; you go that minster?”

Ares replied with another thrust, making Cadence groan and bite her lip, making sure to time her thrust with his, slamming herself backwards more and with greater force. She needed to hear the meaty slap of her colts pelvis hitting her backside, she needed to feel him tense and twitch inside her. Cadence, at the moment, wanted nothing more than to be breed by her human; no, she demanded it, so she was going to make damn sure that neither of them stopped or rested until she got what she wanted.

Ares jerked and spasmed, muscles burning in exhaustion as he thrust and thrust and thrust, moaning and groaning with Cadence, who kissed and licked his neck while whispering encouragements and sweet nothings into his ear. Somewhere in between their thrusting, the two found themselves changing positions, with Cadence on the bottom on her back and Ares on top.

“Harder, HARDER!” Cadence growled, meeting his wild thrust with her own. “Buck me, rut me! ! RUT ME!!!”

Eyes rolling into the back of her head, Cadence arched her back, screaming as her horn once again lit up and exploded with a spell. Ares managed a few more sloppy thrusts before the final burst of pleasure tore threw his body. The two locked eyes as hooves and hands reached out and they pulled each other close, the two shaking as stars exploded across their collective visions.

With a groan, Ares slumped forward, pressing his face against Cadence’s sweat, furry chest. The alicorn kissed the top of his head, wrapping her front hooves around his chest, humming to herself with a pleased smile while Ares tried to remember how to think.

Sweet Faust did I need that, Cadence thought, grinning when she realized that Ares’s softening member was still lodged inside her. Rolling Ares into his back with a little grunt, and taking the utmost care not to let him pull out, she started to once again grind herself in his lap, trying to get him hard. But… I could go again if my honey bunny’s up for it… In fact, I could go all day~.

Leaning, she gave his cheek a hungry lick before whispering, “So, Baby, you ready to go for another round?”

Ares answered her with a tired grumble, making her frown in irritation. Despite her best efforts, she didn’t feel him hardening inside her, and this wasn’t going to fly. Not. One. Bit.

Her horn glowing, Cadence nuzzled her lover’s cheek. “Don’t worry, Honey, I have just the spell to keep you going for hours and--”

Knock, knock!

“ARES, ARES, IT’S ME, TULIP! YOU NEED TO LET ME IN RIGHT NOW!”

Before Ares and Cadence could so much as look at each other, the door flew open with a screech, revealing a terrified Tulip, who bounded toward the two with some flowers in her mouth.

“PrincessyoureallyneedtoeattheseflowersbecuaseyourposionedbecauseArespickedthewrongflowers!”

Too shocked to even realize the compromising position that she was in, Cadence just stared at the mare slack-jawed.

“W-What?”

Running up and practically throwing the princess of Ares, Tulip shoved the flowers under her nose. “You need to eat these or you’re going to go crazy with lust and—“

“THERE SHE IS! PROTECT THE PRINCESS AND HER CONSORT, LADS! GET HER!!!”

Ares calmly watched as several of the guard charged into the room and tackled his boss off his and Cadence’s bed with a series of angry growls before looking at Cadence, who was now trying to hide herself from her guards with their blanket, curling herself against her side in horror.

There was another crash, and a high pitched shriek, the sounds of plates breaking and a mare chewing somepony out right outside the broken door.

“Oh my goodness, my lady, is everything--” Pushing past a few of the guard, a maid pony barged in, covered on food and looking as mad as all hell, but all of the anger drained from her face as soon as she surveyed the scene.

Bowing deeply to hide the blush on her face, the maid managed to squeak out,” F-Forgive me, my lady! I-I didn’t, I mean, I-I didn’t realize you and the human…”

As the mare weakly tried to explain herself, starting at the two of them wide-eyed, Ares sighed, putting his head in his hands. Of course this had to fucking happen... he thought, irritated but resigned to his fate

As of now there was no way in hell that the fact that the two of them had finally consummated their relationship wasn’t going to be public; no matter how tight-lipped the guards were someone was bound to say something. By the end of the day everypony in the empire, and maybe Equestria, would probably know that he had fucked the ruler of a country; Shining, the other princesses, even pony hobos.

“…You know what?” he said, slinging an arm around his mare, who looked like she was about ready to hide under the bed, her whole body red in embarrassment, before leaning against his bed. “Fuck it; I had sex.”

Author's Notes:

Yeah, after like 500,000 words there's sex! I don't think it's the best sex scene in the whole world, but I worked really hard on it, so that much mean something!

Right?...

Ready or Not, Here We Come

Doctor Stitch liked to think that she was a reasonable mare.After years of dealing with sick and injured ponies, listening to all of their panicked rambling, or their stupid excuses as to why they had their heads stuck in a bucket, the doctor had acquired the patience of a saint. But, unfortunately, when one was a royal physician to a very powerful, and something moronic, alicorns, Stitch would sometimes find that her patience wore thin.

This was one of those times.

The royal bedroom also looked like it had seen better days. The room was a mess, tables and chairs overturned, little knickknacks littering the floor, it looked like the door had been knocked off its hinges, the sheets were crumpled up and in some places ripped, and the pillows were scattered all over the floor.

None of that particular irked the doctor though; she could care less about what a pony did in the safety of their own bedroom. No, the main reason that she was ready to just throw her glasses off her face and go into a hissy fit, were the two laying in the bed, partially hiding themselves under the covers; them and the smell of sex and sweat that filled the air and refused to leave the room even when she had opened all of the windows.

The princess and Ares were sweaty, their hair was a mess, the princess had a pair of the man’s underwear hanging on her horn for some reason (she would have pointed it out to her but Stitch was still a little too upset at the moment), and Ares was in his birthday suit underneath the covers. There were also a pair of IV’s sticking out of the two’s arms; the result of their little escapade where Ares had managed to poison Cadence with magic flowers and Cadence had cast a love spell on him among other things.

It had been a nightmare for the doctor to get something to counteract the poison (a task that had been made a thousand times easier by Ares’s boss, Tulip, who had brought a dozen flowers that were perfect for counteracting love magic) and making sure that all of the magic passed through Ares’s body safely.

Dozens of ponies had come and gone in from the royal bedroom, leaving Ares and Cadence embarrassed, a little bit scared, but most of all ashamed; Ares especially. Both of them knew all too well that they had royally messed up, and the doctor was more than happy to bring home just how lucky the two were.

“I don’t think I need to tell you two how disappointed I am in the two of you,” she said coldly, glaring at the princess and the human.

The two flinched, looking away from the mare in shame. Cadence tried to hide under her comforter, but Stitch was having none of that, yanking the blanket down with a spell.

“With respect, Princess, I thought that you’d have enough sense not to use any type of saturation magic on your coltfriend after you saw what had happened after he was barely introduced to it, and after I strongly advised against it. If he would have had a bad reaction I don’t know if I would have been able to do anything to help him; you’re extremely lucky that all your spell did was sharpen his senses and make him a little hungry!”

Cadence tried to open her mouth but the doctor shushed her, turning her glare toward Ares.
“And you, Mr. Human,” she growled, taking an angry step forward. “You could have seriously injured the princess with off the lust flowers that you got her to eat. Though you don’t know this, even ponies can have bad magical reactions; this risk doubles when the magic pumping through them comes from a magical flower, and you probably made it even worse by feeding her a dozen! I can’t believe—“

Ares kept his gaze in his lap, anxiously pawing at the edges of the covers like a child that was trying to weather an angry lecture from a parent, which made the doctor pause mid sentence, a vein in her forehead beginning to pulse.

She was about to lay into him again but she stopped herself, taking a deep breath. You’re lucky that I like you, stallion, she thought. Or I swear to Faust I’d be doing more than just yelling at you for poisoning MY princess…

“You were lucky that that employer of yours barged in when she did. The princess would have kept rutting you until your pelvis broke with all of that lust magic pumping in her bloodstream,” Once again, Cadence and Ares flinched, blushes coming to their faces. “Or she could have become mentally unstable and things could have gotten much, much, much--“

“That is enough, Doctor,” Cadence interrupted. “Ares made a mistake—“ Ares sunk further down into the bed, looking as down and beaten as a man could until Cadence nuzzled his side assuringly. “—and I may have made a mistake in casting those spells on him, but neither of us meant it, and in the end everything turned out for the best.”

Taking a deep breath herself, Cadence forced herself to look up at her doctor, her face showing remorse. “I understand that you’re worried about us, and I appreciate it, but yelling at us isn’t going to help matters.”

The doctor nodded, the anger vanishing from her face and replaced with one of concern and regret. Bowing, she said, “My apologies, princess.” Trotting over toward them and checking their IV’s. “I may have gotten myself a little too worked up.”

Cadence smiled at her weakly. “You’ were just worried about us, Doctor,” she said. “There’s no need to apologize for that.”

The doctor nodded, adjusting her glasses before looking back down at her clipboard. “Well, the two of you seem to be alright. Mr. Ares needs to get something in his belly immediately and you need to drink a few glasses of water, and the two of you need to stay off your hooves for a few hours, but other than that the two of you are perfectly healthy.”

She pointed at their IV’s with a pen. “I’ll make sure to get a nurse to come down here to get those out of you as soon as the bags are empty, and I’ll go to the kitchens to make sure that they’re making Mr. Ares something to eat,” looking up from her clipboard, the doctor nodded, turning toward the door. “Good night, Princess, Ares.”

Both the human and the princess waiting until the doctor had managed to close the door, slamming it a little harder than needed, before falling back into the bed and groaning in unison.

&~~()()~~&

Well, that couldn’t have gone any worse, I thought, closing my eyes.

For the past two hours, guards, nurses, and maids had come into mine and Are’s room, demanding to know what was going on, questioning us, making sure that neither of us died from what we did to each other, or just simply passing by and poking their heads through our door to see what all of the fuss was about. They didn’t give us a second to clean ourselves up, they didn’t let Ares get any clothes on. They just poked and prodded and harassed us until we were finally too jaded to care anymore, letting them do what they wanted so we could end this nightmare.

And, sitting here, covering myself with my blanket and reeking of sex, I couldn’t help but think that it’d be less than an hour before the whole city knew that me and my coltfriend had rutted each other’s brains out and accidently poisoned each other like dummies.

I swear to Faust, Ares and I may as well have just walked out in the middle of the market and just started to rut each other for all of the trouble that we had bucking had with it. The embarrassment, all of the trouble of making sure not to step on each other’s hooves or overstep boundaries, all of the distractions that had forcefully stopped us from making love had been bad enough but this; this?!

If I wasn’t so happy that I finally rutted Ares, I’d be screaming my head off right now!

“…Candy?”

My ears perked up, and I rolled onto my side and looked at Ares, who was lying on his back and had his eyes closed.

Scooting closer toward him, I said, “Yes, Ares?”

“I’m sorry for poisoning you.”

The way that he said it, in the exact same sorry tone as a filly or colt might have when they spilled a glass of milk and you had to clean it up, actually made me chuckle. After all of the nonsense that the two of us had just gone through, that cute little heartfelt sorry that I knew that he meant took a bit of the sting out of this whole mess.

Minding the IV in my arm (which was itching like crazy, by the way) I wrapped my hooves around my coltfriend and pulled him against me.

“I’m sorry for casting that spell on you without knowing what it’d do to you,” I said, nuzzling the back of his head. “And for almost rutting you to death.”

Ares reached back and scratched my ear. “I doubt you would’ve been able to do that,” he mumbled, sounding amused. “But if you did...well, there are worse ways to die…”

Rolling around to face me, my human kissed my nose, pulling me even closer. “And at least I finally got to have sex with you. Even with all of the bullshit that we’ve just gone through that more than makes up for it.”

I smirked, giggling. “Well, you could have been a little bit better, but…”

Ares groaned. “Oh fuck you! I fucked your brains out and you know it, Candy!”

Laughing, I playfully shoved him. “I think you mean I rutted your brains out, mister.You were practically holding onto the bed for dear life!”

It was my turn to kiss his nose. “But don’t worry, I’ll try to be a little more gentle next time you and I get a little more alone time.”

My human cracked an eye open to stare at me, and I stared back, both of us looking neutral until Ares smiled, making me smile, which made Ares grin, which made me chuckle, until the two of us started laughing so hard that I almost pulled out my IV by accident.

Sighing tiredly, I rubbed my cheek against Ares’s neck. “I can’t wait until we get these things out of our arms,” I said, poking my IV tube. “I want to go and take a shower and change these sheets.”

“And I want to get something to eat,” Ares said, lifting his head off the bed to stare at the door. “I swear to god I could eat a hor—er… a lot of something.” With a muffled plop, his head hit his pillow. “That magic of yours was a hell of a doozy.”

“Well your magic flowers made me think I was going into heat,” I replied, laying a wing over him.
Ares let out a pleased hum, and the two fell into a comfortable silence, waiting for a maid or nurse to come in so we could do something other than sit in this bed and poke fun at each other.

Seeing that neither of us had any hard feeling about what had happened, in fact the two of us seemed happy that it had happened (I knew that I did, at least), I then went on to wonder if I was going to have to make some sort of statement after the news got out that I had finally rutted my alien coltfriend and half of my castle staff had gotten to see that aftermath.

Oh come on Cadence, your little ponies are adults. They know that you have needs and you have a coltfriend; I’m sure that they already thought that the two of you were rutting every other night, I thought, chiding myself. Noponies going to care…

“Ares? Do you want to take a shower with me after we get these IV’s out?”

Ares gently ran his fingers through my mane. “After the servant pony brings me something to eat then we can do whatever you want, my pretty pink princess.”

“Ares?”

“Hum?”

“I think the two of us should go say something to your boss; she did save the two of us.”
Ares flinched.

“Yeah… and I bet she’s not going to be happy that I took all of those magical flowers. Damnit, I really hope that this stunt didn’t get me fired…”

I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before resting my head on his chest. “Well, look on the bright said, honey,” I said, smiling, “If she fires you I’m sure I can find something for you to do in the castle.”

Ares shrugged. “And if that doesn’t work I could always be a powerlifter,” he replied. “Just like my uncle wanted.”

I nodded encouragingly. “Of course you can be a powerlifter, Ares… Whatever the hay that is.”

&**&~~&**&

Like their name suggested, the Higher clan’s family mansion, which, though seemingly just a really, really big, nice house could have been mistaken for a castle in the wrong light with all of the security running around the compound, was as opulent and grand as could be.

The clan’s ancestral home had been built during the empire’s fledgling years, a simple wooden house in the beginning that had, over the course of hundreds of years, the rise and fall and rise again of the clan’s wealth and power and reach in the city, become one of the biggest, oldest, and most immaculate buildings that stood on any of the empire’s seven hills

The mansion had been built and expanded upon using only the best and strongest materials, magic or otherwise. The hallways were littered with the finest Saddle Arabian rugs, the walls were fitted with the biggest and finest grade jewels and gems and precious metals, and the best art that money could buy (there was even rumors that there were a few solid gold toilets in the building). And to protect all of this wealth there was a legion of highly trained and highly motivated soldiers ready to give their lives for the clan.

Yes, the Higher mansion might have been a little too extravagant for many ponies taste, and maybe the clan may have sunk a bit too much money on it, and it might have cost an arm and a leg to keep the mansion maintained around the clock, but keeping a building like this showed the enemies of the Higher’s that the clan had more than enough money to throw around. It showed that, all through the empire’s history, the clan had flourished, through thick and thin, remaining strong and powerful and wealthy, and that was just how they liked it.

But, in the midst of all of this art, all of these jewels and expensive tables and chairs and furniture, there was a simple little wooden room in the belly of the mansion that served the office for the head of the clan.

Windowless, soundproof, and no bigger than a big walk-in closet, with only a desk and a few tables to fill it, the little office had been used as a workplace for centuries. Everything from forms about the clan’s finances to signing off on assassination attempts had passed through that little room, though nowadays all the clan head usually did there was simply sign off on a few dozen documents about this and that (a fact that more than a few of the clan heads had been rather disappointed of, since more than a few had been expecting to be offing ponies left and right)

And that was just what High Rider was doing at the moment, sitting in an old wooden chair carefully looking over some documents that needed attending and humming to herself. Sure, reading paperwork might have not been the most exciting thing for her to do, but the older mare liked it all the same. Working like she was always gave her time to relax and think about this and that.

I wonder how Tulip did with her newest employee this morning, she thought, quickly signing a document before reaching for the next one. For a moment, she considered having somepony tail Ares to and from work, or maybe giving her niece another “employee”, but she decided against it.

Ares might have been the princesses new consort, but there was no way that he was a player in any power grab whatsoever. He was just some odd monkey-creature that had an affinity for hugs and pink alicorns, and besides… it wasn’t like she didn’t have at least a dozen agents watching over his every move up at the castle anyways, and she always loved to hear from her sweet little niece…

Oh, I’m sure that she’ll tell me all about it the next time she comes up here to say hello to her old aunt, she thought with a giggle, reaching over and grabbing the cup of tea that she had left on a stool that was at least ten times older than her. It’s nice to get a real surprise every once and a while and—

“Aunty, AUNTY!”

Higher almost dropped her tea cup in shock as her niece slid through the doorway and into a wall, a look of panic on her face. Before she could respond, or even put her tea cup down, Tulip was on her.

“Aunty, something horrible happened today!
IjustlookedawayforasecondandArestooktheseloveflower—“

High Rider watched impassively, taking another sip of her tea as her niece’s rant turned more and more illegible with each passing second, before, with a shake of her head, the mare stuck her hoof in Tulip’s mouth.

With her flat look still on her face, High Rider said, “Now dear, you know your old aunt can’t understand you when you talk like that.” For a second, her eyes hardened, gleaming with suspicion and even anger, before she once again looked at her niece with a warm and cheery smile. “Now why don’t you have a seat and tell me what the human’s done to get you so worked up.”

I swear to the gods, if that monkey did anything to hurt my niece not even the princess will be able to save that hide of his…

^&<~~><~~>&^

“Ares, could you please not eat with your mouth open?” I asked, taking a little bite of my cheese sandwich before wiping my mouth with a napkin. “You’re getting food everywhere.”

When Ares, who had still be a little loopy with all of my magic running inside him, had been asked what he wanted to eat. He simply looked up at the maid, smiled, and asked for fifty grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. Why he had wanted sandwiches, I had no idea, but I don’t think anypony had the heart to tell him no after everything he and I had been put through, so the cooks had been nice enough to give us a big plate stacked high with sandwiches and about two gallons of soup.

Though I had wanted to take a shower first, Ares had insisted that the two of us sit down and eat before he starved, so we were doing just that: sitting down, like a couple, the two of us as naked as the day we were born, also like a couple, enjoying our grill cheese sandwiches.

Well, I was enjoying my food; Ares looked like he was trying to inhale as much food as he could as quickly as he could. It had been less than ten minutes and already half of the sandwiches were gone and a third of the soup had been drunk by my hungry, hungry human.

Ares stopped his frantic chewing to look up at me, swallowing before saying, “Sorry, Candy…” Looking at the half-eaten sandwiches in both of his hands, then back at me, then back at the sandwiches, he put one of them down before calmly going back to eating.

Rolling my eyes, I levitated over a napkin and wiped off his face. “Sweet Faust are you adorable,” I said with a giggle, my smile only increasing when my human glared at me, “disgusting, but adorable.”

“I’m hungry!” Ares replied, taking another bite of his sandwich.

“I could tell,” I said, taking another bite of my sandwich before putting what was left of it down and scooting out of my chair. “Now why don’t the two of us share a nice shower together, hum? I really want to get myself cleaned up, and I’m sure that you do too.”

Ares just looked at me, grabbing and cradling the plateful of sandwiches in his arms like he was afraid that I was going to take them away. “But… I’m hungry.”

I pulled him to his feet with my magic, trying to yank the plate out of his hands. “Your foods not going to go anywhere,” I promised, getting the sandwiches out of his hands and putting them back onto the plate. “Now come on, you can help me wash my wings!” I spread one of said wings, waving him forward with it before trotting into the bathroom.

It was going to be nice finally getting all of this gunk and sweat and other stuff off my coat, and after I changed the sheets, Ares and I could snuggle up on our bed for the rest of the day, which would definitely be worth all of the nonsense I had put up with today.

Turning on the shower, I poked my head out of the bathroom and called, “Come on, Honey, we really do need to get cleaned up!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I heard Ares half grumble as he walked into the bathroom and hopped into the shower, before jumping out a half second later.

“COLD! COLD!!!”

“You should have waited until I changed the temperature,” I said with a giggle, giving Ares’s butt a playful slap, which made him jump again (to my delight). Humming to myself, I quickly turned the shower knob and hopped in.

“Come on, Ares,” I said, hoofing him a bottle of wing shampoo. “These wings aren’t going to wash themselves!”

There was some more grumbling, though I could see a smile on his face, as my human grabbed the bottle and put some of the soap in his hands. “Slave driver,” he muttered.

I nudged his leg with my flank. “Oh hush; you love it,” I chirped, sighing happily when I felt those wonderful hands of his grab and spread my wing, starting to gently scrub it.

“It looks like you're due for a preening, Candy,” Ares said, making quick work of one wing and moving onto the other.

I just shrugged, closing my eyes and just enjoying the sensation of my coltfriend running his hands up and down my back. “I’ve been meaning to do that for a couple of days anyway.”

“You mean you’ve been meaning to get me to clean them for a couple of days.”

With a laugh, I spun around and gently shoved Ares up against the wall, nuzzling his face with my nose, I leaned up and gave him a kiss. “You love it,” I said again, kissing him again as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.

“You’re lucky I love you,” he said with a happy smile, giving my rump a little squeeze before kissing the top of my nose. “Otherwise I wouldn’t put up with being this whipped.”

I purred, giving Ares a saucy look, my eyes half-lidded. “Oh, so you like whips, my little human? Well, I’ll have to remember that next time we have a little private time together~.”

“As long as you actually buy a door that ponies aren’t going to be able to just kick down then you can bring all the whips you want,” Ares replied, giving my rump another squeeze. “That’s it though; I don’t want to walk in here one day and see you in some rubber sex suit with a strap-on on.”

We both chuckled, just standing with big, stupid smiles on our faces, holding each other close. At that moment, ponies, politics, my aunt, Shining, all of my worries just seemed to flow down the drain with the water, because I knew that I had a stallion that I loved more than anything in the world, and , taking a good look at him, I could tell that he loved me just as much.

We were out of the awkward first steps of a relationship, so now we could relax and really have fun with each other. Now that the two of us bucked each other’s brains out, you’d be sure that there’d be a lot more teasing, a lot more fun, and a lot more rutting in the future.

“Don’t you worry, Ares,” I said, nosing his cheek and closing my eyes. “I’ll make sure to save the heavy stuff for my birthday.”

@@~~##~~@@

Ares walked through the castle hallways, a pep in his step, a song in his heart, and one hell of a hunger in the pit of his stomach. Even after eating all of those sandwiches, he still had a hankering for something bready and cheesy, and even promises of snuggles and sexual favors could not dissuade him from getting dressed and scurrying to the kitchen for a late night snack.

His stomach had spoken and there was no way he was going to tell it no; and besides, the night was still young, he could have all of the “fun” with Cadence he wanted after he filled his belly.

At least no one’s looking at me funny, he thought, his hands in his pockets. And I’m sure s that mare over there was staring at my junk when the doctor was examining me… yeah that was he—

“Excuse me, sir; I have a letter for you.”

Ares almost jumped out of his skin as a pair of ponies seemingly appeared out of thin air in front of him, the two looking up at him with the most blank yet business-like expression that he had ever seen.

“Hey guys… how’s it going,” Ares said, noticing that just him and the two stallions were now alone in the hallway

.
Weren’t there like fifty ponies running around just a second ago? He thought, looking down at the piece of paper that the mystery pony had in his hoof. For a moment, he was tempted to turn around and leave, but he shook that thought off like a dog.

Aw come on, they’re just ponies, what the heck are they going to do?

“Well, thanks for the letter guys, but who’s it from?” He asked.

The stallions just continued to look at him blankly. “Sir, please just read the letter. My associate and I are very busy ponies,” one of them said, shoving the piece of paper in in his hands.

“Alright, alright,” Ares muttered with a frown bringing the paper up to his face. “No need to get fucking pissy…”

Dear Ares,

As you read this letter, the two stallion’s that I send to you are making their way behind you with the intent of knocking you out and bring you to me so the two of us can have a talk. Please don’t try to cause a scene, dear, I just want to have a talk and it was rather difficult paying off enough of the guard on such short notice. You don’t need to worry, its not about anything serious, but me and a few… associates need to tie up some loose ends with you.

I’m also sorry if the colts get a little rough, they just want to bring you in as soon as possible.

Looking forward to having another conversation with you,

High Rider.

“The fuck it this shi—“

CONK!!

Coming in with a Boom

“You got a line on my life, and when I look down at you I see somepony who’d make a very good wife, so why don’t you come down this way so that the two of us can be happy and gay!”

Shining Armor liked to think that he was a pretty even-tempered colt; a pony that was slow to anger and quick to forgive, but there were times when he’d have one heck of an urge to smack somepony upside the head because of the sheer amount of irritation they were causing him. He had never acted on these urges, which was a given for any normal, sane pony, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t feel them like everyone else.

“Na nana nahaha, why don’t you come this way so the two of us can be happy and gay!”

Though Flash, to his credit, was coming dangerously close to having him rip of his helmet and take the Pegasus to slap city.

Gritting his teeth, the unicorn said, for what seemed like the hundredth time, “Flash, will you please stop singing to yourself?”

If he hadn’t had years and years of discipline drilled into him back at Canterlot he would have turned to glare at the private. “I’m about ready to either jam my hooves in my ears or throw you out a window; and I’m really leaning toward the latter.”

Flash, who had been swaying back and forth as he sang, like he had been doing for the past hour or so, couldn’t help but let out an annoyed huff.

“HEY! My singing’s not that bad!” he said defensively.

“No it’s not,” Shining allowed, shifting his weight around his hooves to at least try to keep hislimbs limber, “but it starts to get grating when you sing the same bucking song again and again for hours.”

Flash tried to open his mouth in protest when Shining snapped it shut with a spell.

“Our shift ends in a couple of hours, so why don’t the two of us just spend the rest of it in silence. Absolute silence.”

Flash glared at the back of his friends head. Taking a step forward, puffing out his chest, and straightening his helmet, he was about to lay into Shining about why he needed to do something so he wouldn’t lose his mind just staring at a crystal wall, when something caught his eye.

Two ponies, both of whom had simple grey cloaks covering their bodies and faces, were carrying a big sack of… something on their backs as they quickly made their way down the hall toward him and Shining.

I wonder what the heck that is? he thought, nudging Shining with his spear.

“Hey Shining, do you see that?”

Shining, not turning his head, nodded. “Yeah, it looks like a couple of ponies carrying a big bag of potatoes or trash or something, why?”

Flash eyed the sack again, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “I think that the two of us should see what they’re carrying,” he told his fellow private, who finally turned to look at him in irritation.

“And why would the two of us do something like that?” Shining asked.

“Because I’m bored and if we don’t then I’m going to start singing again,” Flash threatened, holding Shining’s gaze as the two had a bit of a stare-down; Flash’s eyes burning with determination and Shining’s filled with irritation, which was then followed by begrudging acceptance.

“…Fine, but let’s make this quick. I’m sure these ponies have some place to be,” Shining said, slightly disgusted with himself as Flash trotted over toward the mystery ponies with a little pip in his step. “Why do I even support his behavior?”

“Excuse me gentlecolts; would you mind telling us what’s in the bag?” Flash asked, blocking the pony’s path.

Grumbling to himself, Shining walked up and stood next to his fellow guard as the two ponies shared a look with each other.

“Oh... what’s in the sack you say?” one of the stallions said, hefting the sack with a grunt. “Well it’s just a couple of, um…. rumble weeds.”

“Terrible things rumble weeds,” the other added with an almost forced smile. “They’ll ruin a garden if you let them. And us, being a pair of gardeners for her royal highness herself, had to do something to protect the princess’s garden and our living. So my partner and I were just taking them out to be disposed of.”

Flash and Shining looked at each other for a moment before staring back at the stallions.

“…Rumble weeds?” Shining asked suspiciously. “What the hay are rumble weeds, and why were they in the princess’s garden?”

“And why are you two wearing cloaks in the middle of a nice sunny day?” Flash added.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was going on and that there was a good chance that they were being lied to, but Flash and Shining wanted to give these two the benefit of the doubt.

They weren’t gardeners, and neither of the two could boast knowing more than a hoofful of common plants, so there might have been a chance that these mystery ponies weren’t full of horseapples. It was doubtful but the two could hope.

The two mystery stallions, other than starting at each other once again and smiling nervously at the guards, were as cool as cucumbers.

“Well you see, guardscolts, what my partner and I have in this sack, and handling it carefully mind you, is the rare and dangerous rumble weed,” one of the stallion’s said, tapping the sack on his back with a hoof.

“It’s a plant that secretes a foul odor when any amount of sunlight touches it,” the other said, pinching his nose with a hoof. “The odor’s so foul that it can cause a pony so vomit within mere seconds of exposure and far worse if one were to stay around it more than a few minutes without the proper protection!”

Slightly alarmed, Flash and Shining took a step back, eyeing the sack warily.

The two ponies smiles widened and they nodded at each other. “Yes, like my fellow gardener here says, it is very dangerous. So dangerous, in fact, that it took the two of us all morning and most of the afternoon to uproot this plant and throw it into this sack and clear up the smell from the garden.”

“Right it did, Lad. God’s know if we’ll ever get our sense of smell back after today.”

Snorting irritably, Shining took a step forward. “That’s the biggest load of horseapples I’ve ever heard in my life,” he snapped, pointing a spear on their direction. “And I’ve heard a ton of stories in my time as a guard!”

The two stallion’s smiles vanished, the two once again exchanging looks before one of them said, “I’m sorry sir, I don’t follow you.”

Taking a calming breath to keep himself from just walking over and smacking the sack of the two’s backs, Shining said, “You’re telling me that the two of you are carrying out some weird plant—“

“The rumble weed,” one of them corrected, before that stallion was tapped on shoulder by the other one.

“Actually, it’s the giant rumble plant; we don’t want the two to get confused now do we?”
The other stallion nodded his thanks. “Oh right, the giant rumble plant. Excuse me for not pointing it out earlier I—“

Fed up, Shining smacked the blunt end of his spear against the ground. “Will you two just let me look into the bag to see what you’re actually lugging around?” He demanded.

Quick as a whip, the stallions shook their heads. “Sorry, no can do, sir. It’s too dangerous to let this plant out on the open.”

“As soon as sunlight hits it it’ll start going crazy, and I’m sure you don’t want to explain to the princess why you didn’t let us do our jobs and why her whole castle reeks to high heaven.”

“…Maybe we should just let them go, Shining,” Flash said as Shining glared at the two. “I don’t know about you but I don’t want to deal with some crazy smelly plant.”

Shining looked over his shoulder at the Pegasus, disbelief etched on his face. “You actually believe these guys?!”

The private shrugged. “They don’t look like bad guys,” he reasoned. “And whatever’s in there is too big for a pony, so they’re not foulnapping anypony. And we’d hear clinking if they stole anything valuable.”

One of the mystery stallions, looking hurt, brought a hoof up to his heart. “My fellow and I are only hardworking stallion’s trying to earn a living wage, sir. Is there anything wrong with that?”

Scrunching his face up in irritation, Shining turned again from the stallions. “You know what? Fine.” He waved a hoof dismissively. “Get out of here.”

Grumbling to himself, Shining grabbed Flash and started to drag him down the hall as the two stallions, who had quickly hoof bumped each other when the two guards weren’t looking, trotting down the hallway with their cargo in tow.

“Hey, Shining, we still have a few hours until our shifts are over,” Flash said, pointing at the spots where the two had once stood. “Where the hay are we going?”

“We’re going to go see the captain,” Shining growled. “Or maybe we could go to the servants quarters… I need to see if this is a load of horseapples—which it probably bucking is—but I think whatever’s going on might be a little over our heads to try and figure out ourselves.”

“And why’s that, Shining?”

Shining stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to look at the two mystery stallion’s, both whom were almost jogging through the hall.

“Gardeners don’t talk like that, and I know for a fact that they don’t have cloaks like that.”

Shining resisted the urge to groan. “We might be dealing with one of the clan’s here, Flash…”

“So we’re going to go get the captain?”

“Yep.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Luna moved through her room like a machine, moving things this way and that, all the while humming a merry tune to herself.

After weeks of waiting, and preparing herself, and dealing with her sister and that pizza colt, Twilight had finally sent her some goo—nay, great news. After extensive research and a few tests that had probably worked, (she didn’t dare risk even attempting to send a live subject through…wherever she was sending them so she didn’t really have any idea where she was sending them) Twilight reported that she thought she had figured out long distance teleportation.

She needed to run a lot more tests, and all of the spells and runes and charms she had made for the mother of all spells were still tricky at best and downright dangerous at worst, but she had the bare-bones beginnings of a spell. And, if she had a few more months to try to work out the kinks and if the magic gods were smiling down on her, there was a good chance that she’d have a relatively safe spell to show her.

Too bad Luna wasn’t ready to wait months.

The second that she saw Twilight’s notes on the spell, all ten thousand pages of them, Luna had decided to see what she could do to improve on the magical model to get it up and running as soon as possible. She was a smart mare who also happened to have a heck of a lot of smart magic users within calling distance that would help her if she asked; if she spent a couple of all-nighters on this thing, she was sure that she’d be in the Crystal Empire by the weekend.

Sure, she could have done the easy thing and just have taken a train up to the frozen north, but where was the fun in that? Sometimes, one needed to challenge themselves to get what they wanted while also keeping life interesting.

After days of slaving over books and scrolls, getting advice from some of the best minds in Canterlot (including her sister), and after almost blowing up half of the castle, it looked like she had finally perfected (or at least made it good enough not to kill her if she used it) the spell. And now, with her brand-spanking new spell in her hooves, Luna decided to go and see if she could pay Ares and Cadence a little visit.

“I’m sure that they will enjoy these chocolates,” Luna muttered to herself while she eyed the small box that she held on her hooves. “Sister said that they are exquisite, and she is somewhat of an expert in the ways of sweets…”

All around the princess of the night, rugs,chairs, and table were floating around in the air, caught up in her magic, along with chalk, herbs, and other magical items, which the alicorn was using to draw the mother of all rune-circles.

Seventeen lines deep and inscribed with over fifty different languages (most of which were long dead) this would have been impossible for all but the most experienced and magically gifted ponies to tackle, but luckily for Luna she wasn’t an average pony so it was finished in about ten minutes.

Still humming to herself, Luna slowly walked around the rune-circle, carefully looking out for any smudges or imperfections. One wrong rune and she’d be sent to some hell-spawns pocket dimension or worse, so she took her time until she was confident that everything was in working order.

“Maybe we should have gotten something more than just the candy,” Luna muttered as she stepped into the circle, looking over at her mirror on the far side of the room to see if she looked presentable. “Maybe we should go and acquire some flowers for Cadence, or maybe some meat for Ares…”

Luna couldn’t help but fidget in place and wonder if it wouldn’t be better just to leave this off for another day so she could get ready-ready to meet Ares and Cadence.

Nay, the circle is drawn up and sister is in Ponyville so she cannot bother us, Luna thought, slipping the chocolate into a saddlebag and slipping that on. And We are free for the next few days, so this is the perfect time!

Letting out a shaky breath, Luna closed her eyes and let her power flow through her and into the various runes covering her floor. For a moment, nothing happened, but slowly but surely a faint buzzing sound could be heard in the room if one listened hard enough, and there was just a hint of a glow coming from the runes.

Minutes passed as Luna patiently pumped her magic into the runes. The buzzing had gotten noticeably louder, and even she could see purple glowing through her eyelids, which made her grin in excitement and relief.

“Crystal Empire here we come,” Luna muttered, channeling just a bit more of her magic into the runes with a grunt.

With a thunderous bang and a blinding light that one could see for miles around, Luna was gone, leaving nothing but a the smell of slightly burned fur and, of all things, pineapples.

()()~~()()

Being knocked upside the head, hogtied, and thrown into a big ass sack by a bunch of little horses, wasn’t something that Ares had expected to happen to him when he woke up this morning, but then again he had sex with his fillyfriend because of a magical flower so something like this happening wasn’t out of the realm of believability. And, to be honest, he really wasn’t as worried as he should have been about the whole kidnapping thing.

Sure, he was a little annoyed, angry even, but he really didn’t feel threatened for his life. He had just gotten caught up in some pony nonsense that was probably going to end up being nothing.

But if it did end up as something serious… well, he hoped that Cadence would find his ass before anything bad happened.

This is a bunch of fucking bullshit, he thought, trying to wiggle out of his captives grasp or at the very least loosen his bindings. I have work in the morning dammit! Couldn’t this have happened on a weekend?!

He tried to wiggle some more but his kidnappers firmly, but gently, held him in place as they carried him to wherever they were carrying him, going this way and that, up and down, left and right. He had tried to count the steps and turns to try to figure out where the hell they were taking him but he gave up after realizing that he didn’t know the castle, let alone the city itself, nearly well enough to even guess where he was being carried to.

And, after realizing that these ponies were taking him to a place he didn’t know for reasons he didn’t understand, he started to get a little more nervous about this situation as a while, though he still managed to keep a cool head about everything… kind of.

On and on and on the little criminal ponies carried him until, after what felt like forever, he was throw into a sitting position onto something solid and hard, making him grunt in surprise. Once again he tried to wiggle but was yet again held down by a pair of hooves.

Straining his hearing, he managed to hear a muffled conversation going on around him by more than one pony, which made him even more nervous about his current situation.

This better not be one of those rape cult things! I swear to god if any of these fucking ponies try taking my pants off—

Ares froze when he felt something cold, hard, sharp, and pointy along his back, whatever it was carefully cutting open the sack and freeing him from the ropes that had been tied around his arms and legs, which left only the little sack that had been put over his head.

“Will somepony get that bag off the poor dear’s head? And Skully? Will you please put away that knife? You’re bound to give him a heart attack.”

Ares heard an irritated grunt come from behind him as the sack covering his head was torn off. Light flooded his senses, forcing him to close his eyes and grit his teeth in pain while he covered his face with his hands. Yeah THAT’S fucking helping my headache… I bet you money I have a concussion!

“Oh my, are you alright dearie?”

...Well, it looks like I’m not going to get raped… probably…

“The Light’s a bit bright,” Ares said, keeping his eyes closed. “You mind turning it down a bit?”

Someone snorted from behind him. “Do you want us to get you a bib too, colt?”

“Skully, you be nice!” There was the clapping of hooves and the lights were turned down significantly, letting Ares open his eyes and finally look around to see where he had been taken.

Other than a light or two hanging near him, the room was pitch black, cloaking what Ares assumed were ponies in darkness. Though he couldn’t make out their faces, he could see their outlines, so he could tell that they were looking at him… and he didn’t particularly care for that.

The darkness, along with the silence that choked the room, almost made Ares shrink slightly in his chair.

“Um… hello,” he said weakly. “How are you all… doing?”

“Huh; a polite one isn’t he?” One of the shadows said, sounding amused.

Another one leaned into the light, almost as if they were trying to get a better look at him. “Aye and a funny lookin’ one too,” the shadow, whose voice was like rough sandpaper, said before leaning back into their chair. “Wonder what the princess sees in ‘em.”

Someone chuckled behind him. “From what Higher told us I think we all know that answer. Isn’t that right lad?”

Looking over his shoulder, Ares frowned when he saw a familiar-looking elderly pony smiling back him. “Hey, you’re that pony that beat the shit out of me and Flash!”

The stallion chuckled, nodding. “And you’re the one that ruined by armor,” he said, trotting around until he was standing before the human. “But we’re not here about that, are we human?”

Confused, Ares just looked at the pony. “Hey you kidnapped me, I have no idea why the hell I’m here!”

Getting slightly upset, Ares leaned forward until his and the stallion’s noses were almost touching . “Speaking of: why the hell did you fucking kidnap me and why are you the only one that’s not hiding in the dark like little batman horses?”

The Skulltaker, a frown on his face, took a step forward, mashing his nose against Ares’s. “Because, colt, I’m the only one not afraid of the princesses wrath!” He looked over at the other clan head. “Bunch of cowards if you ask me…”

“Don’t you be trying to stain my honor, you old bag of bones!” One of the shadows’ snarled. “I told ya that my backs been actin’ up and I feel more comfortable sitting ‘an standing!”

Skulltaker scoffed. “The stallion that can barely stand calls me a bag of bones.”

“Excuse me, gentlecolts,” another one of the voices, a mare by the sound of it said, “unlike the two of you I actually have a lot of work to do when I get back to my workshop. So how about you both can it so Higher can talk to Mr. Ares?”

Grumbling to himself, Skulltaker nodded, walking toward the other ponies and disappearing into the darkness, all the while Ares just watched incredulously. Kidnappings were supposed to be terrifying and dangerous, not whatever… this was!

“Alright… so what do you guys want to talk about?” Ares asked, wiggling around in his seat to get a little more comfortable.

There was some sounds of something moving around and more than a few quiet grunts before Mrs. Higher, the nice mare that had gotten Ares his job and who had almost seemed like everyone’s awesome grandma, trotted out into the light with a big smile on her face. If she hadn’t kidnapped him, he might have gotten up and given the pudgy mare a hug and a thank you for getting him his awesome job, but she did so staying in his seat he was.

“Hello Ares,” Higher said with a cheery tone and a kind smile.

“…Hello Mrs. Higher,” Ares answered neutrally, warily watching as the mare sat in front of him. “How are you doing?”

The mare’s smile widened. “Oh, I was talking to my niece a few hours ago about you. She said that you were the perfect worker … until a certain incident.”

“Is she alright?” Ares asked, concern etched on his face. “I never got a chance to thank her and say sorry about what happened.”

Higher waved him off. “Oh don’t worry about my little Tulip, she’s quite alright, though she was terrified that she had in some off-hoofed way helped you poison our dear princess with a love flower.”

Ares flinched as if struck as another one of the ponies chipped in. “Which is why we dragged you out of the castle to have this little chat, Mr. Ares.”

Higher nodded in agreement. “I know you feel horrible about what happened, Honey, but all of us here care as deeply about the princess as you do.”

“We each owe her our lives,” Skulltaker added with a growl. “She saved us from the tyrant king and freed us from our chains.”

Higher nodded again. “Exactly, Dearie, and tonight had made us realize that you might make protecting her a little bit more… difficult.”

Ares bristled. “What do you mean?” He demanded. “I’d never hurt—“

“No one here ever said that you’d hurt the princess, Ares,” Higher said, gently cutting him off. “But if you’re not careful you might hurt her more than almost anyone could.”

“This kingdom is still weak,” Skulltaker grumbled. “We need our ruler strong and focused and ready for the future if we are to regain our past glory.”

He old stallion grunted. “From what Higher says, the princess cares for you, which is all well and good, but how will she keep a level head if something happens to you, colt? Or better yet if you go and poison her again like some stupid sod.”

“When the princess was married to Shining Armor we didn’t have that much to worry about,” the gravelly voice said. “He was a stallion of noble blood and had training in arms, armor, and magic. You, Mr. Ares, have none of those things, and that might make you a target for some outside power trying to get to the princess.”

Deep in thought, Ares leaned back into his chair, his grip tightening and loosening in the chair’s arms every few seconds or so.

“You know… I never really thought about it like that,” he muttered, sounding thoughtful. “But what the hell are you guys going to do about it—err, me?

Higher smiled, producing something from… somewhere and walking over and placing it into one of his hands. “Oh, don’t take what these fuddy-duddies have to say to heart, Dear. The lands around this kingdom have been at peace for as long as anyone remembers.”

Skulltaker snorted again. “If you listen to what those Equestrian princesses say,” he muttered, sounding oddly disappointed.

Higher continued like she hadn’t heard him. “We’re not asking that you drastically change your life, or join the guard, or anything silly like that. I, and everypony here, want you to just keep doing what you’re doing; go work with my niece, go play with that Pegasus colt, go and love the princess and have her love you back. We just brought you here to say that we’re watching you and the princess just as the guards at the castle are.”

She took Ares’s hands and gave them a squeeze. “Just… try not to do anything silly like you did today, please; and try not to give my niece any more heart attacks will you?”

Despite being brought here against his will, being hog-tied and thrown into a sack, and forgetting that fact that he was still pretty hungry, Ares smiled as the mare took a step back.

These ponies, in their own Mafioso way, cared enough about Cadence that they had been willing to steal his ass right out of the castle to chew him out for being a fuck-up. Though he would have appreciated it a hell of a lot more if they would have just sent him a strongly worded letter, or had asked him out to lunch—you know, like normal, well-adjusted people do—he was kind of happy that they only wanted what was best for their country and their princess.

He may have also been happy that they weren’t going to throw his ass into some river with cement shoes but that hardly mattered.

“I’ll make sure to do that,” he said, rising to his feet with a chuckle. “Now is it alright if you guys take me back hom—“

No one would know what else Ares’s would have said on that day because, Luna, the Princess of the Night, di-arch of Equestria, made her grand entrance right behind him. And by grand entrance I mean one hell of a big boom.

Hell Hath No Fury...

“Are you sure we should bring this straight to the princess so quickly?” Shining asked as a frowning Echo led him and Flash through the halls.

For the last hour and a half, Shining and Flash had been running around the castle trying to figure out who the hay those “gardening hands” actually were, and for an hour and a half they had gotten almost nothing out of anyone that they had asked/questioned.

When they had questioned the actual gardeners they were told that they had ever seen the stallions that Shining described and it only got worse from there. None of their fellow guardsmen had seen the two stalking the halls and not a single maid or servant had witnessed two stallions running through the halls with a big sack on their backs… or so they said. Though they tried their best to hide it, Shining could see the nervousness in their eyes, see the way that not a single one of them could really meet his eyes when he questioned them.

This castle was secure, with guards roaming the halls twenty-four seven. No one could walk in here off the street without being seen or questioned…. but now it didn’t look like that was actually the case. From what he could gather, a heck of a lot of ponies had either been paid off to look the other way or these stallions had just up and vanished the moment they were out of his and Flash’s sight. And, since Shining wasn’t a moron, he figured it was the former.

It was this thought that made Shining a thousand times more nervous than he already was about the odd situation that he and Flash had found themselves in but he didn’t have enough evidence to do anything other walk around and ask questions. So he did the only thing that he could in a situation like this: go and see his captain and try to get her to help them.

It might have left a bad taste in his mouth, but Shining wasn’t a big shot captain anymore. He couldn’t go running around cracking heads and taking names, he needed to go to ponies with more power than him so they could give him the okay to crack the skulls and hang ponies over the proverbial fire. So, though he actually wanted to do anything other than this, Shining and Flash went to Captain Echo and reported what they had seen, witnessed, and what they thought was going on.

Echo, though more than a little skeptical, had listened to Flash and Shining’s report of the strange ponies carrying their giant sack of…something before going out and questioning the guard herself. And just like Shining and Flash she had gotten next to nothing, even when the mare started shouting and threatening and stomping her hooves. The Captain sure as heck didn’t like that fact that her guard “hadn’t seen” these stallions, nor did she like, and I quote, “That they were trying to feed her a load of horseapples and calling it pie,” but now she was suspicious, which for Shining was a good thing.

Echo, who looked like she was about to bite somepony, kept her eyes ahead as she addressed Shining. “I just want to see something, Private. If all is well with the princess then I want the two of you to go out and look around the city until you find these stallions so you can bring them in for questioning.”

She growled. “But I swear to Faust, if you two are just telling tales or this is some kind of joke and you have me running around the castle for no reason there’s going to be Tartarus to pay…”

“We wouldn’t lie to you, ma’am,” Flash piped up, hoping to sooth the oddly upset mare. “Shining and I just want to know why there were to ponies running around without anypony noticing.”

Echo growled again. “Yes… I’d like to know why too, Private.”

After another minute of walking the three found themselves in front of the princess’s bedroom. Knocking politely, Echo took off her helm and took a step back, waiting until Cadence threw open the door before saluting.

“Ma’am.”

Cadence blinked, looking at each of the guard. “Hello Captain.” she frowned slightly when she saw Echo’s face. “… Is there a problem that I need to know about?”

The bat mare looked past the princess and into the room for a moment before looking back at her. “I was just wondering, Princess, is Ares in that room with you?”

~_~_~_~_~__~_~__~_

As said before, the spell that Luna had cast was a prototype to its very core, and a dangerous one to boot. This meant that the moment that Luna had cast it anything could have happened. She could have sent herself to another dimension entirely, she could have teleported to the center of the earth, she could have summoned something she shouldn’t have, or worse. But, thanks to her skill and the skills of ponies that had had a hoof in making it, the spell had worked.

Mostly.

While it did send Luna to the Crystal Empire in one piece, and while it did teleport her within a few thousand feet of the castle (just like it was supposed to do) the spell had the unforeseen and negative consequence of being a little… explosive. Though to be fair with all of the magic that she had pumped into it it could have been much, much worse.

Instead of throwing Ares and the clan leaders across the room like rag dolls before they fell into each other in a groaning pile of pain and burnt hair/fur the place could have just up and exploded, which was something if one wanted to look at the silver lining. Though, honestly, none of the ponies or human particularly cared since more than one of them was now nursing more than a few broken bones.

BOOM!!!

With all of the grace that of an alicorn princess, Luna landed on her hooves the second that she popped into existence. Exhaling the breath that she didn’t know she had been holding, and ignoring the fact that she felt like she had just run a marathon, the Princess of the Night took a moment to check over herself to see if everything came along with her.

Her wings were there (thank the gods), as was her horn and all four hooves, and she could see out of both eyes and she could feel the weight of her saddle bag on her back. So, at least from what she could see, the spell had worked.

“HUZZAH! WE ARE ALIVE AND WHOLE!” Luna shouted, doing a little victory hop into the air as she surveyed the area…. which, for some reason, appeared to be a very dark and very quiet room.

“…Oh my, where did I teleport myself to?” Grumbling she wrenched open her saddlebag and started fiddling through it. “The spell was supposed put me in front of the castle, not… here..”

Slightly irritated that her spell hadn’t worked perfectly like she had wanted it to, Luna lit up the room with a simply light spell so she could properly take in her surroundings. What she saw both confused and frightened her.

There, across the room, were a bunch of… blobs... blobs that were making noises. It was at the end of the hall wasn’t really just a blob (hopefully), the shadows and the darkness ,made it the illusion of blobbiness. Though that still left Luna with the uncomfortable knowledge that she had teleported into a dark room where someone or something could be stalking her at this very moment.

Spreading her wings to appear intimidating, Luna pricked up her ears, straining to hear what whoever or whatever was at the end of the room was saying. She tried to put a bit more magic into her light spell, so she could actually see what the blobs actually were, but found that she was tuckered out from her spell and wouldn’t be able to do more than her current light spell. Which made her even more nervous, though she tried her best not to show it.

“Show thyself, cetin! We can clearly see thee!” The Princess of the Night commanded, stomping her hoof and lowering her head as if to charge. “It is I, Princess Luna: Mistress of the Night and Ruler of Dreams! So come out and make thyself plain so we know if thou art friend or foe!”

One of the blobs groaned in what suspiciously sounded like pain. “My… breadsticks!”

Luna gasp. Maybe whatever was at the other end of the room was hurt. What if her spell had ended up hurting a poor defenseless mare or stallion and they were laying in a heap in pain!...

Though it could have been a trap of some sort…

Now conflicted, the Princess of the Night lowered her wings and took a step toward the blobs. “...Creature? Art thou injured?” She took another step forward, then another, then another. “Could thou please speak up so we know whether or not to blast thee or take thee to the nearest hospital.”

From out of the darkness a voice, different from the one before, managed to rasp, “Hospital… please…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_

“As if this bucking day couldn’t get any worse,” I grumbled, pacing my room.

You know, if today hadn’t already beating the stuffing out of me I would have been a bit more worried when the captain told me that there was a good chance that somepony had just up and stolen Ares out of the castle. The castle that was filled to the brim with guards that were supposed to be guarding so something like this didn’t happen. In fact I would have been more horrified than worried, but right now I more irritated than anything.

Though, to be honest, the rage was starting to come on the more I thought about it. The shaky, “I’m going to burn down a castle and beat the stuffing out of everypony,” kind of angry.

They couldn’t have picked another day to do something this stupid?! Really, you’re going to go and take MY coltfriend after the bucking day that I just had?!

Well, no more mister nice princess!

“What do you want us to do, Princess?” Echo asked, her face a mask of duty and vigilance.

Growling to myself, I started to throw on my royal regalia. “You three can go back to the barracks if you’d like, I’m going to go out and find Ares.” I levitated over my table and gave it a few practice swings with my magic.

Yeah… this thing would hurt if I start hitting ponies with it…

A calm and sensible and nice Cadence would have gotten her guard to comb the city for her favorite alien, or maybe she would have asked one of the clans if they’d seen or heard anything happening (Faust knows they have enough of their ponies working in my castle), but right now I wasn’t sensible Cadence. Right now was a very upset Cadence.

Because today was such an awful day, I wanted to do a few things to make myself feel better before I go to sleep. I want to get something to eat, I want to do go bed early since I have work in the morning, I kind of wanted to read that romance novel that had been sitting on my shelf for weeks, AND I WANT TO CUDDLE UP WITH MY COLTFRIEND AND TELL HIM THAT I LOVE HIM BECAUSE I’VE HAD A BUCKING ROUGH FEW DAYS!

And I was still going to do all of that too, even if I had to go out and break a couple of skulls with my favorite oak table for it to happen.

“…Princess, what are you doing with that table?”

I stopped just shy of the door, turning around and giving Flash a smile. “Oh, I’m just going to go and have a nice conversation with a few ponies around the city,” I told him sweetly. “And this table is going to go a long way in getting a few of my subjects to tell me where my coltfriend is.”

Shining, Echo, and Flash all looked at me like I was crazy (which might not have been that far off at this point) as I turned back toward the door.

“…Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little bit Cadence?” Shining asked, taking a step toward me as I wrenched the door.

Humming a happy tune I trotted down the hall, giving my table a few more practice swings.

“Me? Overreacting? Don’t be silly!” I’m going to hit somepony SO bucking hard with this that they’ll STAY hit! “I’m as calm as a mare that was just told her coltfriend was coltnapped can be!”

“…And do have any idea who would have taken Ares?”

My guardsponies trotted out of my room and followed me as I made my way toward the castle’s entrance. Once or twice the four of us passed a maid or servant that would look at me oddly as we walked by but I wasn’t worried about that. I was just humming a tune to myself, with a big regal smile on my face, trying my very hardest not to blow a hole through one of the castle walls out of frustration.

I swear if they hurt ONE hair on his head I’m gonna make Nightmare Moon look like a SAINT!

“ No, but I’m going to find out,” I told Shining before my mask of calm and collectiveness cracked and I growled again. “And I’m going to bucking find out quickly! Even if I have to beat the hay out of half the ponies in this city!”

Flash looked over at the captain before looking back at me. “…Princess, maybe you should go back to your room and let the three of us handle this?” He gulped when I stopped in the middle of the hall and turned around to eye him. “You’re becoming a little hyster…”

I don’t know if the anger and frustration was starting to show on my face, or if it was the fact that part of my mane was on fire (which, for the record, would have freaked me the buck out if I wasn’t so bucking upset), but the Pegasus took a hasty step backwards.

“No, I think I’ll handle this my—“

“There thee are, Niece! We hath walked these walls for almost an hour trying to recall where thy quarters were!”

And just like that I no longer wanted to beat somepony to death with my table (mostly). I knew that voice, and I also knew that there was no way in Tartarus that she’d be able to come to my kingdom without me knowing.

She’d have have to take a three day train ride, then walk half a mile through an icy tundra, and finally pass through the barrier that was around the city twenty-four seven, a barrier with a load of guards patrolling it by the way, so there should have been no way that she was here…

“Cadence? Did thou hear us?”

But, against all common sense and logic, there my Luna was, a great big happy smile on her face as she trotted toward me. And, to make this… whatever the buck you want to call it, even more confusing apparently Luna had found Ares and was now carrying him on her back.

Because things couldn’t get any weirder today, right?

Poor Ares looked like he had been in a tornado, his shirt dirty and torn up,his face smudged with what looked like dirt and even a little bit of blood. His eyes were half-lidded, and it looked like he was having a hard time keeping his seat on top of my aunt, swaying back and forth, and almost falling off, until Luna used one of her wings to push him back into a better sitting position.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see Ares as beat up and tired as he was. He was okay! Nopony was selling him on some black market, they hadn’t cut him into little pieces, or any other horrible thing, and!...

Is… he missing his shoes? I thought before shaking my head, tossing the table over my shoulder and charging toward the two.

“ARES!” I shouted, picking the human off Luna’s back and gently sitting in front of me. “Are you alright?!” I wrapped him up in a hug, placing my head on his shoulder and trying my hardest not to cry.

“I’m alright,” my human muttered, holding me close while I sniffled. “Luna just up and appeared before anything really bad could happen.”

Even though I wanted to keep hugging him a until that made everything all better, and then carry him back to our room so I could bathe him and put the two of us to bed so we could forget about this bucking awful day, I broke the hug. Before I did anything else I needed to know who the heck took my human so they would be taken in, questioned, and punished. Oh sweet Faust were they going to get punished

“Who took you? Why’s Luna here? What happened to you? What--”

Ares shushed me before hugging me again. “I got taken by two stallions that just appeared out of nowhere,” he said into my ear, so quietly that only I could hear it. I didn’t know why he was being so secretive, but I decided to keep my trap shut and listen.

“And where did they take you honey?” I asked, wrapping a wing around him protectively. I swear when I find who the buck did this… I thought, rage once again filling me.

“I don’t know where; they blindfolded me so I couldn’t see where we were going, and I didn’t bother to look when Luna carried me out there, but I knew who they took me to see.”

My wing tightened around Ares’s body. “And who did you see, Honey?” I asked, barely able to keep the anger out of my voice.

“I saw Mrs. Higher’s face and that one stallion that beat the shit out of my and Flash and a couple of other pony were there but they were hidden in the dark.”

That bucking WHORSE! I’M GOING TO BUCKING--

Taking a deep, deep breath I looked into my coltfriend’s eyes. “And do you know where these ponies are right now?”

It might have been a worthless question because Higher and her conspirators could have left the city by now if they wanted, (if they had any sense in their bucking brains that is) or they could be hiding out somewhere where even I couldn’t find them, but I felt I still needed to ask it.

To my surprise, Ares smiled. “They’re still back at the building that Luna dragged me out of. And you might want to go and get them some help ‘cause they’re a hell of a lot worse off than me.”

!()()##()()!

It was almost an hour after Ares had been found and the castle was still a flurry of activity.

Guards were running back and forth, maids had been called in to clean up a bit of the carpet that had caught on fire from Cadence’s tail, doctor Stitch and her nurses were rushing to and from the Ward with medical supplies, trying to fix the broken clan leaders in a far off room in the corner of the castle since Cadence wouldn’t let them anywhere near the royal section of the castle, and in the middle of it all was Cadence and Ares, still in the middle of the hallway, with Cadence holding and murmuring in Ares’s ear while the human held her and murmured right back.

What a BUCKING day, Shining thought, pulling his helmet off his head and just letting it fall onto the ground in exhaustion.

While such an act would have never been acceptable for a guardspony under normal circumstances, everypony was either too tired or two shell shocked to even look in his direction when the helm hit the floor with a clang.

“You might have come at a bad time, Princess,” Shining said, looking over at Luna.

The Princess of the Night nodded, staring solemnly back at him. “We believe that thou art right, Shining Armor.” Her lips twitched into a half-smile. “Though We are still happy with how the teleportation spell worked out… Mostly.”

“Speaking of, we managed to find all of the ponies that you… “damaged”,” Shining told her while Cadence whispered something into Ares’s ear.

The human whispered something back with a smile, earning him an indignant squawk and a wing slap to the back of the head.

Though Cadence still looked as mad as he had ever seen her, Shining could see that Ares was doing his best to keep the mare as calm as possible, which was appreciated since he was sure that Echo still wanted to question the prisoners, not find them burnt to ash or blown up.

“They’re beaten up pretty badly but they’ll survive now that we’ve gotten the doctor to look at them.”

Picking up Shining’s helm, Luna took a moment to inspect it. “We are glad. We wouldn’t want anypony dying because of our folly.”

With a flick of her horn Shining’s helm landed back into his head. “Though We do not know if we should be apologetic to their injuries.” Luna frowned. “We do not know what happened between Ares and those ponies but We do not believe it was good by the way our niece was acting…”

Shining eyed Ares as the human, now laughing, tried his best to block Cadence’s wing strikes, which were raining down on him with increased frequency. Cadence was smiling, nuzzling the human’s cheek in between each slap, her expression lighter and happier than it had been for the last few hours. And, to his surprise, Shining found himself smiling at the happy little scene.

“That still doesn’t explain why the human over there looks pretty alright considering what happened to him…” Shining mused. “Some of those ponies are going to be holed up here for a week or more.”

Luna chuckled. “When We found him, young Ares was laying on top of a middle aged mare whose mane was partially on fire.” She chuckled again, harder this time. “From what We gathered she must have broken his fall.”

She eyed her niece and the human, both who were now rolling around on the floor. If she strained her hearing hard enough she swore she could hear her niece whispering something to Ares from here, and, though it might have been her imagination, it sounded a little bit… risque.
.

“…Our old Sergeant told us that those two had a difficult day.”

Shining twitched slightly as Ares and Cadence shared a kiss, but still managed to keep a smile on his face. “I heard the same… Though it looks like they’ll be alright…”

()()@@()()

“Will you quit hitting me?!”

I let out a playful growl, rolling Ares around before booping him with a wingtip.

“I will as soon as you say you’re sorry!”

“I’m not apologizing for what’s true!”

Ares tried to grab me but he was too slow and I was too determined, pinning him onto the ground after another playful scuffle.

Was what I was doing maybe a little childish(especially out in the hallway where everypony could see me)? Probably. But I had been through a heck of a lot more embarrassment and headaches today to even remotely care whether or not ponies saw me playing around with my coltfriend. I was happy that he was okay and I wasn’t going to bucking be afraid to show it by giving my human as much affection as I could.

After the two of us had had our fun I was going to have to personally apologize to my entire cleaning staff for the mess I made, I was going to have to deal with my aunt, and I was going to have to go and have a… nice little conversation with a certain group of clan leaders.

All of this was probably going to take all night, and at the end of it I was going to have to hit the hay to get hopefully an hour or so worth of sleep before I had to get right back up and start my day as the ruler of the Crystal Empire. So I was going to enjoy what little free time I had for Faust’s sake!

“It’s not true so say you’re sorry!”

“No.”

I pressed my nose against my human’s, doing my very best to stare him down. “Say it!”

Ares just crossed his arms. “No.”

“I will strangle you in your sleep!”

One of his hands tried to snake around toward my backside but I slapped it away with a wing.

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a big butt, Candy.”

I snorted, lightly tapping the sides of his head with my wings until he was squirming underneath me.

“Say it!” I commanded.

Finally, Ares threw his hands up. “Alright, alright! I’m sorry!” He shielded his head with his hands. “You’re ass is small! Tiny! Small! You can’t even see your ass in the right light! Now will you quit it?!”

Smiling from a victory well earned, I hopped off of him and carefully pulled him to his feet. “Alright then,” I said, dusting the two of us off with my wing. “Now you go down to the Ward and get the doctor to have a look at you while I get everything finished up here.”

Straightening up his torn dirty shirt, my Ares glared down at me. “I already told you I’m fine, Candy. Someone back at that compound place cushioned my fall.”

I pushed him forward with a wing. “I’m sure you think you’re alright but that doesn’t mean you’re alright. Now go to the doctor; I’ll be down there in a little bit.

Ares was about to open his mouth to say something but I shut him up with a look. “...Alright,” he grumbled. “But if she kicks my ass for coming to her twice in one day it’s on you.”

I twitched but managed to keep a smile on my face. She better not touch Ares!

I don’t know what it was, I knew that the doctor would never hurt Ares, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen to my human if I left him alone. He had already gotten hurt enough today, and I don’t think I want to test just how bad his luck really was. I wanted to take him to The Ward myself and watch over him, but since I had to lay down the law with some nobles that messed with the wrong mare, I decided to do the next best thing.

“Flash, could you escort Ares here to the Ward please?” I looked over at Shining and hummed. “Actually, Shining, could you help Flash with that?”

“You heard the princess maggots!” Echo said, pointing a hoof at my coltfriend, who was now rolling his eyes. “Get over there and get that monkey to the Ward asap! And drag him if you have to!”

Ares frowned, pointing that one finger at her. “Well fuck you too mango horse…”

Echo frowned while Flash and Shining walked toward Ares. “And remember, since you’re taking him to the doctor’s you can beat the hay out of him all you want if he refuses! She’ll just fix him up!”

Before I could (and sweet Faust did I want to) open my mouth and chew my captain out for her poor choice of words, Luna cuffed the mare on the back of the head. “They will do no such thing, Echo!” She glared at my poor soldiers. “At least if they do not wish nightmares unending whenever they slumber.”

I spent a moment eyeing the captain before giving Ares one final nudge. “I’ll see you in an hour or two, honey.”

“Do I have to bring these two with me?”

I nuzzled his side. “I’m worried that somepony else might take you away.Could you please just do it for me?”

Leaning down my human wrapped me up in a tender hug. “Alright; I’ll do it for you,” he mumbled, not looking happy about his babysitters.

Giving me a kiss on the cheek, he stood back and and walked over to Flash and Shining, who then escorted him down the hall.

Luna took a step toward me. “Could you perhaps tell us what happened, Cadence?” For a moment, she looked absolutely furious. “Did those ponies that we accidently injured wish harm upon Ares?”

That anger that I had felt before, the anger that had gone away when I was holding Ares, came right back in full force. It made me grit my teeth, it made the vision turn slightly red, and he made me want to take all of that pent up aggression on the ponies that had the audacity to try to take my human away from me.

“I’ll tell you later, Luna,” I said, voice laced with pure, unadulterated rage. “Right now I need to go and have a talk with those ponies…”

~-`-`-`-`-`-`-`~

In his long life Skulltaker had seen and done many, many things, some of them good and some of them bad, but, all throughout his years, he had never found himself sorry for very many things.

He had led his clan well, fought for his country with honor, and had done his best to protect the ponies of the empire from the tyrant during his reign. So what if he made a few ponies mad or stepped on a few hooves? He had done well by his family and to him that was all that mattered.

Even now, bruised and burnt as he was, the stallion still had his head held up high… or at least as high as one bed-ridden could raise their heads. And, unlike his fellow clan leaders, he still did not fear retribution from the princess. They might have taken her bed warmer for an hour or two but it was for the good of everypony involved. And if that blasted Equestrian princess hadn’t blown them all into a bloody wall no one would have gotten hurt in the process! So—

“Did… it just get colder in here?”

Skulltaker looked away from the window that he had been peering out of to glare at Smelter, as bandaged and bruised as he was. The old was looking around the room like something was about to jump out of the shadows.

Hump, coward. The princess hadn’t even seen us yet and he’s ready to wet himself, Skulltaker thought with a sneer.

“What are you on about?” he growled, eyeing his rival with dislike. He was about to say more when he noticed something horribly odd.

The air was colder; almost frigid, so much so that he could see his breath as clear as day.

The metal around his bed was slowly being caked with ice and the room was getting darker and darker by the second, and the silence that had suddenly descended upon the room was thick; heavy and thick and... frightening. The lights flickered on and off for a second, and Skully swore he could hear the light bulbs starting crack from here.

Clip clop clip clop clip clop

Without meaning to, the old war horse found himself pulling his blanket over his chin, almost as if trying to hide from this unknown and sudden terror that filled his belly. His fellows didn’t seem to be faring any better, every single one of them frozen stiff in fear and wide-eyed.

Not one to lie down when faced with a foe (be they in front of him, imaginary, or… whatever this was), Skulltaker tried to rise out of his bed, tried to let out a shout of defiance, tried to do anything other than just lay in his bed shaking, but found that he could not.

Clip clop clip clop clip clop

There was a knock on the door, light but forceful. For everyone in the room, it was louder than a thunder. Skulltaker wiggled backwards, trying to get as far away as he could get from that door. He didn’t know what was on the other side but whatever it was felt… wrong.

Everypony watched as the door opened (the door knob was not turned; it was almost like the door no longer could stand to be held by the frame any longer) revealing a smiling and cheery-eyed Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

“Good evening, my little ponies,” she said, taking a step into the room with the door closing right behind her. If the princess noticed the cold in the room she didn’t show it, eyeing each and every one of them before standing in the middle of the room.

“I am very relieved to see that none of you are seriously injured.” The mare bowed her head almost apologetically. “I want to apologize for my aunt’s actions, even though they were accidental they still caused you undue pain and suffering and I will not have that.”

The second that the princess said that it was like the tension evaporated out of the room. The mare before them wasn’t the wrathful princess that they all had been expecting, but the kind one that each of them knew. And seeing this kind, regal mare, each of the clan leaders wondered if they were going to receive any punishment at all. Ares could have explained to her why they had done what they done, and, though even now it felt like a long shot, Cadence might have understood and even respected them for what they did.

Skulltaker smiled, and was about to tell the princess that it was no bother and that she really didn’t need to come down here to check up on them, when the temperature in room grew even colder.

“But there is something I’d also like to talk to all of you about while I’m here.”

And in the blink of an eye the kind, caring ruler that had come in the room to see if he and the others were faring well was gone. In her place was a very powerful, very angry alicorn, her iris’s gone and her face twisted up in a snarl. Even the color of her coat seemed different; a deeper, darker pink than it usually was, and her mane appeared to be flying wildly around her hair almost as if she was in a hurricane.

And, as he looked at what his princess had become, what he and his fellow clan leaders had turned her into, Skulltaker couldn’t help but let out a very quiet whimper; because the sight before him had brought along an emotion that he had not felt in a very long time—

“We’re going to talk about why coltnapping my coltfriend was not one of your best ideas.”

Fear.

Author's Notes:

Once again sorry if you find any errors. I'm kind of in an in-between editors since the last one is nowhere to be found.

Through Hell's Door

Echo shifted uncomfortably in her armor. It had been a long day for the poor bat pony, and it only looked like it was going to get longer as the day went on. She needed to to get her soldiers in order, she needed to get somepony down to that warehouse where Ares had been held to investigate the area, and she had a lot of paperwork to do. She had wanted to kill two birds with one stone and go in with the princess to properly question the clan leaders but Cadence had insisted she stay out in the hallway with Luna, who also looked like she wanted to go in there and get some questions asked.

It’s not like getting one thing done NOW will make this night go by any faster she thought sourly before yawning. And you don’t even need any sleep you baby. Sleeps for cowards.

“It’s very good to see you again, Ma’am,” Echo said to Luna as the two waited for Cadence to finish up her “meeting” with the clan leaders.

Luna, who was sipping a cup of coffee that a maid had been kind enough to supply her with, smiled down at her former Sergeant. “Likewise, my little pony,” she said, nudging the mare’s helmet with a wing. “Though it appears congratulations are in order.” She took another sip of her coffee. “We expected Cadence to promote thee but we did not think that it would be so soon. Thou truly must be excelling here.”

Echo’s chest puffed out ever so slightly. “I’m just doing my job, Princess,” she said modestly.

Luna nodded, eyeing the door that Cadence had stepped through a few moments ago. While the Princess of the Night understood that her niece needed to look after her little ponies, she didn’t know for the life of her why Cadence would forego rushing Ares to the doctor for this. She herself would have gladly ushered the poor, injured human to the doctor’s herself but she decided to go with her niece to see what was actually going on.

Levitating her coffee away from her muzzle, Luna said, “Captain, may We ask thee something that has been troubling us since we arrived here?”

Echo eyed her curiously. “Of course, Princess. What did you need?”

“We were wondering why, when we teleported to the Empire, Ares was with the ponies in that room?” Luna looked at the door in frustration. “When we asked Ares about it he did his best to avoid our questions, and when the clan leaders saw us they cowered in fear…”

Echo’s ears perked back and her eyes widened in alarm as she watched Luna look at the door with narrow eyes. She knew that look; it was the “I shall smite all those that cross me” look, and Echo couldn’t say that she particularly cared for it.

“Wouldst thou know what transpired between them, Echo?”

Echo didn’t even have to think about her answer as she opened her mouth,” Nope, can’t say that I have any idea what happened, Your highness.”

Though Luna turned to regard her with a critical eye, Echo continued to look back at her ex-mistress with the biggest, and fakest, smile that she could muster. The bat might have not been one of the smartest mares in the world but she knew that telling Luna that Ares had been kidnapped would have been one of the stupidest ideas in the history of everything. Luna wasn’t known for her mercy in criminal matters, and Echo was sure that not one of the clan heads would have survived the night if she had found out someone had stolen her friend/ hopefully soon to be coltfriend for a possible nefarious purpose. The Princess of the Night would just look at them, growl and cast a spell, and there would be a big mess and she’d had a lot of explaining to do. Thank the gods that Ares had the common sense to keep his mouth shut about the whole thing…

Why the clan heads had done what they had done was a mystery to the mare (she still needed to question them to get the finer details), so she herself didn’t know anything other than the hard facts that Princess Cadence had whispered into her ear as the three of them had made their way over here. That meant it was going to be a bit difficult to lie to the thousand year old ruler, but Echo was going to be damned if she wasn’t going to give it the ol’ college try.

“...Does this not seem… odd to you, Captain?” Luna asked, tearing her gaze from Echo and focusing it back on the door.

“Oh, I’m sure that it’s nowhere as bad as it seems, Your Majesty,” Echo said, trying to sound casual. “Ares actually knows Mrs. High Rider. I heard that she got him a job as a florist with one of her nieces.”

“If their actions were honest and innocent then why did Ares not tell us so? Why did he look relieved to see me when I appeared before him?”

Echo gulped at the princess’s tone but managed to keep her composure. “Maybe they were meeting to plan something for Cadence?” she said lamely. “A party or something like that?”

Luna let out a “humph”. “We will make sure to thoroughly question Ares when we find time alone with him,” she said, taking another sip of her coffee while Echo sighed in relief.

Now I’m going to have to make sure Ares keeps his mouth shut about this whole thing, Echo thought. There’s no way in Tartarus that I’m going to let…

The mare’s train of thought slipped away from her when she noticed something that should have been impossible in this well heated, windowless part of the castle, especially at this time of year. Right in front of her the door that Princess Cadence had gone through was starting to become icy. She was about to comment on it and ask what the hay was going on when a chill came upon her, going through her armor, which was insulated, and chilling her to the bone.

…When and the hay did it get so cold in here? The batmare thought, shivering where she stood. For some reason, at that moment, the air seemed heavy, with a wrongness in it that made her want to leave this part of the castle entirely.

From beside her, Luna seemed to pick up on whatever was going on, cocking her head at the icy door and staring at it with renewed interest. Said door had a thin layer of blue magic (a muting spell if she had to guess) which was rapidly turning darker by the second as the temperature dropped.

Not able to keep herself in check, Echo took a few hasty steps backwards. Is… Is that room sucking in LIGHT?! The batmare thought, horrified. Echo was a mare that enjoyed a good scary story every once in a while. She liked to listen to stories about ghost and ghouls and even the occasional story about Nightmare Moon. She got a kick out of being scared and listening to her heart race when somepony spun a particularly scary yarn or just out and jumped-scared her. This though, this feeling that was making her stomach twist, wasn’t any kind of fear that she had ever experienced. It was like all of the happiness had left the room and the only things that could fill in the vacuum was terror and nightmares. Nightmares that would make you want to never sleep again. Terror that made your knees shake and your blood freeze and...

The castle seemed to be holding its breath, the silence so thick that you couldn’t cut it with a knife, when a single deep, booming voice rang out, as quiet as a whisper but so powerful that the walls shook:

“YOU BUCKED UP.”

Luna, it seemed, was unaffected by the cold and the gut-wrenching terror that had Echo shaking in her armor. She just continued to stare at the door, her ears perked up as if trying to hear the conversation that may or may not have been happening in that room. “It seems like young Cadence is displeased with something these ponies have done,” she mused, taking a calm sip of her coffee while Echo stood stock-still in terror. “Now we simply must pester Cadence about what happened…”

Summoning up what little courage she had left, Echo stuttered, “P-Princess, w-we should g-go i-in there and m-make s-sure C-Cadence i-isn’t hurting t-them…”

“This is our niece’s domain, Captain,” Luna said simply. “Even if We wanted to, and We do not know enough about the ponies through that door to know if they deserve rescue, We have little power to do anything in the Crystal Empire; far less than you in fact since We are simply a guest here.” Seeing that her coffee cup was empty, Luna let it float away from her head and down the hall towards the kitchens. “And We are sure they will not suffer any more than they need to. Cadence was taught by my sister after all, and We are sure that she—“

Echo almost jumped out of her horseshoes when a shrill scream erupted from the closed doors, which was then followed by a loud thump that shook the door, her and Luna, and even the very walls themselves.

The alicorn and bat pony looked at each other then at the door.

“...That couldn’t have been dark magic could it?” Luna murmured, her expression turning concerned. “Cadence knows better than to use something like that for any reason…” Getting up from her spot, Luna walked over and eyed the door with a frown. Spreading her wings out, she gently tapped her horn against the oak wood door. The blue hue that covered the door’s frame vanished and the thin layer of ice quickly melted, which allowed Luna to open the door, revealing inky blackness.

“We think that We should investigate what is going on in that room,” Luna said, visibly nervous by what she saw in the room.

Echo, her courage gone and fear holding her in place, refused to look into the room along with the princess. She could hear… whispering, and the dark…

No. She was a guard: a mare that was supposed to fight enemies on the battlefield and protect Princess Cadence with her life. But she could not fight this darkness, she could not make fear bleed. This was not a fight she could join. This was not a fight for mortals.

Luna was about to walk into the room but paused mid-step, looking back at a shaking Echo. “Captain, thou may stay outside if it pleases thee.”

When Echo didn’t answer, Luna looked back into the darkness that the room had become, adjusted her crown, and walked right in and disappeared into the dark.

Before Echo could open her mouth, the door slammed shut, the ice coming back to seal it right back up.

“…GET….OUT….”

“Nope,” The batmare said, sitting right on her rump and pulling her sword out from its scabbard to point it at the demon door. “Nope, nope, nope, nope!”

()()()()()!!!!!()()()()()

“I SWEAR TO THE GODS, ARES, IF YOU DON’T BUCKING GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW I’M GOING TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO WHINE ABOUT!”

I wasn’t fucking whining! the human thought, running down the halls as fast as his feet could take him. Fucking crazy doctor!

When Doctor Stitcher had found out that, after making sure that her day was one of the most stressful that she had had in months, Ares had gotten himself kidnapped and injured again she was less than pleased. In fact, one could say that she was pretty pissed off about it. And, after making sure that he didn’t have a concussion or any kind of internal bleeding (he didn’t; thank God for landing on marshmallow horses and some damned fine luck) she let him have it, and, in his stupidity, Ares had mouthed off right back at her.

This ill-fated decision left him in the position he was in right now: running around the castle with an angry unicorn right on his tail and one hell of a headache. Which Ares didn’t think was too good for a guy that had just been tossed around like a ragdoll and might have a head injury even after she checked him out.

“GET THE BUCK BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!”

“NO!”

The human and mare turned the corner, Stitch pouncing forward in an effort to try to tackle the human to the ground. She had managed to get a mouthful of his pants for a second but got a heel to the snout for her efforts, which sent her tumbling into a wall.

“SHINING, FLASH! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE AND SAVE ME FROM THIS LITTLE HORSE!”

The doctor growled, giving her head a shake before charging right after him. “THIS LITTLE HORSE IS STILL GOING TO HAVE A NASTY CONVERSATION WITH YOU, BUSTER BROWN!”

Shining, who was slowly trotting after the two with a frown, just shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ares run that fast,” he muttered as Ares skidded around another corner.

Flash chuckled. “It’s weird that he can run that fast on just his two legs,” the private mused. “You’d think he’d be stumbling around and stuff…”

A loud crash erupted from down the hall and Shining sighed. “We’d better go and make sure she doesn’t kill him. Cadence is already upset enough as it is; if she finds out that the doctor tried to murder Ares she might actually lose it.”

“She’s had a rough day,” Flash said as the two started at a medium sprint down the hall hoping to catch the doctor before someone got hurt. “If anypony deserves to scream or throw something across the room it’s her.”

~~~

Gottagetawaygottagetawaygottagetaway! Ares thought, frantically grabbing for doors, trying to find an open one so he could make a quick escape from the hooves of the adorable little doctor. He had no desire to die by marshmellow horse today, thank you very much!

Luck, it seemed, was not on his side since every door he tried was locked up tight. This meant that he was going to have to run more, something that didn’t particularly appeal to him. Though he hated to admit it, he was pretty out of shape. Like really out of shape. That, coupled with the fact that he wasn’t feeling a hundred percent right now meant that it wasn’t going to be much longer until the doctor got her grubby little hoofsies on him. He would have taken a moment to curse his bad luck but the doctor, her eyes wild and her glasses slightly ajar on her face, raced around the corner with a snarl.

“STOP RUNNING RIGHT NOW, MR. ARES!”

Swearing, Ares once again took off, now with the doctor nipping at his heels

Why the hell can’t I keep my mouth shut? He thought sourly, hopping into the air as the doctor once again lunged for him.. Can’t I get a fucking break today?! I swear to god—

“YOU BUCKED UP!!!”

Ares felt the words more than heard them as they rang out, loud and clear and full of anger.

Those three words made him stop in his traces, his hair standing on end as he stared down the hall. The doctor, not able to fully stop herself, bumped into him, but Ares barely registered the impact.

...When did it get so cold in here? he thought, looking down at the doctor, who was also staring down the hall wide-eyed. The two looked at each other for a second before quickly taking a few steps back.

For whatever reason the air now seemed to be charged with… something. Something that made the both of them want to get the hell away to avoid whatever had shouted. Down that hall that two of them had been running through was something, something… wrong, and it made the two of them back up until they were back around the corner, both of them a shade paler and their hearts beating a mile a minute.

“…What the hell was that?” Ares asked, almost whispering as he stared down at the hall, still backing up with the doctor, laying a hand on her back to try to keep himself calm.

“I… I don’t know,” the doctor whispered softly.

Another sound cut through the dead silent hall, something between a yell and a roar, making both Ares and doctor Stitch stop in their tracks.

“We need to get back to where Shining and Flash are,” Ares said, every fiber of his being screaming that something was wrong.

The doctor nodded, shaking slightly as Ares’ hand lightly squeezed the back of her neck. “The two of us need to get out of the halls,” she said, nervously eyeing one of the rooms doors.

Ares gently yanked the unicorn backwards, moving as quickly as he dared. “All of the doors are locked for some reason.”

He resisted, once again, the urge to start running when he noticed that his breath was fogging up and that ice was starting to collect on the windows.

“We need to go find Shining now."

~_~_~_~_~_~_

As Luna walked through the door she couldn’t help but paw at the floor nervously.

The darkness the room was absolute and unending, and the air had a chill that threatened to freeze her blood if she stayed still long enough. Even when she cast her most powerful light spell and used some of her magic to insulate her body the alicorn could barely see ten feet in front of her and she was still shivering from the cold.

The room felt wrong; the atmosphere, spacing, even the room’s smell seemed off. It was like there was something in this room that wanted her to leave so it could conclude whenever foul task that it had sent out to accomplish. It was so bad that Luna, a mare that had seen and fought some of the darkest, most vile creatures in existence, looked back at the door and eyed it longingly. Even the door looked wrong to her. The paint was peeled off and it looked like… something had tried to claw it’s way free from the room. It looked like a door that had been at the mercy of the elements for thirty years…

There is something foul in here, she thought, shaking her head before turning back to survey the area as best as she could. We must find out whatever it is and see if our niece is alright… I pray that she is alright…

Like the door had been, the furniture that she could see had deteriorated, chairs and tables and beds rotting and grey and covered in ice. Icicles covered the ceiling, long and sharp and probably dangerous, and there was a thin coating of ice covering every surface. Every step she took seemed far louder than it should have been, and with every step the anger and fear seemed more and more familiar to Luna. It was almost like remembering a bad dream or meeting a long lost friend. A long lost “friend” that Luna had hoped would fade into memory after she had been saved by the elements.

This is far more than my niece trying to scare some of her nobility, she thought, her heart racing as she continued forward. I fear that Cadence may have succumb to darker powers… But why would she do such a thing? What did those ponies do to--

“You bucking try to steal my coltfriend away from me when I just want to cuddle him while the two of us ate grilled cheese sandwiches?! Well no more mister nice princess!”

There was a thud, which was quickly followed by a grunt of pain, and then another, and then another after that.

“YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BUCKING TOUCH HIM AGAIN!!!”

“SOMEPONY HELP!!!”

Eyes widening, Luna raced forward into the darkness. That wasn’t Cadence’s voice, so she was suspicious of a trap, but even so that pony sounded faint, like they were about to keel over any second. And, even though she was in a weakened state and scared what she was going to find, she wasn’t going to just run and hide. She was a Princess! It was her job to protect ponies from things that went bump in the night, no matter how scared she may or may not be!

Though the room gave off the feeling of being far bigger than it should have been, Luna easily crossed the rest of the room where she found herself stopped right in her tracks out of shock. There, in amidst a swirling vortex of shadow and ice, was Cadence. Or at least what Luna thought was Cadence.

The mare in question was throwing an elderly stallion against a wall again and again, the stallion grunting defiantly, covered in ice and bruises, as she glared at the monster of a mare.

Luna took a step forward, her mane wiping around her face, peering into the darkness that seemed to come from the mare.

Pray let that just be some abomination, she prayed, quietly taking another step forward so Cadence wouldn’t notice her. Let it be--

Luna’s heart sank as she finally got a good look at the mare’s cutiemark. It was a crystal heart alright, and that horn and those wings could only mean that that was actually Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

What… happened to thee Cadence?

Whatever dark magicks had taken over her dearly loved niece it had twisted her body into something far more sinister than the loving pony that Luna had come to know. Her irises were gone, leaving only white, bloodshot, crackling with energy eyes. Her coat seemed longer and wilder and darker; almost blood-red in fact. The color of her mane and tail seemed to change with every movement, coiling and striking as a snake would. Even her wings and hooves seemed different; they seemed… darker and whenever Luna looked at them the world seemed to unfocus for a second, almost like the world stopped whenever a hoof or a feather moved.

Does… she have fangs? Luna thought, taking one more step forward, making sure not to touch any of the darkness that was whipping around her niece like a bunch of angry tentacles . And does she look a mite taller?

Luna was rapidly brought out of her thoughts as Cadence once again slammed the old stallion against the wall with enough force to put a hole in it.

“CADENCE! RELEASE THAT STALLION AT ONCE!” She commanded her wings flaring and her horn sparking to life. Gritting her teeth she managed to drive away that cold and the darkness around Cadence with her magic, though the effort made her knees shaky.

Cadence stiffened, dropping the defiant-looking stallion with what suspiciously sounded like a yelp.

“AUNTY LUNA?” she said, spinning around. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?”

Luna found herself frowning.

Why was she not being attacked by the monster that her niece had become?

If the nightmare had indeed corrupted her then the moment it saw her it should have came charging across the room with a roar! The nightmare was a hate-filled entity of darkness, and hate-filled entities of darkness did not just stand there like a filly that had just been caught with their hoof in the cookie jar!

...Maybe we are wrong about Cadence being corrupted? Luna thought, hoping against hope that her niece hadn’t befalling the same evil that had taken her body. Maybe it is something else?

Something about this didn’t seem right right to the Princess of the Night, but if she was actually talking to her niece and not whatever demon inside of her maybe she could stop this before things got really out of hoof? She could at least try.

“We heard a ruckus coming in from here and We thought We would investigate.”

Cadence looked back at the bloodied stallion that she had been tossing around just mere moments ago. “Oh… she said, looking almost… ashamed.

Though she still suspected that she was being mocked by the nightmare, Luna took another step forward, an offensive spell at the ready in case this was all a sham.

“Tell me, Cadence.” Luna motioned around the room with a hoof at the broken furniture, the ice and icicles, and the other terrified ponies that were huddles on what was left of their beds. “What in the Tartarus are thou doing?”

Luna watched as Cadence’s iris’s reappeared and the ring of darkness surrounding her vanished, her pink mare’s eyes nervously scanning the room. “WELL, YOU SEE… I, UM, WELL…”

It seems that we are actually getting through to her! Luna thought, both amazed and relieved. We must press it!

Her face a mask of stern disapproval, Luna took another step forward, then another, then another, until she was face to face with Cadence. “Whatever these ponies did they do not deserve this,” she said, poking the younger alicorn’s chest. “Our powers are not to be used in such a way under any circumstances!”

Cadence looked up at the older alicorn for a moment before something seemed to snap. In a flash black magic was once again pouring off her, forcing Luna to take a few hasty steps backward while someone screamed in fear.

The Princess of Love snarled, her mane once again wiping around her face. “THESE PONIES TOOK ARES FROM THE CASTLE! THEY WERE GOING TO HURT HIM!!!” she said, glaring at each of the offenders with unyielding anger. “THEY DESERVE TO BE—“

Gritting her teeth, Luna took a step forward. “ENOUGH!”

With every bit of magic that she had left, Luna sent a shockwave of light through the room. Though the effort caused her to fall back on her haunches and very nearly black out, the darkness surrounding Cadence dispelled, Cadence herself reeling back as if struck, her eyes hazy and unfocused with confusion, fear, and exhaustion etched on her face.

Get up Luna, Luna through, growling as she fought to get back on her hooves. Thou are not finished yet/

“What would my sister think of thou if she saw thee in such a state? What about your subjects? Or what about Ares? Would he enjoy gazing upon thy actions?”

With each verbal prod, Cadence slowly but surely started to change back to her normal self. Her hair flopped back against her head and neck, her teeth lost their sharpness, her coat retained its vibrant pink color, and the dark, powerful magic that surrounded her dissipated. A minute or two later, the nightmare creature was gone, leaving regular old Cadence, who looked to be on the brink of tears

Sighing in relief, exhaustion, and sympathy, Luna walked over to the crying mare, wrapping a wing around her and pulling her close while the pink mare sniffled. “Thou do not need the ruining powers to protect Ares, Cadence. And we are sure that it would kill him to see thee using it for whatever reason.”

Cadence just replied with a sob, of sadness or regret or anger Luna didn’t know, nor did she find herself really caring at the moment.

“I-I’m s-sorry…”

Luna just nuzzled her again. “Shush, shush, everything will be alright, everything will be alright…”

Sister will have to be told what happened, she thought, nuzzling her niece’s cheek while she quietly cried. But first I will see to it that Cadence is looked after to the best of Our ability.

()()()()()@##$()()()()()()

“So where are we going again?” Ares asked as he was led/dragged through the halls by Shining and Flash.

Though he wanted to say something witty or funny in a situation like this, Ares knew to keep his mouth shut and follow that ponies that were trained in the soldiering-arts.

Whatever had starting making the walls shake was something that he’d rather not meet out in the open, and it seemed that Flash and Shining agreed since the two of them were taking him… somewhere.

“I’m sure that Echo and the other guard heard whatever the hay that was too,” Shining armor said, poking his head around a corner before waving Ares and Flash to follow him. “While they’re securing the castle me and Flash are going to take you to the most secure room in the entire castle.”

The unicorn looked back at him with a small frown. “Even though I want to go and investigate myself, Cadence would rip me a new one if she found out that I left you alone.”

Ares heart almost stopped when Cadence was mentioned. Was she alright?! Was whatever was running around the castle looking for her?! Though he really wanted to go and look for his fillyfriend he resisted the urge. Though it left a bad taste in his mouth, he knew that he would be less than worthless in this situation. He couldn’t use any kind of fancy magic, he couldn’t fly or fight or anything like that. If anything Cadence was probably a hell of a lot more equipped to handle whatever monster was running around. So he was going to go with Shining and Flash and try not to worry about Cadence too much.

“Alright, so where’s this super secure room of yours?” the human asked, cocking his head when he heard Shining quietly grumble to himself.

“We need to take you to the wine cellar, Ares!” Flash said from behind him, almost accidentally poking Ares with the pointy end of his spear.

Ares frowned. “Wine cellar?”

Shining nodded. “It’s more of an alcohol cellar really, but you get the idea.”

Though there was a knot of worry and fear making his stomach hurt, Ares couldn’t help but smile. “You know, Shining, if you wanted to get something to drink you could have just told me.”

Shining stopped suddenly, spinning around and facing the human with a frown on his face. “Nopony’s drinking anything when we get down there!” he growled, his gaze withering. “You’re enough of a hoofful sober.” Gazing at Ares for a moment or two longer, Shining turned back around and started to lightly trot down the hall. “That and I’m sure the doctor wouldn’t like to hear that you were drinking after getting thrown around like you did.”

Ares flinched, one of his hands moving down and rubbing his leg. “Alright you dirty tattle- tale, no one’s drinking anything when we get to the booze cellar.”

The walk was a heck of a lot longer than Ares expected. He and his companions had to run back and forth hallways, up and down (though mostly down) stairs, and even a few rooms until they reached a heavy wooden door at the end of an empty hall. To Ares’s disappointment it wasn’t even a magic glowing door or a door that was covered in runs, it was just a plain old boring door.

“…This is it?”

Shining started fiddling with the stones on the wall to the left of the door. “Yes it is,” he said matter-of-factly.

“…But it’s just a wooden door.”

“A wooden door that hasn’t been broken down in over fifteen hundred years,” Shining retorted, his hoof tapping the walls as if he was trying to look for something. “Now shut your trap and let me look for—there it is!“

Click!

One of the stones glowed the moment that Shining touched it before a loud clicking sound came from the door.

“Most ponies don’t start poking at walls when they want to steal alcohol,” Flash explained as Shining threw open the door, revealing a pitch-black room.

“What about ponies that know how to open it?” Ares asked as Flash pushed him into the room.

In the darkness, he could hear Shining scoff. “There’s only a special few ponies that know how to unlock that door.”

Since he really didn’t care enough to further carry on the conversation about a door that he thought was kind of stupid, Ares instead took a look in the darkness. A darkness that became absolute the second the door behind him closed by itself with a loud slam.

“…So is this the part where one of yours jumps me and tries to take my pants off?”

Once again Shining snorted, his horn charging up before he threw a small burst of magic across the room.

Out of nowhere what looked like a torch lit up, then another, then another, and so on until the room as so bright that Ares had to blink to let his vision adjusted. And when it did he couldn’t help but whistle in appreciation. The room was littered with giant walls of wine racks, each as tall as the ceiling and at least fifty feet long, all neatly laid in rows, with every conceivable type of liquor imaginable.

Mouth open, Ares slowly walked over to a rack and grabbed a dusty bottle of wine.

“Huh, it looks like someone around here enjoyed their drinks,” he said, blowing the dust off the bottle to get a better look at it. “Hey Flash, does this look like a good year to you?”

Grumbling, Shining snatched the bottle out of his hands and put it back where it belonged. “This used to be the pride of the old emperor of the empire before Sombra overthrew him,” he said, nudging Flash and Ares over toward a rickety wooden table with a few chairs. “It has some of the oldest, finest, and rarest wines and spirits in the world, so keep your grubby mitts off!“

Sighing, Ares sat down on one of the chairs, the only wooden thing creaking loudly under his weight. “So we’re just going to sit down here, in a room filled with “some of the oldest, finest, and rarest wines and spirits in the world”, and that’s it?”

Shining nodded, taking a seat at the other side of the table. “Yes.”

“And we might have to stay down here for a couple of hours? Just sitting here without anything to entertain ourselves? Not even a board game?”

Shining frowned. “Well what do you suggest we do smart guy?”

Ares shrugged. “You boys want to do each other’s hair and talk about girls? Cause that’s the only thing I can think of--”

“Why don’t you tell us what happened with you and the princess today, Ares?” Flash asked with a smile. “All we know is that the two of you were in trouble earlier and that both of you needed to go to the doctors.”

“Yeah,” Shining added, a frown coming to his face. “When we asked the Captain she was really tightlipped about it…”

Ares opened his mouth before closing it. “That… that’s not really something I want to talk about, Flash,” he said neutrally.

“Why the hay not?” Flashed pressed. “A story or two might make the time go by faster!”

“Then you tell a story.”

Shining, a frown still on his face, leaned forward in his seat. “Did something happen to the princess, Ares?”

Though he refused to look at either stallion, Ares nodded. “Something happened that turned into something, which turned into something that I would have liked to build up to before actually doing it,” he told them, a bit of frustration laced in his voice. “Now will you two just drop it?”

“I don’t see why the hay you’re being so fussy about this.”

“I’m being fussy because I’ve had one of the shittiest days of my life, Flash, so will you please just be quiet so the three of us can sit here and hope that some evil monster doesn’t manage to come in here and eat us?”

“Come on Ares,” Flash said, putting a wing on his shoulder. “We’re just concerned about you today. First whatever happened between you and the princess happened then you got coltnapped then--”

“I accidently gave Cadence a plant that made her cast a lust spell on me and the two of us fucked.”

Silence reigned supreme as Ares, with an angry look on his face, continued to look at the table.

“...Oh.”

Flash and Shining heard the human let out a quiet growl.

“I told you that it was fucking personal,” Ares grumbled, finally looking up to glare at the two of them. “Do you want to know anything else about my fucking love life before we go on?”

Shining looked at the human hard for a few moments, a cocktail of emotions swirling inside him as he digested the news. “...And that was the first time either of you…”

“Yes.”

Chuckling awkwardly, Flash got right up and trotted over toward one of the wine racks, pulled a random bottle out of his cubbyhole, and walked right back over.

He didn’t even have time to put it on the bottle before Shining plucked the bottle out of his hooves, popped the top, and took a swig. “You know what? I think I know what the three of us are going to do while we’re in here.” He made a face before passing the bottle over to Ares, who took a swig himself. “Do you remember when you promised me that we were going to have that ‘talk?’”

Ares nodded. “Yeah, and I’m sure we have a lot to say to each other about that,” he answered before looking at Flash. “Flash, go and get a couple more bottles for us. I really need something to fucking drink.”

His ears folding back against his head, the private quickly started to search through the racks while Shining and Ares continued to look at each other as if sizing the other up.

“…I’m sorry for pushing so much, Ares… I just wanted to—“

“Just bring a few more bottles over here before I pick your ass up and stuff you in one of those wine barrels.”

Alcohol: The Lubrication of Friendship

Stalliongrad No.3 Fine-Brewed Fire Whiskey: Flash might have never heard of this drink before in his entire life (as far as he knew, Stalliongrad didn’t make whiskey), but it was the liquor that he was drinking while he, Shining, and Ares kept themselves holed up in this giant wine cellar hiding from the monster/demon/whatever it was that was running around the castle. And dear sweet Celestia was it bucking delicious.

To be honest, everything in this room was awesome. The chairs were comfortable, the table was sturdy and wooden and thick, and the smell of pine and oak and alcohol all came together to put the private a little more at ease with the pickle that he had found himself in. But honestly that just might have been the whisky talking. In fact it probably was the whiskey that was talking. The amazing, amazing whisky that he had drunk way too much of and was probably going to get fired for drinking in the first place. It had the overwhelming taste of cinnamon with just a hint of vanilla; an odd mixture but it tickled his taste buds and warmed him up every time he took a sip. This whiskey was something that the private would have liked to have a glass of when he was wrapped up in a warm blanket by a fire while it snowed.

…Though it looked like he was going to have to drink his amazing, and obviously expensive, alcohol by candlelight in one of the most tense and awkward situations of his life.

Ares, who was sitting at his right, appeared to be chugging some kind of brandy straight out of the bottle, his face flushed and his eyes closed. Shining had picked out a small bottle of “Moonshine” (whatever the hay that was) and was calmly taking shot after shot out of a crystal shot glass. Both of the males looked like they’d rather be anywhere else than here right now, because of Shining and his big mouth, but Flash could see resolution in Shining’s eyes and he was sure that Ares would have the same look the moment he stopped trying to drown himself in booze. Though the two had also been drinking themselves silly for Celestia knows how long, so they might not be as resolute or ready as he thought they were.

For practical reasons, and to make sure that Shining and Ares didn’t go into a drunken rage and try to kill each other, the private made sure to drink only about half as much of what Shining was so that he’d have a clear head to step in if things got out of hand. But even then he was starting to get more than a little tipsy. Just like Ares, Shining was already on his second or third bottle and didn’t look like he was about to stop anytime soon. He had been considering trying to get the two to slow down a bit but decided to let them have this. And he was sure that it’d be a heck of a lot easier to make sure nothing bad happened if these two were too drunk to stand.

Sighing, Shining swallowed another mouthful of his ‘Shine’ and put down his shot glass. “Well… I think I’ve had enough to drink to start this off,” he said with a slight slur, eyeing Ares for a second and shaking his head, before turning to Flash. “Flash, I want to talk to you about my sister.”

The private, who had been taking a drink of his whiskey, froze. Why the buck do I have to get dragged into this?! Flash thought as he looked back at Shining.

Swallowing and putting down his glass, Flash smiled nervously. “A-Alright, so w-what do you—“

“I love my sister more than anything in this world,” Shining interrupted, rubbing his hoof over the top of his shot glass. “When she was little I helped her study for her magic tests, from the moment she could walk I was chasing her around the house and playing with her and doing everything in my power to keep her safe.”

Flash had to resist the urge to move away as Shining continued to stare at him, his face an expressionless mask.

“Twilight has never had a coltfriend, Private, and as her older brother I want her to do all that she can to find the best stallion in the world, not find some jerk of a stallion that’ll break her heart the second he gets bored of her.” In the blink of an eye Shining’s expression turned ugly. Very ugly. “Now I want to hear why you’re the best stallion in the world for my little sister, and I want to know what the buck your intentions are with her. Now.”

Reaching over, Flash picked up a bottle of Stalliongrad No.3 Fine-Brewed Fire Whiskey and took a nip straight from the bottle. To his disappointment it did not make Shining look any less angrier or him any less scared.

“W-Well, you s-see…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

I…

I didn’t know what had happened and—

No, that wasn’t right; I knew what happened, I remembered what had happened between me and Mrs. Higher and Skulltaker and all of the other clan leaders. I just didn’t know how I could do that to somepony.

I was a mare that almost never got angry, and if I did it I never did more than yell at somepony and huff and puff for a little bit. But the hate, the RAGE that I felt when I found out that these ponies had decided to take my Ares from me…

I couldn’t think of anything other than hurting them; hurting them and their family and everyone that they loved. That rage had twisted my stomach and made every bit of my body feel like it had been on fire and charged with electricity at the same time. The hate made me powerful; powerful and untouchable and unstoppable. And that scared me.

Like really scared me.

I don’t remember walking out of that room, and I don’t remember my aunt laying a wing over me, but by the time that I came to I was looking at a terrified Captain Echo and too tired to do anything more than keep my eyes open and shake. And it wasn’t the good kind of tired either; where you just kind of fall over and close your eyes and go to sleep. I felt like I had ran a marathon while studying for the hardest test that I’ve ever taken in my life. My head hurt, the world was spinning, I was having a hard time breathing, and my heart felt like it was going to burst in my chest.

“Captain, please go and get the doctor while I take Cadence back to her room,” Luna said, using her magic to keep me from just keeling over under my own weight. “And be sure to tell her that Princess Cadence will need her as soon as she is finished with the ones in that room.”

Echo, still shaking, saluted. “Y-Yes ma’am!” she cried, taking off into the air and down the hall.
Luna leaned down and nuzzled my face. “We ask thou to keep thine eyes open, Niece, we will be at thy room momentarily.”

I couldn’t even nod as Luna picked me up and trotted down the hall.

I…

I had hurt somepony…

I had hurt somepony very, very badly...

I honestly couldn’t wrap that around my head, no matter how many times I thought about it or how many times the scene played over my head. Being upset was one thing; I had every right to just send some guards to their homes and have them imprisoned for what they had done but picking a pony up and slamming him against the wall until his bones broke… And if Luna hadn’t been there to stop me I might have gone farther than that, I might have even ended up...

I could have killed somepony…

Like Luna had said: what would Ares think if he would have seen me like that? What would Auntie Celestia think? What would my subjects think?! I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about it and I did it!

“Be warned, Cadence, thy actions might be known all over the castle by now,” Luna told me as she carried me into my room and closed the door behind her. “Dark magic can be felt by all no matter if they know the ways of magic or not.”

I swear to you that my eyes almost popped out of my head. “I USED DARK MAGIC?!?”

My aunt shushed me as she laid me down on the bed. “Keep your voice down, filly!” she snapped, her glare making me flinch. “Yes thou called upon the dark arts, but that does not mean that thou should go around announcing it to the heavens willy-nilly!”

I wilted under Luna’s gaze, a whimper escaping my throat. I knew what I did was wrong on so many different levels but black magic?!. “I’m sorry I didn’—I just—I couldn’t—“ With a shaky sigh I laid my head down miserably. “…Is that why I feel so bad right now?” I asked, rubbing my throbbing head with a hoof.

Now that I was lying in my bed and all of that adrenaline had worn off I was feeling a hundred times more awful than I had a minute ago. Like so awful that it was a wonder that I was still able to move anything. There was this deep ache all over my body that made it hurt to breath, there was this loud buzzing sound in my ears that was making it hard to think straight, and my head, sweet Faust my head. It felt like somepony had held me down and poured lava down my throat while hitting me with a baseball bat that was covered in rusty nails. I was a shaky, whimpering mess and I felt powerless to help myself or make anything better, and I think that alone was what hurt worse than any ache or pain or headache that I had right now.

Luna nodded, throwing a blanket over me and pulling a chair up beside my bed. “That is thy body reacting to the dark magic’s corruption,” she told me, her eyes thoroughly scanning my face almost as if she was looking for something. “If we hadn’t talked sense into thee as soon as we did there is a chance that thou would not be as whole as thou appear to be now.”

I tried to keep eye contact with her but just… couldn’t. I was too ashamed about what I had done. “Those ponies coltnapped Ares,” I murmured, keeping my gaze on my bed. “If you hadn’t gone and saved them when you did—“

“Whatever they did, Cadence, there is still no excuse for using that foul magic.” I could hear the disappointment in Luna’s voice, and it made me want to hide under my covers and cry my eyes out. “We alicorns cannot tamper with dark magic for the sake of all.”

“I didn’t mean to!” I told her, pulling the covers tighter around myself. “I don’t even know how the buck I managed to do it! That! Whatever the buck I did in that room!” I closed my eyes tightly when the world started to spin and the ringing in my ears grew louder. “I...I-I--”

Luna placed a hoof under my chin and forced me to look back up at her. “Thou must tell us if thou know of the dark arts in any way, Niece.” Luna’s gaze was harsh, penetrating. “Did our sister show thee any black magic? Did thou read of it in a book? Maybe see it happen without knowing what it was? Anything?”

I shook my head furiously. “NO! I swear!”

And I was telling the truth too. Celestia had warned me about dark magic the second that I was old enough to start spell casting and I had heard the stories, the horrible horrible stories, about what it did to ponies. Just like with most spell casters I wanted nothing to do with the dark arts and I hadn’t planned on seeing, doing, or learning about it in any other way than to defend against it…. Until now I guess...

Luna studied me for a few moments longer before she nodded, her gaze softening. “We… believe thee, Mi Amore.” The tip of her horn glowed as she leaned down and tapped it against mine.’

I gasped as a surge of magic rushed through me, negating that horrible, nauseated feeling and putting strength back into my limbs. I could feel the air rushing back to my lungs and the blood rush back to my face. It almost felt like I had been missing… something and whatever Luna had just done had made me whole again. Though I still felt pretty awful (both physically and mentally) I couldn’t help but smile in relief.

“While We would usually let thee suffer for using black magic, just like our master did when she caught both Us and our sister using it when we were little, We see no real need to do so. If what thou is saying is correct then thou used the magic without meaning to and We cannot punish thee for that.” Nodding again, Luna got out of her chair and walked over to a table where I had a stack of papers and some quills. “Our spell should have cleansed most of the corruption from thy person, so get up, Cadence, we still have much work to do.”

Though I didn’t want to get out of my bed (it was the only place that I felt safe right now), I forced myself to get up and walk over to my aunt, who picked up a quill, opened a pot of ink, and started to write on one of the pieces of paper.

“The castle staff is sure to be panicking, and if the Captain’s reaction is of any indication the guard is either mobilizing or hiding under their beds, so we must go and put everypony at ease as best as we can.”

I nodded, looking over my aunt’s shoulder to try to see what she was writing. “And after that?” I dared to ask.

Signing her signature to the bottom of the letter, Luna rolled it up and teleported it away with a quick spell. “What just happened is not something that we should take likely, Niece,” my aunt said, looking at me sternly. “Thou were casting dark magic that the world has not seen for a thousand years. It twisted thy body, twisted the world around thee, and it came dangerously close to twisting thy mind.”

Luna took a step toward me and wrapped a wing around my shoulder and tried her best to smile, though it looked far too forced to make me feel any better. “I have heard that thou had had a rough day before we dropped in to surprise thee, and the Captain had said something about thou being poisoned by a magical flower, so what happened might have been simply by chance or…”

“But it might have happened because of something else…” I said, suddenly feeling sick again.

Luna gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “We do not think that the nightmare is in thee, Cadence,” she quietly said before I pushed her wing away. “And We do not wish thee to make assum--”

“I didn’t feel like I was in control of myself when I was slamming SkullTaker into the wall like that,” I said, my voice cracking. “I could see it happening, I could hear him slamming against the wall, but I couldn’t stop myself…”

Luna fully wrapped a wing around me and pulled me against her side as I sobbed. “And I don’t know if I would have if I could’ve… “

“Shhh, it’s alright, Cadence. It’s alright.” She nuzzled the top of my head as I closed my eyes, tears streaming down my face as another sob wracked my body. “We are here now.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“—And your sister makes me feel like happy and alive but also sick and nervous and scared at the same time and—“

Ares took another gulp of his brandy, his eyes watering as the liquor burned his throat going down. Jesus is Flash laying it on thick, he thought wiping his mouth with his shirt. It’s adorable, but he might need to dial it back just a bit if he wants ol’ Shining here to take him seriously.

For the past hour and a half, Ares had been doing his best to get ready for his “little” talk with Shining, and in that hour and a half he learned something very important about himself and something that he also thought should apply to all people in general: No one should try to chug a whole bottle of brandy by themselves, especially if they’re not a very heavy drinker. No one wants to spend an hour puking their guts out because they decided to be an idiot for ten minutes.

I still drank that entire bottle though, Ares thought with a smile, reaching for his bottle. I bet you I chugged that thing in like two minutes flat and--

Clang!!

The bottle clanged against the tip of his fingers loudly, knocking it over and spilling its contents all over the the table. Ares tried to grab for the bottle but it always seemed a little to the left or right whenever he reached for it so after a minute of trying he simply rolled the bottle off the table with a drunken giggle.

It looks like the booze is finally kicking in, he thought, looking around for a not spilled bottle of alcohol that he could get trashed with. This took another minute because everything he looked at seemed to be moving on its own and there were doubles and triples of the same thing but he did eventually find a bottle to his left.

“There you arrrrrrre,” he murmured, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he very carefully reached over for the bottle. Though he very nearly fell out of his chair in the attempt, Ares managed to grab the neck of the bottle and bring it toward him on this first time. Pulling out the cork (or maybe it was a cap; he honestly couldn’t tell at this point) he was about to reward himself with another drink when he saw Shining, swaying in his seat and glaring at Flash, out of the corner of his eye.

…Why did Shining have to go and bring Flash into this? Ares sourly thought, putting the bottle down and putting his head down on the table. And why the hell didn’t he just want to get in a fist fight with me like I wanted in the first place?! That would have been a hell of a lot easier than the three of us hiding in some goddamn basement while some evil monster is running around…

“…I hope Cadencesh is alriiiiight…” He slurred, closing his eyes.

“Did you say something, Ares?” Flash asked, looking over the human.

Without raising his head, Ares said, “I ssssaid that I hoooope Cadence is alriiiiiight.”

Thought it felt far more challenging than it should have, Ares lifted his head up from the table to look at both Shining and Flash.

“Dosh you guysh think that Cadence is allllllllllllllllright?”

“Cadencccce is with Luna, and the two of them are powerful maaaagic users,” Shining said, throwing back another shot. “And the last time we sssaw them they were shurrounded by guardsh.” When Ares tried to reach for the bottle he pulled it away with his magic. “I’m sure they’re fiiine.”

“Heeeey, give that back!”

Shining just shook his head and tried to levitate it toward one of the wine racks. He managed to get it about three feet before his magic dissipated and the bottle fell to the ground with a thud. Though Flash flinched at the noise both Ares and Shining acted like they hadn’t heard it.

“I’m not watchin’ you make yourselfsh sick again,” he said, returning Ares’ glare with the coolest and most collected look that his drunken self could muster at the moment. “Sosh be quiet and letsh Fllllash finish what he wass gon’ to say.”

“You’re as drunk as meee!”

Shining snorted, crossing his hooves. “Am not! Now shuttit!”

Ares guffawed. “Why the hell are you bussin’ his balls anyways, Shining? Jussht look at Flash! He’s adorableh, furry, he has a great assss, and you know that he’s not goin’ to do anything bad with Twiiiiilight!”

Flash blinked. “Wait, what did you say about my as—“

Shining shook his head, almost falling out of his seat. “Don’t you tell me how tah look after my shhister,” he growled, his gaze suddenly hardening. “I want what’s bessht for her, and if I have to—“

“Have to what?” Ares interrupted, his head bobbing as he struggled to keep himself still. “Flash and Twilight can barely look at each other without ffffucking blushing, and you think that the two of them are going t’just up and ffffuck if you don’t give him the whole bigbrotherbullshit speech?!”

Shining snorted. “Shut up you dumb monkey,” he stated, carefully enunciating each word.

Ares gasped as if Shining had just slapped his mother in front of him. “NO! You shuddap you dumb horssh!”

The two glared at each other from across the table, neither one of them moving or even blinking. Flash, now nervous at the sudden and extreme tension that now laid over the room like a fog, stood up.

“Now hang on a second, guys,” he said, lifting up his hooves and making what he hoped were calming gestures. “Now why don’t we just take a minute to calm down. We can’t let the alcohol do the thinking for us and--”

In a flash Ares and Shining were up out of their seats, both picking up their chairs and throwing them in the general vicinity of each other (not close enough to actually hit the other but Flash was forced to duck under the table with a yelp), both growling.

“I HAVE TO SHEE IF ISH CAN TRUSSH HIM TO TAKE CARE OF MY TWILY!”

“YOU’VE FUCKING KNOWN HIM FOR YEARSH! CAN’T YOU JUST FUCKING TRUSST—“

In a flash Shining was over the table and in Ares’s face, his lips drawn back in a snarl and his eyes blazing.

“TRUST? TRUST?! THE LAST TIME I BUCKING TRUSTED SOMEPONY YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!”

Flash flinched as Ares’s eyes widened in shock. Sure, he expected that this might get a little… tense the longer that they sat here but he never expected the two of them to go and just blow up over something so silly!

“Come on guys! There’s no need to let a little—“

The moment that Flash poked his head up from underneath the table a bottle whizzed by his head, once again forcing him under the table.

“SHUT UP!!” Both Ares and Shining snarled before the two stood and charged each other, bodies colliding with a solid thunk sound. The two staggered about, limbs flailing, before drawing back, each regarding each other with bared teeth.

“You shut your mouth!” Ares snapped, balling his hand up into a fist and cocking it back.

“Buck you!” Shining snapped back, readying a punch of his own.

The fist and hoof flew through the air with a surprising amount of force, and if either punch had connected Shining or Ares might actually have gotten hurt. Luckily for them the two were so drunk that they were aiming for the second Shining/Ares to the right of the real one. Ares stumbled when his punch was met with open air, and though he did his best to keep his feet he ended up losing his balance and smacking painfully against the edge of the table before falling to the ground with a thud. Shining, who had been just a hair slower than the human, got to watch as he fell to the ground before he also lost his balance and fell off the table with a drunken yelp.

The two lay there on the ground just staring at each other in shock before Shining scrambled to his hooves, his teeth bared and his horn glowing. Ares was quick to join him, growling as he balled up his hands and held them in front of him.

“DO YOU KNOW HOW HORRIBLE IT’S BEEN HAVING TO WATCH YOU RUN AROUND WITH CADENCCCEE WHILE I GUARD THE TWO OF YOU?!” Shining demanded. “I HAVE TO WATCHTH’ TWO OF YOU BE HAPPPPY AND KISSSH LIKE A BUCKING HAPPY COUPLE WHILE I TRY TO SHUCK IT UP AND ACTH LIKE NOTHING’SH WRONG!”

With another growl Shining let loose a magical bolt that could have spilt the human in half if it would have made contact but once again Shining’s aim was horribly off, the bolt passing over the human’s right shoulder and shattering a cask of wine behind him into a spray of fermented grape juice and splinters. Ares, too drunk to notice that he had just come pretty close to dying, lurched forward with murder in his eyes and before Shining could move the pony got a knee to the chin.

“WHEN WHY ARE YOU DOING IT?! YOU COULD’VE GONE ANYWHERE ELSE!” Ares snarled as Shining scrambled backwards. The stallion tried to regain his footing but once again Ares was right there shoving him back as hard as he could.

“BUT NO! YOU COME UPP HERE AN’ TRY TO PLAY FUCKIN’ SHOLDIER!” He tried to push him again but ended up tripping and falling to his knees. “AND DON’T YOU FFFUCKIN’ DARE THINK THAT YOU BEIN’ HERE ISN’T FUCKIN’ ME AND CADENSH UP YOU SELFISH FUCKIN’ PRICK!”

Shining lunged forward as Ares tried to get to his feet, knocking the human onto the ground. “DON’T YOU BUCKING THINK I KNOW THAT?!” he snapped, standing over Ares. “DON’T YOU BUCKING THINK I KNOW THAT WHAT I’M DOING IS HURTING THE TWO OF YOU?!”

Ares was about to start screaming right back at him when he noticed that there were tears in Shining’s eyes.

“I wanna be happy again, Aresss,” the unicorn said, the anger just draining out of him. “I want to wake up and sssmile and hop out of bed to kick the hay out’f the day.”

Ares found himself wrapping his arms around the stallion as he sniffled, his ears pinned against his head.

“But why comes here to do this?” the human almost whispered.

Shining looked down at him, his blue eyes filled with tears and realization. “…I …I don’t know…” With another sob Shining’s strength just seemed to leave him as he collapsed on top of Ares and buried his muzzle into his shoulder, Ares holding him tightly with tears also in his eyes.

Flash watched with a mixture of concern, confusion, and relief as he poked his head back up from under the table and watched the two just lay on the ground crying their eyes out like drunken ninnies. Without turning his head he grabbed his bottle of Stalliongrad No.3 Fine-Brewed Fire Whiskey and took a swig straight from the bottle.

Well… this escalated a bit too quickly for my liking… He grimaced, eyes watering as he took a particularly big gulp. Why the buck do my friends always have to be CRAZY?

“F-Flash, get over here! And bring our bottles while you’re at it! Th’ three of us have feelings we need to drink through!”

Like really, REALLY crazy!

~_~_~_~_~_~_~__~

Dear Sister,

We have some joyous news and… news that we feel is a cause for concern. At this moment we write this to you from the Crystal Empire, so it appeared our spell worked! So that means that we will be able, with a bit more tweaking, to travel extreme distances to anywhere we want. This could help our little ponies in ways that we could not even begin to imagine! (And thou didn’t believe in us!)

But there has been an incident that needs your immediate attention; yours and the Elements preferably.

You see, something had happened to Ares when we teleported to the Empire. The colt, by our guess, had either been harassed or worse by a group of nobles and might have been forced against his will to meet with them. Though nopony will tell us what had happened, (possibly because they were concerned for the nobles’ health) so we don’t know exactly what happened, but our niece must have known what had happened and went to confront the villains and punish them for their crimes.

And when she went to see them it appeared that our niece… snapped.

We do not know the cause, or how or why it happened, but we believe that Cadence had come close to being overcome by the nightmare as we once had. We had seen a twisted and harsher version of Cadence, sensed the dark magic that had spilled out of her like a fountain, witnessed as she spat hatred and violence at the ones that threatened her lover, and We will be honest with thee sister in saying that we were afraid.

Very afraid

But fear not sister, we somehow managed to talk her down… though we do not know how long it will last.

Please, come quickly,

Luna

Before Celestia had managed to read the last bit of the letter she was out of her room with a quick teleportation spell, popping into the hallway and racing toward the barracks as fast as her legs could carry her.

“My lady, is everything alright?” A guard called as she sprinted past him. concern in his voice.

“Call all of the guard and have them meet me in the barracks immediately! That’s an order!” she yelled, her eyes wide and her heart racing. Though the Princess of the Sun thought she was a calm pony, there was no way in Tartarus that she could be anything other than panicked at the moment. She had seen what the nightmare had done to her sister, she had seen what it had turned her into and what the monster that her sister had become had done to their kingdom. She had faced that vile, evil thing twice in her reign, and twice it had been beaten before her eyes, but the pain of seeing “Nightmare Moon” still hurt just as badly as when she had first seen her baby sister fall to the darkness.

She had prayed that she would never have to fight her family because of that… thing again, but it looked like fate had different plans.

As she raced toward the barrack doors she simply lowered her shoulder and charged right through it. Using magic to open the door would have taken too long, and time was something that they might not have on their side.

CRASH!

The doors crumpled like tin foil as the big mare smashed into them, Celestia not slowing down as she ran to a collection of very confused guards. “My little ponies, we have a code black,” she said, cutting off any that tried to speak. “I need a few of you to race down to Ponyville to retrieve the elements. Tell them what’s happening, explain the situation; drag them from their homes if you have to, just bring them here within the hour!”

Taking a deep, shaky breath, she continued. “The rest of you need to equip yourselves, we need to go to the Empire as quickly as possible!”

The Canterlot Royal Guard looked at each other before saluting. Years of training and discipline had taught them to never question their Highness, especially for something as serious as a code black. It was a contingency that many had prayed they would never live to see, and it was something that they could never train for.

An alicorn had either gone mad or had fallen.

And if the look that Celestia was giving them meant anything this was in no way one of her famous pranks.

Celestia watched as officers started screaming commands to their soldiers and grunts rushed to and fro, racing to pull on armor and check their weapons, the horrible, terrible thought of her niece, a mare that she had tucked into bed at night, driven to darkness. There was no way to keep up the façade of calm and collected in the face of that, there was no way she could look her soldiers in the eyes and tell them that everything was going to be alright. Even if, even if what Luna said was true and she had somehow managed to calm down Cadence something could still be inside her. Something that wanted to hurt and destroy and corrupt, something that she was going to stop no matter what, even if she had to move the heavens themselves.

She wasn’t going to let some demon take another pony that she loved. Not again.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Like Luna had said, my… actions caught the attention of many of the castle staff, and many of them had responded by panicking and hiding. Not that I could blame them, who wouldn’t be scared when there’s black magic in the air and soldiers running around like their tails were on fire?

With every pony that Luna and I found, I felt worse and worse. I had caused this; it was my fault that I had to hold a mare or stallion and tell them that everything was alright while they were shaking so badly that they could barely stand. It was my fault that the soldiers, who had already looked exhausted from earlier today, were looking into the shadows like something was ready to jump out and grab them. It was my fault that some of the clan leaders were now seriously injured. All of it, everything bad that was happening right now was because me me. Me.

Dark magic, real black magic, was something that caused fear in all that witnessed it. It took all of your happiness and glee and replaced it with hopelessness and fear and dirtied whatever it touched. It was not something that could be taken away cleanly; no matter what you did there would always be traces of it wherever it was used. I could smell my failure in the air, could see it in the eyes of the ponies that I was forced to lie to when they asked me what that voice had been, and each time I did it it was like somepony was driving a knife in my heart.

Luna had insisted that I tell my staff that the voice had just been a spell gone wrong, said that if my little ponies knew the truth about what had happened, the truth about what I had become in a moment of frustration and weakness, there might have been riots in the streets. So, even though it left a bad taste in my mouth, I lied and lied and lied, doing my best to smile and reassure and ignore the haunted look that Captain Echo was giving me whenever she thought I wasn’t looking. It took hours to find everypony and “explain” what had happened to them, and it left me and Luna (who was far more tired than I was but still managed to chug along) so tired that we could barely stand. But our work was not done, we still needed to find one last person in this big castle; a person that I was not going to look in the eye and lie to about what happened.

Ares deserved to know what happened, what I had done, and even if it killed me on the inside I was going to tell him that his fillyfriend had become a monster. I knew that telling him might make him afraid of me (sweet Faust right now I was afraid of me) but he had a right to know. Though that didn’t make me any less scared about telling him.

“Art thou sure that Ares will be down here?” Luna asked as I led her down to the wine cellar. “Surely it would have been better for Ares to hide in the barracks or away from the castle.”

“This is one of the most secure rooms in the entire castle,” I said, poking at the wall. “If Shining brought Ares anywhere it’d be here.”

It took a minute to remember where the hay the secret pressure point was,but when I finally poked it Luna and I were there through the door, Luna, eager to see if Ares was alright, and me… standing by the door trying to work up the courage to walk into the room.

Come on, you can do this! Ares has a right to know what happened! I thought, lifting a hoof up to take a step forward only to put it right back down. He’ll love you no matter what you say… he’ll love you no matter what…”

With a shaky sigh, I took a step forward, then another, then another, until I was through the door and in the great big wine room that had empty bottles every—

…Wait, what?

“Cadence? Thou might want to see this,” I heard Luna call, a hint of amusement in her voice.
Following the voice I weaved through the wine racks, stepping over bottles and even a barrel or two until I saw my aunt standing over Flash, Ares, and Shining.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene before me as I trotted up next to my aunt. “…Aw.”

Shining , Ares, and Flash, with bottles all around them and reeking of alcohol, were sleeping in a little cuddle pile. Ares was propped up against a wine barrel with Flash and Shining cuddled up on either side of him, their muzzles buried in his chest and neck while Ares had an arm around the two of them, holding them close.

Even with all of the bucked up stuff that had happened, and even though I would have been furious any other day if I had found out that these three had just drunk a lot of really expensive spirits, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the smiles on each of their faces.

“It appears that these three have had an… interesting evening,” Luna said, her smile mirroring mine as she kicked one of the empty bottles.

The bottle rolled and hit Ares in the thigh, Ares snorting loudly before cracking open an eye. “Who whatzthat?”

His blood shot, unfocused eyes scanned the room before landing on me. “Cadencesh!” He slurred, a drunken smile coming to his face as he tried to sit up, only to realize that he was pinned down. “Cadencesh, you’re alright!”

His arms reached out to touch me even though I was about ten feet away from him. “I wasss worried andsh…stuff!”

I smiled, trotting over and putting my head into his hands. “Yeah… I’m alright honey…” I took another step closer as his fingers traced my face and my Ares continued to look into my eyes.
“Did you, Flash and Shining enjoy yourself down here?”

Ares frowned, drunkenly forcing me closer to him. “Are you shhhure yoush alright?” he asked, sounding concerned as someone that looked so drunk off his flank that he probably didn’t know where he even was.

I nuzzled his hands, doing my best not to step on Flash and Shining as Ares forced me closer and closer. “…Yeah, I’m alright honey.”

“Thennn why are’y crying?” he asked, his thumbs wiping the sudden wetness on my cheeks. My smile wavered and I finally let Ares pull me on top of him in between Flash and Shining, who were grumbling at all of the sudden movement. “I love you; youshhouldn’t be crying. If y’r crying that meansh you’re sad and I don’t want you to be sssad!”

He kissed the tip of my nose. “So pleasss be happy.”

“I-I was just thinking about how much I loved you, honey,” I sniffled, laying my head on his shoulder and closing my eyes as tears streamed down my face. I felt Flash and Shining wiggle themselves against me and I could swear, even though I couldn’t see it, that Flash wrapped a wing around my back.

I wrapped my hooves around Ares, my silly, drunk little human who was doing his best to make me feel better and smile and be happy even though he probably wouldn’t be able to stand on his own, a sob escaping my throat. “I l-love you s-so much, Ares.”

I sobbed again as Shining wiggled himself around until he was able to wrap a hoof around me in an almost protective manner. And, sandwiched between two sleeping, smelly stallions and my coltfriend who was either trying to run his fingers through my mane in an attempt to calm me down or trying to rip all of my hair out I felt safer and happier than I had all day…

“Ish your butt getting bigger? ‘Cause it looks really, really, really niiiiicce right now.”

Happier and I was laughing my flank off.

Tired, Hungover, and Ready to go

Beep… Beep… Beep…

High Rider found herself shaking under her covers as she laid there looking up at the ceiling. While she considered herself a pretty hearty mare, and somepony that had aged far better than most of her peers, even she couldn’t help but feel old and tired after what had… happened; old and tired, and above all terrified.

Looking to her left she could see poor Skull Taker sleeping with tubes and I.V.s and bandages covering his body, dead to the whole world. From what she had been told that stallion was very lucky to be alive and kicking, especially at his age. Though, to be fair, every single one of them were lucky to still be breathing. Every single one of them had frostbite of varying severity, cuts and bruises too, and a nasty case of dark magic poisoning, something that had worried the doctor (and them of course) to no end. But the poor mare couldn’t even pretend to care about that at the moment. Right now all she was able to do was lay there, breathe, and shake as she stared up at the ceiling and did her best not to whimper as waves of pain pounded her body.

For High Rider everything hurt; it hurt to breathe, it hurt to think, her vision, even after the doctor had dumped so much healing magic into her that she expected to up and grow a horn herself, was blurry and her mind was nauseous and sluggish. And the cold! Sweet gods she could still feel that cold she had been subjected to! No matter what she drank or what magic was used on her or however many blankets they put on her, Higher didn’t believe that she’d ever know what it was like to be warm again.

The other clan leaders were no better than her. Draugre and Hearth looked like the living dead, just lying there in their beds and muttering to themselves. Every minute or so one of them would whimper, eyes rolling in their skulls, and they’d squirm before going still a second later.

It was nice to know that she had come out the least broken out of her little group (well… as nice as it could get in this situation), but it meant that, other than the nurses coming in to check up on her or one of her own that managed to slip into the castle to relay something to her, she spent most of her days alone. So there she was, on her third day of recovery at the castle (she was too injured to move, or so she had been told) with only her pain and her thoughts to keep her company. And, being the mare that she was, she mentally went over and over and over again what had happened, why it had happened, and, for the sake of the city and her sanity, how she could stop it from happening ever again.

Though the whole city probably heard that… thing that the Princess had become shouting like it had, Higher had found out from a few of her contacts at the castle that news about what had actually happened had been covered up; covered so thoroughly that if she had not been in the front row, watching as Skull Taker had his rib cage broken in front of her, she might have had a difficult time finding out the truth. Whether it was because so few ponies knew what had happened, or because everypony was too scared to even speak about what had happened was not something that the mare thought about.

No, she was making sure that… this, whatever had happened, whatever her Princess had become, whatever she had helped turn her Princess into, would never, ever see the light of day again.

She had lived under the Tyrant king’s reign. She had watched as that evil, terrible stallion had used his dark powers to kill his parents and twist and warp and enslave the ponies of the empire, and seeing all of this, suffering and fearing for her life like everypony else had, she had thought that things like fear and terror were nothing special to her anymore. This belief, one hard-earned and unwanted, had been shattered when she had witnessed what Cadence had become. Higher had stood before the dark king, she had seen the madness and hate in his eyes and had watched him as he tortured ponies with his magic, but nothing he had ever done or said or shown had made her feel the level of fear that the princess had.

The rage that she had witnessed wasn’t the byproduct of a mightier-than-thou thought process of the tyrant king, and the princess hadn’t used dark magic to harm and scar because she had thought them lesser than herself. No, the rage that she had seen on the princess’s face, the rage that had twisted her into the monster that they had all seen, was a rage that Higher herself had felt once or twice in her life.

It was fear turned into anger. It was the fear of having somepony taken away from you, somepony that you loved with all of your heart, and you wanting to find whoever dared take that loved one away from you and making them feel the fear and hopelessness that you had felt a thousand fold.

Unlike anything that Sombra could produce, this anger was wild, pure, unfiltered. A pony could not look at the one that had done them wrong and just smile and wave and act like nothing had happened. This rage caused ponies to destroy lives and families, tarnish reputations, burn cities. You could not stop it with words or negations; you either had to let the pony enact his or her revenge or you had to… end them.

If she had a mind to, Higher could make herself the mother of all thorns in Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s side. She could tell the ponies of the empire what their leader had become, she could hold that information over her head, and maybe gain influence and power from that. If she was so inclined, if she could get the other clan leaders in agreement, she could even demand that the princess step down from her duties. But she wouldn’t; maybe even couldn’t.

After what she had seen, what she had seen what the princess could become if pushed enough, she knew she didn’t have the courage for it. She didn’t have the strength to fight an angry demigod that was fighting to protect the ones she loved and was willing to turn herself into a monster to do it. She was not strong enough to face that terror, and she wasn’t willing to let anyone of her clan do it either.

And what hurt Higher the most was that all of this, everything that had happened and could happen, was her fault. What had gone from maybe a bit too much enthusiasm on her part about getting Mr. Ares out of the castle quietly and without a fuss had turned into an utter disaster that might put her clan and the other main clans in jeopardy. The Equestrian princess could lay what happened to the princess right at her hooves and she was sure she’d be in a cell within the hour, and there was no way in Tartarus that she’d be able to do anything about it.

So even though she was hurting and cold and tired, she was just going to focus on getting better so she could get away. She wanted to be back in her mansion surrounded by her guards. She wanted to be in the bowels of her home, thinking of ways to make this whole bucked up situation alright and not cause any riots or imprisonment or anything like that. But most of all, what she wanted more than anything right now, was to put as much distance between Princess Cadence and her as she physically could without leaving the city. Heck, she might even leave the city to—

Knock Knock!

Higher’s mind went blank as she heard somepony knocking on the door, and for a moment she imagined Princess Cadence on the other side of it. Just the thought of it made her whimper quietly. Gods give me stren—

“Is anypony awake in there?” Somepony called through the door, their voice gruff and demanding.

Higher’s head fell back onto her pillow with a relieved sigh. That wasn’t the princess, that was just some pony; probably a maid or a nurse if she were to guess.

“Yes, I’m awake,” Higher said after clearing her throat. “Please come in.”

The doorknob turned and the door was thrown open, revealing a stern looking Echo decked out in full armor staring at her like she was the scum of the earth.