Canterlot Castle,
Office of Senator Count DuMonee...

The halls of Canterlot Castle were bustling far more than usual for the evening. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were absent as maids and guards ran throughout the halls alike. The maids were all trying to assist the guards with the movement of defensive supplements to every last armored pony in sight. Every battlement was quickly shored with spears and shields while they heard the immense popping from the south, followed by faint plumes of smoke.

Politicians watched from the window as they pointed and mumbled to one another. They spoke softly as they tried to assess the situation that transpired in the town of Ponyville. A mere twenty minutes of sounds and explosions made them aware that something had gone down. And the smoldering plumes of smoke were the last thing they saw before the sun went down.

While the moon's light showered down upon the mountainside city, a unicorn stallion galloped down the hall to run towards a room at the end of the hall. As he ran, he shoved many others out of his path as he held a newspaper in his magical tow. Hot off the presses, he was eager to reach the office of his superior. And upon arriving, he broke through the door as he announced himself loudly.

"Sir!" He hollered. "News from the Ponyville front!"

Senator Count rolled his eyes as he stopped looking at several other documents. "What is it now?"

The understudy quickly slammed the paper on his desk, causing the other documents to fly off from the impact. The senator grew moderately irritated at his having to clean up the mess. As he started, the understudy tapped on his desk. "This was just reported in from Ponyville. Late-breaking news pertaining to the changelings and our 'esteemed' captain."

Just as he went to pick up another page of his paperwork, he stopped and left it on the floor as he walked over to the desk. "What is it this time?"

"You might want to read this for yourself."

Senator Count looked back to his understudy with a quirked brow before reading the headline.

STAGGERING DEFEAT!
Changelings Dealt A Fatal Blow In Recent Invasion. Queen Chrysalis; Wounded Yet Spared.

Those words jumped at him like the image of the human captain jumped on his nerves. He widened his eyes as he yanked up the newspaper and skimmed through the passage quickly. His eyes darting from left to right as he read. Upon a quick read through, he politely placed the paper back on the desk. "Spared, huh? A changeling queen invaded our boarders and was spared the sword?"

The understudy started to pick up from where his superior left off and began to pick up the fallen documents. "According to many witness accounts, it appeared that he was set to execute her. But after a moment, he reneged on the decision and allowed her to be treated for her wounds. As for how badly wounded she was, that information's been held classified."

Not long after, the senator slammed his hooves into the desk and swiped every last paper off of his desk, much to the dismay of his understudy. Shaking his hoof with irritation, he cursed the captain. "Damn that ape!"

The understudy sighed as he rolled his eyes. Not wanting to clean up after him a second time, he just simply left the papers on the floor. But he also realized that he would probably be sent off on another errand. He beat the senator to the punch. "Should I begin our lobby for a summons?"

Count snarled at the captain's image as he glanced over to his dormant fireplace. "What choice do we have!? This is unacceptable! He should've killed her then and there, I don't care how many civilians were watching!"

"Many would say that he was convinced by his human friends, to not kill the queen as opposed to killing her." The intern stated.

Count facehoofed as he drew a sigh of exasperation. "I knew they were a truly weak species. All of that rant and banter about us 'evolving' ended up being nothing more than a farce. I'd be less surprised in hearing that this mystical 'World War' never existed in his world."

"I'll lobby for the summons. Should he be requested to arrive sometime tomorrow?" The intern questioned.

"Of course! And if you would, I would ask that you give me the papers citing the summons. I wish to call him out personally when we arrive for Ponyville tomorrow. Be sure to get it done by dawn."

"At once." The intern confirmed before running out of the room, accidentally bumping into a young dragon, who waited just outside of the door. Spike walked in to see that the room was a complete mess and immediately started to pick up every sheet that was lying around. He could tell that the senator was very much frustrated.

"So what happened this time?"

The senator sat back down to his desk and opened one of the drawers to pull out a small glass and a bottle of brandy. "Oh, you know... your ape friend decided to not do his job. So tomorrow, I will call him out for a summons where we can address this complete and utter show of ineptitude."

Spike briefly picked up his head as he turned to the senator. "Tomorrow? Isn't that─"

"Why of course." He interrupted before tossing back a glass of the drink. "That is why I will be bringing you with me. Yes, I'm sure that the look on his face would be quite grand in seeing his newly-sealed papers. And I know that he would be unable to refuse should he grow rebellious. I have weight against him, serious weight, and I am certain that he would much rather for this little weight to not hit the ground."

Before he picked up another sheet, Spike looked at the senator sternly. "It's not gonna hurt Twilight by any chance, right?"

The senator couldn't even drink his second glass without addressing the young drake. He laughed lightly as he answered his question. "Of course not, I would never try to jeopardize her position. After all, she is your surrogate mother."

Spike sighed as he started to pick up the papers once more. "Just as long as Twilight's okay, I'm willing to go along with whatever you do."

"And just as long as you obey me, you would be content in knowing that the Princess of Friendship will remain unscathed." The senator said with a smirk, tilting his glass at the drake.

Spike was not all too enthused, more dissatisfied with his response. For a second, he grumbled before answering Count directly. "Sure... Just what do you have planned?"

As Spike handed over the documents he collected, the stallion magically grabbed his papers before setting them in their proper place in his filing cabinet. As he flipped through several folders, he stopped as he found an image of a disheveled Shining Armor looking back into the camera with a thousand-yard stare. Attached to it was a grievance report and another picture of a scowling gray unicorn mare with a purple and silver mane. Instantly, the corners of his mouth raised towards his ears.

"Oh... a familiar mission. I believe one of my former esteemed colleagues vouched for Shining Armor to serve it well before the time his wedding bells rang. And given the level of difficulty, I might be able to rid us both of this back-riding monkey."

As the file was pulled from the cabinet and slammed on the desk, the contents splayed across the desktop. Spike took a glance at the grievance report and grew uncertain. "Isn't that a bit risky?"

"Spike, you should know this. It's okay to tell the same joke twice, just change the audience and the joke remains fresh." He said as he grabbed the newspaper. "Light my fire, would you?"

Spike walked over to the fireplace and blew his breath on the slightly-ashed log. After the fire became strong enough to sustain itself, he stopped blowing and turned back to the senator. "But what if someone spoils the joke?"

The senator politely folded the newspaper back to shape as he stared at the human on the front page. With a delighted hum, he tossed the paper into the fire and watched the image quickly become ash.

"Believe me, my young draconian friend... The joke will still be told. After all, the show must go on."

Meanwhile in Ponyville...

How in the hell did I lose track of time just that fucking quick? First it was just a bunch of changelings who tried to take me away, then there was the queen herself who basically made me lock lips with her in front of EVERYONE, then my killing most of her changelings. But now I have to deal with the fact that Twilight's birthday is tomorrow.

I gotta say from my point of view, all of this shit leading up to it wouldn't make me feel like my birthday would be of any importance. Even if there was some intermittent thoughts of trying to return to normalcy, it wouldn't end well unless tomorrow happened to be such a day where everything is perfect and nothing goes wrong. And given that Zecora is still in the back of her mind, I don't think it would be possible to not see her break down at one given point. Either way, tomorrow was her birthday and I'm more than certain that everyone else would be doing whatever they could to salvage the day.

In the meantime, I tried to play off the fact that I lost track of time. "Oh yeah... who could forget such an important day?"

And of course, Mel was the first one to see right through that. "You didn't remember, did you?"

I sunk my face into my palms and quietly confessed. "Not really..."

The next thing I heard was a symphonic groan from the others, with Melanie's voice being the sole standout. "Ugh... Nondis!"

"Okay, I'm too distracted as fuck for me to remember that her birthday fell exactly tomorrow. With all the invasions, being brainwashed and whatnot, I find it way too easy to lose track of time. The only thing I knew is that it was supposed to happen sometime later this month." I explained, trying to defend myself.

"So... Pinkie didn't harp on you about this?" Stanton asked. "I mean she should've at least had you in the know a few days in advance. If she's the one pony in town who's known for having everyone else's birthday down packed, then she could've let you in on the two-minute warning."

"How would she do that?" I questioned back. "She was just as busy as me, minus the fighting and the being nearly abducted."

"Guys remember, it's easy to judge someone off of hindsight." Alex responded, coming to my defense. "Plus I'd be more concerned with making it to the next day as opposed to looking forward to someone's birthday."

Still, everyone else had a point. I should've been able to remember Twilight's birthday, especially if I can remember everyone else's.

Fluttershy's was in the summer months leading into the estrus period, her gestation process was a full twelve months before she was born. That would place her at around the time of the Summer Sun Celebration in late June. Pinkie's came in May. Rainbow Dash was a month early, born a premie back in April. Applejack was a May-Day girl. And I was around for Rarity's birthday when I was shacked with her for those two weeks, back in early June. As far as Twilight's concerned, she's the only one who was born outside of the estrus-season framework, so hers is a definitive standout.

All of this has me thinking so hard, I could swear I taste iron.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder, turning around I could see Stanton trying to get my attention. "Uh... you okay, dude?"

"Yeah, what's up?" I responded, initially unaware of what he was looking at as he spoke.

"You got a little... red... under your nose."

I nonchalantly wiped my fingers under my nose, only to find that there was blood sitting on my fingers. Upon wiping again, I could see another crimson smear on my hands. Quickly, I walked to the bathroom and blew my nose. After washing my face, I had to plug my nose with toilet paper for a brief while. By then, I was reintroduced to the discomfort of having to breathe out of my mouth, a discomfort I thought I grew out of since my first separation with Twilight.

Aw man, not this again. "Well I guess that mind-control shit had a few side effects."

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Melanie asked as she held up her right hand. Both her index and middle fingers extended themselves while the others remained folded.

"Two."

"Do you feel sick, like you're gonna vomit?" She questioned, placing a hand on my stomach.

"Not really."

This time she lightly moved my head to it's resting position. "Move your head to the left." I moved my head in accordance to her direction. "Now to the right." Once more, I complied. "Do you feel any stiffness?" She questioned once more.

Vomiting, sight disorientation, stiffness of the neck, all of these would normally point to one thing in particular. "Mel, I don't have an aneurysm."

"Yeah, but you were holding your head a few times like you had the worst headache ever." She brought up the fact that those spell caused me a great deal of pain. And as of now, I can still feel a slight aching. But none of it feels like my head's just gonna pop at any minute.

"That's coming off of the migraines. I'm tired as shit because I haven't gotten much rest, my mind's been fucked with, and I got Chuck Norris'd by a changeling. I'm not going crazy, I can walk just fine, and neither of my eyes look like I'm looking at you like Sandy Duncan. I'm fine."

Alex chuckled as he poked fun at me. "No, I'd say it's more like a Thom Yorke."

Welp, I'm lost. "Who the hell is that?"

"Radiohead, Nondis. You know." I rolled my eyes when Alex started singing. "When you were here before, Couldn't look you in the eye."

"I know Frank Sinatra." I quickly responded while waving my middle finger back at him. "Yoooou, shut the fuck up to-night!"

"Okay, he's good." Alex responded with a sarcastic shrug.

"Eh, he got a little voice on him." Cliff said with a smirk.

"Cliff, don't start." I started to shake my head and write off his complement as an incorrect observation.

"Well if it's anything like his dancing, you could be in for a surprise." Melanie said as she gave me a light shove in the back.

"Mel, don't feed the trolls."

I tried to warn her, but it was already too late as Stanton was the first to respond. "Him, dancing? He's gotta be one of the most uncoordinated guys out there! He's my brother and I love him, but let's put it out there."

"Ehhhhh... yeeeaaaah... Him being turnt is a pretty awkward sight." Rickey confirmed.

"But doesn't he play piano pretty good?" Cliff questioned.

Alex chuckled as he answered him. "Pretty well. And yes, though dexterity and eye-hand coordination is a little different than being able to move without looking like a spasmodic plastic bag in hurricane-force winds."

What a classy way to describe my dancing. "Oh fuck all of you! Kiss my whole ass!"

Stanton tried to hold his laughter as he pointed at me. "Uncoordinated ass. Hey, does your left ass cheek still sit slightly higher than the other?"

"I don't know, you tell me whether or not your opposable left finger still works." I jabbed back, taking a shot at his left thumb.

"Excuse me, it's a thumb that doesn't bend. And I still whipped your ass in every fighting game ever."

"Name one!"

"Mortal Kombat, Rival Schools, Soul Calibur, Tekken, BlazBlue, Killer Instinct, Virtua Fighter, Fighters Megamix, Marvel vs Capcom, Street Fighter─"

I quickly stood up and started to march out of the room. "Okay, you know what. Wait here, I'm getting my TV and my X-Box. We're gonna get this shit settled, right now!"

Alex was quick in grabbing me by the back of my shirt and dragging me back into the room. "No! We're not bringing video games into the alternate world! Now shut up, both of you!"

A little peeved that I couldn't bring over my stuff, I smacked his hand off of my shirt and walked towards the bed. "Okay then, fuck it. I'm going to bed."

"Nondis, c'mon!" Melanie giggled a little as she teased at me. "It's just a bit of fun."

"Why am I the only one being grilled?" I bluntly asked.

"Because you forgot your fiance's birthday. If you were any relationship with me, you'd know I'd be doing WAY more than raking your ass across the coals." She responded, picking up a pillow to throw at me.

I sighed as I lied down. "I was distracted! And I forgot exactly what day it fell on! I couldn't help that I thought it would be this Thursday."

"Today is Thursday." Rickey corrected.

"...Well at least I thought it was a day earlier."

Stanton laughed as he himself leaned back against the floor. "Yeah, you do need some sleep. You don't even know what day it is, you definitely need some R&R."

I placed the pillow Melanie threw at me underneath my head as I started to get comfortable. "I can't help that it seems like every day for the past week seemed like it just mushed together. Ugh, I guess I'll have to throw something together tomorrow."

"Yeah, you do that. Don't leave her nothing on the most important day of her life thus far." Alex noted. "The next phase is... marriage, I think? Then it's the anniversaries, and then birthdays. In that order. No I'm sorry, anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Thanksgiving... in that order."

Being that this is coming from the newly-wed who hasn't made it a year since walking down the aisle, I knew to take whatever he said with a grain of salt. My brother likes to act like he knows everything, but half the time he's really unsure of himself. But he does have good intentions, and I know that he only means well when he tries to give out advice... even when it's sometimes wrong.

It doesn't matter, I'll just probably go run somewhere and get Twilight a gift early tomorrow morning. It'll have to be sometime before eight, by then she's starting to crack her eyes open. Thankfully, the whole town will be up by seven in the morning. I can go out and get some flowers and be back by seven-thirty. No biggie.

"Okay... I'm out."

It's gotten late.

I stared through the window to see a few houses lit by candlelight and fireplace. The town was eerily quiet, guess that means there's not much of a night-life here. But then again, who would want to be up and about when there was just a changeling invasion just a few hours ago? I don't think anyone would take interest unless they'd risk being knocked on the head by something and finding themselves replaced.

I need to get my mind off of those little bastards, so let's think about something else.

...Oh yeah, the town. It amazes me that the ponies here chose to live a simplistic life. They have most of the technology we'd have back in the forties and fifties, yet they don't really use it all that much. The lighting in most buildings are still based on fire or some sort of luminescent stone. I can understand the latter choice, but they've also shown to have some electricity running through the place if we can charge our phones. And I was even told that they have a hydroelectric dam someplace nearby.

It has me thinking, really, just how advanced is this world's technology?

Everyone is laying around or sitting someplace thinking about their own thoughts, all save one person. "Is he sleep?" I asked.

Rickey got off of the floor and looked at the peaceful Nondis as his eyes were closed, his chest slowly rising and falling, and his face showing all signs of relaxation. "Yeah, he's out." He confirmed.

Alex scoffed as he spoke. "Not even snoring, that's unheard of."

"You're telling me." Stanton cosigned just as the door opened.

"I might have something to do with that." Twilight sounded out as she walked into the room with a bunch of futons. "We wouldn't have enough mattresses to accommodate for your respective sizes, so I ask all of my friends to chip in and see what all we could patch together."

Poor Twilight, her eyes are showing all kinds of tired. "Hey there, princess."

"Is everything alright in here?" She asked as she magically placed every two futons together and laid them out for us to sleep on.

"Yeah, we're just a little jittered from earlier today. But at least he's safe now." Alex responded with a yawn.

Cliff was the first to get his futon as he spoke. "Yo, how ol' girl from the motherland doin?"

"Who now?" Twilight asked with confusion.

"I think he means the Zebra." Rickey clarified.

"Oh, Zecora! She's recovering..." Twilight stopped piecing the futons together for a moment and frowned. She was definitely upset about what all had happened today.

"I don't like that look. What's wrong?" Stanton asked quietly. He walked up to her and proceeded to pick up where the princess had left off.

Twilight took a deep breath and let herself vent. "I can't help but to be angry over everything today. Chrysalis had my friend tied down and violated, shared for her entire hive. And Nondis was forced to do things that he normally wouldn't do, he was put in an awkward situation that I couldn't have gotten him out of. And because I couldn't do anything, I just... I don't know how I'm gonna feel tomorrow. I know everyone will want me to celebrate, but I don't know if I can do that at the moment."

I turned away from the window and faced her as I spoke. "Can we make a suggestion?"

"Go for it."

I paused for a moment on what I wanted to say and how I was going to say it. The others seemed to have started collecting their own thoughts as well. But when my thoughts were finally pieced together, I let them loose. "I don't think you were useless by any stretch of the imagination. Hell, Nondis is here because you responded to something that you knew was wrong. And it may be true that you were played into that part by something that wasn't actually what it appeared to be. But had you not responded when you did, Nondis wouldn't be here right now. And it goes much further than that."

Alex continued from where I left off. "You picked him up and took him in when he was stranded. Then you did the incredibly impossible thing by giving him a means to return home. Not saying it's impossible for you ponies, but it was impossible for us. Like days before he came around, we started to think about memorial arrangements. We literally lost our brother, and was given a second chance to be with him because of you. Do you not see the value in something like that?"

Rickey piggy-backed on Alex and said what he wanted to say. "Yeah. And who cares if it was just this one time? Sometimes our help's gotta come from somewhere else. I know you wanna take responsibility for everything he does and everything that happens to him. But you also have to realize that there will always be certain things out of your hands, hooves, whatever you ponyfolk say."

Cliff also threw in some words. "And your friend may be down on her luck, but you should see the fact that she's still among you. You went out of your way to find her, and though it took some dubious shit to get it done, you got her back anyways. I think you should look at it from the standpoint of everyone you know and love being present and accounted for."

We all turned to Stanton, who was just listening in. He looked back at all of us and shrugged his shoulders. "Man... I can't even add to that. They said everything that needed to be said. The only thing I can possibly throw in is that Zecora's stronger than you'd take her for. I mean I might not know from experience, but she seems like she'd be the main one who would probably be happy that she's not where she used to be. Like for example, did she look at you or anything when you came to visit her?"

"She smiled. But she was probably being brave for me. I know she's in a lot of pain right now." Twilight recalled.

"That's it though. When you got the ability to look at someone dead in the eye and try to smile at them even though you been through it all, that's the sure sign of a strong heart. I've seen people my age break bones and not even crack anything because they're so worried that their careers are over. But for her to crack a smile when she had all of that happen to her, you telling me that she ain't gonna top it? She got the satisfaction of knowing the main one who did it to her got hers in the worst possible way. Bug queen probably moping around now, her ass still locked up in the hospital thinking about that shit. I bet somewhere in the back of her mind, Zecora's like 'gotcha bitch'."

Alex stopped Stanton before he could say something else. "What he's trying to say is that she knows that justice was served. Just to shorten that last part down."

Twilight looked around to see the five of us surrounding her with smiles and encouraging words. She too shared her smile and felt a bit of relief. "You know what, you're right."

"Hell yeah, we are." Stanton blurted out, earning a smack to the back of the head by his older brother.

Twilight giggled as she watched the two brothers grow into their miniature spat. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can tell that the three of you are definitely related. Nondis tends to be a bit cocky when he proves his point, not saying that I'm guiltless of being that way myself."

I tried to hide my own jubilation as I covered my mouth. "That's what makes him who he really is though. Sometimes he'll rub it in."

"Yes. All of it." Alex mumbled as he cosigned on my sarcastic footnote.

Twilight walked towards the bed as she continued to speak. "But that's fine with me. I love him for being that way, he's like the counter to everything I do. And I couldn't imagine my life without him." She hopped into the bed and pulled some of the sheets over his upper torso as she settled herself in. "My greatest gift for tomorrow is for him to wake up to me in the morning and say hello. He doesn't even have to get me anything else, just wish me good morning and I'll be the happiest filly in the world. The smallest things like that, that's what I really need." She leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek and smiled down on him as she whispered in his ear. "Goodnight, my sapient prince."

Finished with piecing the futons together, Stanton passed them all out to each one of us to lie on. "Yup, that means it's bedtime for the rest of us."

While everyone picked their own individual spot on the floor, Rickey began to pray himself to sleep. "Now I lay me down to sleep─"

I could see that Twilight wasn't quite asleep yet and stopped Rickey where he was. "Seriously, don't finish that one off."

"Right, the waking part." He finally realized that the context of the prayer would be a bit too disturbing for the princess to hear, given all that had happened today. He proceeded to finish it to himself and lied down on the futon. "Goodnight."

Everyone had lied themselves down, each one of us slowly started to drift off to sleep. Twilight finally blew out the last candle that lit up the room, leaving us with only the pale moonlight filtering through the window. The room had gotten silent for the most part... that is until Stanton had to make fun of me.

"Mel's jealous."

I was quick to respond. "No shit, Sherlock. Now take your ass to sleep."

After I closed my eyes, the next thing I felt was someone's toes crumple into my back, causing me to jerk forward. "Ow!"

"Sorry." I heard a voice above me whisper.

I rolled over, trying to identify who it was that just assaulted my back with their sharp-ass toenails. Whoever the hell it was needed to be reacquainted with a fucking nail clipper. My vision was slightly blurred, seeing that there was barely any light outside. The sky was a royal blue, indicating that it wasn't quite sunrise just yet. The room was still dark, making it hard to see who exactly just walked up to the door and left the room. But as I sat up, I noticed that the bed was noticeably disrupted. One side of the bed was completely left in disarray.

Where the hell did Nondis go?

I quietly stretched and stood to my feet. Trying to navigate carefully through the maze of sleeping bodies, I walked out of the room and into the hallway. I crept through the halls, seeing maybe one or two guards tiredly patrolling the halls. I asked one of them where Nondis went, and they kindly informed me that he had left to the throne room for early morning conditioning.

Just what in the hell was he conditioning himself for?

Walking towards the throne room, the door was slightly cracked. Sneaking my way towards the crack I could see a shirtless Nondis pressing the ground.

"Thirty-seven... Thirty-eight... Thirty-nine... Forty..."

Just as he finished counting, he slapped one arm against his back and shifted his weight towards his right arm.

"Forty-one.... Forty-two.... Forty-three...."

Just sitting before me was Nondis planting himself up and down off of the floor. Though his pace seemed to have slowed a little, he didn't seem phased by the sudden change of weight. He started to sweat lightly, the muscles of his body glistening as the morning dew graced the grass outside. Every grunt and groan he made as I watched him pound the ground had me a little caught up. Before I could control myself, I was tilting my head in awkward positions to get a better view of the man.

I know I'm acting like a total teenage girl, but I see something I like.

He switched arms again, counting off from the number sixty-one.

"Sixty-two.... Sixty-three.... Sixty-four...."

Eventually, I bit my thumb as I stared at him doing his push-ups. The more he did, the more I thought about how awesome it would be if he'd let me crawl under him and count for him... in the opposite direction... with my face facing upwards... catching all the sweat dripping off of his body. I bet he smells musky as hell, all that sweat.

"Sixty-eight.... Sixty-nine...."

I wonder how it feels to have my throat fucked that way... WHAT THE FUCK AM I EVEN THINKING!?

"Seventy─AH SHIT!"

Without warning, he got up off of the ground like something was threatening his life. But what nearly scared me half to death was nothing more than him reacting to a leg cramp.

"Augh, fucking charlie horse!"

He stood on his feet quickly and stood straight as he stretched high into the air. For a few seconds, he was facing directly at the door, causing me to get a glimpse of the hair covering parts of his face and the sweat glazing his entire body. I could even see the scars and bruises that decorated his body. Looking towards his navel, I could see a thin trail of hair that pointed down from his waist towards his pelvic region. The way he was cut wasn't quite perfect, but I noticed that there was some semblance of a six-pack down there. I could see just where his waistline started to curve cut up into his abdominal region. And not to mention the noticeable bulge at the front of his shorts.

I can't even claim this, I'm so mad.

"Shit, should've stretched first." He mumbled to himself.

He started to stretch a little, pulling his arm across his chest. Next he spread his legs a bit and tilted his body from side to side. After that, he bent backwards a little, causing his pelvic region to stand out a little more. My eyes made a bee-line for the area of growth and my mind was thrown for a loop as I thought I saw a throb.

"Wow..."

He stopped stretching for a bit and looked back at the door I was peeking through. "What the hell?"

SHIT, I SAID THAT OUT LOUD! I stood in the gap of the door like a deer caught in headlights. For a second, I couldn't properly react, that is until my brain finally got past it's flatulence and sent out a command to quickly walk away. But to my misfortune, it had to come just milliseconds before Nondis' hands pulled the door open. "Mel?"

Double shit. "Hi! Good morning to you, sir!"

"What are you doing up so early?" He asked, oblivious as to what I was doing just a few seconds ago. At least he didn't notice that I was staring down his junk like a total creeper.

Hey, girls can be creepers too. Sexual tension works both ways. "Well gee, I don't know. It's like someone kicked me in the back or something."

Nondis looked at his foot and promptly realized that he was the reason why I'm here. "Ah... Sorry."

"I heard you the first time. But why are you up out of bed?"

He looked back down to himself and remembered that he was shirtless. After that, he quickly walked towards the throne with the purple star sigil emblazoned upon it and grabbed his shirt off of it. "I'm trying to make sure I'm still loose for the day. Gotta stay fit."

Goddammit, don't cover up! "As much walking around as you do, you think you're gonna gain pounds?"

"You never know." He answered as he finally covered up his chest. I'm still secretly hoping that his sweat can make that shirt somewhat see-through or form-fitting.

Seriously, I really need to stop perving out. "Okay... So I have a recommendation."

"Being?"

Could you pick me up and dry-hump me against this door in suspended congress? NO! "Could you please go back to bed? I know you're trying to do your whole morning routine, but can you not for once and just maybe chill?"

"Why, what's wrong?"

Ugh... I hate doing the right thing sometimes. It's just so boring. "Alrighty then, I guess we're gonna have to have a brief heart-to-heart. From guy to girl: Just roll with it. You have no idea just how much waking up to the one we love really means to us. Some mornings it could be the most wonderful thing to ever see, other times it could be the bane of our existence." The bane of my existence is not being the one in your bed, secretly doing naughty things with you underneath the sheets...

Okay I'll stop.

"Twilight always wakes up to me."

Sure she does, douchebag. "Yeah, but think about what all happened yesterday. I think she'd find your being in bed a lot better than breakfast in bed."

"Oh... I haven't really thought about that."

Of course you don't. You're daft as shit. I'm giving you the signals to BURY ME INTO THE FLOOR. Yeah, okay I'm really aggressive today, something inside of me is making me lose my mind. I think I've got a case of the morning dew. Either way, this is not about me. Fuuuuuuck. "Look, little mistakes like that could mean a lot to one's confidence. Just be careful."

"I'll keep that in mind." He said as he started to heed my warning and march towards the princess' bedroom.

As I was left in the room by myself, I could only fight with myself over how stupid I was for letting my hormones get the better of me in that immediate moment. Sex was the last thing he wanted from me and probably the last thing he was thinking about. Either way, I was somewhat astounded that he didn't stick around on his own. Why did he leave the bed so early?

"Damn, to think that he would've learned all of this from me way back when. Maybe he had something planned."

Welp, there goes that idea.

I wanted to get my exercise out of the way so that I can focus on running through town and getting whatever I needed to surprise Twilight. The last thing I needed to be is swamped with an overabundance of testosterone and running through town with a chubbing semi. But since Mel managed to catch me and insisted that I spend the morning with Twilight, I'm not gonna refuse her advice.

So I lied quietly for about an hour and a half with my eyes closed, stayed another hour with them open towards the ceiling. And I didn't want to upset both Mel and Twilight by being away for the very moment she opens her eyes. Knowing that Melanie would never let me live that down, I decided that my best bet was to watch Twilight as she slept.

Watching a girl sleep while still dealing with a morning case of arousal. I feel like a total creep right now.

By sometime around seven forty-five, the purple alicorn princess finally opened her eyes and beheld them to me. "Good morning, your highness." I whispered.

Wiping the sleep out of her eyes, she yawned and stretched her hooves for me. "Good morning, captain. I didn't expect you to beat me to the punch."

"I went to bed a full three hours before you did. That's to be expected." Woke up a full three hours before you too, but I'm not gonna say anything about that.

"So... did you have a good night's sleep?"

No nightmares, I don't even remember dreaming anything. I guess it was good. "Don't know. Closed my eyes and the next thing I notice when I open them, it's morning. I swore I only blinked."

"Well that's a good thing. I had a weird dream."

"Why was it weird?"

"Because I dreamt that I woke up beside you. And then I actually woke up out of that dream to see you staring at me."

One bad Inception joke, coming right up. "But Twilight, don't you see? You haven't woken up yet. You're still in the dream matrix. You dove too deep! You have to wake up now!"

Of course, that joke panned. I could immediately tell when she used her magic to shove a pillow to my face. "You're such a jerk!"

"I used to be. But now I've gotten to the point where all I have to do is play around with you... And I usually end up getting off a lot faster." I joked, wrapping my arms around her.

Twilight glanced down underneath the sheets and silently gasped. She briefly bit her lip before trying to push herself away from me. "Okay. You need to chill."

Suddenly, I remembered just what Cadance had told me about the restrictions placed on Twilight's relationship with me. And the thought of that only made me a tad more frustrated. I still loved her, but just angry that I can't do anything dirty. I'll probably find a way around it. Meanwhile, I rolled my eyes and mimicked a tone disappointment. "Alright, I'm sorry."

I started to roll over and get out of the bed before my shoulder was held by a purple hoof. "No no no, where do you think you're going?"

"Taking my shower?" Because I haven't even scrubbed the sweat off of me from earlier.

She yanked me closer to her and buried her muzzle into my back as she spoke. "You showered last night, This is my time now."

"You do this every time I wake up." I groaned as I turned my head to her.

She climbed on top of me and planted her hooves on either side of my body as she used her magic to slightly turn my head a little further towards hers. "I don't care, now bring it over here."

She was awfully ambitious when she planted her lips against mine. I allowed her to do so as she shifted her weight into me. Our lips sounded with a loud smack, her eyes half-lidded as she focused directly on me. I closed my eyes, only to find a magenta glow underneath my eyelids, slightly pulling them open.

"You look at me when I'm kissing you, soldier." She commanded firmly with a seductive smirk.

"Yes, your highness." She's being awfully greedy for a girl that can't do much. I wanna do things to her, but know I can't because of that damn set of rings. But it's like she's teasing me on purpose, making fun of the fact that I can't even get in between her haunches for one good rub. Even her hooves started to wander south of the equator, exploring every inch of my abdomen just above my pelvic region. A quick breath was all I could afford as I felt myself stiffen at her touch. Even as I struggled to contain myself, she giggled as she continued to plunder my lips for every last ounce of flesh.

What a cruel dictatorship I find myself in.

"Apparently, you two need a room." Someone said while the others started to chuckle.

Dammit, I forgot they were in here. I separated and raised myself as I could see Stanton staring back at us. "Yeah, you're right. Get out."

Cliff stretched his arms as he raised himself off of the futon. "Bruh, I get you two cuttin' up and shit, but I need to know where the bathroom at. I got my own cuttin' up to do."

The next bit of laughter came from Twilight herself. "What are you laughing for?" I asked curiously.

She gave me a smug grin as she tapped me on the nose. "Oh, just that one time you called Shining your 'undying savior'."

"See, we're not even gonna talk about that." Why does she always have to bring up past dirt with me? I shook my head and politely instructed Cliff on where to go. "Down the hall, to the right. That room should be empty."

"Celestia's in that room." Twilight answered.

"To the left then?"

"Luna's in that one." She answered once more.

"At the end of the hall?"

"Cadance and Shining Armor's in that one."

Ugh, and goodness knows what kind of kinky stuff they get themselves involved in. "Uh, walk outside of the room and make a left turn and it should be the first door to the right─"

"That's the library."

Okay let's try this again. "First door to the left."

"That room's off limits." She responded with a flattened tone.

Okay, I give. "Shit... Just go to my old room."

Cliff stood up and started to walk out of the room before he paused and turned back to me. "Where's that at?"

Oh boy, okay... Let's see if I remember it correctly... "Go past the throne room, take a left, keep straight, room at the very end of the hall." Yeah, I think I got it.

"Shit, I gotta go across the whole goddamn castle?" Cliff moaned with complaint.

Yezzir. "That's the plan."

Cliff kissed his teeth as he walked out of the room. "Man, I'm gon' call yo ass if I get lost."

"Kay." I said, placing my attention back to the birthday girl in my lap.

She looked around with a slight blush in her cheeks as she saw the others looking at us. "I guess we should hold off on the morning pleasantries until we get everypony situated."

Not like this could get anymore awkward. "Agreed."

Well, it looks like the birthday girl is happy she got her wish. Still...

HOLY SHIT, I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WENT AND FULLY FUCKING MADE OUT LIKE IT WAS NOTHING! Oh my God, that was... different. I can't believe I watched that happen. I mean I saw it happen yesterday with that one bitch with the holes in her legs, but he was under a mind-control spell. This time, he did that shit like... 'Hey, just another Friday morning. Let me swap spit with my non-human girlfriend and damn near get my nut busted all over the sheets'.

Wow, I can't believe it. And she's just getting it like she's sporting a pair of human lips and tongue here. I mean, she's a fucking pro at it! She's very... human with the way she kisses. Oh damn, if that's how it's like when they kiss, then I don't wanna know how she gets when she's in the mood. Okay... A lot of things I'm gonna have to get used to here. They're engaged after all, and they're gonna do premarital shit like that all the time. And more than likely, I'm gonna have to be prepared to see more of it before the wedding.

But seriously, that kiss was all I could think of when I went back to our world and got in my car this morning. I've been stuck on it for the past two hours! I'm still trying to process that. Just how do two ponies go at it here? Or did Twilight learn how to kiss a human because Nondis had to teach her?

Okay, I'm asking myself way too many questions about this. I need to find a distraction─Oh look, a familiar face that isn't Twilight or Nondis! "Morning!"

It was her brother Shining Armor standing in the middle of the hall, seemingly going over a few things with one of the maids. "Oh, hey there! I wasn't expecting you."

"Yeah, I just got back from my world. Wanted to give Twilight a little gift so she can keep up with Nondis and the others." I said as I pulled out a plastic bag with an ATT GO-Phone, still in the packaging.

"A cell phone?" Shining quickly identified. Meanwhile the maid was staring oddly at the wrapped device.

"Well of course you'd know what it is. In speaking of which, how did you get yours?" I asked, genuinely curious as to how he managed to text us yesterday.

"Stanton gave it to me, He and Alex said that he wanted to give it to me so that I could keep them noted on how Nondis was doing and if he needed any help with anything."

Well then, it seems that Alex and Stanton was one step ahead of me. "Well, kudos to them for thinking so far ahead."

"Yeah, Twily was a little beside herself on how she wanted to deal with Chrysalis yesterday. Needless to say that she wasn't very open to letting you know what was going on."

"I understand. She was probably operating out of what Nondis would've done himself. I can come to terms that she'd try to think in his place." That's the only excuse I'm giving her. Other than that, what she did was a little reckless. I don't think we could take Nondis away from here unless it was REALLY a life-or-death issue, like if he's bleeding out and need medicine or something.

"Definitely, she was always one to act on example as opposed to acting on independent thought. Doesn't mean that she's incapable of it, but she tends to cave easy when it comes to doing things, for lack of a better way of putting it, by the book."

That explains a lot. Usually those who act solely on written knowledge struggle when it comes to critical thinking. And judging from all of the books she had on her nightstand, I can tell she's well-read to a fault. "Oh yeah. I can see she's a real reader. All those books in her room and she's got each of them bookmarked."

"That's my little sis alright."

You know, there are a few things I can see about her just by going into her room. And one of those things is that she's an intellectual who thrives off of learning experience. But when it comes to putting theory to practice, it doesn't really bode well. I almost think that the relationship she has with him is some sort of experiment. Maybe that's the jealousy talking, but it's also a bit of insecurity and worry. I know damn well that I have no place in questioning their relationship, but I just want to know one specific. What, beside him being human, is the thing that made her fall for him? "I can't help but wonder, why him?"

Shining grew bewildered from my question. "Why him what?"

"Why a human above all things? I mean, can't a pony be a bit easier to be with? I mean not that there's anything wrong with it, but wouldn't there be any other stallions who'd take interest?"

"Well... she had a crush before Nondis. It turned out to be one of my guards back at the Crystal Empire, who'll be here later today. And for a while, Cadie was all for getting him to be the one, you know, my little sister's first relationship." Oh shit, so Nondis is the first? I remember him telling me that but I didn't know it was actually legit. "He realized that she liked him, but he didn't... reciprocate the affection like she wanted him to."

"Okay, so what happened with that and why didn't he agree to stepping up?"

Shining looked at the maid beside us and nodded his head the other way. She smiled nervously as she bowed and galloped down the hall, leaving the two of us alone. "There's a little difficulty in being a royal and finding a suitor. Laws in place punish us for being frivolous in our interactions with our associates and guards. Even our citizens are shown red flags if we were to even come close to having a relationship with one. Friendships would be scrutinized heavily if there were any signals of an impending non-platonic bond."

"Really? So was it like... hard to get Cadance to marry you?"

"Oh that was easy. It was hard for her because she was the lineage of royalty I married into."

So he married into his title, that's a thing? "Oh, so you're married in? So how did you become a prince?"

"Like you said, I married in."

Well, apparently that is a thing. "Oh! So that's how it works here?"

"Yeah, are you surprised by that?"

Of course, not once have I heard of a man walking through the doors, marrying a princess, and being vested with power and riches. "Yeah! In many countries in my world, marrying into royalty was heavily one-sided. If you were a girl marrying into royalty, you'd get all the titles, the perks, the recognition, and the power of your being inducted into royalty. A guy marrying in, he wouldn't even get so much as a title, let alone the power and perks to come along with it. It's more of a 'congratulations, you've married someone way out of your league, good job'."

"That's discouraging." He said as he folded his ears back.

"Yeah, but that's the way it is. So long as the male produces sperm, he's a carrier of the lineage."

Shining shrugged as he spoke. "Yeah, that's not like us at all. If you're capable of giving birth or sowing seed, you're good to go. And plus, stallions are considered to be a hot commodity in our world. Mares outnumber us a total of four to one."

"OH GOD!" That is a huge gender discrepancy. I'm amazed that their species continue to exist at this rate. "I see why there's no discrimination. Populate the species so that the males can make a resurgence."

"Actually, our chromatic genes heavily favor producing females so that there are more of them to give birth."

So if there's four girls for every guy, then that must mean that their guys must have multiple partners. "So I take it that monogomy-based family units are a rare breed also?"

"In smaller towns like Ponyville, no. Larger cities like Canterlot, yes. If you ever met Blueblood, you'd know that he's a complete mare-hoarder. Even his seven wives will tell you."

Oh no. Hell no. I'd be in jail if I found out that I was 'number seven' on the list. That's like the ultimate show of disrespect to me, to even consider me as a mere seventh option? Oh yeah, somebody will be dying tonight. "Seven wives? Oh no, he would get killed if he came anywhere close to me."

"I take it that the females in your world are different then?" He asked.

"Yeah. First off, we outnumber the guys, but it's sitting at a ratio of forty-nine guys to fifty-one girls, out of a hundred of course."

Shining's ears perked as his face was wrought with shock. "Oh wow. That's a lot of males."

"Second, most of us are raised to feel that we are to remain wholesome to only one. So in many societies, it's seen as wrong when there's more than one partner involved. Some places and religions practice polygamy, but they don't hold out back in my home country."

The stallion prince gave me a slow nod. "Okay, that's another interesting fact."

"And third, we are selfish as hell. If we see another girl on our man, we're already sharpening knives, burning clothes, keying cars, taking our kids, and walking away from marriages with over sixty percent of the total assets. And don't even get me started on child support."

"Really???" Shining seemed completely floored from the bit of information I shared with him. I guess that was a bit of a culture shock for him. "And here I thought Cadance was overly jealous whenever I talk to one of the maids for over five minutes."

"Exactly how we are on a daily basis. I don't want no girl talking to my guy, getting all friendly with him if he's gonna start giggling and talking low."

Shining seemed to grow smaller as he looked at me. "Okay, I guess you and Cadie would be the best of friends."

"Yup..." Indeed, but lets get back to the main topic. "But since we're trailing back to her, what was so difficult about her getting married to you? I understand the lineage thing, but how hard could it be?"

Shining took a while to find his words before he could properly voice his opinion. Thankfully, it didn't take him too terribly long, as I was genuinely interested in what made it so hard for them to be together. "Well, I can say that from experience that maintaining the relationship can be a bit difficult. In the process of being engaged to the royal family member, or the Approval Process as we call it, we can enjoy our relationship under the strict principle of maintaining celibacy throughout the process, which can last as long as eighteen months, or as little as eight in Twily's case."

Okay, so there's a required waiting period for a marriage to be certified. Well that's pretty normal, unless you were already in the relationship prior to the start of this whole process thing. By that point, I can see how it can be a bit annoying. "Why so short for her?"

"Because my mom argued to Celestia that she didn't want any outrageous waiting periods for her daughter to get married. And because of an incident involving me, my mom was adamant in saying that she didn't want Twilight's fiance to endure such lengthy deployments."

Lengthy deployments? That sounds a bit fishy. "What happened with you?"

And to confirm my suspicions, he lowered his voice as he looked in every direction for possible eavesdroppers. "Well... If I can confide in you."

Okay, something tells me that this is going to be some pretty heavy shit. But I'm willing to learn more about what Nondis is getting himself into. "My lips are sealed."

He magically tugged my ear, urging me to come lower so that he could whisper in my ear. I knelt down to see him eye-to-eye. He then looked around the place one last time before he quietly told me his experience. "The parliament despises us. Anyone who's even up for suggestion are sent to long-term deployments or deadly assignments with low survival rates. I endured both... And to this day, I can hear my fellow guards screaming before their deaths. Even now, I am blamed for every last one."

Oh... wow... heavy was right. "They do this to you? Why?"

"We don't know. We know how the law came into place, but we don't know why they still support it. It's archaic, spanning the length of a millennium. And even now, they still practice it."

I started to look around myself, considering what I was told had ended up being some really controversial stuff. "Nondis is caught in this, isn't he?"

"Yes. He seems to get an overall positive response from the parliament. His recent victory over Chrysalis will only shore up more support for him. But as long as he pursues Twilight, he's seen as an adversary to a very powerful group of senators and representatives. They're gonna want him dead, but he's buying himself time. His being a human grants him this much advantage, but I fear how long it will last."

Okay, so the parliament is actually trying to kill him. As for the reason why, I can assume that it's because some guy is either xenophobic or envious that he can't get the princess in bed. Either way, Nondis is in trouble as long as this law is still in practice. But that brings me to question something. "So... none of you have tried removing this law?"

Shining gave out an exasperated sigh. "We still are. Even Nondis fights it of his own accord. Whatever he's planning, I'm going along with because he seems to invoke a response unseen by many in his position. I was Captain of the Royal Guard before him and haven't seen so much as a single round of applause. He made them cheer, chant, he made them believe in him. So our hope is shored on how long he lasts."

I have an even better question. "Does Alex and Stanton know about this?"

"Yes, I told them myself. And they elected to back him no matter the circumstances."

"Well that's good to know." At least his brothers know about what they're doing to him. And if something pops off, they know exactly who to look for when they start wearing their hunting gear. Hell, I might join them if they fuck with Nondis like that.

Shining quickly grabbed my hands with his magic, holding it in between his hooves. "I only ask that you show your support for you friend. He needs it now, and will need it all the more in the latter stages."

If anything, I'd be trying to kill the bastards who keep this law in place. Give me a gun, a name, and a visual description and I'll have it finished by the end of the day. Though this is politics, and I have a feeling that Nondis will be trying to play things slow. "Well, you've got my vote. I can't let them do whatever they want to you guys. And if Nondis is fighting for it, then I'm gonna be there to get his back."

He breathed with relief and smiled lightly as he expressed his gratitude. "That's nice to hear. Just knowing he has the backing of his friends makes me comfortable for his sake. And don't even get me started on how Twily feels."

I looked around a little bit as I urged him to come closer so that I could whisper back to him. "Um... If I may confide in you?"

"I'm listening."

I continued to look around as I spoke. "Before Twilight started getting all hugged up and wishing him good morning... I was kinda holding him in my hand for a bit."

Shining grew smug as he asked. "Oh, so you two have history?"

I cringed a little as I nodded to confirm his statement. "...It wasn't a very good one. I played my games and wanted to keep him at a distance. It took a huge wake-up call for me to realize that I made a huge mistake in not being honest with him. I guess you could say that I'm getting my fair shake of karma."

"So, one sided?" He guessed.

I continued to pour my heart out to the prince. "Yeah. It's almost like I miss him blowing up my phone every weekend. But since he's been on his adventures with her, I got a little jealous because it was almost like he didn't even look for me anymore."

Shining grew astounded, left in awe as I told him everything. "Do you accept that?" He asked, seeming intrigued.

"Well... my mom always told me that if I love someone, I should accept it if they were able to move on. It's better to have loved and lost than not love at all. Then again, my parents have been divorced since I was a little girl."

Shining backed away a little as he heard the news. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Nah, my dad was a proverbial womanizer." I explained. "My mom is very happy she's back on the market. And though she tried to take care of me for most of my life, I started to see that she was being more liberal with whoever she associated herself with after I left for college. Now she's rolling full-steam ahead into cougar country. It's like she never left the dating scene."

Shining laughed as he started to think to himself, all while speaking out loud. "I know how that goes."

Suddenly, there was the voice of his wife ringing through the halls. "Hold on for one second." The stallion requested as he began to shout back into the halls. "Yes, sugar plum?"

The stallion prince groaned as he called back to her. "Cadie, I'm watching the door!"

Uh-oh, middle name status means that he's in some serious trouble. I guess I should let him go. "I got you covered. Just tell me what to look out for." I said, hoping to offer him some sort of relief.

The stallion shook his head with thankfulness while he turned back to me with a visibly stressed expression. "Oh, you are a life-saver. Just make sure we don't have any suspicious-looking personnel walking through, anything like paparazzi, uninvited guards, stuff like that. You know who to look out for. If it's an unfamiliar face, you come get me and have them meet with me in the banquet hall. I'll decide on whether or not they can stay." He said at almost sixty miles-per-hour.

"Roger that." I responded with a salute, all before his wife's voice came booming through the halls one last time.

He didn't hesitate that time. The hairs on his head stood tall just before he took off for the dining hall. Apparently she had him on a short leash whenever it came to doing stuff together. And by recent interactions I had with the two, she seems to be the dominant one in the relationship as opposed to him playing that role. I couldn't do much but giggle to myself as I watched the prince disappear into the halls beyond.

"Yup, she's got him whipped."

A while later, I managed to relocate the entrance lobby. My finding it made me realized that I only knew so little about this place. The only place I can navigate to and from is the throne room, the portal room, and this place. Even looking for the throne room this morning required the assistance of a guard, considering that I was coming from Twilight's room. Shit, even getting to Twilight's room was a hellish task in itself. But at least I know how to get there from the portal room.

This place is so huge.

Honestly, I started to pity any attendants and well-wishers if they didn't know the layout. Twilight's friends were pretty much one of the few who got this place down to the bolts and screws... if there are any. But unfortunately for me, I wouldn't be able to tell them where to go from here. I only got a hand-drawn map telling me where to find the dining hall, and I only have one of those. So whoever came by would have to wait while I go run each visitor to Shining for evaluation. Sounds tiresome, doesn't it?

Thankfully, no one came to visit yet. So I've been stuck here in the lobby for what seemed like an hour. But let's be real here, I was only there for fifteen minutes before I caught glimpse of some company. "Hey Mel."

At least it was Stanton, who's already been verified a long-ass time ago. "Hi." I responded lazily.

"What'cha doing over here?" He asked playfully, seeming as if he was mocking my appearing bored with life at the moment.

"Keeping a lookout for whoever decides to illegally put themselves on the guest list."

He quirked an eyebrow as he looked back at the door. "Okay... why?"

"Because we don't want Twilight's big day to be dragged out into the streets for everyone to see in their morning papers." We get enough of that from Hollywood. People, if you want to know about people's weddings, then get invited to one!

"Yeah, I forgot this was celeb status."

And considering yesterday's little bonanza, I don't think we'd want any of them to catch us out there. Well, hope Nondis is keeping them busy during his rounds of being out and about. "Of course everyone else came in before now, but it's been a while since the door last knocked." As if it's ever been knocked on in the first place.

"So kicking back and laying out is the better option as opposed to keeping a lookout? Wow, you could've let in all kinds of assassins and shit." Stanton joked.

"Oh if it was an assassin, you'd know it." I responded in deadpan.

"Of course, you'd be dead as fuck." He stated. "Place would look like a crime scene."

Well there it is, the first knock of the day. Hope it isn't some idiot with a shitty press pass and an expensive-ass camera because that shit will get broke. But there's one thing about this visitor that seemed to irk me a tad more than usual. "Jesus, whoever's at the door is really impatient." Stanton pointed out.

"Now I know this has got to be the paparaz─" Just as I reached out for the door, I noticed a lavender glow surrounding the door handle. And it just so happened that the next thing I saw was a wall of gold and wood rapidly making a beeline for my face. Next thing was a flash of white and a very painful smack against the left side of my face. "AAHHH!!!"

Dazed a bit, I fell on my backside and held my face to make sure that I wasn't bleeding or had something knocked out of place. Stanton was quick to see if anything had happened to me besides that. "Oh shit, Mel! You okay?"

As I was holding my face, I could hear sets of hooves clopping against the floor. One particular set was rhythmically faster than the other. "Ugh, I swear the unicorns around here are so slow!" A female declared with irritation in her voice.

"Could be earth ponies, dear. But it never hurts to be patient." A male voice called out after hers.

"I have been patient enough! Now I do intend to see my two favorite candidates mushing up today."

Stanton saw that I was a bit preoccupied to pay attention to whoever walked in the lobby. He walked up to the pair and tried to halt their progress. "Uh... excuse me for stopping you─"

The female voice then shouted loudly at Stanton. "NONDIS! Just who I wanted to see!"

"Wa-whut?" Stanton said, just as confused as I was.

"That's right, you! Now I demand to know just how things have been going for the two of you."

I pulled my hand off of my face to see a blue unicorn stallion holding a camera and a purple book. "I'm sure it's been quite progressive without your ramming in, dearest."

The female apparently was a gray unicorn mare with a white and purple mane. "I don't just ram in, that's rude! I announce myself as I enter, that's how you're supposed to do it."

Obviously, I'm gonna have to put my check-up on halt, these two are holding cameras. "Um, are you looking for Nondis?" I asked before the mare dashed up to me in a gray and purple blur.

"Well I'll be covered in pillows and fluids! Crescent, look at this! ANOTHER HUMAN!" She announced as she gave me a squeeze.

The stallion rubbed his chin with intrigue as he looked at me. "Indeed... though I find that the chest is a bit different."

Again with this? I never felt comfortable with guys staring at my boobs, no matter the species. But now I can expect this to be the common question that will be asked, alongside the issue of Big Momma Celly's mane. "Yes, I am a human FEMALE. How can we help you today?"

The stallion looked enthused as he stared at me some more, not that I wasn't uncomfortable enough. "Did you hear that, Velvet? A female human, get Nondis over there to mate with it and we might see more of the little humans running around!"

Now things were really awkward. Stanton cringed as he tried to explain to them their mistake. "I really don't mean to rain on your whole parade here, but I'm not Nondis."

"Why of course you are, you're not fooling anypony." The gray mare said with a laugh.

The stallion looked at Stanton and started to piece together the differences. Though the three of them has some facial features that are borderline identical, they don't share haircuts. "Does Nondis keep his hair this short?"

The gray mare still refused to give up on misidentifying the man. "Mane stylists are a bit for every bunch. Though I would like to question─"

"My name is Stanton." He said, finally putting a rest to the theory of him being someone else. Then he pointed back at me. "And this is Nondis' childhood... foalhood friend, Melanie."

I could see the stallion taking a breath to ask a question, but was quickly silenced by the gray mare who continued to squeeze me like a squeak toy. "FOALHOOD FRIEND!? You were friends with Nondis since the blossoming days of your youth!?"

"We only met in high school." I answered, struggling to breathe a little.

"How long has it been?" She asked.

"About seven to eight years." Her grip was INCREDIBLY strong for a creature being almost half my size.

At last, she removed her hooves around from my back and neck, allowing me to breathe like normal. But then used her magic to stand me up and grab my hand before trying to drag me down the hall. "Good enough for me! Let's walk!"

The stallion walked up to her and grabbed her attention before she really got going. "Velvet, I'm sure that the human lady is expecting, you know, something imperative."

"OH! Goodness me. Melanie, Stanton..." She paused for a moment as she stared at the human on the other side of the room. "You look so much like Nondis, I could swear that you were kin to him."

He smiled nervously as he spoke. "Yeah, but we would like to know if you were to take any photos─"

"That reminds me!" The gray mare exclaimed as she looked to the stallion. "Crescent, did you grab the camera?"

"It's right here." He answered. "Do you want me to take a picture of you and the female human?"

"Can we get names first? I really don't mean to come off as rude!" I said, trying to get some formalities out of the way before having to kick them out. Honestly, these two are starting to give me a headache. And I'm still trying to feel if my face is somehow disfigured from earlier.

The gray mare let go of me as she walked besides the blue stallion, introducing themselves. "Oh dear, I am so sorry for that. But in case you haven't heard already, my name is Velvet. My husband here is Crescent."

"I also believe that you bashed the door in for her head. She's still holding on to it, the poor thing." Crescent stated while pointing towards me.

"Ah! You are absolutely right! Come here, dear!"

Oh no! I gotta get the hell out of here fast before she squeezes me to death again. "Um... I'm okay now."

And of course, running wouldn't do any good if she uses her magic to hold me in place while her hooves nearly crush my thighs. Holy shit, is she part boa constrictor? My legs are going to fall asleep at this rate. "Why I am so terribly sorry for causing you harm! I really didn't intend for you to get hurt. Please don't report me to the authorities again!"

Okay, now that third one was from way left-field. "Say what now?"

"I didn't mean to strike at you with purpose. I was just frustrated from all the recent commotion and the delayed trains that I couldn't hold it anymore. I harbor no ill-feelings or intentions towards you." She said as she tightened her grip around my legs. I think I was going to faint from the sudden buildup of pressure.

"Help?" I squeaked out.

"Humans are classified as a protected species. And as such, unlawful contact would result in severe consequences." Crescent explained. That wasn't quite the help I wanted, but that's a nice bit of info.

"Oh... We gotta be protected?" Stanton asked.

"Well of course! You humans are not only from another world, but also considered as undiscovered in ours... well prior to Nondis showing up."

"I see."

WILL YOU TWO PLEASE FUCKING HELP ME!?

She continued to tighten her grip on my legs, and I'm just on the verge of breaking both of my femurs. "Please find it in your heart to forgive me! I can't go to the dungeons again! Do you know what they'll do to mares like me in the dungeons?"

"Dearie, they don't do anything to you in the dungeons." He responded with a bored tone.

"EXACTLY! Strapping young-blooded stallion guards all just walking up and down the halls, paying you no sort of mind." Lady, I think your priorities are mixed up... And second off, WHAT!?

Stanton looked from Velvet to Crescent, and then back to Velvet before asking the mare. "You're married to him, right?"

The stallion gave him a nudge as he laughed loudly. "Of course we're married! She just wants more daughters to give away and I'm perfectly fine with that. Shining and Violet both have been so much of an experience for us that we just had to have another. Of course I made it quite clear that I would not be footing the milk for the batter. Twice was more than enough, especially with their magical surges and arcane outbursts. That'll be the last time I turn into a cactus."

"Well, I can't help that you and I broke the mold twice. And it sure doesn't help that Shining hasn't given us a grandfoal yet. I mean the nerve of him, how dare he chooses to be so selfish!"

You know, I may be slowly losing consciousness, but I know for certain that I hear Shining's name thrown into the mix. So if I may ask... "Who's Violet?"

The mare finally released my legs as she explained who the second name belonged to. "My daughter! You mean to tell me that you're in this castle and you haven't met my dear little Twilight Violet?"

I tried my best to keep my balance as I felt the blood rushing back to my legs. "I know a Twilight Sparkle, but I don't know anyone by the name of Violet."

"Well if I may be so formal as to properly introduce myself to you. *ahem* I am Twilight Velvet Sparkle. My daughter is Twilight Violet Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. She wears the bangs like I do, but mine ends with a curl as opposed to a cut. Our color schemes are different, as for the reason why I named her Violet." Velvet explained, stating that the purple mare that locked lips with my best friend was actually her daughter.

You know, that makes plenty of sense considering how this lady was acting and how Twilight acts with Nondis. Sexually aggressive, flirty, demanding, smug, outspoken, everything. The only difference is that Twilight's a lot less liberal with her relationships, though not by choice. Makes me wonder what kind of girl Twilight would be if she wasn't the princess of a nation. I can only imagine just how freaky they'd be.

"These are her parents... She's her mom..." I slowly stated.

Stanton pointed to Crescent. "He's a cuck."

The stallion chuckled heartily as he tapped on his leg. "Oh, I'm far too advanced in my age where I can handle another night with her. You see, I'm more into watching the cute little faces Twilight makes when she's teetering on the precipice of an oblivious experience. After all, I made a vow: her joy is my satisfaction."

You know, being that this is the first time I heard Twilight called by another name, I can only imagine the situation forming out to be some weird incestuous voyeur fetish that this guy has. Watching Twilight have sex and masturbating to it from the other side of the room. One particular song placed out of context would just turn this into a fucking nightmare...

...Oh dear God, I had to imagine it. I need serious help.

"This is interesting." Stanton said slowly, probably thinking along the same train of thought as I am.

Meanwhile, Velvet had different ideas. "I'll say! A human female, and Nondis' best friend at that! You and I have got to chat, my dear!"

As soon as her magic glowed around my hand, I tried to think of something that would get me out of going with her. "Ohhh... Wellll... As much as I'd like to, there's this thing I'm supposed to be doing right now─"

"My good sir... Stanton was your name?" She asked him, who responded with a nod. "Great! Please do watch for the press at the door. Last thing I want is a nosy reporter trying to be invasive."

"Not like you aren't already, dear." The stallion quipped.

"Crescent, we've talked about this."

Walking beside his wife, he gave her a kiss on the cheek as she dragged me along for the ride. "Yes, you're the one to be invaded."

"Smart old bug you are." She responded with a wink.

"You've always called me that."

Obviously I was not going to get out of this no matter how much I pleaded. The only way that I'd be able to do anything like that is to saw my own arm off. And even then, I'm pretty sure she'd drag that and me along regardless. She was going to have her time with me, and apparently I didn't have a choice in the matter. The most I could do was drop the map to the dining hall for Stanton to see before I disappeared into the halls.

He gave me a wave before I disappeared. "I'll keep an eye out, Mel! Good luck with your... talk!"

One Hour Later...

Guests eventually began to slowly sift into the castle. Stanton stood guard by the door as more friends, associates, and even his older brother made themselves known. Of course, there were the occasional groups of reporters that tried to ask him questions, but were frequently turned away without answers. Reporter traffic especially skyrocketed just a mere two minutes after Nondis returned.

The last reporter tried to pass themselves as a childhood friend of the princess. But it only took Stanton asking them for Twilight's middle name before they got bounced from the scene. Of course there were a few that he managed to argue with before finally allowing them access to the castle. One of those ponies he tried to boot were very insistent in paying the princess her respects. He later found out that she was actually the mayor of the town as opposed to a party crasher. And as a result, he promptly apologized while personally walking her to the dining hall.

After returning, he heard another knock on the door. Upon opening it, he was greeted by two unicorn stallions that appeared to be advanced in their years. "Yes, how may I help you?" He asked the two stallions.

"Well look who it is to greet me at the door! Captain Nondis, it's quite a pleasure to see you." Senator Count responded while trying to mask the sarcasm in his voice.

Eventually, the human acknowledged that he would be correcting several ponies in the midst of his watch. "Captain Nondis is upstairs. My name is Stanton, how may I help you?"

The stallion immediately corrected himself. "Oh, well you know how it is. It's always hard to tell you humans apart. And to think I was going to complement you on your new haircut."

Stanton was not too amused in hearing the assumption that all humans looked the same. He grew highly critical of the two stallions standing at the front door. "Thanks, what are you here for?" He responded with a slight tone of frustration.

The two stallions levitated their gifts as the intern spoke on behalf of his superior. "We're here to offer our respects to the princess on yet another year of success."

"Yes, another year that entropy marches onward to claim our mortal flesh. Isn't it exciting?" Stanton mumbled.

"That's a grim outlook on things... but yes." Senator Count answered back, unsure what to think of his statement. "I am Count DuMonee, and this here is my young associate Single File. The both of us are workplace associates to the princess. We have a third, but he's currently lagging a bit behind. He's off using the lavatory in one of the nearby venues."

"You look like press." Stanton outwardly stated, already placing himself in a position to block the door.

Single File smiled innocently as he turned back towards the senator. "We can assure you that we aren't. Actually, the one who's absent for the moment happens to know the princess personally."

Stanton folded his arms, already setting aside a list of questions that he would ask. "Is that so?"

The senator looked back as he saw a purple figure running down the road at full speed. He breathed a sigh of relief as he shouted to the approaching figure. "Quite. Spike, come introduce yourself!" Senator Count said as he turned back around to face a small reptilian-like creature walking on two's. Stanton knelt down to analyze the creature as it approached him. With a bow, the young drake introduced himself.

"It is an honor and a privilege to meet you... mister uh..."

"Stanton?" Deadpanned the human.

"Yeah! My name is Spike. I'm Twilight's number one assistant, and I have held true to that title for over ten years."

Immediately, he started off with the number one question that he wanted to ask. "What's her middle name?"

"Violet, Twilight's mom named her Violet so that they could differentiate between the two at the dinner table or in discussions." Stanton was about to ask another, but Spike continued to list off more details of the pony in question. "Her mane doesn't end in a curl because Twilight has a major mane-chewing habit that she's reverts to whenever she's nervous or stressed. She has a pet owl named Owlowiscious. Her favorite color is blue. She's obsessively compulsive. She prefers her books on the first and third weeks of the month to be sorted by alphabetical order, and by the decimal system on the second and fourth weeks. Fifth week, she sorts out the books by genre, author and has them shelved by a reverse index system."

Stanton was left in dead silence for a few seconds as he gave a single nod. It was obvious that the young dragon knew her quite well. After a while, he pulled out his phone and started to text his oldest brother. "Yup, she's a bookhorse alright. Guess Alex owes me twenty bucks." He stated proudly before turning his attention back to the young dragon. "Well you seem like you really got her down to a science."

Spike walked into the foyer and pointed towards the hall to the left of the stairs. "Science lab is down this hall, make a right, downstairs into the basement, and the first door to the left."

Again, Stanton was shocked by his knowledge. In actuality, he envied the young dragon for his attention to detail. "And you know this place inside out. Where the hell were you this morning? I got lost somewhere in the castle and I couldn't, for the life of me, find my way back to the throne room. Hell, I'm happy to have found the front door!"

Spike giggled as he offered some advice. "It takes some getting used to. If you memorize Twilight's pattern of organization, you'll find that the layout is a lot less inconvenient."

Stanton couldn't argue the dragon, he knew way more about her than he knew for himself. Much of what Spike told him was nothing but revelation after revelation. And being that the others were considered to be co-workers, he wasn't going to deny them either. "Well I'm not gonna argue that. Since you know your way around, I'll leave you to finding the birthday girl on your own."

"Sure thing. Thanks for opening the door for us." Spike responded while holding his fist out for a bump.

Stanton grew amused by the dragon's charm and gave him a fist bump. "No prob, little dude. Do what you do."

The party of three quietly walked to the upstairs hall and made a turn towards the library. Senator Count silently mumbled to his intern. "Nondis is a fool for having him at the door. Monkeys aren't as smart as he plays them off to be."

"He doesn't look like anyone we've seen. I've seen what they all look like, and that's not one of the ones I've seen before." Spike stated as he pulled a dusty key from behind one of the crystal pillars.

"A new addition?" Single File questioned.

"Obviously, he's gotta be." Spike said with a scoff.

"Well no matter, we're here to make our grievances known." Senator Count said as pulled out a scroll with a blood-red seal emblazoned upon it.

"You memorized the floor plan, right?" Spike questioned as he handed the older stallion the key.

"I don't think I'd be here without doing so." He stated, turning towards his intern, who removed a folded map from within the crack of his present. "And even then, we have a secondary reference."

Spike looked both ways to make sure that they weren't being followed or looked at. Applejack and Rainbow Dash could be heard talking in the distance. As Spike pushed the two stallions out of view, the two mares walked past the hall while giggling and whispering to each other over how Twilight would react to their gifts. He grew silent as his heart became heavy while he watched them pass by.

Deep inside of him, he realized that there would be a part of him that he would never be able to recover if he went through with the plan, but acknowledged that one indirect circumstance would be easier to explain as opposed to being a direct reason. It was a risk that yielded the possibility of him not being able to return to his normal life. But it was a conclusion that was drawn out long ago when he ultimately decided that Nondis had to be out of the picture for him to live his normal life again.

With a coldness in his chest, he swallowed his hesitation and turned back to the two stallions. Pointing towards a door down the hall, he spoke to the two. "My room is just in front of the library, you guys can hang around in there until I tell you to come back out. Be sure not to be seen by anyone, and keep the door locked until you hear my voice."

Spike started to walk off as the two made their way towards the room. "Where are you going?"

"There are a trio of scents that I have grown to sniff out over the past few years. Honey suckle, fresh powder, and vanilla."

Single File waited as Senator Count unlocked the door. As the older stallion entered, he remained outside a little longer to question the dragon. "Alright then. Any particular reason why you would single out those three scents?"

"Because any combination of them would usually result in one pony in particular."

"I see." Single confirmed as he snuck into the room behind his superior. "I wish you the best of luck on your search. At the very least, your part in this operation is almost done."

"I know. Now if you would excuse me... I've got a new look to show off."

Spike took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and envisioned the mare of his desire. His claws began to dig into his palms and his muscles grew stiff all throughout his body. As she plagued his mind, he started to see himself standing above her, looking down to her as he held her from behind, embracing her with a tender hug and a soft kiss to the neck. His breath became heated as he also saw the image of the human standing before him, watching with a jealous frown. The dragon became enthused as he imagined the mare staring up to him, holding him as opposed to defending the human again. A toothy grin was all he gave the human in retaliation.

Upon opening his eyes, his arms was drastically longer. His legs were slender and taller. His chest was slightly more pronounced as his stomach was flattened. His claws were the length of small kitchen knives as he extended them. He then stood at a formidable five feet, six inches. He towered over any pony he would stand next to, even over that of Celestia herself. His voice was several tones deeper as he turned his attention to the hall Applejack and Rainbow Dash walked through. With a smile of confidence and a new swagger that made him seem as if he was glowing with charm, he marched towards the smell that graced his enlarged nostrils.

"My Rarity awaits."

And we're off.

So I've been wondering how to bring Velvet back to the story for... reasons. I kinda have fun writing her and I was laughing up a storm when I first wrote her back in the earlier parts of the story. I guess this would be my primary means of bringing her back, but this time as an additional element to Shining's development. Now the question you're all wondering: Why in the world does she have a mugshot?

Lo and behold, the dragon has entered the ring. Spike has finally learned to control his rage and passion to maintain a form that is capable of showing a physical presence as opposed to being his normally cute and small self. As for the reason why he won't grow any higher than that, it will be explained in a later chapter.

Of course, I kinda had Stanton to hold the idiot ball, but only because he (nor Alex) knows anything about Spike up to this point. And if Senator Count revealed that he was a senator, it would jeopardize their entire operation. As for all what the operation entails, you will have to keep reading to find out.

But now that there are so many elements in one place, how will it all play out? The only way to find out is to read the next chapter.

I can assure you that it will be interesting.