I went to sleep after everything had hit me all at once. While the stress of my day eventually wore off little by little, I was left with this cold patch somewhere inside my chest. I couldn't tell if I was nauseous or just in physical pain altogether. But the more I thought about her, the worse it got. So all throughout the night, tossing my head back and forth, I tried to flush my brain of it.

Eventually, my sleep became some sort of epic fight where several nodes and kingdoms would try to charge against a huge crystal spire that contained my sanity. I sent armies in various directions, plotting, planning, devising a way to defend my keep. Eventually, the keep would look an awful lot like the one that encircled Canterlot Castle. The massive crystal spire turned red as I tried to do whatever I could to keep the outside forces from getting in. Large beasts broke the gates, and I was forced to call everyone back in.

The immediate threat was then sent away, leaving me to clean up the damages. But it was never-ending, I was sending troops from one area to another, to another, back home, to another, back home again, and then to another, glowing rings surrounded the castle, icy explosions of power shattered the sky above, and all was left was this dark red sky that ended with a painful jolt into my left hand.

It was a hell of a weird dream, that had me to wake up to the sight of Melanie using a butterfly needle to draw in blood samples. She giggled as my eyes cracked open. "Morning sleepy head."

"Morning." I croaked out weakly.

She was kind enough to wipe the sleep out of my eyes for me as she spoke. "You seem like you've been awake for a while, I take it you didn't get much sleep."

I looked at the clock and saw that it was 6:30 in the morning. But the last numbers I recorded from that clock on the wall was in the early hour of five. The sky outside my window had started to turn from deep navy to a rich royal blue. "5:15 in the morning, I had it internalized over the past few days." That was the time I'd usually get up, but it appeared that was the time I had actually fallen asleep instead.

"I'm not sure if you were waking up over that time period, you were in a coma for a week, remember?" She noted.

I groaned tiredly. "That's something I'm still trying to process."

"I understand, it takes some getting used to." She said before she started poking at my forehead. "But I do have to beat it into your head just to get you to realize that whatever was on your schedule wasn't going to fit anymore."

While I felt a significant increase of strength in my arms from yesterday, my mind felt like complete mush. At that point, I was just saying whatever without really meaning it. "I feel like I can go for a little more today." I lied.

"Oh, not that there's much of a choice in your case. The parliament is wanting to see you today, another summons." She said with a sarcastic tone imitating some childish jubilation.

At least this reaction from me was indeed genuine. "For fucks sake, another one? What do these assholes want!?" I think I sounded like a frustrated angsty teen.

"It's not requested by the politicians, it's requested by the royals."

Again, I was angsty. "What do they want?"

"Well, I think it had something to do with your little piece of paper over to your right." She pointed out, having me look to the scroll with the broken wax seal. My heart started to ache again as I recognized what gave me trouble sleeping.

"Oh yeah, that's a thing now." I said as I tossed to my side. At least I had the little bit of energy to do that.

As I laid on my side, my eyelids proceeded to get heavier and heavier. At one point, I was ready to fall back into my sleep before the door swung open, giving way to a loud and boisterous Cliff. "Haha! My man!"

I just can't win today. I turned back to face the door and see Cliff and Rickey walking into the room. "Look at you, being a total jackass to death himself." Rickey stated happily.

"Ugh, this makes it how many times now?" I groaned, taking that thought into perspective.

"Dunno. But we went out and got you a little something-something." Cliff said as he walked back into the hall, using his foot to prop the door open. When he walked back in, he was pushing an empty wheel chair up to my bedside. "Bam!"

"Aw, for me? You shouldn't have." I said with a froggish tone. While Melanie raised my bed to sit me up, I started to move myself to sitting on the edge.

"Mel was bitching to me about getting a wheelchair for you on the way here today." Rickey said crudely before he shied away from the mean-mugging nurse. He sheepishly tried to correct himself. "I-I mean y-you're not a─"

"I don't care, asshole." She harshly stated. "Stopped caring since we broke up."

I felt the room become slightly tense, offering to change the subject back to the present. "Oh. Did anyone harass you about that on the train?" I asked in regards to the wheelchair.

Cliff shook his head. "Hell nah. Remember when ol' girl said something about making us portals?"

I remember something along those lines... Celestia told me herself that she'd allow for them to come as they pleased. Damn, I forgot that shit takes only a month after they figure out where you're going. "Oh they finished those!?" That bit of news did wake me up significantly.

"Yeah, we get a free pass on our own now. Of course we might have to take a drive to your apartment if we wanna get to Ponyville." Rickey quickly answered.

I suppose that makes the travel from one place to another significantly easier. It's rather interesting how our word can be used as a sort of nexus port where we just drive fifteen minutes down the street to get from Canterlot to Ponyville. Normally that would take us four to six hours, depending on the delays and rail conditions on the mountain. For me, no more trains, love it already. But that does leave a few questions. "Where does it come through to?"

Cliff was the first to speak about his portal. "Mine's comes out of my closet, sorta like yours. I had to buy a damn body-length mirror before I went and did some dumb-ass shit trying to climb through the frat bathroom mirror."

Rickey raised his hand, pointing to Melanie. "Mine's kinda being used already. It's at Mel's place."

Holy hell, that just turned my 15 minute drive to a five minute walk! This nexus portal thing could be pretty handy, dangerous to a certain degree, but useful. "What's yours doing all the way over there?"

"Because I threatened to share his embarrassing fetish to the whole campus if he didn't." Melanie answered with a stern look to Rickey.

"Blackmail, seriously?" I asked.

"It works when it's an emergency situation."

...Not even gonna ask, it saved my ass so I can't complain. "So I got a question?"

"Bathroom?" Melanie finished, causing me to save my breath.

"You read my mind."

After my visit to the bathroom, I was given some privacy to shower and brush my teeth. Afterwards, I had gotten some help from Alex in dressing me. Alex, who had gotten in from talking with Vanessa again, had went out and bought some clothes for me to wear since I was a distance away from Ponyville and the portal on that end was shut off for a maintenance check. By the time I had thrown on the clothes he had bought me, I realized just how odd it felt to wear them.

Usually everything I wore were to my EXACT measurements. So whenever I wore a t-shirt, it was never exactly a large, medium, or what have you. It was me, it was perfect, and it was often a lot more expensive and more decorative. So me wearing a plain cream Marc O'Polo shirt with some Wrangler jeans two sizes too big around the waist was a bit odd for me.

But luckily the belt he purchased was woven instead of notched, so I could tighten it to my size.

After all of that, I was made clean and absent of old-person-trapped-on-the-hospital-bed smell. I smelled like Old Spice, I got a bit of a trim, and my hair was combed to look like I was ready for business... for the most part. I never really paid attention to it, but my hair had grown down to shoulder length. I also had a mustache, and a fairly trimmed goatee. Guess I'll experiment with the look for a while.

After all of that, I was finally checked out of the medical wing for a bit to attend the summons. Alex, Rickey, Cliff, and Stanton all accompanied me as we entered the chamber. When I was wheeled into the room, a deafening hush soon washed over every senator and politician present. A few of them turned to their peers and whisper while pointing at me. What started as a light series of hisses from one area grew to imitate a pit of angry snakes. Blueblood called the room to attention. "Order! We will have order!"

As I was wheeled in place beside Blueblood at the center of the floor, one senator from the right side of the room threw out to his peers. "Behold, the esteemed Captain of the Royal Guard. It's like he chooses to be lazy at his job."

Alex was having none of it. "Another outburst like that, I'm gonna show just how quick I can make you shut up."

"It's just a bit of banter, a little ribbing. Obviously he can take some of that if he can take a knife." The same politician responded.

"Careful, I heard he's a cripple now." One other senator threw out harshly.

"Is that why he's being lugged around like some box on a dolly?" Another senator asked.

"Special delivery!" One senator joked at my expense.

"ORDER!" Blueblood screamed.

"Up." I heard another politician whisper to one of his colleagues, causing him to giggle.

While I took the ill-willed banter for nothing greater than a group of jabbering idiots, I proceeded to clear my mind for the cause ahead. But in the inner recesses of my mind, I was thinking to myself.

Finally, one of the politicians got to the program and opened up the floor for dialog. "So I suppose you didn't piss off the royals, did you? Never seen a royal summon you to court."

"Oh he's been summoned to court alright!" Another senator joked, causing a few giggles to erupt.

I instinctively held my hand to refrain my older brother from lunging himself into the stands. "Alex, chill."

He spoke through gritted teeth, trying to push past my arm. "But these guys─"

"Are on edge. You got their main guy, and now they're doing whatever it takes to save face." As I was saying that, I scanned the room for one face in particular, only to find that Count DuMoneé was nowhere to be seen. Pity, if he were here I would've lost my composure some time ago, but it feels like they're just trying too damn hard to get to me. Granted, their barbs are a bit irksome, but it's like the sting isn't there. "It just happens that they suck at it."

Blueblood cleared his throat as he loudly announced to the room. "Hear ye! Hear ye! Summons is now in session! The honorable Princess Celestia presides."

The quartet of alicorns approached the panel. Celestia and Luna sat at center while Cadance sat beside Luna, Twilight sitting beside her former mentor. Shining followed the four and sat beside his wife as Celestia looked down and smiled at me. "Captain, it is good to see you."

"Likewise, your highness." I said with a nod, lowing my head as much as I could to notate a bow.

"My lady, are you certain that this cripple is capable of carrying our country's security under his current condition?" A politician from the right stated. "He appears to be unfit for the task if walking appears to be an issue."

"Your highness, it does concern us that he would remain in office if this were to be shown as a life-long issue." One senator from the left stated.

"Finally, someone on the other side of the aisle speaks some sense!" Another politician, noticeably sitting where Count would normally sit, states with a proud smirk.

"Order!" Celestia called out, instantly silencing the room. "He is my selection, and I am confident in his abilities beyond his duties on the front line. From what I was told, his condition is only temporary."

Alex then went on to speak. "To simply explain, he's recovering from a lack of muscle movement as well as overexerting himself in the hospital yesterday. He's currently recovering from his wounds, and he will be ready to take back his position within the next two weeks."

"Two weeks seems like a promise for our enemies to come by and pay us an unexpected visit." Another politician replied.

"Then I'll be more than capable of taking over that position." Shining declared.

"You're even more incompetent than him!" Another representative stated. "At least he came back from the mountain with all thirty of his guards! How many did you come back with? I believe that number was pretty... minuscule in contrast."

"You guys are just biting at anything you see in the pond, aren't you?" I called out to the members of the parliament.

Another stood up and pointed at me. "I'm just waiting for you to be reprimanded on your trying to take from the royal treasury!"

"That's right! Lock him up!" One hollered out, causing his peers to cheer and rally behind him.

Luna looked to her older sister, who nodded at her. She then slowly took a deep breath, unfurled her wings, and unleashed a volume that could deafen whoever dared to be within inches of her. Her voice rattled the room, an omnidirectional soundwave that caused the very fixtures in the room to shudder.

While Alex and the other humans were knocked to the ground, I had already plugged my ears closed. It was often that I heard of the legendary amplification effect of one's voice, known as the Royal Canterlot Voice, or YE-OLDE-CAPSLOCK. But never have I thought that plugging your ears would only result in a minimal noise reduction. Don't want to be in her face when she does that again.

Celestia thanked her sister and carried on with her statements. "We have spoken with him as he recovered from his injuries. It is confirmed that his intentions were solely focused on the welfare of the former victims' families. Therefore, we do not find him guilty of inciting any treasonous activities on the funding of obtained royal goods."

An eruption of jeers and cries of disapproval came raining down from over half of the room. Luna quickly brought their complaints to an end with yet another round of her booming voice. "ORDER!" She hollered. Only this time, the other humans were well prepared for the blast.

As the room stood in dead silence, we heard the noise of one figure clearing her throat from the overseer's stand. "Your highness, may I take to the floor?"

"You may proceed, Princess Twilight." Princess Celestia said with a nod.

With instant transmission, she poofed her way to my side, walking to face me, standing between me and the several hundred politicians. "Nondis P. Haines." She said with a humble bow. "Your service to our country has been nothing but admirable. In the short period of time you have face one of our most sought-after adversaries. And though you showed the power and might of your species, you have also showed the compassion and respect often recognized in a leader of the highest standing."

A few of the politicians rolled their eyes and waved their hooves to mock her talking. "Stroking his ego, there she goes." One muttered.

The next of him replied. "What an absolute brood."

"SILENCE!" Shining's voice hollered out, not producing as much volume as Luna but giving a more intimidating edge to the sharpness of it's presence. Even a few of the bickering politicians drew back out of fear.

While others have been oblivious as to what was being said, my brothers and I weren't so oblivious. The three of us would often go on our hunting trips out in Wimberley, but our grandmother had a ranch out that way. So whenever we visited our grandparents, we'd tend to the various animals there. "Brood... brood... broodmare?" And we were VERY familiar with that word and it's connotation. Alex was quick to show his anger. "Your highness, can I shoot him, please!?"

I gave him a nudge and whispered. "Alex, chill."

The purple princess smiled sweetly as she saw that I too wasn't very thrilled to hear the insults to her but was strong enough not to break her example. "Thank you. The show of class you continue to display is what we often seek to maintain the mantle of leadership in our country. So with an honest heart, I hereby congratulate you on your official status of being the Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard."

More eye-rolling and groaning came from the usual area. "More of this ego polishing? Seriously."

Twilight's ears fell as she used her magic to grasp at my hand. "Now I shall speak to you as a suitor. In your unwavering service to me, I have seen you achieve the unthinkable, braving through what could be said as the hardest trials a non-magical being could ever face in his lifetime. It takes a lot to be able to maintain your composure when going against things you fully don't comprehend. But you still showed me why you are an excellent candidate. You would be nothing short of miraculous for any mare, and I love that about you."

I bowed my head in acceptance. "Thank you, your highness."

"However, not all things are endless." And then the bitter reality of what was happening before them started to manifest on the others' faces. Some politicians rose from their boredom and propped themselves up to listen. Celestia grew a concerned frown as Twilight continued. "You have, once more saying, showed to me and many others in this room that you are capable of standing before the life you swore to protect with fealty and admiration of them. And I shall surely take notice of your accomplishments. So it is with a heavy burden that I must say to you..."

Blueblood looked up to Shining with confusion. "What is going on?"

And finally, she said it.

The entire room broke out in gasps and shouts of awe and disbelief. Politicians on the right were so off guard that they didn't even know how to give a response to it. Some on the left were debating amongst themselves about the affair. Luna and Celestia stared at one another with shock. Cadance took a deep breath and turned her head.

Shining crumpled and covered his face with his foreleg. "No... Dammit."

Blueblood seemed to look back to the other royals before turning back to show a grim scowl on his face. "Faust fucking sake, another one? Tell me we are NOT doing THIS again."

Meanwhile, the other humans who joined me were showing signs of disgust, mainly at Twilight. "WHOA, HOLD ON A MINUTE!" Stanton hollered at her. "You're just gonna dump him!? IN PUBLIC!?"

"That's how it is here." I intervened, realizing this public display was for a valid reason. "If anything, this was long-since planned. I expected this to occur."

Cliff stepped in front of me, grabbing my shoulders as he shook me a little. "Non, my nigga, how da fuck you good with this?" He then balled his hands into fists, gritted his teeth, took two steps away before storming back at me and knocking against my chair. "You in a damn wheelchair, straight from the hospital, and she just out and throw yo ass in the street like that? C'mon, bruh! Da fuck you mean, you cool with da shit!? I'm straight-up heated for yo ass!"

"Dude, we've been fighting for a month straight. I think this is fine." I confessed, causing the others to look at Twilight with newfound mistrust.

Celestia threw in her voice to interject. "Well then... I suppose we should discuss this."

Twilight then cut her short. "There's nothing else to discuss. He and I decided that our relationship had grown too hostile for us to stabilize."

"So..." Blueblood hissed slowly with anger. "You are aware that a severance here would mean his disqualification of any future pursuit of you, correct?"

Twilight's head fell at the thought and her eyes threatened to release tears, but she shut them to hold them back. She took a series of calming breaths, placing her hoof on her chest and extending it out in front of her. Finally, she perked up and looked at the blond-maned prince with a brave front. "I am aware of this."

By those words, Blueblood simply gave a sarcastic nod before trotting away from his post and out of the chamber, never to return. Luna stammered to carry on where Blueblood had left off. "Y-y-you sir, you are also to be made aware that this severance would mean that you are prohibited from engaging with her or any other royal in standing."

It's not like I have much of a choice in the matter. Even if I didn't want this to happen, the severance was mainly her power and hers alone. If I did it, then it would bring about some rather nasty charges that would probably have me become something akin to a eunuch. This is before a host of witnesses, she's the one laying the law, and I'm the one who will abide.

Again, it's not something that I want to do, but for the sake of our future as friends... "I am aware, and will acknowledge."

Celestia, who appeared crestfallen, called out to her former student. "I must say... I am... dismayed." She pleaded to her once more. "Twilight, he is a truly wonderful suitor for you. I know that you two may have had differences, but to break off any potential future the two of you will have is rather bewildering."

"It is to be expected." One voice in particular spoke out, itching the high royal's ear. "He hasn't been completely honest with her."

Unfortunately, my legendary patience with the politicians didn't translate to the likes of Cadance. In her case, she was directly interfering with our relationship, our love life, and my interactions with others. So she became the first one I fired back at. "Like you haven't been completely honest with your husband and your attachment issues?"

Those words, not even that loud in volume, brought a hush that not even Luna could invoke. Twilight covered her muzzle with horror while Shining shot back up to defend his wife. "Nondis, that was out of line."

I didn't care at that point. If this was going to happen, then I'm going to put everything out on the floor for them to understand. So I offered my apologies to the one that I did have decent terms with. "I'm sorry Shining. But it's like every conversation Twilight and I had, she played third wheel and jump in Twilight's corner without even asking me what the hell is going on. She's always treating me like I'm some sort of problem when it comes to everything!"

"That's because I've known her for a while. You might not see it, but I get on her case too." Cadance explained.

I quickly replied. "You take her to spa days, I get briefed and then worked like a damn Hebrew slave. You know, for one holding the title 'Princess of Love', you sure are very partial of who you share your advice with and how you go about it."

The pink princess chuckled as she mocked me. "So you're mad at me over a spa?"

"No, I'm mad because you fly in saying you're the love doctor where you only end up playing the role of the feel-good girl for half of the party. It's like for the past twenty-some-odd days, you've been so crabby that you don't even give me helpful advice as much as you jump into arguments to find ways to complain about me. You need to own up to your controlling issues before you even consider wearing that teacup-looking ass crown of yours. As a counselor you're supposed to be impartial, not running to the defense of your sister-in-law. You are part of the reason why we're like this, because you inject so much of yourself into us, that you forget we're completely different people."

The atmosphere of the room became awkwardly tense, leaving the politicians to be nothing more than a mere audience to the debate she and I had. "So did the wheels come off of the love train already." One whispered to another.

I looked at the one who made the comment, who turned his head away whistling to the ceiling. I turned my attention back to the pink princess with an emboldened tone. "So yeah, thank you Cadance, for destroying what we had between us. Mi Amore Cadenza!" I paused for a second and mumbled to myself. "Your name should be Mi Total Bitch Cadenza. I think that's fits you better."

Celestia quickly turned to the pink princess and spoke. "I was unaware that this rift had occurred. Cadance is this true?"

"I only did my best to help Twilight with all of her questions." She answered in a innocent tone.

"And you helped me by doing what?" I continued to grill her for the truth.

"I tried to keep you out of trouble. You chose not to listen to me, you never do! I can't help someone who's not even willing to help themselves." She said once more, blaming me for her interactions. Her response caused me to push against the armrests of my wheelchair, anchoring me as I staggered to my feet.

"You..." Before I could say something else, a crushing fatigue ran rampant throughout my body, causing me to quickly lose balance and stumble back down. The locks on the wheels weren't set in place so I nearly ended up falling to the ground. If it wasn't for Alex and Stanton holding me up, I would've taken a bad spill.

Gasps and cries of awe sounded throughout the room as I was assisted back into the chair. Twilight, in seeing the two of us going at each other in such a manner grew upset. She clenched her eyes shut as she quickly teleported to Celestia's side. The eldest princess comforted the younger while Luna looked to me with disappointment.

The visual of the exchange of emotions fueled debate amongst many of the politicians, some even hatching theories and conspiracies. One from Count's camp even stood up to point at us and shout to the congregation. "Incredible, the royals turn on the very one they championed to their side! Oh sweet irony, thine face is beautiful!"

Luna continued to give me a stern expression as she questioned me before the gathering. "Nondis, agreeing to something like this would ultimately remove you from many considerations of power. And it is your only chance to be with her. If you turn this down─"

I could already tell from the sight of Twilight hiding in her wings that this thing had ran on long enough. Shining walked up to his younger sibling and comforted her, she responded by throwing her forelegs around him in a tight hug. He petted her as he turned to me with a hurtful frown. I wanted to do something for her, but I knew that was no longer my place.

With a sigh of exasperation, I weakly replied. "Your highness, I am weary. Please be done with it so that I may rest."

"...Then it is decided." Celestia said softly with a deflated tone. "By royal decree, I hereby strip Nondis P. Haines of the title of royal suitor. And under the articles of Processu Approbati, your considerations are permanently revoked. You are hereby prohibited from pursuing any other of royal stature. May this decree be known in the highest office and be sent to the lowest lands of Equestria. Motion is carried."

With one solid smack of the gavel, I felt like I was just sentenced to prison. The whole room felt like I was going to be put away for a long time, where in reality it was the furthest thing from being that. Yet I still couldn't help but to feel that way. Maybe it was the sad sound of Celestia's voice, or even the bitter glares I got from Cadance, I felt like I just hit a brick wall in life.

Thankfully, that feeling didn't come with handcuffs of any kind, but support from my peers... mostly. "Bruh, you fucked up." Cliff said while shaking his head.

I watched Twilight slowly recover from her emotions, eventually standing stoic with an empty expression on her face, Shining continuing to pet her mane as she stood in place. My heart sank looking at her like that. "For once I'm hoping you're wrong." I answered back.

Celestia wasted no time, she sent me off and tended to the parliament once more. "Summon is hereby dismissed, onto the next order of business."

If you thought the politicians rambling and ranting on about what happened in summons was noisy, then the news spreading throughout the castle would be as ear-friendly as a roaring jet engine in a small concrete room. Everywhere we went, there had to have been one group of guards passing by on patrol muttering about it, only to get quiet and stare when we pass by. The maids were probably the worst offenders, they had so many jokes and laughs at my expense and then got quiet when we came around.

And of course, it wasn't like we didn't talk about it either. Stanton had pushed me along while he spoke quietly. "I cannot believe y'all just up and split like this."

"It was coming. I didn't want it to happen." I explained.

Stanton patted me on the shoulder as if to console me after a hard blow. "But what are you gonna do now? Aren't you supposed to be helping them with that dumb-ass law?" Rickey asked.

"Dude, why even bother?" Cliff growled bitterly. "If she's gonna do you like that in your worst moment, then they can suffer for all I care."

...Okay, that's an odd response. But I understand where his anger's coming from.

A bit of background on him: Cliff had an ex girl who he really felt like was 'wifey material'. They were going out since junior year of high school, graduated together, enrolled together. But as time went along, the end result only produced pain and heartache on both of their parts. She did some things, he did some things, she got mad, he cussed her out, she cheated, he found out cause the guy she was cheating with was fucking her during a phone call. Then the video got leaked around campus, she changed schools, and he's been single since.

So his anger comes from a lack of trust for girls who 'play dirty'. But still, Twilight isn't that type of girl. I challenged him on his words. "Don't you think you're being a little too personal about this?"

He gave off a grunt and a long sigh. "Okay, maybe I overreached there." He said, patting himself on the chest to admit his wrongs. "I'm just... pissed. Aren't you?"

How can I not be? I didn't even get a proper reason for why I woke up from a coma to getting dumped. But then I had to remember that our last time together was a fight. Perhaps this was for the best. "It happens."

"You're in a fucking wheelchair, how could you not be pissed?" He argued.

Again, he brought up another valid point. And it's not like I felt like a total embarrassment when I fell out of the chair earlier. But I was going to keep those thoughts to myself. "It's a small stumbling block, this isn't something permanent."

While my mind started to become a bit of a distraction, something else proved to be an even greater disturbance. A loud voice rang through the halls. "IN-CON-CEIVABLE!"

The sharpness of the tone caused many guards and maids in the hall to scatter about, hiding behind the stone columns. And for many of us, we already knew who's voice that belonged to. "Ooooh... isn't that─"

And it came from the hall just up ahead. "Yup. Let's check in on them before it starts to get ugly."

When we approached the corner, we tried to remain hidden from the view of the two arguing princesses. Standing on one side was Princess Celestia who looked far more incensed than usual, and the other was a pleading yet composed Cadance. The two carried one while we watched them from a distance.

"I'm sorry, auntie! I was just concerned for Twilight! I only followed your example!"

"You followed your intuition without any valid evidence, it's prejudice! Your meddling has caused a rift in not only the relationship of Twilight, but also the future of Nondis!"

Judging from the sound of her voice, Celestia sounded like she was more than heated. But it didn't stop Cadance from making her case.

"You commended Twilight for following her intuition, why should this be any different!?"

"Because Twilight knew you, she knew what to look out for. Even if I was so blind to see it myself, she was observant enough to discern if your husband was marrying you or an impostor! Her reasoning was valid!"

Cadance pointed to herself as she emphasized her point. "And I know Twilight! I know how easily she can get hurt with these things!"

By then, Celestia stepped in Cadance's way, speaking closely with an unusual timbre. Each word sounded like steam from a boiling tea pot. "Excuse me... So are you to assume that my hooves-off approach on her intimacy was without merit?"

Just the expression on Celestia's face made even me want to step back, and I was way further down the hall. But Cadance remained undeterred. "I'm just saying a bit of guidance and intervention was all it took for me to give her the best outcome for her future! Everything up to a certain point was as you wished it, hooves off. But that only got them in deeper trouble. I saw how they were acting after you called them aside! I knew then that it was time to step in."

The elder royal stepped away for a second before looking back to her minor. "Cadance, do you not remember the times when I consoled you, when I offered guidance during your engagement? Not once did I ever overstep any boundaries with Shining Armor. Indeed, I was very stern with him, but I was also stern with you."

"I know, and I was stern with Twilight too! I did everything I could to keep her on the right path, to keep her out of trouble! I went the extra mile, and even she grew objective towards me."

"But for some odd reason, I could never imagine her being so vehemently engaged with you. And it's not as if I haven't noticed your bias for Twilight. She is your sister-in-law, that is true. But your treatment was disproportionate. You spent more time discussing with her than you did negotiating with Nondis. You hardly informed him of anything that you and Twilight agreed on, leaving it to her to break the news you knew she was hesitant to tell." After her rant of obvious disappointment, Celestia calmed her voice and urged Cadance to continue walking with her. "If you were going to intervene in such a manner, it would've been a practice of decorum to approach them simultaneously!"

"As if I can keep up with him! He's always on the move!"

Celestia chuckled at the younger royal's excuse. "I remember when Shining was half a world away and how easy it was for me to maintain some form of consensus between us three." But then her tone changed to that of a serious one. "You failed in that regard, and now a life is forever changed! If Twilight still feels for him at any point, it will be damning to any of her future suitors! And you can already attest to how difficult it is to find her one, or even how insurmountable it was to have Shining agree with your terms during the start of you relationship! You played their sides as if you were in the relationship with him, and you failed!"

Finally, Cadance backed down with her ears lowered and her head bowed. "I was just doing what was for the best."

Thought Celestia still showed disappointment and some anger, she was still able to appear rather maternal to the younger royal. With a hoof to the chin, Cadence's head was raised to look at her mentor. "And it was made worse, Cadenza. This is a lesson to learn from, follow my example and step no further than I would."

The two proceeded to walk down the hall once more, their voices trailing off as they slowly disappeared from a clear focus. We continued to listen up until they left. "So... what now?"

"A stabilization period is necessary for the next three months. We shall continue the search for an appropriate suitor as she recovers. Then we will provide her with a promising proposal."

"Still following on Mrs. Velvet's request?"

"This time we'll have to move to one with an already distinguished career. We don't have time to start over."

"Well there's always Flash Sentry─"

While their voices tapered off into the distance, the rest of us finally took a breath and process the conversation that took place. "Ain't that some shit?" Cliff said with a scoff.

While the words started to fade into the air, they only grew louder in my head. Just after this was all done, they're already trying to do what they can to get Twilight involved with someone else... I know, I know, I was the first to advertise this so it shouldn't affect me. But for the strangest reason, it feels like I'm so small in the grand scheme of things, especially after so long of feeling so big.

Reality came to send my skyward ego barreling towards the ground. "So... that hurts a little. Guess I was the rebound for Flash after all." I muttered quietly.

"That's a pretty terrible suggestion."

The five of us quickly turned around to see who had snuck up on us and spoke. Most of us had grabbed either for our chests or for the nonexistent weapons on our waists. Alex was the first to address the orange pegasus standing behind us. "Where did you come from?"

"I was patrolling around and then I saw a bunch of humans peeking around a column. I just waltzed around to see what the fuss was about. And unfortunately that came up again." Flash said with a nervous voice.

"What came up again?" Rickey asked.

"You mean you and Twilight?" I correctly guessed.

The pegasus rapidly shook his head. "No thank you. I don't have that charisma or the techy stuff to distract Shining Armor with. And Cadance was already mouthing up a storm about you. Oh, and don't even get me started with the unreasonable demands from the parliament. You stuck it out far better than anypony ever could with your track record."

"Weren't you her first crush anyways?" I inquired. "How did that even come about?"

"She walked through a magical mirror, walked back out, and both her and Cadance stared at me from the end of the hallway. That went on for months before Cadance started buttering me up on Twilight, and at first I thought it was kinda nice."

The others gave him a sagely nod as Alex spoke up. "And then big brother came along?"

The pegasus cringed as he thought about it. "Yeah, he told me about the Approval Process Law to get me ready. By then, I already made up my mind."

"Chocolate box full of nope?" I said.

"It was horrible. Cadance forced me to go on dates with Twilight, and it doesn't help when Shining's breathing down my neck. And her mom was... out there."

He's not lying there, I can testify to it. "I feel you, buddy."

"Oh yeah, and then there's the massive pressure from my family to go through with it anyways. Plus... well..."

Cliff waved his hand in a circular motion, urging him to continue. "What?"

As he started to explain himself, Flash's cheeks started to flush pink while his eyes shimmered brightly. His voice became airy and filled with an adolescent-like charm. "There's this cute mare I don't know how to approach. She's a bit of a bookworm, and all she does is study. So it's like awfully hard to talk to her or even get her attention without getting her upset. So I just leave little notes on her welcome mat telling her how great she is.♥"

For the others, his description seemed to paint an almost familiar face. For me, it painted only one picture. "You sure you're not talking about Twilight?"

"No chance." He answered coldly while crossing his forelegs.

All of us stared at each other for a few seconds as his face started to turn beet red again. While his mind wandered, his body started to rock from side to side as he giggled and hummed with glee. Apparently he was caught up in some memory of whoever his crush was. But the fact that he started to sway around was making it awkward for the rest of us. Ricky looked at me with raised eyebrows as he spoke to the stallion. "Well, we wish you the best. Have fun with your um... courtly love there."

"Ah... Moondancer.♥" He replied longingly. I could already see the hearts swallowing the pupils of his eyes.

Alex nudged me and whispered in my ear. "Let's bounce before Lil' Romeo here gets a little excited."

"No kidding."

After getting back from the summons, I was promptly reported back to the medical wing. There, I was given my first meal of the day and a nice period of rest before the hard work of getting myself back on my feet ensued. Usually, I'd have the upper body strength to sustain myself, but being that I was out cold for a week my muscles hadn't completely recovered from the lack of signals being sent to them.

So when I was asked to walk from one side of the room to the other, I encountered significant issues. The first thing was that my body was terribly woozy after trying to hold myself on the support bars for so long. The second was my legs, not being as active as my arms were in the past twenty-four hours, were so unsteady that I could only take baby steps. And finally, the frustration of realizing that I was nowhere near where I should've been.

Admittedly, I spent half of my time cussing my legs out like they were the ones who stabbed me in the gut.

After the first hour, I was so frustrated that I had to pout about it. Meanwhile Melanie patted me on the back proudly. "I don't know why you're so angry with yourself. You did good."

"I don't remember walking being this hard to do." I confessed.

"Nondis, you're just coming out of a near-death state. It's been a week and you haven't moved at all. You've started off eating some solids, where most times would call for straight liquids. By all accounts, you're doing better than what could be conceivably human. You took knives to some important tendons and ligaments, and walked through most of it. I know some of it is magic, but your ability to do the things you did before you passed out has me thinking that the time you spent here made you something more than human."

I scoffed at her notion, leaning back from my exhaustion. "I don't feel that almighty."

"Of course not, it's not like you're lifting the pen out of my hand using your mind. But your body is showing some really strong willpower. It wants to recover quickly, maybe too quick but we'll have to see if it is a problem."

"Maybe it's all the spells they put me under."

Mel thought about it for a quick second before tapping her pen against the clipboard she held. "That may be the case."

"Well let's hope these spells can get me walking." I said, stubbornly trying to will myself back to my feet, which was met with her pulling me back down to rest.

"Not now. You need to take a break."

"C'mon, Mel."

"I'm the doctor now, so you do as I say. Doctor's orders."

I rolled my eyes as I obeyed her instruction. "Really? *sigh* Fine..."

While I sat, I looked at the wheelchair just across the room. I found myself staring at the object with disdain for it being so far away. But being that my exercise was to walk towards the chair and sit back down, it didn't make me very fond of it. But I thought back to when I was a kid and how I always wanted one of these to play with.... Not a thing I'm very fond of right now.

My drive through memory lane was quickly interrupted by the door next to the chair being opened, producing a familiar face. "Yo!"

I waved weakly at the cyan pegasus with a smile. "Hey Rainbow, what's the forecast?"

"The forecast for Canterlot is: I don't do the weather in Canterlot." She joked. "But it appears to be sunny with a smidgen of cloud cover."

"Sweet. Guess that's a nice thing to have for a picnic." I said before slumping forward.

The pegasus then looked at me with worry. "So, you doin' okay?"

"Still trying to walk." I answered quickly.

She looked around to see the two wooden bars I sat between and the chair that was on the other side of the room. The pegasus quickly became crestfallen. "...Oh."

Melanie then stepped in to explain the situation. "Don't read too much into that. I know you equines are born walking, but we humans aren't."

"We aren't born walking either." Rainbow clarified. "We at least start standing up a few hours after we're born, some of us even learn how to fly in a few days."

"That's my point. Usually takes us six to eight months to start moving around, and it's even longer before we learn to balance ourselves in standing, walking, and then running."

Rainbow blinked with surprise as she was enlightened on a few facts about the human race and our early stages of development. "Oh... You guys are slow learners." She said with a snicker.

"Try walking on your hind legs for an entire day." I answered back.

She laughed at the thought. "I don't think I could do that."

Melanie then walked over to me and started running her fingers through my hair, massaging my scalp. "Eh, don't worry. We're usually like that. But that moment we share with our little cousins, nieces, nephews, and even offspring, it's almost emotional to see them wanting to take those first steps towards independence."

The rainbow-maned mare scratched her head with curiosity. "So is it gonna take you months to learn how to walk again?"

"God no!" I interjected. "It might take me a few days, not even a week."

Melanie patted me on the head as she gave her own evaluation. "We're gonna try to go for a week at least."

"Mel, my legs aren't that bad. I wasn't out that long. I should be up and at it in a few days."

She politely tugged at my hair to have me look her in the face. "But it's important to not overexert yourself, causing more damage to your body."

"I'm not overexerting, I'm just determined." I rebutted.

"You're just hard-headed." She thumped me on my forehead as she said that.

"I am not!" I argued back.

The two of us bickered back and forth for a few seconds, almost forgetting that Rainbow was sitting right in front of us. She stared at the two of us going at it for a while before she finally asked. "So you two are pretty close, huh?"

"We've been best friends since high school. That's almost seven years for us." Mel answered.

"Honestly, if anypony were to guess from an outside perspective, the two of you seem a little closer than that." Rainbow suggested.

Mel shook her head. "Nah, we already talked about that."

"Two of us decided it's better we'd stay friends."

"Though he did kinda shut me down." She said flicking at my ear.

"Me!? You did it first!" I called out.

The two of us continued to argue back and forth. "It was prom! You don't ask me to be the number one in high school when I have other relationship issues to work through."

"But you called me whenever you had a breakup."

"And you called me for phone sex."

My cheeks started to flush red as she said that. "I-I-I did not explicitly call and ask you for phone sex."

"You'd ask about my sex life, you dirty cuck!"

"Hold on..." I said while grabbing her arm. "That does NOT count."

"You were beating your cock like a prisoner of war."

"Like you never masturbate?" I threw back at her.

She shrugged off my comment, feeling unaffected. "If I don't have a guy, I have what matters."

"Let me recall something. 'Mandingo', isn't that the name of the one you keep in a tube sock?"

She gave me a guilty smile. "There's also 'Fernando' and 'Lucy'."

I cocked an eyebrow as I looked to her with bewilderment. "Um... 'Lucy'?"

She dipped down to whisper in my ear, pointing her finger out in front of my face. "She... um.... rotates." She said while circulating her finger before my eyes.

"...Is she any good?" I asked with a might need of knowing.

Her response was a light moan and a giggle.

"AHEM!" Rainbow cleared her throat, bringing me back to the present situation.

To be honest, I was glad she was here to snap me out of it otherwise I'd be in a very compromising situation. Thank goodness these jeans are so baggy that they hide whatever's trying to show up. "Hooo, forgot you were here."

Rainbow's face was flushed while she showed some anger. "Yeah. Obviously."

The door was knocked on once more, bringing in Nurse Redheart, who was accompanied by a guard to hold it open. "Captain Nondis." The guard said with a tone of reverence. "I know you're in the middle of your regiment, but you have a visitor. Princess Celestia wishes to see you personally."

Goddamit, I am going to feel that for the next few hours. "Just wheel me outside, nurse." I mumbled. Mel stood up and pulled me by my upper torso, guiding me up as I tried to plant my legs where I could stand up using the support bars. She wheeled the chair over to me, had me seated, and moved the bars out of the way before Nurse Redheart took over. I was promptly moved out of the room while Melanie and Rainbow waited for me to come back.

Rainbow gave the woman a nudge on her side and quietly asked without looking at her. "So... this 'Lucy' thing, you said it rotates?"

Surprised that she even heard that conversation take place, Melanie's cheeks burned with embarrassment. "Yes."

"...You got another one of those I could borrow?"

After Celestia came around to make a formal statement on the matter and a small apology on Cadance's behalf, I was left with a moment of reflection. After everything I heard in the hallway, I decided to question her about finding another suitor for Twilight. She was initially surprised by my knowing of the subject, but then gave me an honest answer. Apparently Twilight's mother was terrified that her daughter wouldn't wed because of her status and how undesirable it would be to undergo the similar circumstances I went through.

I suppose she'd be the best one to know from a parental perspective. Both her son and daughter were affected by this law. Shining was nearly made mentally incapacitated as well as physically handicapped because of the Arimaspi assignment. And then to watch your daughter become the very cause of someone else's suffering, I know that would be hard to watch. So she made Celestia and Cadance in charge of finding her a husband, much to Twilight's initial displeasure.

We finished our conversation, and I was allowed to work out again. And after three more hours of work, my progress improved by a few inches. But the more I did it, the worse my arms felt. So I was brought back to the room to rest up and eat. Fluttershy was kind enough to bring me some food as Rarity poked and prodded at my clothes. Obviously she didn't like the fit of them. My arms were too weakened for me to use for eating, so Fluttershy was kind enough to feed me. As she tended to me, Fluttershy also told me an amusing story about Celestia's pet phoenix named Philomena.

So she has a pet phoenix... why wasn't I made aware of this sooner?

By the end of the story, she had just finished up feeding me my food and wiping my face clean. "There you go, all fed!"

While I was kinda embarrassed from being babied for a bit, I was incredibly humbled by the moment. It left me with a newfound appreciation for the yellow pegasus. "Thank you kindly, Dr. Fluttershy." I said, also throwing in a reference from her story.

"Oh I wouldn't get too thankful, the doctor's note will be quite expensive." She joked with a light giggle.

I felt my head drop a little when she mentioned the medical bill. I already knew it was going to be tough to pay for that as is, considering that I've been here for over a week. I just hope my healthcare plan takes care of the brunt of it. "Yeah... don't remind me."

"Don't worry about that, I'm sure the local charity groups would do what they could to lobby on your behalf. I'll just keep your name tabbed in case something were to go wrong." She said reassuringly.

That's another thing, usually under the Protected Species Act, I'd have my heath and dental care paid for in full. But now that I'm a guard, that eliminated the former for a latter plan that didn't cover nearly as much. Already, I have several visits under my name, and I'm sure my carrier wouldn't want to touch me with a ten-foot caduceus at this point. But Fluttershy's network with charity groups for animal and emergency relief funds was so substantial that there weren't any doubts about her abilities to work something out for me.

Again, I was humbled by her. "Thanks again."

"Not a problem at all." She said before she hopped out of her chair. "That will be all I can do for you today. Discord and I promised that we'd set aside some time for tea today, it's been a long week without it."

"You know, you don't have to put your life on hold because of me. I mean I appreciate it all the same, but I'm sure Dizzy wants time with you more than you think." I told her.

She replied. "Actually, he's been rather upset with your condition. He's been in higher spirits now that one of his prank buddies is on the mend."

"What a softy." I said with a slight guffaw. "Tell him I said hello."

"He'll be more than excited to hear from you."

Fluttershy took her departure, leaving me and Rarity in the room alone. The white unicorn mare used her magic to play with my toes a bit as she talked to me. "So, you're having trouble walking?"

"Seems to be the case." I admitted. "But like I told Rainbow, this is probably going to be a few days before I'm back up to speed."

Walking to the foot of my bed, she used her hooves to grab at my feet, gently rubbing them while she spoke. "Please, darling. The last thing you need to do is rush yourself back in here. It's already bad enough that I can't use you as a model for the upcoming fashion exhibition. I had to find another model, I can't get any humans to do it either."

...Aw shit, I forgot about that. I was supposed to model for her one of these days. But I still don't think she could've went without a human to display her new new line of human wear. "You asked Cliff and Rickey?"

"Cliff and Rickey are shorter than you. Not only that, but their measurements aren't similar to yours. And if that wasn't enough, they said they were going to spend their weekend catching up on some of their academics. There are times I forget that the bulk of you are actually students."

I know that I missed out on a week's worth of activities, but it's like the past month had shot by. Everything's been fight here, argue there, train here, rescue there, do this, don't do that, et cetera. But it's already that time of the year, huh? "Yeah, that's college life. But usually the weekends are reserved for whatever parties are going on."

"Well, they also said something about studying for finals."

"Yup, it's that time of the semester."

"Indeed. It would also appear that Melanie had been doing some off-time reading. Twilight says she would help in her efforts, but I fear her methods would be a bit tedious."

"Hmm...." Just the thought of me studying with Twilight already seemed more sweat-inducing than hard labor and sex. But if we were in a normal relationship, somehow that's exactly how this would turn out. She'd probably dangle the reward of what could be the best and kinkiest sex in my life in front of me every time we'd take a break. And if I didn't do too well, she'd give me some positive reinforcement along with a foot in the ass. Even more so, she'd tell me she'd love me whenever we finished up and we got through teasing each other about our study habits.

That or she could be an absolute Hitler with me, forcing me to pay attention to every footnote and word on her flashcards. She'd probably call me a jerk for not taking things too seriously and scream at me, like she did when I was being introduced into the E.U.P.. She would've probably surprised me with something cute later on if I did well, or punish me if I didn't do too well. And no doubt she'd be more interested in our material than I would, she'd be a crazy bookworm, more than she already is.

Rarity spoke up, breaking me out of my train of thought. "Oh right, the two of you..."

"Yeah." I said slowly, realizing that it would be unlikely for us to become that. Our relationship was never normal to begin with, and I guess there was some part of it that ended up being fun to a certain extent, the taboo factors and whatnot. But the rest of it, it wasn't. A lot about what happened today made me think about myself as a suitor to anyone, not just Twilight.

Moving on will take a bit of time. Of course there will be moments where I feel like I could stick my dick in just about anything, but there wouldn't be anything past that. I couldn't take anything seriously for a while if I chose to carry on, because there were so many firsts with her that I can't help but to compare and contrast for the time being.

And given the individual sitting before me, I know that doing something with her would be problematic for the foreseeable future. She's expressed that she wants me to give her a chance, and I've entertained the thought a few times. But as far as giving her a relationship or anything physical right now is out of the question. Basically, I need some time and space before we start talking about anything.

But that didn't stop Rarity from her attempt to break the ice. "So..."

That attempt would go short-lived.

Over on the stand by the window, my phone vibrated to indicate I had a call coming in. Rarity walked over to it, using her magic to grab it. "I suppose that must be that device of yours."

My arms were still too weak to lift themselves from the ordeals of earlier today. I opted to relegate the opportunity to operate my phone to the fashionista. "There's an icon on the screen that looks like an odd horseshoe, you see it?"

"Slide to answer?" She said, continuing to read the screen. "It also says 'Dad'."

I thought about it for a few seconds, realizing that I hadn't called him or talked to him in a long time. I also realized that ignoring him would only mean he'd call back again. It didn't matter how long I'd waited, he'd blow up my phone just to get me to either cut it off or answer it. Cutting it off wasn't really something she knew how to do, and I wasn't going to subject her to the torment of the games my father plays. "Tap your hoof lightly on it and slide it to the right." I instructed. "Next, tap where it says 'Speaker'."

She held the phone up in her magic as she looked at it. "Okay, what do I do now?"

As soon as she finished speaking, my dad's voice came blaring out of the phone like an alarm, nearly spooking the poor mare. "Hello!? Hello, who is this!?"

"Just follow my lead." I whispered to her before answering the man on the line. "Hey dad."

"Lord above, boy, I've been trying to get a hold of you for days!"

"Sorry, I was kinda busy. Couldn't really reach for my phone." I replied.

"For nine days, son? You've been going straight to voicemail for nine days! I'm concerned!"

I shook my head as I answered him. "I'm fine, dad. What's going on?"

"What's going on!? Me and your mother get a phone call from Vanessa telling us that you were in a hospital! You tell me what the hell is going on!"

...Oh shit... "I got a little banged up. But I'm okay now."

Suddenly, the door flew open, startling both me and Rarity. Applejack was the first to barge in as she announced in a loud voice. "Hey Nondis!" She hollered as Rainbow, Melanie, and Celestia trailed her. "Rainbow and Ah was talkin' with Princess Celestia and Melanie on how we can work together to get ya up an moving again!"

While I couldn't move my arms to gesture anything to get them not to talk, My dad managed to overhear her loud booming voice. "WHAT THE HELL!? WHO THE HELL IS RAINBOW AND PRINCESS CELESTIA!?"

Rarity facehoofed while I could only stammer. "Oh, uh."

"Maybe we should all be quiet for a bit." Melanie said, quieting the others as she took the task of explaining what was going on to my father. "Hi Mr. Haines, how are you?"

When he heard her voice, he was not amused. "Melanie, I know you like to cover up for my son because you like him, but right now I need some honest truth. What the hell is going on with my son!?" He inquired furiously. "I'm hearing something about him getting 'up and moving again', Vanessa done called me and Martha tellin' us you were in a goddamn coma, and now even his brothers are lying to us!"

Again, she tried to explain the best she could. "He got into a pretty serious fight, sir. He got into a fight, and the perpetrator brought a knife to fight with. The man who attacked him was apparently..." She censored her language, not wanting to bring up the fact that I killed someone in my defense. "Promptly removed from the place, but Nondis ended up getting seriously hurt."

He then asked the million dollar question, the one Melanie couldn't answer. "Where are the two of you now?"

I quickly came up with yet another lie, to throw off the possibility of him trying to pay me a visit. "I'm in a hospital in... apparently Calsbad, New Mexico."

"Why the hell are you a state over!?" He screamed loudly, his voice becoming distorted through the speaker.

"My job asked me to take a long road trip to help with some security. That's all. I got caught with my pants down, I lost a lot of blood, and I'm currently on the mend. I should be back in a week." I answered as calmly as I could.

There as a brief period of silence while he gathered his thoughts. There were apparent grunts of both stress and disbelief.
But in the end, he reacted as he rightfully should. "Son... You can't keep a job like this." He said with a depressed sigh. "Now I know you feel liberated in knowing you're out there in the world, making whoever feel safer, but I'm beginning to think you're involved in some pretty bad stuff. I can't let you keep going."

"Dad, I'm fine─"

He quickly interjected before I could finish my sentence. "No you're not! And the first thing I need for you to do is come directly home, don't go to that damn apartment, you come straight home. You come here, and we can talk about this. Now if working is the way you wanna go, we can talk about getting you a safer job, even one that pays pretty well. I'm thinking we can pull a few strings with Vanessa's father and get you in on something."

What was once a conversation that was considered to be somewhat of a check in became a personal exchange displayed before everyone. Celestia's face turned to sadness, as she pretty much found out that I failed to completely inform my parents that I was a member of the guard, much less lying about it. "Dad, it's okay. I'm getting paid plenty, and I mean we're golden."

"Son, listen to yourself."

He's not wrong. At this point, I started to sound like I was into some illegal stuff. Of course I did some things that would be illegal and more than once, but I wasn't prepared to tell him that, not yet anyways. "It's more than just money, dad! I'm doing what's right! Please have some faith in me."

And as a concerned parent should be, he acted as he should. He chose not to trust the words I spoke. "You get healthy, you come home, you bring that Bella girl cause I feel like she's at the root of all of this, and we're all gonna talk it over. I already don't like the news I just got, I don't need to lose you to something I can't see or have no knowledge of. And if you don't come home, I will call the police to search for you and set you right. My son will NOT engage in any illegal activity, much less something that puts his life at risk."

"You're overreacting!" He wasn't. I just wanted to avoid getting him to see all of this. Because if he saw what I was doing and heard of what I did, he wouldn't just scream at me, he'd completely disown me.

"I'm a father to a son who nearly got himself killed, I think I have every right to be."

And it isn't like he'd come back and tell me that we could compromise on this like other decisions I've made. "Fair enough."

"Don't have me lose a son on Thanksgiving week. You come home and greet us, ya hear?"

He'd probably think of me as a perverted freak, a man with no moral code or fear of God in him. He'd want nothing to do with me, and mom wouldn't either. I'd cease to exist in their eyes, and they'd cry to themselves asking where did they go wrong. "Yes sir."

My father always told me when I was younger: If I ever did something that made me inhuman in his eyes, he wouldn't hesitate to do what must be done, even if it meant to take my life. And me being here, living here, embracing the ponies here, becoming intimate, that would be more than enough to drive him to that point. I've always been terrified of that, but there's one thing I've always been preparing for...

"Alright then. Me and your mother will be talking and getting you another job, one in a place that much safer." He's brought his attention to Mel, who covered her face with visible signs of distress. "Melanie, you keep an eye out for my son, got it?"

"Yes sir." She replied obediently.

"Alright, now I don't wanna hear no mess. Y'all stay safe. Love you son."

"Love you too, pops." Even if you may find yourself to not love me anymore.

"And answer your phone when I call, don't care what you're doing, you let us know you're still breathing."

"Yes sir."

"Okay then, talk to you tomorrow."

"Yes sir."

"Take care."

"Yes sir. You too."

The three tones sounded out loudly indicated that he had hung up, the call was over. The room was a eerie silent while everyone just stared at each other for a few minutes. I'm sure what should've been a joyful and playful conversation was all but wiped out as the mood was so heavy. No one didn't even want to break the silence until I said something.

And I did, the words I mumbled to myself. "...That was a mistake."

Applejack walked over to me, looking at me with a chilling glance with her green eyes. They were angry, and they looked like they were ready to cut me down. "Yer folks seem mighty concerned there, Nondis."

I couldn't even bring myself to look at her. "Yeah..."

She stood just inches away from my face, staring down my cheek as I looked at my weakened limbs sitting on my lap. "Don't you owe it to em to tell them the honest truth?"

It's not like I didn't want them to know, I just can't bring it to words. I don't know how to describe it. I just... "I don't know."

By then, hot air brushed against my neck, indicating that she was probably seconds away from punching me in the face, she was so indignant. Each and every breath she took, I could hear the light wheezing through her nostrils as she hissed at me. "Oh... so you're just living a lie? Lyin to yer folks like ya don't even care bout em?"

"I can't tell them, not yet." I replied, being as honest as I could with her.

"Oh, well then." She whispered, pulling back suddenly. The speed which she pulled back had me wincing as if I was expecting a punch of some sort. But my flinch was for naught as she just hollered at me. "Ah guess you can stay in that bed and don't worry bout walkin' no time soon."

"Don't you think that's a bit harsh?" Melanie interjected. "You don't know anything about his family, who are you to judge him like that?"

"Well Ah can say that Ah'd sure tell em everything."

Celestia chimed in as well, showing her hurt and disappointment. "You are a captain of my guard, is that not something to be proud of?"

"That's not even it!" Applejack exclaimed. "You're lyin' to the ones who love ya! You don't have a shred of respect for your parents! Well Ah tell ya, Ah didn't take ya for a no-good sleaze, but ya sure did change mah opinion of ya!"

Melanie quickly came to my defense. "And you're one to talk!? Well I wonder how you'd tell your parents about the things you've done. You don't ever seem to talk about them that much, so I can assume you're just as bad as─"

At that point, I had to stop her. "Mel!" I called out, knowing why this conversation was such a tender topic for the farmer. "I got it."

"So lemmie hear it, Nondis. What's yer brilliant excuse of lyin' to yer folks?" She asked before her voice got really low, and her country accent mostly diminish into proper English. "...I'm very sure you got something interesting to say."

I know that some of the ire drawn at me is somewhat deserved, but there was also a lack of context going into it. And Celestia seemed more disappointed in me over this. So I finally broke down and decided to come clean to everyone. First, I started with the highest authority.

"Your highness, it's not that I don't take pride in everything that was offered to me here. I'm more than proud, I wanna brag about it so much."

"Then what is the problem?" She questioned.

"My parents aren't as open-minded as my brothers are. If it was just my mom, I wouldn't mind convincing her that this was a thing..."

...It's not just on their side I'm concerned about.

That's some hard truth to be telling.

You have a point... Let's take it from the top. "Maybe I should start by being honest with all of you. You all now know the world of humans exists, but it's not the same way over there. Many of my species wouldn't even understand any of this without having some long conversation about it. And even if that were to happen, then there would still be a lion's share of those who'd try and villainize this world for what it is. If it's beyond understanding, it's something to be feared, and if it's something to be feared, then it's..."

Celestia, who was all too experienced with that philosophy, came to the inevitable conclusion. "Something to be killed."

The air grew tense as I finally explained to them the risk of my circumstance. "I'm sorry. My parents would never be able to understand something like this without demonizing any and all of you as abominations. I don't see you that way, and... that brings up the hard part."

"Humans and ponies, in their eyes, should not love one another." The rest of us looked at the door, seeing Twilight standing in the way. She looked at Melanie as she said these words. "They see us as something inferior."

Not a single person or pony in the room could resist frowning at the information the received. Most of them just stared blankly at me and Melanie, wondering if we had felt that way towards them. Rarity, who seemed taken aback by all of this politely asked me. "Is that true?"

Just their faces made me grimace with discomfort. It was like at that moment we alienated ourselves, especially considering how they treated me when I first arrived. I was the subject of curiosity but I was also welcomed. For me to say that it won't necessarily be the same way on the flip side of things felt kinda like me throwing that kindness back in their face. I know there will be international interest in a talking pony, but it would be more spectacle than genuine interest. Others would probably see this as a show or for amusement. And with that kind of draw, ESPECIALLY considering my state, we'd be inviting dangers to show up on our doorstep.

This is different. I'm just an average citizen who lives in a college town, not some high ranking political official with enough pull to change some legislation on that side of the mirror. I don't have Twilight's influence, whereas she can say that she saved the world more than once. Who'd listen to me over her?

...You're right. I need to get back on track. "The reason I never told my parents about the guard or any of Equestria is because they'd never truly understand. And then my dad would probably be angry enough to pass judgement on me."

"Ah introduced you to mah family, but Ah never thought that yers would be so... unwelcoming." Applejack said, her perspective now slightly changed.

I turned to Twilight, explaining myself further. "That's really why I had to call you 'Bella'. I wanted to tell everyone about this amazing world and even the ones who looked after me, but I'd be called crazy. My dad would really kill me."

"But I don't understand, dear." Rarity mulled.

"You heard him say it, all of you did. 'My son will not engage in any illegal activity'. A human being with a pony, that's illegal throughout most parts of my world. And in my home country, I would go to jail for it, my family would be shamed."

"Now they're threatening to take you out of the guard." Rainbow pointed out.

I nodded slowly as I confirmed her statement. "My mom would freak if she found out I was doing military behind their backs. And that's primarily because of some issues with my late grandfather."

"And you're only in the guard... because of me." Twilight slumped as she offered herself to take the blame.

But I corrected her. "That was my choice, I decided to go along with it. I'm just stuck with trying to convince them of accepting this new life of mine. Maybe I can work something out, without it posing a danger to anypony. But until I can do that, I have to keep making up stories." For their sake.

"So there's nothing we can do?" Celestia asked.

I drew a long sigh before I answered her. "No. Not right now."

Applejack removed her hat and scratched her mane. "Ah'm kinda lost, surgarcube. If being with a pony is bad, then why'd ya choose to do it?"

Again, I gave them my honest explanation. "Because I learned to look past what's on the outside. It's because we can communicate as naturally as humans can with one another, because you've shown me how to love in spite of what makes us different, because you've all shown me how much we have in common with each other is why the barriers came down. And it took me months of being here, feeling like I was alone, with you all being in my corner, to accept that. Maybe I'll never be able to tell them the truth, but if it came to being disowned by my family over wanting to fight and protect something I love and those I've grown to cherish..." Yeah, I made this decision a long time ago, when I decided to stay. "Then I can be ready to face those consequences. I gave up too much, went through it all, I'm not gonna stop it here."

Melanie then spoke as she stood by me. "And we're not gonna abandon you. You deserve the happiness you've found. It might not be for me or some of the others, but I'm not going to let them take you away from this. I may answer to your folks, mainly because they want me to marry you, but I'm on your side the whole way."

"Ahem..." The sudden sound of a mare clearing her throat made me quickly raise my head. Celestia sat at the door, her eyes closed as if she was contemplating something. "If you should ever feel ready to speak with them about us, you have me present so that I may speak on your behalf." She opened one of her eyes, looking directly at me. "I will not have my captain fight a war on two fronts."

Rarity also chimed in. "If there's anything we can do, you have our support."

Twilight did the same. "And if it doesn't go as planned, I can be sure to practice a memory spell should the worst happen."

Applejack took off her hat and held it to her chest as she lowered her head. The body language she produced was that of remorse. "Ah'm mighty sorry bout what Ah said. Ah just wish y'all would've told us something sooner, we would've done the best we could to keep things harmonious for ya."

For some odd reason, this very moment felt similar to the time when I first arrived here. I was staring up at them, uncertain of what the future would hold or what would happen next, much less how I was gonna get back home. It was like I had the opportunity to make something different of myself, to put myself in a different light. And I tried my damnest to do just that, only to come up with old issues that never really went away.

But once again, I'm reminded that I have more than just me, myself, and I in my corner. I even have more than just the friends I made here in the present, I have the friends I made in the past. I may not know what the future may throw at me, but I'm sure I've got some more friends who would be waiting right there to pull me up and push me forward.

Even if it does seem a bit scary because of the personal stuff, I slowly feel like I can make the steps to go forward. They are my strength, my guidance, and my will to endure, It's because of them that I feel determined. "Thanks. To all of you, I give my thanks."

The room was quiet for a few seconds before Applejack hollered out at me, slapping her stetson back on her head. "But ya still gotta tell yer folks!" She said firmly. "All of these lies ain't gon give ya nothin but hard times and bad situations. Ah'll tell ya that much from experience."

The way her mood just swung from one extreme to the other caused me to have a little bit of a whiplash response. The only thing I could do at the moment was laugh.

"I'll work on it."

***Point of Perspective: Twilight Sparkle***

After several hours of talking and trying to find a way that was best to work things out, visiting hours came to an end. The nurses proceeded to file us out of the room. Celestia, who had left a while back to set the sun and continue with her duties, left me with a suggestion that I should look into researching. Which only made me feel nervous for what was to come of it. Even if we were to somehow convince Nondis to bring his family here to explain it all, their response was what made me feel uneasy.

The entire time I walked down the hall, it was like my hooves were stepping in broken glass and rusty nails. Everything about this whole situation took a turn for the unexpected the moment I was told about his family. And just before my very eyes, one of the things I found hard to believe seemed to find a way to manifest itself.

And all of this came moments after I come out to the public and say it's over between us.

What was I supposed to feel? If his friends are all mad at me, they have a valid reason to be that way. I just left him in what could be the time of his greatest need. And it wasn't any better than seeing him trying to keep strong in the face of those who ridiculed me. It was like the more time went along, the more I started to feel like my purpose for calling a summons was unwarranted. It wasn't even like I wanted this to happen, nor did I have any intention for this to end between us. But the words his brother said to me, they made me more scared to lose him as a friend than to lose him altogether. At least if he was taken from me, I'd maybe fool myself into this false sense of closure.

Yeah, like that would ever work.

But the thought of him despising me, being among the living and actively trying to dismiss me from his life like I was some illness that needed to be remedied, that would hurt me more than anything. Because I'd know then that I would be dedicating myself to making things better between us only to make it worse. Like placing salt and honey in fresh wounds, it would eat at him until it turn him into something unsightly.

The thought of it made me sick and terrified.

But there was no avoiding the discomfort I felt as my friends and I walked down the hall like we had just got through one of our usual friendship sessions. The only one that seemed to dwell on it in the slightest was Applejack.

"Ah can't believe Ah just called him out of his name like that. Ah was just so darn heated that Ah didn't care about what he felt or what was goin' on."

"You apologized, what else do you have to do?" Rainbow quickly dismissed.

The orange pony seemed a tad bit brighter as she started to think about what she could offer. "...Ah could bake him and his friends a little somethin' just to show mah support."

Rarity cooed happily as she spoke. "I think that would be a lovely gesture, he needs a little something sweet right about now."

Popping in from the ceiling above, landing face first on the ground, Pinkie raised her head, shook the stars from her eyes and quickly pounced on Rarity. "Somepony say 'a little something sweet'?"

Even if she was being herself with her antics, I could never quite figure her out. I just grew to accept her being able to pop up from thin air. "Pinkie, where did you come from?"

"Oh, I was helping some of the chefs in the kitchen serve up some cookies and cupcakes to a large party in the barracks. Shining helped me too, I never knew he was so good in the kitchen." She said before she quirked an eyebrow at me. "Which kinda makes me wonder about you, Twilight."

While the others snickered at my expense, I felt the blood rushing into my cheeks while I tried to defend myself. "I-I-I'll get there!" I said, stammering through my words out of the shame. "J-just... give me some time."

Applejack nudged me in my side, giving me a wink. "How about we just teach ya and then ya can kinda let things go yer own way?"

Rarity agreed with her. "If you're ever going to have a husband, it is priority to learn to be able to cook dear. The quickest way to a stallion's heart is to his stomach."

I quietly whispered into Rarity's ear as I felt a bit confused by her statement. "I thought it was to someplace else?"

Immediately catching on to what I was suggesting, she corrected me. "That's his brain, dear."

"Oh, so that's how that goes." I mumbled to myself.

While we walked on, a familiar face turned the corner. Just the scowl on his face told me that he was not up for talking or any kind of banter. It wasn't like I cared for him that much, he tried to go after one of my friends in such a disrespectful manner. He even mocked me on occasion for being the youngest royal in line, so seeing him frowned up in the face was somewhat of a positive note in my book.

"Hey, isn't that Blueblood?" Pinkie called out.

As he got closer, I could see he was beyond visibly peeved. There was no point in getting his attention or bringing attention to him, it was better to leave him be. "Just be quiet and keep walking, girls."

Rarity didn't seem to have any argument to my advice, she only tooted her nose in the air and trotted forward. "You don't have to say anything else. Hmph!"

Our party passed by him, not a single one of us looked to him. But something grabbed my attention, causing me to stop dead in my tracks. It was his words being sent into my brain.

The others had walked past me, leaving me several feet behind them before they turned back to see that I was standing in place, looking at the stallion who passed right by me. Applejack was the first to say anything about it. "Is somethin' the matter, sugarcube."

I looked at him with a cutting glance and waved my friends onward as I started to backtrack. "You girls go on ahead. I've got some things to do."

While my trot grew into a gallop, the other four I left behind had looked back at me as if I had done something irrational. Pinkie looked at the others and calmly asked.

"What got to her?"

When I turned the corner, I saw Blueblood storming in the direction of the medical wing. He didn't seem to acknowledge my physical presence until I teleported from where I stood, blocking his path upon reappearing. I echoed the words he transmitted to me.

"So I'm more trouble than I'm worth?"

"Oh I'm sorry for stating the obvious, little Twilight Trouble." He said, using his magic to move me aside.

I refused to let him storm off, teleporting once more before him and extending my wings to block him even more. "Under what circumstance do you find yourself capable of judging me? I did what was right."

"You did something that could either be a borderline good thing, a bad thing, or a terrible thing. And given the circumstances, you might have made it into a bad thing. I swear both you and Cadance are always in the way of progress. It's like every turn I make, you two are there to impede and set me back. Now the plans have to change because of you."

I rolled my eyes as he ranted on, scoffing when he finished. "I'm sorry if your method was deemed too radical for Celestia's preference. You should've known better."

He then tried to justify himself. "It wasn't radical for Celestia, it was radical for Cadance because she was concerned how you'd feel about it... far too concerned. And now I see she's been a thorn in his side as well."

As he attempted to push through me, I continued to hold my ground. "Whatever you're planning, I feel like it's bad news."

The stallion then inched towards my face and whispered in a low volume. "Riddle me this, Twilight Trouble. If I were to send away the only means of starting a new revolution to remove an article of inequine guidelines, how long do you think their motivation to help would last before they eventually lose momentum and interest?"

"Nondis isn't like that. And personally, I think he needs a break from all of this."

"You say that, but you also know that a few of your friends are just as interested in him as you are. And now they are more inclined and qualified to take what was once yours. How long would it be before other things pry him away from what could be our greatest moment?"

I remained unmoved from my place, staring back at him as if he had something suspicious going on. And his frequent desire for Nondis' involvement only made me grow even more indignant. I spoke through gritted teeth, hissing at him. "You're being selfish."

"And you are unqualified for this purpose." He said before finally teleporting behind me. "Don't bother to continue, I'll take care of the rest."

For a second, I felt like the world had just rose a few inches. When I tried to turn around and stop him, I felt my hooves being pulled towards the ground. I looked down to see if there was anything keeping me down, only to see that the very floor itself was reacting similarly to quicksand. After an inch or two, the ground solidified around my hooves. Stuck in place, I was left straining for my freedom. Meanwhile he continued to walk towards the medical wing as I hollered at him.

"You stay away from him!"

He replied with a careless shrug, moving on as if nothing was going to stop him. "It's funny. I'm playing by my rules now and even your brother's on board. Continue to live in your birdcage, it'll be decimated soon enough."

***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

It's been a while since the visiting hours closed up. The door remained shut for much of the time with the exception of a few nurses coming in to check my blood and vitals. They even urged everyone to leave the room for the sake of making sure I could be well-rested.

And then I proceeded to laugh about the irony of their statement. It wasn't like they weren't going to poke at my arm and force me to undergo several tests before letting me sleep for another two hours, just for them to do it again. And then they'll wake me up in the morning to do it again, and again, and again...

I trust you're seeing the pattern here.

So instead of going to sleep at midnight, I get my snooze on at eleven to give myself an extra hour to make up for the time I'll lose in the performance of those tests. Other than that, I sat in silence with my overhead lamp on. And since there wasn't much in the way of entertaining myself, I was forced to think about everything that happened and what would come in the eventual future.

I wondered how it would've felt like to have a normal relationship with Twilight. I wondered what it would've been like to date Pinkie, she was already rolling out the red carpet in having me visit her family. In fact if it wasn't for Mrs. Cake, she and I would've probably had sex numerous times by now. If I had chose to stay with Rarity, I could only imagine all the things we would've did. With those two, there weren't any limits other than the ones we place on ourselves. If things would've been like that with Twilight, then would it be possible that we would've sustained our relationship up to this point?

Would we have really broken up sooner?

Don't get me wrong, I liked spending time with her. But it was like those first few weeks were just me and her finding out what each of us liked in terms of what we could do to tease each other sexually. And for many times, she'd edge me so close to the point of no return, just to get 'distracted' by something else and leaving me to cool off. And then I'm having all these highly tense exchanges with the others, basically because I was left unsatisfied.

But on the other side of the spectrum, would I have gone so far for either Pinkie or Rarity? If they gave Rarity wings and a crown, would she have done the things that would've kept me coming back for her? Twilight was an odd case, I just did everything because it was all I knew how to do. Just stick with it, pull through the trouble, stay around and it'll eventually reward you.

It rewarded me, but not how I wanted it to. But I also felt that if I had left things alone when I did get something physical out of it, it would've been terrible between us. And if I was still a freshman in high school, that's exactly how I would've went about it. But then the question leads to 'why would you work so much to get one thing and leave it alone once you got it?' It was the question that made me realize that later on in life I wouldn't be worth much if that was all I wanted.

Yet this past relationship made me feel like I was left with one thing, a lack of satisfaction. Of course the sex was fun but what else did we have going for us other than being a cute fling? And what did it leave me with other than anger and distrust for the system that I fell victim to? It was like I ran into an abusive relationship, without her even touching me. And it wasn't like I didn't have any other choices, I just kept running in for the reason of spite.

And suddenly it ends without a ring, without me doing what I had set out to do, without a single promise being made. So it left me with a hunger, a state of confusion that couldn't be described as anything rational. It was as if I had succumbed to insanity. If this situation were to happen with any other person, would it have mattered? What's the point of even trying if it all ends the same?

Was this really just a waste of my time?...

Sometimes, I let my thoughts wander until it comes to a terrifying conclusion. Perhaps it was time for me to get some sleep after all. So I did the only thing I could do: Turn off the lights, close my eyes, and hope that the doctors would soon come in to distract me with more of those prickly needles.

For moments, I could see nothing but the darkness behind my eyelids.

My eyes shot open as I heard an unusual voice. My eyes darted around the room until I saw an alabaster stallion with a blond mane, sitting in the chair next to my bed. The sudden presence startled me, causing me to flinch back into my mattress. "Blueblood, holy shit! Where did you come from?"

"I came from being out in the halls, that's what lies outside this room."

Though I never intended to get a visit from the smart-ass, it was still somewhat pleasant to find myself distracted from my earlier train of thoughts. "Makes sense. But it's so late at night." I said, looking at the clock as it read 10:46 p.m..

"I understand that, and I know that I'm well past visiting hours. But I came here to ask if you were well?"

I thought it was odd that he'd show some concern over me. I wasn't anything special to him or even in his inner-circle, I was just a subordinate. "I will be in a few days, by then I should be walking just fine."

He hummed to himself while he walked towards the window, opening the blinds to let the moonlight cascade into the room. "I remember the contraption you were wheeled in on. Many of the politicians see your current state as pathetic. They even summarize it as the primary reason Princess Twilight made her decision."

"They're always throwing their views on something they have no context to, let em."

"But I can't help but to feel a bit of insecurity." He said as he looked back at me. "See, your breakup with Twilight made things look bad for you. But on the other side of the coin, it appears that your feud with Mi Amore Cadenza has driven a conspiracy that you would soon turn against the royals. After all, if a royal interfered with your relationship to the point of sabotage, then it would be plausible that you'd turn your tongue against the ones that took away your promising future, your power, your rank. Quite the bit of trouble, don't you think?"

If you say it like that, then of course it's gonna sound bad. "Cadance may be a total bitch, but I don't wish ill of her. And I don't think it'll make me feel angry toward any of the rest of you."

The stallion tapped his hoof on his chin before his face suddenly perked up, appearing as if he had hatched some sort of scheme. "Actually, I want you to play with that part."

I looked back at him with bewilderment. "Come again?"

"The feud of you and Cadenza, you should keep feeding that to their faces." He went on to explain. "And behind the scenes, we'll confer on a few things that would ultimately turn the foul numbers of our plight inside out. I have a process in my mind, the repeal process which would give us a new chance at our future. And it might even give you a second chance with Twilight, if that's something you're willing to pursue."

You know that insanity thing I was talking about a bit earlier, about that... "A second chance with Twilight?"

"Yes, once more with feeling. And when I mean feeling, I mean... knowing." He said with a confident smile.

I cocked an eyebrow and questioned him. "Knowing in the biblical sense?"

"Elaborate further." He requested.

"In my world, we have this book simply called 'The Bible' which has been a best seller for centuries. In it's text, the phrase 'he knew of her' would often mean he bedded her."

The prince then chuckled at my dry attempt at illicit humor. "In that sense, yes." He then stopped himself and glanced out the window. "Or if you were to become overly ambitious, you could try your luck with another princess, one who would be more deserving and more open to your demands."

"I think I'm good on Twilight as of now. But if it'll give me a second chance..."

It was like he knew exactly what I was thinking a few minutes ago. It's like he predicted that I would feel like this. The way he spoke to me didn't give any room for doubt. "Wouldn't it feel good to have her against you again? To hold her in your arms, to ravage each other as you once did, to explore all your kinks and dormant desires, to toy with you as often as she did before the punishment set her against you?"

I gave him my honest response. "Yeah, I feel like I could've stuck it out for her during those times. It was a much simpler situation, it was so easy for us to be together."

He trotted from the window to speak with me at the bed, whispering at me while he tapped me on the chest. "Then you would join me in my efforts? I want to remove this law quickly, and I don't want to keep this going on any longer than it has to."

"You and me both." I said, almost making up my mind in that instant. "But..."

"But what?" He asked.

I wanted to initially ask him what Celestia's involvement was going to be in his plan, but I decided against it when I remembered something that Cadance had brought up in the past. Moreso, the conversation that I listened in on from earlier made me think about how in cahoots she and Celestia were. I decided against it. "Ah forget it. Whatcha got in mind?"

"First I need to know if you're willing to play by MY rules? They could go against Celestia's personal wishes."

I was all for it, but that only opened up a whole other realm of possibilities should things go wrong. "That's kinda dangerous."

"But it will work. And if things go smoothly, it will be two months when it's all signed and sealed." He assured.

"Sounds too good to be true." I stated skeptically.

He leaned in and tapped me on the chest again, also grabbing my shoulder as he whispered. "It's time to play dirty, Nondis. This is what you wanted."

I knew what I wanted, and I was well-aware of some of the risks. But it felt like I was signing myself up for a game I wasn't quite ready to play just yet. "Politics isn't really a clean road to travel."

"Neither is that of a soldier, but think of the lives you'll save." He said as he summoned up the photo of me fighting an arimaspi. "The excursions you'll prevent."

Just the way he said that made me realize that this was a heavy turn I was going to make if I agreed to it. But at the same time, if that heavy turn made it to where I could get something done to at least give others a shot for a normal love life... that is if they felt like a relationship with a royal was something they were interested in, then they should be entitled to that. Not only that, but I'm sure Luna and Celestia could go for some spice in their lives. And the instance of what happened to Shining Armor would never happen again.

And it's not just those interested, it's also those they fight alongside with, their family and friends. But it ended up having me question whether or not I was really going to take a hit for this to happen. I wanted to, but the secondary thoughts were overloading my brain with possibilities gone wrong. "I feel like I could lose myself here."

"Oh no, there's no turning back. Once you dive in, you're going to get dirty." He explicitly warned.

"I thought you didn't like being dirty." I said, mocking him on his pristine appearance.

He snorted and scoffed as he responded. "I fought campaigns that were dirtier than this. This is easy."

For him to say that this was easy, considering that there have been centuries of failed attempts to get it accomplished made it hard for me to believe him. But in the end, I really wanted to buy in to his ideology of getting things done. Cadance hadn't even come up with any sort of plan other than asking if I would join them in their efforts. And of course the politicians were going to keep me busy until it was time for me to get married. But since that's off the table, they have no reason to stop me now...

...That's right!

I'm single now. It's official, I'm no longer a suitor. That means no extreme deployments, no unreasonable assignments, no hyper-deadly excursions, no having to worry about the blackmail, my balls are completely in the clear here, I can make as much noise as I want.

There are no strings on me. "Two months?"

A large smile appeared on Blueblood's face as he saw me come to realize where I stood and just how much freedom I had in playing along with him. He proudly announced to me with a grin. "Two months, even with senator Count in the way."

At that moment, I think I couldn't produce any more of a twisted smile in my life. It was like the insanity I harbored in my brain had been given an outlet. The anger of not being able to do anything other than argue about why the law should be removed, it was given a place to reach for. It's not quite a slasher smile, nor one of destroying the world.

Rather, it was the smile you could see in a mans face when he realized that the gloves had come off. Or rather... it was the smile a certain butler made when his employer told him to go and 'quiet that racket in the halls'. He'd put on his gloves, and give off this menacing grin like he was ready to clean the hell out of his bosses mansion. These silver glints in his eyes, almost blade-like, would show as he pulled the gloves on. And it wasn't like it was that much of a mess, it was just a little argument going on in need of a permanent Ambien.

A one-thousand year old insomniac was in need of a long-overdue rest. It's high time this butler puts her to sleep.

"...Sign me the fuck up."

In case you were wondering about the smile I was referencing.

WARNING YOU NOW, DON'T READ SPOILER TEXT IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY SPOILERS!

So it's been a long time. I kinda got distracted by several things. I got distracted by numerous weddings, one of which where some guy dropped the wedding cake on the way out and another stood on his head drinking beer from a keg. Another instance of being double-booked for gigs. Then the occasional writers block. Studio work of course. And finally, to my shame, was busy getting golden gun for Symmetra...

No aim, no brain, all of that mess.

But several distractions later and now I'm back on the grind. I've even gotten a good thousand words jotted down for the next chapter already. Of course the concern for many at the end of this chapter would be the sudden jolt in the plot at the end. Of course he's in no condition to get political so that will be for later. But I can say these next few chapters should be a bit of a cool down from the arimaspi saga. So yes, he will be taking a break.

But also, it seems that the public breakup wasn't for naught. And I want to make things clear that Blueblood isn't quite being evil here, more like being a chaotic neutral acting out of frustration. He's mad at Twilight because he had plans established, some of which will be revealed among other things in the next chapter. But when something you worked hard for changes on the fly to a result you haven't quite calculated into your plans, you become frustrated and sometimes spiteful. So instead of taking the high road, you take matters into your own hands and try to play off the change as best as you can to make things work.

But other than that, the story will cool off for a few chapters before it starts to get heavy again. Other than that, I do thank you all for reading and will hope that you will stick around for more. If there was something that upset you, then I do apologize in advance (writing out of block kinda sucks and ruins any cohesion).

I hope to read from you all sometime within the next two to four weeks.