There hasn't been much for me to say other than the fact that my dream was a lot more pleasant than usual. Of course, sunsets, the princess being involved, and us holding together. But there was something different about this dream. Celestia seemed to be a lot more embracing of me. It felt like I was being loved on way harder than I would've anticipated. It felt like I was just on the receiving end of a thousand years of her not having this moment for herself. Not that I was complaining, she was a very welcome sight in contrast to the many things that plagued my mind on the way to my room. This was much better than what I would've had if I had did something like going back to my world and trying to suppress those memories for the sake of trying to be a normal human.

Dawn came and with it, my dream ended seemingly with an unusual decay. The world around me began to shift and not for the better. It was quickly running into nightmare territory and there were very little in the way of brakes to stop it. The only saving grace was the fact that I heard my phone alarm ease me out of my slumber. I looked at the time and saw that it was well past the usual hour for my morning run. In fact, it was well past the hour of my morning run... four hours even.

That alarm was supposed to let me know when I was supposed to reposition in my first shift.

I jumped out of bed, cursing myself out as I frantically threw on some clothes and quick-cleaned myself before heading out into the halls. When I walked out of the room, I could see Luna standing right by the door. "Good morning, princess."

Before I could take off, I felt my feet being glued to the floor while the princess stepped in front of me to give me a good look of her face. "Morning."

She didn't quite look up to her usual splendor. Instead, there were bags under her eyes and she had what seemed to be the most foul scowl on her face. She was not happy to see me, that I could tell. "Yikes, you look like you had a rough night."

She opened the door and invited me back into the room. "There's cleaning up after you, and then there's cleaning up after every other first-time visitor to that Faust-forsaken Canterrot, and then there's the little fillies and foals who have their usual anxiety overloads."

"Sounds like a lot of work." I mumbled.

The princess sarcastically chuckled. "Oh no, all the other stuff I can deal with just fine. You... you are beyond saving. You may have noticed that I had to put an extra dose of my sister in your dreams to make you feel a little better."

"I know that shouldn't take too much." I joked, trying to at least put the princess in a better mood. But that only seemed to worsen her disposition. I quickly smacked myself upside the head and bowed in apology. "That was probably stupid and ignorant. I'm sorry."

"Come." She said, walking into the room and dragging me along for the ride. As soon as I was inside, she closed the doors and shuttered all the windows to allow as little light into the room. When she finished with those preparations, her horn started to glow. There was a tiny glowing star sat in the middle of the room, just a white dwarf floating quietly before the both of us. The princess pointed to the orb and started to explain what I was supposed to be looking at. "You see this tiny white orb, that's the light that gives you the dreams you have. It's strong, defiant, and it is very powerful. But as all things against the race of time, these things will diminish when strained for too long. Now let's throw in a few of your concerns..."

Almost instantly, the feel of the room began to change. The darkness around us started to produce small little shadow-like creatures. The shadows looked towards the glow and hissed while they leapt for it. The glowing white orb then expelled a small barrier to protect itself. With hardly any problems, the creatures were repelled entirely like they were running into a wall. "Well, that's not so bad." I muttered.

The princess quirked a brow as she looked at me, and then pointed towards the orb. "Now a few of your anxieties..." More smaller shadows started leaping after the orb, trying to rush the glowing star. There was a noticeable delay between the creatures attacking the orb and it's defenses becoming strong enough to defy their advance. "The troubles of your heart..." Some larger creatures started to gather and appear as apparitions with long blades as arms. They were a lot more in body and they definitely looked formidable. They along with the tiny little shadows swarmed the star. The star continued to hold against the attack, but it was straining to hold the shield while trying to send forth a counterblast to defend itself. Luna stared at me, whispering with an ice-cold tone. "And finally, your trauma."

The blast from the star came eventually, but seemingly left the shield significantly weaker. But what came in place along with the group of shadows were full-fledged demon-like creatures flying around with cruel bloodied grins on their faces, swiping at the shield and dragging bits and pieces of it's light away from it. It was like watching someone take a hammer and use it against shatter-resistant glass. And as one can predict, the multitude of demons that gathered around quickly started tearing the light away from the poor star. And with more light the star lost, the smaller the shield became until it was nothing between the shadows and demons except thin air. The creatures, covered in blood, started to shift their faces to the ones I saw die. One even saw us standing in the corner and flew for me. When I started to shield my eyes, there was a familiar voice whispering over my shoulder. I looked over to see a face I haven't seen in a while, the face of a hotel attendant who's body was laid before me as I was paralyzed in a wagon. His voice came through, as clear as day.

The shadow flew off, joining the others as they seemed to throw a victory parade in the room, showing off the blackened star as a sign of their conquest. The shadows and demons cheered as the tiny star quickly transformed into my face, my eyes completely wiped of all life and light, consumed by only the desire to see it all end as quickly as it began. The congregation of shadows continued their parade, with my head being toted along like a losing king in some ancient conflict. They and the demons started to quickly dissipate into nothing shortly after their victory march. Only the dim light of the princess' horn remained.

"Hooooleeey fuuuuck." The only two words I could speak for the time being after that display.

"I had to wade my way through all of that and find you. Once I did, I took form of my sister and stayed looking after you while fighting off the darkness around you. Doing all of that for one person in particular is not easy when you have the weight of an entire country's psyche on your shoulders. Now couple that with lowering the moon and you have the double-overtime shift that I've put in. Now I have to pull several overtimes worth of dream jumping to make up for taking care of you."

That moment, it was like the tiny little joke I made earlier had come to haunt me in the worst way. It made me feel even more like shit. "I'm so sorry to put you through this."

The princess sighed as she reintroduced the sunlight to my room. "No. My sister is the one that should be apologizing. She doesn't know how hard my job is already. I sometimes mess with you to either give me a reprieve or to simply have fun. You've went and turned fun into a whole lot of work for the past few nights. And I'm afraid that this next week or two you'll have to do without me."

It was as if the display had repeated over and over in my head, it was obvious that I was predestined to suffer some rough nights if she were to leave me to deal with these issues on my own. "I'm gonna have a lot of nightmares, aren't I?"

"As long as you talk about it to someone instead of repressing them like you'd usually would, it's doable." The princess warned.

"I guess I'm gonna have to talk with my parents a little more then." I mumbled, mainly to myself as I started to weigh the weeks ahead without Luna's dream intervention.

The princess stepped in front of the door. "That helps to a degree, but you need another kind of support, professional support."

Anyone with a brain could conclude that she meant for me to start receiving therapy. And honestly, I've never really been to a therapist before. So a lot was already swimming through my mind. I can only imagine having to juggle work, home, home back home, friends, family, relationships, and the ever-increasing dangers of my secret assignment. Adding therapy to the mix already told me that my plate was spilling over. "...Oh boy."

"I know your schedule is a bit wonky during the day, but every guard who has went through a high-risk deployment gets a three months free of mandatory counseling, just enough to decide if in the future you'd like to pursue a healthier mind instead of making a hasty decision that would often be irreversible." Luna informed.

"When was that implemented?" I asked.

"A while back, but it was only a month because of the senators not wanting to invest in the health of our guards. Shining just sent in the final draft of the revised bill and a surprising majority voted in favor of it. It's been a law for three days now."

A possible side effect to him being in charge when Celestia caught the bug. If anything, he works fast to implement change for the guard. Wonder why he hasn't done this for the marriage law. "For a guy married into power, he sure does use it well."

"I think he saw what happened to him and the others he served with and felt it would benefit you and the others."

No doubt, it takes a survivor to speak out against the bullshit system they're given. And sometimes it takes just a little negotiation to get the parliament to understand that their response to the matter would have long-standing consequences with their voters. Better to swallow that bitter pill and keep your seat. "Well tell him I said good looking out."

Luna summoned a card clipped to a folded pamphlet. I took a quick glance at the pamphlet to see the face of the doctor that would be giving me my advice. Typical appearance of glasses, a million dollar smile, and a green check mark next to the box with the word 'In.' The promo was as cheesy as a simple statement. 'Come on by, the doctor is in.' There was an 'out' box but that's gone untouched for promo reasons. "They're in office 336. Two floors below the parliament's office wing. I'd take a lunch break over there instead of roaming about the city. Fair?"

If anything, this entire thing felt a little overwhelming to me. "How do I know if I can trust them?"

Luna closed her eyes as she answered my question. "They submit their reports to me and my sister. We usually keep tabs on which guards have already left a tumultuous deployment and which can be sent to a new one or who would stay home. Of course our department heads have a more in-depth look at that in terms of the others, but you are a matter most personal to us because of your unique status. We can't allow for our only residential human to lose himself in our care."

Honestly, it was hard to gauge her with her closing her eyes off to me. But in terms of mental health, this is a step forward. I can't just dodge the issue. "...Right."

Luna peeked through one eye, glancing at me. "Especially if he has my sister's attention."

In some way, I grew defensive against the lunar princess' accusation. Probably an internalized self-defense mechanism. "I don't have her attent─"

"You've had it for a month and some time now. You just never knew it." Luna quickly clarified, finally exposing some truth about her sister. "Just try not to do anything stupid, like hurting her in some way." She said dismissively, albeit a firm warning.

"Fair enough, I'd hate to see what a week's worth of nightmares would look like if you were the one calling the shots." I muttered.

"I do appreciate you for understanding that Tia is very delicate on matters of the heart. She's not easy to open, so you have a rare opportunity of making her truly want happiness for herself instead of being complacent in seeing others happy." Luna added, turning around to face the door.

"Again, thanks for all your hard work."

The younger high royal smiled. "Now go, I have an all-day nap to enjoy before I energize myself."

"Are you seriously sleeping all day?" I questioned almost finding humor in the thought.

"Well not without a bit of stimulus." She said, poking a wing out to my chest and dragging her primaries down my abdomen and stopping right at the bottom of my belt. "Care to join me?"

I quickly rushed past her and out the door, avoiding anything that might get me killed. "I'm gonna go."

Breakfast wasn't really an option with how late I overslept. Instead, I had to settle for a banana and keep things moving for the first part of the day. And being that my shift started later than usual, it meant that I had to move my clock-out time to an hour later than my usual 4 p.m. release. I would also have to clock in some evening hours on Saturday to get things straightened out. But for the time being, I was placed under a mandatory counseling block for mental health.

When I arrived at the office, I saw a series of posters on the wall, the first few being rather light, easily seen to be a cheap message that you'd occasionally see in every other office. Each of the posters had an image with some words on them, some in orange, others in green. 'A bad day doesn't stop you from achieving, it stops you from failing. Get up, soldier.' 'Guards don't quit, neither does love. Let's march together.' 'You don't have to put up with misconduct, but you can put an end to it. March as one.' 'It feels good to say you can do it later, but never when it's too late. Forward march.' 'Life has many directions, staying put isn't one of them. Keep moving forward.'

And in almost an instant, one poster had quickly grabbed my attention. 'Home is a place of rest, not your next battlefront. Let's care together.'

Others were just as gripping, some with some pretty realistic messages. 'Losing a friend or loved one isn't easy. Talking about it isn't easy either. I've got your six."

Drugs... 'Twelve steps isn't the first move you make, it's the turning away. About face.'

Anger... 'You want to hunt them down, but the better choice is to follow your own path. Revenge isn't the way.' 'Life isn't like the promos that got you here, but you don't have to settle. Create your own story.' 'It may seem unreasonable, but you don't have to have a reason to put up with it. Let's talk.'

And then there's one pretty grim message on a poster with a pony sitting at a table with a glass filled with alcohol, in the background was a noose hanging in the shadows. 'This isn't the way it has to be, your peace isn't through the knot. It's never too late to talk to someone.'

Of course, most of these seemed themed around the guard and the various things we encounter on the daily. But one poster in general really seemed to reach at me a little too well.

'For many it's just a dark hallway, for you it's your past trying to confront you. But we can face that darkness together.'

The only thing that seemed to be missing is a hashtag, something like #StrengthInNumbers. Shame they don't have internet here, that would've been a really great promo.

As time progressed, the doctor finally walked out of his office to check the lobby to see that I was the only one sitting in a chair. He seemed genuinely surprised that I'd even have the time of day, but he was very professional in guiding me to his office. There wasn't any fanatic behavior, no pomp and circumstance, no parades of any sort, just a quiet walk down the hall into his room, a pen pointed at the couch across a rather comfortable-looking chair. And as soon as I sat down, he asked me about how I've managed to get to this point.

I started telling my story from the beginning, from the beginnings of my being locked to a world I didn't even know was real, to a princess I never knew I could love, to a rivalry I never imagined having or winning, to even the struggles and hardships I never thought would effect me to this point. I was made to generalize everything, he didn't want me breaking things down just yet. He wanted to know what and who he was dealing with. But as soon as I finished, we had a good place to start.

"And that's pretty much how I've gotten here."

The psychologist, Doctor Schoen (shāin), had a pin tapping along to the smooth jazz he had running on the record player, the wax disc continued to play mellow tones of upright bass with the slight tone of tenor sax and piano. The stallion nodded. "So you say that the assignment to the mountains in the south has disturbed you, alongside your ongoing conflict with the changelings?"

"Yup." I answered, looking to the white tile ceiling.

He started scribbling down his notes and asked me a follow up question simultaneously. "And, if I'm not mistaken, something about several alternate worlds that showed you the falls of various versions of Equestria?"

"I kinda just explained that." I replied, somewhat annoyed that he had to go into that mess again.

"But what are you doing right now to ease yourself on all of these matters?" He asked, trying to pick at my brain again. Even though it was secretly annoying, I also realized that it was his job.

"Can't really say I'm doing that. I'm just doing whatever my superiors tell me."

The doctor hummed, scribbling down some more notes before picking at me again. "And doing what your superiors tell you, it has lead you to a bit of mental distress?"

"I mean it's not them personally, just the job." I answered straightly.

The doctor pointed his pen at me. "You know, there isn't a lot of guards who are willing to come to me and talk about their job. So what is it exactly that made you come here today?"

"A royal recommendation. They said I get three months free." I replied with a shrug.

Doctor Schoen closed his folder and clicked his pen, clipping it against the folder as he spoke. "But it doesn't just take three months to reach a breakthrough in one's mental health. You are aware that some traumatic things have years of recovery, if not months."

"From personal experience, doc, I know it takes a lifetime if it's rough enough."

The doctor, looking at the clock, quirked his eyebrows and pulled back out his pen, he then proceeded to open the folder and go back to jotting things down. It took him a second before speaking. "Personal experience?"

"My grandfather was a soldier in a war way back when. He never mentally recovered from it. Turns out he just tried his best to hide his problems until they started manifesting in his sleep."

I could hear the scribbling noise over the phonograph clearly, it was almost deafening. "Do you find your problems manifesting in the same manner?"

My mind wandered back to the nightmare I had shortly after that day of hell I went through experiencing the various iterations of Equestria. "I do, sometimes."

"But not like your grandfather's?"

"No."

The doctor jotted down a few more notes. "Do you feel like if you had a moment to speak with him, what would you say to him?"

"I would ask for his advice. I'd see if he had anything to say that could help me in all of this."

My answer pointed out a lot to Schoen. He proceeded to ask about our current relationship with one another. "And how is the relationship between the two of you?"

"Well, it was great." I answered quietly.

"Was?" The doctor pointed at the word rather acutely.

"He's deceased, has been for what seems to be going on to five or six years." I explained.

The doctor tsk'd at himself. "Ah, tragic loss. Sorry to hear that."

"I'm actually unsure of what I can say to him now. It feels like back then he was trying to warn me against doing something like this, but here I am doing it anyways. I bet he would've had more than a few choice words."

The doctor pulled the pen aside, offering a few words of his own opinion. "We always seem to think of the worst that could be said when it comes to the dearly departed, that what they'll say to us could be a scathing rebuttal or a good scolding. But the truth is that we will never know their response, it is only in the mind where we can contemplate a potential response. So is it really fair to assume what they would say when they are not the ones to say it for themselves?"

I paused for a moment, seeing the world from the new light that he provided. "A lot to think on for that question."

The pen clicked, the folder was put away once more, and the doctor hopped off of his couch. "What I'm trying to say is that it is better to not focus on that. Their words have been spoken and signed, there is no more to add to the book of their life. It is better to continue on your own path and make the decisions that would be healthy for those around you as well as yourself."

"That's okay and all, but what about my assignments? I'm sure they wouldn't care about that." I rebutted.

As I started getting on my own two feet, he propped open the door for me. "Well that's what you can talk to me about if you don't have anyone else to speak with. A healthy outlook in life requires a venting place. I know we went a good ten minutes over time, but we've gotten to a pretty wonderful stopping place. Next week, we'll talk more about your recent assignments. As for now, think more on what I've given you. And if you ever need to push a time, drop a line and we'll go at our earliest convenience."

"Thanks doc."

"Right then. Now if there are any others out there, send them my way if you will."

I left the comfort of the office and found myself in the waiting lobby filled with the numerous posters of encouragement. I looked over to my left to see a singular young stallion tapping his hooves against the chairs on either side of him. He glanced back at me, seeming incredibly surprised. "Captain?"

"Humbreeze?" I said before my face turned to a smile. "Holy shit, I thought you were a goner!"

The stallion looked down at the sizable scar running the length down his neck and torso. He instinctively placed a hoof over the scar and chuckled to himself. "Yeah, a week or two in ICU did me some good. How about you, I heard you had to learn how to walk again after all the damage that happened. There were rumors that it got so bad that you actually had to have some of your spine reattached."

I shook my head at the insane rumor that had gone around. "Nothing that severe, lost a ton of my own blood to transfusions and dialysis, a few feet of intestines, a little bit of my sanity, but I'm good to go."

The young guard sagely nodded. "So what brings you here to this part of the castle?"

I kept mum on my individual struggles for the time being. "I'd rather not say right now. How about you if you don't mind me asking?"

The stallion cheered at himself. "Final day of counseling. I can finally put the saga of avenging my sister to rest. It's finally over, at least I can wear a decent-sized helmet again."

I started chuckling to myself. "I figured as much. When I picked it up, I saw the cutie mark on the inside of the crown and realized what was going on. Just glad you're getting the closure you deserve."

The stallion looked quietly to the side. "Yeah, guess you're beginning your own journey to recovery. I can only wish you the best."

"Thanks." I answered, about to leave the room.

"Hey..." He called out, stopping me for a moment to say something. "Thank you for helping my sister get justice. The last of the coalition that sent my sister to her grave is sitting in his own. A lot of families look up to you for doing what you did. Our company owes you a lot."

Even though it was tremendous praise to be given, I couldn't honestly take full credit for any of it. I still had help from the others. "I just did my job, if it ain't safe for me, then I ain't gonna send a bunch of guys to die in my place."

The young stallion seemed a little enthusiastic for his next proposal. "Well if you ever want some guys to hang around with, the barracks is always looking forward to a guys night with you. Maybe you could hang with us regulars and tell us a few stories some evening. A lot of us are pretty excited to have you by. We all look up to you, you know."

Honestly, I know I'm as introverted as all hell, but I never really shook off the idea of hanging around some pub and knock back a cold one with the guys that just got done serving beside me. I may not have much in stories from what I believe, but to everyone else I seem to have quite the adventure. No doubt that they'd look forward to having me by to share a few stories about my deployments, possibly a few about my time with the princess.

Of course, that part of my life will remain top-secret. "Sure. I'll take you on that offer."

After my shift, I wandered into town and thought I should take the time to take care of the invoice Rarity left me when I last visited her boutique. It didn't come as a surprise that I had to get on the motorcycle to get to the bank in time before the doors closed. Thankfully, I caught them just as they were gonna start locking things away. And as soon as the staff saw me walking in, they sent a teller to the counter to deal the final transaction of the day. The mare who approached the counter had a cheerful smile, typical of a teller here to do that for a notable client.

"Good evening, Captain Nondis." She said warmly.

I leaned against the counter, casually explaining to her. "Hey there. Sorry I couldn't come in as early as you'd prefer. I'm here to make a withdrawal real quick."

"That's fine, sir. Would you care to give me the passcode to your account to authenticate your transaction?"

You'd think that the way she just told me to confirm my account was something a teller would do back home, but they do it a bit differently. They have a log book with every client's name in it, they go by last-name index. Each letter has it's own book, each book has it's own section. The print was large for the teller to easily distinguish in spite of not carrying reading glasses of any sort. The pages were enchanted to where she had to cast a spell to see the words on them, while to me it would look like a book full of blank pages. She'd find my name and request my passcode, I offer her my passcard with my confirmation code on it, same spell and method is used for the books. After that, they confirm I'm the account holder and that's that. "It's still kinda weird how you guys use books to do this."

"Well there's no better method than simply archiving the information. I'm sure your world's methods are significantly advanced to ours." She answered back.

"Just imagine a typewriter hooked into a calculator that also acts as an encyclopedia grafted into a projection spell." I briefly explained.

She left to check her index and pulled up a book with the letter H inscribed on the cover. "I can only imagine that would take up my entire workspace, I'd barely have room to move."

As she activated the spell to search the pages for my name, I continued to elaborate on my world's method of financial storage. "Nah, just a little bit of your desk. Just type a few letters of my last name, and I'd be a lot easier to find."

"Amazing..." She said while collecting my card and reading the code to herself. She gave me a quick nod and handed the blank card back over to me. "Okay, all your information checks through. How much are you withdrawing today, sir?"

"Six-hundred bits."

"Would you like that in rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, or just bits?"

"Rubies are fine."

The green unicorn mare took another gander at the book, confirming the amount I took out as well as what remained on my account. "Okay, that withdrawal will leave you with approximately 1,014,349 bits."

I paused, nearly losing my balance as I practically turned my neck so quickly that I could've given myself whiplash. "I-I-I'm sorry, c-ca-can you-can you... you know, check if that's the right account?"

The mare cheerfully popped her register open, which was basically an entire filing cabinet with sectioned areas dedicated to each denominated jewel. "I checked three times already, your code matches next to your name on our record. It seems that there was an anonymous deposit transferred to your account in the form of a charitable donation at approximately 8:35 yesterday morning. The amount that was added was approximately one million bits. Congratulations sir, you're now officially a millionaire."

"Hetaaa you hwaahuh?" I stammered, completely feeling like this was a massive error in my favor. But then I realized that on last night, Blue said that I would need something akin to what she called 'playground funds' to play around with. To me, it felt like I was getting myself into a very lethal game of cat and mouse. "Lady, how much of a playground am I supposed to be playing with?" I muttered to myself before I faced the teller to take my sack of rubies. "Uh, well I guess if it's not an error in my favor, thanks... I guess."

"All transfers are official and are verified upon the initiation of the transaction. All verification protocols have been met, your account stands at exactly 1,014,349 bits." She quoted once more.

"And how much was my account prior to that?" I questioned, still harboring some disbelief.

"Exactly 14,939 bits. Do you need for me to read the current balance to you again?"

This lady legit dropped a cool million to me like it was nothing. Her damn father wanted me dead for less than a fourth of that. She literally gave me one million gold coins, each one 99.98% pure and solid. "It's fine, thank you."

"There are some investment firms and also some stock options you can look into if you wish, sir."

I quickly declined the offer. "Maybe later, I need some time to process this."

"Very well. Please come again, sir."

I walked right out of the front door, already doing the trans-dimensional math in my head. Each bit was one ounce by itself, or at least close to it. I pulled out my phone and checked the stock market value for gold, reading that it was cited at approximately $1195.75 at the closing bell of the this past Friday. That meant that if I traded in half of the playground money, I would be sitting at exactly...

I started dancing. Spirit fingers, jazz hands, air guitar solo, full-blown dougie, I was just in absolute bliss on the thought that I had more than enough to call myself a billionaire. But then again, I still had to do a job. Maybe I could pull off both, keep a good chunk worth at least a hundred million, work on the rest. That meant that I could have a fall-back plan if things go south for me and Equestria finally becomes a place to avoid like the plague. If nothing works over here, I can still head back with a consolation prize worth a hundred million or more.

Seems like a plan to me.

"Ya sure are having yerself a ball, aren't ya?"

I looked around for a moment as the very distinctive voice and accent grabbed my attention. Didn't take me long to notice the beige stetson beneath me. Though her appearance out the blue had confused me. "Applejack, when did you get here?"

She seemed to have a serious expression on her face. It was almost like she had caught me red-handed digging around in the apple bushels looking for a quick snack. The farm pony tilted her head upwards to me, allowing me to see the stern glare her jade-colored eyes. "Ah got here when Ah got here, came looking for ya. And ya already know what for."

I took a few seconds to come to a quick guess. "Twilight?"

Applejack turned around, as if she was going to walk off. "Sugarcube, ya need to come back down to Ponyville and talk with us."

"Is something wrong?" I asked worriedly, already thinking about the last time I saw the purple princess and the dark mood she was in.

"Not with us, but with Twilight. She told us you called it quits and got yer eyes on a pretty mare who's way outta yer league." She answered, her body language almost appearing as if she was about to warn me not to avoid the subject. And given her inhuman strength, I wouldn't put it past her to make a point of it.

"So is this an intervention of sorts?" I asked, starting to get a bit nervous of if she knew exactly who I was dealing with.

"Ah suggest ya take the quickest route to Ponyville. Ah ain't gonna push it through your world, I'll just get Starlight to teleport me back over."

Guess that answers the question of how she got here. "I guess."

Twilight's Castle
Ponyville
Fifteen Minutes Later...

I rushed through my world and got back to my apartment, using the mirror there to get back to the crystalline castle south of my station. When I stepped through, I could see that the room that was once filled with weapons had been cleaned up. It was almost a scary difference to see that she had cleaned up the place, and an even scarier one to see that all my weapons had gone. All that remained was a crumpled-up note on the door telling me what happened.

Dear Nondis,
I'm sorry to bring a bit of a freight to you, but I had to ship the items you left here over to Canterlot. Starlight had gotten a little curious and could've shot Spike. She's not exactly a disciplined student, so it would be better to keep her out of your stash.

Be careful,
Twilight Sparkle

P.S.: I can't bring myself to hate you, even when I'm trying my best. I still really really love you, we will always be friends.

I can only assume that she had the others help her ship the goods over after she told them what happened. And if that's the case, then I know I'm going to have a lot of disagreements coming my way over this. Though I decided that it was time for me to ignore the nervousness and push forward with this meeting.

As soon as I entered the throne room, I could see six mares sitting around the table, five of them in their seats. Starlight stood quietly as the others watched quietly as I entered. Applejack sat at the table, tapping her hoof against the tabletop as she had her hat set on her chair. Looking around, I confirmed that Twilight was the only one who was not present. "Okay, so what's the situation?" I asked.

Fluttershy began the conversation with her usual easy-going tone. "Nondis, even though you're free to do whatever you choose since Twilight and you broke up officially, and we're not trying to push anything─"

Applejack wasn't nearly as easy-going. "Why if Ah ain't a girl of morals, Ah'd show you a proper beatdown. How in Tartarus are ya gonna leave Twilight like that!? Even if she was being a dumbapple when she broke things off, she never gave up on ya!"

Rarity called out her friend. "Applejack, I don't think it's fair to harshly criticize his decisions when he's allowed the freedom to do so!"

"It is Non-Non's decision. I can't really blame him for it because I understand that he may want the freedom of having what he likes." Pinkie cosigned.

Rainbow hopped off of her seat, hovering in the air and getting a more-direct method of eye-to-eye contact. "Okay then, let's ask this. Is sex the only thing you care about?"

"As if that's the only thing that matters, are you serious? Sex is fun but what happens before and after is just as important. I mean it's nice but I don't need it." I simply answered.

Applejack interjected once more. "Then why did ya leave a poor pretty mare like Twilight by her lonesome? She never wanted to break things off with you but she felt like it would give you the room to do what you needed to. And yer way of showing thanks is just dashing her hopes of a future with ya?"

"Nondis..." Rainbow said, eyeing the farm pony as a way to coax her into silence. It seems she wasn't quite done with asking me any questions. "I'm going to ask you this and I want you to give me a real answer. Have you ever felt like you've made a mistake when you walked away?"

I have to admit it's not fun getting grilled on something like this by your ex's gaggle of friends, but it's nice to know that they genuinely care for her emotional well-being enough to even have this meeting. "There's a lot of me that does. I said all these things and I tried my best to hold true to all of that, but even then there are times where I have to accept that better to start over or start fresh. And I apologize if it hurts her, Lord knows I tried telling her that she was worth more than she gave herself credit for. I want to say that I gave it my best, but I admit I could've done better for her sake."

"Next question. Do you feel like you've been honest with her about how you feel?" The rainbow-maned mare inquired.

"I don't think I've tried to lie to her about that."

"Are you two still friends at the end of the day?"

"We're giving each other some space to adjust, but I'd love to stay being her friend, even if our history would make that a bit hard in some areas. I can at least stay by her side when she needs me there. But if she wants to be alone, I'll honor that too."

If anything, the girls were probably seeing where I stood since I made the decision. And with every answer I gave, it would help cultivate their opinion on the matter. Rainbow didn't seem to need much in convincing, and the others were pretty much already satisfied with the circumstances. "Welp, that's it for the meeting. We can all go home now." Rainbow said, floating back to her seat.

But not everyone was satisfied. "Now just wait a darn second!" Applejack being the usual candidate.

"Applejack, they've made their decision. Twilight already said that she was going to support him in his future. I think it's best to leave it there." Fluttershy said calmly.

But the farm mare didn't give up on her pursuit. She jumped on the table and stepped up to me. "Who are you so twitterpated over that you'd break Twilight's heart?"

Before I could answer, Rarity yanked at the mare's tail, pulling her back to her seat as she chided her. "Applejack! You should know that Twilight made it very clear that she didn't want us to know who it is until the time was right!" At least this confirmed that Twilight didn't tell them who I was getting involved with but rather that I was getting involved with someone else in general.

"And I'm saying that she don't need to just tuck her tail between her legs and take that loss. If any of us deserves happiness, it's her." She passionately argued for the sake of her friend. "She's already a princess, she ain't gonna have another chance to find anything like this. Ah don't think she should just give up on the only out she's got!"

"She's stronger than you give her credit for." Pinkie added, speaking for the first time while she tapped her hooves against her own forelegs. "Twilight will bounce back, give it a while and she'll go back to being the nerdy, book-hoarding, obsessively-compulsive, magically gifted, and wonderful friend we all know her for being. So she had a boyfriend and lost him, better to have loved and lost than to not have it at all."

Fluttershy then brought the meeting to a conclusion. "And if there's anything that Twilight needs, I'm sure she'll come to us if she needs it that badly. Not to put anyone down, but we are her best friends and we've been through much worse than this. I'm even sure that we will go through something far worse in the future, so we should all be strong for her sake and be her support." After addressing Applejack, she looked to me instead. "Nondis, I know your visit is a bit sudden, but for right now you can't be seen by her, it'll just open wounds. I'm sure you'll understand."

In reality, she had a point. Me seeing her so soon after a breakup would only make things awkward and sad. I'm sure she didn't want to see me right now. And even if she did, I'm sure she'd try to plead her case. And I don't want to see her trying to settle for just anything. She deserves the best, she's a good girl. "Right. Then I should be on my way then."

As the others started to rise from their seats, Rarity called out to me before I could leave. "But do come by and visit us a little more, darling. Seeing you about but not around doesn't do well for a lady's confidence."

"I'll do my best." I called out before I could hear the sounds of hooves galloping across the floor. Almost as a blur, Applejack slid right by me and faced me, blocking my way out of the room.

She seemed unwilling to give up so easily, but also trying to plead with me in Twilight's place. "...Now Ah'm not usually about change too much, Ah like things being steady. Ah just thought that you and Twilight were gonna be a constant, Ah was at least rooting for ya to be just that for her. Girl's just sensitive about her self-worth, ya know."

I took a deep breath, thinking about the very first night I had the opportunity to comfort her, all those months ago. "I've taken that into consideration." I looked over to the yellow pegasus and smiled. "But Fluttershy's got a point. Twi can do bad all by herself, she's unbelievably strong. I can't even hold a candle to her. She's way out of my league."

"But if you're not gonna be there by her side, then who would?" Applejack questioned one last time.

"Whoever she allows. Her and the other royal family members won't be caged in for too long. I assure you that."

I finally left the room, but not without another set of hooves galloping after me. I could tell from the lightness of her gallop, even the cotton-candy scent that it was none other than the residential party planner extraordinaire. "Nonny." She called out as we walked.

"Let me guess, I'm a jerk, right?" I said with a defeated sigh.

"You're one for assuming what I was going to say." She replied. "Do you really know if what you're getting into is gonna work?"

"Well, I told her all of my bad traits before we even started. Now the only thing she wants to do is prove to me what all my good traits are. It's weird." I answered.

"But you're honest with her?" She asked.

"Yeah, she's brutally honest with me."

As we approached the portal room, Pinkie started walking backwards and throwing out some questions. "Does she know about Twilight?"

"Yeah."

"Does she work with you?"

"You could say that."

"Royalty?" She questioned as I opened the door to the portal room.

"I dunno." I lied.

Even in my lie, Pinkie could easily see through me as she leaned against the doorway. "Yup, no winning against that. Try not to make another girl cry like you did to me."

"Sure thing." I answered.

Just as I was about to close the door behind me, Pinkie held the door open and continued talking. "And Twilight, and Melanie, and Rarity, and Sweetie Belle─"

"Hey now, I don't do underage." I stressed almost instantly.

The pink mare giggled and snorted. "Oh Nonnums, she crushes on you as hard as any impressionable filly does. Diamond Tiara's already trying to spread rumors of you marrying her in the future on her birthday."

"And I'm marrying Princess Celestia after I slay a huge monster and we'll live happily ever after. What kind of a fool takes me for being a sicko going for some kid?" I sarcastically replied.

The mare sighed. "Some aspiring young filly who's hoping against hope. There's a lot of those around." She stepped in the doorway, giving me a quick hug. "Just try to take care of yourself, and stay out of the bad places in the city."

A little too late to acknowledge that request. "No promises, but I'll try my best."

The pink party pony separated from me, giving me a smile. "Visit me when you get the chance. I'll bake you something nice."

"Thanks."

As soon as I turned around, I could already hear the feint sound of balloons deflating. I glanced back for a moment to see her crossing a foreleg over the other as she stood. "Oh, and I may be a little lonely at the shop. You should try to avoid visiting me when I'm alone."

"What happened to Cheese?" I asked, surprised that he'd somehow disappeared again.

"He's gone for another one of his long-distance trips. I suggest you come by when the Cakes are over there."

"Okay..." I answered as the door started to creak closer to being closed completely before stopping. The sounds of balloons deflating was a little louder now.

The mare nervously laughed, trying to poke fun at herself. "I mean it, Nons. You show up and nopony's not there, I might get a little too grabby."

"I get it already." I replied, walking over to the portal. But with each step, I could hear the sounds of balloons deflating until all the air had seemingly gone from them. I looked through the mirror surface, glancing back across the emptied room to see Pinkie's head still poking through the door, her mane as curly as a straightening river. Her eyes seemed to have gained the tiniest instance of bags under them as she muttered over to me in a voice that was almost as timid as Fluttershy's.

"...You're pretty terrible at this."

She finally closed the door, leaving me to stand in the middle of an empty room. I looked across to the portal, seeing the image of myself staring right back. I closed my eyes and thought a little more about what could've been had I made the decision to stand pat. Unfortunately for me, I didn't really see it getting any better. I could hear the faint sound of hooves clopping from across the door, along with Spike's voice trying to negotiate with Twilight over some festivities scheduled to take place tomorrow night.

I whispered to the now-absent pony. "Tell me something new."

Canterlot Castle...

When I returned, I managed to catch the closing minutes of the allocated dinnertime for the castle. Unfortunately all the royals had concluded their meals and I was left to pay an infrequent visit to the castle cafeteria, usually sanctioned for staff and workers but the food choices were a little more restricted. It wasn't meant to be a fine-dining experience, it was just something to feed you. Though you could tell that the other lower chefs were really over the food. Either way, I was fine with it.

After I finished, I started roaming through the halls, seeing the darkness through the many stained-glass windows. I could also see a series of events as I walked, some chronicling the history of the country and the many individual achievements. Granted, they weren't as grand as the ones in the throne room depicting the enormous achievements that saved Equestria from certain doom. It was small stuff, the birth of Canterlot, the first sunset over the city, the birth of a few cities, a few famous wonderbolts, and even one window that seemed to have been unfinished.

Standing before that one was two ponies, a female unicorn guard donning an unusual set of silver armor to indicate her officer rank, and Celestia herself. The two conversed as the smaller unicorn mare looked at the window angrily, but popped right back into smiling as soon as she was addressed directly by the princess. Celestia on the other hand was pointing to the window as her mouth went at seemingly a million miles an hour. I couldn't quite make what she was saying from the distance I was walking from, but I wasn't really that interested.

However, her talking didn't distract her from getting a glimpse of me walking by. "Captain." She called out sternly, knowing that I couldn't ignore her addressing me directly.

As she approached me, I bowed before her. "Your highness."

She had a seriousness in her tone as she spoke. "Walk with me for a moment, if you will." While I knew she was putting on a show, it appeared convincing to the guard standing next to her. "Solemn Oath, you're dismissed for the evening."

The mare appeared quiet in taking her request, but she gave me a quick look-over, giving me quite the foul vibe as she walked right through me. I suppose she didn't like me very much. As soon as she disappeared down the hall, the princess and I proceeded to walk in the direction of her chambers. "Sorry I couldn't make dinner. Applejack wanted me to get back to Ponyville and explain myself about the breakup. They don't seem to know much other than that." I quietly informed her.

Celestia hummed to herself before replying to me. "Then it seems that Twilight has faithfully followed my instructions, much to her dismay."

"What were your orders to her?" I asked.

"Just a small gag order. Can't have her telling the details to the others when I know they're as chatty as a group of schoolgirls." Celestia whispered.

As we walked, I tried to peek over to see what was being done to the uncompleted window. "Fair enough. I know it's hard for Pinkie to keep a secret if it's juicy enough. And Rarity is too easy to blur out names while giving out the details. It's easy for her to talk about everypony else but herself─"

"No further statement needed." Celestia interrupted, stopping me from going into detail. She looked to the window and kept speaking. "Either way, the guard has readied themselves for the big bash tomorrow. Your superiors insisted that you'd serve your time on duty by overlooking the security of the town event. But I told them that I would be giving you the day off to make up for your being on staff during Hearth's Warming. I also informed them that you missed a pivotal family holiday for your service and allowed you to observe this one back home in your world."

"Pretty huge favor you pulled for me." I said with a light chuckle.

"That it is, but the thing that falls on me now is the situation we're in. As it is, I am to give a speech on tomorrow detailing the occurrences of the past year and how we'll move on as a country."

Already, I could see where this was going in terms of our availability. "Sounds pretty... typical."

"Boring is right. I despise having to make the same speech every year while changing up a few words. At this point I already have the template memorized."

"So I guess that's a rain check on tomorrow?" I asked, trying to confirm our status.

"Clear skies ahead, you mean." She emphatically corrected. "I just told you why I'm not going to put up with another worn-welcomed festival. I've decided to appoint Luna to make the speech, especially since this is a night celebration."

I sighed a breath of relief. "That's a fair assessment. You sure there won't be any problems?"

She groaned quietly as she looked to me. "There will be plenty. The guards will be looking for me while I go missing. And I'm sure my missing presence will disallow you from getting your day off."

"Then we'll have to cancel." I summarized.

"Wrong again." She corrected. "I shall have Blueblood chat with the pompous big-wigs while I carry on with some 'much-needed rest.' I will simply say that I am tiresome and I won't be bothered for the rest of the night. That's all it takes."

I just shrugged after her explanation. "Then why the whole pomp and circumstance about our status?"

Before I knew it, she altered her route to her room, instead going for the portal room I left from recently. "It's so you'll be aware of what your superiors will be trying to do. So for tonight, I suggest you sleep in your world to allow yourself to not be bothered. I will feign exhaustion in the early evening to allow my infiltration of the portal room. But this is where I will have a hard time with my plan, the crossing over."

"You don't want Mel to see you." I concluded, this time correctly.

The princess started to explain her reasoning. "I'm sure that she and your friends will be eager to spend time with us if we are found. So it would be better to find some way to distract her while I make my way through."

"Why not use Cliff's portal?" I questioned.

"I'm sure you remember what happened with Cadance and her unannounced visit."

"Point taken." I said as I knocked on the side of my head to indicate my stupidity. "So I'll distract Mel and you sneak through. You wait outside the apartment and I drop by, pick you up, take you shopping for some clothes, then we commence to our operation. I'll probably get Spike to send you a letter on when you can slip on by."

"Not a peep to the others." Celestia advised.

"My lips are sealed, your highness."

She opened the door, allowing me to take my leave back to the human world. She looked around and turned up the volume for any possible eavesdroppers to hear. "We mustn't fail, captain. Diplomacy is at stake, so I am counting on you to make this work."

"You have my word." I gave her a wink as I saluted her.

She winked back before walking away. "Very well then. Dismissed."

After I crossed over, I started to draft my plans on how I was gonna work through any potential sleep issues I could have. Since Luna was going to leave me to work that one through on my own, it was probably better if I did some research on it instead of forcing myself to sleep through the night. And even if it was pretty late night to go anywhere to find much of anything that would help me sleep, I had to take a chance on whatever I could find.

Luckily, I ran into a solution that didn't require me to go anywhere at all.

Research and studies have found that a more favorable solution to any sleep issues would be to listen to music. Of course I couldn't just throw on AC/DC's Thunderstruck and awesome my way to sleep. I had to limit what I was putting in my brain as I drift off to a waiting morning. I did some reading up and suggestions were popping up all over the place. Some recommended classical music that sounded soothing and calm to the ear, lots of choices there but I'm not to good on the names of them. There were a few song options, but research said that music without words would work better for my purpose.

So I stayed up and did some more research, looking for a few bits of music that could keep me calm and ease me into the morning. Unfortunately for me, some relatively topical tracks that I wanted to listen to were only so long. And I wasn't really too fond of the constant dynamic changes found in classical music that would keep my mind subconsciously consistent. And I couldn't just rely on a YouTube playlist to stay on topic, especially when there are people who add whatever crap to the list just to troll. So I settled for something that was a bit unusual.

I typed in the search bar sleeping music and found a bevy of results. From the looping ambiance of a rain forest to the droning sounds of ethereal synths looping a few simple chord progressions. And to my pleasant surprise they went from anything between three hours to eleven hours long. As long as I didn't sit in silence in the dark, allowing my thoughts to run rampant on the encroaching darkness, I was satisfied.

If something like this was proven to help people with schizophrenia, I should be more than good.

I played two videos at once. One was an eleven hour loop of rain forest sounds, giving me a lot of white noise to help me nod off. The music I selected had a running time of eight hours, more than enough to get me to wake back up to it. It also helped that I turned the rain forest sounds a tad beneath the music so that it could blend a bit better. And leaving one of the videos on full screen provided me with a good scene to appreciate. From there on, it was time to turn the lights out and drift.

My mind was already stayed on the idea of going on this date with Celestia, the music and the ambiance only reinforced the abstract concept to my mind. My eyes closed to see her holding me again. There was a few times the dream threatened to turn for the worse, but I had more than enough experience to let some things trigger my mind into waking up to the threat of danger, my time in Arimaspi Mountain made that possible. But I didn't have any moments like that too frequently, perhaps once or twice before the soothing noise brought me back to sleep.

Next thing I noticed, it was morning and the videos were still going. I looked at the time bar at the bottom, seeing that a total of six hours and forty minutes had gone by. I placed all the videos on pause, reset to the beginning, and pinned the tabs so that I wouldn't accidentally close them for the next time around. My experiment worked in spades this time.

I hopped in the shower, took a nice relaxing time to cleanse myself, came out and started going through the channels on my television. Not much was on that I was truly interested in, so my mind kinda wandered to the mare I was supposed to meet today. "I wonder what I'm gonna do until she gets here." I muttered to myself, sitting in boredom.

My phone suddenly rang, almost like fate itself had provided an answer. I pulled up the screen to see it was Melanie giving me a ring. So I quickly answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Nondis, whatcha doing?" She asked, seeming just as bored as I was.

"Nothing in particular."

"Okay, okay..." The woman on the other end repeated, I could imagine her nodding on that. "So what's your work schedule for today, do you know?"

She was probably seeing if I had anything planned for New Years Eve. And of course, I did. "Got an escort mission later this evening. As far as my morning up till I guess five-ish, I'm open."

"Laaaaame!" Mel moaned out of disapproval

"What?" I asked, chuckling.

"An escort mission on New Years Eve, it's bad enough you worked through Christmas. What the hell do you have to escort later this evening?"

"V.I.P's in the royal family." I stated.

"Ugh, I ain't gonna find any ways to have fun with you at this rate." In the background, I could already tell she was in bed by the way her arm smacked her pillow as well as the creaking of her mattress.

"As I said, my schedule is open for noon." I restated.

"But I want you for midnight, everyone wants you for midnight."

"Sorry, club rules." I answered with a shrug.

"Ugh, fine. So what do you wanna do?"

Honestly, I wasn't really planning for anything earlier in the day other than finding something to do that would distract Mel. I guess I couldn't complain since the answer practically fell right into my lap. Anything that would cause us to drain some time away from the apartment complex is a good thing. "Dunno, kinda out of ideas. What's out in the movies right now?"

The woman on the other line kissed her teeth. "Seriously, you've gotta leave pony world for at least another week." Mel groaned. "I'm good for a trip at Dave & Busters, we could all meet up there. I know Vanessa and Alex ain't working today, Stanton ain't plugging some random chick right now, so he's free. Cliff is begging to get away from his family. Rickey is probably tired of seeing his folks over in San Antonio and he just got back in today to hang with us tonight."

Great, I don't even have to plan anything other than booking a reservation at a restaurant for later this evening. I still had a thousand dollars stashed here in the room. Guess I could run up an agenda of shopping, dinner, and other miscellaneous expenditures after a fifty dollar hit at Dave and Busters. Hell, I'm rich now. "Okay, sounds fun to me."

"Great, so let me call the others and get a time."

"Sweet. Thanks a bunch."

"You sure we can't get you to stay past five?" She asked one more time.

"Rules are rules."

Again, she kissed her teeth. "Whatever."

Later That Afternoon...

After a few hours of laying out at the house and getting my clothes ready for the day, the time drew close for me to head over to Mel's and drive out to where we agreed to meet with the others. But before I headed out that way, I had to type up a letter and seal it to get back to Celestia through Spike's enchanted flames. The only thing that was hard was trying to catch him while he was away from Twilight. She wasn't exactly cooped up in her room for the day so I had to listen in and gauge when she was walking down the hall or not. And since Spike was often heard humming or singing down the halls during his errands, I had the opportunity to catch him before I left. As soon as I made it clear that it was a confidential matter for the princess, he went from begrudging to begrudgingly agreeing.

After I got that out of the way, Mel and I finally met up and we zipped on out to the Dave and Busters off the expressway. And when we got there, the party started to grow and we started to get a little more liberal with our orders. All of us seemed to go from celebrating one another to simply celebrating Stanton's win over West Virginia in their bowl game. It really turned into an impromptu celebration, and the guest of honor was more than eager to tell his story.

"So he came at me, and I just juked the shit out of him, fucking took his cleats right off his feet and watched the man slip and bust his ass trying to tackle me. But I just keep chugging, right. All of a sudden, I look back, not a single guy from West Virginia hunting me down within five yards. So I put the jets on, and I hop my stupid ass into the endzone."

"Ah yeah, that. Didn't you drop the ball a few inches before the goal line?" Alex joked, causing Stanton to hold his hands over his head.

"Look, I got a little overzealous in my run, I thought I had it and I just celebrated a bit too early."

"Coach Sumlin had to probably scream you to the bench over that one." Alex added.

"Again, a mental mistake I didn't make the rest of the day."

"Almost cost your team a game though."

Stanton scoffed at the idea of losing to the opposing team. "Dude, it's a school in the Big 12, no one in that conference plays defense worth a damn."

"Yeah...." Mel groaned out slowly in agreement, not wanting to truly admit it.

Stanton then proceeded to rub some salt in everyone's Texas Longhorn wounds. "Oh yeah, how bout them Longhorns? Didn't they lose out in Houston? I think it was the Razorbacks that clobbered you guys thirty-one to seven."

Almost every one at the table, even some on-listeners groaned in disgusted embarrassment. I wasn't as dark as dismal as everyone else, trying to draw some optimism from the situation. "Look, Charlie Strong just got hired to be the coach, it's his first season, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Says the asshat who hasn't watched a single game outside Bedlam." Rickey grumbled.

"I mean, you had some quality wins against... uh..." I quickly pulled out my phone and looked up the school's record.... Yeah, not too enthralling. The team ended their season with a six and seven record. Almost every team that had a rank at any point in the season walked away with a win against this team. The only glaring exception was a team ranked number twenty-fourth in the nation. At that point I went from convincing everyone around me not to panic to trying to convince myself that the university I spent four of the past five years at wasn't complete trash. "Iowa State, Oklahoma State on their field, West Virginia, Texas Tech─"

Mel placed a hand on my shoulder and shook her head sympathetic to my disbelief. "Nondis, you know no one loses to Tech."

"Texas State loses to Tech." I replied, still in denial.

"Nondis, my guy, do you listen to yourself sometimes?" Cliff questioned in deadpan.

After realizing my hastily put together point was getting nowhere, I conceded the argument. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just trying to feed some optimism."

Stanton wasn't exactly a stickler for any optimism he had for Texas, especially since Charlie Strong outright rejected him to pursue a five-star recruit from Idaho. That same guy also took a scholarship at Alabama just the day before Coach Strong came back to us. Stanton didn't like that too much and took up a scholarship at College Station upon the first offer made by Coach Sumlin. Honestly, he wanted to be a Longhorn, but college recruiters don't like to look at hometown heroes too much. And Stanton worked that chip on his shoulder to the next level, aspiring to be an NFL athlete.

So yeah, he had some choice words about the new coach. "Don't. The guy ain't a fit for UT. Sure he does great with Louisville, but that's a team out east. He don't know how to use corn-bred, chicken hungry, country boys moving tractor tires on the farm. It's a whole different breed out here. Over there you got hard knocks boys coming from the city who ain't had nothing, basically a bunch of Cinderellas looking for the glass slipper to fit them. Out west you got a shitload of cosmopolitan boys trying to play like they can make it in the big leagues when all they're good for is soccer. This is Texas, we're talking about home grown boys who don't quit till the whistle blows."

"Uh, ain't soccer the world-dominant sport right now?" Alex interjected.

Stanton didn't care about the global view of things, just focusing on the sport he spent much of his life playing. "The world ain't paving my way to the NFL. They don't give a fuck about you. Only one who'll look out for you is you."

I started to think about how I had the same outlook on the world once upon a time. Without even thinking, I just started talking. "Yeah, I used to believe that. Until I realized that caring for you don't just mean that they want to see you succeed, there are a lot of people that want to see you fail. And that in turn gives them the ability to care for your failure. They've become so invested that the only thing they do is find what ways you've done wrong."

I didn't get a chance to finish my thought before Cliff joked at my demeanor. "Uh oh, deep-thought Nondis is in town."

The whole table grew quiet as I did. I lost track of what I was saying and couldn't find any way to continue. Alex poked fun at me and joked. "Whatcha see this time?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it."

"You sure?" Mel asked me.

"We're here to give it a listen if you'd like." Rickey cosigned.

I shook my head and flagged everyone down. "Nah, I've done my spilling to the shrink."

"You've got a counselor?" Alex inquired.

"Oh boy, you're going through it." Stanton added.

"I'm only doing it because it would be better for me in the future. Better to be proactive."

Mel gave me a light nudge as she spoke. "Well it's good that you're trying to take care of yourself."

"All bullshit aside, you know you can still call on us when you need to." Alex said trying to offer his support.

"Thanks, Alex. But I'm trying to do this one as much as I can on my own. It's actually pretty damn dangerous."

"Bad part of town again?" Mel asked.

"You know it." I flatly answered.

"Isn't that where you found the guy fucking a headless corpse?" She asked, causing the entire table to stare at me with disbelief.

"THE FUCK!?" Yelped Stanton.

Again, I didn't really stop and think about what I was gonna say, instead just letting it all pour out... everything. "Yeah, I see a counselor for that, the assassination attempts, the mission on the mountain, the getting poisoned, nearly abducted..." And I kept going until my mind had gone to an awfully dark place. "...the bodies on the wagon, the train nearly falling off the side of the mountain, the nightmares, the alternate worlds, the corpses of everyone I know, a room full of dying ponies whispering their last words, the head on the brake lever on the train, the guard bleeding out in my arms."

"Nondis!" I snapped out as soon as Alex snapped his fingers in my ear from across the table. I quickly grew attentive of where I was at, and Alex slowly reminded me of that. "Home. You're home now."

I quickly shook my head, mentally slapping myself back into shape. I nervously laughed as I tried to play off the small episode. "Right. Sorry. Probably better to leave that on the other side, am I right?"

"Yeah. Can't take it with you everywhere, bud." Alex said, not quite smiling but trying his best to offer some comforting emotion on his face.

I then tried to quickly change the subject. "So enough about me, how about you? You and your wife talking about starting a family pretty soon, right?"

Alex realized that I was trying to readjust the mood and thankfully complied. However, it didn't throw out the unease that everyone felt as they watched me quietly chastise myself. It was small talk, but I figured it was a subject that everyone would enjoy hearing about. "Yeah, but we want to make sure we're secure in a new house before we expand. Two bedroom flat ain't gonna do for a family of three if mom and dad wants to come over for an extended stay to see the grandkids."

"You know, they could rent out a room." Stanton suggested as he gave me a few concerned glances.

"And we could also have more kids along the way. So we want to prepare for that inevitable part of our lives." Alex said, trying to pretend that the subject never happened.

"But aren't you supposed to have the kid first and then talk about moving to a bigger nest?"

I just looked at the card I got for my dine-and-play package. I found myself spinning it, drained of my prior happiness as that particular minor outburst had me mentally replaying the moment I broke down in the hallway. I couldn't help but get upset with myself.

The next thing I felt was a hand cup over my wrist. I looked over to see Mel holding me. "Hey, you good?"

Again, I shook myself out of it, trying to put back on my happy face. "Yeah. Stuff on my mind aside, tonight's actually got me pretty excited."

"Don't you work tonight?" She asked.

"Yeah. Escort detail. But it's not all that bad."

"I bet he's got to escort Twilight and company." Rickey folded his arms and pointed at me.

"I wouldn't bet against that." I said quietly.

"Yeah, but you've been working nonstop. Can't you take a break sometime?" Said Alex who was more than worried that something had gone wrong with me.

"It's military work, they don't give you the first holiday off." I answered.

"Seriously?" Stanton facepalmed and shook his head while I shrugged.

"No excuses, no exceptions."

Later That Evening...

Outside of the one part where I just phased out and spilled some stuff I didn't want to, I started to look forward to the silence of being at home. But the others had different plans, opting to go out for ice cream and spending time at the frat house. While the others continued to fraternize with the members, I was quietly watching and hoping that I'd keep my mouth shut.

Mel wasn't too thrilled either, I think she was upset with herself for saying anything about what I saw, safe to say that she didn't know what I would also be needing a counselor for. What I spilled was just the surface stuff, not really wanting to give them the whole story of what my life was over there. If I did, they'd probably abduct me in my sleep and break every portal to the other world to keep me here. And Mel knew that was the only way to keep me safe.

Unfortunately, all my struggles came with fighting the good fight, and I wasn't done yet.

The car ride home was quiet, neither of us wanting to say anything to each other. The only thing she did was bump some Bruno Mars and watched the traffic go by. I liked the music, it was catchy, popping, had that retro feel to it, lots of energy. If I could take that one back with me, that would be a whole other party Pinkie wouldn't be ready for.

I wonder what her plans were for tonight.

We stopped outside her section, Mel just waved at me, telling me that she'd see me later and instructing me to call her if I feel down on anything. When she left, I was already feeling a bit socially drained. As I was riding along, I just thought about taking a quick nap to reset. And the thought quickly became a favorable one. So I got to my place, opening the door, and started taking off my shoes before I noticed Celestia walking from the back where my room was, in all her human glory. I gave her a look and smirked. "You seem to be getting your way around pretty well."

"Helps that this isn't the first time I was here." She replied.

I looked at my phone, seeing we were a full thirty minutes earlier than what I had planned. Though I had to change clothes as the reservation I made was to a more upscale eatery, I took a moment to quickly swap my attire for something a little more conservative. Took me around ten minutes to shed one look for the other, and Celestia was already wearing a pretty sundress, though a tad unprepared for the weather. Guess shopping for those essentials are in order. "So you ready?"

"That and waiting."

The entire time we walked outside, Celestia was already shivering. When we got into the first store, our main objective was to find as much stuff to wear under and over her dress as possible. We found some leggings, but she didn't like the idea of having to restrict herself so much, especially in certain areas where she felt necessary to have a quicker access to. I found a sweater jacket for her to wear over her top, but she complained that it was not really to her liking. I picked out a faux fur coat, she gave me a nervous expression before I explained to her that it wasn't real fur.

While we were about to head to the checkout, her eyes caught a pretty conservative lavender dress that matched with her eyes. She picked that one up and she had me wait outside the changing room for a little bit before she popped out wearing it. She spun around looking at her side view, taking pride in what she saw for being her first time shopping her own human attire. She looked at me with a smile and asked. "So how does this look?"

One quick gander told me a lot about her. The first was the fact that this completely conservative dress that would pass any soccer mom's modesty stress test had suddenly failed to hide every asset she flaunted. Her chest was quite plentiful and it made the dress a bit more provocative. Going down to her rear, it was a curvy shape until it showcased the abundance of her seat. It was so much that the length of the dress down her leg was inherently shortened by a few inches. A few more glances had told me a lot more about her as well. For starters, there was no obvious panty line, which either meant that she was wearing a thong, or that there was absolutely nothing holding her back. Another thing was that I could very much see the excitement she displayed on her chest, quite literally. She was lacking a bra, and that couldn't be any more obvious with how perky she was. Safe to say that she simply ignored the option of underwear today. Honestly, I started to forget the option of keeping myself tamed in public.

Yeah, I bought the dress while she wore it, the faux fur coat also.

Riding out to the restaurant, my mind swam with thoughts of taking her clothes off. My lips were moistened with my thoughts of slowly peeling off that dress and cupping one of her breasts in my hand, suckling on her as she giggled with her mothering-bathed voice. Just the thought of her sitting right next to me had me imagining what it would feel like running my hands up her legs and in between her warm, soft thighs. I could already feel the dampness of my fingertips reaching within her. What would she say if I peeled back her dress to reach for that, would she open her legs and let me, would she initially clench from the unexpected motion and grab my wrist while guiding me to where she wanted to be touched.

My GPS broke me out of my lust-induced trance, giving me very little time to adjust. I ended up missing the turn and had to double back to make it, which gave me a lot more room to compose myself before I got out of this car. Couldn't go walking around with my camping gear out. Celestia, who was paying close attention to me had started to giggle uncontrollably. When we got to the parking lot, I payed the valet to park the car and I escorted Celestia into the restaurant. I verified our reservation and we were seated instantly.

A few of the other diners─men to be more specific─followed the princess with inquiring eyes. They trailed her every move, every step, appreciating much of the view as she passed. When the waiter pulled her chair, the other guys in the place averted their gaze back to their own tables. Some had a lot of scorn following up their recovery. Celestia wasn't oblivious to notice it. "Their eyes are all over me."

"You're a very attractive woman, it wouldn't be any different than in your world." I said with a flirty smile.

The princess blushed as she used her coat to cover herself a little more. "More like it's a lot more blatant than it is in my world. Stallions would sooner look at the ground than to look me in the eye. I wouldn't be surprised if the only thing they truly appreciated were my legs."

"They are some nice legs, credence to that." I muttered.

Celestia rolled her eyes. "As much gawking as they'd do, I'd be more open to the thought of them actually asking."

I gave a small chuckle. "Realistically speaking, how many of them would you say yes to?"

"Do you want me to count on one hoof." She asked, balling up her fist and pointing it at me, an instinctual byproduct of the anatomical transfer.

"Hand is fine." I reminded her, flaunting my fingers.

She then pointed a single index finger upwards. "One..." The princess gazed at me for a moment. "But only because of your dedication."

"My dedication? I didn't really beg for this, you know."

"That's the point, I like my suitors patient." She whispered.

"I suppose." Without warning, I saw the princess wince over something that seemed to be irking her. "What's wrong?"

Celestia looked at her feet beneath the table and grumbled over to me. "Can I take these infernal shoes off?"

"Be my guest." I confirmed, allowing her to remove her high heels from off of her feet. The princess expressed her relief.

"Thank you, I can't stand you humans' obsession to subjugate yourselves."

"But you wear slippers all the time." I pointed out.

"And none of them comes with heels." She replied.

"Fair enough. Heels aren't really as easy to walk in as most women make them out to be."

The princess gave me an amused smirk, almost like she wanted to poke fun at me. "And how would you know that exactly?"

"Word of mouth... and personal experience."

The woman blinked at me, somewhat baffled at my response. "Personal experience? Is there something I should know about you?"

"Just know it was for a frat thing." I said, pulling out my phone to pull up the picture of one of the initiation activities, namely the one that had us all standing in a semi-circle as if we were all going to prom.

"Oh, goodness!" The princess looked around trying to keep her laughter contained, though much of it just delightfully squeaked and squirmed. "This is incredible! I can see Cliff and Rickey in this one!"

"Yeah, we had to play dress-up in order to get in." I said as she continued to cackle.

"Thank goodness that you didn't have to do that to get into the guard." She said through her laughter.

"No, I don't think I could take Shining making me crawl around like a pony, much less in a dress."

Her laughing ceased, replaced with a slightly more serious tone. "I remember. But you didn't have to deal with that you know."

"Well, I had a lot to motivate me, even if I felt like quitting." I admitted.

"You're better for sticking around."

"Yeah, honestly I didn't really see all of this coming when I first hopped off the train to the training barracks out in Dodge Junction."

Celestia blushed as she thought about the way she first saw me. "I'm sure I didn't see this coming when I saw you curled up in a bed that first day you came to."

I looked at my own picture, seeing how much I used to weigh. "A lot's changed."

"That it has."

As the waiters came to collect our menus, we announced what our choices were and they started going through the rounds of food that the chefs prepared for us. While the experience was new to me personally, Celestia took pleasure in seeing the human variant of it. The food was incredible and we had a good time discussing it. It was also Celestia's first time indulging in top-quality meat, an experience she said she'd have to become acquired with outside of it's wonderful taste.

Our plates laid empty on the table as we talked more. "So if you don't mind me asking, what exactly made you decide that I was the one you wanted to court on the low?"

The princess clasped her hands together as she spoke. "Hmm.... I fell in love with you from the first moment I saw you and I wanted nothing to do but hold you close to me. Though I wished to keep you at a distance out of concern that I would grow somewhat attached to you, you still found a way to become even closer to me, standing by my side as my loyal guard. Would that answer suffice?"

I could immediately tell that she was just pulling my leg. "It would bring up the question of why you didn't take me in personally if you were interested from the jump."

She started again. "Well how about this one then.... After the loss of my dearest friend Fair Charity, I secretly wished for his spirit to move on in peace and find happiness with his wife in the afterlife. But due to her means of meeting her end, they were denied that happiness and he long lingered in the ether to find the opportunity to come back to me in some form or another. And then he found you, you were born, and you were brought to me by destiny to finish his work. Is that better?"

That one sounded like a fairy tale, if I ever heard of one. "Well that one seems to be a little more believable."

"And it's still wrong, because this is the reason.... My seeing you woo my personal student to absolute submission made me curious to see if you would enrapture me in the same way. And thus far, I can see many things that would cause for me to imagine the idea of a future with you. I could simply call it that bewitching aspect of your personality. That one seems like a fair reason, doesn't it?"

Of course she'd try to play as if she calculated her way into something like that, though it's not saying she's incapable. "Out of the three choices I can't see you being that hollow."

"And yet it is among those three choices. Choice A, B, or C, which do you think is the true reason why I have gravitated to you?

I proceeded to think aloud. "Choice A seems to be a bit difficult to understand because of your attitude towards me in the beginning, distant and nonchalant. Choice C, again, seems like the most hollow explanation of why you would compromise the happiness of your former student to substantiate your own. Choice B seems like the only logical answer, as fantastical as it seems."

"So that's your final answer?"

I folded my arms and answered her confidently. "The final answer is D: None of the above."

The princess looked at me with a quirked eyebrow. "And you came to that conclusion how?"

"Because it was for the same reason why I even considered it. It was the nights we spent talking all night long. For hours on end we just kept going like we had to share more and more of ourselves. And as of the moment, we're kinda vulnerable to each other. Granted, you have more vulnerabilities that I won't know about until much later, while you see each of mine become unveiled right before your very eyes."

"That answer is based on more recent times, isn't it?"

"You tell me, I'm the one guessing at your emotions."

She gave me a confirming smile. "Hmm... Significant, but wrong."

My jaw dropped and my arms unraveled as I swore I had the right answer. "Then what's the right answer?"

A triumphant grin appeared on her as she folded her arms, drumming her fingers against them. "Well since you've got it wrong, I suppose a punishment game is in order. That game is to simply discover why I am willing to invest my time with you."

I quickly facepalmed at the idea of her so-called punishment. "That's a cruel game to play for someone who doesn't like mind games."

"Doesn't mean that I don't play them every now and then, especially during occasions such as this."

"You don't want to crack that easily, huh?" I replied in a deadpan tone.

"Actually, there's truth to all of the answers I provided. But it's up to you to pick out which details ends up piecing the final reason together."

Something told me that she's bluffing me on that. If anything the very reason why we're even 'courting' is because we had that long talk in the kitchen as we made dinner. It was an impromptu dinner date and we started figuring out some things we liked about each other. But for now, I'll just play along. "Sounds fun."

The princess winked at me. "Don't be in too much of a rush to find out. I still want us to discover more about each other, even if you've ruined some of the good part for me."

"If you think bad qualities are fun, then you must be some sort of masochist." I joked while Celestia cut her eyes narrowly to the side, mumbling.

_{"Hmm, I do have a high pain threshold when it gets good."}

Luckily for me, I caught some idea of what she said. "What was that?"

"What was what?" She asked, trying to play innocent.

"What did you just say?" I asked again, leaning in towards the princess.

"I said nothing." She rebutted, crossing her legs and looking the other way.

I started giggling as I poked fun at the blushing ruler. "You said a thing. You probably meant it in a naughty way."

"Please don't take what I say out of context." She urged, pushing back against me.

"Okay, so let's assess what I think I know." I said, leaning back towards my chair. "You aren't a pretty pampered princess, history tells me that much. I do know that you don't like being pampered too much. And you don't like being placed on a pedestal in every avenue of your life. Maybe you could tell me more of what you like so we can draft a plan for our next get-together?"

The princess stopped smiling, almost looking forlorn as she replied. "Our next get-together, I'm afraid that will be some months off from now. If I can dedicate clearing a day of my schedule and make sure that you can at least clean a slate for three months from now, I'd be more than willing to oblige."

I was stunned to silence, finding it hard to see myself waiting that long for a date. "Three months is a long time to wait."

She then tried to inject some optimism into the situation. "Most of your shift will be around me anyhow, so we really wouldn't be absent from one another. It's just that we'll be doing a lot of our talking behind the scenes, more preferably the nightly escort to my personal chambers."

"You think the guys above my pay grade would allow that?"

"Of course they won't, they've already sent a guard or two to fulfill that job in your place to make sure things stay strictly unbiased and professional." She stated.

I started looking at the time to check on when it was a good time to start heading out. Thankfully we had a lot of time before the final hour of the year. "Even then, you would think that they would allow the captain of your guard to actually do his job."

"You mean that they would allow my personal selection of preference to have unrestricted nightly access to the highest ruler in all of the land? Doesn't that compromise your whole facade of not liking the royals in some way?"

I pointed at her, reminding her of what we were currently doing. "You know, what we're doing now compromises that to a significant degree."

"And who is here to witness it?" She asked with a coy look.

"Solid point." I nodded back. The princess uncrossed her legs, looking down into her empty glass. I grabbed the bottle of wine at the center of the table and started pouring for her. She proceeded to slowly sip down her wine as an amusing thought came to my mind. "You know, Shining thought you would've liked my brother instead of me."

"Alex, why?" Celestia questioned, looking perplexed at the idea of dating my older brother.

"Well, Cadance always said that the two of you would be an ideal power couple if it weren't for two key factors, him being human and him being married."

She emphatically shot down the idea. "I have nothing against Alex, but he's not my type. We work well together, that's a positive. We do a lot of compromising, that's another positive. He's a married man, that's just the death flag on all of it. And then there's no possible way I'd really find myself being emotionally drawn to him because I just see him as a consummate professional."

"That word has two meanings, you know." I joked.

"You're thinking of the verb, I'm saying the adjective." She said while slightly kicking against my leg, as a way to tell me to keep my thoughts clean. "Besides, he may have the intellect, but I'm not sure of his will. He's dedicated to you and your happiness, but I can't shake the feeling that if he had a personal preference, he would sooner see you stay here and never return to Equestria. He's just that protective of you."

After my outburst earlier in the day, it would probably be his next step if things went a little too far for his liking. "I wouldn't be surprised if he had that thought run around his brain for a bit."

"Stanton is a lost cause for me." The princess swirled the wine in her glass and thought more about me and my brothers. She even started expanding on the topic by evaluating my younger brother, which was a bit surprising to me.

"More on my brothers?"

"He is! I mean the moment he tried to intimidate Luna with the idea of her unsullied virtue had told me everything. He's fearless, but I do not see it coming from any other place than hubris. I also don't see him as being the patient type. He likes the gratification of the moment, doing and living for the now as opposed to seeing what's to come for the future."

In all reality, an I any different? I was just drooling over her thighs on the way here. "I mean, I haven't really drawn up a five-year plan myself."

"He's also cocky, he's very physical, and he's more invested in his tally count, so to speak." She added.

Now that's more on the nose. "Yeah, he is a bit of a man-whore. But am I any different?"

"You sure don't subscribe to the idea of indulging yourself as often as I would've figured you to do. I'm not exactly sure on what you do as a bachelor nor do I seem to care of it, but your time with Twilight has shown me that much."

Just that moment made me feel somewhat bittersweet. "Yeah, I'm sure it did."

Noticing my mood, she quickly changed the subject with another story. "You know, Fair Charity was incredibly upset when he discovered that his royal status restricted his sexual encounters. It was like watching a banker lose all the money in his account. If there's anyone that takes after that stallion in that context, it would be Stanton."

"Well that's surprising. Thought honestly that he'd find some girl who would inevitably whip him into shape. It's either that or the wrong one comes around and damages his ability to trust in any partners." I stated, thinking of Stanton and his particular circumstance.

"But that's not what you want to see." She said, her voice now growing more solemn. "Losing trust, the ability to love, all of that is so painful to watch."

"I guess you'd know from experience." I said, thinking of her story about the eccentric prince.

She whispered at me, placing her glass on the table. "Not just me... Cadance too."

"Seriously?" I almost felt myself wanting to stand up at the sudden revelation. She started to tell of that story, keeping it much more brief this time.

"She had an interest before Shining. She wanted that bright innocent image of happily ever after, but he wanted power and wealth. So he tried to do what he could to manipulate her into succumbing to his demands. Poor girl had to watch as mare after mare left his bedroom, all as a consequence of her saying no to him for something. The tragic thing was that she was fine with it, until I had to personally intervene and nullify her approval process. So I denied him, he thought he could convince her to run away from it all, she said no again, and he tried to force his resolution to her. Blueblood and I caught him before anything could go any further." For the fraction of a second, I could see the glass she place down start to emit steam. That meant she was angry thinking about it. "Long story short, there's a hole in some old cathedral that's been turned into a gladiatorial arena."

I pursed my lips, my eyes darting around as I bobbed my head slowly. "Wow, I guess that explains Cadance's Spartan-like nature in having a monogamous relationship with Shining. Or just her attitude on relationships in general."

Celestia quickly grabbed the glass filled with the steaming wine and tossed the contents into the back of her throat, trying to not draw the attention of an oncoming waiter. "It was horrible, watching the poor girl whisper to us at his every infraction and say 'It's okay, he's just relieving himself.' It was one of the worst cases of Stockholm Syndrome I've ever seen. I've watched her lose her color each day of those long, grueling thirteen months."

I then filled her glass with some cold wine again. "Surprised you didn't stop it sooner."

"She wouldn't let me, saying that she could change him. But I'm sure you've caught on to one of her bad habits from working with her. She doesn't really plan for a follow-through or aftermath. A beautiful heart who lives in the abstract present, never really looking at the future implications... until recently."

"You mean the baby." I answered.

She shook her head. "No, try Cadance almost losing Shining to a suicide attempt. That's what it took for her to start looking at the future and it's consequences."

It does explain a lot about her, especially her lack of a plan coordinated when she tried to enlist for my help. "She's done a pretty good job if that's how far she's come. Still could use some work though."

"Wonderful even." Celestia said as she sipped on a much cooler beverage. The waiter moved past us and started to tend to another one of his tables. "Now all that remains is Luna to finally integrate herself into modern society."

"I thought she had already done that." I said, feeling a bit confused.

"My sister is still awkward to public appearances. We're working with her on that. Tonight should be a good way for her to do that while being in the comfort of her own arena."

It seemed that she had observed a flaw for every royal in the line. I started to get a little curious as to what else she would say. "What do you think Twilight's main thing was?"

"Making friends outside of her comfort zone. And that was a risk and a half, she didn't even talk that frequently to the students she was in class with. They just dragged her along."

"So I've been told. But she came a long way too."

The princess eyed me, appearing distressed. "You miss her, don't you?"

I started looking at the fact that I started veering onto the topic of Twilight ever since she mentioned her name. I had to mentally correct myself. "I want to focus on what's in front of me right now." I said, trying to enforce that to myself. "And I think what's in front of me is the idea of heading out to the boardwalk."

Celestia gave me a pretty serious look before cracking a light smile. "Way to dance around the question. Guess you know a thing or two about keeping the girl happy."

"Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the one introducing you to twenty-first century dating."

"Making the girl smile, I'd like to think that's a universal rule."

The waiter left one table after checking in on their meals and approached us with a receipt. He presented it to us on a small silver tray. "Your bill, sir."

I peeked at the price, seeing that our dinner had set me back almost three-hundred dollars. Not that I minded the price that much, I knew what I was getting into. I laid three-hundred and fifty dollars on the ticket and closed my wallet, my mind was already set for the night on the boardwalk.

"Keep the change."

After our night out, we made our way towards the river, crossing the bridge and reaching the parking lot access for the boardwalk. Looking at the time, I saw that we had a whole hour and a half before the clock struck twelve. But we made it to the boardwalk and finally got around to seeing a view of the city skyline in the distance. A good amount of others who had similar intentions as we did strolled down the boardwalk, waiting for that moment the year can finally be put to rest. The princess stepped out to the balcony before I called out to her.

"This way." I urged, trying to get her a better view of the skyline instead of having to fight with the trees.

A young couple bumped into the princess and apologized as they went about their way. She came over and looked back at the passing traffic. "My goodness, didn't expect the crowd to brave all of this cold." She said while rubbing her hands together.

"Please, if you think a bunch of people aren't gonna go out and watch the sky as the year turns, you're insane."

The princess shuddered as the winter air bit off some of her personal comfort. "But as cold as it is out here, it sure is lively out tonight."

I walked up to her, adjusting her coat to where it covered more of her shoulders. I then grabbed her hands and blew onto them, warming them a good amount while I rubbed them. She looked at me with embarrassment as I spoke. "People wanna bring in the new year. A lot are hoping to put this year behind them. A lot of bad things happened for some, a lot of good memories being left behind for others. But everyone wants to see what comes next, it's that anticipation of possibly changing themselves or even looking forward to improving on what they're dealing with."

"That's everywhere then. Equestria's no different." She said through shivering teeth.

I decided to get in closer, doing my best to offer my own body heat to keep her warm. "How many nights like this have you had like that?"

"Pretty sure they number well beyond a thousand." She said, her jaw stabilizing as a sign of her getting more comfortable.

"Huh, and here I am stuck at twenty one." I answered, starting to feel a bit of the cold myself.

She noticed that I was starting to feel the effects of the cold as well, and wrapped some of her coat over me to warm the both of us. Her head leaned into mine as we both looked on to the skyline. Suddenly, a curious question came to her. "...When is your birthday? You know, you've been in Equestria for almost a year now, you were found in January, and not once has there been any rumblings or sayings of a celebration for your birthday. So when is it?"

"January 4th." I replied.

The princess' eyes widened as she realized how quick it was approaching. "Oh wow. That's coming up pretty soon."

"It's the week before I had that party at Galveston." I said, my mind going back to that night.

"What was so special about this party you went to anyways?"

I grimaced as I realized I didn't really want to admit what I did out loud. "Did some drugs, tried to high-away my depression, got into a fight with some friends, drove my car into the gulf. Next day, woke up in a bed in the middle of a town full of technicolor equines."

"That's... an adventure." She said, thinking quietly about what I confessed to her.

"Won't make that mistake again." I mumbled to her. "I've got a little more in the tank than I did almost a year ago. I guess you keeping me company does that for me."

The princess' arm bumped against mine. I could lightly feel the goosebumps on her skin from the cold. As our arms brushed together, I could feel our thumbs knocking against one another. The princess moved her hand closer to mine, still operating on her equine method of hoof holding. I chuckled before I opened my hand, letting her experience the warmth of my fingers interlocking with hers. She squeaked for a second, looking down to see our hands warming each other in such a foreign manner to her. But as I looked up to her, I could see that she had immense comfort in what we were doing.

The side of the coat I was in suddenly slipped off of my shoulders, exposing me to the cold. I had to grab it before it fell off of her as well. But when I reached over to save our main source of warmth...

Someone with a seemingly upset voice screamed my name. I looked around, trying to identify who it was that tried to get my attention. "Did someone call my name?" I asked the princess.

"I believe they did." She said, trying to look around for who called me.

Without warning, I felt a sharp jolt in my side, almost as if someone had dug their elbow into the side of my ribs. "Augh! Hey, what the hell!?"

Next thing I knew, I was staring right at Mel, who scowled at me with a scathing tone. "Nondis, you jerk! You said you were on escort! What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Well, I am on escort." I said, pointing to the princess.

Mel immediately shoved me out of the picture as she gave Celestia a friendly embrace. "Big Momma Celly, so is he supposed to be your escort today?"

Celestia, who was caught off guard by her sudden appearance, tried to cook up an excuse. "Well yes, I asked him to show me this world's version of a New Year's celebration to see what we could do to enhance our own experience in Equestria."

While I was busy nursing the rib she dug her elbow into, an unfamiliar woman called out to Mel. "Hey Melanie, is that the guy you were on about?"

She broke off of Celestia to give me another ribbing, thankfully not as hard as the first one. "Yup, he's the residential asshole who can't seem to keep a story together!"

I looked to see a group of three other girls, each of them wearing denim jeans and a number on their black shirts, obviously indicating the year turning over. A chubby dark-skinned girl with a puffy fro pulled to the back walked up to me and tilted her head as she observed me. "Wow, you really tried it. You know you ain't no good."

"Yeah you could say that, but he's really a loveable asshole who can't seem to stay out of trouble." Mel added, trying to mitigate the damage she already did to my ribs.

"He's cute." Said another girl who walked up to me. She had straight blonde hair and green eyes, folding one arm to her chest to prop up the other as she pointed at all of my features. She then placed a hand on my chest, rubbing my pecks as she cooed. "Oh, he's a snack."

Celestia was very much displeased with the blonde girl feeling her way around me. Mel wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea either, getting in between the both of us and politely guiding Miss Fondlesworth away from my body. "Yeah, but he's apparently on escort."

"You know, he could be escorting all of us." The blonde girl joked, pissing Celestia off even more that I had to inch closer to the princess in an attempt to ease her wrath.

The final girl, with light brown skin and curly hair ran over and grabbed my arm, in extension pulling me away from Celestia again. "Yeah! We could totally use an escort tonight, lots of drunk, perverted tourists and weirdos prowling the streets! Let's take him with us! We can totally watch the fireworks together!"

The high princess didn't like the idea that her night was being impeded by a random group of girls trying to abscond with her date. But in an instant, her demeanor changed as soon as her arm was grabbed by the girl with the pulled-back fro. "Fuck that, let's take the WNBA chick!"

Celestia, obviously bewildered, didn't know what to say to the girl pulling her arm. "Um, I'm sorry but─"

The blonde girl ran over and took a quick look at the princess, trying to get a quick look at her eyes in the light. As she did she found herself pleasantly surprised. "Oh my gosh, your eyes are so fucking pretty! I love how natural your contacts look! I really want some, you know where I can get them?"

"Oh, those." The princess hummed, unsure of what to say.

Mel looked over to the princess and quickly broke the girls away from her to give the foreign princess some personal space. "Right, I haven't introduced you guys. Nondis, Celestia, these are my friends Kayla, Staci, and Breonna. Kayla majors in accounting, Staci majors in political science, and Breonna majors in counseling."

"Nice to meet the two of you." Staci, the blonde girl, called out as she quickly reached out to shake my hand, probably for a little longer that I was comfortable with.

"Likewise." I said nervously, trying to retract my hand without being rude.

"Yo, Mel!" Another voice shouted from behind me. I turned around, watching as Cliff, Rickey, Rodney, and Terrance came jogging from the shore.

"Oh gosh, it's the losers from Delta Phi." Said Breonna, the girl with the fro puff, loud enough so that the approaching group of guys could hear.

Cliff eyed the girl who made the comment and offered his hand to show off our fraternity's handshake. "Hey hey, Nondis. How you doin' bruh!?"

The two of us exchanged the handshake in perfect execution, displeasing Breonna. "You know, living well, peace and prosperity, all that."

"Shit man, I thought you said you were on patrol." Rickey said as he did the same.

Cliff looked over to see the four streaks of color in Celestia's hair, quickly identifying her. "Bruh, he is on patrol." He hunched over Rickey's shoulder while nodding his head to the direction of the disguised royal, speaking in pig latin. "Incesspray overyay erethay. (Princess over there)."

Rickey jumped at that revelation and couldn't quite control himself completely. "Oh shit! Princ─I mean─Miss Celestia, how's it been!?"

"It's... well, I guess." She said, completely dispirited that our date had fallen apart so quickly.

Breonna, not too kind on trying to look at us frat boys, vied for a quicker separation of the two groups. "Perfect! We'll take miss WNBA and you can take your friend."

While I pulled out my phone to check the time, another hand quickly swiped my phone away from me and started tapping away at the screen. The culprit was none other than Staci. "What are you doing with my phone?" I asked, not trying to cuss the bitch out for stealing that from me, knowing we aren't close enough to play around like that.

"This shit is so damn pretty, where'd you get this case?" She asked, turning her back to me.

"It was made by a friend." I said, trying to grab it back.

She kept moving the exact opposite way, walking off to keep herself outside of my arm's reach. "Shit, you gotta hook me up. This jewel shit is just so real looking." If I had told her that it was real jewels, I'd never see that phone again.

I again tried to grab my phone. "Hey um, ladies, me and Celestia were gonna go downtown─"

"You can go downtown later! We've got to get to know this lady." Breonna said as she eyed Celestia, who was quickly starting to become irritable and uncomfortable, yet feigning a patient disposition.

"Um, my phone?" I said to the girl a little more forceful as she finished pecking at the screen.

"Riiiight." She said trying to play cute. She gave me back my phone and whispered to me. "I'm under StaciCutie, call me."

"Okay, I guess we're doing this now." I said as I went to my phone-book options. I also looked in my recent calls list to see that she had called her phone before giving it back to me. Yeah, I blocked her number as soon as it came up on the list.

Rickey walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Come on, Nondis. Mel's got her covered. Now if she was going with a group of strangers, then we'd have a problem."

"They are a group of strangers." I replied slowly and angrily.

"A group of strangers armed with bear mace and tasers. They got it." Rickey said, trying to reinforce the idea of her being in good hands.

"Guys─" I said, looking back to see Celestia glancing over to me as she was dragged further along the boardwalk. The all-girl group slowly drifted apart from us guys, leaving us to spend time amongst ourselves.

Cliff jumped in and offered an idea for the others to agree to. "Hey, you said you were going downtown. There a few bars with some live bands we could go to."

As the other guys started to toss out some ideas, I had quietly resigned to the idea that our date had come to a premature end. I wanted to run back over and take the princess as quickly as I could and get as far away as possible, but it would easily compromise our status to the others. I had to play it off. So I pretended to be onboard. "...Sure."

After all, what's a three-month wait for the next date with the princess?... Fuck my life.

Meanwhile...
***Point of Perspective: Melanie Brewer***

My dorm friends had always been around with me through some of my worst times and my best. These three were really the closest things I had outside of Nondis. We stayed together for a time, sharing the same four-room-two-bath unit. It wasn't until senior year when I finally dropped the idea of being locked to the dorm life. Granted, my neighbors weren't so Christian as they are now, so I could do a little more in terms of fun. If I had to take some time to off blow some steam so-to-speak, it was a lot easier to not get a noise complaint. If I wanted to blast my games or some movies on my speakers, it was with group participation in mind.

Living in an apartment did have it's perks, such as not having to worry about the same guy you slept with being distracted by your roommate wearing nothing but a t-shirt and panties. And if you had to deal with the monthly issue, there was always plenty of bananas and chocolate on hand, instead of griping about someone going through your four-ounce tub of Häagen-Dazs because they simply felt like it. There was no sharing the bathroom with your roommates, no finding out your pads disappeared because your roomies had obligated themselves to taking a few because they thought they had a heavy flow, no more having to kill some time someplace else because of a guy visiting a friend, no more cupping my mouth shut every time I had to pull out my phone to blow off some stress.

We aren't as close as me and Nondis, but I did miss the hell out of these girls.

We had a lot of girl conversations together, a lot of personal issues worked through together, and a lot of secrets we share with one another. Nothing ever left the dorm between the four of us, outside of someone getting drunk. And we kept that bond for a few years. But when I left, they made me promise that I'd spend at least once a month to have a girls day with them. Lately, I wasn't good on that promise because of my being busy with helping Nondis. So we decided to take the evening off to scout the boardwalk for some newly-minted singles to entertain ourselves with for the night. I wasn't really on board because I wanted to nab Nondis for myself, but I can see that there was a few things that went differently.

To start off, I wasn't expecting Celestia to be here. And I also wasn't expecting them to be so chummy. It seems like the two had become good friends in their struggles. I assumed initially that it was because of a long conversation that they had while Nondis seemingly tried to save his own job. Turns out that he did just that and then got a new friend in the process. I can only hope that those two weren't exploring any options to be anything other than princess and guard.

Just the thought of that alone would suck for me.

The girls were having fun with the humanized princess, namely gawking and obsessing over the lady's height. Breonna was especially digging the idea of climbing that tree. "So you don't play any sports?"

"No." She replied shyly.

"And you're that tall for real?" Kayla asked.

"Yyyes?" She answered, seeming unsure on what else to say after that.

"Wow, I bet men are scared to even approach you, huh?" Breonna practically interrogated the lady with how strong she was coming on. That's a given because Breonna is bi, more leaning towards girls.

"Why do you say that?" The princess asked, probably not used to this kind of conversation. No pampered princess would be.

"Well a girl of your height and build, I mean you're not muscular, but you look like you could throw a ball into a hoop. And you know what they say about girl ball players." Again, Breonna was trying her hand, not realizing what she was dealing with.

"I'm afraid not." She predictably answered.

"Seriously, you haven't?" Staci questioned, staring at the lady as if she came from a different culture.

I decided to stop the parade they were forcing her to ride on and gave her the context to that metaphor. I tapped her shoulder and leaned into her ear. "They're saying that you're a lesbian."

"Uph, NO!" The princess reeled back in disgust, separating herself from the others and staying by my side from that point on. Breonna wasn't very happy about the princess vehemently rejecting her.

"So you're saying that you'd totally bang a guy?" Kayla asked instead, driving the subject matter to a not-safe-for-work direction.

"Um... well..."

I jumped in, speaking up for the poor lady, safe to say she was overwhelmed with the openness of our conversation about our sex lives. She wasn't a very fond practitioner of that subject, so it was only right for me to get that across before we drove the princess away from us. Last thing I want to do is be accountable for a royal getting lost on my watch. "I don't think she's all too comfortable talking about her sex life girls. She's not exactly as open as we are on the first day. She just met all of you, ease up, girls."

The other three sighed and continued to walk forward. Celestia glanced over. "Thank you."

"No problem. I told you I've got you covered." I replied.

"Um, who are you talking to?" Staci asked, looking at me strangely.

"Celestia." I answered.

"She didn't say anything." Breonna said.

I grumbled with a slight bit of irritation and started to explain to them that I wasn't hearing things. "Come on─"

Little did I know, I actually was hearing things. And it was only me that heard them. The princess seemingly used her magic to tilt my head down, giving me a better look at her left hand hiding behind her back. One of her fingers were glowing with a dim golden light. "You hear me in your head. Better to not directly respond."

I had a defeated, dumbfounded look on my face, completely shattered at the thought that she was speaking to me telepathically. Instead of having a one-sided conversation, I drew back to have a better one-on-one with her majesty. "So... what brings you here tonight? I thought you and Nondis were supposed to be running club business." I said, coding over what I was really trying to say in case anyone overheard me.

"It's as I said, we're scoping the place to see what we can change up." Thankfully, she went right along with it.

"I mean you said that, but aren't you supposed to be looking over something across the way?"

"I've allowed myself the time to do this."

I glanced over and stressed this one question. "And none of your security detail are worried about what you're doing?"

"Shouldn't be. I'm just recovering peacefully in my room from another sudden illness." Said the princess with a wink.

"And none of them are concerned for your health enough to knock on the door?"

"There is power in a simple do-not-disturb ordinance." She said with a shrug.

"But why sneak out when you could just simply say that you're going to another place to visit?" I asked as soon as we hung back a little more, ensuring a good ten feet between us and the other three.

"Because they're expecting me to make the same speech I've made for the past forty years saying how each new year is a marked occasion designating change. Everything about these large city events just makes me want to hide in my room and do what I can to avoid it. Can you imagine seeing the same faces grow older while you remain the same, talking about the same drivel and gossip each and every time you meet?"

High school reunions? Then again, I'd hate to go to a high school reunion every single year. So I at least understood that much of where she was coming from. "Okay, so it's fair to say that you wanted a change of scenery this time. But isn't it fair to say that your people are depending on you to be there?"

Her majesty sighed somberly. "I don't know about you, but I think a thousand-plus years is long enough."

I stopped in place, taking a moment to think before jogging back up to her side. "But who will replace you? You raise the sun."

"I've already groomed a replacement." She said proudly.

"...SERIOUSLY!?" I said a little louder, causing the others to look back.

"I'd like to think I have. Honestly, I want a more peaceful life for myself. Granted, I still like doing crazy things, but I don't have time to do those. It's just me cooped up in the castle, sitting on a throne that reminds me of my thousand years of solitary rule. There's no fun in power when pain has taken so much of a toll on you." The princess' head dropped, almost as if she's resigned to the idea of passing the baton. "I'm ready to move on."

"Celestia..." I stood quietly, looking at the princess walk up. She stopped and then turned to me with a large grin on her face.

"As if I would ever have something like that weighing on my mind right now. I'm still the ruler of the realm, and I will continue to do my job no matter how difficult it may be. Still, doesn't hurt for a girl to have a day off every once in a while."

I was left clutching my chest, but not out of relief. Something told me that there was some truth to what she just said then. I'm certain that she just had to play off of wearing a mask for so long in her life that when it slips off, she tries to lie about it.

I wonder if Nondis had ever experienced any moments like that with her.

I mean if anything, he's around her more often than anyone else outside of her sister. I don't really know if they do share a lot of time together or if they just meet up every day for breakfast and dinner. But with the way they treated each other before I came by was something different, it wasn't something you'd see in a professional relationship. And I wondered, with how she acted around us and how she was pretty pissed off when Staci was getting flirty with Nondis, does she have some growing attachment to him? Or was it just my imagination?

I wanted to know. "I have a question?"

"What's that?"

I didn't want to imply that the two were together, so I looked to gain some context to how she saw him in the professional sense. It would give me a good place to start. "What do you think of Nondis? You know, as a guard?"

She crossed her arms, gazing up to the sky, drumming her fingers against her arms as she started to speak more on him. "Well, he's quite headstrong, though he's a bit careless at times. I never considered him to grow into what he is now, I don't think he'll subscribe to the idea of failure. He's a good guard, a damn good one. If you consider that a guard is to protect and watch over a certain individual, he's done that for many others on many different occasions. Happy to say that he's even done me some good in his escapades."

I closely observed her body language, that was something she wasn't inherently good at when transferring the motions over to being a human. In short, her poker face was lacking, she had a winning hand and only stupid gamblers would dare to say that they had something better. Damn it all, she does have something going on with him. "I see. Well at least he's doing good."

"Do you think we'll ever meet back up with him tonight?" And that question sealed the deal, she was strung. Just how bad, I don't know exactly.

"Well that depends." I pulled out my phone and saw that we had a little over an hour before midnight. As we went along, I started to wonder if they would ever find some looking to take the bait. Not only that, but I could tell that Celestia wasn't exactly comfortable with wearing those heels. "Hey girls, where we headed to now?"

"Just further down the river. And then we're gonna go watch the ball drop from the Star Bar." Breonna answered. "Good drinks, good baristas─"

"Including that one guy behind the counter who's been trying to hook up with you." Kayla finished off as she chuckled at the dark-skinned woman, earning some ire from the aforementioned woman also. "So what was with that guy from earlier? He's built pretty nice." She asked me directly.

Staci tapped her chin while puckering her lips. "Total snack. I dropped my number in his phone as soon as he unlocked it. Had to play keep-away for a second before I gave it back to him. But... I also have his number."

Breonna gasped and slapped Staci's arm. "Shut up, you did not just do that, Staci."

"I totally did. And you know if he calls me, it's on. I'm gonna break him as soon as I get him."

"Girl, you play too much." Kayla said with a laugh.

Celestia tapped me on my shoulder and leaned over. "I don't think they're your friends." I know she probably said that more because of Staci.

"Oh, those three are always playing around like that. I just tell them to not get involved with my man."

My response drew some curiosity from the princess, she then pointed out the obvious. "But don't you have an interest in Nondis?"

As much as I wanted to assert that fact, there was no way I was competing with the kind of girls he's been having. One girl can fly and teleport at will, another makes his entire wardrobe with real jewels, and this time it might be with someone who could move the fucking sun at her leisure. I might have done a bit of surgery to save his life, but he doesn't love me enough where he considers that a benefit. So I tried to lie, mainly to myself over what I wanted to do. "Why should I when he's rejected me so many times? A girl can only take so much hurt before they decide to move on. And I wasn't winning with Twilight and Rarity dominating his attention. I gave him a choice to come back home, come back to me. He didn't and I accepted that."

She knew I was lying to myself. "Is that what you truly want?"

"No, but it's his decision." I confessed quietly, looking to my phone to see we had another ten minutes before the eleventh hour. "My New Year's resolution, I'm gonna put Nondis away and look for some other guy to fawn over. Maybe he'll be happy with Twilight again or something. Meanwhile I'm gonna find some guy to get close to who'll respect my rules and boundaries."

Her mood changed, instead of being warm to her thoughts, she seemed remorseful. It was as if she had a guilt of acknowledging her feelings while knowing what it would mean if she went through with them. Twilight's name popped up and suddenly she's looking to the ground. "It's a good decision." It seems like she was also coming to grips with cruel reality.

Then again, we both were in some way. "Yeah."

The princess distracted herself again, her mind focused on her newest pursuit. "So... do you think the boys will catch up?"

I thought about it and remembered what Rickey said his plans were for the evening, he mentioned them to all of us just earlier this afternoon before leaving the restaurant. "Apparently not, they're probably going to a bar downtown to bring in the new year."

"And Nondis is going with them?" She asked.

"Oh trust me, frat boys always drag their own into whatever bullshittery they're gonna get into. It's better to assume that he'll be in need of another day off tomorrow. Just be sure to log that to a paid sick leave."

The princess didn't seem to like that idea. She started to contemplate on a thought, her eyes slowly wandering as she remained silent for a few minutes. Her hand went up as soon as something came to mind. "Um... when we get there, can I borrow your phone?"

Borrowing my phone to keep in touch maybe? She was probably planning some way to reunite with him. Yeah, I can definitely say that those two are more than just friends right now. They are probably talking but trying their best to keep things under wraps. Most like the reason why he claims this to be an escort assignment. But at least Celestia's a pretty conservative lady, I wouldn't expect to see anything happen tonight between them with how much of a prude she can be. She'll probably hug him at most, so at least there's that.

"Um, sure thing."

Our night was quickly coming to the crux of the event. I didn't get a chance to even check in on Mel and see if Celestia was comfortable. Though I was having some fun watching the guys, namely Rodney, strike out at every turn. Both Rickey and Cliff weren't really in the trying mood, offering to sit back and watch as bystanders. Even if Rickey's eyes locks on to appreciate the female form of some passing girls, he wasn't going to shoot his shots. Cliff had Sunset in mind so he was more than anxious to spend time with her. Seems he's opening up to the idea of dating her, but only under the guise of her human form, the crutch of his argument.

If she's human, then there's nothing to feel guilty about.

I wasn't exactly in the same boat, but Celestia's physique made it hard for me not to imagine the things I'd do to her. I have to confess the fact that her body would make any primitive-minded man consider starting a war over her. Just the thought of some random dude trying to grab her and do whatever would make my blood boil.

It had me thinking about a lot. What if they went drinking and some guy managed to sneak up behind and try to roofie her drink? What would happen if she fell victim to something like that? There aren't any enchanted cups of any sort that would tell her what was done. Even if there were cups available, she wouldn't know what to look out for. And who's to say that those other girls, namely that Staci chick wouldn't try to 'get her home' while secretly dropping her off at some other person's place to have some fun.

If Canterrot was her territory, then Austin sure as hell was mine.

As many other things started to ramp up for the countdown, Rodney and Terrance were trying their best to close a deal for midnight. Though they'd have a better shot of it if they weren't so fucking drunk already. "Trust me, boys! The girls down here are just beautiful tonight. Solid eight's all around." Stated a drunken Rodney.

"Are you kidding? This place has nothing that looks better than a six." Cliff responded, his mind already shaping Sunset as the prototype of his preference.

Rickey was probably the first one to notice that I wasn't completely sold on the idea of Celestia being safe with those other girls. He came by and nudged me out of a trance. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied while I pulled out my phone, seeing the time crossing over to 11:42. "You think Celestia is gonna be okay by herself dealing with Mel's entourage?"

Rickey, who actually had more exposure to that particular clique, ensured me of her status. "Nondis, she's fine. Those four don't leave a bar without anyone. At least one of them gotta be the designated driver. So at least one of them is sober."

I placed my phone on the table we sat at and started rubbing my head, getting frustrated that our date had ended just before we could share that leap into the new year together. I'm sure she would've kissed me again, but those lips were to go to war for. "I guess, but it would be better if I was the one protecting her since, you know, it's my job to do so."

My phone started rumbling on the table, shifting over a bit as the screen lit the surface of the table. Both Cliff and Rickey looked down and watched as I picked up the phone. "Who's calling you?" Rickey questioned.

"Mel." I said as I swiped to accept the call. "Hello?"

Though it was Mel's number that pulled up, another voice answered me instead. "Nondis, it's me."

My eyes popped open as I stood up from the table. "Celestia? You're borrowing her phone? Where's Mel?"

"She's inside. I'm outside of a place called the Star Bar. Where are you exactly?"

Star Bar, that's not far from where I was. "Star Bar, I thought you were on the boardwalk."

"The girls convinced me to come along for a night of drinks. I told them that I'd have one drink and that would be it for me."

At least she's smart enough to not overindulge in an unfamiliar body. Humans aren't as situationally aware when inebriated as unicorns often are. And there was no guarantee that trait would carry over. "So you're on the corner of Sixth and Nueces."

The princess sounded unsure, giving herself a moment to read the signs around her. "I... guess. But where are you?"

"I'm here at The Grove, same street but just a couple blocks down." I announced.

The princess sighed into the receiver, indicating that she was probably mashing the phone against her face. "Honestly, I'm having a lot of fun but... I don't really trust Melanie friends, one of them is trying to hit on me and I'm not comfortable with that kind of encounter. Call me old-fashioned, but─"

"Yeah, I know." She wasn't into the idea of being with a girl. "Do you need me to come by?"

"If you don't mind. I'm pretty lost on my own and I really don't want to find myself being pressured into a drinking situation. I can hold liquor just fine, but I don't want to entertain the idea of being 'one of the girls' just to fit in. There's also a lot of open conversations about a few things I'm not fond of discussing openly."

I looked over to see Rodney trying to hit on a girl again, but getting tripped by one of her friends who quickly dragged her away. Funny bit, the girl he was trying to talk to was open to hanging out for the night. I shook my head. "You and me both."

"So where do we meet?" Celestia asked.

"I'll come by and swing you on down to this place called RIO. That's where the party's at, really."

The princess chuckled. "Sounds like a plan."

"Just wait outside, you'll know when you see me."

I hung up the phone and started making my way to the front door. Cliff and Rickey saw me moving quickly and jumped up in kind to check on me. "Yo, is something wrong?" Cliff inquired.

"Guys, Celestia's a bit concerned over the others drinking themselves to a mess, so I'm gonna head over to the Star Bar and get her."

Both of the men winced at me, baffled in hearing of their location. "Seriously, they're over there?" Cliff said, turning his head to the direction I was about to head into.

"I mean the bands they usually get there are good, but that's like douchebag central on weekends and holidays." Rickey said as he scratched his head.

His response was all I needed to hear. "Guys, I have to go. That's the V.I.P. we're talking about. And that's my ass if she doesn't leave here in one piece."

"Sure thing." Rickey called out just as I had started fighting my way over to the Star Bar.

The two watched as I started to disappear into the crowded streets, speaking amongst each other. "You don't believe Mel's just smashing 'em back like that with Celestia around, do you?"

"No, she wouldn't." Rickey argued, closing his eyes. "I don't see her doing that."

"How do you know?"

The man pointed to himself. "Hello, ex-boyfriend of five months. She don't like doing heavy social drinking, she's a private heavy drinker if anything else."

The two looked over towards where I disappeared off to. "So you think we should kinda touch basis with them?"

"Hey, I know it's guys night, but friends look after friends." Rickey said before glancing back at the bar. "Besides, Terrance and Rod got each other's back. The Star Bar isn't that far from here, so we can head over, check in, and be back right after the ball drop, if not before."

Cliff adjusted his dreads and took a deep breath. "Shit, I hope the girls are doing good."

The crowd downtown was pretty thick, having to push and worm my way through many strangers and students alike. I kept my eyes peeled for the place Celestia told me about. It took me close to eight minutes cutting and weaving my way through the walking traffic. But once I saw the sign, I saw beneath it a reserved Celestia looking somewhat listless with her arms folded. There were a few people who passed by her to ask if she was okay, she smiled and dismissed them before returning to her sulk.

I approached her, lightly panting. "You look like you're having fun."

As quick as she heard my voice, she reached out to me, dragging me out into the street. "Hold on to me." She stopped for a moment, realizing she had no idea where to go in the sea of humans. She looked at me bashfully, asking me in a soft voice. "I'm not to good with directions if I'm not flying. So... could you take me to where you said you were going to?"

"Okay." I confirmed, getting a firmer hold of her hand as I served as her temporary bulldozer. While she followed me, I pressed our way forward to Sixth. I glanced back to see if Celestia was doing alright. And yet, she was the exact opposite of what she was when I showed up to the food joint. She was smiling, laughing, looking at the world through her own eyes, but attached to me while doing so. While it was possible that she enjoyed her time, there was one particular reason why she wanted to be here, and it was to escape with me. This was nothing different than what she was already doing, I was probably condoning it, which really made her happy. She was so happy, that she started upping her speed and pushing through the crowd just as I did, still holding my hand while we went further on.

Cliff and Rickey got to the eatery bar a bit later than I did, only catching us as we disappeared into the crowd. "Goddamn, something really might've happened the way he's taking off with her." Rickey said.

"Probably got caught up with some royal business, I hope she's alright." Cliff added.

"Could be, let's check in on the other girls to make sure they ain't down with something." The two walked into the bar and saw the group of girls sitting at a table. Rickey was the first to speak up. "Hey guys!"

Breonna was less than pleased to see the two frat members. "Ugh, how the fuck are these niggas over here findin' us?"

Rickey ignored the rude girl and turned to his ex. "Mel, you okay?"

"Yeah, why?" She inquired, surprised to see the two suddenly showing up.

"Well I guess Celestia was concerned about you and the others doing something." He explained.

Mel shrugged. "We're fine over here. Celestia said she had to borrow my phone for a moment. Originally I was gonna call Nondis while we were at the boardwalk and tell him where we were if he needed to see her, but she suggested that we waited until we came here instead. I warned her that the crowd was gonna be a bit thick and rowdy down here, and she said she was fine with it. But yeah, she should be back any moment now."

"Negative. Nondis dragged her away someplace." Cliff intervened. "Those two bolted when we got here."

"Wait, seriously!?" Asked Breonna. "She just up and left with Melanie's phone!"

"Yeah, she's gone." Rickey confirmed.

"Where would Nondis drag her off to!?" Urged Mel, who stood from the table rather quickly.

"I I think I have an idea. Probably to RIO. We could still catch them, I mean they are some tall asses so it wouldn't be that hard to point them out, especially Celestia. Her hair is a dead giveaway." Rickey pointed at the front door.

Melanie started moving towards the door, peeking out where the two were. But in the sea of humans, the princess hair was harder to spot than anticipated. Cliff walked beside her. "Better question is why are those two running off like that?"

"Weren't you guys with him?" Mel questioned.

"Yeah, Celestia said that she was concerned that you'd go all-out on drinking. So he made his way down here to pick her up."

The woman saw an empty chair and stood on it to better spot the two. "The girls are drinking, yeah. But I'm the designated driver. I'm not tossing shit back tonight until I get home."

"Something smells suspect." Cliff murmured as Rickey caught up.

"No kidding, those two just bolt off and not say anything else? Gotta be something going on. Why are those two so joined at the hip?" Replied a worried Rickey.

It took a while, but Mel finally spotted the princess hair further down the road. They appeared to be headed closer to the "You said they're running to RIO?"

"Yeah." Rickey confirmed.

Mel quietly whispered to the two men. "...I think we should follow them. I think we should see what those two are up to."

It took us only five minutes to get down here, barely getting past security with five minutes before midnight. The traffic around the bar was astoundingly dense, and it wouldn't take much to figure out that getting a drink for a toast was out of the question. Thankfully, we had our fair share of wine during dinner, so there was no need to try and get to the bar, even if there were at least three of them.

RIO was a pretty metropolitan place, a contemporary building with a few floors to make space. The first floor was pretty dense, many of the people looking to warm up or take a few drinks before heading back out into the frosty streets for the massive celebration. The second floor was where you had a lot of the pool tables and stuff like that, pretty noisy place with all the balls clattering and drunks yelling about the new year. The sound bounced everywhere, making it way harder to hear what was going on across from you.

So we took it another step higher, opting for the third floor. That place opened up from the usual bar and stage setup to a patio outside complete with a small stretch swimming pool. There was a decent crowd out here, but it wasn't as huge as the one on the first floor. The DJ was bumping the crowd up to hype levels, many parishioners were already gathered around a few gas-lit fires as Celestia and I stood on the very outside edge of the patio, observing the Austin skyline all around us.

The funny thing was that I wanted to give her the best view of the skyline from the river, but here we were just a block away from the new skyscraper they put up, surrounded by many others. It was the first time I've ever seen the skyline from the within the city streets. Celestia looked around, probably comparing it to the many nights she had in Canterlot. But she was happy, smiling brightly while she clasped onto my arm.

"It's awfully lively here." She said, excited and giggling.

"Livelier than Canterlot?" I asked.

The princess tugged on me, almost bouncing even. "Leagues and miles ahead. It's pandemonium here."

As I looked out to the skyline, I started to think to myself aloud. "I can't believe Mel was on the boardwalk tonight."

"I can't believe that Staci girl just tried to make a move on you." Celestia pointed out.

"You mad?" I joked, earning a shove from the princess.

"Yes! This was supposed to be OUR date! Not some random get-together featuring Melanie and her friends. Those girls can be quite fun and all, but I wasn't okay with them asking me about my romance and preferences. It isn't something I'd like to reveal to some random strangers, you know."

I was empathetic to her reasoning, understanding that the princess who had hid much of her history wouldn't be willing to dispel a thousand years worth of stories to a bunch of people she wouldn't even see again, even if the memories of it would only be disposable to them. It was her life, and many of those details she wouldn't tell her own sister until recently. I leaned back against the balcony, laughing at myself. "What made it worse was that the guys from the frat were running around too. I guess everyone and their dog wanted to see the fireworks."

"And I don't think there's much time left before midnight. We won't be able to make it back there before then. Guess we'll be stuck here for now."

I glanced over to her and looked off to my home city. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She said, hunching over the balcony alongside me.

"Well wasn't this just supposed to be a night for just the two of us? I know I'm not too thrilled at the thought of everything getting thrown around just before the clock strikes twelve. If that was the case for me, then I can only imagine what you were feeling."

"And you think that I didn't have fun? Nondis, for the first time in a thousand years, I got to run away from being a princess and looked at the world from the standpoint of some anonymous girl. I mean I have a disguise for that, but never have I been simply called Celestia so much in one night! No bowing down, no guards trying to tell me how rude the others are for addressing me so casually, no brown-nosed politics, no silly speeches, no more being alone. If this was the mess-up to end our date, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I mean..." Before I could say anything else, I could hear the DJ announcing to the crowd that there was only one minute left for the final countdown. "It's too late to regret anything now."

"You're right. Time marches ever onward while we get left behind, waving to his unending parade."

I pulled out my phone and started looking at my calendar. "I guess I'm gonna have to hope against hope that we can set up something three months from now."

Without warning, my entire phone started to glow with a dim golden aura. The princess' hand illuminated as she levitated my phone from out of my hand and onto a nearby table. She then grabbed my hand and smiled. "I'll take what I can get."

The princess used her other hand to tilt my head towards her, allowing me to look up to her. Her arms draped around my shoulders as she leaned in closer. "Seriously, here?"

The princess whispered to me. "I like the idea of an unforgettable moment. Why not dare to do something here that I know I can't get away with back home?" Meanwhile in the background, I could hear the crowd on the patio shouting the countdown, as the colorful numbers appeared on a large bright LED screen.

The princess leaned her head against mine, laughing at herself. "I cannot believe we're about to do this here."

"Neither can I." I replied, my heart beating a bit faster as I thought more about us being in public.

"Here's to more unforgettable memories."

"Happy New Year, your highness." I whispered jokingly.

"Happy New Year, captain." At long last, the princess finally closed the distance between us.

...And our lips touched, greeting one another after so many hours of anticipating. The world seemed drowned out to us as we embraced each other. Her forearms crossed to lock me in further as she and I kissed. While the crowds of the entire city, beneath us, above us, and around us celebrated the new year of potential new beginnings, we embraced our own. I could faintly hear the sounds of fireworks in the distance, the many bright lights flashing in the air. As the wind itself started to smell of burnt powder, we continued to embrace as if nothing around us had even mattered.

And it didn't matter what form she took, her lips were just as enticing as ever.

***Point of Perspective: Melanie Brewer***

A world around us was celebrating a whole new year being born into our lives, many of us getting to experience that high of being around their friends and sharing that moment together. But there was little else for me to see other than my best friend, whom I had feelings for, locking lips with another woman. Deep in my chest was this unquenchable pain, something I thought was a heart attack. But it wasn't that so much as my heart being attacked by the defeat of seeing him kiss someone else. Him and Twilight, I could understand because they've been together for so many months, it had to build up to something.

But princess prude? The lady who didn't like talking about sex and would very seldom talk about love and romance was right in the running. In fact, she fucking WON, she won over me. I gave him my everything, saving his life, and this is the thanks I get.

...The thanks I deserve. If I was any stupider, I would say that I didn't have this coming. But the truth is that I did this to him for so many years, hoping that he'd eventually change into something I wanted him to be. I wanted him to have more confidence in himself, more patience for others, and to genuinely care about my feelings instead of waiting for that one moment where I'd give in and open my legs. But silly me didn't take his feelings at face value, kept putting off what I thought were disingenuous proposals. Then he disappears for nine months, comes back as everything I'd want and then some, but keeps me on the sideline. I even threw myself at him, and he just pushed me off.

Maybe it was time that I started being a little more honest with myself. Nondis and I were never going to be together. And as hard as I didn't want to confess that to myself, even after literally doing so, I had to embrace the truth and start pursuing happiness elsewhere.

Still, it hurts to see. "Escort mission, huh?"

The three of us had stood motionless, watching the two just going at it. No one else really cared what the two were doing, it was admittedly picturesque. The fireworks from the inner-city flew high into the air, the extravaganza going off as the two continued to have their Hollywood moment. Rickey turned to Cliff and I, asking the same question he asked himself. "Yo, ain't she like the head honcho?"

Cliff had a whole different inquiry. "Real question, don't she got a thousand years on that nigga?"

I, on the other hand, couldn't do anything but laugh at myself, covering my face so that I couldn't see the absurdity taking place before my very eyes. "I can't win..."

Rickey saw me hunching over, grasping at my chest. "Mel, you alright?"

"...I just..." As soon as I started talking, I just as quickly trailed off. Watching the two of them finally separate before going for each other again. There was no mistake about it, they had something that was beyond my understanding. Or maybe it was just the two of them deciding to try something different. But there were so many questions left for me to answer, and those answers were nowhere to be seen.

Rickey kept calling out for me, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Hey, Mel─"

"I'm fine." I said, instinctively shoving his hand off of me. "I should really get back with the girls. Besides, nights like this aren't exactly for the sober. Better if I just call an Uber."

"You headed out?" Cliff asked me as I started headed over to the bathrooms.

"I can't just leave the girls behind wondering what the hell happened."

"What about your phone─" Rickey started before I interrupted him.

"Fuck the damn thing, okay!?" I snapped back, realizing that I had just gone off on the guy. I immediately felt even more regret as I reached out. "Rick... Look─"

"Yeah, I get it." He replied, looking at me with sympathy. "It's tough. We're gonna go back to the bar. If you need us to walk you back, we'll be waiting downstairs. Take your time."

"Okay, I'll be down in a bit."

I wandered into the bathroom, staring at the mirror to see the image of myself, my eyes watering as I tried my best to smile. I closed my eyes, doing everything I could to imagine myself being happy and wishing the best for them. But it only made me realize a soul-crushing truth. It was too much to take without having a moment to process it. So I found whatever stall that wasn't covered in unmentionables and sat there for at least ten minutes. At least I didn't have a problem with the one-ply toilet paper, I was gonna be crying for a while.

"This fucking sucks."

Two Hours Later...
***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

After our time downtown, the crowd slowly but gradually started to settle down and taper off. What was a night of dancing, shouting, fun, and being embraced by this goddess of a woman had all but come to an end. We got back to the car, walking back half of the way until we found a nice bicycle chariot to ride on. From there, we just watched as the city grew a little smaller with each minute. When we got in the car, I turned on the heater and watched as she took off her coat, offering me a better view of her bra-less mounds. She leaned over to give me yet another kiss before I started the car, almost as if she did the same to jump my imagination.

The ride home wasn't slow in any regards, despite the departing traffic. But it was still slow to my mind, I was visualizing much of what I had in mind earlier, my hand between her thighs, her dress becoming undone. But this time I had the desire to toss her on my couch, cock her legs back, and watch as she whimpered and squeaked to me as I gave her what she had been missing out on for those thousand years. I was certain that she was overdue, and probably just as pent up that any touch would probably awaken some sort of breeding demon. Just the thought of her writhing while holding herself open to receive me made me push the limits of my engine, traveling north of sixty in a forty-five zone.

Luckily, the cops weren't around to pass judgement.

When we pulled up to the apartment, I had to slow myself down mentally and politely guide the princess into my apartment to finish off the night. She had no complaints, even going so far as to entering the place before I did, tossing her overcoat to the couch and walking down the hallway... slowly.

She looked back at me, almost with a fiendish grin before slithering into my room. Her eyes seemed to tell me that I could follow her. Her magic did more than that, dragging me along the way to my own bed. She crawled in after me, snuggling against me and kissing me. As we laid there, she unzipped her dress, allowing her succulent body to breathe for the first time tonight. Although she had unzipped her dress, she left it on to hide much of what I wanted to explore. And it was beyond tempting for me. I started to ask myself exactly what else she could do to entice me even more... And then she just laid there with me for several minutes, not doing anything but enjoying the warmth.

Worst case of blue balls in my life.

It never occurred to me that she was a pony at that moment. But I was reminded of it when she felt very comfortable with just laying against me in the semi-nude. The experience was a massive tease, but it was also wholesome. I wasn't really fond of my boys downstairs getting to the ride of a lifetime, getting up to the peak of the coaster before the big drop, and see that the chains getting them there had gotten stuck. So now there's a happy princess in my arms, two guys stuck on a roller coaster, and a once-proud warrior being brought to his knees, his resolve weakening with every passing second.

Night came for those three and they were still stuck in the park, while I was easily distracted by another one of the princess' wild stories of her past. Censorship wasn't overtly dominant, but the context remained as clear as day. "And so I walk in and I look around to see Fair Share slumped over three mares, completely messy and just as cheerful as ever. As soon as I call for attention, he steps on one of their leg, another's tail, and falls over the third, waking all three of them up to see me standing there quietly."

"Oh no!" I called out, feeling a bit awkward that my flaccid self was just inches away from her heated thighs, but thanking the heavens that I was still wearing pants.

"Yes, they were quite mortified to find themselves being caught in their indecency, so they all just darted right past me, leaving only Fair Share in the room."

"And what did he say?"

The princess chuckled. "He asked if I enjoyed the show."

"Oh God no. Please tell me you went easy on him." I said, facepalming as I imagined the situation from an onlooker's point of view.

"I did, after I made him clean the castle the entire day by himself."

I started to laugh a little. "Oh wow. Were you jealous?"

"I was not jealous." She lied, glancing at me with a feigned scowl. "Okay, I was very jealous, but still." She said before breaking into a laugh herself. "But I did have a laugh after that because he didn't even offer a good morning. He just asked if I enjoyed the show, which grew funnier to me after a while because of how blatant it was."

"You two must've had a real good time together." I mumbled.

Her arms grabbed hold of mine, holding my hand under hers. "I had a good time tonight."

"But I'm nowhere near that guy." I said, weaving her fingers in between my own.

She held our interlocked hands up to her face, breathing deeply. "Nope, you're a different breed, both figuratively and very literally. My fun with you is more of the taboo kind. With you it's like I know I shouldn't, I know the consequences if this gets out, and I know that we've pushed things a tad too far at times for my speed... But so far, I've been pretty fine with this. I mean, we've had a dinner date without even knowing it, a midnight rendezvous in a different town, a night out in the bad part of town where things kinda went poorly, a─"

"A date in a world unlike your own?" I finished.

"Right! It's like we've done this four times already. And all I can think about is my next free block when I know I'm not going to be as constrained with royal work. It's a shame that my next official opening is around three months from now. It's almost terrible that I won't get to celebrate your birthday with you."

I shrugged back at the unfortunate circumstance. "Eh, it happens. Work is important, gotta make your paper." I said before trying to translate that to a way that seemed relevant to her. "Well in your case, you'd have to keep peace in the nation."

She held our woven hands into her chest, allowing my fingers to become entrenched in the warmth of her bosom. "I really want to do this with you again."

I started to take my other hand, combing my fingers through her hair. "No kidding. You're smart, funny, witty, and you're beautiful."

She playfully scoffed at my statement. "You're probably just saying that because I'm in my human form."

"Well if you don't believe me, transform back and see how I feel." I said, teasing her on her thoughts.

She got up from the bed, looked down at me as she held the unzipped dress against her body. She stared for a second before her hand started to glow and her entire body was enveloped in a pure white light. I closed my eyes for one second, seeing the redness of my eyelids until it all went dark again. I opened my eyes to see the princess' glowing mane moving flawlessly. Her eyes locked on to me as she dropped the dress from her chest, revealing the T-shaped scar. She noticed that my eyes didn't venture nearly as much as they did while in her human form. In seeing it, she bashfully stepped aside me and sat on the bed. "I'm probably a little less attractive to you since I don't share some of your species' desired features. That much is undeniable."

I sat up on the bed, trying to comfort her. "As if that matters to me at this point. I like you for who you are, not so much of what you are."

She looked over to me and levitated my hand to her hoof, seeing how the intimacy of our limbs wasn't as close as her human form had offered. It quietly saddened her. "...There's a lot that's different between us."

"Had that conversation before." I said, starting to confirm every potential argument she had for me.

"And I may have some things that may possibly disgust you." She said, nervously laughing.

"And that one."

"And there might be a bit of an age difference." She pointed out, rolling her eyes and circling her hoof.

"Yeah, that one too."

She grabbed my hands in her magic and looked into my eyes, appearing to plead with me. "And I might not give you everything you'd want immediately."

"WE had this conversation before."

"And I know that I'm still learning how to trust you, there's a lot to be desired when it comes to that."

"That's another." I nodded.

"And I would even have some things about me that may surprise you in terms of my preferences."

I couldn't help but to quirk an eyebrow. "A conversation I'm looking forward to having."

"What we are doing could jeopardize your work in getting that law removed."

"An issue I'm not worried about." I replied dismissively.

She let me go, shuddering in her voice. "I'm old fashioned."

"And I'm here to update you on a few things. That's what you asked me to do."

The princess closed her eyes, turning her head away from me. "...I'm a very jealous lady."

"And you like attention, so I've been warned." I shrugged.

The sun princess leaned back in the bed, letting her mane rest over her belly as she spoke. "I haven't had something like this in a thousand years. So you'll have to forgive me if at times I may want to speed things up for my own selfish desires. I mean, I haven't had much of anything with my consent in mind since that time." Her eyes opened at last, a hoof reached to the ceiling as she continued to vocalize her thoughts. "And I don't know if I can truly say that I'm willing to put both of our lives at risk for my own wants."

I maintained some distance between us, not trying to show any aggression with my next statement. "Aren't there loopholes to this kind of stuff? I mean I'm not trying to push anything."

"Several, but I haven't tried to do much with them. Even when I did, that was taken from me the moment─"

I quickly interrupted her, realizing she was probably going to bring up Fair Charity again. "Another negative about me. I'm not too great on talking about past relationships."

The princess smiled warmly. "That's fair." She then gave me a playful nudge. "Look at you being so forward with your thoughts to a princess."

"You wanted me to treat you no different than I would anyone else, so here we are."

The princess was about to offer a retort before she stopped herself, her jaw agape as she couldn't formulate her thought cleanly. Instead, she sat quietly for a few minutes until she suddenly jumped up and stood in front of me as I sat and stared at her. Her cheeks were a unusual shade of red, her ears matching the same rosiness, but on her face was a very determined expression that exuded a willingness to make an embarrassing request. "...Preen me."

Honestly, I was taken by surprise. I didn't expect her one request to be something so trivial. It was admittedly endearing. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Preen me." She said, this time with a lot of shakiness in her voice as she turned around to give me her back. "Now just to warn you, I haven't let anypony other than myself touch my wings, even the slightest comment about them and I'm already at a net negative with you. You've pretty much found out why. So I can expect you to exercise some moderation on speaking about this."

While the princess had her back turned to me, she waited impatiently, almost like she had second thoughts about her request. I started to rub her shoulders, offering to ease her concerns a bit. "I understand."

"This is my way of seeing if I can truly grow to trust you. But if I don't feel comfortable, I want you to stop. I know I tried to ask you this before and ultimately rescinded the offer thanks to a second thought, but now... let's just say that I'm open to trying this."

"You're putting a lot of trust in me to do this."

The princess quickly looked back at me and hissed with trepidation. "You should probably start before I start having second thoughts again."

I initially pulled my hands away her body, but reached out to her in an attempt to ease her feelings. As my hands grew closer to the base of her wings, I felt a trembling throughout the princess' body. And the closer I got, the more violent the tremors became. "You're shaking." I notified her.

"I'm not exactly steady in mind right now." Her voice was completely choked up, almost as if she wanted to cry out in fear. I removed my hands from her back and whispered in a soothing voice.

"Can you stretch your wing for me?"

Already hesitant, she made the attempt to warn me of her condition. But she braved the attempt regardless, letting her wings extend as she started to reveal that many of her secondaries were fluffed and cracked. "I know it's not perfect. I've never been good with it after what happened to me. I've only dared to do my primaries, my secondaries hurt so much when I try to do them. It's just so many bad memories that still haunt me."

My time dealing with alicorn wings had taught me a few things about feathers and flight. While for birds, preening is to keep the wings waterproof. But for pegasi it's to keep the wings groomed for speed and maneuverability. The primaries were the most prominent feathers that you'd see on the outside of the wings. Power in flight could be attributed to the primaries and the magic stored within them, while the secondaries were to provide stability in flight as well as maximizing wing control. Many ponies go around often not tending to their secondaries as much as their primaries. And those who do can almost let their feathers function as makeshift hands in some cases because of the control.

Her wings weren't terrible, just not very-well maintained. It was a bit jarring to see the ruler of the kingdom in all her glory, as well as the imperfections that you'd never see if they hadn't pointed it out to you. "Yeah, but you'll never fly as fast as you'd like if you only do your primaries." The princess retracted her wing slightly, as if her second thoughts had ran through her mind. But I gave her another shoulder rub to loosen her disposition. "Deep breaths. Slow." The trembling in her body was sated for a while as I stealthily ran my fingers under her wing, politely guiding her to extend them. As if she was caught in a trance, the slightest movement of my fingers against her wings had her instinctively seek them. At last with her wing outstretched, I proceeded to brush my hand against the rough feathers clumped around the areas she needed the most attention. "Sit tight, just tell me when it hurts."

Slowly, I began to rub her wings, not to pluck the feathers out right away, but to massage them loose. And being that many of the feathers within the clusters were either dead or old, they found their way to my floor easily. For the ones that were a little more stubborn, I had to give them more attention and care. When she grew tense with my touching them, I massaged her wingpits, urging her to keep her wing straight.

The princess quietly said to me. "You've been taught well."

"You okay?"

"It feels good." She said, starting to tremor a little more.

"Still shaking a little?"

"Still nervous." She replied.

"You're safe with me, you know." I whispered into her ear.

"Am I really?" She quipped, looking back to me.

"Look around. You're in my world."

"That only makes me more vulnerable." She answered.

"And yet the worst has happened to you all on home soil." I bluntly retorted, causing the princess to grow uncertain again.

"That is a very profound argument." She said before my hand brushed against an unusually rough patch on her wing, just under her tertials, the area I hit had something embedded there, and Celestia more than felt it. She winced, jumping forward to get away from my hand.

"Did I hit something?"

"No─I mean yes─I mean..." The princess tried to settle herself down, leaning back to where I could get a hold of her body. She tried to distract herself with what felt good instead of the instance of something feeling bad. "You warned me about the fingers. I just didn't believe you when you said it had a certain effect."

I continued to lightly brush my hand against the area, feeling an unusual jagged shape caught between her body and the base of her wing. I thought to massage it out, but realized that would probably drive it in deeper. So instead, I settled for something a little unorthodox. I closed my eyes and allowed my magic to flow into my hands, getting a better mental image of whatever the mass was clumped to her body. She watched quietly as I gently felt her skin to see what I was trying to remove. It took me a while, but my magic had told me that whatever it was, it was something sharp.

I moved my other hand to the area, pressing the base of my palm against the back of her wing. My other hand started to confirm the shape I was removing. I continued to concentrate, putting all of my energy into removing the mass. At last I had a complete definition of what I was removing. I held out my hand, balled it into a fist, and concentrated on the shape that I felt until it started to dig into the skin of my hand. I slowly opened it to reveal a sizable piece of cast iron shrapnel. The item was bloodied slightly, but thankfully not fully embedded into her skin. I levitated the iron chunk onto my computer desk and patted her wing one last time. This time it felt significantly smoother and softer. My hard work was paying dividends.

"I'm done with this one. Can you give me the other?"

She placed her wing to herself, feeling the new sense of emptiness against her side. She ruffled that wing a bit before she unfurled the other. I immediately started on the other, looking for any similar pieces of shrapnel. This time, there were three smaller pieces that were lodged in place, neither of them fully grafted into the skin. She waited patiently until I had removed all three of the foreign items from her wing. After that, I went straight to work on her secondaries.

And that's when it all changed for her.

What used to be a painful endeavor for her was suddenly transformed. Her body stopped shaking so much, her breaths deepened, her body started to fall limp against me. Her hooves wandered among her own forelegs. She started to shift, her weight settling down as she rocked from side to side. Her eyes popped open as I reached for her wingpits again. Without nearly as much effort, she stretched her wing for me to continue. Some parts where I touched, she would giggle. Some places I ran my hand across, she leaned her head into me. And for the parts of her feathers I brushed my fingers in between, it made her squirm.

"You know, I can't seem to stay still with you doing this." She announced.

I continued my work, finally finishing off to allow her to take appreciation of my work. The princess not once demanded that I stop, nor did I try to give her any reason to. Though what I didn't expect was her magic guiding my hands to feel the smoothness of her newly-preened wings. My fingers were again introduced to her sides, as both of her wings opened slightly to let me in. Her eyes locked on to me, but with a much different component driving the purpose of their gaze. Her mouth stayed agape, her hoof reaching back to feel my abdomen. Her magic flared again, guiding my once busy hand to her chin, pulling her up to see my face. She rocked her body back and forth twice before something snapped her back to realize what was going on. Her magic stopped and she seemingly anchored herself in place, not moving a single inch as she kept her face forward.

"Is something the matter?" I asked.

She glanced down at herself before closing her eyes in embarrassment. She shyly spoke to me. "...Please don't be upset with me."

She was slow to move, not wanting to rise from where she sat, but did so with a bashful whimper. She quietly stood aside, using her mane to mask much of her face. I looked to where she sat, seeing a small puddle of white fluid. I realized what made her so apologetic and offered to comfort her. "It's natural. I understand."

"This is not a natural feeling for me, Nondis." She yelped, becoming antsy and looking around for a method of escape. She looked at the bathroom and grimaced. "I'm gonna have to leave like right now."

The musk she gave off was undeniable. If any stallion were to catch any hint of it, she would not be able to live it down. Just her walking around with that scent would do more than cause controversy, it could stir an investigation. And I had my experiences with mares, it's better to let them get it out of the way instead of keeping it pent up. The longer the lust stays, the stronger the musk becomes.

But Celestia was far too embarrassed to directly address the issue of her own body at this point. She had a reputation for being the patron saint of modesty, and I'm sure that she never embraced the idea of allowing some modicum of self-relief to take place. Poor thing suffered centuries of letting it build and taper off.

I made a decision, I wasn't going to let her go home like that. So I altered the rules of doting, and would give her the kisses she so often desired, but not to her hooves or wings. I grabbed the princess and picked her up, cradling her in my arms. "Not with you being a mess."

The princess, surprised that anyone had dared to lift her off the ground, watched as the world around her seem even smaller. She peeked over my shoulder, looking to my bathroom door. "I suppose I can borrow your bathroom."

I threw her to the bed, watching as she bounced off and on the mattress. Her ears and cheeks were a deep red, the princess pulled her tail between her legs in an attempt to hide her arousal. "I have something else in mind."

"Do I need to get a bucket of cold water for you?" She asked, indignant and humiliated.

I placed my thumb on her lip before caressing my hand under her chin, as she instructed me to do while in the midst of her passionate embrace. "Nothing for me. What I'm gonna do is strictly for you and you alone."

The princess started to sit herself up. "But I─"

"I only ask that you have a little more trust in me." I said, getting closer to her and lowering my voice.

The princess started to scoot herself away from me, but finding it hard while trying to hold her tail over her belly. "Look, we've already moved the goalposts more than once."

As her back started to press against the wall, I got a little closer. "Field's still being measured out to code. So let me make this easy on you. You know you deserve it. It's been a thousand years."

She looked away, her eyes lowered. "I want to, but I don't think we should."

I swept a lock of her ethereal mane from over her eyes and lightly cradled her cheek. "It's your decision. We can stop it here, plenty of room to turn back."

The princess' eyes raised to me. Her face then became something that no other living being has seen. Her eyes showed innocence, but determination. It was a sign of her trust, reluctant yet optimistic, it was as if she was experiencing her first time all over again. With a little more confidence, she lifted her head and whispered. "...What will you have me do?"

"Lay down." I said, adjusting her and pulling her towards the edge of the bed. Her eyes widened as I almost dragged her hindquarters off of the bed.

She looked and watched as my head started to set between her haunches, making her feel uncertain of what I was doing. "W-wwaaait, what are you doing!?"

"Pleasing you." I simply replied, placing a hand on one of her hind legs.

She accepted the answer, but not so much of my mouth getting dangerously close to her tail, more specifically the area she tried to hide underneath it. "Um, that's very unsanitary. And I don't think it would be a good idea." She pleaded, starting to shudder.

"If you ever feel uncomfortable, just tell me to stop." I reminded her.

"That's not the point." She said, using her magic to lift my head out from in between her legs. "...I've never... this is..."

I looked up, seeing her stare at me as if she was afraid. It was at that moment I realized that this wasn't just a first time for her getting a release in some centuries, but also a milestone for something that was never given to her. "Wait... Seriously?"

She nodded, chewing her lips. I, in my initial excitement, shrugged off her worry and started to dive back down, only for the princess to call to me. "Please don't."

I stopped for a second, then resumed after a slight mental adjustment. Even if I wanted to be the first to pop her cherry in that field, I still had her feelings to consider. Since she wasn't foreign to the idea, it was better to assure her. "I'll go slow, since this is a new experience for you. You may feel a bit uncomfortable to start, but under no circumstance will it be painful." With that warning, I proceeded to inch closer to the area that dampened her tail. Her magic grasped at her tail, keeping herself tucked and hidden away. I questioned her. "May I move your tail?"

"...Please don't look at it." She squeaked, still feeling embarrassed of what she was experiencing.

Even if I felt it was a bit silly, I settled on a small compromise to ease her thoughts. "Tell you what, you look at me. And I'll keep my eyes on yours as long as they're open."

"Wait, you're gonna look at me from down there?" The princess covered her mouth with a wing in disbelief.

As much as I wanted to take in the sight of unwrapping this extremely rare gift, I closed my eyes and allowed my nose to guide me instead. My hands wandered to her belly, rubbing against her gently as I felt a mass of hair being displaced from in between my fingers, I assumed it was her tail. Picking up from where she allowed me to go further, I gently drew her tail down, hearing a slight noise. The light sound of her tail peeling back to reveal her most treasured secret enticed me to imagine more of what it looked like.

She leaned back and quietly accepted my ministrations. Her mane became her sole comfort for the first moments, embarrassed that someone would arouse her in such a way. In her mind it felt like the world was ending, surely there was no sane being who would accept doing such a thing for another's gratification. And it shamed her for being the recipient of such a salacious form of doting. Her heart started to beat faster as my tongue brushed against the outside of her lower lips. She squirmed from the foreign sensation, the warm and wet organ tending to her sensitive and underappreciated sex.

It wouldn't take long before she started to feel the pressure grabbing a foundation, building a humble dwelling place to start. Her silence was once her answer to my activities, but that too subsided into soft chirps, sweet moans to indicate that she was starting to embrace the experience. Her eyes closed to the world, thinking of only the attention she never thought she'd receive. Her longing body loosened, her back started to shift, the tension soon found residence next to the pleasure that proceeded to expand itself.

Her hoof began to hover around my head, I cracked my eyes open to see it staying inches above me. I chuckled and broke away to speak. "You can go on ahead. Grab my head and tell me where you want me to go."

I closed my eyes and continued my work. This time, her hoof joined me in my venture, caressing the back of my head. Her soft chirps had evolved into breathy gasps, cries of pleasure. The mare denied herself the usual habit of withholding her own desire, instead accepting the attention she was deprived of. My tongue bathed in her warmth, cleansing her of the similar iniquity she threatened to leave more of on my floor. I drove my head deeper, foregoing on breath for just a brief moment. Then was where her hoof drove the point home as she shuffled her body closer to me. "Right there. Yes."

"Mmhmm." I called out, acknowledging her request.

She squirmed all the while, realizing that she wanted more of me. For her, the tension and pressure had started building outward, sprawling forth from a small little hamlet to a gorgeous residence. But much to the demands of it's residents, there was an outcry for more. At a substantially faster rate than what she was ready for, her libido laid claim to many more lands that occupied her brain. No longer did she adhere to protocols or laws, those things were relegated to mere afterthoughts. The only thing her body desired was the inevitable release.

"Ohhh... ah. Wait..."

My tongue found a particular rough patch, confirming what I wanted to find for the time being. "Mmph. (Here.)" I quickly refocused my attention to pleasing that particular part of her sex. My tongue ventured back outward, circling around the swollen mound. Her back curved, her wings expanded to provide leverage as she started to look down to what I was doing. At last, our eyes made contact with one another, and her face was revealed to me. I could clearly see the rapture in her eyes, the lustful cries accompanied by a smile, her tongue leaving a bit of a mess as she devolved into deviancy. Her hips started grinding into my face, her hoof applied more pressure as I became her toy. Her ears and face were heating up, sweat starting to bead on her brow, her grinding becoming more purposeful with each pivot. The princess gritted her teeth, the purpose of her release drawing ever closer to accomplishment.

I smirked, though finding it hard to breathe. Her face brought me much of what I considered to be the satisfaction of a job well done. It was the perfect juxtaposition to who she was, caring, wise, conservative, regal, and motherly. The image of her majesty stood as a shadow beside the craved figure seen before me. The cares she had were left to the wayside, the wisdom she often exerted was replaced with the nonsensical babbling of a woman lost in lust. That conservative nature only served to be a farce, a mask to hide the true carnal fiend she caged within. There was nothing majestic about this, it was lowly and depraved, and she loved every second of it. The only motherly quality I could discern from her was the idea of her being the producer of my offspring. The massive leap from one side to the other was astronomically astounding, she gave me a glimpse into the world of her desires, most primitive and messy...

And I couldn't have been more aroused.

My fingers offered her a treat, an unexpected visitor to the land of the long-unclaimed. Her eyes broke wide open while the biggest smile appeared on her face. The excited princess arched her back as she started to quiver around my digits. "Ooh wait, you did not just use those..." What followed was a single gasp, followed by a pause of air. The mare's eyes rolled back and her horn started to spark wildly. In what was quite a paradigm shift, her hindlegs closed around my head, locking me into place while her hips rose from my bed. Her forelegs hugged me as she compressed all of her being onto my face, offering little air for me to take in. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm cu..."

In the midst of her apology, she experienced the climax of several lifetimes. A gate thought to have been sealed for centuries had suddenly been knocked down, breaking a dam to unleash an entire reservoir of her emotions and desires. They pooled around me, dripping off of my chin and coating my mouth. The mare wouldn't stop until every ounce of her experience had subsided. And while I felt my life was in danger, I couldn't help but to grasp at the throbbing warrior standing in wait. My other hand slip underneath my unbuckled belt and softly caress the aching length as it protested against it's confinement.

Loosening herself from me, the princess jittered and shuddered at every after-pulse. She smiled, almost lost in thought while her mind had finally regained it's bearings. She rose up from her soul-shattering experience and took observation of the one who made it possible for her. I looked up to her, seeing that her horn had a bit of a mess of it's own.

"Whoa there, and here I was wondering if I was drowning or not. Guess that's another mess I need to clean up after." I joked, confessing that her climax had nearly drowned me.

The princess giggled as she felt her horn, realizing that there was a faintly glowing substance akin to sweat forming within it's swirling impression. "Please don't look at me, I just..." She covered her face with a foreleg.

"I understand. Let me get that for you." I said, climbing up to kiss and lightly lick against her horn. The princess quickly planted her hoof into my chest before I could do anything else.

"OOH SWEETHEART! OFF!" She stressed, staring at me as if I had done something wrong. But she was actually more surprised that she was getting a triple dose of things typical Equestrian mares had liked. The princess panted and gasped while she held me at a distance. "We keep going and this bed is gonna end up broken!"

My eyes widened at her warning, I started to laugh from the absurdity of her threat. "Oh no, not the cheap bed I just tossed three hundred bucks to." I replied sarcastically.

The high princess sagged back into my bed, her forelegs resting peacefully against her belly. "We are done here, captain. I don't know if I can keep this up."

If what I saw earlier was real, then it would be me who wouldn't be able to keep up. I started to wipe off my mouth. "Well it's something to look forward to next time. I mean if there is a next time─"

"As if there won't be!?" She shouted excitedly. "You blow my mind by giving me something totally new and then throw in those fingers like you're trying to seal the deal. You decided to casually break my thousand year drought and expect me to say no, oh you are in SOOOOO MUCH trouble the next time we meet up."

I started cracking up laughing, realizing that I might have unleashed a monster from it's cage. "Well I'm happy to be of your amusement."

She sat herself up, using her magic to drag my head up to her eye level. "Boy, look at me when I say this. Don't you tease me like that again." She said, giving my cheek a lick before booping a hoof into my nose. "And not a word to ANYONE."

"Copy that." I answered, slipping my hand from out of my pants.

Unfortunately, that didn't go unnoticed by the princess. "Now... About that shower."

My night had come to a somber end, and a far from sober one at that. I threw out my designated driver tab and swapped it out for some pain-killing whiskey. After we left RIO, I got back to the girls, who were pissed that I missed the countdown with them. I still had a farce to put on, so I just smiled and pretended that nothing was wrong. I got a few drinks in my system, not too much to where I'd get a DUI but damn near close.

Thank the heavens the bar had a breathalyzer on the wall by the door.

Once I got back home, I cracked open a bottle of Crown Royal Apple and went to town. I was hoping that I'd at least put back enough liquor to fall asleep, but that wasn't the case. I just stayed awake at my table, even the drinking slowed down because I knew that I had to get closure on those two.

I realized it as soon as I saw them hunched together at the boardwalk, something was up. He said he had to go to an escort assignment, that he was excited for it, and he purposely locked us out on the details because he didn't want us to know he was getting familiar with the princess who moves the damn sun everyday. And what made matters worse was that she had my phone. But I didn't have any worries, she had to get back to her world and my portal was the shortest way of doing so. The door was gonna stay unlocked until she comes knocking.

It only took me an hour and a half of waiting, but yeah.

I walked over to the door, holding my head from the growing headache I had. "Who is it?" I called out.

"Celestia, I came to give you your phone."

I opened the door to let her in. "Portals open, you know where to find it." I said, pretending to smile.

"Thank you, Melanie." She replied, looking at me with her human eyes.

As soon as the closed behind us, I jumped right to the question. "How long have you two been dating?"

The princess stopped in place, unsure of how to answer that. She tried to fake her way out of the conversation. "Wait, who am I supposed to be─"

But I wasn't having any of it. "You and Nondis, the two of you kissed earlier tonight." I pointed out.

Again, she went for the denial. "I don't know what you're even─"

And again, I shot her attempt down. "Cliff and Rickey saw it too. It was on the rooftop of RIO. So it's time to fess up."

The princess took a deep breath and started to explain herself. "Nondis and I are not dating. We're just getting to know each other."

"As friends?" I asked sarcastically. "I don't think friends shove their tongues down each other's throats. So how are you two getting to know each other exactly?"

I was already indicating that I had little patience for bullshit, and she was quickly catching on. "I don't know if my feelings are real, but I feel like we could be close.

"And how close do you two have to be right now?"

"I know that part isn't something I can tell you right now. I'm sorry."

She started to walk off, but I hastily chased after her to cut her off before she could reach the mirror. "You're getting him in a world of trouble. You do realize that if they find out about the two of you, he's going to get his shit rocked. And I don't think life has been very fair to him as it is."

"Life is never fair." She replied calmly. "And he does deserve better. I just wanted to offer what I could."

I groaned as I pointed a finger at the princess. "So tell me something, does Twilight even know about the two of you?"

"Nondis told her, I told her afterwards. All three of us have talked about it."

"And she's okay with this? I don't find it easy to believe that she'd just up and give Nondis away."

Celestia closed her eyes as she was faced with the guilt of her having this relationship. Her eyes lowered to avoid mine. "We all talked with one another. Twilight didn't offer a fight to keep him, she just told me that she wished me the best."

"Your own student wished you the best, over the guy who she was in love with? Oh I'm sure that doesn't hurt her in any way! So you get lonely and desperate enough to say 'Fuck her feelings, I'm gonna play the rebound and get what I want from him!"

The princess appeared defeated, but not willing to allow me to give her a piece of my mind. "I understand your concern, I truly do, Melanie. But please note that I am not of you, I am not some random individual you can easily speak down on. I admit that you have merit in chastising me, but I will not allow you to make this a recurring practice of yours. So if you could, please readjust your tone the next time we speak."

I crossed my arms and gave her a firm warning of my own. "That's fine. But I know Nondis is undergoing counseling right now. If he ever gets into some shit that turns him into something other than the friend I know, I'm coming for you and you will answer to me. That I guarantee."

The princess confirmed with a single nod. "So that we agree on, we protect Nondis."

"No. YOU protect him, I'm done." I said angrily, still bitter over him choosing to be with her.

The princess shook her head, her hands starting to glow. "No, you're not. You're upset, and that too will pass."

"You don't know me." I replied as she transformed into her pony self.

Now being much shorter than her human form, she looked up to me with a sad frown. "I've lived for over a thousand years. It isn't that I know you as a person, but I do know how this all ends. So I'm going to tell you the constant in this conversation we're having, and it does come from personal experience also. In the end, you will learn to love him regardless of what happens. So you better love him while he's able to breathe, flaws and all. Don't be like me and stay crying over a vase."

I initially had very little care for her analogy. "Why the hell would I fucking cry over a vase?"

But something ominous started to show as she stared at me. Her eyes appeared empty while she spoke in a monotone, chilling voice. "Because your friend's head is in it."

She disappeared through the portal, still giving me those same stone-cold eyes. It was really unsettling to see the bright personality the princess being replaced by a grim, nighmare-inducing face. I wanted to ask her anything else, but I was scared that she'd pop right back up and watch me sleep with that face. I grew so unnerved that I couldn't help but stare at the mirror for minutes upon minutes. If I had been drunk for the night, then that face was all it took for me to sober up.

To summarize the end of my night, I turned the mirror towards the wall and slept with my lights on.

Celestia traversed the halls, finding a passageway that lead to her room. As soon as she arrived to the portion of the wall that was just around her bedroom, she started to quietly think about what she had told Melanie. The moment played out in her head, hearing the faint cries of her younger self as she clutched the vase in her tear-stained hooves. The memory was shaken from her, as did the princess shake her head to rapidly reset herself to the present.

She called on her magic, allowing the bricks of the wall to set aside an opening to her bedroom. But to her surprise, her younger sister laid comfortably in her bed, staring back at the opening. "Did you have fun, sister?"

Taken by surprise, Celestia jumped and held her chest. "Luna, what are you doing here?"

The night princess hopped off her sibling's bed. "I could ask the same for you. Weren't you supposed to be in here getting better from your sickness, or were you too busy sneaking off to the human world for some time alone with the captain?"

"I am not entertaining you tonight, sister." The older sibling said, using her magic to push her towards the joint bathroom they shared, urging her to return to her room.

The princess of the night continued to harass her older sister. "You look awfully giddy. Did he show you a good time?"

"Quiet you." She said, almost shoving her into the tub.

Luna didn't skip a beat in being the annoying little sister, suggestively lifting her brows. "Sister─"

The high princess groaned, shoving her towards the door that lead to the night princess' room. "Fine, you were right."

"About?" Luna, hoping that her sister would completely disclose what she knows of.

"Him." Celestia grumbled.

"Him doing wha─"

Celestia had enough of her little sister, throwing the doors open to her bedroom and shoving her through. "I will banish you to the moon again if you don't leave me alone." The princesses stared at each other before the older sibling could close the door completely. The sun princess whispered to her younger sister a confession, a brief summary of her experience. "It was quite nice."

The doors closed, leaving Luna to proudly lean back in the tub. "It's about time you found something good for once."

I've been on a writing marathon as of late, I'm sure you've noticed. This chapter has been done for at least a whole two-to-three weeks. And in the time, I had a decision bouncing around in my head. I was either going to break past a certain point and save something for later, or I could just keep going with the usual two-day flow I've been trying to do for a while now. And of course I measured the drawbacks, being the flow of the story vs the length of the chapter.

Having that said... I am so sorry for this Bataan Death March of a chapter.

I promise the next chapter will have less than this. And also... You know exactly where we're going back to.