I drove back to the castle with the little ones enjoying the ride in the basket.

"Thank you Bass for wanting to join our army."

"I think they have it backwards." whispered David. He was pretty tired out from using his powers.

"Your welcome small army!" I continued driving till I stopped. The reason I stopped was because the princesses made me too. And by made me too I mean they used magic. Now I know I'm the master at physics but I want you to understand.

Scooter goes 60 mph. Girls use magic to stop you. So 60 + the force of all their magic = one very far propelled pony.

"AAAHHH!" I screamed until I crashed in a bundle of hay. All the tiny ponies landed on my belly.

"Hooray!" we all cheered.
[I love those little guys.]
<Me too. Can we keep one?>
{We're keeping all 40!}

I looked over to see both princesses hugging David and all of them walking to the castle.

"Okay! Bye! I don't want to be noticed or anything!"

"Your in trouble." said Celestia before closing the door.

"... Uh oh..." I went inside and made my way to the throne room.

"So what did I do?" I asked her.

"You didn't do it to us. You did it to Vinyl. She's worried sick about you and she has some important news."

"Oh... OH NO! VINYL!" I ran back to my room. I opened it and was greeted with her eyeballing me while sitting on the bed.

"Uh hey..." The door slammed behind me. "Sweet cheeks. So uh... how's it going?"

"Do you know how worried I was?"

"No. Look I'm sorry but I-"

"You what! You'd rather go out there and die!" I remained quiet. She doesn't know that this is MY fight. "*sigh* I'm sorry. I'm just a bit cranky."

"Yeah..." I said with a knot in my throat. It was hard to talk right now. "Celestia... she said you had some news?"

"Yeah! Guess what?"

"I guess what."

"I'm pregnant!"

Those two words echoed in my mind... it was the burden of my past all over again... Vinyl's... pregnant.

[Don't pass out this time!]
<Oh this is great! We're going to be a dad!>

"I thought you said you locked your door during the mare's day thing."

"I did. I mean you got me pregnant before that! Isn't this great!"

"I'm going to be... a dad?"

"Mmhmm." she said nodding her head up and down.

"YES! I love you so much!" I picked her up and brought her in for a hug. "We're going for a dinner tonight and we'll watch the sunset and we'll watch romantic movies and we'll-"

"We will have fun. Just say that."

"But I have so much in mind!"

"Your taking this better than I thought you would."

"Yeah... tell me about it..."

"Sorry I yelled at you. I don't know what I would do with a kid and no dad. Understand?"

"I do. You see... this is my fight though Vinyl. Nightmare has haunted me and ruined 13 years of my life. I'm never getting those back. So I'll stop her now and save us all!"

"That's... I didn't know..."

"It's okay."

"Alright. If your not mad at me at least."

I gave her a kiss. "I'm not mad. Let's go check on the others!"

"Your shirt is ruined." I looked down and saw the stains and rips in my black shirt and vest. I threw them off and posed for her.

"Screw clothes! I'm a pony dammit!" I walked out the door with some new confidence.
[So this time we make sure she doesn't die.]
<We need to not mess up this time.>
{We need a plan.}

I walked outside to the bank. I need to check my account. I opened the doors and not a line in sight.

"Hello Bass. Looks like you don't have to wait today." said Colgate behind the counter.

"Colgate? Didn't know you worked here."

"Just the other day. This crate fell on my house and destroyed my shop along with it. Why a crate was in the sky I'll never know."

Uh...

Flashback

During Tulip's wedding. I jumped out the plane but I pulled a rope dumping a bunch of cargo out of the plane.

"Yeah... that sucks Colgate." I pulled my wallet out of my cartoon pocket. Don't ask. It's a cartoon. And I handed her my card.

"It says you have... uh... 4,589,982.29 bits. Would you like to donate to charity?"

"Give them 10."

[We're fucking loaded!]
<We can have the best kind of fun. Expensive fun.>
{I'm going to bye some monkey butlers and work on that island.}

I left the bank with my credit card and about 2,000 bits in a bag that I left in my pocket. Once again this is a cartoon.
[Let's bye chicks!]
{<We have Vinyl!>}
[Yeah but...]
{<Vinyl is best pony!>}
[... let's bye her attractive outfits.]
{...I can agree to that.}
<It might be best for all of us.>

I walked back to the castle and went inside my room. It appeared empty.

"Vinyl? Sweetie?" No response.
[Oh god look out behind you!]

I turned to be pinned down by Vinyl on the bed.

"Hello Bass."

"Good day ma'am!" I tried to free myself. "You got a tight grip." I just now noticed the little devil outfit she was donning.

"Someone's been a bad girl."

"Yes! Yes she has! This can not go unnoticed!"

1 hour later

We both laid in bed staring at the ceiling.

"I can't wait to be a dad." I told her. "I know I'll be better than my dad."

"That means your going to do the things with our kid that our dad never did to you."

"Well... that means just about anything."

"Did your dad not spend time with you?"

"That's one reason. The other was because I was a bit of a disappointment."

"Want to talk about it?"

1 more hour later

"And then he just left my mom to die..." cried Vinyl. She laid in my arms releasing all of her emotions. Yes... I flipped the conversation around.

"So what did he do next?"

"He left. I haven't seen my dad since."

"I'm sorry about that. Well... remember that your mother will always love you."

"Thanks Bass." she started to snuggle.
[*sniff sniff* That was the saddest snuff story I have ever heard.]
<I mean our dad was bad but... no one should have that happen to them.>
{It's emotionally traumatizing for a child.}

"Vinyl... how did you make a living without your parents?"

"I still went to school. I lived at the orphanage down the road from it with Octavia."

"She's an orphan as well?"

"Her mom died at childbirth and her dad couldn't take care of her. So as a baby he dropped her off."

"So you two were the best of friends then."

"More like sisters. We watched each other and grew up. We got jobs, saved up, had fun, met others, then you came and made it all better."

"That's good to know."

"It is... So what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... since the big battle is coming up... aren't you scared?"

"I've been scared many times in my life. But... I've never been so sure of victory before."

"I hope your telling the truth."

"I think we'll win. Yes I'm scared if that's what you want to know. I could die at any moment."

"That's reassuring."

"Is it? I'd hope that would be a downside."

"I'm kidding!" Well... she isn't crying anymore.

"Let's not talk about it much. We'll see who wins in a few days." I reached over and turned the light off. "Oh I have 4,589,982.29 bits in the bank."

"That's... great!"

"Don't take advantage of it." I handed her my card.

"What are you doing?"

"In case I don't make it... you should be able to take care of our child with this much."

"Don't think like that."

"It's just a precaution."

"Good night my brave night." She snuggled on my chest.

"Good night Vinyl."

David's POV

"So you've always been an alicorn?" asked Luna. I told them everything.

"Basically. Niko and Dustin are... so is anyone else that was a human."

"So aren't we all human?" asked Celestia.

"No. Only certain humans get to come to this world."

"Like that Static Wielder Dustin dreams about?" asked Luna. "I didn't mean to but I ended up looking in his head."

"What was it like?" asked Celestia. "I've only read his mind."

"He's... he's a strong pony. He's held 13 years of pure pain and torture in his heart and he hasn't shown one sign of it. I wonder how much it hurts."

"It's really bad." I told them. "I know the guy. I followed him through time. When he prevented his friends death he prevented his own. When he prevented his own he made another Dustin. On Earth there should be a kid version of himself having fun. But for our Dustin... he basically prevented his own birth."

"Meaning..." started Celestia. "No home... no friends... no family... absolutely nothing. And he's holding this all inside him? What if Nightmare attacks tomorrow?"

"If she does than he'll fight her." I told her putting my head down on the pillow. "I'd rather not think about it."

"Alright love." said Luna cutting off the lights. "Sleep well."

"Thanks."

"Goodnight my hero." said Celestia. I need to think about this. I can finally stop this. I can stop Cold Iron and I can stop Nightmare. I just need Dustin's help. He's the only one I think that can get close enough to keep them busy so I can go in for the kill. I just need to hope.