Celestia didn't move nor breath, for fear of accidentally slicing her own throat. Only now could she feel the hooves on her back, the tingle in the air that was the unmistakable sensation of magic in use. The weight on her back was light, no doubt a small unicorn, two hooves low on her back, no doubt the hind legs, while another was lightly gripping her mane, pulling her head back to reveal the throat while she couldn't feel other fore-hoof, likely holding another weapon in case she disarmed the one in the pony's magical grip.

Despite all of this, Celestia wasn't panicked, hay, if anything she'd more or less been expecting this all day. Depressed, a severe lack of guards around the castle, she was tired, injured. Any assassin worth his salt would strike now. Still, blind hope invaded her mind for a brief second, forcing her to hold her breath for reasons beyond the fact she didn't want her throat opened twice in a week.

Taking a shallow, yet long-winded breath to clear her thoughts, she started talking in a diplomatic tone.

"If you were here to kill me, you'd have done so already" she told whoever was threatening her life. She heard a light, feminine snort.

"Get off her Loose Hoof" she said quietly, Celestia feeling the pressure on her back obey the voice coming from behind her. "Turn around, cast a spell or do anything I consider jumpy, and you'll soon find out where this stallion got his name" the mare's voice told Celestia. She decided to obey, for the time being, humouring this mysterious mare with obedience. She nodded her head once, curious as to where this would go. Celestia could practically smell the raised eyebrow.

"She seems rather calm. Do you think she was expecting us" the stallion, Loose Hoof, muttered to his cohort. The princess heard another small snort. It was likely both mares were thinking the same thing; Celestia was a princess, anypony of royalty was easily capable of holding her cool in such situations. Hay, the duchess of Buckingham once had a random stallion break into her chambers at Buckingham palace, only for her to keep him talking for ten or so minutes until the guards showed up and escorted him out. Celestia felt that, out of all the dukes and duchesses of the world, she liked her best.

Either way, both theories were correct; Celestia had more or less been expecting some kind of threat on her life and she indeed knew how to handle these kinds of situations calmly.

"So" she began once more, her voice just as calm and diplomatic as before "why are you here? I can only guess taking my life is not at the top of your list" she said. She felt the mare smile gently.

"Indeed. Your death is not on our list at all, or at least, not yet. We have other business with you" she said. Celestia cocked her head at the stars outside.

"Is that so? And what, pray tell, is said business?"

"Blood Moon" another female voice spoke up, this one a little deeper, a Manehatten tint to it. Celestia chuckled gently.

"Oh, how surprising" she said dryly. "I can only guess you caught wind of the news?"

"That he's dead? Of course. News reached Fillydelphia before you'd even given your speech earlier. Princess Celestia, I trust you wonder who we are." Celestia raised her eyebrow, an unimpressed half-smile going up with it.

"What gave it away" she replied, her voice as dry as the Saddle Arabian deserts. She heard the Manehatten mare give a small chuckle of her own.

"We, princess, are historians" she explained without answering the princess's jab "only, we are only interested in a specific story…" She trailed off, letting Celestia fill in the gaps for herself.

"Ahhh" the solar princess uttered gently "so…you've been documenting Blood Moon, hmm? And how long have you been doing this? A few years? A few hundred? A thousand?" She could hear the mares face turn slightly smug.

"Take that last guess, and multiply it by a factor of fifteen." Celestia frowned and went to look back at them, only to feel the steel of a blade against the back of her neck. Celestia stopped her efforts to gaze upon her captors, begrudgingly turning her head back to the outside world.

"Is that so" she said at last, her voice quiet.

"Indeed. We've been documenting his movements for as long as he's been alive now. Me and my ancestors have been watching him, recording him. It started as a means to replicate his immortality, but it has evolved into something more, something greater. To watch such a fascinating individual grow, learn, become strong, weak and everything in between." Celestia felt like laughing.

"So let me get this straight; you've been watching my old foalsitter throughout his whole life, observing him from afar. And he's never noticed you?"

"No. Not once" the mare replied "we've been completely invisible to him throughout our observations. Whenever we've actively watched him, too many to count were on his tail, and those instances were rare, highlights in his life that second-hoof accounts wouldn't do for.
Take the battle yesterday for instance." Celestia's mind went back to the battle within her walls. It felt so strangely far away to her now, despite the fact that barely two days had passed by. Celestia narrowed her eyes.

"That's impossible" she told them. She felt the mare cock her head.

"And why's that?"

"Because Blood Moon was the best of the best. He had no equal. There is no way somepony like you could keep track of him throughout his whole life, and never be noticed by him. Anonymity was one of his specialties, after all."

"If he has no equal why is he, lying dead, in your morgue?" Celestia bit back the insult.

"Because he was a good stallion, and a better father, who protected his charge until the end" she told them fiercely, close to breaking once more at the constant jabbing at her memories of the assassin. "Besides which…" she felt the mare cock her head once more "the only way you could keep track of Blood Moon, would be to have the best working for you" she told them.

"And?" Celestia gave a small laugh.

"And you don't have the best working for you. If you did, Blood Moon himself would be working for you, and Blood Moon works for nopony." She heard another small chuckle come from the mare.

"In that case, do you really believe we didn't have the best working for us?"

Celestia whipped her head around, ready to rip apart anypony who would disrespect her father's memory. Darkness greeted her. She looked around, tears of pain and frustration welling in her eyes as she clenched her jaw, her teeth bared and her horn aglow. She whipped her head all around, searching for her intruder. She didn't bother calling for the guards; whoever dared sneer at the Hunter's memory was hers and hers alone. But there was nopony there. Just her and the darkness, only the flickering of her fire illuminating the room.

'Wait, what?'

Celestia looked at the flickering fire, her memory void of the point she'd lit it. She trotted over to the fireplace, gazing over the seats before it. She and Blood Moon had spent many a late night sat in these, be it wrapped up in blankets as he read a book to her, or just cuddled up together on long, winter nights. One of the few memories that were more powerful that of her pictures, if only because it represented the closeness between them. Celestia sat her flank in one of the chairs, gazing at the flickering fire.

'Yes. This is going to be hard…'

She had a sudden longing for company, Skullduggery, Luna, Twilight, Cadence, somepony. Hay, the mailmare would be welcome right now. Although, she felt that what she'd said to Skullduggery earlier was correct, in its ways; she needed time alone, to be with her thoughts. Time to properly think and reflect on everything. Settling into her seat, she gazed around the room.

"Evening, Celestia." She jolted out of her mind, her relaxed and silent contemplation disturbed by a voice she knew all too well. Her eyes latched onto the chair opposite hers, and there he was. Blood Moon. In his unicorn form, as she best knew and loved him, how she best remembered him. Her eyes widened, tears welling as she reached a hoof over to him. She blinked a few times.

"B-Blood Moon" she asked shakily. He shrugged.

"What do you think?" She blinked a few more times.

"A-are you a ghost" she asked quietly. The assassin looked down himself.

"That depends. Am I dead?" Her eyes went sad again, her hoof going limp as she fell back into the seat.

"Yes" she muttered. Blood Moon shot her a small grin.

"About as wise as ever, Tia" he remarked. Celestia loosed a light sigh.

"Why are you here?" The dead stallion smirked at her.

"For the same reasons you've been blubbering all day, mourning me. For the same reasons you thought I'd abandoned you. For the same reasons you think it was a good idea to tell my story to the world. You're insane Celestia" he told her, his smirk still on his face. Celestia rolled her eyes.

"Wouldn't you know" she retorted. He shrugged.

"Well, I am a figment of your own mind" he replied "so I suppose I would." Celestia lowered
her gaze and shook her head at said head's antics.

"How do I get you to go away? As much as I miss you, I miss Blood Moon, not something my mind cooked up to either send me away on the crazy train, or try to comfort me in this time of hardship." She rubbed around her temples. "I have really got to go see the shrink" she mumbled. She looked up to find him lingering. "Well" she prompted. The phantom shrugged again.

"How would you get rid of me in life, Celestia?" She narrowed her eyes.

"I didn't want you to go. You left me" she shot back. He grunted.

"Nice" he muttered. Celestia sighed gently before she looked back up to the phantom.

“Am I really so nuts as to hallucinate you.” The dead pony merely shrugged.

“Evidently. You’re suffering mental trauma, far as we can tell” he replied. “Head wounds, possible brain damage and watching somepony die like that will do that to you.” Celestia just snorted.

“Guess that means it’s time for me to retire” she mumbled. The ghost shook his head, Celestia noticing the faint blur with the movements and his unnatural stillness, even by the assassin’s standards. He wasn’t even breathing.

“Oh come on, I’m a figment of your imagination and even I know that’s bullshit” the apparition snarked. Celestia chuckled.

“You know, I won’t lie, I’ve sort of seen this coming for a while now. But, if anything, I’m slightly disappointed with how...mundane my insanity is turning out to be.” The ghost crackled a laugh.

“You call this insanity? Nah, this is a sever case of longing and maybe even guilt. Insanity is when an assassin brings his last kill from the dead” he shot back, a smirk on his face. Celestia chuckled again. “But, Tia, know this; I do fear you’re not the same well-adjusted lady a raised. I am a figment of your insanity, and to put that in perspective, your hallucination just told you he’s an hallucinations, so, yeah, there’s that.” Celestia shrugged.

“At least you’re honest” she mumbled. The phantom didn’t react.

“I am you mania, those parts of your mind that are happy and creative and just so slightly homicidal. Sooner or later, you’re going to meet your dementia, and you will be by yourself. It will not be kind, it will not be patient and it will be all that you fear and hate. It will be your darkness” it told her.

“What… What should I do?” The phantom shrugged.

“What would He want you to do?” Celestia looked to the fire in thought.

‘Stand up. Be strong. Be free.’

“Why are you telling me this? Why are you helping me? And why in the hay does my mania apparate in the form of my foalsitter for crying out loud!” It shrugged.

“Because of the dark, light and grey in your head, I am the one constant you can rely on. I didn’t choose me, hay, I’m sure I’d be surprised that I’m not Luna, or your mother, or Faust, given the circumstances. Somepony who you could look to to always be there for you. But, in essence, I am the avatar your madness takes because I’m what your brain feels is going to give you a one-way ticket on the crazy train best. However, I am mania. And the goodness of that little bit of madness at the forefront of your mind far outweighs the bad, so, here I am.” Celestia only sighed.

“I want you to leave me” she said quietly. She didn’t quite believe her own words. “Please, leave” she asked, her gaze locked to the ground.

“I’m a figment of mental trauma and severe depression mixed with brain damage and head wounds. It ain’t that easy” it replied. Celestia sniffled once.

“Please just tell me. How do I get you to go?” The hallucination shrugged.

“You asked me that already, I already answered.” Celestia glared.

“You asked me how I’d get you to leave when you were alive. I told you that you abandoned me, that I never wanted you to go.” The phantom assassin grunted.

"Before I 'abandoned' you then" he replied. Celestia lowered her gaze again.

"I didn't have to. You were always there, but just out of sight until I needed you" she answered quietly. She looked up again to find him watching her with a kind smile on his face that didn't suit his looks one bit, but she felt was remarkably soothing against said features.

"Then that's where I'll be" he told her, his words making an impact on Celestia's heart.
She watched silently as he got up from the chair he'd sat upon, trotting past her, towards the shadows the light of the fire couldn't reach. He paused when he was next to her chair. He turned his eyes to her own moist ones, finding her conflicted, hurt and confused gaze watching him as he moved. He shot her a sudden smile, winking her way before he continued, talking quietly to himself.

"On those dark weary days and those cold windy nights, pray the assassin will watch over your plight" he sung to himself in a voice a little too merry for the occasion. He looked back over his shoulder at Celestia, casting her one last grin before he stepped into the darkness. "With blood on his hooves and death in his heart, the assassin will watch over from the end till the start" he finished, trotting into the darkness of the shadows.

With fresh tears rolling down her cheeks, Celestia sat back into her chair, a small smile on her face as the tiny reassurance that her foalsitter was comfortable in her head washed over her. Yes, that pretty much sealed the deal that she'd lost her grip on reality, but she'd rather be crazed and in the company of her foalsitter rather than being sane and alone. Probably not the most…sane, I guess, of choices but it suited her at the moment.

"With blood on his blade and shrouded in night, the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall, year after year he will always stand tall" she sang in her angelic singing voice.

"With blood on his blade and shrouded in night, the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall, year after year he will always stand tall.
The assassin will watch over all good colts and mares, always listening to their ever hopeful prayers. He will always watch over the weak and the poor, should you ever cross him he'll give you what for.

With blood on his blade and shrouded in night, the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall, year after year he will always stand tall.
The assassin will be there so silent and still, watching and waiting for the moment until. Those who have wronged you will fall to his blade, and never will he rest till the debt has been paid.

With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall..."

She’d enjoyed that song as a filly. He’d always sung it when it was too dark or scary for her to sleep, when her little mind created monsters and terrors of the night from shadows and small sounds in the night. It had always meant a promise to her, a promise few others who had heard in its lyrics, she felt. At least, not so personal, as real, as she had heard it.

That she was not alone.

Celestia bit her lip to stop it from wobbling. She wiped the tears away, looking back at the dark corner her foalsitter had disappeared into.

"Blood Moon?"

She got no answer. She stood from her chair, trotting over to the darkness, trying to peer through it, but it was hopeless; the darkness was like a fog, impenetrable to her. She trotted into the shadows in search of him.

"Blood Moon?"

Again, there was no answer. She looked around herself, suddenly finding she'd lost herself. Her bedroom was nowhere to be seen. She was lost in a dark void of fog-like shadows. She felt herself get scared.

"Blood Moon!"

There was still no answer. Celestia felt herself hyperventilating, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. Celestia hated the dark. When the shadows were too thick to see through, when she didn't know who was there, when she couldn’t see the light at the edge. When neither the sun or moon was in the sky to guide her home. When she didn’t have a certain dark stallion to help her find her way.

She’d grown stronger. She didn’t need that stallion, any stallion. Skulduggery was real and true to her, and her heart. Shining Armour was somepony she could rely on to do his job and organise her armies when she could not. Blood Moon had once protected her. She didn’t need protecting anymore.

But here, in the dark, she needed him more than anypony.

She wasn't sure if this was a side-effect of her sun deity, or some kind of paranoid complex that had come about the first time an assassin had struck at her from the shadows. Her best guess was a mixture of both. The only thing that had kept her brave throughout her youth had been Blood Moon, but now that he wasn't here…

Celestia shook her head. She was probably going through some kind of traumatic…something, she hadn't read the chapter on physiological quirks that caused ponies to hallucinate during great loss. She began galloping blindly, looking for a way out of this fog.
There was none, no exit to this never-ending forest of darkness, just a fog that kept rolling, constantly obscuring her vision of more of the same blasted fog.

"Blood Moon" she cried out desperately, still galloping, her mind reeling and her body working overtime. Her lungs burned despite the short distance she'd gone, her mind a confusing tornado of thought and emotion, no coherent trail of thought going through her mind. She burst through a particularly deep cloud of fog, only to find that her perspective had changed. She was lower down, as far as she could tell given that fog looked pretty much the same from any height. Celestia looked down at herself, looking at her hooves; they were little again. She grabbed at her mane, finding it much shorter now, and gazing upon it revealed it to be a cute, dainty pink.

She was a filly again.

With this revelation came more fear. In her younger form, she wasn't capable of half, hay, a quarter of the spells she could perform as an adult. She couldn't fight, couldn't fly. The best she'd been reduced to was trying to get away from the danger. But the danger was everywhere. With renewed vigour, and terror, she fled.

"UNCLE MOON" she screamed in her filly voice, tears falling from her cheeks as she galloped like a mad-filly. "WHERE ARE YOU" she screamed desperately, still galloping.

"Celestia" a voice said. She skidded to a halt, looking around herself in confusion.

"Uncle Moon" she called again, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"What are you doing, Celestia? Why do you gallop so? Why do you cry?" She sniffled a few times, her small hoof wiping away the tears.

"I-I'm scared" she answered. In reply, the dark stallion was formed from the fog cantering up to her pointedly.

“Why” it asked. Celestia sniffed.

“B-because-”

“Because you’re scared? Weak? Alone? Because you need your foalsitter?” Celestia felt tears tempt.

“No, because, I-I...I miss you” she told him. The phantom frowned.

“Do you? Are you not glad to see the back of me? The back of all of this? You’re as happy as you are sad Celestia, don’t try and deny it.” Celestia felt a tear crawl down her little cheek.

“No, that’s not true, when you died-”

“When you killed me?” Celestia’s tears fell in earnest.

“I DIDN’T KILL YOU” she screamed “you tried to kill me, you killed yourself, you were just too much of a coward to see it through” she told him, beating her hooves to the ground. The phantom cocked its head.

“Ahh, so you are glad I’m dead? You feel no remorse, no guilt, you throw away that which I did for you in sacrifice. Truly, a ruler to be feared and respected.” Celestia felt her tears again.

“I-I’m not a bad ruler! I’m loved and respected and-”

“Hated. And despised. And feared. You’re looked at with adoration when you smile down at the masses, but as soon as your back is turned they feel nothing but hatred, nothing but scorn. The other ruler are just as bad, they look at you as a whorse, an Alicorn who uses her body to get her way with griffons, who threatens the Changelings with destruction to keep them weak, who only tolerates the Zebras as long as they remain obedient. And, when the die is cast, and blow turns to blow, you differ to your student to do the dirty work and hide behind the Elements of Harmony.” Celestia broke down, falling to her side and curling up, bawling into her hooves.

“THAT’S NOT TRUE” she scream, sobbing “NONE OF IT’S TRUE!” She sobbed and brawled. “None of it’s true…” He leaned his head down.

“You know it is” he told her. She cried and sobbed harder. He grunted and stood. "Didn't I teach you anything" he demanded in a growl, trotting around her. He threw his hoof in the air in aspiration, making the filly princess flinch in her ball. "Never to be afraid, not to cower" he demanded. Celestia hid her head under her hooves, trying to escape her foalsitter's ranting. He was silent for a second. "WELL" he roared.

"Y-you told me to never be afraid" she answered quietly "but you told me that you'd always be there for me. Why should I listen to anything you'd say when you lie all the time?" She stood again, not remembering when she'd risen, and glared her uncle in the eye. He glared back, red meeting purple in a fierce battle of will.

"Don't question me" he told her, his voice a deadly growl. Celestia's glare went deeper.

"THEN DON’T LIE TO ME" she screamed in his face, both on the opposite end of the angry scale. His hoof flashed so fast she couldn't react to his strike, she didn't even know what had happened until she'd landed several meters away. She whimpered and sniffled, laying on her side, watching her foalsitter glare at her.

She stood shakily.

"You're not my foalsitter" she told him, trotting slowly up to him "you're the monster he thinks he is, but you're nothing like him." She held her sore cheek in her hoof. "He'd never hit somepony he loved." She took another step towards the phantom. "You're evil, a monster, you're nothing like him" she shouted, feeling her strength return to her. She stalked closer, the stallion staying stock still. "Now get out of my HEAD" she roared, starting as a filly only to grow into the powerful mare she was, her voice blasting away the phantom that was the darkness in her heart, the stallion filtering away to ash.

Celestia closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, clearing her mind. Once she was sure her head was clear, the solar princess took a few ragged breaths, her eyes narrowed and her teeth bared.

"Celestia" the voice said.

"I told you to get out of my head" she snapped, a primal rage finding her eyes.

"Celestia" the voice said again, the fog around her drawing in. The princess of the day let her horn glow its gold, growling at the darkness around her growing closer, an almost claustrophobic feeling overcoming her.

She let her horn glow a bright aura of light to ward off the approaching darkness, only for it to easily eat through her magic.

"Celestia" the voice said again, sounding closer to her than before.

The princess of the day blinked her eyes open, only to find that she was laying on her side in pitch darkness, something obstructing her view of anything else.

"Celestia" the voice said again, nudging her a few times. She groaned and held her head in response, a pounding headache ripping through her skull without warning. She felt sick. Sitting on her flank, using the guard or whoever it was as a support to sit up, still holding her
head. "Are you alright?" She nodded groggily.

"Yes, I think. Just overcoming my fear of the dark" she muttered.

"You can't like Iron Mareden all that much then" the voice muttered, Celestia electing to chuckle slightly at the bad joke. She opened her eyes to find the assassin stood before her again.

"Oh, hello again" she told the apparition. The dead stallion cocked his head.

"Evening, well, night" he replied. Celestia watched him shrug away the decision with an air of hopelessness about her, a long winded sigh she hadn't released running through her system like a pressure begging for release. She hung her head and leaned it on the assassin's shoulder.

"Blood Moon…please don't leave me again. I can't imagine life without you. I have my sister,
Twilight, Cadence…but I want my foalsitter. I want my bodyguard. My uncle, the closest thing me and Luna have had to a father. I want my daddy. Please don't leave me again" she begged. She felt the stallion wrap his fore-legs around her neck, pulling her into a hug.

"Alright Celestia" he told her. Celestia relaxed into his hold, a strange sense of relief washing over her. Then she blinked.

She'd relaxed into a phantom's hold?

She sat up, leaning back in her dark corner, and could do nothing as her jaw came loose. Her hooves travelled over his face, touching it, remembering it but above all…feeling it. It was there. A few shocked, choked noises came out of her as she looked upon him. His red eyes, the scar, his wrinkles, the dirty mane, the sliver of flesh taken from his ear…the everything. Her hooves kept going, looking all over him. His neck, his body, two, three, all four legs, his tail…everything!

"B-B-Blood M-…u-uncle Blood…d-d-d…" she looked over his face again "daddy?" A small, half sad and half happy smile found his face.

"Hey Tia. I've missed you" he replied. Celestia replied by lunging at him.

And she laughed. She smiled. Tears of joy ran down her face as she held him close, hugging him for all her worth as she rolled around in the light of the fireplace, just glad to be with him again as she made up a lot of lost hugging time.

"Celestia" he said again. The princess of the day quickly caught herself, pulling back and looking at him.

"W-what" she asked, afraid that he wasn't here with good intentions and she'd just made a bit of a fool of herself. He grinned again, pulling his legs from beneath her constricting hug and wrapping his fore-legs around her neck and pulling her in close, Celestia relaxing and laughing again as they held each other for the first time, in a very, very long time, laying in the flickering light of the fireplace as she hugged and laughed, the assassin doing the same as he reveled in holding onto his little girl again, the two rolling around as they laughed and smiled and hugged and squeezed more than either had in millennia. She nuzzled and squeezed him like nothing she ever had before, not even Sparks (the name of her stuffed Phoenix) had been hugged this tightly by Celestia. Tears of joy, relief, the release of the overwhelming force that was the end to such longing and pure emotional ecstasy leaked from their closed eyes, Tia openly weeping onto her foalsitter while the same said stallion elected to cry into his daughter's shoulder.

All else was forgotten for Celestia, only the fact that he was back again occupied her mind in its entirety. She sobbed and laughed at the same time, shaking with each successive release of emotions, holding onto the dark stallion as she tried not to get swept away on a sea of emotions.

It was an indescribable, indescribable feeling, having him back after everything she'd gone through; think relief of scratching an itch after leaving it too long. Think the happiness of a husband or wife has when their partner comes home alive and well from war. Think the unreserved love a mother or father has for their children, and the children for their mother an father. Now imagine these feelings were put a hair's breadth away from your grasp, and you knew exactly how to find that extra reach, but just couldn't find it in you. A feeling of unrest, sadness and loathing all bolstered by the fact that you knew it was something about yourself that was stopping you from attaining it, an overwhelming feeling of self-hatred because of your own flaws that were stopping you.

Then imagine you'd overcome those flaws. A great dam would break, an end to the torture, an end to the grief and an end to the hate, all washed away by one fell swoop, and with this, the self-loathing would go with it. Imagine that cocktail of emotions, all centered around ten thousand years of a father and daughter split apart through nothing but, as they could see now, their own silly pride, their misplaced hatred of one another and their concern for the political backlash that would hit them.

"Blood Moon, dad" Celestia began as they relaxed on the floor.

"Yeah Tia" said assassin replied. The solar princess leaned her head back and gazed at the face of her protector.

"I've missed you" she told him. The dark stallion gave a hoarse laugh.

"You have no idea, how badly I've missed you too" he replied, kissing her tear-stricken cheek gently. Celestia gave a small chuckle, that devolved into giggles, which devolved into all-out laughter once again as she squeezed him tight, tighter than strictly comfortable, but neither squeezer nor squeeze really cared. After a while of laying together on the floor for a while more, basking in the hugs, company and general feel-good sensation of being back together, Celestia spoke up again.

"Blood Moon?"

"Hmm?"

"I have a question." Blood Moon leant back to properly look upon his daughter, his eyebrow raised slightly.

"Yes" he asked, already having a good idea where this was going. Celestia face broke into a hurt pout, not befitting the title princess nor said princess's age one bit, as she dumbly beat her hooves over her old foalsitter's head.

"What the buck" she demanded, Blood Moon amusedly fending off her attacks by raising his fore-legs to stop her hooves reaching him.

"Stop hitting me and I'll explain" he laughed. Celestia quickly gave up her valiant attempt to tap at his skull and picked herself up, sitting on one of the armchairs as Blood Moon stood before her. When he opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off before he got a word out.

"Wait, wait just one second" she asked, springing up again hastily, landing on her hooves before her horn flared and she disappeared in a flash of light.

Meanwhile.

"Thank you Fancy Pants, the night court and Canterlot as a whole thanks you for your generosity in helping rebuild Canterlot, despite your home being out of harm's way." The blue mane and tailed noble simply bowed.

"It's nothing, your highness" he said honestly. Before Luna could get another word out, perhaps to commend the stallion or dismiss him, the princess of the night's sister appeared in a flash besides her, grabbed her and flashed away again, leaving the ponies attending night court remarkably stunned.

When the rulers of night and day landed in Celestia chambers, Luna teetered on her hooves for a second, rubbing her head to be rid of the leprechauns dancing a jig in there.

"Damnit Tia, you can't pull me out of night court like that! I swear to Father Time, if you've been at the cider again I'm gonna-" She got no further before she noticed Blood Moon stood before her and her sister, watching them a little awkwardly, an almost sheepish smile on his face. Luna blinked a few times, her right fore-leg groping at the air in search of her sister, her mind blind and deaf to everything that wasn't her sister or foalsitter. Eventually, Celestia moved so her sister could rest her fore-leg on her back, the princess of the night pulling her in so she didn't have to speak up. "Fair sister" she began regally.

"Yes princess Luna" Celestia replied in the same manner.

"Is…is that…is that our" she sniffled, hiccupping slightly as tears leaked from the third pony's eyes "foalsitter" she squeaked in a tone Fluttershy would be better accustomed to. She shifted her gaze away from the stallion stood dumbly before her, looking at her sister. The princess of the day was nodding. Blind, deaf, numb and somewhat dumbly, Luna released her sister, trotting hesitantly over to him. She reached a hoof out, retracting it, reaching out again and retracting her hoof once more before she just took another step towards him and swung her hoof so hard he flew halfway to Tia's bed, the princess of the night lunging after her. "YOU SON OF A BITCH" she screamed, pummeling him relentlessly.

"Actually" he said, blocking, parrying and dodging most of her strikes "my mother was a whorse" he corrected, prompting Celestia to hide her laughs behind her fore-hoof, watching them from behind with wet eyes, while Luna's clumsy strikes were slowly reduced to her laughing alongside her sister.

Once the younger of the two sisters and the father had finished their cuddles, their time interlocked in each other's loving hooves shorter than the foalsitter's and Celestia's but by no means less touching, cute or deeply needed to the two ponies, the three had retired to sitting on Celestia's bed, the two sisters watching Blood Moon with ever so slightly pointed gazes as he began to explain to them what had happened.

"Well, for starters" he began "turns out I really can't die" he said somewhat disappointedly, the corners of both mare's eyes going down as he spoke.

"Indeed. I had assumed you'd go to the Alicorn afterlife, having died as one" Celestia commented. The assassin hummed his agreement.

"It's somewhat disappointing, actually" he remarked, prompting both sisters to shuffle a little closer to him. "But lemme tell you, waking up in a morgue? Not the most pleasant of experiences" he said in an attempt to lighten the mood. While Luna tittered quietly, Celestia frowned.

"Wait, so you didn't turn to ash?" He shook his head, his own brow frowning.

"It seems not, no. It seems it takes much longer for me to return to life as an Alicorn too" he explained. He turned his red eyes up to them, almost shamefully. "I…suppose everypony's been-"

"Completely torn up about your passing, yeah, you could say that" Luna spat, but couldn't hold down the small, choked sob. Celestia nodded her head.

"Indeed" she added spitefully "I've been going mad with the grief, Twilight has barely spoken and, as far as I know, the Elements of harmony have been in much the same state" she told him. All's Blood Moon could offer in return was an apologetic smile.

"I see" he said at length before he went quiet for a while. He huffed in bad humor. "I get the feeling everypony is going to be rather pissed off." The two princesses raised an eyebrow. "My bet is that all of yesterday and most of today has been spent in grief at the loss of our favorite assassin. I get the feeling a few ponies are going to be either disappointed or annoyed that I've come back again." He let a grin stretch across his maw as he leaned back, resting his head on his fore-hooves. "Funny ol' world, is it not?" At the lack of response, he turned his gaze down to look at the princesses. They were not amused. The assassin took a long breath. "Alright" he began "let's hear it." Luna and Celestia exchanged a look, almost speaking telepathically. Luna began.

"Where do your loyalties lie" she asked. A somewhat blunt and straight forward question, but not one that could be pranced around. It was an important point for both the rulers and assassin alike, Blood Moon cocking his head slightly in thought.

"Where they always have" he replied. Both princesses narrowed their eyes.

"That doesn't answer the question" Celestia told him. He sighed, looking away.

"My loyalties lie with myself and my own goals." He looked back to the mares. "But, it also depends on a few factors; for example" he put a thoughtful look on his face "would you be willing to accept a dumb old stallion back into your lives." Both solar and nocturnal mare's eyes welled up at his request, but decided not to answer that question just yet.

"Why" Celestia asked after a while of silence. Blood Moon cocked his head again. The simple, and vague, question of 'why' pertained to many things. He went for the one he'd most like to answer.

"We needed to get it out of our systems. Celestia, you and I have been at odds for ten millennia. That kind of grief and anger wasn't going to go away with a conversation like this. For either of us" he added pointedly. "I attacked Canterlot for two reasons; one, to make sure I could truly test your metal, and two, so I could be sure you and I had a real chance to…work our grievances out" he said with an 'I guess' kind of shrug. Celestia bit her lip gently in thought, Luna watching her sister think; she'd noticed how the assassin's answer had been aimed at Celestia more than herself, given her and her father's reconciliation in their dreams. All three were quiet for some time.

“By your actions, hundred, maybe thousands, of guards are dead. Not to mention your assassins too” Luna told him, her eyes narrowing slightly “Light Guard, Geod, Deadwing, you’re only lucky Shining Armour, Twilight’s brother, was out of town when you attacked.” Her narrowed eyes turned to a glare. “I don’t think I speak just for myself when I say you need to face justice for your crimes.” Blood Moon only grunted.

“The Shadow Weavers knew what they were getting into; they’re too proud to admit the threat of death lingers over them. They weren’t afraid to die” he told them. Luna didn’t let her glare up.

“That changes nothin-”

“That guards? Lu-Lu, Tia, let’s get one thing straight” he tapped his chest with his words. “Bad. Guy” he said, drawing both words out. “I don’t care about their fatalities, the Shadow Weavers were under orders to keep their fight to those who fought back. The guards who died were strong enough to kill. They were either strong enough to die, or they deserved to die for their arrogance and cowardice.” Luna snorted, going to speak once more. “And I am not the one who put your Champions between me and Celestia” he cocked his head “I’m not the one who put anypony between me and Celestia.” Luna huffed, looking remarkably pissed off, while Celestia quietly hung her head in shame. In retrospect, she now wished she had been at the front of her pack.

“You...you...you demon-tongued motherbucker” Luna grumbled, crossing her fore-hooves like an upset filly not getting her way. Blood Moon just smirked.

“Comes with the territory” he shrugged. “Beyond which” he told them both “I’m below the law.” They both frowned at his choice of words, the stallion chuckling. “Those above it think it so because of their power, wealth and influence. Those below know it so because they know how to evade it” he explained.

They were quiet for a while, mainly so Celestia could use the quiet to go over obviously consuming thoughts in peace. Blood Moon watched her eyes move back and forth, her head bowed as she gazed aimlessly at the covers of her bed, while Luna didn’t take her eyes off of Blood Moon. She couldn’t decide what she was going to do if she found herself lunging at him again; try to kill him, or just hug him more.

After more quiet waiting, Celestia looked up again.

“You were frontal so we could fight?” He nodded. “Why not just...I don’t know challenge me to a duel? Why waste so many lives?” He snorted.

“The battle makes for more interesting reading” he said with a grunting laugh “no doubt future generations will look forward to Canterlot history week and enjoy reading over ‘The Battle of Princess and Assassin’ or something along the lines. That, and a duel would be too simple, too formal, too...boring. Beyond which, in traditional Canterlot duels, katanas are outlawed by the third paragraph of the weapons chapter of the rule book. ‘No weapons not forged on the isles of Equestria’.” Luna frowned.

“Since when do you care about rules?” He shrugged.

“Tradition, formalities. If we, the oldest being of Equestria, don’t keep them alive, who will?” Celestia was waving her hoof to hush them, her brow furrowed.

"Alright, I… I see why you attacked en masse" she said at last, her gaze distant. She seemed to be in thought again. "But…" She trailed off. Blood Moon nodded.

"I know" he said. He took a long breath through his muzzle. "I don't know. I just…did" he told her. Celestia's gaze hardened for the first time in their impromptu meeting.

"No. I'm not taking that for an answer" she hopped off the bed to pace around, as she usually did when ranting or venting. Here, it was more or less both. "Blood Moon, you've been gone for more than ten thousand years. Yesterday, I saw you for the first time, the first time, in ten thousand years! And then I watched you die" she told him as she turned her hard yet slightly moist gaze to them "I've been broken in grief for the past day, something I never want to go through again, and now" she looked him up and down, forcing her lip to stop wobbling "now I suddenly have you back" she almost squeaked. She took a second to gather herself. "I don't know about Luna, and frankly, she seems to be taking this a might better than I am, but I'm…I'm…I don't know! I'm confused, I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm…bucking angry" she seethed "and, through all this, I think I'm entitled to a little more than 'I don't know'!" She sniffled gently. "So you answer me, NOW!"

With an ever open ear, Blood Moon took in every word. It pained him to know that Celestia herself had been through such mental torture. Her words reminded him of the fact that he'd more or less known this throughout all of his absence, only at the time he'd been blinded by the fact that her anger had shrouded her pain. It made him think.

He hopped from the bed and trotted towards her, stopping a few paces away.

"Alright Celestia, you want my answer, you want me to tell you why I abandoned you? I'll tell you. At the time, I thought it was because I didn't want anything to do with ruling a country, have anything to do with commanding. Maybe it still is. I thought I didn't want anything to do with the nobles outside of ending them. I still don't." He sighed. "But, not too long ago, Luna and I…stumbled into each other" he told her, making Celestia frown. "She made me realize, that…there is nothing I can think of, nothing I can imagine, that can make up for the pain of missing you, and missing Luna. So there's my answer Celestia. I don't know. I was young and foolish, I didn't know the pains of loss properly. There is no reason." Celestia swallowed deeply, her angry gaze only slightly marred by her tears.

"Because you were selfish" Luna said from behind him. Both Blood Moon and Celestia looked over at her, finding her stood from the bed and trotting towards her sister and foalsitter. Blood Moon frowned.

"What?" Luna glared.

"You valued your personal freedom over the welfare of you charge. Your own children." She held something back, but neither Blood Moon nor Celestia could tell if it was an insult, tears or something else. Luna stood and trotted over to them, her steps measured but somewhat shaky in her emotional turmoil. She trotted around the assassin and stood beside her sister. It wasn't lost on Blood Moon that Celestia had made no move to stop or disagree with her.

When Luna was next to her sister, she restarted her flow of hurt and shaming.

"When you left, Blood Moon, you took with you our trust. Did you know that neither of us have truly accepted the companionship of anypony else beyond each other? Tia only started taking on students because she was lonely when I became Nightmare Moon! Hay, if you hadn't left, it's likely I never would have become Nightmare Moon" she spat. Neither Blood Moon nor Celestia knew where this was coming from all of a sudden, but the dark stallion suspected it had something to do with either his re-reappearance, or his admittance of having no reason to abandon them. She drew a long breath. "I can't blame you for leaving because of the prospect of dealing with nobles, but I can, and will, blame you for leaving your only children. Your family."

We she finished, there was a strange stillness in the room. Blood Moon felt mildly insulted, Luna felt like something had been lifted from her chest while Celestia was glad that her sister had taken the opportunity to vent and grieve openly. To their surprise, the assassin responded by narrowing his eyes.

"So that's what you think, eh? You think that, I had every reason to leave, but I shouldn't have because of you two?" Luna held fast. His eye twitched gently. "If you think, for one second anything I've done through my life hasn't been just, you'd be right, but selfish? I looked after you, protected you, damnit, raised you for four thousand years. Throughout that time, everything I did was for the pair of you, every decision I made, every thought I had, every breath I drew and every beat of my heart was for you. Perhaps, I was in the gutter when your parents found me, perhaps, I loved every second of being with you, but that doesn't change the fact that, yeah, I live for myself and those I love. I don't take orders, and you two knew that. And, despite this, what did I spend four thousand years doing? Huh!" Both Luna and Celestia looked away, both without answer. Luna bit her lip lightly.

"I…I…y-…" Beyond that, she hadn't much to say. The assassin relaxed himself, a quiet sigh escaping him.

"Before you start accusing me of being selfish, perhaps you should take into consideration what I've done to earn being 'selfish'." Luna looked slightly ashamed.

"I…I'm sorry, I shouldn't-"

"Don't worry about it" he interrupted, raising his hoof "despite it all…I understand your…views…" His words prompted a small smile from Luna, Celestia glad of the understanding between the three of them. "But, I have some unfinished business" Blood Moon told them. Both princesses looked at him in confusion, Luna frowning while Celestia raised an eyebrow. In response, Blood Moon drew a blade from the ether, the familiar blade of the Messorem slipping from its hole in the universe. Luna gasped as Celestia took a single step back as he held the blade, now resized to better suit his smaller form, besides him. Luna gulped slightly while Celestia wished Sunrend was close by or, better yet, she could perform the assassin's Void Sheath spell.

"Blood Moon, what are you-" Luna was cut off when the assassin's blade flashed. The younger princess flinched, Celestia moving her hoof to protect her, but it was too late. Or, would have been, if the katana had been aimed for her.

Instead, the tip of the blade met the ground, resting gently upon the marble of Celestia's chambers, and its owner-

Both princesses gasped quietly, Celestia's hoof going to her maw while Luna swallowed gently, her lower jaw having apparently too heavy to stay up. When they had both been young, Blood Moon had explained something to them. Luna had asked him why her real father didn't like him, and Celestia had interjected with 'because he doesn't bow,' rather brightly, before he could reply. That day, he'd told them something. That he'd promised himself, because of all he'd been through and everything he was capable of, he'd never bow. Take knee, perhaps, to those whom he deemed worthy, but he never lowered his gaze. In fact, the only time he had was when he'd bowed before Rising Sunset the day he'd proposed. An, altogether, too magical night for the mare if rumors were to be believed. But beyond that, there were no stories, tales, rumors…anything, of the Hunter bending his knee. And here he was, doing just that, to the two highest symbols of authority, the thing he hated second-most in this world.

"Celestia, Luna" he began, his voice carrying well as he spoke to the marble floor "I kneel before you now, to ask for you forgiveness. Ten thousand years ago, I committed an atrocity against you, against myself and against the spirit parenthood across time. I abandoned you. This I know now, and I wish to atone for my sin. Princess Celestia Daywalker, and Princess Luna Daywalker" he looked up and looked right into their eyes "I ask of your forgiveness, and apologies. With all my heart, I apologies."

Both looked on with tears in their eyes. To any other, this would be the simple, and well-deserved, apology of a stallion who knew he'd done wrong. But to the princesses, who knew this pony, who knew this stallion… It was, meant and represented, something so much more. It told them he genuinely regretted something he'd done, something he'd once told them and himself something he never did, and regretted it to such an extent he wished to atone. Yet again, something he'd never done before in such honesty.

Luna had taken a small step forward.

"I forgive you" she told him readily, if somewhat shakily, putting a hoof to his shoulder as tears fell from her face once more. Only now, they were not aimed at what had once been, or what was happening at the moment, but what may happen in the future. Celestia herself swallowed the lump in her throat, looking over the serene seen with a sense of serenity. Tears leaked from her eyes, prompted by the same emotions and realizations Luna. Celestia herself, took a single step forward.
'A small step for a pony…one giant leap for…for…I don't know, a cricket or something-this isn't going as I planned...'

She put a hoof to his shoulder, leaned her head down to his, and spoke softly.

"I forgive you, father" she told him. She couldn't tell for sure, but a weight seemed to have lifted from Blood Moon's shoulders. He raised his head, standing straight again, and looked at his daughters in a new light. He took a long, quiet breath.

"Thank you" he told them. They smiled in return, the assassin not giving them long before he threw his hooves around them and hugged the both of them tight, the two princesses returning his sentiments to their fullest as they held each other in a way they hadn't in a long, long time. The two mares felt the stallion shaking.

"Blood Moon, are you…" Luna trailed off as they pulled back, finding him with a smile on his face and tears running down his face.

"Would you look at that…I got my other little girl back, and all's it took was my dying, tearing everypony I love apart, coming back and bowing for the first time in five millennia" he commented, almost absently. Both Luna and Celestia chuckled slightly at his words, all of them looking between each other with damp eyes and smiles on their faces.

After a while of blissful silence, the dark stallion swallowed down his emotions and spoke up again.

"So, uhh…now what" he asked, the three of them suddenly having no idea what to do with themselves. Luna cocked her head, masking her suggestion as an errant thought she'd plucked from the air.

"Well, Elder Scroll probably called off night court, sooooo…" she looked between her foalsitter and sister "Killable Kombat" she suggested.

Neither stallion nor mare could think of an argument.

As was the case was most fun, it went by way too fast for the ponies involved. Though, as the darkness of night cleared, the true nature of the princesses and Blood Moon's relationship was revealed to be somewhat…rocky.

As the night had gone by, while the glee of reuniting was still strong in the air, it became clear that their initial concerns had not been misplaced. Though easy going and laidback, Blood Moon still felt a little bad for leaving his daughters, while at the same time, ten thousand years of avoiding the mares whom flanks he had been kicking at the tournament fighter (Blood Moon- 96 wins, 84 losses. Celestia- 10 wins, 48 losses. Luna- 74 wins, 48 losses) last night, seemed to have left him slightly tense around them. Primarily Celestia, who seemed to still be bitter with her foalsitter after the overbearing happiness of hugging him again wore off. Luna, however, was both more loving of Blood Moon than her sister and more forgiving of him than same said sister.

As such, while Blood Moon and Luna shared a loving embrace at the end of the night, when it came time for her to bed down for the day, the assassin and solar princess had shared a wry smirk and foreboding grin. There were likely to be pranks in the coming days.

"So…now what" the dark stallion repeated. Celestia responded by rubbing her stomach gently.

"First thing's first, cancel my dinner appointments. Who'd have thought Luna could keep that much pizza, candy and soda hidden in her room?" Blood Moon replied by chuckling dryly, feeling his stomach hang a little lower than it had before. The duo came to a stop at the end of the corridor leading to the princesses and their bodyguard's chambers.

"But, in all seriousness, where do we go from here? As we know, the nobles aren't going to like this, Canterlot needs repairs as well as a magnitude of other things." Celestia nodded her head, mentally paper clipping 'plant banana milkshake on Blood Moon's door' to that list. Old, but gold. In more ways than one.

"I think, to start, we should tell everypony that you're alive, and work our way from there" she replied. Blood Moon nodded.

"Everypony, who needs to know" he corrected. Celestia shrugged a shoulder in response.

"That depends. Who needs to know?" Blood Moon shrugged in reply.

"Well, Twilight and the Elements, for one."

'No doubt I'll have to get word to the rest of the Weavers too.'

"That reminds me" came the solar princess's voice, snapping the stallion from his thoughts "just what is your and my faithful student's relationship? From what I can tell, you seem close" she commented. A strange look found her face. "You're not…" Blood Moon guessed where she was going and, instead of giving her a straight answer, gave her a 'bitch please' kinda look. Celestia looked relieved. "Well, that's good to know." Blood Moon was undecided as to what that pertained to, given that she'd answered his un-straight answer with one of her own.

"Where are they, anyway" he asked as they trotted through the empty hallways. Both ponies were glad of the fact that there were no guards to disturb them, namely because they were likely to try and arrest the assassin.

"They're probably getting ready to go now. I remember Shining Armour saying he was going to take Twilight to their parent's house" she replied. The stallion hummed in understanding before he frowned.

"Twilight's parents live here? In Canterlot?" Celestia nodded.

"Yes, didn't you know Twilight was noble born?" Blood Moon frowned.

"I didn't" he said at quiet length.

'Just goes to show how little we've actually discussed about ourselves…'

"Either way, we should be able to catch them before they leave" she told him.

As they trotted, a somewhat familiar sense of tension overcame both mare and stallion, both sending small glances each other's way.

"Blood Moon…" Celestia began. The assassin turned his head her way. "Will you answer me something?" The dark stallion smirked at her choice of words.

"If you do the same for me" he retorted. Celestia gave a shallow nod before straightening up, looking along their path as the assassin kept his eyes on her.

"Why…why did you choose now, to come back?" Blood Moon slowly turned his head until he was looking in the same direction as his daughter, before he grunted.

"Because…hmm, I guess because it was only now I was given a reason. Reasons, I guess." Celestia looked back to him.

"Go on" she prompted. He grunted again.

"I saw Luna again, had a chance to talk. Had a chance to go over old memories." Celestia smiled slightly.

"Yes…I think I remember her saying something like that" she said with a small frown. He grinned.

"What, before or after you bucked her?" Celestia almost tripped as she spluttered and tried and failed to get words out, looking desperately up and down the corridor they trotted.

"Sh-sh-she told you about that" she hissed, his voice slightly panicked and her expression blushed. He turned his unbearable grin to Celestia.

"Every. Single. Detail, Molestia" he smirked. Celestia groaned as she put her hooves over her face in utter embarrassment, laying on the floor and wishing the world would just swallow her up. Unfortunately, her luck wasn't that good and it was her uncle who was the earthbender of the family. Blood Moon just stopped with her and cackled like a mad stallion. She peeked from behind her hooves and watched him laugh for a second before another thought entered her mind.

"Did…did she tell you…"

"What, how you…reacted, shall we say? Yeah she told me" he said as he helped her up. "You know Tia, you can be a real bitch sometimes" he informed her politely. Celestia hung her head.

"Yes, I know, I don't think she's even forgiven me yet" she mumbled. The stallion gave her a sympathetic look.

"Well, if you need an impartial third party you help you two talk it out…" He trailed off. Celestia gave a small snort.

"What, like an uncle, or father, or…"

"Foalsitter" he ventured. The princess frowned at him.

"Would you stop calling yourself that? I don't need a foalsitter anymore." Blood Moon stifled a laugh badly.

"Bollocks, do you. You do realised I am going to tuck you in tonight, right?" Celestia had to bit her lip to hold down the laugh.

"Anyway, we're getting off topic. What were you saying before" she asked in an effort to sway the subject away from her age-appropriate needs.

"Yeah, right. Anyway, besides that there were a few other…occurrences that prompted a visit" he said cryptically. Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"Such as…" Blood Moon stopped trotting.

"For one…" he paused and looked the Alicorn up and down, gauging her "Celestia, I have reason to believe you ordered an attack on Twilight" he told her bluntly. Celestia blinked, once, twice, thrice.

"What" she answered eloquently.

"While I was in Ponyville, the guard lieutenant, Hardhoof, one of the Goldhooves, abducted the Elements of Harmony, specifically to get to me." He narrowed his eyes. "After exhausting all other trails and reasonable possibilities, I'm left with you. So, I'll ask you: did you order Hardhoof to abduct Twilight, and her friends, to draw me out?" Celestia looked mildly insulted, her mouth agape. She narrowed her own eyes.

"Let me put it to you like this; when you looked after me and Luna, would you have had a guard abduct me and her for a pointless venture?" She leaned her head in, her gaze of fire making a valiant attempt at intimidating the laid back assassin. "Oh, and Blood Moon, I suppose I should tell you; if you accuse me of making an attempt on my dear student's life again I. Will. Destroy you" she hissed. Blood Moon grinned; she reminded him so much of her mother sometimes.

"I thought as much" he replied, prompting Celestia to frown. With his own frown, he turned and continued trotting down the hall. "But, that does beg the question; if not the Goldhooves or you…who did set that guard on Twilight" he mumbled. As he trotted away, Celestia considered telling him about the ponies who'd paid her a visit before, but decided against it, seeing as she didn't want to suddenly make him incapable of trusting anypony, didn't want to worry him of attempt on her life and felt it was unnecessary anyway, given that these ponies were after documenting him rather than killing him.

"Is it not possible he moved on his own accord" she asked, cantering up to his side again. He shook his head.

"Neigh, he's…well, he was the eldest son of Loaded Goldhooves, so I'll let you put the rest together yourself" he said, Celestia smirking a little. "Anyway, beyond that, Luna, my rising memories and an abundance of other smaller things, I guess you could just say that my missing you finally trumped my loathing of coming back because of our tension" he finished. Celestia raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly.

"So you're saying that, after ten thousand years of avoiding me, you just thought 'eh, buck it' and came back because you missed me?" He shrugged.

"Yeah, pretty much." She chuckled gently.

"Why is that so easy to believe of you, Hunter?" Blood Mon perked up.

"Hey, that reminds me, where's Philomena?" Celestia frowned.

"I haven't seen her since the battle, but…why would that remind you of my phoenix?" He looked over at her.

"Well, all things considered, mainly because that's the name of the phoenix that 'Mena was fighting yesterday during our own little bout. My pet phoenix" he said. To say Celestia was surprised was somewhat of an understatement.

"Wait, you-what? That phoenix was yours?" He frowned pointedly.

"No living being is mine, nor anypony's. We're companions, friends. Tartarus to it, I'm just as much his pet as he is mine. But, yeah, Hunter's my buddy. I, uhh…" he thought back fondly to when he and Hunter had 'bumped into' each other at Fluttershy's cottage only slightly before this had all started "met him, a little while ago. He's saved my life twice, now that I think about it" he grinned. Celestia shook the thought away, though she didn't get very far before something occurred to her.

"So…where do you think they are now?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"I don't know, I'm neither a male nor fe…male…phoenix…" He and Celestia looked at each other at the same time, Blood Moon a small smirk and Celestia a slightly horrified, wide-eye look.

"I-if she ends up having chicks, you're so gonna get it" she told him, pointing a hoof at him. He sniggered.

"Ain't my fault he's a total player" he responded, Celestia batting him around the head in response. Blood Moon just laughed, Celestia giggling with him. As the continued trotting, they passed a guard, who instinctively bowed before the assassin spoke. "Get up" he told the gold-clad stallion. Blinking in confusion, the Pegasus was unsure what to do, as such, he found himself halfway between bowing and standing up straight, making it look like somepony hadn't tightened a screw somewhere around his shoulders and his neck had come loose.
As they trotted past, the guard suddenly noticed who had thrown his perfectly good grovelling.

"Your majesty, isn't that-"

"Stand down guard, I have it under control" she told him calmingly. The guard nodded unsurely before he returned to his patrol. "Is this how it's always going to be with you if you stick around" Celestia asked as they resumed trotting. The assassin shrugged.

"I dunno, probably. Besides which, you still owe me an answer." The princess of the day looked over at him.

"Go on then" she prompted. He gazed at her for a second, gauging her expression and stance once again, as though looking for a tell on her façade.

"Do you trust me?" Celestia stopped her trotting again, Blood Moon stopping with her, and let her gaze hold on the assassin. She mulled her answer over before deciding to answer honestly.

"No" she replied before continuing on their way. Blood Moon smirked at her back before he followed after her.

Trotting down another empty hallway and pushing through the last door, the pair found themselves in the throne room. What was normally a pristine, grand hallway of perfect white marble, stained glass and bustling crowds of nobles and peasants was now mostly destroyed, the marble cracked, the windows all but non-existent and deftly silent. Besides the princess and her bodyguard, only eight other ponies stood. Said ponies were Cadence, Shining and the Elements of Harmony, all of which looked extremely downcast. Nopony had noticed them enter yet, nor their approach, as such, both dark and light ponies could listen to their conversation as they trotted silently over.

"-omise I'll come visit soon" Cadence was saying as she hugged her little sister tight. Twilight returned the embrace thoroughly, squeezing her big sister like she was the last huggable pony in Equestria.

"I know. And…thanks. For being here for me, for all of us…I…I…know we've needed it" the purple pony replied. Her glum manner and downcast manner stabbed the assassin in the heart. Twilight had turned to her brother. "Can we go now Shining, I don't really wanna linger" she told him. The mare's big brother was about to respond, but saw Celestia approaching before he could. Instead, he nodded his head over at her, prompting everypony to look over. They found her trotting over, alone, and Twilight was the only pony who met her halfway.
"Hey, princess" Twilight greeted. Celestia leaned down and hugged her student, who hugged her back easily.

"Hello Twilight" she replied, feeling Twilight tighten her hug as they stayed connected. With a final squeeze, they released each other. "I, trust you're leaving now?" Twilight simply nodded.

"Yeah, I don't really wanna…stick around while everything's being repaired. I don't wanna get in the way" she lied. Princess Celestia smiled slightly, Twilight's lack of eloquence not lost on her.

"Well, if you must leave, may I ask something of you?" Twilight was really hoping Celestia wouldn't ask her to write a letter, explaining what she had learned from this experience.

Dear princess Celestia

Over the past days, I've come to realise an important part of friendship. No friend lasts forever. And, no matter how much you look to the other friends in your life, the pain of a lost friend will never truly go away. Some may say this is a good thing, because you'll never forget them if you never stop hurting. But I still think that it would be better if I didn't hurt at all, because after losing the friend I had in Blood Moon…I fear losing the friends I have in everypony else.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

She gulped and swallowed back the tears.

"Of course, princess" she answered. Celestia smiled gently in gratitude.

"Well, could you look behind me" she asked. Twilight frowned at the request but complied either way. Celestia moved out of the way, letting the purple unicorn look past her. Twilight watched as the Alicorn moved, letting her gaze find the spot behind her once she was out of the way.

It was a pony. A stallion, to be specific. Black mane and tail, silvery-grey fur with scars etched all over him, blood red eyes and a face that held an ugly scar and kind, apologetic smile.

"Hi" she said in an uninterested tone as the stallion cocked his head.

"Hey" he replied. They were silent for a second. "You…don't recognise me, do you" he told her. Twilight just shook her head, just as indifferent as before.

"No, I don't think I've even met you before" she told the strange pony. Said pony sighed.

"Alright" he said, approaching steadily, prompting Twilight to frown and back away a little "maybe this'll jog your memory" he said as he closed the distance between them too fast for Twilight to react. Before the young sorceress knew what was happening, the stranger had kissed her. And not just fleeting, like a full deal, tongue, lips, hooves, closed eyes, the lot. She found herself trying to lean back, but the stallion had already wrapped his hooved around her neck and held her close. Her eyes were wide in shock, her hooves were about to start flailing and attempt to strike this stallion, but then his tongue, which had somehow sneaked into her own maw, struck out against a sensitive spot, sending a shiver down her spine as she moaned, almost involuntarily. She felt her instincts take over, her own fore-hooves wrapping around the stallion's neck as she pulled him in closer and turned her head slightly as her own tongue started to join the party.

After a few seconds of moaning, blushes and rather stunned silence, the assassin let her go.

Twilight blinked a few times as she wondered what in the hay had just happened. She looked up at the stranger who had just kissed her, remarkably well at least, against her will, ready to slap him into next week.

"How dare y-" She stopped when she realised who it was. Shadow black mane and tail, as dark as midnight; a deep silver and grey fur, rigged with scars and wounds, a cutie mark of an ouroboros, a dagger stabbed through the loop it made; his eyes, blood red and naturally intimidating, were soft, the corners angled down in an almost apologetic expression that didn't befit his face one bit; said face was that of an ugly scar and numerous wrinkles that showed years of heavy expression, a bland shape and forgettable looks outside his distinguishing marks of age and battle. Blood Moon.

She blinked a few times, her lower jaw coming loose. She looked back at her mentor and friends, to find that almost everypony was in much the same state as she was, asides Rarity and Fluttershy, whom had fainted. Cadence was watching with a hoof going to her mouth in shock, a blush on her face, while her jaw hung an inch below her upper jaw. Shining Armour was just as gobsmacked as his bride, only he looked ready to kill somepony. Celestia…well, she was a combination of both Cadence and Shining Armour.

Looking back at her coltfriend, Twilight could think of nothing to say, so, Blood Moon elected to break the silence.

"Hey."

There was a flash of purple, and the world went dark.

Blinding pain woke the assassin. He stirred and groaned, moving his hoof to rub at his sore head as he squeezed his eyes together before opening them. He looked around, trying to chase away the steady pulse of pain rattling around in his skull as he figured out where he was. From what he could tell, he'd been taken to his old chambers, mostly bare after all this time. All's there was to furnish his room was the bed he was laying on, the rug in the middle of the floor and the door. He looked at the window leading to the balcony, the Prench windows letting through the moon and starlight. Much to his dismay, it was night time.

With another small groan, he sat up, only for something to hold him down. Looking down himself, he found Twilight snoozing next to him, her hoof draped over his chest and snuggling into him. With a small smile aimed at the cute scene, he put a hoof to her shoulder and shook her awake. Violently.

"Wake up" he barked. Twilight spluttered and stirred, groaning in tiredness and grogginess before she realised what was going on. She looked up at her smirking coltfriend and immediately smiled, throwing her hooves around him.

"Blood Moon" she cried "you're alright!" With another small smile, he returned the embrace, nuzzling his marefriend.

"Yeah, I'm fine" he chuckled before he frowned. "What happened? All I remember was a flash of purple and a…" he thought for a second before he pulled back from a sheepish looking Twilight "a dainty, unicorn hoof came flying at my face before I woke up here" he told her pointedly. Twilight laughed uneasily, rubbing the back of her head.

"Yeah…sorry about that…I, uhhh, kinda knocked you out for a while" she told him. She tried meeting his gaze, only to find a flat look on the stallion's face. "Sorry" she tried. Blood Moon sighed as he deflated slightly.

"I really wish ponies hitting me wouldn't be the first thing to happen to me when I came back to life" he muttered. Twilight gave a small, apologetic laugh, kissing the spot she'd struck.

"Oh, and Blood Moon?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hay" she exclaimed, pushing him down against the bed.

"Hey" he grunted in reply.

"I thought I asked you not to scare me like that again the last time you died on me! S-so…what the…what the…"

"Buck?"

"Yeah" she agreed she agreed heartedly, beating her hooves into the mattress like an upset filly. The stallion picked himself up again, sitting against the headboard.

"I'm sorry Twilight, I just-"

"You're 'sorry?' Do you realise just how broken and distraught I've been, how everypony has been? I haven't slept, I haven't eaten, I've barely even talked since you died" she told him. Blood Moon simply took a breath as he waited for her to continue, Twilight's gaze going down as her hoof found his. "I thought you promised me that you'd take better care of yourself when you woke up back at Fluttershy's place" she said quietly. Blood Moon looked down in thought.

"Yes…yes, I did. And I did break my promise to you. But there's nothing I can tell you Twi. I'm sorry, I do wish it had gone differently, but to be honest, it was all necessary." Twilight quickly looked up, about to interrupt before he cut her off. "Twilight, these last few days things have been…drawing me back here, to Canterlot and Celestia. You, Hardhoof, the Goldhooves, Luna, hay, my and Applejack's talk when we were apple bucking before and…and all these memories that keep creeping into my mind, the dreams I had when I was out after the battle at Fancy's. Twilight, nothing has ever reminded me so much of my little girls before, I've never had so much coincide before that led back to them…I've never missed them so much before" he said quietly. "I had an excuse to come back, and I acted on it. I gave both myself and my daughter a means to just let some anger loose and…and I guess it got outta hoof."

"Got outta hoof" she repeated "you were gonna kill Celestia!" He immediately frowned at her.

"I would never do something like that, what kind of monster do you take me for? I may kill for a living, ruin lives, steal, lie and a bunch of other stuff that probably isn't good for my karma, but I sure as hay don't kill my own children" he told her before he remembered himself “expect on reflex...apparently…” he finished in a mutter. The unicorn looked down.

"Right, sorry… It's just…what happened back there?" Blood Moon gave an empty smirk, turning his gaze away.

"You're going to have to be more specific" he replied. Twilight sighed in reply, standing from the bed.

"Alright" she said, raising a hoof to invite him out. He took it and stood next to her, following her as she trotted out and stood on the balcony, looking out over the dark fields of Equestria's night. She leaned on the stone railing and gazed over the shadowy wilderness for a second before turning her head back to her lover. "Let's start with an easy one" she said quietly. The stallion stood close by her, leaning on the guard with her.

"Sounds fair" he replied. Twilight turned her body and took his face in her hoof, looking into his eyes, as though looking for something, before she released him and looking his body up and down, the same look in her eyes.

"So…" she began "you're an Alicorn" she said simply. Blood Moon grunted as though struck and looked away.

"I…yes, I am." Twilight set herself on all fours again and stood close to him, her eyes burning with curiosity.

"How, when, who, why" she asked, one after the other, no pointed tint to her voice, just genuine wonderment. Blood Moon sighed again, looking up at the stars.

"My name is Blood Moon Shadow Weaver the third, born twenty-third of the month of Aquarius. I am an Alicorn. The Alicorn of Life and Death. It is my duty to watch and protect all things that live and exist, to guide them, and when their end come at the hooves of Shiva, the Destroyer and Endbringer, it is my duty and my curse to watch them die and make sure they are sent to their proper place, after life. I hide my wings, my Alicorn bone and blood, with the power of my final word of Umbra Linguam: heritage. What I truly am and where my bloodlines lead." He sighed deeply, his eyes falling from the heavens and gazing upon the ground before he looked over at Twilight. "I hope that answers your questions, Twilight, and any more you may have on the subject…I, don't enjoy discussing it." Twilight looked like she couldn't believe what she'd just heard, what he'd just told her. Blood Moon sighed and pushed off the guardrail, aiming to trot back inside before Twilight's voice stopped him.

"But, I don't get it; you were born a unicorn, what happened to make you like Celestia and Luna?" He shrugged.

"God works in mysterious ways. Father Time was looking for somepony to take that sphere, to ascend to godhood. According to him, my duty is one that had gone unfulfilled for the longest of times, souls taken by either Tartarus or the heavens at random." Twilight cocked her head a little.

"Why?"

"Because, Twilight, nopony wants what I've got. Twilight, why am I immortal?" She frowned.

"Umbra Linguam made you like that because you can't stand watching…on no" she breathed "don't tell me…" He nodded his head.

"Mm-hm. Alongside my curse of watching everypony I love die, I must also watch everypony, every griffon, Minotaur, Changeling, Diamond Dog, everything live and die. I don't get the joys of birth, just the…the horrors of life and death. That's one of the reasons I used my final word to hide it, I'd exchange anything to get away from it. As it is, I wasn't completely successful" he mumbled.

"But, why would you want to get rid of something like that? An Alicorn is the highest rank of rule, authority and magical ability in Equestria, the world. Any Alicorn is basically a god" she exclaimed, trotting over to him and putting a hoof on his shoulder "I don't even think I've heard of an Alicorn prince bef-"

"No. Let me stop you right there Twilight; I Am NO prince, and I'll be damned before I'm ever recognised as one! Let me put it to you like this: beyond my immortality, the thing I hate most in this world is authority. I hate ponies who think they're better than others and detest being told what to do. What's more, I hate ponies who make and enforce laws, specifically Alicorn rulers. As a rule, I generally don't like any Alicorns other than Celestia and Luna-we'll see about Cadence" he said before she could interrupt "and, most definitely, un-reputably, undoubtedly, do I hate, with all my heart-" there was a flash of black fire, prompting Twilight to raise her hoof in shock, and Blood Moon stood again, completely the same only this time, he was with wings "this one" he finished in a hiss. Twilight swallowed gently, looking over him with wide eyes. She could see it in his eyes. He really did, truly, hate this form of his.

With trepidation, she moved slowly around him, coming to a stop beside him. His wings were unfurled slightly in his anger, flexing and relaxing with his breaths.

"C-can I…" He grunted and shrugged, Twilight looking back to his wings and raising a hoof.

Her purple appendage rested on his black wings, the feathers wide and strong, the muscles powerful yet agile and quick-looking. "I don't see why you'd hate these" she told him. He looked back with mild interest. "They're beautiful" she told him. He grunted. With a better chance to get a good look at them, she took the majestic wings in more detail than she could before; the individual feathers were remarkable clean, almost glossy, in a stark contrast to the rest of him. Also, there were no feathers missing and they were impeccably preened. She could only guess the spell kept them in prime condition while they were hidden. The only real blemish to these wings was that they didn't look used enough. Even Celestia's wings were somewhat worn, if elegantly so. Twilight ran a hoof over the wings and feathers, feeling their smoothness, moving her hoof up and down, feeling him shiver under her touch. She smiled gently; she'd forgotten wings were a pleasure centre, in the same way a unicorn's horn was, and some earth ponies leg muscles were sensitive to direct nerve stimuli, such as tickling or massaging. "I almost can't believe it" she said quietly, her voice breathy.

"Neither could I at first" he remarked, flexing them a little before he spread them for her, a small 'flum' going up with them as the feathers spread and pushed the wind around. Twilight gave a deaf 'wow' as she examined his eagle-like wings closer, her hoof caressing the underside now. She felt his shiver and sigh. She smirked a little.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Begrudgingly. I'm not enjoying enjoying this" he corrected. Twilight just giggled as she trotted to his front again. As his wings sank into his body again, she moved in close, the assassin wrapping a hoof around the back of her neck as their faces grew increasingly closer.

“Blood Moon?”

“Hmm?”

“You were going to kill Celestia” she told him again.

“Blowing off steam” he corrected.

“You and your assassins killed thousands.”

“Everypony dead was ready to kill.”

“You left me instead of letting me help.”

“I needed to do this on my own.”

“You’ve caused complete havok.”

“I’m not a sane pony.”

“You left me distraught for a day and a half.”

“I am truly sorry.” She moved in a little closer, caressing her neck against his.

“You told me you’re sorry” she whispered.

“I’ve learned a lesson” he whispered back, kissing her neck gently. Twilight just smiled and giggled gently, wrapping her hooves around his neck as his lips traveled up her neck and cheek until they met her own and they kissed again. "So…now what" he asked, breaking their kiss for only a second. Twilight just smiled as she kissed him, the assassin grinning as he returned the advance.

"Oh, Blood Moon" she asked, cutting off their intimacy prematurely.

"Yes?" Twilight pouted adorably.

"Why did you have to go kissing me in front of everypony" she asked, her voice and expression an image of a mother asking her silly foal 'now why would you go and do that?' Blood Moon just shrugged.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time" he answered. Twilight giggled again as she kissed his cheek and leaned into him. "You couldn't recognise me, so I figured you needed a…jumpstart, so to speak" he told her. Twilight smiled again.

"Oh, I should mention, Cadence wants to meet you, Celestia has a few, undoubtable intimate, questions and Shining Armour wants to kill you" she listed off. The stallion grunted.

"Tell him to get in line" he said dismissively before he picked up his giggling marefriend in his right fore-leg and trotted back inside "besides which, I still haven't fully apologised to you for worrying you so much" he told her. Twilight gave him a seductive look as she wrapped her hooves around his neck, his horn sparkling as he close the window behind them.

"What did you have in mind, lover colt" she teased. He gave her his roguish grin.

"Well, I think the library I keep in here is still in a few boxes lying around in here." Her 'seductress stare' dropped as soon as she heard the word 'library.'

"Ooo, library? Where" she asked, he head whipping around the room. He chuckled.

"I've still got a bed, you know." Twilight turned her head back to him, biting her lip as she was torn between reading and snuggling up (and likely more) with her partner.

"Uhhh…reading in bed" she tried. He laughed at her compromise and deposited her on the bed.

"Alright, did you want the Pony Sutra or doctorate studies: Thermo Dynamics?"

"Thermodynamics" she called back dryly, blushing gently at his first suggestion. He chuckled again as the book gained a grey-silver glow and floated after him, the stallion hopping onto the bed with his lover and sitting next to her, cosying up with her.

"So then" he began, looking over at her "light reading or foreplay?" Twilight giggled as, once again, they settled for a compromise.

As the night drew on, Twilight's weariness shone through. It didn't help much that she was wrapped up in a duvet that just seemed to eat away any stress and discomfort until she could swear it had formed a bubble of warm, comfy air around her, only her coltfriend's fore-legs wrapped around her barrel lovingly as he cuddled her disturbing it, his soft voice whispering the intricate details of heat and temperature and their relation to energy and work to her softly. Before long, the purple mare's day had caught up on her, and she felt herself fall asleep in the hooves of her lover.

Blood Moon, however, stayed awake. Once he was sure his beloved was sleeping soundly, he moved from her grip, exchanging himself with the pillow his head had rested on. Once he had successfully completed the substitute, he looked over her sleeping form with a smile, turning away and trotting for the door.

Having closed the door to his chambers with a silence he normally reserved for killing, he turned to the door marked with a golden sun, white metals making up the most part of the barrier while gold made up the hinges and edges. He pushed through just as silently, opening the door to find Celestia sat on her chair in the glow of her fire, looking through a book. She looked up to find her uncle and bodyguard standing in the doorway, smiling gently when her eyes fell upon him.

"Evening" she greeted, putting her book down as he entered her room and closed the door behind him "up, I see" she noted. He grunted.

"Yeah. That filly can really pack a wallop" he commented, rubbing his head again. Celestia chuckled daintily and offered him the other seat.

"So" she began, trailing off deliberately. He looked over at her, finding a somewhat dry and mockingly disapproving look. "You kissed my student" she said. He raised an eyebrow.

"Did I? I never noticed" he replied, just as dry. Celestia's mocking disapproval became that of real disapproval as she turned her gaze away.

"I can't believe you" she said in a low voice. He shrugged.

"Few can" he admitted. Celestia raised her hoof to cut him off, a little too late as it happens.

"Just…save it" she told him before she turned her head to him "how in Equestria, did you two get together" she demanded. Blood Moon frowned.

"Didn't you want me to save it just n-"

"Oh hush. Just tell me would you! She's the closest thing I've ever had to a daughter and I just found out that the closest thing I've had to a real dad is dating her" she said, her voice and expression showing she'd thrown up over it earlier. The stallion chuckled at her predicament.

"Are you sure you want more details to gag over?" Celestia shot him a pointed frown.

"You're damn straight. Don't think you're off the hook yet, Moon, I'm keeping a close eye on you until I know you're not up to something or going to disappear again" she told him. He looked half amused and half insulted.

"Celestia, if I were up to something, you'd never know about it, and I'm an assassin; it's my job to disappear" he reminded her "besides, what does that have to do with details of my lovelife anyway?" Celestia gave an almost regal snort.

"What does it matter to you? I'm just curious about how my faithful student got hooked up with my dear bodyguard" she told him. Blood Moon smirked.

"Very well then. We met, we became friends, she asked me to help her with fighting magic, I told her that she needed to learn how to fight properly first, I taught her proper hoofwork by dancing with her, we got into that dance and…well let's just say we finished it in the 'traditional' manner" he told her. Celestia just smirked at him.

"Really? You got into the nameless dance with her" she chuckled and shook her head "classic Blood Moon" she murmured. They were quiet for a while, only the crackling flames of the fire interrupting the silence. "You do realise, I am going to castrate you, right" she told him absently. He grunted a laugh.

"You so much as try and cut off my pride, and I will carve out a dick on marehood before jamming a cactus in there" he replied, a slight edge to his voice. Celestia gave a small smile, but couldn't hold down her shudder. Blood Moon looked over at her. "Anyway, it's way past your bedtime, what are you doing up anywho?" Celestia glanced over at him with a frown; Skulduggery had visited, her much happier mood greeting him alongside her barrage of happy kisses. After explaining what had happened, the detective suggesting he tail the assassin to make sure nothing was going on behind the scenes, Celestia quickly declining, they agreed to keep their relationship a secret. Though Celestia knew Blood Moon both wouldn't care and wouldn't let it slip without her knowing, she was rather nervous about telling anypony, never mind her father. That, and the whole 'secret love' act rather excited her. She realised she hadn't spoken for the last few seconds.

"I was waiting for you to wake up" she said, plucking the excuse out of the air. Her uncle quickly smirked.

"Oh, so you do want me to tuck you in tonight" he observed. Celestia quickly regretted her reasoning and even quicker found herself being carried over to her bed by the dark stallion. Despite the slight embarrassment and panic, she couldn't help but giggle.

"Well, since you insist" she relented as she plopped down on her bed. She got under her covers and felt her mind revert to that of a filly as he tucked her covers under her securely and kissed her forehead.

"Night, night Celly" he whispered with a smirk on his face. Convinced his mocking was done for the night, he turned away, only for Celestia to wrap her fore-legs around him before he could move a hoof.

"Goodnight, daddy" she whispered in return. The stallion's smirk turned to a small smile as he returned the embrace, nuzzling and squeezing her gently before they released each other.

"Goodnight. I'll be here in the morning" he promised, his words settling something in the princess's chest. With another smile goodnight, he closed the door and shut out the light, returning to his marefriend and leaving Celestia comfortable in her caretaker's shadows.