Silence… Nothing but silence. For some odd reason, Fiery felt at ease, feeling like he was drifting slowly through the air, while his surroundings were as dark as night, not knowing which way was up or down. ‘…Where am I?’ He thought. ‘… Am I dead?’

Just then, a booming, manly voice replied to him. “No little one, you are not. You are only drifting in the deepest parts of your subconscious while your body is... taking a small rest.”

‘… God?’

The voice began to chuckle. “I suppose I would be mistaken for something as omnipotent as the being you speak of. However, no, I am not the ‘God’ you speak of.” After the voice had said that, a large grey alicorn manifested itself in front of Fiery as he drifted. He was quite large, possibly larger than Celestia, and had a sandy-yellow mane, a beard that reached halfway to his hooves, and tail, all three constantly blowing in a non-existent wind. Along with all of this, was a Cutie Mark that resembled an old time-piece, but unlike the ones in Equestria, this one had the sand inside constantly moving. One more thing that Fiery had noticed was that the alicorn was adorned in jewels, including a crown made out of gold on his head.

‘Who… Who are you?’ Fiery tried asking with his mouth, but was only able to think it. Nevertheless, the alicorn answered.

“I am a creature, that, despite our absence for three millennium, has been constantly watching over my people. In fact, you could even say that I’m the father of the mare you loved both in your old life and love in your new life.”

Fiery began to think what the alicorn could have meant, only to come to one conclusion. ‘… Luna?’ The alicorn nodded in confirmation. ‘… Then that would make you King Prologus.’

This time, a loud, feminine voice spoke out. “That is correct young Fiery.”

After the voice ended, another alicorn had appeared, one that was more about Celestia’s height. Her coat was grassy green, and her mane and tail were as blue as the oceans and seas. Her Cutie Mark was a planet that, if you looked hard enough, was also in constant movement. She too, was adorned in jewels, including a smaller but equally exquisite crown placed atop her head.

‘Queen Theodora…’

The Queen nodded. “It seems your mother has taught you well Fiery.”

‘How…? You two had died… along with my father…’

A deep grey unicorn with black mane and tail had manifested in-between the two alicorns and smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna had been looking at the bloody puddle that had long since dried up in her room for the past half hour, constantly blaming herself for not being there to protect Fiery once more. As the sun was being raised, and the moon by Princess Celestia, Luna had been staring at the puddle, when a team of housekeepers had come in with carpet cleaning supplies. “Your highness?” The head housekeeper called out. “Your highness, Princess Celestia has requested that your room be cleaned.”

“Please, leave me be.” Luna said softly as tears rolled down her cheek and landed into the dried up puddle.

“Very well your highness…. But do you wish for us to take care of those bones as well?”

Luna looked to her left where the housekeeper had pointed, and saw the bones that hadn’t been touched since the incident. Her sadness had quickly turned into rage. From the reports she had heard, and from what she collected herself, she knew exactly who was responsible for hurting Fiery, and felt extreme hatred towards the deceased. She raised her hoof into the air, only to slam it down with such force on the skull of the deceased pony, that it cracked and broke upon impact. As she raised her hoof once more, she only did so to drive it back down hard again, and again, and again, until the skull had been broken into many tiny pieces.

The housekeepers were unsure if they should approach or not, but after Princess Luna was done, they all looked at each other and nodded in agreement to do their job. As they walked up to pick up the bones, one of the housekeepers noticed the dagger that Fiery had used earlier, still lying on the ground. “Princess? What do you wish for us to do with this?”

Luna turned to look at what the housekeeper was talking about, and saw the dagger. She grabbed it using her magic and hovered in front of her. “I’ve never seen it before.” Luna said quietly again. The longer she looked at it though, the more she was intrigued by it. The jewels and metals that it was made out of looked beautiful to her, even if the entire blade was covered in blood. “Where did you find it?” She asked the housekeeper.

“It was by the back legs of the… attacker, your highness.”

Luna acknowledged the housekeeper’s answer and nodded. “Alright then, thank you.” She said as she continued to look at the dagger, when she got the idea of washing the blood off. She went into the bathroom as the housekeepers continued to clean up the bones. When she got out, she noticed that they had just finished cleaning up all the bones, and smiled at them. “Thank you, I apologize for my stubbornness.”

The housekeepers looked at Princess Luna, and the head housekeeper replied. “There’s nothing to be sorry about your highness.”

The housekeepers bowed to Luna and exited the room, having left the door open, and leaving Luna to herself once more. She continued to look at the dagger more, but decided that she could not dwell on where it came from for long, and decided to put it away for safekeeping until she could ask Fiery where it came from. ‘… Fiery, please, don’t die.’ She thought to herself as she put the dagger in one of her drawers, a tear rolling down her cheek as she did so.

Just then, she heard a knock on the door, and wiped the tear away. “Come in.” She tried to say in a clear voice, but hints of her crying could still be heard.

The door opened to reveal one of Luna’s pegasus guards. “Your highness?”

“Yes Knightly, what is it?”

“Princess Celestia waits for you in her study. …That… and…” He trailed off.

“What is it Knightly?” Luna asked in a caring voice, but became shocked as Knightly suddenly bowed and began to beg for forgiveness.

“I’m sorry your highness! Had I been more resistant to that magic, I could have helped Lord Embers and it’s-“ But he was cut off as Luna walked up to him and stopped him.

“It’s alright Knightly, you have nothing to apologize for.” Luna assured him, raising his head and hugging him once it was fully raised, making him blush. “You’ve been there for me, ever since I’ve returned from my banishment. You were one of the first ones who came up to me and wasn’t afraid of pledging your allegiance to the night sky. Knightly… you’re the best knight I could ever ask for, and I forgive you of any doubts you may have about protecting me or Fiery.” She whispered into his ear, and then broke off the hug as she continued to smile at him. “Now come, I’m sure Tia is waiting for me.”

Knightly smiled brightly and nodded. “Yes your highness.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Who… Who are you?’ Fiery asked, and the unicorn began to chuckle.

“I suppose you wouldn’t recognize me. After all, this is the first time we’ve met each other.”

‘Are you really my father?’

The unicorn nodded in return. “Yes, I am, and I’m sure you’re wondering what I and the King and Queen are doing, floating in your subconscious with you.”

“The truth is Fiery, we aren’t really in your mind, but rather communicating to you from a place far away.” Prologus answered, with Theodora explaining more.

“We’ve been on another plane of existence for the past three thousand years, waiting for the actions that have happened to take place. Now that you have defeated the last part of the ‘Nightmare’ as our daughters called it, we hope to return to them soon. But in order to do that Fiery, we need your help first.”

‘I… I don’t understand.’

“To put it simply son-“ Shining Light began. “The creature you killed last night was one that had been reborn. He died over a thousand years ago when Princess Luna destroyed him shortly after he tried killing you before, but then when Princess Luna became ‘Nightmare Moon’, the ‘Nightmare’ was able to bring him back to life using its own powers. It’s quite possible that it could sense that there was a chance of it being defeated, and wanted a backup plan in case things didn’t go its way, hoping that if it did indeed get defeated by the hooves of Princess Celestia, that it could stay in hiding and regain its strength using the poor soul who was its host. Sadly for the ‘Nightmare’ though, it seems the hatred brewing inside of that pony towards you was too much, and overrode the ‘Nightmare’s command of staying hidden.”

‘But… Where did it come from? How did it get here?’

“A good question.” King Prologus said. “Tell me Fiery, how much do you remember of what happened to us?”

‘I don’t understand… What do you mean?’

“Simply put, what did your mother and Celestia tell you about our ‘deaths’?”

‘Mom… She said that all three of you died, fighting a centaur named Tirac... You used some sort of spell to kill all four of you, so that he wouldn’t be able to survive.’

“And did she tell you why we had to fight Tirac?” Queen Theodora asked.

‘No… She didn’t.’

“It’s because he was the one creating the ‘Nightmare’. We were able to get rid of most of it, but bits and parts of it were able to escape. It was supposed to be a creature so powerful that it could destroy the entire planet with a single slamming of its fist, but we were able to learn about his motives and intervene before he had a chance of fully creating the monster. He was hoping to use the monster so that he could become as powerful as us, but as you can see, he failed.”

‘I still don’t understand though… How did Luna get controlled by it?’

“Because the first thing he needed to create for it was its soul. That is what controlled Luna and the pony that attacked you.”

‘The ‘Nightmare’s… soul?’ Fiery asked, and all three ponies nodded. ‘If this is all true… Then why did you destroy yourselves? Why are you here and not back on Terra, ruling?’

King Prologus seemed to sigh at the question. “To tell you the truth Fiery, there are two reasons why we couldn’t come back. The first was because Tirac had found a way to get rid of the wards around us meant to protect us when we used the spell to defeat him. It was originally meant to destroy him and only him, but he ended up casting a spell at the last second so that all four of us would suffer the same fate. Luckily though, we found out that the spell only lasts until all parts of both him and the ‘Nightmare’ are gone, which you destroyed last night.”

‘So you can come back?’

They all nodded, and Queen Theodora continued. “Yes Fiery, thanks to you, we may see our children once more. But as my husband said there were two reasons as to why we couldn’t come back.”

‘… What… was the second?’

“To put it simply, out of all our children, Celestia and Luna were the ones that made us worry the most. They were the youngest, and did not know how to rule a country properly. We had a feeling that what was going to happen to us was going to happen, and because of that, before we went off to defeat Tirac, we made Celestia and Luna rulers of Equestria, the homeland of all ponies, as well as the birth place of our youngest daughters. We wanted to know if they could rule or not, and they have proved worthy of rulers of Equestria these past three thousand years.” King Prologus explained.

‘You say other children… I thought Celestia and Luna were the only ones…’

Both King Prologus and Queen Theodora smiled. “You didn’t really think that, did you? We’ve been together for billions of years, since the beginning of Terra, and yet they’re only twenty and ten thousand years old.”

‘Then… Then what about the others?’

“You will meet them soon enough Fiery, but for now we have other things to worry about.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five ponies had been sitting at a certain waiting point inside the Canterlot Palace since they arrived there minutes earlier, talking among themselves to past the time.

“The Palace is as extravagant as always.”

“Why do you think the Princess asked for us to come here?”

“Did you pay no attention at all Rainbow? She said it was an emergency.”

“If it’s such an emergency, then why hasn’t anypony taken us to the Princess then, huh? Answer me that Rarity.”

“Ah’m gonna hav’ ta agree wit’ Rainbow there Rar’. If the emerg’ncy is so dang importan’, then why they havin’ us wait around?”

Just then, before the ponies could argue anymore, a guard walked up and spoke to them. “Elements of Harmony?”

They all turned to the guard and nodded, with Rarity replying. “Yes, that’s us.”

“If you’ll come with me, I’ll take you to the Princess.”

All five agreed and began to follow the guard. As they walked through the halls of the palace, getting closer to the throne room, they could hear an argument going on outside. “I demand to see the Princess at once! I’ve been waiting for weeks going through your bureaucratic poppycock, when I should have been allowed to do so right away! Do you know who I am?!”

Upon hearing the unicorn’s voice up ahead, Rarity groaned and turned to the guard. “Excuse me Mr. Guard, but is there any way we can go around the throne room?”

“I’m sorry Ms…”

“Rarity, dear.”

“Of course, forgive me. I’m sorry Ms. Rarity, but the quickest way to the princess is to go through the throne room. If its Prince Blueblood you worry about, then you do not have to worry, as we are more than capable of handling him in case things get out of hoof.”

“It’s not him getting out of hoof that worries me….”

As all six of them walked by Prince Blueblood, they heard him begin to complain. “What?! Why are you allowing mere commoners to go in?!”

The guard standing in front of him rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry Prince Blueblood, but those are the Elements of Harmony, and were requested to go see Princess Celestia by her highness herself.”

“How dare you mock me! When I get through I’ll-“

“Sir, if you don’t leave the grounds immediately, I’ll be forced to remove you myself. We’ve told you numerous times that the court is closed until an undetermined time because of a critical emergency, but when it does open, we’ll notify you right away. Now please, leave.”

Prince Blueblood knew he wouldn’t be allowed to get through. “Fine! Be that way! But when I do get through, I promise I’ll have all of your hides for your insolence towards me!” He exclaimed, and then walked off, head high in the air. Meanwhile, the Elements of Harmony had heard the entire exchange thanks to the sounds of their voices bouncing off the marble walls.

“Well ther’ ya go Rar’, he ain’ gonna be back fer a while now.”

“Yes, I suppose…”

“Come on Rarity, buck up. We’re going to go see the Princess, right?”

Rarity looked to her cyan pegasus friend and smiled. “I suppose you’re right Rainbow, thank you.” She then looked back at Pinkie and Fluttershy and frowned a bit. “What’s wrong you two? You’ve been awfully quiet this entire time.”

“Have I? O-Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Rarity shook her head. “There’s nothing to be sorry for darling. Now come, what’s bothering you?”

“Well….” Pinkie started. “Late last night, my Pinkie Sense began to go off the charts! I don’t know if it’s because of something else, or if it’s somehow related to what the Princess wants, but its begun to make me worry some.”

“Is that what’s making you worry Pinkie? Well, I suppose that would make sense then… What about you Fluttershy? Why are you so quiet?”

“O-Oh, well, I just like to be quiet, that’s all.” Fluttershy answered as she made a squeaking sound as she smiled.

“She’s got ya ther’ Rar’.”

“Yes, I suppose that also would make sense…”

Just then, the guard that was escorting them coughed to get their attention. “Ahem. I’m sorry to interrupt your discussion ladies, but we’re here.”

All of the Elements turned to the guard and thanked him before he left, then proceeded to walk up to the door and knock. Seconds later, the door opened to reveal Twilight. “Twilight! It’s good to see you darling, but what are you doing here in the castle? We’ve been worried about you.”

“Oh, sorry girls, I’ve just been staying back seeing my parents and brother and all. What are you all doing here though?”

“I asked them to come.” Celestia answered from inside, making all of the ponies turn and look at her. “Please, come inside girls, I was just finishing my business up with my sister.” As the ponies walked inside, they all saw that Celestia and Luna weren’t the only ones there. There was Frostbite, Starry, and even Twilight’s brother Shining Armor, as well as Luna’s captain of the night guard, Knightly, who had escorted her to Celestia’s study. Before she turned her attention the Elements, Celestia continued speaking to Luna. “Sister, I know this is hard for you, which is why I want you to take off as much time as you need. Stay by his side if you need to, but you shouldn’t have to be worrying about your duties as the Princess of the Night as well.”

Luna nodded, tearing up a bit, then proceeded to hug Celestia by wrapping her hooves around Celestia’s chest. “Thank you sister, I will.”

After letting go of her sister, Luna nodded goodbye to Celestia and walked out of the study, Knightly following her. The Elements of Harmony, besides Twilight, were unsure of what was going on, but didn’t think it was polite to start asking the Princess questions out of the blue. Celestia turned to the Elements and smiled. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why you’re here.” In response, the Elements nodded. “Very well then, I suppose I should start… You see girls, sometime late last night, something tragic happened.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘I… have a question.’

“Yes Fiery? What is it?” Shining Light asked.

‘Well, I suppose two… You see, if you knew what was going to happen to you was going to happen, then… why did my father have to suffer the same fate? Why did he have to go with you?’

King Prologus chuckled some before answering. “Well he needed to be punished for his crimes somehow. After all, if we let every thief go, everypony would be stealing from each other day and night. However, I think floating in another plane of existence for three thousand years is punishment enough. Wouldn’t you agree darling?”

Queen Theodora turned and nodded to her husband. “Yes, I think that’s punishment enough.”

“And there you have it son. Now, what was the second question?”

‘If you got sent to another plane using the same spell on Tirac… Then where is he?’

King Prologus frowned some before answering Fiery once more. “Whether be in it in this plane of existence, or the one we belong to, we will hunt down and destroy our enemies.”

“To be precise Fiery-“ Queen Theodora continued. “Shortly after we found ourselves in this plane along with Tirac, we started our battle against him, launching all of our attacks against him. It’s easy to say that shortly after doing so, there was nothing left of him.”

‘I see…’

“Ahem, moving on.” Prologus began, pulling out a large scroll and a quill out of nowhere. “What have we gone over? The reason why we’re here, check. What happened to the ‘Nightmare’ and Tirac, check. Why we wanted Celestia and Luna to rule in our stead, check. Is there anything else I’m missing darling?” He asked his wife.

“Yes, there is. Fiery?”

‘Yes…?’

“I’d like for you to not mention any of this to our daughters when you wake up. The reason being is that we’d like to… ‘surprise’ our daughters, when we come back, which will be very soon I can assure you.”

‘You want me to lie…? To Celestia…? To Luna…?’

“It’s not lying, but delaying the truth.” King Prologus said with a smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we must be off.”

‘Wait, you’re leaving…?’

“Yes, sadly we can’t stay for much longer, as there are things we must do in order to prepare for our return back to Terra. Don’t worry though Fiery, once we leave, you’ll begin to dream once more, so that way you won’t be stuck in this abyss until you wake up, possibly insane from seclusion.”

‘Oh… I see…’

“Now, if you’ll excuse us Fiery, we simply must be off.” Prologus announced, and then began to fade away into the darkness of Fiery’s mind once again, with Theodora and Shining shortly afterwards, leaving Fiery all alone once more.

‘… All alone again… They said I would dream soon, but am I not because my subconscious is still awake…? Ninety nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety nine bottles of beer…’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Something tragic? What do you mean Princess?” Rarity asked.

Celestia sighed and continued. “As I said, it happened late last night. I do not know how, but it seems the Nightmare was able to return.”

“The Nightmare?! You mean what made Princess Luna turn into Nightmare Moon?” Rainbow Dash asked, and Celestia nodded.

“I assume the reason why we weren’t able to detect it very well was because of the fact that not only was it extremely weak at the time that it infiltrated the palace, but that it was almost like a parasite, feeding off the hatred of a pony we thought was long gone.”

“Who Princess?” Twilight asked. “I saw what happened to Fiery when we teleported him to the medical wing, but who could have done something so horrible?”

“Fiery? You mean the jerk that puked all over me?”

“Oh come now Rainbow; you’re still bitter over that? Even when he apologized to you at his celebration party?”

“Of course! And you would too if he ended up doing it to you!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Now’s not the time for this Rainbow. What happened to you in the past is, and I’m sorry for saying this, but it’s nothing compared to what happened to him last night.”

“W-What h-happened to Fiery?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“The pony that the Nightmare was controlling-“ Celestia continued. “Had infiltrated Luna’s room where Fiery was staying in, and… I really don’t know how to put it…”

“This is the second time Celly.” Starry interrupted. “Over a thousand years ago Lunar tried killing Fiery because of jealousy, and now he tried doing it again because of revenge. According to Ms. Pie’s testimony though, it seems he won’t be coming back a third time.” She stated calmly and without emotion.

“Octi? Octi was there?!”

Celestia nodded at Pinkie’s question. “Yes Pinkie, you’re sister had the unfortunate viewing of what happened, although she currently wishes not to talk about it.”

“S-So what happened?” Rainbow asked nervously now, feeling the tense atmosphere that was in the room.

“He…” Frostbite began. “He was covered in blood… I-I barely got a glimpse of him, b-but he was just lying there, in Octavia’s hooves, on the verge of death.”

Fluttershy gasped and put her head into Pinkie’s shoulder, not wanting to believe what she just heard, while Pinkie’s hair became flat from depression. “H-How?” Pinkie asked.

Celestia shook her head. “We don’t know Pinkie. The only ponies who know what went on in that room are Fiery, who’s heart rate and pulse are stable, though his body is still in critical condition, and your sister, who’s currently at his side. Thanks to Luna’s arrival, we were able to save him at the last moment, but he’s lost too much blood, and the doctors still haven’t been able to remove all of the pieces of wood and glass that are embedded into his back, despite getting what they think is about 90% of the pieces out. He’s currently unconscious, and the doctors in the medical wing believe he will be like that for some time now.”

“B-But h-he’ll wake up, r-right?” Pinkie asked, and upon doing so, felt an arm placed on her left shoulder, while Fluttershy continued to quietly cry on her right shoulder. She turned and saw Applejack smiling.

“Ah’m sure he will darlin’.”

“Of course he will.” Starry added. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things I must do.” She said with the same calm and emotionless voice from before, walking out of the room and leaving the others to their business.

As Starry left, Celestia began to glared at the door before turning her attention to Shining. “Shining?”

“Yes your highness?”

“Can I have you escort our guests back to their rooms? I need to have a word with my friend.”

All the ponies could sense the anger that was coming from Celestia, and Shining nodded furiously. “Yes your highness, right away!” He turned to the others and spoke. “U-Um, if you’ll follow me… Twily?”

“Yes big brother?”

“Do you need me to escort you as well?” He asked nervously, not knowing if Celestia would allow it or not.

Twilight looked at Celestia, who nodded, then back to Shining. “I, uh, I think Frostbite and I can go to our room by ourselves Shining. Thank you though.”

Shining nodded and began to walk out of the room, the other ponies besides Twilight and Frostbite leaving behind him. As Fluttershy, being the last pony out, left, Frostbite and Twilight began to leave as well, when Celestia called out. “Patrick?”

Frostbite turned to Celestia, unsure of what to do. “Y-Yes?”

“Do you mind if you stay behind for a few minutes before I go speak with Starry? There is something I wish to speak with you first.”

Frostbite turned to look at Twilight, who responded. “I’ll be waiting outside for you to finish.” She said in a sweet voice, making Frostbite more comfortable. He then turned back to Celestia and nodded as Twilight left the room and closed the door behind her.

“Yes your highness?”

“Please Patrick, just call me Celestia when we’re alone.”

“O-Oh, u-um, alright you- err, C-Celestia.” He said nervously.

Celestia sighed before speaking. “Patrick… I want to tell you something important.”

“Y-Yes?”

“In case… In the case that Fiery doesn’t make it… I know this is hard to say and to hear but… In case he doesn’t make it, you’ll have to take his place…”

“E-Excuse me?”

Celestia took in a deep breath and let it out as another sigh. “I… What I’m trying to say is… if Fiery is unable to make it through this horrible event, we’ll need you to take his place in the marriage…”

“… Y-You want me, t-to marry Princess Luna?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, I don’t. Luna loves Fiery too much, and if he didn’t make it, being forced to marry you would quite possibly destroy her, emotionally of course. No, in the case that he doesn’t make it, and I can’t believe I’m saying this… I will take Luna’s place in marriage.”

Frostbite looked down. “So I’ll end up marrying you…”

“Is there something wrong with that?” Celestia asked, causing Frostbite to lift up his head quickly and shake his hooves in front him.

“No! No, of course not! I-I just… I just can’t imagine what it’d be like, if Joseph really didn’t make it…”

Celestia sighed, walked up to Frostbite, and hugged him, wrapping both her hoof and her wings around him, surprising him as she did it. “I know Patrick, I know. I can’t imagine a world without him either.” After several minutes of sitting there and hugging each other, trying to comfort one another, Celestia let go of Frostbite, looked down, and smiled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go speak with Starry.”

“O-Oh, of course Celestia… Um…”

“Yes Patrick?”

“T-Thank you… I just wanted to say, thank you…”

This shocked Celestia, not expecting it at all, but continued to smile nevertheless. “I-It’s no problem Patrick… Now, run along, I need to prepare.”

“Yes.” He answered, walking out of the room and meeting Twilight in the hallway. However, before he got out, he thought that he could hear Celestia beginning to cry inside her study. When he finally did get to Twilight, she spoke to him.

“So… What did the Princess need?”

“I… She said that if Joseph didn’t make it, that… that I would have to take over the marriage…”

Twilight cocked her head in confusion. “What does that mean?”

“It means… It means if Joseph doesn’t make this, that I’ll have to marry Celestia… That way, the marriage still goes as planned…” He answered, scratching his cheek with his hoof as he did so.

Twilight’s eyes became as big as saucers hearing this, but she calmed down and quietly spoke to Frostbite, looking down as she did. “Oh… I see…”

“But to let you know Twilight-“ Frostbite added, earning her attention. “If I had a choice of whom I was going to marry… I’d… I’d choose…” He stumbled his answer, unsure of how to proceed.

“You’d choose what Frostbite?”

Before Frostbite could continue, he was interrupted by Shining Armor returning. “Twily!” He called out to his sister. “I thought you went back to your room?”

“Oh, hey Shining. Yeah, we were, but Princess Celestia asked Frostbite here to stay back for a few minutes, and he just got out.”

“Oh, so you were going back now?”

“Well actually-“

“Yes!” Frostbite exclaimed, startling the two.

“What?” Twilight asked, confused.

“We were just going back, thanks for asking.” Frostbite answered, putting on a fake smile. ‘Sorry Twilight, but I just can’t do it…! Not yet…’

“But weren’t you-“

“Nope!”

Twilight began to glare at him. “Really?” She asked in an annoyed tone.

“Yep!”

Before Twilight could push the subject anymore though, Celestia finally came out of her study. “What are you three still doing here?” She asked them.

“Oh, your Highness! I was actually getting ready to go back to the training grounds to train the new recruits and some of the existing soldiers on how to defend themselves when I ran into these two.” Shining answered.

“Very well Shining. And you Twilight, Frostbite?”

“We were just going back to our room your highness.” Frostbite said with another large fake smile, which got another annoyed look from Twilight.

“Well please be careful. Although I don’t think anything is going to happen, I’ve put the palace on high alert as it is the protocol after a threat has attacked or is about to attack, so please do not try to upset any of the guards on your way to your room.” Celestia told the two with a genuine smile of her own.

“Will do Princess.” Frostbite answered as he bowed to Celestia, then turned to Twilight as he got up. “Coming Twilight?”

She continued to give him an annoyed look, but answered. “Yeah, I’m coming.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle, Luna had finally reached the medical wing. “Ah, good evening your highness.” One of the doctors said as he greeted her. “Are you here to see the patient that was brought in last night?”

Luna nodded at the question. “How is he doing?”

“Well… The good news is that we were able to get 70-90% of the pieces of glass and wood out of his back, but some of it still stuck in there. We were thinking of performing surgery tomorrow morning to try to get the rest of it out, but…”

“What?”

“Well, we’d like to get the glass and wood out as fast as possible, before a possible infection could occur, but there’s a problem with it. You see, when you and Princess Celestia brought him in last night, we’ve found that he’s taken massive amounts of damage to his insides. His organs are heavily bruised, and some of his rib bones are broken, not to mention the fact that we had to open him up last night to stop all of the internal bleeding that was going on. In fact, you could pretty much say that it’s a miracle that he’s still alive and hasn’t had any further complications so far.”

“So you can’t perform the surgery because you’re unsure if he’ll be able to survive it?” Luna asked, and the doctor nodded.

“I’m sorry your highness, but that’s the case. All we can do really is either hope that his body rejects the foreign objects and pushes them out on its own, or he can quickly heal so that we can operate again. Even with our healing magic it’ll take a while for him to heal properly and enough so that we could operate…”

“But until then, he’s stuck like that… I see…”

“Would you like to go see him your highness?” The doctor asked Luna, causing her to look up from looking at the ground out of grief. “He may be unconscious at the moment, but I think he would be more than happy to know that you’re by his side.” The doctor said with a smile.

Luna smiled back and nodded. “Yes, thank you, I’d very much like to do that.”

“Very well, if you’ll follow me…” The doctor said as he turned around, preparing to show the way for Luna and Knightly who had accompanied her to the medical wing, before turning back around to Luna. “Oh! Before I forget.”

“Doctor?”

“There’s currently another visitor for Mr. Embers, so if you don’t mind-“

Luna shook her head. “No, it’s fine doctor… I can guess as to who the visitor is as well.”

The doctor nodded, then turned back around, and led the way Fiery’s room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in Starry’s room, Starry had been drinking her evening tea, while at the same time filling out papers that she was behind on. Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door. “Come in.” She called out, still keeping her focus on the papers. As the guest opened the door and entered, Starry finally looked up. “Ah, Celly, what can I do for you?” She asked with a smile.

It had no effect on Celestia though, as she began to glare at Starry. “Starry… What do you think you’re doing?”

“Whatever do you mean Celly…? Oh, you mean these? Well, I have gotten behind somewhat, taking care of the kids and all.” Starry answered as she chuckled some, but it did not amuse Celestia. “Oh, I almost forgot Celly, would you like some tea? I still think I have some water in the tea kettle that’s still warm, as well as-“

“You know why I’m here Starry… Why are you here? Doing paperwork?” Celestia asked her friend, in a more angered tone this time.

“Why? Well, because I need to catch up on these of course. After all, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I just let these sit around all day-“

“STARRY!” Celestia yelled her friend’s name, completely furious, huffing after doing so. “I’m not the mood for these games Starry! Now answer me! Why are you here? Not caring for your son, lying unconscious on a hospital bed, having the possibility of dying?!”

“He won’t die.” Starry answered plainly, making Celestia even more furious, if it was even possible.

“And how do you know that?!” Celestia yelled once more, but only got an annoying glance from Starry. “So that’s your answer?! Just because you can see whether he dies or not, that excuses you from being a mother?!”

Starry put down the quill she had in her hoof and sighed before looking at Celestia. “And what would you know about being a mother Celestia?” She asked calmly. “What would you know about falling in love? Being in a tight embrace with the one you love and 11 months later, or in my case, 2,000 years, and giving birth of the product of being in said embrace?”

“Is that he’s all to you? A product? How can you say-“

“Of course I’m not saying that!” Starry screamed, surprising Celestia. “I… I don’t know what to do or say Celestia.” Starry admitted, beginning to tear up as she put her hooves on her head, trying to think of what she should say as she looked down at the papers she was filling out. “I-I know he’ll be alright, but… but I just can’t stand to look at him when he’s like that.” Starry finally burst into tears, laying her head on the table as she cried. “I want to go and know he’ll be alright, but… He’s the only thing I have left Celly… I… I don’t want to look at him, and then even if there’s the slightest chance that I’m wrong… I don’t know what I’d do Celly…” Starry said through her tears.

Celestia sighed and walked up to her friend, placing her wing on her friend’s shoulder. “It seems I misunderstood your motives Starry… I apologize…”

“Don’t be.” Starry answered as she wiped her tears away, looking up to her friend. “You had every right to think I was being selfish, uncaring… I… I just can’t lose him Celly, I just can’t… “

“I know you can’t Starry… I know you can’t…” Celestia replied as she held her friend closer, crying alongside her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Luna entered the room, she saw both Fiery, connected to multiple tubes and other types of machines, and Octavia, who was sitting in a chair right next to the bed, holding Fiery’s right hoof in her own. Luna walked into the room, making Knightly wait outside, trying to be as quiet as possible. However, Octavia looked over and saw the princess. “I’m sorry for being here Princess Luna. I know I said I would be willing to back off until the marriage was over, but-“

“Don’t be.” Luna replied with a smile. “I know you care for him very much, just like myself. In fact, I should be the one apologizing, for not staying after we got him here and for not coming back sooner.” She said as she walked over to the other side of Fiery’s bed, where he was hovering slightly above his bed, thanks to the latest unicorn technology that allowed patients who couldn’t rest on either their back or stomach. “I heard from the doctor that they were thinking of operating on Fiery tomorrow, but…”

“I know Princess.” Octavia said as she glanced back at Fiery. “The doctor came in earlier and told me everything.”

“Ah, I see…”

Both of them felt uncomfortable, but both knew they needed to be there for their loved one. Luna looked over at Octavia and saw that there were bags under her eyes. “Did you not get any sleep?” She asked, and Octavia replied by shaking her head. Trying to be sympathetic to Octavia, she continued. “You know, you can go get some rest while I’ll keep an eye on Fiery.”

Again, Octavia shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that Princess.”

“Why not?”

“I… I just can’t leave him Princess… You don’t know what it was like…“ Octavia was saying as she began to tear up. “When I was holding Fiery in my arms, I truly thought he was going to die. I… If it wasn’t for him, sacrificing his body for my well-being, then I would have been…” She began to burst into tears and shook her head. “I’m sorry, I just can’t.” She tried explaining as she wiped the tears away, when she felt a warm hoof not belonging to her wiping her tears away. She looked and saw that it was Luna, smiling at her.

“I know I may not be the best princess, Ms. Pie, and… Oh my, where was I going with this…”

Octavia laughed a little at Luna’s silliness while continuing to wipe her tears away. “Thank you Princess Luna, I appreciate your concern for me.”

“Of course Ms. Pie, after all, I couldn’t make my rival for Fiery’s love be upset, now could I?” Luna said with another smile, making Octavia chuckle some more. “Now come, lay your head down on the bed, you’ve been awake for far too long.”

Octavia nodded. “Thank you, I suppose I could do that… And Princess?”

“Yes Ms. Pie?”

“Thank you… Thank you for letting me love Fiery…” Octavia said softly as she lowered her head on the bedside, a pillow underneath set by Luna.

Luna simply smiled in response.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After an hour had passed, Luna and Octavia had continued to stay by Fiery’s side, hoping for his fast recovery. Octavia had finally been able to fall asleep, when Vinyl and Frostbite walked through the door. “How is he doing?” Frostbite asked Luna quietly, not trying to wake Octavia up.

Luna shook her head in response. “It’s not looking too good. They want to perform surgery tomorrow, but they’re reluctant about it because they don’t know if he’ll be able to survive it.”

Vinyl placed a blanket on top of Octavia, keeping her warm, as she sat next to her friend. “Is there anything we can do to help?” Vinyl asked Luna, but again, Luna shook her head.

“All we can do is hope that he’s able to make it.” Luna said as if it was the normal thing in the world to say as she looked back at Fiery. Frostbite picked up on this and asked about it.

“Are you feeling alright Princess?”

Luna turned her head to Frostbite and cocked it in confusion. “Yes, why do you ask?”

“Well, you just don’t seem very sad about this…”

Luna smirked a bit and looked back at Fiery. “I suppose I do sound like that, don’t I? The truth is, is that I’ve cried so much for Fiery already last night and earlier today, that I can’t squeeze anymore tears out. If I could, I would be crying in his lap right now, wishing and praying that he would survive, but all we can do for right now is wait and see what happens…”

After Luna said that, all three ponies stayed quiet for some time, looking at Fiery. Minutes later, Frostbite began to chuckle to himself, getting the attention of the other two ponies who were awake. “What’s so funny?” Vinyl asked.

Frostbite shook his head. “It’s nothing, nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, just thinking, that’s all…”

“What about?” Luna asked.

“Well… Just thinking how Joseph-“

“Fiery.”

“Err, yeah… Anyways, I was just thinking about one of his favorite songs and such because of him lying in that bed.”

“How can Fiery lying in a bed remind you of a song?” Luna asked.

Frostbite shrugged his shoulders. “You just can I guess…”

All three ponies became quiet again. A few more hours of silence passed by, all the ponies who were awake continued to look at Fiery, hoping for some miracle to happen, but none occurred. Finally, Frostbite spoke up. “I should probably get going. Twilight is already mad enough at me for not paying attention to her, and I don’t want to make her anymore upset.”

“I’m sure she’d understand that your friend is in critical condition and that you want to be with him.” Luna said, but Frostbite shook his head.

“I appreciate it, and I know Twilight thinks that way, but still, I’ve been putting her off too much, just… just please, come get me if anything happens.”

“We will.” Vinyl replied with a normal smile, rather than her usual grin.

“Thank you.” Frostbite replied back while nodding, and then headed out of the room, back to the bedroom he and Twilight were staying in.

Luna turned to Vinyl. “Do you need to go as well Ms. Scratch?”

Vinyl chuckled at this. “You can’t get rid of me that easily Princess.” She said, this time with her usual grin on.

Luna smiled back. “Perhaps you’re right…”

A few minutes later, Octavia had finally woken up from her sleep. “Did I miss anything?” She asked as she let out a large yawn, making Luna and Vinyl giggle some.

“No Ms. Pie, you didn’t miss anything.”

“Well that’s good, I-“

Just then, the heart monitor that was hooked up to Fiery began to make a long solid noise rather than the beeps it was suppose to be making. “W-What’s going on?” Vinyl asked nervously.

Seconds later, the doctor in charge of Fiery, along with several nurses, came rushing into the room. “Nurses! Please get the guests out of here!”

“W-Wait! What’s happening?!”

“Please Ms. Pie, Princess, you must leave at once.” The nurse calmly tried telling Octavia and Luna, but they didn’t listen.

“Clear!” The doctor yelled out, then, using his horn, sent electricity into Fiery’s body, but did nothing.

“Fiery, no!”

“Please Princess!”

“Clear!”

*Beeeeeeeeeee- Beep, beep, beep*

The doctor let out a loud sigh and cursed slightly under his breath. “Nurse, get me the scanograph.”

“Right away doctor.”

“W-What just happened?” Luna asked nervously.

The doctor looked over at her and sighed. “I’m sorry Princess but you and the others are going to have to leave. We were hoping to wait until morning to do this, but we might have to do the surgery tonight.”

“B-But I-“

“Here you are doctor.” A nurse interrupted as she handed the doctor a clipboard type machine, and the doctor began to wave it above Fiery immediately.

A few seconds later, a *ding* could be heard, and the doctor looked at the clipboard machine. “We’re going to need to operate right now. The glass and wood inside him aren’t moving at all or are being attacked by his body to push them out, and are inflicting too much damage to his system. Nurse! Get Operating Room #7 ready immediately!”

“Yes doctor.” A nurse called back, and ran out of the room. Meanwhile, another nurse confronted the other three ponies.

“I’m sorry Princess, but you three are going have to wait in the main hall until the surgery is complete.”

“H-He’ll survive, right? He’ll survive the operation?” Octavia asked, and the nurse gave an unsure smile back.

“I’m sure he will dear. Now come along, we must get out of the doctor’s way.” The nurse replied, and led the three ponies back to the main waiting hall, where they would be forced to sit and wait to hear the news on Fiery.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Nine hundred ninety nine bottles of beer on the wall, nine hundred ninety nine bottles of beer…’
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Chapter 36. And there you have it. Hope to see you all soon once again, as in hopefully I don’t work full-time at my ‘part-time’ job. -.- Oh! I almost forgot. Don’t forget to rate, fav, and/or leave a comment (Including one if you’d like to see a Frostbite or Bramble spinoff I’m thinking of making... one day...)! Okay, now, until next time everyone!

The most powerful lasers are made with Neodymium-doped Yttrium crystals. In a fraction of a second, they produce more power than the whole United States. -CrADHD