After grabbing his stuff and putting on his robes (they left him in his underclothes when they incarcerated him), he felt ready.

They entered the massive throne room, where the Princess was already sitting. At least, she looked like a princess -- Feaurax was quite sure that no other pony could look quite so regal, except for perhaps her sister, who entered shortly after they did.

"Ah, Feaurax. Nice of you to join us." Celestia chuckled. "We need to make this quick. I have to give a formal public address announcing your pardon, and you need to be there too."

"Then there's the minor issue involving me not doing anything to warrant my arrest to begin with." Feaurax snarked.

"Quite. Those guards are so overprotective of me. Sometimes I wish they'd take it down a notch."

"Or three." Luna interjected.

"Yes, they're especially protective of Luna here. Almost to the point of her having to sneak around to get some privacy."

"Is it too much to ask for them to leave me alone for five seconds?"

"Let's not get into that just now. Feaurax, what exactly led to your arrival here?"

Feaurax explained to them what he explained to his new friends.

"Do you have the alleged cube in your possession?"

A response in the negative.

"Well, when you get back, find it and send it to me. Be careful not to handle it directly. In fact..." She pulled out a book and turned to a specific page. "I'd like you to ask Miss Sparkle to cast this spell on it before you do anything with it. I'm sure Spike will have no issue sending it to me."

"Okay," he said, taking out his journal and scribbling down what the page she had flipped to said word for word.

"Now that that matter is out of the way, we should probably give you some kind of disguise." She flared her horn, the magic quickly enveloping the young mage.

"Wait, what--" were the only words Feaurax could get out before his form shifted. He was a pony now, a unicorn, to be exact, and he was not amused, although he at least managed to grasp the situation. "At least tell me this is reversible." His coat was the same dark gray that his robes were, and his mane roughly corresponded to his hair color.  The styling was roughly the same, too, being rather short.

"Quite easily so. You should be able to shift at will. Now, because you're going to be shown off in your other form and your name will be known, it would probably be in your interest to use a different name. There will be some ponies out there who aren't necessarily pleased that you're getting off the hook, and it would be unwise to draw attention to yourself by using your real name."

After testing the shifting capabilities he had been informed of, he responded. "I guess I might as well go by the name I was given at birth, Renald. But that sounds... so..."

"Boring?" Luna interrupted.

"Yeah, boring. And then there's some underlying issues psychologically speaking behind the name to me, but it's unknown by anyone who'd be an enemy, and it's known by most of my friends back home, so if they come after me -- which I doubt they will, but in that case -- they shouldn't have too much of an issue trying to find me. If you want to shorten it or have any other suggestions, by all means."

"How about Ren?" Pinkie suggested.

"Meh. It'll do." Feaurax, now going by Ren, said.

With that out of the way, they parted, the Element bearers heading to the train station to wait on a ticket back home (Twilight again neglected to grab enough money for the return trip, necessitating Celestia giving her enough for all seven ponies with a "Don't mention it. Seriously, don't." when Twilight thanked her) and Feaurax and Celestia preparing for the address that was coming.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Earlier today my Royal Guards apprehended an individual suspected of conspiring to overthrow my sister and myself. However, these allegations are false. As such, and as per my right as co-ruler of Equestria, I have pardoned this... this..." Celestia spluttered a bit, Feaurax deciding to help her out.

"Isparian." He whispered in her ear.

"Erm, Isparian. I have pardoned this Isparian because, even though he was found guilty of all charges by the Equestrian Judicial System, the judges in said system are known to let race be a deciding factor in their rulings. Because no other creature of this nature has been seen before, and the nature of ponies being to fear that which they do not know, my best guess is that they were scared of this Isparian and what he could possibly do. I feel I must remind those judges that race is no more controllable by an individual than their gender.

"This Isparian's name... is Feaurax. He is capable of his own brand of magic, independent from that of the Unicorns, and is what his kind calls a 'Master Mage'. He has explained to me his predicament, and has found me receptive to his request for aid in returning to his homeland of Dereth. He does not wish to harm you nor does he wish to harm anyone. He is capable of doing so if pushed, so I feel I must issue a cursory warning in colloquial terms: do not buck with this guy.

"He will be kept in the castle with my sister and myself, in an attempt to monitor him. There is no possible way that any of you will be harmed by his presence, or indeed come into contact with him in any prolonged manner." This part wasn't true.

"I hope you will honor my request and not harass him. I do not wish to incarcerate him again for what will have been a case of harassment escalating into full-blown conflict. Thank you for your time, and goodnight."

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Feaurax -- err, sorry, 'Ren' -- followed Applejack's much more reliable directions to the train station. There he found his friends waiting for the train to arrive.

"Hey. The only route back to Ponyville I could get this late in the day is a round trip through Cloudsdale, Tall Tale and through the Smokey Mountain range. The train will be here shortly, but the ride is going to be an overnight ordeal." Twilight explained.

"Fine by me, as long as we actually make it there in one piece." Ren -- wow, this whole disguised name thing is going to be more cumbersome than I thought -- said. He looked to try to find where the sun was at in the sky, and sure enough, it was hanging low on the western horizon.

"Yeah, I don't think Princess Luna's too enthusiastic about the trains running passengers 24/7, but she at least tolerates them," Twilight commented, almost reading Ren's mind. "My guess is that it's because most everypony sleeps through the route when it's going overnight, save for the operators."

"Yeah, she can get downright scary about ponies not sleeping when they're supposed to. One night I was going for some night-flying practice, when she appeared in front of me. I nearly slammed into her. It's like living with my parents all over again. 'Why aren't you asleep? Don't you have any idea what time it is?' There are some ponies that she lets it slide for, like those who have night jobs and sleep all day, but for ponies like me who just happened to be unable to sleep one night -- Well, to be honest I thought I was having a nightmare." Dash told the group. Fluttershy looked at her sympathetically, but before she could say anything a pony came over the loudspeaker.

"Route 22-19 has just come in, and will be heading overnight through Cloudsdale, Tall Tale and the Smokey Mountains before arriving at Ponyville at about six sharp tomorrow morning. All those who bought tickets for the route, get ready to board. If you haven't bought tickets yet, now would be an opportune time. There are about twenty seats left to fill."

"That's us." Twilight said, getting up out of her seat. The others quickly followed suit. They walked out the door to the platform where the train was pulling to a stop. They boarded soon thereafter, after the stallion in charge checked their tickets and fixed Ren with a stern look.

"You take care of those pretty mares for me, will ya?" He said, cracking a smile.

"I'll protect them with my life if need be." Ren answered seriously, not getting the older stallion's lewd joke. To be fair, it was executed rather poorly.

The stallion facehoofed internally. "Atta boy, now get up there."

Not too long after, the train started moving. They were on the way home. Or, as Ren put it to himself, the detainment facility. He was, after all, used to being able to leave and return as he pleased. He wouldn't be able to do that here. Nor would he want to, if the amount of trouble he got into just for showing up in Canterlot was any indication. Next Chapter: An Old Frenemy, Part 1 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes