Loki stood on the docking area of Yggdrasil. After spending a year among the Varangar, it was finally time for him to return home. He was looking forward to it, but was also leaving behind dear friends. He turned to Jottun and patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s stay in touch.”

Jottun firmly placed his hand on Loki’s shoulder, pulling him into a bear hug. “We shall indeed stay in touch.” Jottun replied as he squeezed Loki before releasing his grasp. “Stay strong, friend.” As Jottun turned to leave, Asta rushed up and threw herself around Loki, her grasp even tighter than Jottun’s.

“You’d better not forget me, Loki Starfallen!” She demanded, before breaking away to plant a small kiss on his lips. “Promise me you’ll write to me!”

Loki smiled as he kissed Asta in return. “Every day. I promise, Asta.” He gave her a tight hug before reluctantly releasing her

Asta smiled in reply before planting one more kiss on him and releasing him. As she followed Jottun’s path, Vultan and Freya passed by as they made their way onto the platform.

“Well my young Equestrian prince, it was a honor to have you as my guest!” Vultan proudly spoke as he knelt to better met Loki’s gaze. “May we have the honor of meeting again, if the All Father wills it.”

“You as well, Majesty,” Loki answered with a smile before turning to Freya. Over the past year she had basically been like a godmother when she wasn’t teasing him. He wrapped his arms around the queen in a tight hug, still smiling wide.

Freya chuckled as she reciprocated his hug with a much stronger one. “I shall miss you, little Loki.” She said, a large grin spreading on her face. “You take care of yourself, and your people. Perhaps you should teach them some of the moves you learned here.” She laughed more loudly before loosening her grip of him.

Loki nodded and looked at Gilda and Balder. “I hope we can see each other again soon.”

“I have a feeling our paths will all cross again, Loki.” Balder replied as he rested a hand on Gilda’s shoulder. “May the All Father keep vigil over you and bring strength to you and those of your house.”

“You as well, Balder,” Loki replied with a nod before he felt Gilda’s hand on his head as she knelt down to look him in the eye. “Until we meet again, Gilda.”

“Until we meet again.” Gilda responded before she tousled his hair. “Keep practicing those moves I taught you. With any luck next time we meet, you might be able to best me.” She leaned closer to whisper in his ear. “Break my sister’s heart, and I break your neck.”

As Gilda stood up, Luna stood behind Loki and bowed in respect to the others. “Thank you all for keeping him safe. It means a lot to me.”

“It was our pleasure, my old friend.” Vultan responded before he wrapped Luna in his trademark bear hug. He and Luna laughed before bowing to each other again. Luna knelt down to Loki, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Ready to go home, sweetheart?” She asked, her tone distinctly motherly.

Loki looked at her and nodded. “Yeah. I’m ready. Let’s go home.”

Luna nodded before she turned towards the zeppelin ramp, Loki no doubt following behind her. She turned her gaze back to Vultan and the others, waving goodbye before she stepped inside the lounge area of the zep. As she sat on one of the leather couches, the zeppelin began its take off procedures.

Loki was at the window as the zeppelin took off. Seeing Asta, he waved to her with a wide smile, feeling pangs in his heart that he was going to be so far away from her.

Luna turned her gaze to Loki, saddened to see his melancholy expression. She lifted herself off her seat and casually made her way to his side, placing a gentle hand on his head, lightly patting it.

Loki looked up at Luna as the zeppelin left Yggdrasil behind. “I miss her already, mother. Can I visit her during the summers?”

“Absolutely.” Luna replied smiling. “Nothing means more to me than seeing my little Star Child happy.” She tousled his hair a bit. “Besides, this little reeve makes you very happy. It’d be a cruel thing to keep my son and his little girlfriend apart.”

Loki brightened up instantly and hugged Luna tight. “Thank you, mother! Thank you so much!”

Luna chuckled as she hugged Loki back as the zeppelin disappeared into the clouds, heading back to Equestria.

Drever looked up from the schoolwork he was doing as his bedroom door opened. “Father? Is something wrong?”

Fancy Pants uttered a light chuckle before refocusing on his son’s question. “Nothing’s wrong my boy.” He replied, his tone concordantly cheery as usual. “I’ve wonderful news! Loki’s coming back from his time abroad!”

“Really?!” Drever asked in excitement as he jumped to his feet, happy that his best friend was coming home at last.

“Indeed.” Fancy Pants replied as he made his way to Drever’s side, kneeling to properly meet his gaze. “He’ll be here in a few days time. Isn’t that wonderful, chap?”

“It is!” Drever replied. “I’ve missed my best friend a lot!”

“Well then sonny boy,” Fancy Pants responded. “I suggest you help shape up the place before he arrives. Wouldn’t want your bestie coming around to a messy house now would we?” He tousled Drever’s thick brown hair a bit.

Drever laughed a bit. “No I wouldn’t, father.” He got to cleaning up his somewhat messy room in preparation for hosting his best friend.

Prince Blueblood cringed as he tromped through the Everfree forest, paranoidly eyeing every rock, shadow and mud puddle. As he moved wearily away from a mud covered rock, a branch touched the top of his mane, slightly off skewing it. He screamed much  like a soap opera drama queen would as he frantically tried to set his mane right. “Ew! Ew! Ew!” He squealed before he tripped over an exposed root, falling back first into a puddle. He immediately leapt to his feet and threw off the soaking cloak, though it didn’t  save the back of his pressed shirt, which was now wet as well. He screamed frustratingly before he tried taking his anger out on a tree. He immediately regretted this decision as he held his toe, muttering and cursing under his breath as he hopped around one legged. As his rage died down, he tuned his ears to the sound of something splitting through the air. His curiosity piqued, he followed the sound deeper into the forest. The sound became louder as he neared its source. He peeked out from behind a tree line and was witness to a small band of diamond dog’s, aiming strange new weapons at crude dummies dressed in mock Equestrian armor.

“What have we got here, lads?” A gruff voice behind Blueblood heralded him getting kicked to the forest floor. “Looks like a prince wandered into our territory.”

Blueblood sprang back to his feet, dusting himself off as he came face to face with the vicious pack, all training their strange devices at him. Instinctively he raised his hands up in surrender. “Wait! Wait! Don’t kill me!” He pleaded in a somewhat squeaked voice before he cleared his throat. “You and I can help each other out! Just hear me out!”

The dogs laughed loudly as they heard Blueblood’s pitiful whining. “Look at that! The little pup pissed himself!”

“He thinks he can help us? Why would he help us?” Another dog asked as he shoved Blueblood back onto his ass like a schoolyard bully.

Blueblood groaned as his ass hit the rough forest floor. He crawled back a ways, using his hands to try and get some distance between himself and the dogs. “Just...just hear me out!” He pleaded again. “I can get you around the Equestrian defenses, but only if you hear me out.” Before anyone of the dogs could test their weapon on him, a loud shot whizzed by. All turned to gaze upon their leader, Kutta.

“Hold up here, you mangy mutts!” He barked, baring his teeth and growling, causing a few of the dogs to stand down. “Let’s hear what our new friend has to say, before we decide to kill him or not.”

Blueblood rose once more to his feet, dusting himself off before turning his attention to Kutta. “Thank you.” He bluntly replied before he composed himself. “Now, I know for a fact you don’t like us Equestrians very much. Why would you? We stole your lands and nearly drove your kind to extinction. It’s only natural you’d want revenge. But the fact remains that, even with these toys…” He paused for a bit as he yanked one away from one of the dogs, inspecting this strange weapon to the best of his ability. “The sad fact is you couldn’t hope to get past their defense perimeters. Luckily for you, I know their weak points like the back of my hand, and as a show of good faith between us, I shall give you these weak spots as a gift. But, in exchange, you must do something for me first.”

“And what do you want from us?” Kutta asked with an arched eyebrow. “And why should we trust your word, Equestrian?”

“Oh you have no reason to trust me.” Blueblood remarked before reaching into his pants pocket. He quickly pulled out a small folded piece of paper and waved it around. “But you’d have every reason to trust this.” He reached down to his belt and undid a small bag and tossed it over to Kutta. As it hit the forest floor, a few gold Equestrian coins fell out of the sack. “And every reason to trust that.”

Kutta stared at the coin for several moments before looking back at Blueblood. “So what is it that you want us to do?”

“I need you to kill Princess Luna’s child.” Blueblood calmly and coldly responded. “He’ll be landing near Ponyville within three days time and since you were clearly going to no doubt run live tests on the town anyway, I want you to take care of him while he’s there. Since he’ll be killed in a raid, no one will suspect me as the mastermind. Once I have my rightful place back, I can fund your little gang to take back your lands and restore your race to it’s former glory.”

Kutta stared hard at Blueblood. Loyalty was a big thing among diamond dogs despite dissent in their ranks at times. And here stood an Equestrian willing to sell out his people for gold. His instincts told him to execute the prince on the spot. But he didn’t listen. Stepping closer to Blueblood, he extended his empty paw. “Agreed.”

Blueblood smiled as he took the paw into his hand, sealing the deal. “Excellent.” He replied, his grin becoming more devilish as he shook Kutta’s paw. He stopped and forked over the piece of paper. “These are Ponyville's weakest points. You’ll encounter less guard resistance. Also included is a photo of the little runt. He won’t be too hard to spot in the crowd. When you see him, shoot on sight. Make it a clean shot; as much as I’d like him to suffer in agony before he dies I can’t risk him being saved. Understand?”

“Of course,” Kutta answered as he looked at the map and picture. Even as he pored over it, he was planning to kill Blueblood once the deed was done. Betrayers couldn’t be trusted at all.

“Good.” Blueblood deadpanned before turning to make his way back to Canterlot. “Remember mutts, three days time and one shot, one kill. No exceptions!” And with that, he disappeared into the forest, smiling wickedly all the way.

“Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking.” Luna’s ears perked to the sound of Captain Bellerophon’s voice echoing from the zep’s PA system as she stirred from her nap. “We are now beginning landing procedures into Ponyville Port. Please remain seated until our craft has been secured. Have a nice day.” Luna rose from the bed within her cabin, stretching her limbs as she rubbed her weary eyes. As she loosened her stiffened muscles, she turned her attention to Loki, who was sleeping peacefully in the bed opposite her. “Wake up, sweetie.” She spoke, her voice carrying a tired inflection.

Loki slowly stirred and sat up, yawning and stretching. “Are we there yet, mother?”

Luna nodded in reply before she found herself victim to a yawn. “Yes, sweetheart. We’re there.” She once more limbered up her limbs before laying back on the bed, not quite over her tired spell. “It’ll be a few more minutes til we land though.”

“Okay, mother,” Loki muttered before falling back to sleep, softly snoring as he cuddled his pillow.

Both mother and son slept rather peacefully as the zeppelin lowered onto the docking platform. Workers hurried in synchronous movements to secure the craft’s mooring lines to their posts as the ramp was lowered. As passengers poured out of the zep in single file, Captain Bellerophon made his way from the helm to Luna’s quarters, finding her still nodding off. “Excuse me, Majesty.” He spoke politely.

Luna shot awake once more, focusing her not quite as awake vision on Bellerophon. “Oh, Captain it’s you.” She somewhat yawned, rising to her feet. “Have we landed yet?” Bellerophon replied with a solitary nod. “Thank you, Captain. Dismissed.” As Bellerophon left her sight, Luna made her way over to Loki’s bed and began nudging him. “Wakey, wakey, Star Child.”

Loki stirred and slowly opened his eyes. “But I’m still sleepy, mother,” he protested as he slowly sat up rubbing his eyes.

Luna lightly chuckled as she nudged him a little harder. “We’re home, sleepy head. Time to get up.” She replied as she continued trying to rouse him awake.

Loki crawled out of bed and rolled to his feet with a reflex honed from a year of his mattress getting flipped being Gilda’s favorite way to wake him.

“Good, you’re up.” Luna smirked, smiling as she began to comb out his tangled bed head.

Loki didn’t say anything and leaned on Luna, enjoying her warmth as she groomed him. “I missed you, mother.”

“I missed you too, Star Child.” Luna replied as she got the last of his blonde locks untangled. She immediately turned him around and began inspecting his face, looking for any sign of leftover food or other smudges. Content there were none, she smiled as she patted his head. “Come on, now. Let’s get our things. Aysel is waiting for us at the terminal.”

“Where’s father?” Loki asked as he gripped Luna’s hand. He was happy to see his uncle, but he was really curious about Mikoda’s whereabouts.

Luna sighed as she took Loki’s hand and they began their walk to the platform. “Your father’s been really busy lately.” She replied. “He’s been working himself to the bone trying to find that….bastard who almost had you. Plus he’s been leading search parties for our missing scientists. I imagine he’s in Canterlot right now, coordinating the searches. I’m sorry, honey. Maybe seeing you again will ease his mind.”

Loki smiled wider. “Let’s get home soon then! I can’t wait to see Father again!”

Luna nodded in reply, smiling as they finally stepped onto the landing platform and made their way to the terminal, moving through a sea of ponies that were eager to make their own flights. Once the navigated the large crowd, they arrived outside to see Aysel leaning against his vehicle, a smile on his face as he locked eyes with them. “Hey kiddo!” He beamed with open arms as Loki made his approach.

“Uncle Aysel!” Loki greeted as he happily hugged Aysel tightly. “I missed you, uncle!”

Aysel laughed as he lifted Loki up, his arms practically clamping down on Loki. “Missed you too, Loki.” He replied as he let Loki down, keeping one arm around him as he put him in a mock armlock and applied a noogie to his head. After letting Loki loose, he rose and politely bowed to Luna. “Your Grace.”

“At ease, soldier.” Luna replied, smiling before she too wrapped him in a hug. “You don’t always have to be so formal around me, you know.”

“I apologize, Luna.” Aysel responded, rubbing his hand behind the back of his head. As he composed himself, he turned to open the back door of his vehicle. “After you, Princess.”

Luna silently nodded as she stepped inside and seated herself, taking one of the seat belts and strapping in for the long ride home. She turned her attention to Loki, motioning for him to get in as well.

Loki climbed into the car and buckled up right beside Luna, leaning on her with a momma’s boy smile.

Luna chuckled and patted Loki’s head as Aysel closed the door and made his way to the driver’s side. As he entered and turned the key, a pair of eyes watched him from afar, camouflaged amongst the forest shrubbery. The hidden observer watched as Aysel closed his door and started driving away, heading towards the small town of Ponyville. The observer quickly melded back into the foliage and retrieved a small circular device from his pocket. He pressed a small button on it, bringing to life a small, glowing blue version of Kutta. “They’re on their way to the town, my Alpha.”

“Good. We’ll move into position,” Kutta answered with a grim smirk. “See that your part continues to be played.”

“Yes, Alpha.” the diamond dog replied before switching the device off. He peeked his head out from the brush, making sure no one else could see him before he caught the last glimpse of Aysel’s car heading over the horizon. Seeing that the coast was clear, he exited the brushline and casually made his way towards a car that was being attended to by a single stallion. Once he was within arm’s length, he quickly wrapped the unsuspecting pony into a chokehold and rapidly twisted his head around, grinning as the vertebrae snapped. As the body fell to the ground, he entered his newly acquired set of wheels, started it up and followed Aysel at a few lengths back, making sure he wouldn’t be noticed as he tracked his comrade’s prey.

Loki found himself shivering as he cuddled against Luna, rubbing his arm as he felt a cold pit form in his stomach. “Mother? I have a bad feeling.”

Luna stared at him, her face immediately going from placid to worried in half a millisecond. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” She asked, her tone registering high amounts of worry and fear as she placed a hand on his forehead and the other on his stomach.

“I don’t feel sick, mother,” Loki said, looking around the outside area in fear. “I feel like something terrible is about to happen.”

“Aysel, stop the car right now!” Luna demanded, her voice cracking with concern.

Aysel hit the brakes and the car squealed to a stop in the center of Ponyville. “What’s wrong?” He asked, alert and already grasping the pommel of his sword in anticipation.

Loki groaned as he gripped his head. “Bad people… Bad people are coming for me!”

“What?” Aysel questioned, arching an eyebrow as he exited the car. He ran towards Luna’s side and swung the door open. “What bad people? Where are they coming from?”

“Something’s wrong with him!” Luna barked as she unbuckled Loki and herself. She immediately cradled Loki in her arms as she stepped out. “We have to get him to a doctor! I’ve never seen him like this!”

Aysel nodded in reply as he took point, leading the way to the local doctor’s office. A crowd of ponies soon began to form, murmuring in whispers about Luna’s appearance and Loki in her arms.

Loki kept cradling his head in his hands as he experienced rapid, confusing visions. One made him gasp. “Mommy duck!” he screamed in alarm.

Before Luna had the time to respond, a strange sound whizzed by her, followed by a searing pain on the top of her shoulder. She screamed in pain, reflexively dropping Loki to the ground as she fell to her knees. The crowd soon broke out into a mass of panic. Everyone ran in all directions as more ear splitting sounds whizzed through the air. A few ponies dropped to the ground dead, strange and still smoking burn marks appearing on their bodies.

“Princess!” Aysel screamed as fell to his belly, crawling over towards Luna. Once he reached her, he could see that whatever had hit her had only grazed her. He moved to a squatting stance and quickly wrapped an arm around Luna. “Come on! We have to get you to safety!”

“Mommy!” Loki exclaimed in fear and worry as he hugged her other side, looking around in fear. Sure he had trained with the Varangar, but he was out of his depth here. Very far out of his depth.

“I’m fine!” Luna protested as she found herself being carried in Aysel’s arms to a more secure spot amidst the shoot out, Loki trailing close behind them. As they ducked behind one of the houses, Aysel peeked around the corner to gauge exactly who they were now up against. His eyes widened in shock as a small band of diamond dogs, about fifteen strong or so, moved in synchronous movements. All were armed with the most unusual weapons he’d ever lain eyes on; it reminded him of the crossbow, but sleeker and longer. Instead of arrow bolts, strange glowing red bolts spewed from their maws, easily penetrating anything they hit. He ducked back behind the wall and turned his attention to Luna.

“Those mongrels have some kind of new weapon.” He spoke, bewildered as he put those words together. “What should we do? We’re outmatched!”

“We need to get these ponies to safety.” Luna replied as she stood up, her hand clasped over the top of her shoulder. “Take Loki and gather everypony from the western side of town. I’ll evacuate the east. We have to stay ahead of them.”  

“Understood!” Aysel responded, grabbing a hold of Loki’s shoulder. “Come on, kid. We have to go, now!” Both he and Luna ran from their cover, keeping their heads low as they went to their respective sides of down.

“What about mommy?!” Loki asked as he ran with Aysel. “What if she gets hurt worse or killed?!”

“Don’t worry about her!” Aysel shouted over the ear splitting shots and chaos. “She can handle her…” Before he could finish, a red bolt caught him in the shoulder. He screamed in agony as he fell face first onto the ground, clutching the pained shoulder. He turned his gaze towards the origin of the shot, seeing one of the dogs aiming the end of his weapon at him again. Without a second to hesitate, Aysel unsheathed a small knife from his waist and threw it in the dog’s direction. He could see the dog’s head snap back as the knife hit dead center, he fell to the ground, dropping his weapon as he died.

“Uncle Aysel are you okay?!” Loki asked as he looked at the stallion’s injury, a perfect circle burned into his shoulder.

"I’m ok, Loki.” Aysel replied, cringing in pain as he once more stood on his feet. “Just a flesh wound. Come on, we have to get these ponies out of here.” As Aysel grabbed Loki by the hand, the pack of diamond dogs moved further into Ponyville, howling as they glued their fingers to the triggers, killing anything that stood in their way. Some of the local soldiers tried to deflect bolts like they were trained to do with arrows, but they easily cut through their swords as they made contact with their heads and chests, penetrating their armor.

Amidst the chaos, Loki lost his grip on Aysel’s hand and was separated from him. “Uncle Aysel! Uncle!” He called in fear as he looked around for him, gasping as he found himself staring down a dog’s rifle. Before the bolt could fire however, a shaft of green plasma pierced through his chest from behind. As the laser blade was pulled out and the body tossed aside, Loki’s savoir was revealed. She wore simple yet elegant brown robes, and had a coat of alabaster white. Tossing back her curled royal purple mane, she looked at him with concern in her bright blue eyes. “Are you alright?”

Loki, finding himself struck silent, meekly nodded in response. He nervously took a few steps back, shaking as he formed a defensive stance.

“It’s alright. We’re here to help,” the mare said reassuringly as she offhanded flicked her wrist, her blade deflecting a bolt back into its shooter’s throat.

Not far from them, three dogs were decapitated by a whirlwinding blue blade. The blur stopped to reveal a cyan mare with rainbow colors in her mane and fury in her magenta eyes. “Bastards!” she yelled as she attacked again, a yellow mare with flowing pink hair and a green blade standing between more of the dogs and a group of civilians. The dogs fired bolt after bolt in rapid succession. Where the guards had fallen to the fire, the mare stood fast against the blots. Not. One. Touched her.

As she protected the civilians, the dogs never noticed the red blur behind them with a blue blade held in reverse grip. With a leaping spin, he stuck his blade out and took their heads with the efficiency and precision of a soldier. He then darted off to another part of town with speed greater than any pony should have had.

Another group of dogs found themselves caught between two mares. One orange and wielding a double bladed laser staff, and a pink one with twin pink blades. No matter how they tried, they couldn’t land a hit and were cut down in quick succession.

It wasn’t long before only Kutta remained, desperately firing at the lavender mare who casually blocked his shots with her hand, not even bothering to lift her violet blade. As she closed the distance, she flexed her fingers and ripped Kutta’s rifle from his grasp before he was lifted into the air and shoved against a building.

"You will tell me why you have attacked Ponyville in broad daylight,” she spoke in a compelling voice as she waved her hand.

“I...will tell you...why we attacked...Ponyville….in broad daylight.” Kutta replied, his eyes darting about in confusion as to what he was doing before he stood weakly and leaned himself against the wall. “We wanted to test our new weapons on living beings and to take back what you Equestrians stole from us!”

“Why Ponyville in particular?” She asked in that same voice as her six comrades joined her.

“It was the closest Equestrian settlement for our purposes.” Kutta responded, sweating as he found himself unable to resist telling this mare everything.

“Who sent you here?” she asked. “Who do you work for?”

“I sent…,us here.” Kutta once more replied, his hand shaking as he slyly reached for his belt. “I...work….I work ….for….” Before he could finish his sentence, he quickly unsheathed a knife from its holster and held the tip to his throat, quickly thrusting the tip deep into his jugular vein. He choked and gasped as he clutched his rapidly bleeding throat as he fell to the ground, quickly dying.

“Such a coward,” the sole stallion among the seven muttered. “Still. Suicide is an effective, if last resort, way to prevent giving up information.”

A crowd nervously gathered around the group, whispering amongst themselves. One took a closer look at them and quickly pointed a shaking hand. “I know them! They were the last element bearers! Celestia’s pupil Twilight and the others!” He shouted, his voice cracking in fear. The crowd collectively gasped and murmured loudly to themselves.

“Did you see what they did to those dogs?” One pony shouted. “They tore them to pieces!”

“Where did they get those things?” Another asked, eyes wide in panic.

“One of them used some kind of magic to get one of them to bend to her will!”

“They’re witches!”

“Evil!”

“Quickly! Kill them before they warp our minds or worse!”

        "Kill!" The crowd chanted as they menacingly approached the group.

Loki ran in between the crowd and the seven robed ponies. “Stop it! Stop it!” he loudly screamed before looking at the seven. “These ponies saved this town! Saved me! I would have been killed if the white mare hadn’t arrived when she did! You really plan to thank them by calling them witches and trying to kill them?!” His disbelief filled voice echoed through the air with a very compelling tone.

The crowd stopped, most of them unsure of what to do now that a child was putting himself in harm's way. While most were slowly processing what they would do next, one stallion acted instead. Moving out of the crowd, he approached Loki, cracking his knuckles. “Get out of the way, kid.” He demanded as he tightened his hands into fists. “These….freaks will brainwash us all into their zombies slaves or worse. I ain’t going to let that happen, so move or be moved.” He raised a fist, ready to release his full swing on Loki’s face.

“Leave them alone!” Loki yelled as he raised his hands defensively, a shockwave shoving the stallion back into the crowd. Loki’s eyes widened. The same thing he’d done that sent Silver Buck plummeting to his death.

The crowd gasped, some of them backed away in fear. “He’s one of them too!” One stallion shouted.

“He must be responsible for this somehow!” A mare barked.

“He’s the cause of this! Little freak!”

“Kill him too!” The mob once more began to converge on the group, their main focus being Loki. He instinctively backed himself into the legs of Rarity, trying to shrink away from the closing rage of the mob.

“IF ANY OF YOU LAY A HAND ON MY SON, I WILL KILL THAT PONY MYSELF!!!” Luna screamed in a reverberating voice as she stepped in front of the crowd, fury in her face. “THESE PONIES ARE TRUSTED AND LOYAL FRIENDS OF THE CROWN! THE ONES WHO DEFEATED TIREK HIMSELF! YOU OWE THEM YOUR LIVES NOT JUST TODAY BUT THEN AS WELL! WOULD YOU TRULY RAISE ARMS AGAINST HEROES OF EQUESTRIA?!”

The crowd instantly shrank in fear, quivering as some of them huddled each other like frightened foals in a thunderstorm. None would dare raise a hand against the princesses, not for anything. Speak their minds maybe, but never raise a fist towards one. Thoughts raced through the collective crowd as to what terrible fates would wait should one of them be stupid enough to even lay a hand on their saviors, the thoughts going into triple terror soaked fear as to if they even touched her son. One of the crowd meekly approached Luna, crawling inch by inch on his knees, clasping his hands together and outstretching his arms. “M….mmmmmm….mercy!” He weakly pleaded. “I….iiiiiii….beg of you, Princess. Show us mercy!” He bowed his head, staring at the ground, shaking like a newborn lamb.

A gentle hand lifted his face to look into Fluttershy’s smiling face. “You don’t have anything to fear,” she said gently. “The danger is past. We know you have questions. And I promise they’ll be answered.”