Jaze woke to the sound of somepony pounding on his bedroom door. He groaned groggily as he rolled into a sitting position. Looking out the window, he saw that the sun had not even broken the horizon yet. Not as used to such an early morning as he was as a soldier, he had to fight for a moment to keep from yelling at whoever was on the other side of the door.

“Alright, I’m up! What’s wrong?” the grumpy young man called.

“Applejack’s here!” Trixie called back, “She wants you to come by soon to help her and Big Macintosh get all the chores done.”

“The sun isn’t even up yet! What’s the rush?” He called in confusion.

“The Gala’s tonight, so they want to get done as early as possible!”

“Darn it, I thought that was tomorrow.”

“Come on you’ve only know the date for months.”

“I’m coming, tell AJ that I’ll be over as soon as I have breakfast.”

“Okay then, just hurry up! We still have to go to Carousel Boutique and pick up our outfits for tonight!” Jaze could hear Trixie humming as she walked away. The ticket sent to him by the Princesses had permitted him to bring one guest and he had chosen Trixie as his. He felt she needed a little bit of “fun”. Especially after the bombshell he had dropped on her when she moved in with him a week ago. Jaze shuddered as that memory forced itself into his mind…

Jaze sat on the couch next to Trixie, watching her as he tried to broach a difficult subject. He had offered to allow the homeless unicorn to live with him, and had even offered her his room. At least until they could either find a permanent home somewhere or until they could build another room on to Jaze’s existing residence. Trixie had accepted his kind offer to a place to stay, but had flat refused to take his room for she did not want to burden her first friend.

Jaze took a deep breath, “Trixie, there’s something I need to tell you, but it’s going to be really awkward.”

“What’s on your mind?” she asked innocently.

“Well, the thing is that I am not like you or other ponies.”

“If you’re only now figuring that out, you need to get yourself checked out. You may have hit your head a little too hard at some point.”

“Ha ha, but seriously; what I mean is that I am not an herbivore. I eat other creatures on a regular basis.”

Trixie sat in shock at Jaze’s revelation, and Jaze could not bring himself to look her in the eyes. It was the first time he had ever truly felt ashamed of his eating menu choices, even since coming to Equestria. Silence reigned in the room for several minutes as each tried to find the proper thing to say to the other. Jaze felt he needed to apologize for himself and his race for acting like animals, unable to curb such a barbaric hunger.

“Trixie, I’m sorry if this comes as a shock and that I am carnivorous.” Jaze said ashamedly.

“Don’t apologize for who you are, you’re you and I’m your friend.” Trixie stated as a smile slowly spread across her face, “That means I accept you; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Right?”

“Thank you for understanding.” was his gratitude laden response.

A thought passed across Trixie’s face, “So, when we first met, where you, you know?”

The uncomfortable soldier gave a nod, “Yeah, I was hunting when I heard your cries.”

“Well then,” she grinned, “if you had not been hunting then, I would be sitting in a manticore’s belly right now.”

“You know, I hadn’t thought of it that way before.” He said thoughtfully.

“Everything happens for a reason; you just have to assume that it will work out for the best.”

“Yeah I guess you’re right.”

A pounding on the door brought Jaze out of his reverie, “I’m up and on my way!” he called.

“Well come on! We don’t have all day.”

Jaze quickly got dressed and headed for the kitchen. He made himself a quick breakfast and ate as fast as he could. He gave a quick good bye to Trixie and headed for the farm. Even though it was spring, the morning air was unpleasantly cold and Jaze could see his breath form clouds in front of his face. I hope that there is not too much to do today, Jaze thought as he yawned. He walked quickly to keep his body a little warmer; he had no jackets as of yet and would be relying on the work to keep him warm until the sun rose to knock off the chill.

It did not take Jaze long to reach Sweet Apple Acres and he found Applejack already hard at work bucking apples from the trees. He assumed that Big Mac was back in the fields and the frozen pilot went to join his friend.

Coming into view of the fields, Jaze let out a groan. As he had feared, today the he and Big Macintosh were supposed to plow and plant all the fields; a task that would take several hours, if they were lucky and the ground was not frozen solid. If it was, then it would be an all day task. He bent with trepidation to check the ground, and to his relief found it thawed, if a little over cold. Jaze caught sight of the large stallion bringing his harness out to the fields.

“Hey,” he called, “I’ll go grab the plow and give it a good sharpening.” Big Mac just nodded and began to shrug on the harness as Jaze trotted to the barn. Dragging the heavy plow outside, he turned it over and began to run a file across the blade to give it a proper edge. That little bit of maintenance complete, Jaze quickly brought the plow to Big Mac and hooked it up to the harness. They brought the plow to the edge of the field and threw their weight into making it bite the hard earth. It was a slow start, but the two began to gather momentum quickly.

The work was not as bad as Jaze had feared and soon they had plowed all the fields. At that point the sun had been up for awhile, and the two took a short break to grab a drink of sweet apple cider and some of Big Mac’s “special” pieces of hay. These were soaked in a special blend of herbs and spices that gave the hay a pleasant flavor and, when chewed, released large amounts of energy. Big Mac had made the recipe himself and had not shared it with anypony, but whatever was in it had more kick than a pot of coffee. The hay did not appear to have any effects beyond those intended and were not addicting like many human vices, so Jaze did not feel that it was like a drug. Regardless, the hay and cider gave the pair the will to continue their arduous task of planting.

It was around midday when Jaze straightened up from the earth and stretched his muscles, sore from the already long day’s work. He walked to a nearby hill and lay down on his back, chewing a piece of hay. It felt good to be done and Jaze allowed his thoughts to drift to tonight’s festivities. He had tried to put thoughts of the Gala out of his mind; he just knew he was going to mortify himself and his friends. He was a frontline soldier and felt he had no time for the niceties that upper-class society demanded.

“Hey Jaze,” Big Macintosh interrupted the soldier’s brooding, “can I ask ya a question?”

“You just did,” Jaze grinned, “but feel free to ask another.”

“Well, it’s about tanight.”

“I’m listening,”

Big Macintosh looked more nervous than Jaze had ever seen him, “Do ya know if Fluttershy already has a guest for the gala?”

“I don’t think so, why?” Jaze asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I was wonderin’ if she would want ta go with me?” the stallion asked awkwardly.

Jaze was fighting, and losing, to keep a straight face, “I don’t know, partner.”

Big Mac looked at the ground, “Yer right to laugh, I guess.”

“No, I shouldn’t laugh, but if you could see what I see…” Jaze let an amused snigger pass his lips.

“Well then serious up a little. I really like her ya know.”

“I understand, but I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Why would she want to go with a country bumpkin anyways? She could have any stallion she wanted go with her.”

“Don’t sell yourself short guy. From what I hear, you’re quite popular with the mares around here.

“Maybe so, but Fluttershy is so…” The next few minutes were spent listening to Big Mac go on about how beautiful and charming and graceful Fluttershy was. As he listened, Jaze could not stop a small smile from spreading across his face. He had seen this from young soldiers before; the first love always affects one the hardest.

“You’re really smitten with her, aren’t you?” the soldier asked, the smile still firmly in place.

“Eeyup.”

“Tell you what,” Jaze said as he put a hand on Mac’s shoulder, “I am going over to her house after I leave here. I can ask her for you if you want.”

“Now don’t do that! She’ll think I’m pathetic!”

“Fluttershy? Please, she wouldn’t think you’re pathetic.”

“Jus’ promise me you won’t say a word.”

“I promise Big Macintosh, I won’t say a word about this to anypony.” Big Mac then spit on his hoof and held it out to Jaze. The red stallion was waiting for his friend to repeat the action and shake his hoof. For him, there was no more binding a contract and Jaze knew it. He spit in his hand and shook with all the respect as if he were shaking hands with a leader of the Earth Coalition. He knew that if he breathed a word of this talk to anypony, he would break his friends trust in him permanently.

“I’m going to leave now; I still have a lot to get done before tonight.”

“Remember. Not. A. Word.” Big Mac said sternly.

Jaze nodded as he set off towards Fluttershy’s cottage. He could not help but have a smile on his face at how infatuated his friend was with the shy pegasus. The smile stayed where it was until he came upon Fluttershy’s place, where he saw all the animals running wild. They appeared to have picked up on Fluttershy’s excitement and were becoming uncontrollable. Fluttershy was running around after them, trying to get them to settle down again. Jaze helped as best he could; picking up the smaller animals to them down, herding the chickens into their coop and much more. It took the pair about an hour to get the creatures all settled down.

“What the hay happened here?” Jaze asked exhaustedly.

“Nothing, I just wasn’t paying attention.” Fluttershy responded. Looking her over, Jaze noticed she did look distracted.

“What is on your mind?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Hey now, I’ve answered your uncomfortable questions, now return the favor. What’s wrong?”

“It’s about tonight…”

“Yes, what about it? You’re still going right?”

“Yes, but there’s somepony I want to bring.”

“Who?”

“I want to take Big Macintosh.”

A slow grin split Jaze’s face, “Oh do you now?” Fluttershy nodded, “Have you asked him yet?”

“No, I can’t.” she said as she scuffed the ground with a hoof.

“Why not?”

“He would not want to go with me.”

That’s what you think, Jaze thought but said, “You won’t know unless you ask.”

“He would not want me.” Fluttershy sighed.

“Look Fluttershy,” Jaze put a hand under her chin and lifted her head to meet his gaze, “you should ask him to go with you. The worst that can happen is he says no, and at least then you’ll know for sure. The worst feeling in the world is never knowing the answer to a question you should have asked.”

“Okay Jaze, I’ll try to ask him.”

“Don’t try, just do it.” He let her look to the ground again, “I’m going to go start getting everything ready for tonight; I expect you to have asked him long before we are ready to go.” He gave her a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, I bet that things will go better than you expect.”

“Alright Rarity, bring them out.” Jaze said as he and Trixie stood in Carousel Boutique.

“Here they are!” the excited unicorn exclaimed as she wheeled two mannequins out. One had on Trixie’s new dress while the other was wearing Jaze’s outfit. The pair sat stunned as they took in their new garments. Jaze’s outfit had been completed; the same black doublet and simple pants, and the completed cape ran from his shoulder to just above his knee and covered the right half of his chest and Rarity had fashioned black, cloth boots that came up to Jaze’s calf.

More impressive was Trixie’s dress. It was in two layers; the bottom layer was a dark black with small golden stars on it, while the top layer was a beautiful fuchsia. A deep purple scarf would wrap around Trixie’s neck and attach to the cloth saddle rimmed with a small amount of lace. There were two muted pink ribbons that wrapped around her waist and streamed off her back to follow the dress to the floor. Rarity had made white boots to slip on over Trixie’s forelegs.

“Whoa Rarity, these are amazing. Thank you so much!” Jaze said as he stepped up to his new attire, “I have just one question. Why did you leave it unbalanced to the right?”

“Oh please.” Rarity said with a satisfied grin and a quiet laugh, “I know what I’m doing. That’s what that is for.” She pointed to Jaze’s right hand.

He looked down to see Sairugi, all but forgotten when Rarity had brought out her gifts. “I see, but I cannot wear this at the Gala.”

“And why not?”

“Because of what it represents.” Jaze did not want to bring an implement of war to a party. Especially one in honor of the Princesses, it just seemed like he was mocking the peace that they had in this world.

“What do you mean by that darling?”

“Nothing,” Jaze sighed, “I guess I will wear this thing again, since you out so much work into making the outfit to go with the sword.” Jaze walked over and tied Sairugi to the almost invisible black belt. Jaze had to admit, it looked quite dashing.

“Good,” Rarity said with satisfaction, then turned to Trixie, “and how do you like yours?”

“It’s beautiful,” the unicorn breathed, “It’s the nicest thing anypony’s done for me in a long time.”

Rarity glanced at Jaze, “I seem to be getting that a lot lately.”

“Thank you Rarity, thank you so much.” Trixie said gleefully.

“Indeed, at least I won’t look out of place when I make a fool of myself.” Jaze said cynically.

“Would you stop that.” Rarity gave him a stern glare, “You couldn’t possibly make more of a fool of yourself than we already did.”

“Why, what did you do?”

“We promised never to speak of that night again. We all have parts of our past we don’t like.”

“True enough,” Jaze said as his own history passed through his mind.

Jaze and Trixie left the boutique with their outfits sealed in bags to keep them clean until that night. Jaze had them both carefully hung from his shoulders so as to not wrinkle them or let them drag the ground. Absorbed as he was, the soldier did not notice Fluttershy until he had walked into her. He caught the garments before they hit the dirt and cursed himself for not paying attention as he bent to help his yellow friend to her feet. Trixie was having a good laugh at the two of them and Jaze threw her a glare, offset by the smile that was creeping across his face. He thought it was funny as well, but his pride demanded he looked a little mad. Looking behind Fluttershy, Jaze could see Big Macintosh.

“Jaze, I have great news!” Fluttershy was uncharacteristically enthusiastic and excited. Big Macintosh looked pretty pleased as well

“What happened?” He asked politely, though he could already guess the answer.

“You were right.” The two called in unison; they looked at each other, and finally back to the grinning human. The confused looks on their faces were priceless as they slowly drug the whole story from Jaze.

“So you knew all along that he liked me?” Fluttershy asked.

“Only since this morning; that’s why I thought you should ask him, I knew he’d say yes.” the still grinning pilot said.

“Ya slick devil,” Big Mac grinned as he shook his head at his friend.

Jaze patted Big Mac on the shoulder as he passed by, “Have a good time tonight guy.” Jaze and Trixie started off for home again, and this time Jaze was careful to watch where he was going. The trip home was uneventful, and it did not take long for them to reach the house. Jaze looked at the beginning of the new room that was being added to his house for Trixie. It had only been a week and it was already almost finished. The soldier marveled at how quickly the carpenter ponies had put it together, and they were saying it would only be another week before Trixie could move in.

Jaze looked to Trixie, “So have you given any thought to what I said?”

“Of course I have,” she responded quickly, “the extension is almost done. So I guess I am moving in here permanently.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“About you and Twilight,”

“Oh, that. I don’t know, I don’t think she would go for it.”

“You haven’t even asked, have you?”

“No,”

“You won’t know till you try. And I know you would enjoy it.”

“But, I don’t want to ask her for help. She ruined my life!” Trixie snapped.

“Oh come on, we’ve been through this.” Jaze said exasperatedly, “You won’t get any better at magic if you don’t have a teacher, and Twilight’s the most qualified pony around.”

“I know but, it hurts my pride.”

“Listen to me,” he brought Trixie closer, “we are all your friends and helping is part of the job. Nopony will look down on you for asking for help.”

“I know, I know. I have just never had to ask for help before.”

“It’s hard at first, but you’ll get used to receiving help.” He raised a warning finger, “But remember, it’s your job to help your friends as well. You should always do everything you can to help them, for that is the mark of a true friend.”

“I know.” The chastised unicorn whispered.

“Good, now let’s get ready for tonight.”

Jaze and his eight friends were sitting in a reserved car in the express train from Ponyville to Canterlot. There was an air of nervous tension among the ponies as they thought about the night to come. The human was trying to remember everything he had learned for dealing with upper class people, and hoping that the same rules would apply for upper class ponies. Fluttershy and Big Macintosh, who was wearing a rented tux much to Rarity’s displeasure, were sitting in a corner quietly talking to each other. It made Jaze a little jealous that those two had found each other while his love was gone from the world.

He forced such morbid thoughts out of his mind; they would do him no good tonight. It would be the first time he had seen either of the princesses since he left the castle and he did not want to worry them or make them think he was unhappy in Ponyville. Truth be told, he was happier now than he had been in a long time; he no longer worried what each new day would bring.

The young soldier looked to another part of the car to see Trixie and Twilight in a deep conversation about the nuances of magic. It brought a smile to his face to see Trixie settling in so well. While Jaze and Trixie waited for everypony else to complete their preparations, the dusky blue unicorn had asked Twilight if she would begin teaching her more magic. Twilight had immediately agreed and seemed thrilled to share her knowledge with somepony who understood. They may have forgotten about the Gala entirely is Rarity had not interrupted their spell talk to force Twilight into her dress. Now they were at it again, and Jaze hoped that they could keep this level of camaraderie going in the days to come.

Applejack was sitting by her portable fruit stand. She had said that if she had to go, she was going to try to and make some money for the Apple family again. Everypony had had a good laugh at this, including Applejack. Now, she sat eyeing Fluttershy and Big Macintosh, and Jaze couldn’t discern if it was happiness or anger that powered her stare. For everypony’s sake, he hoped it was happiness.

It was not long before the train pulled into Canterlot Station and the eight disembarked to make the long walk to the castle. On the way Jaze kept sweeping his eyes around the capital city. Like many human merchants, the store owners had decorated their businesses to entice those here for the Gala to part with their bits. It seemed that humans and ponies shared many of the same attitudes and beliefs. Looking at Applejack pulling her cart gave Jaze an idea.

The nine companions reached the palace to find a long line had already formed of ponies trying to be the first at the Gala. Jaze started to get in line behind everypony else, until a royal guard pegasus walked over and pulled him aside.

“I assume you’re Mr. Armand.” Jaze answered with a nod, “If you and your friends will follow me, I have been asked to bring you in before the Gala starts.”

“Thank ya kindly sir, but who told ya to do that.” Applejack asked from the queue.

“Why, the Princesses of course they would like a word with you all before the party starts.” The gray pegasus answered. Another guard came forward and relived Applejack of her cart of Apple products.

“Alright then, we’ll follow you.” The guard brought them around to a side entrance guarded by two pegasi. Jaze got the sense that these were not ponies to tangle with, which was confirmed by the fact that all the other ponies gave them a wide birth. Without a word, the two guards stood aside to allow the friends and their escort to pass, which caused many of the ponies to shoot angry glares their way. Jaze wondered why they were getting such special treatment. He hoped that the Princesses knew that they were going to anger many of the party goers with this act.

On the other side of the door stood Princess Luna, she dismissed their escort, the guard carrying the apples left the cart by the door, and guided them to another room where Princess Celestia was waiting. As one, the nine friends fell into bows before the Princesses.

“Please, do not bow before us. Not for now at least.” Princess Luna pleaded.

“Yes, you are all our honored guests and we would like you here as friends.” Princess Celestia gave a small smile to the still bowing ponies and human until they straightened.

“That’s mighty kind a’ ya, Yer Highness.” Applejack said deferentially. The rest of them added their own thanks as well.

It was still an hour before the guards would let anypony enter for the Gala and the Princesses spent that time making small talk with the Ponyville group, asking Jaze how he was settling into living there, how Applejack’s farm was doing, how many dresses Rarity had sold for the Gala, and so on. Jaze could feel a nervous tension in the royal sisters, something was going on. Something that they did not want everypony to know. A few minutes before the start of the Gala, Princess Celestia asked Jaze to accompany her to another room along with Princess Luna.

“What’s wrong Your Highness?” Jaze asked as he leaned against a wall. On a table in the center of the room was a small file of papers. The soldier guessed that they contained the real reason that they had been admitted early.

Sure enough, Celestia floated the file over to him and said, “A few days ago, one of our astrologists in an observatory spotted and sketched this.” Jaze opened the file to reveal a hasty drawing of a cylindrical object with four fins spaced evenly apart. He had seen many objects like this before during the war with the Cye. “We were hoping you might be able to tell us what it is.”

“It is a Cye deep-space, hostile-environment probe.” Jaze said slowly, “They use these to scout out planets for humans.”

“So they know we are here?” Luna asked as worry crept into her voice.

“I highly doubt it.”

“How do you know?” Celestia asked as she stared at the soldier.

“I’ve dealt with these beings for six years, since I was eighteen. I know their limits and capabilities. These probes are very basic and cannot detect organic life.”

“Then how do they use them to find humans?”

“Well, they detect things that humans build. Large power grids, things like that.”

“But what about our power systems?” Luna asked.

“You use solar energy to power your lights and such right?” He got a nod from the Princesses, “That is a passive form of energy. The probes detect things like fossil fuel plants or nuclear energy reactors. I haven’t seen anything like that on this planet so I think your safe…” The penny dropped for Jaze and he slapped a hand to his forehead, “Oh dammit, how could I be so stupid!”

“What is wrong Jaze?” Celestia asked calmly.

“I’ve been a real idiot, that’s what’s wrong.” He replied as he began pacing

“Why, what do you mean?”

“A week ago I found my fighter in the Everfree Forest. Between my own discoveries there and helping Trixie, I forgot to see if its nuclear reactor was still functioning. That thing would show up like a beacon to this probe if it was active.” He sat in a chair and cradled his head in his hands, “How could I be so freaking stupid!”

Celestia tried to comfort Jaze with words, “Jaze, you were the one who told us that everypony makes mistakes.”

“But this is different; this could cost ponies their lives! I do not want to be the cause of that!”

“Jaze…” Luna tried to break into his rant, but her voice fell on deaf ears.

“I got to go to the fighter and put it in melt down. If they did see it, then maybe they’ll think it’s a fluke…” Jaze continued to mutter to himself as he made for the door.

A magical grip took hold of his cape, “Jaze stop for a moment.” Celestia had a hold of him and was trying to talk sense into him, “Think Jaze, if the Cye saw the ship there is not anything you can do now. If they did not see the ship then there is no point to going now, when it is dark and you cannot see what else is out there.” She raised an eyebrow, “Need I remind you of the manticore?”

“Every second I wait is another second that the Cye can use to find this place! I have to leave now.” Jaze fought to leave the room, but Celestia’s magical grip was far too powerful for him to break. “And I don’t care if I get hurt so long as my friends are able to keep living their peaceful existence!”

“If you will not think of yourself, think of them.” Jaze stopped struggling and turned to face the Princess, “If you leave now, they will follow you. You would have to make them unconscious to stop them. If all of you go in, somepony will get hurt. Or worse.”

Jaze slowly sank back into his chair and stared at the ground, “Dammit, I screwed up again.” Celestia and Luna could just see the tears slowly winding down his face.

“Jaze, it’s not that bad.” Luna condoled as she draped her wings around her human friend.

“I just don’t know why I keep mucking things up.”

“Everypony makes mistakes Jaze you’ll just have to live with yours and move on.”

“Yes, everyone makes mistakes, but mine always lead to the people I care about most being killed.”

Luna looked at Jaze in surprise; she had not heard him say such a thing before. To answer the Princesses’ questions, he told them of the battle on Vaseti and how he had gotten his love killed. The alicorns were shocked, for they had not heard tales of bloodshed since their lessons on the ancient past.

“Jaze,” Luna asked quietly, “is there any way to tell if the Cye are coming?”

“Maybe,” the pilot responded thoughtfully, “did your astrologist say if this object was moving or stationary?”

“She said that it was moving so fast she did not get a good look at it.” Celestia answered hopefully.

“Good,” Jaze sighed in relief, “that means that the Cye were just doing a routine scan for human settlements. With luck, my fighter could be running red hot and they might still miss it. Even so, I will be slipping away at first light tomorrow to put the reactor in meltdown. If they did notice it, they will hopefully think it was a natural reactor or something.” He slowly calmed himself down, “I think we can still escape notice.”

“Okay, it seems that we will not be able to dissuade you from going to the forest, but thank you for waiting until tomorrow at least.”

Jaze sighed and nodded. He was still feeling terrible about messing up something simple. The Princesses could not drag anymore out of him, nor could they cheer him up at all. The three of them rejoined the others in the adjoining room. Everypony noticed his downtrodden appearance but was reluctant to ask him what had transpired. They all got ready to go mingle with the upper class crowd. Jaze noticed that Celestia seemed as uninterested in the upcoming party as he was.

“What is wrong, Princess?” he asked.

“I was just thinking of the boredom that is about to ensue.” Celestia sighed, “I love to meet our subjects, but I hate that I cannot actually speak with them. I am stuck greeting them at the door.”

“Hmmm, I have an idea.” Jaze said thoughtfully, “Why don’t Princess Luna and I handle greeting for a while. That way, you could go mingle with the crowd for a little bit.”

“I could not ask you two to do that for me. It is my job to greet the guests. They expect it of me.”

“No Jaze is right; we can do this for you.” Luna piped in, “Think of this as a gift from us.”

“But the ponies…”Celestia started.

“Look, Luna is your sister and I am a freak,” Jaze gave a small smile, “I think that they will be happy with meeting us.”

“It’s all settled, Jaze and I will greet the guests, for a little while at least.”

Celestia gave a soft, warm smile “Thank you both for this.”

“Not a problem, but you do owe me.” Jaze said with a light hearted wink. He fought to keep his spirits up and his emotions from showing. He did not want to worry his friends over much. One way or another, this incident would be sorted out tomorrow.

Jaze stood on the balcony overlooking the castle gardens. He had been greeting party going ponies for the last hour and a half, and he had shaken so many hooves that his arm as still trying to make the motions. It had been worth it to see the look of gratitude on Celestia’s face. He felt sad for her; he got the sense that nopony ever did anything nice for her, just because it was nice. A small smile spread across Jaze’s lips. Doing something nice for the one who had done so much for him had been satisfying to the extreme, and the looks of shock and a little fear on the faces of the stuck up demi-royalty that was in attendance was a bonus.

Jaze had forever hated those who thought that the state of their birth made them better than anyone else. Only a few truly seemed to be honored by their invitation to the party, such as an older stallion by the name of Fancy Pants; while the rest had acted as if it were their right to attend. Jaze let off a quiet laugh as he wondered at the looks of shock that would be stuck on some of their faces if they learned that he and his friends did not wish to be here. Absorbed in his thoughts as he was, he did not hear somepony slip up behind him.

“So,” Trixie asked, “are you done with the guests for tonight?”

Jaze spun around, “Yeah, I guess so. Celestia said her and Twilight would greet the rest, and that I should enjoy what’s left of the party.”

“That’s good; I’ve been a little lonely.”

“Why? You have friends here, and it is not too hard to make new ones.”

“Well, everypony seemed busy, so I didn’t want to bother them.”

Jaze smiled and shook his head, “You can’t bother your friends. We just move our less important business to the side. Something has to be pretty important before a friend will ignore you for it.”

“Besides that,” Trixie moved a little closer, “everypony here knows who I am. They all think I am a fool, or worse.”

“Don’t think about what others think about you, they don’t matter at all.” Jaze knelt and placed his arm around Trixie’s shoulders, “The only ones who matter are those you care about and who care about you.”

Jaze stayed where he was for several minutes, still staring off into space. Trixie watched him for a while. Despite his words and smiles, she could see in his eyes that something was bothering him.

“What is the matter Jaze?”She asked worriedly.

“It’s nothing important.” the soldier evaded.

“You shouldn’t lie to friends Jaze. I can see that something is bothering you.”

“I said it’s not important.”

“You can tell me, I am your friend.” Trixie looked up into Jaze’s eyes, “Is it about your friends that you lost in the forest?”

“How did you…”

“Rarity told me your story while she was fitting me for this dress. But don’t evade the question.”

Jaze gave a slight nod, “Yeah, it does have something to do with my time in the forest. But it doesn’t matter.” A thought crossed Jaze’s eyes, “Would you like to see my friends?”

Trixie nodded and Jaze pulled his picture from under his coat, his fingers briefly brushing Evelyn’s ring. Even though he had never given it to her, Jaze still thought of it as hers. He presented the picture to Trixie, who began to study the four humans frozen together in a moment of happiness. She liked the genuine smile and happiness on Jaze’s face. She could see why he was having such trouble staying in Ponyville. She may not have had friends long, but they were already the most important part of her life. She felt that it must be killing him to know that his friends might need him. Jaze explained the three people standing around him in turn pausing only when he reached Evelyn. He had to his face to stay even as he looked at his love; he could still feel the remnants of the anger and hatred that had burned the day she had been killed even though it had slowly burned itself out.

“Why don’t you look for your friends?”Trixie asked unknowingly.

“Because I probably wouldn’t find them.” Jaze stared up at the stars, wondering once again which ones held humanity’s enemy.

“Do you think they’re, well…”

“No,” Jaze said firmly, “I have to believe they’re okay. Otherwise, I don’t know what I would do.” The young man moved away from his unicorn friend and leaned against the balcony again. He could just see Applejack’s fruit stand; he had almost forgotten the plan he had formed on the train. “Hey Trixie we’re going to help a friend.”

Jaze led Trixie and Luna over to the fruit farmer’s stand. A small group of upper-crust ponies was following the Princess around watching her every move and trying to keep up with her opinions. Jaze gave a wink to Applejack and pulled some bits he had brought, just in case, and bought all thereof them apple fritters. As they ate their treats, Jaze watched the ponies that had been trying to follow them around without being obvious about it. He could see that they were still watching the Princess and taking note that she seemed to be enjoying the simple farm mare’s wares. It wasn’t long before the ponies flocked in droves to sample Applejack’s goods. Jaze stayed around long enough to ensure that Applejack would leave with an empty wagon and a full coin purse, then he left with a cheery wave.

“Thank you for that delicious morsel.” Luna said as they left the stand, “We do not have anything like that in the castle.”

“No, thank you,” Jaze replied with a crafty grin, “You just helped ensure that a friend sold all her merchandise.”

“I beg your pardon, but what do you mean?”

“Well, I knew that if everypony saw you buying and enjoying Apple family products they would probably buy them as well.” The soldier shrugged, “Besides, I thought you could use a treat after dealing with some many guests.”

“How did you know your plan would work?” Trixie asked.

“Simple, I know people, and I hoped that ponies acted the same.” Jaze explained, “People will do anything if someone they respect does it. I figured that these ponies would at least think about buying something if they saw you do it.” A grin broke across his face, “Humans call it ‘monkey see, monkey do’.”

Luna mirrored Jaze’s smile, “I never took you for the devious type.”

“We all have our moments.”

“There is still a party to be had, shall we?” Trixie said as she bowed towards the door to dancehall.”

“Sounds wonderful, lead the way Princess.”

“Please Jaze; ‘Luna’ will do fine.”

“If you say so,” Jaze said as he bowed. The bow had the desired effect as Luna blushed and motioned for him to straighten. As Luna and Jaze started for the door, Trixie saw a look of worry cross his face. Whatever he and the Princesses had talked about was still bothering him, though he was doing a good job hiding it. Not good enough to hide from Trixie, who had quickly learned how to read her friend’s moods.

The party passed slowly for Jaze. He had trouble focusing on the here and now; while talking to the party goers he was all smiles and cheer, but the moment no one was looking he back to brooding. Again, he thought bitterly, I failed again. C’mon, stop this, it will solve nothing. Just wait until tomorrow, then you can fix this. By the time the party was winding to a close, he was ready just to crawl into bed and await the dawn. He was already planning his trip into the forest in the morning, and he was terrified of what he would find. By the time he and his friends made it back to Ponyville he was dead tired. Jaze thought that he would have trouble falling asleep tonight, but he was out the moment his body met the bed.