“Mom, I’m bored!” Vela groaned in the chariot as they entered the back half of the journey. She always hated this trip, a two day trip just to go see her stupid in-laws and stupid family that thought they were all smarter than her.

They were, but that just made them that much more stupid, in her opinion at least.

“Nice to meet you bored, I’m mom,” Aurora laughed at her joke; she was the only one.

“You gonna stop making that joke?” Vela asked.

“You gonna stop stating the obvious?”

“No.”

“Then no.”

Vela rolled her eyes and sighed. “I still don't know why you wouldn’t just leave me behind. I’m old enough to look after myself you know.”

“Because the serving staff threatened to put your head on a pike next time we do,” Icarus turned to his daughter and frowned. “I swear I don’t know what’s wrong with you girl.”

‘She takes after you,’ Aurora thought with a smile. She did not say it, but she really did not need to. Icarus was dense, but he was not that dense. The stubborn jackass had been blessed with a daughter just like him.

This was just that tree bearing fruit.

“Sister…” a little voice behind her caught Vela’s attention and cut off her epic retort to her dad’s statement.

Vela turned and looked at her brother. As with every time she saw his face, her heart melted. Anyone else: Griffin, pony, dog, whatever, she would not care, she would not give them the time of day or not even a minuscule of her attention.

Little Dayspring, there was just something about her brother, something that brought out her protective nature. She would take on the entire world to prevent him from coming to any harm.

Woe be it to the world should that day ever come.

“Yes brother, what can I do for you?” her voice was changed, gone was the arrogance, the jerkiness, the condescending nature. In its place was a sister’s love for her younger brother, pure and unconditional.

“Thank you… for coming with,” Dayspring hugged her.

Vela wrapped a claw around her brother, “No problem.”

He looked up at her, “You’re cold, here, have my blankie,” the little hippogriff took his favorite blue blanket from around his body and wrapped it around his sister’s. It was much too small to do any good but she knew better than to try and deny the gift.

Dayspring, quite literally, owned nothing. He gave everything he had away to everyone he met. Those in the palace quickly grew accustomed to it. They would thank the small hippogriff for his gift and tactfully place it back in his room when he ran off.

Anything else and Dayspring would start crying, Vela would get pissed, and, well, that's when things would go really bad really fast. After the second time it occurred, Aurora ordered all the weapons in the palace locked up when not in use; especially Siros’s Vengeance, which, much like her father, seemed to be Vela’s go-to for solving any problem.

“Thanks, little brother.”

“No problem,” Dayspring said with a grin as he started shivering from the wind. Vela reached a claw around him and brought him close, blocking the wind from hitting his body with her own. The extra warmth did wonders to warm him up.

His smile was all she needed to find her own.

Aurora pressed her muzzle against her husband’s. They had considered telling Vela the truth of why they were going to Canterlot, but they decided against for one worrisome thought: The actions Vela might take knowing her mom might be a threat to her brother.

However much Icarus and Aurora wanted to dismiss the thought of their daughter attacking Aurora, neither of them could fully do so. Especially after the incident at Dayspring’s pre-school, an event that caused them both to be homeschooled from that day forward.

“You gonna be alright?” Icarus whispered in his wife’s ear.

Aurora looked back at her two children, she felt both happy and sad in equal measure. “As long as mom finds out why…” she left the last part unspoken. Some things were better off unsaid.

Icarus simply wrapped her in a hug and brought her in close. He wished he could spare her from this, the feeling of deep regret over her actions. The mare had been through some of the worst events in his history, faced down some of the worst things imaginable, but nothing like this.

He’d face a horde of rampaging dragons if it meant he could take away his wife’s pain. Sadly, it would only add to it.

How do you protect someone from themselves?

“It’s Twilight, she’ll find something,” Icarus said the words, but he did not believe them. His greatest fear was not that she might find something, but that she would find nothing, that his wife simply lost control of her emotions.

A world where he could not trust his wife around her own children, he could not imagine such a world, he would not imagine such a world.

“Honey, you’re squeezing a little hard,” Aurora barely managed to squeak the words out.

Icarus let his wife go and almost had to laugh. Her dark-blue coat was somehow darker. “Sorry.”

“Hey mom, you think Blaze and Flash will be there?”

Aurora turned to her son, a hopeful look on his face at the thought of being able to spend time with his second cousins.

“I doubt it honey,” Aurora said with a smile, one that faded when she looked up at her daughter, “but if they are, what are you going to do Vela?”

Vela sighed, loudly. “Apologize for knocking Flash’s teeth out of his empty skull.”

“Uh hu,” Icarus started in, “and if you don’t you know what will happen.”

“But Dad!” Vela protested.

“No buts, laying into your cousin like that is uncalled for anyway, but disobey your mother and so help me,” her dad seemed larger to her at that moment.

The palace in Warclaw was huge, staffed with a small army of guards and servants to take care of it. As with all such places, rumors would travel around. Most of them were simply hearsay, she knew because it was always a different story, told a different way. However, there was an old rumor that never changed; the one about her dad, and his temper. That one was always the same.

“Yes, father,” Vela looked down, no longer able to meet his glare.

“Good girl.”

“Sis, why are you so sad?” Dayspring asked as he looked up at his sister’s face. The little hippogriff rolled over and made to bat at her beak, a little game he loved to play with his big sister.

Vela’s frown turned upside down at that. She playfully batted at his stomach with her own claw.

Icarus laughed before remembering something. He asked his wife, “How about you? You gonna be able to get along with your brother?”

Aurora’s smile left her. It had been almost two years since she last saw Taz, every single time they met he found some new way to get under her fur, he would do something that would force her to yell at him. Thankfully, during their last few visits, Rainbow and Taz were out with one excuse or another. Aurora had a feeling that due to the impromptu nature of this trip, she would not get that lucky again.

It had been that way forever, she hoped, she prayed he’d grow out of it, or at least that he’d leave her alone. Heck, she’d take passive aggressive at this point.

Sadly, it was just not meant to be. She was sure that as soon as Taz found out she was there, he would start in all over again. After all, he had almost two years of teasing her to make up for.

‘Two years and yet it feels like only yesterday,’ she thought, ‘hopefully he’s grown out of it?’

She did not bet on it.

“We should be in Canterlot tomorrow morning, empress,” The griffin pulling the flying chariot called out.

“Thank you, good sir,” Aurora lie down, letting herself rest and tactfully ignoring her husband’s question. It would have been easier to fly there herself, but that would have raised too many questions. Instead they took the whole family and went to see her mom.

‘A family get-together’ was easier to explain then ‘I almost attacked my son’.

She just really hoped Twilight would find something.

………………………………

“Dude, you suck.”

“Shut up, Taz.”

“No, I mean it, I’ve seen you suck before, but this is a whole new level of it, this is like Shimmering Night level of suck.”

“Dude, shut up,” Flash turned to him, a look of indignation on his face as he held the small ball in his right hoof. Turning back to the stack of nine cups he had to knock over, he pulled his hoof back and threw with all his might.

And missed, again, for the third time.

Blaze started laughing; Taz just sat back with a look of smugness on his face. “If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you do it?” Flash asked him.

“I would, but I don’t want to show you up.”

“Sure, chicken.”

“Hey, I’m not a chicken.”

“If you don’t do it, you kind of are,” Blaze looked ready to begin the chicken dance. Taz cut him off before ‘that’ could start.

“Fine, I’ll win the stupid game,” he placed two bits on the counter; the earth pony behind the stand reached down and grabbed three balls from behind the counter. “First one is just a warm up,” Taz stated to his friends.

He reared back with his hoof and threw with all his might. He missed the cups but hit his target, a spot just up and to the left of the stack.

“Who sucks now?” Flash asked, teasingly.

‘Dumbass, what part of ‘the first one was a warm up’ did you miss out on?’ Taz thought with a smile. He then considered a way to make this even more interesting, he thought, briefly, of throwing the second ball too. He could then make a wager with his cousin and easily knock down the stack will ball three.

He wrote that off, sure he could do it, but it was not right.

“Keep talking,” Taz smiled, “I’ll get it this time.”

He picked up his second ball and threw it dead center at the stack of cups. It hit the bottom of the stack with enough force to knock all the cups off the platform.

“We have a winner! What would you like young stallion?”

For the first time since they walked up to this game, Taz looked up at the prizes. He had not considered what to get, as his motivation for playing had been simply to show up Flash. “I guess I’ll get… let me get the earth pony, the black one.”

The pony behind the counter picked up a stick and took the small earth pony plushie from off the rack. He gave it to Taz with a smile.

‘Ana would really like this.’

The thought came unbidden and unwanted to his mind. Suddenly, it was not that much fun being out with these two. He suddenly wanted to be back with Ana. However, Taz steeled his resolve, he had made the promise to the twins first, that had to be the one he kept.

That’s what his mom told him anyway, ‘if two promises clash, go with the one you made them first’.

It sounded good, in theory.

“You coming, Taz?” Blaze called out behind him. Taz looked up; the twins were already on the way to the Windseeker. It was only by simply happenstance that they had stopped here to play this game.

“Yeah, be right there!” he yelled as he ran to catch up. It was not a long run, but it was made a little more difficult by the plushie he had to keep in his mouth, not having the time to put it in his bag.

“Dude, you look funny,” Blaze laughed as they made it to the back of the line for the ride.

Taz managed to open his bag and place the toy in it, not an easy task when his mouth had to carry the plushie. “Shut up,” Taz said as he achieved victory over the complex task.

“Oh man, this ride looks awesome!” Flash was practically jumping up and down at the prospect of riding the Windseeker.

“Really?” Taz just raised an eyebrow at that, “I didn’t think you two would get much enjoyment from it, you know as you can fly and all.”

“Flying’s awesome, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the feeling of flying that really makes it cool. This is all the enjoyment with none of the work!”

Taz glared at him, but said nothing. Personally he’d rather be able to fly any day of the week. However, they seemed happy about it, so he wrote it off.

It took fifteen minutes for them to reach the front of the line, time spent bullshitting with each other and ogling the occasional mare that walked by. Not loud enough for them to overhear, they all put on a brave face for each other, but none of them were that brave. That being said, the mare behind them looked utterly disgusted at their behavior.

“Sweet, we’re next!” Flash shouted.

“Wow, that took forever,” Taz shook his head; again he could not believe a prince had to wait in line like this.

“Alright, how many in your party?” The operator asked.

“Three,” Taz replied.

“Oh, I’m sorry boys, these are two-seaters. One of you will have to ride by yourself.”

The twins just looked at each other than at Taz. “Go ahead,” Taz replied, “I’ll ride by myself.”

“Sweet!” Blaze yelled as he ran forward.

“Thanks, Taz,” Flash said as he flew forward to catch up with his brother.

Taz just watched them go with a faux smile. Placing his bag down on the ground in a safe spot, he got into his compartment and waited, and waited, and waited.

Suddenly, the feeling from earlier came back. It was not as much fun as he thought it would be. His mind looked out at the fair. It was still going, it was still in progress, nothing had changed that should have affected his mood.

Yet, it just seemed bland, tasteless even. He turned his head to look at his cousins; they were having a blast together. Every few seconds one of them, most likely Blaze, would point a hoof at something in the distance and laugh.

Taz thought of his bag, he thought of the plushie he had won without intending too. He thought of Ana.

He could not stop thinking about her. About how happy she was when he was around, about how much she helped him, about when she hit him, how it just seemed to fix everything.

About how hurt she must be that he went off with the twins.

“Alright son, time to get off now.”

Taz snapped back to reality. His mane was a mess, he felt a lot colder, and a pony was standing outside his compartment waiting for him to get off.

“Wasn’t that awesome?!” Flash yelled from behind the pony.

Taz simply nodded, in truth he had been so lost in thought he missed the whole thing. He did not think it was ‘awesome’ at all. He thought it sucked, the whole thing, all of it. Suddenly he did not want to be here, he wanted to be alone. He wanted to be away from everypony.

“Hey guys, I need to use the restroom,” Taz made his excuse, retrieved his bag, and left before even hearing their reply.

…

The restroom was down the hill and to the left, Taz walked in the opposite direction. He just wanted to be away, away from all the hustle of the fair, from all the ponies having a good time.

He was not having a good time; he was having a shitty time. ‘What did I do wrong?’ he never felt bad about keeping his promises before. Heck, he was always proud of himself for doing so. It always left him feeling good. This time… this time not so much; he felt like shit.

His eyes darted to and fro, looking for anywhere he could go that would let him be alone, let him figure out his own thoughts for a minute, without all the ponies in the fair around him.

As if by happenstance, they fell upon a cutie mark. One he recognized even though he only caught a glance of it, a large wheel and axle on a yellow coat. “Sunshine?” Taz said aloud without intending too.

The pony just kept walking, as if he had not heard his name being called out in the screaming mob of ponies all around. Taz growled in frustration as he gave chase. He did not know why, but he just wanted to talk to him. Sunshine Spring always had good advice; he was always just trying to help. ‘Well, if I can fix one mistake today maybe that will offset the other one I made,’ Taz rationalized why he was running after him.

It was a rational thought, a way to try and balance the scales. With that one thought in favor and none against, he ran. He did his best to push through the mob and try and find the pony he wanted… needed to find.

It was madding how well Sunshine seemed to stay hidden, every time Taz swore he was just about to catch up to him, that yellow coat would be turning yet another corner. Taz ran around the latest ride and paused.

Sunshine was simply sitting there, at the top of a hill, all by himself looking at him. Somehow, the pony had found the one secluded spot there was in the entire fair, he had led Taz here without Taz telling him he even wanted to talk, much less that he wanted to talk alone.

Taz laughed, it was just like Sunshine to know what he needed. ‘His cutie mark should have been a crystal ball,’ the young stallion joked in his head.

When he took his next step, Taz paused. The memory of the last time they spoke came back to his mind, the reason why Taz wanted to talk to him before… before this place. He told Sunshine he was not his friend anymore.

Taz lowered his head in shame, but kept walking. He stopped three hooves away from his friend… ex-friend “Sunshine, I-”

A hoof placed on his shoulder caused him to look up. He was expecting to see, well, he did not know what to expect honestly, but looking at that friendly smile. Taz knew this is what he should have expected.

“I know you didn’t mean it,” Sunshine said with a smile.

Taz returned it, “Thank you, but still, I’m sorry. I never should have said it to begin with. It was wrong and stupid of me to say something like that.”

“I was wrong too; I shouldn’t have tried to come between you and Nighttide. It’s obvious that you care a lot for her, and she for you. I may have my personal reservations against her, but I shouldn’t have tried to make you choose like that.”

“Friends?” Taz asked.

“Always,” Sunshine brought the young colt in for a hug. One that Taz happily returned.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Taz asked the obvious question. In truth he had never seen the stallion out of his house. Seeing him anywhere else, much less so far away, was an enigma.

“What? You think I’d miss out on the Canterlot Fair?”

“You like these things, really?” Taz looked at him, disbelieving.

“Well, I like the rides that simulate flight,” Sunshine laughed, “Ever since I was little I always wanted to fly. I would look at pegasus with such jealousy because they had access to a world that I would never know.”

Taz just stared at him, shock evident on his face. “But you have a horn?”

Sunshine just looked at him, “What does that have to do with wanting to fly?”

“But… you… can… do… magic,” Taz started rubbing his head again. In too many ways, this felt like his talk with Shimmering Night all over again.

“Ah, you think because I can do magic, I'd never want to fly,” Sunshine lay down on the ground, relaxing as he enjoyed the wet grass against his coat. “Taz, we all have times we want more out of life, when we look at what someone else has and think ‘what must that be like’. I’ve known plenty of pegasus who wonder what it would be like to use magic, and plenty of unicorns who wish they could fly. While earth ponies may sometimes wish for both, unicorns and pegasi alike are jealous of their strength. ”

“What do alicorns wish?" Taz copied the older stallion’s pose.

Sunshine laughed, “I don’t know any personally, but if I were a betting stallion, I’d say they wish they could be just like everyone else.”

“Huh?”

“Well, think about it, if you’re an alicorn, you stand out. You are never-not an alicorn. All three races may sometimes be jealous of each other, but alicorns are always a target for such emotions. What do you suppose that must be like for them?”

Taz paused; he had not considered that before, he had not considered a lot before. “Wait, so is no one happy?”

Sunshine laughed and rolled over on the ground, playing like a little school-colt. “Happiness comes from being satisfied with who you are, and having true friends, not from getting what you want.”

“Doesn’t getting what you want make you happy?”

Again, another laugh, “Nope, because what you want never ends. If you made a list of everything in the world you ever wanted and checked every item on that list off, you would simply have a new list tomorrow, the day after that, and the day after that. You would forever be hunting the things that you thought would make you happy.”

“I… I…” Taz was at a loss for words.

Sunshine rolled back over the other way, placed a hoof on the young stallion’s shoulder, and gestured for him to look back at the fair. “Look over there, tell me what you see.”

“The fair?”

“Accurate, but not what I meant. I see ponies having fun. They’re playing games, riding rides, just hanging out with their friends and family. Few if any are actually getting anything. If anything they’re spending bits they shouldn’t on stuff that’s just going to be thrown away in a week anyway.”

“So, it’s not about what you do, but it’s about who you do it with?”

“Exactly, as long as you’re with good friends you could have a job where you have to hoof-scrub a toilet and have the greatest time of your life. Alternately, you can be prince of an entire nation and be miserable. Station in life, what you are born as, how much stuff you have, none of these things give happiness. Rather, it comes from right here,” Sunshine placed a hoof on Taz’s heart.

Taz looked down on the ground, “I’m not happy.”

“Why not?”

“Mom… Rainbow always told me to keep my promise, that I should be a stallion of my word.”

“An admirable quality, does that not make you happy?”

“No, it does, normally.”

“Normally?”

“I… I made a promise to take Ana, my niece, out for the day. We came here together, I… I… I left her alone.”

“So you broke your promise?”

“No!” Taz shouted a little louder than he intended too, “My cousins came into town for the weekend, I… I didn’t know they would be here. I told them last time I saw them that we’d hang out. They won’t be able to do much this weekend, so it was today or never. I… I had two promises and I could only keep one. Mom… she said if that should happen I should go with my first promise. The one I made before the other.”

Sunshine nodded in understanding, “I see, normally keeping your promises makes you feel good, doesn’t it?” Taz just nodded, “but you’re conflicted because even though you know you did the right thing, it doesn’t feel like the right thing.”

Again, Taz nodded.

“Taz, in the end, regardless what promises you make, you have to be true to yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let me ask, who do you think it means more to, Ana, or, Blaze and Flash is it?” Taz nodded that he had gotten their names right. “Blaze and Flash that you spent the day with them?”

“Ana.”

“How do you feel now that you left her alone?”

“Like crap.”

Sunshine smiled, it was one that only spoke of warmth.

“So I shouldn’t keep my promises?” Taz asked after a few second of contemplation.

Sunshine frowned. “Taz, it’s an honorable trait to have. You should always strive to keep your promises, but in a situation like this, where you’ve made two and can only keep one. There is more to consider than which one you made first. In the end, there is no checklist for the right thing to do and the wrong thing; you simply have to make the choice that you can live with. After all, only you can make you happy.”

Taz nodded in understanding, he had been telling himself the same thing the entire time, he was just not listening to himself.

“I… I know what I have to do. I need to go to the palace and apologize to Ana, again.” He added the last part under his breath. It seemed to be his lot in life today to apologize to that mare.

“What makes you think she’s in the palace?” Sunshine asked.

“She’d have gone home after I left her alone.”

“Would she? That’s not the mare you told me about, the one who’s uncomfortable around everyone except when you’re around.”

Taz had a look on his face that said he did not get whatever point Sunshine was trying to make, “Taz, look back at the fair.”

He did as he was instructed, “And?”

“How many ponies are there?”

“Hundreds.”

“So think of everything you know about Ana, about everything you’ve told me she’s like. Picture that young mare left alone by you in the middle of that crowd.”

Taz bolted away from Sunshine as fast as he could. A string of curses left in his wake that would make sailors blush in shame.

Sunshine smiled, “That’s my brother.”

His smile faded as he heard a voice come from behind him. “Dayspring, we need to talk.”

Dayspring frowned as he turned to the speaker, part of him was simply grateful that she waited until Taz left before revealing herself. Although, given what a crappy job she was doing at hiding, he figured he should simply thank Luna for small favors. “Not here Nighttide, let’s go someplace a little less open.”

To his surprise, Nighttide actually looked worried. He knew whatever she wanted to discuss with him, it would be important, very important.

Dayspring teleported the two back to Zecora’s hut with a flash of his horn.

………….

Taz ran as fast as he could through the fair, desperately searching for any sign of the young unicorn he left… he abandoned in the middle of this throbbing mass of ponies.

He searched every area he could, looking in a futile hunt to find her. It was all for naught. Even if Ana was a full sized adult, she would be one of thousands in an area way too big to search by hoof. He needed… he needed… he needed Starlight. She could organize this area into grids and plan out the most efficient search patterns that would guarantee their odds of finding her.

Yes he needed her right now; however, what he got was the twins, “Hey Taz, where did you run off to?!” Blaze shouted.

Taz did not stop running to answer. Indeed, it was only when Blaze landed directly in front of him and Flash behind him, that he stopped at all. “Guys, I’m sorry, I can’t hang out with you any more today. I gotta find Ana.”

“Is she in trouble?” Blaze asked, worried.

“No, she’s hurt,” Taz admitted.

“What, by whom?!” Flash started glaring around the fair, looking for whoever would dare hurt his cousin like that.

“By me,” Taz admitted, downcast. The twins both looked at him, a confused expression on their faces. “I hurt her when I kept my promise to you two. I know I promised we’d hang out next time you were in town, but I promised her I’d spend the day with her yesterday. I didn’t know you two were coming in or that we’d only have today. I’m sorry; I kept my promise to you two when I should have kept the one I made to her.”

Blaze laughed, earning a disgusted look from the other two ponies present. “That’s what this was about? You should ‘a just said so.”

“What?”

Flash lightly punched Taz in the shoulder. “Yeah man, it’s fine if you wanted to go hang out with her instead. We were looking forward to spending the day with you, but not at the cost of disappointing her.”

“Then why’d you let me go with you?”

“I thought you two were good with it,” Flash admitted.

Taz facehoofed, “Ugh, whatever, I hate to ask, but can you two help me find her? I think she’s still here but I’m afraid she’s hidden herself in a corner somewhere.”

Blaze and Flash looked at each other and smiled. “I think we can help you with that,” at that, both twins took off up into the air, they zigzagged all around the fair, attracting quite a bit of attention while leaving white streaks in their wakes.

“Thanks guys,” Taz said to himself as he continued his search.

In the end, it was Blaze that found her. He drew a lightning bolt symbol in the sky before both brothers flew off to whatever trouble they could cause next. Taz wanted to facehoof again as he watched them leave, ‘What if I didn’t notice it or couldn’t see it?’

He wrote that off and ran to where the lightning bolt pointed before it faded away. The twins were never big thinkers, so he could not really fault them for that. It took a little searching on his part, but he finally found her.

Ana looked awful. The unicorn seemed to have run here from where he left her, she was crying, and from the looks of things, she had been for quite some time. Her eyes were covered by her hooves. Her once immaculate mane was a mess, covered in mud and dirt from where she lay. It was obvious to the stallion that she would have stayed in that position until the fair closed and she could leave without being seen.

At two a.m. tomorrow. Ten hours from now.

‘Luna, what did I do?’ Taz asked himself as he walked closer.

“Go away! I’m fine; I just want to be alone!” Ana called out as she heard someone approach, her shouting was on reflex to the noise alone, and not who was coming.

“I don’t think that’s true,” Taz said back, his voice full of sorrow.

Ana looked up, that was the last voice she had been expecting, “Taz?”

Taz walked up and sat in the mud, right beside her. He did not care about getting muddy; he only cared about what he did to his friend. “Ana, I’m so, so sorry.”

“About what,” she sniffled as she said those words, “you were just keeping your promise. I… I don’t fault you for that.”

“What good is keeping your promise if it makes you feel like shit afterwards? Ana, I should have kept my promise, my promise to you,” he closed the gap between them. As she got up out of the mud; he wrapped her up in a hug.

The action earned a little ‘eep’ from the mare, but he did not stop, he would not stop.

“I’m getting you dirty,” Ana cried as she realized how brown his black coat was becoming.

“I don’t care,” Taz said.

They stayed like that for a while. Taz hoped and prayed that Ana believed him, that she understood the truth in his words.

She did.

When they separated, Taz looked her in the eye, “You know, I think it’s time for you to keep your promise.”

“What’s that?” Ana asked.

“You promised you would slap me when I needed it.”

She raised a muddy hoof and lightly tapped the stallion across the muzzle, an action that just caused him to get even dirtier.

Ana found herself with the oddest of sensations as she looked at his dirt covered coat and muzzle.

She laughed.

Taz soon followed.

“If it’s not too late, if you still want to enjoy the fair with your favorite uncle that is.”

“I’d love too,” Ana looked down and noticed something that caused her some concern, “but, we’re filthy.”

Taz noticed it too, “I don’t care if you don’t.”

She pressed her coat against his, “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve heard all day. But seriously, we’re not going out into that looking like we do. Let’s find a hose or something first.”

It took a little searching, but Taz eventually found one on the outskirts’ of the fair. He put both of their packs to the side and Ana sprayed them down by lifting the hose over them with her magic.

In the end, they were both soaking wet, with horrible looking manes. Yet, none of that could remove the smiles on their faces.

“Hang on, let me fix our hair,” Ana started casting her spell; Taz lightly tapped her horn with a hoof, stopping it dead.

“No.”

“No?”

“No, I want to spend the day with you like this, with how you naturally are. Besides,” Taz added with a smile, “your spell wouldn’t work on me anyway.”

It flew in the face of everything Ana stood for, everything her cutie mark told her to do. Yet, hearing Taz say those words, she could not help but blush as she gave her reply, “Okay.”

The two made their way out into the fair, Ana had been expecting looks of shock and horror at what they looked like, instead, she got nothing, no one seemed to care. To them, they were just two wet ponies having fun together.

She found something else, in his company, she did not care either.

Ana had been expecting Taz to lead her to the Enterprise, or the Windseeker, or the roller-coaster in the distance. Instead, he led her to the food court.

“Taz, I-”

“Let’s get something to eat, my treat,” Taz said with a smile as he found them a table and let her sat down. The stallion moved off to get their favorite food.

The two found themselves quickly able to put it all behind them. They ate together, went on rides together, and laughed together. Although, Taz made a point of avoiding any of the thrill seeking rides.

To him it did not matter what they did, with company like Ana, the two of them could sit beneath a tree and study geometry – his least favorite subject – as long as they did it together, he would be happy.

At sunset, the two found themselves on the Ferris wheel; they had a bird’s eye view of his mom’s sun going down in the distance. Ana pressed herself up to his side, a smile over her unkempt mane.

Taz remembered something, he reached into his bag and pulled out the little plushie he had won earlier. “Hey, I got this for you.”

Ana took it with a smile on her face and hugged it close to her breast. “Thank you! I love it!”

He wrapped a hoof around her. “What are you going to call it?”

“Thrakerzod, destroyer of Taz!” she playfully began attacking Taz’s muzzle with one of Thrakerzod’s hooves.

Taz just laughed as he held her tighter. Together they admired just how different everything looked at twilight time, just how magical the world was.

He looked back at Ana, grateful that she was his friend, and that she forgave him for all his faults. Moreover, that she was his friend even knowing all his faults the way she did.

‘Well, not all my faults, but no one knows that one.’ Taz dismissed that last thought; some things were better not dwelled on.

His sudden melancholy was quickly forgotten, as together, the two watched the sun set in the distance and all the lights turn on in the city.

His last thought as the moon rose was, ‘you were right, Starlight. Friendship is Magic’.

He could honestly say, at that point in time, that he was truly happy.

It would be the last time he felt that way for a long, long time.

Author's Notes:

In the end, regardless what you promise, you have to be true to yourself.