"So... how about it? Still want to go on that date?" I ask her again with a smile and let her go.

I wipe her eyes with a thumb and she smiles at me. "I'd love to," she replies.

"Wonderful, we shall take over the court tomorrow since somepony adjourned it for the rest of the day," Luna says smirking at me.

"Good, it means Celestia can get some rest and I can plan for the date tomorrow," I reply.

Celestia then yawns with her right hand over her mouth. "I could do with some rest right now," she says tiredly.

I smile, pick up my sword, sheathe it, and pick Celestia up bridal style. She yelps from the sudden action but wraps her arms around my neck and starts to giggle.

I then look at Luna. "I'll see you later tonight, Luna. Just gotta get this one to her room first," I tell her with a chuckle and head for the door.

"Yes, we shall see thee tonight," she replies and stifles a laugh.

I leave the Throne Room and begin heading to Celestia's room. "This is the first time anypony has carried me like this besides my parents, this is nice," Celestia says and rests her head on my chest plate. "What made you ask me to court you?" she asks.

"Mainly Luna's idea, but she told me that men here can have multiple partners due to the male to female ratio. She also told me you have feelings for me, so I decided to give it a chance. You're beautiful, kind, gentle, and a great friend. I didn't see a reason not to try," I tell her.

She hums softly and just relaxes. The guards and maids are all staring at us as we pass by with blank expressions. I reach her room and Celestia opens the door with her magic, I walk in and before I could place her on the bed, she gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you," she says and smiles.

I return the smile and place her down on the bed where her horn glows and she's now in a light pink nightgown... I wish I could change clothes and armour that fast. I tuck her in and kiss her just below her horn.

"Sleep well, Celestia," I say and start walking to the door.

"You can call me Tia if you want," she says looking at me.

"Sure, goodnight, Tia," I reply and exit the room.

I still have about four hours till I have to go to bed myself so I head over to the Archives to see what I can learn about the gryphons. Since their blatant declaration of war, they've been rather quiet with only a few raids, it wouldn't hurt to find out what I can about them...

After three hours I finish reading the last book on my pile. Records state that the gryphons have a natural resistance to the magic from the planet and can greatly reduce the damage or effect they take, but there's something that is bothering me... how are they resistant to my magic if it's not from this world? Also the books say they're still damaged and effected by magic but just not by much, the ones I fought were practically immune to mine and the Princesses magic... I've got a bad feeling about what could be behind it.

The gryphon Capital of Aires Peak lies to the north west of Equestria on the other side of the Badlands. The council that governs them is on the tallest mountain in the middle of the kingdom.

The council consists of ten elders who vote, decide, and make the laws of the land. They also handle national threats and their army as well. They were formed after the last king died without any heirs to take the throne.

I've also looked at biology books showing what organs they have, muscles structure, and potential weaknesses. It seems they can't reach their own backs with their talons, but can with their beaks. That's something to look forward to should I find myself on the back of one.

I then spent thirty minutes thinking of where to take Celestia on our date. Once planed, I place the books back on their shelves and head to Luna's room and knock on the door. "Enter," Luna says.

I open the door and close it behind me. "So what have you been up to?" I ask her.

She sighs. "Trying to calm the Nobles down for the last three hours after thy little... rebuke. They're demanding thy head for thine actions against them," she tells me.

I huff and walk over to Luna sitting on the bed while stripping my armour. "If they want my head, they can come and get it themselves. I'm not afraid of their empty threats," I reply.

"That may be true, but it appears Blueblood is getting them riled up. If this continues, there may well be a riot on our hands," she tells me.

"How come you and Celestia have allowed them to be this arrogant?" I ask her.

"It was not always this way, they used to be kind and helped others with their status and wealth. It would seem during our absence, they've grown selfish and arrogant, thinking they're better than anypony else." She sighs and shakes her head. "It saddens us to see they have fallen so far."

"So, is there anyway to change them? Or is it a lost cause?" I ask.

"It would probably take years to adjust their attitudes. Only a few of the families remain loyal to the old ways, like sir Fancy Pants and his wife," she replies.

I yawn and nodded. "Well, I think I have a good plan ready for Celestia tomorrow. Maybe I'll wear that suit I never got to wear for the Gala." I say and lay down on the bed.

Luna changes into her nightgown and we go to sleep.

I wake up and get ready for the day. I get dressed into my black suit with silver cuffs, light blue shirt, and dress shoes. Luna wears her black dress with silver trimming and heads out for breakfast. I on the other hand, will be taking Celestia out for breakfast today. I grab a pouch with two hundred bits inside and my sword and leave the room. I may be taking her out, but I'm still her knight.

I walk down the hall to Celestia's room and knock on the door, the door opens with a golden aura around the handle. I see Celestia sitting in front of a table with a mirror on it, her hair isn't her usual multi pastel coloured wavy hair, but light pink that goes down the middle of her back. She's smiling while brushing her hair.

"You seem to be in a good mood," I say.

She stops brushing and looks at me. "And why wouldn't I be? I haven't gone on a date in over eight hundred years," she replies with a giggle.

"Well, I think I have a nice day planned out for you," I tell her. "Shall I wait outside?" I ask.

"No, you can wait here," she replies and finishes her hair, she then gets up and enters her closet. I wait for a few minutes and she comes back out in a sky blue dress with white and gold patterns on it, her hair is still light pink.

"Looking good," I tell her.

"Thank you, you're looking rather charming yourself," she replies with a smile. "So what do you have planned for today?" she asks.

"Well first, I'm going to take you to a nice café for breakfast, then we can go and visit Twilight and have lunch at Sugarcube Corner. After that we can come back for any activity you want to do, then we'll go for a romantic dinner at some fancy restaurant of your choice, and lastly, a relaxing walk through the park," I tell her. To be honest, I couldn't really think of anything else since I've never been on a properly planned date before.

She just smiles at me. "Sounds lovely. Well then, shall we be off?" she asks.

I hold out my left arm and she hooks her right arm around it. We leave the Castle with many a guard, maid, noble, and even the average civilian staring at us wide eyed and slack jawed.

We arrive at the Golden Roast Café and I greet Mocha. "Good morning, Mocha! I see you're busy today," I say. The customers that see us stop eating and just stare at us, which we just ignore.

She's facing away from us as she's making a drink for another customer. "Yeah! Been hectic all morning... but I'm doing well!" she replies and turns around, her smile instantly vanishes and her eyes widen. "P-P-Princess Celestia!" she says and once again trips over herself.

I chuckle as she gets back up with a sheepish grin. "H-How can I help you?" she asks Celestia.

"We'd like a table for two," Celestia replies.

"R-Right!" Mocha nervously says and looks around, there's a table in the back unoccupied. "Okay! Follow me please." We're lead to a table with comfortable chairs with a vase of fresh roses in the centre of the table.

We sit down and make our orders. I get a mixed salad with dressing, a few pieces of toast and a glass of orange juice. Celestia has prench toast, something called a sunday strata and a glass of water.

We eat as she tells me how she was doing over the time Luna was training me. The nobles and civilians have been asking her for advice and requests, and just like when I was with them, some... well mostly all of the nobles had unreasonable requests, some even demanded them.

"I asked Luna this, but why do you allow them to act like this? In Terra, the King would never allow such behaviour from the kingdom's so called elite," I ask her.

"I'm afraid that would be my fault. Luna was the one who kept them in line, but when she was... sent away, they took advantage of my kindness and while I denied most of their outlandish requests, they began acting like they were the ones running Equestria," she tells me and sighs.

"Well now that Luna is back, can't she just put them back in line?" I ask.

"She's already tried that and Blueblood even sided with her, he used to be a well respected member of the nobility like Fancy Pants. But just three months ago, he's gotten really... egotistic," she tells me.

Wait... Blueblood used to be a nice guy? "What made him change so drastically?"

"He went to Manehatten for a conference with the nobility there, though when he came back, he was different," she says. What the hell happened to him in Manehatten that would change him like this? "We never found out why he's changed so much, but now the nobility seems to be siding with him," she tells me.

I frown at that, I hope Night Blade can find something soon.

We finish our breakfast and I pay the bill of thirty-two bits. The other customers act like they weren't watching us, but they're doing a poor act of showing it. We head back to the Castle where we get a Carriage to take us to Ponyville.

Celestia leans against me in the carriage with a smile as she looks out the window. We land in the town square where everyone bows down to Celestia as I help her out.

"Princess!" I hear Twilight shout as she jogs over to us. "Why are you here? I didn't receive any letters saying you were coming," she asks.

"I'm here on a date with Adrian," she bluntly answers with a smile.

I swear I heard the sound of a string snap. I look at Twilight to see her pupils have shrunk and her hair has a few strands sticking out. "A-A-A d-date?" she stutters.

"Why yes. Adrian asked me to court him yesterday, and I agreed," Celestia replies.

"Eh heh, he he," Twilight laughs with a creepy smile.

"Is she alright?" I ask Celestia with a small chuckle as I wave a hand in front of Twilight's face.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," she replies with a giggle of her own.

Twilight then shakes her head and looks at me. "Y-You're courting both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?" she asks me.

I open my mouth to answer, only to have someone jump on my back. I see sky blue arms wrap around my neck. "Whoa dude! You bagged both Princesses? You're a real mares guy ain't cha," Rainbow says teasingly.

"Rainbow! How many times have I told you not to jump on ponies like that?" Twilight scolds her.

"Ah he's fine, big strong guy like him can take a lot more than a little jump," Rainbow replies offhandedly.

"Yeah but his suit can't!" Twilight says. I look over my shoulder and see a tear in the seam.

"Oops," was all Rainbow says as she lets go. "Sorry!" she quickly apologises.

I look more closely as the entire sleeve just drops off. Bugger, and Luna got me this suit too.

The sleeve glows gold and slithers back onto my arm and reattaches itself to my shoulder. Wow, is there nothing Celestia can't fix?

I turn to Celestia. "Thanks, Tia," I say to her. I hear Rainbow sigh in relief behind me.

"Tia?" Twilight asks.

"So, Twilight. How has your spell been coming along?" I ask her.

"Oh, erm..." she says and looks at Celestia. I look at Celestia and see her nod at Twilight. "Well, It's almost ready. A few kinks left but it should be ready soon," she tells me.

"Nice, and what does it do?" I ask again.

"It's..." She looks at Celestia who nodded again. "It's a portal to your world," she tells me.

A portal... to Terra? "Why would you want to make a portal to Terra?" I ask confused.

"Well, if we can make a stable portal with your Capital. We could try and make trade agreements and an alliance with your King. We can trade knowledge and resources, even aid each other in battle," Celestia tells me.

"But what if someone decides to take advantage and invades you instead? Terra isn't all sunshine and rainbows like Equestria seems to be. There are some who would take what you have for themselves," I warn her.

"Then we just close the portal and never open it again. Having more allies like you would be a great help should the gryphons decide a full on invasion," she replies.

I sigh, she has a point. If we can get the Reymorian army to back us up, the gryphons would have a really hard time fighting back. From what I've seen, they don't have firearms here. Dwarven snipers and gunners could easily pick off the gryphons.

"Alright, I see your point, we can talk about it later. Right now, we have a date to continue," I tell her and she smiles.

We head back to the Library where Twilight makes us some tea and tells me how she started making the portal. She collected some samples of my magic from the residual traces of ice and water from when I demonstrated my magic for her. She then found a matching signal after Celestia sent her Starswirl's unfinished long range teleportation spell.

Pretty clever, I gotta admit.

She then tells us how she and her friends are doing so far. They have all the plans ready for Nightmare Night and their costumes all picked out... maybe I should get myself a costume, have it match with Luna's.

Celestia and Twilight go over some more details about the portal and I ask how will they know where to open the portal. They tell me I'll be there to confirm the location before they send an ambassador to the King to relocate the portal to an Equestrian Embassy. They've really planned this out.

Four hours pass and my stomach protests at me. "I think it's time we get some lunch," Celestia says with a giggle. Why do they always laugh at my stomach?

We leave the Library and head over to Sugarcube Corner, greeting the towns folk along the way. Once we arrive, I open the door and allow them in first. We sit at a table and wait for Pinkie to finish serving a customer.

After she's done she skips over to us. "Hi, Adrian, Twilight, Princess! What can I get for ya?" she greets and asks us.

"I would like a slice of your delicious banana split cake with a vanilla milkshake please," Celestia orders.

"I'll have two cupcakes, a slice of cheese cake, and a bottle of cherry soda," Twilight orders.

"I'll have the same as Celestia please," I say.

"Alrighty! That'll be twenty-two bits," Pinkie says and I pay her. "Thanks. I'll be right back in a jiffy." She then goes through the door behind the counter.

"So, Adrian. How did you ask the Princess to court you," Twilight asks. I told her what happened with the nobles and she looked shocked. "They really said all that?" she asks appalled.

"Yes, but I think I put them in their place. They certainly won't be saying those things in front of me again, that is if they know what's best for them," I reply.

"Still, it was sweet of you to carry the Princess to her room like that. It's like Rarity would say, you're her knight in shining armour," Twilight says with a giggle. Celestia smiles with slightly red cheeks.

Pinkie returns with our orders and places them in front of us. "Here you go, enjoy!" she says and skips back behind the counter.

We eat our tasty meals and then head out the door. "So what are you going to do now?" Twilight asks.

"We're going to head back to Canterlot for whatever Tia wants to do," I tell her.

"Oh... alright. Will we see you at Nightmare Night?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'll be coming with Luna," I reply.

"Great! We'll see you then, it was a pleasure seeing you again, Princess. I'll get back to work on the portal right now," Twilight says and starts walking away.

"Take your time, Twilight. There's no rush," Celestia tells her.

We head back to the square and take the carriage back to Canterlot after bidding the town farewell. We land in the courtyard and head into the City.

"So where are we going?" I ask her.

"I'd like to go to the Opera House and listen to some music," she replies. That sounds pretty nice.

We walk through the streets where people bow to Celestia and the nobles glare at me. I just glare back making them back off and scurry away.

We arrive at a grand looking circular building with pillars and stain glass windows. We enter without payment and are escorted to the Royal Box. I wanted to pick up a few drinks and snacks, but Celestia tells me we can just have them brought to us.

We sit in the two chairs here and I look down at the orchestra. I can see Lyra sitting on the left side with a harp or lyre in her hands. She looks around the crowd and then looks up at us, I wave at her and she waves back with a smile. The conductor then tells her off and she snaps back to attention, making us laugh.

After a few minutes of waiting and tea brought to us, the orchestra begins to play.

The orchestra stands and takes a bow once it's over and the crowd applauded, us included. Lyra gives me another little wave which I return.

"Would you like to go say hello to her?" Celestia asks.

"Sure, would be nice to know hows she's doing after the alley incident," I reply.

We head back down and meet the orchestra backstage. Lyra sees me and drags a grey woman with black hair and purple eyes wearing a long black dress with a pink bow tie around her neck over to me.

"Hey, Adrian! This is the guy I told you about, Tavi!" Lyra greets me and says to the grey woman.

"Hello, Lyra. How have you been doing since you know when?" I ask her.

She smiles at me. "Much better! It seems he hasn't tried asking me again since then," she replies.

"So you're the one who saved Lyra from that creep?" the grey woman asks.

Time to throw in the 'ol charm. "That I am ma'am, and I must say that was a wonderful performance from the both of you," I reply with a slight nod of my head.

Lyra leans over to the grey woman. "Told you he's a charmer," she whispers.

The grey woman lightly giggles. "That he is. My name is Octavia Melody, but my friends call me Tavi," she introduces herself while holding her hand out.

I shake her hand. "A pleasure. My name is Adrian Stormsword," I reply.

"I know who you are, Sir Knight. Especially after what you did to the nobles yesterday," she says and giggles again.

"Yes... that. Well they had it coming to them. To be honest, I'm surprised no one else gave them a kick in the ass yet," I say.

"Well, when one has enough power and bits to make your life a living Tartarus, one does not tend to tempt such actions," she says with a sigh.

"The nobility really threaten people like that?" I ask. Shouldn't be too surprising really.

She sadly nodded. "Yes, my own parents had one of our servants, Silver Plate, exiled from Canterlot just because I made friends with her, said I shouldn't mingle with commoners. That's when I left my home and moved to Ponyville, I've even hired Silver Plate as a maid. It's also where I met Lyra and joined the Canterlot orchestra with her," she tells me.

These nobles really seem out of hand. I'll worry about them later, today is for Celestia.

"I see. I'll see what I can do about them later with Luna, but right now, I have a date to finish with Celestia," I say and bow to them.

"Wait... you're dating the Princess?" Octavia says looking stunned.

"That I am, and I believe it is time for dinner. So I bid you ladies a pleasant evening," I say and hold out my arm to Celestia. She hooks her right arm around my left and we leave the stunned people behind.

"So where would you like to go for dinner?" I ask Celestia.

"Hmmmm. There is a place I have been meaning to visit for a while now," she says and she leads me to a rather unexpected place.

"Really?" I ask her while staring at the building.

"Why not? I'm not a Princess for today, and I've never tried food like this before," she replies.

I chuckle and open the door for her. She thanks me and enters, we walk up to the counter where a woman in a red and black uniform and a cap just stares at us shocked. "W-Welcome to the Hay Bale. C-Can I t-take your order?" she asks nervously.

Of all the restaurant's Celestia could choose from, she picks a fast food place. "Yes, I'd like a hay burger with a side of hay fries and a colt-a-cola please," Celestia orders.

I just smile, looking at the menu. "I'll have a potato veggie burger with a side salad and a colt-a-cola as well," I order.

"R-Right, that'll be s-sixteen bits p-please." I hand her the bits and she heads off, yelling at the people in the back who just realize they should be working and not staring.

We wait for a minute or two and our order is ready. "H-Here you go. We h-hope you enjoy your m-meal," she says still nervous with a slight bow. We thank her and head to a table.

More then half of the people here are staring at us, being royalty seems like a right pain in the ass. I wonder if the King of Reymorah has to deal with this as well?

Celestia takes a bite out of her burger and smiles. "This is rather nice," she says and takes another bite. I chuckle and eat my own.

"So what made you pick this place over a fancy restaurant?" I ask.

"I've always been curious about this type of food. I just never had the time to go and try it," she says and munches on her fries.

"I like this side of you," I tell her. "No stress, worries, or cares. Enjoying yourself just like anyone else," I say.

"It has been centuries since I've been able to. With my parents and Luna gone. I had hardly any time to myself and even then I was invited to social gatherings and paperwork most of the time," she replies.

"Well not anymore. From now on, both you and Luna will have the weekend off unless something important comes up. Two days just for yourselves, and if the nobles don't like it? Then they'll just have to deal with me," I tell her.

Celestia smiles at me. "Thank you, that does sound like a good idea. All this time I thought my duty was to Equestria, even if it meant my own desires didn't matter," she says looking down, her smile fading.

I gently lift her chin with my right hand. "Never think your happiness is meaningless. Just because you're a Princess, doesn't mean you can't be happy like everyone else," I tell her.

She smiles again and I can see tears in the corner of her eyes. She leans forwards and gives me a light kiss. I hear gasps around us but ignore them.

I return the small kiss and stroke her cheek. "So, how about that walk in the park?" I ask her.

"That would be delightful," she replies and we head out after finishing our food.

We're walking through the park and Celestia entwines her right hand with my left. After an hour of strolling, her horn glows brightly and the sun begins to set.

"Still amazes me that you can do that," I tell her.

"We can only do it since we are alicorns and that it is our special talents," she says showing me the mark on the back of her left hand. "We don't actually move them by force, we communicate with the sun and moon and with our magic, guide them across the sky," she says.

"Wow, still amazing though. My planet Terra circles the sun while the moon circles Terra all on their own," I tell her.

"Unfortunately, that is not possible here. The sun's gravitational pull is just as strong as the planets. Should I or Luna stop guiding it, it would most likely drift off into the stars, leaving Equis to die, and should the moon lose our guidance, it would fall to the surface, destroying all life with it."

"Then how has Luna been guiding the moon when she was banished?" I ask.

"I've had to take that responsibility myself. So that was another factor of me having less time for myself as I needed more magic to guide both, requiring me to sleep longer," she replies. "But now that my sister has returned, she has taken over the moon once again."

"That's good," I say. We stop and sit on a bench near a pond, colourful fish can be seen swimming in it.

"Thank you for today. I haven't had a good time like this in a long while," she says and leans against me.

"You're welcome. Don't forget, you still have the rest of the week off as well," I tell her.

She giggles, and looks at me. She leans forward and I do the same, but something hitting the ground to my left pulls me away and I see three gryphons uncloaking from a spell with that black leather armoured man I saw in the Forest from Ponyville. Knives are heading towards us and I quickly cast a stone wall spell, but it's small due to the fact I don't have my stave with me. I also use myself as a shield for Celestia.

Most of the knives hit the wall but one gets past, impaling my left shoulder "AAAAAARRRRGGH!" I yell in pain.

"ADRIAN!" Celestia shouts in concern.

Largest chapter yet :D

Also, get ready to see an extremely pissed off Celestia.