Chapter 30

Dave laid on his back staring at the ceiling “Well… that was… strange” he panted

Celestia snuggled close to him “Good strange or bad strange?”

“First one” Dave wiped his forehead “So what now?”

Celestia looked over at her golden clock “There are still twenty three hours left” she smiled at Dave

Dave raised his eyebrows “You were serious about the whole day thing?” he gasped in a shocked tone

Celestia clambered on top of Dave again “Why of course” she smiled “I intend to use every minute”

Dave smiled nervously “Oh… ok” he gulped as Celestia descended

Meanwhile…

Shining Armour walked into his house, the sounds of giggles rolled out as he opened the door

“Shining you’re back” Twilight managed to smile, her eyes hiding her sadness within

“Told her something funny?” Shining Armour chuckled as he walked over to his wife “Oh and I have some news, Dave is alive and recovering”

Twilight’s eyes erupted with surprise and happiness “He is?”

Shining Armour smiled as Twilight began to rub her chin in thought “Yes and you can see him tomorrow at the castle”

Cadence rubbed her pink nose against her husbands neck “I told her about your surfing attempt on the honeymoon” she smiled as she returned to her tea “so Twilight you said you met somepony?”

“She didn’t tell me” Shining went into cautious brother mode “Who is he?”

“Don’t worry” Twilight smiled “I was just going to see if Cadence could do a favour for me”

“She did save me and our wedding” Cadence smiled, she turned her head to Shining, her long colourful mane swung gracefully “I would be happy to help”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her brother “We are talking about girl things, go away”

“Fine” Shining rolled his eyes “I will catch you both later” he left the house and Twilight waited until he was gone

“It is Dave” Twilight looked around cautiously “He isn’t a pony”

“The one recovering?” Cadence raised her eyebrows as she thought “A griffon? Twilight that is a bit weird even for my tastes”

“No not a griffon, dragon or even a manticore” Twilight frowned at her sister-in-law “He is a human”

“A human?” Cadence shrugged “What’s that?”

“He is from another world” Twilight smiled as she remembered the day Dave arrived “And he is very special to me”

“So what do you need me to do? Have you had a fight?” Cadence look worried at the purple unicorn

“Well we aren’t exactly on steady ground from what I can tell” Twilight bent the truth slightly “So I was wondering if you could zap him quickly with some of your love magic”

Cadence hummed “Are you sure?”

“Yes but be quick because Dave is resistant to normal magic” Twilight placed her tea down

“So you need me just because my magic isn’t a lasting spell…” Cadence grinned “but because it brings emotions up?”

“Exactly, bring his love for me up so we can move on and be happy” Twilight smiled “Will you do this for me?”

“Ok just this once” Cadence gave Twilight a quick hug “I would like to see you happy”

“Don’t worry” Twilight hid a sly grin “I will be”

Meanwhile…

“Ok… Let’s just… hang on a sec,” Dave panted loudly

Celestia climbed out of the large bath “Come on, that was fun right?”

Dave crawled out after her “Well… yeah but…”

“So come back to bed” Celestia nuzzled his cheek as she bounced into the bedroom “We still have twenty one hours!” she called happily

“Woo hoo” Dave sighed sarcastically as he crawled after her

Meanwhile…

Pinkie trotted outside to see Fluttershy talking to some birds, various different colours and sizes surrounded her but they all listened

“Fluttershy what are you doing?” Pinkie asked uneasily as the birds all stared at her

“None of your business” Fluttershy hid her face behind her pink mane “these are my real friends”

The birds squawked happily, but Pinkie burst forth “But I’m your friend!”

“No you aren’t you wanted to take Dave away” She stroked a robin that landed on her hoof

Pinkie shook her head “I didn’t I just wanted to be his friend”

Fluttershy turned her head away “But you would have wanted to…” Fluttershy felt embarrassed saying the words “…mated”

“EW no” Pinkie shook her head and she stepped past the birds and over to shy Pegasus “Dave was a friend, just that”

Fluttershy cautiously turned back “Do you really mean that?”

Pinkie smiled “Why would I want to make my friends sad?”

Fluttershy smiled as she hugged Pinkie “Thank you, I’m sorry I was mean I didn’t mean that”

A guard stepped out and some of the birds scattered in fright “Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy?”

The girls turned and nodded “What is it?” Pinkie asked the guard

“I have been sent to inform you that the human Dave has… awoken” the guard waited for the girls to exchange a few shocked glances “He is in recovery but can meet you tomorrow”

Pinkie’s hair burst back to life “HE’S ALIVE!” she cheered, she hugged Fluttershy tightly “I need to go get balloons!” she screamed as she ran into the castle “See you later Fluttershy”

Fluttershy waved her hoof at the happy mare as she left “hmm” she thought her birds all arrived again and sat around her “Ok, I want you to do one small thing for me…” Fluttershy began telling her animal friends her scheme

Meanwhile…

Celestia poked Dave’s snoring head “Wake up” she said loudly

“Huh? Wha…” Dave awoke and looked around the room “What time is it?” he asked with tired eyes

“Irrelevant, you still have fifteen hours to go” She smiled as she stroked his face with a hoof

“Where are you getting this energy from?” Dave grumbled as he was pushed onto his back

Meanwhile…

Strong Shield sat in his office, a wide smile still sat across his face, a messenger walked in

“Sir I have told all the elements of harmony of Dave’s return” The guard saluted “they all seemed eager to see him”

“Well done,” Strong Shield returned the salute “Now go and clean your armour, you have some bird waste on you”

The guard grumbled as he saw the white streak of bird excrement on his chest plate “Yes sir right away” the guard sighed loudly as he walked out and over to his bunk in the other room

“Make sure you add some wax this time” Strong Shield called after him, he may be happy but he was still the same Strong Shield underneath

Strong Shield’s head sprang up “nopony has told Princess Luna” he finished his report before hurrying out the door

He trotted past all his guards, they all saluted him and he responded with a salute of his own, as he reached Luna’s quarters he removed his smile and replaced it with his emotionless grin

Strong Shield knocked and was replied with “You may enter” He stepped in and saw the fresh tears being wiped from her eyes

Princess Luna sat up strait as she watched the sergeant enter “Oh, please say you have good news”

Strong Shield could not help but smile “Why yes I do”

“Make it really good, I am not in the best of moods” Luna replaced her head onto her desk

“Dave is…” Strong Shield started but was cut off

“Dead, I know” Luna held back a sob “Have you found his body?”

“Sort of” Strong Shield smiled again, “he is alive”

Luna turned her gaze slowly and menacingly at him, “If this is a joke I will hurt you”

“He is recovering from his ordeal and you may see him tomorrow” the unicorn finally finished and he saluted “That is all princess”

Luna waved the sergeant away “See him tomorrow?” she rummaged through her papers and pulled out a familiar brown book “I'll show her what happens when you steal from the library”

Meanwhile…

“Please” Celestia begged “Just six more hours”

Dave lay on his side “No” he grumbled “I’m tired I need sleep”

“We agreed on one full day” Celestia frowned “Now climb over here”

“You agreed…” Dave grumbled something inaudible “Mrafmfmfm… and no”

Celestia rolled Dave over onto his back “Don’t you want to do anything?”

“No” Dave almost pleaded

“Ok, I can do everything don’t worry” she said happily as she adjusted herself

“No more please!” Dave attempted to resist the alicorns force but his attempts were futile

The next morning…

Shining Armour sat in the Dining hall with Strong Shield, they had been ordered to arrive early to meet Dave and the princess

“So Dave is your son now?” Shining asked as he sat opposite the sergeant

“Symbolically” Strong Shield grinned again “If he needs a father figure then I am to assist”

“Well you raised one fine son… sort of” Shining and Shield both stood and saluted as the door opened

Celestia happily trotted in and took her place at the head of the table “Good morning” she said happily as they all sat down

Strong Shield continued to look at the door “Where is Dave?”

“He is coming” Celestia smiled as the door opened again “Ah here he is”

Dave shuffled in, his legs looked locked into place and his face a mixture of pain and exhaustion “Hey” he said weakly as he slumped in the chair closest to Celestia

“How are you Dave?” Strong Shield asked concerned

“Yeah I’m…” Dave’s head fell backwards and he began snoring loudly

Strong Shield poked him awake “You look really tired? What have you been up to?”

Dave rubbed his eyes and looked over at Shining Armour “Where do alicorns get the energy?”

Shining chuckled “I have no idea” he started to sip his water before he spluttered heavily “You and the Princess?” he coughed

“Twenty four hours” Dave sighed loudly as his arms hung low

“And they were great” Celestia smiled at Dave who attempted to respond with one of his own

Strong Shield and Shining both looked awkwardly at each other “Ok…” the sergeant started “now why have we been called early?”

Celestia took her gaze from Dave and over to Strong Shield “I wanted to inform you both that Dave has made a full recovery and is well enough for any duties you may have him perform”

Dave responded by falling asleep again and head butting the table

Celestia and the guards exchanged glances “You may want to let him have a good nights sleep first,” she giggled lightly as the guards saluted and left the dining room

After a few minutes of Celestia watching Dave sleep the doors opened again and Luna stepped in

“DAVE!” she called happily, waking him up before lunging in for a hug “They said you were dead”

“Huh? Oh yeah that…” Dave hugged Luna before she sat down at her chair “so how are you?”

“You die and all you can say is ‘How are you?’” Luna frowned at him

Dave rolled his eyes and held his arms out as if asking for a hug “Braaaains” he said in a slight moan “Better?”

“Is that supposed to be funny?” Luna attempted to hide a slight grin

Dave chuckled but his face went blank, his eyes shut and he hit the table again

“DAVE!” Luna dashed over and shook Dave, she looked at her calm sister “What’s happened?”

Celestia smiled at her sister “He is just tired”

“Oh…” Luna released Dave as he began to snore again “Well at least he is healthy”

Both the princesses sat in silence and watched Dave sleep, they watched him snore until the door opened again and Dave bolted upright

Pinkie walked in beside Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash still gave each other scornful looks

“DAVE!” they called in unison as they dived on him, they all hugged him tightly

“Hey girls” Dave gave them all hugs

The girls all sat around the table, glaring at each other, Pinkie took the opportunity to but in before anypony else could

“We are super duper happy that you are alive” Pinkie smiled

“Well I’m glad to be alive” Dave smiled

“Well Dave I was wondering if…” Rarity started to talk but was quickly silenced by Applejack

“Now don’t bother him, he has jus’ had a tough time” Applejack said angrily

“And what have you got in plan? Kicking trees?” Rarity sneered at the earth pony

Celestia stood and slammed her hoof on the table “ALL OF YOU BE QUIET!” she glared at the suddenly scared ponies “Will you put your bickering aside?”

“No!” Twilight stood up “If you all leave me and Dave alone then everything will be fine”

Rainbow flew over and poked her “No way, he deserves better than you”

Luna stood up “Listen everypony” she sighed sadly “We are forgetting that it is Dave’s choice who he spends time with”

Rainbow returned to her seat “I suppose so”

Rarity nodded “I agree, we allow Dave to chose who he really loves”

Pinkie shuffled uncomfortably in her seat “Are we all still friends?”

The ponies all looked at each other slowly “For now” they all growled

Both the princesses sighed at each other, Luna turned her head to Dave “Dave make your decision”

Dave’s head was slumped back, mouth open

Applejack poked his stomach “Are ya alright sugarcube?”

Dave leaned forwards and head butted the table loudly again, the girls all screamed but the princesses reassured them that he was just sleeping

“What was he doing yesterday that would make him this tired?” Twilight tipped her head to the side to get a better look at the sleeping Dave

Celestia blushed lightly “I think it may just be an effect of his resurrection” she sighed as they all nodded in agreement

Dave grumbled as Applejack attempted to wake him "No... no more... can't feel... legs" he pushed Applejack's hoof away and continued to sleep

The ponies all gave each other confused glances while Celestia hid her face behind a white hoof