Chapter 52

The sunlight reached the sleeping human and Dave slowly opened his eyes to see Celestia looking back at him “Morning” he smiled, forcing the nightmare from his mind

“Morning” She replied softly as she pushed her lips out and touched Dave’s mouth

Dave’s smile grew wider as he received the kiss, a kiss he knew he had to savour “Last night was different”

“They always are” Celestia said cheekily as she licked Dave’s nose “Don’t you think?”

“I suppose,” Dave shuffled closer to the princess “So are you going to suggest another round or?”

Celestia placed a hoof up to block Dave’s mouth from reaching hers “Not today unfortunately”

Dave gasped playfully “For once you don’t want to sleep with me”

“I have to go back to Canterlot” Celestia sat up “I can’t leave my sister in charge of everything alone”

Dave sadly climbed out of bed and put his clothes back on “Ok I should see you soon though… right?”

“Of course” Celestia rubbed her stomach “Let’s go downstairs”

Dave followed the princess downstairs, not wanting to tear his gaze from her until they both froze at the living room entrance

“Hello son” Strong Shield smirked “How have you been?”

“Dad?” Dave ran over and hugged the unicorn “I haven’t seen you in ages”

Strong Shield rolled his eyes as he patted Dave’s back “I know”

Dave pulled away and looked over Strong Shield “Where is your armour?”

“I’m not a guard anymore” Strong Shield rose an eyebrow at Celestia “Didn’t she tell you?”

Dave turned and looked at the princess “No she hasn’t”

Celestia looked between Dave and Strong Shield “Ok listen I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you would be upset with me”

“What happened?” Dave growled

Strong Shield smiled at Celestia “She accepted my resignation”

“You quit the guard?” Dave gasped “But I though you loved it”

Celestia mouthed “Thank you” to the unicorn as Dave turned away from her

“Besides I can’t be a guard AND look after your children” Strong Shield smirked

Dave smiled “What do you mean by that?”

“Come on, I could hear you and her halfway from Ponyville” Strong Shield shook his head at the blushing couple “You should have tried something I picked up on an espionage mission, what you do is place your hooves either side of her tail and…”

“Aww Dad I don’t want to know” Dave laughed

Celestia nodded “Yes I think we will be fine for advice in that area”

“Suit yourselves” Strong Shield snorted

Celestia kissed Dave’s cheek “I will see you later”

“Ok I’ll be careful not to be attacked by any super villains” Dave smirked as he watched Celestia vanish in a burst of light

Strong Shield watched Dave’s face deteriorate to sadness “What’s wrong?”

“Are there any other alicorns beside Celestia, Luna and Cadence?” Dave frowned at the spot Celestia stood “Any male ones?”

“No Cadence was the last reported alicorn besides the princesses” Strong Shield leaned forwards “What has happened?”

Dave shook his head “I had a nightmare… that’s all”

“Well it must have been a big one” Strong Shield sighed, “So what are we doing today?”

“We?” Dave smiled weakly “I would have thought that you would have something better to do”

Strong Shield stood and marched towards the door “If you don’t want to spend time with your old man then fine” he sighed playfully

“Alright, Pinkie is throwing a small party with Spike’s help” Dave grabbed his dragonscale coat and quickly put it on “You want to come along?”

“I suppose a small social gathering will be acceptable” The retired guard nodded “Fine let’s go”

“Good to see you are taking it easy” Dave locked the door behind him as he followed the unicorn into town “I guess we could go to Twilight’s and see if Pinkie is with Spike”

“I suppose that is an accurate assumption” Strong Shield changed course and Dave jogged to keep up

As Dave caught up, he tapped Strong Shield on the shoulder “Can’t you just say ‘yes’ rather that expand and compliment me like a guard?”

“Well I suppose I could attempt a simpler way of speaking that relays information quicker and with simplified words to reduce confusion” Strong Shield looked up at Dave’s raised eyebrow “I mean… sure”

Dave rolled his eyes as they both chuckled and stopped at the library door. Dave knocked and heard a frantic rushing inside

“Pinkie Pie, Spike, Big Macintosh and two large boxes” Strong Shield looked at Dave again “Umm… somepony is inside”

“I was more freaked by how you could tell from a few noises” Dave smiled as the door opened and Spike leapt out, wrapping his arms around Dave’s neck

“DAVE!” Spike cheered, “We set up as much as we could”

Dave followed the ecstatic dragon inside and looked around the library “Cider! Thank the lord” Dave smiled as he saw the table piled with drinks and snacks, mainly a strange mix of cider and cupcakes

“Big Macintosh” Strong Shield shook the fellow stallion’s hoof “I assume this gathering is for male friends as Dave is uncomfortable spending so much time with members of the opposite gender”

“Eeyup” Big Mac responded

Strong Shield nodded gently “Right to the point… I like that”

Dave’s eyes fell to two large boxes tied with large red bows “What are these?”

“Guests!” Pinkie bounced on each of them “Surprise guests!”

Dave gawped at the sealed boxes “And are you sure they are still alive?”

“Of course silly” Pinkie waved a hoof “I’ll be going now to help with another party across town see ya!”

Dave quickly opened the first box and Shining Armour tumbled out, head over hooves and landed in front of Dave

“D-Dave? Where am I?” Shining rubbed his eyes

Strong Shield hurried over and helped his old captain to his hooves “Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle’s library”

Shining Armour shook his blue mane “And why am I here?”

“Dave’s welcome back gathering,” Spike cheered, “Dave wanted to spend some time with his friends”

“Oh yeah that explains Pinkie hitting me with a balloon hammer” Shining shrugged “Well I’m here… who is in that box?”

Dave reached for the latch and gently opened it, revealing a bearded Braeburn “What the hell?”

“I-I remember you” Braeburn crawled from the box, covering his eyes from the sun “Dave the human”

“You look like Osama bin Laden” Dave gawped “How long has Pinkie had you in that box?”

“About a week” Braeburn sobbed, “She said she might need me some time so she kept me close”

“Braeburn?” Big Mac ran over a knelt beside his cousin

“He looks like shit” Dave shook his head “Clean him up please”

“Eeyup” Big Mac nodded as he helped Braeburn to the bathroom

Dave grabbed some cider and sat down next to Shining Armour and Strong Shield “So now what?”

“Anything interesting happen while you were away?” Shining asked as he levitated his own drink over

Dave sipped his drink and milled the liquid in his mouth before replying “just a bunch of dragons, nothing major”

“I haven’t seen that place in ages” Spike jumped up on the subject “were they bigger?”

“One was a mountain” Dave replied calmly and Shining spat his drink over the floor

The captain turned to Strong Shield “Why wasn’t that in the threat report?”

“Because he isn’t a threat” Strong Shield smiled “he even helped Dave get home”

Shining Armour shrugged and smiled as a clean and tidy Braeburn returned “Howdy Braeburn”

“Howdy folks” He quickly gulped down a cider “please tell me that Pinkie ain’t around”

Dave shook his head but stopped as he heard a knock at the door “Who is that?”

Dave walked over and opened the door to reveal a slim, dark purple mare “Umm hello”

Spike ran over “Ah yes do you need to get set up?”

“Just tell me where the bedroom is,” the mare groaned as Spike pointed to the spare bedroom and she walked into the room

“Umm Spike” Dave tapped the child “what is going on?”

Spike smiled happily “Well I needed to get set up quickly so I used my plan from Shining Armour’s bachelor party”

“So you got us a stripper?” Dave’s eye twitched “How the hell did you get a stripper?”

“When I was in Canterlot I walked into a bar and asked for entertainment for grown stallions” Spike nodded proudly “And some guy told me about her”

“Oh by the sun” Strong Shield coughed loudly “Dave… that isn’t a stripper”

“If it isn’t a stripper then it must be a prostitute” Dave chuckled in disbelief but his jaw dropped as Shining Armour and Strong Shield nodded in unison “No way”

“Yes way, she is known for having… low standards” Strong Shield shook his head in shame “She slept with the guard that tried to arrest her”

“So we have a whore that can fuck her way out of trouble?” Dave chuckled

“Why does this sound like a really bad porno?” Odio hummed “Two guys in boxes, a baby dragon, a big farmer, an old guard and an alien” Dave laughed quietly at Odio’s joke

“Hey” Spike yelled, “Where is Braeburn?”

The group looked around the room until their gazes fell on the door “Do you think he went for it?” Dave asked nervously

“Eeyup” Big Mac shook his head in shame

Shining Armour looked at the others “Should we check?”

“You can” Strong Shield smirked “I am not looking”

Everyponies gaze landed on Shining Armour as he placed his drink down and crept over to the door. He peeked through the key hole and immediately removed his head and hurried to the other side of the room

“Is it bad?” Spike inched away from the door in fear

Shining Armour nodded “We are going to have to wrap that winter up before Twiley sees the mess”