Time passed after Jason’s surprise visit and things continued to be peaceful. Celestia handled the day court and Luna handled the night court, though not that many ponies ever showed up to it. Considering I was a bit of a night owl I would usually spend some time with her there. Surprisingly, I didn’t hit on her all that much. Most of the time during that time was just the two of us talking about whatever came to mind. Luna seemed disappointed that her citizens seemed more interested in going to Celestia with their problems and preferred to sleep during her court. I did my best to ease her worries, but I could tell that they were still in the back of her head. And while the two of them were doing that Hammerfall and I were busy working in the forge to help give the citizens of Equestria some creature comforts and amenities. The first thing we did was introduce lightning rods to help protect villages from stray bolts of lightning during thunderstorms.

Then Hammerfall and I worked toward something bigger, indoor plumbing. I started it off simple by introducing the aqueduct system similar to what Rome used before I tried rushing things into modern plumbing. It actually caught on fairly quickly much to my surprise. I let Hammerfall take most of the credit for our work. Most of the ponies were still uncomfortable about my existence so I figured that they’d accept the work of one of their own more than if they thought I had done it. And despite our rocky first meeting Hammerfall and I had become good friends as we worked together.

Another change that had been taking place in the castle was the increased hiring of royal guards. Celestia told me that she and Luna were looking for the right pony to be the captain of both the day and night guard. I told them to have good luck with that and didn’t pay it much mind. A few weeks passed and the selection process was over. Celestia and Luna gathered the entire castle together in the throne room for the inauguration of some pony named Morning Star. Starswirl, Clover, Hammerfall and myself were in the front of the room just off to the side of the two princesses. A round of horns blasted and Celestia flared her wings as she began her announcement.

“We hath been spending these past weeks searching for a truly extraordinary pony to lead our royal guard.” She boomed in the Royal Voice that she always used when addressing subjects at things like these. With those opening lines said, Luna took that as her cue to start speaking.

“Many tried to prove themselves, but only one showed the intelligence, determination and skill in combat that we were looking for in our captain.”

“With that said,” Celestia continued, “would Morning Star please come forth?”

With that, a unicorn in dress uniform entered into the throne room. I had to admit I was slightly surprised to see that the pony the princesses had selected was a mare. Most of the guard was male so seeing a mare become the captain made me wonder what she was like to impress the princesses like this. Morning Star was a yellow-orange unicorn with a short red mane that had yellow streaks running through it; she also had cyan colored eyes. She stood at about 5’ 8’’ and from what I could tell she seemed to have a fairly small chest. Probably around a B cup if my discerning eye was anything to go by. Though what she lacked in the chest area she more than made up for in her hips and legs. The term, “legs that go all the way up,” seemed to have been created just for her.

As she continued to walk down towards the thrones I made a few observations about her. She had an incredible look of pride on her face as she glanced between the assembled staff, citizens, the guards that she had beaten out for the position and the princesses. She also had this air about her that made it seem like she was more comfortable in a suit of armor than the dress uniform she was currently in. Finally, Morning Star made it to the thrones and knelt before the princesses.

“Morning Star, thou hast been chosen above all of thine peers to be the captain of our guard,” Celestia declared.

“Thou must vow to uphold the standards of Equestrian law and serve as a guiding force for all the guards under thine command. Dost thou understand?” Luna continued.

“Yes my princesses, I vow to protect thee and the citizens of Equestria as well as maintain the honor that comes with this station.”

Celestia and Luna nodded to one another and motioned to Hammerfall. He handed them a ceremonial sword which they drew, held together and gently touched the blade to her shoulders.

“Now rise, Morning Star, captain of the royal guard,” Celestia boomed while Morning Star rose to her hooves. With that the crowd started to applaud and the ceremony ended shortly afterwards. Once the crowd left the room the princesses turned to Hammerfall and I. “Vash, thou and Hammerfall shall make new armor for Morning Star,” Celestia said.

“Is that all?” I asked with a smile. “That shouldn’t be too hard. We’ve been making so much armor lately that we could do that in our sleep. In fact, I’m going to take a nap and the armor should be done before dinner tonight.”

Celestia chuckled a bit at that joke and nodded. “Very well, Vash. We shall have the requirements for the armor and a pillow sent down to the forge shortly.”

“And Vash, we shalt tolerate none of thy buffoonery with Morning Star,” Luna pressed as she gave me a cross look.

“What ever could you mean?” I asked with an innocent look.

Everyone, including Clover, gave me a flat look when I said that. “Vash, please do try to be on thy best behavior when thou art around Morning Star,” Celestia warned me carefully.

I scratched my chin and chuckled a bit at that and with my eyes closed asked, “And what if I told you that I’ve been on my best behavior up until now?” This caused everyone to just let out a huge sigh while Hammerfall looked up at me.

“Vash canst thou just promise to behave? We all would rather you didn’t upset our new captain.”

“Fine, now come on Hammerfall, we’ve got some armor to make for the new captain and I’d really like it if we can hammer it out quickly so we can get back to work on our project.”

“I agree, I wouldst like to get back to that as well.” Hammerfall stated with a slight nod.

“And what art the two of thee working on this time?” Starswirl asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Hammerfall and I shared a look for a moment and chuckled. “Sorry Starswirl, but that’s a secret for now. We’ll be sure to tell you when we’re ready to show it off. But until then it will remain classified,” I told him as I crossed my arms across my chest.

“As thou wishes,” Luna said.

“Alright, see ya later everypony ,” I called out as I turned to walk out of the throne room to head back to the forge.

The rest of the day Hammerfall and I pretty much just worked in the forge. The armor took a bit of time considering it was a custom set that was very different from the usual day and night sets. It was a fairly light set of plate armor that was red and the helm didn’t have the opening for her mane like the other guards usually had. We also had to put on some clasps where a cape was supposed to be attached. After that, we worked on our other projects and talked whenever there was a lull in our work.

The next day was a day off for me so I was wandering the castle and looking for something to do. I considered sneaking into the kitchen to make myself a snack, but the last time I tried that the castle’s head chef threatened to cook me as a meal for one of the carnivorous foreign dignitaries. I slumped over slightly when I thought back to that. A part of me considered just heading into the library to start researching magic. Ever since I had heard this world had magic my scientific curiosity was piqued. I desperately wanted to use it as an energy source for all sorts of things. I mean, a potentially clean fuel source that’s easily renewable, what kind of engineer would I be if I didn’t take advantage of that? Just as I was about to do just that I passed by something that caught my interest.

Alone in the training yard was the new captain, Morning Star. She was wearing light clothing and hacking away at a training dummy with a sword and every now and then would dance around it as if she were dodging an opponent’s blade. Morning Star moved with ease and every swing of the blade was nearly fluid. I was impressed, she definitely had some skills. If she was just as good with her magic as she was with her sword then I could easily see how she beat the other guards in terms of combat. I leaned against the archway leading to the training yard and just continued to watch her for a while. Eventually, she decided to take a break and grabbed a nearby towel and mug of water. Of course, when she did this, she noticed me watching her.

“And what art thou doing here?” She asked, not really irritated but working toward it.

“Oh, I just saw you training while I was looking for something to do and stopped for a little while, hope you don’t mind.”

Morning Star continued to wipe her brow for a little while. “Hmm, I suppose I can believe thee for now.”

“Thanks, I’m Vash by the way.” I said as I approached her and extended a hand toward her.

She accepted the gesture and slowly shook my hand. “I know, thou art well known amongst the castle staff.”

I flinched a little and let out a nervous chuckle at that. “And what have you heard about?”

“Only that thou hast made advances toward nearly every mare that works in the castle.”

“Oh, I guess my reputation precedes me.”

“Very much so, and I’m to assume that thou art going to add me to thy list of failed conquests?” She asked as she put away the blade she had been using on the dummy earlier.

“Actually, I tend not to hit on ladies when they have easy access to sharp things that can kill me.” I told her with a strained grin. This caused Morning Star to laugh a little and she placed the towel down next to her.

“That seems like an excellent idea. Thou art not quite the fool that the stories have made thee out to be.”

My grin fell a bit at that. “I feel like I’ve just been given the biggest sideways compliment of all time.” This caused her to smirk a little.

“Perhaps, now thou said that thou wast looking for something to do? What would thou say to a little wager?”

I quirked an eyebrow at that and asked, “And what kind of wager would this be?”

“I was considering practicing my hand-to-hand combat, what would thou say to a friendly spar?” She asked keeping up her smirk.

“And where does this wager you mention come in?”

“I was getting to that. The winner of our sparring match would be allowed to make the other follow any one order that they wish.” This definitely caught my attention and a large, dopey smile spread across my face.

“And when you say anything, do you mean anything?” I asked eagerly.

Her smirk grew bigger with that. “If thou wants an answer to that, then thou will have to win.”

“Alright, let’s do this!” I beamed as I crouched down in a fighting stance.

Morning Star laughed a little at my response and got into a fighting stance of her own. In an instant she lashed out and attempted to punch me right in the solar plexus. However, I had Vash’s reflexes and I used my left arm to block it. Morning Star grimaced when her fist made contact with my metal arm and hopped away from me to put some distance between the two of us. She then proceeded to clench and unclench her fist a few times as she eyed me warily.

“Thine arm is as hard as stone,” She stated as she started to circle around me in an attempt to look for an opening.

“Metal actually, my left arm is a prosthetic.”

Morning Star then narrowed her eyes at me for that one. “Thou could have warned me about that.”

“It must’ve slipped my mind,” I returned with a good-natured smile.

Morning Star continued to circle around me as if she was waiting for me to make the first move. This went on for a few minutes as the two of us waited for the other to attack. In the end she decided to attack first and charged at my side. I reacted quickly and jumped back slightly to avoid her fist and caught it with my left hand. I then made an attempt to pull her toward me while I pulled back my own fist. Morning Star just smirked at me as she drove her free fist right into my solar plexus. This caused me to let her go and stagger backwards a little as the wind was knocked out of my lungs. She then pivoted on one of her hooves and attempted to roundhouse-kick me. I recovered quickly, grabbed her hoof and flipped her over. Her eyes widened, but she braced herself as she hit the ground of the training yard.

I was about to try and finish the fight, but Morning Star swept her leg at my ankles, knocking me off-balance. I managed to throw my hands in front of me to stop my fall. I was just about to pick myself up when Morning Star pounced on me and tried to pin me down. Her arms were holding me by the elbows and her legs were on top of mine. I tried to wriggle my way out of her hold but she just held fast. She looked down at me with a triumphant smirk, and seemed utterly confident that she had won our little sparring match.

“It appears that this victory is mine, will thou yield?”

“It certainly does seem that way,” I answered with a grin, “but there’s something you should know.”

“And what would that be?” She asked with an arched eyebrow.

“You got a little something on your face!”

I called out as I tossed some dirt that I had managed to grab during my fall. Unfortunately, Morning Star’s eyes widened when I did this which caused more of the dirt to get into her eyes. Without thinking, she reached up to try and rub the offending matter out of her eyes. I used this as my opportunity to throw my weight and reverse our situation so I was the one on top. This time, I was the one smirking down at her while I held her down.

“It looks like I’m the winner now.”

Morning Star attempted to struggle for a bit before she went limp and scowled at me. “That was a low, cravenly tactic,” she spat at me, starting to struggle again. “Then again,” she started her smirk returning, “I am not above such tactics myself,” she finished as she freed a leg and kneed me right between the legs.

I could feel my eyes start to water as I let out a high-pitched squeak and my hold loosened. She took advantage of this and in a matter of moments I was on my back with Morning Star holding me down once more. This kept happening for a while until the both of us were sprawled out next to one another and gasping in an attempt to catch our breath. Eventually, I leaned up and turned to Morning Star as I sat with my legs crossed.

“Maybe we should just call this a draw, I don’t think I can take much more of this,” I told her with a pleading expression.

She picked herself up as well and sat with her legs extended. “Perhaps thou art right, our little match has gone on far longer than I thought it would.”

“Yeah, that was intense. You’re one vicious fighter,” I told her with a bit of a laugh.

“You can owe a part of that to my parentage,” she replied with a small grin. “My family have been soldiers since the days when Unicornia was still a fledgling nation.”

I had to pause at that sentence. My mind was struggling to process a certain word that just confounded me.

‘Did she just say Unicornia? There is no way that she just said that. I mean, Unicornia, really? Do they mine Unobtanium in Unicornia? I mean, how bereft of creativity do you have to be to come up with a name like Unicornia? I think I would actually prefer it if all the names of places were horse-based puns or something… And now I feel like I’ve just invited trouble. I swear if I run into a place called Manehattan or something like that… I don’t even know what I’d do.’

“So is that why you worked to become the captain of the guard? To continue the family business so to speak?” I asked.

“Partly, but I also wanted to protect other ponies and to uphold the law. It has always been my dream to defend those that cannot defend themselves,” she answered as she turned her head skyward.

I let out a small chuckle as I scratched my cheek before replying with, “Man, you’re making me self-conscious about my own dream I had when I was a kid.”

“And what was thine dream?”

“When I was younger I wanted to build something called a megadeus which is essentially a giant robot.”

I turned toward Morning Star and saw she had a confused expression across her face. “And what is this… robot that thou speaks of?”

I tapped my chin as I tried to think of a way to explain what a robot was to someone who had no idea about the concept. “Okay, picture a suit of armor, but make it as tall as one of the towers of the castle.”

“Why wouldst someone make a suit of armor that large? Nopony would be able to wear it.”

“I was getting to that, inside that armor is a set of controls that the person inside can use to control the armor.”

“That certainly is a strange dream. Why didst thou wish to accomplish such a goal?”

“To be honest, it just seemed like fun to me. There was one robot that I would always see in stories that caught my attention the most. It had this amazing phrase that would come up whenever the pilot would go into the controls, and it had these awesome weapons.”

“That certainly does sound incredible, though thou said that this was thine dream when thou was younger. Dost thou have a new dream?”

“I guess you could say that. As I’ve been getting older, I just want to make things that will help everyone and make their lives better. I still have my odd fantasies about making that megadeus, but I know it’s a bit unrealistic to expect I’ll make anything quite like that,” I said as I cast my eyes skyward to see a few clouds rolling by.

“Creating armor as tall as a castle that can somehow be made to move is only a bit unrealistic?” Morning Star asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“Hey, I ended up being transported into another world by a creepy merchant, and said world has people who can use magic. Not to mention what Discord did with his abilities. At this point you could tell me just about anything and I’d believe it.”

This caused Morning Star to laugh a bit and she looked up at the sky with me. “I suppose thou hast a point, our world must seem strange to thee. Though I think thine own world would be strange to me.”

“You’re not wrong, my world’s technology would blow your mind. And the lack of magic would seem as alien to you as magic is to me.”

“I imagine so,” She said before looking back to me. “I have to admit Vash, thou art quite different from the stories told by the maids of the castle. Thou hast not made a single advance toward me during this entire exchange.”

I chuckled a little at that. “Well, like I said earlier I try not to offend ladies with sharp, pointy things who know how to wield them. Although, I have thought of a few pick-up lines and I may or may not have undressed you with my eyes once or twice during our sparring match. And I have to say, if my mind’s eye is even the least bit accurate then you have one incredible body on your hands there Miss Morning Star,” I finished with my usual grin.

This caused Morning Star to blush slightly, glare at me and her hand was hovering over the hilt of her sword. “Hast thou any shame? I see the stories about thee are more than true.”

“Oh come on, I can’t be that bad can I? Can you honestly say that you’ve never had a fantasy about more intimate situations? Or is our new captain of the guard forged from the same iron as her armor?” I asked with a little smile.

Morning Star’s blush deepened and she turned away from me. “O-of course I have had desires. I am not cut from stone. I just do not go throwing myself at every pony I see,” she barked as she shot me a pointed look.

“Hey, I’m not hurting anyone from what I’m doing. I would never do something like force myself onto a lady. And my fantasies are perfectly healthy.” As soon as I finished saying that a growl came from both of our stomachs. I looked down at my stomach and back to Morning Star and grinned. “I guess our match worked up a bit of an appetite. Come on, let’s go see if the chefs would be willing to make us something and we can continue talking in the dining room,” I said as I sprung to my feet and offered her a hand up.

She took the offered hand and smirked at me. “And what makes thou think that I would wish to keep speaking with thee?”

“Well, let’s just go pester the chefs and go from there.” I laughed as I walked out of the training yard with Morning Star close behind.

After that, Morning Star and I did see each other more and we became quite good friends. She had a bit of a rough exterior but she was a kind mare and we got along really well. A few months had passed and I was still busy in the forge despite it technically being my day off. I was working on a personal project of mine and I had a book on magic theory next to me as I tinkered away and examined the armband Jason had given me, I was careful not to damage anything but I wanted to see how I could use magic as an energy source like Jason had. If I could figure it out I would be able to implement it in all sorts of technology. Just as I was examining along a wire carefully to see how it was connected to the crystal power source when a loud knocking from behind me caused me to jerk upright in an instant. I turned toward the source of the noise to see a rare sight, Morning Star in a dress. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a simple white dress but it certainly took me by surprise and it showed her figure rather well. My only complaint was that the skirt was too long. Then again all the dresses were like that. Before I could go any further with that thought Morning Star started to say something.

“What art thou doing down here? Shouldn’t thou be resting today?”

“You know, I had a sign up saying not to disturb me,” I said as I quickly checked my armband to see if anything was damaged. Luckily for me everything seemed fine and I let out a sigh of relief.

“Like thou hast not disturbed me while I was busy before,” she shot back at me. “And thou still hast not answered my question.”

“I was working on my research to implement magic into technology as an energy source.”

“Dost thou ever take a break from this? I swear thou art obsessed with thine work.”

“Oh like you’re one to talk,” I retorted with a smirk. “I’ve seen how you treat your guards during training,” I then cleared my throat to prepare myself to do an impression. “Do not slow down for even a moment! Thine enemy shall give thee no quarter and neither shall I!” I boomed in an impression of Morning Star as I thrust my finger toward my imaginary guards.

Morning Star just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Thou dost know how to keep me in hysterics,” she said her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Now come along, thou art going to take a break from thy work even if I have to drag you out of this blasted castle myself.”

“And what did you have in mind for this break?”

“My home village is having a celebration for its founding. I’m bringing you along to get some fresh air and to finally get out of this castle.”

“Wouldn’t that take days?” I asked in disbelief. “I can’t be gone from my work that long.”

“I have already asked Celestia and Luna and they have agreed to this idea. Thou hast not left the castle since it has been built. They feel that the citizens of Equestria will never get used to thee if thou dost not let them do so.”

“And of course Celestia agreed to this. It’s just like her to not tell me about this at all. I wish I knew what was going on in that mare’s head sometimes.” I sighed as I got up from my workspace and stretched. I then reattached my dampening band and strolled over to Morning Star’s side. “Though I guess you do have a point, I really should get out of the castle every now and then.” I told her with a bit of a grin.

Morning Star nodded and grinned as well. “Glad to see thou art listening to reason.”

“More like I don’t want to have three angry mares come after me when all three of them can use magic on me that could turn me into molten slag.”

“And that was the reason that I was speaking of,” Morning Star retorted with a big grin.

With that the two of us left to the gate of the castle and said goodbye to the princesses. We climbed into a carriage and my chivalrous side came out as I opened the door and helped Morning Star into the carriage. We settled into our seats facing each other and prepared ourselves for the long trip ahead of us. For a while we just spent the ride in companionable silence and I watched the scenery pass us by. I briefly considered taking a nap but Morning Star started to speak and nixed that idea.

“Vash, there is something that I am curious about.”

“Hmm,” I started as I turned away from the window, “what is it?”

“Why dost thou have that armband? Celestia mentioned that it was created by a visitor from another realm as some sort of “dampener”. What is the band supposed to do?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I dismissed with a chuckle. “The armband does what it’s supposed to so it isn’t an issue.”

“Vash that does little to assuage my worries. What is it that that band prevents? I hath never seen thee without it and would like to know why. I am thine friend, and would like to help thee if it is within my power,” Morning Star told me with quiet determination in her eyes

I could tell just from the look she was giving me that she wouldn’t drop this unless I gave her a satisfactory answer. I let out a sigh as I slowly pulled off my right glove and held up my right hand for her. “Tell me, does anything seem odd about my arm?”

“Nothing that I can see, why art thou asking me this?”

“Well this arm may look normal, but it’s anything but. This arm can shift itself into a cannon of sorts and fire an energy so powerful that it could destroy an entire city, and I don’t know how to control it. That’s why I wear the armband, to prevent me from causing destruction like that. If I lost control and did something like that, I don’t know if I’d be able to live with myself.” I told her with none of my usual cheer. Morning Star seemed disturbed for a moment but she steeled herself fairly quickly.

“Perhaps there is a way we could get this power under control,” She suggested as she took and gave my right hand a squeeze with her own in a small gesture of comfort. “The badlands are a desolate place with no life for days of travel. Perhaps if we were to take thee there thou could learn to harness the arm. And even if thou did lose control there thou wouldst not injure anypony.”

I shook my head at that idea. “That’s not a good idea. There’s something else about my arm. Every time it fires I would lose a bit of my life. My hair will start to turn black and once it does, that’s it, I’d die.”

Morning Star’s eyes widened in shock at that and she turned her head to the side. “So the band is thine only option then?”

“Yes,” I answered as I slipped my glove back on. “It’s the best way to keep the arm from firing until I can find a way to control it.”

“I understand, thank thee for telling me the truth,” She said turning back towards me.

“No problem, but could you please not tell everypony back at the castle about this?”

“Why wouldst thou not wish to tell them? Do they not deserve to know this as well?” Morning Star asked clearly confused by my decision.

“I don’t want them to needlessly worry about me. This is my burden to bear and I will find a way to deal with this, okay?” I finished by looking her in the eye and grinning.

“Very well Vash, I shall respect thy wishes and hold my tongue on this matter.”

“Thank you, now let’s just focus on having fun at this festival. I don’t want to be depressed when we get to your hometown!” I cheered keeping up my big grin. “I wonder if they’ll have mead there?” I thought aloud. “And I do have to see how many beautiful maidens I can find.” I finished as a large, dopey grin spread across my face as my mind drifted off toward the beautiful “tracts of land” that awaited us.

Morning Star frowned at that and leveled an icy stare at me. “Tis nice to see that thou art back to normal after that small, somber moment.”

“Well the way I see it life is too short to dwell on negative things too much. It’s best to look at all the bright sides and to keep moving forward.”

“I suppose there is some truth to that, and I am sure that we will enjoy the festival. Some of my fondest memories are from them over the years,” she said with a wistful tone.

“But will there be mead?” I asked with a hopeful expression.

“Yes Vash, there will be mead,” she huffed and rolled her eyes.

The rest of the ride was spent in relative silence that was occasionally broken by some friendly chatter. Later, the two of us were jolted awake as the carriage came to a sudden stop. I climbed out of the carriage and helped Morning Star down. I then looked around at our surroundings and a large smile spread across my face.

The entire town seemed to be out for the festival, the buildings had all sorts of decorations strewn about the buildings and familiar sounding music was playing in the background. The town was basically an idyllic medieval town, kind of like a Medieval Times restaurant minus the refills on Pepsi. Anyway, as we were looking around I noticed that I had drawn some attention from the crowd. The looks they were giving me didn’t seem to be full on mob about to chase the monster to the old windmill, just wary. I decided to just put on my best grin and let Morning Star do the talking so I wouldn’t accidentally step on any landmines. She looked at the crowd with a vibrant smile on her face.

“It is great to see thee all again. I am glad to be back home for this most wonderful of occasions!”

An elderly earth pony who seemed to be the town’s leader stepped forward from the crowd and stopped in front of Morning Star. “Morning Star, we art all glad to see thee, but what is this creature that thou hast brought with thee?”

Morning Star frowned slightly at that and answered, “This is Vash and he is a friend who works in the forges for our princesses and is a close friend of theirs as well. He is here to partake in our celebration.”

This seemed to catch the attention of the crowd and their wariness slowly shifted into curiosity. “Is that so?” The elder mused as he stroked his beard. “Well if he is truly the friend of the princesses then he is welcome to partake in our festivities. Welcome Vash, to the village of Trottingham!” he exclaimed as he took my hand and shook it as the town dispersed so the festival could go into full swing.

After that rocky introduction Morning Star and I walked through the town to see everything that the town had to offer. I had to admit that it was nice to be out of the castle for this. Seeing all kinds of ponies come together for something like this gave me a good feeling. All throughout the streets were all sorts of vendors selling just about anything and everything. There was also a ton of performers showcasing their talents on small stages or just on the street corners. Morning Star had to pull me away from the bartender selling the town’s best mead, that stuff was delicious. The day wore on and eventually the festival was almost over. The last big event was a dance of sorts.

Morning Star ended up dragging me toward the tent where it was happening that no matter how much I tried to protest. Once the two of us were on the dance floor I had to swallow back a lump of fear. Before I could get myself ready the music started and Morning Star grabbed my hands and started to take lead of the dance. It was a little awkward at first partly due to my general inexperience, and the difference in our heights. Eventually though I was able to adjust and I was able to keep up. A smile broke out across my face as I started to get into rhythm with the energetic music. The song continued to swell as Morning Star and I kept going faster and faster. Of course, the song came to an end and the two of us were left close together and breathing heavily from the exertion. The two of us took in a few quick breaths and stared intently into each other’s eyes. I don’t know how long we were like that but Morning Star then placed a hand behind my head and started to pull me down to her. At first I was going along with it as I was swept up in the moment of it all. But just as our lips were about to brush together something snapped in my head. In an instant I took my hands and placed them on Morning Star’s shoulders to push her away. Her eyes snapped open and looked up at me with an expression of hurt and confusion. I turned on a heel to avoid seeing that face any longer. I then walked out of the tent as fast as I could without drawing attention to myself.

I slipped out of the tent just as the next dance started and hoped that I could lose Morning Star in the mass of bodies. I then rushed to the edge of the town and took a seat up against a tree. I then placed my face in my hands and couldn’t help but think about what had just happened.

‘I am such an idiot, why would I even do something like that?’ I thought desperately. ‘Ugh, this is awful and to make matters worse I just ran off. That was probably the dumbest decision I could make. It’s not like I could avoid her or anything so I’ll have to talk to her about this. Now I just have to figure out what I’m going to say.’

Before I could continue that line of thinking I could hear hoof steps approaching me. I didn’t bother to look up, I already knew who it was. “Vash, why didst thou do that?” Morning Star asked with a strained voice.

“I-I don’t know.”

“Vash, look at me.” She implored as she walked a few steps closer to me. I did as she asked and our eyes met as I looked over her face. The hurt and confusion was still there, but it seemed like anger was working its way there as well. “Please do not lie to me, and tell me what is wrong,” she pressed as she placed her hands on my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. I tried to think of some excuse but I thought back to the conversation we had in the carriage and decided to just tell her the truth.

“Fine, my arm isn’t the only thing that’s abnormal about me. I have an incredibly long life-span in head of me. I don’t know how long I have exactly but I do know that I won’t age very much in the next few hundred years,” I admitted as the words just kept spilling forth. “I guess I’m just afraid that the two of us could get serious and I’ll outlive you and have to watch as your life slowly ends.”

I could feel Morning Star’s grip on me soften and I looked up to see that her expression had as well. “That is a perfectly normal fear, but my mother had a saying. It is not how long something lasts, but what is done in the time it does. For now we should not worry about thy longevity, but instead focus on what is before us.” And with that she inched her face closer to mine. This time I didn’t pull away and our lips met. The fur around her muzzle tickled a little but it wasn’t a bad feeling. In fact both of our eyes closed as we got lost into the moment.