Applejack knocked on the dark double doors a lot louder than she normally would. She didn’t want to catch any more flack for sneaking around their place. In fact, she made double sure they knew she was here.

“Luna? Raegdan? Y’all here? It’s me, Applejack! Can ah come in?” She yelled loud enough for her voice to -hopefully- penetrate the thick doors in front of her muzzle. She could hear her words echo behind her down the tower’s staircase.

She heard a clicking sound from the lock and a muffled answer but couldn’t make out the meaning. To heck with it, she wanted to talk to them, not her own reflection on Luna’s shiny doors. She dragged one of them open, the door easily sliding on its well oiled hinge. “Ah said, can ah come in?”

The farmer could now easily hear the diarch call out for her. “I said, yes. Ascend to the second floor please, we are in the bathroom!”

The bathroom? Alright, Applejack was all up for being all casual like in a friendly place but there were some limits, don’t ya think? Still, she braved open the door on the second floor of Luna’s chambers, hoping she just overthought things...

...and gosh darn it, there were the both of them, all drenched in the tub. Raegdan seemed to be naked which she believed, if she had gotten the gist right, that while he didn’t mind anyone seeing him like that, he preferred not to. Mostly because as he had said his -ahem- “farming equipment” was all up front in display for all to see. She didn’t need to see. That colt better stay sitting.

She kept referring to him as a young colt sometimes, even though the guy was probably at least twice as old as her. Must have been because if it didn’t involve his own special brand of “talents” she was often felt feeling like the most mature of the two by the far.

“Ah’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Applejack tried her hoof at that tact thing Rarity kept on yapping about. Seemed to be the proper moment.

“No. I was just checking his stitches,” Luna answered. Whelp, that explained why she had her muzzle all the way down there so low at his torso.

“Careful there Raegdan,” Applejack teased. “She might be using that excuse to get a peek at ya.”

“I have already seen everything there is to see,” Luna dismissed Applejack’s comment, smirking. “Did you believe we are concerned with modesty when treating any injuries he gets?” Her teasing smile got even wider at Applejack’s apparent relief at not hearing any raunchy tales.

“Ah thought we were gonna curb on these jokes.”

“You started it.”

“Fair enough. You two take your bath together often?”

“Is that strange?” Raegdan asked. “I thought that sharing a bath was common for you guys. For my kind not so much, but personally I don’t mind at all. I’ve even taken baths with Celestia before anyway. It’s not like it’s a big deal.”

Applejack could feel her eyebrows reaching for the heavens. She wondered if he had the slightest idea how many colts and stallions -and some mares- fantasized about what he said doing all casual and all.

Luna dunked herself below the water’s surface for a couple of seconds. “Such a rascal I have to tolerate. He would not rest until he completed the set with both sisters. I think it was common in my time but the practice fell out apparently. Celestia is probably still comfortable with it,” Luna said when she surfaced again.

“I’m starting to get a slight sense of discomfort right about now though,” Raegdan said.

“You tell your discomfort now is not the time to rear its head. Applejack, could you please bring me that knife on your left?”

“What ya need that for?” Applejack asked. Raegdan seemed to have frozen in place at the sudden request and was waiting for Luna’s answer.

Luna pointed her hoof at Raegdan’s left forearm. “It’s time for these to go. Raegdan, do you need help?”

“No, no, I got it.” Raegdan cut the stitches one by one and pulled them out one handed. A couple drops of blood flowed out of the tiny holes left behind. “I’ll keep a bandage on it for a couple of days for safety and then it’s over and done with. Was there anything you wanted Applejack? I will have to get out and dry off at some point and unless you want to catch a glimpse of-”

“Ah ain’t catching anything. You keep your little guardsman out of sight or he’s gonna need stitches too. Ah came all the way up here to let ya know that we are expecting ponies to start arriving in a couple of hours. Ya might wanna be down before then. This is your show after all,” Applejack hinted heavily.

The rest of the girls were getting more and more anxious as the appointed hour for the nighttime event came closer and the duo was out of sight. When Applejack left, Rarity was constantly rearranging napkins on the snacks table, Twilight had Spike buried under a pile of checklists, Fluttershy was jumping from place to place in search of something to help with, Pinkie Pie was hanging from the tallest tree in the garden so she could be the first to see the guests arriving, and Rainbow Dash’s snoring had brought the guards running to find that “dangerous beast” three times so far.

“We will be down as soon as we are ready,” Luna said, splashing some water on Raegdan with her hoof. “Raegdan, I have to look my best.” She moved so she sat with her back against Raegdan’s chest. Luna’s magic levitated a bottle in front of him. “Wash my mane again. This time don’t stop massaging until I tell you to.”

“At this rate there won’t be a mane left and if I wait for you to tell me to stop we will be here until tomorrow…” Raegdan complained, but he still poured a generous amount of shampoo on his palm.

“I’m not trusting anypony else for this and… see… there’s this thing that’s been bothering me -ah, right there- lately… Oh yes, I remember now. You are -scratch a bit higher- officially my guard now so you have to do as I order you… mmmm…” Applejack watched in wonder as the dark blue Alicorn figuratively melted.

“See, I knew this was gonna come back and bite me, but I still said it. I’m a moron like that. Since when does being your guard make me your bath attendant too?”

“Perks of the job… Don’t you dare slow down! You are doing my coat and tail afterwards and you shall help me preen my wings.”

“Alright. And what about me? Do I get the favor returned?” Raegdan asked, sarcastically.

“I shall hold your head below the water’s surface until I conclude you have been cleaned enough,” Luna answered while pushing her head harder against Raegdan’s working fingers.

“Ah. The drowning method. While it is indeed the most masculine of baths I am not sure I approve in this case.” Luna tittered like a little filly at his answer.

“Ya two seem to be in good spirits. Any special occasion?”

Raegdan’s smile slowly dissipated. “I am trying very hard to be optimistic about your and Rarity’s… plan.” Raegdan sighed and his shoulders drooped, though his fingers kept working uninterrupted. “But I admit to having some doubts. I- I don’t know. Maybe we should let it lie. Twilight’s right after all and… I was never meant to be so close to her and Spike. I was to be their guard for some time until she was safe and then Celestia was supposed to... this has all been a huge mistake...”

“Hey now, ah don’t wanna hear any more of this talk out of ya,” Applejack shushed him down. “Yer not doing yourself, Twilight, or Spike any favors by acting like a prima dona drama queen. Heck, Rarity herself thinks you are being over dramatic so you can guess how bad you look. Just act normally, that’s all, like you used to when she still lived here with y’all.”

Rarity had rushed into Applejack’s room this morning, shortly after talking with Twilight. After telling her about last night’s events, they both had a long discussion about Raegdan’s stability. Rarity told her how Raegdan acted when she stopped him. Short, clipped sentences, without any emotion and barely any effort in their articulation. His cruel savagery in dealing with that lousy griffin. His barely held back desire to kill those two without need or reason. The way it took him some time to return to normal.

All that, plus what little Princess Celestia told Twilight about Raegdan’s past, had led Rarity to one conclusion. Raegdan minus his kids equaled murder spree waiting to happen. If that’s how he acted after a single day… neither of them wanted to know how he would end up in a month. If he was going to stay out of major trouble long enough to help Luna with her own problems they had to keep him sane and stable. They were ready to argue Luna down to give them her aid only to find her agreeing with them without question. Evidently, she feared that Twilight’s rejection would greatly damage Raegdan’s psyche despite his projected attitude.

Applejack would have done the same anyway. Letting a family rip themselves apart was not something she would allow as long as she had a say in the matter.

Raegdan blew a stressed out breath. “Well, I guess you are the family expert.”

“Ah don’t need your sass. Just do as we talked about.” That’s right little colt. Keep faking that you are fine with whatever. At least this way he won’t end up like yesterday again.

“She is being correct Raegdan,” Luna added. “You need to shake up Twilight’s mind towards positive memories, not reinforce her current views. You will only damage her mind if you continue like this, trust me.”

“Damage? What, you mean like a psychological thing?” Applejack asked, concerned. Nopony mentioned anything about any damage to Twilight.

“A figure of speech,” Luna said dismissively. Her eyes were closed and her head moved gently under the careful ministrations of Raegdan’s thin fingers. She kept humming and mumbling. “In other news, we also had some correspondence arrive today,” she answered in a dreamlike voice. “We will share the good news later. Change of plans Raegdan. After you finish my coat you will shampoo my mane again.” Raegdan muttered something about unending cycles. “I hope this evening goes as well as you assured us Applejack. We have actually been looking forward to it.”

“Don’t ya fret princess. We are right on top of things!” Applejack rearranged her hat and smiled proudly.

Then she turned tail and left. She didn’t wanna watch the rest of the washing too. Last thing she needed was a reputation as a peeper following after her.

“So… what are you doing there Applejack?” Rarity asked in an obvious attempt to initiate a conversation. Applejack could tell there was something in particular she wanted to talk about, but she was going to go all circling about it first in typical Rarity fashion. Was that a pun? She should keep it in mind, see if she can use it sometime later.

“Cutting mahself a slice of apple pie. Want one?” Applejack offered the small plate she had prepared for herself.

“No thank you. I’m fine.”

“Suit yourself.” Applejack shrugged and moved down the table. She had spied it somewhere around here… aha! She grabbed the can of whipped cream and put a generous dollop over her piece. Thinking about it she decided to double it. It’s not like there was a need to save enough for everypony else.

“How do things look so far in your opinion? Pretty poor showing, isn’t it?”

“Poor showing?” Applejack scoffed. “Rares, all we need is a couple of tumbleweeds to complete the picture. Nopony’s here but us.” She took a bite. She could barely feel something solid under all that cream in her mouth. Perfect. That might take some of the bitterness out.

“It’s… it’s still early enough. This is Canterlot after all. It’s a traditional requirement to be fashionably late.”

“The guests were supposed to start coming in at nine. It’s after eleven now, ain’t it?” Applejack burst that little bubble without mercy. She was feeling mighty bitter and it took a little effort not to bite out at anypony. She had promised everything would turn out ok and now look at this mess. She didn’t like breaking her promises or turning into a liar.

“Point taken. Have you seen Luna and Raegdan?”

“Yep.” She pointed with a hoof at the shadows, away from all the lights and the central fire they had lit up. “They holed up out there about an hour ago.”

“What a mess…” Rarity poured a glass of water for herself. Applejack noticed how she added a lemon slice. She wondered if she could do that with an apple slice or would that be weird? “What I’ve been meaning to ask you all day however is what happened with Twilight. She seemed extremely upset with my misadventure last night. What happened with her? I barely saw her all day.”

“Well, as should be expected, she rushed to the library, pulling down books like crazy. Law books. She was trying to find out whether Raegdan was allowed by law in what he did or not.”

“Oh Twilight. What was her reasoning?”

Applejack put down her empty plate and started hunting down for some juice. She certainly had a lot of options to choose from. They didn’t spare any expense and now she was feeling mighty guilty about that too. “Ah think she is pretty darn confused. One moment she was worried about the big lug, the next she was determined to find something that would condemn him. She kept going back and forth, back and forth. It got me kinda worried, let me tell ya.” Applejack was heavily concerned about her friend. The last couple of days must have really shaken her up. Twilight was not even making sense at times.

“Hmm. Did she find anything?”

“Yep. If Raegdan is operating under the same rules as the Solar Guard does, and it looks that way so far, anypony so much as nudges us and he is free to “take any action necessary to ensure the safety of the princess or those under her direct protection”. What action that can be is up to his own discretion at the time. Is it strange that ah’m not surprised he didn’t know what the Solar Guard was meant for but he had that part pat down?”

“No, I am not surprised either. While I have to say that I am relieved to hear that there won’t be any unwanted further issues, I can’t help but worry about the carte blanche this gives him. I guess it’s a good thing for Lady Honest Serenade she didn’t try anything more direct, like slapping me. Though Raegdan didn’t seem to be hostile to her if you ignore last night’s events. How strange is that? The mare salivates at the thought of his corpse and he is enjoying every second of it.”

Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie came to join them. None of them looked happy, Pinkie Pie most of all. The pink earth pony’s ears and mane had drooped, and she looked almost ready to cry. “You alright there sugarcube?”

“No,” Pinkie responded in a petulant tone. “Nopony is coming. I’ve never been to a party where no guests showed up before. I’m saaad…” Fluttershy kept a wing around Pinkie to comfort her.

“I don’t understand why. Somepony should have been here, if only out of curiosity. Maybe there was something wrong with the invites? We did write down the right date and time, didn’t we?” Twilight had a large scroll filled with ticks rolling in front of her at ridiculous speeds.

Pinkie Pie pulled an envelope out of somewhere. “Let me check… yep, we did. It’s all written down, right over the hugs and kisses.”

“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled. “Those were supposed to be all sent out! No wonder nopony has come.”

“Don’t be silly Twilight. I know that. We posted every single one.” Pinkie defended herself.

“Then what is that?”

“One of the invites. I got the rest of them somewhere around here.”

“But why do you have them Pinkie?”

“Cause everypony sent them back…” Pinkie looked completely depressed once more.

“Wait a second there Pinkie,” Applejack cut in. “When did this happen?”

“Oh, um… I got them back this morning,” Fluttershy said. “I went to the post office to send a letter to Ponyville and they gave them to me.”

“Darling, why didn’t either of you say anything?” Rarity asked, concerned.

Pinkie wailed. “We thought it was a joke. I’ve never seen a party invitation sent back!” Rarity rushed to Pinkie’s side, rubbing her back with her hoof.

“There, there, darling. It’s ok. Those ponies were just rude, we wouldn’t want them here anyway. Why don’t you come with me and we can have some of the nice food that’s on the spread? More for us, right?”

Pinkie sniffed, nodding along. “Ok…” Fluttershy and Rarity stuck by her side as they moved to the part of the buffet table that held the more sugary treats for the foals.

“Well, ain’t that a hoot. Ah don’t get it,” Applejack said once Pinkie had moved far enough not to hear. “They loved his story before. How come nopony wanted to come now?”

Rainbow Dash joined in suddenly, flapping her wings above them. “I think we might find out. Look who made an appearance!”

A dark green coated pegasus with a brown mane was walking slowly towards them. Rows of bandages covered the remains of her amputated wings. Applejack was torn between being glad to see her about after the way she talked about doing something too rash the last time she saw her and apprehension about this night getting worse than just a no show.

Now, Applejack completely understood that Stream Leaf had suffered a life changing loss. Ya don’t just lose a part of you and just spring back into business as usual, no way. She sure as heck had a reason to feel bitter and wanting some payback against those that did that to her. Applejack understood and forgave any comments that were sure to come out of her mouth.

But, gosh darn it, she really wished the mare was whole and fine so she wouldn’t be feeling guilty if Applejack smacked the back of Leaf Stream’s head the way she looked at the empty seats around her. All smug and satisfied. They were trying to do a nice thing here. They didn’t need that kind of attitude rubbing their face in the mud.

“You know,” Leaf Stream said when she reached them, “I seriously wish I could say I didn’t expect this, if only so I could be pleasantly surprised, but I did, I totally did! Looks like terrifying little fillies and making them orphans doesn’t pay that hot after all!” she heckled triumphantly.

Rainbow Dash floated in front of her, coming muzzle to muzzle with her aggressively. “Hey, we are not in the mood for naysayers here. If you came to gloat I’ll be glad to punt you flying towards the door!”

“Wow. Making flying jokes at the cripple? Is that what makes you feel like a big filly?”

Rainbow Dash rapidly backed off. “I didn’t mean that! It was just an expression- Twilight, tell her I didn’t mean that!”

Leaf Stream laughed at Rainbow Dash’s panic. “Calm down tough little filly. I’m here on business actually. Where’s the monster?”

Twilight pulled attention on her with a meaningful cough. “If you have a message I will be glad enough to make sure it reaches it- its recipient. We would like to keep things civil, you understand. For everypony’s sake.”

“You mean you are afraid he might decide to rip off a couple more bodyparts, don’t you? No, seriously, I get it. I’d still prefer to talk to that thing in person. He can’t be that busy right now, can he?” Leaf Stream said with a look around her. “It’s not like there’s anypony here.”

“For your information ponies did show up,” Rainbow Dash claimed.

Applejack was surprised to hear that. She hadn’t seen anypony arrive.

“Right. I believe that. Where are they?”

“She’ll be back soon. You see, Princess Celestia is kind of an important pony.” Rainbow Dash said with a satisfied smirk.

Leaf Stream stared unbelievingly for a second before she burst laughing so hard she could barely stand. “Seriously? Seriously! The only pony who showed up was her sister? Oh Sun help me, this- this is like a little filly’s birthday party where none of her classmates showed up. I actually feel bad for her now.”

“Hey!” Rainbow protested. “Twilight’s parents were gonna come too but Raegdan didn’t want to invite them for some safety reasons- Applejack, tell her to stop laughing!”

Evidently the poor mare didn’t feel bad enough, in Applejack’s opinion, to stop her from choking because of how hard she laughed. It did cheer up Applejack how Leaf Stream almost swallowed her own tongue when she heard the voice behind her.

“I am so sorry to have to drop out like this. Has anypony else arrived yet? Oh, hello Leaf Stream,” Princess Celestia cheerily smiled at the grounded pegasus which was quick to bow as low as she could go without digging a hole in the grass with her muzzle. “Please, get up. I would like to forego formalities today. Twilight, where is my sister?”

Twilight pointed a hoof at the same direction Rarity did before.

Celestia raised a hoof over her mouth. “Oh my. I hope they haven’t taken it too hard…”

“We wouldn’t know,” Applejack told her. “We ain’t heard a peep from ‘em.”

“They are probably busy reliving Raegdan’s act of murder yesterday and having a good laugh…” Twilight murmured. Applejack heard her and was about to lay it on her about that spiteful comment but Princess Celestia was quicker on the draw.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia cried out, upset and austere. “I would have never expected to hear something as terrible as this from you. Luna sending Raegdan after your friend saved Rarity. Raegdan being there saved Rarity. I have been given a report on that griffin’s suspected and known crimes. Rarity was unbelievably lucky to have Raegdan at her side. She told me what he threatened to do, what he wanted to do, and I know that so do you.”

Celestia stood imperiously over Twilight, the smaller mare trembling on her hooves. “No matter what Luna and Raegdan have done, have acted, or how they think, the fact that they helped your friend remains. I would have expected you to show them your gratitude, not disparage them behind their backs for keeping one of your close friends safe. Am I understood?”

“Y-yes Princess Celestia. I’m… I’m sorry…” Twilight had lowered her head low to the ground and was almost in tears.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” Celestia sighed deeply and raised Twilight’s head high with her wing. “Perhaps telling you these things yesterday was a mistake. It has obviously upset you too much. We will talk about this tomorrow. Right now I want to check on Luna and Raegdan.”

On their way to the duo’s hiding hole they passed by the rest of the girls. Rarity and Fluttershy were covertly being amused by Pinkie Pie’s staring contest with a tray of sugar. After a few bows that were quickly halted, they joined Princess Celestia’s growing entourage.

“I’m surprised ah ain’t seen Shining Armor yet. Wasn’t he supposed to be here?” From what Applejack had gotten from him, Shining Armor was an avid fan of Raegdan’s stories. She would have expected him to be here from minute one. In fact, he should have been here anyway, helping provide security though the point was now moot. Twilight had decided to dismiss the few guards they had around half an hour ago.

Celestia answered with a disapproving voice. “Captain Armor has quite a few questions to answer in light of recent events. For example, how was Grunge, a griffin of such a notorious list of offenses, able to stay in Canterlot without being apprehended? I doubt he will have a lot of personal time for the foreseeable future.”

“Ah have no doubt he was doing his best, princess.”

“Oh? Well, I do,” Princess Celestia answered in deadpan. “This is not just about the attack that occurred yesterday. A personality like Grunge doesn’t loaf around. I didn’t believe Rarity was his first victim in Canterlot. And yet, where were the reports? Stashed in a box out of sight, among who knows what else. Captain Armor better shape up his guards and station, and have solid results for me soon or I am going to be very, very displeased. The whole castle’s staff had better tread lightly in fact. I’ve been without Luna for far too long and allowed myself to let my beliefs influence my decisions too much. This stops now. There are going to be a lot of changes when she takes up her duties once more and Equestria has the diarchy it was always supposed to have.”

Celestia’s ears perked up as if she heard something. When they approached the tall bushes, behind which they believed Luna and Raegdan were, Applejack could also hear their voices in the silence of the night.

“..ime’s up. What have you got?” That was Luna’s voice.

“I got a rose. Eleven brights and two dims.” Raegdan.

“Where?”

“There. See? That’s the stem and the two dims are in the petals…”

“Hmm. I see it. I do believe I remember it from the astrology book however.”

“I’m not the one who cheats. What have you got?”

“A diving pegasus wielding a spear. Twenty three brights and five dims.”

“Are you kidding me? You are not kidding me. Where?”

“Two stars over the topmost of your flower. That’s where the spear ends. Move east and you can follow it all the way to-”

“Damn. Ok, I see it. I’m writing them down.”

“So… remind me, who’s winning?”

“Screw you.”

Luna was giggling when their group came around the green, living wall. They were both sitting on the grass, backs leaned against the marble base of a statue. Raegdan was writing on a notebook while Luna was laughing and rocking his armored shoulder, making him pout as he tried to keep his handwriting steady. She waved at their group when she saw them approach.

“Hello sister. Have any of our guests arrived yet?”

“I’m sorry Luna. I don’t think anypony is-”

“I see. There’s no need to fret. We saw which way the wind was blowing soon enough and have made peace with it.” Luna addressed the girls clustered around Celestia. “I apologize for wasting your time.”

“Oh come on now, princess!” Applejack protested. “That ain’t your fault. If ponies don’t want to come and have a good time then that’s their own-”

Pinkie Pie jumped on Raegdan’s unoccupied side and shoved her muzzle in the notebook he was writing in. “What are you two doing? Are you playing a game? Is it a fun one?”

“Just something we made up a few months ago to pass the time… little pink,” Raegdan answered her.

Applejack smiled. That nickname brought back the glow that was missing from Pinkie Pie. For some reason, Rarity’s front right hoof spasmed when she heard him.

“How do you play?”

“It’s easy enough. We have a time limit of five minutes. In that time we need to find a shape among the stars. You get points according to how many stars it uses, how bright they are, and the image itself,” Raegdan explained the simple rules.

“Huh. So it’s like the night version of looking for shapes in the clouds. Who’s winning?” Spike asked from his seat on Twilight’s back.

Raegdan turned back a page on his notebook. “I haven’t included tonight’s totals yet. Last count, I had one thousand, two hundred, and forty three points.”

Luna chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, do your little dance, and pat yourself on the back. Luna’s last count was…” Raegdan sighed in defeat. “Two hundred million, one thousand, nine hundred, and eighty two points.”

Everypony just stared while Luna was laughing uproariously and Raegdan sulked. “How did she manage that?” Applejack asked in awe.

“She fu- freaking cheated! She used that!” Raegdan’s finger pointed accusingly at a star they couldn’t pinpoint in the night sky.

“You said galaxies count,” Luna said, still laughing.

“I had no idea you even knew what they are or which one of them is one!”

“Well, I did. Why would I ask otherwise? It was positively fair. I even allowed it to count for only one hundredth of a point.”

“Per star! Per star! A galaxy has at least two hundred billion stars! Maybe twice as many. Maybe much more.”

“Are you are saying I should have more points?”

An indignant Raegdan stomped his way away from the group under the blue Alicorn’s laughter. “Don’t mind him. He is overreacting. I suppose this is the part where we call this off?” Luna asked.

“I don’t see the need to do that Luna. The girls have already gone to the trouble of preparing all this. I say let’s take advantage of it. There are some wonderful treats we can taste and we can still share the stories among us. What do you say?” Celestia’s smile was pleading and hopeful.

“I don’t know, we could use the time to work on some things…” Luna pondered the suggestion. “Those treats… is there any chocolate?”

“Lots!” Pinkie Pie shouted excited. “We have chocolate cookies, chocolate pastries, chocolate cake, chocolate donuts, chocolate milkshakes, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate-”

Luna’s tongue slipped out and ran over her lips. “I suppose we could do as you propose. I just need to make sure that Raegdan does the totals correctly and he doesn’t cheat again. Don’t start without us!” Luna spread her wings and quickly soared to Raegdan’s side.

While they waited Celestia spoke to Leaf Stream. “I am surprised to see you here Leaf Stream. Few ponies would be gracious enough to accept such an invitation as you have after what you suffered through.”

“Oh, um… thank you, your Highness, but I wasn’t actually invited. I just thought I might be able to talk to them about a… job they offered me.”

“Really?” Celestia was bewildered. “Today is just full of surprises. May I ask what exactly this job entails?”

“I, uh… would like to discuss the details with your sister first, your Grace. I’m not exactly clear on what they expect from me either.” Celestia nodded her acceptance and let the matter drop.

Applejack was observing the pair that was engrossed in tallying their points with occasional stops for Luna to smack Raegdan on the back of his head with her wing, when Rainbow Dash decided she had enough of the silence. Applejack just knew that this would turn memorable. Rainbow never failed to deliver.

“So, uhh… Princess Celestia. Applejack told us that Raegdan mentioned that he has… bathed with you?” Applejack covered her face with her hoof when she heard the question pop out of Rainbow Dash’s mouth. She saw Rarity’s face go even whiter, if that’s possible, in that brief second before she covered her eyes.

There was a slight pinkness on Celestia’s cheeks. “Oh, I’m old fashioned. You understand. Communal bathing, mixed company or not, was not that unusual even a couple of centuries ago. And he is a friend,” she said this in a tone of voice that meant; There! That explains everything!

“Right, right…” Rainbow Dash nodded. “He gets naked when he takes a bath? All clothes off?”

The pink burn on the princess’ face intensified just the tiniest bit. “Yes…”

“What I am trying to ask here is,” Rainbow Dash coughed, checked over her shoulder to see if Spike was nearby but evidently decided to go ahead anyway. She leaned a bit closer to the Alicorn. “...how does he, you know, rate down there?”

Applejack could hear Rarity’s mumble, “Rainbow Dash, I swear, when we are done here I’m dragging you down to the dungeons and I’ll swallow the key…” and see Twilight’s mouth open and close repeatedly with no words coming out. Fluttershy had actually shoved her head in the bushes. Spike’s features were puzzled as he tried to understand the question’s meaning.

Celestia laughed nervously, and quite obviously faking it in Applejack’s honest opinion. “I believe a quick lesson is needed here. Shared baths, at least as they used to be, are not the… the “steaming affairs” they write about in some books.”

“Oh?” Rarity was blinking her eyes in a “what kind of books would those be? I have no idea!” innocent type of blink.

“Yes. It’s nothing like what ponies make it out to be,” Celestia said dismissively. “There are some rules after all, put in place exactly to avoid this kind of awkwardness. You can understand. No touching, or “helping” of any kind, or getting into each other’s personal space. You keep an appropriate distance actually. There are bath attendants but they are different. They are professionals who do a job. Not your friends, acquaintances, colleagues or anything. Otherwise it would be a situation similar to having a dinner with friends and feeding each other with your hooves.”

“Ah see. Very educational,” Applejack said. She glanced covertly at the pair just a little bit away from her, as did all of the girls. Being the closest one she could just barely make them out whispering to each other. The only sounds she could make out however were some very awkward sounding mumbling.

Less than a minute afterwards they walked back to them, holding just a smidgen more distance between them than they usually did. “Alright, I guess we can start now,” Raegdan announced.

“Who’s winning, monster?”

“Why don’t you jump off a cliff you- what the hell are you doing here?”

Applejack found herself in quite an impressive position these last few days. The apple farmer from Ponyville had become the de facto counselor, aide, attendant, chaperone, and when needed to, tamer of the Commander of the Lunar Guard, who was currently interviewing his only candidate to join so far.

It sounded impressive and all, but most of the time it all came down to something too similar to babysitting.

Raegdan was a pretty smart guy when he needed to. Too often however, when dealing with ponies outside their group, that attribute was replaced with intolerance, threatening language -and actions-, and impulsiveness to bring all that to bear. Ergo, Applejack taking a seat by his side. A few times per day Applejack would cough meaningfully and Raegdan would instantly shut up and sit down like a trained dog before he said or did something wrong, either violent or insulting.

Those occurrences were lessening every day, thank Celestia, but boy, did the big lug make life difficult on her. One minute he was joking and acting all friendly, the next he could be looking at somepony with eyes half closed as his fingers were visibly spasming with held back desire to tighten into fists.

Now this? This right here? This was one of those splendid times. Ya think he’d be happy that Leaf Stream showed up to answer to his offer, especially since her answer was yes. Instead he had looked downright murderous for a few seconds. Applejack just could not get into his head sometimes, no matter how hard she tried.

Luna had skipped off the proceedings in order to have a hope of sampling some of the chocolate treats that had been promised to her before a renewed Pinkie Pie devoured everything. Raegdan wanted to keep it as private as possible, so it fell to Applejack alone to make sure this… job interview would end on a high note that was not somepony’s scream.

“Your reasons,” he demanded.

“Excuse me?” Leaf Stream asked, shaken. Her previous bravado had perished when Raegdan started being serious and cold.

“I said, your reasons. We need people. That’s why we asked you. But why did you choose to accept our offer?”

“I, uh, well… I- It was... Ok, I was being seriously depressed. I just lost my wings and all. You and… Princess Luna tried to cheer me up. In a seriously disturbed way, but you did. I thought I-”

“Bullshit,” Raegdan interrupted her. He paused a moment to glance at the rest of the party that had gathered near the bonfire. Some of them, Princess Celestia and Twilight especially, kept their eyes almost constantly glued to them. “Try again little girl.”

“Alright. It was your offer. The one where I get a chance to kill you. You took my wings. If that’s what it takes to-”

“Second try is also a bust.” Raegdan placed his elbows on his knees as he sat, leaning forward and closer to Leaf Stream. “You don’t want me dead. I don’t fucking know why, but you don’t. Not enough at least. Oh, you hate my guts and would gladly break every bone in my body, but kill me in cold blood? I can’t see you doing that yet, though I have no idea why.”

“Maybe seriously hurting you a lot is good enough for me!” Leaf Stream snarled.

“Better. But still not good enough to accept being ordered around by the likes of me.” He placed one of his fingers on her forehead, pushing her head back. “I would trust you more if only you really wanted me dead. I could be certain you’d stick around and obey enough to learn as much as you need before you took your shot. Let’s try this again. Your reasons.”

Leaf Stream didn’t answer. She kept glowering at him, her previous discomfort and fear all forgotten. Applejack wondered what she should do. Raegdan was being a tad hostile, but considering the risk he was about to take he was being surprisingly easy going. Maybe she should call for a break and pull Leaf Stream over and have a talk with her, gal to gal. She might be more willing to talk to somepony else.

“I’d rather not say,” Leaf Stream said. “It’s personal.”

“Of course it’s “personal”,” Raegdan said sarcastically. Leaf Stream’s frown deepened with loathing. “We are not talking about a fast food cook position. If you don’t want to tell me then you could go look for a job like that inst-”

“Everypony acts like I’m dead.”

Raegdan leaned back and folded his arms in front of his chest. He made a rolling gesture with two of his fingers towards Leaf Stream to continue.

“I have seen other pegasi that had serious problems with their wings because of an accident. Most of them could barely fly, even for a few minutes. I even met one who had lost one of her wings. Like me.” Leaf Stream swallowed before continuing. “Always, whenever I saw one of them, I had that same thought lurking in a corner of my mind: what was left for them now that they could not fly? Are they even pegasi now?”

“And then it happened to you,” Raegdan prodded her.

“Then it happened to me,” Leaf Stream agreed, her hoof making fast swipes at her eyes to hide how much this still pained her. “Everypony thinks the same thing for me. I can see it in their eyes, the way they look at me. Pitying me as if I’m dying instead of just being a- a cripple. First thing I found after I came out of the operating room was… was that I was no longer a Solar Guard. Everything I had worked for... it was worth nothing. I lost it all. Almost nopony came to see me, and those that did? They could barely look at me. They barely talked to me. They didn’t come to see how I was. They came to pay their respects to a dead pegasus.”

Applejack found herself sitting on Leaf Stream’s side now, close enough to almost touch. “How about your family, sugarcube? Have they come to see you yet?”

“They did. My parents. My younger sister. A few friends.” Leaf Stream shook her head, strands of her long brown mane almost whipping Applejack’s face. “They… it was horrible. Whispering all the time, barely daring to make a noise… it was as if they stood in a mausoleum, not my room. They all expected me to do the same thing like it was the only choice I had left. Take the money from my pension as a Solar Guard, get a place of my own somewhere quiet, and live out my life there. They believed the only thing I could do now was… was stay in a house alone and left to rot.”

Applejack’s hoof rested on Leaf Stream’s shoulder. “That’s not true. Ah bet your family loves you. They probably have no idea what to do either. This is bound to hurt them too. They’re yer family!”

“I know. I know. Doesn’t make it any easier not to hate them a little for it. I sent them away. I couldn’t… it was like...” she said, dejected.

Leaf Stream took a few breaths, calming herself. She raised her head to look at Raegdan. He hadn’t moved or changed his bored expression. He was waiting for her to finish.

“The only ones who didn’t treat me like that, that stupid faked respect, was N- Princess Luna and you,” she growled. “Do you have any idea how it felt, to know that the only ones who believed I was still essentially whole, that I was still me, were the two who did this to me in the first place?”

“Pretty angry I’d guess,” Raegdan said with a non-committing shrug.

“Angry does not begin to cover it. I was- I wanted- I needed to- to-” Leaf Stream was stuttering as she struggled to find a way to express her feelings.

“Rip me apart with nothing else but your hooves and teeth? To hit me until you could no longer move and there was nothing left of my face but a bloody pulp? Bite off my throat and feel the blood gushing in your mouth?” Applejack stared at Raegdan as he intoned these horrible sentences at a level voice. It was the way he said it. As if this was a perfectly normal way of thinking.

“Yes! Oh, I wanted to hurt you so much that I was trembling at the thought. I still do. I hate you for this, for being bucking offended when I told you I was no longer a Solar Guard. It could have been so easy,” she whispered, “to just give up if both of you hadn’t come into my room. I could have killed myself or live like an empty shell. Wake up, eat, breath, crap, do something nonsensical like… like gardening, go to bed, repeat until I die. Nothing but a routine to sleepwalk through while I slowly faded out.”

She put her hooves around her head. “I can’t do it now,” she cried out. “I can’t do it cause if I do then… then I- I am less than… You two had no reason to try and stop me from… from doing anything. You two treated me like I was still normal, unchanged. Alive. Not a fragile bauble ready to break at a sound louder than a whisper.” She growled with barely suppressed rage, “I’ll be damned if I don’t prove this to everypony else too by any means necessary. Then I’ll kick your flank. I won’t kill you but I’ll cut off one of your arms maybe. Make it fair!”

Leaf Stream was breathing heavily. Applejack risked a backwards glance. Everypony was looking at them. She wondered if they had heard the last couple of sentences. Leaf Stream had been getting pretty loud there. She turned her attention back to Raegdan. The tall biped was still sitting there, dressed in his usual armor with his helmet on his belt. A finger was tapping his lips as he sat deep in thought. Then he suddenly clapped once.

“Great story,” he said. “Very touching. I almost teared up.” He chuckled at the menacing look Leaf Stream was giving him. “Congratulations. You are now a part of the Lunar Guard. Head over to the others, tell them the “good” news, have something to eat or drink to celebrate. You will have to stick around I’m afraid. Princess Luna has something to share afterwards and now it concerns you too. Welcome to the dark side. Have fun,” he waved with a thin smile.

Leaf Stream looked for confirmation at Applejack’s direction who could do nothing else but shrug. This wasn’t as half bad as she feared. She rose up to follow behind her when Raegdan called her back.

“Hold on a second Applejack. I want to have a word.”

“Alright,” she said and put her flank back in place on the ground. “What about?”

Raegdan’s eyes watched as Leaf Stream moved away from them. “Was she telling the truth?”

“It doesn’t work like that. Ah don’t have any special powers to see the truth if that’s what you thinking. Would be pretty useful though.”

“I know you don’t. It’s your gut instinct I want to hear. Was she telling the truth?”

“...Yeah. Yeah, ah reckon she did.”

Raegdan hit his armored thigh with his palm in disappointment. “I thought so too. That’s a shame.”

“Ah’m sorry, ah thought that was a good thing. What are ya talking about now?”

“You think she would have signed up with someone to shove a knife in our back while we slept? The way she feels? No, she wants to prove something and she wants to do it on her own. If someone did approach her she would have probably kicked them out. I’m still gonna watch her, but it will probably be in vain.”

“Look on the bright side fella. Y’all finally getting some recruits after all. Ya got Leaf Stream on your side and you still got those two minotaurs to decide what to do with. What’s up with them anyway?” Applejack asked.

“They are in. They spent the night at the infirmary. They are still there actually. I guess I have three guards to train now…” He closed his eyes and laid his head back, looking tired. “This is a victory. Why doesn’t it feel like one?” His gloved hands rubbed his eyes.

Applejack heard him whisper to himself as she headed back to the others. “How can she possibly not want to kill me? Who the hell thinks like that?”

“...so not only did they have to let us go, they gave us a whole bunch of gems! Mountains of them. So we returned home victorious and we never heard from any Diamond Dogs ever since!” Spike finished his tale with a flourish.

Everypony clapped and laughed at the little dragon’s rendition of their adventure. He embellished and dressed up the tale so much that Applejack wondered at times what would happen next. She never expected that part where an armored dragon broke down a door with a giant hammer to help them fight off the Diamond Dogs.

Spike stood up on the pillow he had settled on Raegdan’s lap and bowed before them, basking in his success. Princess Celestia got into a brief wolf-whistle contest with Raegdan that she triumphantly won.

“Alright, who’s next? Pinkie Pie, do you want to tell one now?” Applejack asked.

“How about we hear one from Luna instead?” Rainbow Dash interrupted before Pinkie Pie could answer, which was quite the admirable feat. “She did promise to tell us what she used to get up to in “ye olden days”.”

“One thing I fondly remember about my time is how nopony ever said “ye olden days”,” Luna said from where she lied. She had placed cushions next to Raegdan and was lying on her back, looking up at the star filled night sky.

“Ya know princess, Rainbow is right. You did promise us a story today,” Applejack agreed with Rainbow.

“Oh fine. What would you like to hear?” Luna asked, bored.

“Well,” Rainbow said, rubbing her chin, “how about you tell us what you actually did? I mean, everypony knows that Princess Celestia did… whatever Princess Celestia does, all the princessy things. What did you do?”

“I certainly wasn’t doing a lot of what you call princessy things,” Luna said, smiling vindictively at her sister who had a sour expression. “I was busying myself with other activities.”

“Like what?”

Luna rocked on her sides and switched so she could lie belly down. “Let’s see… In “ye olden days”, and I mean really old, long before… you know, Equestria was far more dangerous. Do you remember sister?”

“That would be hard to forget,” Celestia agreed. “Our ponies’ communities almost never had a day where at least not one of them was lost.”

“When you say lost, ah suppose you mean…”

“Killed. Hunted down. Eaten,” Luna confirmed. “Ponies were nothing but prey to the monsters that roamed the land. Easy pickings if they were caught outside, even in moderate numbers. First thing that we did was assemble as many as we could of those separate villages and townships into larger settlements. It was easier to safeguard them that way. Celestia then started doing what she does best.”

“I guided them,” Celestia answered their questioning stares. “I learned and it turn I taught. I helped ponies to grow. For a long time I was the sole connection between them all. We started farming the land more efficiently. We built walls. We formed militias. We mined, crafted, and traded. One step at a time until we became something more coherent that just a few towns and villages peppered around, united only by years old rumors and the occasional lucky traveller who managed to make the journey to the closest place of safety.”

“That’s what you did sister. My role was another. While Celestia travelled among the ponies scattered everywhere, doing her own hard work, I travelled the wilderness, doing mine. There were monsters roaming the roads. Wyverns and other flying beasts were hunting down the Pegasi. Nests were forming in the forests and dark creatures were breeding in dark caves. All this had to go if our ponies were to have a chance. That was my chosen duty .”

“That… doesn’t sound easy,” Rainbow Dash said, timidly.

“It wasn’t for either of us. We each were alone in our work. I tried to form a… a kind of Lunar Guard you could say. More than once. Nopony could endure this life or the battles. I could ill afford the time to waste on training them extensively enough, not when I saw them fall so easily again and again. I moved, constantly. I hunted.”

Luna’s eyes were directed at the fire, lost in memories. “I did so for years. Decades. Centuries. I barely rested. I barely had time to heal. More villages and towns were sprouting in the land, and as they did so did my work’s demand increase.”

“You never told me how bad things were for you Luna,” Celestia observed, sadly. “If you did I would have helped. I would be right there by your side. None of… so many bad choices could have been avoided if I had been there to aid you.”

“You could not,” Luna answered, inexpressive. “That’s why I never told you anything. You needed to do your own work that would safeguard our ponies much better than one single mare or two ever could. You had your own battles, ones that I would never be able to fight. You were forging a nation out of nothing. I was merely buying you time and kept as many alive as I could, no matter the cost. I was the stopgap measure, the short term solution that kept back the tide while you worked on the long term. When the population could finally afford and produce a somewhat dependable army to keep itself safe, I believed I could slow down. Of course, at that point, other issues arose.”

“Like what?” Rainbow asked.

“Plagues. Diseases that could now spread to their heart’s content with the roads safe enough to travel. Ponies and other beings who delved too deep into dangerous magics. Other nations that started to see the Equestrian civilization slowly thrive and amass power. Enemies who feared the rising power of the Princess of the Sun.”

“We did not have that much trouble with them as I recall. There were a few troubling incidents, but everything was mostly settled with diplomacy,” Celestia said.

“Minos had sent five groups in total to assassinate you,” Luna said.

“No, no,” Celestia disagreed. “There was only one group. I remember how terrified they were after they were disarmed. I never believed their hearts were really into it.”

“Yes. I missed that one,” Luna countered. “I was so relieved you managed on your own. Excellent work by the way sister.”

“Luna! I- I can’t believe you never told me! What happened to those you stopped?”

“I sent them back to Minos of course. The minotaurs of old were very stubborn. They received the message in the end. There were others too, but they stopped trying to aim for you. After a while they decided that they needed to take me down first before they got to you.”

“Oh Luna…,” Celestia lied next to her sister, one of her white wings enveloping the smaller, dark Alicorn. “Why did you never tell me all this? Why did you leave me in the dark?”

“I saw too little of you to darken our times together with these sordid affairs. It was of no consequence. They helped me stay sharp and they stopped soon enough, mostly because of you. You allied ourselves with them and they had no need to continue wasting people. I… to be honest I had been planning to push you to take us to war against them. I’m glad I delayed in doing so. Who knows how badly things would have turned for everypony involved.”

Luna half stood, sitting on the cushions and shaking off her sister’s wing. “So in essence, that’s what I did. Making the night something no longer lethal and terrifying. I did dip my wing in governing and “princessy” things every now and then, mostly when I had to stop for some time to heal and rest. Basically I mostly had some talks with local nobles and made sure they did not get any funny ideas. I threw a couple of wrenches in some idiot’s plan, I shook things up, stirring the waters so the muck could come to the surface before I once again returned to my normal duties. A thankless and lonely task but one that had to be done.”

Twilight spoke up, too many questions crowding her mind to keep silent. “Why was no mention of this made anywhere? Why were ponies not thankful if you did all this for them?”

“Easy enough to answer. I never had time for personal acquaintances and even Celestia didn’t know where or what I was up to every time I was gone. I would stay in Celestia’s residence for a month or two before I left without returning for years. I did not spend my little leisure time reliving my activities or giving interviews,” Luna answered. “You can find some heavily distorted records of my old adventures if you search though. They are in the fairy tales section of the library. I’m almost always the evil one in them.”

“But why-”

“Time and a second set of eyes has given me the perspective I need to understand why. Consider this now. Picture yourself in a village in the middle of nowhere,” Luna instructed. “Monsters are everywhere. You sleep behind barricaded doors, fearing every sound, every movement in the night. One moonlit night a certain mare arrives. A dark blue Alicorn. You know that this is not good news. You know the stories. It means she is here for one of two reasons. Either to drag some of your friends and neighbors away in the night to aid her in a goal that seems incomprehensible to you, one that will end with most of them dead. Or maybe she comes bringing remains of ponies. You might wake up only to find that your friend, sibling, spouse, or child never made it to their destination. You might never even know if that body is them if you are unlucky enough. More often than not she brings nothing but bones. The Alicorn cannot help, won’t help. She only says that she has these for you and leaves quickly, rushing back into the night, her dark news delivered. Now, keeping all that in mind, Twilight Sparkle, tell me.”

“How thankful are you to that mare?” Luna asked.

“Dark,” Pinkie Pie said in the silence that had claimed them.

Luna briefly spread her wings, the fire’s light briefly dimming. She worked off the kinks in her neck and sat back down. “So, we have established the setting. Now, as for a tale… hmm…” She looked at the ground, contemplatively, before settling her attention on Pinkie Pie, the pink mare holding a bowl of gummy worms in her lap.

“I remember one,” Luna said. “This was over a century before my… Anyway, I had been told from a merchant that he spotted the ruins of a caravan during his latest journey. I had him tell me the location and I flew to the area. It was somewhere near where Baltimare is if I am not mistaken. I found the caravan’s remains. Everything had been crushed. It was the first thing that struck me as so strange. There were no claw or tooth marks, no marks of any kind really. Everything looked as if it had been bludgeoned with tree trunks. I found no bodies, which was not unusual, but also no blood. Not even a single speck.”

Everypony was paying close attention now, listening carefully. Applejack reminded herself that Luna was talking about real events, not a simple story to entertain them. This caravan’s fate… she remembered her latest venture to sell apple pies when she had to outrun that chimera. The one that is probably still there.

Luna continued. “I looked around. Finally, what I thought to be a small rockslide proved to be the collapsed entrance to a tunnel that led deep into the earth. My first thought was a Tatzlwurm, but they are solitary creatures. I found a whole cluster of holes after some digging. Whatever this was, I considered the chance that I had never met this before, unlikely as that was. I weighed my options. I could enter one of the tunnels and go after what made them, but I decided against it. They did not look stable and I knew not what awaited me. I needed to search for the lair or bait them out.”

“I went to the nearest village to find help. I could not afford to spend days or weeks searching on my own. I recruited some ponies that knew the area and we started our search. One of them knew of a cave in the forest so we made our way towards it. It… was what we searched for. Outside the cave’s mouth we found the bones of scores of ponies, completely bare. Once again, no marks on them. They were clean and smooth as if the flesh had been dissolved in acid.” Everypony trembled at the implications. Fluttershy and Rarity were holding each other while Applejack could feel Rainbow Dash discreetly edge closer to her. Luckily, Spike had found refuge in his adopted father’s arms who listened to the story with a slight, interested smile, the drake taking courage from Raegdan’s unflinching behavior. Twilight had gone to Princess Celestia’s side while Pinkie was unabashedly holding on tight to her new friend. Leaf Stream was more preoccupied attempting to unglue Pinkie Pie from her than listening to the story and defending her cookies from the ravenous pink pony.

“We didn’t dare to delve into the cave yet. We would be sorely disadvantaged in their own home while we did not even know what we had to face. I gave some instructions to my companions and enacted a simple plan. We caused a ruckus, attempting to draw them out, to find out what we were dealing with. It worked. It worked far too well,” Luna said, crestfallen.

“To this day, I have no idea what they were. I believe I may have chanced onto the first nest they made on our land. Maybe they migrated here. Maybe somepony transported them. Maybe they were banished from elsewhere. They were like Tatzlwurms in shape and size but earth colored. Their skin was craggy and hard. They seemed to be blind but they had an unerring way of tracking their prey regardless. The skin on their front rolled back to reveal a gaping maw with hooked teeth that undulated inwards. They slithered out of the cave and burst out of the ground. We were surrounded in seconds. Our spears could not pierce their hide, magic did not hinder them, and even the strongest of kicks would merely push them back for a second before they lunged back at us.” Applejack saw Raegdan look extremely interested all of a sudden.

“Luckily it had been nighttime and many of the ponies around me had torches lit. The worms were incredibly fearful of the fire’s burn. We formed a circle of fire and halted their advance. The worms retreated and we soon had large fires burning. We had lost many but retreat was not an option. I could not let these monsters multiply or spread any more. They were too dangerous and there were too many. If they bred quick enough as their current numbers exhibited... I gave instructions to put out most of the fires, but have them ready to be relit. We organized another attempt to draw them out again, and while the worms were distracted by the meal out of range due to the raging fires, I slipped into the cave undetected.”

“I did not create a light or make anything to reveal myself. I did not cast spells to mask my presence, fearful that they might be able to sense magic. I put my faith on my own skills. I advanced slowly and quietly, relying on my limited ability to see in the dark and the touch of my spread out wings. There were twists and turns, holes and paths that lead everywhere. Left and right, up and down. I slowly drifted deeper into the cave, ever downwards until I sensed a foul smell. It smelled like rotting co- food. I followed the stench until I reached a great, dug out cavern, deep into the earth. My vision was not good enough to pierce the deep darkness far enough. I could sense and hear a massive presence stirring the air. Certain that I had reached my goal, I cast a light spell as powerful as I could make it, and hurled it upwards to the ceiling of that titanic hall.”

“I saw a worm, far greater in size that any of the others, coiled in the middle of the massive cavern. It was humongous, almost the size of a great dragon. It did not attack me and when I took to the air, hovering above it, I saw why. It was a matriarch, the queen of the nest, and the guardian of their unborn. Hundreds of eggs, thousands, were gathered in the safety of her coiled body. A massive collection of worms that could each devour tens of our ponies and spread through our land like a tide. As I flew over the monster I cast the most powerful spell of fire I could and unleashed it upon the eggs.”

“The worm matriarch was seared by the great pyre that overtook her children, but she did not perish alongside them. The death of her clutch sent her into a rage. She launched like a viper and tried to strike me dead, again and again. The cavern shook and rocks fell all around me as that fury was unleashed upon the walls with every missed strike. I barely had time to cast my fire spells. I had to be constantly on the move, dodging, countering. We fought for minutes, though it could have been hours, on a battlefield that slowly moved upwards as boulders rained from the ceiling, the hall slowly digging itself towards the surface, and bringing the floor that much closer. Shards of rock exploded around me, slicing my flesh and the matriarch’s few glancing strikes broke my bones. In the end I was victorious. My enemy lay dead, scorched by my spells.”

“It took me time to make my way out. The path I had followed was now out of reach. Without knowing exactly where or how deep I was I could not teleport. I had to slowly carve out my own tunnel. My companions had left long before, having returned to their homes. I stayed in the area for weeks, hunting down the worms that had remained, though their threat was essentially over now that they had no way to breed. I never saw their like again.”

Luna let out a deep breath and seemed to return to the present. She looked around her, looking slightly surprised, and saw all of her listeners looking at her dumbstruck. “I- I guess that wasn’t the kind of story you wanted-”

Raegdan started clapping. The sudden noise brought them out of their trance and everypony joined in, giving Luna a grand ovation. Luna smiled bashfully and dipped her head to them before lying back down.

“That was awesome! I love flank kicking stories like that,” Rainbow Dash said. “Can you tell us one more?”

“I have another idea. Why doesn’t Raegdan tell us one? One of his adventures, like Luna,” Twilight said with a pointed look.

Uh-oh.

“You don’t understand! I don’t have any stories like that,” Raegdan whispered on the verge of panic.

He had claimed he needed to get a drink and think of a story he could tell them. He caught Applejack with the edge of his eyes and she got the hint to come along.

“Ah don’t see what the big deal is. Just pick one that makes you look good,” Applejack said in support. “You know, one where you help somepony or do something good… You do have stories like that, don’t you?”

Raegdan shook his head. “Ultimately? No, not that much. If you try to play hero you die. I was trying to stay alive. I did try to help sometimes, but I was mostly interested in… travelling. Going from one place to the next, as fast as I could. Meetings of any kind never really ended well for all sides involved. If you think stories where I end up having to kill people to keep what little I had or… find the supplies I needed are appropriate…”

Applejack hummed in thought. “Ah think stories where you get violent won’t fly that well with Twilight right now. What about those occasions where you tried to help others?”

“I think those are just as bad. As an example, one of those times was when I was holed up in a shelter with others of my kind. We were surrounded by... anyway, I convinced them that we should try and escape rather than stay in that hole and wait to die.”

“Why don’t ya tell that one?”

“Do you see anyone else like me around? How do you think that turned out for them?”

“Ok, we need something a bit more positive. You said you travelled. Surely you must have seen something impressive, or interesting enough. Something to wow us and all.”

Raegdan scratched the top of his head. “Actually… Luna’s story reminded me of something… Yeah. Yeah, I think I got something impressive enough to tell without involving me directly. I will have to keep it short though.”

“Good enough. Let’s head back then. Ah have no idea how I’m going to eat everything ah piled up on my plate.”

“Sit next to little pink. The problem will solve itself.”

They both went back to their respective seats. Everypony was staring at Raegdan intently, though with different expressions. Celestia and Luna looked slightly worried. Rarity and Applejack watched with concerned faces. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike were waiting anxiously. Leaf Stream and Twilight looked on with suspicion.

Raegdan rested his arms on his knees, leaning forward. His eyes were closed and his face was shrouded by his own shadow as he sat in front of the fire. He began speaking slowly and quietly after letting a few seconds slip by in silence.

“Imagine a world full of cold. Where everything is dressed in ice and snow, where you can see the wind, and the sun is nothing but a faded light behind grey clouds. A world where the only sound is the roaring fury of the snowstorm, the crunching of the frozen, hard snow under your every step, the beating of your heart as it strives to send warm blood to your extremities, and your ragged breath. A world of white as far as the eye can see.”

“You walk ahead. There is nothing else to do. You just walk, and walk, and walk. You carefully make your way across roads of snow, testing every step ahead of you for the holes and crevices that wait to swallow you. You climb over frozen boulders, hoping that if you slip again you will be able to hold on once more. You walk and walk while something far behind you could be following you, slithering on the snow. You do not stop. You keep on walking. You cannot delay yet cannot hurry. You just walk. You slowly climb on, reaching higher and higher on the mountain that’s in your way. And then, exhausted from your journey and half blind from the snow, you turn around the corner of a cliff and you see it. The city.”

“It is not really a city. It is a citadel, an imposing behemoth of steel and stone. Towers are shining black in the dim light of this forgotten sun, dressed in gleaming necklaces of silver. Huge walls hold the city in their protective embrace and you can see the creeping ice and snow has stopped short of them, revealing scorched black earth and rock. As you slowly close the distance you see more.”

“The walls are carved with a pattern, a grid. Perhaps, if you squint really hard, you can see something shining deep in these trenches. You approach and as you do you hear the slithering that was your constant companion for days. Only this time it comes from up ahead. You see long shapes approaching the citadel’s walls, swimming and sliding on and through the snow and ice like serpents. Multitudes of them, thousands. A moving, crawling sea. They reach for the walls and when they do… the city erupts in fire.”

“The walls roar and a wave of fire coats the earth across all directions. The blast of heat reaches you and briefly warms you. The serpents squirm and burn but still try to reach the walls, those behind the ones who burned climbing over their carcasses. They pile on one another, trying to reach the walls, to dig through them and crush them under their own weight. The fire erupts like a volcano once more and this time it remains burning. The walls become fire, heat, and death. They burn seemingly forever.”

“But even these gigantic flames have to stop. The fire trickles down and drowns itself out. There is nothing left but smoldering ashes and the crinkling sound of metal and stone cooling down. You approach carefully, but in wonder. As you approach nearer, through that valley where a storm of fire raged, where it is still warm, an opening appears on the wall. Shapes come out, wielding fire in their arms. They come to you as you come to them. They guide you into the citadel, quick in their movements. There is no longer cold, no more ice, no more wind. There is heat and warmth, a haven from the frost outside. Out of every possible fate in this white world of death you have chanced upon the safety of the walls of the city of fire.”

Raegdan finished speaking. He sat silent for a while and then leaned back on his large chair, signifying the end of his small story.

“That… that’s real?” Twilight asked in wonder. “There really is such a city?”

“There was… It’s not there now. Nothing’s left there now,” Raegdan answered.

“You’ve been there?”

“For… quite some time. I’m not sure how long. Time flew for me when I was there.”

“What happened to it?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It fell. The walls failed and the city was destroyed. It lasted for a long time but everything has to end sometime I guess…”

“What happened to its people?” Fluttershy asked with worry. “Did they make it out?”

“...Yes. Most of them. I would not know what happened to them later on. I never returned there.”

“It must have been a wonder,” Princess Celestia said in awe. “A stronghold such as this in such harsh conditions. Such ingenuity in its construction, such endurance in its people…” Her face turned worried. “Those serpents you described… Is there a chance that-”

“I know exactly as much as you about them Celestia. Nothing more. It is getting pretty late and we have a lot of things to do tomorrow.” Raegdan turned towards Luna. “How about we tell them now?”

“I do believe it is time,” Luna said as she revealed a letter. “ We have some news to share. We received a letter this morning that was addressed to me. It was quite the surprise but not as much as its contents. It was sent by the Thestrals, which I believe some of you might know as bat ponies?” Luna watched as some of them nodded. “A pity. An oversimplification of their culture and merit. Almost a derogatory term.”

“I met one of them once,” Rainbow Dash said. “He was a wicked flyer. Not the fastest by far but boy, could he pull off some amazing tricks. He could like, dance in the air. Best flying dexterity I ever saw.”

“Ah heard they are bad luck.” Applejack frowned. “After the whole thing with Zecora ah ain’t so sure ah’d put that much stock in it though…”

“I think that might be because of the whole leather wings, fangs, and weird eyes,” Rainbow answered. “They are not very friendly looking but that guy I knew was ok. He liked to compete and have fun.”

“They say they had joined Nightmare Moon…” Leaf Stream mumbled. “They are not very welcome by some ponies…”

“They did not,” Luna and Celestia said in tandem immediately.

Luna continued. “I think that rumor must have circulated because they went through that ordeal relatively unscathed, but that was mostly due to their wandering lifestyle. They did not stick in a place waiting for me to find them.”

“What about your letter Luna?” Celestia asked. “Why did they write to you?”

“Ah, yes. Thank you sister for returning us to the topic at hoof. They are currently residing near the swamps south of Baltimare and Horseshoe Bay. They have received news of my return and the announcement of the formation of the Lunar Guard. As their ancestors did long before so they do now and call upon my aid,” Luna said with immense self satisfaction.

Leaf Stream looked puzzled. “And what does that mean for the rest of us?”

Raegdan spoke up, smirking. “It means you’d best pack your things. Tomorrow, we are heading on a recruitment drive and some heavy monster hunting.”