"Thane." Nathan said as he shook Thanes unconscious body. "Thane!" He was beginning to grow impatient, he had better things to do than try to wake up his former leader, he first had to finish repairing Ponyville, find a way to restore the forest he had destroyed, deal with Sapphire, talk with Lyric and spend some quality time with his fiancé since their date was cut short by the monster known as Rage. "Oh for the love of Christ WAKE UP DUMBASS!!!" He slapped Thane in the face with great force, causing Thanes eye to flicker back to life as he slid on his side after being launched from his spot.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Oh, good, you're awake. Now I can get back to stuff that's actually important." Nathan got to his feet, turned away and began walkimg back to Ponyville, leaving Thane confused about what he had just said.

"'Actual important stuff?' You're usually more considerate and concerned even when someone you don't know is hurt, why isn't that part of you here now?" Thane asked as he got to his feet and stared at the warbot who was at his smallest size, still three times the size of him.

Nathan stopped and turned himself to look at his former friend with a glare. "I'm sorry, I don't care about the well being of assholes." He turned again and resumed walking away.

"What?! Where is this coming from all of a sudden?!" Thane demanded in rage.

Nathan turned his body fully around to face Thane and stomped over to him, staring him down. "Where is it coming from? I have done nothing but try to put all of this behind us lately, but you're just becoming a bigger douchebag by the fucking day! It's gotten to the point where I'm not even going to try to find a way to resolve this, I'm just through with you! I gave you a chance to be my friend again, my cousin again! And you spat on it, and now you treat me like this?! You don't even treat your little brother with the respect he deserves, he ain't a kid anymore Thane, none of us are!"

Thane just stared at the ranger in complete shock, he had expected a sarcastic comment or for him to just brush it off, he didn't expect him to be so up front about it.

"You wanna know why everyone is leaving you and coming to Ponyville with me?! It's because you refuse to let go of something that happened over a thousand years ago!" Nathan just poked him hard with his large finger while pointing at him and leaning down to face him. "I offered you the position as my best man in hopes of repairing our relationship and had left it open in case you changed your mind, you can find yourself officially banned from even attending the wedding at all, I don't need assholes like you around to ruin a day I have dreamed of fir centuries, and Sonata has dreamed of a perfect wedding since she was a hatchling, and I will be damned if I let you take that day away from us." He spike in a very dark and hostile voice. "So do us all a favour Thane, either get over it, or leave us alone...forever. Don't help us, don't visit us, don't even fucking talk about us! Just...leave me, my family and my friends alone. We're done here."

Nathan stood up and walked away, leaving Thane completely frozen in shock, what he had just been told broke his heart. Barred from his cousin's, whom he had considered his brother at one point, wedding. He wanted to feel sad, try to improve himself for the better, to try and get he group back together. But, there was something inside of him that was only allowing him to show one emotion...anger.

Thane formed his energy blades, yelled in fury and charged Nathan while his back was turned. Having heard the hell and rapidly approaching footsteps, Nathan stopped walking but didn't turn around. When Thane was close enough that he was just about to strike Nathan's back, the warbots spun his torso around and smacked Thane away with his arm cannon, causing him to be sent flying into the side of the mountain that he had been found by. As Thane got to his feet he found himself staring into the barrel of Nathan's arm cannon. "The next time you pull something like that again...I will kill you." There was no lie in his voice, this was by far no empty threat.

Finally, Nathan was able to walk away undisturbed. Thane just went into a rage and began punching and slicing anything he could find in the uninhabited area he was left in.

Lyric sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking Ponyville with the eggs by his side on a blanket, having just retrieved them by request of his mother while his father searched for the rest of Phoenix Squad. He sat with his hands on his knees, his legs hanging off the edge of the cliff while he stared up at the sky. He slowly reached up and touched the cheek that Amnesia had kissed. Just thinking of the event caused him to blush furiously and shake the thought out of his head.

"What am I doing? I should be out looking for Sapphire! She's probably really hurt after what happened with her and dad. But...for some reason...I feel like I shouldn't go after her...like someone else is going to go after her.' He tossed his thoughts around in his head before he pictured Amnesia in his mind again. 'Why can't I get her out of my head? I don't understand...this is a...new feeling. I know there are still a great deal of emotions I have yet to experience...but...this feels...familiar somehow."

"You really don't know what you're feeling?" Lyric jumped at the sound of his sisters voice, almost falling off the edge of the cliff. "Sorry little bro, didn't mean to scare you." Ruby spoke in a softer voice, knowing full well that after being surprised like that Lyric would take a few moments to calm down. She sat down beside him and placed a band on his back while giving him a caring smile.

"H-Hey Ruby...um...w-what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out doing something?"

"Nah, everyone else already has everything covered. I actually wanted to speak with you." Ruby moved her hand up to Lyrics shoulder. "So, you really don't know what this feeling is do you?" Lyric looked to his hands and thought for a moment before looking back at Ruby and shaking his head. "Lyric...what you're feeling is love."

"M-Me? Love?!"

"Yes, you're feeling love for the first time, not family love, not friendly love. Just...love. The reason this feels so familiar to you is because of what happened with mom and dad. From the kiss in the cheek before running into a portal to the sitting on a cliff and thinking about the new feeling. When dad was younger-"

"My human form is still twenty four missy, don't you be calling me old!" Nathan called from Ponyville.

"-he didn't see the point in a relationship other than to reproduce, so when he finally felt love for the first time he didn't recognise it, ot was new to him and he finally understood. You see this situation as familiar because that was he day that dads positive side was born, you are made up of his positive side, his shy and insecure side."

"Dad is shy and insecure?"

"He was, he's learned to get over the shyness and most of his insecurities...but one thing still lingers in his mind that troubles him, but we don't need to get involved in that, it's his business."

Lyric nodded and looked up at the sky in thought. The two were silent for awhile before Lyric decided to ask something. "Ruby...do you think Amnesia loves me too?"

Ruby just chuckled at his obliviousness and began explaining what she knew about love and relationships, leaving out the naughty stuff of course. No, Nathan and Sonata were the ones that would have to go through that hell.

Author's Notes:

The conflict with Thane will be the focus of the next story arc, either after or before another little adventure with someone related to Amnesia and Plague, specifically their father Auldin.