I got out of bed the next day pretty early. I'm pretty sure that's because sleeping next to Ebony again sent my body back into 'Cave Mode'.

I woke up before Ebony did, so I used the basic cooking supplies in the kitchen to make some pancakes, I had made the mix before, so that was easy. I had the recipe known off by heart. "8oz of flour, 1/2 pints of milk, 1 medium egg" Not that impressive, but it works. This recipe plus the old, used pan my father had and you got the best pancakes I've ever had. Unfortunately all of the pans here were brand new, so they were not very weathered. I managed to cook a small pile of about 6 or 8 pancakes from the mix I made. Only a couple of them got screwed up in the pan went a flip went wrong. I piled them all up and poured a couple spoons of sugar over them. It was pretty nice. Some berries of some kind would have been nice though. Oh well, I've got time to be healthy later. Right now is pancake time.

And what a time it was.

I was washing the plate I had used when Ebony came out of the bedroom.

"Morning Dan." He said, rubbing an eye with his hoof.

"Morning Ebony, did I wake you?"

"Nah, I'm a heavy sleeper."

"Ha, yeah, I learnt that in the cave." We both sighed.

"So..." He said. "What do we do now? Should we tell them?"

I thought for a second. Then turned away from the clean plate, leaving it to dry. "I guess we should. Tell them, that is. I have nothing planned for today, so I'm all out of ideas."

"Yeah... it would be unfair not to tell them... want to go see if Chrome is up? We could start with him." He suggested.

"Good idea, he is unlikely to react at all. He's probably expecting something like this."

So that was that. I put on a cleaner set of clothes and left the others in a laundry basket. Palace staff is great. We both set off for Chrome's room. It was only a couple meters from our door, so it didn't take long for us to get there. But we were in no hurry. Ebony was walking a lot more confidently now, I think that trip to the bar really made him feel more welcome, but he was still getting scared looks.

I knocked on Chrome's door. "Oi Chrome? You up yet?"

I heard some very panicked sounding shuffling. There was a pause. "Er, come in!" Chrome said.

I opened the door to see Luna and Chrome sitting on opposite couches, in very generic sitting poses that were being too well-maintained to be legitimate. Me and Ebony walked in and I sat on an armchair, Ebony joined me, laying across my lap like a large cat.

"Did I... interrupt something?" They glanced at each other. I took note of the very warm air, but I couldn't smell anything, so it was probably fine. They were probably just cuddling or something.

"N-no, it's fine." Chrome said. He did have an air of disappointment about him, maybe he was about to get lucky.

"No, it's not. I can leave if you want to continue... whatever you were doing. But you have to realize not all of your shows of affection have to be private right? You two barely even touch each other when you're with anyone else."

"Well," Luna said. "You're here now. What do you need?"

I sighed and put a hand on Ebony's head, between his ears. "Me and Ebony..." They both leaned in expectant as I paused.

"We're together." Ebony finished for me. Not exactly the best way to put it, but it's the easiest way of saying it. Luna smiled and Chrome just stared.

Luna clopped her hoof together. "It's nice to see you two finally together. Not at it is not unexpected. I wish you two the best." She waited for a second, then turned to Chrome, confused. "Chromey?" Oh. My. God. CHROMEY.

Chrome shook his head violently. Before collecting himself. "Sorry, I j- I- I just wasn't expecting this."

There was a silence, I felt Ebony become tense. I asked the question he was dreading the answer to. "You guys aren't mad or anything right?"

"Of course not." They both said, Luna continued. "Who one chooses to spend their life with is up to them. No one else." Ebony relaxed and sank back down into me.

I sighed in shared relief. But Ebony answered before I could. "Thanks guys, I-" He nuzzled my side. "-We, appreciate it." They both just smiled humbly. I felt myself tearing up, Ebony said exactly what I was going to say. I pulled him up and hugged him, since he was facing the same way I was, the best he could do to return the gesture was put his hoofs over the arms that were round his chest. After a couple seconds I let him go. He craned his head upwards a full 120 degrees to look at me without turning around. I smiled at his large, upside-down, blue eyes. I poked his nose. His nose scrunched up and he shook his head slightly. I snorted a short laugh.

The other two in the room looked like they were about to cry. They were just watching us, smiling.

"Dan I've-" Chrome sniffed. "I've never seen you so... emotional."

He was right. I usually kept most emotions dulled down, due to embarrassment. Every so often when they are powerful enough the break through. But I tended to keep the little things a little hidden away, being the angst-y, edgy teenager I am. Meh, I'm not that bad.

I smiled. "Yeah... there is no point in hiding them now... Ebony can taste them whether I show them or not." The other two flinched slightly. They still find that really creepy.

I recomposed myself slightly. Regaining some seriousness. "So, what WERE you two doing when I knocked?" They both looked away from me and blushed simultaneously. My eyes widened. "Seriously? Guys, all you had to do was say! I would have left!" They didn't respond. "Or you could have put a little 'do not disturb' thing on the door." They both intensified their blushing. "Or you could have just not answered the door-"

"Okay, okay, we get Dan." Chrome said, clearly annoyed. It was cute. "Now, please just... go tell Celestia or Feather or something."

"About what?" I asked. "That me and Ebony are together? Or that you two were about to-"

"Get out, Get out, Get out, Get out!" He leaped from his seat and pushed both of us out the door and slammed it.

"Love ya' Chrome!" I yelled through the door. I heard an annoyed groan on the other side. I laughed and began walking to the throne room. Ebony was frozen for a couple seconds, but caught up.

"Never says that to me..." He mumbled a little to loudly.

I nudged him with a leg. Then picked him up into a quick hug. I whispered into his ear. "Love ya' Ebony." I put Ebony back down. He seriously looked like he was about to explode. You know how your body can convulse when you have some really nice food? Or your really exited? That's what he did. But when all of your limbs are holding you up, it looks a little weird. He managed to keep up though.

We got to the throne room doors, none of the guards either side of them even tried to stop me from getting to them, they knew the drill by now.

"Hey, You want a go Ebony? It's really satisfying." I said, gesturing to the doors.

"Dan, those are leg-proof."

"Yeah, and?"

He looked down at himself. "Dan, I have nothing but legs."

"...Use your head?" He gave me the blankest stare. "Fiiine, I'll do it." I backed up and shoulder-tackled the doors open. That was a lot less painful than PUNCHING them. Yeah... punching them wasn't my best idea. Ebony quickly sped into the room, as the doors bounced off the inside walls an began to close again. He made it in, but just barely. Celestia was at her throne, doing paperwork as usual. She managed not to drop them this time. She just sighed when the door closed.

Without looking up from the page. "What do you need Dan?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, your in one of THOSE moods. I'll make it as quick as possible then." She didn't seem even the slightest bit interested. She was focused on the page, reading through it and making pen-marks every so often. "Me and Ebony are together now." She froze. "Well, that's all I wanted to say. So I'll just be on my waaay." I turned around and began walking back to the doors until Celestia popped into existence in front of me. I heard paper falling to the ground behind me.

"What do you mean 'together'?" She seemed worried by this for whatever reason.

"Er... you know? 'Partners'? 'Dating'?... 'Special someponies'?..."

Her eyes widened, then snapped her neck look over at Ebony, at my side. He leaped backwards slightly at her sudden movement.

"Celestia, if you have a problem with this-" I began, but she cut me off.

"I don't have a problem with this!" She said, all to quickly.

"Then what's all this?" I said, gesturing to her. She looked at herself. Her wings were flared and her horn was glowing. She quickly corrected herself, returned her composure and sighed. Then her horn glowed again, and she repeated the test for changeling magic. It enveloped me, then turned red again.

She sighed again. "Dan, I just want whats best for you, and..." She looked to Ebony. I stepped in front of him.

"Celestia what would you know about what's best for me?" She opened her mouth to answer, but I kept speaking. "You have known me for little over a month now, and for the majority of that time, 25 days in fact, we had no contact. So really, I have only been with you for a couple days. And now you claim to know what's best for me? Luna said it herself just now; 'Who one chooses to spend their life with is up to them. No one else'."

"But she does not know that you two are-"

"She said that after we told her, and Chrome."

"...She's with Chrome again?" She asked, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly.

"Yeah, and you are not going to get involved in that, or this. You can't control who people choose to be with, Celestia."

She sighed. Shes got some good lungs. "I just want what's best for my-"

"Celestia, they know- we know -whats best for us. I know you like to be protective. I know you like to see things go perfectly and relationships are almost never perfect. But sometimes you have to let people make their own decisions. Even if it leads to a mistake, they will learn from that mistake; more than they could learn from any victory. Just let them go Celestia, they are happy together, we are happy together..."

"Okay, okay... I'll try to tone it down a little..." She looked to us, but focused more on Ebony. "And Ebony..." He flinched but became more attentive. "...I'm happy for you. I am sorry. I wish you both the best."

Ebony just blinked. I could see he had no reply to that, so I had to make one. "Thank you Celestia." Changing the subject... "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where Feather is would you?"

"Feather Flame?" She asked. I nodded. "No idea. I last saw her leaving the palace yesterday morning."

"Yeah... She said she had 'stuff to get done' and left."

Celestia's eyes narrowed in thought. "I can't help but feel something... wrong... about this."

Ebony put his hoof to his chin. "She is usually really careful, I thought it was strange for her to leave on such short notice, but I didn't make a scene about it because..."

"We were all hungover." I finished for him. Celestia hmm'd. "She's ex-military, she wouldn't just leave without somehow telling us where she was going. Maybe we should look for a note or something?"

Celestia looked to me. "Dan, this isn't a mystery novel. She may be ex-military, but that means she'd be even less likely to leave evidence. She wants to keep us safe and would never let us follow her anywhere dangerous. I know this because I have seen her work before Dan. She is very paranoid."

I groaned. "But we can't just let her... Well I don't know what she's doing, but she could be doing something really stupid. That maniac Forge is still out there, too." An idea occurred to me. "Maybe she's hunting him?"

"Unlikely, Luna told me about how she begged you for help. She is terrified of him."

"But what else could she be doing?"

We all thought for a couple seconds.

"We need more ponies on this." I said. "I'll go get Chrome and Luna. Luna's pretty smart-" Celestia snorted "-and Chrome knows Feather better than anyone. Anyway, Luna's a down-to-earth thinker. Unlike you, and most ponies."

She recoiled in mock-offence. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You figure it out, cause I have no idea." I got to the door and opened it, I noticed Ebony following me. "No, Ebony, stay here. Help try and figure stuff out."

"Oh... okay." He said, walking back to his original position.

I close the door behind me, then opened it again and peeked my head through. "Oh yeah, and keep an eye on Sunbutt for me. She likes to wonder off sometimes." I could not see Celestia's face, but Ebony flinched at it. Celestia's entire body seemed to freeze. I laughed as I closed the door and walked to Chrome's room.

This walk was the first time I had been alone in a long time. It didn't last long, but it was nice. Peaceful.

I got to his door. Then made sure to scour the outside of it for 'do not disturb' signs. I don't want to walk in on anything. Now that I knew that they are inclined to do that kind of thing. I didn't see anything, so I knocked. I heard movement so I waited. I heard someone go to the other side of the door, a lock unlatched, That was not there before, and the door opened.

The smell of expensive shampoos assaulted almost every one of my senses. And there was Luna, a large pink towel draped over her whole body except for he neck upwards. Here hair... stuff... was contained in a towel wrap on her head. Her fur was soaking wet, but not enough to be dripping.

"Oh, hi." I said, not sure what to do. "We kinda need you two right now. Feather's kinda gone missing."

She gasped. "Let me get dry and I'll be right there." She backed into the room again, leaving the door open. So I followed her in. The bedroom door was shut, and Chrome was nowhere to be seen. Oh they didn't...

"What about Chrome? He knows Feather better than anyone."

Luna turned and looked at me. "Er... he's..." She glanced at the bedroom door nervously. "...Recovering..." Oh my god they did. In hindsight, she could have meant he was re-covering the bed, as in; replacing the covers. But I could tell by the look on her face she meant something different, plus they would likely have to replace the covers anyway in either scenario.

I blinked. "Jesus Christ what did you do?" She opened her mouth. "DON'T, TELL ME... please, don't tell me. I'll wait outside, come out when your dry." Without waiting for a reply I left the room and leaned by the door.

A couple minutes later Luna came out and shut the door behind her. Still no Chrome. She nodded to me and we started walking to the throne room. Having just washed herself, she looked slightly more fuzzy than usual.

"I guess you wouldn't want me to ask as to why you are having a shower at Lunch time? Hm?" I said, with a smug grin. As long as she does not tell me anything specific, I am fine with teasing her a little.

"Well I kind of had to because he-" OH FUCK, STOP, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW

"STOP right there. No more..." I sighed. "Luna, you don't tell people that kind of thing, okay?"

She blinked. Then seemed to come to a realization. "Oh... yes, sorry. I forgot ponies are a lot more... sensitive nowadays, to that kind of thing."

I turned back to the hallway ahead of us. "Yeah I bet Chrome was sensitive alright." I mumbled.

"What?"

"What?"

"You said something."

"No I didn't. Your hearing things."

"I'm fairly certain you said something-"

"OH LOOK! We're here, gotta check that Celestia and Ebony haven't killed each other or something while I was gone." I said. We were a couple meters from the door.

"You left them alone with each other!?" She practically yelled as she started to run to the doors, grabbing me in her magic as she went.

We burst in through the doors, to find Celestia giggling at another Luna, who was doing rude gestures with her hooves. As soon as they noticed us they both froze. And so did the real Luna. I was dropped from her magical grasp probably due to shock.

"Oh, your back." Celestia said as she foolishly turned her back on the changeling, he immediately turned into Celestia. "I see you brought Luna, but where is Chrome?" Ebony mouthed Celestia's words as she said them, but with a tongue hanging out of his mouth and his eyes crossed.

Luna could barely contain herself, and I was similar. Celestia noticed this and turned around. Ebony turned back into Luna and looked away, pretending to be distracted by something. Celestia gave him a half-playful glare and he sighed, turning back into his normal changeling self. Celestia looked back to us and closed the doors behind us with her magic.

"Really, where is Chrome? Don't tell me he is missing too." Celestia said, slightly worried, but suspicious. Oh yeah, he's missing alright, missing his vir- I decided to stop that thought before it branched into images I didn't want to see.

"He is fine, sister, just... tired." Did I mention Luna was a really bad actor?

"...Why would he be tired? Its practically lunch time." Celestia said. Her look and tone only slightly incriminating.

Luna looked around the room nervously. "He's errrrrr..."

"He's ill." I said. Luna's eyes filled with new hope. She turned back to Celestia.

"Yes, He is ill and cannot get out of bed!" She said, extending a hoof to the sky in victory.

Celestia was not even close to buying it. But played along. "Oh? Should I send a team down there to treat him?"

"Nah," I said. "He's had enough treats for one da-" Luna punched my shoulder. I fell over and slid for a couple seconds on the marble floor before hitting the wall and stopping. Grasping my shoulder, I looked up. They were all staring at me. "What?"

"I didn't hit you THAT hard..." Luna said as I slowly got up.

"I think you di-" I listed my arm to point at her, but it stopped half way and a spike of pain hit on side of my body, I collapsed back to the floor.

***

A couple hours and a cast later, we all once stood in the throne room again. Chrome had arrived at some point too. I just stood there, with the most 'god dammit' face I could pull. Luna laughed nervously. "Sorry, Dan, guess I don't know my own strength."

"Or his weakness." Chrome said, smirking at me.

"Oh, yeah. You trying living in a cave for 25 days and not lose a bunch of weight and muscle." I said. He rolled his eyes. "Also, aren't you supposed to be ill?" I said. Luna nudged him and gave him a look.

"Er, er yes. I am ill, what are you talking about?" He then burst into a fit of completely fake coughs. He then turned to Luna and tried his best to reach her ear to whisper into is, but he was far to short, so had to whisper rather loudly "Why am I ill?"

I buried my head in my hand. "Guys, we don't have time for this. Feather is missing and could be in danger."

"What?!" Chrome jumped and turned mid air to face me.

I nodded. "You know her better than anyone here does, where do you reckon she would go? The last words she said before she left were..." I pulled out my journal, flipping through pages for a couple second. "Ah, here, they were 'Well... I have things that need doing today, so I've got to go. So err, bye guys.' Any ideas Chrome?"

"Are you sure she 'er'd." He said, deadly serious.

"Yeah, I would not have written it if I didn't think so at the time."

"Then she is doing something she does not want us to know about. That probably means is dangerous. And if I know her, which I do, whenever she leaves to do something she might not return from, she always leaves a note, in case she... doesn't come back."

"See! I told you!" I said, turning to Celestia and pointing at her.

She rolled her eyes. "I guess we should search wherever she stayed the night before she left."

"Wait..." Chrome said. "That was my room!"

"Well then," Luna headed for the door, "Let us search the room!" She walked out.

Chrome looked very worried, then ran after her. Everyone else stayed put. Leaving me, Ebony and Celestia in the throne room.

"...I'm guessing you two know exactly what went down in that room right?" I asked the two remaining ponies.

Celestia nodded while Ebony said "No?"

"Yeah, let's keep it that way. I think we should let those two search on their own." Ebony seemed disappointed, Celestia still looked rather serious. Probably mad at her sister for whatever she did to Chrome this morning. We still didn't know for sure. But I was planning on asking Chrome when he had a minute.

We made awkward small-talk for a while until they came back. Luna was carrying an envelope with her magic and Chrome was carrying a piece of paper that looked similar to the paper Celestia had made to contact me while I was in the cave.

Luna explained the contents of the envelope.

"Inside here, is a letter-" She announed.

"No really?" I said sarcastically.

"Shut it Dan."

"Woah, okay jeez."

"Inside here is a letter. It details the route she is taking. From the route, I can deduce she is going into the wastes. It also says she may be gone for a day or two, though it does say to contact her through the com-scroll."

"Com-scroll?" I asked.

"One of those." She said, pointing at the letter in Chrome's mouth. "I believe you still have the one that Celestia gave you?"

"Yep, still tucked in my journal somewhere."

"The letter says to activate the com-scroll as soon as we find it. But I do not know the spell. Sister, if you would be so kind." She magic'd the 'comscroll' over to Celestia, who took it in her own magic.

Celestia seemed to concentrate for a second then the black void began to flicker. "It will take a couple seconds, gather 'round." We all huddled around the scroll, trying to look at the screen, it reminded me of when we had to watch a VHS during a class in secondary school. The sounds of wind and sand filled the area as the black slowly faded away, revealing a shot of the sky. It was completely clear, no clouds whatsoever. A wisp of sand would blow over every so often. There was no ground visible on the screen.

"Feather? Feather Flame?" Celestia asked after about a minute of no movement or distinguishable sound. There was no response.

Celestia's magic faded and the black void returned. I caught the letter as it fell with my one good arm.

"So..." Chrome said. "She made it to the wastes... but lost the letter?"

"Yes." Luna replied. "Or worse. We must dispatch a team at once." She said, looking to her sister. Celestia nodded and her horn lit, she closed her eyes and remained still for almost a full minute.

"A team has been briefed and are on their way there. They will be there by tomorrow night. They will be taking a com-scroll with them, so we can talk to Feather Flame if and when they find her. It will also allow us to give some form of guidance, in case they come across evidence they do not understand, which maybe would make sense to us but not them." She turned and saw I had the letter in my hand from where I had caught it. "Keep an eye on that for me Dan, I have told them to keep an eye out for abandoned com-scrolls."

"No problem." I rolled up the paper, then folded it and shoved it in my journal. "I will look at it whenever I am bored, which is often here."

There was a strange silence. "We have done all we can." Ebony said. "Now what?" Everyone looked around.

"Now is when we wait, and pray that she is unharmed." Luna said, leaving the room, we all followed, but headed our separate ways once we got through the doors, of course Ebony followed me. We both got some food from the cafeteria downstairs. And by that, I mean I ate some food down there, then hugged him for a while as I walked back to our room.

"You don't need to do that anymore, you know?" He said as I put him down inside the room.

"Do what? carry you?"

"No, 'feed' me. I can just take it when I need it. Because it's always there."

"Oh, how cute." I said sarcastically.

"It... is actually. Though I have to admit, it's a bit better when it's given willingly."

"Hm, maybe I will only treat you to that when you are behaving well."

He snorted. "You heading to bed yet? Cause I am." He stood, half way through the bedroom door. It was a little early, but I was actually a little tired myself.

"Yeah, soon." I responded. "I'm just going to watch this 'com-scroll' for a while. The wind is nice and relaxing."

"Doesn't it need a spell to work, though?"

"...Oh yeah... Wait she wouldn't give it to me if it didn't work on it's own. Maybe that spell was just an activation thing."

He yawned. "I don't know, you figure it out, I'm to tired to be thinking about this stuff. 'night."

"'Night" I said as he closed the bedroom door.

Okay, lets see if this thing works. I took it out of the journal and laid in down flat on the table. Just a black box. I stared at it for a bit and nothing happened. I sat there and thought thoughts at it. Ones like 'activate letter' 'open screen' 'screen work' 'open letter' 'show recipient'. None of them worked. I had spend about 10 minutes just staring at a blank page. God dammit Celestia, giving me a thing that doesn't even work. I thudded the table slightly with my good arm. The screen lit up. I blinked, and looked down to where my hand had hit. I had touched the screen. That's all it took? Meh, okay.

I pulled out a chair and sat, tilting up the page slightly to get a better look. The sky was an amazing amber, the sun was setting. There were large clouds on one side of the screen. A storm? In the desert? That can't be good. I watched the clouds slowly cover more of the sky. Then the wind picked up. Wait, if the wind gets hard enough, it'll move the paper. That was both bad and good, but there was nothing I could do about the storm, so I just watched.

After the corners of the paper flicked up a little, the paper eventually took off in the wind, spinning so fast I could barely make out anything other than the blurred sun rushing past every couple rotations. The page only landed on the ground and stayed there after about 20 minutes, during that time all the paper had done was rapidly spin and hit the ground every so often before taking off again. Unfortunately it was face-down when it finally settled, so all I could see was some very shadow-y sand. Another 5 minutes like that and the storm had passed, silence reined apart from the distant lightning.

I heard sand shifting. In steady intervals. Footsteps. I intently watched the screen for any movement. The steps got louder, then began fading again, I slumped in my chair.

"Dammit, so close." I said, quietly, as not to wake anyone.

The footsteps stopped and I froze. I had forgotten that sound goes through those things. The footsteps slowly approached again. So close in fact that the sand I could see moved with the last step.

"Hey, hey is anyone there?" I asked.

The female gasped. I didn't recognize her voice. "That's it, I've finally gone insane." She mumbled.

I blinked. "Dude, this is a com-scroll. Turn over the page."

"Okay, I guess. Talking paper." The page flipped over. Revealing a pegasus mare, her hair and fur were matted with sand and dirt, her eyes and mouth were dry. She gasped when she saw me, then let out a couple dry coughs. "What- what are you?!"

I sighed. "I'm a human. I'm in Canterlot, you heard of that place?"

"Yes! Of course I have! I was trained there! Can you guide me back?" She said with hopeful eyes.

"Sorry, I can't. But... You were trained? What for?"

"That's confidential." Her gaze hardened slightly.

"Hm, let me check something... Wait, what is your name?"

"...Dawn Skies."

I rapidly pulled out and flicked though my journal and found Feather's story. 'Dawn Skies, a stunning contrast from Forge, she was a light-looking pegasus, a light pink coloration'

"Okay, Dawn, I need you to wash off some of that sand." I had no idea what color she was, she was so dirty.

"Why? Anyway, what's the point? I'll just get dirty again." She said, shrugging.

"Please, I need you to do this."

She sighed. "Fine." She rubbed a hoof against her chest for a couple seconds, revealing a dirty shade of pink.

I stood up, shocked. "You're Dawn Skies."

"...Yes, I just told you. That's my name."

"You were with... errr" I flipped through the journal. "Lance Corporal Feather Flame-"

"Feather?! You know her?! Is she okay?! Where is she?!" She practically yelled.

"Woah, woah. I need you to keep calm, okay?" She nodded. "Yes, I do know her. She is doing fine, she was recovered from the site of the explosion 15 years ago and recovered here in Canterlot. As to where she is... We don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"She set out for the wastes yesterday morning and has not returned. This com-scroll is one she took with her, when we attempted to contact her with it we found it in the middle of the desert with no one nearby. A storm moved the scroll, and here it landed."

"She's here?! In the wastes?!"

I nodded. "As far as we know. Don't worry, we have a team on it's way as we speak. Just stay somewhere safe, I can talk to Celestia, she can alert the team to your position, if you are near a landmark."

"I have been living next to an oasis I found a couple months after the explosion... Damn bug... Who else got out?"

"Tornado was also recovered from the scene. But she was... killed a couple weeks ago. We reckon it was Forge, so he made it out somehow too."

"Forge... He is the one who saved us, he said he dragged us away from the explosion."

"That would explain why the medical team never found the rest of you..."

"Then he left without a word. I have not seen him in years... or at least I think its been years... 15 years you says it's been?" I nodded. "Hm... then... Psycho died about... 5 years ago."

"Psycho? Who's that?"

"Is that the Lance's diary there you have?"

"Basically."

"He was an earth pony, brown, completely insane. Anything like that mentioned?"

"Let me check..." I looked back to the story again. "Hows 'a dark tan color and honestly scared me a bit. He had no feeling. No emotion. Other than utter joy. And that feeling only exposed itself when he was tearing through his enemies'. That him?"

"Yep. That's him."

"Okay, Dawn. Just hang tight okay?"

"Nothing else I can do." She said, shrugging.

"Okay, just don't lose this scroll, okay? I'm going to get Celestia."

She nodded at me. "Thank you."

And with that, I picked up the scroll from the table and bolted for the throne room.

Now, I'm not very athletic, and having an arm in a cast doesn't help mobility much; I was breaking a sweat not half way there, and it's not that far. Note to self - regain muscle lost in cave. The halls were all rather dim. A strange sight, this had been my first time around the palace at night. The usual joyous atmosphere faded with the light. The large stained glass panels cast in a alien light, casting blue-ish hues about the halls. But with night comes the cool, still air. This is probably the only thing that kept me from collapsing from my sudden burst of movement.

I got to the throne room doors, the usual day-guards were replaced by the slightly more menacing, and slightly cuter night-guards. I always thought their armor was cool, it's even better in person. I tackled the doors with my good shoulder.

Empty. The throne room was completely vacant. I stood there for a second, catching my breath and wondering where they could be.

"Looking for something? If you want a glass of milk before bed, the kitchens that way." The larger of the two guards said. He was not happy. At all. His armor was different to that of the other guard, probably because of his barrel-like figure. A huge mass of muscle where his chest should have been, but I was still taller than him, so he was not to intimidating. But compared to the other ponies...

"Yes, I'm looking for the two big ones?" He blinked. "About yey-high, ones a white racist that spies on people and the other is blue and turns to stone when you flirt with her." The hulking figure in front of me was completely frozen.

"You must be the insubordinate hero?" I turned and saw the smaller of the two guards indicating to me with a hoof. I nodded. "Ah, well, that explains your... wording." He shot an annoyed look at the large one. "It's okay Brute, put down that spear. He's allowed." I turned to look and found a spear inches from my face.

'Brute' just huffed and the spear dropped.

"Sorry about him. He's new." He said as Brute re-assumed guarding position.

"Nah, it's fine. Now, could you show me where to find them?"

"Yes, I can." He began walking. I followed. "But I must warn you, they are both sleeping. Princess Luna's sleep pattern has been rather... sporadic as of late."

"Yes, it has... Probably due to a mix of me and Chrome."

"Chrome, Sir?"

"Her boyf- Special somepony." He stopped suddenly, causing me to walk into him, he had to throw out a hoof to catch himself. "He's a friend of mine." I said, as if nothing had happened. "Now, could you please get going? This is rather urgent."

He shook himself. "Y-yes sir!" He began to walk at a more brisk pace. I easily, but a little breathlessly, kept up.

After a couple seconds he turned around to look at me, he continued waking despite not looking where he was going. "What is the situation?"

I took a deep breath... "Oh, just that a war-veteran has gone missing and she is now in the wastes somewhere and we don't know where, so we searched her room and found a com-scroll that showed us nothing but the sky, but after a storm swept up the page it blew into the hoofs of a pony that has been surviving in the wastes for fifteen years and just so happens to have worked with the missing war vet fifteen years ago. She is in need of rescue and there is a team heading to the wastes right now, they need to know she's there." I gasped in the cool air, my chest was now stinging slightly. Damn I AM unfit. The cave probably filled my lungs with dust or something...

The guard took a second to take all the infomation in. He turned back to where he was going, narrowly missing another guard doing the same thing. But this particular guard however had a much more interesting guest. As we passed in the hall I shot a small hand gesture his way, the kind you use to say 'hi' to people you've known for a long time. You know, the subtle hand-lift thing that can't decide if it's a salute or a wave? Well, I used that one, k?

"Sup Discord."

"Sup."

"You doing okay?"

"Yeah."

And that was it. He was behind me by the time he answered me. Neither of us bothered to slow down and extend the conversation. Seemed we both had places to go tonight.

Me and the guard turned a corner in the halls. "You know him?" The guard said, not looking back at me, but still sounding rather shocked.

"No." I said matter-of-factly.

"Oh." There was a gloriously one-sided awkwardness that filled the long silence that followed.

We eventually reached a split in the hallway, one direction was decorated with suns, and the other; moons. At the end of each of the branching hallways was a doorless archway, both led to spiral stair cases.

"These lead to their personal quarters, where they are resting. I'm sure you can figure out who's is who's. I will let you decide which you want to go to first. After you've chosen, I will return to my post."

I looked both ways mutilple times. "Uhg, I never was good at RPG's... I'll just go to Celestia, Luna's sleep schedule is screwed as it is. Plus, Celestia's composure is fun to break, and I'm sure now is when it'll be at its weakest." The guard just stared at me as I walked down the slightly brighter hallway and up the stairs.

God, these stairs seem to go on forever. They stopped. So I guess... nothing is what it seems, sometimes. Stair philosophy, metaphor... foreshadowing?! I hope not, if there is anything this world needs less of, it's tropes and cliches.

At the top of the stairs there was a door. A very nice door. A very decorated, expensive door. Too bad it was guarded by something that distracted me, or I would have kicked it in. Just to see Celestia's reaction.

"Halt." The large, griffin guard squawked deeply. He was covered in day-guard armor re-fashioned to fit the griffin, but his feathers were a deep brown, with dark-purple tips on his wings. A stunning contrast to his reflective armor. He wore a hat that practically radiated 'High ranking' vibes at me. "What is your business here?"

"I'm here to see Celestia. It is urgent." He showed no sign of movement. "You look awesome by the way. First griffin I've ever seen." His stoic features remained unmoved. "Come on dude, I really need to see her."

"State your business. So far you have done nothing but tell me what I already know."

"Nice to see you know you look awesome. I'm here because I have information the squad heading to the wastes needs to know, lest a pony goes un-rescued. Potentially." His face shifted slightly, so I knew I had bagged my way in. Due to this, I asked "What's your name? I bet it's something awesome like... Steel-beak Steve."

He gave me a flat stare. "Rosewood."

I returned the stare. "...I prefer Steve."

"You call me that and I will deny you access."

I had to. "Look, Steve. I told you want you want to know, can I go in now?"

He huffed. "No."

I put my hands in a submissive pose, "Sorry mate, Insubordinate Hero. Can't touch me."

His eyes narrowed. "You take a step in this direction and I'll snap you in half."

"Dude, I have like... the same authority as a guard captain."

"I don't work off of authority." His claws scraped against the marble flooring.

"Then what DO you work off of?" I asked, slightly annoyed but still plenty amused. His predatory eyes just narrowed.

I am not waiting till morning to tell Celestia about this. I need to get through this guy. "I am talking to Celestia. Now." I said, in the sternest voice I could muster. I might have been one and a half times his height, but those talons looked like they could slice me open with one swish. "Whether you 'allow' me to or not." I fell into what I thought was a defensive fighting stance.

His wings flared slightly and his feathers raised. His beak grind-ed. "You cannot enter. Try; and face the consequences." His claws spread out across the flooring, leaving a spider-web of scratches.

"Fine." I said. I had no chance against this guy, but I had to try something. He would not just out-right kill me right?

I approached him slowly. I feigned an upper-cut at his chin, he deftly dodged the cancelled attack by moving his head back and down slightly. I took that moment to lift my right leg, My knee connecting with his jaw and my foot hitting the base of his chest. All that seemed to do was shock him for a split second and knock him back a little bit. I instantly backed up once I had made my hit. Since it left me in a vulnerable position.

He didn't move. Looked down at the floor and rubbed his beak. Then looked up at me, somehow smiling with his beak. His smile was scary but warm, his eyes were narrowed. He had the air of a proud father. "You may enter." He said, standing aside and waving a hand to the door.

"What?"

"I don't work off of authority. I work off of courage and determination. You have shown your worth, enter." He seemed to become a little impatient.

"Aw, thanks Steve." I said as I walked past him. I was about to open the door when a thought occurred to me. "Wait, you eat meat right?"

He sighed, clearly not wanting to talk for much longer. "Yes. Why." It was not a question, just a statement to make me spill the beans quicker.

"I need some, like, soon." His eyes widened in surprise. "I have not had any protein in over a month. I am getting dangerously thin and my muscles are practically dissolving."

A smile spread across his face. "I can have something arranged. Dan right?"

"Yep, that's me. Thanks dude, I really need it."

He nodded understandingly and gestured me inside. "I'll have a meal sent to your room by morning, now get going."

"Thanks." I said as I pushed the door half open. Then stopped, and slowly shut it again. "Wait. This is Celestia's room right?"

"...Yes."

"I really should knock first..."

"You should." He said.

I smirked at him. His eyes widened slightly. I pushed open the door half way and slipped in, not taking my eyes off of him. He moved to stop me, but I shut the door on him.

I turned silently and looked into the moon-lit room. There was a slightly ajar window, allowing thin curtains to blow in a slight breeze. The window created a spot-light of moon-light. Falling perfectly on Celestia. I stood there and took in the scene for a split second, before a realized something:

This was really creepy.

I was being really goddamn creepy.

It was strange, seeing her like that. Vulnerable. But she probably had enchanted sheets or something. I'm sure she would have a guard inside her room if she didn't have some way of defending herself while asleep.

That in mind, I carefully made my way over to her. Making sure my feet rolled my weight onto the floor gently, as not to make to much noise. Eventually, I was practically standing over her, I made sure not to block the moonlight hitting her face though, that could wake her up.

I reached out and poked her nose. I quickly retracted my hand. She didn't even stir. This is going to be harder than I thought. How do you wake someone up without them freaking out?

I opened the com-scroll. I heard the sound of waking water and steady breathing.

I whispered, practically pressing my face up against the page. "Dawn? Dawn? You there?"

The page shifted and she came into view, I could see a very lush tree behind her, she have been at that oasis she said about. "Ye-"

"Shh!" I said, silencing her. "Celestia's asleep and I don't know how to wake her."

She whispered back. "Just... make a loud noise or something."

"What if she freaks out though? Magic is scary dude."

"Well... you have to do it somehow..." She said in a slightly desperate tone.

"Hmmm, you're right. This is a rare opportunity. Gotta make the most of it. Wait there." I said as I placed the com-scroll on the top of a chest of drawers.

I stepped back from the bed slightly. Took a deep breath, and prepared myself for the court-room.

I clapped my hand together loudly. "WAKEY-WAKEY SUNBUTT! I DID THAT THING YOU WANTED ME TO DO!" Celestia's head shot up and the room burst into light. Celestia stared around the room until she found me. Her face instantly turned to 'I'm not dealing with this right now' and she fell back into her pillow.

"What. Do you want. Dan."

"You know how Feather left with four others on the day of the expolsion?" I said in a deliberately chipper voice. Just to annoy her.

She groaned. "Yes. Dan, I know that. What about it."

"A storm whipped up Feather's com-scroll, and guess who found it!" Celestia sat up lazily. To see me presenting the pony on the scroll to her.

"Hi Princess." Dawn said. "Been a while huh?" Celestia's mouth hung open and her wings went limp at her sides.

Her eyes turned wet. "Dawn skies?! That isn't you?!" She ripped the page from my hands and pulled it up to her using her magic.

"The one and only, Princess. Still going strong." Dawn's voice choked the last couple words.

"Dawn, I thought you were... Dawn, I went to your funeral!" Celestia was practically bawling. I decided to stay away from those two. I quietly made my exit as they emotionally backfired at each other. Steve greeted me on the other side. I closed the door before he could hear anything.

"It not go so well, 'ey?" He asked.

"Actually it went better than expected. I just... need to give her some space."

He tilted his head. "Why does she need space? What did you do?"

"I think I just re-united a couple of friends."

"Pheh, ponies." He said, returning to his 'guarding' pose.

"I'd be with you on that one dude, if it weren't for the fact that one of the ponies in question had been presumed dead for over 15 years. Celestia mentioned going to her 'funeral'."

Steve's eyes widened. "What is this pony's name? Where is she? Is she okay?" He let out rapidly, moving in my direction.

I backed away from the advancing griffin. "Dawn sk-"

"DAWN SKIES!?!?" His wings lifted and he burst through the doors, leaving a couple feathers behind.

I decided to let those two/three have their moment. So I waited outside the door. I was out there for a pretty long time, I eventually sat myself, propped-up by the wall, next to the door. I was idly playing with one of Steve's lost feathers when they both came through the door. I stood up. Celestia had the com-scroll rolled up and in her magic.

I raised my eyebrows at the two. "You guys fini-" I was pulled into the strangest, tightest hug I think I've every had.

They both spewed hundreds of different 'thank you' terms over my shoulders. Steve had to be on his hind-legs just to reach. And seeing him rear up like that was actually rather terrifying before I realized what he was doing. Eventually Celestia relented, but Steve didn't.

"Thank you Dan! So much!" He continued.

"Er... your welcome?" I patted him on the back awkwardly. Or in his case HAWKwa- okay, no, even I won't stoop that low.

"It'ud been fifteen years since I last saw my little sugar-plumb." He said, finally pulling out of the hug. "If there is anything I can ever do for you just call okay?"

I blinked. "... Sugar-plumb?"

The griffin blanched and looked to Celestia, who sighed. "They were engaged Dan. That was supposed to be her last mission."

I stayed silent for a couple seconds. Steve took a step back from me, he looked rather uneasy. When I noticed this I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Dude, it's okay. If anyone is accepting of cross-species relationships; it's the guy who's in one." I said gesturing to myself. He sighed in relief.

"Thank you Dan, you have done us both a great service... who's the lucky mare then?" He asked, very interested.

"Mare?"

"...It's a griffin?" He asked, his eyes filling with excitement.

"No dude, as I said, you're the first one I've ever met."

"...Oh yeah..." he drooped slightly in disappointment. "What is she then?"

"A changeling" I said shrugging.

"Wait... I thought female changelings were called mares?"

"Yeah, I think they are."

"Then why did you..." It clicked in his head. His eyes widened.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on dude, don't tell me you have a-"

"No, no. It's fine. really. Just... surprising. I will admit to have dabbled in that field myself once or twice, but it never stuck." He said, shrugging.

"Aahh Steve." I put an arm over the back of his neck as we started walking down the stairs. "You and me pal, you and me, we're gonna get along juuust fine."

Celestia caught up to us. "You think we should tell Luna?"

I furrowed my brow. "Why are you asking me?"

She paused. "I... I'll go tell Luna." Without waiting for a response, she teleported out of the stair-well. Probably terrifying either Luna's guards or Luna herself.

We continued walking down the spiraling stairs.

"What was that about?" Steve asked. Doing a very avian head-tilt. "I've never seen her act like that."

I sighed. "She's finally giving control. And she doesn't like it." I turned to him. "Hey, you want to meet him?"

"The changeling?" He asked with hopeful eyes.

"Yeah."

"Of course!" His face turned confused and thoughtful "But I thought they were wiped out at that wedding."

"Nah, that was just one hive dude. There is probably plenty more. But this guys's hive was killed-off by something years ago, so he's been here ever since."

"Wait, so... he's been here for years?"

"Yeah, right under your... beak, too." I flicked the end of his beak, it made an amusing hollow sound. "I'll let him explain."

"Hm, okay. What's his name, they do have names right?"

"No, they don't. But he goes by the name of the pony he had been disguised as. A pony that never really existed, Ebony Towers."

"...That name sounds familiar..." He said, his gaze turning thoughtful.

"You'll find out why once he explains his story."

"If you say so..."

Updated: 08/11/15
-Put a hat on Steve (totally super important)
-Fixed grammar
-Fixed a formatting issue
-Corrected other little mistakes I missed

These chapters just keep getting longer. I am not okay with this. I want to keep them nearer to 4000.

Also, my favorite character got introduced! Steve!
This was one of the most improvised chapters I have written. It was a while ago when I wrote this, but I remember it being quite fun.
One or two more chapters coming later today, hopefully.