Dan passed me the scruffy looking book, after he had finished writing in it. I held it in my magic, as to free up my hooves, so I could hug him for what I hoped wouldn't be the last time.

"Ten seconds!" The guards gathered in the hall yelled.

I reluctantly let him go, backing away by a couple steps, not taking my eyes off him. He looked up from the floor, meeting my eyes with his own. He put on a sad smile and gestured me away, not wanting either of us to be harmed by the incoming onslaught of guards. I continued backing my way towards the door.

I sniffed. "I'll miss you Dan." I said, as I passed the doorway's border.

He nodded, his eyes almost as tears as mine. "I'll miss you too bud, I'll miss you too."

I took one last step back, clearing the doorway. The magically locking door slammed between us as the guards began to pull me back to the visitor waiting room. They pushed me through the double-doors and into the pleasant-looking interior of the waiting room. The thick carpet greeted my face as they tossed me in.

The guards quickly retreated back into the dim halls, presumably to begin dragging Dan off to... wherever he was headed. A claw helped me to my up onto hooves.

"Thanks Rose." I said, choking slightly as I stood.

The griffin shook his head with a sad smile. "Please, call me Steve." He said, to many pony's surprise.

Dawn, who was next to the griffin, put a hoof on my shoulder. I flinched slightly at the contact. She was hunting changelings on her last mission, so who knows how many changelings have met their end as a result of those hooves? "You okay? Eb?" She said, in a admittedly tender voice.

I nodded, despite the tears still rolling down my face.

Luna shook her head slightly. "It is okay, Ebony. We are all feeling the effects of our loss. Though your loss is the greatest by far. Come, let us leave this depressive atmosphere and discuss our plans over a warm meal." She announced with a small smile. I recoiled at the thought of food. Depending on how far Dan is from me... I might need to find a new source of energy...

Luna seemed to regret her choice of words as soon as they left her lips. She gave me an apologetic look as the two royal sisters led our small group through the stone halls as back into the palace, seemingly towards a dining hall of sorts.

On our way, my queen walked up beside me, matching my speed. She spoke, gaining everypony's attention. "What do you plan on doing in terms of food? You need not worry about me, for I have developed far beyond the average queen and can consume pony-food with little-to-no side effects. You however, cannot."

The ponies all gave us a look of sympathy and hidden curiosity as we continued through the halls. I hung my head in thought and sighed. "According to Dan he could create love just by thinking about it, as well as feeling it. There was a difference in taste, but it acted the same way. That allowed his to feed me even before our... Relationship. To find another source of love would require me to find somepony else who loves me." I looked about the group of ponies. "And I doubt I'd be able to find anypony as accepting as Dan before I... starve." The ponies all gave me a worried look. Steve's eyes began to dart about slightly, for some reason.

"I guess meat will have to service, at least until he gets back." I said, giving Steve a pleading look. He was the only one I knew who could cook meat.

Everypony looked to Steve, who nodded. But stuttered. "I can- I can arrange that." He grinned, trying to cover up his uncharacteristic vocal-buffer. "Wouldn't want you to go hungry."

Dawn, me and Celestia all gave him a suspicious look, since we were the only ones to notice something was up. Steve had mentioned he found me 'cute' earlier. I bet all of that talk about me needing a new source of love set him off slightly. Once I worked that out, I ceased my glare.

"Thanks... Ro- Steve." I said, as we all passed through a rather large pair of doors, akin to those the throne room wields, but with less kick-marks.

The room was smaller than the throne room however, only about a quarter of the size. It held three large stone tables, all rather long. Each had a unique stone chair at it's head, similar to a small, very simple, throne. One was marked with a sun, one a moon, the other was marked with an equals sign. Each marking was engraved colourlessly into the stone. The 'equals' table looked much newer and a lot less worn than the other two.

The two princesses led us towards the third table, as we approached, I realised that the chair at the head of the table, the one with the equals sign embossed on it, did not actually have a seat, and was instead just a plate of stone sticking out of the ground, it looked just like the two other head-chairs, except without the hoof-rests or the bit you sit on.

This meant, as we sat at the table, that everypony sat on the sides of the table.

Celestia sighed once we were all sat. "We made this table for Dan, as a sign we were trying to make Equestria more accepting... But it was only finished a couple days ago."

Feather patted the table slightly, as if testing it's durability. "I'm sure Dan would have like this, it's very symbolic, there being no head-chair and all..."

Celestia nodded as her horn glowed. Almost instantly, a row of ponies carrying an array of foods entered the room, placing them along the middle of the table and giving us all a plate.

All but me and Steve began to dig in, but a couple minutes later, a large tray of meat came in, much to some of the pony's discomfort. I quickly ate what I could, I was already feeling slightly empty, a sign Dan's love was becoming too distant for me to feed properly... or maybe I was just still panicking...

Between bites, we all had a conversation concerning how Dan leaving will affect each of us and how we will deal with it.

Steve and Dawn kept the band quiet.

It was an emotional time I don't feel like writing out word-for-word. These were very private matters, discussed over that table.

Me, Dawn and Steve met up the next morning, in the room they shared. So that we could discuss what to do now that the only one of us who knew how human music worked was gone.

"I think we should all just keep practicing." I said in rebuttal to one of Steve's proclamations.

Steve huffed, "There is nothing left for me to practice! I know almost everything about that thing and everything it can do!" He said, pointing to the electric guitar propped up on the side of the sofa he was sitting on. "Learning music that was made here will do us no good and Dan is the only one who knows human music!"

Dawn interjected, "I for one think that we should simply wait for Dan to return. He is our teacher after all."

"Steve." I said, frustrated. "Dan is our teacher and we shouldn't release songs while he's gone, Dawn is correct in that regard." She nodded happily. "But he has faith in us and I think we should improve on what we already know, lord knows I have a long way to go, and learn other, new songs. Even if they were made here."

Steve narrowed his eyes at me, a legitimately scary sight. "We should learn new songs, yes. And we should release them! It would give the band a head-start and he'd have a nice pile of bits to come back to!"

Dawn shook her head. "You two! We should wait for Dan to return first! This is his band, so he should decide which direction it goes in!"

Steve turned to the pegasus and gave her a sour look. "No offence," he said, lifting a talon, "but can-it, sweets. All you do is hit some pans, Me and Ebony will continue this band with or without you."

I gave Steve a shocked look. Dawn practically growled as Steve stood from his seat confidently and began to walk over to Dawn, who was also standing. She had been leaning on the kitchen's counter. Their eyes were locked, and not in the good way. I quickly picked myself off of the sofa and placed myself between them.

I stopped Steve's advance with a hoof. I placed it on his shoulder, facing him. His body struck my extended hoof, causing me to buckle slightly, he stopped though, seeing he could easily power through me if me wanted to.

"Ebony, take your hoof off of me. This does not concern you." Steve said, staring down at me with his predatory eyes.

"He's right." Dawn said from behind me. She continued in a casual tone, "I don't want you in the way when I turn this bird into paste."

Steve, taking his offence out on me, shoved me backwards, towards Dawn, I had to extend my wings to keep balance. The griffin gave a confident huff. "Dawn you haven't been able to hurt even a fly since you lost that 'Annah' of yours."

Dawn simply lifted a hoof, her expression not moving from a look of controlled, finely tuned rage. She set her hoof on the side of the marble counter of the kitchen, and pushed. The marble slab shifted. Steve stared as she reached down, into the hidden compartment and pulled out a long pole, a large blade on one end, and a weight on the other.

After reading through Dan's journal, I can safely say this was 'Ellie'.

And she was back in one piece.

Dawn tossed the stick slightly, rolling it over her shoulder and catching it in her wings. Dawn glared at Steve, but her snarl angled into a slight smirk as Steve stared in what I assume was fear. Needless to say, I was joining him in this act, already backing away from the mare.

"Oh, you missed her Rose?" She said, innocently pointing the blade towards him. "She missed you."

I turned to Steve, his eyes widened as I did so. "Ebony. Get out, now." It was not an angry tone he used, it was deadly serious and begged not to be questioned. His eyes were still locked with the pegasi's. His claws were dug into the carpet and his wings were oh-so-slightly flared, ready to move.

I took his advice. I dived to the side, over the sofa. I stumbled my way back onto my hooves as I bolted to the door and closed it behind me. I left the sounds of war in that room. I was on my hind legs, back pressed against the door for a good minute or so. During that time I heard many a smash, cry and thud. I decided I had to do something, and began working my way through the hallways as fast as my hooves could carry me. On a course for the throne room.

I saw the door's approaching at the end of hall. The guards either side looked at me confused, not used to seeing me without Dan or in such a fast-moving state. I buzzed my wings as I ran, pushing me up to the mid-section of the doors as I took Dan's suggestion.

"Use your head."

I burst through the doors, landing in a slight heap mere meters from the thrones themselves.

As I righted myself, a piece of paper fluttered down onto my nose. I shook it off of my face and looked up to the thrones. There was Celestia, coated in paper, with a face that looked like she was done with just about everything.

She sighed to herself. "Why is it always this particular paperwork that gets interrupted by the door? This was meant to be done months ago." She looked down to me, her face regaining some of its usual caring nature. "What did you need, Ebony?"

I shook the stars orbiting my head away and blinked a couple times. "Steve and Dawn are fighting! I don't know what to do, I-" I stopped when I saw that her facial expression had shifted into a smirk.

She waved a dismissive hoof. "Oh, they do that."

I blinked again. Perhaps I hit that door a little to hard. "But... They have like... Dawn has a weapon!"

Celestia just chuckled, shaking in her chair slightly. "Yes, I heard Dawn finally found Ellie again. She was so excited when she finally got the forge-master to fix the handle for her..." She sighed happily. "Steve's really in for it this time." She mumbled to herself. Even she's calling him Steve now...

I was slightly relieved. "So... this is normal?"

Celestia snorted. "Normal for them at least. Fighting's how they first met after all. Back when Dawn first joined the military and Steve was a lot fluffier; they got in an argument in a bar, over which was better - vodka or whiskey. Both were surprisingly sober as the fight quickly escalated into a full bar-brawl. Except they were the only ones participating, the rest of the bar's inhabitants had backed into the corners of the room due to the ferocity of the fight. The fight is rumored to have gone on for hours, and somewhere in all of that, they fell for each other." She shook her head, smiling. "Even Cadence does not understand the nature of their relationship."

I tilted my head in interest. "Hm. So... do the things they fight about ever get resolved?"

She quickly nodded. "Oh yes! By the end of the fight, they both seem to know the right thing to do. All of their major arguments have been settled that way, and it's worked for all of them... all but their first one. They still squabble over drinks every now and again."

I heard a large yet muffled crash from the hallways. Despite the distance their room was from the throne room, I could tell by the pitch and estimated distance that it was probably them. Celestia's ears perked and she grinned. "Do either of them ever get hurt?" I asked.

She laughed. "Most definitely! They'll keep going until one gives up. Some say they've increased their fighting skills and pain tolerance with each other better than their military training did." There was another low pitched thud, followed by a clattering. Celestia giggled. "And that's their cutlery draw gone... again." She saw my worried look. "They'll be fine. By the sounds of it, it's just a little disagreement. Since they've managed to keep it within a single room thus far."

We listened to the crashes and bangs occasionally coming from the halls. Celestia turned to me, and answered a question I had yet to ask. "Just stay out of their way for now. You'll know when the fight's over. Go visit Chrome and Feather, I believe they are spending some time together in the palace cafeteria. I'm sure they'd like to see you."

I shrugged. "Sure, why not. Thanks for clearing that up for me, I was rather worried there for a second." She gave me the smile that Dan seemed to hate for some reason. Seriously, he would go oon and ooon about how annoying her smile was sometimes, I really don't see it.

I walked back through the doors after we made our goodbyes. I inadvertently hid my face from the guards, who were staring at me. Guess I kinda made an entrance huh? Luckily, neither of them said anything, so they probably didn't mind.

After a little while of somewhat-aimless bumbling; I found the cafeteria. It had been a rather long time since I had been there without being led. Dan tended to lead me everywhere actually. Just walking without him felt a little weird.

The cafeteria was relatively empty, since it was somewhere between breakfast and lunch. Steve had made me a plate of meat that morning, luckily before the fight broke out. Chrome and Feather were discussing something as I joined their table.

"...like she doesn't usually do that kind of thing," Chrome said, Feather was listening intently, "but for some reason, that time, she was super into it. I thought it was a little weird at first, but I warmed to the idea eventually. I must say, her tactic of persuasion was rather... well... persuading." He said as Feather giggled to herself. I approached from behind Chrome. Feather seemed to freeze when she saw me.

"Hi guys." I said, sitting on one of the free sides of the small, square table. I think I startled Chrome a little. "What were you talking about?"

"I wa-" Chrome began, sounding rather proud, but Feather cut him off.

"Nothing really. Chrome" She said, giving him a pointed glare. He shrank back in his chair slightly. "We were just discussing what we were planning to do this summer." She said, shrugging. A valiant attempt, but I could tell something was up. The taste didn't match the tone she was using.

But I didn't bring it up. I wouldn't want to seem rude or prying. "Well? What are you planning to do?"

Feather beamed. Chrome stayed quiet. "I was planning on going somewhere nice this year, since I have a little while off from the whole 'lead interrogator' thing. I hate that job, but it has its moments." She said, shrugging. She gave a little head movement to Chrome after a couple silent seconds.

He blinked and shook himself. "O- oh yeah. I was going to... actually... I have nothing planned for this summer. It is my favorite season, but I think I'll take a little while to relax this year." I think we all wanted at least a little rest, the last few months had been more eventful than most, to put it lightly. "What are you doing this summer? Ebony?" He asked me.

I thought for a couple seconds. "Well... with Dan gone..." I began, they both gave me sad looks. "...I guess I'll just... tag along with you guys, if that's okay. And if Dan does not get back by then."

"Sure thing Eb." Feather said, patting the hoof I had placed on the table absentmindedly. "Feel free to come along, with any of us for that matter, I'm sure no one will mind."

"Yeah," Chrome backed her, "I'd be happy to take you along if I went anywhere... you ever been on a holiday?" He asked, slightly solemnly.

I shook my head and Feather gasped.

"We simply must-" Feather was cut off my a loud thud, then some muffled shouting. Suddenly, Feather smirked at Chrome. "Dawn won. Pay up." She said, holding out a hoof. Chrome huffed and placed a small sack of bits in her hoof. She bounced the bag slightly, producing a satisfying clinking sound, before placing it beside her on the table.

Feather cleared her throat and began again. "We simply must take you somewhere, if you've never had a holiday... well, we'd better make it special." She said, smiling.

I shook my head. "I'd feel bad if I went anywhere too nice without Dan." They both nodded understandingly. I decided then was a good time to change the subject, it was leave a bad taste in my mouth. "So," I said, eyeing the bag of money. "You two heard Steve and Dawn too?"

They both nodded. "Yeah, those two are just weird." Chrome said, rolling his eyes.

Feather chuckled. "They've been doing it ever since they met, on and off. They are a near-equal match." She said as Chrome huffed and crossed his hooves. "You're just mad you lost the bet." She said, teasingly.

I stood from the table rather abruptly. "Sorry guys, but I've got to check on those two. I need to know what they decided on. You two can get back to whatever you were talking about when I walked in."

Chrome blushed briefly, before somehow forced it away.

"Okay, see you." Feather said as I left.

I heard Chrome continue whatever he was saying before as I left, or at least I assume so, since it was said in the same cocky voice.

The room I came back to... when I got to Steve and Dawn's door... I mean... I knew they both knew how to fight, but... wow.

Woah! A new chapter? does that mean what I think it means?! Yes it does! I'm finally finished 'fixing' the earlier chapters. That means this thing is back in business, back to the old schedule. A chapter every couple days. Every week at very least.

So, as it turns out, Ebony CAN write.

It's been a little while since I actually WROTE, so this one may be a little rusty when compared with the earlier ones. Plus the prospective change is messing me up a little.