P.O.V. Twilight Sparkle.

“So what is it you wanted to ask me Twilight?” Excalibur asked.

“Well…” I opened the door to the library. We were greeted by the many smiling faces of my friends –except Rainbow, she was still at the academy- and Serenity, “… We were wondering if you would like to join us for a sleepover!?” I replied with joyous enthusiasm while holding my right hoof out.

He snorted out a laugh. I could tell he was trying to hold it in but it started to fail.

“What?” I asked out of confusion while placing my hoof on the ground.

“You can’t be serious?” he said while chuckling lightly. He looked at me and his smile quickly faded, “Oh my you are?”

“What, we can’t have ah sleepover?” asked Applejack.

He looked at her, “Nonono!” he said while holding up his hooves in his defense, “But don’t you know the number one rule of a girls sleepover?” he asked while pointing forward with his right hoof.

“What?” asked Rarity.

“No boys allowed!” and with that, he was out the door and gone.

I looked back at my friends with a look of confusion and a little bit of insult.

“Okay then…?" said Serenity, “So what now?”

“Well duhhhh!” Pinkie pulled out her party cannon from Celestia knows where, “We party!” she screamed with enthusiasm while she fired off her party cannon.

The entire library was instantly coated with decorations while confetti slowly fluttered to the ground. We started off the night with music and a few board and card games, told jokes and had a ton of fun. Early on though Serenity had a hard time understanding what exactly a sleepover was. I believe it was the 'Cryogenic Amnesia'. She struggled to remember most of her past. Her memories were broken and faded. Anyway, Pinkie promptly fixed that. As the hours passed we eventually came to a game of truth or dare.

We watched the bottle spin around the circle. As it started to slow down in finally landed on Serenity, she stiffened up.

“Uhhh…” she said with uncertainty.

“Okay, truth or dare?” I asked.

“Uh… dare?” she answered nervously.

This was my chance to find out something important.

“I dare you to take off your helmet!” I said with a huge smile.

She stiffened up even more before she gulped nervously, “Do… do I have to?”

I don’t know why she seemed so nervous.

“You have to, its the rules,” said Fluttershy.

Serenity looked at all of us nervously before she dropped her head.

“Okay…”

She dipped her head and grabbed each side of her broken helmet. Much like Excalibur’s it made a light hissing sound before she turned it to the side slightly. As the helmet left her head, I was able to see her real face. She had a short light brown mane that came down just above her chin and different color eyes and a small scar on her left cheek. Her left eye was blue while the right was gold. For a human female she was rather pretty.

“Why haven’t you taken off your helmet?” I inquired.

Her head dropped, “Because I was an experiment… I look terrible,” she said disheartened while looking to the side.

“What do you mean darling?” asked Rarity with a look of concern.

The Tenno glanced at Rarity, “I look awful.”

No, I looked awful when I had my little episode when I ‘failed’ to send a letter to princess Celestia. Or when I thought the world was ending. Or as of recently... the changeling incident.

Rarity walked over and grabbed Serenity by the cheeks with her hooves. She turned her head and looked at the tiny scar, “With a little bit of makeup that scar could easily be hidden,” she let go of her and placed her hooves back on the ground and sniffed the air, “Your teeth could use a good brushing and your mane could use a little conditioner and your eyes,” she looked into the unique orbs, “why they are just gorgeous!”

Serenity perked up, “Really?” she asked with a small smile.

“Of course!” Rarity looked at us, “Girls, what do you think?”

We all nodded in agreement and gave her some sort of verbal acknowledgement.

Serenity's sad demeanor changed to joy as a huge smile crawled across her face, “Thank you!”

Shortly after that we went back to our game. Serenity was so much happier. She started to ask more questions herself. She really needed that pick-me-up. But after some time the bottle landed on me. And I was ready!

“Alright Twilight, truth or dare?” asked Pinkie.

I put a hoof to my chin and looked to the ceiling… “Hmmm… dare!” I said with a smile while looking at her.

“I dare you to…” she turned her head to the side and wore a mischievous grin, “…take Excalibur on a date!” she beamed.

My heart sank, my blood ran cold, and my happy expression turned into terror. My lower lip quivered in a failed attempt to speak. My brain literally shut down and my heart was ready to explode. I am amazed that my legs didn't give out with the amount of shaking they were doing.

‘A DATE!!! WITH EXCALIBUR!!!???!!!!’

I don’t know anything about dating! I don’t know what he likes, eats, or really anything. All I know is he is human, comes from a planet called Earth. Once again he is human, male, six and a half feet tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds. He fights for a living! Okay, yes I love him, but I don’t know if he has the same feelings for me! What would I do where would I take him?!

How would I ask him?

“Twilight… Twilight. Are you okay sugarcube?”

The wave of her hoof snapped me out of my thoughts, “Huh… wha…?”

I looked at Applejack, she had a concerned look on her face.

“Yah zoned out there Twi.”

I looked around the room; the rest of my friends wore the same scared look. I gulped nervously before I focused on Pinkie.

“Pinkie… I don’t think I can do that…” I said nervously.

“Awww, come on Twilight!" she said while her shoulders slumped, "We all know how much you care about him!” she answered.

My head dropped along with my ears, “I… I don’t know Pinkie. I mean, I don’t know if he even has the same feelings for me,” I said while I kept glancing between her and the floor.

Serenity stood up and walked over and placed a hoof on my shoulder, “Twilight, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

But this was my chance to find out what I had been wondering ever since I confessed my love at the Crystal Empire!

I looked up from the floor and wore a look of determination, “No,” I looked at Pinkie, “I’ll do it!”

“That’s the spirit!” responded the pink mare.

I slumped down nervously, “But I could use a little help?”

The rest of the night involved planning for my little ‘date’. Everypony -including Serenity- would help convince Excalibur into going with me. The plan was set and all we had to do was execute it.

I just hoped it would work.

Just after midnight we hit the hay.

I remember I was reading happily in the biggest library ever! Rows and rows of shelves as far as the eye could see. IT WAS A DREAM COME TRUE!!! I was enjoying one of the many books in the library when a noise caused my ear to flicker. I thought I was hearing things, so I shrugged it off and went back to my book.

I heard it again.

It sounded like a voice, a plea for help. I stuck my hoof in my ear in an attempt to aid my hearing. When that didn’t work I got out of my chair and decided to follow the phantom voice. I rounded corners and walked down various rows of shelves. After about ten minutes of walking I was about to give up.

“Help!”

That word was much clearer. And it sounded desperate. I took chase. I rounded a hoofful of rows before rounding one last one. And I was terrified at what I saw. It was King Sombra and he had Excalibur in his knees with that scythe around his neck. But… King Sombra was dead! I watched Excalibur kill him with my own two eyes!

They both focused on me.

“Twilight! Run!” screamed Excalibur while he held out on open hoof while the other was holding on to the blade around his neck.

“Excalibur! Don’t move… I’ll… I’ll get you out of this!” I said frantically.

“No, Twilight, don’t!”

I tried to think, but I couldn’t. I’m not a fighter! Excalibur is fearless and has the heart of a warrior. I mean, he took a sword to the belly! And he walked away like nothing happened. I didn’t know what to do. I had no weapon or skills! Well... I have magic and its my element and cutie mark, but there is the time differential between my horn and whatever it is interacting with.

“Mwhahahaha!” laughed the manic unicorn, “Now you die!”

Sombra lifted the scythe of his head.

“NO!!!” I screamed while sticking my hoof out.

“We have seen enough!” boomed a Royal Canterlot Voice.

Just before the scythe dropped, both Sombra and Excalibur faded into nothing. I was lost... it made no sense. In my confusion I looked up to see Princess Luna descending from the sky where she promptly landed in front of me.

I walked up to her, “Luna, what happened? Where did-” then it hit me, “I’m dreamed… aren’t I?”

“Indeed,” replied the dark mare.

My head dropped and I let out something between an annoyed and relieved sigh, “Thank you Princess,” I said flatly.

“You are most welcome," she said with a downward head tilt, "but you seem… annoyed?” she asked while raising an eyebrow.

I looked up at her, “It’s just… after the changeling event I haven’t been myself-”

I told her about how certain things tend to set off my 'P.T.S.D.' as Excalibur called it. Loud noises and some stressful situations tend to do it; thankfully my friends had been there every step of the way. And Excalibur was willing to stay with me for the last few weeks until I got better. Which I did.

“-I just wish this didn’t happen so often,” I finished, “I bet Excalibur doesn’t have to deal with this,” I said under my breath.

“Funny you say that.”

I furrowed my brow and looked at Luna, “Huh?”

“Come,” Luna said before she turned and started walking.

Within a few seconds I felt a strange pulling sensation. You know, that one where you go up and come down to fast. I hate that feeling. As we walked two separate long rows of doors surrounded each side of us. Luna continued to walk until a single door stood out from the rest. It was grey in nature. But it had an emblem on it. It was the shape of a lotus flower with a sword behind it. Underneath the symbol it had another one that looked like the symbols on Serenity’s old pod thingy.

“Is this…?” I asked while pointing a hoof at the door and looking at Luna.

“It is,” she looked at me, “He refuses to sleep,” she looked back at the door, “And I intend to find out why.”

She placed a hoof on the door and opened it. A held my hoof in front of my eyes as a white light blinded me momentarily. Once it faded I placed my hoof down and followed Luna inside. When I stepped inside it just felt… wrong, dark or even... cold. There was almost a sense of magic, but it was neither light nor dark. I couldn’t explain it. Inside the place was white with gold accents. It looked a lot like Canterlot Castle but had more of a glow to it.

We walked through the large and elegant building until we came to stop near a balcony. Or at least I think it was a balcony. Luna looked over the rail and down to the area below. I couldn’t see so I stood up on my hind legs and placed my fore hooves on the rail and looked down. And what I saw startled me. On the right side stood King Sombra with that same scythe from my dream and instead of Excalibur as a hostage it was me. But I was next to Luna? So it must have been a figment of Excalibur’s imagination. Than to the left stood what I believe was a Tenno. He was black and red in color and that helmet… it looked like an evil eye. It was terrifying. But he too had a menacing scythe and he had a young human female as a hostage.

She had a long blonde mane and deep blue eyes. She was wearing a purple shirt and grey pants. Both her and my clone wore a face of terror. I heard a weird noise below me and looked down directly beneath me. Within seconds Excalibur came running in. He stopped about twenty-five feet away and stopped. He raised his Lex and pointed it back and forth between Sombra and the unknown enemy.

Something was exchanged between Excalibur and the unknown enemy. It sounded a lot like hissing. Then he looked at Sombra and they exchanged a few words. After a about a minute Excalibur lowered his weapon.

“See if I care,” he said, “She’s been dead for a long time,” he said to the dark figure. He looked at Sombra, “And she’s never been here.”

The two dark souls looked at each other and raised their blades to strike the final blow. When they reached their peaks Excalibur lifted his pistol and fired.

BANG!

That shot hit Sombra in the head, causing him to drop the scythe and fall back dead. He then pointed it at the dark figure to his left and he fired.

BANG!... BANG!

The first round hit him in the chest, causing him to drop the blade and step back and the next hit him in the head. The figure fell back before he disappeared into smoke. Both the human and my clone stood up and rush over to him as fast as they could. The human wrapped her forelegs around his left side while my clone did the same to his right. The human kissed him –much to my jealousy- on the face multiple times while she repeated the words ‘I love you!’ over and over again.

He looked at her, “But it’s not the same,” he held up his pistol and placed it under her chin.

BANG!

I winced when he fired. The girl fell to the ground before fading into nothing. My clone let go and stood there. He pointed the gun at her.

“And you aren’t who you say you are.”

BANG!

I was shocked. He shot me… well it was me but not me. It was a clone, but a clone of me? Would he do that to me? Does he secretly hate me and isn’t willing to tell me? Is he planning something? I couldn’t think straight. I had mixed emotions and was on the verge of vomiting and having a massive panic attack. The flapping of Luna’s wings knocked me out of my train of thoughts. She hovered in the air before she landed in front of him. They exchanged a few words before Excalibur turned to look at me. I ‘Eeped’ and hid behind the rail.

“There’s no sense in hiding Twilight, I know your there,” he said.

I slowly rose from my hiding spot and peered over the rail before making myself fully known. I looked around for a way down until I felt Luna’s magic wrap around me and brought me down to the ground. Once I was released I walked over and stood next to Luna.

“So I’m guessing you saw everything?” he asked.

“Indeed we did,” replied Luna.

He let out a huff, “Great.”

I gulped nervously, “Wh… why did you do that? Do… do you hate me?”

He looked back at me then his gun. With a flick of his fetlock he tossed the weapon to the side before looking back at me.

“No Twilight, I care deeply about you. Its… it was a figment of my imagination… And I don’t like letting them run wild,” he looked at Luna.

“So you know that you are dreaming?” asked Luna.

“Yep. Yet another side effect of the virus.”

Luna blinked twice in confusion, “Pardon?”

“Lucid dreams, I think you are familiar?”

“Indeed I am! But only I can create them!” Luna said quickly while holding a hoof to her chest.

“Not anymore. Even though my body is resting I am completely one hundred percent mentally awake. This mainly allows for the somatic link to take affect.“

"The somatic link?" I repeated.

He looked at me, "Artificial dreams. It allows for-"

The lights flickered and caused Excalibur to stop talking. We all looked around in confusion. Except Excalibur, who moaned in anger.

“Grrrrr… and this is why I avoid sleep.”

The door behind him opened. Yet another human female walked through. She was... different. She didn't look like a Tenno, but she also didn't look like the blonde maned girl from earlier. She wore a long purple dress with other pieces of fabric hanging from her shoulders and a helmet that covered half her face. The helmet looked a lot like a lotus flower. She walked with a sense of authority yet she walked with a light step… almost.... like my mother. She walked up and stopped behind Excalibur. He didn’t turn to face her or even acknowledge her presence.

“Hello, my child,” she said with a motherly tone.

She’s his mother!?!

“Call me that again and you head leaves your shoulders,” he threatened while turning his head to the right a little.

“Excalibur, is she your-”

“She is nothing to me!” he snapped.

“But she called you ‘child’?” inquired Luna.

He didn’t respond. He looked past his left shoulder before looking back at Luna, “You want to know why I don’t sleep Luna?” he turned around and looked at the female, “This is why…What do you want... Lotus?” he asked with venom in his voice.

“I am here to check on your well-being,” she replied.

“Excalibur, who is she?” I asked.

“The Lotus… guide of the Tenno…”

“So she is your ruler?” asked Luna.

He looked over his shoulder, “No one rules over me,” he looked back at the ‘Lotus’, “I told you to stay out of my head, Lotus.”

How was she even here? Only Luna can enter other pony’s dreams and to the extent of my knowledge, Excalibur and Serenity don’t have magic, none of his species does. Unless... this is what the somatic links thingy does?

“And I have respected that,” she answered.

“Clearly you haven’t.”

“I am here for only one reason.”

“And what would that be? To apologize? Maybe beg for forgiveness? To ask me to come back when you know full well what you did to me?”

“No… your teammates are worried about you,” she answered.

“You got them… to listen?” he asked disbelieving while he raised his eyebrows, “I call bullshit.”

“No bull,” she said while holding up her right hoof, “But they do want my help. They are worried deeply and now that I have found you I can make my report.”

He looked back at me before quickly turning back at her. I heard a SHING!. Next thing I know Lotus is slumped over and her jaw dropped. Excalibur stood there with his claws shoved into her belly with his right hoof while he held her with his left.

“Next time,” he leaned in close to where her ear would be, “It’ll be the real thing,” he removed the claws form her and stepped to the side.

Lotus fell with a thud while she held the wound in her belly. I was shocked. Luna though was expressionless. Lotus’ faces winced with the pain. After a few seconds she faded into nothing. I looked up at Excalibur.

He closed the claws, “Both of you…” he looked up at us, “…stay out of my head.”

He made another Lex appear in his right hoof and he put it to his head.

"Wait-" I screamed while holding my hoof up.

But it was to late.

BANG!

He fell limp to the left. Before he hit the floor I felt myself being pulled out of the dream. I shot up off my bed. I was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Quickly I looked around the room… only to realize I was back in my own bed. Once I got my breathing under control I pushed the blankets aside and snuck down to the kitchen to get a glass of water -making sure not to wake my sleeping friends in the living room. Once I was done I went straight back to bed.

‘Why did he hate her so much?’ I thought before I closed my eyes.

Today was the day we executed our little plan. For me it was a quiet one, but for Excalibur? Well... he had to deal with my friends! I was nervous though after last night. But he did say he cared about me so I wasn't as worried. I spent the day reading, researching and wondering. I just couldn’t get what happened last night out of my head. He hated that female, but she called him his ‘child’? So the logical thing is that she is his mother. They must have had a falling out somewhere along the line? I wanted to find out more, but it was not position to ask. But I was worried nonetheless.

Later that day my friends stopped by to give me their report.

“Well?” I asked hopefully.

“Nothin’,” answered Applejack.

“I tried my best Twilight,” answered Fluttershy.

“Sorry Twilight,” answered Pinkie.

“No luck darling,” responded Rarity.

I looked at the floor and let my ears drop. I knew it was a bad idea. He didn’t have feelings for me I was just chasing a dream. I guess I needed to move on. That was until Serenity stepped inside.

She took her helmet off and looked around.

“Looks like you’re all headed to a funeral.”

I let out a disheartened sigh while and ears dropped while I turned to face her, “I knew that plan was a terrible idea.”

“I wouldn’t give up just yet,” responded Serenity.

We all perked up and looked at her. She wore a mischievous smile.

“He said yes!” she said enthusiastically while holding out her forelegs and letting her helmet drop to the floor.

My eyes went wide and my jaw started to quiver, “H-h-h-h-he did?”

She nodded.

Everypony started to celebrate. But I ignored them. I mean… HE SAID YES!!! I was over the moon! My mind was running a mile a minute. I must have had the biggest and goofiest smile. There was no gauge, graph, or line to express my joy!

“But there is one catch.”

We all froze in fear.

Serenity looked at me, “You have to pick the time a place Twilight. He said that since he knows so little of what to do here that it is better if you choose.”

Well that was an easy thing to do. I know of plenty of places to go. With a little help from my friends and Serenity, we set a date for Friday… which was three days away. I knew of an exotic place in Canterlot that would be perfect. It was a long train ride but it was the only place I could think of. Rarity was going to help me with a dress while Serenity relayed the information to my DATE!!!

I waited outside of the The Lunar Keep in the wonderful dress Rarity made me. The place was fairly new. A bat pony decided to open it after Luna's return from the moon. Over night the place exploded! It was know for serving exotic food from every nation on Earth... i mean 'Equin'. Now as for my dress. It was a simple pink dress that covered my back and flanks and had a piece of fabric wrap around my neck. The fabric had a nice sparkle to it. I had a simple pink bow with a heart in the middle of it next to my right ear and a pearl scrunchie near the bottom of my mane. Rarity said I was gorgeous. But what would my date say? As the minutes passed not only did I get more and more nervous, but I started to panic.

‘What if he doesn’t show? Did he forget? What if he got hurt? Did something happen? Was he lying? Is there another-’

“You look like you’re having a heart attack?” said a deep male voice behind me.

I jumped in the air out of fright. But before I hit the ground I felt a familiar pair of ‘hooves’ grab me.

“Woah, woah, woah! Calm down Twilight,” he said before lightly placing my on the ground.

I turned around and faced the voice. I did everything I could to control my racing heart. If it was going any faster it would have pounded itself out of my chest. I tried really, really hard. I was having a serious panic attack. And I hadn’t had one this bad since I was a foal. I was hyperventilating and sweating like a pig.

“Twilight!… Twilight!”

I heard my name being called. It was enough to momentarily knock me out of my panic attack. The haze in my sight started change as I focused on the face in front of me. It was scared yet determined. It knew what to do.

“Look at me,” I looked straight into his eyes, “And breathe slowly.”

I did as I was told and took long deep breaths. After a couple of tense seconds my heart-rate started to drop. I shook my head and regained my senses as reality started to come back.

My ears dropped as reality hit me, “Oh no… Excalibur I’m so sorry!”

He stood up, “It’s alright Twilight. You’re just nervous,” he said calmly. He turned and faced the door, “Come on, we can talk more inside. You look good by the way.”

I blushed and looked to the side, "Th-thank you."

He smiled as he opened the door and stood next to it and allowed me to go in first. I thanked him and walked in while he followed shortly afterward. After making our reservation we were seated at a nearby table. Excalibur was such a gentle colt. He held out my chair and pushed me up to the table before taking his seat. This was a side of him I had never seen. I was… intrigued?

The waiter pony asked if we wanted anything to drink. I was fine with water while Excalibur took a nonalcoholic cider. He left us with two menus and said he would return in a few minutes. It was an awkward first minute.

“So Excalibur….” I started. He looked up from his menu, “Where did you learn to deal with panic attacks like that?”

“Well,” he went back to the menu, “Ember suffered from them as a kid and they never really improved over the years. When I first met her she suffered from them quiet frequently and I mean more than once a day after I found her during the war.... And I was always there to comfort her,” he said.

“Who’s Ember?” I asked with a slight head tilt to the side.

He looked up again, “My adopted little sister and right hand ‘man’.”

“Ohhh! So what is she like?” I asked while placing my elbows on the table and my head in my hooves.

He chucked, “A bit of a hot head…”

For the next few minutes we chatted. He told me about his little sister and how she was always so touchy about things and a bit of a rebel. But he loved her and cared for her deeply. He was worried about how she was holding up back at his Dojo. With his disappearance she was in charge and he knew she wasn't going to be taking it well. A few minutes later the waiter came up and asked for our orders. I took a daisy and daffodil sandwich with onion rings and Excalibur had…

“I’ll have the fish dinner,” he said.

“An excellent choice,” said the waiter before he took our menus and left.

I was shocked and scared beyond recognition.

Excalibur looked at me, “Twilight, are you-” his eyes widened, “… oh boy…. Look I can easily change if you-”

“Y-you… eat… m-m-meat?” I stuttered out.

“Well, my species is omnivorous in nature,” he said sheepishly while looking to the side momentarily, “But I can change for you!?”

I gulped nervously, “No, no… its fine,” I partially lied. I wasn't fine about the food but I wanted him to be himself.

“Twilight, it’s no big thing!”

“N-no… you have whatever you like…”

He covered his eyes with his right hoof and sighed, “Waiter!”

A waitress bat pony walked up, “Yes?” she asked with a small smile.

He looked up at her, “Could you please change my order to a salad?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” he looked at me while she walked away, “I’m sorry for not telling you Twilight. With all the reading you had been doing in the Codex I would have thought you would have started with human biology and habits… I’m very sorry,” he said while looking to the floor.

I reached over and placed my hoof on his. He looked up at me, “I should have asked,” I leaned back in my seat, “But I do have one question?” I said nervously, “Do you eat…” I gulped, “…p-ponies?”

He looked at me like something was wrong. Then he laughed and looked to the side, “Hehehe…” he looked at me, “…no, I have too much respect for not only you but the animal from my planet,” he looked to the ceiling and grabbed his chin, “But I have had horse meat,” he looked at me again, “… once… and I wasn’t told until after I ate it.”

“And what happened?” I asked nervously.

He started to giggle before it turned into an even harder laugh as he remembered, “It came up forcefully into a nearby bush!” he said between laughing fits. He wiped his eye with one of his digits, “But that was a long time ago… and I hit that guy soooo hard!”

I held a hoof to my mouth and giggled. Anyway, it was a nice dinner. We swapped stories and had small talk for the entire dinner. I was really impressed with his grasp on basic algorithms. His interest piqued when I started to talk about magic. He said that since he had been busy with so much the last few weeks he wasn't able to ask the questions he was wondering. So I did! We talked for what felt like hours. Once we were done after dinner, he paid the bill and we headed out into the still young night. Even though the night started out miserably it had improved greatly. While we headed to one of the parks in Canterlot I just had one question in my head.

Why?

“Excalibur?”

“Yes?” he said while he glanced at me.

“I’m curious. Why did you say yes?”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Well… when your friends kept pestering me the other day I thought it was just a joke you all came up with at your little 'sleepover'. But when Serenity came by I just said yes to get them off my back.”

I felt depressed when he said that. He did this just to get my friends to shut up and leave him alone. I felt... used. He didn't care. He didn't love me. He just wanted to be able to get back to his work.

“But…”

I perked up.

“That dinner made me realize a few things,” he looked at me, “All I have done is fight. Fight, fight, and fight,” he looked forward, “I don’t even remember the last time I had such a wonderful night. I… sometimes I think I need to relax more. Take sometime for myself. I've become more of a machine and less of human being. So Twilight...” he looked at me again, "Thank you for helping me realize that."

I smiled. And that smile didn’t leave even when we entered the park. We walked around it once until we went and sat on a nearby hill and watched the stars. Excalibur sat next to me with his forelegs resting on his back legs. I sat to his left on my flank.

‘Do it, just rest you head on his shoulder!’

‘But what if he gets angry?’

‘Come on! This is your chance, do it!’

The voices in my head were going a mile a minute. Internally I was panicking. I bit my bottom lip and rubbed my left foreleg. At some point Excalibur glanced at me and wrapped his left foreleg around my shoulders. I jumped a little bit, but when I looked him in the eyes and he had this small but gentle smile. I relaxed and nuzzled up next to him and placed my left hoof on his chest.

‘I did it!!!”

‘Took long enough…’

He stroked my side while we sat for what felt like a lifetime. I didn’t want it to end. But I knew at some point it would. So I just milked it for all its worth. This was everything I wanted! This was the first major into becoming something more that friendship. I don’t know what time it was but I looked up at him and smiled. He looked back at me and did the same thing. Our faces were less than six inches apart. It was like we both knew. This was it...

This was love.

He did care about me and I could see it in his eyes. Because we both started to lean in for a kiss.

“Excalibur?” I whispered.

“Yes?” he whispered back.

“I love you.”

“I love you too... Twilight.”

With that… our lips locked. I did it! I kissed a boy and the love of my life. He does care he does love me! I couldn’t express my joy. My mind was exploding with passionate fireworks and my heart was pounding uncontrollably. Roughly two months ago he was just a lost traveler, a warrior in an unfortunate incident and in those two months he saved us, made friends, cared for me and fell in love. I just wanted him to take me right then and there.

But what happened next… broke my heart.

He broke the embrace and turned away from me and grabbed his head.

“What have I done?” he mumbled.

I was so lost and concerned.

“Excalibur, are you okay?” I asked concerned while I placed a hoof on his back.

He stood up quickly and took a few steps away from me while i just watched him.

“I fucked up… I fucked… up…” he mumbled.

I placed my hoof to my chest and my ears fell. I could hear it in his voice. He wasn’t proud of what he just did. I didn’t want to believe it at the time. But now… it is all too clear. He did love me, yes… but he refused to admit and accept it. Something, I don't know what, but something kept him from accepting what was right in front of him. He just didn't want to accept it.

He looked back at me. Sadness, terror, and shock were written all over his face.

“I can’t…” he looked away from me, “I just can’t,” he shuddered out the last word while his hooves balled up. He started to cry, “I… I’m sorry Twilight…” he looked back at me with regret, “But I can’t love you.”

Those last five words were like daggers in my very soul. My heart broke and my world shattered. I died right then and there. As I watched him with his head hung low I heard a roaring sound. It was his archwing. They attached to his back and he took to the skies as fast as he could.

‘He left me.’

He left me… that was all I could think about. I had everything! Then nothing. I cried. And I cried all the way to the castle. I went straight to Princess Celestia. I didn’t even know that Cadence was visiting from the Crystal Empire. Because when I entered the throne room, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were there.

I told them everything…

When I finished… they went to go find him and talk some sense into Excalibur. I sent a letter to my friends and went straight to my parents house. When I arrived with mascara running down my face and bloodshot eyes they thought I was in a fight. They were not happy when I explained myself. They said, “I could do better” or “That I need a real stallion in my life”.

“But I love him and only him!!!” I screamed between sobs.

Right then… I just wanted everything to end.

Author's Notes:

So originally Excalibur saying he couldn't was much more darker. And the more I thought about it the more I hated it. It was supposed to be him cursing her out and telling her to leave him alone... sort of. If I could do it in a few words it would have been "Fuck off, leave me alone, and I don't love you." Not exactly that wording but it was bad. Watch and see how the Princess' "talk" some sense into Excalibur. Remember, his depression came back, that's why he is so screwed up. So im tired of saying the same thing in the comments. You will hear his reasoning in the next chapter.