“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nanaki,” Princess Celestia greeted. She was seated beside one of the tables that lined Sugarcube Corner in the main room that had been converted, as it often was, from a baked goods sales counter into a spacious party venue.. “Welcome to Ponyville, and for that matter, Equestria. I trust the ride over here was pleasant?”

“It was, thank you. It was the most comfortable train I have ridden on,” he answered politely. “I didn’t expect royalty to attend my welcoming party, especially after I learned you live in another city, some distance away. You didn’t have to come all this way just for me.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Nanaki. Humans are rare in these parts, and the last has made quite a lasting impression on us. When my student informed me of your presence and Pinkie’s plans, I made great haste to arrive as promptly as I could. Though there are other reasons to be here as well,” Celestia explained. “Such as welcoming home the Elements of Harmony after they have been running all over the country dealing with one crises after the next.”

“I do hope that isn’t a segue into explaining the next crisis,” I said, as I approached them. “Thank you for coming, Princess, I see you’ve met Nanaki.”

“I have. And no, I have no new crisis for you. Relax. Enjoy the party, Cloud. Have some tea,” she suggested. She lifted her own teacup to her mouth and took a sip.

“I will, thank you,” I said, as I picked up an empty teacup from the table. As I looked around for the teapot, Mrs Cake nervously rushed past me, nearly knocking me over in her haste to pour more tea into Celestia’s slightly drained cup. Almost as an afterthought as she turned back toward her husband, she noticed my own empty cut and filled it as well. “Thank you Mrs Cake.”

“Of course Cloud, just keep the lanes clear please,” she said.

“This really is just a social call,” the princess assured. “Even if there are several ponies I wish to speak with. It’s good to spend a bit of time with all of Equestria’s ponies, as much as I can get away to do such things. The more I’m able to learn of their hopes and dreams, challenges and triumphs, the better I can do my job as ruler.” She took another sip of the tea, and by the time the cup hit the table, Mrs Cake was there with the pot, refilling it. The princess gave her a look I wasn’t sure how to interpret.

“It’s a good chance for me to meet up with a few ponies I don’t catch up with often enough as well,” I thought, looking around. “Though some of them may have to wait,” I added, noting that Vinyl was setting up her DJ equipment, while Octavia was currently adding background music to the party with her cello, something far more mellow than the white unicorn was likely to provide. After my role in first breaking and then fixing their home, I occasionally made time to speak to the pair, individually or otherwise. A few other ponies around the room jogged my memory, or teased at it just enough to make me regret my inability to so much as name them.

“I’m hoping to spend a bit of time with each of you Element Bearers tonight, but I don’t see you all here,” the princess mentioned. “I know Pinkie Pie is in the kitchen still. She’s made the rounds from time to time and promises to be available when the cooking is all done. But Fluttershy is nowhere to be seen.”

“I’m sure she’ll be here. Unless you’re worried she’s been waylaid?” I inquired. “Of course, while I hope she’d be polite enough to leave it at home, she does have a stealth cloak. She could be hiding in plain sight, using her equipment to be even more of a wallflower than usual.”

“You’re joking,” Celestia said, as she tried to sneak a sip of tea while Mrs Cake’s back was turned on her way back from refilling the last sip, only for the mare to turn instantly to replenish the royal beverage.

Nanaki, for his part, was quietly observing and growing a bit of a grin at the ponies’ antics. “Enjoy the party, Princess. Cloud and I will make a quick search of the perimeter for any invisible wallflowers while we have our own chat.”

We left, while the princess’ apparent competition with Mrs Cake’s teapot escalated. I paused briefly as a covered birdcage near her emitted some rather distressing coughing sounds. Whatever it was, I wasn’t getting involved.

“You’re getting along well with the ponies, I see,” I noted as we headed for the buffet. We had to bend down quite a bit to get our plates.

“Allow me,” Applejack offered, assembling a cross section of the foods onto a pair of plates for us. She handed us a pair of salad forks, rather than the nearby appetizer forks, but I didn’t want to make a fuss about it. I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference myself if I hadn’t dated a prince, briefly.

“Thank you, Honesty. Enjoying the party?” I said, before starting in on the cobbler. I could tell it was made from Apple family apples, which may have been a factor in it taking such a prominent place on my plate.

“I was a bit nervous, at first, what with the princess being right there and all. But then I thought, what the hay. We’ve been through hell and back again protecting this town, and the rest of Equestria. What’s the point of being scared at a party?” she said. “Rarity still seems a might nervous to me, though. Maybe somepony ought to give her a little pep talk. Remind her that she can always make another dress if that one gets soiled.”

“Good point. Blueblood hasn’t shown up?” I inquired.

“She insists he’s just being ‘fashionably late’,” Applejack said, with obvious skepticism. “I guess she would be the expert.”

“I’ll bring her something to eat,” I said, putting a muffin on a plate for her. “This shouldn’t have much risk of staining.”

“Why do you call her Honesty?” Nanaki inquired as we crossed the space toward the seamstress.

“Oh? It’s her Element… we’re each bound to an artifact, the Elements of Harmony, that are tied to our traits. She’s Honesty. Rarity is Generosity. Pinkie is Laughter. Dash is Loyalty. Flutters is Kindness. And I’m Magic,” I said. “It just made sense to me as a sort of ‘codenames’ for our group.”

“Codenames? Is that something you picked up from Shinra. A bit depersonalizing isn’t it? Why not just call them by their names?” Nanaki suggested.

I thought about it a moment. “Perhaps, at least when we’re being sociable. I think maybe it’s best to stick to it when it comes to orders though. Maybe even better to separate it like that.”

“You want to not think of them like people when you’re ordering them around?” Nanaki asked, only the barest hint of accusation in his voice, buried under more curiosity.

“Yes, actually. And I want them to not think like people when I’m ordering them around. People think things through, way their options, factor in their own vices and whims, and in the meanwhile someone gets hurt because they delayed,” I said. “I only order them around when there’s a crisis, or we’re in training to be prepared for a crisis. The rest of the time they’re my friends and I treat them as such. Speaking of… Here, Rarity. Have something to eat.”

“And risk getting crumbs on my dress in front of the Princess?!” Rarity countered. “There’s already so many dangers around me. Don’t bring more!”

“Calm down, Rarity. It’s just a dress. It’s lovely, by the way, but you can always make more. And the Princess won’t even notice if you’ve gotten crumbs on it, she’s too busy trying to find the bottom of her teacup,” I said.

As we watched, the Princess feinted like she was taking a sip, causing Mrs Cake to accidently overflow the cup with an unneeded refill. While the panicking hostess was fleeing in search of a towel to clean it up, the Princess smirked and rapidly downed her teacup… only to realize her mistake shortly thereafter as she got to her hooves with a familiar dance that was a bit comical to see on such a large and normally graceful mare. Twilight pointed her toward the mares’ room, where she quickly took her leave.

“Oh, thank Celestia, Celestia is gone!” Rarity said, before absolutely devouring the muffin in mere moments, her magic sweeping free all of the crumbs that spilled before she went back to looking like nothing had happened. “Whew, you’re a lifesaver Cloud!”

“Anytime. Any word from Prince Blueblood?” I inquired.

“He should be here shortly… is that… that can’t be him,” she said, turning toward the door where we heard the guards stopping someone.

I strolled over to take a look, opening the window in the upper half to see Fluttershy starting to back away. “It’s okay boys, she’s with us. Come on in, Fluttershy,” I invited.

The guard stallions looked at me, and then nodded and opened the door, letting the pegasus enter.

“Oh, I’m so sorry I’m late,” Fluttershy said. Looking around the room and immediately cringing. “Oh no, she’s left already? I didn’t think I was that late…”

“You’re fine, Fluttershy. She’s just relieving herself after too much tea,” I reassured. “The hosts were a little overly aggressive with refilling her drink, and she got caught up in it… there she is now, why don’t you go meet her back at the table when she settles in, and have a chat with her.”

“Oh, no, I could never… she’s our ruler, I’m sure she doesn’t want to talk to little old me,” the pegasus deflected, quietly, positioning her hair so that she couldn’t see the princess as though that would prevent her from being seen.

“Kindness, you will report to Princess Celestia’s table and debrief her on recent events, including the state of the animals in your area,” I ordered.

“Sir, yes, sir,” she said with a salute, swallowing her fear and gathering her courage before trotting over to the Princess.

“You were just saying?...” Nanaki teased.

I rolled my eyes. “She needed the push. You disagree?”

“No, you’re right about that, but you didn’t have to resort to orders,” Nanaki said. “At least I doubt it. You’ve known these fine ladies longer than I have, I’ll admit. It might have taken longer, but I think a bit of gentle encouragement would have worked better, all things considered.”

“You’re probably right,” I admitted, sighing, and not meeting his eyes. “I didn’t mean to abuse my power-”

“It’s fine. You’re friends, and you still will be. She’ll understand when she’s had a chance to process it, if she hasn’t figured it out already,” Nanaki replied. “But it is good to be aware of it, and think of other options.”

I nodded, impressed at his thoughtfulness. It was a strong point in his favor, offsetting the points he had lost with all that talk about harems on the train. I still didn’t understand why all the other Element Bearers were okay with it, at least in theory. Especially Rainbow Dash, of all ponies. Was she just overcompensating for her earlier excessive jealousy with me?

“You’re rather introspective,” Nanaki commented. “I’m not used to accusing others of that.”

“You actually struck me as rather outgoing,” I countered.

“I can only blame that on being surrounded by so many lovely ladies,” he said with a smirk. “Honestly, I’m used to others leaving me alone, while I reciprocate. Before I changed, my appearance was a bit… unapproachable. But now, in this place with only the two of us humans around, everypony is eager to make my acquaintance. I suppose I owe you for giving us a good reputation.”

I shrugged. “I suppose so, but ponies are generally pretty friendly to begin with. Ponyville ponies even more so than most, or so they brag.”

Before I could continue, Princess Celestia stood rather suddenly. The movement drew our eyes, and brought attention to the fact there was a guard beside her. His armor was a darker blue, he had sharp fangs that hung outside his mouth when it closed, and wings like a bat or dragon rather than the feathered wings of the pegasi. The princess turned to Rarity and called out. “Miss Rarity, please accompany me outside. I would like you to come with me,” she said.

With that, the two mares left the building, along with the unusual guard. I followed as far as the door, seeing the two guards who had been there join the three, as well as another of the bat-winged ponies. A pair of pegasi in golden armor brought up a chariot, and the princess and those without wings boarded. I closed the door, not waiting to see them take flight.

“I wonder what that was all about,” I commented.

Fluttershy rushed up past me. “Princess! You forgot your pet!” she called out.

“To late, they’re gone. I don’t think you should stop them… there’s something important going on,” I said.

“But her bird… Philomena…” Fluttershy said.

“I’m sure you can keep her safe until she’s able to return,” I said. As she parted I looked around the room, noting the general reduction in nervousness. “Come on everypony. It’s supposed to be a party!”

The phrase practically summoned Pinkie Pie, along with an explosion of confetti, a change of music, and the emergence of deserts. From there the night increasingly became a blur.

When the sleep had finally cleared enough from my mind, I turned to Rainbow Dash. “We should just start dating again, if we’re just going to keep ending up like this,” I said.

“I would, but I promised Nanaki a date next week,” she replied.

The shock of it, the jealousy swirled through me, amplified enough by the nature of dreaming that it startled me awake.

The real Rainbow Dash snored lightly in my arms. I watched her sleep, my emotions in turmoil. I slipped in and out of sleep a few times until she finally stirred, late in the morning.

“Do you have a date with Nanaki?” I asked her while she was still bleary eyed.

“I wouldn’t do that to you, without your blessing,” she said, with a yawn, before nuzzling me. “Besides, there’s a line.”

“A line? Don’t tell me he’s actually going through with the whole harem nonsense?” I asked.

“Maybe? I don’t know. At this point I think he’s just sleeping around,” she said. “Don’t give me that look. Pinkie threw him a ‘private party’ the night we got back into town. Everypony knows what that means. And I heard him ask Applejack if she wanted to spend the night together. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going for all of us. Everypony knows those two don’t have a reputation and no prospects.”

“I didn’t know that,” I countered.

“Didn’t you? Why do you think Pinkie put that whole harem thing in the grid in the first place? Both yours and his?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Pinkie Pie’s too silly for any stallion to take seriously, and everypony knows she’ll throw ‘private parties’ when she gets the mood. For all the fun she has ‘shipping’ everypony else, I don’t think she believes she’ll ever have a special somepony. Not just her anyways.”

“What about Applejack?” I questioned.

“AJ? She’s just too busy to think about it. Her farm’s more work than her family can handle right now, and her time with us just makes that worse,” she said. “The bits are enough that it’s worth it for her. She needs to hire out some of the work in harvest and planting seasons, now that she can afford to do so, but she hasn’t figured out who she can trust with the work. So in the meantime, she barely has time to have sex, much less date. Trouble she has is there aren’t a lot of farmponies in the area that aren’t cousins of hers, and not a lot of non-farmponies that are interested in taking on the role. Big Mac’ll probably attract a mare from his physique alone, eventually, but AJ has no such guarantees.”

“You’ve thought about this a lot more than I realized,” I commented.

“What, you think pranks are the only thing Pinkie and I talk about? She’s the only pony that visits me at home,” the pegasus said.

“I thought your home was in the clouds. Fluttershy doesn’t visit?” I asked.

“Nah, she’s afraid of heights. Pinkie just ties a bunch of balloons to herself and floats on up. Don’t ask me how that works,” Rainbow said.

“Buoyancy,” I said. “And whatever magic fuels Pinkie’s nonsense. So you two have sorted out everypony’s relationship problems, or just our friends’?”

“A few others, too. And at this point their more… recorded than sorted,” she said. “Flutters is too shy, that should come as no surprise. We’re pretty sure she’s a virgin, and we’re pretty sure she’s not going to start anything with anypony ever. So unless somepony starts something with her, she’ll probably stay that way. Rarity’s trouble is she’s too good for anypony in Ponyville. But… between you and me, I doubt she’s good enough for Prince Cheater. Especially if she holds him to the same standard you did.”

“You think Blueblood will leave her, after everything I did to make ‘them’ possible?” I asked, annoyed at the thought.

“Leave her? Probably not. But as the Element of Loyalty… I don’t think he has any,” Dash said. “I’m sure he’ll string her along until she gets fed up with him. I’d buck him in the face for it, as soon as I catch him, but I’m sure it’d hurt Rarity… at least up until the point she does it herself.”

“But you don’t have a problem with Nanaki sleeping around?” I questioned.

Rainbow shook her head. “He’s honest about it, has been from the beginning. He isn’t promising anypony anything but what he’s delivering.” She thought about it a moment. “Be completely honest with me… back when you were dating Prince Blueblood… if he had suggested a threesome with Rarity instead of sneaking around on you, would you have gone for it?”

I blushed fiercely and made a few false starts at answering the question. “Maybe,” I admitted, finally. “It’s not like I’ve never thought of Rarity that way. And… I can’t say I’ve never thought of having a threesome.”

“Great. So… you, me, and Nanaki?” she suggested. After a bit of blushing on my part she continued. “Relax, I’m just teasing. I know you’re not ready for anything like that. But seriously? If you want him all to yourself, you need to be clear about it, sooner rather than later. And we can’t do this anymore.”

“We’ll still be friends,” I promised, before we got quiet for a bit. At length, I noted “I didn’t know you were into all of this relationship stuff.”

“I’m not. But Pinkie is. And sometimes being a loyal friend is about talking about what your friend wants to talk about,” Rainbow pointed out. “Even if it’s not how awesome I am.”

I thought a moment before giving her a squeeze. “You’re a beautiful mare, an incredibly loyal friend, an amazing flyer and a critical member of our team.”

She blushed at the stream of compliments. “All true, but what brought all that on.”

“Just trying to be a better loyal friend,” I said with a grin.

Before we could follow that train of thought any further, we were interrupted by an insistent knocking on the door. “Cloud! Magic! Please, come help!” Fluttershy called from the other side of the door.

“Can I have a minute?” I asked, reaching for my clothes. She mumbled something that was probably affirmative, so I dressed myself quickly, while Rainbow Dash did the same.

When I answered the door, Fluttershy glanced at Rainbow, blushed a moment, but refocused on me. “I really need your help, Cloud. I’ve tried everything, but Philomena is getting really sick.”

“I’ll help any way I can, but I’m no healer. Have you asked Nanaki?” I inquired, as we began following the yellow pegasus back to her cottage.

“He’s staying with her now, but his materia can’t do anything for her. I was going to ask Twilight next, but… she’s really close friends with the Princess, and she doesn’t know I took Philomena home, and it was your idea to begin with…” Fluttershy continued quietly.

“I’ll take a look before we call for Twilight. It’s a good thing Dash is here, in case we need to get her quickly,” I offered.

The trip to Fluttershy’s place was short, as she was my closest neighbor. Nanaki greeted us as we entered. He was watching over what looked to be a plucked chicken, dying of some horrible disease.

“We’ve tried everything to keep her feathers on. Even glue,” Fluttershy said. “She keeps popping them off with her coughs, or even plucking them out. And I can’t get her to rest, or eat her soup, or anything.”

“Even Esuna does nothing for her,” Nanaki added. “I’m at a loss as to what to do for her.”

“Maybe you could just hold her, and try to feed her the soup?” Fluttershy inquired.

“I guess?” I said, and took the bird into my arm, letting the ice pack that had been on her head fall to the table, and took up a spoon in the other hand. “Here you go… come on,” I said, trying to navigate the utensil into the bird’s mouth as she squirmed, turning her head.

Her beak stopped chattering, at least, but she started to get really warm to the touch. “Here, give her this medicine,” Fluttershy suggested, offering a dropper. I took the medicine and offered it to the bird, but she squirmed more, refusing to take it. The rising heat made me more and more concerned, so I made a stronger effort to get it into her mouth.

A knock on the door distracted the bird just long enough for me to get the medicine into her mouth. However, rather than help her with her rising fever, or any of her other symptoms, ‘defeating’ her in that sense proved enough to trigger my magic. Red light flared even as a startled Twilight Sparkle looked on from the open doorway. When the light subsided, I was left with a red materia in my right hand, while a healthy, red-plumed, impressive looking ethereal bird stood upon my left arm, looking every bit as surprised as the rest of us.

“Philomena?” Twilight asked. “What was Celestia’s pet doing here?! And now you made her a summon?!” Her mane began to frizz out. “It’s been nice knowing you, Cloud. Hopefully Nanaki will work out better.”