The heat and concussion slapped into Greg like a giant hand. He flew through the air, hit something hard and unyielding with his hip, and somersaulted into the pool. He surfaced, sputtering and called out for Luna.

"Here!" she yelled to him as he dragged himself out of the pool and fumbled Luna’s controller out of the pocket of his robe. She was crouched at the edge of the line of cedar trees that bordered the rear of the pool. Her feathers were ruffled and singed but otherwise she looked unharmed. "It was a dragon!" she called out, pointing into the night sky.

Greg squinted through the mist rising off the pool and saw the distant glow of the creature’s maw as it banked into a tight turn. "It's coming back for another run!"

"My attacks don't have enough range in this body!" she called back.

Greg didn't bother replying. He mashed his finger down on the controller’s level button and Nightmare Moon burst out of the energy vortex within seconds. He added attack and armor bonuses as the enormous saurian swooped down for another attack run. Nightmare Moon's magic attacks streaked skyward like anti-aircraft tracer rounds in an old World War II movie. At least four of them hit the hostile drake, burning holes in its wings and knocking it off course. It wavered through the sky and its second blast of fire breath went wide, impacting on the mountain above them. But it didn't fall.

"Come back here, you coward!" Nightmare Moon screamed, and leaped after the fleeing dragon. Three powerful flaps took her above the top of a granite spire that loomed over the hot springs and she flung herself after the fleeing monster.

Greg watched in admiration as the Nightmare began to overtake the frantically flapping creature. Closer and closer... almost within striking range...

"General sends his regards," said a deep growling voice from behind him.

Greg instantly spun around and saw a huge diamond dog in full leap, jaws gaping, nearly on top of him. He reacted without thinking, rolling onto his back and kicking upward with both feet. He hit the underside of the dog's jaw and snapped its head back and away from him. The snarling canine jumped aside and then crouched to leap in again, muscles in haunches and shoulders bunching, obviously intending to overwhelm Greg with pure strength.

But the slight delay had given Greg time to collect his wits. He took one deep breath and called up a particular mental symbol. There was an eruption of red magical energy that completely enveloped his body, and when it faded away, Greg was no longer human. In his place stood a huge alicorn stallion, wings thrown wide and horn blazing.

"Surprise!" he yelled at his astonished assailant.

Unbelievably, the dog recovered his wits and snarled at Greg. It whipped out a small glass bottle filled with a green glowing liquid, but before it could use the potion, Nightmare Moon slammed into its side, smashing it through the fence of tall bamboo that separated the pools from the garden.

The bottle flew free and cracked on a stone, and Greg had to take time to contain the explosion of alchemical energy in a bubble of magic and then fling it high into the sky where it could do no harm.

By the time he was able to turn his attention to the fight between Nightmare Moon and the diamond dog, it was all but over. Her hooves crashed down on the weakly struggling dog over and over until he broke up into sparkling bits that flickered and fell to ash.

"Wow," Greg said as the dust settled, "I guess I really pissed off the general." Then he noticed that all of the inn's ponies were lined up on the porch, staring at him. Some were bowing.

"Oh crap," he muttered, bringing up the mental picture that returned him to his human body. "Look, it's okay! It's all over and there's nothing to…" Then Greg noticed that he was naked.

"Shit!" He scrambled back through the scattered chunks of bamboo and found his robe next to the pool. He shrugged it on and picked up his controller from where he had dropped it when the diamond dog attacked. When he looked up, he saw Nightmare Moon shooing everyone back inside the inn.

"Well," Greg said as he returned to his lover’s side, "it looks like I did underestimate old Greenwaldt. Who knew he'd get Equestrian allies so quickly? Nifty little assassination attempt he set up... an obvious attack to draw you away and then another thug lurking in the shadows to finish the job. Good thing he wanted the dog to deliver a message before the kill or I might not have..." He stopped as he noticed his partner's expression. "Uh... Nighty? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"What else are you hiding from me?" she asked, frowning.

"Uh... oh, you mean the..." He put a fist to his forehead, extending his forefinger to serve as a horn, then held both hands up to his shoulders and flapped his fingers.

"Yes... well, no," she scowled. "I'm not exactly unhappy about that. After I turned around from killing the dragon, I saw the diamond dog and knew that I couldn't reach you before he leaped... so I was relieved when you…" She paused to clear her throat. "Well, you make quite an impressive stallion." She shook her head and resumed scowling. "But why didn't you tell me about it? I know you've changed the amulets so that humans can become ponies, but you didn't use your amulet. You weren't wearing it! Is this something new? Can all digitized humans—"

"Ah... no, no other alicorns, just me," Greg admitted. "And I haven't been able to do this for very long... just since last night, in fact. I wasn't sure it was possible, and I wanted it to be a surprise."

"That business with the gates," Nightmare Moon said.

"Yeah, that. Wait... how did you know…?"

She gave a little shudder and resumed her smaller body. "I was spying on you," she said bluntly.

"Oh..." Greg didn't know what else to say.

Luna went angrily on. "It was reprogramming? You experimented on yourself? Why would you do that? When you tried it with ponies, it never worked, and you nearly killed some of them! You could have died! Why would you take such a risk? Was it just for the sake of one little girl who wanted to be a changeling? That's insane!"

"No, I... I thought if I was better, stronger... more like you... I might be..." He hesitated, sighed, and then said, "I might be worthy of you. I left you a letter in case I didn't—"

"How can you be so smart and so stupid at the same time?" she practically yelled at him."'Worthy?' What in the world... you... you've been acting like an idiot since that evil bitch Gwen talked to you in the Virginia facility! I'm going to feed her own entrails to her, and I don't give a damn if it upsets you! She's a lying, sneaking, vile—"

"No," Greg said in almost a whisper. "She lied to me, and I knew it was a lie, but that made me realize something."

Luna stopped as if she'd hit a brick wall. "What?"

"I've tried to stop thinking about it, but..." He shook his head and walked away. He reached the edge of the porch and sat down, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Luna followed him after a moment and sat beside him, an arm-length away.

"That first day..." Greg began suddenly. "The day I realized you were real. When I panicked and tried to pull the power on the system, you told me that if I didn't stop, you'd hurt me."

"I... I was frightened," Luna said. "I never would have—"

"But you could have, couldn't you?" Greg asked, lifting his head from his hands so that he could look her in the eyes. "And you knew it, even then."

"I... I'm not sure..."

"You gave me a chance… even when your whole world depended on it. There was no logical reason to do that." Greg said. "Gwen tried to make me think you didn't love me. She tried to get me to think it was an act. That everything you did was just to manipulate me."

Luna's muzzle wrinkled into a snarl of incendiary anger and her horn began to blaze with power.

"No, don't! Save that for the general; Gwen's not worth it." Greg said quickly. " I know it was a desperate lie! You came to rescue me... you fought an army... stuck by my side when everything went to hell. If that isn't love... then there's no such thing."

"Then, what is wrong?" Luna asked, letting her power fade away. "If you know how much I love you, why did you take such a horrible risk?"

Greg sighed and stared at the ground. "I know you love me… but I don't know why."

Luna's eyes went wide and her pupils shrunk to pinpoints. She opened her mouth, but said nothing.

"Yeah, I created you and your world, but if that's the reason…" He stopped and took a deep breath. "You're the closest thing in existence to a literal goddess, and despite what I've done, I'm… just some guy. I thought that if I was… better… more like you... then maybe you wouldn't someday get tired of me."

She lifted his chin with a wingtip, and kissed him. "You're a brilliant fool," she said. "Oh, I'm not denying that stallion body of yours wasn't amazing, and you had better believe we're going to spend a lot of time together with you wearing it, but it's you I love. Change your clothes and you're still the same person, same thing with bodies… still you."

Greg grinned. "Well, here's to a varied wardrobe! The night's still young; should I change back?"

Luna kissed him again before she answered. "I'd like that. But would it be… uhm…" She hesitated.

"What?" Greg asked, suddenly concerned again.

"Is it possible to change some of the details of your form?"

"Sure! Anything you'd like."

Luna sighed in relief. "Oh good! Because that red-and-black color scheme? Kind of tacky."

Author's Notes:

I just love happy beginnings!

Thanks to my ludicrously patient prereaders, Fāna Farouche, Jordanis and WrittenWord333.

And thanks to all of you for sticking with me through this self-indulgent and probably ill-advised little romp. Just like 2016, it's over at last!