By the time appointed for them all to come to Rarity’s boutique, everyone had woken up, gathered their dresses, and had come to the clothing shop, where they were all now assembled, paying heed to the words Rarity was speaking as she flitted about in between clothing racks, peeking into her supplies and peering at the dresses. Finally, after she took Starlight Glimmer’s measurements for a new dress, inspected the old dresses the girls had brought in, and was done reviewing what the girls had, she spoke to the entire group. The boutique was closed on Saturday, so there were no other customers in sight.

“Now, I see nothing wrong with the dresses from the previous year. You girls should be free to go. As for the gentlecolts…” Rarity eyed Noble Blade, Firestorm, Freedom Fighter, and Spike. “The gentlecolts are another matter. I suppose you all have something to wear?”

Noble went first. “I do have my tuxedo I bought from thee, but for this own occasion, mine armor shall suffice. I shall be mostly acting as acting guard over thee at the Gala, should some ill-intentioned harm seek to hurt thee, so ‘tis appropriate attire, I reasoned.”

“But with all that armor on, doesn’t that make it a little hard to dance?” Twilight asked.

Noble coughed into his hoof uncomfortably. “I, ah, don’t need armor to be bad at dancing.”

“Why, what makes ya say that?” Applejack asked him.

“I cannot dance,” he said simply. “I have never tried to before, for I have often had more pressing things on my mind than learning how to dance while I‘ve served Celestia in locating and isolating subconscious threats beneath the surface. I reason, therefore, that for me to attempt to dance, for the first time, at the most attended event in Equestria, is illogical.”

Fluttershy timidly spoke up. “Well, um...I’ve danced before. If you want to, I can show you how to.”

Noble’s breath caught in his throat at her suggestion. He was silent for a bit as he tried to figure out what to say to such a heavenly messenger, then blurted out, “When are you available?”

“Oh, anytime you are,” Fluttershy said pleasantly. “If you want, it can be a second date.”

Noble’s heart skipped. A second date with an angelic being?

A crash reached their ears. Rainbow had been carrying an ironing board out of the way, and had dropped it in surprise upon hearing the last sentence Fluttershy had spoken. Rainbow’s expression looked shocked, and both of her front hooves were pressed to the side of her head. “F-Fluttershy? You? You’ve been on a date? With him?”

Fluttershy had put a hoof to her mouth in shock, but had lowered it with a blush on her face. She mutely nodded.

Rainbow was silent for a moment, thinking about it for just a second. Fluttershy had gone out first! Before Rainbow did! But on the other hoof, Rainbow hadn’t been interested in dating before she met Firestorm, so it normally wouldn’t have bothered her. She needed to keep that up for now. So she managed to let out a laugh and appear eager for her friend. “Ahalright, girl! You’re finally going out with somepony great for you! That’s awesome! Gimme some hoof!” She hoof-bumped Fluttershy heartily.

Neither of them noticed Twilight and Rarity looking melancholy and happy at the same time, however. Applejack, with a wide-eyed look, gazed at Fluttershy for a second or two, then sighed, smiled, and leaned back on a seat with a smirk on her face and her hat in front of her eyes.

“Sooo...how was it?” Pinkie asked, popping up in front of Fluttershy and making her stumble back a few steps. “Dija have fun? I always like it when my friends have fun! What dija do? Did you like it?”

“Well, we, um...we had a nice dinner, and we, um, talked for a bit...and then at the end I ki-” She snapped a hoof to her mouth before she finished, with a blush on her face. Noble’s internal temperature was heating up like he was an oven.

“Ah’m sorry, what was that, sugarcube?” Applejack asked slyly.

She hid in her long pink mane and cast her gaze upon the ground. “...I kissed him,” she breathed, so softly nopony could hear.

Pinkie inexplicably took a working microphone out of her mane and held it up to Fluttershy’s mouth. “Go ahead, Fluttershy! Don’t be nervous!”

“When is she ever not?” came a voice from the back of the room. Everyone that heard turned around to see Freedom Fighter standing in recluse in a corner. Freedom fighter saw this and bulged his exposed eyes, looking at the ground awkwardly. “Did I just say that out loud?” he said, then turned to face the wall and slumped down on his haunches in an abrupt change of mood.

“I kissed him!” Fluttershy rushed, her face as red as an apple.

There was silence for only a moment. Noble and Fluttershy both had spots of pink on their faces in the deafening silence that greeted the room. Then, of one accord, all the girls squealed or made little squeaking noises of excitement and gave Fluttershy a massive group hug. And on the other side, every single male present in the room started to laugh at Noble.

Firestorm, in a moment of playfulness, placed himself in between Noble’s line of sight of Fluttershy. “Whohoho, man! Your date’s getting out of control already! She was the one that kissed you! That Fluttershy over there’s a wild, unruly specimen! You’d better watch out!”

“It was only on the cheek,” Noble protested.

Firestorm gasped and gripped Noble’s head desperately. “OH. MY. DUDE! That’s so much worse! Anywhere but on the cheek! She’s going insane! Insane and drunk with love!” He gripped the back of Noble’s head and pulled it down to hug him all the tighter. “Who knows what’s going to happen now? Who knows what’s going to happen next? Playing with your hair?” He gasped. “Or cuddling?” He gasped again and began to shake him back and forth, his eyes small and his tone high. “OR EVEN NECKING AND PETTING?!” He imitated having an asthma attack from the abnormally hard gasp he did then, and slumped in a heap to the floor.

Noble’s only response was to regard him with an amused smile as he slumped down on the ground with his butt high in the air and his face smushed into the floor. “You’re mocking me, aren’t you?”

Firestorm opened up one eye and looked at Noble’s face. “Of course.”

“You’re just mad that I got kissed and you didn’t?”

Firestorm’s tone turned indignant. “All right, look, this is not about me!”

Freedom Fighter, in his own little corner, burst into laughter in his mind. It was a hearty, pleasing, fun sound for all to hear.

And it was at that time that Firestorm thought of the perfect thing to attract Rainbow Dash’s attention. Standing up, he said, “Look, when I was a Wonderbolt, after practices I used to hang out by the mares on the border fence all the time and offer to show off--”

He felt a pair of hooves on the side of his head, and they spun him around quickly so he was now looking into a pair of magenta irises that bore deep into his very soul. “You’re a Wonderbolt?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in his face.

Sweating all over his body all of a sudden, Firestorm hurriedly tried to clarify. “Look, it was required for me to pass the Wonderbolt flying tests for me to become a warrior--Anyway, I’m just a part of the reserv--”

“YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE A WONDERBOLT!” Rainbow started to bounce up and down on the ground like Pinkie Pie. “Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh! You’re the most awesomest pegasus ever!” And she pulled him into a fierce, close hug.

Then, realizing what she had done, she hurriedly backed away with a heavy blush on her cyan face. “I-I mean, that’s...that’s cool. That’s pretty, um...neat…”

“You think...you think I’m awesome?” Firestorm asked in total surprise. Was this really happening? Was his crush really saying that about him?

“Well…” Rainbow looked behind her to Applejack. She saw Applejack give her an encouraging nod and a small smirk, and she turned her attention back to her crush. “I-I mean, yeah. Wh-why wouldn’t you be? You’re a Wonderbolt! And you’re a warrior, and you play with fire, and you’re pretty chill to hang out with! What more are you missing? What more do you need in order to be more awesome?”

“A haircut,” Noble murmured.

“Good looks,” Freedom Fighter said aloud in his head.

“Humility,” Rarity said fiercely.

“A girlfriend?” Spike suggested.

“A PARTY!” Pinkie exclaimed

Firestorm turned around and fixed them all a deadpanned look. “Thanks.” Then he turned back around and started to cackle gleefully, rubbing two of his hooves together.

“Dgah, um...what are you doing?” Twilight asked him.

Firestorm ignored her. Instead he rose up on his hind legs and let loose a peal of uncontrolled, maniacal laughter like a mad scientist at the conclusion of his experiments. White lightning flashed behind him, throwing his face into shadow and making his bright yellow irises stand out.

Then, all of a sudden, he stopped his laughing. “All right, who conjured the lightning?” he demanded, turning around. Behind him, Noble had his horn glowing and was making insubstantial white flashes flicker behind him for a dramatic effect. He froze, however, when he glanced up to see Firestorm staring at him.

“Noble?” Firestorm turned his head to the side a little bit in suspicion. “Was that you?”

Noble cut off the flow of magic to his horn, and the white flashes disappeared. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Noble said matter-of-factly, and he crossed his arms.

“Well, whatever you’re doing, I like it. Keep it up.”

The knight shrugged and reignited his horn.

Firestorm returned to his original stance, flapped up in the air, and started to cackle in uncontrollable mad laughter again, the white lightning once again flashing cinematically behind him. “AAAAHAHAHAHAAA! Finally, I accomplished a bucket list item I wanted to do for a long time! I managed to get a hot girl to admit I’m awesome! Yes! Yes! YE-” He suddenly cut off from his exclamations with a shocked expression on his face. The lightning stopped as well. He settled slowly to the ground, keeping his frozen look. “Did I just say that out loud?”

“Obviously,” Noble observed, nodding at Rainbow’s face.

Rainbow Dash was pink in the face, and her mouth was open a little. “Y-you think I’m...h-hot?” she shakily stammered, fondling her mane. Behind her, the other girls were watching with detached amusement.

“Ahh…” Firestorm looked to the side for guidance. Noble ushered him onward with a gentle smile. Firestorm turned back around, scratched his mane and nervously said, “I, uh, y-yeah, o-of course I did! I mean, I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t think you were! Hehehe…”

Both pegasi then thought silently, wildly, about what the other had said.

He called me hot!

She thinks I’m awesome!

Firestorm then saw his two combat knives float out of a nearby drawer, surrounded in a bright blue aura, and it was only then that he remembered that he still hadn’t gotten them back from his Friendship Mission at the Castle of the Two Sisters. He numbly took them in his right wing and looked down at them. “Hey, thank you, Rarity, for giving me my deadly weapons back.” He held up the blades. “But did you have to choose now to give them back?”

“Well, you needed something to cut the tension between you two,” Rarity told him with a smile.

Firestorm breathed out a few exhales of laughter. “That...that wasn’t actually all that bad, Rarity. I’m impressed.”

“Do you have something you can wear to the Gala?” Rarity asked him, preferring to make him feel more comfortable in the presence of Rainbow Dash, who was still running her hooves absentmindedly through her mane.

“Actually, no,” Firestorm admitted. “But I’ll try something on for myself. Hang on for just a sec, and I’ll be right back.” He trotted over to the clothing racks and went into the changing rooms with a rack of clothes behind him, slamming the door shut behind him.

While he was busy and the others fell into side conversations, Twilight leaned her head next to Rainbow’s. “What was that all about between you and Firestorm?”

“Um…” Rainbow couldn’t find anything to say, and so she shimmied to the side. “Nothing! N-nothing at all!”

“Are you sure about that?” Twilight looked suspiciously at her. “It seemed like there was something more going on there.”

“Nope!” Rainbow chirped, avoiding Twilight’s eyes. “It’s just, um, friendly little platonic friendship conversations. No biggie.”

“Yuh huh.” Twilight looked passive, but inside she had a sneaking suspicion of what was actually happening to her prismatic-maned friend.

Before she could act on those suspicions, however, the changing rooms burst open with a loud bang. “I HOPE I’M NOT INTERRUPTING ANYTHING!” Firestorm cried as he flung his arms out wide and strutted out with all the air of a fashion model. Upon his loud entry into the room, all activity halted and every eye focused on the ridiculous outfit Firestorm was wearing.

Firestorm was in a long yellow dress with orange frills on the edges and a very low-cut front that made everypony stare into the depths of his chest. He had a pink bow atop his mane and red sparkly high heels on his hooves. Around his neck was a pearl necklace, and he had applied red eyeshadow to his eyes. His tail was curled in a hastily-made frilly marking of a high-class citizen of Canterlot. How he had managed to dress himself so outlandishly, so quickly, was an enigma to all assembled.

“Well?” he asked with a sultry edge in his voice. “What do you think?” He struck an aggressive pose forward and winked at the girls.

“I’m doing my best to bite my tongue,” Freedom Fighter murmured in his thoughts. He was slumped down depressingly in the corner, looking down into his lap.

“That looks awful!” Rarity declared, her ears drooping at the atrocity in front of her face.

“Why, Rarity!” Firestorm looked hurt. “What makes you say that about little old me? Can I not look fabulous?” He swished his mane with a huff. “Can I not look as good as you can? Can I not become a worldwide fashion star like yourself?”

“I think you need to take that off,” Starlight offered, off to the side. “Otherwise, this’ll be recorded for posterity. Pinkie’s already got a camera out.”

Upon hearing that and seeing the red light on the camera Pinkie had apparantly pulled out of thin air, Firestorm kicked the heels off his hooves and stripped out of the dress. But he did it slowly, and with a sly coquettish smile on his face.

The next three minutes were very long for all assembled. The girls had small blushes on their faces on seeing him strip out of the dress like it was the most erotic of garments, and Firestorm was trying his hardest to not burst into laughter as he slowly took off one shoulder strap, then the other, then lie down on the ground and affix them all with a baby-eyed look of false innocence as he curled up and rubbed himself. And Pinkie Pie caught it all on camera, giggling and laughing her hardest.

Rainbow Dash was unsure of what to make of the strangely arousing display. It was Firestorm, after all, stripping out of a dress. She was trying not to laugh at him, but it was out of respect for him, rather than because she didn’t find it funny.

When he was done and the dress was behind him like an old skin, Firestorm bowed. “Enjoy my performance, ladies?” he asked coyly, spotting their faces and focusing in on Rainbow’s for a second before looking at the ground in embarrassment.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Noble advised him. Firestorm cocked his head in acknowledgement.

Pinkie finally managed to calm down her laughing bout. “Ohoho, my goodness! I haven’t had that hard of a laughing bout since the What About Discord episode in season five!”

Twilight turned around. “What?”

A door suddenly appeared in midair and it opened with a creak to reveal Discord. “Somepony mention me?” he asked, turning his head to the side to see what had called him. He stepped through the door, shut it, and it disappeared with small clear lines rubbing against it like an eraser.

“Discord? What are you doing here?” Starlight asked, walking near where he floated like a balloon. “Don’t you have other things you could be doing?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, Starlight,” he said, floating near Twilight’s head. “I do have plenty of other things I could do to kill time.” He pulled out a mallet and smashed a nearby floating alarm clock that certainly wasn’t there before. “But I came here on the news basis of congratulating Fluttershy for the remarkable accomplishment of having a date! Congratulations, Fluttershy! You’re finally going out and searching for that special little somepony in your life! You’ve earned a medal of assertiveness!” He snapped his talons, and a gold medal appeared around her neck. The Equestrian national anthem suddenly started playing behind her head.

Once the anthem was done, Discord turned to Noble Blade. There was a more somber look on his face. “And now for you, my good stallion. I...I admit, it was hard seeing you start to spend more time with my oldest and closest friend, so I was untrusting of your intentions. But I watched you be with her, and I saw...I saw that you cared for her. You were tender. And sincere. And you were careful with her.”

“Being hunted down and having my ashes spread across the deepest hole of Tartarus wasn’t on my agenda anyway.” Noble shrugged.

“Um, Noble? What are you talking about?” Fluttershy timidly spoke up.

Discord tapped his fingers together nervously. “I...may or may not have, um...threatened him,” he muttered.

Fluttershy flapped up in the air close to Discord’s face. “Why would you do that?” she demanded of him. Upon hearing the hard voice Fluttershy used, Noble recoiled slightly. This was a side of her he hadn’t seen before.

“I, well…” Discord began. “I was concerned that he didn’t have your best interests at heart, Fluttershy. I thought maybe…”

“Did you ask me beforehoof if I was okay with it? Did you ask if I was happy around him, or that I wanted to be with him and that I chose him?” Her voice had gotten dangerously dark.

“Back away,” Twilight whispered to the other girls. “A mad Fluttershy is a dangerous one.” With a collective movement the rest of the girls took a few steps back, leaving the confused and ignorant Guardians alone in the front.

“Tell me, Discord,” Fluttershy growled. “Whose best interests were you looking out for? Mine, or yours?”

“I…” Discord weakly mumbled.

“Did you do this because you were concerned for my safety, or did you do this because you thought Noble Blade wasn’t good enough for me to be friends with and decided to intervene?” she snarled. “Because he is good enough! He’s the kindest, most thoughtful, most humble stallion I’ve ever met, and you tried to get rid of him! HOW DARE YOU!” she screeched into Discord’s face.

Discord seemed violently abased. He could not meet Fluttershy’s hard, penetrating gaze. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” he softly spoke. “I wasn’t thinking right. I confused myself because of my pride, and I made a huge mistake. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, there, there,” she sweetly said, rubbing the top of his head as if nothing had happened. “I didn’t mean to harm you. You’re still my friend, after all. And I could never stay mad at a friend.”

Noble’s face registered bafflement at her double-sided behavior, and was astonished at her willingness to protect him. What did that mean? What was he to her? Still just a friend? Or was he...could he possibly be...more than that?

Discord smiled in relief. “Oh, thank goodness about that. I wasn’t actually going to punish him.” Out of the corner of his mouth he muttered, “Well, all that much.”

Rarity broke the track of conversation. “Well then, I suppose I should ask Freedom Fighter about his attire for the big night?” She bestowed her most bedazzling smile at Freedom Fighter, who was still in a corner.

The smile, however, which normally worked on other stallions, proved to be of no effect on Freedom Fighter. He only turned around. “I already know what I’m going to be wearing,” his thoughts said aloud. He plucked at his bodysuit and turned back to face the corner. There was an alarming air of melancholy hostility surrounding him.

“Oh, no, no, no! Gracious, that will never do!” Rarity declared. “You need a suit and a scent more fitting to you. You must enter with panache! With flair! With an air of alluring power and mystery surrounding you as you walk in the room, that will turn the heads of all present!”

“As opposed to an air of rank and stale smelliness surrounding me instead?” Freedom Fighter wryly replied, shifting his eyes to look at Firestorm.

“THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME!” Firestorm objected indignantly.

Rarity paid no attention to the outburst. “Come up here, Freedom,” she invited him with a friendly smile.

Freedom Fighter slowly came out of his own little corner and came up the steps to the circular platform in the center of Rarity’s boutique. “What is your request?” he asked her.

She tapped the ground in front of her. “Strip,” she commanded him.

Freedom Fighter froze. “What?”

“I need to take measurements for your suit, and they must be precise,” she explained. “To do that, I need you to remove that dreadfully unbecoming combat uniform.”

Freedom Fighter slammed his left hoof down on the platform so hard it created a small dent. Rarity stopped talking, her face still as she inspected the damage. “I will not wear your clothes,” he outright refused, “if it means I have to take this off to appease you. Every time I come here to your boutique you try to force me out of my comfort zone for your own sake. This is the last time I’m telling you.”

“Then at least let me see your color,” Rarity pleaded. “I can’t create a stunning outfit for you if I can’t coordinate the colors correctly!”

“Boo hoo,” Freedom Fighter spat. His red irises bore deep into Rarity’s blue ones, making her shiver and step back. “What a terrible pity. Little miss Rarity can’t make a piece of clothing that will make me uncomfortable. You will not see what I look like underneath this protective skin. You will not. You will not. You will not.”

“Hey!” Spike cried, running in between them. “Nopony talks to Rarity like that!”

“I will speak however I please to her.”

“If you try to harm her, I--I’ll fight you!” Spike defensively raised his fists.

“Spikey-wikey!” Rarity cried.

Freedom Fighter laughed again, but there was no pleasantness in it this time. “When I was sent to protect the dragonlands, I slew dragons five times the size of you for fun.” He leaned forward so he was towering over Spike’s demure stature, making him shrink before his massive height. Spike now had to look up to stare with fear into the red-looped irises of Freedom Fighter. “So try to fight me.” He smiled so Spike could see his teeth. “Go ahead. Make my day.”

Spike backed away, keeping his fists raised.

“I understand that you’re uncomfortable, Freedom Fighter,” Rarity spoke, a new air of courage coming to her, “but with all due respect, that’s all we understand.”

“I don’t want to talk to you about it,” Freedom Fighter said, boring his bright red eyes into her sapphire-blue ones.

“But why?” she pleaded. “Why don’t you want to?”

“Because I don’t want to talk about it,” he repeated harshly. The light in his eyes grew more fierce.

“You know what, Freedom Fighter?” Twilight came in. “Sometimes the best option is to talk about it.”

“We’ve all had questions about you for a while now,” Starlight came after. “And hiding yourself all the time is only making our curiosity grow. There are so many things about yourself that you aren’t telling us. For example, I want to know why you’re always angry or sad or eccentric.”

“I don’t even know what your Cutie Mark is,” Rainbow Dash added.

“I want to see your smiley face!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“I’m curious about your mane and coat color,” Rarity put in.

“Ah want ta know just how in the hay yer so darn strong,” Applejack wondered.

“I just want to know what’s bothering you so much all the time,” Fluttershy mumbled. “But if you don’t want to share that, that’s okay.”

“And even with those, there are still so many other questions about you that need answering,” Twilight finished. “What’s this ritual you guys sometimes mention? Why do you never take your combat suit off? There’s so much you’re not telling us that we all need to know!”

“All right, that’s enough,” Firestorm cut in. “You’re just making him mad and upset. Chill out.”

“Thank you!” Freedom Fighter pointed directly at him and nodded emphatically. “I don’t want this to be something done for you all like I’m a circus animal or something.”

“If he doesn’t want to talk about it, don’t pressure him,” Noble told the others. “I appreciate the fact that you’re inquisitive, but don’t pressure him into doing something he’s uncomfortable with. Just...drop the issue.”

“But he doesn’t have to hide anymore!” Pinkie pointed out. “If he tells us this, then it’ll all be over. We won’t be curious anymore once he just lets us know!”

Freedom Fighter made a snarl in his mind, but it was to hide the jolt of realization that had ran through him. She was right about that. They were just going to ask, over and over again, until he finally did it for them.

“We’re his friends,” Applejack added. “Tellin’ us won’t harm anypony, but keepin’ secrets will!”

Freedom Fighter stopped the growling noises in his mind. The statement had a ring of truth to it. The longer a secret was kept, the more likely it was going to damage a relationship.

“Let us in,” Rarity emphasized. “I know exactly how you’re feeling--you want to protect a secret you think is personal to yourself. So you erect a wall to keep it safe, and not let it out to anypony you don’t trust. But if you do that, you don’t let anypony else close to you to help strengthen you. You isolate yourself. But if you let in others, you strengthen your walls with their help and support.”

Freedom Fighter let his thoughts say nothing at the remarkable analogy.

“I just want to help you,” Fluttershy meekly offered. “Please--you feel cold and bitter when you’re like this. I just want to share my love with you and thaw your heart.”

Who could say Fluttershy, out of all of them, had ill intentions? Freedom Fighter felt ashamed all of a sudden for thinking ill of her. He looked at the ground and felt the dent he had created with his left hoof.

“A true friend will stick by you and help you out,” Rainbow Dash asserted, casting a sideways wink at Applejack. “We can’t help you if you never tell us what the problem is, you know.”

Freedom fighter considered all of the statements as one. The seven mares only had his best interests at heart. Spike and Discord were there as well, but as spectators and curious meddlers only. Could he do it? Could he finally do it?

“That’s enough,” Noble stated, coming between the girls and Freedom Fighter. He crossed his arms. “Don’t do this, please. Drop the issue. He will never tell you. And if you pressure him, you may end up hurt.”

“Is that a threat I hear from you, Noble?” Discord asked shrewdly. “You’re certainly much more different now than how you were before.”

“I took an oath to preserve his secret,” Noble said emotionlessly, staring straight ahead. “And I will not compromise his security now. Not even from my closest friends. If you continue to try to push him into serving your own interests, I will have no choice but to resist you.”

“Noble!” Rarity sounded shocked. “Are you suggesting that you would fight against us?”

Noble’s magic chimed to life, a dark blue color rippling through his horn as he crouched slightly at a battle stance. “Try me.”

He spotted Fluttershy recoiling from the threat and look into his eyes, and he instantly felt a pang of heartache. What was he doing? Why was he resisting Fluttershy? He knew that he loved her. He loved her more than words could physically express. Which should he need to do more? Side with the mare he loved more than anything else in the world, or side with the friend he had stood by since he was a child? Steeling his resolve, and forcing an involuntary tear to retreat back into his eye, he stood firm in between his friends.

He perceived a presence moving next to him, and a quick glance to the side confirmed that it was Firestorm. He was on his hind legs, holding both of the knives he had in his front legs and spreading his wings. “I’m not going to warn you all again,” he said, in a much more different tone than they were familiar with. “Freedom Fighter’s our friend. Don’t do this to him. Don’t make him do something out of his comfort zone.”

“Why is showing himself so uncomfortable?” Starlight asked suspiciously. “Is there something different about him that we should know about?”

Then Noble heard a melancholy, surrendered voice behind him say, “You really want to know, don’t you…”

Noble wheeled around in astonishment. “B-but, Freedom! You can’t reveal who you are! Can’t it--”

“They want to hear. And they want to understand.” Freedom Fighter looked downcast, pawing at the ground in his heavy black combat suit, weapons all over him in their sheaths and ready to be used at a moment’s notice. After a while he muttered, “You really want to know…”

“YES!” the assembled friends responded with one accord. Spike and Discord were still there, watching and participating.

Freedom Fighter took a long, deep breath of resignation. His eyes were closed as he held it in. The decision was simmering behind his head, boiling with possible outcomes and possible consequences for his next actions. He let it out once he had made his decision and opened his scarlet eyes. “Lock the doors,” he commanded Noble Blade and Firestorm.

“But--” they both started.

Freedom Fighter snapped a combat baton off his hip, doubling the length of the staff instantly, and they immediately shut up, eyeing the staff he held in fear. “Lock. The. Doors,” he repeated, narrowing his eyes. “They want to know my secrets. That’s their mistake. Let them deal with it their own way. But I am commanding you now, my friends, to let nopony else know of my identity and appearance.”

Nodding reluctantly, the other two stallions turned around and went to the doors and shut and locked them, preventing any intruders. Then they went to the windows, drawing the curtains and blinds and locking down the windows. The light inside grew dimmer, tinted a magenta color by the pink light of the curtains.

Freedom Fighter snapped the combat staff back at his hip and pointed at Twilight. “Scan the room. I want to have no other ponies here listening to me or watching me. Otherwise, I will answer none of your questions.”

Twilight obediently chimed her horn to life and a plane of solid purple energy ignited out of her horn. It swept the room in a full circle, washing over all solid objects in the boutique before returning to its original position and shutting off. “There’s nopony here but us,” Twilight reported. “We’re safe.”

“Where’s Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked Applejack off to the side.

“She’s out with Scootaloo, helping Applebloom with making repairs to their treehouse,” Applejack answered. “They won’t be back for a while.”

Freedom Fighter pointed at Starlight Glimmer. “I want you to put a soundproof bubble over the outside of the boutique. I will take no chances for outside eavesdroppers to hear what we’re going to be discussing with you.”

A little confused, but eager to please, Starlight fired her horn upwards, and a beam of light morphed its way through the ceiling. Rainbow checked outside by pulling aside a curtain, and she saw the edges of a light green bubble settle to the ground, with the boutique within its large diameter. She set the curtains back to their original position. “It’s done,” Rainbow said.

Freedom Fighter then addressed all assembled. “I want you all to swear with an oath that what you will hear and see this day will reach nopony else’s ears. Only the other three princesses, Noble and Firestorm, and a select few others have ever seen what I look like underneath this. You nine,” He indicated the seven mares, Spike, and Discord, “must protect the secret of who I am. If you do not...if you release what I am, or any of my other secrets, to the outside world...especially those that will do you harm...then I swear to the heavens I will silence you forever.” He jutted a long knife blade out of his hoof for emphasis, then shot it back into its concealed sheath.

All of the girls, along with Spike and Discord, hovering over the heads of Fluttershy and Applejack, hurriedly chanted, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” while doing a few complicated gestures.

Off to the side, Firestorm recoiled his head slightly. “What was that?”

“A Pinkie Promise!” Pinkie explained. “It’s the most serious promise a pony can make. If they break it…” Her voice dropped into a dangerously dark tone. “They’ll regret it for the rest of their lives.”

Firestorm bulged his eyes, then sidestepped with awkward movements so he was no longer in the main stage of events. “Well, okay, then!” he said matter-of-factly. “That’s disturbing!”

Freedom Fighter gave a serious look at the nine unknowing friends he had. It was now. It had to be now. “If any of you are easily disappointed, or sensitive, I recommend you get out now.” He took a deep breath. “You may not like what you’re about to see.”

“Why, whadda ya mean by that?” Applejack asked with a smile. “Body shape ain’t nothin’ ta be ashamed about, sugar.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie started to bounce up and down. “It doesn’t matter if you’re round, or slim, or skinny or chubby! What matters to me is who you are as a pony! Not how skinny or fat or in shape you are!”

“We understand if you’re uncomfortable about your body image,” Fluttershy sweetly added. “But your body image only impacts you. We don’t look at other ponies and condone them for not being in perfect shape.”

“So I promise I won’t make fun of you if you’re a little heavy. Or if you don’t have a lot of muscles. The guys I know in the Wonderbolts like to think that the more muscles they have, the better of a pony they are, but that’s not how we look at it!” Rainbow Dash assured him. “Not everypony can have the body of a Wonderbolt!”

“What our dear friend Rainbow Dash meant to say,” Rarity clarified, “was that we won’t judge you because you may look different from the rest of us. Friends will always stick by you, no matter what!”

A triumphant mood was present among the girls. It always appeared to them after they had helped reassure a friend that wasn’t always feeling well. And it felt good to them to have helped strengthen both themselves and their other friends.

Then the girls heard something. It was coming from Freedom Fighter. It was a deep, hacking, coughing sound, coming out of him as he was doubling over, still on all fours. It was weak, but everyone knew what it was, and they froze once they heard it.

He was laughing. Freedom Fighter was laughing at them!

Not laughing in his mind, though. He was physically exercising his strained and badly damaged vocal chords to let out a derisive mocking sound of what they had said. His inhales were frequent and deep and ragged, and it chilled everyone to the bone to hear such a twisted, sickening laugh coming from him. Pinkie especially lost her confident, happy smile upon hearing the terrifying, derisive, deathly laugh.

After only twenty seconds--though it felt like it was much longer to the girls--of such a dark and sickening, twisted and ragged laugh, he started to cough hard on something, and he started to gurgle. He hacked for a bit, then spat a vile thick wad of a dark red liquid on Rarity’s floor--a mix of blood, saliva, and congested mucus.

“EEK!” Rarity recoiled a good distance and shrieked instinctively.

Freedom Fighter paid her no attention. Instead he wiped his blood-flecked mouth on his sleeve and grinned so they could see his teeth. There was a bright red showing in between his teeth, tainting them an unwholesome color. This, combined with the piercing red loops of his irises, made all of the girls adopt defensive stances out of fear.

“Body image,” he mocked in a deep, harsh voice. He coughed some more, but soon regained his smile. “You actually thought that the reason why I decided to keep myself separated from you, and keep my appearance a secret, was because I thought I looked skinny? Or fat? Or not muscular enough? He cackled again, taking long, ragged, tearing inhales. Something repulsive came into his mouth, but he swallowed it with a tremendous effort.

His mad smile contorted to a deep frown. His mood seemed to have passed, and he was now left with immense melancholy reluctance. With trembling hooves, he undid the clasps holding his cowl to the rest of his bodysuit.

“I didn’t hide this from you because I was ashamed of my body image,” Freedom Fighter snarled in a deep, heavy voice inside his head. “I hid this from you because I didn’t want you--” He pulled off his cowl, exposing his full head and showing his face, “--to see this.”

The nine of them, including Spike and Discord, recoiled. Some of the more sensitive ones, like Rarity and Fluttershy, screamed. But all of them let out some form of noise. For they all saw Freedom Fighter’s exposed and vulnerable face at last.

Freedom Fighter was a pale color of yellow, only slightly deeper in color than Fluttershy’s pale color. In the middle of his forehead, in between his thick, bushy eyebrows, was a strange elliptical white birthmark. His oily black mane fell to both sides of his head equally, but it was stringy and thin. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, slightly older than both Firestorm and Noble Blade, but had no facial hair of any kind. His face was hard and calloused, and was showing a deep, thin-lipped scowl. But it was not those features that made the girls recoil.

It was the scars.

His face was deformed with an absurd amount of damaging tears into his flesh. There was one long one that came from his brow to his chin, passing through his right eye and cutting through the corner of his lips. There was another that went from his forehead to his jawbone on the opposite side. There was yet another that went from his eye to the corner of his ear. In between those three main scars were dozens of smaller ones that crisscrossed and chased each other all across his face, cutting deep into his cheeks, his nose, his chin, and his forehead, giving his face the appearance of being hastily carved out of a block of wood. Both of his ears looked slashed in halfway, the clipping of his ears looking like somepony had taken a pair of scissors to his ears.

Discord froze when he saw the birthmark between his eyebrows. “Is that…” He leaned in closer. “No. No, it can’t be…”

“Oh...my…” Rarity breathed weakly. “What...what happened to you?”

“Y-your f-face…” Fluttershy stammered, shaking where she stood. Then she bolted for the door leading out and tried to unlock it fearfully.

Freedom Fighter pointed at her, throwing his cowl to the floor. “You will stay,” he commanded her. His voice was colder, and deeper.

Noble came to her defense, coming between them yet again. “She is free to choose whatever she wants!”

“And she chose to unmask me,” Freedom Fighter replied. “This is what her choice got her for a consequence. If she goes now, she will never know everything. It never does anypony any good to only get partial information. She wanted my secrets known, and when I present my secrets, she runs? No, Noble. She will see it. They all will. They will see it all.”

Noble glared aggressively at Freedom Fighter, but backed down after a few seconds, knowing his friend was right. “Fluttershy,” he softly whispered. “Come away from the door.”

Fluttershy was reluctant to obey and stay in the same room as the scary and saddening sight in front of her. But upon looking at Noble, and seeing the reassuring smile he was offering her and his outstretched hoof, she shakily reached up and took it. She would have the courage. Noble had that effect on her--the effect of bravery and strength. She stood up with his help, smiling and looking into his eyes. But then her gaze returned to the mutilated pony in front of her, and she felt herself lock up in place and leak tears out of her face.

Noble felt a painful jolt run through his body like he had been struck by lightning. Fluttershy was crying! And it was partially his fault! He had been the one that had participated in their discussions about Freedom Fighter, and he was the one that had hurt her by forcing her to stay. He felt sick to his stomach and squeezed her around the shoulders the best he could.

“Oh, Freedom!” Pinkie frowned, her ears drooping and her eyes brimming with unshed tears. There was a pop noise, and her mane deflated.

“How...how did this happen?” Starlight Glimmer asked, holding a hoof to her mouth.

Freedom Fighter made no reply and instead continued to undress. He pulled his right arm out of the sleeve it was in and slammed his hoof on the ground, his sleeve hanging under him like an elephant’s trunk. Everyone in the room could see it. His arm was covered in scars as well. Most of them were horizontal slashes running around his arm, haphazardly carved with differing lengths and widths. Some of them were old and white, and some of them were fresh and red, and some of them were even an unwholesome black.

Still scowling deeply, he used that arm to release the snaps and bolts and pull his left arm out of his other sleeve. But it wasn’t even all the way out before the girls gasped and Spike screamed in shock.

Once it was free of the sleeve, Freedom Fighter slammed his left hoof down on the ground.

His mechanical hoof.

In place of an arm of flesh, a flexible pillar of dark grey metal begun at his shoulder and ran all the way down to a titanium-shod hoof cover. The arm was heavily armored and covered with thick metal plates that fit snugly together when his arm was straight, but when it wasn’t and when the arm was bent, they could gaze into the inside of the arm. Inside the crevices that opened into the arm, a faint yellow light could be seen pulsing as it ferried pure unfiltered magical energy through the artificial limb and connected it to his shoulder and motor control wires, hidden even deeper inside the arm. All over the outside of the dark grey arm was white tally marks. There were so many of them there that most of them looked squished in between others once the room had run out on one spot. It was pockmarked with dents and rust splotches, and one of the spots on the arm looked like a crossbow point impact--received only a few days before, when a griffon robber had fired a crossbow bolt into his arm.

“So that’s how it’s so strong…” Applejack mouthed numbly. “Ah never thought...never even expected…”

Discord rubbed the bottom of his chin thoughtfully. “This...this isn’t good. The mark, and the arm...Could it...could it possibly be...no. No, of course it couldn’t be him.”

Freedom Fighter angrily begun the process of removing the rest of his elaborate bodysuit. Once he had gradually eased himself out of his black clothing like a reptile slithering out of its old skin, he stood out in the open, naked and exposed for all to see, making more shocked silence occur.

Freedom Fighter was built like a steel cable--taught and strong and solid. His yellow body looked huge and hard to the touch, but his muscles were trimmed back, making them look like he was in the absolute peak of body muscle condition. But the rest of his body was so covered in scars, slashes, and physical ruptures that they couldn’t even make out most of his yellow coat. The types of scars and their sizes all varied widely--some were straight, and some were curved, and some spiraled and looped and squiggled. Some were long, and some were short. Some were small punctures, and others were large patches of long-dead skin. Some of them were deep, and others were shallow. Some were white, some of them were red, and some of them were even an unwholesome black. But all of them lended to his intimidating and depressing state of appearance in their own ways, and there was hardly a spot on him that didn’t have a scar, either fresh or new..

On his back, neck, and the back of his head, his entire surface area was a sore, angry red. All the fur on it had been burned off, and it had apparently damaged the skin pores so bad that no new fur could grow back to take its place There was nothing except damaged skin left on his back, neck, and back of the head. All over his back, atop the red and burnt skin, there were so many lashes that it looked whipped to the bone at one point. They crisscrossed and chased each other all over his back, whipped red and raw like a hunk of meat.

But most shocking of all was his Cutie Mark. There wasn’t one.

Instead of the spot where his Cutie Mark should have been, the flesh looked scraped away by a knife or vegetable peeler. In its place was a single mysterious symbol branded into his body by a white-hot iron. It looked only vaguely like a capital letter U branded into its flesh, but with its upside down image directly overlapping it--and it was old, and it was put in deep in the flesh, almost an inch deep into his hip.

“Oh...oh, Celestia, Freedom, I...I-I didn’t know!” Twilight looked on the verge of tears. Pinkie’s mane was by now completely flat, dull, and dark, dripping over her shoulder and on her chest. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Starlight all had tears on their faces, but they were mostly motionless, frozen in shock at his body. Rainbow Dash and Spike didn’t know what to say, and so were looking forlornly at the ground in embarrassment. Applejack held her wide-brimmed brown hat to her chest in a sign of somber acquiescence.

“Are you happy now?” Freedom Fighter’s mouth didn’t move to say the words, but they trembled at the edges. The emotion was thick in the words, even though he was only forming them in his thoughts. “Are you happy you asked me to do this?” He turned to the side to further show them his body. “Do you understand now my reluctance to show you any part of who I am? Or do I have to tell you more? Outline it for you so it’s better for you to comprehend?”

Discord, however, as soon as he had spotted the overlapping U brand on Freedom Fighter’s flank, gasped in horror and fell to the ground. He crawled backwards against a wall, keeping his wide, disbelieving eyes on the mysterious mark on his flank. “Y-y-you shouldn’t be alive!” he cried. “You-you’re supposed to be dead! You died! Years ago, when the rest of--how did you survive? You-d-I-I can’t believe it! You’re him! From the legends! You’re the Unforgiven!”