We eventually retired from the celebration. A contrite Starlight Glimmer was gracious enough to get us teleported to our room back at the temple, with a brief removal of my cutie mark. We didn't give her too hard a time, though Biblo did make it very clear there was too be no more doing anything without our knowledge and consent.

We were told that there were a fair number of wedding gifts, and they would be sent up to us by the morning. We were also given the contract for our services, which had been drawn up with remarkable speed. We didn't look it over right away, but were told that the terms were very generous. If we had any issue we should contact Twilight--she had insisted we just call her Twilight rather than her title when not dealing with mortal ponies, following the policy as the rest of the Alicorns with us.

After undressing and washing up, we spent the evening doing what we had been doing together since our trip to the archives. Being married didn't change anything up with that.

Also unchanged was our morning routine right after waking. One or the other of us would wake first, lay around a bit watching the other sleep peacefully, and then playfully wake the other up with nuzzles, kisses, and little bubbles. Biblo was the happy initiator on this morning.

Our happy little make out session after we woke as usual gave way to us making our way over to the balcony to watch the sun rise, have our pipes, and talk. This had become a special time for us each day, just quietly talking, relaxing, and making plans for the day.

"You never told me you had a sibling," I said to my wife as I remembered how she was announced the day before.

"My little sister, Peridot," Biblo smiled as she shaped her smoke into the form of a filly. "She is a lot like I was when you first met me, bouncy and excitable. She has the brightest green coat you have ever seen and a yellow mane, slightly darker than mine. She was still a blank flank when I left home. She is just short of eleven years old, a little old to not have her cutie mark, but not too old for it to be odd. She may have one now for all I know, I have been gone for a few months."

"I was thinking that now that we are free to go where we want we could visit your old home," I said as I made shapes that were supposed to be me and Biblo meeting her family, didn't turn out right though as I hadn't made sure I had enough smoke for all of them. "I want to meet your family."

"Our family," Biblo corrected with a grin. "My sister is your sister now, and you have parents-in-law now. They will love you, once the shock that I ran off and got married wears off anyway. Though we should probably keep you from touching Peridot, I don't know if she has similar abilities to me, and we don't want her picking up any bad habits as a filly. Mommy and Daddy would be very angry with us if that happened."

"Do you think she has similar abilities?" I asked curiously.

"I am not really sure," Biblo replied with a hoof held to her chin in thought. "She should definitely have the same ability to tell what you are feeling about things, since she is half changeling too, but I have a strong magic absorbing talent that is added into it. Sunset seems to think it is a combination of the two traits that make me absorb others traits. If she has a talent in something else, then we shouldn't have to worry about it, but if she has a similar talent we need to take care. Until she has a cutie mark on her flank, in something that has nothing to do with absorbing, we need to treat her like she might have the same abilities as me, just to be safe."

"How do you think me first meeting them will go?" I asked uncertainty.

"I have no idea," her ears dropped as she replied. "Honestly, no clue at all. It is going to be a shock, and there are going to be a lot of shocks for them. It is going to be overwhelming for them, I am sure. I have been trying to plan out how to do it, but I am open to any suggestions. My parents are not even aware I am a filly-fooler. I never really opened up about that kind of thing to them, and never went on dates or anything that would give that information away. They won't have any problem with that fact, obviously, but it is more for them to take in, in addition to everything else. And no, I was a filly-fooler before I met you, before you start worrying I absorbed that from you."

"Well, we could rent a hotel room when we first get to the city. After that you can go and visit them by yourself, let them know you are back in the city, and invite them to dinner, just them, not Peridot. Say you want them to meet some pony. That should give them the idea that you are introducing them to a special somepony at least. You can even say mare to let it drop that you are a filly-fooler without actually saying it. That will give them time at least to process that, and that feels normal enough."

"I suppose so," she said doubtfully. "But that just means we will be in a public place when we drop the news on them that you aren't just my marefriend, but instead my wife," she smiled blissfully as she said the last part.

"We can play up the fact we have a contract from the Alicorns right after to impress them," I said slyly. "Show off the fact that we have a successful business that deals directly with the Alicorns themselves. That should add a new perspective on the marriage for the better. They can't help but feel proud you are serving the Alicorns directly."

"Hey!" She laughed and continued giggling. ""I am the one who is supposed to be the manipulator between the two of us, since I absorbed from Starlight. You are infringing on my territory. But I think you are right, that might be the best way to play this."

She took one last draw of her pipe and then doused it, before turning back into the room.

"Speaking of that contract," she said as she walked back inside. "We should probably read it, to find out what we have gotten ourselves into, and how much we are actually going to end up making in bits."

I doused my own pipe and followed her in. Biblo grabbed up the contract, and plopped down on a cushion, before unrolling the scroll. After a few moments of reading her eyes got wife, and her mouth began to hang open.

"Is that bad shocked or good shocked?" I asked her calmly as I curled up beside her to look along with her.

"Good shocked," she breathed, before taking a deep breath. She passed the contract over to me to read, and continued speaking. "They will pay us three thousand bits a month, with a ten thousand bit starting bonus, most ponies don't make more than three thousand bits in a year. We of course would be responsible for obtaining our own focus stones to store your magic, but even with those costs, this is enough to make us very well to do. Plus they only want us to provide them with a small quota of stones per moon, and they shall arrange pick up for those on their own. We don't even have to start providing those filled stones to them for another two moons, but they will still be paying us in the meantime."

"I see they do want a higher amount of stones for the first shipment though," I said as I looked over the details of the contract. "Says they want twenty-five on the first shipment, compared to five every other one. How much do focus stones cost usually?"

"Depends on who you get them from, but no more than two hundred bits each. Not something most ponies can afford to buy in bulk, but if we are going to have over sixteen thousand bits before the first shipment is due we will barely notice the costs. If we can find a regular supplier we could likely work out a lower price for the stones. Pearl, we are going to be rich."

Just then a knock came at our door. I looked at Biblo motioned that I would be the one to go answer, she nodded and went back to looking over the contract. When I opened the door I found Icy Moon, and a few other Unicorn members of the Twilight Guard, carrying various packages in their magic.

"Hello Pearl Bottom, we are here to deliver your wedding gifts," Icy Moon greeted me happily.

I had to wonder how she knew to call me Pearl Bottom instead of Pearlwort, even though Pearlwort would have been correct as well. I just hadn't really made a point of announcing my new name yet. My best guess was that our conversation had been overheard and the information had been passed on to the guards.

"Thank you," I replied with a smile. Then looked at her curiously. "We see you a lot, Icy Moon. Do you volunteer for these jobs or get assigned to them for some reason in particular?"

"A bit of both," Icy Moon replied without any trace of resentment at her task. "The princess prefers to use me as a contact with immortals, so I volunteer for the tasks that will put me in contact with immortals. Regular contact makes for better relations. When I was asked if I would like to have an opportunity to get to know two new members of the immortal rank and file I volunteered right away."

"Why does she prefer you?"

"I managed to make friends with a few of the more difficult to be friendly with immortals on my own," Icy explained. "When the princess found out she started having me deal with others on her behalf. Since then it has become my unofficial job. I know I haven't talked to you two much, but I hope to get to know you each better. I'm told I am supposed to start picking up deliveries from you soon, which is going to come with a significant raise for me, so I am not complaining. I have a stallionfriend I would like to make my husband, and he is a bit of a starving artist, so anything that helps make me be able to support both of us before the question gets popped is welcome."

"Well, I look forward to working with you then," I said pleasantly. "Bring everything in and set it down wherever you want, it looks like Biblo and I will be busy for a while."

Icy Moon signaled all the guards to start taking the packages in, and they responded to her immediately.

"I have a gift for you from myself, miss Biblo," Icy said as she came into the room. "I was informed you are not in possession of a life pack of your own. I would like to make one for you while I am here, looking at all these gifts, it looks like you will be in need of it soon."

Biblo had been studying the packages with intense interest after they had been brought in, but her ears went erect and looked to Icy with excitement at the offer. It was funny that after finding out she was going to be rich, and then receiving a large collection of gifts from Alicorns, that the thing that sparked the most giddiness was getting a life pack.

"I will be transforming your own saddlebag to a life pack. It is best to use bags that already have a strong connection to you," Icy Moon explained. "If you could get it, and empty it of it's contents, I can get this done for you quickly. Make sure everything is out of it. If any object is in the bag during the enchanting process that object will be lost permanently.

Biblo nodded and hopped to go get her saddlebag. Then she just upended it, and began to shake out its contents on the floor, rather than removing each item carefully. Every pony in the room just watched as she made a mess on the floor.

"What?" She asked, looking at every pony watching her. "This place is already going to be extremely cluttered until we get everything put away. What's a little more mess going to hurt?"

We couldn't really argue with her logic, as she felt around in the bafmg with a hoof to see if anything else remained in the bag. Then she nodded to Icy that she was done clearing it.

"Okay, all you need to do is put it on, and I will cast the enchantment that binds you as the owner and lets it contain as much as you choose to shove in," Icy said with a smile.

Biblo quickly put the pack on and waited expectantly after. Icy nodded back and then lit her horn up. A faint blue glow that matched the glow of the horn enveloped Biblo and then faded. A second later Biblo's cutie mark appeared on the side of her new life pack. Biblo looked at it, quickly stomped her hooves in excitement, and then printed over to Icy Moon giving the Unicorn a big hug.

"Biblo," I warned. "You know you aren't supposed to be touching ponies until you have you abilities under control."

Biblo broke contact with the Unicorn instantly and backed up a few steps, red faced with embarrassment. She did do her quick listen as she felt Icy's emotions right after, and then turned and smiled to me.

"I think I am fine," she said. "Nothing new absorbed, or if I did absorb anything it just reinforced feelings I already had rather than introduce anything new. Thank you, Icy Moon, I really do appreciate the life pack. I have always wanted one for myself."

"Glad I can make you happy," Icy replied warmly. "And just Icy will do, we are going to be seeing each other at least once a moon, once you start producing whatever the Alicorns have you making. Any idea where you are setting up shop by the way? I kind of want to know where I will be having to make trips to."

"Probably Crystal Heart," Biblo replied, after a quick thought. "But we haven't decided on anything yet. We still haven't gotten to discussing details about where we want to settle in yet. We will make sure you know when we do."

"I will be looking forward to hearing when you do," Icy said as she signaled the guards back towards the door, and started walking towards it herself. "We will leave you to opening your presents together, have fun."

After the group of Unicorns left, I turned and gave Biblo a quizzical look.

"I thought you were interested in staying here in the temple for a while," I said.

"I was before," she replied, looking about the room. "But I also advanced at my training much faster than I expected, and being essentially right under the greater Alicorns hooves really doesn't sound appealing. I know you had expressed interest in Crystal Heart before, and it makes sense for a lot of reasons. Our family is there, it is the easiest location to find a regular supplier of focus stones, and I don't absorb traits from Crystal Ponies. If you have any other place you would prefer us go, I will agree to that in a second, but Crystal Heart seems like the best choice for now."

"I just want you happy," I said as I came over and nuzzled her neck. "Whatever you decide, I am good with."

Biblo smiled, then paused and took a deep breath, taking a step away from me.

"Sunset and I were talking about you the other day," she said with some hesitation. "She was saying you really need to assert yourself more, she called you a doormat; which I would have boxed her for calling you, if I was actually capable of taking her down. It did get me to thinking though, after I calmed down anyway. You do tend to just fall in line with whatever I say, and I know you do it even when you don't agree with me. I also know parts of being a Thestral bother you, and you shouldn't feel ashamed of what you are. I absorbed a lot of your tribal traits in their purest form from you, without the shame. I worry about you feeling ashamed of being who you are, or never asserting yourself, and I want to help you see you don't have to feel that way."

I didn't think it was that bad. I took the lead in plenty of conversations. And there were things I should be ashamed of as well.

"Shouldn't I feel ashamed of killing and then eating the corpse of another intelligent being? That is monstrous," I defended myself.

"No," Biblo said flatly. "You should not. You defended your town from a real monster when you killed that dog, and you also had a right to eat her as well. It is what you would have done with any other predator. You heard what Starlight said, it warns away others. I also know you were upset by what Luna did to Rose Thorn. Would you be upset with me if I did the same thing? Because I was sorely tempted to do it myself. He was a monster who hurt you, and could have killed you, all with no remorse. He deserved to die, and to be made an example, if Luna hadn't done it, I likely would have. Would you have been ashamed of me?"

"Is it really so easy for you to just decide to end another's life?" I asked shakily.

"It is easy for me to end the life of an irredeemable monster that hurts and kills others for nothing but pleasure and cruelty," she said back with steel in her voice. "And when push comes to shove it is for you too, you just feel guilty for it afterward. You shouldn't, you are doing what needs to be done."

I didn't know how to respond to that. This was the scary side of Biblo, and the scary side to me. Her logic seemed right, but at the same time it felt wrong.

"What would you have us do to make me more comfortable with that aspect of being a Thestral?" I asked quietly with head lowered.

"We need to make you feel stronger, and we need to make you realize that killing monsters is a good thing," she replied with a sympathetic voice. "If we go to Crystal Heart, then there is a lot of countryside and small villages between here and there. We can find one that has actual monsters nearby, and we can let you do what your tribal instincts demand you do. I will be right there the whole time, making sure you know I am proud of you. Heck, if Sunset is willing to test out the transformation spell on me, then I will join you in doing it, that way you can see me doing it, and feel less insecure about you doing it."

"If you think that will help," I said doubtfully.

"I do," she said back. "But we will worry about that after we leave Harmony. Let's look at what we got for presents for now, and then go see Sunset about making plans to leave. We should probably figure out what Hot Sticks is going to do now, see if he wants to come with us or not."

Opening presents sounded like a good idea. Hard to get stressed about gifts. I decided to try out using my wings a bit as hands and attempt to pick things up with them. It was as awkward as I had imagined it would be, and Biblo was visibly trying to restrain laughing at my efforts. I decided to keep trying though. It did seem like I could actually get to where using them this way could work. I just needed to practice. It was my own personal thing to try to work on my own.

"Comet Glider gave use a set of actual hoof blades and practice ones too." Biblo said excitedly. "A set for each of us. He included a card, for an elite fighter and her bride on their wedding day, that was nice of him."

"Patina gave us a pair of books," I said as I looked at another package. "One on Crystal Pony names and another on Thestral names. The card says it will come in use in the future, and to be open to the idea of having foals."

"I am not so sure about having foals," Biblo replied sadly. "It would be nice yeah, but the idea of outliving our own foals, grandfoals, and great-grandfoals, is kind of depressing. I don't know how that mare does it. I get sad just thinking about it."

"She likely made her peace with it a long time ago," I said back. "It must get easier to deal with, over time. It isn't something we need to really think about any time soon.I am sure we will get to be aunts, and then grand aunts, and so on. Outliving each generation, we will get our opportunities to get used to it no matter what."

Biblo's composure dropped further. She started wiping away tears with a hoof. I came over, and wrapped a wing and foreleg around her. She leaned into me and buried her face into my mane, now openly crying.

"I'm sorry," she said after crying for a while. "It is just starting to sink in for me. How many funerals for loved ones I will have to attend. That my little sister, who is currently a filly, will get to where she is an old mare and pass away, and we will still be unchanged by time."

"At least we will have each other," I comforted her. "All ponies die in the end. Even we will, somehow, someday. Chances are most will live to ripe old ages, and we will be used to the idea that they will be passing soon, before it happens. We can enjoy their presence in our lives for as long as it lasts. We have to learn to live life for the moment, because thinking about the future is just too much to think about, and eventually the past will be too much as well."

"We both have things we need to make peace with," Biblo said as she let out a breath and broke contact. "Let's look through the rest of this, get it all cleaned up, and get to making plans to leave. Hopefully if nothing is stopping us we can leave Harmony tomorrow. Can I keep a hold of those name books? I still want to come up with a Thestral style name for myself to match the Crystal Pony style name you picked out for yourself. I really don't know much about Thestral names though, and I want to find something appropriate."

I passed her the books, which she promptly put into her life pack. We continued through looking through the gifts. Most the Alicorns gave us gifts reflective of what they were the Alicorn of and most of it was pretty useless. There were some interesting gifts here and there though. Water Shadow gave us fishing poles and supplies, Meadowbrook had given us samplings of various other things that we could put in our pipes, Rockhoof had given us some unmarked chain-mail armor, Sunset had given us paints and paintbrushes, we were given new dresses from both Rarity and Rainbow Dash, an dragon flame lamp from Twilight, Pinkie Pie gave us some scarves, Celestia got us bananas of all things, Luna gave us Pearlwort seeds, while Starlight gave us kites, jewelry was common, and there were many other books that reflected subjects their presenter put a lot of value in.

One gift we found very nice was a set of silver collars, with our cutie marks engraved on them. The gift was from a lesser Alicorn named Silver Smith, an appropriate name. We decided to each wear the collar the corresponded with the other's cutie mark, as a sign of our marriage. We put those on right away, and were pleased to note that they didn't rub at all and were comfortable to wear.

Also included was a note detailing instructions about how we were being paid. We now had an account in the Central Imperial Bank and need only state our name and show our cutie mark at the bank to be allowed to make a withdrawal. The starting bonus had already been deposited. There were locations for the bank in all the major cities, as well as a few towns, and we we could access our account from any of them. A fresh deposit would be put in each moon, as long as we upheld our end of the contract.

It took us most of the morning to go through everything. We eventually deposited everything in our life packs. We found Sunset and Hot Sticks both in the dining hall. After having the staff find us some sardines we sat down to talk with the two.

"How does your first day of married life feel?" Hot Sticks asked as we sat down. He was drinking some tea, and eating a small salad.

"It feels much the same, really," Biblo answered with a smile. "At least for me it does. I do feel all giddy each time I think about it though. Say the word wife, and I get all warm inside."

"I agree," I said, giving my own answer. "Though I am trying to get into the mindset of introducing myself as Pearl Bottom instead of Pearlwort. We are eager to get moving to where we can settle down, and actually start living our married life. We are actually hoping to leave as soon as tomorrow if we can. That is why we wanted to see you two as soon as we could, tomorrow if possible. We know you wanted to come with us, Sunset, and we were trying to find out what your plans are, Hot Sticks."

"Seems like you two rush at everything," Hot Sticks observed as he finished a sip of his tea.

"Well, we want to tell Biblo's side of the family about the fact we are married sooner rather than later," I explained. Then I continued in a lower voice. "Plus we want to get away from dealing with the greater Alicorns day to day as quickly as possible too. They aren't bad, but they are all crazy."

"I don't disagree about that, though some are worse than others," Sunset said with a smile. "I don't like spending more time than I have to here either. They are all old friends, but they try to make use of you when they have you readily available, typically without asking. I can make arrangements for our departure tomorrow if you like. Crystal Heart is where you intend to go?"

"Yes, but we were hoping to do cross country travel, preferably through some more dangerous areas," Biblo added in.

"For the reasons we discussed before?" Sunset asked her while looking thoughtful.

"Why are you actually looking for danger?" Hot Sticks asked with confusion.

"The idea is for me to get more opportunities to behave like a Thestral, and fight some monsters," I explained with a slight roll of my eyes. "I am obviously uncomfortable with certain things about myself and these two seem to think it will help if I just do it more without feeling judged. I am not sure if it will work, but I am willing to try. Plus I am pretty sure Biblo is looking for an opportunity to get to full blood-lust herself."

Biblo boxed me on the side playfully with one of her hooves. She gave a face of mock indignation. I gave her a flat stare back. We held this position for about five seconds, before we both broke down giggling.

"Pearl isn't wrong," Biblo said. "I have all the Thestral instincts and am perfectly happy with them. The idea of hunting down some monster sounds great to me. I wanted adventure when I left home, monster hunting qualifies. I know we have had a lot happen, but it would be a shame if I returned to Crystal Heart without having done something personally exciting."

"Adventure is overrated," Sunset said with a huff. "Trust me. Save the world a few dozen times, and then you just start wishing for a century or two of nothing notable happening."

"I suppose I will come along to Crystal Heart," Hot Sticks said after another sip of tea. "Adventuring gets you hurt, so you will need a doctor, and I don't know where I want to go from here. I know I don't want to get pulled back into the politics here. I will come with you to Crystal Heart, and think more on what I want to do, and where."

Biblo almost went and gave him a hug, then she caught herself, realizing she wasn't suppose to be touching ponies. It made her frustrated and she just crossed her forelegs and scrunched up her muzzle in frustration. We all gave her a shared look of sympathy.

"We will keep working on your training," Sunset said as she came and patted Biblo on the shoulder. Sunset was the only pony other than me who was really allowed to touch Biblo, thanks to being able to block Biblo out of her mind. "As for the path to take, I think we can hug the Foal Mountains through the pass between them and the Canterhorn Peak. From there is a lot of woodlands before reaching the Old Crystal Imperial District. That entire region is wild, and the villages that can be found frequently have to post watches at nights to keep out timberwolves, dire wolves, hydra, chimeras, and the stray cockatrice. I am comfortable with you two fighting any of those creatures, save for the cockatrices. I might keep an eye on you from a distance for some, but will let you deal with them yourselves. And yes, Biblo, I will let you play at being disguised as a Thestral, once we are on the road."

Biblo gave an excited hug to Sunset upon hearing about the Thestral disguise.

"Thank you!" Biblo shouted with joy as she squeezed the larger Alicorn in Thestral form. "You have no idea how much I am looking forward to that."

"I think I have a good idea how much you are," Sunset laughed. "You might be able to feel what I am feeling, but I have I can get into your head just fine. Just don't be disappointed if you can't use your wings, I have no idea if Pearl's magic will be able to make them work or not. Even if it does make them usable I am not sure if you are going to be able to make much use of them with so little time to get used to them."

"I am pretty sure they will work," Biblo replied still joyous. "Pearl's smoke shaping magic already works for me, so this should too."

The three of us stared at Biblo. Sunset and Hot Sticks looked at her with shock, I on the other hoof looked on with exasperation. After a moment Biblo realized that she just gave away some information she wasn't supposed to give out, and looked slightly mortified.

"Um, oops" She said sheepishly.

"I am going to pretend I heard nothing," Sunset said as facehooved. Hot Sticks just nodded, and went back to drinking his tea.

Next Chapter: Chapter 20: Transformations Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 49 Minutes