My Little Tactics

Chapter Thirty: Day of Birth.

“Here you go as requested lad.” The grizzled old smith said as he handed over the piece of equipment to the Lord of the castle.

Merlene was puzzled by the equipment as well so she had to speak up. “I am puzzled by this request my Lord, why do you suddenly want a shield?”

Dustan chuckled as he looked at the blue colored shield with gold trim. “It’s a buckler and I have often noticed while I fight I leave my right side open with me rarely casting spells from that side. I thought I would try to focus all my offensive capabilities to my left and use the shield on my right to cover me.” Strapping on the buckler he then wiggled his fingers and smiled. “Plus this keeps my hand free just in case.”

Merlene pondered this for a good bit before nodding. “Though this means you will need to train for its use since its weight isn’t something you are used to.”

Dustan gave a mental sigh of relief as she accepted his rationality. “Yeah, I am sure you will help me with that.” The human told her with a laugh which she joined in on.

It had been two weeks since his awakening after bargaining with death and since then he had been visited by Mogri to be checked in on once, and had gotten a letter from the princesses informing him that his stunt with the personification of death was not to be made public no matter what, of which he was one hundred and ten percent fine with. Luna also pitched in a letter of her own giving him more specifics of his new little gift of hers in that all the magic was already there and cast but just needed the final word to work, meaning nothing could prevent or stop its activation once he spoke the word. Since returning he had been working on a few personal projects, one of which he finally finished though the smith worried about him the whole rest of the way as he kept smashing the thumb of his hand having to heal it. Getting used to not being able to feel his right arm was…taxing to say the least but after a couple of days of waking up to bloody sheets and having to explain to one of the hired maids of the castle, approved by Faithful of course, as to why they shouldn’t freak out as he forgot about a minor cut when heading to bed and asking for their forgiveness in the extra work did he learn to check once when getting up and once when going to bed on his arm at the very least.

The buckler he was currently now strapped with was more of an attempt to disguise his new infirmity than anything else. When moving the shield arm to do anything, the unusual reaction time not normally seen in his movements could be explained away as him getting used to its weight. Dustan not casting with his right arm anymore was also him ‘rebalancing’ his fighting style as well. Now this wasn’t to say that he wasn’t going to try to use the shield as intended but it was still mostly for cover, for now. Moreover most of his troops had no time to spare to pay attention to him as when he informed them that Celestia and Luna had narrowed down a date for a little tournament to show off the castle’s training they all pushed themselves to a new level. Oh they pushed and pushed so well that he was proud to say that every single one of his guard could now use Salve or Potion and were all Squires and Chemists now.

Hearing a couple of children running around the castle as well making him chuckle reminded him that it was just his guard that were coming to find skills. Since the Crusaders showed off one day at school for show and tell, did Cheerilee come ask him if he would consider opening up classes for any foal showing interest to which he gladly did. Nearly the whole class had come with a few small expectations being Snips and Snails as well as Diamond Tiara whom was mad that Silver Spoon also opted in for classes. Said friend explained that it was her father’s idea to learn the new skills as no other place in Equestria had these skills and could be used for a good bargaining bit later in life. Whether that was true or not remained to be seen but regardless soon after hearing that Diamond also joined the classes.

Because of the weak amount of magic all the foals gave off and lack of proper understanding of Harmonic magic, it was much easier for them to grasp and learn the abilities then others and as such the whole class had acquired a Job in the week it has been since they had joined the castle for lessons. Considering that the classes for them were only held on weekends effectively meant it took days instead of the weeks and weeks that the adults had to do to acquire said Jobs. That being said most of the foals he noticed, didn’t have unique Jobs and instead were either defaulted to ‘Student’ at first but changed to the name of the Job they had acquired at the castle.

Because of this Dustan had been prompted to take a mental note of all unique Jobs he came across and now had kept his Tactical Eye up all the time. There were the Cutie Mark Crusaders with their unique Job, Celestia and Luna he remembered having their Princess Jobs. The new ones he found since opening up his eye all the time though was from the Mane Six, each one having a unique Job all their own. Twilight had the Job of ‘Student of Friendship’ which was understandable; Rarity had the ‘Fashionista’ Job which he felt was too on the nose for her class, however if hers was on the nose then the others were being repeatedly booped on the snoot. Rainbow Dash zipped around with the Job of ‘Speedster’, ‘Caretaker’ was what was given to Fluttershy, ‘Farmhoof’ was proudly displayed for Applejack, and while he was happy that Pinkie Pie got the ‘Pink Party Pony’ Job, Dustan was also disappointed that it wasn’t ‘breaker of reality’ or something along those lines.

“Sadly though, I have to get a rain check on training for today Merlene.” When his griffon body guard tilted her head curiously he chuckled as he was reminded of pet birds in a pet store when she did that. “I was invited to Twilight’s birthday so I am going to go personally deliver my gift and spend the day with them at Canterlot.”

“Why Canterlot and not here?” The falcon looking griffon asked as she tilted her head the other way now.

‘Sweet and Elite is why.’ He thought for a moment before telling her simply. “Apparently while at the castle Rarity’s pet caught ill and they couldn’t make it back. So we are all heading up there instead so the girls can be together. I told them that if they just wanted it to be a girl’s day I didn’t mind but they insisted I come so…yeah.”

“Fluttershy looked sad when you said no didn’t she?” His guard said with a knowing giggle.

Shaking his head the former Thief, now Squire, looked at her and told her. “It wasn’t her, it was Pinkie. Have you seen a sad Pinkie? You can’t say no to that face, it’s impossible and you will do anything in your power to make that sadness go away. That level of manipulative power should be banned as mind control magic I swear.” The latter addition to that sentence caused both of them to burst out laughing after a moment as slowly Dustan took off the shield and put it in his bag.

He was wearing casual clothing today, none of his armor and only his Coral Sword at his side. “Sadly I cannot go with you today my Lord since it’s the weekend. The foals are here to learn and someone has to keep them in line so they don’t wonder into places like the basement. Speaking of, that is almost done in its construction, most of the underground has been explored and catalogued now including all the items found, most of which are in the process of restoration except for the Harmonium weapons which only you can touch at the moment.”

“I really need to get on that but been putting it off more and more lately.” Sighing loudly the human shrugged and chuckled. “But it’s not getting done today either so can’t really help that.” Looking towards the clock he shouldered his pack. “Anyways I am meeting the girl’s at the train station, I should return tomorrow. The day after at the latest.”

“Safe travels my Lord.” She waved him off which he returned as he traveled the forest. To be honest Dustan wasn’t even on guard anymore in the forest. Since the defeat of the hydra, the biggest apex predator in the forest all the creatures fear of it, transferred to the castle and they stayed away from this part of the woods now. There was still the occasional interloper but that was now the exception rather than the standard. He knew all this as Mogri had talked to some of the forest inhabitants and conveyed the message and while the herbs were still in place he could honestly say that this part of the forest had been successfully tamed.

Speaking of herbs, Zecora had managed to replicate more and more of the Final Fantasy style remedies not only because of her study of the Remedy plant he had given her but because of her own progress in the Chemist Job. Strangely it was her and the Crusaders who were making the most progress in their Jobs, Zecora even stating she seen the Statues of Black and White mage appear but they had not yet accepted her, likewise Scootaloo claims she seen Knight and Archer. Even further was that Zecora could interact with the statues of her jobs without dreaming, confirming what Dustan had thought in that it was a state of mind deal and that the zebra had a temperament and personality shaped by her shaman training to interact with it perfectly from the start. Lucky her.

“Hey Dusty, you are the second one to arrive!” Pinkie called out to him as she spotted him approaching the train station. “I can’t wait to throw Twilight the best birthday party ever at Canterlot, what about you?”

“I am sure it will be without a doubt interesting and rememberable Pinkie.” He gave her a nice pat on the head causing her mane to get smoothed under his hand before pushing it away as resisted being compressed like that.

The party pony looked at him curiously and had to ask. “Why are you bringing your sword?”

“Instead of answering you straight out, let me ask you a question instead.” The human smiled as he sat down on a bench nearby. “Is there some kind of supplies or item you carry with you always that if you forgot or didn’t have with you that would make things feel off or different for you?”

“Oh of course.” Pulling out a small cannon she grinned. “My party cannon. If I didn’t have that with me I wouldn’t feel right at…ooooooooooh.”

“Yeah, for me it’s the same Pinkie.” He told her tapping the scabbard at his side. “Without something on my hip I feel off.” Closing his eyes for a moment and sighing he leaned back on the pony sized bench as much as it would allow him. ‘You would think that coming to a peaceful world like this, being always armed would make me feel uncomfortable, but time and experience have caused me to do the opposite and feel more comfortable with steel by my side, or…whatever the Coral Sword is made of. Actually that is a good question: ‘What is it made of?’.’

Pinkie must have felt him thinking to himself as she didn’t disturb him at all while he did so. Eventually though his thoughts were broken as he heard the others gathering, the first being Rainbow Dash showing off how fast she got there only to see she had been beaten by two others causing her to let out an adorable ‘darn’. Applejack was the next who was walking with Fluttershy as it seems both of them met on the way there as Applejack needed to do some things on the farm and likewise Fluttershy had to make sure her animals were ok. The last to join them was Twilight, and in a Twilight move she claimed that she got there right when they were scheduled to meet and not a second too late.

“I can’t wait to see Rarity; hopefully Opal will be ok by herself even if she is sick. I wouldn’t want to have to leave Rarity alone taking care of her.” The magic mare told them all as she bounced around excitedly but would look worried when thinking of the under the weather feline.

Dustan knew the truth though and choose to keep quiet even as Fluttershy spoke up. “Well I have with me several remedies that might help the poor thing.”

“I hope so, it’s not fun being sick, you can’t do anything.” Rainbow whined while she hovered, and this was something that Dustan couldn’t resist.

“So basically ninety percent of your work day where you nap in the clouds?” He said it with a straight face to her in hopes she would take him seriously.

She did. “Yep just like that.” Tic, tic, tic, DING. “Hey!” With her realizing what it was that was said he started to grin. “I nap cause I choose to!”

“So just like Opal.” Looking to the others he asked them a question. “Anyone else picturing Rainbow Dash as either a cat, or with cat ears and a fluffy tail?” They all nodded at that. “Weirdly fitting isn’t it?”

All the girls giggled loudly as he chuckled, though Dash looked a tad upset as she crossed her hooves in front of her. “I am nothing like a cat, I am at least ten p-” Her words faltered as Dustan reached up and gave her a scratch behind her ear causing her hovering to slow till she landed and leaned into the scratches. “Oh that feels great.”

“See, cat-like.” They all laughed at that and honestly Dustan fully expected some kind of retaliation from the Speedster.

He was mistaken as the pegasus just leaned in more to the scratches. “Don’t care. Keep that up, in fact a little to the left.”

Looking to the other girls he asked, though he did keep scratching. “Is this a normal pony thing?”

“Well, technically I don’t think it’s ever been studied since most species with digits like you end with claws.” Twilight informed him while rubbing her chin in thought.

“Oh, oh, me next!” The bubblegum colored pony called out as she was now pronking next to him.

Well he had two hands so he didn’t see the harm of splitting up the attention between the two. So using that free hand he reached over and carefully timed his movement to the bounces that Pinkie gave and as he started she froze in mid-air and looked happy suddenly as she slowly floated back to the ground, one of her hind legs going crazy and twitching.

She got a dopey grin on her face and her tongue was hanging out. “Oh yeah, that is the spot.”

“No offense sugar cube, but keep those grabbers away from me. Ah don’t want to end up like those two.” The farm pony told him as she looked at the display with a mix of emotions that he couldn’t place as they were mixed too well.

Fluttershy however was of the opposite opinion and not for the reason one would expect. “I wouldn’t mind trying that one time later, it might help me understand better ways to scratch Angel bunny.” Or maybe the exact reason one would expect.

Twilight had some notes being taken as she spoke out loud. “I wonder if there are any other places you could scratch or rub that would elicit similar responses or different ones.”

Luckily he wouldn’t have to respond to Twilight asking him to molest ponies for science as the call for boarding was sent out. When he pulled his hands away both ponies tried to follow them for a moment with Pinkie snapping out of it first and looking at his hand with a pout. Dash on the other hand came out looking confused as if she had forgotten where they were then suddenly lost for some reason before weirdly walking with the girls instead of hovering like normally.

Sadly they had one of the slower trains, ones that were phased out as newer models were being produced and thus it would take a couple of hours to get to Canterlot. Because they were six they had two rooms they decided to go three to a cabin, Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie in one with Dustan, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy in the other. In the room after they stored their bags away Fast Blue and Butter Cream took one side and he was allowed to stretch out on the other. Since this was one of the last one being phased out it was a luxury room which catered to many races allowing Dustan to actually enjoy a cushion on a train for once.

Lying down on the seat he yawned and told the girls. “I think I am going to take a nap, it’s going to be a bit before we get there after all.”

“That sounds nice actually. I had to get up early to make sure all my animals were taken care of so I didn’t get to sleep as long as I wanted to.” Fluttershy told them both as she stretched out on her seat as well.

“Yeah, sure.” Was the response that the flyer gave to her fellow pegasus.

They had all settled in and about fifteen or so minutes had passed, before Dustan woke up slightly from his nap to the poke of a hoof. “Huh, what?”

The one who disturbed his nap so soon was in fact Rainbow Dash as she looked at him sheepishly. “Look um…could you…” She made a motion with her hoof to her ear before he chuckled as she gave a rather adorable looking blush. “Look it feels nice and will help me sleep.”

Dustan while nice had gotten his nap interrupted so his filter for things was a bit down, so what he said might have sounded rude normally. “Look Dash, I am trying to nap as well and I am comfortable for once on a train. I am not getting up to go scratch you over there so you can nap and there isn’t space for you to lie next to me. Sadly you are going to have to either go back and try normally or climb up and lay on me.”

He closed his eyes thinking that would be the end of it, only to hear the flap of wings a moment later and feel a surprisingly light weight settle atop of him. “Fine, whatever, just get to scratching ok?”

It took a moment for Dustan’s brain to register what was happening and report it to him. ‘Sir, we have an adorable looking pegasus asking for our hands while laying on us, should we alert the rest of the body?’

The fictional commander of Dustan’s brain responded heroically with a shake of his head. ‘No soldier, this is strictly platonic, arm hands and get targeting online asap!’

Snapping to attention the soldier called out. ‘Yes sir!’ before he scrambled away.

The commander meanwhile muttered to himself. ‘Besides, she is just our friend.’

Reality came rushing back in as Dustan’s thought process finally caught up and he reached up to the rather adorable pony laying on him and started to scratch her ears. “Oh yeah, that feels so nice that it alone beats a cloud bed.”

It took about ten minutes but it seemed she wasn’t lying to him as he heard her soft breathing as she fell asleep. Trying to think of a way to get her back to her side failed and it ended up with him just shrugging and resuming his nap with her atop of him on his chest.

Twilight awoke from a nap a bit early thanks to an alarm spell she had placed next to her and attuned to her so only she could hear it that woke her up when they were just fifteen minutes from Canterlot. Getting up and stretching she found both of her friends still sleeping and while she would have loved to let Pinkie and Applejack sleep in some more she didn’t want them to have to rush and forget their saddlebags or anything.

“Girl’s get up. We are almost there.” She called out gently but with just enough force behind her voice so that they wouldn’t ignore it. Pinkie Pie got up first, or rather half of her did as she plopped out of her seat with her hind legs moving but her front half still asleep. The cowpony of the group got up rather easily having been used to having to do so to take care of something on the farm when it was needed.

Applejack must have seen the magister’s look of bewilderment when looking at their friend as she chimed up. “Ah got her, you go get the others up if they decided they wanted a nap too.”

“R-right.” Twilight so badly wanted to document what she was seeing. Was this a form of automated physiological responses or was it sleep walking? There was also another possibility of this just being Pinkie and when that thought crossed her mind her muzzle immediately scrunched up as she put the thoughts out of mind as she went to the other cabin. Opening the door quietly in case they were sleeping Twilight right away shut the door barely keeping a squeal of joy from escaping before running back. “Girls, wake up. I need to show you something but keep quiet.”

“What has got you all worked up?” The farm pony asked raising an eyebrow as she adjusted her hat.

By this point Pinkie had also woken up and was surprisingly fixing her hair with various tools to give it the volume it was known for. “Oh? Is it a big cake for all of us?”

The lavender mare said nothing just grinning and giving them a shushing motion and then waving them to follow. This had both of the friends curious as to what was going on so they followed quickly and silently. When they got to the room they all got to see a sight that they thought was rather adorable.

“You know, I always thought she was friendly with Dusty. Though I didn’t think she was THAT friendly.” The pink party pony mused happily.

The Element of Honesty chimed in with a grin of her own. “Ah suppose she could do a lot worse. That filly has learned a good few lessons from that buckaroo.”

“They are so cute together!” Squealed the leader of the Elements herself which ended up causing the three in the cabin to wake up.

The first to wake up was Fluttershy who looked first to her friends then the other side of the cabin before giving her thoughts on the matter. “Awww~.”

Simple and sweet for sure but the next up was mare that was the subject of the discussion who rose up and stretched. “Hey girls what is going…on?” Seeing the looks on their faces she looked around and though not seeing anything she had a sneaking suspicions that the instant she figured it out she would regret whatever it was they had caught her doing.

“You know, when you are laying down you aren’t so heavy.” Dustan called out from under her making her realize finally where she was and starting to blush up a storm. “But standing on four hooves like that does tend to make me rethink things.”

Right away she jumped off him stammering replies such as the one anypony would expect was the whole ‘It’s not what it looks like’ and of course that just made Applejack grin, Fluttershy and Pinkie smile, while Twilight was barely keeping herself from making more excitable noises at what she saw.

“Technically she is telling the truth.” The human told them while yawning and giving a good stretch, to which Twilight watched and made a mental record of how he moved. “She was having trouble sleeping so she wanted an ear scratch. I was annoyed cause she woke me up to ask so I gave her a choice as I wasn’t getting up to put her down and she chose to hop up here to get it.” The smart pony of the group blinked a bit as she heard both her pink bubbly friend and her hard working one suddenly start chuckling while the athlete and caretaker both blushed heavily.

Flying up to his face the speedster called out to him. “Could you not say it like that, you made it sound completely wrong!”

Tilting her head as she felt like she was missing something Dustan spoke. “Hey, if you all interpreted the things I said as dirty then that is your problem, which you all seem guilty of…except purple smart judging by her expression.”

The solo unicorn of the group looked at all of them each in turn before asking. “Ok what am I missing?”

None of her friends answered, well except Dustan. “You really want to know.”

Right away all of her friends started to shake their heads even Fluttershy, but she couldn’t stand being left out of any knowledge. “Tell me.”

Everypony face-hoofed while Rainbow Dash blushed even brighter and left the room as the human leaned in and whispered what all they thought and explained innuendos. To say that she was flabbergasted after the explanation was an understatement and if anypony needed something boiled they could just place it on her head with how heated her face was feeling at the moment.

With that the human left the room laughing saying he needed to stretch his legs. Twilight however was busy trying to find something to hide under or in to cover her embarrassment. She was not the only one either as Applejack coughed into her hoof and left saying she needed to get her bag in order while Pinkie pronked away giggling up a storm. Fluttershy, however, had nowhere to go so was forced to look after the unicorn while she adjusted and came back to being normal, which would take nearly as long as they had left to arrive at the Canterlot station with just enough time for Dustan to come back and grab his bags and for her to leave to go get hers.

As the group was getting off the train the conductor was thanking them all for being the final passengers for that model of train as this was its last stop before being retired. ‘That means every train from now on will be the higher speed models, I wonder if when we head back to Ponyville after my birthday if the conductor will let me examine it.’

Twilight’s musing was interrupted though as the group walked towards town. They were in the lower area of Canterlot where a lot of street venders were trying to sell wears to various travelers and nobles which is when Fluttershy got pulled into things.

“Oh, this would be a perfect gift for Angel Bunny, oh and this one for Harry, and this one for-” Fluttershy continued as she stayed at the stall.

“Go on ahead girls; Ah will keep an eye on her.” The farm pony told them as she adjusted her hat and went over to keep the caretaker company.

The birthday filly nodded with an understanding smile. “No problem, be sure to meet up where I told you before.” She called out to her friend as the group of four.

That was until the party pony started to shiver and shake. “Oh, that one is new. Dusty, Dashy, come with me.” The pony had her tail whip out to grab the wrist of the human who was about to protest when he started to get dragged along with a perplexed expression on his face.

“Pinkie, we shouldn’t leave Twilight alone as its ru-why are you so strong?” Indeed Dustan looked to be fighting back in strength and losing rather badly as he was pulled along by the pronky pony. “What kind of Deus Ex BS is this?!”

Rainbow Dash sighed and looked to her friend. “She did invite me and some responsible pony needs to keep an eye on him in Canterlot considering all the snooty types around. I will be back in a flash Twi.”

Before the purple pony could even tell her that it was alright and that she was right, a streak of rainbow signaled that her friend had left. “Guess we will all meet up at the castle.”

“Don’t ‘ave a look so dahn girly, in fact w don’t yer cheer yourself up at me stall.” A voice called to Twilight from nearby.

Turning to look she found a pony dressed head to hoof in some kind of coat in a stall. “I am sorry, but I really should go to the meeting spot for my friends.”

The pony in the coat seemed to smile behind his mask as he spoke. “Nonsense. Besides, let me tell yer, I can tell just by lookin’ at yer that yor one that appreciates magical mysteries and such and let me tell yer, I ‘ave some buggers yer will be interested in.”

The accent of his reminded Twilight of that time she went with the Princess to a visit to the Great Bitten a country that was made up of both Diamond Dogs and Ponies. “Ok, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.”

Twilight watched as the pony pulled out a fair number of items, most of which she recognized and in her head identified at the same time as the man spoke. “'ere we 'ave some magical gadgets that will keep yor coat shiny and new, one that will do the same for yor teeth. 'owever I figure yor lookin' for sumfink more along the bloomin' lines o' 'eavier study, in wich case I 'ave this book 'ere. For the bleedin' life o' me I can't figure it out as magical education is a bit beyond me.” He told her before tapping his hornless head.

However Twilight didn’t hear him, instead focusing her whole attention upon the book before her. ‘What is this? It looks like a spell book of a unicorn, a personal research journal?’

“Go ahead and 'ave a 'ave a look, but only the bloomin' first couple o' pages, right, anymore and I will 'ave ter charge yer.” The man told her smiling gently.

Twilight was reading slowly and came to realize that a lot of the formulas being presented were both extraordinarily advanced but at the same time inferior in many ways to what was currently available, but these were clearly just experiments. Each page went into detail about how the one described in the book, one Misty Move, was a unicorn studying advanced teleportation and that this journal was her records.

However before she could read anymore the book was taken from her. “Hey I wasn’t done yet!”

“Sorry girl, but as I said, right, read any more and yer will buy it. Can't 'ave yer readin' me product for free after all. Tell yer wot, if yer buy the bloomin' book now, right, I will include this wiv it! Its sumfink the bloody author used ter cop the bleedin' coordinates o' object's origin. I can't make 'eads or tails o' it though so its pretty useless ter me and none seem interested in buyin' it.”

Twilight was conflicted, she really wanted to continue reading the book, it was so interesting, even if likely nothing would come of it and she would likely find the experiment ending in failure…then again. “Fine.”

She could tell the stallion was grinning behind his mask. “Alright so, whaddaya buyin’?”

Overall the event went on like normal, Rarity was surprised by the girls and Dustan as she then made an excuse about why she was dressed up for a party she was going to attend claiming that it was for her cat Opal’s sake. Dustan knew it was all a lie but didn’t call her out on it. The human figured this was one of those lessons that were better off learned on its own along with the fact that he actually just had no clue how to handle it in a good way that would end in the same results. So he ignored the looks and fidgety nature that the designer had shown the entire night as well as her moments where she snuck away.

In fact he knew Rarity knew that he caught leaving as she had been caught by him several times coming back to which he merely asked a stupid question. “Huh, I hope cats can’t give ponies colds, if so you might want to get checked out if you have to go to the bathroom that much Rarity.” The purple maned pony just stammered out a weak reply that if it got worse she would do just that.

When it came time for both parties to interact Dustan made the excuse that he was feeling a bit tired and would sit down for a while and that they could go ahead. “Plus Nobles and I tend not to mix. I usually rub them the wrong way and don’t want to hurt Rarity’s chances of snagging up clients.”

“Are you sure? We don’t want you to be left out of the party.” Twilight asked him sounding a bit worried.

The class changing otherworld human just waved her off. “I am sure that I will join you girls again in a bit, I just want to take a moment rest and get my energy back up to partying levels.”

The girls all gave a nod as they went outside to join the other party from there. From the window of the ballroom Dustan was able to watch the entire rest of the episode go down, from Applejack’s interpretation of ‘Garden Party’ to Pinkie Pie doing unspeakable things to a cake, all the way to the disaster that was Twilight’s Dancing.

“That girl really needs to learn some dance moves.” Sipping on some punch he got from the bowl he continued to watch the episode resolve itself, or he would have at least if not for someone or rather somepony joining his self conversation.

“I do not know. I find the free inhibited movements of Twilight rather refreshing.” Turning to the source of the feminine voice the human would find the Alicorn of the Night there. “Expression of one’s self rather than the measured pace of practiced moves can show a lot about a pony’s sense of self.”

Curiosity struck him and as such a question came out before he could even think about what he said, not that he would have changed it if he thought. “So what does her dancing say to you?” Though at the moment she was no longer dancing, instead it was the confession part of the episode happening.

The dark blue Princess considered what she had seen for a moment before speaking. “She is a mare, that while conscious of a lot of things around her normally, cares not for what others think when she is with her friends and instead decides to be true to herself and enjoy herself and her company.” Luna looked to him at that moment as he was watching the Nobles of Canterlot all except the designer and her friends and started to have fun. “Which begs the question, why aren’t you out there with them?”

Dustan was so focused on the rather nice heartwarming scene of them all that he just told her his thoughts while he smiled at the scene. “There is a time and place for me Luna. This isn’t one of them.”

Tilting her head at the response, one that she wasn’t really expecting at all, she now was filled with more questions than before. “You make it sound as if an event were to occur and that your presence would have hindered it.”

Coming around to look at her now Dustan realized what it was he had been saying and gave a nervous cough as he cleared his throat. “Rarity seemed like she really wanted to get on the nobles good side, I had caught her going outside to mingle with them during the party but said nothing. She needs the publicity for her shop after all and nobles tend to be more…exclusive minded then other.”

“You mean to say most of them are bigots and seeing you as Rarity’s friend would cause her harm.” Luna hit the nail on the head so he nodded at that fact. “Well soon there is a good chance that many of their minds will be changed.” Raising his eyebrow at that, Dustan motioned for her to continue. “The date of the exhibition match has been decided, as well as who is going to participate on our side.”

“Oh?” Drinking the rest of his punch he crunched up the paper cup and tossed it from where he was into the trash bin across the way. “Yes, perfect shot! Anyways, may I get the details?”

“Absolutely.” The glow of her horn preceded a pop as a scroll appeared to be given to him. “That scroll has all the details, the date, our lineup, as well as the guests in attendance.”

Opening it up, he was rather surprised by the date. “Two weeks huh? That is doable for sure. As for your lineup, I kinda admit to knowing nothing about rankings so beyond a few like private versus captain I can’t really tell the difference and the only person I recognize is Shining Armor as one of your combatants.” Continuing to read along the lines of things he got to the guest list and was rather surprised. “Huh, I didn’t think the girl’s knew about the match but they have already RSVP’ed it seems, along with Twilight’s parents, a lot of nobles as I recognize quite a few of these from their brownnosing attempts. It also seems that this match will be watched also by some foreign dignitaries as well.”

Nodding to the last comment Luna gave a smile to him. “Since your guards and grounds include any race that wishes it as well as the fact that the reports of your Neutral Magic has been getting around, many are both excited to see some race other then unicorns use magic as well as what those trained by an unknown like yourself can achieve.”

“Not to mention they are scouting out both possible alliances as well as scooping out any rising powers to take note of in case they need to create countermeasures.” Judging by the exhausted look on Luna’s face that appeared only for a moment, he hit the nail on the head. “Luna, I knew the moment I appeared in Equestria that I was a target. Ponies were afraid of me from the start; you are all a skittish people after all. Combine with the pompous attitudes of the nobles I am surprised that no attempts have really been made against me. However I know from studies that Equestria is the leading world power at the moment so a new type of magic coming into play to add to your power in the form of a new noble serving the crown is going to make others take note and pay attention.”

Bowing her head suddenly, which caught him off guard, the Princess spoke with a voice where he could feel the sincerity coming off it. “Know it was not mine or my sisters intention to cause that kind of attention to you. Our hopes were to promote your type of magic and help to create a more balanced perception of both your status as a noble and of yourself in general to the populace.”

Reaching out he gave a pat to her head and would then pull her head up by her chin so that she wasn’t bowing anymore. “Luna, I am a pretty easy going guy. Least I like to think of myself that way. Unless you specifically do something against me, are an asshole or the like, I really don’t care about most other people. Will I go out of my way to help people I don’t know? Sure. However that doesn’t mean I am invested one hundred percent into those people. Those that I care about I make sure know it and those are the ones whose opinions matter. Meaning even if they royally fuck up, no pun intended, I know that they didn’t do it on purpose and it can be overlooked. Just like this time.” Leaning back in his chair he looked out the window again to see Twilight opening various presents from her friends when she got to his and was reading his card. “You meant good and it will likely do as you say, but it also has unintended side effects which you didn’t mean. I can’t blame you for them nor can I blame you for what others do.”

He gave a large grin as Twilight opened the box after tearing off the wrapping paper and held up the Diamond Bracelet. It had taken him a while and many failed attempts that resulted in failures but he managed to replicate an item from the game. He signed the card with ‘I have made something from my culture, I am not sure if it will affect ponies, especially a unicorn such as yourself, but this bracelet helps to reinforce ones strength both physically and magically to make it stronger. Again I am not sure if this will work for you, but regardless figured it would make a great gift since I had to craft it myself. Happy birthday Twilight.’

Twilight was currently showing off the item to the others with Rarity in particular gushing over it. ‘I am really glad I took the time to look up some unicorn customs, I almost made it a horn accessory instead, which would have been the same as me proposing to her.’ Looking back to Luna he stood up and stretched. “I think that is about all for me sitting here Luna. I think I am going to go join them now since it seems like most of the nobles out there are plenty happy to go with things and accept new ideas. As for the date, know that me and my team will be ready. Also know that I will be leading my team and will be participating.”

“Of course, that is what we were suspecting from the start.” Though he was walking away, Dustan could feel the grin on the Lunar Alicorn’s face. She was really looking forward to things it seemed.

Author's Notes:

So getting into Crafting are we? Wonder what else he will make.

Pinkie Pie: But don't you already know what he is going to make?

Maybe, maybe not. who knows. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

Um but what about the fact that The Merchant showed up?

Pinkie, I don't give spoilers. Well...I try not to.