(Ponyville)
(Carousel Boutique: 6 days later)

“I can’t believe we get to go stop a... Mantispider? From getting to a town.” Nouka exclaimed as he stood in place with pins through his sleeves.

“All I know is that I’m gonna taste it... the mantis part at least. Should just be some claws and legs so this’ll be easy.” Kotetsu said with confidence and notable hunger

“So you guys are coming back for the Gala right? Because I had a plan that really needed you two to be there.” Zeko asked his friends, who much like him, were being measured by Rarity so she could make formal attire for them.

“No, I’m just letting her measure me because I have my own shit to wear and I just wanna waste her time.” Rarity huffed and resumed measuring Zeko who only rolled his eyes at Kotetsu’s behavior. “Yes we’re coming to this thing, if we didn’t then there wouldn’t be rich people getting beat down.”

“I would hope you boys didn’t intend on doing something so barbaric at the Gala, after all I’ve got my heart set on meeting Prince BlueBlood.” Kotetsu and Zeko could have sworn that Rarity had hearts in her eyes from saying that name, which awakened a vivid memory for Zeko

“Did... Did you say Prince BlueBlood?”

===
(Flashback)
(Last Month)

Zeko was in Canterlot again just for the sake of learning about the Princess on his own time, and as he talked nobles were ogling him for his lack of formality to their Princess. “So you ever just go and traverse all of your kingdom? Just go and walk around, meet new people?”

“You mean new ponies?” Celestia corrected

“You look like humans for the most part so I’ll call you pony-people... doesn’t sound much better, but yeah you have to have some kind of magic that can disguise what you look like so it’s not completely impossible.” The two were walking around the lower land of the Castle which was where nobility started to reside which allowed them to come into contact with a snow colored stallion

“Auntie! I’ve been looking all over for- Oh, is this a new guard?” The stallion asked

“No I’m not, Name’s Zeko and do I want to know who you are?”

“I am Prince Blueblood.” Blueblood extended a hand to Zeko who looked perplexed. “You’re supposed to kiss my hand in respect.”

“I don’t kiss anything if I don’t know where it’s been, and I’m not gonna suck up to anyone, Prince or Princess.” Zeko said sternly to Blueblood’s shock

“Aunty is this true? Does this child give no respect to royalty?”

“He’s being honest. When I first met him he refused to bow in front of Luna and I.”

“Well then... it seems that we have...” Blueblood stopped speaking, further raising anticipation for those watching. They’d believed that due to what they’ve experienced from the spoiled Prince, he’d berate Zeko for his actions but never thought they’d see what happened in their lifetimes,”Somepony who can stand up to Royalty! All my life I’ve been spoiled by the upper class here and I was so bored by their behavior: ‘Allow me my Prince!’ Or ‘I can pay my Prince!’ And even ‘Please take my wife, she knows how to handle a-‘“

“Ok didn’t need that mental image! So what you’re like that Fancy Pants guy I met? That reminds me, Celestia how did Photo Finish figure out where I live? And who’s actually getting the bits to my house?” Zeko asked which confused both Celestia and Blueblood

“I’m not sure. From what I’ve heard she’s a very eccentric mare and with her things just happen.” Celestia attempted to answer which made Blueblood clear his throat

“Well that’s interesting but... Zeko was it? I’d like to have a chat with you, now if possible.” Zeko looked bored at the request but decided to entertain himself with his next line

“Yeah sure I’ll just blow off the time I came to spend with the Princess and start walking with you!” Every noble in earshot Shot a glare at both Zeko and Blueblood, to their amusement while Celestia stifled a chuckle and went back to the castle. Zeko and Blueblood walked together for about an hour and exchanged stories of foreign events and different adventures including how Zeko acquired Samehada which surprised the Prince at the very graphic climax but nonetheless the two got along fairly well during the walk and were prepared to get something to eat at a very high class restaurant but were interrupted by a mare stopping them at the door

“Oh Prince Blueblood! I never would have expected you to come to a place such as this to eat.” She was wearing a low cut dress which alerted the two males that she was trying to gain attention but Zeko didn’t acknowledge it. “Well you’re here and I insist that we eat together.”

“Yes, Gleaning Gem, we should.” Blueblood walked next to her and looked at the door expectantly. “It’s only right that one hold the door open.” He gestured his hand to it prompting Gem to pout and open the door allowing Blueblood in and her following suit leaving Zeko alone

“Wait what just happened?” Zeko opened went inside and caught up to the two who’d already gotten a table.

“Oh is your servant going to take our coats?” Gem looked at Zeko who raised an eyebrow at her question

“No he’ll be dining with us.” Gem looked surprised at the statement but didn’t pry. The group ordered a three course meal and at multiple points Blueblood had been incredibly rude; having Gem pull out his chair, feed him, and even tried to make her pay to which she stormed off angrily. “And that’s the end of that.”

“I really want to know why that just happened.” Zeko asked with sheer curiosity, going so far as to pull out a notepad and pencil

“Well I didn’t tell you this before but I’m the most eligible bachelor in Canterlot and I attract the attention of many mares.”

“I get that, my parents tried to do something similar with me and at every turn I... threw them off completely.” Zeko realized what Blueblood was saying and smiled at the realization

“That’s the point, these mares only see that I’m wealthy, royalty, and incredibly handsome.” Blueblood said with some smugness

“Handsome is kinda pushing it-“

“And to counter this I just act as impolite and demanding as ponanely possible so that only one who loves me for me wouldn’t be deterred.”

“That’s an amazing idea but what if a mare wants your status so bad she uses a love potion on you? Or she just toughs out the treatment?”

“Auntie Celestia and Luna know about the plan so they would help me should that happen.”

“As nice as this was I gotta go, this girl Diamond handles missions for anyone who goes missing and I have to turn mine in to progress so I’ll see you some other time.” With that Zeko stood and walked out of the restaurant leaving Blueblood to finish his meal

===
(Current time)
(A few hours later)

“This is really soft grass, never thought I could just relax here.” Zeko was laid down on the ground near Fluttershy’s cottage with Celona approaching, clad in her leather armor with her bow, and she didn’t seem happy

“Hey Zeko, how have you been? Enjoying that grass? You look pretty comfortable.” Zeko adjusted his eyes to look over to Celona

“Oh hey Celona, when’d you get here?” Zeko asked in a relaxed manner

“Just now actually. You wanna know what I did before I was here?”

“I feel like no matter what I answer you’re gonna te-“

“I WAS FIGHTING A MANTISPIDER! You shoulda been there, I’d say it was amazing if it wasn’t trying to kill us by throwing webs and spitting acid.”

“Wait, since when do spiders spit acid? And shouldn’t there have been claws if it was part Mantis?”

“Oh it had claws but they were coated with venom!” Celona exclaimed

“Ok maybe I should’ve been there but at least Nouka and Kotetsu killed it before anything bad happened.” Zeko said with closed eyes to Celona’s irritation

“Actually they showed up after two stallions sacrificed their arms to buy time for everypony else.” She pointed out with a twitching eye. Zeko didn’t respond to Celona’s surprise and he laid there breathing almost silently as the winds swirled the grass. “Alright why are you so uncaring about this? Any other time you would be mad that you didn’t get to take part in something fun but now you’re just calm.”

“Well I couldn’t find Zecora so I decided to be an apothecarian myself and drink some herbs I mixed together, they weren’t poisonous but now everything is just really nice.” Celona’s eyes widened once she realized that her romantic interest was practically in a different world from whatever he’d ingested and decided to wait out whatever happened to him by sitting at his side

“When this passes I’m going to yell at you. That’s a fair warning, so don’t complain.”

“I’m glad you decided to relax and watch the stars with me.” Zeko responded with the same level of attention, which wasn’t much to begin with.

“It’s the middle of the day, the stars aren’t out until night.”

“That’s only if you’re perceiving with your eyes instead of your mind. You need to look beyond what you think you see...” Zeko’s words made Celona resign to laying back and looking at the sky where she almost could’ve sworn she saw a strange light but regarded it as a high flying creature

==============================

The two rested on the grass for a few hours and managed to drift off into sleep. As the day passed others who’d seen them made remarks on the taboo nature of the two being together but weren’t acknowledged by them. “Zeko get up!” A kick to the side woke Zeko up harshly, and broke the last of his drugged state. His anger at being awakened in a violent way was magnified by this and lead him to punch Kotetsu in the stomach. “Urk! Geez you’re acting like I killed your pet snake!”

“You know I don’t like to be woken up when I’m sleeping. What do you want anyway?”

“Celona asked me to kick you when I saw you and in exchange she’d make dinner tonight.” Kotetsu answered without any care for his cousin’s health

“Speaking of which, how long are you guys staying here? It’s been a week since you showed up and you even started helping the Golden Blade.” This statement earned a strike from Kotetsu which put Zeko on his knees

“That’s for making us fight a Mantispider on our own. It was cool if it wasn’t trying to eat us, there was acid and webs flying every-“

“Celona told me...” Zeko was straining to speak and only made Kotetsu snicker. “I’m sorry ok? I forgot the mission was today...at least the town was ok.” Kotetsu and Celona shrugged at the statement since no lives were lost in the event. The trio decided to get up and walk into the town where they saw that no Ponies were out, after activating his Rinnegan Zeko saw that they were all in Sugarcube Corner. “Let’s go to SC, and get this over with.” He led to two into the dark building and were met by a

“SURPRISE!” The ponies and Nouka were immediately brought from their jovial state by Kotetsu’s hand being wrapped in lightning, the effect was stopped when Zeko grabbed his hand and calmed his reflexes down

“We were waiting for you guys since this is technically our welcoming party!” Nouka ended his statement with a tiny explosion from a bee he made and only got looks of disbelief from his squad mates

“You know if it’s a surprise party...” Zeko began

“Especially if it’s for you and your friends...” Kotetsu added

“You shouldn’t be apart of it!” They said in unison to a smiling Nouka who rubbed the back of his head, unabashed by his irate friends

“Sorry but when Pinkie told me about how you had a welcoming party, I had to be part of it.” Nouka sheepishly elaborated

“Well we don’t mind one bit ya hear? Now I’m mighty curious about how strong ya are, Applebloom told me how you jumped all the way to the Forest from the town and I’d like to see somethin to prove it.” Applejack said, cider in one hand as Kotetsu started drinking one. “What the? You can’t drink that if yer just a kid.”

“I’m not drinking this because it’s weak, did you just mix apple juice with a drop of alcohol?” Everypony gasped and looked at Kotetsu

“Now hold on a minute, you think yer such hard drinkers than why don’t ya take me and my brother on in a contest, you too Zeko since y’all got stronger stuff in yer world. Big Mac, get the hardest cider we got!” A hulking red stallion went into the back and came out with barrels of cider which somewhat intimidated Zeko and Kotetsu. Once they were set down they each grabbed a mug and the crowd started cheering

“So what are the rules? Not like it matters when we’re gonna win.” Kotetsu’s gloating visibly annoyed the farmponies and Zeko to a lesser extent

“I’m not a heavy drinker like you and your mom, I barely drink at all.” Zeko pointed out his shortcoming but was ignored by his cousin

“The rules are simple, we all take a drink at the same time and the last one standing wins fer their team.” Big Mac explained as he handed out the filled mugs

“If y’all are ready...” Zeko and Kotetsu raises their mugs. “Go!” Applejack and Big Mac downed their drinks and saw that the shinobi did the same

“Not as bad as I thought it would be, and I’m gonna assume Kotetsu would drink these like juice.” Zeko thought as the mugs were filled up again

“Ya might want ta give up while ya can, we Apple family ain’t known as lightweights.” They drank again and Kotetsu only shook his head

“Neither am I.” He responded. The crowd kept cheering and rounds progressed over the next half hour. In that thirty minutes Big Mac was unconscious and Zeko was noticeably drowsy while Kotetsu didn’t look dazed and Applejack was barely holding herself together. “Come on AJ, I thought you weren’t lightweights.” He downed another as did Zeko who decided to give up before he wound up causing property damage

“Yeah this was fun but if I keep going I’m going to pull of an almighty push in my sleep.” Zeko leaned back to watch his cousin dominate the competition

“Don’t think I *hic* can’t keep goin...” Applejack slurred as she feebly brought her mug up but dropped it to the floor and slumped onto the table

“That means we win!” Kotetsu filled his mug once more before looking at the crowd which only consisted of Celona, Nouka, Twilight and Pinkie Pie. “So we keeping that a secret? I wouldn’t want it out there either.”

“Let’s just go home... speaking of which when are you guys going back?” Zeko questioned as he tried not to stumble over his own feet

“Well that’s funny since we made it look like it takes a week to get here and we said that we were gonna stay to make sure you don’t ruin what your parents are building for you.” Kotetsu explained as they walked outside and towards the forest. After walking for ten minutes they reached the miniature desert and went into the makeshift house.

“Hey Zeko I’ve been meaning to ask, how did you make this place? I know a lot about art but technically I can’t create anything to last and I thought your sand couldn’t do stay in one shape for long?”

“I was curious too.” Celona gave her input as Kotetsu threw his shirt off and walked to the boy’s area

“I don’t care.”

“I hardened the sand to be tougher than stone, I could toss a rasen-shuriken at the wall and the place would just shake.” Zeko used a cloud of sand to levitate Celona to her and Mist’s room. “This was a short day really but I did spend most of it on mystery plants.” Zeko said to himself as a figure watched from the tree line and retreated as fast as it appeared

“So this is where the target lives, I think I can take him down solo.” A Griffin in a black bodysuit said before taking to the sky

=======

Author's Notes:

A bit shorter than the usual chapter but there was just filler so it didn’t seem like an issue. And yes there’s an obvious SAO abridged reference here

Like or dislike, comment on what you think and stay tuned, I love you all platonically