It was only natural that in the immediate aftermath of Fluttershy’s kidnapping, a lot changed very quickly.

The first and most obvious change, at least to the general public, was that Rainbow had taken it upon herself to spend just about every minute of every day near Fluttershy. While I personally would have probably found such behavior suffocating, Fluttershy said she found it cute and as long as she was happy with it, I saw no reason to complain either.

The second change and one that was hidden from most of the public was the fact that Luna had posted a number of her guards to Ponyville. Each of the Element Bearers and I had been assigned two each plus relief shifts. Thankfully those who had been selected for this duty were remarkably discreet. If you didn’t know they were there, it was very difficult to tell they were following you.

Honestly Fluttershy and I should have probably already had a guard or two, given we were dating Luna, but that ship had sailed. So we could only learn from the mistake and fix it moving forward.

Luna had interrogated the Changelings we had captured, but alas, none of them knew why Fluttershy had been targeted. Apparently the only one who knew anything about anything in the Cult was the Head Priests of each cell. They moved randomly across Equuis and met only at random times in random places as dictated by the prophetic visions of these Head Priests. It was an annoyingly effective way of making sure if one cell were to fall, the others could live on.

As far as why Fluttershy had been targeted, we could only think of three plausible reasons. The first was they wanted the blood of a virgin. If that was their goal, then there were many easier virgins to get access to that likely wouldn’t bring the wrath of Luna down upon them. Also Fluttershy wasn’t exactly the blushing virgin most people assumed her to be. While I personally had abstained, Luna and Fluttershy had gotten physical a few times that I knew of.

The next possibility was that they were after an Element Bearer and Fluttershy just happened to be the easiest to capture, given she lived at the edge of town with only her animals or they saw a chance and took it. This was the theory I was currently subscribing to.

The last of the possibilities we considered was that they had gone after her specifically because of her ties to Luna. Whether they intended to use her as bait, as revenge against Luna for some slight, or some other reason, we didn’t know. Luna favored this explanation as Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow were just as easy, if not arguably easier, to catch if they were simply seeking an Element Bearer.

With all these uncertainties in the air, I had taken it upon myself to redouble my training. While I had by no means been useless, I wasn’t satisfied with my performance during Fluttershy’s rescue either. The limits of my strength, endurance, skill, and techniques had all been made painfully clear to me. Martial arts wasn’t just about having fun, staying in shape, and maybe making some cash on the side anymore. It was about protecting my loved ones. If they decided they wanted to try again, I wanted to be ready.

So it was I had taken to adopting some of the training regiment Luna’s guards underwent. It was hard to get used to at first, but I was filled with determination to be better. It might not be today or tomorrow. It might be the Changeling cult or it might not be. But this world was a dangerous one and I might not always have the luxury of being able to rely on Luna and her guard.

That being said, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Given what had happened we had rescheduled our group date with Rainbow and I know I wasn’t the only one looking forward to it, given the aforementioned closeness between Rainbow and Fluttershy after the incident.

This would typically be the part where the protagonist blithely states something along the lines of ‘and I hope nothing goes wrong’ only for the next entry to have the date be ruined in some comical and/or horrendous way. Not me. I’m genre savvy, savvy?! You’re gonna get a nice retelling of a nice date with my lovely girlfriends and like it!

By the time you next hear from me, I'll have undergone my nasal surgery for my deviated septum. It's entirely possible I'll sleep through April, so if there's no chapter next month, nobody panic.

As for how this month has gone, aside from the usual insomnia problems which the aforementioned surgery will hopefully fix, I've been getting bloodwork and an EKG done to see that I was fit for said surgery.

I also completed the latest Deep Dungeon solo, Eureka Orthos, so I'm rather happy about that. With all 3 Deep Dungeons solo'd, I'm now free of their curse.

Other than that it's been a pretty slow month. The only other thing really of note is that I had some good fried chicken the other day for the first time in years and I was reminded why fried chicken is considered soul food. I was filled with a sense of contentment after eating it that I hadn't felt in quite a long time. Even still I feel it, a couple of days later.

Fried Chicken is good y'all.