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Can't Be Too Happy

by iamcreativekitty


Chapters


Chapter 1

Abohaty's P.O.V

"Thank you so much Glitz for all your help this week. Like seriously, I appreciate it!!" I thanked him for the fifth time today as we walked down the halls. I was walking him to the exit of my castle.

"It's really not a problem princess. After all, it's my job," replied Glitz taking off his helmet. His green hair spiked right up. I wonder how much gel he uses a day.

"And you know you can call me by my actual name, right? I told you that like a thousand times!!" He laughed.

"Well...ever since I became your royal guard, I've gotten so used to calling you princess, ya know? Because I don't think it will be professional for my job. Shoot, I still call you princess outside of working." We shared a burst of laughter.

And just like that, we were already at the end of the halls. I frowned a bit. It was finally time for his two-week vacation and I was totally not prepared for that.

Glitz, my royal guard for almost four complete years. We started as friends to besties very quickly. We met in Canterlot. I used to live there before all of the big things happened. He still lives there. Canterlot isn't very far from my castle. I live in a small town called Springfields. It's pretty beautiful here. It still was very upsetting to move away from my best friend though. But eventually, he decided to apply to be one of the guards in my castle so our friendship with each other wouldn't fall apart. I eventually saw a lot more from him and what he can do, so I decided to promote him in being my special royal guard. And I can promise you it was not because we're already friends. That would be unfair to the other guards who work here. I saw strength in him, effort, and kindness. He's more of a hard worker too who does extra tasks for me when he has nothing to do or when he's on break.

"Well um...I guess this is it..." I muttered looking out the castle doors. "I wish I could walk you to the train this time but Nom Nom needs me right after this so...sorry."

"Abohaty you know that's okay." My eyes brightened.

"Finally!! You used my name!!" Glitz chuckled a little before pulling me into a hug. It didn't last long but it was still a great hug. He looked at the watch on his hoof after pulling apart from her.

"Welp, my train is coming shortly. I better get going." He ruffled my hair.

"Hey!!" I yelped as he started running off.

"See ya, princess!! Tell Arctic I said bye, I didn't see him in security yet today." Abohaty nodded.

Arctic and Glitz became friends due to their jobs here. Usually, they'd chat with each other when they both were on break since they had the same time. She would remember to tell Arctic later because if he wasn't in the security room when Glitz looked for him, he probably isn't there now.

* * *

"Princess, what in the world took you so long?!" Nom Nom asked when I entered the main room. A few other guards were there. They were giving each other looks and reading the room before they slowly crept out the door. I gulped. I kinda was walking slow to have more chat time with Glitz and teleported back hoping that would work but I failed...again.

Nom Nom was my guide. She was a flying cat with a diamond on her head where her powers come from. Never questioned that because I found it so cool that I have a cat rather than a lame pony walk me through stuff I don't care about. But the only problem is Nom Nom is pretty strict and plays zero games when I play a thousand. That's just me though. I'm rebellious. But that doesn't look good for me whatsoever according to her. And I guess she has a point. If I'm becoming queen soon, then I need to act my age and stop fooling around. Of course, I know when it's time to get serious. I'm not that much of a rebel. "Abohaty!!" Nom Nom yelled. "If you are going to be queen, learn how to pay attention and show that you are interested. Isn't that what your cutie mark is for, Princess of Happiness?"

"To be happy about rules? That sounds fun." I said apathetically. Nom Nom facepalmed herself with her tiny paw.

"Look, all I want you to know is that we're having an important meeting in the conference room tonight in an hour. And then first thing tomorrow morning, I'm teaching you new spells that will come in handy for big attacks. Clear?" I nodded looking at everything but her. "So go, go, go. Get ready." I sighed, turning around and heading out the door.

Glitz's P.O.V

When I got off at my stop, I was now at Canterlot. If being honest, I always wanted to move to Ponyville or Springfields where Abohaty lives. Canterlot is a bit expensive yet I have the money anyways so I don't see any reason to move. I just only wanted to move somewhere less busy.

When I arrived home, my brother's younger Grammar was already sitting in the living room playing video games with three empty bags of potato chips on the floor. I groaned.

"Hey big bro!!" he yelled. He didn't even look at me because his eyes were too glued to the TV to even look up. I was used to it though.

"Hey Grams," I greeted throwing my armor on the couch and sitting down beside it.

"So how was work?" he questioned rapidly hitting on the game buttons.

"All good. Abohaty paid me double the amount today because I helped her out more than I needed to. And now I'm on a two-week vacation" I told him.

"Ew, I'm stuck with you for two weeks. That's crazy..." he mumbled. I rolled my eyes. "I'm just kidding bro, I love you."

"Eh...I love you too I guess."

"But she paid you double and you already have a good payment?! You lucky lucky bro."

"Yea..." I said. "But sometimes I feel like I actually don't do anything special and she still gives me so much attention. Even before I became her royal guard."

"Well duh, you're her bestie."

"Dude, that's like saying if a filly went to the same school as her mother she would be treated very differently."

"No shit."

"But you understand what I'm saying right? Like I appreciate the double payment she gave to me today but it was unnecessary..."

"Dude, be real for a second," Grammar told me, still playing his game. " Do you really think Abohaty gives a fuck about doubling ponies' bits? To her, that's giving away a coin bro. She's rich rich. She could pay you ten times your original payment and could care less. So dear Celestia, I pray that you didn't deny those bits. Never deny free or extra bits. Never question nor hesitate. Just take it and go on about your day."

Grammar kept babbling on and on and shortly my listening trailed off. I was now messaging Abohaty that I was home and safe. She hasn't responded yet, but I can wait. She is a busy mare after all.


Author's Note

Chapter 2

Abohaty's P.O.V

Flashback

I woke up to hearing loud noises and glass breaking. I immediately got out of bed and dragged my teddy bear with me to my parent's room which was down the other end of the hall. As I was getting closer to their bedroom, I heard my mother's scream which was cut off in an instant when I heard a loud crash. I picked up my walking pace and got nervous as I saw dead guards lying on the floor in their blood as I approached closer to the room. It was dark so thankfully I didn't see much. But my eyes were not prepared for what they were gonna see next. I entered the doorway of my parent's room and saw them lying on the floor motionless. My mother's crown was gone and so was the attacker. I ran over to them and fell onto the floor, My teddy bear fell along with me in their cold blood. Around me were dead guards in the room. The pony who attacked must've been pretty powerful. My parents were sleeping or had just woken up the moment before they were killed.

I heard hoof steps approaching in the hallway. It was already too late. Everypony was already dead and the other half of the guards came late. Six guards were crowded up in the doorway, shocked at what they were seeing. One of them slowly walked over to me.

"Princess...are you okay?" he asked calmly. But I didn't say anything. I just sat there and watched my mother and father lie in their cold blood.

* * *

I just don't understand how this pony could easily just come and kill my parents and all of those other guards with ease. The murderer had to be very strong. All I know was that her name was Queen Amirah. We haven't had any enemies for a while. I'm supposing it's much easier to murder the royals here since the other royals in Equestria are way more powerful, stronger, and not easy to get to. Ponies rarely know us here since it's just such a small town.

It took me a long time to get over that trauma years ago. I had to move to Canterlot right afterward to keep me protected if anything else happened. As I was in Canterlot, the high commission, guards, and Nom Nom all had a meeting together to improve security and defense for the most part. I was only eight years old, I couldn't take over the kingdom just yet. I was my mother's only filly at the time. This was the only traumatic experience I've ever come across in my entire life. At some point in my life, I decided that I was gonna somehow forget about everything. And to do that, I had to be happy, kind, and nice, because that was what always helped me. That's how I got my cutie mark. A paperclip in between two small flowers. But it wasn't just a paper clip. This paper clip had a big smiley flower at the top of it to represent my passion for happiness.

After a few years, I finally went back home when I was fifteen. I am currently seventeen at the moment. Next year, I'll be a fully grown mare. I'm kinda nervous about it though because I'm scared that I'll...change.

My mother was pretty nice. She wasn't as strict but she kinda was if that makes sense. Now I have Nom Nom, who is the cutest thing alive but is a living hell. Nom Nom was always strict, but never this strict. I guess she changed this way because of what happened to my parents. She was devastated.

Nom Nom is every princess and queen's guidance. She normally just helps with teaching new spells, but this time, Nom Nom is now in charge of teaching everything that my mother was supposed to teach to me. But she's dead and can't do that. And the worst part? Nom Nom seems to have no interest in me whatsoever. I don't know if it's because she's just too busy to create some bond with me. After all, her job is to teach me everything now or she just straight up hates me because I'm a little different from the past princesses and queens. I'm not supposed to be rebellious and nice or act like a kid. Everypony thinks it's because my parents died and they weren't able to teach me to be mature. But no, that's not it at all. I'd probably still act the same way if they were here. I don't like this whole becoming and princess and transforming into some queen. It sounds ridiculously stupid and boring. I just wanna be a normal pony like everypony else. I'm not trying to sound ungrateful on anything, I just wish all the pressure wasn't on me to be this perfect pony and rule a kingdom.

I hugged my pillow tightly. I was laying in my bed until I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in..." I groaned. Nom Nom entered.

"Princess, I know it's pretty early but I wanna get this practice with spells over with so I can leave you alone for the rest of the day."

"Nah, I don't feel like it." Nom Nom facepalmed herself.

"That wasn't a question."

* * *

"STORM SHOWER!!" I yelled blasting a huge gray cloud above Nom Nom's head with my horn. She instantly made it disappear with the power of the teal gem on her paw.

"You can do better than that-" she struck magic towards my way.

"WINDY WINDSHIELD!!" I hollered making Nom Nom's spell blow right back at her like a boomerang. Of course, she disappeared in time. "Not fair!" I yelled. Nom Nom rolled her eyes as she reappeared.

"Too bad your weakness is showing." I gasped.

"BLOSSOM TRAP!!" A ton of flowers circled the flying cat and tangled around each other trapping Nom Nom inside. I smiled. "Haha!! I did i-

And before I knew it the flowers and vines exploded leaving the flying cat in the airbrushing her paws off.

"Weak," she stated again. I frowned as she came forward to meet my eye level. Look, princess. This is bad. Really bad. You're not even close to being as strong as me. For your age, that's concerning. I'm gonna keep repeating myself until this gets into your head. "You are soon to be queen. Act like it. I'm only calling you weak to push you further. Because you're a little difficult to work with."

I was shocked by the cat's harsh words. That isn't even how you correctly train somepony. I get that she got put on a lot of pressure by being the only one left to teach me things I need to know, but that isn't an excuse to treat me like this! I'm actually trying.

"How are you gonna come at me for being weak by losing to you, but fail tremendously when saving my parents from Queen Amirah? You didn't even try! Why? Because you were gone!!" I yelled. Nom Nom was taken aback.

"Gone? Abohaty you don't even know the full story-"

"Then tell me!!" I yelled. "Tell me the full story!! I've been dying to hear this part!! The only thing I know is that Queen Amirah broke in somehow, killed half of the freaking guards, including my parents, and stole the crown. But what doesn't make sense to me, is that the high commission was gone, you were gone, and no one was aware that our enemy broke in. And you were in my parent's room!! Did you just...leave?!"

"Oh my goodness Abohaty!! The high commission passed out the floor below your parent's room because of this gas that was being spread around-"

"And you're calling me weak? I'm concerned that you can get rid of them that quickly." I said folding my hooves. "Or are they just as weak as me?"

"Abohaty!! Queen Amirah grew stronger with new powers. We weren't prepared and we thought she was dead!! And me? Where did I go? I left!! I had no choice. If I didn't, I would've been killed. And I am very important to the royals, therefore, I had to protect myself because I didn't know if the high commission was dead or alive at that point! And luckily Queen Amirah was only looking for the crown so the high commission was left alive!!" she shouted. "Any more questions your highness?!" Nom Nom seemed furious up to this point so I just stopped talking and looked away. This may just be the first time I've ever fought with Nom Nom. Sure, I've gotten furious at her a few times, but I never actually spoke my mind. "That's what I thought." She teleported to the spell book and closed it. We made slight eye contact when she looked back. Then she disappeared.

I guess the lesson was over.

Maybe it was just me being the selfish one. I keep saying think about how I'd feel in this situation, but what about Nom Nom? She was very close to my parents too. And what she just told me made a lot of sense. She couldn't risk staying because if Nom Nom had died along with my parents that night, ponies here wouldn't know what to do with me or how to prepare without anyone's help but the high commission. But then again, they could've died too. But I still wish she would think about me. My parents died, so I'm rushed and forced to learn new powers on a daily, and already, I'm being put under so much pressure. It just feels like they're pressurizing me more than teaching me what I need to know.


Author's Note

yikes...

Chapter 3

Abohaty's P.O.V

I had gotten on Nom Nom's nerves so badly that she didn't even mind me going out. It's about time, to be honest. The older I got, the less time I got to spend with my friends. As much as I wanted to see Glitz, I'm not going to because we see each other every day and he's on vacation right now. Which means he should be away from me. So I decided I was gonna visit my friends I haven't seen in almost a year. One of them, Bookworm, texted me they all traveled to Ponyville to see Twilight and her. Bookworm is Twilight's daughter. The only pony who lives in Ponyville with Bookworm is Kelsey. Pinkie's daughter. Written Script. Celia and Bella lived in Springfields with me. Kat is the only one who lives in Canterlot. But currently, they're all in Ponyville. I decided to visit Written Script first because Bookworm told me she was still home.

I knocked on her door. It took a while for an answer. Written Script opened the door panting.

"Uh...you good girlie?" She pulled me right inside and slammed the door shut. "So why aren't you with the others right now?" I asked looking around noticing how her writing station was completely set up meaning she's probably not leaving anytime soon.

"Abohaty!! Hi!! Um-" she was out of breath. Like really out of breath.

"Woah girl, slow down..."

"IjustsawGabe." I raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"GABE WALKED BY WITH GLITZ AND GRAMMAR EATING ICE CREAM." Glitz is suddenly here at the same time that I'm here? That's cool too.

Written Script has had a massive crush on Gabe for years and never grew the balls to ask him out. Everypony knows Written Script's little crush because she made it so obvious. I think they'd be cute if being honest. She just needs to talk to him and not be some creep who stalks and watches him all of the time.

"Yeah, know. You should ask him out sometime. I'm sure he'll say yes. Gabe is nice from all I know," I advised.

"I know, but...it's so...hard."

"I understand, trust me. But you gotta be brave," I said patting her on the back. "Was that just now you saw him?"

"Yeah...out the window."

"Let's go say hi!!" I suggested. Written Script's eyes widened.

"No thanks."

I teleported the both of us outside. Written Script sighed in defeat.

"So which way did they go?" I asked. She shrugged. We both flew in the air. It didn't take long for us to hear Grammar yelling our names.

"HI PRINCESS ABOHATY!! HI WRITTEN SCRIPT!!" he yelled. Glitz and Gabe slowly turned around confused, looked up, and waved.

I waved back with the same energy. Written Script looked embarrassed.

"Smile and wave...just smile and wave..." she said through her teeth. I took her hoof and dragged her down with me then landed on all four hooves right in front of the three stallions.

"You didn't tell me you weren't busy and decided to come to Ponyville," Glitz said directly at me.

"Well surprise, I'm here!!" I squealed. He smiled.

"Yo Written Script, are you okay?! You haven't said a word since you landed and you look petrified." Grammar pointed out. I laughed a little. This is why I loved Grammar. He was always so honest and blunt. Although it mainly seems like he plays video games on a daily, he's still brutally honest. Written Script shook herself back into her senses.

"Yeah, I-I'm okay. I'm fine. it's just...I didn't expect to be pulled out of the house and dragged outside after Abohaty's unexpected arrival." she said, staring at me in agony.

"I'm mean, this is Princess Abohaty we're talking about," Gabe replied. "She's always like that. Nothing new."

"Anyways, where are you guys going next? We got nothing to do so..." Glitz queried.

"See, Written Script's lazy self doesn't want to go anywhere. I wanted to see my other friends I haven't seen in a while because I heard they were here." Glitz looked at his friends.

"Y'all in for that?" he asked.

"Yeah!!" Grammar chimed in.

"Mmm," responded Gabe.

* * *

"It's a delight to see you all here today!!" Twilight said carrying ten filled tea cups with her magic and placing them on the table for us to drink.

"Thank you, mom!!" Bookworm said looking up from her book.

"Anytime." Twilight glanced over at me. "Hi, Princess Abohaty...long time no see." She walked over to me. "How's everything going?" she questioned.

"Everything is...fine."

"Unexpected visit again?" I nodded my head. I didn't appreciate her sarcastic tone. She then smiled and walked away into another room. I looked over at Glitz next to me.

"Talking to other princesses is weird," I told him.

"I mean, it's good for you!" he responded.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." I muttered stirring my tea.

"You...okay?" he asked. My ears perked up and I smiled at him.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" He gave me an uncertain look but seemed convinced enough that I was okay.


Author's Note

Can I clear something up really quick?

This book was written on paper with 3 parts too it YEARS ago. That's why some of the names are kinda corny or realistic. I was a kid when i wrote this book and I so badly wanted to remake it, but better. These names and designs of the ponies weren't created by me though. The only ones that I created were Glitz, Grammar, Kelsey, Queen Amirah and Gabe. Everypony else, my friends created and eventually I got a hold of their characters. I really didn't want to change names because they bring back memories. :D

Thank you for understanding!! Much love <3

Chapter 4

Abohaty's P.O.V

I thought it was amazing spending more time with my friends that I haven't seen in such a while. It seemed like everypony was getting into good things.

Celia had gotten a job to farm at Applejack's. Kat just got a mini job of interviewing ponies about problems in Canterlot. Bella built herself a new house in the forest at Springfields. Written Script's books are becoming noticed. Gabe has been receiving multiple scholarships to help him pay for college at Canterlot and I'm still the same, being a princess and doing princess duties.

I'm back at home now. Nothing happened while I was gone. But when I was walking to get something to eat from the kitchen, Nom Nom stopped me.

"Alright, princess. Sit down," she ordered. I sat down and glared at her.

"What kind of lecture are you giving me this time?" I asked, folding my hooves.

"We found you a coltfriend." I gave her that are you crazy look.

"Huh?"

"You need a prince Abohaty. Every queen needs a king. And you don't seem to be interested in anyone so...Nom Nom found you a coltfriend." The stallion appeared when Nom Nom used her magic to teleport him here. Not gonna lie, he was sorta cute but didn't seem my type.

He had silky grey and black hair in the back, a yellow mane, and bright brown eyes with a cutie mark of a...I don't know what it is, but it was weird. "Meet Lewis...tried my best to pick one." I blinked.

This is unexpected.

* * *

We held hooves while walking to a nearby park. This was...really awkward and random and I was so not prepared for this. But Lewis was a pretty nice guy. We talked on the way here and he still didn't seem to be my type. But it's not like I had a choice. We both signed a contract with the rules of our relationship and all of that stuff.

"Since you were hungry, um...we can have a picnic out here I guess?" I put on a fake smile.

I wanted to eat alone.

"That's...very...sweet of you Lewis..." I told him. He kissed my cheek. I blushed a bit. This was kinda weird since I've never been kissed nor have I been in a relationship, but I am forced to get used to it.

He laid out a picnic mat on the ground and set everything up. Candles, food, drinks, snacks...Then he sat down and patted the spot next to him.

"Why don't you get comfy?" I laughed nervously.

"Oh, um...sure." I sat down beside him. But not too close. He still scooted closer to me anyways. I wanted to groan, but that was rude. He picked up a sandwich.

"So...am I your first coltfriend?" he asked. I nodded slightly. "Perfect!! That means I'll be your first kiss!!" He leaned forward and I leaned back, gently pushing him away. He looked confused.

"Um...I'm not...ready..." I choked out embarrassingly looking away. "Like...I kinda just...met you..."

"Oh...fine I guess." He turned away and continued biting into his sandwich. "Thought your job was to keep ponies happy. what happened to that, huh?" I felt taken aback.

"Yeah, that's my job, but...not in that way. I'm not even a romantic pony..." I looked down at all the food out for display.

"You gonna eat something?" he asked rudely. Why did I think this stallion was nice? The moment I do something different than what he expects, he's nasty and rude to me. How did Nom Nom pick him? Based on his appearance? Because that's the only thing I found nice about him.

I stood on all four hooves and Lewis was confused.

"Look, I'm leaving." I teleported away before I even saw his reaction. Nom Nom was waiting for me in the halls.

"So how was it?" she asked flying around me.

"Horrible."

"Oh..."

"It was like the whole time he was controlling like he suddenly owns me or something. Plus, aren't I supposed to be the controlling one anyways since I'm becoming a queen soon?" Nom Nom dodged my question.

"Well, looks like I'll have to find another one." I shook my head.

"Wait! Why are you choosing for me?! Isn't that my job?"

"Princess, do you know how arranged marriages work?" she asked. My eyes widened.

"Huh? What? Of course, I do!! But how come no one informed me about that-"

"They're usually a surprise," said Nom Nom, rolling her eyes. "Unless you already have your eyes on somepony, then I'll back off. But whoever this pony is, you gotta hurry up. Plus, the Canterlot Gala is coming shortly. You want somepony to dance with correct?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, you're confusing me. No one informed me about this Gala either-"

"It happens every year. You don't wanna miss it."

"Then why didn't I go last year?"

"Well you were invited every year we just finally decided to bring you since you're less reckless this year." I gasped in shock. "And that will be one of the times where you don't have to have guards following you every second of the way. I'm sure your friends and your royal guard Glitz are going. It's just that he will be off duty. Just know that he's there if you need him."

"I'm still confused though," I told her. "Why doesn't any of the other princesses have princes besides Princess Cadence if they're so...' important'.

"Princess Cadence is the princess of love, obviously she's gonna have a-"

"Yeah, but I'm the princess of happiness, hello?"

"Well here's the difference Princess. You're gonna be a queen, they are not."

"H-How does that make a difference?! Queens don't need kings either-"

"Well as a queen here, you're gonna have to be able to reproduce at some point to keep the generation of queens going your Highness."

"I still don't understand why I need to attend the gala with some random stallion I probably won't know much about and he ends up being a dick and embarrassing me in front of my friends."

"Because you already have a pretty bad reputation now." I looked around. "Having a fiancée would make you look better.

"Excuse me?!" I yelled. "What does that have anything to do wi-"

"You heard me. First, it's the not attending the Gala for the past five years..."

"Ma'am, that was your fault-"

"No, yours. You were very reckless back then." No wonder Twilight was talking to me like that earlier. I hardly have seen the princesses. "And lastly you have been too busy lately to hang out with other ponies and the princesses. And that suggests that you have so much to catch up on making you look weak."

"Well gosh, it's not like I had a choice to become a princess..."

"Just like I didn't have a choice to take your mother's place for you," she sneered. After giving me a long stare, she turned around and flew in the other direction.


Author's Note

Chapter 5

Abohaty's P.O.V

Nom Nom ended up finding me another stallion. I guess you could say he was better. He was...aggressive sometimes but still was a polite gentlecolt. We've been 'dating' for a week so far.

His name is Dusk Shine. He's a unicorn with a light caramel-colored coat and dirty blonde hair.

I was currently sitting in my room when I heard a knock on the door. It was Dusk Shine.

"Hello Princess, how was magic practice?" he asked.

"Awful as usual. But I am getting better thankfully."

"Well," he started. "I was just coming to check on you. Do you have a dress for this week?" I raised an eyebrow.

"What's happening this week?" I asked.

"The gala you silly fool!!" I gasped. Did I just completely forget about that?

"Oh...oh yea..."

"Well, I kinda brought a dress already in case you didn't have one yet. Would you like to try it on?" I blushed a bit. I didn't see that coming honestly.

"Oh! Um...okay." He handed me the dress using his magic and shut the door. The dress was beautiful.

I was curious to see how I'd look when I put it on. With a wave of my horn, the dress was touching my pint coat. And it fits me perfectly. The way the pearls around the dress shined, the beautiful looking shell in the front...oh Celestia I can't stand how beautiful the dress looked on me. He even made sure it matched my baby blue bubble gum mane. I took it right off after trying it on first then hung the gorgeous gown in my closet. I opened my door to see Dusk Shine right there in front of me waiting for my response. "It's beautiful. Thank you." I kissed his snout and quickly shut the door.

Every time I kiss him, I constantly think about where things could head. Is this a good start? Bad start? Am I moving too quickly? Too slow? I sighed heavily.

My phone began ringing. I looked at the caller ID. It was Kelsey.

"Hey, Kel-"

"ABOHATY!! ARE YOU FREE THE DAY OF THE GALA AND THE NIGHT BEFORE IT?!"she yelled into the phone.

"Uh..probably yea, wh-"

"SLEEPOVER AT MY PLACE EIGHT THIRTY SHARP!!"

"Oh! Cool! I'll be-" She hung up the phone. I glowered. "...there..." I finished.

The Night Before the Gala

When I teleported to Pinkie Pie's home, I was greeted by Cheese Sandwich at their back door since their shop was in the front.

"Well hello there!! If it isn't Princess Abohaty!!" He moved aside so I could walk in with my bags. Bella was right there picking up her things off the floor she had dropped. I went to help her. "Kelsey and the rest are upstairs waiting for you mares!! I think the only ones we're waiting on now are Kat and Bookworm!!" Written script was here already? That's a surprise.

"Lemme help you, Bella," I said, using my horn to pick her stuff up and place them properly in the bag. I could see that she was holding her dress with her horn so I guess that's why she used her hooves to pick everything up. I raised a brow. "Why do you have so much stuff? It's only one night."

"I usually over pack," she answered quietly.

* * *

When Bookworm entered the room, Kelsey blew a horn.

"FINALLY, YOU'RE HERE!!" she hollered. Cheese Sandwich entered along with her. "HI DADDY!!"

"Alright you beautiful mares, me and Pinkie have a date tonight. We'll find a hotel afterward and will be back at dawn." He pointed at me. "Abohaty, you're in charge since you're the princess." Kelsey crossed her hooves.

"Hmph."

Celia popped up. once he shut the door and left.

"So how are y'all? Y'all excited?" she asked.

"Not really...I plan on staying home and reading books," Bookworm answered.

"LAME!!" Kelsey shouted.

"That's nice and all Bookworm, but I think we should focus more on Ms. Abohaty here who is going to the Gala for the first time," Kat said, wrapping her hoof around me. "Do you ponies have a partner?"

"Oh shut it, Kat, you just wanna compare yourself to us knowing you get a date with different stallions every year," Celia murmured.

"But Cece, do you have a stallion in mind?"

"Not really a stallion..." she mumbled, brushing back her orange curls. Kat leaned forward.

"What was that?"

"Never mind..." Kelsey decided to speak up.

"Well, I'm not going with anypony, but that's okay because food loves me, and I love them too." she said bouncing up and down with her long brown curls. "Or I might find Grammar. He's fun to hang with." Celia sighed and looked away.

"What about you Bella?" Kat asked. "Who are you going with?" She pointed to herself.

"Oh! Uh...me? Well..."

"Yeah, Bella! Is everything okay with you and Zephyr? I heard he moved in with you a few weeks ago," I said.

"Yeah...I wanted to, but he hasn't asked me out to the gala yet...and I'm sorta scared to ask him my-"

"But he's you coltfriend Bella-" Written Script reminded her. Bella was the shyest one in our group and I never understood how she was the only one who managed to get a long stable relationship before any of us. Celia never mentioned anything about crushes, Kat typically has one coltfriend after another, Bookworm is more invested in books, and Kelsey vibes with everypony as best friends, so it's hard to tell if she likes anypony and Written Script refuses to talk to Gabe.

"Don't worry Bella, Kat will hook you up," she claimed. "Your turn Written Script. You're talking about Bella being shy to ask out her coltfriend, yet you still haven't got the guts to ask out Gabe after all these years. Couldn't be me."

And this, this is why if I ever have some sort of crush, I wouldn't tell any of them. Kat will straight up make a fool of me, Written Script will think I'm some hypocrite, and Kelsey may accidentally tell the stallion or be too loud. But one thing I know about Kelsey is that she really ships me and Glitz together no matter how many times I say I have no crush. "Alright, Abohaty, you're up."

"His name is Dusk Shine..." I said. Kelsey dropped her jaw.

"Girl you gotta coltfriend?! SPILL!!!" I refuse to tell them this is all arranged and forced, but this was the only way of avoiding Kelsey bringing up Glitz. Of course, she later did. "Cause I sorta shipped you and Glitz together. Even Grammar!! I'm gonna have to break the sad news to-"

"NO!" I yelled. Kelsey froze, petrified. "I mean...no...don't tell him. Please." Because if Grammar knew about this coltfriend, Glitz would too and I'm not ready for that.

"But uh...Abohaty, both of the brothers are going to the Gala, they're gonna see you with this...Dusk Shine," Kelsey replied.

"Is he cute?" Celia asked with glowing eyes.

"Uh...yeah....very," I answered.

"Well..." Kat said. "I wasn't expecting you to say that Abohaty. Congrats. How long have you been dating?"

"Um...four months..." I lied.

"FOUR MONTHS?!" Kelsey yelled.

"Wow, Abohaty, you're good at keeping secrets. When were you gonna tell us? spoke Written Script.

"I don't know..."

"Well, I'm happy for you!!" That just gave me a little courage to ask out Gabe." Kat rolled her eyes.

"You say that every year and yet made no process so far. Gabe probably doesn't even like you back."

"Kat, Kat, Kat. Can you stop boosting her confidence down?" I asked. "Because maybe that's the problem." She stopped brushing her ponytail and looked at me.

"It was a joke..."

"Well, it wasn't funny." She threw her brush to the ground. Ponies would say I'm being dramatic, but do you blame me? Every single time Kat gets a chance, she'll put some pony down. I never liked that about her. Call Written Script obsessed as much as you want, but being negative won't change a thing.

"Look Abohaty, it's not that big of a deal, Written Script isn't even upset. You've been gone for so long, you don't even do jokes anymore. Geez."

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm a princess, of course, I'm gonna be really busy. And I've clearly matured."

"Kat has a point sorta...just worded it badly. When you're not busy, you spend most of your time with Glitz even though you see him like...every day," Bookworm finally spoke, looking up from her book. I looked at everypony else. Bella didn't say anything, she just looked at me and then looked away.

"Well...I think she sees us enough. I'd be grateful that she came today..." Celia said.

"Yeah, it's not like she doesn't call us. Plus, we could always visit her if we don't think she spends that much time with us!!" Kelsey added in.

"Wouldn't that be easier for her anyway?" Celia continued. "She is a princess after all. You really expect her to see us daily?"

"The one time I ask her to come down and see us, she brings the whole crew." Bookworm sneered. The royal guard, the smart ass, and the dumb ass." Kelsey seemed highly offended. "And sure, there's calling and visiting but she rarely answers messages and calls, and visiting costs a ton of money. If you think my mother would give me some bits, you thought wrong."

"You didn't even say anything though. Twilight and you seemed perfectly fine by their appearance. And Grammar isn't dumb!!" Celia scoffed.

"Twilight won't let you see me but gives me sarcastic looks and tones because I don't visit her?" I asked. "She's literally the princess of friendship!"

I was surprised to see Celia defend me. She doesn't talk to me much. I only really have a bond with Kelsey and sorta with Written Script. Bookworm has shown that she doesn't like me and I honestly feel like it has something to do with Twilight. Twilight never seemed to be fair with me and the blame falls down to Nom Nom. She admitted herself I was invited to the gala multiple times, but I was not allowed to come. And now many of the princesses see me as a reckless princess who doesn't care about their job. Bella is always quiet but she still never talks to me much even when I try to start a conversation. Kat is annoying and I don't like her because of her mood swings and attitudes.

"Yeah, I'm leaving." Kat started grabbing her belongings one by one with her horn and putting them in her bag.

"Okay, bye," Celia said.

"I guess I'll leave too," Bookworm joined in, closing her book. Kelsey's smile began to fade.

"Wait, huh? Why is everypony leaving?" she asked.

"Well, if all we're gonna do is talk about the gala that I am not attending tomorrow, then I'm out." Bookworm teleported away.

"I'll see you mares at the gala. And by mares, I mean Bella because she's the only one who actually likes me." Kat teleported off as well.

"Well...I guess it's just the five of us..." whispered Written Script. Celia walked over to me and laid a hoof on my back.

"Hey, it's okay...they're normally always grumpy anyways." Then she looked over to the sad Kelsey in the corner and walked over to her next and gave her a hug.


Author's Note

Chapter 6

Abohaty's P.O.V

When I tell you I was nervous, I mean my hooves shaking, my heart beating...that kind of nervous. I walked out of the bathroom where my four friends stood upon me.

"Abohaty...you look...AMAZING!!!!" Kelsey screamed.

"Very pretty," complimented Bella.

"Rad!!" added in Written Script.

"And lastly, breathtaking," Celia finished. I was blushing like crazy.

"Thank you guys so much, that means a lot to me." They all cheered. "The flying carriage should be coming soon. I asked Dusk Shine to send over one so we didn't have to go on some dirty train."

"I wouldn't care which one we go on," said Written Script, yawning. "I prefer riding a train low-key."

* * *

It didn't take long for us to arrive. Because now, the five of us were standing in the long line for this gala. I was sweating like crazy.

"Uh....earth to Abohaty~" Kelsey cooed.

"Hm?!" I said immediately snapping back into my senses.

"You're a princess!! You can, ya know...cut~"

"Oh...oh yea...right...cut."

"Well, luckily I already got us all a spot in the front." I turned around and blinked. There he was in a tight black suit. Dusk Shine.

"Oh! Um, wow, your...y-your already here!!" I stuttered.

"Well it wouldn't be so professional if I came late, now would it?" He held out his hoof for me to grab. "...your highness." I could hear my friends in the background squealing and giggling.

"Sorry to interrupt, but actually we suggest that we'll fall behind back here," stated Celia. "We don't wanna get away in y'all little romance." Bella and Kelsey giggled.

"Wait, are you guys sure?" Abohaty asked.

"I mean, we're all gonna get in there soon," said Written Script.

"True that!!" added Kelsey.

Well shit, now I'm alone with this pony. Perfect.

We walked up to the V.I.P line for the Gala where Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, and a few other ponies like Sunset Shimmer were standing. Twilight and Celestia are both running the Gala this year, so that's why they're not in line. Me and Dusk Shine talked for a bit to pass time. He kept constantly telling me how beautiful I was and kept telling me he liked my straight hair better than my curly pink and blue bubblegum hair. It was kinda annoying at this point because he always talked to me about how much he liked the outside of me, but never about the inside. And every time I'd try to talk about myself, he never seemed...interested.

Soon, the doors opened, only to let the V.I.P in first. Everypony else had to get their names checked off on the list before entering inside.

"Ah, this place is gorgeous!! Just like you darling~" He stroked my hair.

"Hehe...yeah..."

* * *

Celia's P.O.V

"I can't believe it took this long to get in," I told Kelsey. "Maybe we should've-"

"OOOOOU, I SEE GRAMMAR!!" She looked back at me. "Sorry Cece, but best friend duties call!" She bounced over to the other side of the ballroom where Grammar was located pouring him a cup of juice. I frowned.

"So...ya know where Zephyr is?" I heard Written Script ask Bella. She started looking around hopelessly.

"Hey, Bella!!" A small gentlecolt approached the three of us. I've seen pictures and stuff of Zephyr before but this is my first time seeing him in person. He had a light brown colored main and a blue coat just like Bella's. She seemed to be amazed by his outfit which was just a simple tuxedo like every colt was wearing here. I adored the mare's dresses more though. They're so beautiful and creative with many more options to look at.

Bella went off with Zephyr leaving just me and Written Script.

"So uh...you don't have a stallion to go out with...or....want to go out with...?"

"No," I answered. "But it's alright, I'll be fine alone. You can go find Gabe or something. I'll probably run into Kat at some point." Written Script tilted her head.

"Are...you sure?" she asked. Celia then realized her response made no sense considering Kat got mad at them the night prior, but she still insisted on Written Script to go find Gabe anyways.

"Yes, yes! Definitely! Go go go!! Go claim your stallion!!" She laughed. Then she smiled at me before she flew off. My smile faded as I watched her go.

"Cece?" I immediately turned around when I heard Applejack's voice.

"Oh, Applejack! Hey!"

"Why is a beautiful mare like you out here alone on the floors? Where're your friends?" she queried.

"Oh...well they just kinda found their dates, that's all."

"Ah, I see. Haven't found your special somepony yet?" I shook my head quickly. "Well if it makes ya feel better, this gala isn't about dancing with ya love, it's about having fun. Ya know?" She pushed my head to the left. "You see those two?" Kelsey and Grammar. Of course, I had to watch them. "They're having the time of their lives!!" Applejack was saying other things but I stopped listening because I was too focused on Kelsey and Grammar chasing each other around the gala. "Ya got it?" Applejack finished. I nodded my head slowly and walked off.

* * *

Kelsey's P.O.V

"IN YO FACE!!" I shouted dumping a bowl of juice on my mom's head. Me and Grammar gave each other a hoof bump. My mom and dad started laughing together.

"Who should we do next?" Grammar asked. I looked around. As I looked around I saw Cece. I was gonna say her name but I noticed she looked sad.

"Hold on a second..." I told him. I walked over to Cece. "What happened? Where'd everypony go?" Celia laughed awkwardly.

"Well um...they all had a partner so..."

"Even Written Script?!" Kelsey said, unconvinced.

"Oh, she told me she was gonna ask Gabe out. I kinda don't believe her though."

"Awwww, I feel bad!! Wanna join me and Grammar with pranking people? We just did my mom."

"Nah, I'm okay..." she replied.

"But...you're just standing there...watching us..." I told her. She became sweaty. "You...okay? Need a drink...?

"I gotta go to the bathroom!! Bye Kelsey!!" She sped off. I took a quick glance at Grammar who also seemed to be just as confused as I was.

Was it something I said?

* * *

Abohaty's P.O.V

I told Dusk Shine I was going to the restroom, but I didn't really have to go, so I'm just gonna wash my hooves. He was starting to scare me. He wouldn't let me hang out with any of my friends and acted as if they were some type of pests when he was just offering them V.I.P spots in the line not too long ago. He wanted me to stay with him and started becoming a bit aggressive when I said I wanted to hang out with one of my friends.

Before reaching the restroom, a pony stopped me. I turned around.

"Hi, pretty Princess!!" I was literally about to scream. I threw both of my hooves around his neck and tackled him to the ground as ponies around us watched. I didn't care. Hell, I'm wearing a dress and I still don't care that I'm on the ground. "C-can't b-breathe-" he wheezed.

"Oops! Sorry, sorry, sorry!!" I helped him get up. "You look amazing Glitz," I told him once we made eye contact. "Like seriously. I'm surprised you got dressed up for this event!! And you decided to come!!"

"Well, I only came once, so I was like...why not again?" He examined me for a bit. "But you don't look too bad yourself. I like you in straight hair." I brushed my hair out the way.

"Heh, thanks..." My blush faded instantly when I noticed Dusk Shine heading this way. Glitz noticed my sudden facial expression change.

"What's wrong?" Dusk Shine pushed Glitz out the way.

"Who the hell is this?!" he raged. Glitz seemed completely lost and I didn't blame him.

"Huh?" I pushed Dusk Shine back.

"Give us a moment Glitz, I'm sorry." We walked a few feet away from him. I opened my right wing to cover our faces as we spoke. "Dude, what the hell?! That's my royal guard!!"

"Royal guard?!" he repeated. "You expect me to believe that when his cutie mark is a creeper?"

"Yeah, he's my royal guard who protects me and my belongings! So let's not make a whole scene? Thanks!!" I closed my wing and walked back over to Glitz. "Again, I am so sorry about that. He's a little protective over me." Glitz seemed even more confused. And then I finally realized why. "Oh! Stupid me...I didn't introduce you two!!" I pulled Dusk Shine over. "Glitz, this is Dusk Shine, my coltfrie- I mean fiancée!" I began sweating as I looked at Glitz's face. I couldn't tell if he was even more confused, angry, or disappointed. I continued anyways. "And Dusk Shine, meet my royal guard Glitz!!" Dusk Shine raised an eyebrow. He didn't look too convinced. "He's on vacation. That's why you haven't seen him around yet...heh."

"I thought you were going to the restroom," he said, clearing his throat.

"Oh!! Well, I saw him so I decided to stop and say hi real quick-"

"You seemed very into that conversation." He interrupted.

"Well I forgot to mention but he's not just my royal guard. He's my best friend. So we're close."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. A little too close." Glitz spoke up when he noticed the slight tone change in Dusk Shine's voice.

"There is absolutely nothing going on between us. As she stated several times, we were just talking." Dusk Shine gave Glitz a long cold glare before turning in the opposite direction and walking away.

I felt so embarrassed. And a little ashamed of myself for not telling Glitz beforehand. Yeah, I was not obligated to tell him about Dusk Shine right away, but I felt so bad because I normally tell him everything.

Glitz turned his head around to face me.

"Ughhh, I'm sorry. I should've told you sooner," I said covering my face.

"Princess, it's not like you're committed to telling me everything. I was just mad and confused, that's all. But, I'm...happy for you." He told me with an awkward smile on his face. "Uh...I gotta get going anyways. I forgot Gabe asked me to grab him a drink."

"Oh! That's okay. You can do that. Heh." he waved at me before walking off. I hurried back over to Dusk Shine who was talking to some stallion I didn't know.

"Oh, who's this young sweet looking mare?" He pushed up his glasses and examined me some more. Before Dusk Shine could answer, he figured it out himself. "Well if it isn't the Princess Abohaty! My god, you've gotten so big. Without the curly hair, I barely recognized you until I saw the wings and horn!!"

"This is Fancy Pants," Dusk Shine told me. "An old friend of mine." I waved a hoof at him awkwardly.

"Are you two together? How'd you manage to get in hooves with the Princess of Happiness?" I gulped. I didn't really know how to answer that, so I waited for Dusk Shine to answer for me.

"We used to be friends."

"Oh! That makes sense now. Well, I better leave the couple alone now. I'm trying to find Rarity, but I don't think she's here yet." The stallion wandered off without a goodbye.

I knew a little about who Rarity was. She was the element of generosity and one of Twilight's closest friends. I also knew that Kat looked up to Rarity a lot, because she was a really popular fashion designer and model.

Dusk Shine's nudge snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Why don't we go meet the other Princesses?" I nodded slowly. I didn't exactly want to meet them because I don't even remember the last time I ever saw them. I just saw Twilight recently, and she's clearly not happy with me. What would they all think of me now?

Written Script's P.O.V

Is it bad that I actually didn't plan to talk to Gabe? I just said that so Celia thought I wasn't that shy. I watched from a far distance of the cutie mark crusaders walking onto stage. They were a lot more older since the last time I saw them. Sweetie Belle wore a beautiful pink fabric gown that matched her tiny white shoes. Scootaloo wore something more rock and roll like. Her shirt was black and had a skeleton seen in the front. Her hair was even spiked up, and she had on dark eye shadow. The shoes she wore on her hooves were back had spikes and chains. And Apple Bloom to the left wore a simple sparkly red dress.

"Wow..." I murmured slightly.

"They're outfits are fabulous, am I right?" I fell to the ground startled by the new voice. When I looked up, it was Gabe who was standing right beside me. I was actually gonna faint. I hadn't seen him the whole gala and at this time, he suddenly appears.

His blonde mane was silken back perfectly and his tan coat looked so smooth. He had on a brown colored tuxedo that almost fully covered his A+ cutie mark and his emerald eyes glistened in the light. He lend out a hoof. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that." I grabbed a hold of his hoof and picked myself up. I stared blushing a ton, and I really hope he didn't notice.

"Oh no, it's fine, I just was a bit surprised that's al-" The lights dimmed and Sweetie Belle spoke. The clicked the microphone and began speaking.

"Hello everypony, this is Sweetie Belle speaking, and I would like to thank each and every one of you mares and gentlecolts for attending this gala tonight. As to this is the one twentieth anniversary tonight!!" Ponies around us began stomping their hooves. "Alright, alright....settle down. And because of this special day, I sadly will not be the one singing this time." The crowd gasped. My eyes widened a bit. Because Sweetie Belle typically sings a song every year. "Just kidding. But I actually won't be singing much, because I have someone else to do that for me.

"Mares and gentlecolts, I present to you...." Sweetie Belle moved out the way and the crowd went wild when they saw who appeared behind her. "Christina Grimmie!!"

"Who?" I asked Gabe.

"Christina, she's a rising star singer."

"Ohhhh. Wow."

Christina walked to the apron of the stage and gave the crowd of ponies a smile. The thing I adored about her the most was her black raven hair put into a small bun. She took a hold of the microphone in front of her and began speaking into it.

"Hello my little ponies. It's a pleasure to see all of you here today. And it's a pleasure for you to have me here to sing for you one of my amazing song covers. I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz. Get ready to grab your sweethearts for a little slow dance!!"

The music began playing.

No One's P.O.V

Written Script didn't dare to move. She was afraid that she was gonna be asked to dance by Gabe any second now and wasn't prepared for that at all. She wanted to tell him she had to use the restroom, but then she thought about all the times she's avoided doing something with him. And once she thinks about it, she's been avoiding him her whole life and is not making any progress. Maybe today could be a start for her. Asking him to dance is the last thing she wanted to say but she couldn't hold back any longer.

"Wanna dance?" She asked without a stutter. Gabe was a little shocked at first which scared the pegasus. "I-It's okay if you don-" Gabe grabbed her hoof in silence and walked her over to the dance floor.

Celia watched as Gabe glided Written Script on the dance floor and smiled, happy that her friend is finally making progress with her true love.

"When I look into your eyes....it's like watching the night sky, Christina sung. "Or a beautiful sun rise...."

"Hey Celia!" Kelsey greeted.

"There's so much they hold.."

Celia was startled, but kept a normal face.

"Oh! Kelsey. I didn't see ya there..."

"Well, I guess I'm just a surprise!!" she cheered. Celia giggled. "But I came here because I wanted to know if you wanted to ditch this place and have a party at my house with Grammar and Glitz." Celia was gonna say no because she really just wanted to spend time with Kelsey but she also remembered that she was doing absolutely nothing since the moment she walked into the gala.

"That doesn't sound too bad. After all, I rarely hang out with those two." Kelsey cheered once again.

"And just like them old stars...

I see that you've come so far..".

"YES!! Gabe would be invited too but it looks like him and Written Script finally have something going on over there!" I looked over at the friends dancing and smiled.

"Yup..."

"To be right where you are....

How old is your soul?"

Meanwhile Bella had her hooves wrapped around her coltfriend, dancing and flying in the air with him. Bella wasn't able to fly, but Zephyr was strong enough to lift the both of them. Bella wore a feathered dress which was in different shades of blue. Her orange mane was in a big bun and two strings of her mane were in her face.

"I-I missed this..." she whispered, squeezing his neck a little tighter.

"I won't give up on us...

...even if the skies get rough."

"I miss this too. I've missed you Bella." Bella's eyes shed tears after his words. She hasn't seen her coltfriend in months. Six months to be clear. She lied to her friends about him moving in because she didn't want anyone to worry about their relationship. All that happened was that Zephyr lost his job and eventually found a new one. But now he barely has time to see her. "We'll be able to see each other a lot more. Soon...."

"I'm giving you all my love

and I'm still looking up..."

"You keep saying soon, but how long is soon?" Zephyr didn't know how to answer the question, so he just continued to dance with his love.

"It's too early to make a promise..." he murmured.

As Zephyr and Bella danced to the soothing music and Christina's singing, Abohaty was under the table hiding. She didn't want to greet princesses, nor did she want to slow dance with her coltfriend. That was all just too hard for her. She didn't like being some perfect sweet princess. The music was even too slow for her. The worst part is that most of her friends left. Kelsey, Celia, Glitz and Grammar were all gone. This was terrible! The only pony she could really spot from where she was hiding was Kat in a big poofy dress talking with a group of stallions.

She just wanted to go home. Nothing at this place was fun, not even the food because that was fancy too!! Dusk Shine was probably looking all around for her because she teleported away without any notice. She then teleported herself outside in garden, hoping no one was there. And thank Celestia no pony was. Well that's what she thought.

"What are you doing out here?"

The pink coated alicorn turned around and spotted Princes Cadence.

"Princess...C-Cadence?"

"It's just me," she chuckled. Cadence gave her a wing hug. "How are you Abohaty?"

"I'm okay..." she answered. "But this place is boring and I don't want to be here. Say, shouldn't you be dancing inside with Shining Armor?"

"He went to the restroom, he isn't feeling very well." Abohaty raised an eyebrow in confusion. She hadn't seen Shining Armor since she got here when she thinks more about it.

"Oh...really? I'm sorry...."

"It's weird because he was doing just fine. I guess he must've ate something bad I suppose..." Cadence looked around. "Hmmm, but why aren't you with your coltfriend?" Abohaty's eyes widened.

"Please don't tell him I'm out here!!" she shrieked. Cadence just smiled and nodded.

"I guess I won't, but why don't you want to be around him? Isn't he your love?" she asked. Abohaty sat down on the grass and sighed. She thought about if she should tell the princess about what's really going on. After all, Princess Cadence was the only one she felt she could trust out of all the other princesses. Princess Cadence has been nothing but nice to her. Could Abohaty trust her?

"It's not exactly love if you want me to be honest. Like no offense to him, but he kinda sucks and I don't like him at all. But I have to act like it because our relationship is forced."

"I see..." She sat down beside the young princess. "Well, do you have somepony in mind that you actually like?" Abohaty took a deep breath for that question. She didn't know how she was gonna answer when she didn't know. At least that's what she thought. But at the same time she thinks she does like somepony else.

"Don't tell anyone this but...I think I do like somepony...but it's hard to tell if it's true love. Like...sometimes I get this little feeling when I'm around him, but then I remember I can't have feelings for him because that would be weird. He's my royal guard! And he's made it clear that we're just friends. And like I said, I don't know if this is really a crush or just some random feeling I get when I'm around him. When I saw him all dressed up today for the first time, I was about to faint Princess Cadence...." She chuckled.

"I'm gonna assume this is about Glitz."

"It is...and I'm ashamed."

"Why be ashamed? You can't help feelings. It's okay to love Abohaty. Even if he doesn't like you back, or even if others don't approve of it, it's okay. True love always wins in the end." Abohaty scooted away from Cadence a bit.

"What do you mean? I told you that I don't know if I like him really or not....not people don't like us together..."

"Maybe I should just come clean with you now I guess. Because I'm not that good at relationship advice anyways. At least I know now your little weakness. And learned a little bit more about which ponies you trust." Abohaty's pupils grew small when she realized that the pony she thought she was speaking too wasn't Cadence. The alicorn slowly turned into a different pony who had a dark pink coat with an even darker messy mane. She had one eye missing, and the other eye was almost covered with metal. She wore a black cloth and her right front hoof was covered in metal. Abohaty was ready the scream and run but she was frozen by the alicorn's power. "For your information, you're the only one who can see and hear me. And Cadence and Shining Armor are perfectly fine, dancing in the ballroom." She stood up tall and walked around the frozen princess with a sly grin on her face. "I'm sure you remember me don't you? The queen who defeated your parents within seconds. I can do the same with you right now, but that would be too easy and less entertaining for me. So I'm just here to let you know, that I'm coming for that spell book of yours and I will be back sooner than you know it, not only to destroy you and the high commission, but the whole Equestria. Because that's how much power I have. Just wait until I get a hold of your power. You're on the top of my list because you're the weakest princess of them all." She unfroze Abohaty, but the princess stood still just in case. "You can tell everypony you want, that I'm coming. It's not like it would make a difference anyways." Those were the last words said before the queen teleported away.

Abohaty stayed seated on the ground, processing what had just happened.


Author's Note

Chapter 7

Abohaty's P.O.V

Days have passed since the gala. Me and Glitz have not spoken since that day and I'm getting worried that I did something wrong. He's supposed to be coming back today though since his two-week vacation is over now. But I probably will only see him for a minute or two because I have a meeting to attend with Dusk Shine and Nom Nom.

Ever since my first encounter with Queen Amirah, I told Nom Nom immediately. I expected her to flip out, or go crazy, but she just said "okay". She must have everything under control in order to be this calm. But Nom Nom can handle everything, right?

I was waiting at the front of the kingdom doors to greet Glitz. I wasn't going to tell him what happened yet, because the one thing Nom Nom made sure to tell me was to not inform anyone about Queen Amirah's appearance yet. I'm supposing it's because she didn't want everyone to freak out and go insane. Only me, her, and Dusk Shine know. Glitz came a few minutes later and we approached each other with a warm hug.

"You came a little early," I told him.

"The train actually came on time this time for once." He put on his golden helmet. "So what can I do for you today Princess?" I just loved how he acted so casual as if everything is normal between us when it's kinda not. That's sorta what everypony is doing. Even Nom Nom and it was slightly scaring her.

"Not much actually!! I'll be leaving for a few hours this afternoon to practice my magic with Dusk Shine and Nom Nom, so during that time, you can just watch over my room and if I have any guests, just guide them over to the waiting room and I'll deal with them when I get back." He nodded. I felt bad lying to him, but I can't tell him that it was a meeting. Because he attends all of my meetings. I know specifically what this one is about and him and the high commission can't attend it.

"Will do your Highness!!" He walked forward. I decided to stop him.

"Hey Glitz?" he looked back at me.

"Hmm?" I caught up with him quickly.

"I wanted to apologize again about what happened at the ga-"

"Princess..." He gave me the sweetest smile. "I told you, it's fine. Don't worry about it." I smiled back at him, now knowing we're on slightly good terms. But that smile soon faded when I spotted Dusk Shine coming down the halls with saddle bags on his body. One side held my spell book. Glitz noticed his appearance and stepped a few feet away from me. Dusk Shine approached us with a stern look on his face.

"Are you ready honey?" He asked me, brushing my blue and pink mane to the side. Glitz noticed where this was going so he nodded at me signaling a goodbye before he hurried off.

"You scared him away..." I told him. Dusk Shine rolled his eyes.

"Like I care. Now come on Princess, you have a lot of practicing to do."

* * *

As we walked inside the new building, Nom Nom appeared from out of the spell book and quickly shut and locked the door.

"It's just the three of us today because as I stated before, the high commission, and the guards and no pony else cannot know just yet," Nom Nom stated. Me and Dusk Shine took a seat at the mini table. "We're in this room so that no pony gets confused." Nom Nom threw a notepad on the table. "Alright. Dusk Shine. As you know, Queen Amirah is back and has gotten close in contact with Abohaty. And I need you to stay with her at all costs, when we have a feeling that she is back."

"Wait..." I said. "I'm sure everypony will know about this later and stuff but...why Dusk Shine and not Glitz or any guard? Wouldn't that make more sense considering that Dusk Shine also can't be hurt since he's going to be my future husband?"

I will admit, Nom Nom's timing is pretty bad. What made her think it was a good idea to plan an arranged marriage when she knows the queen will return? Like I knew everything had to be postponed further because of my parent's death but the marriage and the whole dating thing could've waited.

"That's true...but Glitz he can't get hurt either. He's the only royal guar-"

"Nom Nom. Glitz is a royal guard and needs to be able to do his job. We can't just hide him! So it's really best if we have Glitz stay with me." Abohaty saw the cold glare Dusk Shine was giving her, so she decided to add to her suggestion. "...And Dusk Shine if he has to too." Nom Nom began writing in her notepad. "Also why can't the high commission know anything? Like I know you don't want anypony to panic but-"

"Because they all want us to do different things. Flamora wants us to drag all of the other princesses in this when it isn't even their battle. It may sound like a smart idea, but that can go wrong in many different ways. Flora wants us to shield this kingdom, when we all know that Amirah can break that shield in probably less than zero point five seconds. Aurora and Stormy want us to just all attack and risk losing everyone and then Cloudy wants us to just hide until we die!! We need a plan."

"Don't you think if we have Abohaty hiding most of the time, all the stuff you trained her for would be...a waste?" Dusk Shine questioned. "Because what your plan sounds like, is to keep Abohaty hidden when we all know damn well, we need her for the endgame. If you couldn't beat Amirah the first time when she barely had power, you're definitely not gonna beat her this time if Abohaty is nowhere in sight. As you said, the Queen grew stronger." Nom Nom rubbed her temple harshly. It was clear she was stressed, and it was clear that everything she was coming up with wasn't enough.

"Nom Nom, I think it might be a good idea for the other princesses and the main six to come help us out. It's not like they'd deny it anyways. You're just scared that one of them may get injured or something. And I get it. But if it makes you feel better, we're all at risk. Because I don't think I told you but, Amirah isn't just coming for me....she's coming for every princess. Just me first. And I doubt she's alone in this."

"I think you should at least give them a heads up, so they can tell their ponies to stay inside," Dusk Shine added in.

I looked at Nom Nom who was flying in circles thinking really hard. I felt like she was trying to find the best way to tell us that we were probably not gonna make it out alive. Because knowing Nom Nom, she's brutally honest. And this time she's trying to dodge the fact that we're not gonna make it. She's trying to find a possibility that we will make it. But there's not. Every plan that I've heard so far, all have a high risk of ponies, including me, getting hurt or killed. And we need a plan where we have a very low chance of that happening. But the problem is that we don't know when Amirah is coming nor what she's planning.

"Okay...I'll...I'll think of something else. Abohaty, all I need you to do is inform the other princesses about this, and what's going on. But not just yet. I want a plan first. Dusk Shine...I need you to work with Abohaty on spells as I think of a plan. Meaning this whole week Princess, no breaks, no games...just practicing. As I think of a plan. It might take me a little over a week, maybe even two. I know I'm running behind, it's just I didn't think she'd be coming now."

"So...does my practicing begin now?" I queried.

"Yes."

Chapter 8

Abohaty's P.O.V

The tree fell over and erupted into flames after a large blast from my horn. Dusk Shine stomped his hooves as I panted heavily. This was day three of me practicing spells and fighting against Dusk Shine. I lost all three times, but he said I was getting better at least. I never understood how he was so strong and knew a lot of spells. Nom Nom was really great at picking out high advanced stallions, I wonder where he came from.

Dusk Shine cleared the fire using his magic and then flipped to the next page of the spell book.

"I think we should stop here, the sun is starting to set anyways," he told me. I took a glance at the orange sky that slowly began to turn purple as we were walking our way back to the castle. As we walked back, I began thinking about how I don't really know anything about Dusk Shine. I just know that that's his name. And it's kinda sad...

"Hey Dusk Shine, where are you from?" I asked out of the blue.

"Canterlot," he answered, still looking forward.

"Really? Because for someone advanced as you are, I'd think I saw you around. I used to live there for a few years."

"Well, I don't like going out much. I'm a pretty isolated pony."

"I see..." I said.

We were now out of the forest and back in the town where most ponies were already inside their homes. I greeted the ponies who were still outside as me and Dusk Shine walked past them. Dusk Shine still kept his head up and looked forward. He didn't even seem pleased by the ponies' warm greetings. I nudged him. "Is it that hard to wave hi?" He didn't respond though. It was clear that I annoyed him with my simple question, so I kept my mouth shut the rest of the walk.

A guard greeted us through the kingdom doors and that's when both me and Dusk Shine split up, going our two different ways without saying a word. I didn't bother to ask where he was heading, I just wanted to go to my room.

As I approached the end of the halls, I teleported to the front of my door where Glitz was standing in his armor and holding a sword.

"You've been practicing spells a lot this week lately and don't complain about it once when you come back. That's new," he observed. I smiled and hugged him.

"Well, I'm getting used to this annoying stuff. I have to get over it at some point." I pulled away from him. "How have you been doing today?"

"I had a late lunch break with Arctic a few minutes ago. Crimson took my place in the meantime."

"I'm glad you've made friends around here. Sometimes I'm scared that all you do is stand here on the days I'm not here," I said with a small giggle.

"I mean, Arctic and Onyx are the only stallions I'm pretty close to here. But it's easy to talk to the other guards as well, I just don't get a chance to talk to them as much," Glitz explained.

"Well Onyx is a guard," Abohaty pointed out.

"Okay, he's just different from the other ponies and I see him more than the others because he always has these weird theories for me."

"Like?"

"He is predicting Celestia and Luna aren't real sisters because the sun and moon are too isolated from each other." Abohaty raised a brow.

"What does that even mean?" she asked.

"I deal with this every day Abohaty." He chuckled a bit and then realized how tired she looked as well. "You should get some sleep."

"You're definitely right about that. Goodnight Glitz. Get to bed safely! Don't want you up all night standing here."

"Night princess. But trust me, I can handle..." he trailed off and began yawning. I giggled a bit. "I guess I do need some sleep..." He took off his helmet and walked to his room which wasn't so far from mine. "Goodnight princess," he repeated.

Glitz had his own fancy room here of course. He's my royal guard and deserves it. It wouldn't make sense for him to travel home back and forth on a daily, now would it?

When I was inside my room, I saw Nom Nom in her little cat bed. I hadn't seen her since the last meeting we had together. This means that this cat comes back to my room late at night when we're all asleep, and is gone before the morning. Though, I'm glad she finally decided to rest herself though. Lately, she's been going through it. I know we were never on good terms, but I still care for the cat a lot, and I do appreciate how much effort she's trying to put into all of this.

I flopped onto the bed and put my book of spells underneath the bed where it belonged. Today had been another long and stressful day. And there are still more days to come.

This was just the beginning of it.


Author's Note

Chapter 9

Abohaty's P.O.V

It was day eight of strenuous training. If Nom Nom was here to see, she'd be proud of how dedicated I am to this, and how far I've come. I went from simple blasting spells to knocking down trees, to creating storms, to causing earthquakes. I've grown so much, that even I myself am proud.

"Alright, Abohaty. I've seen your improvements." Dusk Shine put the book down and walked over to me. He stopped a little afterward to keep the distance. "It's time for a mini battle between just the two of us. And you know the rules. If on the ground for more than three seconds, it's an automatic loss." I spread open my wings, getting ready to prepare.

I was truly hoping this wasn't the final day, since it's been a little over a week. Nom Nom hasn't said anything yet, so I'm hoping that I still have more time to improve if I do lose this battle with Dusk Shine. I've never won a battle against him yet, but I plan to do so this time.

He started without a warning and in an instant, the ground was lifting above me, sliding me backward. I picked myself up using my wings and flew around him. My horn lit up and was preparing to aim a large blast at him. And when it was ready, I shot, but he used a shield to block it and aim the blast back at me like a boomerang. I immediately dodged out the way before I got burned. I heard it land somewhere else and explode. I looked back at Dusk Shine who seemed completely unharmed. I was confused how that didn't break his shield. He's just a normal unicorn! At least that's what I think. He shouldn't be this hard to take down. He should be nowhere near Nom Nom's level. "You've finished already?" he asked. I huffed. And closed my eyes, developing my next move. The daylight disappeared slowly as clouds placed themselves in front of the sun. The trees, flowers, and grass around us began to grow rapidly. I opened my glowing eyes. The grass wrapped around his hooves and the smiley flowers crowed him, making him lose focus and go into imaginary mode. Little did he know, a huge wave behind him was approaching quickly and splashed over him. When the water cleared, he was nowhere to be seen and my eyes went back to normal. I dropped myself to the wet ground and landed on all four hooves. I looked back to see Dusk Shine on the ground soaked wet and still dazed from the flowers. I walked over to him slowly.

"Did I hurt you too badly?" I panicked. He finally snapped out of it and looked at me in horror. "Dusk Shine...?"

"H-How'd you do that? I never taught you that!!"

"It was one of my mother's favorite spells...Nom Nom said she was going to teach me, but she never got a chance to so...I learned some of her spells on my own..." I explained to him. He got up quickly. "You're not mad that I beat you, are you?"

"No, of course not." He used his magic to dry himself off. "I'll meet you back at the castle." He teleported away, leaving me in confusion.

* * *

Since Dusk Shine just disappeared, I teleported myself back to the castle. Maybe that's where he ended up teleporting himself. But I didn't see him anywhere, so I just walked up to my room where Glitz stood in front of my bedroom door.

"Welcome home, Princess! How'd practicing go?" he asked with a bright smile on his face.

"I did it this time! I was able to defeat Dusk Shine in today's practice!" I sat beside him.

"That's amazing. I'm really glad you're getting somewhere."

"I used one of my mother's spells. Apparently, you can create your own spell," I told him. "Do you think that I'll be able to make my own spell?"

"Well of course. But you have to try, you know? I'm not exactly a unicorn but I'm sure it's not too difficult to create a new spell," Glitz said. He sat down too.

"Mines would probably involve unicorns and rainbows or something." we both shared a peal of small laughter.

"That sounds like you." It was silent for a moment. I noticed how as the days went on, we both haven't hung out like usual. I'm guessing it's because I'm getting busier. Glitz keeps reminding me that it's okay, but I don't think it is. My friends have been complaining a lot as well, but when you narrow it all down, I have no other choice. "Say, princess...are you busy at all this weekend?" he questioned. "I probably should've asked this way earlier so you can schedule off or something, but you've been really busy and I didn't want to interrupt your trai-"

"I can still call off. I do need a break after all..."

"Well, there's a party at my place this weekend because of Grammar," he told me. He took off his helmet and placed it on the ground.

"I was confused why you put your name in the box to request off that day. I meant to ask you about it, but I forgot. I saw it a few days ago, but I still let you off anyways. I'm available though."

"Don't you have to ask Nom Nom first?" I shook my head no. "That's new...where has Nom Nom been anyways?"

"Nom Nom is busy. She's finally decided to work on that plan for when Queen Amirah comes back."

"But why all of a sudden now? To me, it sorta seems urgent because she hasn't been around at all and she comes back to your room really late...it's like she's catching no breaks..." I laughed awkwardly.

"Well, you know Nom Nom. This is something really big and she doesn't have time for any breaks. Plus, it's better to get ready early than at the last minute." I had to play it smoothly with Glitz. It's not like Queen Amirah could be coming any second now.

"Maybe I'm just overthinking it..." I nodded.

"Yeah...maybe..."


Author's Note

Chapter 10

Abohaty's P.O.V

"You're calling off for the weekend?" Dusk Shine asked watching from my bed as I entered the room.

"Yup!" I answered full of joy.

"Are you crazy?! "You should be here practicing with me!" I gave him a look in disbelief.

"Dude, come on, it's one weekend! Plus, I thought we were finished after I kicked your butt last time." Dusk Shine was quiet for a moment. Then he stared deep into my blue eyes.

"Forget it." I raised an eyebrow. "Do whatever you want this weekend. You do need a small break princess."

"Um...thank you?" Dusk Shine hopped off of the bed, landing on his four hooves, and then started walking towards the door. "Uh, where are you going?"

"None of your concerns Abohaty." He walked out of my bedroom and made sure to shut the door behind him. Abohaty looked back in slight confusion but didn't think much of it. It was getting a bit late and tomorrow was the day I got to leave the castle once and for all. Grammar was known for constantly throwing parties, and usually, I'm able to attend them because he's Glitz's little brother. But typically it's not that many ponies who attend. It's just Glitz, Grammar, and Gabe. I heard from Glitz the other day, that it's gonna be a bigger party. So I'm very likely to see some of my friends there too.

I looked at the time. It was getting pretty late, so I decided to place myself under the blankets.

* * *

The next morning came immediately. It was bright outside, I could see the sun rising from the large window beside my bed. When my eyes lit open, the sun shun before me.

Today.

Today was Glitz's house party and I was so excited to get a break in for once after nonstop training. The time it started was at six pm, but I planned to leave earlier so I could hang out a bit with my friends beforehand. This is my one day off, so I have made use of it. I can catch the train to Canterlot with Celia and Bella! Maybe not Bella but, Celia would be okay with it! Bella just wasn't into parties at all unless it was formal, so she'd usually stay home.

* * *

"No." My mouth opens wide. Celia sighed. "Listen Abohaty, I know we don't see each other much, and I'll make it up to you too. But I really can't make it to this party." By looking at her facial expressions, I could tell she was a little nervous. Usually, Celia is pretty free.

"Why can't you go...?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Well I mean, I uh..have some errands to run." Something told me she wasn't telling the full truth. Nothing was adding up, because what work did Celia possibly have to do on a Saturday?

"Oh...okay I just thought it'd be nice to attend the party together and catch up with all of our friends. Because I know after this, I'm gonna be a lot busier than usual, since something came up. So I was hoping to at least see all of my friends one last time. I was gonna ask Bella too, but you know she hates parties." Celia nodded. It almost looked like she wanted her to leave.

"Gee, I hope everything's alright. But still, I can't go. Won't be able to make it in time. But uh...do you know if Kelsey will be there...?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Uh...yeah? What kind of question is that? Kelsey loves parties. And you know...I'm sure she'd be upset you didn't come!!" Celia frowned. I noticed this instantly and stepped forward. "Are you sure you're okay? Did something happen between you guys?"

"Abohaty, I have to go." She began shutting the door and I put her hoof up to hold it.

"Wait, Celia!"

"I'm sorry."

And just like that, she shut the door. I felt rude to continue asking because clearly, she didn't want to talk about anything. It was just weird that something happened between the two. They always seemed to get along well and no one hardly gets into an argument with Kelsey. With that being confirmed that Celia wasn't going, Abohaty thought to ask Bella anyways.

Bella's home was not too far down from Celia's. She just lived deeper into the woods, so it was an easy trip for me. I knocked lightly when she reached the small cottage home, hoping Bella would be awake. Fortunately, Bella opened the door right away.

"Hey, girl! You coming to Glitz's party? Thought I'd stop by just in case so we could leave out for the train together!" Bella sucked her teeth.

"Abohaty the last group of ponies I want to be surrounded by is Glitz and his friends. I don't really like house parties and you know that." I sighed.

"Okay, yes I did know that, I just didn't wanna leave anypony out." Bella laughed a bit.

"Trust me, Abohaty, I get all the invitations you ponies send to me. Kelsey and Written Script would probably go, so I think you'll be fine." I nodded slightly. "Well, I have to get going. I was trying to get some rest. See you some other day!" Bella shut the door before I could say anything in return. It wasn't terrible that everypony didn't want to go, but I was sure that I'd take the train with at least Celia. I hadn't seen any of her friends since the gala, so it was possible between now and then something came up. I didn't find anything off about Bella because I expected her to say no. But Celia? She loved parties just as much as Kelsey.

Since it was close to six, I started heading towards the train station by myself. I could always just fly or even try teleporting myself to Glitz's place, but I enjoyed taking short train rides. Looking at nature out of the window, chatting with other ponies, and eating the train food the workers give out. Besides, I was already early and there was no need to be any earlier. Once I was on board the train, I took a seat by the window and began smiling in excitement.

No Pony's P.O.V

It didn't take long for the train to arrive at the center of Canterlot. Abohaty never told Glitz or his brother that she was coming early because she wanted to surprise him. She couldn't wait any longer so she teleported to the front of the brothers' home and knocked. Grammar opened the door and smiled big.

"Abohaty! My second favorite pony in the entire universe!!" he shouted. The princess laughed and walked inside.

"Who's your first favorite pony?" Grammar raised his eyebrow.

"Is that a trick question? Kelsey, duh!"

"Oh! Is Kelsey coming over?" the alicorn asked, remembering Celia.

"Well unless she canceled out, but I believe she's still coming. Did she say she wasn't coming anymore?"

"Well, no but Celia said she wasn't coming and I think it's because Kelsey is, which is kind of confusing because they seemed to be pretty great friends," Abohaty explained.

"Oh no? They're fighting? That sucks. Surprised Kelsey hasn't ranted to me about it yet. She usually always does." Abohaty frowned. She supposed she'd have to see when Kelsey arrives. Glitz walked into the room holding supplies in the saddle bags wrapped around him.

"Abohaty! You made it!!" Abohaty used her magic to remove the party supplies from the bag and started decorating herself.

"Yup! I tried to get Bella and Celia out of the house but neither of them would budge."

"That's okay, most ponies I asked said they were coming. They're mainly just a mixture of old friends and some of yours!" Abohaty smiled.

"That's perfect! Are these the last things you have to set up?"

"Nope! Still have to get the games ready. But everything else like food and music and ninety percent of the decorations are finished. Grammar didn't help me at al-"

"Hey! I did so help you! I tried out the food to ensure our guests don't get poisoned or something. I think about the guests unlike you!" Abohaty laughed.

"That's...that's very sweet of you Grammar."

* * *

Ponies started coming inside around the time they were supposed to and the house became louder with voices overtop of music. Abohaty was hanging around Gabe, Written Script and Grammar outside. Both Written Script and Gabe had started dating since they danced at the gala. They were explaining and laughing how Written Script used to act previously before he knew her feelings for him.

"Now that we're together, I feel like everything I've ever done was for nothing!" Written Script laughed. "Like I was so nervous for nothing!" Abohaty rolled her eyes and nudged her friend.

"This is what we've been trying to tell you, girl!" Gabe chuckled and put down his drink.

"Enough about us though, how are you, Princess?" Abohaty smiled at the blonde warmly before saying,

"Yeah, I'm doing fine...somewhat."

"I get that, Glitz told me you've been training like crazy." Grammar empathized. "Is there a war coming up or something?" The princess shook her head rapidly.

"What? No, no of course not. Everything is under control by us, trust me."

"Hey, guys!" A yellow-coated mare popped up beside Grammar with a big smile on their face. "Sorry I'm late, my mom asked me to do something before I left and it took longer than expected." Abohaty raised her eyebrow in confusion but didn't question it further when she saw other mares across the road. Her mother was chatting with Twilight who brought her daughter along as well. Bookworm didn't seem like she was gonna come over to greet us at all. That was something that made her build questions in her head. Abohaty immediately pulled Kelsey to the side and began talking to her in a whisper.

"Your mom came? And brought Twilight?" Kelsey shrugged her hooves in annoyance, something Abohaty hadn't seen before from her.

"I don't know why my mom brought Twilight and Bookworm! I have nothing to do with anything!" When she noticed Abohaty's shocked face, she frowned. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I don't mean to take my anger out on you." Abohaty's eyes were saddened because that possibly meant that Celia and her got into some sort of dissension. At least that's what she assumed from putting two and two together.

"Is...everything alright?" the princess asked out of concern.

"Yeah, I'm just a little stressed out. Apparently, something is going on with the mane six, and my mom is taking her anger out on me, and I don't know what else to do. My mom is never like this and her being angry is making my life more stressful than it already is!" Seeing Kelsey reaching her breaking point made her feel a certain type of way. When she looked up, she saw Twilight and Pinkie Pie walking over towards her.

"Hello Princess Abohaty, I need to speak to you about something important," the purple haired mare said sternly. She looked down at Kelsey and then back at Pinkie Pie. "Could you two give us a moment?" Once they left, Abohaty began talking.

"You seriously thought now was a perfect time to catch me? "

"Princess, you already know that you are extremely hard to reach-"

"But really? At a house party?" Twilight ignored her last comment and went back to talking about the topic she's been meaning to speak with her about.

She teleported both herself and Abohaty back to her kingdom. "You have to be kidding me..." Abohaty muttered.

"When were you all going to tell us about Queen Amirah's return?" This made Abohaty panic because she didn't remember informing Twilight about anything. Nom Nom seemed certain that she didn't want to inform anypony of the situation just yet.

"What are you talking about?" she responded back, pretending to be shocked.

"Don't play innocent with me Princess, I do not like playing those little games with you when it comes to a serious situation like this!" Abohaty kept her lips sealed and let Twilight continue on. "That should've been your first step Abohaty! You know us princesses have much more experience and power and we can help you guys out."

"Where did you hear this from?" The pink coated mare asked quietly.

"Queen Amirah herself came to Sugar Cube Corner and threatened Pinkie Pie!" Abohaty raised an eyebrow.

"Twilight, that's extremely random."

"Exactly! Apparently Amirah wants something to do with the shop, so they have to evacuate."

"Where are they staying now?"

"So far, I've had Pinkie, Cheese Cake and Kelsey all stay at my place. I'm moving them and everypony else to Apple Jack's barn soon because my kingdom is likely one of her next targets. And Apple Jack does have one of the biggest places to stay at," explained Twilight.

"Do they know that yet?"

"Not yet, I haven't been able to get a hold of Apple Jack. But when I do, they'll all stay at Sweet Apple Acres until I inform everypony else. Celestia and Luna have been notified." Abohaty's eyes widened. "Enjoy this day as much as you can. I can imagine that you'll be quite busy from now on." Twilight teleported Abohaty back to where she was originally and her friends came running over towards her, including Glitz.

"That wasn't long at all!" Kelsey squealed. Abohaty rubbed her head, trying to bring back her consciousness. Around her was Kelsey, Gabe, Written Script, Grammar and Glitz looking down at her.

"What was so important that she had to steal you away from us?" Written Script asked.

"I literally was watching Kelsey and Abohaty talk, blinked and boom! She disappeared!" Grammar exaggerated. Glitz didn't say anything because the look on his friend's face never changed. He could tell that something was wrong.

"Is everything okay?" He spoke softly. Abohaty lifted her head up and gave him a smile, indicating that she was fine. When really she was not. It would seem suspicious if she immediately left the party when she just arrived. But she had to inform Nom Nom that the other princesses know and that Queen Amirah is already here. "Abohaty?" The princess snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the stallion standing above her in worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Something came up, that's all." This made Glitz slightly panic.

"Wait, should I return to Springfields with you?!" Abohaty shook her head.

"No, no, no. None of that's necessary. We got it all under control." She placed her hoof around him. "For now, let's enjoy our day off! Might not get one of these until a while now."

Chapter 11

No One's P.O.V

After most ponies left, the rest of our group except Bookworm stayed to spend the night. There was room for everypony to sleep somewhere, so they all made space for one another.

"I haven't been to a party like this in a minute! It was an amazing distraction," Kelsey commented, stretching her hooves out on the floor. Grammar rolled over to her side.

"Yeah! We have to do this again sometime!" Glitz and I both made eye contact knowing that there was a very low chance of that happening anytime soon.

"I'm just glad some ponies came!" Glitz spoke. "Though I find it funny how the ponies who I didn't expect to show up, show up and the ponies who usually show up, don't show." Written Script let out a yawn.

"Can we please turn off the lights? You guys partied all night and you still aren't tired?" Everypony in the room laughed.

"Well, she's got a point and I think it's time to start separating ourselves now," Gabe said as he arose from Glitz's bed.

"You mares can share me and Grammar's room. We'll sleep downstairs," Glitz said. Grammar stood up in a flash.

"Hey! I did not agree to that." Glitz rolled his eyes and began to exit the room.

"Goodnight!" he called out. Once Glitz was out of sight, Grammar finally managed to drag himself after him. Gabe was last to leave the room after kissing Written Script on the cheek. Once everypony left, it was just the mares in the bedroom. Written Script already found a chair to claim and slept there. Kelsey and Abohaty had placed themselves on the bed and made themselves comfortable.

"So what was that all about with Twilight?" Kelsey asked out of the blue. Abohaty sighed heavily laying flat on her back on the bed.

"Just princess duties."

"Seemed more important than that. Will everything be okay?"

"Yeah, we got this under control, trust me." Kelsey didn't say anything in return, so Abohaty figured that she didn't quite believe her words. To change the tension in the room, Abohaty decided to change the topic to something else.

"So...um, what happened after the gala?" she asked. Kelsey tilted her head a little to face the princess.

"What do you mean?" Kelsey seemed genuinely confused so Abohaty narrowed her question down.

"You left early, what happened?" Kelsey let out a small giggle. But it wasn't one of her fun giggles, it sounded more uncomfortable.

"We just had a party at my place because the gala was getting boring," she explained.

"Who's we?"

"Grammar, and um, Celia." Kelsey went back to facing the ceiling and took long deep breaths. Abohaty noticed how she speaking in a serious tone. On top of that, she wasn't even calling Celia "Cece" anymore. Her thoughts stopped when Kelsey continued. "Glitz was supposed to come but he changed his mind. Everything was still fine though. At least that's what I thought, but Celia wasn't really enjoying herself. Not even when we got to the gala. She seemed out of it. I invited her to hang out with me and Grammar at the gala and she denied it. Then afterward, I invited her to my house with me and Grammar. But this time, she decided to come along. Even so, she still was acting so gauche which was unlike her." Kelsey took a break from speaking to take deep breaths again. Abohaty didn't say anything in response because she wanted to give her a chance to let everything out. "So I let Grammar go home so I could talk to her. And she said she was fine and we started talking about other unrelated stuff. And it was like a new pony was side by side with me because literally after Grammar went home, she was better."

"Maybe she's just a little awkward because she's not used to speaking with Grammar."

"Abohaty, you're like never here, and trust me, she was okay with Grammar before. We've hung out together so many times. So I asked her if she had anything against him and she told me no and then just-" Kelsey paused, realizing she was talking too loud and angrily. She quieted down and continued. "I'm so stupid." Abohaty raised a brow. "I'm getting mad because she caught feelings for me. That's not her fault." Abohaty sat up in an instant.

"Wait what?"

"She probably didn't want you to know that, but I can't hold it in anymore. I'm upset, not at her of course. It's just that she's one of my greatest friends and I'm unsure how to tell her that our relationship won't work. I don't have any feelings for Celia other than a friend. And I haven't spoken to her since that night because when I didn't say anything in return she ran out on me." Kelsey wiped a tear away with her hoof. "Maybe I was kind of wrong for not saying anything back, but I didn't know what to say. I was in so much shock Abohaty." Abohaty used her magic to levitate a box of tissues to the bed. Kelsey took one to wipe her eyes. She sat up in gloom. "I'm sorry, I'm just not sure what to do. And I'm scared that our friendship won't be the same."

"Hey, all of this will be over soon," Abohaty said quietly. "I think that the best solution you have is to comfort her face to face. It will only get worse if you both continue to avoid one another. Miscommunications and overthinking start to happen. And that's the last thing you want in a situation like this. You just...you can't avoid each other."

"I don't think I'll be bold enough to do that." Kelsey turned over, with her back facing Abohaty's, and pulled the blankets over her body. Abohaty sighed and put the tissues back with her magic. Little did Kelsey know, they'd have to face each other soon regardless.


Author's Note

Chapter 12

No One's P.O.V

The very next day, both Abohaty and Glitz took a train ride back to Springfields. Kelsey had gone to Twilight's and Written Script and Gabe went back to their own homes. The train ride was silent because it was so early in the morning when they left. Glitz understood completely since Abohaty would have to get back to her princess duties right away.

The moment they got off of the train, they walked over to the kingdom together. Abohaty could always just easily teleport themselves inside, but she enjoyed the small moments she spent with her friend. There weren't many moments she'd get like this, so it was best to cherish them now, especially with everything coming up at the moment. But now, she had to be serious with him. She already knew it was too late to tell him everything, but now was better than never.

"Hey, Glitz?" Glitz didn't directly look at her, but he did make a slight humming noise that indicated that he heard her. "Do you ever get nervous when going to battles?" Glitz chuckled a bit before responding precisely.

"Not exactly. But that's only because I've never been in a deadly war or anything. Just those small battles that come from time to time. Sure they leave little scars, but it's nothing to me. Especially when I know why I'm doing my job." He nudged me a little, making me smile.

"I only asked that because...I have a premonition that Amirah is coming back soon. Stronger than before. And if she could get passed hundreds of guards and murder my parents, I'm not sure if we're ready for this war. I don't think I'm ready." Glitz stopped walking and Abohaty too, when she realized him standing there.

"Wait, Amirah is coming back?" Abohaty sighed heavily.

"She's already here Glitz. That's what Twilight pulled me aside for yesterday to tell me! She threatened Pinkie Pie and her family at Sugar Cube Corner. So she, Cheese Sandwich, and Kelsey had to evacuate their home immediately. It's so darn confusing when she's coming and where. Because she's even threatened me before and-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait-" Glitz interrupted her. "You never told me any of this..." The sound of disapproval in his voice caused Abohaty's heart to sink.

"I know, and I'm sorry! I didn't think it was a big deal...well actually I knew it was a big deal, it's just that Nom Nom didn't want anyone knowing about this for some reason and forced me and Dusk Shine to keep quiet from you, the high commission, the princesses..." Glitz frowned and thought for a bit.

"You guys actually told Dusk Shine about this before me?!"

"He's literally the prince now Glitz. It kind of makes sense for him to be the second important pony to know," Abohaty explained. Before Dusk Shine existed, Glitz was considered the second important pony due to being the princess' royal guard.

"You just met the guy. But hey, maybe not because you never told me about him either until I found out!"

"Hey, you said I wasn't obligated to tell you anything!" Abohaty snapped back.

"Look Abohaty," He began walking again and the princess slowly followed behind. "This is a very serious matter and I'd think that your guide instructor would know that, but clearly not. When something like this comes up, the high commission and the guards need to know immediately so they can be prepared."

"I know that but Nom Nom-"

"Forget about Nom Nom!" he yelled. "You are the princess. You are in charge and you shouldn't take one opinion to be automatically right. I know Nom Nom probably just wants to protect us, but see that's what I think you guys are doing wrong. If we keep hiding like this, everypony is going to be at high risk of death." Glitz quieted down when he realized the mare in front of him was shaking slightly out of fear. "I'm sorry, it's just...I don't know. That isn't right to keep something like that a secret especially when it could cause some ponies their own lives! Including yours!"

Abohaty nodded. Glitz wasn't wrong at all. She just wished there was a way to get Nom Nom to hear her out. When she thought about it more, she is the Princess of Springfields and has the power over every pony including Nom Nom herself.

The two friends headed back to the kingdom in complete silence. Abohaty has never felt so bad in her entire life until now. Glitz made it obvious that he was mad, but was holding his frustrations in. Both were greeted by the guards standing outdoors when they got to the castle's main entrance. One bowed their head and opened up the door.

"Welcome back your majesty," Abohaty smiled and walked through with Glitz. Both Flamora and Cloudy, two members of the high commission came running toward the two in panic and concern

"Princess! We need you in the meeting room now! It's an emergency!" cried Cloudy in panic. Princess Abohaty exchanged worried looks with her royal guard before following the two mares to the meeting room. Glitz also tagged along, figuring it had to be about what was going on.

When the ponies arrived at the room, the full high commission was seated at the long table. Abohaty looked around in confusion, seeing the most important pony and cat not there. She looked up at Glitz who seemed just as confused as she was. Something was definitely off.

"The Prince and Nom Nom has disappeared!!" Flora covered her mouth, realizing that she wasn't supposed to reveal anything yet until the princess and her guard at least got to sit down. Flamora hoof-palmed herself and sighed.

"Yes, that's what we dragged you and Glitz in here for to tell you. And we were wondering if there is anything you know or seen that might have a connection with their disappearance."

"And if there's anywhere you last saw them," Stormy added in.

"Well that wouldn't make sense Stormy, the princess and Glitz were gone all day yesterday," Flamora replied. Everypony took a seat at the long narrow table. Glitz looked at Abohaty, waiting for any commentary she had to say. But she didn't say a word.

"Princess?" spoke Flora. "Are you alright?"

"Queen Amirah is planning an attack." All the ponies around the table but Glitz gasped in shock. "So if I were to take a good guess, I'd assume that their disappearance has to do with her. She's been planning this attack for quite a bit now and we're not the only ponies she's coming for. She's aiming to take over the entire Equestria and get rid of all princesses. But we will not let that happen." Abohaty faced Glitz. "Glitz, I need you to have guards ready at the entrance of both the kingdom and Springfields. Cloudy, your job is to inform the rest of the princesses about this immediately, and tell them to start getting their ponies to stay inside. Flamora, start sending over food and water to ponies' homes. I'm not sure how long this war will be but I certainly smell it coming. And then Stormy, you walk around to see if you find anything strange." The ponies started getting up, doing as they were instructed, and rushed out the room, leaving a few guards, Abohaty and Flora inside. "Lastly Flora, I need you to lock up the entrance and use vines to trap everypony inside, letting no pony else in."

"Princess, that process might take a bit," she informed her out of concern.

"That's alright." Flora exited the room slowly and Abohaty looked at the last few guards left standing. "You stallions should be with Glitz." Without a word, the three guards obeyed her and went to go find Glitz. All who was left in the room was Abohaty, alone. She looked out of the large window and saw the sun shining bright as if everything was going wonderfully. When the truth was, she was nervous. Nom Nom being gone left her in charge as of right now (though technically she had always been in charge). But she knew what she had to do to help make things go smoothly. Abohaty teleported out of the room to the security room where the siren lay enclosed in a glass box. Abohaty shattered the glass with her hooves and pulled down the siren. This siren hadn't been pulled in so many years, she had almost forgotten how loud it was. But it certainly did the job to inform ponies to hide. Abohaty slowly walked out of the security room and made her way to the balcony through the loud sirens and screams of ponies. When she made it outside, she watched crowds of ponies running off to their homes and loads of guards heading towards the entrance together in sync.

Abohaty then began to walk to her bedroom. Before doing anything, she wanted to make sure she hid some of her most important or valuable items. But the more she looked around, the more she started to notice that a lot of her stuff was missing or scattered around. It was like the pony who came inside didn't even try to cover up the fact that they stole a bunch of things out of her room.

That's when the realization hit the princess in the head. Dusk Shine and Nom Nom were the only ones who had access to her room. If Queen Amirah came into the kingdom at all, she and the other ponies would be notified immediately. Either Nom Nom and Dusk Shine left themselves or...no, that couldn't be possible. Why would Dusk Shine kidnap Nom Nom?

* * *

Celia just left her home and was about to travel to Sweet Apple Acres on her own to help out her cousin Applejack with the barn. But as soon as she got to the train station, the sirens in Springfield started going off loudly and the conductor was closing the gates.

"Wait, huh?" Celia looked around and saw ponies running off to their homes, some even trying to escape. Celia was going to convince the conductor to let her get on the train ride, but she wanted to know why exactly the sirens were going off first. She got on her hooves and started rushing to the kingdom, hoping she could still see Abohaty, She ran as fast as her hooves could take her. Along the way, she ran into Glitz leading a group of guards likely to the entrance of Springfields. "Glitz! Wait!" Glitz stopped his tracks but indicated for the other guards to continue walking.

"You need to get back to your house Celia. I don't have much time to talk anyways." He started walking away, but Celia stopped him again.

"Is Abohaty okay?"

"Yes, she's fine. But please, Celia, you need to get indoors immediately." Glitz ran off, catching up with the group of guards he was leading. Celia shook her head and continued to run towards the kingdom. When she got to the entrance, she was pushed back by several swords from the guards.

"Don't you hear the sirens? You should be home somewhere hiding!!" One yelled.

"I need to see the princess, I'm her friend!!" Celia cried.

"Go home!!" Another guard shouted in rage. Celia ignored their words and began shouting Abohaty's name as loud as she could, hoping she'd be heard. And fortunately, she was. Abohaty teleported right in front of her and Celia smiled in relief.

"Oh, Abohaty! You're okay!"

"Celia, what are you doing here?! You should be home! Actually you should be in Ponyville right now!" Celia raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"Wait, how do you know that?"

"Forget about that Cece! You shouldn't be here right now. We're in the middle of a crisis, can't you tell?!"

"I can help you Abohaty! We can help you! Your friends!!" Abohaty sighed before walking closer to Celia's muzzle.

"The last thing I want are my friends getting hurt. I'm sorry, but you have to go" Before Celia knew it, she was teleported right back to her doorstep.

Since running to the kingdom wasn't any help, she decided she'd run to the entrance where she'd find Glitz again. She refused to let Abohaty handle the situation alone. But first, she needed to relax. Her heart was pounding, her voice was sore, and she was out of breath completely.

Meanwhile, Abohaty continued searching through her room. But everything she was looking for was gone. Including her spell book. Abohaty was going to sit in the middle of the room and panic. There was so much going on at once but a knock on the door broke all of those thoughts. She opened the door to find Glitz holding his helmet. There were no words, just emotions shown. And it was clear that Abohaty needed a hug so, he embraced her with one. She cried her eyeballs out until there were no more tears left to cry and she was able to talk more precisely.

"I've lost everything Glitz, some pony stole from out of my room!! The spell book, my crown, everything valuable is gone!!" she cried. Glitz let her go and tilted his head.

"That's strange..." he murmured. "The guards should've seen something then."

"I looked for both Crimson and Dapper, the guards who were monitoring my room, but I couldn't find them anywhere around the kingdom, so I assumed they went with you." Glitz shook his head no.

"Nope, in fact, I haven't seen those two since the day before my party. "Why would they steal your stuff though?"

"That's also the thing Glitz, they wouldn't. It doesn't make sense, nothing is making sense!" Abohaty started pacing around in circles. "I have to go to Amirah's lair." Glitz's eyes widened.

"Are you crazy? With who?"

"Just me, I have to figure everything out." Abohaty opened her wings and Glitz walked in front of her.

"You have lost your marbles. Abohaty you can't just show up a queen's liar and expect them to just hand you back your fiancé, Nom Nom and your valuables. What if she doesn't even have them?"

"Then who would Glitz?!" Abohaty yelled.

"Still, you can't just go on your own. At least take me and few guards with you!"

"Glitz, you have to watch over the kingdom for me." Glitz's eyes widened and he stepped back a little.

"Hold on. Don't tell me you're trying to run from all of this and then just leave the kingdom in my hooves. How could you do something like that?" Abohaty walked away from him and he followed. "I'm all in for helping you out Abohaty, but just abandoning your kingdom is actually kind of selfish of you. You do realize I'm under just as much stress as you are, right?"

"Glitz I just need some time to think-"

"There is no more time to think, you guys have been keeping this a secret for how long?!" he yelled. "We could've had time, if we were informed earlier!" Abohaty said nothing in return. There was silence for a long time until Abohaty finally spoke up.

"I'm really sorry Glitz but...I can't stay here." Before Glitz could say anything in return, she took off out of the window. In an instant, Glitz took action and ran out of her room, attempting to chase her down. But he already knew that by the time he got outside, she'd be long gone.


Author's Note

Chapter 13

No One's P.O.V

Once again, Celia ran into Glitz who was leaving the castle in a hurry.

"Glitz, please, wait up!" To her surprise, he stopped.

"What's wrong now?"

"I truly want to help Abohaty."

"Well, she's gone." Glitz began walking away.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"She left," he answered vaguely.

"On her own?!"

"Tried to stop her, but I guess I wasn't trying hard enough." Celia ran in front of Glitz.

"We can go look for her!" she suggested.

"Who's we?"

"Our friend group! And you if you'd like to tag along."

"You should be worried about staying home."

"Well, if you don't care about her, you don't have to go, but I'm going!!" Glitz sighed heavily as she ran off out of sight. It wasn't that he didn't care for her, it was just nothing he could do about it. Going off the hunt her down would be just as bad as her leaving. All the rulers have either disappeared or left, and Springfields needed some pony to help keep the kingdom safely up and running. A guard tapped on his shoulder.

"Glitz, I think you should take a look at this." Glitz began to walk side by side with one of the fellow guards back towards the kingdom. "We couldn't find the princess and the high commission is busy so we thought we'd inform you instead."

"I have a feeling it's not good," he murmured.

"Unfortunately, you're right." The stallions walked until they reached the destination point. To Glitz's surprise, it wasn't too far from the castle.

"So, what's over here?" he asked. The guard nudged his head forward, indicating that Glitz should take a look for himself. And that's what he did. Glitz walked forward and looked behind a large bush. Two stallions lie on the ground covered in their blood. Those two stallions were Crimson and Dapper, the guards he and Abohaty were just looking for. "How did this happen?!" The guard shrugged.

"I just found them here today because I had a gut feeling that what I was smelling was a dead pony." Glitz sighed in defeat and looked back at the guard.

"I might have to go back to the entrance and bring Stormy here to investigate this." Glitz started preparing to run. "Stay here and watch the bodies. Stormy will be here soon.

* * *

Celia had gone to Bella's home so it would be easier to call over her friends. She knew Springfields was on lockdown, and possibly the other places too, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

Bella was home chilling with her boyfriend Zephyr on the couch when Celia came. While Zephyr was sleeping, the two girls managed to get in contact with everypony to meet up at the entrance of Springfields and how they all should come together. Friends from Ponyvillle will arrive together, as well as friends from Canterlot. And because there was at least one pony in both places who had a horn, it would be easier to teleport instead. Just inside of Springfields because their magic wouldn't be strong enough to get through Flora's vines.

Celia headed for the door when she felt ready to go back outside. But she looked back to see if Bella and Zephyr were going to come. But they stayed seated in the exact spots.

"Aren't you guys coming?"

"Are you crazy? I heard there's going to be a war. We could get killed, Celia!" Those words made the blue colt pop his head right up.

"War?"

"No baby, go back to sleep."

"I want to help!" He squealed. "I've been training for this my entire life, Bell!"

"Come on Bella, We're just looking for Abohaty anyways. She needs us," Celia insisted. Bella looked at her coltfriend once more with worried eyes.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Both Celia and Zephyr nodded their heads, even though Zephyr barely knew what was happening since he had just woken up.

* * *

At the Springfields entrance, Flora was still growing vines to cover the entrance. On the other side, Celia could see all of her friends waiting, including Kelsey. She was a little surprised that she decided to show, but not really because Kelsey wouldn't let something as small as her feelings stop her from helping a friend. She felt bad because she knew she wouldn't be able to do the same. She had regretted turning down Abohaty the other day due to her feelings but if only she had gone, she probably would've spent her last memories with a friend she hardly sees. Celia wasn't sure if she'd even see her friend again.

"Um, excuse me, Ms. Flora, can you please let our friends in" A guard stepped in front of Bella.

"Can't you see that she's trying to concentrate?! You ponies should be inside."

"Onyx," said a voice. The guard put down his sword as the princess' royal guard approached him. "It's okay." He looked over at the mare with black mane growing vines. "Let them in, Flora." Flora sighed and stopped her magic. Glitz walked over to her and handed her a snack. "You need a break anyway."

A group of vines slowly shifted out of place to let in the large group of ponies. One by one, everypony hopped through. Gabe volunteered to be the last pony to go." Celia wanted to ask Glitz what made him change his mind, but now that Kelsey was there, she couldn't even bring herself to talk. "Okay so hi," Glitz greeted. "I'm assuming Celia brought you all here unexpectedly, but I suppose that's okay now." Celia gulped and tried to hide her head a little. "I hate to admit it, but I need your help. At least some of you. Everypony cannot go with me. I need some ponies at the castle and some following me. And since there are ten of us all together, we'll split evenly," Glitz explained. "I need four ponies over here." Zephyr was the first to walk beside Glitz. Bella took a huge deep breath, already thinking about the worst things that could happen to him. "Three," Glitz called out. Written Script and Celia walked over at the same time. "Okay, I need one more."

No pony stepped forward.

"Are you guys telling me that Bella and Celia called us all over here to help Abohaty and we all agreed to come, and now everypony wants to be shy?" Grammar pointed out.

"Okay, so why don't you go up there Grammar! Since we're so shy." Kat shouted.

"I don't think it's because we're shy, it's more so because some ponies just make more sense to leave behind. Like me and Gabe," Bookworm commented, looking up from her book.

"Okay I may not be a smart ass like those two, but the only reason I shouldn't go is that I'm...I'M GLITZ'S BROTHER!!" Grammar yelled. He pushed Kelsey over.

"Hey, I don't-"

"Kelsey, you might as well just go, I feel like us ponies here would help do something useful for this kingdom..." Kat said. "Maybe not Grammar but..."

"Shut up!"

"She's right," said Bella. "Plus, you'd probably distract Grammar too much. He's already goofy enough."

"You guys are talking about me like I'm not even here." Grammar pointed at his older brother. "And you, you're just letting them!" Glitz ignored his brother and looked around at the guards.

"I need four of you guys over here," he called. It didn't take them as long to pick who would take the risk. Glitz smiled. "Now that we have a group, the ponies who are staying, your only job is to help the high commission and ponies around the kingdom.

Flora got up and tapped Glitz to get his attention.

"Which way are you guys heading?"

"Out the back."

"You better hurry before those vines close." Glitz nodded and turned to face the group. It didn't hit him until he saw the guards, so he turned back around and called out Flora's name.

"Where's Stormy?"

"Not sure, she was here and then she left." Glitz took a deep breath, trying not to get upset about something that was out of Flora's control.

"Okay, well when you see Stormy, please tell her she has to report to the back of the kingdom. One of the guards found two dead guards behind a bush. The same guards who were guarding Abohaty's bedroom door yesterday. Flora gasped in shock.

"What happened?!" Glitz shrugged.

"I'm not sure, it looks like the cause of death was them being stabbed multiple times by their swords."

"Holy shit, that's insane."

"Yeah, and I need Stormy to start an investigation on that immediately because what it looks like, is that some pony here isn't telling the full truth. I highly recommend that she brings Gabe and Bookworm to the meeting." Flora nodded and let Glitz go on with what he had to do. Glitz walked over to both Gabe and Bookworm.

"I'm going to assign you two to be a part of the investigation to figure out who murdered two guards. I feel like both of you would be the perfect fit for it."

"You can count on us Glitz," Gabe responded. Glitz walked over to Kat and Bella.

"Both of you will help out Flamora with bringing food and water to ponies' homes because Flamora should be attending the meeting, to be honest."

"That sounds pretty easy," responded Bella. Glitz walked over to his brother.

"And you...you can..." Glitz looked up at the balcony. "You're gonna be the pony to inform one of the high commission if you see something coming. And you'll be on that balcony right there." Glitz pulled out a device and began typing out to members of the high commission who weren't present at the moment. "Cloudy should be returning shortly, so she can show you ponies where to go and I'm sending a message to Stormy right now to get started with this investigation." Glitz looked back at Flora. "All members of the high commission should be there except for you, Flora." She nodded. Glitz faced the rest of the ponies who were supposed to be walking along with him. "You guys ready?" The four ponies nodded and began walking alongside Glitz and the other four guards.

Minutes after the group of ponies took off on their hooves, Stormy showed up along with Cloudy.

"Sorry, I wandered off, Cloudy needed help getting back inside." Flora nodded and paused her magic on the vines.

"Did you get the message Glitz sent out?"

"What message?" Flora sighed heavily.

"They need you to investigate a recent murder that happened with two of the guards, and host a meeting in the meeting room with the rest of the high commission to figure out what's going on."

"What happened to the Princess?" Cloudy asked. Flora shrugged in annoyance.

"Look, I'm just telling you what her royal guard told me. And Cloudy you have to show the Princess' friends around the kingdom. Two of them are supposed to go to the meeting."

"Excuse me?!" Stormy spat. "We're just letting random ponies do whatever now?"

"Stormy I am just telling you what Glitz told me to tell you. He's likely making these decisions because the Princess is no where to be found and Nom Nom is gone."

"They kidnapped Princess Abohaty?!"

"I don't know, just leave me alone!! Can't you see I'm doing something?!" Flora hollered.

"No wonder Abohaty is behind as a princess," Bookworm commented in a low voice. "You'd think she'd be more better than all three princesses combined with four ponies in the high commission and a spell book that comes with a magical guide cat, but no, this is why. These ponies don't even get along with one another. Everypony is angry at one another and I can tell who is and are not friends just from all the reactions. I haven't even been here for thirty minutes yet and I can tell these ponies hate each other."

"But just because they don't get along, doesn't make Abohaty a bad princess..." Grammar chimed in. "I mean, that's just my opinion though."

"Sure, whatever," Bookworm replied. "She's literally supposed to be the princess of happiness and no pony here seems to get along."

"Alright ponies, you all are coming with me except Bookworm and..." Cloudy paused, trying to remember the name. "Uh..."

"Gabe," Gabe said, finally speaking up.

"Yeah! You two go with Stormy. And I'll show the rest of you around the kingdom."

"Why can't we all just walk together and then separate?" Cloudy looked at the gray mare, indicating that she didn't know the answer to that.

"Is the murder scene nearby?" she asked.

"Behind the castle," Flora responded.

* * *

When the ponies arrived Bookworm and Gabe inspected the bodies closely unfazed.

"Before we do anything we should probably take a few pictures from different angles," Bookworm suggested.

"Good idea," Gabe said. He looked behind at Stormy. "Do you by any chance have a camera?"

"No?"

"How are you an investigator with no camera?" Bookworm questioned.

"Well technically Crimson was our detective and he just happened to get stabbed multiple times recently. Was pushed behind a bush, and now I am suddenly an investigator replacement today. How fun." Bookworm rolled her eyes and pulled out her own camera. "If you already had one, why'd you ask?"

"It's old." She snapped a few shots of the bodies from different sorts of angles. Both stallions had several stab wounds that was clear where it came from. One sword stuck out of Dapper's neck, and the other was placed on the ground beside Crimson. Both stallions seemed to have been shoved there due two how close the two pushed up against each other. "Do you guys have security cameras?"

"Yeah, we can check them," Stormy replied. "And afterwards it may be a good idea to check Abohaty's room for more clues. This right here doesn't give us anything." Stormy walked away from the scene and Bookworm followed behind. Gabe stayed back to see if he could get something by looking closer. After a few minutes, it hit him. He looked up to see if bookworm and Stormy were in sight, but they had already left. Gabe ran towards the front of castle hoping they didn't go inside yet, because without Stormy, he would likely be pushed back by the guards. Thankfully they were only a few steps away from the door, so he quickly caught up with them. He did not talk about his findings yet, because first he wanted to see what the security camera caught.

The security room was not far from the entrance. No pony was seen inside. You could now hear Stormy's heavy pants.

"Where's Arctic?!" She panicked. "He's supposed to be on duty..." Stormy's worlds trailed off when she looked up at the security camera with the other two. Not one camera showed the castle and its rooms. Every camera displayed Nom Nom and Dusk Shine being held over a large pot of flames. Both dangling from just one single rope. Stormy backed up slowly before running out of the room in panic. Gabe walked up to the controls to see if the screens were allowed to switch. But he swore he tapped every button he saw. Bookworm continued staring at the screens, speechless.

"Wanna try to find the Princess' room?" Gabe spoke. "I think we passed it on the way here." Bookworm nodded and walked out of the room with Gabe. The two ponies walked around the castle until they found Abohaty's room. Bookworm tried to open the door, but it was locked good.

"Dammit," she cursed. Gabe looked on the ground and paces around the door, looking for any signs of struggle.

"A unicorn."

"What?"

"A unicorn had to have killed those guards. There's no sort of evidence over here because unicorns can teleport other ponies. And you can argue that the killer cleaned up after themselves, but look at the security room! How is it possible to show a live video of an event that's happening outside the kingdom."

"Good point. But Abohaty once told me random ponies are not allowed to just teleport into the kingdom. The magic will backfire on them. Only ponies who have access to the kingdom can do that." Gabe looked at Bookworm with seriousness shown on his face.

"Then that means they have a rat walking around these corridors," he said sternly.


Author's Note

Chapter 14

No One's P.O.V

To avoid talking to Kelsey, Celia stayed awfully close to Glitz who was leading the way to the end of Springfields. Kelsey was walking in the back with the other guards while Written Script and Zephyr flew high in the air. Oh, how the green mare wished she could fly too. What made it more awkward was that Glitz hadn't said a word since they left. He seemed fairly stressed and Celia wanted to ask about it but she still couldn't bring herself to say anything because all she could think about was Kelsey following behind her. Celia certainly regretted telling Kelsey anything. If she had just kept her mouth shut, the two would be chatting away while walking. But the whole walk was filled with silence aside from Written Script and Zephyr's voices from above. They were too high up to be able to hear anything, but it was clear they were having a conversation meanwhile, the ponies on the ground walked in complete silence. And when you singled out all of the guards, it would be just Celia and Kelsey.

Glitz had noticed the lack of conversation between Kelsey and Celia but he was too stressed out about everything to even sit down and chat with the two. Since the party, things have seemed off, but it was their problem and he just simply couldn't be the one to solve it. He barely talked to them. He just wanted to speak with his friend. She was not thinking straight and was doing everything out of panic. And that's why they're in this situation now. He didn't mean to blame Abohaty completely because he knew how Nom Nom was, but that wasn't an excuse to act the way she had been acting. He loved Abohaty with his heart but the way she kept so much from him didn't sit right with him. She didn't even inform him that she had a fiancée. Not that she was obligated to of course, but she used to tell him everything. Even things that weren't work-related. He didn't want to be judgmental about the whole coltfriend straight-to-engagement thing, but he did have questions considering it was nothing like Abohaty to randomly marry a fancy wealthy colt.

Once the ponies reached the other side of Springfields, Zephyr and Written Script flew back down to the ground and landed on their hooves, so they would be able to get out of the vines. Flora hadn't closed that specific side completely yet, so all nine ponies went through one by one. When everypony came through, Glitz spoke up.

"Abohaty has run away and we need to find her quickly before something goes down at the kingdom or she gets hurt...or both." Glitz looked to the side a bit. "She said she was going to Amirah's liar, but I highly doubt so because she'd be too scared to go alone at this point. She's out somewhere out here in the woods hiding."

"The woods are huge though, how do we expect to find her in a short amount of time?" Zephyr asked. Glitz pulled out a large item using his mouth. he dropped it onto the ground and then picked it up with his left hoof. He pressed the button to turn it on and blue light shot from out the top, making a loud noise. The light made a pathway for the ponies to follow. "Wait you guys have a pony tracker?"

"Just me. Because it uses up a lot of energy and power, it's best to use it only for emergencies, like this one." The ponies begin following the blue light to wherever it took them. But thankfully not too far. The light guided them to a large opening in the woods, where Abohaty sat. Glitz handed the tracker to one of the guards behind him and signaled for everypony to stay put.

Glitz only brought himself forward to check on Abohaty. She barely budged, nor looked up to see who was coming over.

"Go away," she sneered.

"It's nice to see you too, Princess." Glitz sat down beside his friend who faced the other way immediately.

"If you're here to bring me back to the kingdom, I'm not going back. I can't do it," she cried.

"Princess, I don't think either of us has much of a choice. I understand all of this is hard for you, but you can't just run away from all of your problems. That's not right. Your kingdom is in danger and you have everypony else doing something but yourself. Your parents wouldn't like nor want that for you. You're better than that Abohaty, and I know you know that." Abohaty did not respond. She sat in silence, hoping this would make Glitz just leave. She had made her decision, and now she was sticking with it. She was absolutely nothing without her parents or Nom Nom. She was a failure since her parents were murdered cold on the bedroom floor. She was never suited to be a princess, why did she out of all ponies have to be chosen? She was supposed to be the princess of happiness, but she couldn't recall the last time she's truly been both happy and stress-free.

Suddenly a loud noise emerged from behind the two friends and the ground began to rumble. Out of bodyguard reflex, Glitz grabbed onto the Princess' hoof and pulled her away from where the sound came from. He pulled his sword out, ready for battle. "Show yourself!!" he yelled frantically, walking in front of the Princess. The other four guards in the back ran to his assistance.

An evil chuckle came from behind the bushes. It only took a few seconds for the tall pink pony to reveal herself.

"How adorable of you to protect your pretty little princess when I could easily just knock the five of you out in one go." Queen Amirah began pacing around slowly in circles. "I wouldn't want to traumatize the Princess yet again. It seems like she's already been through enough." The way the Queen said everything caused shivers down each ponies' spines. Everypony feared her, including the guards because they never knew what would be her next moves, and who was her next target. She always talked about death, but nothing happens until you least expect it. "But I don't really care. It's not like anypony ever cared about my feelings, so why should I care about yours?" Queen Amirah blasted through her horn. The guards were too slow to react but the Princess was not. She placed a pink shield in front of the four guards and Amirah's power backfired into a tree. This caused the tree to fall slowly and Amirah teleported out of the way. Zephyr grabbed Kelsey and flew her into the air and Written Script did the same with Celia and the guards on the ground split separately, trying to avoid the falling tree. Glitz made sure he had Abohaty with him at all times. He ran behind a tree and both of them watched as it fell with a loud bang.

Amirah took this as her chance to zap one of the ponies in the sky, and it ended up being Zephyr. She hit him on his hoof, causing him to drop Kelsey, and then hit him on his wing, making him fall with her. Written Script immediately flew back to the ground with Celia to check if the two were okay since they both fell from a pretty high distance. Kelsey had fallen hard onto the ground and failed to land on her hooves. Zephyr ended up falling just as hard but was in even more pain due to the injuries on his wing and hoof. He was bleeding out pretty badly so the guards rushed to his assistance, ignoring Kelsey. Written Script assumed that Kelsey was okay so she rushed over to Zephyr as well. Kelsey got up as if nothing happened, but it was still clear that she was badly hurt, just no blood. Celia slowly walked over to her.

"You ok-" Celia was interrupted by a loud zap and screams.

After Glitz and Abohaty heard the same thing, they ran from behind the tree to see what happened. Abohaty flew over the fallen tree and Glitz climbed quickly to catch up with her. When he noticed that she wasn't moving any further he looked down and his heart almost dropped. No pony was to be seen except for Amirah standing over Zephyr. Glitz was tugged back down by the other guards.

"We don't have enough ponies to fight her off. She already killed one!" One of the guards told him. Glitz's eyes widened.

"He's dead?!" The guard nodded.

"She struck him a second time, and he was done for."

"Your majesty, what are you doing?!" Glitz heard another guard call out. He turned his head around so fast and stepped right into action. Abohaty wasn't standing on the tree anymore. Instead, she flew herself onto a tree branch and shut her eyes tight. Clouds began to form while the nature around began growing rapidly. The trees, flowers, and grass grew high. Vines wrapped around the queen's hooves and her eyes went into hallucination when smiley flowers appeared. The guards began pushing the other ponies down a pathway that directed them back to Springfields. Glitz looked between both the Queen and Princess in panic while Zephyr laid still beneath the queen. He noticed how the queen's eyes went in and out of hallucination which did not seem normal to Glitz, but the Princess wasn't noticing this because her eyes were shut the whole time. That's when his eyes caught the attention of a diamond on Amirah's head. Now he hadn't seen the Queen other than in the images of her from stories in the libraries, but he knew her having a diamond did not seem right. Especially when the diamond looked extremely similar to Nom Nom's in a way. The diamond began glowing and before he knew it, he was grabbing Abohaty's tail, messing up her concentration. She fell off of the branch and into Glitz's hooves. The ground rumbled beneath them and cracks began to form. Glitz looked up to see an incoming rock avalanche. Immediately, he got up and took Abohaty by the hoof and began running in the opposite direction which only lead them farther away from Springfields. The other ponies had already left, and he hoped that they would make it out of the forest safe on their own with the guards.

Abohaty tried to teleport themselves, but she couldn't teleport them far. She fell to the ground panting heavily. Glitz looked around at the new environment.

"Where are we?" Abohaty looked up as well, noticing the strange place she teleported both of them in.

"It looks like we're close to her lair, if you ask me," the Princess answered. Glitz panicked.

"Why, would you teleport us here?!" he yelled.

"I swear, it was going to be back to the kingdom! My magic i-it's broken!" Abohaty stopped talking when she saw Glitz sit down on the ground. Her eyes saddened and tears started to well up. "I mean it Glitz, this wasn't supposed to happen, everything is just going left and I'm not sure what to-"

"Amirah has Nom Nom's diamond." Was all the stallion said. Abohaty wiped her eyes with her hoof.

"W-What...?"

"It was planted on her head. Like how Nom Nom originally wore it." Abohaty felt like she was going to collapse, but she still kept talking.

"But...it doesn't just come off of Nom Nom's head. Y-You actually have to rip it out..." Glitz nodded sadly, realizing what this meant.

Nom Nom wasn't as important to him, but he did understand how much she meant to her. Nom Nom was basically her second mother who grew up with her. So Abohaty loosing both of her caregivers completely was a lot to handle. But just because Nom Nom didn't have her diamond anymore doesn't mean she's not alive. But badly injured? Yes. But knowing Queen Amirah, it was a high possibility the cat was completely gone. But he didn't want to tell her that, he just assumed that's what Abohaty had came to a conclusion with because she was crying silently.

Glitz sighed and walked up to his friend slowly. He wrapped a hoof around her head and let her cry it all out. They weren't loud obnoxious sobs, they were quite the opposite. Quiet whimpers with heavy tears running down her face. Nom Nom's diamond probably wasn't the only thing she was crying about right now. He didn't bother asking because he already knew that her being a princess forced into becoming a queen at a young age with no parents was probably extremely difficult. He's heard about the times where Abohaty would tell him how she doesn't get to live a normal life because all she does is work and train. She barely gets to see her friends, and she even told him how she now doubts her friendships with some of them. He never told her, but the times he'd be off duty and hanging out with her friends, they'd make backhanded comments about Abohaty and it's usually about how she barely sees them; in which she told them several times why she can barely visit.

Glitz had noticed his friend's crying calmed down and slowly removed his hoof from her. "Do you think m-maybe we could rescue Dusk Shine?" Glitz's eyes widened. "Maybe he's still alive. Amirah only works by herself, and since she's not here yet, maybe we-"

"That's insane Abohaty. It can't be that easy!" Glitz tried to tell her. "Besides, it's just us two!"

"But we'd be fighting no pony. She doesn't have an army, just herself!"

"What if that changed?!" Glitz argued.

"Then she would be sending her army out first, not herself!" Glitz sighed.

"Please Glitz! I can't lose Dusk Shine too! He is just as important as me when it comes down to our kingdom!!" Glitz sucked his teeth and looked up at the large lair. He didn't want Abohaty to get hurt, but she was right about Dusk Shine being important to the kingdom. So he had no other choice but to go with her.

Everywhere she goes, he goes.


Author's Note

Chapter 15

No One's P.O.V

Bookworm, Stormy, Cloudy, and Gabe all sat at the long table. Cloudy was finished with what she had to do, so she decided to be a part of the ongoing investigation. Lastly, they had four guards attend the meeting in replacement for the rest of the high commission Gabe was currently speaking his thoughts aloud to the ponies in the room.

"I think that a rat is running around in the kingdom. And the only thing we know for sure is that the rat is a unicorn." Both Cloudy and Stormy took a glance at one another knowing that the other two ponies in the high commission were unicorns. "because if you think about it, no outsider is allowed inside unless escorted by another guard. But even so, the princess wasn't here that day for there to even be visitors. The cameras in the security room have been switched around, and that cannot be done without magic."

"The cameras were showing Nom Nom and Dusk Shine over a fire, about to lose their lives," Bookworm added in.

"And that gives us a good idea that they are with Queen Amirah at the moment, but Queen Amirah was not in the kingdom, she must have some pony else in the kingdom to do the dirty work for her," Gabe explained. One of the guards came forward and spoke up.

"I think this is important to add, but I also heard from Glitz Abohaty's things have been taken. Valuables such as her crown and spell book."

"Yeah, then it was definitely Queen Amirah getting someone to do her evil doings," Gabe murmured. "I also would like to add on to why I believe a unicorn has done this. Now that I know Abohaty's things have been taken, it's likely they used their horn to get inside. But they also used their horn to get rid of the evidence. It does not matter if these guards were killed in front of her room or outside. I would assume it was in front of her room, but regardless, since it was two strong advanced guards. I cannot imagine an earth pony easily taking the sword out of the guard's hoof without the other quickly doing something. The same goes for a pegasus. When you have magic, you can do much more." Gabe began listing the possible things that could've happened. "Levitation, teleportation, freezing, and so much more! But the main point I have to empathize with is that Crimson and Dapper were teleported outside. How would they be able to leave the building dead? Let alone alive too because they're not allowed to leave Abohaty's room unsupervised."

"He has a point..." Stormy murmured.

"I need you guys to start listing every unicorn you know of who is always allowed to enter and leave the building without a guard. Unless you guys have guards who are unicorns...?" Bookworm said.

"No, just earth pony guards."

"This doesn't make sense though, the only ponies with horns who walk around are Flora, Flamora, Dusk Shine, and Abohaty but any of them possibly committing this crime wouldn't make any sense!" Cloudy cried. "Abohaty was off and Dusk Shine disappeared that exact day along with Nom Nom. Flamora and Flora couldn't have possibly done this...what would be their motive?"

"It's not about what ponies' motives are. It is possible that Queen Amirah either sent a pony out recently or a long time ago who you have begun to trust, she corrupted one of the unicorns, or she changed into one of them! We don't know her powers!" Bookworm yelled.

"Well let's break it down. I heard Dusk Shine is a little new, so we'll leave him out of the image. Have Flamora and Flora been acting different lately?"

"Not at all," answered Stormy. "Plus we were sort of with each other the entire day. The whole high commission. So I highly doubt it's one of us."

"How long has Dusk Shine been admitted to this kingdom?" Gabe asked.

"Certainly not for long. Nom Nom recently found him, but never told us where."

"That's already strange," Bookworm commented.

"Yeah, but isn't Dusk Shine tied up with Nom Nom currently?" Gabe asked Bookworm.

"What we saw on that camera does not mean it's real. It could be fake. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of leaning onto Dusk Shine. You have to remember Nom Nom is gone as well."

"Maybe the two got kidnapped together?" Stormy pointed out.

"Let me ask you guys something." Bookworm pushed up her glasses. "What do you know about this guy other than his name? I know he's new and Nom Nom found him, but do you guys know anything else?"

Cloudy and Stormy looked at each other and shook their heads no. "I'm am flabbergasted..." Bookworm admitted. "There is no way you guys admitted some random pony into the kingdom and you don't even know the basics about him. I will be fair and say it's not your fault because you didn't know, but I just can't believe how every pony here is letting a talking cat walk all over them. I'm starting to think Nom Nom is the fucking bad guy. Because what it sounds like is that you all do not communicate with each other meanwhile Nom Nom is rushing to make everything perfect herself. And since she's rushing she didn't even decide to do a background check on this stallion."

"If that's the case, then what Glitz told me at the gala was true. He said that Dusk Shine was being rude and aggressive with her for no reason. And how she never mentioned him once," Gabe added. "Is there like a reason Nom Nom keeps things from you guys?" Stormy shrugged.

"Honestly I wish I knew the reason. It's like we're nonexistent until she needs us to battle or something. We barely get to know the princess herself. We only get to see her during meetings and that's it. It's just constant overworking and training us every day. And no pony trains us. We train ourselves," Stormy said sadly.

"This is honestly so sad. I've never wanted to rule a kingdom so bad in my life until now," Bookworm commented. "Was it always this way? Please tell me no." Cloudy shook her head.

"Queen Deborah and King Dustin ruled at the time before they passed. Everything was fine before they were murdered. Ever since then, Nom Nom has changed into this frantic cat who needs everything to be perfect just because this has never happened before. And she's trying to avoid it from happening again, but is doing it in the wrong way."

"She didn't even give us a chance to recover from that day! Everypony had to suck it up and just get back to work as nothing happened," Stormy cried. Bookworm shook her head in disbelief. She side-eyed Gabe and put her voice to a whisper.

"Now I kind of feel bad about the things I said to Abohaty."

There was a knock on the wall and all the ponies turned their heads to see who it was. Grammar stood in the doorway with a smile on his face.

"Some of the ponies came back!" Grammar said in excitement. "I see them walking toward the kingdom!" His smile faded when he realized he came at a terrible time. One of the ponies with a gray coat was in tears and both Bookworm and Gabe looked shaken up completely like they were just told a horror story. "Sorry, I just thought you guys wanted to know..."

Grammar left the room and began heading back downstairs to the main entrance. He was excited to see Kelsey again and tell her about how cool it was to watch over the full kingdom. However, he didn't expect them all to be back so soon. He didn't even recall seeing Abohaty with them.

While waiting inside at the front door, Grammar saw a few paramedics rush out with a hospital bed. He raised his eyebrow in confusion.

Had somepony been hurt? He thought.

He decided it was best to simply wait to see who the paramedics brought back inside. And to his surprise, it was just Kelsey. His eyes widened in shock. "Wait, Kelsey!!" Grammar started running after her. When he asked the doctors what had happened, they shooed him away and continued walking. Grammar slowly came to a halt and watch them take away his friend. He then turned around to only see Celia, Written Script, and the few guards that came with them. He tried looking harder because he swear another pony walked with them. On top of that, his brother wasn't with them and neither was Abohaty, the one pony they were supposed to bring back. Grammar rushed over to Celia to get all the details of what happened. "Cece, what's going on? What happened to my brother? And Kelsey, why are they-"

"Amirah found us and attacked," Written Script said, answering before Celia could. "We did actually find Abohaty, but when we found her, Amirah found us and started to attack. Me and Zephyr wanted to help Cece and Kelsey off the ground since they were earth ponies but Amirah shot at Zephyr twice. Both of them fell pretty hard and got hurt."

"...And where is Zephyr? Kelsey's still here." Grammar asked, hoping the answer wasn't what he expected. Celia and Written Script gave each other a worried look before looking back at Grammar.

"He's dead." Grammar took one step back and took a deep breath. Celia continued. "He did survive the fall, but after the fall, Amirah just...finished him off." Grammar covered his mouth in horror. Now the image of Bella appeared in his head because he did hear something about how in love they were.

"So...who's gonna tell Bella...?" he asked.

"I don't know, but it's not gonna be me. I just can't." Written Script said.

"Yeah, but she's gonna realize we're back!" Celia told her.

"Well, eventually she'll realize what happened on her own. I'm sorry, I just can't be the one to tell her."

"What about my brother? Where is he?" His voice sounded like he was begging at this point. Grammar looked between their eyes frantically. Celia and Written Script's faces weren't helping him feel any better.

"Um...we thought they were behind us, I swear! But then there was a random avalanche, and we realized they didn't follow us, so..." Celia looked both ways before continuing. "...we think Queen Amirah has a hold of both of them or they ran a different direction away from the queen." Tears were forming in Grammar's eyes and Celia tried to reassure him by continuing, but her plan was failing. "I'm sorry Grammar, but the guards couldn't get back in touch with him. He must've dropped his walkie talkie while running away." Grammar took more deep breaths trying to slow down the racing thoughts in his head. Typically he always stayed positive through situations like these and crack jokes here and there, but no one knows where his brother could be and his best friend is injured badly. Now he wished he'd taken things more seriously before he left. Sure, he and his brother fought a lot, but he still cared dearly for him. All he had left was his big brother. He never thought about the risks Glitz had to take when he accepted to be Abohaty's royal guard.

"Grammar do you know where the other ponies are? I'm gonna ask to join them." Grammar nodded slowly and led the way to the meeting room. Written Script entered but he and Celia did not.

"You're not...?" Grammar tilted his head.

"I'm gonna go find Kelsey. I've been here with Abohaty before and I remember passing the emergency room." Celia told him. He nodded.

"I guess I'll come too...if that doesn't bother you." Celia turned her head.

"Huh?" Grammar glared at her.

"Isn't that what I always do to you? Bother whatever you and Kelsey have going on?" Celia shook her head.

"Grammar, no, you have it all wrong. I don't mind being around you!" She assured him.

"Yeah, until Kelsey joins and then you're all weirded out until I leave."

"No-"

"Yes! Everypony thinks I'm dumb, but I've noticed this happen so many times. I even asked Kelsey about it and she gets weirded out when I mention you! We've all been friends for so long, I'm starting to think I did something wrong!!" Celia's eyes became watery. This was not what she wanted to happen.

"Grammar just listen to me!" Grammar shut his mouth and looked up at the green coated mare. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's just me and my stupid feelings." Grammar raised a brow. "I caught feelings for Kelsey and I made our friendship weird and niether of us are talking to each other."

"Gay?"

"Grammar I'm fucking serious!" Celia shouted out of frustration. Bookworm came to the door and walked in between the two.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting....this, but we're trying to discuss a murder that's happened and you two are talking extremely loud. Could you discuss you and Kelsey's love story elsewhere?" Bookworm walked back inside and shut the door. Celia began walking away from the room and Grammar followed.

She said nothing else because she was now embarrassed enough. Pretty much everypony knew about her silly crush on Kelsey, and now friend group meetings will be awkward. At least Abohaty, Kat and Bella didn't hear anything yet. Thank god for Kat because Kat would end up telling everypony she knows!

"Sorry," Grammar apologized.

"It doesn't matter," she grumbled.

"...Does she know?" Celia stopped her tracks and looked at Grammar to see if he was being serious.

"What do you think Grammar?! Of course she fucking knows. I just told you we're not talking anymore! And it's all because of me and my big mouth."

"Hey, don't say that. Eventually the two of you will suck it up and start talking again. I mean you have to. You can't avoid each other forever. You two seemed really close, so it'd be weird if you didn't start talking again." Grammar said, walking down the halls with Celia.

"But it won't be the same, Grammar."

"Yes, it won't be the same if you both act that way. If Kelsey said that she doesn't like you back, you kind of have to respect that. The best both of you can do is just try continuing being the friends you were before," Grammar advised.

"What if my feelings don't ever fade?"

"You're gonna be stuck on the same pony forever?" Grammar frowned when Celia didn't respond back. "Well that's just an unfortunate problem you have to fix if you want to continue being Kelsey's friend."

They arrived at the doctor's office and stopped at the front desk. Celia tried her best to put a smile on her face while saying,

"Hi, I'm here to see Kelsey? If she's allowing visitors?" the nurse at the front desk smiled away.

"Sure thing! Can I get your name?"

"Celia and uh..." Celia turned to look at Grammar but he was no longer standing beside her. He was leaning against a wall with a small reassuring smile on his face. "You're not coming?"

"I feel like you need to speak to her more than I do. I can wait." He said. He then turned around and walked out of her sight. Celia panicked at first, but then realized the nurse was still waiting for her response.

"Oh uh, just me."


Author's Note

Chapter 16

Celia's P.O.V

I walked into the hospital room slowly so that I didn't make much sound. Turns out, Kelsey was the only one in the room. She hadn't spotted me yet, so while I got the chance, I observed her body a little more. We were all in a rush to escape the woods without getting caught, so I never actually got to see how hurt she was. And it was true that it was bad. She had bandages wrapped everywhere and wore a neck brace. Kelsey opened her eyes and stared directly at me without saying a word.

I had no other choice but to say something to her, so I greeted her kindly.

"Hey..." I could see a little smile appear on her face, but I was sad she didn't vocally reply. I wasn't sure if it was because she was too nervous too or because of the large brace on her neck, but I continued speaking anyways. "Um, how do you feel?"

"Everything hurts," she murmured. I frowned.

"Aw, I'm sorry..." I looked around the room. "Do you need anything? Water? Or..."

"I'm okay Cece." I wanted to smile because she finally called me "Cece" again. It felt as if I was making some sort of progress and this was one of the huge milestones. But then my smile faded when I remembered what Grammar said. Surprisingly, I wasn't the one to bring it up. "Also I'm sorry for everything. I realized I shouldn't have reacted the way I did and at least try to talk about it with you. But I didn't do that. And I apologize if I ended up hurting you." Celia smiled warmly and shook her head.

"No Kelsey. Your reaction was totally valid. I wouldn't really know how to respond either. And it takes two to have a conversation, and since I was avoiding too, that's kind of both of our faults." Kelsey giggled a little.

"Yeah..." Kelsey shifted her head left to face me more and looked me in the eye. "And Cece, you're an amazing friend, and I love you dearly, but...I just can't see us having a relationship. I don't want to lie to your face and tell you that I feel the same way when truthfully, I don't." She smiled weakly. "I'm really sorry if that's not what you wanted to-"

"I-It's okay," I interrupted. "I understand and respect that. I-I just hope we can move on from this and you know, still be friends...?" I was no longer looking her in the eye. My nerves were starting to get to me, even if the conversation was going well. Maybe not how she wanted it to go, but Kelsey finally talking to her again was all she could ask for.

"Yes, yes, of course, C!" I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god." I finally built some courage to look her in the eyes again. "And um, I should probably leave you be now. Unless..."

"You can stay! No one's here so, I need some sort of compa-"

Kelsey was cut off by a loud scream followed by unpleasant wails and sobs. My eyes widened and shot a quick look outside the room to see the nurse have the same reaction as me. Kelsey was just as shocked. "Was that Bella?"

"Oh no, I think she found out..." I said worryingly. I looked at Kelsey once again. "Sorry, I should probably check on her." She nodded understandingly and I rushed out of the room to now accompany Bella.

No One's P.O.V

When Celia made it back upstairs, everypony was gathered around Bella who was on the floor balling her eyeballs out. She didn't even question because the answer to what was going on was quite obvious. She didn't know who had the guts to tell her, but some pony told her about Zephyr and now she's grieving in Kat's hooves. She must've asked one of the guards because many guards were there, yet no Written Script. Celia opened the door to the meeting room to find Written Script with her head down and hooves over it. Gabe sat beside her, rubbing her back slowly. He noticed me and smiled but then frowned again hearing Bella's cries become louder in the background. I sat down beside Gabe and looked at Written Script who never looked up. Gabe leaned over to Celia's ear and whispered,

"She told her." Celia frowned not even wanting to imagine how it went down.

"So why is she crying?" She asked Gabe in a whisper, looking at Written Script. "I mean, I think she's crying..."

"She is. Bella blamed everyone who went with him and now she feels guilty for his death. And everypony got mad at the guards and her since you guys didn't come back with him or the Princess and Glitz. But they're mainly upset at Written Script because the guards who went with us left and she was the only pony they had left to nag. So you better stay in here because I'm pretty sure they're pissed at you too, even though none of this is any of you girls' fault."

Celia sighed heavily. Gabe was right, and he wasn't even there when it happened. Of course, she felt bad for Bella about her coltfriend, but all the ponies standing outside comforting her were not there to see what happened. Maybe the guards are to blame because they're supposed to protect, but nowhere should she and Written Script be blamed. There wasn't much they could do! She just hoped they didn't say anything about Kelsey, because she got hurt too and no one has checked up on her, not once except Celia herself. She had no clue where Grammar went. Now when she thought about it, where did he go?

"Have you seen Grammar?" Gabe shook his head no. Celia was going to get up to find him since Bella likely was upset with her, but the Bookworm burst through the doors angrily.

"So when were you planning to help us figure out what the hell happened to the princess?" she shouted. Celia looked at Gabe, and then back at Bookworm.

"I thought Written Script would tell you guys?"

"Oh she did! And about Glitz and Zephyr too. But what about you?"

"What do you mean?!"

"You thought that talking about your feelings on Kelsey with ponies was more important than informing us about the more serious shit that's happening right now?" Bookworm pushed up her glasses and continued to stare Celia in the eye.

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds bad, but-"

"Because it is! There is no but! Why would you ever prioritize something like that over your friend!"

"I thought that one pony telling you would be enough. I didn't think you needed both of us, so I just went to go check on Kelsey since no pony else seemed to care."

"Well Celia, it makes it seem like you were just hiding from us so you didn't have to get lectured on how freaking stupid you guys are! And I promise you if Glitz was here right now, he would be getting it worse." Bookworm turned around and started heading out the door. "I'm calling my mother, this is horrendous. No pony here knows what they're doing at all and they're all focused on the wrong things."

She did understand Bookworm's frustration because she was used to it. If ponies weren't doing a certain thing right, she'd go insane. And Celia knew that all of their lives were at stake here, but Bookworm never seemed to show this much care for Abohaty when she'd stop by, so what's making her change her mind now? Celia turned back around to Gabe and he just stared at her.

"If I didn't know who she was, I'd have a hard time believing her mom is Twilight Sparkle," Celia commented.


Author's Note

Yeah, that's Kelsey and Celia in my avatar picture. Kelsey is the yellow mare and Cece is the green one :)

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Chapter 17

No One's P.O.V

"Don't you think this is a little too easy?"' Glitz asked the princess as they walked down the long halls of Amirah's lair.

"The easier, the better. We just need to get Dusk Shine and Nom Nom, and get the hell out of here," Abohaty responded. Glitz chuckled. But not in a laughing manner, but more so concerned.

"There's no way you think all of this is that simple...I know the Queen isn't here, but that doesn't mean there isn't any sort of traps lying around."

"You say that now and then..." Glitz trailed off when he saw the many rooms Amirah's lair had when both of them reached the end of the hallway.

"We should split up."

"No way."

"The faster we find the two, the faster we can get out of here without running into the Queen."

"Abohaty, I am obligated to stick by you until you die," Glitz reminded her.

"Not exactly, but okay." Glitz sighed. "Listen, I love that you want to keep me safe and all, but you literally said not too long ago, that I should be making my own decisions about what I want. And I feel like the best thing for us to do at the moment is split and meet back up. I really don't wanna come back to the kingdom empty hoofed after just ditching it out of panic."

"Yeah, that also wasn't cool," he murmured. "But fine, we'll split just this once. And if I need to find you I have this tracking thingy," he looked at his bag and Abohaty raised a brow.

"Is that what you used to track me down? I swear you've never used that before."

"You ran out of my sight, I had no other choice," he said.

"So if you went to search for me, who did you put in charge of the kingdom?" she asked out of curiosity.

"The high commission pretty much," the white-coated stallion replied. "But uh, let's just get going. already have a bad feeling about all of this. It's too quiet here." Abohaty nodded and Glitz began making his way over to a doorway while she went to the opposite one.

Abohaty thought the place was huge for just one pony to live here. She started to doubt that maybe Amirah did have some sort of guard or guards living here to back her up. But if she did, they certainly would've attacked by now.

While searching around, she thought about her kingdom again. She did not handle the ongoing crisis right, and she knew if Nom Nom was here, she would be very disappointed in her. If Nom Nom were here, she wouldn't even have the choice to run away. So for once, Abohaty felt like she had some sort of freedom. But she knew her decision was still selfish because her kingdom was supposed to come first. And she would have to live with that regret for the rest of her life. Nothing that she says or does would change what she did, she just had to force herself to move forward and do better for her kingdom.

Abohaty looked up when she thought she heard movement around the halls. She assumed it was Glitz, but just to be sure, she went to go see for herself. On the other side was Dusk Shine walking around. Abohaty was going to scream in excitement that she found the prince but stopped herself because she realized how odd it was seeing him just casually walk around.

Why wasn't he looking for a way out?

"Dusk Shine?" He turned his head slowly and smiled.

"Hi dear, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same to you. Do you need help?" she asked.

"With?"

Abohaty decided it was best if she stood right where she was standing now. Dusk Shine casually being here was strange, but him speaking like this was even stranger to her.

"Escaping?"

"Are you here by yourself?" he asked huskily. Abohaty debated in her head if she should lie or not. After all, he was being suspicious.

"Yes, but I'd hope I'm not."

"Elaborate," he demanded.

"I mean, I'd hope Nom Nom is here too but-" Abohaty's words were interrupted by abrupt laughter. She had never seen Dusk Shine act this way before, and it kind of made her scared. She started having a gut feeling that Dusk Shine partnered with Amirah but that just couldn't be possible. Nom Nom would never make a mistake like that. Since she always shamed her for her small mistakes, she always assumed Nom Nom was the cat of perfection who never missed. "What's so funny?" Abohaty asked, her voice quivering. Dusk Shine calmed his laughter and smiled.

"Come with me. I'll show you where she is."

Abohaty wanted to stay back to be safe, but knowing she had fought off Dusk Shine before, she was confident in winning a battle with him in case he randomly decided to pull a fight. Plus, she wanted to see Nom Nom because he made it sound as if she was alive and still here. So she followed him to a different room that was creepier than the last. The whole lair itself just looked abandoned and empty. But it wasn't like Abohaty had expected it to be filled with stuff because Amirah just didn't seem to be the type to decorate. She always imagined her sitting lonely in a dark empty space with nothing better to do with her life until she takes over all the princess' powers. Maybe then she'd decide to give herself a better life. But a better life was not what she deserved.

Dusk Shine and Abohaty finally arrived to where Nom Nom was. The princess was confused because she didn't see anything besides another closed door. Dusk Shine used his horn to levitate a golden key. He had it float in front of Abohaty's face for her to grab. "Why don't you go and rescue the kitty yourself?"

That was all it took for Abohaty to run back. Even if Nom Nom was behind those doors, Dusk Shine could've easily saved her himself with the key in his hooves like that. Abohaty ran as fast as she could. She tried using her magic to teleport but it wasn't working. Seconds after, she was teleported someplace else by her own will. She got up immediately and looked around at pitch blackness.

The light turned on and in front of the princess appeared to be her so-called fiancée. "Turn around." That was all he said. The princess obeyed and turned herself around slowly, not knowing what to expect. She wished she'd given herself time to process before looking.

It was the first time she has seen Nom Nom on the ground. There was no sign of blood or bruises on her body, the cat just laid lifeless on the ground with a diamond-shaped hole on her head. The hole where the diamond originally was. She knew taking it out shouldn't have killed the cat, but aside from her diamond being missing Nom Nom didn't seem to be hurt. She wanted to ask how she died, but she couldn't get the words to come out of her mouth. Only tears were building up in her eyes.

Abohaty looked to the side to see other lifeless bodies on the ground. None of them whom she recognized except for her security camera pony, Arctic. Compared to Nom Nom, his death was more clear. He seemed to have multiple stab wounds on his side and was covered in dry blood she supposed was his. She felt her hooves almost collapse but she tried to stay strong.

"It's kind of sad when you think about it. So think of it like this. Your little friend Glitz was very very lucky he had off that day. I was supposed to kidnap him and Nom Nom, but when I was about to do so, I saw two different guards standing at your door. None of them being Glitz. But I didn't let that stop me because Amirah wanted everything done that day since I informed her that you took off." Dusk Shine walked closer to Abohaty and the smile on his face slowly disappeared. "But I just wanted you to know that Glitz would've been murdered the exact same way I killed the two guards in front of your door."

Abohaty didn't dare to look away from his piercing eyes. She was scared that any wrong move would end her for good. "What's with all the tears princess? Is all of this too much to handle?" He said in the most fakest pity voice you've ever heard. "You're supposed to be the princess of Happiness, what happened to always being happy and joyful?"

Abohaty shook away all of her fears and made a run for it anyways. Dusk Shine teleported her right back to where she originally was but this time with harsher force to the ground. "You thought you'd be able to just run free with Nom Nom by your side and live happily ever after? Life isn't always unicorns and rainbows princess. I thought you'd realize that as you grew older, but I suppose not."

Dusk Shine's horn lit pink, ready for his final move until he was hit twice in the head with a long metal stick and fell unconscious on the ground. Glitz dropped the item, which turned out to be the thing he uses to track her down, and pulled out his sword. Without hesitation, he struck his sword through Dusk Shine's neck and blood splatted everywhere. Abohaty almost shrieked but kept her cries to herself. Glitz seemed to keep the same straight face the entire time. She wondered how he did it, but then again she had to remember he's a guard. This is what he signed up to do.

"You okay?" he queried walking over to her. When he came closer, he realized what was behind her were dead ponies. And when he looked closer, he saw Nom Nom and Arctic amongst those dead ponies. Abohaty was distinctly aware of that so he wanted to be strong for her regardless of how close he was to the two of them and grieve about it privately. He grabbed her hoof and slightly pulled her forward. "Come on, let's get out of here. I was able to find your spell book."

She said nothing then. And she didn't say anything the whole way back.

Not a single word.


Author's Note

Chapter 18

No One's P.O.V

The royals and main ponies outside of Springfields started to arrive at Abohaty's Kingdom. Luna offered to stay behind to watch over Canterlot while Celestia came over to help fight. The pony watching over the Crystal Empire at the moment was Cadence because of her love shield. To still help out, Cadence thought it was best that she sent over her husband with a group of guards and Twilight's ex-husband, Flash Sentry. And as for ponyville, Starlight Glimmer and Spike were left in charge of Twilight's castle while she was gone. In case of an emergency, Celestia sent guards over from Canterlot to help them watch over the place.

When both Twilight and Celestia arrived at the front doors together, the guards immediately allowed them in. Onyx followed behind them. Since the high commission was not available at the moment, he offered to help the princesses make their way around the castle.

"It's been quite a while since I've been here," Twilight told Celestia as she walked down the halls. Onyx tried his best to catch up with the mares. When he was able to get in front of them, he got to the ground and gave them both a welcoming greeting.

"Hello, your highnesses. My name is Onyx and I'm here to show you around to wherever you please to go."

"Wonderful to meet you Onyx," Celestia replied. "Please take us to where the high commission is now."

"Will do your highness."

When the three ponies arrived upstairs, they saw a group of other ponies sitting down with Bella and consoling her. When Twilight peeked inside the meeting room, she could see Written Script and Gabe sitting alone and she immediately knew something was up.

"Why don't you take the high commission outside and I'll talk to my daughter and her friends?" Twilight suggested to Celestia. "I'll be down with you guys shortly." Celestia nodded and walked back down to the entrance with Onyx who was not used to walking this slow. He didn't want to be rude and not match the princess' walking pace, so he forced himself to walk just as slow.

Twilight cleared her throat and everypony looked up. "I need the full high commission outside with Celestia and Onyx except for Flora who is obviously the only pony occupied."

"Mom! Than god, you came," Bookworm said, rising from the ground. "These ponies don't know how to run a kingdom!" Twilight said nothing and watched as the high commission quickly left. Bookworm knew that when she didn't respond to her, she was either serious, angry, or both. So she backed away.

With the high commission gone, it was just Written Script, Gabe, Bella, Kat, and Bookworm.

"Where are Celia and Kelsey?"

No pony answered. Twilight sighed and repeated her question, but louder.

"Where are Celia and Kelsey?"

"I think Celia went down to the emergency room..." Gabe responded from inside the meeting room.

"Why?" Twilight asked.

"Kelsey got hurt I think," Kat mentioned softly.

"Well can one of you get her?" The purple mare looked around at the zero volunteers and sighed once again. "Bookworm, please go find Celia and bring her up here. I need to talk to you all." Bookworm groaned but did what her mother said anyways. As her daughter did that, Twilight walked over to Bella and hugged her. Although she had no clue what happened, it seemed pretty devastating because Bella's eyes were puffy red and her friends seemed not to want to say much. That was until Kat whispered into her ear what had happened. Twilight nodded and closed her eyes, still hugging the unicorn with her wing. "Would you give us a second Kat? You can stay in the meeting room." Kat obeyed Twilight's orders and sat in the meeting room as far as possible from Gabe and Written Script. "Listen, I am deeply sorry for your loss. I know exactly how it feels to lose a loved one. Just know that I am here for you always and so are your friends if you need anything." Twilight released her from her wing grip and smiled warmly. "You don't have to stay here if you don't want to, I can always get you somepony to walk you back home. But it has to be a guard because I'm pretty sure there's about to be a battle very soon."

"Sure," she managed to say. Twilight teleported themselves to the entrance of the kingdom. She saw her brother across the hall and waved to him. Shining Armor rushed over and hugged his sister, but then frowned when he noticed the crying pony.

"Bella's grieving a loss right now and I need somepony to walk her back home since Amirah is presumed to be here at some point." Shining stood on Bella's side and smiled again.

"I can take care of that. You ready Bella?" Bella nodded and began walking side by side with Shining Armor. Twilight teleported herself back to where she was and saw her daughter coming down the hall by herself.

"Where is Celia?"

"I don't know. Kelsey said she wasn't there." Twilight sighed and opened the meeting room door.

"Just...just go inside and sit."

"Am I in trouble?"

"I said just go sit down."

Bookworm followed her orders and sat down next to Kat. Twilight was the last to walk into the room and she closed the door behind her. "I can't help but wonder how this happened. The six of you were all great friends in the start and now you guys are terrible to one another!"

"Mom, I think our drama can wait. Those ponies outside have no idea what they're doing and are set up for failure."

"No. I'm not going to sit here and watch this worthy friendship break into pieces over stupid things."

"It's not stupid though, I think me, Bookworm, and Bella can agree that some things that the other mares in our friend group do bother us a ton," Kat admitted.

"Well as friends, you guys have to talk through your problems and not argue with one another. It's only going to make the situation worse. And most of the time the actual problem was everypony misunderstanding something." Twilight looked over at Written Script whose head was still down. "You ponies are just stressing each other out at this point. Instead of making things work, let's actually have you guys be friends and compromise things. Please?" No pony said anything. There were only eyes darting around at every part of the room. "Whatever, I'm going to go check outside. I hope you ponies think about what I said." Twilight began walking to the door but fell right into the narrow table when a loud bang was made. Everypony else in the room either fell out of their seat or with their seat and onto the floor. Twilight quickly got up and dusted herself off, but was knocked down again when another loud bang was made and the whole castle shook. "Holy!" she shouted. Twilight got up again and spread her wings. "I'll be back, you ponies stay put." Twilight ran towards the window and flew out in a hurry.

"Wait, she's here? How?" Gabe asked, sitting up.

"She must've broken through Flora's vines..." Kat answered. "Aw that's unfortunate...she was working on those for quite a while..." Kat looked over at Bookworm who was trying to find her glasses. Written Script sat up as well and noticed Bookworm's glasses near her end, but they were broken.

"Uh...I think they broke," She said, holding them up.

* * *

Celia had searched the kingdom up and down but she just couldn't find Grammar. She didn't want to leave the kingdom because likely, she wouldn't be able to get back in unless she was some sort of royalty. Celia wanted to inform Kelsey of this because she started to get worried as to where he could be. As Celia was walking back, she was knocked over while the ground shook beneath her. The same thing happened for a second time and she ended up hitting her head harshly against a wall. She got up in agony and rubbed the side of her head. When she came to her senses, she saw that all the guards were rushing out. She wanted to follow to see what was all the commotion, but something else ended up catching the mare's attention. She noticed above her the ceiling was cracking and falling apart bit by bit.

Now, Celia was no expert, but after helping out on Applejack's farm, she knew what was extremely bad and what was not. Since the guards were running towards the commotion, she decided to tell somepony she knew who would not be running anywhere.

The nurse at the front desk.

Celia did understand that there was not much she could do, but telling the nurse would hopefully help Kelsey be able to evacuate in time. But when she rushed to tell the nurse, she didn't seem to worry too much.

"I know you are concerned, but I'm not allowed to just remove our patients from the room. I have to get orders from either the princess, guards, or high commission," she spoke.

"But, but the castle is going to collapse!! It's breaking apart!" Celia cried.

"Sweetheart, I'm sure it's not that bad! If it was so bad, one of the guards would've said something." She smiled brightly as if that was going to make Celia leave.

"The guards are obviously occupied right now, did you not hear or feel those last two bangs?"

"I apologize if you feel a certain way but do I look like a maintenance worker to you?" Celia was not about to pour out all of her frustrations on the nurse. She was right on that part, nurses help ponies, not buildings. But Celia wasn't asking for it to be fixed. At this point, it's too late for that.

Meanwhile outside, everypony was gathered up aside from the ponies inside the castle and inside their homes. The guards stood before everypony else to face who was coming. And as everypony predicted it was the Queen.


Author's Note

Chapter 19

No One's P.O.V

This was Amirah's third return, and hopefully will be the last. Each time she returned, she always had something different about her. She'd call it "an upgrade". Even the first time she revealed herself to ponies, she came off as scary. One thing Amirah did well each time was appearing more scarier. She still had that same dark pink-purple coat and hot pink messy mane. She always had those dark black eyes that glow bright red at night. And lastly, her long crooked horn never changed. Some ponies would think it grew longer each time they saw her.

If they got to see her again.

Springfields was her target many times due to how easy it was to defeat everypony and get what she wanted. She would leave the other places like Canterlot or Ponyville alone because usually, the power she steals from Springfields is enough to satisfy her for decades. No pony knows exactly what she does with that power when she has it. Queen Deborah's mother took a risk at a young age to meet Queen Amirah at her lair and since she visit, she never came back. No pony ever dared to try to go again, even when she wasn't there. But ponies hoped this would be the last time Queen Amirah attacked since, after fifty years, she finally wants to have power from all over Equestria.

Ponies theorized that she started easy because her plan would take a lot of time and patience to complete. So she would come to gain power little by little until she would finally be able to defeat all, if not most princesses in Equestria. Some theorized that she originally was a normal pony that lived in Springfields but accidentally killed another pony and that's how she got her cutie mark and ran away to figure out how to carry on with her lifestyle.

Despite all of those theories, she is back once again. Clearly stronger than before. It took her no time to get rid of Flora's hours of hard work with putting up vines and it only took a matter of seconds for her to get rid of Nom Nom. She was back stronger than before and larger than before. She used to be an average pony size and now she's just as tall as Celestia was.

"How thoughtful of you ponies to gather around for my presence after twenty years of brainstorming in my lair in preparation for this day to come." Queen Amirah pulled her head back and laughed evilly. Her laughter came to a halt when she felt an arrow stick through her chest. She didn't flinch, nor bleed. She just stared at it for a bit before casually taking it out and throwing it behind her. It must've hit a random side pony because there was a scream right afterward. The Queen continued. "And I think it's nice that you all are so helpful enough that you'd fight for the princess who left her kingdom in your hooves. Me personally, I wouldn't let that slide. But why am I complaining, at least I have some sort of competition now...and maybe or maybe not more power." Amirah looked up and struck the sky using the diamond implanted on her forehead.

Pink magic flew into the air straight up and no pony thought anything of it until it started changing the color of the sky to a nasty dark gray and multiple rays of pink magic started shooting down fast. Twilight took action immediately and covered as many ponies as she could with a shield that eventually broke off when several beams hit it. Exhausted, Twilight fell to the ground, but Amirah picked her right back up with her magic and singled her out from the crowd of opponents. Just as this happened, the crowd began separating, since the battle seemed to have begun. Queen Amirah tried taking the power from Twilight's horn, so Flora began growing her vines out from the ground. She directed the vines to get a grip on Amirah's legs and pull them away, but when that didn't work, she had a vine slap Amirah across the face, allowing Twilight to drop. She ran over to the purple princess and helped her get up.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Twilight panted heavily before finally responding with,

"Yeah, I-I'm fine."

While that was happening, guards tried attacking Amirah from different angles which did not bother her at first until it was way too many copy and pastes of the same guards doing the same thing. Amirah spread her wings to fly upward away from their swords. Their stabs felt like little cat scratches against her hooves. The alicorn slammed herself down on all four hooves back onto the ground causing the circle of guards to be pushed a few steps back. Yet, they came running back again. At the same time, this was happening, flame balls were being thrown at her from every direction. She could admit that each hit did leave her with a few seconds of pain, but with her new form, she was able to cover all of her burns and stab wounds no matter how many touched her.

Stormy pulled Cloudy aside and whispered in her ear over the loud commotion.

"She's getting attacked so much yet is still fine. No scars, bruises, nothing!"

"That's because it looks like she growing overtop of every hole or burn..." Cloudy analyzed.

"Maybe we could...try it?" Stormy suggested, hinting at what she wanted to be the next move. "It may not destroy her, but it will stop her from tearing down the village itself." Cloudy nodded in agreement and the two ponies flew in the sky. They flew opposite directions and met back up within a matter of seconds.

Flora looked up to see what they were doing and began attaching vines to every pony's hooves to help hold them down except for Queen Amirah who was struggling to stay on the ground. When her hooves were no longer in contact with the ground, Cloudy and Stormy only flew in circles faster, causing things to start blowing off the ground. Amirah let herself get closer to the pegasus until she was close enough to aim better despite everything flying in her way. When she was able to see both the mares' faces, she hit multiple strikes at them until they were shielded by Celestia's magic. But it had already been too late and Stormy dropped much faster than Cloudy seeing as she took the most hits. Flora released everypony from the vines and used them to help catch the two injured pegasus.

"Well I didn't see that happen twenty years ago," Amirah snickered. Her snickers turned into evil laughter that fulfilled the area. It stopped when she realized she'd been hit several times with cupcakes.

"Take that you Gothel crocodile-looking twig!!" Pinkie Pie shouted from afar, standing on a large pink cannon that made her easy to find. Amirah turned around and summoned a larger cupcake, ten times her size, and lifted it over Pinkie's head before dropping it.

Back inside the castle, Abohaty's friends watched in horror as the battle became more chaotic by the second. Everypony had such different powers and that made it hard to focus on just one pony.

"This is just sad..." Gabe murmured. The meeting doors burst open and everypony's attention was on Celia.

"You guys we have to evacuate!!" she yelled.

"I refuse to go out while the battle is still happening," Kat stated. She wanted it to be clear that she was not getting herself hurt.

"The castle is going to collapse!! Don't you hear them constantly hitting it?!" Celia cried. Bookworm rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"I'm gonna be honest, but Celia is right. I don't think it's a good idea to stay here. I swear this building gets hit every ten seconds." Just as Bookworm said that a flying diamond hit her directly in the back of her head. "Fuck, that hurt." Kat gasped.

"Rarity's here?"

"Okay, but where would you suggest we go? It's not like outside is any better," Written Script said.

"And from my predictions, it wouldn't be a good idea to go to the train station. The conductor is likely long gone and the station is across the battlefield," Gabe warned.

"Well, we might have to risk it at this point. Maybe the conductor isn't there, but we could still hide at the station. I'm sure it's very empty." Bookworm suggested. "Unless some of the citizens had the same idea as we did."

"Well, what are y'all waiting for, let's go!!" Celia shouted in panic. Everypony rushed out the room except Written Script. Gabe paused at the door near Celia, confused.

"I'll fly down and meet you guys there," she told them.

"You sure?" Gabe asked.

"Of course." She flew out the window and Gabe began finding his way out. Celia followed behind. Everypony made it to the entrance of the kingdom but Celia took a different turn. She wasn't going to leave Kelsey to save herself. At this point, she didn't care what the nurse had to say. The castle is clearly about to break, and if she thinks her job is worth dying then that's on her.

Celia rushed into the hospital room where Kelsey lay.

"I'm gonna get you out of here okay? I'm not leaving without you," she promised. She kept repeating that promise in her head until she felt like the both of them, Kelsey at least, was safe.

"You're deadass about to run me out of here in a hospital bed?" she asked, almost chuckling. The nurse walked in and stood beside Celia.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked. "You're supposed to check in with me first before entering the room!" Celia groaned. She was never the type to be rude to other ponies, but this specific nurse was getting on her last nerve. She never understood ponies who took their jobs extremely seriously when they get underpaid. Maybe she did get paid a lot for her job, but even so, that shouldn't matter because the pony who's in charge of paying her was probably out there dead somewhere.

"I'm saving my friend, that's what. If you want to die here, good for you, but everypony else is leaving and I'm taking my friend with me!"

"You better not! That is illegal, and I will call security if you do anything like that-"

"What security?!" Celia hollered. "Everypony is out there fighting for their lives!"

"I'm gonna have to ask you to leave ma'am." At that very moment, a piece of the ceiling fell right between the nurse and Celia, leaving a large hole through the floor. "Oh no, how did this happen? I'm going to see if there's any guards around the building that can help fix this." Celia wanted to tell her how dumb of an idea that was, but that got her to leave easily, so she didn't bother. Instead she grabbed onto Kelsey's bed and began pushing it out the door. Thankfully, it had wheels.

* * *

The second Abohaty and Glitz heard explosions they began running as fast as they could back to the castle.

"Can you still use some of your magic or is it completely gone?!" Glitz asked while running alongside the princess.

"I think...I think there's something in the spell book that can fix it. It was most likely Queen Amirah or Dusk Shine tweaking with my magic. It's still there but not all the way."

"Do you think it may have to do with Nom Nom's...? Glitz let his question trail off after looking at Abohaty's face.

"Possibly." She murmured. When she slowed down, Glitz matched her pace. Eventually they both came to a stop and started panting heavily.

"Do you...do you want the spell book to try and figure it out?" Abohaty nodded, to worn out to reply. Glitz opened his bag and pulled put the large spell book. Abohaty dragged it closer to her and ran through the book with her hooves. She flipped it to the last page and began reading it. Glitz's eyes watched between her reading and watching both Stormy and Cloudy create their tornado until they got blasted down together. "We should probably hurry," Glitz told Abohaty, his eyes now focused on the sky. Abohaty did not respond, instead she kept her focus on what she had to do to gain her powers back.

Following the book's instructions, she sat still and closed her eyes. Glitz looked down at her confused, but didn't question if further since this was not the most questionable thing he's seen. His attention directed back up ahead where he saw a pink pony standing on a large pink canon that was not there before. She started bouncing up and down until a giant cupcake appeared over her and fell. Glitz looked back at Abohaty and then realized the environment around them began changing drastically. Flowers began to bloom and butterflies flew around in circles. One landed on Glitz's muzzle and he almost killed it with his hoof out out of reflex. The butterfly left after some time and attached to Abohaty's skin like the rest were doing. Glitz still was clueless to what was going on but did not budge a bit. When Abohaty was finished, she fluttered her eyes open and the butterflies flew off. Glitz swear he saw the blue in her eyes glisten. "...Did it work?" He asked, helping her up.

"Let's see!" Abohaty took Glitz by the hoof and teleported them to the entrance of the kingdom.

And sure enough, it worked.


Author's Note

Chapter 20

No One's P.O.V

Looking at the disaster happening in front of them, Abohaty knew she needed to put an end to it all. She let go of Glitz's hoof and looked him in the eye.

"I'm sure you see the dead guards everywhere, so I'm not going to ask you to fight."

"But-" Abohaty put a hoof up to his lips.

"Remember how we saw Nom Nom at the liar?" Glitz nodded slowly. "She didn't have any sort of cuts, bruises, or bloody wounds because when you try physically hurting her, her skin will "regrow" over the bruise, wound, burn, whatever it is. So that's why the guard's swords are useless."

"How did she die then?"

"Most likely some sort of smell killed her. It could've been the diamond being taken off of her, but that doesn't always kill the pony...or cat in this case. It just makes them powerless and weak. Which is why an intoxicated smell could've just been Nom Nom's last straw," Abohaty explained. "So I'm gonna try to break that diamond. In the meantime, try helping ponies get to safety, especially the hurt ones." Glitz smiled and nodded. That was certainly doable for him. Before he went off to do his new task, he was pulled in for a long hug from Abohaty. "Be safe, please."

And just like that, she rushed off.

Glitz started searching around for anypony that needed help, specifically Stormy after he saw the way she fell. But his attention was caught on Kelsey on the hospital bed being rolled by Celia. He caught up to them immediately and Celia looked at him in shock.

"You're alive?!"

"It's nice to see you too, need any help with that?" he asked. "Because I know you run much faster than that." Celia looked at Kelsey, then back at the royal guard.

"Thank you," she said. She waved at Kelsey before running off, much faster than she was running before. Now that Glitz thought about it, he probably should've sent another guard out with her just in case.

"Where we going?" he asked Kelsey.

"Uhhh, I think everypony is running to the train station right now for safety." Glitz thought about that for a second. Was it safe, really? There were no other places he could think of to hide since homes were destroyed. But at the same time, if Amirah spotted where everypony went, it's possible she could set something off at the station. He looked around for a unicorn that would definitely be helpful. He saw a guard with a blue mane and orange coat and recognized him immediately. He wasn't a unicorn, but he would be a lot of help.

"Flash!!" He called, hoping the pegasus would hear him over the ruckus. Flash Sentry turned his head and ran over to Glitz.

"Hey, long time no see!" Flash lifted his shield when he sensed something coming down at him, and the magic backfired into the air again.

"Is there anypony guarding the train station?" Flash scratched the back of his head with his hoof.

"Don't think so...but I can look after it if ponies are taking cover there."

"Please do, I'm trying to find Shining Armor if he's here." Glitz told the guard.

"Uh, yeah, I think he went-" Flash's words were cut off by a loud crashing sound that almost sounded like it was an explosion. Both he and Glitz looked to where the noise evolved and a wave of dust blasted into their faces. For a good moment, ponies paused everything they were doing to look at what had happened. Glitz saw everypony in the main six but Rainbow Dash rush to the scene.

"The castle, it's going to fall!!" He heard Rarity cry. It's as if everypony forgot about the Queen just for a second to run over to the castle. This left Glitz, Kelsey, and Flash out in the open for Amirah to eye.

"At last, you're here! For a second, I got worried you actually died." Glitz handed Kelsey over to Flash knowing he was going to be Amirah's next target. He thought the best idea would be to follow the crowd of ponies to lose her again, but he was dragged right off of his hooves with the use of magic. He pulled his sword out and stuck it to the ground, to hold on tightly. Sticking his sword to the ground did not give him help at all. Amirah's power was strong enough to detach him from his sword. Before he knew it, he was facing eye-to-eye with the grand villain.

"You look even better in person! I missed you yesterday Glitz, what happened?" The Queen asked. Glitz didn't say a word. She must've stopped by yesterday looking for him if that's what she meant. Maybe Grammar's house parties were worth it for once. "That's not very nice of you to ignore the Queen. I hope you know how to swim because I wouldn't want you to drown with the other guards." And just like that she flung him straight into the river that flowed between Springfields and Canterlot.

Meanwhile, Twilight was helping hold the castle up so that it didn't completely fall onto Rainbow Dash who had flown straight through it. The rest of the main six helped the blue pegasus from underneath so that Twilight could finally let go and just let the castle fall. She then went to go check on her friend, to see if she was okay.

Abohaty watched her kingdom fall in sadness. She's lost many things already, but losing her home made her feel deep sorrow. But she knew it wasn't the time to heal, so she began focusing on what she was doing in the first place. She was trying to find Flora before Amirah could notice she was back. For her plan to work, she needed Flora. But she couldn't find any of the high commission. Everywhere she turned, there were just guards from all over Equestria.

Finally, she was able to spot Flamora in the crowd of ponies who went to go see the fallen castle.

"Flamora!!" Abohaty called. She almost couldn't believe that was her voice because of how exhausted it sounded. Flamora turned her head and ran over to the princess with a smile on her face.

"Oh my god, you're okay!!" She gave her a big hug and pulled apart. "What happened here?" she asked, pointing at her side.

"I don't have much time to explain, I just need to find Flora. Where's Flora?"

"Haven't seen her, I'm sorry." Abohaty sighed. "Is there anything I can do?"

"I just need somepony who can make Amirah stay still..."

"Celestia maybe?" Abohaty raised a brow. She didn't know much about Celestia, but she was interested in knowing what exactly she can do. Simple unicorn magic was not going to hold down somepony as powerful as Amirah. Not even for two seconds. That's why she preferred to find Flora, whose vines are quite strong. "Celestia can help brighten the skies to make Amirah go blinded for a few seconds. Well, not just Amirah but everypony."

"Including me?" Flamora nodded. "Because I have to break that diamond on her head. And I plan to do it with one of the guard's swords, so I kind of need to be able to see," Abohaty explained to her.

"Is there a spell in your spell book that can help you sort of...detect ponies?"

"I don't really think so..." Abohaty frowned realizing her plan may not work. That was until she remembered Nom Nom's diamond is detectable through the dark because it would light up. "Is Luna here?!" she asked. Flamora shook her head no.

"Back in Canterlot."

"Thank you!!" Abohaty took off on her wings, not caring if she was seen by anypony. Canterlot was over the river, and it would be easy to reach Luna in no time. At least that's what she thought. She had to pause when she saw a bunch of guards in the water trying to swim back to shore, most of them practically failing. She used her magic to create a flower bed that ascended from the water, bringing up multiple guards. Abohaty continued flying across the river until she reached the entrance of the Canterlot castle. The guards let her in without any questions and now Abohaty was walking down Canterlot's halls. She turned to one of the guards standing on the side and asked for Princess Luna. The guard directed her to where she sat and left the two alone after kneeling to greet her.

"Hi..." Abohaty whispered. She wasn't sure what to expect from Princess Luna since she and her barely talked either. But the princess didn't seem to be upset, more so confused.

"Why hello there Abohaty! What brings you here? Is there no war going on right now?" she asked.

"No, no, no, Queen Amirah is here. It's just...I kind of need your help with defeating her completely, and I'm not sure if your down for it," Abohaty said, kicking her front hoof back and forth.

"Well, my sister asked me to stay in to keep the kingdom safe, but nothing has happened yet, so if it's quick and doable, I can help." Abohaty smiled. "What do you need me to do?"

* * *

Glitz walked onto the dock and shook himself off as if that was going to make him any drier. Other guards did the same and ran back into the battle as if they didn't almost drown. He watched Flash Sentry roll Kelsey's hospital bed onto the dock. Multiple ponies were here, he even saw Gabe and Written Script sitting together on the bench. He wanted to wave hi, but neither of them was looking his way so he continue strolling.

On his way to exiting the station, he passed by Flora who was seated on the ground with her eyes closed. Glitz sat down near her and spoke quietly.

"Hey..." he greeted. The unicorn fluttered her eyes open slowly.

"Oh, dude, you're alive!" she cheered.

"Did you guys just tell everypony me and Abohaty died or something...?" he asked, with slight laughter in his voice. Flora shook her head.

"Nah, we just all assumed since you guys didn't come back, something happened." Flora looked at the chaos happening on the far end of Springfields. "But I'm glad to see you made it back okay. Did you ever find Abohaty?"

"Oh yeah, she's here....somewhere." Glitz stretched his neck to look around. Magically, Abohaty and Princess Luna appeared right in front of them when he looked back. "Oh." Was all that came out of his mouth until he realized who was standing in front of them. "OH."

Immediately, Flora and Glitz stood up and bowed down to Princess Luna.

"Okay, you can get up now, we don't have time for that," Abohaty commented. "Flora, I need your help."

"I can try but I think ponies have legit tried everything at this point to stop her, and she doesn't even have a scratch on her body," she explained. "And it's tiring just going back and forth in circles."

"Yes, I understand, which is why I'm going to put an end to this for good." Abohaty looked Glitz up and down and raised a brow. "Wait, where's your sword? All your stuff really?" Glitz took off his helmet to show her he was soaked. "Oh..." Abohaty looked around for another guard. "Okay um..." She spotted one of her other guards and ran up to him. Politely, she asked to use his sword, and that mission was accomplished successfully. She ran back up to the group. "Okay, come on! Glitz, you stay here." He nodded and watched the three mares run off. "Flora, do your very best to tangle Amirah in vines as fast as you can up to her horn." Flora nodded and began running another direction that lead her closest to the queen. "Luna, you can start the eternal darkness now, and once I see that diamond glow, I will attack." Princess Luna smiled and flew up into the air away from Abohaty who still continued to run. Flamora caught up with her and smiled.

"Still need my help?" Abohaty thought about it for a minute and an idea came to her head. She levitated the sword closer to Flamora's horn.

"Light this for me, please." Flamora gave her a grin before using her horn to set the sword on fire. "Thank you." The ponies parted and Abohaty flew into the air. The darkness was working because she couldn't see a thing. Just shadows of houses and ponies starting to pause what they were doing. Abohaty looked around to find the glowing blue diamond. That and the sword were the only things giving her light. As long as Abohaty could see the glowing diamond, she would be fine. With no time to waste, the Princess began flying full speed towards the diamond so she could hit the target directly. She knew she completed the task successfully when she heard the diamond shatter and Queen Amirah scream in horror. Abohaty let go of the sword and landed safely on her hooves. She and other ponies around watched as the fire only spread bigger. She was now the center of attention since all the light was on her. Abohaty observed how Flora's vines slowly detached from the Queen, allowing her to fall. She walked over to Amirah and looked into her venomous red eyes. "You should always learn the risks of the things you take that are so strong. It could backfire on you like this in the end." Abohaty backed away because the fire was growing more. It grew big enough to the point where you couldn't see Amirah's body anymore.

The eternal darkness did not last long. Eventually the sun rose back up again and the fire was put out, leaving Amirah's burned body in the center of Springfields. More ponies crowded around the scene to see if the Queen was truly dead and if the war was over. Abohaty sighed in relief, thankful her plan worked out. But then frowned at the disaster the war caused. Even her home was destroyed.

Abohaty turned around when she felt a hoof tap on her back. It happened to be Twilight who was accompanied with the other Princesses.

"Well done Abohaty, you did an excellent job defeating the Queen," Celestia congratulated. "We are very proud of you." Abohaty smiled, but it quickly went back to the frown she originally had before they got there.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked. "Aren't you happy? You won't have to worry about her attacking anymore!"

"Yeah I guess." Abohaty sucked her teeth. "Doesn't change the fact I lost the most important ponies and cats close to me and on top of that my kingdom is a disaster," the pink princess explained. "I truly don't see anything to be happy for anymore, but woo-hoo! I defeated her!" That was the most depressing cheer she's ever done in her life. "But thank you guys for trying to help out. I know I sucked being the pretty perfect princess I was supposed to be, but I thought maybe I could come back strong still, and I believe I did...hopefully."

"Are you kidding, you just defeated the Queen! That's an amazing milestone!" Luna responded.

"And every princess still has a lot to work on. No pony is perfect. And I'm sure once your kingdom is all fixed up again, you will be back on track in no time!" Twilight added on.

"How on earth is this supposed to be fixed?" Abohaty asked. Twilight and Celestia exchanged looks.

"We'll handle it," Twilight offered.

'You guys already did so much. All I did was come in last minute and ended everything."

"And that was the missing piece we needed," Celestia said, wrapping a hoof around Abohaty. "Why don't you make yourself comfortable at the Canterlot Castle and we'll help make this place better than it originally looked before. Luna, guide her to the guest bedroom, please." Princess Luna nodded and signaled for Abohaty to follow her.

Over by the train station, ponies started going back to their homes if they weren't destroyed, and the guards began forming a line to get ready to go back home to where they came from. Glitz was one of the guards nearby the line. He meant to speak with Abohaty, but he figured she'd need time to grieve alone first. He was waiting near the line to see if his little brother would turn up, but all he saw were guards. He started to become worried that Grammar got caught up in the rubble from the castle falling. Glitz turned around to ask Abohaty's friends who were all still at the station near the benches.

"Hey, um...have any of you heard from Grammar? Or at least seen him?" The ponies looked at one another and shook their heads.

"Sorry dude, I haven't seen him since you left," Gabe answered.

"I saw him though when we came back," Celia added. "But when I went to check on Kelsey he disappeared and never returned."

This made Glitz become uneasy. He wanted to give it a few hours since there were a lot of ponies around and the war just ended, but the more he thought about his brother, the more worried he got. He wanted to go home to process everything he went through today, but he refused to go home without his little brother. Of course Grammar knew the way back, but as his oldest brother, he had to make sure he was okay.

"Thank you," he told Celia before walking off. He saw both Luna and Abohaty get in a large carriage together but didn't question it. He was too concerned about the fact that no one knew where his brother was. There were so many different possibilities that it was hard to jump to a conclusion and stick with it. So he decided it was best to walk around to see if he saw anything, but that only made it worse. As he walked around, he walked over several dead bodies, most being guards and some being ordinary ponies who probably got their home destroyed and had nowhere else to go. Some homes remained perfectly fine, but others were demolished completely.

Glitz ended up passing by one of the homes where he spotted ponies inside, but it was just some guards and a few ponies from the high commission. He gave the wall inside a knock since the door was already opened. Cloudy looked up from the sofa and looked excited to see him, but she couldn't bring herself to sit up properly. "There you guys are," Glitz said, slightly relieved. "When I saw you two go down, I got worried." Glitz looked over at Stormy who lied on the second couch. She was bandaged much more than Cloudy was and it was clear she wasn't awake just yet. "Is she sleeping?"

"Unconscious, but is still okay...sort of. She got hit about a dozen times," Cloudy affirmed. Glitz frowned.

"Have you seen my brother by any chance?" he questioned.

"He's the stallion with green mane like yours, right?" Glitz nodded. "No, but I'm sure he's alright. Most ponies just ran into other ponies' homes whether they lived there or not when the war started."

"Thank you," he told the white coated mare. Glitz left the house and began looking around once again. It was becoming dark now. The skies were turning orange and the sun was setting. Glitz was on the verge of just giving up looking for his brother until he saw a white coated stallion with short green mane coming out of a random home. Glitz ran over there so fast that he practically startled Grammar.

"Dude, you're alive!!" Grammar yelled in excitement. Glitz gave his brother an enormous hug without saying a word. Glitz wished his brother knew how worried he was about his disappearance.

"I'm just happy you're okay," Glitz uttered, wiping a tear from his eye after letting his brother go.

"Glitz, you disappeared first, and I actually cried because of that!" Grammar shouted. "But then I met Julie, and all my problems disappeared for a good two hours." Grammar tilted his head and thought hard. "Or was it three?"

"Who's Julie?"

"Oh! I met her today a few minutes before the war happened. She and I both coincidentally needed a walk at the same time and we ran into each other. She thought I was cute, and I thought she was hot. She invited me in her house and we made out until we realized there were literal explosions happening outside our window. So I stayed with her throughout the whole war because it didn't seem safe to go back outside." Glitz didn't know if he should've been mad, or just laugh. The last thing he said was the most smartest thing his brother ever did.

"First of all, I can't believe you just went into some random mare's house. And secondly I can't believe you had your first kiss before me," Glitz admitted.

"I mean technically Hanna was my first kiss. Then I kissed this mare named Penny. She was absolutely terrible and almost sucked my face off! And then I kissed Pepper-"

"Okay, okay I get it. I hope Pepper's kisses tasted like salt," Glitz said out of annoyance. He walked away from his brother figuring he'd follow him, in which he did. They both went back and forth on the topic all the way until they got to the train station. However, this didn't truly annoy Glitz since this was what they did everyday as brothers. He was just glad he was okay and that nothing terrible happened to him.

But now that Grammar was found, he knew he needed to check on Abohaty when he could. He figured she was tired and needed a break and he didn't want to interrupt that. So he would just wait for her to approach him when she felt better.


Author's Note

Chapter 21

Bella's P.O.V

It had been a few days since the war ended and since then, it's been much quieter all over Equestria. Many ponies didn't come out of their homes for a few days. Some ponies were forced to leave their home due to their homes being destroyed in the battle or just getting trauma from the battle alone.

I was one of the few ponies who hadn't left their home since the battle. The whole time I had been grieving my coltfriend's passing. Everything else happening outside of that was irrelevant to me. Me and Zephyr hadn't seen each other as much throughout their relationship due to all of his duties, but our future goal was to spend more time with one another. Of course, that could not happen anymore, now that he was gone. I was unsure of how to cope with the huge loss and decided it was best if I isolated myself from everypony and everything. It was what I'd been doing most of my life.

Maybe that's what I'd been doing wrong. I thought.

I hardly hung out with my friends, and if I did hang out with somepony, it was typically just Kat. Compared to everypony else, I bonded more with just Kat.

That's when I heard a light knock on the door. It wasn't enough to get me out of my bed. I hadn't moved from it other than to go to the bathroom and eat a quick snack. Afterward, it was straight back in bed with tissue boxes. The knock grew louder, and it started to irritate me. I wanted to shout "go away" but I realized that the pony knocking may be important considering I never get guests. Only three ponies truly know my address by heart. I slowly arose from bed and started walking out the bedroom door. The knocks continued while I slowly dragged my body across the room. I finally made it to my front door at last and looked out the window beside it. Kat was waiting in front of my door with a saddle bag on her back. I quickly smiled and opened the door.

"Oh my god, hi! I was just thinking about you!" I tried to squeal. But Kat knew that I would never be that happy during a time like this. She smiled warmly and lent out a hoof.

"Listen Bell, let me come inside please," she asked politely. I opened the door wider so that she could walk inside.

"Everything alright?" I asked, hoping it wasn't more bad news.

"I should be asking you that! How's everything been? I haven't seen you since...y'know..." My smile faded slightly. I was unsure if I wanted to talk about it yet. Talking about his death would only make me feel worse, and would not help Zephyr magically appear back in my hooves.

"I'm doing...better for sure. But I do think about him daily, so it's hard to focus on anything else." Kat sat on my front sofa and pulled something out of her bag. It was a small purple box that was tied with a big blue ribbon. She handed it over to me and I picked it up with my hoof. I looked at the box a little more before taking off the top. Inside was a blue diamond necklace that glistened through my eyes. I stare at Kat up and down before smiling big.

"Listen, I knew how upset you were feeling, so I asked Rarity if it was possible to buy that necklace from her shop. Considering she said she was going on a break. But I still managed to convince her. I wasn't leaving that shop without the necklace, because I knew you'd love it," the white mare explained. "Of course, a little piece of jewelry won't change everything, but you know, it's just a little gift from me to you." I wrapped a hoof around her neck, touching her hair a bit.

"Thank you," I said, closing the box. I sat it on the glass table in front of Kat and sat next to her. "How's everypony else doing?"

"I haven't spoken to any of them actually, just you." My eyes widened. It made me realize that me yelling at them all was the last thing I said to pretty much everypony.

"Oh, that's not good..."

"Isn't that what you wanted? I thought you said-"

"Yeah, but I didn't mean anything. I was just...I don't know...upset. And I just wanted answers."

"Understandably, you acted out, you were angry and no pony else can feel what you are currently feeling right now."

"Yeah, but I'm now realizing that I blamed Written Script for something that was out of her control. Celia too. They're both average ponies like me and you, what could they have possibly done to save him? I mean I still don't know what happened, but after watching the battle from inside my home, there was no way they'd be able to defeat Amirah alone."

"So what do you think we should do then?" Kat asked.

"I think that maybe we should all...meet up and chat," I suggested.

"Ugh," the white mare scoffed. "No offense Bella, but I doubt that would work. When have we ever all been together?"

"Well...Kelsey's sleepover if you exclude the colts..."

"And do you remember what happened at Kelsey's sleepover?"

"Yes, but Kat, maybe this time it can be different since we're all equally hurting."

"Equally...hurting?"

"Okay maybe not everypony, but most of us. As friends, we should be there for one another and respect if no pony wants to come out and talk." Kat stayed silent. "Here, I'll just call everypony up." Kat shot a glare at me.

"You mean like...right now?"

"Well, yes, but to tell them we're meeting tomorrow in Canterlot. We'll stop at a store and sit at one of the outdoor tables." I said, rising on my hooves. The phone was in the other room, so I left Kat to start making some calls. She had a telephone book with everypony's number listed and decided to start with the first name that was put down.

Written Script's.


Author's Note

Chapter 22

No One's P.O.V

The chosen meet-up destination was in front of a restaurant in Canterlot. Everypony in the friend group informed an invited.

"Do you know who's coming?" Kat asked Bella, pulling out a chair for herself.

"The only pony I couldn't get in contact with was Abohaty, but for the most part everypony said they were gonna show," Bella answered.

"Even Kelsey?"

"Yes, Kelsey has a wheelchair now." Bella looked over Kat's head to see Grammar and Celia helping Kelsey roll around in the wheelchair. "Oh, there she is right there!" Kat turned her head around to see the three friends walking together.

"HI!!" Grammar shouted from a distance. Bella waved back at him as the friends approached closer. "Are we early?"

"Don't worry, you guys are just in time. I'm sure everypony else is on their way," Bella answered. She looked over at Celia and Kelsey and smiled slightly. "Glad you mares could make it!" Celia nodded awkwardly. "Well...um, while we wait for everypony else, I'm going to buy us all some coffee."

"I don't like coffee," Grammar admitted.

"Okay, well, what do you want?"

"I want a chocolate milkshake." You could hear Kat groan in the background.

"Grammar, it's ten in the morning," Bella reminded him.

"Whatever, Julie will buy me one."

"Who's Julie?"

"My marefriend. You wouldn't understand because you don't have a..." Grammar caught himself before finishing his sentence. He realized it was the wrong time to make such jokes like that, especially in front of a mare he barely even knew. "I'm gonna take a walk." Grammar let go of Kelsey's chair and started to walk in the opposite direction. Bella was left flabbergasted. Celia looked both ways trying to figure out what to say but only ended up stuttering.

"I-I am so sorry Bella, I don't know why he said that, I-" Bella closed her eyes and smiled, trying to hide her anger.

"It's okay. I'm fine."

"I told you this was a bad idea," Kat muttered. "Not even half of them are here yet and somepony already started something. Why was he even invited, he did nothing the entire time he was at Springfields!"

"Kat..." Kelsey said. "I mean, he still helped out!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but what did he have to go through? We came here to talk about healing. What does he need to heal from? Stupidity?!"

"Here comes Bookworm!" Bella called. She thanked Bookworm in her head for coming because already, something happened and they needed a distraction.

"Hi," she greeted. She looked around to see who was already there. "Oh, I'm late."

"No not really, we're still waiting on some ponies," Bella assured. Bookworm took a seat next to Kat and opened her book without another word.

"So who are we still waiting for?" Celia asked the blue mare.

"Written Script, Gabe and Glitz," Bella answered. "I don't know why Glitz didn't just come with his brother."

"Well Grammar was with me in Ponyville when you called so..." Kelsey answered.

"What about Abohaty?" Bookworm asked.

"Couldn't get a hold of her, plus she's probably still grieving," Bella responded. She looked both ways to see if anypony else was coming, but the streets were practically empty. "Well, while we wait for those three, what kind of coffee would you guys like?"

* * *

Grammar hadn't walked around, he just went straight back to his house where Glitz was seated on the couch, flicking through channels on the television in front of him. Grammar raised a brow.

"Uh...shouldn't you be with everypony else-"

"I changed my mind." That was all he said. Grammar closed the front door slowly and walked over to the couch. "And you...?"

"Oh no, I just...messed up."

"What do you mean?"

"I said something without thinking and...it was sort of about Bella's coltfriend and his death..." Glitz paused the television and slowly looked over at his brother.

"You didn't..."

"I did...well actually I caught myself but I said enough for them to put it together..." Glitz continued to give his brother a blank stare wondering how he thought that was okay to say anytime.

"Did you at least apologize?!" Grammar tilted his head up to think.

"...No?" Glitz turned off the television.

"Come on, we're going up there so you can apologize. You don't just say those things Grammar."

* * *

The brothers had arrived once Gabe sat down in his seat. Everypony turned their heads to stare at them.

"Hey, Glitz!" Greeted Celia. Glitz nudged his brother harshly. Grammar took a step forward and looked Bella directly into her green eyes.

"Bella, I am dearly sorry about the immature comment I made to you earlier. It was inconsiderate of me to say something like that and I should think before I speak next time."

"Or just don't think at all," Kat muttered. Bella sighed and shook her head.

"Grammar, it's okay. At least it came from you and not somepony else because I know you wouldn't mean that intentionally, but you have to be careful of the things you say. You don't wanna mess with the wrong pony." Grammar nodded and quickly turned back around to head back home until his brother's hoof got in his path.

"Why don't we just stay since we're here now?" Grammar turned back around and followed his brother to the open seats left.

"Okay," Bella said, looking around. "I think that's everypony who said they'd come! How are we feeling?!" Grammar raised his hoof.

"It's extremely weird that you're the most excited one out of all of- OW!!" Grammar took his left hoof off the glass table. His brother had hit it. "What was that for?!"

"Just please stop talking."

"Well Grammar, to answer your question, I'm not excited. It's called, hiding your emotions. And I am trying to be strong for everypony here." Kelsey raised her hoof slowly.

"I feel...better." Bella smiled. "Like not just physically, but mentally too. It just feels nice to talk things out instead of keeping it all in my head and avoiding everything. It just causes me to overthink things more. But when you talk it out, everything just clears up and you have no more worries." Bella nodded.

"I like that Kelsey. Anypony else?" She looked around again for any more raised hoofs, but everypony seemed to be quite dead. "Okay, then I'll go." Bella looked over at Written Script. "Well, I still feel upset for sure, I felt pretty connected with my coltfriend, but I haven't been completely honest with you all. We...had problems. We were separated for a while and then he came back and I wanted to try to spend more time with him because that's what our relationship lacked. We hardly spent time with one another like we used to. So when I heard that he wanted to help search for Abohaty, I flipped out completely because, during my years living in Springfields, Queen Amirah was all I ever heard about. Anypony who lives there could tell you an accurate description of who she was at the time. So of course, I was scared for him because I didn't think he was ready for that type of battle, but he insisted he'd be okay and I believed him. So when I found out he died, I didn't know what to do and I started shouting a bunch of things I regret saying. I know deep down inside your ponies would've helped if you could've. Regardless if we weren't that close, to begin with."

Written Script looked over at Gabe wondering if she should respond or not. She definitely didn't want to say anything because it could lead to her accidentally telling Bella what Zephyr had told her when they were flying with one another in the sky, moments before he died. No one knew, not even Gabe because she knew Gabe would recommend that she knows. If she wanted to talk about it, it was too late now because Bookworm spoke up.

"I just wanted to say that I am also sorry," the blue mare commented, closing her book. "As smart as I am, I should've known none of this was her fault. She's not here right now, but I still wanted to speak on it. I feel like as her friend I probably came off as pretty judgmental. And after helping her run her kingdom, I realized that the ponies running it was the real problem. And this whole time, I thought that's what Abohaty had been doing, but no she has several ponies taking control, but not one of them knows what they're doing. But maybe I would've understood if I had just given her a chance. I don't think that I gave myself a chance to know her and what she's been through, and why she's never here." Bella nodded and looked around the table once again, and then at her friend.

"Kat, is there something you'd like to say?" The white mare scoffed and put down her coffee.

"Well, I have to agree with Bookworm. I don't feel like I know most of you well, so I end up secretly judging you all."

"Ouch," commented Gabe.

"Well, not you Gabe because you're smart and know everything, so no one hardly looks at you to judge, typically they look for answers," Kat replied with a little bit of sass.

"Thank you?" Gabe responded. Glitz cleared his throat causing the ponies to shift their eyes on him.

"Well, I actually don't know how I feel. I feel a mixture of several different emotions. I've lost some friends, and I've seen some shit. And of course, I feel terrible for my friend right now, I can't imagine the stuff she's been through. It made me realize that I should spend lots of time with my loved ones and keep them close. Because I did panic. So hard when I thought I lost both my best friend and my little brother. Both of them mean the world to me, but unfortunately, as guards, we're trained to hide those feelings and pretend that everything is running smoothly when in reality it's not. When I was hit with the large responsibility of running the kingdom on my own, I was pretty scared. As a guard I know I shouldn't be, but when everything is being slammed onto me at the last minute, it just feels like so much weight is being put on my back. And I know Abohaty didn't mean to do that intentionally, nor did she have a lot of options, I still feel the way I feel, regardless of who's fault it was.

"And you have every right to feel that way," Bella replied. "Honestly this feels great. Taking all of that weight off our shoulders."

"Yeah, I agree. It's nice to hear the different perspectives," commented Celia. "Although I wish Abohaty was here with us..."

"We should probably do something nice for her!" Grammar suggested. "She probably feels like a potato right now." Glitz face-palmed himself.

"That's not a bad idea, but what would we do?" Bella asked. "I feel like I barely know who she is so I don't know what exactly she likes."

"And that's what we're here for," said Kelsey.


Author's Note

Chapter 23

No One's P.O.V

Abohaty had been chatting with Princess Luna for the past hour like she was her therapist. She desperately needed someone to talk to at the moment since everypony else was either dead, upset with her, or didn't know her well enough. And although Princess Luna barely knew her, Abohaty was just desperate to get someone to talk to She couldn't hold in her emotions any longer. She had so much to talk about. It went from her parents to the struggles of being a new princess, to losing the majority of her support, and so on. Although Luna could not change any of that, she was still a good listener. During all her days with Abohaty, she saw her like she was her student. And for a good moment, she felt like her sister back when she was teaching Twilight as a student. It felt nice for her that Abohaty saw her as someone she could go to and not have the feeling that she was messing anything up. After Amirah's defeat, Luna was proud that she got to be involved in something she helped end.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she and Abohaty heard a knock on the door. Abohaty wiped her tears with her hooves as Luna rose to get to the door. With her magic, the large doors opened, showing a single guard that had stood behind them.

"Your majesty, we have ponies here to visit Princess Abohaty." Luna raised her brow and looked back at the pink mare who was still wiping her tears away.

"Abohaty, are you expecting any guests?" she asked loudly. Abohaty looked up at the princess and shook her head no.

"Who is it?" she muttered.

"Who is it?" Luna repeated for the guard to hear.

"It's one of the guards from Springfields and he brought a group of ponies with him."

"Well, since she's not expecting guests-"

"Wait!" Abohaty shouted. "They can come in! I never got to see them since the war!" Princess Luna looked back at the pink princes and then at the guard.

"Well, you heard her. Let them in." The guard bowed and headed his way back to the front entrance to let the ponies in. Luna turned around to face Abohaty. "I'm going to assume you'd wanna speak with them privately, so I'll leave you be." Abohaty nodded as the blue alicorn walked out of the room. Already, she could hear several hoofs tapping against the floors of the corridors. Abohaty tried her best to erase the sadness on her face because she didn't want her friends to worry too much. Especially since they were dealing with problems of their own.

Seconds later, the door burst open and several ponies came inside.

"ABOHATY!!" shouted Grammar. he was the first to start running over to the Princess but tripped on the red carpet. Abohaty caught him with her horn and levitated him beside her. He gave her a huge hug. "We missed you so much! Especially my brother, he talked about you nonstop," Grammar lied. Abohaty was not paying attention to his babbling though, she kept her eyes on her friends who each brought something with them, including Glitz.

"Oh my, what is this?"

"Our treat to you!" Kelsey squealed.

"We felt bad about everything that happened so we each got you something that could make you cheer up a bit!" Celia added on. She walked over to Abohaty and the rest followed, holding their gifts. They placed them on the ground beside her and each gave her a huge, forming a group hug.

"You guys didn't really have to do that you know? I'll get over this mess eventually," Abohaty assured as her friends slowly let her go.

"It's not really something you can just get over though, Abohaty," Bella said. "It's scarred with you for life, but we'll be here every step of the way to make sure you're going to be okay."

"Because that's what we sort of failed to do the last time," Bookworm admitted. "And we're pretty sorry about that."

"You guys are totally fine," Abohaty replied. "I'm just happy you all helped me out when I needed you guys the most. Especially you, Glitz." Glitz smiled and put his hoof to his head.

"Anything for you Princess."

"Okay that's enough with all the wholesome talk, can she just open up the gifts already?!" Grammar scoffed, impatiently.

"Well Grammar, since you said that, I'm going to open your gift first." Before she could open anything, Luna came walking into the room again.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but Princess Celestia and Twilight are ready for you to come back home now if you feel comfortable. Your kingdom has been renewed!" Abohaty's eyes lit up and some ponies in the room even cheered.

"Oh my!" Kat said. "That was very quick."

"We have to go check it out!!" Kelsey suggested from her wheelchair. "The gifts can wait!"

"Aw, I was really excited for her to open mine," Bella commented.

"I'm sad to say this, but all of you can't fit in the carriage," Luna reminded the ponies from afar. "Two ponies max."

"Wait, you're coming with us?" Abohaty asked. Luna shook her head.

"No Abohaty. I'm talking about your carriage." Kat's jaw dropped and looked at Abohaty for her reaction. Abohaty was pretty happy to have something close to

"Wow, now she's really a princess," commented Gabe. Written Script nudged him.

"She was always a princess dude."

"We can just take the train back to Springfields Abohaty while you can test out your new ride!" Celia squealed. "Let's bring our gifts y'all. Bookworm, what time does the next train come?" Bookworm pulled out a spreadsheet of the times when the next train would arrive.

"Fifteen minutes."

"Alright y'all, let's get moving. Chop! Chop!" Celia ordered. Everypony started making their way to the door except for Abohaty. She stayed back to watch her friends go, but Glitz halted and looked back at her.

"You coming?"

"Yeah, I'm just giving them a headstart," I reassured him. "Because the train takes a little bit to get there."

"True, but you don't wanna check out your new carriage? I'm sure it's pretty," Glitz said, making his way back to the Princess.

"Yeah, I'm just still a bit nervous, that's all."

"I completely understand! But seriously, if you're truly not ready to go back, Luna did say you could stay."

"I know, I know, but part of me is very curious about what everything looks like now. The other part of me is scared about ruling the kingdom in general. Like, what do I even say to everypony when I return? The citizens are probably still traumatized and homeless..." Abohaty felt like she could go on with her worries. Glitz sat down beside her and looked straight ahead at the door.

"It's okay to be scared, trust me But I'm sure the ponies will hear you out, if not sympathize with you. And on top of that, you don't have to do everything alone when you have me! And the high commission as well." Abohaty let a small smile creep up her face.

"That is true, although I feel bad because you probably know them much better than I do," Abohaty chuckled.

"Which again is not your fault," Glitz reminded her.

"You're right," Abohaty said, getting up. "I think I can do this."

"Want me to come with you?" Glitz asked.

"Glitz, what kind of question is that? Duh!" Glitz smiled and walked the Princess out of the guest bedroom. It didn't take them long to reach the front of the castle where her carriage was located. When Abohaty first saw it, her eyes glistened. The carriage was coated with the color baby blue, matching her hair slightly and on the bottom of the carriage, it had clouds (not real ones). There were two pegasus guards attached to the leash carriage. Both seemed friendly and waved at the princess.

"Okay, I kind of feel like I'm a movie star right now..." She whispered to Glitz. Glitz chucked and walked over to the carriage.

"Maybe because you are a movie star." Abohaty followed him and hopped inside first. She looked around on the inside, admiring every part of it.

"This is cool, but where do you even park these things?!"


Author's Note

Chapter 24

No One's P.O.V

Upon arrival at Springfields, both Abohaty and Glitz looked down to see the homes. Some were still left in their original condition, and some seemed to be getting repaired which put a smile on the Princess's face.

"Where do you think all the ponies went? The ones whose home was destroyed," Abohaty asked Glitz. Glitz continued to look down while saying,

"Probably a place in Canterlot or Ponyville or something. We don't have any of those places where ponies can stay temporarily."

"Maybe that can be something I can request, or just-" Glitz laughed, cutting off the pink mare. "What's so funny about that? I'm trying!"

"No, no, no it's just...Abohaty, you are the princess now. I mean, you were before, but I'm saying that no one is stopping you from doing what you have to do. All you have to do is present your orders to the high commission and they'll find a way to make it possible."

"Oh yeah..."

Abohaty and Glitz started to feel the carriage come closer to the ground. So she looked back up to see that they had landed outside of a newly built castle that looked nothing like the old. In fact, the castle looked to be her style. The first color she saw was pink.

"Oh wow," Glitz commented. "I don't know if I should be more shocked with how fast they rebuilt this or how different it looks..."

The doors of the carriage opened and Abohaty was the first to walk out, then after was Glitz. In front of them was a large gate that surrounded the full castle. That was never there before. Two of the guards were on each side of the gate entrance. One of them was Onyx. He bowed down as the gates of the door slowly opened.

"No need for that Onyx," Abohaty said. Onyx got up on his four hooves quickly and looked the Princess in the eye. "And...that too." Onyx tilted his head.

"Huh?"

"A simple wave would be better, and it actually feels friendlier if you ask me." She nudged him on his side. "Besides, I'm Princess Abohaty. Not Celestia, not Cadence, not Luna, or Twilight." Abohaty began to walk away to explore more as Glitz followed alongside her. They hadn't gotten inside the castle yet because there was a small garden place separating the gate and the door to the castle. "Ooo, these are pretty!" She looked over at Glitz who was also observing his surroundings. "Look at how pretty these flowers are! I see lilies, I see tulips..." Abohaty trailed off when she finally noticed the constant tapping on her body. She turned around to face Glitz, but he was looking at something ahead. Abohaty decided that she also should do that, and when she did, her jaw dropped. "No way!! Is that a statue of me?!" Abohaty ran over to it to get a better look at it.

The statue was large, and it had Abohaty in a posture where it looked to be like her giggling. Her hoof was up to her mouth, her eyes were closed and she was laughing. A few feet behind the statue was a brick wall. On the walls were three different murals but they all were connected in a way, just split slightly. It looked to be just one big mural if you placed the three closer together. In the middle part, the glass captured the moment Abohaty had defeated Amirah in the Internal darkness. Abohaty was on the right and Amirah was on the left. The side mural closest to Amirah showed the large damage she caused to the kingdom. The glass closest to Abohaty showed something more positive. It was vanishing the damage that had been caused by Queen Amirah and seemed more pleasant to look at. "Wow..." Abohaty muttered. "This is really beautiful..." The Princess made her way back to her royal guard who stood in front of the castle's door where there was another set of guards protecting the entrance.

The entrance door came down slower than those gates that had opened earlier for them. It was one of those doors that were attached to strings so that when it came down to let ponies in, it would be able to come up. But the door came down over the small river that was placed there.

"I'm still confused..." Glitz said. Abohaty chuckled.

"I am too, but I still like everything."

When the door came down completely, Abohaty and Glitz walked over the river together. Now they were entering the castle. The inside had a similar layout, for the most part, the colors were the only things inside that really changed. Before the two friends could walk any further, Princess Twilight and Celestia walked up to them

"You guys made it!" Twilight squealed. "How do you like the new place so far?"

"It looks great!" Abohaty responded. "You guys did I really good job with the things outside, everything looks gorgeous!" Twilight chuckled.

"We thought you'd probably like it. We had lots of help from Ponyville constructors and the high commission. Lots of ideas were put forth."

"Do you feel any better? Was Luna easy on you?" Celestia asked.

"Of she was! Princess Luna took great care of me." Abohaty knew she didn't answer both questions, she just didn't know how to answer the first one. She was currently having mixed feelings. She still felt devastated by what happened, but after seeing her new castle, she was in awe!

"You should go check out your room," suggested Twilight. "I don't think much changed in here aside from your room. We tried our best to have the whole place be slightly different but also similar because none of us really do know you. We know a little bit, but for the most part, not a lot."

"And going further, that means we should plan to get to know you," Celestia added on. "I swear, the gala was the first time I ever saw you in person." Glitz's eyes widened.

"How tragic..." he commented.

"But we should get going now. We've been here for so long already," Celestia said, grabbing Abohaty's hoof. "I just want you to know that even though we're different in a way, you can always feel free to stop by at my castle, or Twilight's, or you just call us over to you. We do love you dearly, but we all have kingdoms to run." Celestia let go of Abohaty's hoof.

"Yes, what Celestia said!" Twilight agreed. She looked around the castle as Celestia walked away. "BOOKWORM!!" Twilight called. The blue pony teleported right in front of her mother. When she realized that Abohaty was behind her, she fixed her glasses quickly.

"Oh hi there! My present for you is upstairs. Hope you like it...and the castle." She turned around quickly and started walking with her mother out of the door.

"I guess they beat us here!" Glitz said in shock.

* * *

Upon arrival at Abohaty's room, the two friends took the stairs. The outside of her room looked no different than before, and shockingly, there were no guards there to watch over the room. The closer the princess got to her room, the louder the voices inside got. She opened the door to find all of her friends seated in some part of the room. They all turned their heads and smiled.

"You made it!" Grammar shouted. he picked up his present. "Now open my present!!" he demanded. Abohaty chuckled and grabbed the box out of his hooves and started to unravel the wrapper with her magic. Inside the large box was just a single pen. And on the top of that pen, had Abohaty's head. It was like a miniature version of herself on the top of a pen. "Isn't just beautiful! I made it myself."

"Liar," Glitz called out. Abohaty chuckled and observed the pen closely.

"Well it is something different Grammar...but I like it." She gave him a hug. "Thank you." She looked back at her bed and noticed a ton of other gifts. A lot more than the number of ponies that were in the room. "Oh my god, did you guys each give me several things?"

"No, no, no," Kat said. "Some of this stuff is from the citizens of Springfield showing their love to you and some is from the high commission and guards and stuff."

"It's a lot," Bella summed up. "You might want to wait for a little."

"Do you like your room though? I think it's pretty!!" Kat admired, looking around.

Abohaty's bed was large and filled with multiple stuffed animals. Her room theme looked to be the season of spring, with flower and cloud designs everywhere, and just the atmosphere itself gave it away.

"Yes! I'd get used to it in here pretty quickly! It's just so-" A knock on the door interrupted the princess. Glitz went to open it and saw Flora.

"Is the Princess in here?" she asked innocently. Glitz turned his head to face Abohaty, figuring she heard the question pretty well.

"Yeah, I'm right here," Abohaty said, walking towards the door. She had just gotten here and already she was needed for something. She was sure of it.

"I know you kind of just got here, but we do need to have a conversation in the meeting room with you and Glitz."

And she was right.

* * *

Down at the conference room, waited Flamora and a few guards. Not many though. Glitz shut the door once Abohaty was seated in the main chair. The chair Nom Nom would typically take.

"...Is everything okay?" Abohaty asked, slightly worried.

"We know things just ended with Amirah and all, but now that your back, I think it's important that you make a speech for the kingdom. The sooner, the better," Flora said straight up.

"I can do that...I think. But like, what am I supposed to say?"

"Well, in your speech, we think you should acknowledge the war obviously," Flamora stated. "But we also think this is a chance to let the ponies know who's really ruling the kingdom now, and what steps you'll take to be moving this kingdom forward, and helping the citizens in need."

"Don't forget about the acknowledgment of Nom Nom and other crucial ponies' deaths," Flora added. "Although Nom Nom did not d such a great job with handling much, it's still important to have her be mentioned because she was a big part of your life."

"And we truly don't mean to burden this on you, it's just that it'd be weird if you said nothing at all about anything that went down that day."

"Yeah, yeah, of course. That's reasonable. I also think I should probably recite the ponies names who decided to help out," Abohaty suggested. Glitz's eyes widened.

"That's a long list, princess."

"Okay, maybe I should state them by groups then."

"If you want, we can help you write your speech," Flamora offered. Abohaty shook her head.

"Who said anything about me writing it? I'm just going to say everything from my heart. No script needed." This shocked some ponies in the room, but nopony objected.

"Glitz, I need you to signal to everypony in Springfields to gather in front of the castle's gate. I will be performing my speech on the balcony in about fifteen minutes."

"Are you sure?" he asked in a whisper. "You just got back..."

"Yup. I want to get it over with. Chop, chop!" The ponies in the room started walking out in preparation to hear the speech. Although Abohaty did not have a script to read from, she had a good idea of what she wanted to say to the public.


Author's Note

Chapter 25

No One's P.O.V

Abohaty and Glitz were waiting inside the castle with the balcony being right next to them. There were also a few guards and the high commission alongside them. Almost all of the high commission. Stormy was still in poor condition so she wasn't going to make the speech, but Cloudy did, just in a wheelchair. Abohaty could hear the loudness of the crowd that was just ponies talking. She wondered her many were out there. Glitz nudged her side, and she looked over at him.

"You ready?"

"Yes and no. But mostly yes," she answered. "Do I look okay?!" Glitz laughed.

"Throughout all my years of knowing you, I've never seen you care about how good your appearance is."

"Glitz, I'm about to talk in front of hundreds of ponies!" Glitz walked forward to fix up her hair slightly and moved some of her strings out of her face.

"Who all looks up to a beautiful young princess? You look perfect." With a slight blush, Abohaty smiled. Thankfully, the guards began to blow their horns because Abohaty was starting to feel awkward tension.

In seconds, the crowd was cheering, making it sound like more than hundreds of ponies were down there. The high commission had walked out after the horns. And before Abohaty and Glitz could show themselves, they wanted to say something of their own.

"Hello to our wonderful wonderful family!" Flamora announced. "We are happy to see your beautiful faces today, and we're hoping everypony is doing better." Flamora stepped back so that when Flora stepped up, she would be in the spotlight.

"We are the high commission ponies of Springfields who help the Princess assist you. Unfortunately, all of us could not be here today, but we want you to know that everything will be okay. We will try to transition slowly from the tragedy that happened on the day of May twenty-second. And we will not let that day define who we are!" The crowd of ponies began stomping their hooves happily as Cloudy took the stand.

"And before our Princess comes, I just want to say that you are very loved! ...Especially by me!!" Cloudy yelled into the crowd. She wasn't supposed to say anything, but she at least wanted to let the crowd know she existed because you could hardly see her from the wheelchair.

The high commission stepped to the side to let the Princess walk forward through the window of the balcony. Out she came with her royal guard and the crowd cheered louder than before Once Abohaty was fully exposed to the public, Glitz stood back near the balcony window to watch from afar. It was what he was assigned to do.

Now, Abohaty could see the hundreds of ponies in the crowd and the little fillies waving up at her. She waved back of course.

When the crowd died down, the Princess cleared her throat and began the long speech she was about to make. During those fifteen minutes she asked for, she needed to prepare her appearance and the statistics. She wanted to make sure she identified everything correctly, so she had a little note with her that had all the numbers on it.

"Hello mares, gentle colts, fillies, however you'd like to be called. As you all may know, we had the return of Queen Amirah on the 22nd of May. And to start, I am here to issue my apologies to you all. As a princess, I failed to realize the importance of my kingdom and what you all mean to me. It was selfish of me to only think about my happiness instead of ensuring that your feelings and thoughts are included. That goes to the high commission too." Abohaty turned her head slightly to face them, and then faced back to the crowd of ponies. "I was selfish for abandoning you all when you needed me the most. And I was selfish enough to think I could let some other pony rule this whole kingdom themselves with no training." Abohaty took a deep breath before continuing on her speech. "Today, I am a different pony. I now understand the importance of my fellow peers and Springfield citizens. And I am truly sorry for letting you down as your ruler. Going forward, I promise to be the best Princess I can be for you all. And I hope that after this tragic event, every pony will soon be able to move forward, including myself." Abohaty looked back at the high commission who smiled at her to indicate she was doing good and to keep going. "I would like to honor somebody who was a big help to me and the kingdom. She raised both me and everypony who lived in this kingdom for years, and I have to thank her for it. Even though she is no longer here with us, she is still in my heart. So I thank you, Nom Nom for everything you've done. And I thank everypony who did their part the day of May 22nd. We lost several ponies and guards in the process, and my heart hurts for the families. But just know that we are always here for you, and I am here to make a change now that the kingdom is being ran in my hooves. Thank you to all who came out to hear this speech. Shortly, there will be updates on things planned out for you guys in the future. But for now, I want yo to sit tight until we meet again. Thank you everypony!" The crowd of ponies began stomping their hooves as Abohaty walked back into the kingdom with her Glitz and the high commission.

"See, that wasn't so bad!" Glitz cheered. "They love you!"

"I sure hope so."

"ABOHATY!!" Glitz and the princess looked up to see Grammar running toward them. "Are you ready to finally open your gifts? They're not even mine but I'm dying to see what you got, and I'm not sleeping until I see!" Abohaty chuckled slightly and looked up at Glitz.

"I still can't believe you guys are brothers," she laughed.


Author's Note

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