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Pony POV Series Season Six: Dark World/Shining Armor

by Alex Warlorn

Chapter 84: Episode 141: (Shining Armor) diasnU tfeL retteB erA yllaeR...-...Really Are Better Left Unsaid

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Pony POV Series
"Shining Armor
Chapter 20
ssenippaH sihT !iH iH iH - Hi Hi Hi! This Happiness

Three Months Later

I still can't believe you got the notes for Draco Island burned.

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): Sooorrrrry, it was an accident with the spirit dragons.)

Considering I can't step five hooves without accidentally offending a foreign noble, I understand. So now what?

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): I'll be able to reconstruct them later, maybe.)

When I saw the mountain, I knew Queen Tiamat's castle was inside the mountain, I didn't know her home WAS the mountain! Or that she dramatically destroys in a display of power every time she has to travel abroad and then the earth dragons have to rebuild it around her.

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Well, giant metal doors big enough for a mountain sized five headed Goddess aren't easy to come by, especially considering how rare Dragon blacksmiths are. And even then most just use their own shed skins instead of metal.)

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): And Dragons aren't known for being humble, subtle, thrifty, or group thinking.)

Yeah, those dragons showed more teamwork than I'm used to hearing dragons having, namely, none. The Hooviets' fall was about the only time dragons with Queen Tiamat leading them have ever really worked together, the history books mention attempted alliances between dragons that ended in infighting before they actually did anything.

Honestly, forgive me, but I'm HAPPY dragons aren't known for working together, I'm honestly worried what would happen if Queen Tiamat ever chose to simply claim the world as hers on a whim. I'm not saying if she WOULD, I'm saying if she DID.

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): That, is not a pleasant thought. Thankfully Queen Tiamat's authority doesn't extend that far beyond her own presence. Getting every dragon alive to help conquer the world would be hard enough, but actually KEEPING IT? Dragons would break down into carving out pieces for themselves and squabbling before the week was out. Bahamut is respected and can move faster and is more versatile and more mobile, but he doesn't quite have as much weight as his wife figuratively and literally.)

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): I thought we were finally done with these soapbox spawning expositions.)

Fat chance.

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Dangit.)

I hadn't heard of so many dragons together except for the great dragon migration as I'd seen on that island. And so many different shapes and sizes... The place smelled of sulfur everywhere, the island was surrounded by towering jagged rocks, with waves constantly crashing against the shore, the sky blocked out so it was always darkish even during the daytime. And gold and jewels scattered around the place just so Queen Tiamat can flaunt how little they mean to her (though from a dragon standpoint, I suppose that was her showing how much she cared about her children). I'm honestly surprised the volcano isn't active. Even if Tiamat lives in a lava pool.

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): I imagine she has an agreement with the lava demons.)

WHO!?

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Oh, just some beasties who live a hundred or so miles beneath the surface of the planet, along with their neighbors the Ice Orcs, they haven't visited the surface in eons and the surface hasn't visited them, and they're both perfectly happy with that. A dragon was in part responsible for ending their feud, along with pony princesses. They haven't caused trouble for anypony since the defeat of their king Lavan by the aforementioned princesses.)

I'm not even surprised anymore.

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): It honestly isn't any weirder than anything that's happened with your sister. In fact Lavan was more or less on par with Nightmare Moon's threat to the planet.)

Please tell me my sister isn't going to have to deal with him when he escapes from some kind of imprisonment.

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): No, Lavan was killed by having his own attack reflected back at him by the Pony Princesses.)

Oh...Well, at least he can't come back...

Sunset finally stopped hiding under her bed by the end of the visit. What was that one head of Queen Tiamat's talking about with Minuette?

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): It was personal Shining Armor. That's all I can say.)

Sigh. Makes me wish my life wasn't so crazy so I could have to involve myself more with my friends' craziness.

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): Oh! So you consider Minuette a friend now? Tee-hee!)

...Yeah. Heh. I guess I do!

Ellis was sure to get as many pictures as he could to show his family, trespassers on Draco Island normally end up dinner. And the environment isn't very welcoming to anything that wasn't a dragon, even if it was considered a Dragon paradise. Draco Island had few visitors as it was for obvious reasons, but there were loggings maintained and the smaller and younger dragons to receive the few who came that had earned Queen Tiamat's respect. The lodgings held a lot of Hooviet War relics. Some of Mother Deer's children were present on the island to discuss buying them back: I think they wanted to trade what was left of the old Hooviet Mammoth Tank fleet for some of it (well, the prototypes anyway, considering the Hooviets had still been developing them when they imploded). I wonder what Mother Deer did to make Tiamat willing to listen to the offer. Her respect isn't the easiest thing to earn...

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Tiamat's a Goddess. Mother Deer helped you cause the empire dedicated to the genocide of her children to have imploded on schedule.)

Oh...That might explain why my logging had a miniature hoard in it that I was told to take with me when I left.

At least Queen Tiamat was as polite as I remember, in fact come to think about it she seemed to actually respect me, which makes sense now. And I got to see some Weather Wyrms, which are a rare sight, guess there were more of them present than normal since Bahamut was out doing one of his routine checks on his dragons instead of monitoring the island's weather. That orange one was really friendly, what was her name? Whimsy?

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): Close enough...)

You know something I don't, don't you?

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): And are better off not knowing. Just know she's a sweetheart who we hope Spike will have the chance to actually meet someday.)

I'll take your word for it. But you're right about her being sweet though... by dragon standards at least.

Speaking of Spike, Tiamat asked Cadence how he was doing and seemed to speak highly of him...any particular reason that might be?

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): You could say Spike is kinda noble blood...)

What?!

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): The Spikes have been Ponyland's hero's since Spike the First. The dragon who helped defeat Lavan and make peace between the Lava Demons and Ice Orcs? That was one of Spike's ancestors.)

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): And remember the Discord guy the Princess mentioned? Some of Spike's ancestors helped the Princesses fight against him during his reign.)

And Spike doesn't know?!

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): He will by the time the tour is over, that's WHY we're allowed to tell you about it. Twilight tells him herself when he needs it the most.)

Oh...Wow...Hehe. Spike may not be blood, but that doesn't mean I can't be proud to hear that.

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): You weren't proud of him being about the only Dragon on the planet to be able to use magic?)

...Hehe, I guess I definitely should be.

Next came the country I had been both looking forward to and dreading. The Divine Empire Of the Rising Sun, though that title is really just for show, they mostly just call it Neighpon.

The Empress and her line have claimed to be great-to-the-nth grandchildren of 'Queen Princess Celestia' for centuries, or as some call her in Neighpon 'Amaterasu', after one of their own sun goddesses who Celestia refuses to confirm or deny is her or not. Princess Celestia herself has also refused to confirm or deny any blood relation, though it has caused some sparks between them and the Bluebloods about being 'more divine' than Blueblood's family. Trust me, the Neighponese are as big on family as Equestrians are on friendship!

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): So Princess Euphie considers herself Cadence's cousin?)

...I hadn't really thought about that. Explains some things...

With that new bit of confusion, we approached Trotkyo Bay, with Commander Hornblower...

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): Commander Shepard was promoted to Captain and given command of the destroyer HHS Everfree Forest back in Fenwick, by the way!)

I've already said it about a dozen times: the Air Navy prefer to call it a Defender, even if it's basically the same type of ship as everyone else's Destroyers. Now can I finish what I was saying please?!

...Commander Hornblower inviting the Princess and her friends (he used those words, by the way) to the bridge to see it.

And talk about impressive! It was just after sunset and there were lights everywhere. The Rainbow Bridge from the mainland to the island of Teleport Town, where there was more light from the huge ferris wheel at Primary Village, and of course, dominating the skyline despite not being the tallest tower any more thanks to the Cloudtree, the Trotkyo Tower lit like a giant aluminium hearth's warming tree.

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): ...It's made of steel.)

All I know is it gets destroyed in just about everything Dracozilla is in.

Even at this time of night the skies and seas around the city were packed. Ferries and cargoships in air and water, pegasi moving tomorrow's scheduled rainfall into place. Tourships and traditional yakatabune boats were bobbing on the waves and floating below balloons. Hornblower and Audience were theoretically in their elements with so many things to point at and give interesting facts about, but it became quickly clear to us all: So was Gag...

"The word means 'home style boat', because they're decorated inside like an upper class home. They were originally the pleasure boats of the nobility, with the airborne versions seen as a huge status symbol a few hundred years ago, because they either needed a lot of pegasi and chariot metal to haul it, or a lot of unicorns to distill helium for the balloons. These days there are still some used by nobles and the rich but they're mostly used as tourist ships and floating restaurants - and Garnet, we're going out for dinner some night on one by the way..."

"Ooh, I've got some perfect lyrics for that!" Twinkle Shine grinned in a way that made me shiver. Gag didn't even seem to hear her as he began to gush about the Rainbow Bridge.

Everypony else was still a little surprised that Gag of all ponies was doing this. Even Garnet almost missed being told about her coltfriend's plans for a romantic date with her. Should have guessed the guy writing a Manega would know a ton about Neighpon.

"By the way, Princess, should we be concerned that Empress Haruhi wants to see us before we go to the embassy?" I asked.

"I shouldn't think so. I imagine she just wants to say hello before our formal welcoming tomorrow morning. The Neighponese are extremely polite. Besides, our embassy is actually within the palace grounds itself technically - everypony else is across the other side of the park and the river except Lancre."

"Where's Lancre's embassy?"

"It's a post box inside our embassy's mail sorting room," Cadence said as Garnet finally realized what Gag had said about the date and glomped him.

Considering how boring sorting duty could be, I imagine the workers were rather happy to have someone to talk to assuming everypony spoke Equestrian.

"Huh. So a bit cramped then. Where do they hold dinners?"

"Either a restaurant at the riverside or the Kantucky Fried Carrots near the train station. When I was here with Auntie Celestia as a filly we were both annoyed the Lancre Ambassador invited us to the former..."

"A fast food place? Really?"

"It's a country so small if they sent out enough ambassadors and diplomats to staff missions in even half of the world they'd have a quarter of the population abroad. It's smaller than some Equestrian cities..."

"But still, really? A fried carrot place?"

"It's nice enough stuff, Shining."

We then noticed that the rest of the bridge was silent.

"...The Imperial Yacht is approaching us, Your Highness," Hornblower presumably repeated himself.

"Ah, yes, thank you... Er, we'll just go and... meet the Empress..." Cadence nodded.

"So, Princess, may we enquire into the conversation?" Twinkle Shine said with one of those looks as we left the command bridge.

"Dining arrangements at other embassies," I said swiftly.

"Hm... I can use it anyway..."

Well, at least it was confirmation they were making some of it up completely, right?


One advantage of another airship coming up to meet us was that we just had to walk a gangplank over while it floated beside us. True, four of us could have flown over and if you got him drunk enough Ellis would have jumped over for a bet (as could most of our deer), but a gangplank was just such a simple way to get across. No hopping into another smaller airship to go to a bigger one. Cutting out the middle-airship, if you will.

Just as long as you don't look down.

The Imperial yacht was interesting. Much like the kind of yacht Blueblood flies, it looked like a sailing ship floating - held below a large balloon. The yacht was a little bigger than the Wind Fish but a little bit smaller than one of our Corvettes (for the sake of the Empress not demanding her shipper builders make her a bigger yacht, we kept this to ourselves). The top deck had a small structure at the front for the bridge, but most of the top deck was an ornamental garden, with the entrance below decks held within a small structure resembling a traditional neighponese house.

The Empress waited for us, flanked by two Samurai and her husband, Crown Prince Kyon.

"Welcome aboard my yacht, Cadenza. None of that bowing just now, this is just to say hello, there's plenty of time to bow tomorrow!" The Empress said quickly.

"Thank you, Empress..."

Not that the two of them really needed to worry about respect, considering they were technically equal ranked.

I have to admit, Empress Haruhi wasn't quite what I expected from previous encounters with Neighponese royals. Okay, maybe the cheerful exuberance bit wasn't a shock given her niece Euphie, but she seemed to prefer to be informal where possible, particularly by Neighpon standards. By Equestrian standards, she wore a dress that was a simple enough design that clearly wasn't just everyday wear, but nothing about the blue-coated and brown-maned unicorn mare really indicated royalty. She wore a rather discreet tiara, and had her mane in a ponytail - yellow ribbons in both mane and actual tail, by the way.

"Just bring all your friends aboard and we can have a chat below decks, I'm having tea with the ambassador of Minotauria."

Tea being offered within a minute of arriving? I was sold, I loved this place already!

As it turned out, tea was actually a rather big thing in Neighpon. They had an entire ceremony called sadō dedicated to serving tea. Naturally, the Empress prefered the informal version as opposed to the much more formal chaji.

I took a quick glance around once below decks. Sidiros, the Minotaurian ambassador, nodded a greeting, whilst trying not to look silly holding a tiny teacup in his huge hands. The two samurai stayed above deck, leaving only a few ponies in sailor suits and some highly visible and blatantly obvious ninja standing around. Meaning they clearly weren't all that good ninja if even I could tell they were ninja . . . Makes me wonder if any of them actually ARE ninja or are just a distraction.

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): They seemed to do a good job being stealthy in Nameless' war.)

Good point...guess maybe they don't both hiding too much from their allies...and last time I asked one about it I ended up somehow talking to a log for ten minutes without knowing it...

"So, Cadenza, since we probably won't have much time tomorrow, how has your trip around the world been so far?" The Empress asked once tea had been poured.

"It's been rather... hectic at times. I'm sure Euphie will have told you about Columbia..."

"Yes, quite a mess. Still, your Captain of the Guard did his duty, I'm told," The Empress smiled at me.

"Er, yes, Your Imperial Majesty..."

"Zebrafrica was lovely though, apart from that bit with the... monster-thingy," Cadence went on, giving me a quick nervous glance.

"Thankfully it's been far quieter since, back in Equestria, visiting our nearest neighbours, visiting Oceaneighia and Draco Island...Surprisingly Draco Island was pretty polite and calm."

"Did you see any drop bears in Austneighlia?"

"Drop cats," I said without thinking. Gag shuddered.

Some of them had parachutes.

"Ah, I see. A shame, they're quite adorable huggy little things, they're a subspecies of Koala. We used to have a couple in the royal menagerie here but they hugged the tiger. It was rather annoyed and for their own safety given tigers can climb trees, well, we had to remove them..."

Gag looked very nervous now, what with tigers being big cats. With claws that gave him a lot more to worry about than cat scratch fever.

"A prudent move, Empress... Er, wait, why is there a tiger?"

"Still, moving on, I'd like to check with you if you would be able to accept an invitation to a formal dinner tomorrow evening? I know it's a few days ahead of the planned schedule..."

Minuette already had her notebook out.

"...But Princess Euphie wishes to announce something. Just checking informally now so I know if I should ask during tomorrow's formal meeting..."

"I don't think that would be a problem, would it, Minuette?"

"...Well, er, we were going to be at the Minotaurian embass... oh," She gave the ambassador an embarrassed look.

The Minotaur grinned, and spoke.

"Ambassador Sidiros was wondering when you'd figure it out. We would have no objections to rescheduling our plans, Your Highness, as we have also been invited..."

"Excellent, so that's all fine then! Are there any questions?" The Empress asked.

"Yes, should we congratulate Princess Euphie and Shosa Suzaku on their engagement after they formally announce it or if we see them?" Cadence wondered.

"Was it really that obvious?" The Empress smirked.

Bloody impossible to miss, if you ask me. Anypony could tell those two were going to hook up, apart from them.

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): ...Shining, I honestly am at a loss for words right now.)

Huh? I don't get it.

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): Never mind. Its just something anypony but you would get really...)

Anyway, the rest of the ride-slash-tea party was spent on some idle chatter between the Empress, Ambassador, and Cadence. I just enjoyed the tea and pondered the possible ninjas.

It was weird too. I swear I heard something chuckling at me the entire visit but never saw anything...


"What the Tartarus?!"

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): What happened?)

Need milk! Hold on!

Gah... I was just brushing my teeth and it tastes like somepony filled the tube with hot sauce!...In fact, that's exactly what happened, what the Tartarus?!

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Did you lock your door?)

I'm the guy who SECURES places for a living, what do you think?

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Okay, so who would have the ability to get in your room while you were gone?)

No pony who'd prank me!...There it is again!

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): What?)

The laughing! Something is laughing at me!...huh, it stopped.

(Freind's Notes (Pegasus): Are you okay?)

Yeah, it was just hot sauce. A bit embarrassing, considering I had to run to the nearest refrigerator and get some milk...

(Interviewer's Notes (Earth Pony): So just a prank?)

Yeah, I guess...Still weird though.

I just reported the prank to the others and it turned out I wasn't the only one who'd been pranked.

"What?" I asked.

"Someone filled mah closet with oranges," Ellis reported. "Not that it's too annoyin', but it's still kinda weird..."

Audience had a foam dart stuck to his forehead. And a few stuck to other parts of his front. "I just opened my closet and got hit by like twenty darts."

Gag looked at me, several doodles on his face. "I don't even know when this happened!"

Cadence blinked. "Who here would just start pranking everypony?"

We heard that laughing again...and turned to see a large white fox with seven tails sitting on a nearby shelf. It giggled again and hopped down, offering Cadence a flower.

"Uh...thank you..." she said, taking the flower...which promptly shot her in the face with an illogically long stream of water.

The weird fox laughed and vanished into thin air.

"...I think we found our prankster..."

"It's a Kitsune," Gag said, blinking.

"A what?"


Gag's knowledge of Kitsunes wasn't perfect, so he got some research to double check. "Kitsunes are a kind of Neighponese spirits. They're big pranksters who love playing jokes at the expense of mortals," he explained. "Each tail is supposed to represent a hundred years of its life and the more tails it has the stronger it is."

"That would explain how it's doing all of this..." I said, noting our anti teleportation wards and magic locks didn't seem to affect it.

"Be glad it's only got seven," Gag remarked. "Nine's the max. They're powerful, but most of them are good guys and do harmless pranks."

"Okay," said Cadence as Twinkleshine fixed her wet mane. "So what do we do about it?"

"According to the Neighponese, nothing," said Bond, approaching. "In fact, they're a bit jealous we have one as our guest."

"What?! Why?! It's pranking us!" I asked, reasonably annoyed.

"According to them, it's good luck and will ward off evil spirits as long as it's here," he explained. "Ones like ours are apparently sometimes guardian spirits."

"And also," Gag said, finally washing off the marker. "White ones are supposed to serve Inari, the Neighponese God or Goddess of Good Fortune, Fertility, and/or Agriculture."

"Uh...which is it?"

"It's not clear. In fact it's not clear if it's one God or as many as FIVE...Her and Queen Tiamat might be siblings."

I'm not sure if that was a joke or not.

"Point is, the Neighponese believe the kind we've got here are servants of one of their gods. So they're sacred here," Bond reported.

"So it's free to do whatever the Tartarus it wants?!" Twinkle Shine asked horrified.

"To be fair," Cadence said. "In parts of Ponasia cows are sacred for religious reasons and allowed to do more or less anything they want to, though obviously they need to keep up with the image of being holy, so I can see where they're coming from..."

"That and apparently, the Kitsune won't do anything too terrible," Bond continued. "The benevolent ones stick to light hearted pranks except for threats to the ones they're protecting."

Minuette said, "Give me a while and maybe I can research a spell to trap it two seconds into the future, where it'll still be here, and won't accidentally blow-up the embassy while playing with fireworks or something."

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): Do you think the kitsune would be fun to play with?)

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): DON'T LET HER DO IT!!!)

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said. "It might not work on a powerful spirit, and if it does, it's going to be royally clopped off when it gets out."

"Since when can you research a spell like that Minuette?" Sunset asked.

"Oh . . . it was just an idea, I didn't think it through, never mind." She blushed.

"And considering we're ruled by three Goddesses and are supposed to meet a total of three on this trip, we shouldn't scoff at the possibility of Inari existing and accidentally tick her...him...it...them...Inari off by being mean to one of Inari's servants."

Do I have to worry about that?

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): I don't know of an Inari specifically, but there is a Goddess of Fortune and Fate...and she DOES have a sense of humor, so it's possible.)

Fate is probably annoyed enough at me for my whole weirdness thing, so I don't want to annoy her further.

"On top of that, like the Commander said," Gag interjected. "One's like this are considered good luck, particularly if they're protecting a 'samurai', IE ponies protecting nobility, like us, and are supposed to keep us safe from evil spirits, so having one around is something the Neighponese think is a sign of fortune smiling on us and us having Inari's favor."

"Which of course means we'll look like a bunch of ungrateful jerks if we try to get rid of it. And if mythology is true, and given our luck with running into stuff, having it here is lucky," Cadence added, giving a sigh. "Well, it's not hurting anypony, and it's in our best interests to keep it around, so I guess it can stay for now..."

At that point a bucket of water fell on my head and the Kitsune laughed. Thank Celestia we would be leaving the embassy for a good bit...

I just hope it doesn't hitch a ride on the airship, I'd hate to see what would happen if one got to Equestria...

++++

Meanwhile in the future:

A black five tailed kitsune crawled chuckled to itself, and crawled out of the packaging of sake that Berry Punch had ordered from Neighpon, slipping out ready to prank all of Ponyville on a level that would make Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie blush.

It ran away from the apple farm screaming, and jumped into a crate and labeled it express to neighpon (which happened to be carried a good deal to the airship by Derpy on one of her more 'derp' days).

The CMC looked at each other, in red and white dresses, with Applebloom wearing two candles on her head, and Scootaloo holding a stick with lots of little paper pieces on the end.

"Cutie Mark Crusader Mikos! Yay! . . . Dang, no cutie mark!"

"Can I have those dresses back?" Silver Spoon asked.


(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): I think Equestria might be too crazy even for them...)

What makes you say that?

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): Cider still mass driver.)

...Point taken.

Seeing as Neighpon had a pretty big night life, Cadence decided we should visit the city at night while we didn't have anything huge on the schedule (considering our meetings weren't till tomorrow)...and we didn't want to have to deal with our...house guest at the embassy.

"These are what are called hostess bars. Basically, you pay to talk with a girl while you eat and drink," Gag explained.

"So..." Thunderchild said thoughtfully.

"NOT like that. It's actually more 'talk about your problems with someone paid to listen unjudgementally," Gag continued.

I blinked. "Really? That...actually sounds like something I'd expect in Equestria..."

Thunderchild of course, "Well, I'm certain I have lots and lots of problems I could talk about it."

"So much for Fluttershy being your true love eh?" Cadence said flatly.

"Actually I was thinking of going for that one." He pointed at a bar with a ink drawing of Fluttershy in a flower dress, and a couple mares cosplaying as her.

We all jaw dropped. "But...how? Why?" I asked. "She stopped being a model months ago!"

"Apparently Fluttershy's stint as a model made her REALLY big in Neighpon," Gag stated after chatting with one of the mares. "They consider her 'honorary Neighponese.'"

Does she know about this?!

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): To our knowledge...maybe...Let us check.)


Meanwhile in the future.

"Mom, we're still getting fanmail from Neighpon," Fluttercruel said, looking at it. "At least I think it's fanmail, since...well, I don't speak Neighponese, but it has hearts on it."

"I know..." Fluttershy said, a blush on their face and trying to hide behind their own mane. "But at least if you're a model they'll like you..."

"They like you BECAUSE you're a wallflower! At least I think that's what Moe means!"


(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): She does...and reacts about how you'd expect.)

Unsure of how to react?

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): Yeah, she will be blushing and trying to hide in her own mane.)

Figures...Ugh, why is even my mental image of her doing that adorable?

"Shining! Look! Neighponese covers of Sapphire Shore's latest single." Trust the goddess of music to notice something like that.

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Doesn't surprise me, they based a video game commercial off her Chiller music video...)

That doesn't surprise me either, considering how weird Neighponese commercials in general are...

Looking at the price tag, I wondered if they upped the prices when they saw Canterlot Royalty coming, or this stuff was always this pricy.

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): Did remember you convert the currency?)

Oh...It's still pretty dang expensive in bits though.

I glanced inside a video arcade . . . there was one of Graffer's Oubliettes and Ogres arcade machines in the corner. And . . . "The Legend Of Cadence?!"

"Oh yeah...I forgot I gave them permission to use my likeness..." Cadence blushed.

"Uh, sir," said Gag after talking with the store owner. "The owner wants to know if you'd mind helping promote the game, actually...he says you look just like the main character..."

Huh? . . . WHY is the main character a unicorn stallion with a blue mane?!

Twinkleshine and Minuette whistled innocently.

Foals started asking for my autograph thinking I was him!

I looked into their hopeful innocent eyes, and then I looked into Cadence's hopeful innocent eyes. Sigh. I asked Gag for the name (in Equestrian, since most of the foals didn't seem to speak it) and began to write my scrawl on little bits of paper they gave me. I lost track of how long I stayed there. Turns out Cadence was giving autographs to the little foals too while there. Then again, she had more than a little experience when it came to little ponies.

I'm happy we got out of there before we were made to dress up in costume and pose for photos or I had to have a mock battle with a guy dressed up as the game's villain. Though the owner of the shop DID give us a free copy of the game for helping out.

"Why do I have to be the one to drag this big thing back to the ship?!" Thunderchild asked luging the video game cabinet behind us.

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): Oh, right, it was an arcade...)

Yeah, plus the ship didn't have a fancy video game console or anything, just the arcade. Those were still rather new. and expensive. Do they catch on?

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): Yep. Big time.)

Actually looking forwards to that...

Mineutte looked agitated at us being behind schedule, but Cadene couldn't have looked happier!

"Brings back good memories doesn't it Shining?" She folded a wing around me.

"I don't recall ever saving you from Tirek over a glowing magic triangle. I am pretty good with a sword though..."

" . . . I mean foal sitting with Twilight."

"Oh! Right! Sorry! Now that you mention it . . . it does."

Thanks to Minuette I think we were able to avoid the less polite parts of town.

"Hey! These guys claim they have a real seapony on display in the back!" Gag claimed to one store.

"Really?" Asked Twinkle Shine interested.

"A horse and a fish sewed together, Ah'll bet," said Ellis. " . . . Anypony hear 'shoo-be doo?' "

We all shook our heads.

"Must be hearin' things."

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): Did you go see it?)

No. Why would we? Seaponies don't exist...Wait...why did you sound so hopeful just then?

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): ...No reason...)

...I'm probably better off not asking...

Anyway, Cadence was kinda in her element because music and dance clubs were huge in Neighpon. I guess considering this was the place that invented karaoke...Which of course meant there were zero laws against spontaneous musical numbers. Even if I had no idea what a few of the songs we encountered meant since they were in Neighponese. Gag got in on one of them, turns out he can sing just as good in other languages as he could in Equestrian, possibly better. Speaking of which, I was hoping that we wouldn't be doing any singing at the music clubs, but of course, the Karaoke projectors had reels in Equetrian and other languages due to the tourist trade. And possibly because we were in town...

And of course, some of the club owners couldn't resist asking the Alicorn of MUSIC sing if they could...and Cadence, being Cadence, was happy to do it. And, while Cadence did have some basic Japanese knowledge, it turns out Alicorn of Music means she...well, her SPEECH in a language might not be perfect, her SINGING in it certainly was.

"Kawashita yakusoku wasurenai yo
Me wo toji tashikameru
Oshiyoseta yami furiharatte susumu yo..."

I blinked when she came back down off the stage. "How did you do that?"

"I just...can...kinda like how Gag can speak any language..."

"So you know what you just sang?"

"Not the words...not all the words. But I know the feeling of the song. What it's MEANING is. Music comes from the heart and that's what I feel."

Gag, naturally, decided to get up on stage and sing. To Garnet. In Neighponese. Flawlessly.

"Akaku somaru keshiki ni watashi wa utau
Kometa omoi subete ga tsutawara nakatta toshite mo
Dare no koe de mo naku watashi ga hibikaseru
Mune no oku ni umareta ne iro de
Kimi ga yonda koe ni kotaeru yo!"

Garnet didn't understand it, neither did I, but if I didn't know Gag was Equestrian, I'd probably have thought he was a native speaker...And even if she didn't understand the words, Garnet cried a little and gave him a kiss.

"He didn't have to do it in Neighponese..." I admitted to Cadence.

"Languages are his special talent...what better way to speak from the heart than with the talent at his core?" she asked, giving a warm smile. "And what Gag's heart was saying was 'I love you, Garnet.'"

After the music clubs, we ended up stopping at a toy store as well on the Hoofmaiden's request, though Gag was interested in looking for stuff for Manega he was into. Turns out the Neighponese generally got really high quality toys compared to Equestrian stuff. I was kinda jealous. I wish I'd gotten some of these toys when I was a colt.

They also had really nice plush toys of the Princesses...including one of Luna already. And having seen the real ones, they managed to capture them well...even Luna's cuteness.

Candence did gush over hers, I don't blame her, it was adorable...dang it, I just said that, didn't I?

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Yep.)


(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): I bought one!)

I can see that in my head...wait...how is that possible?! You're in my head!

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Do you want to question it or just enjoy having an adorable filly hugging a Cadence plushy in your head?)

...The latter.

And of course, some more Legend of Cadence toys meant more me being mistaken for a video game character.

There was also a lot of Masked Bug Rider stuff, which was apparently one of Japan's biggest characters, like our Super Stallion. Though apparently the current theme was mages and dragons or something.

There was Pony Rangers stuff...er...okay, whatever the Neighponese version is. But the mega ponyzord looked a lot more epic.

"This manega's called Penumbra Magical Filly Madoka, it sure looks like it'll be super cheerful," Said Gag attracting his 'apprentice' Twinkle Shine in all things sparkly and pretty.

"Aww! Look at the little cat...bunny...thing. It's so cute!" Twinkle Shine exclaimed.

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): For the record, he's dead wrong. ESPECIALLY about the cat-bunny thing!)

I thought that cat-bunny thing looked completely trustworthy...good thing it's not real.
++++

"Howdy, Ah've never seen a creature like ya before," said Applebloom to the strange creature that had entered the CMC's club house.

'Hello, would you like to make a contract with me and become magical fillies?' Asked the white cat-bunny with a fire ruby in its forehead.

"I already have! Look!" Scootaloo exclaimed, showing a strange gem she now possessed. "And he made it so I could fly!"

Then a shadow shaped like a wolf came down that the fillies didn't seem to notice clutched Scootaloo's soul gem, undoing the transformation of the filly's soul by the foreign-universe entity and returning it to its proper seat inside the young pegasus, erasing the contract from existence.

'We both oppose entropy, and neither for our own gain, your actions are illogical.'

".yoU extenD creation'S dayS onlY tO filL iT witH morE sufferinG thaN fatE haS decreeD "

'Incorrect. Hope and despair are harvested in equal amounts. And the amounts of lives that are allowed to be due to their sacrifice extending the life of the universe and the happiness they experience is several times the despair of less than 0.1% of the universe's population who are our contractees.'

".fatE gavE ponieS thE righT tO choosE theiR owN pathS .noT yoU"

'That is why it is a contract. Not a conscription. Their wishes are their own.'

".youR contractS disrupT fatE .youR witcheS disrupT realitY .thiS iS noT youR worlD !begonE"

Then the came down on the white rabbit-cat, and ate it, and it had never existed, severing the race of 'fairies' connection to this universe.

The CMC looked at each other confused, feeling light headed, then fate resumed its natural course.

+++

We left and headed onwards...but we ended up having to wait on the Hoofmaidens as they bought something but wanted to keep it secret.

"What were you buying in there?" asked Cadence.

"Shopping for Hearts and Hooves Day!"

""Where have you three been?"

"Getting you a Hearts and Hooves Day gift."

"...In a toy store?"

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Didn't you say they had really good Cadence plushies in there?)

...Horseapples...

++++

Early in the morning, we visited one of the local temples as part of the tour, Cadence was supposed to give her blessing to the place.

"So many statues," I said. Really, with so many loving pranks by our 'guardian' I had blanked out during part of this morning's briefing from interrupted sleep.

There were so many statues of ponies, all in prayer posture, dressed up in ceremonial clothes, some dating back centuries. All the features were chiseled to be so calm, so serene.

"Please do not call them statues," said the miko mare whose name I had missed. "They take great offense to being treated like they no longer ponies."

"Huh?" I asked, trying to shake the sleep from my head.

She looked a bit insulted herself. "We are in the presence of my grandparents and great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents, please do not be rude." She said sternly.

I looked at the statues of ponies, and dimly began to realize the truth, and saw Cadence looking worried at me. And then, I made a scene, I had heard about this, I had read about this, but I had never SEEN this!

"HOW can you reward ponies after a lifetime of devotion with THIS?"

" . . . Shining" Cadence hissed.

"Their devotion is WHY they do this. They're like this so they'll never STOP meditating on what they did while they were flesh and blood. Every moment is spent on those ideals. And yes, some have requested it be reversed, so they could share the enlightenment they had and confirm their resolutions to us before returning to their meditation. They CHOSE this reward."

"That still doesn't . . . wait . . . request?"

"They do not scream, and they have a mouth. The combined spiritual strength of those who undergo Sokushinbutsu protects this place from defilers. They have become one with these grounds. We have unicorns who know telepathy magic who speak with them regularly, they are the most senior members of our order, not prisoners. They are free to end their vigile if they wish. And even without them, they still make their wishes known on their own more often than not. We concede to their majority will on all vital matters. "

I saw a smaller, black kitsune two tails, sneak up to one of the statue with a lighter, giggled to itself and tried to set one of the stone monk's robes on fire . . . instead the two tailed kitsune's tail tips caught on fire and he ran away yelping.

Then it came back with a big sledge hammer and tried to knock the stone monk's block off . . . and the two-tailed kitsune got a big bump on the head when it struck the stone pony who wasn't damaged in the least. Then the black kitsune left and didn't come back.

"It's making themselves an eternal memorial. So they and their beliefs, their teachings, will never be forgotten." The miko finished.

I have to admit...I couldn't argue with THAT reason...

I spent about an hour apologizing, and explained my sister had had a run in with a cockatrice that kinda affected my views on it (Twiley had naturally sent Cadence a letter about it, so the fact Azure Raven had told me or events involving deer in a timeline that had never been didn't need known), but thankfully the miko mare proved very forgiving, saying even the stone monks themselves understood my position and forgave me. Literally, one of the telepaths let me hear them do so. I wouldn't be a good pony if I didn't oppose what I thought was ponies being kept on display to feed some sick addiction they had developed.

"Anypony here from before Nightmare Moon?" Cadence asked.

"A couple, but none were in Equestria during those events. We actually have historians come from all over the world to speak with the monks through our mediums or those who chose to end their vigil. Needless to say, those who wish to revise history have tried to destroy this place more than once. Or those of us who speak for them. Thus the Komainu at the gate."

"Komainu?"

She pointed to the 'statue' at the gates resembling a mix between a lion and dog and whistled, causing it to turn slightly and look at us with ruby eyes.

"They're creatures that serve as guardians for sacred places throughout Neighpon."

At that point I noticed the black kitsune (as I found out, the small black ones weren't the sacred kind) was presently running for its life from the other of the pair of creatures, the stone guardian returning to its place once it was sure the kitsune wasn't coming back.

And that Gag was cowering behind us at the sight of them.

What did I ask the stone monks privately when I got the chance? What do you think?

'We do not know of anypony who has escaped what destroys those who infect and try to twist the world to their whims. But we do not know that it is impossible. Nor have we known any who has lasted as long as you if it does seek you still. You have already set a precedent. Ponsia holds the most tales of the Kuroi Ookami. Maybe you'll find a truth there to change your fate. Above everything, win or lose, even in your final moments, do not give into despair.'


I think the most relaxing thing we got to do that entire visit to Neighpon was Princess Euphie and Shosa Suzaku invited us to a Kyūdō contest. I took note of the highly visible ninjas . . . until I realized we had one extra royal guard.

Taichi 'introduced me' to a ninja name Cicada, pegasus, grayish white, glasses, his cutie mark was vague featureless mask. I remembered now him being in Columbia. His special talent was apparently master of disguise, Euphie apparently had him disguise himself as a houseplant as a prank during the fateful night we didn't meet Nameless. He had also once apparently been disguised as a Hearth Warming Tree, a mailbox, a Gesha mare, and a filly scout.

"But is he as good without the element of surprise?" Cadence asked.

"Back from the bathroom guys, hey, who is this handsome fiend?" Thunderchild asked the other Thunderchild who just walked into the room.

We looked from one pony to the other, trying to find any difference.

"Oh come on, can't you guys tell it's me? School for gifted pegasi here."

"Are you from another universe? Is Fluttershy my girl friend there? Does she have bigger wings?" Asked the newly arrived Thunderchild.

Cadence asked the first Thunderchild, "When did you switch places with him?"

"I/he didn't," Said the gray pegasus simultaneously with me now standing directly behind Cadence instead of the newly arrived Thunderchild. I instantly had a shield between him and her, paranoid? Call me what you want. And yes, I remembered Thunderchild had gone to that school, but that was the sort of fact you could READ UP ON, so don't blame Cadence for falling for it.

It took us a few seconds to remember Thunderchild hadn't gone to the little colts' room.

(Friend's Notes' (Pegasus): How'd you forget THAT?)

Cicada instead of waiting for one of the guards to leave, he presented the idea that Thunderchild had gone the bathroom and had come back. Everything was so casual, it wasn't something we thought about.

And yes, I imagine Thunderchild might have been a little upset at being the butt of this joke. But we all had a laugh before it was done.

"You should be more careful princess-sama, those who seek to cause trouble do not play fair, and will not politely follow the scenario you invent for their actions. Ninja always slip through the cracks, whether they be of the senses or of the mind." Cicada bowed. "And never trust anypony who tries to make you fall in love with them for the sake of falling in love with them."

And yes. We considered that relaxing. A ninja playing dress up and pointing out us getting caught with our saddles down was relaxing. So was the archery tournament. What surprised me was how many of the archers were sika deer. Apparently their tribe had immigrated to Nieghpon to escape being turned into slaves of the hooviets like all the other deer tribes, and had assimilated into the neighponese. They were generally respected for their spiritual abilities. Their tribe had a long tradition with the bow in all shapes and sizes and had come to dominate the sport in Neighpon I got from Gag.

"Would either of you like to try?" Princess Euphie asked.

If I tried, I was likely to shoot myself in the back of the head. The hoof maidens were insulted that they weren't asked, but this time Twinkle Shine didn't cause a scene. The others just stayed quiet. Cadence . . . she wasn't bad, she wasn't the best, but she sure wasn't bad. At least she could hit the general area of the target.

(Friend's Notes' (Earth Pony): Like Cupid firing arrows of love at pony's hearts. You don't always fall in love with who you think you will.)

Who's Cupid?

(Friend's Notes' (Earth Pony): Never mind.)

Audience naturally tried his hoof, and took it rather well that he got beaten by a few of the Sika Deer. After all, it wasn't the type of bow he was used to while they'd been training in it all their lives.


= 'My Silver Garden' Madoka Magica The Movie III The Rebellion =

I'll never know what possessed me to say 'yes' to coming along to that stupid hedge maze, the rock gardens were a lot more appealing and held the sense of order and calm I really wanted. But I was Cadence's bodyguard, not the other way around, regardless of deadly ghost dogs. Sadly the only ones who agreed with me about the rock gardens was Audience and Garnet.

Uh...why do you seem uneasy?

(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Don't worry about it for now...)

Princess Euphie, being Princess Euphie, insisted on making a game out of it. Having now met the Empress, I was beginning to wonder if her attitude was neighponese genetic trait among royalty.

She wouldn't say what was at the center of the maze, only that a prize there . . .

Looking at that hedge maze entrance . . . there was a cold feeling at the pit of my stomach. My legs felt glued to the ground, my body didn't want to go in there. I had this horrible feeling of being misdirected, manipulated, alone, cornered, surrounded on all sides, nothing making sense, of losing those dear.

I didn't care what Twinkle Shine and the rest said anymore! There was no way in Tartarus I was going into that maze alone and it might as well be Cadence! I wouldn't set hoof in that maze solo if you tried to hog tied me and dragged me in!

Cadence didn't complain of course.

"This maze doesn't act on its own does it? I mean, it doesn't change shape or have any NASTY surprises in it does it?" I asked.

Princess Euphie looked shocked. "Of course it doesn't. It's just a hedge maze. It's not enchanted. A pegasus could over it no problem."

Gag and Thunderchild smirked.

I looked at my guardmates, having this horrible feeling that they wouldn't be themselves when they came out if they went in there. I shook it off. This was insane. I was acting like a colt! I was being scared of something I didn't know what I was being scared of!

"Right! Let's do this!" I said boldly!

So following by my example we all entered the maze in pairs. The maze wasn't that big, or that complex, it was intended as entertainment or simply spiritual reflection, not to confusing invading armies or thieves.

Of course we bumped into each other a lot, and made plenty of wrongs turns. And for whatever reason, I kept holding my breathing, a fantasy of Audience saying 'Screw the rules!', Twinkle Shine loving things dirty, or Garnet liking seeing ponies hurt. None of that even remotely happened. And I told myself I was just being an idiot.

By blind dumb luck, Cadence and I got to the center first. It wasn't anything too over the top. Just some statues of some Alicorns. Ones I hadn't seen before. Neither had Cadence.

"But there's something almost, familiar about them."

There was also a statue of Pandora, which thankfully did NOT wink at me. I'd been having my fill of deities who didn't sing better than me, didn't have pink fur, and weren't the best foalsitter in Equestria. That wasn't a hyperbole, she won a contest.

There were at least two statues I did recognized marked 'Amaterasu' and 'Tsukuyomi'...though the second one was a stallion for some reason, but otherwise looked like Luna...

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Interactions with the spirit plain aren't always crystal clear...)

"Where's the prize?" Though I was expecting more a prank given our host.

Cadence then giggled, pointing. I noticed in the middle of the clearing was...one of the Cadence plushies with a little sign pinned to it reading 'Prize'. I gave a blink, then looked back at the statues and noticed the Celestia and Luna plushies set at the bases of their statues with prize signs as well.

"Admittedly that is adorable...and kinda makes sense."

I trotted over to the Luna one. "I wonder what Luna thinks of this..."


"We do not know whether to feel adored or trivialized and commercialized," Luna said, looking at the tiny plush version of herself her sister had gotten her. "Or completely disgusted."

"Children seem to really to adore them, sister. You've actually outsold mine with them in Neighpon." She didn't want to add Sailor Luna might have had to do with that.


"This is gonna make Twinkle Shine and the others feel redundant," I said under my breath. Thanks Celestia...

The Alicorn statues, along with the statues of creatures like Pandora, were actually a little creepy, I could almost feel them looking down on me in judgement. Like I was out of place somehow. Cadence on the other hoof, couldn't have looked more like she belonged . . . in fact . . .

"Cadence, doesn't this statue look a little like you?"

Cadence trotted up to it. "I guess it does..Benzaiten?"

I leaned back and touched one of the Alicorn statues, I didn't see which one.

".dO noT toucH heR beauty'S likenesS"

I stood straight on all fours and looked around. Nothing. I felt my fear of this place rising back up in my gullet. It was getting worse.

I looked at the statues, happy not to see any wolves, then my eye laid sight on one of the creatures like Pandora. It reminded me of . . . of something something horrible. It wasn't Nameless. It had a completely insane look in its eyes, and a grin like a shark. It was almost leaning towards me.

This was wrong! What was wrong with me?!

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): Shining, just stay calm!)

I hate this maze. I hate this statue. Get them away. Get me away.

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): Shiney we're right here!)

"Shining, what's wrong?" Cadence noticed something wrong with me.

"Credit where it's due Princess. Your games are fun nonsense," I heard Ellis say from the entrance to the center.

"Well, what fun is there in always making sense?"

I was running before I knew I was. WHAT THE BUCK!? WHY THE TARTARUS had that set me off like that?! I bit my tongue and skidded to a halt.

I calmed down. It was just a hedge maze. Plants put in a row. There was nothing evil or creepy about it. And the statues were just statues. What had come over me? I really had acted like a foal. I had to apologize to Cadence.

. . . But first I had to get back to the center, again. At least I knew the way this time. Hopefully.

And then the world took on a faded tone.

"What is it going to take for me to be rid of you?!" I exasperated.

"... jusT comE tO mE .returN tO nothinG"

It wasn't in front or behind like I thought it would be, it was, besides me! I backtrotted as the wolf came through the hedge wall like a ghost, pouncing where I had just been.

"I'm not hurting anyone! I'm not like Nameless! Why are you after me?"

".becausE yoU arE noT meanT tO bE"

"How am I hurting the world?! What harm is me being here doing?!"

".yoU dO noT belonG herE .yoU havE whaT iS noT yourS. youR existencE twistS fatE .thiS iS sacreD .yoU arE aN invasivE presencE herE !begonE"

I galloped. I madly made twists and turns of the hedge maze. It heard its snarling and howls behind me. The wolf didn't even bother with the hedge wall, it simply kept going through them not leaving a trace. It was going to corner me. No matter which way I ran, I heard it right behind me. Then in front of me. I back pedaled as it leapt out of the wall, in front of me. I took a turn, it moved as the crow files. I created a force field and plowed through the hedge walls, the wolf politely fixed them up as it followed.

You there?! Not again! The wolf vanished and reappeared near me again, its claws just missing my flank, I had no desire to be an adult blank flank. Why am I thinking about that?!

".I wilL neveR losE youR scenT, insertioN .nonE escapE thE WolF"

Every direction I turned, the ghost beast was already waiting for me. Closing in, closer, and closer, and closer.

This . . . this was just a hedge maze. It was just a glorified game board. What the buck said I had to play by the rules?! Dangit! Why can I never teleport when I try to?! Or is it stopping me somehow?!

"I helped you stop Nameless! Doesn't that earn me anything?!"

".I aM noT biaS .I dO noT possesS favoritisM .alL distortionS arE equaL tO mE"

At least it's honest... Come on Shining! Outcheat the stupid dog! You know it can be surprised! Surprise it! Think crazy! It's what you're good at.

I sprung off a wall and jumped right over it's head and landed on top of the edge of the walls! It didn't seem to see that coming and had to change direction, giving me at least a few more hoofsteps between us. I ran on top of the edges and used my force fields to give myself some more stable hoofing. The wolf climbed the walls like they were ground and began to leap after me, getting closer. This next part was going to be hurt. I created a force field right behind me and expanded it right onto me, knocking me clear off the hedges, and sailing me back into the center of the maze. Yep. That hurt.

"Where'd you come from?" Thunderchild asked surprised. Where was Cadence? Wasn't she here? I saw the wolf on top of the hedge wall.

"Shining!" Cadence came back into the center of the maze galloping. Yep. The wolf was gone in the blink of an eye. The world was back to normal. As usual. "Where were you? When you went running I went looking for you! I was beginning to think you'd gone back to the Embassy."

I got up and nuzzled her, feeling sore and not carrying about snickering hoofmaidens. "Sorry. I honestly don't know what came over me. I think after . . . what happened in Zebrafrica, I just had a bad flashback to crazy mazes and nonsense places, the statues of the mix and match beasties I think made me think of something nasty."

Thunderchild gave a nod. "Oh, I remember, that fear monster scared you pretty good back there..."

I'd forgotten that, actually. While nearly getting possessed by fear based cosmic horror was terrifying, Nameless had it beat. I was just glad I had an excuse...

Cadence just gave a serious and concerned nod. "...Okay, just please be careful..."

Garnet nodded. "She's right, sir, PTSD isn't something to fool around with. If you need someone to talk to, we'll be there for you."

The others nodded with her. Hehe...glad that hasn't changed...

Our other pink princess nodded her head lowly, "I deeply apologize, I did not mean for my game to cause such bad memories to spring up. I truly and completely apologize! I only wanted you two to have some fun together. Please don't hate me."

"Did she just get hotter?" Thunderchild asked. Ellis kicked him.

I gave a small smile. I had forgotten: in Neighpon, like in Equestrian, forgiveness was a virtue. "It's okay, Princess. Most of the statues are actually cool, just...one was kinda scary..." I said, letting my eyes fall on the statue. I still couldn't put my hoof on why it felt so familiar.

"Oh! Yes, that one has always scared me too! Auntie says it's a bad spirit and it's good I'm scared of him!"

I nodded. "So..." I said, admittedly feeling sorry I'd made the young princess guilty with my freak out. "Anything else we could do while we're here?"

Yes, I'd just gotten chased by the Wolf, but Cadence was with me and I'm a sucker for puppydog eyes. Besides...the only thing I can think of that might stop the Wolf is if I finish filling in my life to the present. If I spend all that time worrying about the Wolf, then I've got no life PERIOD.

(Friend's Notes (Unicorn): That is very wise of you, Shining. I'm sorry we lost you again. It seems the Wolf is causing us problems too.)

I understand. You've been with me through all this, I know you wouldn't leave me high and dry on purpose.

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Really?)

Yes. You're my friends after all.

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): Thank you, Shiny.)

You're welcome, filly.


"Wait...what happened?" I asked, watching a couple ponies who looked like they'd been covered in glue and feathers, among other things, be lead away by cops as we finally arrived back.

"We're not sure exactly, but these guys were up to no good. We think they're just robbers trying to make a quick buck off Cadence's stuff," Bond explained. "Tried to sneak into the Princess' quarters and had knives. However, our...guest took care of them..."

The Kitsune sat on top of the police cart and giggled, waving to the thugs.

Cadence blinked. "I guess it WAS being our guardian after all..."

The Kitsune vanished into thin air.

"Ugh, sure did a number on 'em," Ellis muttered, putting a hoof over his nose. They smelt horrible too, I don't WANT To know why.

"We stepped up security and searched the ship, but everything seems perfectly fine," Bond said.

"Uh, Princess, maybe I should sleep closer tonight,"

The hoofmaidens smirked widely.

"So I can keep an eye on you, maybe keep a shield around the room if needed."

The smiled wider...somehow.

"Alright. Even with the Kitsune around, probably the best idea."

I gave a nod and lead the way back in...and a bucket of water dumped on my head as I opened the door, followed by more Kitsune snickering.


"Ugh!" we all exclaimed as the Princess and her hoofmaidens scrambled out of their room, the horrid odor of a stinkbomb filling the hallway the last day of our trip. After pranking everypony at the embassy the other few...

The Kitsune was much more sitting nearby snickering, somehow having a gasmask on.

"Okay, admittedly, that prank was actually classic..." Gag groaned as he joined us, a hoof over his muzzle (same with all of us).

The Kitsune then spoke. "Kono yōna mōretsu ni atsui hidearu koto no tame mōshiwakearimasenga, watashi wa kanojo no kōtei heika ni modoru mae ni, hainōto de gaishutsu shitai to kangaete imashita."

Unfortunately it was Neighponese. "Uh, Gag, translation?"

"It said it wanted to part ways on a high note before it returns to...Imperial Majesty?!"

"What?"

The Kitsune snickered and said something else. "Watashi wa kanojo no hōmon no ma ni kōgō Haruhi no fune ni atta. Watashi wa Neighpon daizaichū, kanojo no yūjin o hogo suru koto ni shimashita. Kanojo no hogo-sha ga, kanojo wa kekkyoku, nani no mendō o hogo suru tame ni, sore wa watashi no gimudearu."

"It says it was with the Empress on her ship when she visited and decided to protect her owner's friends during their stay..."

"So we've had the Empress' PET onboard this whole time?!"

"Apparently."

"Anata ga mitsukeru no ni jūbun'na jikan ga kakatta, lover boy."

Okay, I don't even know what it said, but it still made me blush!

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): What is it with royals and having trolls for pets?!)

Philomena and the Kitsune would get along swimmingly...

(Friend's Notes (Earth Pony): But they aren't trolls, they're way too small.)

Cadence sighed. "So THAT'S what the Empress meant when she asked where her pet had gotten to at the dinner..."

Anyway, the Empress picked up her pet and, after it dumped ANOTHER water bucket on my head, we parted ways and were out of Neighpon.

"Anypony wanna try on the kimonos the Empress gave us as going away presents?" Twinkle Shine asked.

I didn't agree because I wanted to see Cadence in one.

(Friend's Notes (Pegasus): Never said you did.)

Darn it!

Author's Notes:

Story Arc written by LZ0291 lz0291.deviantart.com/
This chapter was written by me (Alex Warlorn) and LZ.

Shining Armor is given a two year tour of the world to be the captain of Princess Cadence's body guard. Yeah. That's all. That's everything Yep. Nothing what so ever else. *AJ's Liar face*

Previous Chapter: http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/art/Pony-POV-Series-Shining-Armor-19-Part-2-of-2-422513873

Next Chapter: http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/art/Pony-POV-Light-World-38-The-Connection-425052184

First Chapter: http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/art/Pony-POV-Series-Fluttershy-FlutterCruel-Pearls-260092460

"Time is an ocean in a storm."

This storyline runs PARALLEL to the events in the Dark World storyline narrative wise.

Image by Kendell2

Please help the trope http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries
And recap pages. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/PonyPOVSeries (please?)

Check out the recursive fanfiction and fanart of the Pony POV Series! http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/journal/MLP-FiM-PonyPOVSeriesFanworks-audio-adaption-2013-349281264 Many of it approved by me as canon.

Be sure to join our Group for a TON of recursive works, many a part of optional canon!!! http://mlp-pony-pov-series.deviantart.com/

AND! Be sure to check season zero and season one's fanlabor pages! PLEASE! THey need lots of work! As does our recap page on TVTropes! Please! Help people who are new to the series get caught up with updating the recap page!!
http://mlpfanart.wikia.com/wiki/Pony_POV_Series_Season_Zero:_Discorded_Ponies
http://mlpfanart.wikia.com/wiki/Pony_POV_Series_Season_One:_Reharmonization

MLP: FiM is copyright of Hasbro

Next Chapter: Episode 142: (shining Armor) "ssenippaH sihT !iH iH iH - Hi Hi Hi! This Happiness" Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 27 Minutes
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