Chapter 17

Dave waited in the corridor as Strong Shield finished putting the room back to normal, he stepped out with his disguise removed and the magical patch was passed to Dave to hide under his shirt. They both left the barracks and made their way to the courtyard

Strong Shield took his disguise back from Dave before leaving the castle courtyard and out onto the streets of Canterlot. Dave looked around before jogging back into the castle and making his way for the dining hall

Dave entered the hall with a smile on his face, expecting to see Celestia and Nox waiting for him. Instead, Luna looked up from her dinner to look at him, her ears drooped as she returned to poking her food with a fork. Dave sighed before taking a seat next to Celestia’s golden chair, he glanced at Luna occasionally until his impatience got the better of him

“Do you know where Celestia and Nox are?” Dave asked plainly as Luna momentarily stopped playing with her food

“Tia took Nox to Nurse Redheart for a check-up,” She muttered to her food “I’m sure she will be here soon,” she whispered sadly to herself as Dave rolled his eyes

A few silent minutes passed as Dave continued to glance at the princess of the night. He let out a groan as he stood and made his way over to the dark alicorn, her face briefly looked at his until she hid it away again

“Ok this has to stop” Dave groaned as he sat down “I love Celestia, I have a child with her” he placed his hands on the table until Luna looked up at him “I know that your feelings won’t just disappear but… we can’t keep ignoring each other forever”

“Literally” Luna said with a chuckle that Dave matched “I love you and I doubt that it will change…” her smile faded again “But I don’t want you hating me”

Dave sighed as he stood and moved closer to the princess, his arms outstretched “Hugs?” he smiled as Luna smiled in return, her eyes watering slightly as she leapt into Dave’s arms, wrapping her hooves around his neck

Dave stroked the princess’ mane as she sank happily into his embrace, the small gesture providing massive relief and comfort to her. Dave let out a final sigh as he released Luna and placed her back into her chair before sitting back in his own

“So how was the peace talk?” Luna smiled as Dave’s face turned white “Were they that bad?”

Dave slowly nodded “They were… eventful” he chuckled as an image of Queen Chrysalis shot through his mind “Let’s just say that I wont be doing that ever again” he said with a tone of disgust

The dining room doors opened and Celestia walked in with Nox close beside her, they both smiled as they saw Dave and they both made their way to him. Nox hopped over the table and dived into his dad’s waiting arms whilst Celestia walked around and nuzzled her face against his cheek

“Well good morning” Dave said happily as he shared a quick kiss with the white alicorn before he looked at the grey colt in his arms “And how was your trip to the nurse?”

Nox shrugged “She seemed nice but then she tried to stab me!” he squealed, “It was really sharp and pointy” he scowled at the thought of the needle

Celestia chuckled “I told Nurse Redheart that it wouldn’t work but she insisted that she tried” She sat down at her chair at the head of the table “It was common knowledge that Nox was going to blast it with magic” she smiled to the servant that came in to take her order

Dave and Nox also gave their order as the servant took Luna’s clean plate away, the grey prince hopped into his own chair in preparation for his breakfast. He looked between his parents as his mind began to dwell on something that had been filling his thoughts for the past few days

“Dad?” he looked up as Dave smiled at him “How did you meet mom?” he played with his tail nervously as Dave smiled at Celestia as he held her hoof

“Well when she first met me it was due to a royal visit” Dave gently stroked Celestia’s hoof with his finger “We didn’t show any interest in each other when we met, she was a princess and I was from another world”

Celestia smiled “Needless to say I never expected it to have grown beyond that” she blushed as memories flooded back into her mind “But he always forgot to call me princess” she nuzzled his hand as Dave chuckled

“I was trying to be friendly, informal, but friendly” Dave smiled “But then we had that party at my house, I drank a barrel of cider and woke up next to the most beautiful thing in existence” he smiled as he kissed Celestia’s hoof

“I made a few bad choices, mainly out of fear and duty” the white alicorn sighed happily “But I always smiled when Dave came back” she bit her bottom lip as it slowly quivered “I regret being so cruel to him”

Dave shushed Celestia as he pulled her in for a hug “But that is all in the past, we have done loads of good since then and I hope we do more” he smiled as Celestia nuzzled against him

Nox smiled at his parents, a quick glance at the shy Luna made him return to his original thought “How do I get a girl to like me?” he groaned “There is this girl I like but I don’t know what to do”

Celestia shared an awkward look with Dave and Luna before sitting down and looking at her son “Listen Nox, love can be a truly wondrous thing” she smiled “But you are a bit different from normal ponies”

Nox growled “I hate being special, I just want to be happy” he sighed as he saw his mother’s disheartened face “I am happy with everything but… I just don’t like my life being unpredictable”

“Welcome to my life” Dave chuckled until Luna threw a napkin at him. He shrugged before rolling his eyes at the scowling princess “Alright Nox, just take a while until we are sure what is going to happen to you before you start making decisions like these”

“I agree,” Celestia nodded “Just take a little while to get used to everything before you make any commitments” she thanked the chefs that brought the food into the room “Who is this filly anyway?”

Nox rubbed his hooves nervously “it’s… Sweetie Belle” he admitted, “Since the day I saw her she was so… stunning and beautiful” he dropped his head to the table as he groaned “I just don’t think she sees me in that way”

“Well this conversation sounds like my area of expertise” Cadence called as she stepped into the room, her sudden appearance brought on a confused stare from Nox until his memory caught up

“You were at that party!” Nox cheered until he dropped his hooves and tapped his chin “But um… who are you?”

“Just Cadence will be fine” the princess of love smiled as she sat next to Nox’s chair “So you like Sweetie Belle?” she smiled as Nox reluctantly nodded “If she likes you then she will be just as nervous as you are”

“R-really?” Nox gasped “B-but why?”

Cadence shrugged “Love is a wondrous adventure that is full of mystery, it can take all shapes and forms as it graces every living creature, big or small” she sighed happily. Her daydream was broken as Nox tapped her gently

“But what do I do about Sweetie Belle?” he asked with concern, his eyes full of hope until they were quickly replaced with shock. The door swung open and a guard ran into the room

“Your highness, your highness, your highness, your highness, hey Dave” he bowed respectfully to each of the princesses and Nox before waving casually to Dave “The changeling queen is in the throne room and wants to see Princess Celestia”

The princesses shared looks of anger and hate, Nox looked around with confusion whilst Dave dropped his head into his hands. They all got to their hooves with haste as they hurried out the door, Dave meanwhile dragged himself to his feet as he forced himself to chase after the princesses.

Nox yelped as Dave grabbed him and carried him into the corridor, the sound of hooves from the princesses and various guards caused the corridors to echo with metal hitting marble. Dave finally caught up to the princesses as Cadence kicked the throne room door open

“YOU!” she snarled as Chrysalis turned her head to look at them, she sat in the centre of a wide ring of guards, each stared in horror as Cadence marched up to the changeling and slapped her across the face “How dare you come back after what you did”

Chrysalis allowed Cadence to slap her again and again until some guards finally pulled her away. The changeling queen walked over to Celestia and stopped a few feet away, her eyes danced over to Dave before they returned to Celestia

Chrysalis dropped to a bow before the princess of the sun as she released a stream of tears “I beg you to save my changelings, they weren’t responsible for the attack on Canterlot, I was, I only wanted to keep them alive and help my sister”

Luna stepped over and pushed the changeling onto her side “And why would we help you after you attacked my sister? Destroyed some of the city and almost ruined the royal wedding?”

Chrysalis glanced at Dave again before she looked up at Luna “I came here to be punished, to take responsibility for what I did” she shuddered at the gasps “I deserve the hate you give me but don’t use it to allow my race to be destroyed”

Celestia shared conflicted looks with the other princesses “Take her into the dungeon, we will deal with her later” she commanded. The queen changeling stood and allowed the guards to fasten her with chains and drag her to the dungeon

The princesses muttered amongst themselves whilst Dave held Nox reassuringly. The princess of the night finally decided to retire to her quarters, the other two stepped over to Dave and Nox

“I hate to ask this of you but… can you see if you can intimidate her into revealing her plan?” Celestia sighed as Nox hopped onto her back “Cadence and I are going to Ponyville to make a short visit”

Dave groaned, “Fine I’ll see what I can do” he stormed off as he made his way to the guard barracks and the dungeon. Celestia and Cadence shared angered expressions before they finally managed to calm themselves

“We can bake two pies with one oven if we visit Rarity” Cadence smiled “Nox can visit Sweetie Belle and hopefully get his head straight whilst you…” she tapped Celestia with a sly grin “Can finally get that lingerie made for you and Dave to enjoy”

Celestia sighed “I suppose I need to do something to take my mind of this recent development” she shook her head as she looked at the smaller princess “I can’t help but think that she is up to something”

Cadence calmly led Celestia outside as they took flight, Nox occasionally flying by himself “Don’t worry Princess Celestia, I’m positive that Dave can squeeze any info out of her”

Meanwhile…

“MY SISTER DID WHAT!” Princess Larva screeched at Odio “We allowed you to remain because you could help us, not allow my sister to send herself to her doom!”

Odio smiled “I promised to save your race on the condition that I get something in return” he poked the princess as he chuckled “Don’t think that because I came out of your egg sack that I am under your control”

“Then what can we do?” Larva yelled, “My sister controlled the entire hive! Without her my children will run amok” she sat down as she panted furiously, her yelling causing her to get angrier with each word

The giant changeling stood, the giant gem in his head glowed brightly as he raised his head up high. He let out a loud roar that forced the princess to cover her ears as the sound of buzzing that accompanied the hive fell silent

Larva shuddered as the silence made her feel alone, the constant buzzing reassured her that her children were alive. She looked back at Odio as the buzzing returned, not constant, but as a harmonic pulse that shook the ground and walls

“What are you doing?” She shuddered as her children stepped into the throne room, their normally green eyes were now deep red “What have you done to them?”

Odio chuckled “Somepony needed to take command” he smiled at the changelings “You can trust me, I played loads of strategy games while I was on Earth” he rose a claw and all the changelings buzzed at the same time, their thoughts filled with the need to please their new master

“You've brainwashed them” Larva gasped, “You planned to take over my children, you planned for my sister to be captured… what are you going to do now?”

Odio shrugged “First I shall stick to my promise and get those gryphons to leave you alone, then I will save your sister by taking over Canterlot” he tapped his chin as he grinned again “I wonder if Dave has missed me”