Chapter 26

Dave stormed down the corridor as Odio flew behind him, “Listen I’m sorry I let slip that Bloodwing and Roland die” he smiled as Dave stopped and gawped at him “I didn’t mention Roland did I?”

“No, you didn’t” Dave groaned as he stormed away again, the fog didn’t hesitate before he moved into Dave’s path “Listen, I know you mean well but in all honesty… you are terrible at being good”

“That’s why I had to blow you up to be nice” Odio sighed as he floated above Dave’s head and followed him “I can’t be just nice, it has to be mixed with something evil”

Dave chuckled as the fog looked disappointed at itself “Is that personal choice or does fate have a major problem with you?”

Odio laughed “Fate means that I can’t be nice, you always get into trouble, Celestia can never be happy and Luna will always lose those she cares about” his smile faded as Dave glared “It’s true, one of those will have be forced to happen or they all happen at some point”

Dave turned his head away from the black fog as he reached the throne room, two unicorn guards simply nodded as Dave quietly opened the door and slipped inside guarded the golden doors. Odio smiled to the guards as they started snarling at him

“I’ll get the door myself then” Odio sighed as he began floating through the bottom of the door and reappearing at Dave’s side. He reduced his size so he could hide behind the human as he saw the room was full of ponies and Celestia was sat on her golden throne

Odio slowly floated to a corner of the room and travelled to the roof, spreading himself throughout the shadows so he was less likely to be spotted by any ponies that looked at his hiding place

Celestia smiled at the farmer that was bowing at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to her throne, her eyes were full of sympathy as the farmer seemed to be crying. The crowd all sat quietly as they awaited the word of their princess

“I will send a small group of guards to take care of the manticore that is prowling your land” Celestia’s smile grew as the farmer thanked her and the crowd burst into applause. The white princess held up her hoof and the crowd descended into silence “Thank you all my little ponies for attending this round of hearings, I hope I have proven that Equestria is still a safe and happy place to live”

Dave leaned against the wall as he smiled, his smile continued even as Odio whispered some insults to himself. The crowd stamped their hooves in applause as Celestia smiled and waited for them to quieten again

“As you all know, tensions have been high between the Gryphons and the changelings” Celestia waited as the sudden buzz of muttering grew louder at the mention of the changelings “But I am happy to inform you that there is peace and that we are all safe again”

The crowd cheered even louder as they heard the news and some even began hugging each other thankfully. The guards that stood at the edge of the room managed to quickly nod to each other, not in joy, but in relief that they did not have to be on duty as a war raged at Equestria’s borders

Celestia smiled as she allowed the horde of happy ponies to cheer and dance. She looked over the crowd that varied from colts that admired the guards armour to grannies that had been showing up to all the castle events since their were fillies

As her eyes moved to the back of the room, Celestia smiled as she spotted Dave at the back of the hall, his smile made hers grow as she held up her hoof again. The crowd stopped cheering as they looked up at their princess again, their cheers turned to muttering before they all fell silent once again

“Some further news has also developed in the past few days, a few of you may know of this news but for everypony else to know I will say it now” She stood as she lifted a wing and revealed Nox was behind her the entire time she was passing judgements “My son was born several days ago and we know that his father sacrificed himself to protect the castle and all of Canterlot four months ago”

The crowd’s smiles faded as they lowered their heads in respect, the few that wore hats promptly removed them as they covered their chests. Dave’s smile turned to a small gasp of surprise when he saw how many ponies actually care about his death and how many respected his sacrifice

“But I have some news that will make this one of the best days ever” Celestia smiled as Nox stepped beside her, the crowd raised their heads as they listened closely “my late lover and father to Prince Nox has returned and is with us this morning”

The crowd gasped as they began muttering loudly, their faces ranged from shock to confusion, only one mare seemed unsurprised as she looked at the back of the room and directly at Dave. The human looked around the crowd and made eye contact with the lavender mare

“Flux” Dave whispered angrily as he forced himself to smile and look away from the smug Pegasus. Odio glanced at him as he felt the sudden rise in hatred from the human, his eyes scanned the crowd for anything unusual before returning to his hiding spot on the roof

Celestia held out her hoof to Dave as her attention moved away from the crowd “Won’t you join me Dave?” She smiled as Dave nodded and began walking down the central path reserved for ponies coming to speak to the princess

Cheers erupted again as the crowd saw Dave walking down the path, their screams and cheers made him smile and give a cheeky wave as he approached Celestia. His attention also drifted from the crowd as he reached the pure white steps

Dave walked up the steps as he reached out and took Celestia’s hoof, gently stroking it with his thumb. He stopped as he stood at the top of the stairs, giving a wink to Nox as he turned and faced Celestia, the crowd all leaned forwards in anticipation

Dave and Celestia both moved forwards and hugged each other, the crowd let out a collective “Awww” as they saw the happy couple

“Is this just a way to make the public happy?” Dave whispered into Celestia’s ear as he ran his fingers through her flowing mane

Celestia sighed “I wanted everypony to know that you are back and it just so happens that they quite like the idea of me in a relationship with a family” she whispered in return

“Oh yeah?” Dave smiled as he released Celestia “Well here is something that will really get them going” Dave pulled Celestia’s head to his as he gave her a powerful kiss, the kind that is for show rather than pleasure

The crowd of ponies gasped before cheering again, a few wolf-whistles came from a few stallions as they applauded Dave. Some of the mares smiled as they nuzzled their special somepony, their eyes moved away from the princess and the human as they smiled to their mate

Nox rolled his eyes as he flew onto Dave’s head and covered the kissing with one of his wings, gaining a few ponies to go “Aww” and a few others to laugh. His wing was removed as Dave finished kissing and grabbed the colt on his head

Celestia kissed Nox on his head as she turned to the crowd “I wish you all the best in the endeavours you may have in life but know this…” Celestia stepped closer to Dave as she wrapped a wing around her family “the things that are worth the most are always the hardest to achieve, so do your best as I know you all can do and we will all be happy”

The crowd cheered as Celestia, Dave and Nox began their way down and towards the doors, occasionally stopping to greet a few ponies. Celestia and Nox responded to bows with small nods whilst Dave casually shook hooves

Flux clapped her hooves gently as a black unicorn stepped beside her, she smiled as she looked at the scared eye beside her “Do you remember when we were like that?” She sighed with regret “Why did that have to end?”

“You betrayed me and forced me to wear a disguise for most of my life,” Strong Shield snorted, “If I hadn’t been struck by a changeling I would have never had an excuse to get rid of that stupid eye patch”

The lavender Pegasus smirked “You chose to wear a magical eye patch rather than tell everypony the truth?”

“My scar would have raised questions” Strong Shield clicked his tongue “I don’t feel comfortable telling everypony how the love of my life cut out my eye” he glared at Flux with his good eye “shame I couldn’t cut you off completely”

Flux smiled as she stepped closer to Strong Shield “Love is love, even you can’t suppress that feeling” she rested her head on Strong Shield’s shoulder as the crowds were slowly being ushered out by the guards

“My love stopped me from snapping your neck” Strong Shield spat as he stepped away from Flux “But you showed that your loyalty to Puppetmaster surpassed your love for me”

Flux and Strong Shield stood staring at each other as the final remnants of the crowd left, leaving them alone in the large hall. The guards nodded to Strong Shield before leaving the room as well, closing the door behind them

The door opened again as Battering Ram stepped in, he closed the door behind him as he smiled at Strong Shield “I can be sneaky when I want to” he chuckled as he walked over to a window and looked out over the city

“So I take it you are both here to intimidate or fight me” Strong Shield glanced between his former friends “Which is it? I haven’t got all day”

Battering Ram chuckled “We found it quite insulting that you tried to get us to believe that Project Harvest is inside the vault” his smile faded “You know that we wouldn’t activate it”

“You were more than willing to assist with Project Unity” Strong Shield spat as he snarled “And that would have involved having my brain removed and having my free will taken from me”

“You were the ideal candidate” Flux shuddered as she turned away “Battering Ram and I both tried to find another but we didn’t have time” the Pegasus took a breath to calm herself “I was happy when you broke out of your restraints”

Strong Shield rolled his eye “I preferred being a unicorn than a brain in a tin pony” he looked down at his hooves “Even though I lost my eye, I saw more than I ever had since then”

Battering Ram sighed “I am here to leave you with a warning, if we don’t get the key then we will start hurting Dave and his family” the huge earth pony tilted his head to Flux “She just wants to ask a few questions”

“Did you love any of the others?” Flux glared at Strong Shield as her eyes struggled to hold back tears “I know you slept with others since our… separation” she shuddered as Strong Shield smirked

“Jealous?” Strong Shield’s own face eventually dropped “After I thought I killed you, I left my love in that burning building, and Dave has been the only piece of compassion I have given in thirty two years”

Flux snarled as she leapt at Strong Shield, her snarl an inch from his cold stare “I want to know if you loved any of those mares that touched during your private life”

“During the Mercenary War, I slept with Zidindi the zebra” Strong Shield sighed, “she loved me, I felt nothing”

“What about the incident with the Frozen Tower?” Battering Ram rose an eyebrow “there was a windigo being used to generate an ice cannon or something and you happened to mate with a wildlife conservationist”

Strong Shield groaned, “She was a persistent one, I mated with her so I could advance on the cannon whilst she was still asleep in the tent”

“The Diamond Dogs and the Deep Cavern” Flux glared “the Diamond Dogs had dug a huge mine under Philadelphia and were planning to sink the city”

Strong Shield hummed “Yes, I admit that Quarry was an odd one” the unicorn chuckled as he looked at Battering Ram “Although she was more of a mare for you, very nice muscles”

Flux growled as she saw Strong Shield smile, knowing he loved the pain she was in “And what about Fleur de Lis?” her glare made Strong Shield turn serious again

“If I mated with her then she would give me the code to the safe that contained information on the Canterlot Mafia ring” He held his head high so he looked down at Flux “Just doing a guard’s duty”

“Yeah thirty years and you have had fun” Battering Ram shook his head in disgust “Flux never looked at anypony else but you”

Strong Shield sighed as he looked at Flux “I never loved anypony else but you, but unfortunately you betrayed me and tried to kill me” he stepped away from the mare “That is a bit hard to get over”

Flux bit her bottom lip as she turned away again “Give us the key or we will start taking drastic measures”

“I know where the vault is” Strong Shield sighed “The Trainyard was bought by Max Power… an alias for Battering Ram, I remember it well” he glanced at Battering Ram’s nod “I know that the Daedalus is stored there”

Flux and Battering Ram both glanced at each other before nodding “We will let you dwell on you options” Flux sighed, “Take the Daedalus to the vault, taking the key with you or you can expect Dave to start resenting you even more”

Strong Shield snarled at his old comrades as they left the room, leaving him alone. His eye moved to the ceiling as he spotted a small wisp of black fog “I take it you heard all that”

“Heard what?” Odio frowned “The part where you are basically the pony version of James Bond, the part about something called the Daedalus, the Borderlands rip off about a vault or the part where my best and only friend is being threatened?”

Strong Shield shook his head “It doesn't matter, I will make sure Dave is ok”

“I have played enough video games to know that anything called ‘Daedalus’ is never anything good” Odio’s glare narrowed as he floated closer to Strong Shield “And how come I have never heard of these ‘friends’ of yours that have been so influential on your life?”