Chapter 52

“This is ridiculous,” Flux groaned in agitation. “Why isn’t Strong Shield doing anything? He looked ready to make his move”

Battering Ram sat on the floor of their empty house as he rubbed his eyes, “Either he thinks the key is hidden well enough, or he has come clean to the princesses”

“No… he just wants to see what we know,” Flux spat. “If I hadn’t slept with him in Manehatten then we would have the key by now!”

“You slept with him?” Battering Ram sighed before shaking his head. “You want to be with him more than find the key, don’t you?”

Flux nodded, “I will never earn his forgiveness though… so the key is all I have left”

“What if…” Battering Ram bit his lip. “I turned myself in? It would give you a second chance at life”

The lavender Pegasus gasped, “Why would you do that?”

“I have no future… besides, you always knew that I would protect you,” Battering Ram smiled reassuringly. “But you can move on, do what you want to do for once”

Flux stared out of the window at the castle as she resumed glaring again

Meanwhile…

Nox levitated Applebloom’s bag for her as they walked out onto the runway. “Did you pack the bit of comet I got you?”

“Yeah, I was the first thing I packed,” Applebloom smiled as she nuzzled against the grey alicorn. “So when might ya come to Ponyville?”

The alicorn shrugged, “hopefully soon,” Nox smiled reassuringly. “Well if I don’t have anything planned in a week then I will fly down myself!”

Applebloom wrapped her hooves around Nox’s neck as a pair of pegasi guards brought a small chariot over and placed the bags into one of the compartments. The earth pony jumped onto the padded seat as she made herself comfortable

“I’ve never been in one of these flying things before,” Applebloom looked around nervously. “Granny Smith said that she once went on one of those flying ships”

One of the guards turned his head to smile at Applebloom, “Don’t worry miss, you are perfectly safe with us”

“She had better be!” Nox frowned playfully, the guards saluting as they extended their wings. “See ya later Applebloom!”

Applebloom waved as the chariot began to pick up speed, “See you soon Nox! I love you!”

“I love you too!” Nox cheered as a smile spread across his lips

The grey alicorn watched as the golden chariot took to the air and flew towards the horizon, a small part of Nox wanted him to spread his own wings and chase the chariot, to follow Applebloom. But his hooves took him back inside the castle and took him on a long course back to the dining room where his family were

As Nox stepped into the room, he noticed that Dave had moved up a spot and Luna was now sat opposite the vacant seat. The colt sat between his parents as Dave leaned over and placed a hand on Nox’s head as he ruffled his mane

“So has Applebloom gone back home then?” Dave patted Nox on the back as he nodded sadly. “Well we have something to tell you that might… confuse you”

“What is it dad?” Nox looked up at his father as the human scratched his head

Dave looked at Celestia and Luna as he sighed. “You know I am marrying mom soon?” Dave smiled as Nox nodded. “Well… I am also in a relationship with Auntie Luna as well”

“So will you be getting married to Auntie Luna too?” Nox tilted his head

“Well…” Dave looked at Luna as she blushed and looked down at her hooves. “Of course I will but I have to get married to mom first”

Luna looked at Celestia and saw her give a happy smile. Nox frowned in confusion, “So she will be your wife… that means I will have to call her mom too?”

“You can still call her Auntie Luna,” Dave poked Nox’s tummy playfully as he caused the colt to go into a laughing fit. “You only ever have one mom, don’t forget that”

Nox grabbed Dave’s hand as he calmed himself down, “W-what about your mom?” Nox asked as he still recovered from his laughing fit

The grey alicorn did not notice Dave’s brief switch of expression but Luna and Celestia both noticed his small disheartened, vacant stare. The sisters exchanged worried glances as Dave picked Nox up to kiss his mane and place him on the floor

“Go see if you can find grandpa and I will see if I can get some ice-cream for desert later,” Dave smiled as the young alicorn cheered and ran out of the room, his wings flapping to boost his speed. Dave sat back in his usual chair to look at the two sympathetic princesses, “What?”

Luna decided to sit quietly as Celestia placed a hoof on Dave’s hand. “Are weddings a big event on your world?”

“Kinda, except some people get divorced,” Dave turned his hand so he could stroke Celestia’s hoof with his thumb. “But I will never stop loving you… or you Luna”

“Don’t you ever think about your world?” Celestia shuffled closer to Dave as she placed her other hoof on his face. “It’s ok to cry… we understand that losing your past life can be hard”

Dave glanced between Celestia and Luna as he hummed, “Alright I will keep that in mind”

“Aren’t you worried about your family back on Earth?” Luna’s face turned to a concerned gasp. “They weren’t abusive were they?”

“What? No!” Dave frowned as he took his hand from Celestia and folded his arms. “It was fine, but I am happier here so can we please drop it?”

Celestia brought her hoof back to her side of the table before she looked down at the table. “Well can you at least tell us a bit about your human family?” she sniffed as she looked up sadly at Dave

“Playing the guilt card?” Dave groaned as he placed his hands on the table and stared at his palms. “I lived with my mom, she took care of me ever since my dad left… I was… three at the time”

Luna and Celestia both exchanged nervous glances before Luna leaned forwards and placed a dark hoof in Dave’s hand. “Why don’t you talk about your home world?”

“This is my home,” Dave held Luna’s hoof as he sighed. “I don’t like dwelling on things I can’t change”

Celestia placed her hoof in Dave’s other hand, “But what about your family? Surely they would want to know that you are getting married”

“You are my family,” Dave smiled as he gently squeezed both the hooves in his hands. “And Strong Shield has adopted me, he probably has filled out enough paperwork to convince everypony that I am biologically related”

“And what about friends?” Luna tried to look for any sadness in Dave’s eyes. “They must miss you and have at least tried to find you”

Dave snorted, “I had friends, but they are nothing compared to what I have now”

“How so?” Celestia frowned. “You have only been here for a fraction of the time you were on Earth”

“If one of them had a problem with me back then, I would find my problem and try to find a… solution,” Dave shook his head as he continued to stare at the light and dark hooves in his hands. “If I had a problem with them and tried to talk about it or find a solution…”

Luna squeezed Dave’s hand as he fell silent. “What would happen?”

“Well people don’t like hearing about their bad points,” Dave shrugged. “I was one of the few that wanted to know their problems and get people to help them correct the issue”

“So they stopped being your friend?” Celestia leaned over and nuzzled Dave’s head. “Well they didn’t deserve you”

Dave chuckled, “I sometimes felt that they only kept me around because I was a laugh, someone who would go that extra effort to do more… but they never expected me to ask for anything in return.” The human turned his head so he rested it against Celestia’s. “I had… two or three close friends… the others were just talking to me so they felt liked”

“Well you are surrounded by good friends here,” Celestia smiled as she felt Dave squeeze her hoof in affection

Luna smiled as she felt her own hoof receive a small squeeze, “Not to mention you have us to love you”

Dave pulled his head away from Celestia as he smiled, “that is true… that other stuff is in the past and I would prefer it if we didn’t have to bring it up again”

“Why not?” Luna sighed as Dave shook his head

“Because I don’t want to think about what might have happened if what happened to me before was true,” Dave mumbled angrily to himself as he saw Luna’s and Celestia’s confused and worried stares. “When I was imprisoned by the Elements of Harmony, my mind was forced to play a trick and put me in a perfect one-man prison”

Celestia’s ears drooped in guilt, “But Odio helped you escape.” She sighed as she thought back to the time she saw Dave be turned to stone, her anger back then almost lost her the one she loved

“Yeah… but my mind came up with a clever trick of saying that I bashed my head open and got an infection.” Dave chuckled at his subconscious’ creativity. “I was apparently in a coma and you were fake… I still get nightmares that all this was just dream and I am just laying in a hospital bed with a split skull”

Luna dropped her head in a guilt she shared with Celestia, “The elements did that much damage to you? We didn’t think about any after effects”

Dave stood up and walked around the table so he could wrap his arms around both the princesses in a big hug. “I would do it all again if it made you both safe, I wouldn’t even pause to think”

“But if we had thought to listen to you back then…” Celestia shuddered as she thought back to the time she tortured Dave. “We could have avoided putting you through so much pain, such anguish”

Luna nodded, “You have every right to hate us but you still love us… why?”

Dave chuckled, “What’s with the random questions today? I love you both now and forever, nothing will stop me from protecting you both or anypony else I care about”

“We’re sorry Dave, it is just that everything is finally going the way we all want it to,” Luna smiled. “We won’t bring it up again”

“Thanks,” Dave kissed both the princesses. “I might see if I can find my dad as well, I need to ask him something”

Both the princesses nodded as Dave released them from their hugs and left the room, his smile fading as his thoughts turned to Tartarus. Both the royal sisters sighed as the door closed and they were left alone

“I had no idea that the elements would have such a lasting effect on Dave,” Luna sighed. “It is all our fault that he suffered”

Celestia stood up and walked over to Luna, wrapping a wing around her. “He doesn’t hold it against us and he understands why we reacted the way we did back then”

“And what if we react that way again?” Luna wrapped her hooves around Celestia’s white neck. “I-I don’t want to lose Dave again”

The princess of the sun held her younger sibling, “Don’t worry Luna, Dave loves us and he won’t leave us for any reason”

The human that rested his ear against the door quietly sighed to himself, his hand rubbing his eyes as he pulled his head away from the door. “Well I hope for your sakes that something good happens,” Dave sighed as he started his search for Strong Shield