"That's so awesome! He totally just signed off on the herd thing, then?!" Rainbow asked in vapid delight, flying backwards and a little in front of our group. Pinkie and Rarity had rejoined us after the appointment, and now we were supposed to head to the castle yet again to get a full status briefing and meet the guards assigned to the organization. This was going to be a really long day, I realized idly while walking. Twilight's parents came after this, of course, for supper. That was going to be a joyous occasion, I imagined. Playfully, I contemplated finding Octavia and hauling her along as a distraction.

Twilight coughed lightly to my left, blushing a bit before answering with, "Actually, I think he was just trying to get rid of us at that point. But he accepted both waivers after I signed them, so at least we don't have to worry about Mender not being part of the herd anymore." There was definitely that! I was part of the herd now! Rarity, who walked to my immediate right, frowned, however.

"This doesn't make sense, though. Whoever these deviants are, why would they seek to disrupt Mender's ability to join a herd?" she inquired. That was a good point. Unless Twilight's prior guess was correct and it technically had nothing to do with the herd.

Twilight nodded to my mental reminder and spoke out loud, "I'm not sure it has anything to do with the herd so much as they were trying to force an official background check on him by a third party agency. They obviously feel that Princess Celestia has already 'succumb' to the 'alien menace' and can't be trusted." Her eye roll afterwards accentuated what she thought about that nicely, I decided. Of course, had the now amnesiac mare not attempted to flee at that given moment, Twilight herself might have acted to stop her instead. Images of fire and magical rays of death sprang into my mind, and I resisted shuddering while walking.

The lavender mare gave me a mildly annoyed stare at that, and I remembered that to our 'network' as well. Heh. I smiled gently towards her and earned an eye roll as we kept walking, one of the guards stationed at the inner castle side entry nodding to us as we were let through.

Fluttershy felt more saddened than anything, walking behind me and slightly to the left, between Twilight and me. "It's still horrible. Why do they think Mender's so mean like that?" she asked, frowning towards me. I could guess a few reasons, some of them more cynical and jaded than others. Instead, I went with a more neutral option.

"They probably think there was no Nirru, and that I'm somehow responsible for the damage in Ponyville," I suggested, ducking as Rainbow almost smacked into my head as she swirled to avoid one of the suits of armor lining the corridor. She wasn't as graceful flying backwards, I noted.

Applejack snorted from behind me, looking downright displeased as she walked next to Pinkie, who was on her left and behind Twilight. "They should just listen ta what Princess Celestia is sayin' 'bout Mender! This is ridiculous. If things keep gettin' out o' hoof like this, somepony is liable ta get hurt next time," she spat out in a sharp tone. I neglected to mention the mare's horn going through the door and her blasting her memory away. Even Snapshot had gotten laid out flat by Tank the first time... Still, I was thankful that Applejack and Rainbow had come with us now, even though I'd thought their offer to be 'guards' was a bit ridiculous at first. I should have known better at this point, however. Both of them had done an amazing job of holding back the crowds after the incident, even if Dash had used it to sign more autographs...

"It's no fun when ponies get hurt! I'd have to throw them 'get well soon' parties then. I wonder what kind of cake they like?" Pinkie inquired while bouncing along behind us. That was a hard question.

Twilight giggled at that one and suggested, "Why don't you just ask them after we catch and arrest them?" Okay, that was cute and I snickered.

"That won't work, Twilight. They're too devious. They'd simply lie about what kind of cake they like," I pointed out, earning a grin from the lavender mare. Insulting the ponies she was so upset about hopefully cheered her up, anyway.

Pinkie gasped, however, immediately asking, "What kind of monster would lie about cake?! They're even worse than we thought!" Okay, so her priorities were a little off, but she was going in the right direction with it, anyway. Well, she might be onto something regardless if Miss Band was willing to erase her own memories in order to avoid giving away any information. She should be in the hospital at this point, if I had to guess. Nasal hemorrhaging usually wasn't a good sign. Mine largely came from the spike of intracranial pressure that intense magic usage generated. Hers appeared to be more of a direct effect, however.

The guards nodded us into the inner throne room, and I followed after Twilight, having to slip into single file in order to get through the side door. Only Tia appeared to be on duty, her sister probably asleep at this point. Oddly, Snapshot sat a couple of meters to the left of the throne, saluting again as we came in. It only took me a second to notice that her eyes were following me specifically. Great. I had the nagging feeling that it wasn't because she thought I was cute or something.

"Ah, I'm glad you all made it back safely," Tia greeted informally, obviously not holding court at the moment. Canterlot wasn't exactly known for its mortal danger, so I took a wild guess that she'd heard about what happened already.

Everypony bowed gently, and I suddenly felt a massive wave of peer pressure. Sighing to myself, I bowed as well, just to not stand out. The Princess of the Sun smiled but shook her head gently, gesturing everypony up less than a second later, however. "Relax, everypony. I'm not on official capacity, and this is an informal meeting. While there is much to discuss, we also must wait for Princess Cadance, and Prince Shining Armor to show up," she explained softly. Huh. I knew they were definitely up at this hour. Where could they have gone that would make them late to a-

My thought was literally cut off by the sound of the other side door opening, and the exact two ponies we were considering walking through. Cadance looked more than a little amused, and Shining looked beyond stressed, so I guessed something bad had happened. "Okay, so why are there dozens of reporters in front of the castle? It took a royal escort for us to get through the main gate," he promptly asked, frowning towards Tia as they walked in. Oh. Oops.

"Ooooh, that was us! That was us!" Pinkie cheered, bouncing up and down to my left. I inwardly sighed, and felt a giggle down Twilight's link.

The lavender mare withheld her mirth, however, and elaborated with, "There was a complication at the Herd and Marriage Offices. The branch manager there turned out to be in league with those that want to smear Mender's reputation, and attempted to stop him from joining the herd." Their structuring was so strange, now that I thought about it. Why were there both a branch manager and a head chairman in the same building? I understood that she dealt with day to day operations, but wouldn't it be more efficient to have him deal with that, and the periodic executive choices? His job description seemed a bit lax for a pony of such high standing, I noted. That was a bit different from Keldarian culture, too.

In my old dimension, the higher up the structure you went, the more obligations you had. When I was just a soldier, all I was supposed to do was the objective and try not to die. Becoming an officer meant I had my concerns as a soldier to worry about still, but I also had to keep track of an entire unit of other soldiers and make sure we were efficiently moving towards our objective. Keela was the same way. She was a scientist on top of being the lead scientist for an entire division, in charge of not only her own work, but the work of dozens of other researchers for the development branch. Err, well, she had been, anyway. Although now her job was significantly more stressful, as she was now responsible for their lives directly. I could see why she wasn't handling it well.

I realized a second later that my tangent had me missing a part of the conversation. I had to be careful with that! "-was okay with signing the waiver, and he didn't know anything about her views?" Shining asked, looking surprised. Oh, the chairman?

"That's just the thing. He said she'd worked there for fifteen years and had always been a respectable employee," Twilight muttered, looking concerned. That was the strange part. That meant that this organization was either extremely prepared and patient, or had some frightening magic techniques.

Tia sighed at that and nodded, drawing everypony's attention to her in an instant. "There's no need to guess, my little ponies. I'm reasonably certain as to exactly the organization responsible for all of this. But in order to explain properly, first you must know a bit of history. This is a story that was intentionally left out of the history books," she admitted, frowning solemnly. Twilight perked up instantly, but I sat down, taking the hint that this was going to be a long one. Tia didn't wait, however, and just launched right into things.

"It was roughly thre hundred and fifty years ago that the first of many incidents happened. At first they were small. Objects were reported missing, and petty theft was blamed, although no culprit could be found. Naturally, due to the volume of reports on it, I grew concerned. That's when reports of objects appearing instead started to surface. Normally I wouldn't consider that a bad thing, but these items were not of this plane of existence. The technology and even design involved was not native of Equus, this planet," she started to explain. The bombardment of new data was a bit overwhelming, but nothing was too taxing so far. Hey, at least I finally knew we were on a planet!

Twilight tilted her head at that and nodded, adding, "Yes, that was during Princess Luna's banishment. Magical upheaval was blamed for the strange objects," she recited, undoubtedly from something she'd read.

Tia smiled towards her and nodded, confirming, "That was indeed the official story. A part of it is even true, as a great magical upheaval was occurring. But it wasn't caused by any anniversary of my sister's banishment, or even by Discord attempting to free himself. It was because our sphere of existence was passing closer to another sphere, and the boundary between the multiverses was weakening." Oh. Wait, three hundred and fifty years? That was the date on the discovery of the 'specimen' by the Keldarians! Tia smiled at my expression and nodded.

"Yes, Mender. It lines up perfectly with the date on your report. I was concerned, of course. In secret, as to not alarm my little ponies without proper cause, I set up the Bureau of Extra-dimensional Investigation and Defense. BEID for short. Their job was simple. I needed to know if this phenomenon was going to get worse, and what we could do about it," she continued, sitting down now and relaxing a bit. That was probably wise, given the ponies' tendencies to panic...

Shining Armor tilted his head at that and frowned, his left ear twitching slightly in what looked like annoyance. "Wait, so this isn't the first organization that's existed to deal with the dimensional leaks? What was the goal of the first one?" he asked, a twinge of suspicion underlying the curiosity. I doubted Tia would be malicious, but if that organization wasn't around anymore, I had a sneaking suspicion something went wrong.

If she was bothered by it, Tia didn't show any outward signs, and simply smiled towards him before informing, "It was quite simple. I needed to know what was happening, what it meant for Equestria, and ways I could keep ponies safe if need be. A team of ponies was formed, mostly out of researchers, and they studied the effect in order to get data on it. I still have all of their notes." As fascinating as that would be, there was a more pressing question instead.

"What went wrong?" I asked softly. For the first time in all my dealings with the Princess of the Sun, it looked like I startled her for a moment. Her eyes shifted back to me instead and her smile faded.

There was a long six seconds of hesitation, and Twilight started to frown as well, concluding, "They're not around anymore, so there must have been some reason to disband them."

Tia finally nodded slowly, looking uncertain for a moment before shifting back to the more neutral expression. "You're right, of course. Both of you. Things went smoothly for about two months, and the data they brought in was absolutely amazing. They found out that this dimension is on a rotation of impossible to calculate complexity, and estimated that every three to four hundred years, we edge close enough to another rotating dimension to cause the leaks we'd been seeing. The information was invaluable, honestly, and I gave permission to attempt to draw information about the other dimension we were connected to..." she explained. Uh oh. She saw my look of apprehension and nodded towards me solemnly.

"It went better than I could have hoped for. A viewing spell was established, and we were able to see all sorts of things about the other reality. We were horrified by it. To attempt to comprehend that there existed creatures of such cruelty was impossible for my little ponies. I immediately realized that this other place wasn't safe in the slightest, and suggested they find ways to seal us away from it instead, of which they immediately agreed. But..." She hesitated, looking directly at me with a downright sorrowful expression. She knew about the Grosh already, then. She'd asked me about my spells and potential weapons when we first met because she knew what that dimension was capable of. And now, I suddenly had the dawning comprehension that she knew even more about me than I did.

"Aunt Celestia?" Princess Cadance whispered softly, sounding concerned as she stepped away from Shining's side and walked towards the Princess of the Sun.

The white alicorn shivered slightly before shaking her head and continuing. "I'm sorry, Mender. I really am. There was an accident. In my haste, I told them to immediately disconnect the viewing link to that dimension. They severed the link without looking into the theory involved, and something horrible happened. For just half of a second, a jagged tear appeared in the lab, over top of the crystal structure we were using for viewing things. Gemstone Weave, the mare responsible for monitoring the connection, was pulled through the rift in that time frame. There was nothing I could do to save her, and the tear imploded on itself and destroyed our array a second later. We lost her..."

I stared at her, searching her face for full acknowledgement of what happened. Gemstone Weave. I rolled the mare's name around in my mind, feeling it reverberate through me. She was the one mentioned in the report. That meant she was...

Twilight looked confused for a second before her eyes slowly started to widen in realization at the same time that I looked back up to Tia and asked, "She was pregnant, wasn't she?" I already knew the answer, but I just wanted to hear it right from her.

Celestia shivered for a moment before nodding, opening her eyes again to look sadly upon me. "Yes, Mender. She was pregnant. She's the one mentioned in the report you'd found. I had... I had hoped she'd survived, but it's clear now that she didn't. I'm sorry, Mender. It's my fault that the accident happened. If I'd been more patient and told them to take precautions, you might have been born here instead, and none of those horrible things would have happened to you," she finally revealed, earning a series of gasps as everypony else caught up to the full realization.

For a moment, I felt exposed and vulnerable with everypony turning to look right at me, but in the same instant, I reminded myself that they were my friends. That was all there was to it, as well. Despite wishing I could have known her, I couldn't change what happened. I never had a mother, and didn't know anything about her. What happened to her was horrible, but there was no connection there to her beyond if it happened to a stranger.

I shook my head slowly, considering my words before finally speaking. "It's horrifying to think about what happened to her, and I definitely feel sorry for her and her family she left behind. That doesn't change the fact that I never knew my mother, however, nor can anypony here change what already happened. Besides, if I had been born then, in Equestria, I never would have met all these amazing ponies that are in the room right now, and here. I... I don't want the alternative," I slowly admitted. In truth, my answer surprised me a little bit. I'd never considered that I could be somewhere else right now. That I could be somepony else. But the fact that I didn't want to be somepony else was important, I realized.

Twilight smiled first and leaned over, nuzzling into me again before kissing under my ear in a soft gesture of affection. I think she realized what I was really saying there, especially about Fluttershy and her. The yellow mare also smiled happily and nodded twice, still glued to my right side, practically.

Tia looked a bit surprised by the whole affair, but recovered rapidly and gave a gentle smile and nod before adding, "I'm glad you're taking it well. Even if I couldn't have known what would happen, I still feel responsible for the loss of a normal life and parents for you. If there's anything I can do, please let me know." I considered it for a moment before nodding. There was something, actually.

"If it's at all possible, I'd like to know more about my parents. Knowing who they were and what they were like..." I requested, eyes softening a bit as I thought about it. Parents. That was something I never thought about, really. It was something somepony else had this whole time.

Her smile faded a bit but she nodded. "Unfortunately, you'll learn everything about them and more in the case files for the investigation. Everything points to, beyond reasonable doubt, BEID not disbanding when I requested. The technology they would have to have access to in order to detect your arrival and your identity only belonged to that group, and it was decommissioned when they shut down, supposedly," Celestia revealed solemnly. Oh. That made a disturbing amount of sense. I guess I hadn't considered how they'd discovered I arrived in Equestria.

"Wait, why wouldn't they disband when you requested?" Twilight asked suddenly, looking more than a little concerned over the events.

To my surprise, Applejack chuckled and suggested, "Ah'm just ah simple farmer, but even Ah feel mah duty towards tha greater good an' Equestria's protection, Twi. If these ponies felt they needed ta protect tha innocent, Ah imagine they didn't think continuin' tha vigil would hurt nopony." What, they decided it was their 'duty' to do so, then? That seemed easily misplaced without proper guidance, but maybe I was biased given my memories?

Pinkie deflated a little at that, however. "Aww, but why are they targeting Mender, now? Can't they tell he's a good pony?" She stopped bouncing next to Rarity, giving me a sympathetic look instead. Sighing, I shrugged rather helplessly to her, and Rarity nodded as well.

"Even with the best of intentions, Pinkie, a pony can sometimes do harm while not meaning to. Maybe they truly believe he's tricking all of us and is a serious threat to their country?" the pearly mare reasoned, looking uncertain at that.

I flattened my ears back instead. They had already been willing to use magical manipulation to try to turn public awareness against me. "I'm just worried, is all. How far are they willing to go in order to get their message out?" I asked, looking back towards Tia up at the throne.

The white alicorn shook her head at that and corrected, "It matters not, Mender. They've already broken our laws and harmed innocent ponies in attempts to 'protect'. Regardless of their abilities or what they think, they were never beyond the law. They tried to assault you through hired agents, and broke into an established news facility to spread magical slander. I cannot tolerate this, even for the best of intentions." Ah, yeah, that was true. They were technically criminals already.

Snapshot looked a little uneasy at the 'hired agent' bit, but snapped back to attention and saluting as Celestia turned to look her way. "Regardless, there is the matter of what to do with Miss Snapshot here. She assaulted an innocent pony, and unlawfully spied upon your privacy. This is a serious offense, especially given your recent upgrade to a Lieutenant of the Guard, Mender. I've already talked to her in length about this and come to a proper punishment," the Princess revealed. Uh oh. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was why she was saluting towards me throughout the last ten minutes or so.

"Ah, I was wondering why she wasn't restrained and behaving so... Uh... Well, abnormal, even for her," Shining suggested, coughing lightly afterwards. Snapshot herself grinned at that, however, apparently finding it amusing rather than offensive. Strange might not be strong enough, but I had no room to judge in that regard, given that I was the only pony in the room with tentacles.

Tia smirked at that and nodded, answering, "Indeed! She actually is wearing a simple magical restraint choker, but it bears similar enchantment to our undercover Guard amulets. Miss Snapshot seems earnest in her desire to repent for what she did, so I've placed her under supervised leave for being so forthcoming with information and cooperative. I sentence her to community service for as long as the case against BEID persists." Community service? Wow. Keldarians would have just executed her on the spot. This was a beyond pleasant surprise.

"Uh, community service doing what?" Rainbow asked, giving Tia an incredulous stare before glancing back over at the strange ninja paparazzi herself.

That coy smile returned to Tia's face, and I recognized her impish side stirring up again. Uh oh. "Why, an investigator of her talents could be invaluable to the case. So, I'm placing her under Mender's authority for the duration. I'm sure she'll help immensely," she tossed out. What? What?! My eyes widened as I looked back to Snapshot, who saluted extra hard and puffed up a bit at that. That explained her behavior last night, too...

"Yup! You're my boss for the duration, Sir!" she announced. Damn it...

Okay, this was a normal day. Nothing was out of the ordinary. I hadn't been spied on by an agent of a rogue Black Ops squad that was still around from a few hundred years ago. I definitely hadn't been assigned my own guard contingent and researchers, or been placed under the authority of a Princess, read practically physical goddess, of the Moon. Even worse, my fillyfriend's brother most certainly wasn't the field commander for said forces and relied on me for technology and tactics.

It was a mantra I kept running through my head as we walked along the darkening street, the magical lamps just starting to turn on as the orange hues danced across the horizon. The dry cobblestone under us made loud claps with each of our hoofsteps, almost a constant drone due to the sheer amount of ponies in our group. And out of the frying pan, right into the industrial oven. Now it was time for another meeting with Twilight's scary parents, this time with her brother and sister-in-law present. The same siblings I'd had a mental breakdown in front of last night. I was on a roll during this trip!

Thankfully it wasn't a very long walk, despite my inner monologues running rampant and gleefully going over all the wonderful things that could go wrong. Being attacked by paparazzi, ninjas, or both thankfully didn't happen on the approach to the front door, defeating one of the many theories, it would seem. Still, Shining seemed awfully intent on shoving me to the front of the line next to Twilight, muttering something about the new herd being the one to knock. I smelled a trap, of course.

Twilight stared skeptically at the two of us for a moment before making room next to Fluttershy on the doorstep, and gently knocking. Idly, I wondered if it was customary to knock on relatives' doors. Equestria, so far as I'd seen, seemed to keep a rather lax open door policy, with them not bothering to actually lock them half the time. Of course, I'd long since realized that Twilight herself wasn't always the best example to look to for 'standard' pony culture.

Sadly, it all served to lull me into a false sense of security as the door actually opened. Turning and trying to put on my best winning smile had me ill prepared for the incoming sharp, pointy looking object! My eyes widened half a second before the wooden stick was shoved into my mouth, getting expertly tucked under my tongue via magical manipulation. Eh?! I quickly noted that Twilight and Fluttershy had been assaulted by similar techniques, as had Rainbow and Pinkie a bit behind me. What the hell?!

The object was definitely wood, and reminiscent of an oddly shaped thermometer of sorts. Looking up, I gave a skeptical glance to the rather pleased looking Twilight Velvet standing in front of us, grinning. What, did she have a mandatory fever test before letting guests into her household or something?

Twilight looked significantly less pleased, spitting hers out halfway through a red light popping up and a significant negative sound chiming through the air. No fever? "Mother, what are you doing?! This is... But... Okay, so it's been all of four days after estrus for one. Those devices take upwards of two weeks to tell if a mare's pregnant! Further, what are you doing?!" she yelped, pointing angrily down at the glowing red device. Oh. Well, this left me a bit confused as to why I got one as well.

Fluttershy blushed lightly and sighed, but kept hers dutifully in her mouth until it too chimed negatively and lit up red. Mine lit up purple a second later, apparently just as confused as I was. Velvet absently shook her hoof, and then frowned at the two red lights as Fluttershy gently set hers down. "Darn. I guess you're going to be as slow as Shiny. And who knows! You had an estrus before this one, no?" she suggested, smiling again.

Shining started to laugh behind us, but Twilight just growled out, "Mender wasn't here for last estrus! Plus, again, why are you so intent on this?!" Velvet didn't look all that dissuaded, of course, and instead peeked at mine, which was letting out confused sounding chirps. Did I break it?

"Oh relax. I just want cute little foals to spoil and visit and get pictures of! Both of you are perfectly capable of supporting and caring for them. Hmm, what does purple mean?" she muttered to herself as she examined it. Ah, purple must not be the 'positive' color, so at least I knew I wasn't pregnant, then.

Twilight just sighed and pulled the offending instrument from my mouth, setting it down next to the others. "It means you can't get a pregnancy reading on a male! Can we please go inside now, Mom?!" the lavender unicorn asked, exasperated now as her horn lit up again. Rainbow, who was glaring at the little red light at the end of hers, spat it back out into Twilight's aura, looking mildly offended. Pinkie however, looked absolutely delighted and amused by her purple one, the tester sticking out of her nose instead as she hopped up and down there. Ah, so Mrs. Velvet's aim wasn't as good for moving targets! Pinkie grinned as Twilight pulled the thing free and wiped it on the welcome mat a few times before setting it with the others.

"Oh fine. You all can come in. What about you three, however?" she asked suspiciously as she eyed up Rarity, Applejack, and Cadance after we slipped past. Yikes! Well, at least she didn't seem to care about the loophole Pinkie found.

Rarity gasped and blushed lightly, looking away from the unicorn with a huff, of course. "I must say, I'm saving myself for my wonderful Prince Charming. Such accusations are unneeded on my account," she quickly corrected.

Applejack just rolled her eyes and walked past, adding, "Apples don't buck themselves. Ain't got time fer stallions."

Velvet didn't appear to mind either answer, instead turning to Cadance and sighing. "I know it's hard for you two with Cadance being an Alicorn," she admitted, frowning slightly. Oh? That perked my curiosity a bit, but I waited patiently in the hall next to Twilight and Fluttershy.

Cadance smiled gently and shook her head, carefully taking one of the extra two test sticks out of the air and holding it in her mouth. Velvet gave her a soft smile at that, but Shining rolled his eyes. "Sis already warned you it's too soon, Mom. Besides, you tested Mender and not me?" he teased, smirking at her for half a second before the last one got shoved in his mouth as well. He made a surprised squeak, giving a confused blink as Cadance giggled next to him. I tried really hard not to snicker, deciding he probably deserved that.

After a moment's hesitation, Twilight just shook her head and walked down the hallway further, Fluttershy letting out a small squeak and following after quickly. Yeah, getting out of the line of fire was probably a good idea. Slowly, I slipped away and headed after the two mares, hearing the chatter between the other Elements dwindle as I turned the same corner they did.

The room was apparently some sort of gathering spot for the family, with soft seating and pictures lining the walls. 'Living Room' was it? It was never something I'd gotten used to until arriving in Equestria, of course. Soldiers didn't get luxuries such as this, and in space, mass was conserved as best as possible. More mass meant more fuel needed to start and stop your craft, so rooms were made as multipurpose as possible. This was nice, however.

Twilight smiled warmly towards me and patted the seat next to her on the large sofa, Fluttershy having already hopped up onto it on the other side of the lavender mare. Relaxing a bit, I trotted over and hopped up with them, lying down on the more than spacious cushions as Twilight leaned against me.

"Regardless of how crazy everything is with this other group, I'm happy that you're part of the herd now, Mender. It doesn't make up for what we did, of course, but it's a solid step towards correcting it," she murmured after a restful few seconds. I frowned and considered that for a second before realizing it was almost exactly what I had going on internally, too. Maybe Twilight knew the answer, though?

"Hey, Twilight? Um, something's been bothering me for a bit now. At what point would you consider what you did wrong, well, made up for? I'm sure you two attempting to fix the situation has to stop at some point, right? When do you consider yourselves forgiven, and the situation settled?" I asked, honestly concerned. Knowing what I did to the Keldarians was horrific as well, and if I could, I wanted to somehow make it up to them. The only issue was, what could I possibly do to amend for that? They were dead, and I couldn't undo that.

Twilight looked mildly surprised by my question, eyes widening a bit before she really considered it. Fluttershy, however, answered first. "Um, I can't entirely speak for Twilight, apart from what we've actually talked about, but I would like to keep trying to make things up to you until you feel like an equal part of our herd. Plus, well, we both feel really badly about what we did and also need to feel you're an equal part of our herd. So it's really for all three of us," she explained softly, frowning a bit as she chose her words carefully. She acknowledged that it was for them, too, then.

Twilight smiled at that and nodded before adding, "She's right, of course. We damaged your trust in us, which is especially harmful as your trust in me was probably a bit shaky before. So earning back that trust is goal one! Then, after we earn your trust back, we hope to treat you at least a little bit, hopefully to show we mean business." Okay, that I snickered at.

"I think you two already proved that well enough by going through with that mess this morning. The papers will probably make all three of us pay, now," I warned, shuddering lightly. The lavender mare considered it for a moment before shaking her head in disagreement, however.

"I don't think so this time, Mender. After what happened with the papers last time, they've started to get really careful about what they put in their articles, Princess Celestia noticed. I believe that incident hurt Fancypants' reputation, and he wasn't pleased about that at all. Plus, I think he likes you," she reasoned softly.

Huh. I wouldn't have thought I'd left that lasting of an impression on him. Fluttershy nodded, however. "Yes, Rarity says they've been rather polite ever since, two covering a new story on what happened in a much more positive way towards you. Equestria Weekly also printed out a formal apology to you," she informed. Oh? That I hadn't heard about.

Twilight rolled her eyes and nodded, horn lighting up and pulling a conveniently located Equestria Weekly out from right under the coffee table in front of us. Eh?! "It's a good thing, too. Dad reads this paper all the time, and quite closely. It's no surprise the magic was strong with him when they enchanted the pamphlets. I could tell he felt worlds better after Fancypants officially cleared the air, so to speak," she revealed, looking at the new front page.

"Zoning Regulation Fiasco Wreaks Havoc on the Docks?" I read out loud, staring at the main headline. Fluttershy curled up slightly, apparently rapidly losing interest, but Twi at least game a cursory glance at the article in question.

"Ah, yeah. That was a big frustration a week or so ago, I heard. It was in Mom's letter. Spices and a few elixirs in the market have jumped in price now because of an interruption in trade with both Zebrica and Prance. Somepony looked back in the records and found double ownership certificates for some of the warehouses on the dock, and there's quite a bit of confusion about who owns what property down there," she elaborated, setting the paper back down on top of the table. Ah, so trade outside of Equestria, then? As interesting as that thought was, the issues with the certificates were significantly less so, so I simply nodded at the paper after her magic released it. That was the problem with official paperwork and such. Whether electronic or managed manually, there was always risk of something screwing up somewhere.

My contemplation was disrupted as Velvet came into the room via the same way we had, with everypony else except her husband following. Actually, I'd yet to see him, which was odd. "Make yourselves at home, everypony. I'm very pleased that all of you could make it after all. After we heard about that horrible affair down at the Herd and Marriage Offices, I was a bit concerned that you wouldn't be able to make it!" she exclaimed, looking over towards us on the couch.

Twilight gave her a hoof wave and smiled assuredly, however. “While it was quite unexpected and not in the most positive way, we weren’t held up more than an hour or so with it. Still, it does show just how much power these ponies have,” she said, eyes losing focus as she considered that. Indeed, they appeared to have significantly more resources than I’d originally estimated. I’d have to read the reports fully that Tia gave me in order to get a better judge of what they were capable of, I guessed. Velvet frowned at that still and sat down as ponies filed around her and onto the seating locations, with Pinkie and Rarity joining on the other end of the couch from myself.

“I just don’t understand why they’re targeting you, of all ponies. I mean, you’re a nice stallion. Possibly too nice. Is it just because of that incident a while back in the Everfree?” Velvet asked, looking between the three of us specifically on this end. Too nice? Wait, didn’t she say that before?

“Ooooh, I know! It’s because they’re super jealous that Mender gets to hang out with all of us awesome ponies! Hmm. Do you think they’d stop if I threw them a really big party and promised to be friends with all of them, too?” Pinkie interrupted, hopping in place on the couch twice. Uh…

Next to her, Rarity gave a warm smile and nod, suggesting, “While I’m sure that’s contributing to their obvious envy, I believe they have other reasons as well to wish to target Mender. You should perhaps save the party until after we deal with those?” If there were any ponies left after we dealt with those, yeah. No, that was my more negative side speaking.

Pinkie appeared pleased with that answer regardless and grinned, earning a giggle from Twilight. “It’s true, anyway. It’s probably because of the incident, not to mention the one even before that which erased his memories. They seem to feel it’s suspicious, and warrants attempting to investigate Mender further via any means necessary,” the lavender mare appended, in a more serious tone.

Velvet balked at that, looking horrified for a moment before incredulously asking, “They did all that just to try to get a background check on him?!” Heh. I could see where Twilight got her sharp wit. Idly, I wondered what her profession was.

There was a rather derisive snort from the direction of Applejack, followed by, "Ya got that right! They don't believe ah bloomin' thing tha Princess says! Plus tha methods they've been usin' are downright dangerous! An' sneaky." Well, I'm not entirely sure if Snapshot's methods were condoned by them or not, but they'd obviously told her that I was absurdly dangerous, to the point where she anticipated me to outright kill her if she was discovered. That said something about their motive right there.

"The Princess and Royal Guard are looking into this on all accounts regardless," Shining Armor interrupted, explaining, "We have multiple good leads and no intention of letting them get away with this. Even though I'm technically not captain of the guard anymore, they still tell me quite a bit, and I'm field commander of Mender's organization. I know we have good Intel."

He glanced over at me afterwards, and I nodded to him easily enough. "It's just a matter of identifying their infrastructure. Every organization needs a means in which to communicate and pass resources. Once we find theirs, halting their activities should be within our grasp," I reasoned, remembering enough about what my other self had dealt with. The military wasn't just used against the Grosh, of course, but also to crush rebel factions.

Shining smiled at that, with one corner of his mouth upturned in a confident sort of grin. Had that been a test to see if I knew what I was doing, or was he honestly looking for input and pleased with the results? Not that it mattered, as Velvet cut us off anyway, with, "Regardless, let's put all that doom and gloom behind us. This is our first chance to have dinner with both herds that involve our children, and it should be a merry occasion!"

Twilight looked around at that with a look of mild confusion. "Uh, where is Dad, anyway?" she asked, raising an eyebrow up.

Her brother snickered however and reminded, "This is a dinner, Twiley. If we agreed not to let Mom near anything hot in the kitchen, who do you think is cooking?" Oh? I wondered if ponies had stereotypical gender rolls as well. Last I knew, it was males that were supposed to do the cooking, but maybe it was different here? Although I'd remembered Keela was different in that regard. She actually liked cooking and experimenting with different dishes and flavors. She had served me quite a lot of different... Err. She had served him quite a lot of different dishes in the past. Being two different individuals was really confusing. Sadly, my internal musings once again sliced out a good chunk of reality.

"-wasn't even that hot! I don't know why it exploded! It was water!" Velvet defended, stamping her hoof down and looking flustered as her two children laughed. Uh?

It took Twilight a good twenty seconds to stop snickering enough to explain, "I told you, Mom. It was pressure that caused the explosion. You didn't make sure it was sealed properly before heating it up." Oooh, I did that before! Wait, no, he did that before. Hey, a negative memory that wasn't directly mine!

"How was I supposed to know it would do that? Sheesh. It's easier just to let Night cook anyway. He likes to. Besides, don't tell him I said anything, but he really does want to impress our newest family members," she revealed, winking over towards Fluttershy and me. I smiled towards her and Fluttershy blushed lightly and nodded. Well, it was a good feeling to be included in that regardless. That's what I had wanted, when it came down to it. Inclusion.

Shining shuddered at that and rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. "Sure he does. I still remember the absolute grilling he gave me about Cadance. Are you sure he didn't install a lie detector in the basement like he wanted?" he asked, giving his mom a questionable stare. She just sighed, however, and gave an exasperated expression back. Well, that was a good sign, I'm sure. Once more, I began to take note of likely escape routes, just in case.

As if on cue, Night Light shouted from somewhere to our right on the other side of the hall. "Dinner's done!" The words rang out, hanging on the air for a second before Velvet attempted to smile and nodded towards Twilight. The prospect of food had never filled me with dread before, but I guessed there was a first time for everything! Twilight swallowed lightly but got up off the couch and headed for the hall again, Fluttershy in tow. Well, here we go. I followed after more slowly, mentally preparing myself. Two windows next to the door without reinforcements, and a weak structure for the main support by the stairs, within twelve yards run...

Shuddering oh so lightly, I tried to keep the tension in my muscles and neck from being too visible as I took another slow sip of the soup. I barely resisted cringing at the noise of the light slurp sounding out in the dead quiet dining room. Everypony at the table ate as quietly as possible, and not a word was spoken in potentially the most awkward event I had ever attended.

Night Light had exited the kitchen in a full suit and tie, with his mane combed back carefully and leaking an air of sophistication. That effectively choked any further attempt at a casual dinner that his wife may have been aiming for. His then formal posture and manner of eating crushed any hope after, without him needing to say a word. It was masterfully done. Every few sips, he would look up again, specifically analyzing me with a steely gaze, as if dissecting my every move. Two minutes in, and I was already wishing I'd just pass out and get the humiliation over with.

The others didn't fair all that well, either. Applejack looked back and forth between all the different utensils next to her plate, while her cyan friend smirked while watching next to her. Fluttershy could easily feel my tension and looked flustered herself to my right, fidgeting in her seat. Pinkie looked almost catatonic, staring blankly at her plate as if having shifted to 'Screensaver Mode' or something. Of course, inside she was a chaotic mess, and only the much calmer assurances from Fluttershy through the link were stopping, well, something. I wasn't entirely sure what would happen if that boiling point were crossed, but it would probably be wildly more entertaining than the alternative. Twilight, on my other side, stared up at the ceiling with a pronounced twitch, mental whispers to be calm running through her thoughts like a mantra. Rarity at least seemed to be handling it with little fuss, simply eating politely as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her. Shining was, too, but he was probably used to it. I couldn't see Cadance from my seat, sadly.

Velvet, meanwhile, was giving less than pleased glares at her husband, and finally coughed lightly to relieve the tension. Sadly, he immediately picked it back up again with, "So, I heard there was a problem, and you initially weren't added to the herd." While his statement was neutral, the tone he used to utter it made it feel more akin to looking up to find a field of perilously dangling serrated icicles above my head. He left no doubt as to whom he felt was responsible.

Twilight's inner mantra ground to a stop like somepony dropping a piano onto a record player, and she let out a cry of frustration. "For the last time, Dad, he had nothing to do with that! If you absolutely have to blame somepony, blame me!" she exclaimed loudly, entirely disrupting the prior silence of the room. Pinkie snapped out of her stupor almost instantly now that somepony else had exploded first.

"Finally! I was so bored because we were all sitting here without saying anything and everypony was so tense! I mean, seriously, this is supposed to be a celebration, ya know? We need to cut loose and have lots of fun and stuff. We need some music and streamers and confetti and-" the pink mare exclaimed rapidly, like a high pressure container blasting out air.

Rarity coughed and interrupted with, "Pinkie, Dear, I believe you're on the right track, but Twilight is upset at the moment and would probably benefit from being able to speak her mind." That was, uh, interesting. Regardless, between the two of them, they had managed to defuse the tension almost completely, which was impressive. Night Light didn't look pleased, but he was technically in the wrong anyway, so it probably didn't matter.

"Oh, okay! But we party afterwards!" Pinkie relented, nodding twice towards a now smiling Twilight Sparkle.

"Right, Pinkie. She is right, Dad. We're supposed to be celebrating, but this feels more like an interrogation for Mender, Fluttershy, and me. Why can't you accept my choice of herdmates?" Twilight asked firmly, but a lot calmer than I had anticipated. I kept my mouth shut tight, definitely not wanting to say anything to set this powder keg off!

His displeased glare was something out of legend, of course. Thankfully, he had re-directed it in the direction of his daughter rather than me. Surely, she was better prepared to deal with his antics at this point than I was, I imagined. "Twilight, a herd is something honorable, showing a level of commitment to a pony that lasts a lifetime. I don't know what happened, but all I can plainly see is for some reason, you didn't include him in that commitment initially. Now, if he did something to make you doubt him or something, you don't need to protect him from me," he lectured sternly. That inner, more bitter side of me hissed outright at his mention of 'commitment', of course. For just half a second, I snapped back my emotion and pushed it back down, but it was enough of a sample to cause Twilight to wince.

Fluttershy pushed lightly into my back on the other side, given that I was still rotated slightly towards Twilight and her father. "Mender, it's okay. Be mad at us. It's not healthy to push all that inside of you," she whispered inside my mind, drawing the attention of the other three linked mares who were too far away to feel my split-second irritation. Stubbornly, I held it regardless, shaking my head slightly, and then giving a start as I felt Twilight's frustration skyrocket.

"Stop treating me like a foal! I know what the commitment means, and I was telling the truth! Fine, if you don't understand, I'll tell you, and make you get it. Fluttershy and I screwed up while Mender was away at the cabin and did something we regretted. After talking about it, we came up with a way to apologize to him, and show him we were ready for a bigger commitment with the herd. We signed the paper, and I stored it in the envelope for Mender to sign if he wished when he got back. Then, like an idiot, I spaced out during my Estrus and sent the stupid thing!" Twilight practically screamed, looking both seriously stressed out and pissed off at the same time. Well, technically it wasn't a secret, really. Regardless, at this point, I was more worried about things starting to catch fire again.

Night Light lost the edge to his glare at some point during her outburst, slowly shifting from angry to guilty looking by the time she was done. "I... I see. I'm sorry, I... I didn't realize," he muttered, sounding uncertain of what to say now. He shouldn't have pressed her in the first place, but I could see he was originally worried about her. He doesn't really know me at all, obviously, and has probably heard a lot of conflicting things about me.

The lavender mare shivered, and I leaned forward and hugged her lightly around the waist, Fluttershy still lightly holding mine. Twilight sighed and leaned back into me before continuing with, "We screwed up. Then we screwed up our apology. I thought he was going to dump us when he found out, and by all rights, he should have. Thinking about that for three days nonstop, I went totally crazy. I was willing to do pretty much anything to fix things and get his forgiveness that I overlooked how destructive the ideas were. I'm sorry, everypony." She'd already apologized for that much, which probably meant she felt guilty still...

Sighing, I decided it was only right if I at least gave my assurances. "Relax, Twilight. We can work through what happened one day at a time. Also, I know you don't really know me at all, Mister Night Light, and my word probably doesn't mean anything to you, but I've nothing but respect for your amazing daughter, and I'm not going to do anything to hurt her," I attempted to assure. Hell, if I thought she needed it, I'd outright protect her. Pity I knew better.

For a moment, he actually looked surprised before frowning again. "I don't need your assurances. You've proven you're at least a decent pony already, at least to the point where I'll allow you to be with my daughter. I've heard some iffy things about you here and there since our last meeting, but for now, I'll trust in her judgment. Do not make me regret my decision," he warned, giving me a scowl before returning to his plate of food. Well, that was better than kicking me out in a blind fury, I guess. Applejack’s annoyed sounding snort, however, indicated she thought otherwise.

“Excuse me?! Ya barely know tha stallion, yet ya’d rather believe some hokey story from ah paper than look fer tha truth yerself?! Ah know him quite good, an’ ya know me, right? Well, Ah say he’s ah perfect gentlecolt an’ this was an honest mistake,” she argued, with fairly solid logic, I might add. She was the Element of Honesty. If you couldn’t trust her, who could you trust?

Night Light pulled back a bit at that, shifting his frustrated glare towards Applejack instead, albeit with slight hesitation now. His wife saw the opening and moved in, however, adding, “Dear, you know you can be a bit stubborn sometimes, but you know she’s right. The only information we have on Mender is what the papers say, and that particular article is under serious investigation for unlawful slander, if you recall. Sure, the tabloids are still repeating it left and right, but Mr. Fancypants himself came out and made an official apology, denouncing it. You agree with him, too, right?” Oh yeah, he did, didn’t he?

Twilight relaxed a bit at that and nodded in agreement, adding, “More importantly, you trust the judgment of Fluttershy and me. We made a mistake, and that’s the only reason he wasn’t in the herd as well. That’s how important he is to us, anyway. We want to be with him forever.” Okay, it was getting to be a bit much now. I couldn’t manage to stop the warm blush slowly bubbling up into my cheeks as I coughed lightly, looking away from her. Fluttershy giggled in amusement at my expression, and I playfully scowled towards her.

“Hey, I just… I’m not used to anypony just giving me praise like that, okay? Both of you are far more amazing anyway, and I’m lucky… and very honored that you two are returning my feelings. So really, you don’t have to defend me. He’s rightful to be suspicious, especially of the stallion he hardly knows that’s dating his daughter, right?” I pointed out honestly. Admittedly, I had the ulterior motive of drawing Twilight away from the flattery angle so I could finally stop blushing, but it was the truth regardless.

Twilight frowned back towards me, but Applejack sighed and nodded. “Ah guess that’s true. If somepony came outta nowhere an’ said they were datin’ mah little sis, Ah’d be ah mite suspicious, too,” the orange mare admitted, scratching under her chin thoughtfully with her right forehoof.

The pearly unicorn further down the table took a polite sip of her tea, brushing her mane to the side and smirking ever so slightly. “That, and Apple Bloom is a couple years too young for that sort of thing. I imagine you’d be more than ‘suspicious’, no?” Rarity suggested playfully, directing her mirthful gaze towards the now flabbergasted Applejack.

“That ain’t what Ah meant! O’ course Ah’d be suspicious if they tried that now! Ah’d probably buck ‘em through ah tree!” she adamantly admitted. True. Even Rarity had technically only given Sweetie permission to talk with me about considering it. I think that was lost in transition somewhere, though. Or the filly was just looking for an excuse to run with that ‘permission’ angle. Either way, I just sat back and watched the banter while taking another bite of my sandwich.

Pinkie burst into a fit of snickering at that, wiggling about in her chair at Applejack’s flailing. The cyan pegasus gave a nonchalant wave of dismissal, however, looking amused yet significantly calmer than the apple farmer. “Relax, AJ. I don’t think she was saying you’d let your sister date at her age. I wouldn’t let Scoots either, and she’s not even technically related to me!” she agreed, undoubtedly trying to earn ‘brownie points’ with Applejack.

Rarity took the comparison the wrong way, of course. “Wait a second, it’s not as if I gave Sweetie Belle permission to poison Mender! All I did was convince her she should talk with him. Talk!” she exclaimed, setting her cup down with probably a bit more force than intended. Tea sloshed over the side and onto the table, causing her to gasp out in utter horror, eyes locking onto the stain moving across the tablecloth. Sadly, I didn’t have a spell to fix that particular incident. That actually kind of surprised me, given how frequently things were stained when dealing with Keldarians…

“Oh, it’s fine, Rarity. It’ll wash right out,” Twilight Velvet assured politely, smiling towards the mare and waving a hoof in her direction.

“Don’t worry. I got this,” Shining Armor announced instead. Everypony directed attention to him as his horn lit up. I watched with mild interest, and then tried not to smirk as he lifted Rarity’s plate up and slid it over, covering the stain instead.

Rarity stared blankly at her plate, apparently been made speechless by the act. Cadance looked less impressed, raising an eyebrow at it instead before commenting, “Well, the kitchen staff will be pleased to know how stains keep getting rubbed further into the tablecloths.” Hey, that wasn’t fair! It fixed the problem… kinda.

“Hey, corners can be cut for the sake of appearance and functionality, no? It’s either visible now and easier to clean later, or invisible now and harder to clean later,” I pointed out, smirking towards him. He grinned back at me and nodded twice, agreeing. Sometimes you have to compromise! Night Light, for the most part, had shifted to mildly confused instead, probably wondering how the topic had derailed so badly. He obviously wasn’t used to dealing with these particular mares.

Twilight rolled her eyes at that out of the corner of my vision, but I felt the twinge of exasperation from her link first. “Remind me never to let you cook at our place. You might cut corners and not actually cook things…” she muttered, shooting me a skeptical glance. Psh! Yeah right. I was more likely to literally cut corners. The last thing she wanted was bits of my hoof in her salad.

“You’re one to talk, Twi,” came a joking voice from a ways to my right. Oh! Looking over, I was surprised to see Spike come wandering in from the hallway.

Twilight looked surprised as well, apparently so much so that she totally missed the jab towards her cooking talent. “Spike?! Wait, you were supposed to be at the palace still. Didn’t Princess Celestia want to go over the new letter codes with you?” she asked, tilting her head towards her assistant. Letter codes? Oh! That checksum stuff that she put on the bottom of the letters to us now. I’d not really asked why Spike hadn’t left with us this morning to go to the herd offices.

He snickered and nodded, hopping up in the empty seat between Shining Armor and Rarity before returning, “We did. Got it all memorized now. I was just gonna wait until you got back, but…” He trailed off before looking back towards the entryway. We all shifted to look at the same time, my eyes widening a little bit.

Princess Luna stood in the entry, smiling politely towards us all, although looking a bit out of place as she waved slowly. She was in full regalia this time with shiny metal armor pieces and even shinier gems of dark blue hues, and for the first time, I noticed that her hair technically provided mild luminosity in the dark, the hallway behind her lighting up a bit from her ethereal mane and tail.

Twilight’s father almost knocked the table over, he stood up so quickly. “Ah! Princess Luna! What a pleasant surprise. Welcome, of course! We have extra food to serve if you’d like to sit down and join us,” he welcomed rapidly, trotting around the table and bowing towards her. Well, at least he was too distracted to be hostile towards me, now.

“Oh, if thou insist, we shall. We are actually here to discuss a matter with thy fellow members of Dimensional Regulation, but it is not of utmost urgency. We shall wait until after eating,” she agreed, standing up again and treading in our direction, looking warm and happy at the turn of events. Ah, Spike must have traveled here with her. And she looked pleased, which meant it was probably nothing bad. Or she just really liked eating, and Canterlot was burning down outside. Either way, I suppose I didn’t have to worry.

After Luna was seated properly, even so much as getting slid in by Night Light, we resumed eating while Shining Armor got into a debate over trade relations with Cadance, which was only mildly interesting to me. I wouldn’t make a very good diplomat, I decided. Not that Equestria would likely ever choose me to represent it, of all ponies. The Crystal Empire was understandably getting its hooves back on the ground, as far as nations went. Trade was very important and for the most part, their exports were doing amazingly well. The new magical crystal products were a big hit, and admittedly, I was indeed interested in the application of crystal magic and how they interacted. But they didn’t go into details on that, and instead appeared to disagree over imports instead. More specifically, economic focus verses education focus. Twilight and I lost interest after that, with a minor note down the link from her to acquire some magical crystals to test later. I agreed wholeheartedly, earning a pleased giggle from my mare. That still sounded weird in my head…

The rest of dinner went largely uneventful, thankfully. Honestly, it was starting to look like I’d get out of this event reasonably unscathed. Of course, I bit the thought back as soon as it slipped free of my inner mind, but it was too late at that point.

As if on cue, Twilight Velvet stopped gathering up plates and suggested, “Oh, I know! We should have a big family game night!” Uh oh…