Canterlot had been rebuilt. Over the course of the five years, the rubble and bodies cleaned away and buried. The rubble was put to use to rebuild most of the buildings. However one pile of rubble was left to serve as a memorial. Bronze felt guilty for what he had done so he his part. He payed respects to each dead pony, placed flowers on the memorial and each grave. Spent over 500 bits on pricey flowers. Celestia had shared her immense bank account with him. When he arrived at the castle on his first Friday back, Celestia greeted him at the gate.

"Good morning Bronzie. How was the early morning walk?"

"Peaceful." Bronze answered

"Good. Well I have news." Celestia said smiling

"What news?"

"You and I are getting officially married in a few months, so wedding plans are approaching. Also I wanted to ask you how 'Prince Bronze' sounds?" Celestia asked

"Prince?" Bronze repeated, 'Prince Bronze' did sort of have a ring in his ear. He imagined himself in royal getup and smiled. "it has a ring to it."

"Good, now onto another situation. Silver spends her weekends at one of her 'aunt's' homes in Ponyvile. This week she chose Rarity. So she will come back looking different, she always does. Don't worry about it. She and Rarity find using her as a fashion model fun. Also we will have the weekend alone together...what would you like to do?" Celestia asked

"I have a job interview here in Canterlot on Sunday..."

"Job?" Celestia interrupted "what job?"

"Chef." Bronze stated "I thought it sounded interesting."

"Really?"

"Yes." Bronze said

"Bronze....I never took you to be a cook." Celestia joked

"Oh be quiet, I still have 48 hours to spend in a bed, pool, or on a roof with you."

"I was thinking clouds." Celestia said gesturing to his new wings.

"Whatever." Bronze said

Celestia sniffed Bronze and gagged. "Did you go for a run or a walk?"

"A mix"

"Well you...*cough* worked up a sweat!."

"Oh its not that...." Bronze sniffed himself and tasted vomit in his throat

"How far did you run?!"

"6 miles."

"That fast?!" He had only been gone an hour and a half "Go upstairs and start the bath!"

"Alright, alright." He slowly walked by her rubbing up against her

"Argh! not funny Bronze!" Celestia said playfully pushing him away.

"I found it funny" Bronze chuckled

Minutes later.

Bronze noticed something about the royal bathroom. It had a much bigger tub then his old room had.

"Hey Celestia?" Bronze called

"What's with the larger tub?" Bronze asked

"I don't know why they made the tubs bigger when they rebuilt this place, but well maybe I'll join you." Celestia said seductively

Bronze started the hot water in the bathtub and waited for the water to reach the top of the tub. He stopped the water and got in. The hot water felt good against his sore legs. Suddenly he heard the bathroom door open. He had to look to his left and sort of crane his head to see over the sink. It was just Celestia.

"What shampoo do you want? Cinnamon, Apple, or..never mind I thought there was third..." Celestia asked examining the bottles on in a cabinet behind the sink's mirror.

"Cinnamon" Bronze answered

"Oooh good choice. The Apple one usually smells kind of....fruity....er fruitier than it should" Celestia said squirting come of the Cinnamon shampoo on her right fore hoof and walking to Bronze. She rubbed her fore hooves together then when satisfied she had an even amount on each she began scrubbing Bronze's mane.

She was washing his mane for him? Bronze felt kind of odd. He had always washed his own mane. The princess did have a wonderful touch though. Her soft touch felt incredible. He sighed a pleased sigh. Bronze had his back to the shower piece. The shower piece was moved by Princess Celestia's magic. She turned it on and it blasted a hot stream of water onto to Bronze's mane. Celestia's hooves scrubbed and her horn controlled the moveable shower piece. Soon Bronze's mane was clean and it's normal shade of white. Celestia shut off the shower piece, put it back on its hold on the wall above the faucet part of the tub. Then climbed in with Bronze in hot water. The tub was big enough for two Alicorn sided individuals.

"Oooh this water is very hot!" Celestia exclaimed as she settled in the water.

"I love it that way" Bronze responded

"It feels incredibly relaxing." Celestia commented

"That's why I love it" Bronze said smiling with his head tilted back and his eyes closed.

Celestia suddenly changed the subject "What are your plans if those...assassins come back?"

Bronze was caught off guard he simply answered "I'll kill every last one of them"

"What if they capture you what do I do?" she put emphasis on 'I'. "When they come for me...what do I do?"

"Run. Do not stay and fight. If they got the chance they will disarm you of any weapon, magic or otherwise. They have ways of making your horn simply...fail. They have no way of stopping your wings. If one of them tries to get up close, aim for the throat. A hard hit there will kill them via suffocation from a broken windpipe." Bronze said his voice now in a tone of absolute seriousness "Run. Get somewhere safe and wait. If I die...again. I won't be coming back. The afterlife gave me one second chance. I can't fail now. If I do I want you to get ready for all out war. Sixty-six, the one who is responsible for killing me the first time, probably took the time to tell the Dark Queen everything. About me, about you, about what I am doing. All of it, so if they get the call that I am dead, they will use it to declare all out war and kick you off your throne by bloodshed of everypony who may try to defend you."

Celestia just stared into his eyes "So if you die, there is no plan from you?"

"Sadly I can not predict the future, just make possible guesses. The war I told you about, is one possible scenario of many I could think of." Bronze said

Bronze changed the subject "I have a question, its a little off topic but how old are you?"

"Thousands of years old." Celestia said

"Really?"

"Yes" Celestia stated

"How?" Bronze asked

"Immortality, incredible magical power granted me this." Celestia said

"So you stopped yourself from aging?" Bronze asked

"Entirely" Celestia said "after our wedding I plan on making you immortal, to aging, I can't do anything about trauma, but aging and lethal sickness. Gone"

"After the wedding?" Bronze questioned

"Yes"

"Why after?" He asked

"When we're married you'll be royal blood. Until then I'm not suppose to make you immortal. Just ancient tradition set up by an old era of royalty they died off." Celestia answered

"How did they die?" Bronze wondered

"They chose to die" Celestia said "to make way for a new era, Luna, Discord, and I. A new Era of good guys and villains"

"Interesting way of putting it" Bronze said.

Ponyvile: Midnight

They moved over the black sky

Eyes vigilant.

Their movements were unknown,

to the ponies below.

Their plan,

Also unknown.

They were the Dark Queen's best. Her Dark Soldiers. They had one objective. They would not fail. They used radio to keep in contact with each other. The radio's provided by Sixty-six 5 years ago.

"Two, Three, Four, Five. This is One,confirm you hear me clearly" The leader said into his radio

"Confirm" said Two

"Confirm" copied Three

"Confirm" confirmed Four

"Loud and Clear" said Five

A new voice crackled through the radio the Dark Queen herself "Remember boys, no sounding any alarms. In, get the child, get out. confirm?"

"Confirm" stated One

"Confirm" copied Two

"Confirm" radioed Three

"Confirm" responded Four

"Confirm" called Five

"Don't fail me boys." The Dark Queen said as she went silent.

The assassin's flew in a large V formation. Their coats were black so they blended in with the night sky well. They approached their objective, armed with hoof mounted, near silent, fire arms. Provided by Sixty-six, he had called them 'HPs' which meant Hoof Pistol. The mechanism consisted of a few basic pieces, the barrel, firing system, trigger, and magazine. The barrel was short, only going out to end of the hoof. The firing system was above the trigger it was a closed box connected to the barrel. The trigger was a small lever to be pulled by a hoof. The magazine was a small box with 5 round bullets inside on the very end of the contraption. It automatically ejected after all the bullets had been fired.

The assassin landed on the roof of Rarity's home, each gently landed and checked their pistols. They were ready. One drew a small, blue glowing, knife. The knife silently cut through the stone that made up the roof of Rarity's top floor. Two and Three grabbed the stone piece and moved it onto the roof next to One. One looked into the top floor room. Clear.

They floated down by their wings one by one. As silent as a still wind. This were they not make any noise. Any noise could alert Rarity and their target child. One silently made a hoof gesture to a door to another section of the home, the guest bed room. This would be easier than they had thought if Silver is in there. One opened the door as quietly as he could. His heart skipped a beat as the door squeaked slightly. However when the door fully opened. There lay Silver, daughter of Celestia and Bronze. In a deep sleep. This was going to be quicker and easier than he thought. Now that the daughter was within his grasp he chose the quickest to apprehend her. He simply yanked her out the bed and as she awoke tied her fore hooves behind her back and carried her on his own fore hooves. She tried to squirm and scream. Two came over and put a blind fold on her and tape over her mouth. She still squirmed but One could tolerate it. She was captured, in barley 30 seconds. One, Two, Three, Four, and Five all left the building, same way they came in. Not bothering to replace the stone piece they cut in the ceiling. Silver's silent disappearance would send a message. A big one. As they left Three dropped a note written by the Dark Queen herself. Rolled up and centered beneath the hole in the roof. It read

"I have your daughter. Surrender Celestia and she will go unharmed. If I do not find a response note in front of this very building I will execute her. -The Dark Queen"

Canterlot: Saturday morning.

Bronze and Celestia had finished their bath and quickly went to sleep. When Bronze awoke he automatically noticed something. He REALLY had to pee. He got out of bed gently and quietly walked to the bathroom. Bronze brushed his teeth, simply using Celestia's tooth brush plus paste. Then he proceeded to use the toilet. Once he was finished he walked out of the bathroom and saw the door open to his right. Celestia ran in quickly.

"Bronze!" she shouted looking to the bed, not noticing Bronze to her left.

"Over here" he called walking out of the bathroom.

"Bronze, Its...its Silver..she's gone!" Celestia was breathless and nearly in tears.

"She's at Rarity's right?" Bronze asked sleeplessly

"No! She went missing from there, Twilight sent me a letter with another letter attached to it! It's the Dark Queen!."

"What are her demands?" Bronze asked fully waking up

"Me." Celestia said

"Then this is her big move, no more pawns, Sixty-six was like a queen in chess. Without him she's planning her moves with every other special piece she can get. How we respond is going to start a sort of end game. We need to plan, fast. How long do we have to respond?" Bronze asked seriously.

"48 hours" Celestia said quickly

"Then I need to work fast." Bronze's eyes trailed off as he went into a deep thought "Celestia, I want you to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"No matter what I do, no matter how it seems to you, you will NOT turn yourself over to her. Can you promise that?" Bronze asked looking her dead in the eyes "This is it. I am...WE are going to find a way to end this forever. By taking Silver she's sealed her fate. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Good. Now any ideas?" Bronze asked

"YOU HAVE NONE!?" Celestia shouted

"No."

"Bronze!" Celestia shouted at him

"Celestia! You do understand that thoughts take time correct!? You expect me to just crawl out of bed and already have a plan for every possible situation of the day!?" Bronze shouted in retaliation. Then he saw Celestia's eyes, he'd shouted with all his anger and his anger had acted as a sledgehammer to her already shot emotions. Celestia collapsed on the floor crying. Bronze felt incredibly guilty and regretted everything he just shouted "Celestia. Forgive me plea...." Celestia's jerked her head back up to look at him and used magic to blast him back. He flew across the room and hit the wall.

"Get....out....now!" she shouted tears streaming from her eyes "My life has been ruined by you... and all the trouble you brought with you!"

"Celestia!... I didn't bring the dark Queen here! I came back to stop her!"

"I don't care! I could have handled her with out you...now get out of my castle you worthless...SCUMBAG!" Celestia shouted. Bronze was propelled to his left. He hit a bookshelf next to the bed. Books fell and hit him as he lay motionless. Celestia levitated his hurt body to her and simply said "Get...Out.." as she shot him out a window.

Bronze's body broke the glass on contact and he flew out the window about to make a 3000 foot fall. Bronze quickly began flapping his wings. He flew away from Canterlot. He was alone. As it always should have been. He and Celestia were over. This was the beginning of the end.

Author's note: NEXT CHAPTER=END!

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