Celestia and Twilight couldn't quite make out what Bronze was muttering in his sleep, but every now and again they caught certain words. Mostly their own names.

Celestia and Twilight gave up listening to Bronze's dream muttering and instead shifted to just talking.

"Princess, you said you were going to change my magical lessons?"

"Yes...I did. I am going to start having you come to Canterlot on weekends for defensive lessons."

"Defensive lessons?"

"The kidnapping showed me you need more knowledge of actual spells. with forces of a kind I have never seen before gathering behind our back, you need a strong defense to keep you and your friends safe."

"Princess, what about when its time for the baby?"

"Oh....I won't be teaching you" Celestia gestured her head to Bronze "He will"

"What!?" Twilight exclaimed "I...I mean he used that amulet thing, right? Its not the same as a horn is it?"

"Actually it is in most ways to same."

"So Bronze will handle my lessons"

"Yes"

"Have you told him that?"

"No."

5 days later.

Twilight's return was celebrated. However it also arose several questions in Ponyvile.

"Are we safe here?"
"Do we need a protective force?"
"Is Celestia capable of protecting us and leading us?"

Celestia averagely dismissed these questions, but since her own students kidnapping she had only drawn a blank at these questions. Unable to answer. She had many things on her mind in these times. She had to keep track of the sun. keep track of her subjects all over Equestria, and keep herself healthy so the baby would be healthy. Bronze had volunteered to take control of Twilight's lessons and the security issues.

"Bless him" Celestia had muttered shortly after he volunteered. Paperwork had begun to pile, her subjects had become paranoid, and the Luna had become demanding of a friendlier time with her sister rather than a professional.

That morning when Celestia awoke, she quickly tried to go back to sleep. As she tried to go back to sleep, Bronze got out of bed. He walked around the bed to her side of it and whispered. "You want me to raise the sun?"

Celestia sighed "No, but I wish to have at least 5 more minutes of sleep"

"Okay I'll be back in about 10 minutes"

"Thank you Bronze"

"Twilight's coming for a lesson today"

"Yes and while you teach her, I will be filling out paperwork"

"I could do that if you like"

"No, no you have to teach Twilight"

"She won't be here until noon..." Bronze said

"...and I have enough paperwork to last a year" Celestia joked

"Alright but if change your mind we could swap, you teach, I fill out paperwork. For now I think I will go to the dinning hall and have some tea" Bronze said leaving the bed room.

As Bronze walked down the stairs, he had a chat with a guard who was walking to his post.

"You guys really think your under paid?"

"Yeah most of us do"

"Maybe I could take a look at the finances and see if I could 'divert' a little money without going broke"

"That would make a LOT of us happy"

"Yeah well I'll take a look later, bye"

"Bye sir"

Celestia decided to get up when she realized, she couldn't fall back asleep, because she was awake now. She found this realization quite annoying. She attempted to bury her head in her pillows. No luck, She got out of bed. Rubbed her eyes with her hooves and walked to the window. The moon was out of sight. She decided to take a quick walk to wake herself up. She tried to remember where Bronze had gone. As she walked away from her bed she muttered to herself, her own part in that short conversation. One word kept coming to mind "Tea...Tea....Tea". As she brushed her teeth she kept thinking "Tea Tea Tea?". Then she remembered. "Dining room for tea!" she exclaimed unexpectedly.

Bronze sat in the head chair at the long wooden table with golden outline. On the outline of the table was a large variety of expensive stones. Bronze was able to identify a few of the big ones. He whispered the names to himself. "Diamond, Ruby...Pyrite?". He levitated a small glass of tea near his face. He sipped it ever 30 to 60 seconds. The ceiling was many meters above him. The large dining room was about 70 to 100 meters long and 24 meters wide, the ceiling being at a height of 26 meters above the floor. He noted this, not the exact height and lengths but just a general idea of how high,long, and wide the room was. He whistled as he drank his tea, the whistle echoed. He also noted this then said "Wow". That also echoed. He said it again a little louder now, "Wow". And a little louder "Wow"...and and then yelled it "WOW!". Then the door opened on the opposite end of the room. Celestia came through and said "Having fun are we?".
"Yes"
"I could here your echoed 'wows' down the hall" She said laughing "I caught one of the guards making a joke about me being in here with you"
"Did you punish him?" Bronze asked
"No, in fact I found it quite funny"
"Really? How did the joke the joke go?"
"It went something like this, you were saying wow louder and louder so one guard said 'Maybe the Princess is beneath the table' "
Bronze laughed. "That is funny"
"What have you been doing in here besides having fun with the echo?"
"Noting all the metals this table is made out of."
"What metals is it made of?"
"Well...I was able to noticed a few things, for one this is not gold, it Pyrite. The light red are Rubies. Also the light blue near the edges of each corner are Diamond"
"Wait....Pyrite?"
"Yes, if I am not wrong it is cheaper than gold."
"Then that designer didn't undercharge."
"Yeah....wait...undercharge."
"Yes I thought the designer of this table undercharged for the amount of gold...er Pyrite he used."
"When did you get this table?"
"600 or 800 years ago"
"The designer is long gone then." Bronze joked
"Yes" Celestia said "Oh...hold on a second...."
"Hmm?" Bronze said.
Celestia closed her eyes and her horn glowed. Dawn cracked the horizon. She opened her eyes again.
"Oh I forgot it still night time" Bronze said.
"So did I"" Celestia replied.
Celestia was now in the chair to Bronze's left.
"Like the royal chair?"
"It is very comfy"
"Funny story about that seat, sometime last year, We were having a meeting and I hadn't used the restroom in about half a day, so during the meeting I was was sort of squirming, and well after an hour of thinking about dry places like deserts,space, and summer days. I some how ended up thinking about a waterfall and then the seat became very wet. So I sat in my own liquid for another 20 minutes, then one my financial adviser noted the dripping noise. I shushed her but not before a few ponies looked under the table to see my chair dripping with urine and a fine puddle of it beneath the table, so the meeting was called short and the chair to this day smells of urine."
Bronze sniffed the chair and then hopped off and turned to sniff his flank. "Eww! I smell like urine!"
"I have a pillow I set on the chair so my flank doesn't smell of urine. But that's in my bedroom closet."
"Bronze walked to the door of the dining room, he heard Celestia giggle "Now I must shower"
Celestia giggled a little louder. "You don't have time!" she laughed.
"What?"
"Twilight is coming early!" Celestia bellowed past her laughter.
"Care if I borrow your perfume?"
"Go ahead, Twilight will be here in about 10 minutes!" Celestia laughed harder.

20 minutes later.

"Hi Twilight" Bronze said
"Hello Bronze"
"Ready for your lessons:"
"Very"
"Well I was on my way to breakfast, so did you have breakfast?"
"No"
"Then follow me"
Bronze had greeted Twilight at the castle entrance. As he led Twilight through the castle, the morning sun shown in from the east. Bronze loved the warm feeling he got as the sun shone on him as he passed the windows. In hallway not 20 meters from the dining hall Twilight sniffed the air and asked "Whats that smell?"
"Hmm?" Bronze tried to sound like he had no idea was she was talking about
"That smell...it smells like Celestia's perfume."
Bronze cursed in his mind. "I didn't smell very good earlier and didn't have time to shower."
"Ah....okay"

Bronze held the dining room door open for Twilight, adoring the smell of eggs, toast, and bacon.
He saw Celestia at the very end of the long dinning room table. She had a large plate of food in front of her. Bronze let the door close then let Twilight get ahead of him, and peeked under the table. Celestia was on a pillow. He grinned then lit his necklace. The pillow slid out from under Celestia rear, and onto the floor beneath table. Celestia gave Bronze a 'I'll get you back' playful grin. She didn't want to embarrass herself with the pee story, so she left the pillow. Bronze took a seat to Celestia's right, and Twilight took the one to her left. The dinning room was empty. Plates with hot food and cold orange juice were already set. Celestia hopped that the combined odors of the perfume covered pillow, her , Bronze and the food would over power the urine odor, and yes before each meal she covered the pillow in perfume.

As Bronze began to eat his bacon Twilight asked a question "What will I be learning on this weekend?"
Bronze swallowed his bacon "Defensive magic, and hoof to hoof techniques"
"Your own tactics or some fighting style?"
"Mostly my own, when I started using these I didn't have any kind of fighting style. When I was growing up, Equestria was a pretty awful place and practicing any kind of fighting was forbidden"
"Then how did you practice?" Celestia asked
"I practiced during the moment, you know kind of just took a swing at it, when I absolutely needed it. Luckily when I was in my teens I kind of became a medical aid to every pony who got injured, so I knew a little bit about how to make anypony really HURT"
"With what you just said, can I infer than most doctors could turn their practices into combat tricks?" Celestia asked.
"Sort of" Bronze said take a sip of his orange juice.
"Bronze?" Celestia looked over at him
"Remember shortly after we 'hooked up' you were singing in the carraige?"
"Yeah."
"Where in Equestria did you learn those songs?"
"I traded some small items like soda, cookies, and other things like that to somepony in return I got literally hundreds of scripts and lyrics to songs."
"Did you have a favorite?" Twilight asked
"Of course. It was 'They're coming to take me away ha ha', that song always made every pony laugh"
"When was that one made?"
"If memory serves...4 years from now"
"Really?"
"Yeah, I memorized the date, July 4 years from now."
"Interesting." Celestia said "Would you mind singing it?"
"Throat is sore right now, maybe in a few hours." Bronze said rubbing his neck.
"Twilight?" Celestia looked to Twilight
"Yes Princess?"
"Would you mind spending the week with Bronze and I?"
"You mean I won't leave tomorrow but..."
"Next Sunday" Celestia said.
"Ummm..."
"There is an interesting play coming to Canterlot on Wednesday and I was wondering if you and your friends would attend it with us."
"Sure I guess" Twilight said "I mean I don't know about my friends, but I can stay"
"I had letters sent out yesterday, they should be sending their responses today as I instructed them to do." Celestia said a smile on her face.

Just as she finished speaking the door to the dinning room opened and a guard came in carrying 6 letters in a small satchel over his flank. Celestia did not wait for him to bring the letters over she simply levitated them to her and dismissed the guard.

Celestia examined the names on the 'from' part of each letter.
"Okay....Applejack.....Fluttershy....Pinkie Pie.....Rainbow dash....Rarity....ah yes almost forgot about Spike."
She unrolled Fluttershy's letter and read it aloud

"Dear Princess Celestia....I would be honored to come to Canterlot for the remainder of the week...." Next Pinkie's "Dear Princess I would be..." Celestia slowed down to examine the wording "...super-duper extremely excited to attend this play.....is it a comedy? Comedy-romance? Oh I don't care I would be happy to come any how!" she read with emotion.

After a few more letters, Celestia finished reading and put the letters aside.
"Twilight all your friends are coming tomorrow"
"Umm...Celestia question." Bronze spoke out
"Okay ask away"
"Where is she going to sleep?" he said tilting his head in Twilight's direction.
"My bedroom." Celestia said she then turned to Twilight "Enjoy the royal bed, Bronze and I will use his room, even though he hasn't used it since you got....'taken'. " she finished with a shiver.

After breakfast Celestia was off to do paper work, Bronze and Twilight were in the castle's courtyard. Bronze sat in the shade of a tall oak tree with Twilight.
"Now, as difficult as it may be tell me exactly what you remember from being kidnapped." He instructed "I need all the details, do not lie to me or skip anything. ANYTHING". Twilight looked into his eyes, his eyes were a light green. His gaze was one of absolute seriousness.

As Twilight went over the details of what she remembered she noticed Bronze taking notes, via a pen and large notebook floating near his head. Half and hour passed. She concluded her review of what happened up until arriving at the hotel and following Bronze.

"...so I followed you and then that's basically it." Twilight concluded

"Every thing you just told me, is exactly what you told so many years from now, just without my involvement. In the original version I heard, you made you way to the hotel took up a job for a few days and bought a ride back to Ponyvile. You've also given me a feeling I haven't felt in a long time....hatred towards these....scum. They show no remorse, kidnapped and held hostage. They probably would have killed you or worse if you hadn't run"

"Wait....'or worse'? Whats worse than death"

Bronze just sat in silence and Twilight saw all the suffering in his eyes.

"...oh my..."

"Life for me was.....bad. Beaten daily....with many weapons....whips, knives, bats, I even had guard dogs attack me for merely dropping a bag of sand" he then opened his mouth wide and pointed to his teeth. His teeth were cracked, broken, and a few missing. He closed his mouth.

"When I began fighting back, every time I laid a hoof on a guard they took out a tooth...with pliers. Luckily when I began fighting I still had baby teeth."

Twilight just stared.

"You don't know pain, Twilight. No pony here does...at least not true pain. If I don't protect Celestia..you will be treated exactly as I have....probably worse."

"Oh my..."

"Let me show you something."

"What?" Twilight questioned

"The way I got here."

Before Twilight could oppose or even speak Bronze threw his necklace over her neck. Her eyes widened as his memory began to play in her mind.

It was the summer. Bronze was in a house of some sort. It was dusty and cob webs had formed over years of non use. The house seemed familiar to the Twilight. The room was dark but she recognized it at last...it was Fluttershy's home. Bronze approached the kitchen where there was a slight dim light from a candle. As he approached a figure came out of the kitchen. It was Fluttershy. Her mane was mostly gray and in a sort of bun style to make way for reading glasses. She had a plate with tea cups balanced on her back.

Her voice was mostly the same, age had made it quieter and made her sound slightly raspy "Would you please help me with this plate?"

Bronze smiled then bit the edge of the plate and lifted it. He brought to a small table in front the old green couch Fluttershy never got rid of.

"Thank you." She whispered sitting in a chair opposite of the sofa. "Sit." she added nodding to the sofa.

"Am I early?" Bronze asked taking his seat

"No, no you are right on time, Twilight is busy with her part of the plan." Fluttershy assured him. "You have the necklace Twilight told me about, correct?"

"Yes I do" Bronze said taking off his necklace and indicating the pendant.

"Rarity helped me at that hut in the Everfree forest last night" He finished

"Ah....Zecora's old place." Fluttershy said "Poor thing imprisoned for making potions, she did not deserve to die in prison."

"No pony does." Bronze said "Wheres the book I'll need?"

"There" Fluttershy nodded her head towards a bookshelf next to the sofa "Middle shelf, with the unicorn on the spine."

"Got it" He levitated the book to him and flipped through the pages with his nose "294...295...296...297!"

297 was a page about time travel...theories. He saw a big symbol crossed out and instructions written above it. "Twilight actually wrote in a book." Fluttershy commented.

"Yes, to give me her instructions on how to use this ancient spell."

"No pony ever did decipher it, shame, Celestia would have been proud of Twilight."

"I'll bring these instructions back to her. After I save Celestia."

"Bronze..." Fluttershy whispered.

"Yes?" He said his eyes darting through Twilight's paragraph of instructions.

"Tell...tell Twilight...I'm too old." Fluttershy's eyes closed and she laid down on the couch.

"Fluttershy!" Bronze exclaimed dropping the book realizing what was happening.

He ran over to her and rolled her over on her back. He put a hoof on her neck. No pulse. He put his front hooves on the sofa. Breathed deeply then said "Come back to me...please." he shot a bolt of electricity out of his recently acquired pendant. Fluttershy's chest went skyward for a moment. He put a hoof on her neck. A pulse! He thanked his luck then put an ear to her open mouth. She wasn't breathing though. He quickly gave her mouth to mouth. After took a deep breath and prayed. He put his ear to her mouth again. She was breathing. Her eyes opened.

"Bronze?"

"Don't die on me." He sputtered.

"Sorry...I didn't mean to."

"I know, its just the age."

"...and my heart condition."

"Yes"

"Please...go get my pills from my bed side table upstairs."

"On it."

Bronze sprinted upstairs and into Fluttershy's bedroom.

"He's a true hero." Fluttershy whispered to herself "He will not fail Twilight, just like he did not fail me."

She smiled as Bronze returned with her pills.

###

The memory dissolved as Bronze took his necklace back.

"Wait that wasn't it!" Twilight exclaimed wanting to see more.

"It was enough...for today." Bronze said brushy away a tear from his eye "sorry....just remembering Fluttershy die right in front of me brought a tear to my eyes."

"You saved her though."

"Yeah I did...luckily."

"Luck was a factor, but in your case, its your unwillingness to give up on anything." Twilight said smiling.

There was a silence.

Bronze looked to the sky. It was mid afternoon.

"Lets go check on Celestia. We already missed lunch."

Next Chapter: Symbols Estimated time remaining: 56 Minutes