After receiving the news, Tavi and I rush towards our home. The pillar of smoke can be seen clearly against the night sky. The flames give off an eerie glow from below, giving its smoke the appearance of a living beast. We make it about two hundred yards away from the hospital when Chaotic catches up to us. He says it would be best if he followed, just to make sure we were safe. Apparently there was concern as to the origin of the fire, and being a ranking officer he could get answers pretty quickly. That would have to wait though because right now, our house is on fire. We rush through the streets. Eventually the stress on Tavi's hooves causes her to collapse. I stop only to pick her up and carry her on my back the rest of the way.

As we reach the perimeter set up around the area we see the full scale of the blaze. Our house is no longer on fire, it's merely a set of wooden pillars and a pile of ash on the ground. Everything that was in it is gone. Our photos, Tavi's diary, my Stradivarius violin, and even Tavi's cello: it's all gone. A guard comes up and asks if our house was among the blaze. Tavi is speechless, and I barely have the mind to speak.

"It was, the building that is already ash was our home." As I say this, tears fall from my face, Tavi just continues to stare, disbelievingly, at the place our once proud home occupied. Then the guard decides to speak.

"Well, that is unfortunate; guess I'll have to finish the job." As the words register in my head I turn to see him preparing to strike Tavi and me with his sword. I have no time to react as Chaotic grabs the blade, disarms the guard; and lands a punch on the false protector, knocking him a few feet away as several more guards surround us. One of the guards speaks.

"Stand down citizen, we only want these two abominations. I, Sergeant Major Brimstone, have orders to execute one of these two." He is tall, wearing proudly the armor of the night guard, and has really bad anger issues. His mane was a Dark blue, his eyes yellow, and his coat the same dark grey as for the rest of the lunar guard.

"And I order you to stand down, as Second Lieutenant Chaotic Note of the Lunar guard." For a moment the other guards back away, but the sergeant simply smiles.

"Good, then after you are dead next to the two traitors we can get promotions." The other guards begin to close in, drawing their swords and spears. They're apparently losing their minds to their blood lust and chance for a promotion. As they begin to move in and attack, Chaotic brings his skill out to play. He deftly takes the closest guard, disarms them, and uses their spear to knock away several guards in the process. Just as Brimstone draws his sword, he and the guards begin to levitate, surrounded by a midnight blue aura.

"And who dares to try and harm our friends during their blight? Who art the fools?" A loud voice bellows through the night air. The figure that spoke soon descends, taking away the guards' confidence for certain. "Well, who dost thou think thou art? Destroying our people's property and threatening the citizens as well is an outrage that will not be tolerated!" Luna releases the full volume of the royal canterlot voice, her eyes glowing a powerful white as the citizens the guard had ushered away come back to check out the commotion.

Soon, several members of the Lunar Guard and a few off-duty Solar guards appear and quickly take control of the situation. Most get to work assisting the fire fighters of the area to fight the fire, a few others try and keep the crowd at a safe distance, a few more brave the fires to search for those who are trapped. If somepony was trapped, I never saw them get out. It was horrible.

The house on the right of our own, thankfully, is vacant. The owners were on holiday to Paris on Earth. The house on our left, unfortunately, had an elderly couple that was always kind to us. They even taught me a few things about cooking, and both of us on how to take care of foals. We even promised to show them the little foals after they were born.

It's with this thought that I check on Tavi: she has fainted because of the serious amount of stress placed on her. Then a few more guards come forward, salute Chaotic Note and, escort us to the castle. Luna takes the guards that had attacked us and teleports away to deal with them with her sister. As we walk I can feel Tavi stir on my back; she opens her eyes and wraps her arms around my neck.

"It's all gone, all of it. Everything we had, everything is gone, isn't it?" I could feel sorrow overtake her and she sobs into my shoulder. This is her time of weakness; and I had mine already, so I need to be there for her.

"Not everything is gone. We still have our friends, each other, and the foals in your womb. There is plenty we have left. We will just have to leave a little earlier than we originally planned. We will find our new home, and live our lives the way we want to. They can take a few things from us, but they can't take everything." Her sobs lessen a bit at this, her arms tightening on me. Even I know that this is a huge problem. I had somewhat expected this kind of reaction from humans, but not so much from ponies. To be honest, it scares me. These ponies really are a lot closer to us humans than I originally thought. The sooner we can go somewhere more accepting, the better. 'Thank the heavens that I convinced Tavi to look at Ponyville. Right now, we could use the friends we made there.' A moment later, and she has once again fallen asleep.

After we enter the castle we are greeted by Princess Cadence, who had heard about the disturbance. She has a sad look upon her face as we enter. She showed us into a corridor to our right and started off; I follow her with Tavi on my back while Chaotic and the guards that escorted us go ahead to the throne room. I hear nothing of what's going on inside, but I don't think I want to. A few turns later and Cadence stops in front of a particular door.

"I don't really know what to say. Because of some...fools, you and Octavia have lost so much. I can only hope that things start settling down soon and that you can forgive us..." Cadence's somber mood is obvious in the air. There is but one response I can give.

"Every creature that has the ability to love has the equal ability to hate; as we can create, so too can we destroy in as grand a fashion, in such a way the world achieves balance. I do not blame you, or anypony who has done us no harm." As I finish this I can visibly see Cadence's mood change. "As such, if anypony is able to destroy everything we have, then surely some good friends can help us get everything as well. It may be a harsh blow, but if there is anything I have learned since meeting Tavi, it is that nothing is impossible so long as we love each other." A smile graces my lips as Tavi squeezes onto me tighter. Cadence chuckles a little at the sight.

"It seems to me that you have really gotten a little stronger since last I saw you. It is good to see the strength of the bond the two of you share." Her smile is genuine, but I have a strange hunch I want to bank on.

"Thanks Cadence, especially for giving our relationship that head start." She momentarily looks surprised before calming down.

"I did nothing but give you both the bravery to try, I may be the Princess of Love, but I can't just create love out of nothing. I can remind you of your love, I can rekindle a dying love, I can even give you the strength to act on the love, but only you can give birth to, and act on, that feeling." She smiles sweetly before continuing on. "By the way, when did you notice?"

"The one time I noticed was at a certain party. At first I thought you had just cast a little spell to bring the love that Lyra and Bonbon had out in a visible form; but now, looking back, it was the start of me giving Tavi a chance. It all blossomed from then. I guess you helped give me the strength to act on that love when the time came huh?" At this Cadence smiles warmly.

"I am glad that you decided to act on it. Seeing the two of you together, even through something like this, I can only imagine the level of hatred the two of you would be capable of." She says this with mixed emotions.

"Just because hatred and love are seen as opposites does not mean they are the only opposites, sorrow is also on the opposite spectrum of love, just as happiness is on the opposite of hatred. I was depressed before I came here to Equestria, I think I earned the happiness I can have with Tavi, and the universe just wants to balance out the happiness we will soon have." Cadence blinks a few times before giggling into her hand.

"Seems like someone wants to be a poet today." She giggles for a little longer before regaining her composure. "Well, this is your room, I am pretty sure Octavia would love to be able to lie down in a bed, and I need to get back the the throne room; I am certain the punishment for the soldiers is almost ready to be decided. We simply must talk more though. We would like to assist you in any plans you make from here on out, and as for your safety, the most loyal of the royal guard will make certain nothing happens to you here, so you can rest easy. Good night Sam, Good night Octavia." As she says this she does a little curtsey.

"And a good night to you as well Cadence." I say with a slight smile and a bow of my own, careful to not let Tavi slip off of my back. Cadence smiles a bit before walking back down the hall. As she does a few guards round the corner. From their special armor they appear to be part of the elite guard, made up of First Lieutenants; they are the loyalist and strongest guards of the castle. After a brief greeting with Cadence they make their way down the hall to where Tavi and I stand. They introduce themselves as our guards for the night, and I thank them for the service before reaching for the door. It swings open without a touch, one of the guard had opened the door for me.

"Allow me sir, you have your hands full already." says the guard with a smile. For a moment I can't reply, more so because of the fact that the guard is actually smiling at me. After a moment I return the smile, and then quickly make my way through the door. As I enter I quickly take stock of the room. To my right is the open door to the bathroom; I can barely see into it, but I can assume it's a full bathroom. Looking to my left is another door, this one for a closet. Unlike the bathroom door it's fully open and empty, apart from two bathrobes: one pink and one blue. In the middle of the room, framed by two large windows with silken curtains and two large night stands, is a large bed, easily able to hold three individuals with room to spare. The wooden frame on the bed looks like it's made of old maple tree and hand carved into a work of art. There are a multitude of pillows, each wrapped up in a delicate purple satin pillowcase. The bed has a deep red comforter with gold trim and light purple sheets: it looks simply divine.

A little movement on my back reminds me of Tavi's presence. I quickly cross the room towards the bed, lay Tavi down as gently as I can, and I simply lay by her side. This is the weakest state I have ever seen her in. Normally I'm the weak one, but today is the first time Tavi had our relationship spat upon in such a horrifying way. It reminds me of the way some people look at same sex marriages on Earth. I run my hand through Tavi's mane as I look at her. Lying on the bed, I can almost believe that what happened is an illusion; but I know it's real. Then, Tavi begins to stir. She opens her eyes, then immediately bolts upright and begins to hyperventilate.

"So, was it a dream?" She asks, looking at me, hoping that the fire was anything but reality. I can't answer verbally, so I take her in my arms and hold her close. She tenses for a moment, and I can feel the beginnings of sobs emanating from her body. She grasps me in her arms, returning the hug as she begins to cry. We sit there for a long time, how long is a mystery to me, but eventually Tavi has fallen asleep again. Once again I lay her down in the bed, undressing her slightly so that she can be comfortable in the bed. I head over the the closet and leave the robes on the nearby nightstand. I crawl into bed, and join Tavi in the realm of dreams.

I stir, I can feel the warmth of the sun draping down upon me. I can feel the sheets, but more importantly I feel Tavi. Her warmth is there, but as I open my eyes, I am greeted by blood-shot eyes that seem devoid of life. "Tavi?" I ask; it seems as if her eyes come back to life at the sound of my voice. Her eyes focus in on mine as her mouth begins to move.

"Good morning love." Tavi says. Her voice is raspy and dry. It seems as if she was crying all night.

"Morning Tavi." I take my hands and pull Tavi into a kiss, she doesn't return it as she normally does. "Tavi, do you still need to cry a bit more?"

"I am not a little girl Sam, I don't need to cry whenever something big happens." Her voice cracks several times in the sentence: a little push and her emotions will flow again.

"I know you aren't, but it isn't good to hold these things in. Now is the time to get it out. There is no shame in crying now."

"And what makes you an expert on sadness?"

"Last time I was as sad as you are now and didn't let it all out, I ended up with Mariana." She shudders at the mention of Mariana, and a moment later she grasps me closely as she cries. She has sobbed before, but now her emotions pour forth from her as she cries away all of her pain. This continues for a long time. We had woken up when the sun had just appeared, but Tavi cries for about an hour until her sobs subside.

"Feeling better Tavi?"

"A little. I still can barely believe it is all gone."

"We haven't lost everything. As cliché as it is, we have each other: we have our friends, and we have a future growing within you. Material goods can be replaced, the memories they once held reside within us. All of this just gave us a reason to follow through with our plans from earlier." I take a deep breath before I continue. "I say we get a house in Ponyville. We will have friends there, and I know for a fact Manehatten is worse than Canterlot." We hold onto each other for a while before Tavi gets up. As she goes to speak a knock on the door draws our attention.

"Excuse me," one of the guards says, "but there is a Miss Scratch here to see you. Shall I let her in?"

"Give us a moment, please." I say before reaching for the robes I had set out the night before. Tavi seems to be trying to be feeling slightly better, so she takes the blue one with a mischievous smirk that seems to come out of nowhere.

"You were right, now I suggest you put on that robe; it would be a shame if you were seen in your underwear right?" Her smirk grows into a smile as I put on the pink robe. I decide to add a quip before giving the go ahead.

"Good thing I'm comfortable in my masculinity, otherwise this would be terrible. Then again, I just noticed there is a patch that reads 'Hers' on this, so I guess it fits." At this she looks down at the robe she had put on: it has the word 'His' stitched in over her left breast. She blushes briefly before I continue. "Okay sir, please send in Vinyl and any guests she has with her." At this the door flies open with Vinyl and Neon leading the charge; and in Vinyl's arms there is a little colt.

"I heard about the news this morning; you guys look fine, but are you?" Vinyl says. She sounds different, maybe it is because she is a mother now, maybe incidents like this are becoming common place now, but she sounds more...mature.

"Well, I can't say I am feeling great, but I am dealing with it. Tavi on the other hand, well, I don't think I am allowed to speak for her like that just yet." I smile a little as Tavi rolls her eyes before responding.

"You would think by now he knows me better. I am better, now. I still have some issues, but we will just have to work those out together in our new home, in Ponyville." She looks up at me with a smile.

Vinyl sighs with relief. "Thank Celestia that you two were unharmed. When we heard it was your house we wanted to leave, but Chaotic said he would follow you two. Luna stayed with us for a little, then she said something was wrong about the blaze. Something about it taking too long to be put out so she teleported away to see what the delay was. This morning we were payed a visit, then we heard what happened." Her somber mood continues for a moment before she seems to become confused. "Wait, you guys are going to move to Ponyville too?"

"Well," I respond, "It was the same day Tavi found out about the twins. We started discussing what we would do. We wouldn't be able to keep up with the orchestra anymore, and without that we have neither the income nor the anchor to stay here. Yeah we had the money to stay for a while, but being somewhere else would also give us a better shot at a better start in life for our foals. Tavi originally thought Manehatten, but I remember you talked about Ponyville. That leads us to that part of the discussion."

"But, how will you afford to stay there until you get jobs?" Neon asks, curious as to our plans.

"That is actually the easy part." I reply. "First we are going to get insurance for the house and the furnishings within it. That comes out to around two point three million bits. Then you have the insurance I had on my violin."

"What is so special about that violin?" Vinyl asks. "I mean it was a nice instrument, but it could not possibly be worth that much."

"The Stradivarius violin is a work of art in and of itself. Only around 650 survive to today, and the last one I can think of without any special historical significance was sold at auction for $3,544,000." Every eye in the room moved in on me, the kicker was yet to come though. "Translated into bits, that is almost four point five million bit in worth. I should get about three point six million in insurance money." For a time the room was silent, the guards outside, normally stalwart, looked in with absolute disbelief. Basically, Tavi and I got 5,900,000 bits from insurance alone, easily more then enough to start a new life in a small town like Ponyville.

"Holy hay, you guys are set for a long time." Neon adds, then another voice interrupts the moment.

"Well, we were going to offer assistance, but it seems that you two are going to easily have enough money to start new lives." Said the familiar voice. It was Luna with a very tired looking Chaotic Note. From the look on his face, he didn't get much sleep last night. Looking at his attire he is in his Lunar Guard armor, a form fitting midnight blue armor with a silver crescent moon and two stars in the dark patch over the left breast. Luna is in her royal attire, minus her panties.

'You know things get interesting when you can glance at a princess and can tell if she is wearing underwear or not.' I think to myself. Looking back over to Chaotic, I notice that he appears to be in normal attire. If something happened last night, he hides it well.

"Now then, Sam, Octavia. I would like to officially extend an apology for the behavior of the guard yesterday. Due to their actions, you lost your home, and were nearly killed." As those words leave her lips, she grabs the hems of her skirt and bows, leaving just enough room so that she does not show herself off. "Please, accept our apology." At this I stand up and walk over to Luna.

"Please stand, I formally accept your apology." At these words she rises and then visibly relaxes.

"Well then, Chaotic, you may relax now, as of this moment you are on a given break." At this command Chaotic relaxes and lays back against the wall. "Now, what are your plans?" I look to her when Tavi speaks up.

"Well, we were planning on moving to Ponyville sometime after Tavi's twins were born, obviously that got moved up quite a bit, but we do plan on moving there." At this Luna somewhat cringes. "Mostly because we have friends there and it is supposed to be a really welcoming town, so hopefully we won't have constant trouble with me anymore." I say with a small smile, this seems to reassure Luna. 'Guess she felt bad about that comment she all those months ago.'

"Well, I guess that is that then. Will you need any assistance with the move? I am certain that we can help you secure a place." Luna responds, with a genuine smile on her face.

"Well, money wise the insurance will take care of that. For actually finding a place I believe we can ask Twilight and her friends to help us get a place. Maybe Vinyl, has a... you totally know of a few places there that would be perfect don't you Vinyl?" At this everypony turns to see Vinyl smiling widely.

"Well, maybe, just maybe, there is a place that happens to be right next to the one Neon and I bought." She says with a confident grin. Following this, Neon feels the need to extrapolate.

"And maybe, just maybe, we were planning on buying that house as well to 'persuade' the two of you to move in next to us." His grin was a near perfect match for Vinyl's grin. It's unsettling.

"If it wasn't for the fact that now isn't the time for joking I would try right now." I say with a relieved expression. Tavi doesn't respond, except for her subtly moving closer to me.

After a moment, Neon speaks up. "To clarify, we have the place on lock, but haven't yet bought it. We can buy it and then sell it to you for the same price, but doing anything else might allow the agency to sell the house to somepony else." He doesn't seem pleased at this, probably wishing he could let us buy the house, saving us the paperwork.

"Well," Princess Luna interjects, "We can expedite this process for you and have the house in your name by the end of the day. Of course you will still have to use your own money, but we can make it so that they have to sell it to you. It is the least we can do."

"Thanks Luna, now all we need to do is file the insurance claim. With my luck, I will be going to court for fraud." I say this last part with a dry chuckle.

"If they try it several influential members of Equestria will have a few choice words for them." Luna says with her stare growing more intense by the moment. She then takes a deep breath and continues in a lighter mood. "Anyway, until you can get done with the insurance, you are both welcome to stay here. We can't be sure if all the guards willing to act against you are done with after all." The realization hits the room hard: if Luna is doubting that this is over, then what might happen?

"Do not worry about your safety though," Luna added, "Chaotic here will be in charge of your security until we finish the sweep through the guard. He is as trustworthy as they come. Not to mention he already has a lot of contingency plans already in place. We brainstormed with my sister last night. Hope he has the energy to continue our fun from last night. I especially loved the thrusting." Her smile at first seems simple and innocent, but behind it is the smile of a troll. Chaotic, for his part, is completely flushed.

"As a note we were playing the game 'Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.' A game where you use the controller like a sword, we were not doing what she implied." Chaotic said, with a sense of urgency in his voice.

"Oh? I am pretty sure that isn't something you wouldn't want to..." Luna said with a decisively evil smirk on her face. Chaotic turns even redder at this remark. He tries to respond, but he is unable to, the sheer shock of such a thing having momentarily shut down his brain.

'If Luna is even somewhat predictable by her behavior, Chaotic will be walking funny before long.' The smile on my face doesn't last long as a Princess Luna returns to her serious look.

"Now then, I had better be off to make preparations for all of this. Also, Octavia, your parents would like to speak with the two of you, they were quite worried about you after they heard of the fire." She breaks her seriousness for a moment for a brief smile before turning towards the door. "Come now Chaotic, you need your rest for tonight. It would trouble me greatly if you were unwell for our next game." Her body language seemed neutral enough, but that tone. It goes to show, Luna knows how to walk a fine line, a sexy fine line. As she exits Chaotic releases a breath nopony knew he held. Then, after his mind caught up with the events, he too left the room to head towards the guard barracks.

"Well," Tavi said, " I guess we should meet my parents. Vinyl, Neon. Thank you for everything you have done for us. Looks like we will get to be neighbors now at the least." A smile graces everyone's faces as we try and forget the horrible circumstances behind what is a silver lining. "Now, let's go Sam, we really shouldn't keep them waiting too long." Tavi says with a smile. "And once again, thank you Vinyl and Neon." Neon and Vinyl do their best to show that they don't care; but after a few minutes, we finally say our goodbyes, and Tavi and I head to meet with her parents.

Author's Notes:

... To Ponyville! Wonder what is in store for our dear protagonist and his fiance now? Shall we see what is in store? The answer is... Oh god, no, it is too horrible.