The five of us simply stood there, exchanging glances to one another. I was glaring at Whitewash, Whitewash was glancing at Glock, Glock was staring at Tigerheart, Tigerheart was looking at Cinnamon Gale, and I’m pretty sure Gale was checking me out. Finally, Whitewash spoke up, returning her gaze back to me.

“Ok, this has officially become awkward. Besides, I do think I owe you an explanation for bringing these two here,” she said, gesturing towards Tigerheart and Cinnamon Gale, the former looking annoyed and the latter still looking at me strangely.

“Basically, Whitewash and I had a high-priority target contract in Appleoosa. We went, we saw, we killed his ass.” Whitewash glared at Glock obviously annoyed at how forward he was being about just having assassinated a pony for bits. He continued, not once looking away from me. “Afterwards, we decided to have a little vacation with our spoils that we “liberated” from his private vault, so we hit up the local saloon for a few drinks and a few laughs.” Whitewash looked seriously pissed now, seeing as her partner just admitted to also robbing a dead hit. I merely raised a hoof to Whitewash and nodded to Glock. However, before he could continue, Whitewash magically shut his mouth with a ball gag that was in her saddlebag.

“Never mind what Glock said! He tends to over exaggerate.” She smiled sheepishly while Glock fumbled with the gag.

“Why exactly do you carry a ball gag with you?” Gale asked. “Actually, never mind. I don’t want to know,” he quickly added, covering his eyes with a wing. I rolled my eyes before gesturing to Whitewash to continue from where Glock left off.

“Long story short, we went to the saloon, and who do we find as the barkeep? None other than Tigerheart.” The stallion in question bowed as Whitewash continued. “Apparently, after you left, there was a small mutiny amongst the Sanguinary Guards when everypony’s favorite general disappeared.” She turned to Tigerheart.

“How many Honour Guards defected again? Ten? Fifteen?”

“Closer to thirty,” the half-zebra nodded. “They thought that ‘If the prince thinks this place is horrible, why should we stay?’ Basically, because you left, everypony began to question your father’s authority. Obviously, this ended in a nation-wide crackdown, but by the time the dust settled, over two-thirds of the Guard were MIA. Weeks later, we found one on a farm with his family. Needless to say, the king had them all publicly exsanguinated to make an example of them. However, it only made things worse. When I left, there were riots in the capital city. There are the loyalists, and then the resistance. Last time I checked, the resistance, which is approximately four-fifths of the population, are winning.” I screwed my eyes shut and messaged my temples with my wingtips.

“This explains all too much,” I said, scrunching my face in thought. “For the last year, my father has sent my sister to gather information on my location and to even kill me. I simply thought that he was trying to intimidate me, force me back home. But now I know that is not the case. He needs to quell the rebellion, and the only way to do that is to re-establish himself as king. So, in order to do that, he would need to kill me… rid the rebellion of their inspirational leader.”
“Wouldn’t that just make you a martyr?” interjected Whitewash.

“Not necessarily. If I were a common pony, yes. But seeing as I am his own son, the prince, it would show that he is willing to kill anypony in his way. Even his own flesh and blood.” We all stood, silently, until my wife walked in from the kitchen.

“Dinner is ready!... Is something wrong?” Fluttershy wore a look of supreme worry, as it is quite unusual to see a group of old friends looking so solemn. I shook myself from my daze of realization, before looking to my wife thoughtfully, but sadly. “Nothing you need to hear now. Later.” Fluttershy opened her mouth to argue, but shut it again as we made our way into the kitchen to eat.

Needless to say, with six ponies, the small circular table that Fluttershy and I normally ate at was far too tiny for so many ponies. We simply decided to eat in the living room on the coffee table.

We ate quietly, looking down at our food for most of the meal until Cinnamon Gale broke the silence.

“You know, we never told you why I’m here.” I nibbled on a celery stick, realizing that this was true. I nodded my head to my lookalike, and he began his tale:

“Well, like Whitewash and Glock had said, they had business in Appleoosa, and I live there. Work for Braeburn on his orchard. Anyway, it just so happened that a few minutes after they got to the local saloon, I got off work. It being a Friday night and all, I decided to head down there and have a few drinks. When I got there though, the two of them jumped me, saying that I was a ‘Red Storm in disguise’. Whitewash even slapped me for ‘following her’. Thankfully, we sorted the whole thing out before anything bad happened. Anyway, when they brought up the name “Red Storm” I immediately thought of my old prince. Of course, I didn’t mention that. I instead asked if the Red Storm they were talking about was some foreign noble I had heard about. Obviously, it was suspicious how accurate I was, and in a few minutes I was fessing up to being a Sanguinary. Then I discovered that you, the prince, really was here in Equestria. I had never seen you before, let alone met you. I’m just a farmcolt, after all. I knew I couldn’t let this opportunity pass me by. Now that I’m here though, I could see why your friends jumped me…” He paused, staring at my face in wonder. I’ll admit it. We could have been mistaken for twins if it weren’t for the fact that our coats were different colors.

“You are one sexy bitch,” I said across the table. Gale quickly caught on.

“Yeah. Yeah! We are sexy bitches, ha-ha!” The two of us laughed rather loudly while everypony looked at us weird. After about ten seconds of us telling each other we were “sexy bitches”, Whitewash piped up with:
“This is re-Luna-damned-diculous. Both of you, shut up and eat.” We did as we were told. There was several more minutes of silence as we ate, everypony either too focused on the food on their plates (Glock and Tigerheart), too afraid to say anything (Fluttershy and Cinnamon Gale), or simply couldn’t think up any conversation (Whitewash and I). Suddenly, Tigerheart looked up at Fluttershy and myself.

“Pray tell, prince; do you and the princess plan on having a child soon?” Tigerheart was an excellent soldier. Not a very good socialist.

“Uh… well… We…” I couldn’t find the words, my face turning a deep velvet color.

“Yes, we have. Soon, actually.” Fluttershy surprised me with that one. ‘A child? Now, of all times? Is she mad? Or perhaps she’s on her heat again…’

“Oh! Ok! Well, be sure to tell me when it is announced! I would love to come down here from Appleoosa to visit when the time comes.” I looked at Fluttershy with a sideways look, and she responded with the “Later, darling” look.

There was a short pause in the conversation. After that point, the six of us simply chatted away about little things here and there, telling stories of triumph and heroism (most of which greatly exaggerated) until it became rather late. As the moon rose high, we bid farewell to our visitors. Whitewash promised to show them to the hotel, and they set off into the night. As I closed the door waving, I quickly turned on my wife.

“Fluttershy! What is the meaning of this? Telling them that we are planning to have a child! Now? In times like this? Are you completely insane?” Fluttershy looked quite shocked for a few moments, but as soon as my temper flared down, she gathered herself and began to explain:

“Red Storm… I’m sorry. I simply thought that we should warn everypony ahead of time.” My eyes went wide.

“You… you think that you’re-”

“Not yet… maybe. I’m not sure. But… I want to have foals, Red Storm. I really do. I… I don’t care about your father. I love you, Red Storm, and I want nothing more than to be with you. I understand that it is dangerous… but why should we live in fear of your father? I trust you to keep me safe… to keep us safe. But I need more than safety from you Red Storm. I need the chance to be a wife to you. And, eventually, a mother. I can’t do that if you won’t let me.” I stood for a few minutes, motionless, before realizing that my wife was absolutely correct. I have been shielding her from more than my father lately. I was shielding her from myself as well, and that realization hurt.

“… You’re right. I am sorry for that. I… I want to protect you. But it appears I have been smothering you instead. Again, I am sorry. I hope I can make it up to you someday.” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.

“Why not tonight?” I choked.

“Certainly, I cannot make it up to you in one night-”

“Every journey begins with a single step,” she said, taking a step closer.

“A-are you on heat right now?” I asked, backing up slowly.

“Without a doubt,” Fluttershy replied again, now backing me up to the door. I have never been so terrified of my wife before. She batted her eyes before wrapping her forelegs around my neck.

“How about you start by fulfilling your ‘Husbandly Duties’ for me tonight?” She licked her lips as she flicked my ear.

“Um… Ok?” Next thing I knew I was being dragged up the stairs in a headlock as Fluttershy hauled me into bed. Tonight was going to be another rough night.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for such a looooong delay. There has been a lot of shit flying around lately, talk of moving, going on a vacation(that I was not warned about) and other stuff like that. Anyway, it doesn't seem like we are moving, so I will try to put in a few hours every other day. Yeah, i know, this one isn't that long. Get over it. It's an update.