To Be Bold!

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 1
Chapter 4

Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Hunt Begins

The three of them sat in silence as a slight breeze blew through the forest. Windy had a look of total shock and sadness on her face. “No… how…?” she asked with a slight whimper.

Bold put a hoof on her face. “Her broach… that golden necklace she wears all the time… my father told me that it contains powerful magic that keeps her alive… Princess Luna has the same kind of magic in the diamond on her broach. This knowledge has been kept a secret and only told to the most trusted of ponies. It seems that somepony has found out that secret and has somehow gotten past the best security in Equestria…” he said as he glared at Sunny. Bold walked over to him and pushed Sunny, although he didn’t budge at all. “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN SUNNY?! Wasn’t it your job to keep them safe?! Who did you put in charge while you were here?!”

“I left Prince Armor’s best guards, ten of them mind you, behind to guard it.” Sunny said softly. “I know I should have been there, but I never could have imagined this level of infiltration.”

“Infiltration? You mean one of the guards stole it?” Windy asked as she stood up.

“Yes, it was one of the ten. A unicorn by the name of Star Scribe used an unknown spell… all nine of his comrades were killed instantly… the hall outside of Princess Celestia’s room… was painted with their blood and their bodies were mangled and strewn throughout it… This unicorn must be brought to justice and you two… are going to do it.” Sunny explained.

Windy and Bold both looked at him with confusion. “You can’t be serious! This was Bold’s first day! Granted he exceeded expectations, but you can’t ask him to do this!”

“I’M NOT ASKING! I am giving you two an order!” Sunny’s voice boomed. “Now, our intelligence has indicated that Star Scribe was spotted heading west! That gives him two options on hoof, Los Pegasus and Appleoosa!”

Windy had shrunk back next to Bold. “What else did Star Scribe take?” Bold asked curiously as he stepped forward.

“Countless blank scrolls, but we have not found a reason why.” Sunny replied.

Bold started to draw symbols on the ground. “Did you see anything like this?”

Sunny looked closely and looked at Bold with shock. “How did you know?”

Bold stomped his hoof on the ground and started to pace. “No… no unicorn is that foolish…”

“What is it Bold, tell me what you are thinking.” Sunny said urgently.

“I thought they were just stories… myths and legends to scale foals…” Bold said as he continued to pace.

“BOLD! Tell me what you are thinking!” Sunny said as he walked in front of Bold.

Bold stopped and looked at him worriedly. “Rune magic. In the stories I used to read as a little colt there was spells that the most powerful of unicorns would use to summon deadly creatures, destroy entire towns and massacre the villagers.” he explained.

“What kind of foalhood did you have Bold? I never heard of any of these stories.” Windy said unconvinced.

“That’s because you have never been to the Starswirl the Bearded section of the royal library. Sunny, if Star Scribe is using rune magic then Princess Luna must be informed. However… if he is using rune magic he might end up killing himself. That kind of magic is so powerful that it becomes unstable and can backfire. I can think of a few ponies who lost limbs or even died trying to use it. But if he somehow mastered it then he could be next to impossible to stop.” Bold explained.

“And you expect just the two of us to stop this pony?” Windy asked worriedly.

“You make it sound like you can’t do it.” Sunny said with a smile.

“Windy, as long as we watch out for any runes on the ground or anything else we will be fine. The alternative is that Princess Celestia dies. We have to do this.” Bold said sternly.

“Alright, alright! I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to do it! Let’s get going, right now!” Windy said as she jumped into the air and hovered enthusiastically.

They started to leave but Sunny stopped them. “One last thing Bold, the runes as you called them, they were glowing. Is that unusual?”

“What color were they?” Bold asked with a frown.

“Red, we only saw them after we cleaned the blood…”

Bold looked away and started to lead Windy silently. Sunny let them go and started to fly back to the castle. Windy landed next to Bold and looked at him with concern. “What does red mean? Is red bad?”

“It means… the guards weren’t killed by the runes… they were killed by him and he used their blood to draw the runes. He must have used them to disable Celestia long enough to steal her broach. First we should head to Canterlot to find out for sure where he went. If he used just one of his runes to teleport away we can find exactly where he went.” Bold said as he started to run.

Windy kept pace as they started to head towards Canterlot. She didn’t understand how any of this worked but she had confidence in Bold and what he knew.

****

Canterlot castle was hectic. Guards were running everywhere but they all seemed to disregard Windy and Bold as they made their way to where the crime was committed. When they arrived the runes on the floor were fading. Bold walked over to them and got a closer look. He pulled out his book and started to draw the runes in his book. Windy watched curiously and jumped when Bold closed his book loudly. “We need to speak to Princess Celestia.” he said as he opened the door to her room. When they saw her they both looked down to the floor and slowly walked forward. Her face had wrinkled, her coats color was faded and her mane was solid and lifeless. Princess Luna was standing next to her bed casting a spell with her eyes shut. “How is she doing Princess Luna?” Bold asked worriedly.

Princess Luna didn’t speak, but Celestia did. “I’m doing fine…” she said with a slight cough. “Bold, long time, no see…” she said lovingly.

Bold walked over to Celestia and took her hoof. “Princess… there is no time for pleasantries…” he said as he rubbed her hoof gently. “I assume you have heard of the runes… I need access to the translation scrolls. I need to know where he went.”

Celestia looked at him with a soft expression. “Of course… Who is your friend?”

Bold gestured Windy to come over. She obeyed and walked over to the princess. “My name is Windy Wisp your highness. It is an honor to be in your presence.” she said with a bow.

Celestia let out a small giggle and a cough. “She’s sweet…” she said as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

A few tears leaked from Windy’s eyes and Bold set Celestia’s hoof down gently. He stood up and walked over to Celestia’s book shelf and pulled out a book revealing a secret passage. “Come on Windy, we have translation scrolls to find.” he said as he started to descend a spiral staircase.

Windy took a moment before she followed. They soon entered a small room and Bold lit his horn so they could see. “What are we looking for? I thought you said you thought these rune things were a myth…”

“I thought they were. We are looking for the translation scrolls. All magic is written and documented and this… is where the translations of some of the most ancient magic are held. This is the second time I have been here and I have never read any of these scrolls, but I am convinced the rune translations are here. We have to find them quickly.” he said as he started to pull random scrolls off of the shelf and skimming them.

Windy had no idea what she was looking for but she started to take the scrolls off of the shelves and started skimming them too. After about ten minutes she pulled a scroll off of the shelf and found exactly what they were looking for. “Bold I found it!” she said excitedly.

Bold ran over to her and took the school. He started to read it swiftly and with intensity. “This makes no sense! This says he went south… what is in the south? He must be hiding… he’s smart.” he said as he pulled out a small knife. He cut himself on his left forehoof.

“Bold! What the hay are you doing?!” Windy screamed worriedly.

Bold took his right hoof and started to use his blood to draw on the floor. “This is why it worked for him. He used blood while everypony else used ink…” he said as he winced in pain.

Windy pulled out her emergency supplies from her small pouch and wrapped Bold’s hoof when he was done. “A little bit of warning before you mutilate yourself next time.”

Bold nodded and his horn went dark. The rune now the only source of light in the room, Bold looked up to Windy. “I don’t know what to expect so… hold onto me.” he said as he wrapped a hoof over her back. Windy wrapped a wing over his back in return and Bold nodded. His horn started to glow red, the total opposite of its usual white glow, and the rune glowed brighter. Soon it was so bright that they couldn’t see and they closed their eyes for protection. When they opened them again they were in a dimly lit cave and the sound of rain could be heard outside.

A flash of lightning at the mouth of the cave revealed a figure of a unicorn pony. Windy started to charge but Bold held her back as the figure entered and Windy backed off when she realized it was just a little colt. The colt had a dark red coat with a dark green scruffy mane and tail. “What are you two doing in my cave?!” he asked angrily.

“We… we teleported here from Canterlot.” Bold said calmly. “Where are we?”

“Canterlot? Where is that?” the little colt asked.

“It is in the heart of Equestria. Have you never been to Canterlot?” Windy asked curiously.

“Where’s Equestria?” the colt asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

Bold and Windy both looked at each other with concern. Bold looked to the little colt and noticed he was charging right for them. Just a split second too late and the little colt’s horn impaled Bold’s leg. Stifling a yell, Bold gently pulled the small horn from his back right leg and set the colt down in front of him as tears dripped from his eyes. “Why… did you do that?”

The little colt was as upset as he was. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to stick you with my horn! I was just trying to get you out!” he said as he started to cry.

Windy took out her emergency supplies and started to wrap Bold’s new wound. “It’s okay, but we are the good guys. We are searching for a criminal from where we came from. Has anypony new came through town? Specifically a unicorn, about this high, grey coat and blue mane with three shooting stars as a cutie mark?”

The colt looked confused as he wiped away his tears. “Wh-what’s a cutie mark?”

Bold turned his flank and showed the colt his cutie mark. “It is the symbol that represents out special talent. Didn’t you learn that in school?”

“I’ve never even seen a cutie mark before… nopony I know has one… but… I do remember a unicorn that looked like what you said with the markings you said in town the other day…” the colt said softly.

Windy whispered into Bold’s ear. “What kind of place is this? No cutie marks? No knowledge of Equestria?” she asked in concern.

“It’s okay. Let’s see if we can find a town to stay in and start our investigation.” Bold replied in a whisper. “Excuse me, little colt. What is your name?”

“Charlie…” the colt responded.

“Even the names here are really different…” Bold said under his breath. “My name is Bold Character and this is Windy Wisp. Can you take us to your town?”

Charlie sniffled and nodded. He started to lead them out of the cave and Bold used his magic to keep them dry, which seemed to frighten Charlie. “How are you doing that?!” he asked fearfully.

“What? With the rain? It’s just magic. When you get older you can do it too.” Bold said with a smile.

“Magic isn’t real! It’s just an old mare’s tale!” Charlie said as he started to shrink down in fear.

Windy walked up to the colt and tried to calm him down. “Hey, it’s okay… where we come from magic is real and only unicorns can use it. Just remember that we are the good guys and we are only trying to help.” she said before turning back to Bold and mouthed ‘stop using magic’.

Bold stopped using his magic and the three of them continued slowly. Charlie kept looking over his shoulder as they walked to make sure Bold wasn’t doing anything else strange. Bold walked beside Windy and whispered. “No magic either… this might make it easier for us to find Star Scribe.”

“How?” she asked in a whisper.

“Just wait until he uses magic again and somepony panics.” he said simply.

Windy nodded in understanding is they arrived at a hard, and incredibly long, black strip on the ground that had white stripes on it. “What… what is this?” Windy asked as she placed a hoof on the hard surface.

Charlie looked at Windy with confusion. “It’s a road. You two really aren’t from around here… How far away are you from?”

“We aren’t exactly sure. We are going to have to find a map first.” Bold said with a smile.

“Well you can get one from the library in town. Come on, we are going to miss the bus.” Charlie said as he started to run down the street.

Windy and Bold followed swiftly and soon they found themselves at the bus stop. “Do you think this bus is like our taxi carriages?” Windy whispered into Bold’s ears.

“I doubt it.” he replied.

“So… did you two really teleport here? I didn’t think that you were telling the truth but given all the strange things about you it might actually be true…” Charlie admitted.

Bold chuckled a bit. “Yes, we teleported here.” he said before his ears perked up at a loud rumbling sound coming down the road.

“Hey, the bus is coming! Finally we can be dry for a little while!” Charlie said happily. A large machine pulled up to the bus stop on four giant rubber wheels. The door opened and Charlie jumped on board and pulled out some small coins and dumped them into a tray. “Come on you two, I paid for you.” he said as he started to find them a seat.

Windy and Bold cautiously boarded and sat down next to Charlie. It seems as though they attracted some attention, judging by the stares from everypony on the bus. Bold looked around as the bus started to move and he noticed that every single pony on the bus was a unicorn. Windy noticed it too and looked to Charlie and whispered in his ear. “Why is there only unicorns on this bus? Please tell me there is more than just unicorns in this place.” she said worriedly.

“Of course there is.” Charlie said with a giggle. Windy let out a sigh of relief before Charlie spoke again. “They are all servants just like you are.” he said happily.

The moment Bold heard this he noticed Windy blush with anger. He leaned over and whispered to her. “Play along. It seems that the unicorn race leads all others in this place.” He looked over to Charlie and smiled. “I tend to consider her a good friend at most times. I don’t really consider her a servant.”

At these words, Bold noticed a few heads turn as well as a couple of the unicorns sneer. Charlie looked over to Bold and chuckled. “Hey, if you can afford one then you can call it whatever you want really.” Windy was just about to explode when they pulled up to their stop. “Here we are! Catagar Province. Come on, I will take you to a hotel so you two can rest a bit.” Charlie said as he jumped from the seat and lead them off of the bus.

Once they were off the bus Bold whispered to Windy. “Play along! We don’t know how this system works and if we get in trouble Celestia dies!” He had a very stern look as they walked down the street. They noticed smaller, more compact versions of the bus with just one or two ponies inside of it on the roads. “Hey Charlie, what are these smaller busses that everypony is in?”

“Those are cars silly.” he replied simply. They arrived at the hotel and Charlie turned to Bold. “You can tie your servant to the post over there.” he said as he pointed to a post with two drenched pegasus stallions and one drenched earth pony mare.

“Uhh, I prefer to keep my servant with me.” Bold said casually.

“Well… they may not let you but it is worth a shot.” Charlie said as they entered the hotel. They walked up to the counter and a unicorn mare was waiting to greet them.

Bold stopped Charlie just before they reached the counter. “Charlie, I don’t have a lot of money with me.” he said as he opened his small pouch and pulled out a bag of bits. “All I have are these.” He pulled a bit out and showed it to Charlie.

Charlie’s eyes lit up, and so did the mare’s at the counter. “You have gold! WOW! Just one of those can put you up for a month here!” he said excitedly.

Bold smirked and leaned over to whisper in Windy’s ear. “Good thing we both have fifty.” He walked up to the counter and placed a bit on the counter. “I need a room for my servant and I.” he said simply.

“H-how long will you be staying?” the mare at the counter asked.

“Just give us whatever this is worth.” Bold said with a smile.

“A-about a month and a half… but you can’t have your servant in the room with you…” the mare said.

Bold put his hoof on the bit and started to slide it away. “Well, if you don’t want my business…” he started to say before the mare placed a hoof on his.

“W-wait! I am sure that the manager won’t mind, under the circumstances…” she said as she took the bit and put it in the register. She grabbed a fancily decorated key and gave it to Bold. “Room 100, celebrity suite.” she said happily.

Bold took the key with his magic without thinking. “Thank you miss.” he said as he put the key on his belt.

The mare at the counter mouthed incoherently as Charlie tapped Bold on his good leg. “Um, Mr. Bold… can I come visit you tomorrow?”

Windy leaned forward and whispered into Bold’s ear. “I don’t see why he can’t.”

Bold nodded. “Of course you can. And here is a little something for helping us.” he said as he pulled out a bit and gave it to Charlie.

Charlie beamed and took it with joy and put it in his bag. “Thank you! I’ll see you tomorrow!” he said before running out of the hotel.

The mare stepped out from behind the counter and bowed. “I’ll take you to your room.” she said as she started to lead them down a hall. Once they arrived in the room the mare gave another bow and gestured in.

“Thank you very much miss. Here’s a tip.” Bold said as he dropped a bit on the ground in front of her.

A tear dropped from her eyes as she picked it up. “Thank you sir. You can have your servant sleep anywhere on the floor.” she said with a smile. Once they were inside she closed the door for them and put the bit in her pocket before walking back to the front desk.

Once Windy was sure that the mare was gone she turned to Bold with anger. “This can’t be happening! Did you see those poor ponies outside?! They were drenched to the bone!”

“Quiet! We don’t want to attract the attention of any other ponies here. Now I don’t like it either, but there is nothing we can do until we get Celestia’s broach back. Until then we have to set up a few rules to be on the safe side.”

“Rules? Are you serious? I am not some servant!” Windy said angrily.

“That’s not what I meant Windy… I just don’t want you to get hurt… I am worried that this place might be a lot more dangerous than where we are from and I want to keep you as safe as possible…” he said as he gave her a kiss on her cheek. “Now I don’t think it will be a good idea if you go off on your own or even fly until we know how this whole servant thing works… okay?”

Windy sighed and put her head down. “Okay, but I’m not going to get you coffee in the morning.” she said jokingly as she returned his kiss.

Bold smiled and nodded. “Fair enough. Now let’s get some sleep.” he said as he laid down on the small couch in the room.

“I think you should have the bed, in case somepony walks in and sees us.”

Bold sighed. “You aren’t going to sleep on the floor…”

“Then I guess I can just join you.” she said with a wink.

Bold blushed a bit. “J-join you?”

“Yeah, in the bed silly. I’m not going to sleep on the couch.” she said as she went to the bathroom and got them both a towel to dry off with.

Bold dried himself off and joined Windy on the bed with a blush. He rolled over to face away from her. “Uh… uh…. Goodnight…” he said nervously.

Windy rolled him back over and hugged him closely and nuzzled his neck. “I usually cuddle with my pillow, but you work too.” she said with a giggle. “Goodnight Bold…”

Bold was blushing intensely but managed to fall asleep after relaxing.

****

The next morning there was a knock at the door and Windy got up and dragged her way to the door and opened it. A newspaper hit her in the nose and she backed up. “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” she shouted.

Bold woke up and leaped out of bed. “Now now, what have I told you about that temper of yours? Go into the bathroom and make it shine for me.” he said as he leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “Just wait in the bathroom until I can get rid of them.

Windy walked to the bathroom and locked the door. “She must be new into servitude. I understand the newer ones can be a bit… willful. Now then, I represent a very important pony in this town and he would like an audience with you. He requests that you leave your servant behind.” the unicorn at the door proclaimed.

Bold looked at the unicorn and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but if the pony you represent wants to see me he will have to let my servant attend as well. She needs to be monitored constantly until I can break her.”

“Very well, I will relay your response.” the unicorn said with a bow before turning around and started to walk away.

“Wait, is that today’s paper?” Bold asked with a smile.

“Yes it is. Would you like it, I have another one.”

“Yes, please.” Bold said as he accepted the paper from the random unicorn before walking back inside and closed the door.

“Windy, you can come out now.” Bold said as he opened the paper. Windy didn’t respond and she didn’t come out. Bold set the newspaper down and walked over to the bathroom door. “Windy, are you alright?”

“I don’t like it here…” her voice sounded from behind the door. It sounded like she was crying.

“Windy, I need you to hold it together. You have to stay strong for Equestria.” Bold said sternly.

“He hit me with a newspaper because I was a pegasus Bold…”

“I know… I know… but who cares about him or anypony else here? All that matters is that we are together… I can’t do this without you Windy.” he said softly.

The door opened up and her face was wet. “Okay…” she said sadly.

“Windy, I’m sorry you have to bear this burden. But we have to do this for Celestia. We made a promise to her that we would save her. When we get back everything will be better.”

“If you don’t break me first.” she said with a slight giggle.

“Me, break you? It would never happen.” he said with a smile. He returned to the table where he had set the newspaper down and started reading. He laughed loudly and read aloud. “New rich tycoon arrives in Catagar Province. After purchasing a room for a month and a half with a single gold coin, he went and gave the desk clerk a substantial tip. ‘I’ll be able to pay my rent and feed my family without worry this month! I am so happy!’ she stated. Looks like we attracted some attention accidently.” he said with a chuckle.

“Well, at least they don’t know our names.” Windy said with a sigh of relief.

“Yes, that is good. Perhaps we should keep that a secret from here on out. These names… they are quite odd but I think we should make up a couple of names for ourselves.”

“What about Charlie? He knows our names and he must have told his parents by now.”

“Hmm… we will have to talk to him when he gets here. Tell him that those were nicknames. Now let’s see… it seems that there are a lot of names but none of them seem to have significance or meaning… so… just call me… Murok. Sounds like it is not from here but not from where we actually are from.”

“Maybe we can just call me ‘that slave mare’.” Windy said in a slightly irritated tone.

“How about Nital? Sounds pretty and it doesn’t seem like it would be from here either.”

“Nital it is. So Murok, what’s the plan for today?”

“Investigate this…” he replied as he pointed to an article.

“Mystery pony brings back a treasure that is said to make the pony who wears it immortal… Wow, he stole it for fame… makes you wonder if he was really from Equestria at all.”

“I don’t think he was, look at the picture. Notice anything odd about Star Scribe?”

“His cutie mark is gone.” she said before there was a knock on the door.

Bold walked over and opened the door to see Charlie standing there with a smile. “Bold! You are in the paper!” he said happily as he walked inside of the room.

“Please, call me by my real name, Murok, from now on.” Bold said with a smile.

“I thought that Bold was just a nickname. It seemed too weird to be a real name. So you aren’t from here right? Maybe I can give you a tour?” Charlie said as he turned to Windy. “Get me a glass of water.” he ordered her without any consideration.

“Charlie, I would request that you ask my servant instead of ordering her. She is a pony too you know. Nital, if you would be so kind as to get this young colt a glass of water.” Bold said with a wink. Windy went into the small kitchen area of their room and found a glass. “Keeps them happy and makes them work with more vigor. Don’t forget to say thank you also.” Bold whispered to Charlie who nodded in agreement.

When Windy returned with the water Charlie smiled and thanked her. “Anything else?” she asked as she started to play along a bit more.

Bold shook his head. “No, that will be all for now. Just relax. So Charlie, you want to take us on a tour?”

Charlie took a drink of his water and nodded. “Well, the offer was just to you but you can bring her if you’d like.”

“She goes where ever I go.”

“Well alright, that’s fine. We can go right away if you want.”

“Sure, come on Nital. It will be fun.” he said as he walked over to her and whispered. “I’m sorry, I am so sorry.”

“It’s okay Bold, just play along remember?” she whispered back as they got up.

Charlie led them out of the room and Bold locked it behind them. “So what where did you get that mark on your flank anyway?” he asked Bold.

“It is a tradition from where I come from. We earn this mark by finding what makes us special.”

“Can I get one?” Charlie asked excitedly.

“I don’t think it works the same way here.” Bold said with a chuckle. Windy merely followed along and kept silent as she looked around. “Where we come from things are very different.”

“I can tell. Your names are really different too! But don’t worry about that, everypony is really nice here.” Charlie said with a smile.

“Yeah, if you are a unicorn…” Windy said under her breath.

Bold heard her and hoped that Charlie didn’t, which he didn’t seem to. “So where is our first stop Charlie?”

“Well, I was thinking of showing you my school first, then we could go to the park, then to the museum and finally my house!” he replied excitedly.

“Sounds like it will be fun.”

Charlie talked to them the whole way to his school. He explained how that the government has an elected leader that changes every six years, how the schools worked by an age system, how they had a police force separate from their military, it was a very different world indeed. “And this is my school! I’m in the fifth grade, which means I am eleven pretty much. It’s closed right now, because it is the ninth day of the week.”

“Ninth day? How long are your weeks?” Windy asked curiously.

“Ten days total. Today is ninth day and tomorrow is tenth day. Then I go back to school. Oh, and my parents are taking me by the bank to get that gold coin exchanged for real money.”

“I was curious about that. What kind of money do you use?” Bold asked curiously.

Charlie pulled out a piece of paper and showed it to Bold. It had the picture of a pony’s head on it and the number five in the corner. “This is five dollars. It is worth five single dollars.”

“Paper money? This place gets stranger and stranger. But that’s okay I can get used to it.” Bold said with a chuckle. “So how much is one of my gold coins worth?”

“Well… my father told me it was worth over three thousand dollars! You helped my family so much!” Charlie said happily.

“Glad to help. Now maybe you can help me in return. I need two things. One, I need you to tell me where I can find this pony.” Bold said as he showed Charlie the picture. “Two, I need to go to the bank to exchange one of my coins for some money.”

“Well the picture says that they will be at the museum today so we will be able to see him there. As for the bank… maybe we can rearrange our tour to go by my house and my father will take us there.”

“Your father won’t mind if I bring my servant right?”

“Nah, he is… different when it comes to servants.”

“How so?” Windy asked suddenly.

“Well, I’ll let him tell you. Come on, we should hurry up before he gets busy.” Charlie said started to run across the street without looking.

Windy saw a car coming. “Charlie, look out!”

Charlie froze and the car crashed into an invisible wall that Bold had put up with his magic. He quickly dispelled the wall and ran over to Charlie. “Are you okay?”

Charlie was shaking as he nodded. “W-what stopped it?”

Bold looked at him and shrugged. “I don’t know, let’s see if the pony inside the car is okay.” he said as he stood up and walked over to the car. The unicorn inside was stirring as the car sat in a crumpled heap. Bold opened the door slowly. “Are you okay miss?” Bold asked as he helped the mare out of the car.

“The colt! Is the colt okay?! I tried to stop! I really did!” she pleaded.

Bold nodded. “He is a bit shaken up but it is okay.”

“What did I hit then? It destroyed my car!” she said sadly.

“I don’t know what you hit, but this should take care of it.” Bold said as he dropped five bits into her hoof.

The mare looked at the bits with an open mouth. “Who are you?”

“Murok. Come on Charlie, let’s keep going. Carefully this time.” Bold said with a smile.

Charlie nodded and they started to leave when the mare stopped them. “Wait! Thank you…” she said as she gave Bold a slight kiss on the cheek.

Bold smiled and nodded. “You’re welcome.” he said as they started to walk to Charlie’s home.

The sound of sirens could be heard as they reached Charlie’s home. “What is that noise Charlie?”

“Those are police cars. Probably there to help that nice mare that car.” he explained.

“Interesting.” Bold said as Charlie opened the door to his house.

“Dad! I’m home with a guest! He has a servant pony too!”

A brown unicorn with a grey sleek mane and tail walked out from the other room as they entered. “Come in, come in. Make yourself at home. Let me get you all drinks.” he said as he invited them into the den. “And miss, please feel free to sit on the furniture.” he said to Windy.

They all went to the den and took a seat. Windy and Bold sat down next to each other on a couch while Charlie took one of the two open chairs in the spacious room. The brown stallion soon returned with a tray full of glasses of a bubbly red drink. “Here you go. Enjoy.” he said as he gave them each a glass.

Bold took it with his magic, again without thinking. “Thank you.”

“So my son was telling the truth. You can use magic. How interesting.”

Bold’s eye widened and looked at the glass. “Oh my gosh! The glass is floating!” he said in fake amazement.

The brown stallion chuckled. “Now now, I won’t go telling anypony your secret. I am just amazed that you are able to do something that I thought the unicorn race lost hundreds of years ago. Tell me, where are you from.”

Windy looked at Bold with a look of concern. Bold leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Should we tell him? He seems knowledgeable of more than most of the unicorns we have met.”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe we should ask him a few questions first. Get to know him more.” Windy replied.

“That is another interesting thing. Conferring with your servant, that is unusual. I like how you treat her as an equal when it comes to knowledge. I appreciate that.” the brown stallion said as he sat down.

“I like him already.” Windy whispered into Bold’s ear.

“Let’s just say we aren’t from here, for now. We might tell you more later.” Bold said with a smile.

“It’s a shame. I wanted to hear more about this, Equestria my son told me about.”

Bold and Windy looked at each other and sighed. “Listen, we are a special task force sent from Equestria to retrieve a broach stolen from our princess. Without it she is going to die.” Bold said with a frown. “Bold Character is my real name and this is Windy Wisp. She is not my servant, she is a very dear friend of mine and her life is equal to mine. Maybe a bit greater…”

Windy smiled at Bold. “Even on a dangerous mission he can’t help being sweet. I don’t believe we got your name mister…?”

“Just call me Robert. So you two are from a place far from here, far enough that we didn’t even know that you existed. This is very interesting indeed. I recommend that you stay here with my son and I. You don’t want your enemy to know where you are and surly after today the press will be trying to track your movements. You are a fortune to them.” he explained. “I am part of the Species Liberation Initiative Group or SLIG as we like to call it. We have been working to free the earth ponies and pegasi from the bonds of servitude. I understand you having to stoop to certain level to blend in and I am glad that you do not think less of Windy here because she is a pegasus. Now I just have one more question for you… are you from the north?”

Bold’s ears perked up. “So the rune did take us south… yes we are from the north.”

Robert smiled widely. “Then you descend from the group of ponies that left to find a better home after the windigos ravaged the land hundreds of years ago. Small groups from each race went south. Many of the earth ponies and pegasi did not survive the journey and the unicorns came out on top and enslaved the other two races with ease and now there are very few of them. Tell me… tell me that you come from a better place…”

Bold nodded. “All three races work together in peace. In fact, both of my parents are pegasi.”

“That’s a relief. For a while I just thought unicorns are just naturally greedy. Now then, let’s see what we can do about this mission of yours. I assume the pony that brought in the broach to the museum is the pony you are looking for. Might I ask how he managed to steal it?” Robert asked curiously.

“He used a magic most foul… killed nine guards… in a matter of seconds.” Bold said sadly.

Robert seemed a bit shocked. “Well, I thought we were dealing with a simple theft… but mass murder is much more severe… My organization will keep an eye out for him. But we would like to ask a favor from you… ten of your coins.”

Bold smiled and nodded. “Take twenty.” he said as he poured twenty bits on the table. “We have plenty enough to get what we need to stop this fiend.”

Robert smiled and nodded. “Thank you for your generosity. With any hope we can use this money to free the other races. Now then, I will go to the bank alone and exchange the coins for money. If anypony asks I will say that you gave me the coins and then left. Hopefully that will throw the press off for a while. In the meantime, relax, watch some television, get something to eat.”

“Television? What is television?” Windy asked curiously.

“Charlie, teach them about the television and answer any questions they might have. I’ll be back soon.” Robert said as he left the house.

Charlie stood up and pressed a button. A painting on the wall raised up and revealed a television. “That’s a television. You turn it on and we can watch shows and news and stuff.” he said as he turned on the television. A news show turned on and Bold and Windy could only stare in awe.

“Amazing… truly amazing!” Bold said as he watched the news pony speak.

“Today an accident occurred involving a small colt and a young mare in a car.” the news mare said. The news feed switched to footage of the mare they had met when the car crashed. “This colt just ran out into the street and I pressed my hoof on the breaks hard, but I knew I was still going to hit him. Suddenly my car stopped and I hit nothing at all, but it crumpled my car pretty good whatever it was. I’m just glad the little colt is okay and whoever he was with was more than generous in helping me to repair my car, he gave me these.” she said as she held up the five bits Bold had given her. “I can fix my car and pay off all of my debts… this is the best day of my life…” the mare said with tears in her eyes.

“Charlie, how many ponies watch the news?” Bold asked worriedly.

“All of them, why?”

“Because she just showed our currency to everypony in this land… now the pony we are after knows we are here.” Windy said sadly. “That will make it much harder to find him…”

“Why? It’s not like he knows you are after him.”

“He is smart enough to connect the dots… he will certainly prepare for us. Or, if he is arrogant, he will just wait for us to come and try to take us down himself…” Bold deduced. “We shouldn’t be here… We are putting your family in danger.”

Windy looked up at him. “We are keeping his family safe. If that unicorn does come by they won’t stand a chance alone. Not against magic.”

Bold nodded. “I need to practice.” he said as he stood up. He walked to the edge of the room and balanced on his back left hoof. His horn started to glow and everything in the room started to lift off of the ground.

Charlie held on to the chair he was in as Bold started to rearrange the room. “Not bad Bold, you have been doing better and better since you started to expand you knowledge of magic. Then again, I am sure Twilight shared quite a bit when she merged your minds.”

Bold kept his concentration and started to set the furniture down in different spots. When everything was set down the room went dark and small floating lights surrounded the room. “Wow… those are pretty.” Charlie said as he reached out to touch one.

“Don’t touch them Charlie, they will burn you.” Windy warned.

Charlie pulled his hoof back and just watched as the lights danced around the room. When they disappeared the room lit up again and small floating balls of shadows started to appear. One of them floated against Charlie’s drink and it vanished. The shadows disappeared and Charlie looked at Bold. He had Charlie’s drink in his hoof and he was smiling. “Here’s your drink back. I was just borrowing it.” he said with a chuckle as he gave Charlie his drink back.

Charlie was a bit afraid to take a drink, but took one anyway. “Wow, you are really amazing Bold. And a bit scary….”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Bold said apologetically as he sat down.

“How can you use magic like that? My father said it wasn’t possible for unicorns to use it anymore.”

“Well… it’s just different here I guess. All I know is, if the unicorn we are after can use magic, then you can too.” Bold said with a wink.

“But how do you do it? How do you gain cutie marks? How do you live with pegasi and earth ponies so peacefully?”

“Under the care of our princesses… they guide us… watch over us… bring us the sun and the moon… they are everything to us…” Windy said softly. “They love us and we love them. That is why we are here.”

Charlie looked at his glass and sighed. “Do you think my father and I could go back with you?”

Bold’s ears perked up in surprise. “Go back with us? Why?”

“There is no love here. Everypony just goes about their lives doing as they are told… living in sadness… our leaders raise the prices of everything and make it harder for us to live let alone live happily…” Charlie said sadly.

Bold took a drink and sighed. “Maybe… if I can support that many ponies going through the rune portal.”

“I hope you can…”

They sat in silence for a while before it was broken by the door opening. “I’m back, with a fat sack of cash. We have all the funding we need. Here is what you needed Bold.” Robert said as he gave a roll of cash to Bold.

Bold nodded and took the money. “Thank you. Robert, I need to know what happened to this land. Why can you not use magic, or get cutie marks anymore?”

Robert sighed and sat down. “Is it just me or is everything in this room in a different place?” he asked curiously.

“Robert, where did the magic in this land go? This is important.” Bold said sternly.

Robert sighed again and shook his head. “It was lost when we enslaved the other races. Everypony stopped caring about who they were and what they were doing… unicorns stopped relying on magic and started to just let the other races do everything for them… Truthfully we just forgot how and never tried to use it again. Except for me. I have been trying to use magic for years but I have not been successful at all. I just don’t know what I am doing.”

Bold nodded in understanding. “It is distressing to know that there is an entire nation without the ability to use magic or even be happy from day to day. However, I must say our nation is on the decline as well. We are the last line of defense against the criminals that have been popping up over the years. If we lose our princess though… we lose everything…”

“I won’t let that happen Bold. Do you have a photo of your princess with the broach on? If you do then we can get the broach back diplomatically.”

“Yes, I do.” Windy said as she pulled out a picture of the princesses. She gave it to Robert. “Please be careful with it…”

Robert nodded. “Of course.” he said before looking at the photo. His eyes widened and he set the picture down on the table before standing up and walking out of the room. Windy and Bold looked at each other with concern. A moment later Robert came back with an extremely old book. “This is something has been passed down throughout my family since before the nations split up. It’s the only known copy to exist and it is the reason I have fought so hard for peace.” he said as he set the book down next to the picture. Bold stood up and walked over to the book and opened it carefully. “Is your princess a descendant from the sun goddess?”

Bold saw who he was referring to and shook his head. “No, she is not… she is your sun goddess. She traveled to Equestria with her sister and overthrew Discord before establishing their rule. She… she was gravely injured during the fight against Discord but she recovered. Then when she banished her sister… it destroyed her. She ruled with an iron hoof for many years before she realized she was making her kingdom as miserable as she was. When her sister returned she was happier than she had ever been and Equestria flourished… until King Sombra’s second return. My father and many other ponies fought a brutal war… many were killed. And now this… our symbol of good is dying. If she dies, then it will be chaos…” Bold explained.

“You really love her, don’t you?” Robert asked.

“Like a mother…” Windy and Bold said at the same time.

Robert smiled. “Then let’s go to the museum. We will show the authorities this picture and get your princess’s broach back.”

Bold nodded and gathered their things. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 3

Chapter Three: It’s Magic!

All four of them were driving towards the hospital and Bold was clinging to his chair in fear while Windy was having the time of her life. “Wow, this thing is really cool! How does it work?” she asked happily.

“Internal combustion system. We use an explosive fuel that runs a motor and it makes the wheels spin at a fast rate.” Robert explained.

“YOU MEAN IT RUNS ON EXPLOSIONS?!” Bold asked loudly as he closed his eyes.

“Windy, can you calm him down a bit. Cars are really safe and we have been using them for many years.” Robert said with a chuckle.

Windy grabbed Bold’s hoof as he started to hyperventilate. “Calm down Bold, it’s okay. Nothing bad is going to happen and you need to be ready in case Star Scribe is at the museum.”

Bold opened his eyes and his breathing returned to normal. “Alright… alright…”

Robert let out another chuckle as he saw them holding hooves in the back seat through his mirror. “A unicorn and a pegasus holding hooves. That is something I thought I would never see in my lifetime.”

They pulled up to the museum and it had quite a few ponies outside. Robert parked and they all got out. He lead them into the museum and to the display where they had Celestia’s broach. Bold walked up to the display and used his magic to see if it was real. When he confirmed it was he walked up to a nearby police officer before looking to Robert. Robert gave him a nod and Bold tapped on the officer’s shoulder. “Yes, how can I help you sir?” the officer asked.

Bold let out a deep breath. “The museum is holding a piece of stolen property on display. The new broach they acquired is actually a piece of magical jewelry and it is property of Princess Celestia of Equestria.”

The officer laughed a little bit. “Listen, I have had three attempts of ponies coming up to me and telling me that the broach was stolen from them and unless you… have… proof…” he trailed off as Bold showed him the picture of the princesses. “One moment sir. I will talk to the administrator.” The officer left and came back with the administrator of the museum.

“What is this outrageous accusation? This is the broach of the sun goddess, we have confirmed this based on the markings.” the administrator said with an annoyed tone.

Bold held up the picture. “You mean her?” he said in a slightly cocky tone.

The administrator’s jaw dropped and he looked at the picture closely. “This is a fake… it has to be…”

“We are from the land of Equestria where she rules. Without this broach she is dying so we must have it back right away.” Bold explained.

“According to the law we must verify this pictures authenticity.” the officer said.

“We really don’t have time. Why don’t I just take you to meet her?” Bold offered in desperation.

“Take us to the sun goddess? Impossible.” the administrator scoffed.

“Listen, she is dying. Now you either take me up on my offer and I take you to my princess or… I will use my magic to take the broach by force. Either way I will have it… the princess’s condition is too dire for me to wait too long.”

The officer puffed up his chest. “Is that a threat?”

“It is a promise. Please, just let me take you to her.” Bold pleaded.

The administrator scoffed again. “Magic is impossible. Officer, this pony is crazy. You must do something.”

“I think we should give it a try. This young stallion has a sincere look and if he were crazy he would have tried to steal the broach before asking for it.” the officer explained.

“Fine, take us to your princess.” the administrator said mockingly. “This ought to be good.”

Bold took a small knife and reopened his wound on his hoof. He started to draw the rune on the floor before Windy walked over and wrapped Bold’s hoof. The rune started to glow and so did Bold’s horn. “Stand close to me sirs.” he requested. The two stood closer in an unconvinced manner. Bold smirked before they were sucked through a portal and placed inside of Canterlot castle. “Welcome to Equestria.” Bold said before they were surrounded by guards.

The officer looked around in awe while the administrator shook in place. “I knew he was telling the truth…” the officer said weakly.

“Guards, take us to Princess Celestia’s chambers. It is vital that these two see her.” Bold instructed.

Shining Armor walked up to him and smiled. “Bold, Sunny told me you would return. Where is the broach? Celestia will not last much longer.” he said worriedly.

“Prince Armor, we need to see Celestia now.” he said urgently.

Shining Armor nodded and started to escort them to the princess’s room. When they arrived the doors opened slowly to reveal an almost skeletal figure laying on the bed with Luna standing next to it straining. The administrator fainted and the officer’s jaw dropped. “We have to get the broach back now. Return us to the museum and we will get it for you right away.” the officer said sincerely. Bold nodded and cut himself open again. He was getting woozy from the blood loss but kept himself conscious as he swiftly returned them to the museum. Everypony in the museum started to panic. “Everypony calm down! We are returning the broach to its rightful owner!” the officer said as he walked up to the broach. He took it out and gave it to Bold. “Hurry, she doesn’t have much time.”

Bold took the broach and started to draw another rune. “Windy, come on… Charlie… we’ll be back…” he said weakly.

Windy ran next to Bold and he started to teleport. A yell came from the crowd and Star Scribe ran forward trying to stop them. A loud explosion sounded before they teleported into Celestia’s bedroom. Bold had crumpled into a heap with burn marks on his face and chest while Windy remained unscathed. She took the broach and quickly ran to Celestia and put it on her. “Please work, please work, please work.” she cried sadly.

Instantly the life began to return to Celestia’s body and she started to breathe on her own again. Luna collapsed on the floor and Shining Armor ran to aid her. Windy looked over to Bold and saw he wasn’t breathing. “Bold!” she shouted as she jumped over Shining Armor and Luna and started to try and revive him. “Breathe, BREATHE!” she shouted as she blew air into his lungs. Shining Armor started to wrap Bold’s wounds once he was done helping Luna and suddenly Bold started to breathe again. Windy sat on the floor panting for air as Bold opened his one of his eyes, the other was burnt shut. “Don’t you scare me like that again…” she said softly.

Bold closed his eye and nodded. “Charlie… the others…”

“I don’t know what happened… Star Scribe blew the whole damn museum… I hope they are okay.” Windy said softly.

“We need to get back and help…” Bold said as he tried to stand up.

Shining Armor pressed him back down. “Don’t move. Your injuries are too severe. Whatever it is you are talking about will have to wait. Star Scribe will be brought to justice, don’t you worry.” he said sincerely.

Bold used his magic to push Shining Armor off of him. “We need to help them! Windy use my blood to draw the rune now!” he said as he stood on his hooves wobbling.

Windy shook her head. “We can’t help them if you die after teleport. You need to heal first.”

Bold pulled out his knife and Shining Armor knocked him unconscious. “Sorry Bold… but I had to do that…” he said as he picked Bold up and put Bold on his back. “I’ll get him to the infirmary. You stay here with the prince…”

“No, let her go with you…” Celestia said weakly as she started to stir.

Shining Armor knew better than to argue. He simply nodded and gesture Windy to follow. Bold’s blood leaked behind him as they walked at a brisk pace to the infirmary. Sunny was waiting for them there and so was Dr. Ray. “Get him on the bed now.” Dr. Ray said urgently.

Shining Armor placed him on the bed gently and Dr. Ray got to work. “I leave him in your caring hooves. I will go attend to the princesses.” he said before leaving.

Bold’s eye opened slowly and he saw Sunny first. “I… we did it…” he said softly.

Sunny put a hoof on Bold’s face gently. “Yes, you did. Equestria owes you a debt. Now stay still and let the doctor heal you.”

“He has severe magical burns… but he will be fine. However he will have to wear an eye patch for a couple of months.” Dr. Ray said as he placed an eye patch over Bold’s burnt eye.

Bold looked at Dr. Ray. “Can I go back now…? I need to help them…”

“You lost too much blood. You have to rest for at least a day.” Dr. Ray said sternly.

“No! I have to go back now!” Bold said angrily as he tried to get up.

Windy pinned him down with one hoof. “Okay, you can go if you can get up.” she said as she started to push against him. He tried to move but he couldn’t. “Now stay there and rest. I am sure Charlie is fine.” she lied.

Bold didn’t respond, he merely passed out. “Finally… the sedative spell kicked in. Windy, stay here for him when he wakes up. I need to head back to the base and treat three new recruits.”

Windy gave him a salute as he and Sunny walked out of the room. She held his hoof and rubbed it gently. “Oh Bold… we did it… the princess is safe…”

Bold mumbled as he stirred. “W-Windy…”

“Shhhh… no need to speak… just rest…”

“Windy… Windy…”

“What is it Bold?”

“I love you…”

****

Bold’s eye slowly opened just before dawn. He felt significantly better than yesterday and stretched out in the bed. Windy was the only other one in the room and she had fallen asleep in her chair. Bold put his blanket over her and stood up with a smile. The sound of hoofsteps could be heard in the hallway and Bold went to investigate. He opened the door and caught sight of Princess Luna walking down the hall. Silently he followed her to a garden courtyard and watched as she walked up to the large fountain. “Even the most silent of ponies cannot sneak up on me. Come from the shadows.” she said softly.

Bold walked out from where he was and next to Luna. “I did not mean to disturb you…”

“Nonsense, it is good to have company since Sunny left to continue the training of the new recruits.” she said with a small smile. “Bold… thank you for saving my sister.”

“I couldn’t have done it without the help of many. There are ponies in that other land that might be gravely injured… ponies that helped me retrieve the broach and save your sister. The only thing I want to do now is help them and bring Star Scribe to justice.”

“You shall, after my sister speaks with you. She said she had something urgent to talk to you about.”

“Urgent? Did something else happen?”

“No, I believe she just wants to express her appreciation for saving her but she had to make it sound official. My sister always over exaggerates things.”

“Princess, can I ask you something… personal?”

“Of course Bold, what is it?”

“Is there room for love when you have so much duty on your plate?”

Lune giggled a bit at his question. “That’s the thing about love. It gets its own special plate that is never ending. Good thing too, because you can never get enough love. Are you and Windy…?”

“Well… I love her but… I can never tell if she loves me back or just feels bad for me… for being so different…”

Luna hummed in understanding. “Yes… I know what you mean. When Sunny and I first started dating it was hard for me to understand why he loved me for who I was despite what I had been. But he understood my plight more than anypony else in Equestria, he was just like me. I think Windy might see a bit of herself in you Bold, and she likes it.”

“When I look at her all I see is a mare that I have been able to relate to. Somepony that I stayed up with and shared myself with fully, without any difficulties or judgment. Somepony who will not only accept who I am, but will love who I am just because I am what I am.”

They remained silent for a while before Luna spoke again. “And you love her for who she is.”

“More than just who she is… I can’t explain it but I feel as though we are connected in a way that I never thought I could be to another pony. Like… I can feel her heart beat… and hear…”

“Her thoughts? Like you can see what she sees and feel what she feels? You can feel her wings move and she can feel you use your magic?” Windy’s voice sounded from behind them.

Luna smiled and Bold turned around slowly. “I… I had a feeling you were there. So…? Do you have an answer to my question… do you love me or do you just feel sorry for me?”

Windy walked up to him and looked into his eyes. “I don’t know what this feeling is… I-I-I…” she breathed lightly. “I just don’t know…” She seemed like she was upset, almost crying.

Bold hugged her gently. “It’s okay Windy, you don’t need to tell me.”

“I’ve never felt this way about any pony before… I am used to being alone all the time… not having somepony to watch my back… but… you are more than that but I don’t know what you are to me…” she said as she started to cry a bit. “You seem to be… everything… When you were injured and you stopped breathing… I felt like I was dying… that if you died I would die too…”

“When the explosion happened in the museum I moved in front of you. That is why this side of me is burnt. It’s the reason why you were unharmed. At that moment I didn’t care if I had lived or died, as long as you were safe I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything else, nothing.” Bold rambled sadly.

They both embraced each other tightly. “Are we… are we going back?” Windy asked softly.

“That is up to you, we can stay if you don’t want to go back…”

“I think we have to… for Charlie… and Robert… we have to see if they are okay.”

“I am glad you think so. Let’s see if Celestia is awake.” Bold said with a smile as they broke away from their hug. “Thank you Princess Luna…”

“Yes, thank you your highness.” Windy said before she and Bold started to walk back inside. Windy rubbed her head against Bold’s neck as they walked.

Bold smiled and pushed gently back against her. “Isn’t it great to be different?” he asked softly.

“It’s wonderful.” she replied happily.

They reached Celestia’s bedroom and the guards didn’t acknowledge them. Bold tapped on the door gently and Celestia’s voice sounded from the other side. “Come in.” They walked inside and closed the door behind them. “Bold, Windy, it is good to see you.”

“And it is good to see you feeling better.” Bold said with a smile. He couldn’t help himself. He walked over to Celestia and hugged her tightly and Windy joined soon after.

Celestia giggled a bit and hugged them both in return. “Thank you both for saving my life. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“There is no need to repay us princess. Seeing you well is all the payment we could have ever hoped for.” Windy said as they pulled away from their hug.

“What will you do now? Will you return to the other land?” Celestia asked curiously.

“We have to your highness. We made a promise.” Bold said proudly.

“Then I wish you luck and I wish to give you both something as well.” Celestia said as she walked over to her dresser and pulled out two scrolls. “Written on these scrolls is a special message for each of you. Don’t read these until you return with Star Scribe.”

“How do you we won’t die trying to capture Star Scribe?” Windy asked curiously as she took her scroll and latched it to her belt.

“Because Star Scribe himself is weak. The attack he used was planned weeks in advance and he will not be able to use the same kind of magic in the other land.” Celestia explained.

“What do you mean exactly?” Bold asked curiously.

“You must have noticed that magic is harder to use in their land. It is because they have damaged the magic in their land with hatred and greed. It… it is an inhospitable land but not a lost one…” Celestia said guiltily. “I have to admit… I knew about this land since it was created but… I ignored it fearing that the hatred would spread here.”

Bold frowned deeply. “You ignored these suffering ponies? Princess… you are kidding right? Trying to motivate us somehow…”

Celestia shook her head. “You have to understand… I didn’t want this land to fall like it did… you saw what the ponies are like there. No cutie marks, no magic, SLAVES!” she said angrily.

Bold stomped his hoof on the ground. “You abandoned them! Now they are left to suffer! No, no they aren’t! Because I will go back and save them.” he said as he pulled out his knife.

“Ah ah ah! Dr. Ray drew some blood so you wouldn’t have to cut yourself again.” Windy said as she glanced between him and Celestia.

Bold took the blood and drew the proper runes on the ground. “When we return Celestia, don’t be surprised if I don’t feel like speaking to you for a while.” he said before activating the runes and teleported them to the other land.

When they arrived they looked around the room they were in. It was the museum, but with a large hole in the floor where they had last teleported out. They walked outside and were greeted with several officers rushing up to them. “Freeze! Don’t move!” the captain shouted.

Bold and Windy both froze where they stood. “We have come to find the stallion who stole the broach from our princess.” Bold said loudly.

The captain blew his whistle and the officers stopped in their track. He walked up to the pair and looked Bold straight in the eye. “You were with officer Dublin when he was on guard here. It would sadden you to know he and several others suffered severe burns in the explosion.”

“There was a little colt, named Charlie and his father Robert. What happened to them?”

The captain shook his head slowly. “A dark red unicorn colt… he died on the scene… his father made it through with several shrapnel wounds to the chest, neck and face.” he said sadly.

Windy clenched her eyes shut and tears leaked from them. “Oh Charlie…” she said softly.

The captain looked at her with an odd expression. “Why do you care? I would think that a pegasi would revel in a unicorn’s death.” he said in a slight tone of anger. Bold had to hold her back from attacking the captain. Once she calmed down Bold gave her a light tap on the back. “I’m sorry, I forgot that you aren’t from here. Officer Dublin told me how your world is different than ours and I let hate block my judgment.”

“It’s okay, just remember that in the future that I am an equal and I care about all of your lives… especially the lives of your foals…” Windy said as she continued to cry softly.

Bold sighed and looked at the captain. “We are here to help you in your investigation. We don’t care who gets to take him prisoner, we just want justice served.” he said sternly.

The captain nodded and held out his hoof. “My name is Captain Jim. I accept your offer to help in this joint operation. We accept you too.” he said as he gestured to Windy. “I don’t know what things are like in your world exactly but if you are in law enforcement then you are welcome to help.”

They both nodded together. “Can we go to the hospital where the victims are being treated? I need to ask some of them what they saw so I can analyze the magic that was used.” Bold said with a stalwart look on his face.

“Yes, I figured that would be the best place to start as well. Come with me, we’ll take my patrol car.” Jim said as he led them to his car. “Do you have these where you come from?”

“No.” Bold said simply as they all got in.

“So, you don’t have cars? How do you get around?” Jim asked curiously.

“Well I fly pretty much everywhere unless I am traveling between cities I take the train.” Windy said with a smile.

“I guess I teleport everywhere now. It is much easier than taking a train, which I always get sick on, or taking an airship.” Bold explained with a neutral tone.

Jim scoffed and chuckled. “Magic, it is becoming a big pain in the flank for me. I wish none of your ponies had ever come here.” he said honestly.

“The pony we are hunting, Star Scribe, he is from here.” Bold said a bit angrily.

Jim remained silent for a moment. “I think you are mist…”

“I know it is hard to believe sir but there are many reasons that lead me to believe that he is from here. The thing that confirms it is that he doesn’t have a cutie mark.” Bold interrupted.

“That symbol on your flank?” Jim asked.

“Yes, it is a magical mark we get when we discover our special talent that makes us unique.” Bold explained.

“And somepony puts it on you?”

“No, it just appears when you discover what your talent is.” Windy explained.

Jim shook his head as they pulled up to the hospital. “Magical marks… magical explosions… it’s all so strange…”

They came to a stop in a priority parking space and got out. “What is strange to you is perfectly normal for us. Minus the explosions.” Windy said solemnly as they walked inside of the hospital.

“No no no! No servants are permitted in…” the hospital’s officers started before Windy tackled him to the ground and tied his mouth shut.

“Sorry, but I’m not a servant, I am an officer of the law in Equestria and you will do well to respect that, got it?” Windy said harshly.

Jim was amazed at how easily Windy had taken down one of his trained officers as the officer underneath Windy nodded with tears in his eyes. “Very impressive Ms. Wisp. It seems that Officer Bret here learned his lesson. Could you let him up now?” Jim asked with a smile.

Windy got off of the officer and took off the rope. The officer got up and rubbed his jaw. “Sorry, I am just tired of being degraded as though I am less important than a unicorn.” Windy said apologetically.

“Yeah well, I wasn’t ready.” the officer said defiantly.

“Are you ready now?” Windy asked with a smirk.

“Well of course I a…” the officer started before Windy took him down again and hog tied him faster than you could say the word ‘servant’.

Jim laughed loudly and pulled the officer aside while he was still tied up. He leaned the officer up against the wall and said, “I think you can stay there until our business is concluded.” He got on the radio and called in a replacement officer before taking the others to the elevator. He pressed a button and they started to rise. “I take it you are more than just law enforcement. You must be some kind of government specialist.”

“No, I am just well trained and really angry about how pegasi are treated here.” Windy said in a stressed tone.

Jim sighed and looked at her. “Listen, I am not for how the other species are treated but I can’t have you tackling everypony who yells at you for doing something a pegasi would never dream of doing here. Okay?”

“Alright… I’ll try.” Windy said with a wink. Bold remained silent and his expression remained neutral. He just stared at the door as they ascended. Windy saw his expression and poked his side. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Bold just blinked and looked down. “Charlie is dead… and Celestia, she… you know… asking Robert these questions is going to be hard…” he said softly.

“Emotional detachment is essential in our line of work. You can’t get too close to anypony.” Jim said sternly.

“Not for us. Our emotions motivate us to protect all ponies and work for their future safety.” Windy said softly.

“An interesting approach, I’m not sure it will work here though. Although… it would be nice to make some friends on the force.” Jim said as the elevator came to a halt.

The doors opened and they walked up to the floor’s operational desk. “We are looking for a brown stallion named Robert.” Bold said calmly.

“That patient has refuses visitors. Come back later.” the receptionist said.

“This is official police business. Please give us the room number.” Jim said as he pulled out his badge.

“Room 235 captain. Sorry for the delay.” the receptionist said apologetically.

The three of them walked down the hall and opened the indicated room. Robert was curled up on the bed facing away from the door. “I said no visitors… so you must be a nurse… what do you want?” he said quietly.

“Robert, it’s us…” Windy said softly.

Robert turned over and looked at them with wide, wet eyes. “Windy, Bold, you came back… I… I take it you heard what happened?” he asked sadly.

Bold nodded slowly. “Yes… Robert this is my fault. I should have insisted that you leave after we arrived at the museum. It’s my fault Charlie… died…” he said solemnly.

Robert got out of bed, ran up to Bold and looked him right in the eyes. “No, it was that grey ponies fault! He killed Charlie, not you!”

“But if…”

“NO! Now you listen to me carefully, it was NOT your fault!” Robert sobbed as he broke down and hugged Bold as he fell to the ground.

Jim looked at them and sighed. “I’ll be outside. Report to me what he says.” he said as he walked out of the room.

Bold’s eyes started to tear up. “We are going to get Star Scribe and bring him to justice, but first you need to get back into bed.”

Robert looked at Bold and stood back up. “I’m not injured… they held me here for… psychological reasons… I… I…” he sobbed.

“Robert, we need your help. Can you tell us where Star Scribe went? Or can you give us a clue?” Windy asked as she put a wing over his back.

Robert shuddered at the feeling of the wing on his back. “After the explosion I leaped on him… our horns touched and some kind of raw magical discharge threw me back… I saw what he was planning Windy… he wants to take over this land… stage a coup d’état…”

“Why? What is the reasoning behind it?” Bold asked urgently.

“He wants to destroy this land… he wants it all gone… once he is the leader for our land he is going to start a war with the dragons… and they will burn everything…” Robert seemed to be getting weaker as he spoke.

“Robert, stay with me. Where did he go?” Bold asked as he lifted Robert to his hooves.

Robert started to sob even more. “Charlie’s gone… my little colt… gone…”

“Where did Star Scribe go Robert?! We need to find him!” Bold yelled as he shook Robert.

“To the capitol! He went to the capitol!” Robert screamed as he sobbed. “Charlie! Why wasn’t it me?! Why couldn’t it have been me?!”

Bold lifted Robert with his magic and placed him on his bed and tucked him in tightly. Tears ran down Bold’s face. “I’ll bring Star Scribe to justice… I promise… Come on Windy, let’s go.”

Windy started to follow before she turned around. “Robert, when this is over. You will be coming back with us.” she said softly before they left.

They walked back down the hall silently and when they were in the elevator doors closed, Bold spoke. “We need to go to the capitol. Star Scribe is somewhere in the capitol.” he said in a slightly angry tone.

“Very well, I will get you there as fast as I can. I just need some information from you first.” Jim said as he pressed the stop button on the elevator. “What technology do you use to use magic and how did Star Scribe get ahold of it?”

“It’s magic, plain and simple.” Bold said in a neutral tone.

“Can we use the technology to find Star Scribe?” Jim asked with an irritated tone.

“I can use magic to find him yes.”

“Can you give us the tech…”

“IT’S MAGIC! It’s not something you can acquire! You are born with it!” Bold said angrily.

“Then why can’t I use it?! Why can’t I use it to defend my ponies?!” Jim asked as he got in Bold’s face.

Bold pressed their horns together and a loud pop sent Jim reeling into the side of the elevator. Bold gasped and helped him up. “Jim! Jim, I’m sorry! I don’t know what happened!” he said apologetically.

Jim shook his head and groaned in pain. “What did you do to me?” he asked wearily.

“Bold… his flank…” Windy said as she pointed to the shield on Jim’s flank.

“He has a cutie mark… Jim, do you know what this means?” Bold asked excitedly.

Jim was a bit panicked at the sight of the shield on his flank. “No! No I don’t know what that means!” he said in a worried tone.

“It means your special talent is protecting the ponies of this land! You earned your cutie mark because you put keeping the ponies safe above your own job. Congratulations.” Bold said with a smile.

“I… feel different… like that if I tried to do something other than protect ponies it would be the wrong thing.” Jim said worriedly.

“Don’t worry, it’s just your cutie mark telling you what you do well. You will be fine, just keep doing what you are doing.” Windy said with a smile. “Now let’s get going.”

Jim regained his composure and his horn started to glow. The elevator’s restart button was pressed and the elevator started moving again. “What the… I… I just did that… without thinking about it… it just happened! How did I do it?!”

“Remain calm Jim. I guess that you have tapped into some hidden magic powers within yourself when you earned your cutie mark. Just try to take it easy for a moment.” Bold said as the doors to the elevator opened.

They walked through the lobby and heard a muffled cry coming from somewhere as they reached the door. Jim looked over and untied the officer without thinking and gasped as he did so. They quickly ran outside and to Jim’s car. Once inside Bold looked at Jim with a worried expression. “Jim… calm down.”

Jim was breathing heavily and sparked started to fly from his horn and he let out a scream of pure horror. Bold clapped a hoof over Jim’s mouth. “Magic is very emotionally tied Jim, you need to take a deep breath and calm down. Just breathe slowly… that’s it.” Bold said as Jim started to calm down. “I’m going to take my hoof away now and you will stay calm, okay?” Jim nodded and Bold took his hoof away.

Jim sat there for a moment breathing slowly and staring at the steering wheel. “What did you do to me?”

Bold shook his head. “I guess I did what you wanted… I gave you magic… I don’t know how, but it will no doubt help us. Just… stay calm.”

Jim nodded and turned on the car with his magic. “I have to admit… it is convenient to do things without thinking about it…” he said as he pulled out of the parking lot.

Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Implementation

“Today we are in session to confirm Darwin Alponge to high senator. All those opposed should raise their right hoof in opposition.” one of the senators said into a microphone.

“Courage, what’s your status?” Bold asked over a radio.

Courage put a hoof to his ear and looked away from the senate as they continued to speak. “Green. No sign of Star Scribe.” he whispered.

“Windy, anything outside?” Bold asked as he turned around. He looked out of a one way window that overlooked the senate.

“Negative, although it is hard to see through the crowd with this cloud cover.” Windy replied with a hint of frustration.

“Just keep your eyes peeled. Jim, status of the west wing?” Bold asked as his eyes scanned the room below him.

“Clear, there is no sign of him.” Jim replied as he stood behind two other police officers.

“Good, everypony stay in positions until I give the word.” Bold said with a sigh.

“Issue thirty six ‘B’. Better conditions for servants in low income homes. These things are causing disease due to neglect or abandonment. Senator Gabriel has elected to speak about a possible solution.” the head senator stated.

A yellow mare stood up and walked to the microphone at the podium. “The solution I am proposing is for an initiative to have all servants in low income houses to be euthanized.” she said plainly.

“WHAT DID SHE SAY?!” Windy’s voice crackled over the radio.

All three of them held a hoof up to their ear in pain. “Windy, keep your head on straight and stay focused on the job at hoof!” Bold said angrily.

“But Bold…!”

“No buts! We will take care of the servants after Star Scribe is taken care…” Bold started before he was interrupted by the lights going out. “Report, what is going on?!”

“Lights just went out all over the building! We are…” Courage started before a single spotlight turned on.

Star Scribe stood under that light and he was walking up the aisle between the seats. “You have a lot to answer for…” he said as he walked up to the podium in the middle of the room. “You treat the other species like they are tools… objects… things… Each of you is guilty of a horrible crime that deserves a most severe punishment.”

“Officers, remove this insane pony and get the power back on.” one of the senators demanded.

“Hold your positions!” Jim shouted as he burst through the doors.

Bold teleported himself down to the senate floor in front of Star Scribe. “Star Scribe, by the authority of the Equestrian government you are under arrest. Come quietly and we will not have to resort to taking you by force.”

“Officers, arrest these ponies now!” the head senator yelled.

Jim looked at the officers and shook his head. “Senators, remain calm and slowly follow me.” Courage whispered as he peeked up from the side of the senate seats. Slowly he started to lead them out one by one.

Star Scribe looked at Bold with a frown. “Do not try to stop me, this place deserves to burn in righteous fire and you know it!” he yelled angrily.

“Will you come with me, or will this get violent?!” Bold asked again.

Star Scribe responded in kind by throwing a chair at Bold with his magic. Bold pulled out his staves and smashed the chair to pieces. “Fool! You cannot stand up to my power!” Star Scribe yelled as he threw chair after chair. Bold smashed every single one of them and started to run forward. He tackled Star Scribe to the ground but was thrown off when Star Scribe sent out a wave of magical energy to repulse Bold.

Jim ordered his officers to evacuate the others from the building and stood his ground at the door in case Star Scribe tried to escape. Courage had successfully evacuated the senate while Bold kept Star Scribe distracted in combat. Bold threw Star Scribe into the senate stands and prepared himself for Star Scribe’s next attack. Star Scribe looked around and noticed that the senate was gone. “No! NOOOOOO!” he yelled as the entire senate stand exploded. Jim leaped in from of Bold and put up a barrier to block the jagged pieces of debris that was flying towards them. Jim fell to his knees as the barrier dropped and he was panting heavily.

“Stop him Bold! Before he tries something more destructive!” Jim shouted.

“Bold, he’s put up a barrier outside! I can’t get in!” Windy shouted over the radio.

Bold moved Jim behind cover before looking at what used to be the senate stand. Everything was quiet except for the crackles of fire burning as pieces of chair and desk burnt slowly. Star Scribe stood in the middle of the debris in an exhausted heap. “You have… no idea… what you have done… You can’t understand what it is like the live here!” he yelled as he flung a burning desk at Bold. Bold caught it and threw it away with a grunt.

“Surrender now! We will not hurt you!” Bold demanded as he recovered from the previous explosion.

Star Scribe started to walk towards Bold with a knife withdrawn. Bold prepared himself for anything but he didn’t see what happened next coming. Star Scribe cut his hoof and quickly started to draw a rune on the floor. Bold threw a staff at him and it hit him square in the horn causing it to crack. Star Scribe let out a cry of pain before letting out a laugh. “You are too late!” he shouted as the rune started to glow. It’s glow filled the room and there was a familiar sensation of being pulled into the rune. Suddenly the sound of howling wind and the chill of absolute cold shook their bones.

Bold grabbed Jim and Courage ran over to help them. Star Scribe was nowhere to be seen. “What happened?!” Jim asked over the howling wind.

Bold used a spell and a map formed in the snow. A red dot indicated their position. “We are near the Crystal Empire! If we move northeast from here we can get assistance from Princess Cadance!” he shouted as he lifted Jim onto his back.

Courage easily lifted Jim from Bold’s back on onto his own. “Let’s get moving then!” he shouted as they started to walk through the rubble of the senate building that was teleported with them. Bold walked them through the snow and as it started to let up they were covered and frozen to the soul.

“There it is, the Crystal Empire.” Bold said with a smile as the snow completely stopped. A couple of the guard patrolling the boarder spotted them and ran over to assist. “Guards, my name is Bold Character and I am a member of the special task force known as the Dusk Team. My friends and I need to see Princess Cadance immediately.”

The guards gave them a salute and started to lead them into the Empire. “Will you need any further assistance other than seeing the princess?” one of the guards asked as they walked through the city.

“Some hot chocolate please. My friends are not from here and I want them to see that they are treated with the utmost respect and hospitality.” Bold said sincerely.

“Yes sir. We will see to it.” the other guard said.

They entered the castle and walked to the throne room. Princess Cadance was sitting in her throne and Shining Armor was standing next to her. “Bold! You’re back! Princess Celestia will be so pleased! Is that him?” Princess Cadance asked gleefully.

Bold looked back to Jim and shook his head. “No your highness. These are two of my friends and partners. This is Courage and the stallion on his back, needing plenty of rest, is Jim.”

Princess Cadance nodded. “Welcome to the Crystal Empire. We will make sure your stay is a pleasant one.”

“A luxurious one.” Bold said to the guards. “Courage, follow these guards to our quarters and make sure Jim gets plenty of rest.” he said softly to Courage.

Courage fell to the ground, unconscious from all the beauty that he had witnessed as they walked. The guards assisted them and carried them to their quarters. “I take it they are not from around here.” Princess Cadance asked with a giggle.

“No your highness. Courage has lived the life of a servant and it has made him a bit… timid. But he proved his worth when Star Scribe attacked us. He is a worthy team mate... Please make sure that everything is done for him and that he doesn’t have to lift a hoof while he is here.” Bold requested as he bowed before her.

Shining Armor walked over to Bold and lifted him to his hooves. “No need to stand on ceremony right now Bold. We are the only three in here.” he said kindly.

“Thank you Shining… I… I don’t think I deserve it… I… I failed you all…” Bold said sadly.

“Star Scribe got away then… Where was he last seen?” Princess Cadance asked.

“Five miles southwest of here… He teleported an entire section of a building here with us…” Bold explained.

“Bold, we know you did your best. Take a break for a day while we pick up Star Scribe’s tracks.” Shining Armor said kindly.

“I can’t… I have to go back to get Windy…” Bold said as he pulled out a packet of his blood. “I’m going to have to stain your floor for a day…”

“Don’t worry, we understand. Do you want one of us to go with you?” Princess Cadance asked.

“Shining, I could use some backup in case anything goes wrong.” Bold said with a smile.

Shining Armor nodded and stood next to Bold. “I’d be honored.” he said with a grin.

Bold activated the rune and said, “I’ll make sure he gets back in one piece.” Then they vanished. They reappeared outside of the capital building and the sound of sirens rang in their ears. Bold looked around and it seemed like the capital building had collapsed in on itself and fires had broken out inside the wreckage. “Follow me.” he said as he lead Shining armor through the crowd. He found Cassidy in front of the crowd of spectators. “Cassidy!” he shouted over the crowd.

“You! Get over here and tell me what happened!” Cassidy said as she yanked him over the barriers. Shining Armor levitated the barrier and walked under it and followed the two of them as they got away from the noisy crowd. They entered a small room that did not collapse. “Now tell me, what happened?! Where is Jim?!” she asked worriedly.

Bold sighed. “Jim is fine, he is in my world being tended to.” he said sincerely. “Star Scribe did this. Our plan went well and we forced him back to my world. There we will be able to locate him easily and take him into custody.”

“And who is that?! He… wow… he’s huge…” Cassidy said in an impressed tone.

“This is Prince Armor. He and his wife rule over the crystal empire, but right now he is my backup. Where is Windy? The pegasi of our team.” Bold said in a tone of concern.

“She is back at HQ being debriefed. So, you are royalty huh? Sorry if I don’t bow or anything but today just isn’t the day for that.” Cassidy said as she pushed past them. She walked to the door and paused. “Bold… this could have been much worse. Thank you for saving everypony’s life.” she said before leaving.

“Sounds like this went better than expected.” Shining Armor said with a smile.

Bold scoffed and shook his head. “Look around you Shining… A broken build… a criminal still on the loose…”

“And a bunch of ponies that are still alive, thanks to you. Sometimes it is not about meeting the final goal, but just taking a few steps in the right direction.” Shining replied sincerely.

Bold sighed and walked to the door. “Come on, let’s go get Windy and get out of here” he said as they left the room.

Bold lead them to the police’s headquarters and walked inside. They went to the debriefing section, but Windy was nowhere to be found. “Listen, I was told by captain Cassidy that she was being debriefed. Now either you tell me where I can find her or you will find yourself out that window.” he said angrily.

The stallion behind the desk gulped and dug through his files. “Here it is… Windy Wisp… Pegasi… sent to interrogation room one…” he said as he read the file.

“Interrogation… you have three seconds to tell me where that is. One…” Bold started to count.

“In the sub-basement!” the stallion shouted fearfully.

Bold and Shining immediately ran to the elevator and Bold smashed the sub-basement button. The elevator began to descend and Bold started to pace. “Don’t worry Bold, she’ll be fine…” Shining said reassuringly.

The doors opened and Bold ran to the first interrogation room and slammed the door open. Windy was tied to a chair, bleeding and unconscious, and a unicorn was looking at Bold with a bit of anger and fear. “What is the meaning of this?! I am in the middle of an interrogation!” he shouted angrily.

Bold used his magic to throw the unicorn against the wall and pinned him there, choking him. “What did you do to her?! She has cuts all over her! Her hooves are burned!” he shouted angrily as the unicorn gagged.

“She’s… just… a pegasi…” the unicorn wheezed.

Bold tightened the grip on the unicorn’s throat and yelled in anger. “Bold, stop! Let him go!” Shining shouted as he tried to pull Bold away. Bold didn’t budge, his eyes were bloodshot with rage and his grip tightened even more. Then suddenly he threw the unicorn out of the door and untied Windy.

“Windy, Windy can you hear me? How did this happen…? How did they get you like this…?” Bold asked as he began to cry. Shining Armor looked at him and frowned before tending to the unicorn in the hall, who had several broken bones. Bold was covered in Windy’s blood and he held her gently and pulled her out of the chair and onto the floor. He used her blood to draw the rune to take them home. “Shining, get in here! We need to get Windy to the hospital!” he shouted sadly.

Shining re-entered the room and stood next to Bold. “You didn’t have to do that.” he said softly.

“Don’t start with me; if it was your wife in this chair you would have killed him.” Bold said as he activated the rune and teleported them directly to the throne room in the Crystal Empire. “Guards, we need assistance! Get a stretcher!” he shouted when they arrived. A couple of crystal guards walked in with a stretcher and quickly placed Windy on it and carried her to the infirmary and Bold followed her.

“Bold, after you are done with Windy I want to see you in my office.” Shining Armor said sternly.

“Yes sir.” Bold said before they rounded the corner. When they reached the infirmary Dr. Ray was there waiting for them.

“Bold, what the hay happened to her?!” Dr. Ray asked in shock as he got to work on Windy’s wounds.

“An interrogator. He… he was ruthless…” Bold said softly as Dr. Ray started to use his magic to clean up her blood stained coat.

“Is that your blood? Do I need to work on you next?” Dr. Ray asked.

“It’s all hers…” Bold said sadly as he sat down on one of the beds. “What’s the damage…?”

“She has multiple rope burns, multiple deep cuts and two hemorrhages. How did they capture her like that in the first place?”

“I don’t know… I found her this way...”

“Well, I have taken care of the damage but she will be down for a week.” Dr. Ray said as he sealed the last cut.

Bold stood up and walked over to her and held her hoof. “Windy… are you awake?”

Windy’s eyes fluttered open slowly. “Bold… where am I?” she asked weakly.

“You are in the Crystal Empire. We are back…”

“St-Star Scribe?”

“He escaped… but he is stuck here now. His horn is cracked so he can’t use his magic. Windy, how did they capture you like that?”

“I… I was taken in for a debrief… the two stallions I had tied up were at the desk… the rerouted me to interrogation… I tried to escape but… they used something that paralyzed me… it felt like I was zapped with lightning… it filled my body… then they dragged me down to that room and… and…” Windy explained as she started to cry.

Bold rubbed her hoof gently. “Shhh… it’s okay now… you are home… Just relax. I have to go talk to Shining Armor.” he said as he stood up.

Windy continued to cry as their hooves separated. “Bold… I’m sorry…” she whispered as he left.

Bold left the infirmary with tears in his eyes. He exhaled and sobbed a bit as he walked towards Shining Armor’s office. He recomposed himself outside of the door before he knocked. “Enter.” Shining Armor’s voice sounded from the other side.

Bold sighed, opened the door and entered the room. “Bold Character, reporting as requested…” he said softly as he closed the door and walked in front of the desk.

Shining Armor looked at him with cold eyes. “How is Windy?” he asked in a neutral tone.

Bold looked at the floor and a couple of tears dripped from his face. “She… she will be fine sir…” he said, expecting some sort of punishment to come next for what he did to the interrogator.

Shining Armor stood up and walked around the desk. Bold flinched and started to shake as he saw Shining Armor’s hooves in front of him. Shining Armor put a hoof on Bold’s chin and lifted his face so they were looking eye to eye. “I see… report to Princess Cadance in the throne room.” he said softly. “Dismissed.”

Bold gave him a salute before leaving his office and heading towards the throne room. When he arrived the throne room was empty, other than one guard at the door. “Where is Princess Cadance?” Bold asked quietly.

“In her quarter’s sir.” the guard responded stoically.

Bold gave the guard a salute and the guard returned the gesture. Bold then proceeded to walk to Princess Cadance’s quarters. When he arrived he gently knocked on the door like he did with Shining Armor’s office. “Come in.” Princess Cadance said happily. He opened the door and kept his head low as he walked into the room. “Bold, come in, come in. Have a seat.” she said gently.

Bold walked over to a cushion and sat on it softly. “Reporting as ordered your highness.” he said softly. Princess Cadance sat down behind him and started to brush his mane. This threw Bold off a bit, as he was not expecting to be groomed by the princess. “Princess, what are you doing?”

“I’m brushing your mane, it’s a mess.” she replied happily.

“I… you… okay… thank you…” Bold said in a confused tone. They remained silent for a little while as Cadance moved the brush through his mane slowly. “Princess… what is love…?” he asked suddenly.

Princess Cadance sighed softly. “Love is the most complicated of all emotions. It is the most dangerous one as well. It can change you into something terrible if you are in the wrong situation.” she said as she continued to crush his mane.

Bold sniffled a bit. “It can… make you… want to kill?” he asked sadly.

Princess Cadance stopped brushing his mane and set the brush down softly. She sat beside him and wrapped a wing over his back gently. “Yes…” she whispered. “What did you do Bold?”

“I… I didn’t… I mean…” he stammered sadly. “She was hurt… so much blood… and the interrogator… I’ll never forget the smile… on his face… I was SO ANGRY… I just… just…” He couldn’t say more. He just broke down, fell to the ground and started to cry.

Princess Cadance picked him up and hugged him tightly as he cried. “Shhh, shhhh… it’s okay… it’s okay…”

“I mangled him! I made sure of it! I didn’t… I didn’t want to kill him… I just… I was just too angry… I don’t know if I killed him… I don’t want to know… I don’t want to know…” he cried as he sobbed into her shoulder. Princess Cadance started to rub his back gently and hum a calming tune. After a while Bold spoke up again. “I’m sorry…”

“No, I’m sorry… I’m sorry you had to experience that kind of pain and anger… You two are on temporary leave for two months…”

Bold pushed away from her gently. “You… can’t do that… We are so close to catching Star Scribe! If he gets away he can regain his strength and then destroy that other land! I can’t let my emotions get in the way of doing my job!”

“It’s not negotiable. We can find Star Scribe from here; you have done your duty.” Princess Cadance insisted.

Bold stood up and turned around to face her. “Then I resign my commission. We will find him on our own.” he said stubbornly.

“The hell you will!” Sunny said as he landed on her balcony. He walked over to Bold and looked at him with a look of disappointment. “Don’t speak to your superiors like that, especially when they are trying to help you!” he scolded. “Now, I want you to report to the infirmary and keep our wounded troop company!”

Bold glared at Sunny with his one eye before giving him a salute and leaving the room. Sunny sighed once he was gone and looked at Princess Cadance. “I’m sorry for my sudden intrusion your highness, but I have some important news.”

Princess Cadance was looking at the door with a sad expression and didn’t hear what Sunny had said. “You shouldn’t be too hard on Bold… I know how he is feeling…” she said softly.

“Still, his parents and I have taught him to treat superiors with respect especially royalty.” Sunny explained. “What do you mean you know how he feels?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot about the time I spent worrying about Shining Armor when he was encased in Sombra’s shadow crystals.” she said with a smirk.

Sunny nodded. “I remember all too well. I was there when it happened… I was created when it happened. I’ll… I’ll apologize later…” he said quietly.

“So, the news?”

“Right! The news! Star Scribe’s tracks have been picked up by my scouts. We are following them with great intent and we should catch up to him within days.”

“Very good Sunny. Now I have a task for you.” Princess Cadance said with a smile.

****

Bold entered the infirmary and saw Windy sitting up in her bed. “Bold, you one eyed stallion! Get over here and give me a hug!” she said with a wide grin.

“Uh Dr. Ray, how much pain magic did you use on her?” Bold asked as he walked over and gave Windy a hug.

Dr. Ray chuckled. “Okay, so I was reading a report while I was using it and it got out of hoof. Sue me.” he said jokingly.

Windy laughed loudly and ruffled Bold’s mane. “So mister Cyclops, what is going on huh? When are we going to go back to hunting Star Scribe?” she asked with a slight slur.

“We aren’t… we have been relieved of duty for two month.” Bold said sadly.

Windy scoffed. “Ah, whaaaaat? That’s… that’s not faaaaair!” she whined sadly.

Bold couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. “I know it’s not but… it was an order from Princess Cadance… we are going home.”

“Well what about Jim and Courage? Are they home too?” she asked as she hugged Bold again.

Bold smiled and returned her hug. “No, they are here with us.” he said happily.

“What?! No way! That is awesome! Let’s go see them!” she said excitedly as she tried to get up.

Bold held her down lightly. “No, you are way too out of it.” he said with a chuckle.

“Tshk, ah, what? Nah… I’m fine really.” she said in protest.

“No you aren’t. I can prove it. Say, she sells sea shells by the sea shore.”

“She shells she shells by the she shore.” Windy replied quickly. “She I am totally fine…”

Bold chuckled a bit more and sat down in a chair next to the bed. “No, you aren’t. That wasn’t even close.” he said with a chuckle as he rubbed her hoof.

Windy grabbed him and pulled him close to her face. “Hey… hey… you should… you should do something for me…” she whispered softly.

“What?” Bold asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You should get me a strawberry banana shake… I have been craving one for so long…” she whispered.

“Why didn’t you just ask Dr. Ray for one?” he asked curiously.

“Psh, he’s old… it would take him forever. But I am sure you can get it really fast… bring back two straws…” she said with a wink.

Dr. Ray chuckled and Bold blushed. “Right… I’ll be right back.” Bold said as he stood up and turned walk out of the room.

Windy smacked his flank and said. “Remember, two straws.” she said with a wink.

Dr. Ray was all out laughing now and Bold was blushing as he left the room. He walked towards the mess hall when he heard shouting up ahead. “I told you, I am a captain of my local police force and I demand to talk to one of your leaders!” the voice shouted as a couple of guards stood in front of a door.

“Sir, our orders are to keep you two here. If the prince or princess wishes to speak to you then they will come here.” one of the guards stated.

Bold walked up to the door and saw Jim with an angry look on his face. “Attention!” he shouted to the guards. The guards immediately froze up and turned to salute Bold. “What is going on here?!”

“Sir, just keeping the guests in their quarter’s sir!” one of them said stoically.

“And you have done your job well! Now then, allow the guests to accompany me to the mess hall!” Bold ordered.

“But sir, our orders are…”

“I know what your orders are! But I am sure that they are allowed to leave their quarters to eat! Now, your new orders are to allow them to come with me!”

The guards both gave Bold a salute. “Yes sir!”

“Jim, Courage, come with me. I’ll make sure you get a good meal.” Bold said with a smile.

Jim walked out of the room and Courage followed soon after. After they got out of earshot of the guards Jim finally spoke up. “Thanks Bold. I was getting cabin fever… and a bit hungry too.” he said with a nervous chuckle.

“It’s no problem at all. How are you two doing?” Bold asked with a smile.

“Well, I am a bit nervous to tell the truth. It’s not every day you get taken to a place where everything is different. Courage hasn’t said a word since we got here so I had to ask the guards what had happened.” Jim explained.

Bold turned his head and looked at Courage with a concerned expression. “Are you okay Courage?” he asked worriedly. Courage didn’t say anything; he just kept his eyes on the ground. Bold stopped them and turned to Courage. “Courage, please tell me what is wrong.” he said in a caring tone.

Courage looked up to Bold and couldn’t help but stare at his eye patch. “How did that happen to your eye? I never asked that before…” he said softly.

Bold chuckled a bit. “This is Star Scribe’s work. Don’t worry about it. Now, what is wrong?”

Courage sighed softly. “I just don’t want to wake up…” he said quietly.

“Wake up? What do you mean?” Bold asked curiously.

Courage looked around and chuckled a bit. “From this amazing dream…” he said as he gestured around. Jim scoffed and walked over to Courage and poked his shoulder with his horn. “OW! What did you do… hey wait… that hurt! This isn’t a dream! This isn’t a dream!” Courage yelled happily.

Bold laughed a bit and started walking towards the mess hall again. “If you think that pain is a good way to confirm this isn’t a dream, wait until you taste the food.” he said as they started to move along again.

They arrived at the mess hall and found it to be empty, other than the cooks in the visible kitchen. Bold walked over to the head chef with a smile. “Hello there. Is there any way we could get something to eat?” he asked kindly.

“Yes of course! My cooks and I are ready to serve! What can I get you gentlecolts?” the head chef asked.

“I’ll have a strawberry banana smoothie and a crystal berry salad please. What do you two want?” Bold asked with a smile.

“Well… I’m not sure what there is to eat…” Courage said as he got closer to the head chef. “Are all the ponies here crystal like?” he asked as he poked the head chef.

Bold pulled Courage back a little bit. “Sorry about that. These two are from another country that is so far away that they have no clue what it is like here.” he explained.

The chef’s eyes beamed with joy. “Then I shall make them a meal they will never forget!” he said as he clapped his hooves together. “We will have your meal taken to your quarters. But you can have your smoothie now.” A cook came over with a tray that had the smoothie on it with a straw.

“Could I get another straw? And can you have the food sent to the infirmary with an extra salad please?” Bold asked politely.

“Yes, yes that is no problem.” the chef said as he grabbed Bold another straw. “Enjoy, and tell whoever you are bringing this smoothie to that I give them my best and hope they get well soon.”

“Thank you, very much.” Bold said as he levitated the straw into the smoothie. “Let’s head back to the infirmary.”

“Thank you very much for preparing our meals for us. I know how it is to be a servant.” Courage said kindly.

The chef turned back around to view the three. “Servant? No no, you misunderstand! Cooking is my passion, my life! I love cooking for the prince and princess and her guests and she pays me well for my work, for all our work.” he said happily.

Courage was severely confused. “I… I’m sorry that I implied otherwise. As Bold said, I do not understand how things work here fully.” he said apologetically.

“Oh not at all sir! Now, you go and enjoy your friends company and my chefs and I will get your food prepared!” the chef said happily as he got to work.

Courage turned to join his friends with a confused look on his face. “Let’s go to the infirmary. I… Let’s go.” he said as he gave them a smile.

Bold started to lead them to the infirmary at a brisk trot. “Something bother you Courage?” he asked in a concerned tone.

“No, something made me… happy? At least I think this is happiness, pure happiness. To hear the joy in that earth pony’s voice about what he did for a living. A living… he did that not only because he loved to do it, but because it is his job! He has a job! HA HA! Amazing!” Courage said with glee and he bounced along happily.

Bold and Jim let out a soft chuckle. “I’m glad you are happy Courage. You can stay here if you want… build a new life for yourself here.” Bold said with a smile as they reached the infirmary.

Windy was reclined in the bed and she looked much better. “Hey there guys! Oh it’s good to see you all made it here alright!” she said happily.

Courage and Jim rushed to her side and they both gave her a light hug. “Now now, don’t go swarming around her. She has a shake to enjoy with her little coltfriend here.” Dr. Ray said as he shooed them away.

“I really wish everyone would stop referring to me as ‘her little coltfriend’.” Bold said as he shook his head gently. He walked over to Windy and levitated the smoothie to her.

Windy giggled a bit and took it with her hooves. “Actually, the smoothie is for me. I just like having two straws.” she said as she moved the straws next to each other and took a sip. “Oh wow! This is great!” She took a large gulp of her smoothie and squeed.

The others chuckled as she drank her smoothie with joy. Bold sat down next to her and nuzzled her neck gently. “I am so glad that you are getting better.” he said softly.

Windy giggled a bit and pushed his head away. “Stop it. I’m trying to drink my smoothie. We’ll have a lot of time for that now that we have been put on leave.” she said in a slightly annoyed tone. “What did you say to get us taken off of this assignment anyway?”

“It’s not what I said… It’s what I did.” Bold said softly.

“Well what did you do? Must have been pretty bad to get us thrown off.” Windy said with a slight giggle.

Bold looked at Jim and sighed. “I mangled an interrogator in the other land…” Bold said softly.

“You did what?!” Windy and Jim said at the same time. Courage on the other hoof, was laughing.

They all turned to Courage and he stopped laughing. “Sorry, it’s just that the interrogator getting mangled seems a bit ironic.” he said with a blush.

“And well deserved… he had Windy sliced up like a carrot… I just… lost control when I saw her like that.” Bold explained.

“Awww, that’s so sweet Bold.” Windy said with a smile.

“I can’t believe you would do that Bold! After everything we have been through!” Jim said angrily.

“Jim, she was being tortured for no good reason! The only reason he had was that she was a pegasus! Expendable! Worthless in his eyes! Do you want to know what I saw?! I saw my marefriend being tortured! If it was somepony you cared about, you might have reacted the same way!” Bold said in a slightly angry tone.

Jim scoffed and started to pace. “You know you won’t be able to go back now right? Not unless you want to be thrown into prison for the rest of your life. Not that it would matter, you would probably just be able to teleport out or destroy the bars or whatever you wanted because of your damn magic…” he said softly.

“Me and my damn magic stopped Star Scribe from disintegrating your entire corrupt government! I’d say they owe us for saving their lives!” Bold was red with anger as he spoke. “After all I have done for you and your land! I put my life and her life on the line for you! I never should have! Maybe if your council had been killed then your land would have become peaceful! Maybe the skies would be cleared by the pegasi you enslave! Maybe the ground will be made fertile by the earth ponies that you ENSLAVE!” Bold’s horn started to glow and spark and a breeze started to flow through the room. “If we had never come then your land would burn! Perhaps it is what it deserves! No wonder Princess Celestia decided to abandon you!”

“Bold! Stop! You are taking it too far!” Windy shouted as Jim and the others looked at Bold with sheer terror.

Bold stamped a hoof on the ground, causing it to crack. He looked down at the ground and clenched his eyes shut. Everything began to settle down and Bold’s horn stopped sparking. “Damn Bold, I never seen you get so angry.” Sunny said as he walked into the room. “Glad to see it is possible though, wouldn’t want you to hold all that anger in.”

Bold scoffed and sat back down next to Windy. “Who are you?” Jim asked as he regained his composure.

“The name’s Sunny Plains. I lead and train the Dawn and Dusk teams and I am Bold’s commanding officer. And you are?” Sunny asked curiously.

“Jim Stanten. Captain of the police force in Catagar Province.” Jim said with a nod.

“Law enforcement eh? Bold was right to pick you to team up with. And you, what is your name?” Sunny asked as he gestured to Courage.

“Courage sir…” Courage said softly.

“Hmm, a bit shy… but you have a strong body and a strong heart. A pleasure to meet you.” Sunny said happily. “Now then, I have a few questions for you two before I leave for your world with Shining Armor. Firstly, what kind of opposition can I expect with me being a pegasi?”

“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure anymore. Just expect to be treated like a lesser being.” Jim explained.

“What do you mean you aren’t sure?” Sunny asked.

“I mean, after Courage saved the lives of our council I am sure they will be in the process of changing a few things…” Jim explained. “If they aren’t, then they need to have their heads examined.”

“Right, well I’ll leave that up to your leaders. As a unicorn, Shining Armor is much larger than a common unicorn. Will that hinder him at all?” Sunny asked.

“No, in fact it will probably help him. Larger unicorns are often treated as nobles even if they aren’t. I suspect if you tell the council that he is a prince from this land then I am sure they will take everything he has to say very seriously. They wouldn’t want to incite a conflict between our world and yours. Especially considering the vast power your unicorns hold.” Jim said with a slight tone of worry as he looked at Bold.

Sunny looked at Bold as well. “Yes, quite a bit of power. Well I thank you for your answers. I just need to know one more thing. Who am I taking with me?”

“Just me.” Jim said. “Bold, Windy, Courage, thank you for your help. Don’t worry about Robert; I’ll be sure he returns with Sunny and your prince.”

“Thank you Jim, good luck.” Windy said kindly.

Bold stood up and walked over to Jim and held out his hoof for a hoof shake. “Yes, good luck Jim. I’m sorry about the problems that I have caused.” he said apologetically.

“You solved more problems than you caused friend. It was an honor working with you.” Jim said sincerely as he shook Bold’s hoof. He then walked over to Jim and smiled. “Make sure you enjoy your freedom Courage. I am sure you will make the most of it.” he said happily.

Courage smiled and nodded. “Thank you Jim. Good luck.”

“Yes well, let’s get going. Shining Armor is waiting.” Sunny said as he walked to the door. Jim nodded and followed him out of the room.

“Bye Jim!” Windy shouted happily. “So Courage, what are your plans anyway? What do you want to do?”

“I haven’t decided yet… work is all I know really. Know anywhere I can work?” Courage asked with a soft smile.

“I know an apple orchard that could use the help of a strong stallion such as yourself. Windy, what say you to going back to Ponyville?” Bold asked with a smile.

“Going back to Ponyville huh? I think that would be okay but… I don’t have a place to stay.” Windy said with a blush.

“Of course you have a place to stay, my place. That goes for you too Courage.” Bold said happily. “Come on, we have two months leave! Let’s have some fun with it!”

Windy couldn’t help but giggle at his enthusiasm. “Dr. Ray, am I well enough to travel?”

“Dear, you are well enough to take strolls around the park if you wanted to. Just keep strolls through the park as the most that you do. Don’t do too much.” Dr. Ray said insistently.

Courage was backing up slowly. “W-wait… how will we be getting there? We aren’t going to fly or anything are we?” he asked worriedly.

“No no no, we will take the train. You don’t have any problems with that do you?” Bold asked in a concerned tone.

“No, I am just afraid of heights…” Courage said softly.

“That’s okay buddy, we won’ be going anywhere high. Windy, let’s get your things together.” Bold said with a smile.

Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Reprieve

“So your name is Courage huh?” Whirl asked with a smile as he shook Courage’s hoof. “That’s a great name. You should be proud to carry it.”

“It’s an honor to hear that from somepony like you… I think… Bold has told me all about you… well mostly…” Courage stammered as the train rolled out of the station again.

“I’m sure my son did him justice.” Derpy said with a smile as she hugged Bold. “My big stallion, back home at last.”

“Awww mom, don’t get all sappy.” Bold said with a blush as he hugged his mother. “It’s good to home though. I take it you got my message about my friends staying with us?”

“Yes! We already have the guest room ready, but we don’t have more than one.” Derpy said with a slightly concerned tone.

“Windy can sleep with me in my room.” Bold said reassuringly.

Whirl looked at Windy with a smile. “A fine young mare you have there Bold, keep her safe.” he said with a serious tone.

Windy giggled a bit. “With all due respect Mr. Wind; I can take care of myself. I believe I have proved myself to Bold once or twice.” she said as she gave Bold a wink.

“Father, if you think I am good with my magic, wait until you see her combat skills.” Bold said with a chuckle.

“Well, why wait? Let’s get going. Courage, I think you should watch this.” Whirl said with a smile.

“If I see ONE bruise on any of you, then I will tie you to your bed until they go away.” Derpy said sternly.

Bold and Whirl both gave nervous chuckles and rubbed the backs of their necks in unison. Windy laughed a bit at their synchronization. “Oh yes, they are father and son indeed!” she said gleefully.

Derpy gave a small laugh as well and looked at Courage. “Courage dear, we hired a special carriage for you and Bold to take. He included, in detail, the world you came from and we want to make sure that you get all the comforts you deserve.” she said kindly.

Courage smiled softly and looked at Derpy with a friendly expression. “Thank you Mrs. Derpy. I will only take up your offer because you have already paid, but from here on out I would like to be treated as an equal. Please, I have been treated differently my entire life and for once I want to feel… just like an average pony.” he said sincerely.

Derpy smiled and gave him a gentle nudge. “I know EXACTLY what you mean.” she said kindly.

“Well then, let’s get going Courage. Mom, dad, Windy, I will see you at home.” Bold said with a grin as he walked out of the station with Courage.

Windy and the others took off to fly to Bold’s house as Bold and Courage boarded the carriage. “Thank you for transporting us sir.” Courage said kindly.

“It’s what I do sir. And I love doing what I do.” the earth pony stallion replied as they started to pull them to Bold’s home.

Courage looked around as they rode through town. His mouth was open constantly in awe. “Bold… everything here… it’s so… simple.” he said softly. “I don’t mean that in a bad way either. This… this is the life I have always dreamed of… simple… just the basics… the pure simple basics… not what we want but what we need… and we gain that through cooperation… and kindness… how amazing this place is.”

“I can only wish your world was like that. I wish that you didn’t have to go through what you did. In the end all you can do is learn from it and never treat others how you were treated.” Bold said sincerely.

“I’m not sure I understand what you two are talking about, but I wanted to let you know that we will arrive to our destination in about five minutes.” the taxi stallion said happily.

“Thank you sir.” Bold replied politely. “Courage, look over there in the distance. That is Sweet Apple Acres, where I hope to get you a job.” he said as he pointed on the horizon.

Courage looked at Sweet Apple Acres with a smile. “It looks wonderful. And the sky is so clear, so… blue! I have to tell you, I had never seen the sun or the sky before. It is quite beautiful!” he said with a chuckle.

“What did you live under a rock?” the taxi stallion asked jokingly as they arrived at Bold’s home.

“No, I was a slave under the rule of oppressive unicorns in a land where the sun doesn’t shine.” Courage said as he disembarked. “Don’t worry, I did not take offence at your words. You didn’t know.”

The taxi stallion looked at Courage with a frown. “I should still apologize, my words were ill spoken. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted. Thank you very much for taking us to our destination.” Courage said as Bold got off of the taxi. The taxi rode off down the dirt path and Courage turned to Bold with a smile.

“You are quite forgiving Courage. Had he said that to me I might have been furious.” Bold said with a chuckle.

“I cannot get upset whenever somepony something about my past, especially when they don’t know anything about my past.” Courage explained as Whirl, Windy and Derpy landed in front of the house.

“Ack, you were right Derpy… they got here first.” Whirl said in a slightly irritated tone. “I’ll pay up later.”

“Pay up? What does he mean?” Courage asked curiously.

“Occasionally my parents bet each other fifty bits on random things. It was one of the things that brought them closer together before they got married so they do it to keep growing closer.” Bold explained.

“Awww! Bold you have such a sweet family.” Windy said as she nudged Bold’s shoulder.

Bold smiled and nodded. “Yeah, they are pretty awesome.” he said as he watched his parents nuzzle one another.

“So, where do we go to fight? I am rearing to get started.” Windy said with a giggle.

Those words got Whirl’s attention. “Right! Training room! Follow me!” Whirl said as he gave Derpy a kiss on the cheek and bounded towards their training room. The others followed quickly behind. They entered the large room that Windy and Courage couldn’t help but look all around. “Put on some safety gear Bold! Let’s give them an example of how we fight!” Whirl said happily as he started to strap on his safety gear.

“I see mom made us a full set. I don’t blame her after I hit your face last time.” Bold said with a chuckle.

Courage and Windy took a seat at the ring side and watched as Bold and Whirl took their positions. “Bold, you have three staves…” Whirl said in a curious tone.

“Yes father. If you want to beat me, you are going to have to work for it.” Bold said as he spun the staves slowly with his magic.

Whirl smirked. “No more holding back then. May I have the first move?” he asked politely.

“By all meWHAO!” Bold exclaimed as Whirl leaps forward with immense speed. He barely managed to deflect the blow as Whirl flew up in the air and started to attack with extreme speed. Bold and Whirl were all over the room and Whirl kept Bold on the ropes as he blocked and deflected every blow. But Bold was getting increasingly tired of being on the defense and decided to switch to offense. The next time Whirl flew by, Bold caught his wing with two of his staves and stopped him mid-air and sent him crashing to the ground.

“Hold! Augh! Wait! I think you dislocated my wing!” Whirl called out as he rolled on the ground in pain.

Bold ran over and helped his father onto his belly. Whirl’s wing was indeed dislocated. “Alright, you know what I have to do dad. Stay still.” Bold said as he stood over his father. Whirl nodded as Bold’s magic enveloped Whirl’s wing. Bold jerked his head upward and a popping noise sounded throughout the room just before Whirl cried out in pain again. “There we go, realigned and ready to be patched. Go put some ice on it.” Bold said with a chuckle as he helped Whirl up.

Whirl nodded and stepped off to the side. “Who’s next?” he asked with a chuckle.

Courage quickly pointed at Windy. “Thanks for volunteering me Courage.” Windy said sarcastically as she got some safety equipment on. She stepped into the ring with Bold as Whirl got an ice pack from their emergency kits. “Alright Bold, show me what you got!”

Bold swung a stave and suddenly lost track of Windy as she dashed off. Windy easily took out Bold’s legs and swept Bold onto the floor before pinning him down with her stave and giving him a gentle kiss on the lips. “Not fair… you are too beautiful… you distracted me…” Bold said with a chuckle.

Windy’s expression softened. “Awww, Bold you WAAA!” she yelled as Bold flipped her over and pinned her to the floor with all three staves. “You cheater! You distracted me!” she shouted as she struggled on the floor.

“Yield.” Bold said simply as he walked to the side of the arena and took a drink. Whirl was laughing and clapping his hooves and Courage was snickering a little as well.

Windy finally loosened up and sighed. “I yield…” she said softly.

Bold levitated the staves away and set them aside. “Now all that is left is Courage. Come on; I won’t use any staves.” he offered kindly.

Whirl stood up and put his helmet onto Courage. “Come on, you can do it.” he said encouragingly.

Courage smiled and stood up. Whirl helped him strap on his safety gear and then helped Courage get into a combat position. “Okay… I’m ready.” he said softly.

Bold smiled and approached slowly. “You can have the first strike.” he offered as he continued to walk forward.

Courage swung the stave clumsily and it barely made contact with Bold’s safety gear. “Sorry! Did I hurt you?!” he asked worriedly.

Bold shook his head. “Not even close. You have strength, you have… built up anger even. Let it out. Pretend I am a unicorn that is bossing you around… servant.” he said as he tried to strike a nerve.

That seemed to do it too as Courage let out a loud yell as swung violently at Bold. Bold dodged and ducked as Courage swung violently. One misstep caused Bold to take a hit to his face mask and he fell to the ground. Courage didn’t stop however as he pounded the stave against Bold’s chest with strong hits. Bold was completely winded and he couldn’t move as blow after blow knocked the wind out of him. “Courage stop! You got him!” Windy shouted. The words didn’t reach him though as he continued to slam Bold’s chest. Just as Bold passed out, Whirl grabbed the stave and stopped the next blow. Windy quickly pulled Bold to the side and started to resuscitate him.

Courage shook his head and started to breath heavily. He looked around and then noticed Windy breathing into Bold’s mouth. “Oh gosh… I… I’m sorry…” Courage said sadly.

“It’s okay Courage, Bold can handle it. He let you do that you know, so that you could let out your anger. He didn’t count on you hitting his chest over and over but it was a risk he was willing to take.” Whirl said in a reassuring voice. “He will be fine. This isn’t the first time he has passed out during practice.”

Bold coughed and took in a deep breath. “Whoa… wha… what happened…? Ah right… good job Courage… *cough* You have one hell of a strike…” he said with a coughing chuckle.

Windy helped him up with a smile. “Easy, easy…” she said softly as she carried him off to the side as he coughed.

Bold unstrapped his chest protection and let out a sigh of relief. “Good… no bruise.” he said with a chuckle.

“Yeah not on you, but my wing is definitely bruised at the joint.” Whirl said as he took off the ice pack, revealing a dark purple spot at his wing joint.

Bold let out a loud laugh and he coughed violently. “I got you *cough* good! Ah ha *cough*!”

“Now I see the darker side of your family. You two are stuck on hurting each other.” Windy said jokingly.

Whirl shook his head. “Nah, it was my fault. I put him in the position where he could have done only that to stop me.” he said with a chuckle. “I have to admit that Sunny has trained him far better than I have.”

Bold let out a cough and Windy rubbed his back. “You alright Bold?” she asked softly.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just need a moment… *cough*” Bold wheezed.

Courage was staring at the ground with a guilty expression. “Gosh Bold… I am sorry I took it so far…” he said in an apologetic tone.

Bold chuckled and coughed. “It’s okay… you got me good! That was the *cough* point…”

Courage chuckled a little bit. “I did get you good huh…? I’ll try to go easier on you next time though.”

“Just be sure not to go easy on somepony who deserves it. I mean REALLY deserves it.” Windy said sternly.

“Well, let’s head inside before Derpy thinks one of us is dead and we are trying to hide the evidence.” Whirl said jokingly.

They left the training room and went inside the house. “There you are! I was wondering when you were going to get in. I have dinner made for all of you; I hope you all like cucumber sandwiches.” Derpy said happily as she set the plate of sandwiches on a small table in the center of the den. She then flew back to the kitchen and flew back with a tray of iced tea.

Everypony sat down in different chairs and took a sandwich. “Hmmm, cucumber sandwiches…” Courage said before he took a bite. “Mmmm! This is good! What is it made of?” he asked as he flipped through the sandwich.

“Bread and cucumbers Courage.” Derpy said with a smile. “Very basic, but very good.”

“What is a cucumber? Is it a type of fruit?” Courage asked excitedly as he took another bite.

“It’s a type of vegetable. Pretty good huh?” Windy asked with a giggle as she finished her sandwich.

“Amazing is more I like it!” Courage said happily.

“Well I am really happy that you like it.” Derpy said with a smile.

“So Courage, what did you do for fun in the other world?” Whirl asked curiously.

“I used to see how many times I could avoid getting beaten in one day…” Courage responded quietly.

Derpy smacked Whirl upside his head. “Remember what Bold’s letter said?” she asked in an irritated tone.

“No need to worry Courage. We are going to go and see Applejack right now.” Bold said as he finished his sandwich and stood up.

“N-Now? Do we have to? I… I don’t think I am ready…” Courage said nervously.

“You are more than ready. Trust me.” Bold said with a smile as he helped Courage up. “Windy, stay here and relax. We already disobeyed the doctors order by having you fight against me in the training room.” he said with a nervous chuckle.

Windy nodded in agreement. “The doctor told you not to do stuff like that and you did it anyway? Oh dearie, are you alright? Do you hurt anywhere?” Derpy asked in a worried tone. “Whirl, carry her to Bold’s room now and I will get her something to relax with.”

“Mrs. Derpy, I’m fine. I can make it to Bold’s room with no worries.” Windy said as she stood up. It was true that she was a bit sore all over from the extra movement, but she shrugged it off and went to Bold’s room with Derpy close behind.

“Dad, when I get back I will want to know how well the Dusk and Dawn teams have been doing.” Bold said as he and Courage walked out of the house.

Windy walked over to Bold’s bed immediately and collapsed on it with a groan of pain. “Oh I swear…” she said softly.

“Oh Windy dear! Are you alright?!” Derpy asked in a concerned tone.

“Y-yeah… just really sore… I have to keep tough around Bold…” Windy explained with another groan of pain.

“Oh no you don’t! Not if you are in so much pain!” Derpy insisted as she helped Windy relax in the bed. “Did he tell you that you had to do that? I’ll kill him! How could he do that to y---“

“Mrs. Derpy, I chose to do that! I just… I don’t want him to think less of me… you know?” Windy said softly as she rolled over on her belly and buried her face into Bold’s pillows.

Derpy sat down on the bed next to her and rubbed her back gently. “Listen dear, Bold loves you. I can tell. He loves you for who you are, no matter who or what that may be.” she said kindly.

“I know but… what if we are wrong? What if he sees me like this and thinks I am too weak for him? I know it’s unlikely because of how kind, sweet, amazing and awesome he is but… the thought still lingers…” Windy said softly.

“What did he do when he saw you in that interrogation chamber?” Derpy asked with a smirk.

“How did you know about that?” Windy asked curiously.

“Sunny also sent us a letter and explained Bold’s… well… reaction.” Derpy said with a frown. “I am not thrilled to hear that my colt is capable of mangling some random pony, but once I heard why he did it I understood perfectly. Whirl would have done the same thing if they would have done that to me.”

Windy nodded slowly and took her face out of the pillow with a sigh. “Thank you…” she said softly.

****

Meanwhile, Bold and Courage had reached Sweet Apple Acres, but they were still outside of the front entrance. “Come on Courage, there is no reason to be nervous. They are my friends and they will treat you as such.” Bold said reassuringly.

“Bold I can’t. I am just too scared…” Courage said as he turned away.

“No, you are not leaving. You are at least going to say---“ Bold started before he was cut off by a familiar voice.

“Well howdy!” Applebloom said as she peeked over the short wall. “Bold, yer back! Good to see ya in one piece, well mostly. What happened to yer eye?” she said as she nudged his shoulder. “And who’s this… handsome stallion?”

Courage blushed at being called handsome. “M-My name is Courage miss… um… I never got your name…” he said nervously.

“Applebloom at your service!” she said proudly. “Yall come on in and we’ll treat ya right with some apple cider from our special stash.”

Bold wrapped a hoof around Courage’s neck and started to lead him towards the house. “Sure, we have some things to discuss with Applejack and Big Macintosh anyway. Are they around?” he asked as he continued to drag Courage to the house.

“Yeah, ah’ll get them from the orchard for a break.” Applebloom said as she dashed off into the orchard. “APPLEJACK! BIG MACINTOSH! GET YER FLANKS BACK HOME! WE HAVE COMPN’Y!” she shouted as her voice became fainter as she got farther.

“See, nice ponies huh?” Bold asked with a smile.

Courage was shaking a bit as they walked but he nodded as they entered the Apple family home. “Yeah… she was er… nice…” he said quietly.

Not long after they sat down the others came in with smiles on their faces. “Well bust my apples on a hot summer road, Bold is here! Welcome back!” Applejack said happily. “We are thrilled at the work yall have been doing, right Big Mac?”

“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh said happily.

“And yall did bring a friend! Courage, right? Pleasure to meet ya!” Applejack said as she shook Courage’s hoof vigorously. Courage pulled his hoof away, unsure of what Applejack’s intentions were. He looked a bit frightened at the sight of Big Macintosh but calmed down slightly when he saw they were all earth ponies. “Ah’m sorry sugar cube, ah didn’t mean to frighten yall.” Applejack said as she noticed Courage’s reaction.

Courage let out a sigh and shook his head. “Sorry I am so fearful of others…” he said softly. “I’ll try to adjust a bit quicker.”

“Now don’t yall go changin’ fer us. We think yer fine just the way ya are.” Applebloom said with a wink. “Let me get that cider ah promised earlier.” she said as she walked into the kitchen.

Applejack and Big Macintosh took a seat nearby. “So, what brings yall to our fine orchard today?” Applejack asked calmly, trying to keep from frightening Courage again.

“I was wondering if you had some work for my friend Courage here. You see, he is not from around here. In fact he is from a place so different and cruel that he is a bit… well you have seen.” Bold explained. Courage blushed a bit and Bold continued. “He just needs a job until we can find something else for him to do.”

“Say no more. We’d be happy to give ya some work until ya get on yer hooves again. Isn’t that right Big Macintosh.” Applejack said happily.

“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh replied with a smile.

Courage smiled a bit, but kept his gaze low. “Quite the shy one aren’t ya?” Applejack asked sympathetically. “I’m not sure what it is like where ya came from, but let me tell you that you won’t find a better place to work. Applebloom, where’s the cider at?! Just wait till yall try our cider. That’ll perk ya up.”

Applebloom came back into the room with five mugs of cider balanced on her head. “You try to balance five mugs on yer head and see how easy it is!” she said as she placed the tray on the table.

Courage took his mug last and looked at it with an unsure expression. “It’s… really bubbly…” he said as he looked at it.

“I propose a toast, to Courage. May his work here be productive and educational.” Bold said as he held up his mug.

“Here here!” Applejack said as they all lifted their mugs.

Courage held his up before quickly bringing it down again and taking a sip. His eyes widened and he up-ended the mug, quickly drinking every drop. He set the mug down and let out a gasp of air. “Wow! That was! Wow!” he said happily.

“There ya are, nice and happy! Ah knew that the cider would do the trick!” Applejack said happily. “Now let’s get you outside and start you off on something easy. Ah gotta say, it’ll be nice to have another stallion as big as Big Mac working round here.”

“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh said as he stood up. “Ah’ll take him down to the east orchard and get him started.”

Courage stood up as well and walked over to Big Macintosh. “Are… are all earth ponies so… nice?” he asked Big Macintosh.

“Nope. Ah have met one or two unkind earth ponies in my day. But yall will find that a majority of us are kind.” Big Macintosh responded as he led Courage out of the house.

Bold watched them leave and let out a sigh of relief when they were gone. “Thank you Applejack, Applebloom… I owe you all.” he said with a smile.

“Ya don’t owe us a thing. Applebloom here explained what you and yer team have been doing at night. Once the gangs were dispersed, Ponyville finally returned to normal. If anything, we owe you.” Applejack said happily.

“Well, I am on leave right now. I won’t be out at night.” Bold said a bit sadly. “I guess I’ll have to get used to being a civilian again.”

Applebloom giggled a bit. “Well good. That means ah won’t have to be worried about getting knocked out again at night.”

Bold chuckled and blushed. “Yeah, sorry about that. You shouldn’t have been out so late though while gangs were roaming the street.”

“Ah’m with Bold on this one. Yall should have known better.” Applejack said sternly. “Well, ah should get back to work. It was nice see’n ya Bold. Stop by anytime.” she said as she walked out of the house.

“So Bold, is Courage uh… single?” Applebloom asked curiously.

“Umm, I think so but… he may be a bit old for you.” Bold said with a chuckle. “Actually, I don’t know too much about him at all. Well, other than the fact that he is kind and loyal.”

“And handsome…” Applebloom said dreamily.

“Wow, you are really crushing hard aren’t you?” Bold asked with a chuckle.

Applebloom blushed and got a bit upset. “No! Of course ah’m not! He’s just nice is all…”

“Nice and handsome?” Bold asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah…” Applebloom replied dreamily. “But not anything special!” she quickly tried to correct.

“Apple-bloom and Cour-age sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” Bold said jokingly.

“Stop it!” Applebloom said as she pounced at him.

Bold quickly grabbed her and pined her to the ground gently so he wouldn’t hurt her. “Oh stop it. I’m only playing around. So what if you like him? I’m not afraid to say that I love Windy and I am younger than you.” he said with a slight laugh.

“Well it’s easier for you! You’ve had somepony else with you all yer life!” Applebloom protested. “Ah’ve never been on a date before! Ah’ve never held somepony before!” she said sadly.

“Well, now’s your chance. Don’t waste it.” Bold said simply.

Applebloom stood up and dusted herself off. “Ah won’t! Ah’ll go out there right now and tell him how ah feel!” she said as she started to walk out.

Bold grabbed her tail and shook his head. “Not yet, he still has to adjust to life here first. You saw how he reacted to Applejack simply shaking his hoof. Imagine how he would react if you just walk out there and tell him all that.” he said with a slight frown.

“Alright, alright…” Applebloom said stubbornly. “Ah’ll make sure Big Mac has him work with me tomorrow.”

“Good idea, just remember… go slow.” Bold said with a smile. “I think it is time for me to get going home. Tell Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo I said hello and that I hope that they are doing well.”

Applebloom gave him a quick hug. “Thank ya fer stoppin’ bah.” she said happily as she broke away from the hug.

Bold smiled and nodded before walking out of the house. He took a quick look around and saw Big Macintosh pointing at a tree while Courage looked at it carefully. Courage said something before turning around and bucking the tree hard with his hind legs. The tree shook and apples fell into the baskets. Courage seemed pretty happy and so did Big Macintosh as they went to the next tree. Bold couldn’t help but smile before he left and started to walk home. “Bold! Hey Bold!” Windy shouted as she trotted up to him. She stopped for a second and winced in pain before walking a bit more slowly.

“Windy! You should be resting!” Bold said in an irritated tone as they reached each other.

“That’s why I am here in town. I figured we could go to the spa together.” Windy explained.

“The spa? I didn’t know you were such a softie.” Bold teased.

“I didn’t know you were so thick.” Windy retorted with a smirk.

“Ohh, that was a good one. Alright you win, let’s go.” Bold said as he started to walk to the spa.

Windy flapped her wings and glided up next to Bold. She landed and walked along with him. “Wow, that was easier than I thought.” she said with a chuckle.

“Well, you retorted well enough that I had no choice but to surrender.” Bold said with a slight laugh. “In any case, this leave is for you.”

“This leave is for us. Or did you forget about your eye?” Windy asked jokingly.

“Yeah yeah, my eye. It was burned shut. I was lucky enough to just have to wear this eye patch for a few months.” Bold said with a chuckle. “You however, suffered severe cuts across your body. If you agitate those wounds you could be in for months of bed rest.”

“I know! Why do you think I want to relax with a nice massage and some time in the sauna?” Windy asked.

“Why do you think I didn’t argue?” Bold asked with a wink.

There was a moment of silence before Windy finally spoke up. “So… you said yes just because I was the one who asked?” she asked softly.

“Yes.” Bold said simply.

Windy remained silent for a moment before she leaned against Bold and wrapped a wing over his back. “Such a sweetie…” she said as she kissed his cheek.

“I know.” Bold said in the same simple tone.

“An arrogant sweetie, but a sweetie none the less.” Windy said with a giggle.

Bold laughed a bit as they arrived at the spa. “Oh welcome to our spa. My name is Lotus and this is Aloe. What can we do for you today?” Lotus asked as Windy and Bold walked through the door.

“Kind of empty to day huh? Well, I can give you both something to do. Give us the full package. Everything you have to offer.” Bold said with a smile. “Just put it on my father’s account here. His name is Whirl Wind.”

“Oh! Your father is Whirl Wind?! Then it is on the house! That stallion has been coming here every month with his wife for years!” Aloe said happily.

“I agree! Come with us and we will treat you and your marefriend proper.” Lotus said in a tone that matched Aloe’s.

Windy and Bold followed them back into another room. “Come come, lay down on your stomach on these beds.” Aloe instructed. They both got onto beds that were right next each other. The spa ponies immediately got to work on massaging Bold and Windy’s backs softly. “So, what happened to your eye there?” Aloe asked curiously as she kneaded Bold’s back.

“Occupational incident.” Bold replied softly.

“Oh my, what do you do for a living?” Lotus asked in a concerned tone.

“We hunt down criminals and ohhhh… that’s the spot…” Windy said in an extremely relaxed tone as she melted into the bed.

“We hunt down criminals and lock them away.” Bold finished for Windy. “Our most recent mission was… dangerous.”

“And it must have been pretty decent on the work load. You seem to have a lot of tension in your back.” Aloe said as she pressed hard against Bold’s back.

Bold let out a slight grunt of pain. “Well… I survived an explosion… ungh… and fought against a insane criminal… ohhh… with an insane ability to use maAHAHgic…” he explained as Aloe pressed harder and harder.

“Sorry if you feel discomfort…” Aloe said softly as she kneaded his back a bit more gently. “This should feel a bit better.”

Bold sighed contently and closed his eyes. “Oh yes…” he said softly.

“So did you catch him?” Lotus asked as she started to pat her hooves on Windy’s back.

“No… he got away and we were taken off of the case…” Bold said sadly. “It is up to the others to take care of it now…”

“You don’t sound too thrilled about that.” Aloe noticed.

“I’m not… it means that I am not good enough to do the job…” Bold said with a sigh.

“Or it could mean that they think you have done well enough and they can easily take care of finding him on their own.” Lotus suggested.

“I like Lotus’ suggestion. Maybe they just felt we deserved a break for all the hard work we have done.” Windy said happily.

“Maybe… it doesn’t really matter now… augh… I might just fall asleep from being too relaxed…” Bold said with a yawn.

Aloe and Lotus giggled a bit. “That just means we are doing our job well, thank you.” Aloe said happily. “Now we are going to put on a mud mask over your face. Just stay relaxed and keep your eyes closed.”

Windy closed her eyes and felt a wet sticky paste apply to her face. Once her face was covered she felt two circles cover her eyes. “Eaugh… feels weird.” she said in a disgusted tone.

Bold chuckled a bit and felt himself being rolled onto his back. “Just relax and we will be back in a moment.” Lotus said as her and Aloe walked out of the room.

“So, are you enjoying yourself so far?” Bold asked happily.

“I didn’t think it would be so weird.” Windy replied with a giggle. “I’m glad you came with me Bold. It is nice to spend some time with you when we aren’t training or on duty. Let’s me see the real you, you know?”

“But you can’t see me right now.” Bold said jokingly.

“And I see you have a terrible sense of humor.” Windy said as she threw a cucumber slice from her eye. It plopped against Bold’s face with a slight smack and stuck to it. “Whopse… sorry about that Bold. I didn’t mean to actually hit you with it.”

Bold leaned up in his bed and took off the one cucumber slice from his eye and tossed it back at Windy. It stuck to her nose and they both laughed as Lotus and Aloe walked back in. “Those are supposed to stay on your eyes you silly ponies.” Aloe said playfully as she walked over to them. “I take it the mud masks didn’t go over so well?” she asked as she started to wipe Windy’s face off.

“Not exactly relaxing, but my face does feel super soft.” Windy said as she rubbed a hoof on her face.

Bold chuckled a bit and rubbed his face as well. “That’s cool. So, what’s next?” he asked Aloe.

“A nice time in the sauna and maybe a dip in an herbal bath?” Aloe offered with a smile.

“Oh that sounds wonderful.” Windy said excitedly.

“Oh wait! How about a seaweed wrap first? A lot of customers are satisfied with our seaweed wraps!” Lotus offered excitedly.

“Oh yes yes! You must try it!” Aloe said as she and Lotus lead them to the next room. They positioned Windy and Bold in front of two tubs full of mud and pulled out a large quantity of seaweed.

“O-okay…” Windy said in an unsure tone as Lotus began to wrap her.

“Feels snug.” Bold said with a chuckle as Aloe wrapped him.

When they were fully wrapped Lotus and Aloe took their hooves and gently guided them into the mud bath. “Careful now. Try to keep the cucumbers on this time.” Aloe said with a giggle as she let go of Bold’s hoof.

Windy was a bit more reluctant about getting into the mud. “No wait… please…” she said in a worried voice.

“What is it miss…? Oh my we never got their names.” Lotus said with a giggle.

“Windy, are you alright?” Bold asked worriedly as he levitated the cucumber slice off of his eye. He saw that Windy was shaking a bit.

“Bold I can’t do this one… please take off the seaweed… take it off!” Windy said as she started to panic a bit.

Bold used his magic to tear the seaweed off of her and looked up to her from the mud. “Windy, what’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.

Windy sat down and took some deep breaths. “Windy dear, are you claustrophobic?” Lotus asked with a frown.

“Am I what?” Windy asked in a confused tone as she let out a deep breath.

“Are you afraid of confined spaces?” Bold asked as he slowly got out of the tub.

Aloe started to rinse Bold off as Windy began to calm down. “Not that I know of…” Windy replied softly.

“It’s okay Windy, no one here would make fun of you.” Lotus assured.

Windy looked at Bold with a frown. “I… let’s go to the sauna… I’d prefer to tell you in private… nothing personal ladies…” she said softly.

Aloe and Lotus nodded in unison and lead them to the sauna. “Just call for us if you need anything.” Lotus said as she shut the door.

Bold laid on the bench next to Windy so their bodies touched. “So?” he asked worriedly.

Windy sighed and laid her head down. “I… I don’t want you to think less of me…” she said softly.

“Impossible… you can tell me Windy… I will not think any less than you.” he assured her.

Windy rubbed her head up against his and whimpered a bit. “When I was young… I was so alone… no parents… no friends… a gang had me cornered…. I was so scared… I saw a small crack in between two houses… I squeezed in as fast as I could but I got stuck half way through… I couldn’t move at all… everything was stuck… I called out for help only to feel one of the gang members yank at my tail… but they couldn’t get me out either… but if they would have…” she explained before she started to cry.

Bold nuzzled her softly. “It’s okay… it’s okay…” he said softly.

“They were going to use me, Bold… use me in… sexual ways… but then I heard another voice… it was Sunny… but I didn’t know who it was at the time… I heard yelling and screaming before the gang ran away… then Sunny spoke in such a soft and caring tone that it calmed me down… he eventually got me out by lowering a rope for me to grab and he pulled me out. I thought that I was over it after that but I guess not…” she said sadly as she wiped away a tear.

“Windy, do you want to know what my fear is?” Bold asked caringly as he nuzzled her neck. “I am absolutely terrified of dough.”

Windy let out a sniffling laugh. “Dough? Like unbaked bread dough?”

“The very same dough. When I was just a colt of no more than one year, my mother left some on the counter. At the time my magic was undeveloped and undisciplined. I levitated to dough over me and it fell right on top of me. I couldn’t breathe at all and if felt like it was going to crush me. Thank goodness my mother came back in and took it off of me before I passed out. To this day I am terrified of dough… and my mother never made bread again!” he finished with a laugh.

Windy laughed a bit as well and wrapped a wing over his back. “Thank you Bold…” she said softly.

“It’s no problem… fears are a part of life…” Bold said as he placed his head on her neck. “I love you…”

“I love you too Bold.” she replied as more steam flooded the room.

They sat there in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company and the steam from the sauna. After a while a knock on the door interrupted the silence. Bold leaned his head up with a raised eyebrow. “Yes?” he asked to answer the knock.

The door opened up and Aloe stuck her head in. “Hello, sorry to disturb you but you have been in here for three hours. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” she said in a concerned tone.

Windy giggled a bit. “Has it really been three hours? Wow, let’s get out of the sauna and enjoy another spa treatment, shall we?” she asked as she stood up and helped Bold onto his hooves. They both felt a bit like jello as they walked along. “Oh… it really has been three hours…” she said with a giggle.

Bold chuckled along with her and they stepped out of the sauna, dripping wet with sweat and steam. “Perhaps now would be a good time for you to enjoy an herbal bath.” Lotus said as they stepped out. “We have everything set up if you would like to…”

“Thank you Lotus, but I really don’t think I can relax anymore… I think my muscles are going to melt off of my bones…” Windy said in a tired tone.

Aloe and Lotus looked at one another and smiled. “Then we have done our jobs well yes?” Aloe asked happily.

“Very very well ladies…” Bold said with a smile. “But Windy is right. We should be getting home.”

Aloe and Lotus led them to the front desk and bade them goodbye before the left in an embrace. They walked home silently and walked into Bold’s home with smiles on their faces. “Bold, Windy, welcome back. I take it the spa date went well?” Whirl asked as he fiddled with a small contraption on the den’s table.

“It went great dad. What is that?” Bold asked curiously.

“Well it’s a little something Zecora has been teaching me. It is a puzzle designed to change as you go along and the goal is to get the sticks here into a square.” Whirl explained as he tinkered with the contraption some more. When he pressed one stick the others clicked and started to move into a different shape. “Damn…” he said as he clicked another stick.

“Father, I would appreciate it if you didn’t swear in front of this fine mare.” Bold said jokingly.

Whirl looked up at them and smiled. “My apologies miss fine mare.” he replied with a chuckle.

Windy shook her head and pulled Bold towards his room. Once inside she closed the door with her tail and walked him over to the bed. They sat down together and then laid on their back together. “So… this is your room huh?” Windy asked with a smile. Bold nodded his head and looked around the room. His walls were paved with notes and stories he had written. Then there was the drawing he drew when he was young and first started spending time with Frost Star. With a sigh he rolled off of the bed and walked over to the drawing before taking it down gently. Windy walked up behind him and looked at the picture. “First marefriend huh?”

“Just a friend… I wanted to be her coltfriend but… I was too different, remember?” Bold asked with a slightly sad chuckle.

“Hmm…” she replied as she took the picture from him. “What was her name?”

“It’s not important now. I have you and that is all I’ll ever need.” Bold said as he used his magic to light the picture on fire. “… too different…” he said quietly as he slumped down on the bed. Windy dropped the piece of paper and watched it burn on the floor. “I can only imagine what she would say if she saw me now… one eye… a freak of nature when it comes to magic… a combat and strategy expert… ha…”

Windy got in the bed next to him. “The perfect stallion. Brave enough to jump in front of an explosion for my sake, intelligent enough to use the highest levels of magic, and strong enough to fight for my honor.” she said as she rubbed her head against his.

Bold smiled and turned to look her in the eye. They seem to never end, like a dark blue ocean. He leaned forward a bit and planted his lips on hers and kissed her passionately. Windy half expected it and kissed him back. Suddenly the door burst open and Courage was at the door. “Hey you guys! I love apple bucking!” he shouted happily.

Chapter 1

To be Bold

Chapter One: A New War

It had been sixteen years since the war ended and Whirl could continue with his life. He had made several additions to his home including a new building on his land, a training center. He and his son, Bold Character, were practicing with their staves and Whirl was getting his flank whipped. Bold, a pale turquoise unicorn with a book and golden quill cutie mark and a dark green and light green colored mane, landed a blow on the side of Whirl’s face. “Oh! Sorry dad! I didn’t mean to hit you in the face, but you know how it can get when the adrenalin gets flowing.” Bold said with a nervous chuckle.

Whirl rubbed his face and smiled. “No worries. We just need to get protective helmets now too.” he said with a slight laugh. “Nice hit though. You are so much better at this than me.”

“Well I am sure my magic helps. That and swinging a staff is the same as swinging my quill when I write. Still though, I should have had better control over my actions.”

“Good boy, or should I say good stallion? You have grown up quite well, how old are you again?” Whirl asked jokingly, knowing full well what the answer was.

“Seventeen dad, you know that. Not quite a stallion yet, but give it a few months.” Bold replied with a smirk. “Is that enough training for today?”

Whirl looked at all the fresh bruises on his body and chuckled. “Yeah, I think that we have trained enough for today. Do you have something you have to get done?

Bold nodded. “Well I was going to meet up with Frost Star at the bowling alley to hang out. I was wondering if you had sold those tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala yet?”

“No, why do you ask?” Whirl asked as he took off his safety equipment and hung it up on the racks.

“Well… I was wondering if I could have another one to ask if maybe… Frost would like to go with me.”

“Ahhh, our soon to be stallion wants to take his marefriend to the Gala?” Whirl said in a teasing tone.

“She isn’t my marefriend dad! She’s just a friend!” Bold retorted.

“Calm down lover boy, I was just teasing. Of course you can have the ticket to the gala. The tickets are in the envelop Princess Luna sent them in in my room. They are all yours.” Whirl said with a smile.

Bold smiled and gave Whirl a tight hug. “Thanks dad!” he said before dashing out of the training room and into the house. “Mom! Are you home yet?!” he shouted as he ran into his parent’s room.

Derpy was sitting on the bed sewing together a hole in one of their protective training gears. “Yes Bold, how did your training go? Did you tear some more of your equipment? I swear you two are going to end up with large bruises if you aren’t WHIRL WEATHER WATCHER WIND WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?!” she exclaimed when Whirl walked in with a large bruise where Bold had struck him.

Whirl gave her a smile. “Oh nothing, just our son giving his old man a workout.” he said with a nervous chuckle. “It’s not too bad honey, just a small bruise.”

Derpy gave a disapproving grunt and continued her sewing. “You two need to stop hurting each other. What is the point of fixing this stuff if you two are going to be hitting each other where you aren’t wearing it?”

“Don’t worry about it mom, I didn’t get hurt at all. Besides, we are going to be getting face protection and helmets soon.” Bold said with a smirk. “Not sure if I will need one, dad hasn’t been able to land a blow in weeks.”

“Yeah yeah, take your tickets and go on your little date.” Whirl said as he tossed the tickets over to Bold.

Bold caught them with his magic and chuckled. “Thanks dad, I’ll be back later.” he said as he ran out of the room. “AND IT’S NOT A DATE!” his voice sounded before the sound of the front door closing filled the house.

Bold ran down the small dirt path that lead to his house. He hadn’t realized how late it had gotten, the sun was setting over the mountains and dusk was in the air. Now under normal circumstances it would just be a simple stroll through Ponyville, but ever since the war things have changed. With the large decrease of guards things had gotten a bit more dangerous in the land of Equestria. Crime rates in larger cities that were trying to rebuild began to increase rapidly as some ponies got desperate for food and shelter. Things eventually smoothed out for the most part but some of the criminal factions stayed elusive and remained a strong element of crime in Equestria. Ponyville was not excluded from these factions either. Small cells of large factions made their mark on Ponyville five years ago and since then crime has been on the rise. In such a small town the size of the guards patrol was limited to a small contingency of five guard ponies and only a hoof-full of community watch members.

Bold arrived in town just as night set over it. “Augh, I trained too late! Frost is going to be mad as a wild manticore!” he thought as he skidded to a halt. “I need a shortcut!” He looked around and saw an alleyway. “Damn… an alley… well I don’t have a choice if I am going to be on time!” he thought as he started to run down the alley.

A loud bang behind him brought him to a halt and he turned around to see what it was. A sharp pain hit his side and he fell to the ground. “Well well well, what do we have here? Tickets to the Gala, for us? How nice of you.” a voice sounded from behind Bold.

Bold rolled over and stood up. He stuffed the tickets into his mane and secured them. “These tickets are not for you. Now we can both just walk away, or this can get violent.” he said as he levitated a broken broom stick over to him.

The stallion threatening him chuckled and let out a loud whistle. Bold heard the sound of hoofsteps behind him getting closer. He swung the broom stick around and whacked the incoming pony in the head and gave him a swift kick, knocking him unconscious. Bold swiftly turned around to the first pony and smirked. “Thought you had cornered some defenseless pony huh? Just another target for your stupid little gang, huh?!”

“You little runt! Do you think that there was just two of us?” the pony shouted before letting out a loud set of whistles.

Bold began to panic as the sounds of flapping wings and galloping hoofsteps came from all around him. He looked up and struck down an incoming pegasus before a chain wrapped around his neck and began to choke him. He felt a painful kick to his hind legs and he fell to his knees trying to get the chain to loosen. Just as he started to black out a loud yell and the sound of hoof meeting skin sounded. “Get him!” the leader shouted. Bold looked up and saw a pegasus shaped pony taking down the gang one pony at a time and at one point three at a time. “Let’s get out of here, this pony is crazy!” one of the ponies shouted before the rest started to follow suit. Bold got a good look at the mare now; she was pure white with a dark blue mane and tail that had a single light green streak running through them. Her eyes were a dark blue that were just barely visible in the dark alley way.

Bold pulled the chain from his neck and tossed it aside. “Are you okay?” the mysterious mare asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks for saving me but… who are you?” Bold asked.

“The name is Windy Wisp.” she said as she helped Bold to his hooves.

Bold was able to get a good look at her now. She was a white pegasus pony with five stars as a cutie mark and a loose mane and tail that was blue and light green. She was no older than Bold was he noticed. “Where did you learn to fight like that? That was more amazing than anything I had ever seen.” Bold said in admiration as he rubbed his neck.

“An anti-criminal organization called The Dusk and Dawn.” Windy responded with a confident smile. “I’m on the dusk team, keeping an eye out for scum like THIS!” she said as she kicked one of the stallions that had started to stir. She started to cuff them one by one as she spoke. “You weren’t too bad yourself, are you part of the dawn team or something?”

“Dawn team? No, I was just on my way to meet somepony for a date when these ponies attacked me. My date! Oh I am so late!” Bold said frantically as he started to run down the alley.

Windy swiftly flew in front of him. “Wait! You can’t leave yet.” she said as she pulled out a device that shot a red flaming ball into the night’s sky. “You have to stay here and be my backup in case more of them come. If they come back with more weapons I am not sure I can handle them alone.”

Bold looked at her for a moment and nodded. “Alright… but you have to come with me afterwards and explain to my friend why I was so late.” he said as he picked up the broken broom handle again.

Windy pulled out a small stick from her belt and tossed it to Bold. “This might be a little more effective.” she said with a wink.

Bold dropped the broom handle to catch the stick. “This thing is too small to be used as a weapon. What am I going to do throw it at WHOA!” he exclaimed as Windy walked over and pressed a button causing the stick to expand into a long stave. “I have never seen anything like this before.”

“That is not surprising. They are nonlethal weapons we have been developing to keep the criminals at bay. Keep it; we can use a combat knowledgeable pony to be using these.” Windy said with a smile.

Bold spun it around a few times before swinging it back a forth. “It’s heavy at the tips… this was made to hurt, really badly.” he said in an concerned tone.

“Sometimes we have to use extreme force to subdue these ponies. We do what is needed to keep everypony else safe.” Windy explained.

“Well this will certainly do it.” Bold said as several pegasi landed behind him. He backed away and readied himself.

Windy put a hoof on his shoulder. “It’s alright, they are part of the dusk team. They are here to help us.”

“Windy, report.” a familiar voice sounded from the back of the group. A yellow pegasus with a large scar on his chest stepped forward.

“Uncle Sunny?! What are you doing here?!” Bold asked in shock.

Windy stepped forward and gave Sunny a salute. “Seven criminals arrested and awaiting transport captain.” she said proudly.

Sunny looked around and signaled the others to take away the arrested criminals. “Bold, I’d hate to think that you had a part in some kind of criminal activity. What were you…”

“Captain, this stallion was the victim of the initial assault. Had I not arrived he would probably be dead.” Windy explained quickly.

Bold nodded. “I was on my way to meet up with Frost, so I took a shortcut down this alley when I was attacked.”

Sunny looked around. “We need to get lights down these alleys right away. But they will do no good if we do not get more recruits. What do you think Bold, do you think you have what it takes?”

Bold looked up to Sunny with a surprised look. “Me? What makes you think I want to fight criminals?”

“Well, we don’t have any unicorns or earth ponies on any of our teams, we could really use your help and you are the only one I can think of that actually trains in combat. If you accept you will be sent to an extensive training camp before you took your place alongside the rest of us. Please Bold, I am getting a bit desperate for help.” Sunny explained.

“What about Frost, she is still waiting for me. And if gangs are out she could be in danger.”

“We have already initiated a curfew for this week and we have escorts going out to get ponies home. Frost will be safe, I promise.” Sunny said sincerely.

“Augh, this is going to make her really upset with me.” Bold said as he started to pace back and forth.

“So? What do you think of our offer?” Sunny asked.

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking! I just don’t know yet… I mean… when would I leave for this camp? How long would I be gone? Would I still get to write my stories?”

“Tonight, for two weeks maybe one in your case and of course you would still get to write your stories. I would just ask your assistance at night to keep an eye out for trouble. Just think of what would have happened to you if Windy had not stepped in, with no backup I might add. You would have been robbed and for all we know you could have been killed.”

Windy shrunk back a bit when Sunny mentioned the fact that she went in alone. “About that sir, I was just…”

Sunny raised a hoof. “No need to explain. I do believe you have found yourself a permanent partner.” he said as he looked at Bold.

Bold stopped his pacing and levitated his staff in front of him and closed it back into a small stick. “Alright, I’ll do it. Uncle Sunny, let my father know where I went and give this to Frost.” he said as he took out a small book and quill from his mane. He wrote down a note and rolled up the two tickets to the gala inside and gave the scroll to Sunny. “It’s a note explaining what is going on and… well other things. So, where do I go?”

Sunny smiled and put the note on his belt before turning to Windy. “Windy, take Bold to the training camp.”

Windy gave Sunny a salute and started to walk down the alley with Bold close behind. Once they were out of earshot of Sunny, Bold finally spoke up. “So, what is this camp anyway? What will I be doing?”

“It’s a highly organized, highly dangerous, and highly secluded training camp. You will be subjected to tests of strength, stamina, and will that will push you to your limits and it may even break you. Not all ponies are strong enough to make it through and some are even mangled during their training. If you don’t think you have what it takes then now is the time to back out.”

Bold scoffed. “If you can make it through I am sure I can too.”

Windy immediately turned on him and got right up in his face. “And what is that supposed to mean?!” she asked angrily.

“Sensitive about your strength; I thought so. I was just testing you a bit, sorry about that. It is a bad habit I tend to have.” Bold said with a chuckle.

“Ohhh, I am going to make sure you pay for that.” she said as she continued to lead him. They headed out of town and into the Everfree forest. “Don’t get jittery on me just because we are going into the Everfree. The camp is at the far end of the forest and I don’t need you to complicate things.”

“I go in here all the time, no need to worry about me.” Bold said confidently as they arrived at a small river.

“Steve! Are you here?!” Windy shouted suddenly.

The water riled up and a purple serpent emerged from the river. “Yes, yes I am here. Oh look who it is, the little ruffian pegasus. You know darling you would look so much better with your mane styled.” he said as he leaned against the shore.

“Oh Steve, you know that I don’t like to style my mane. I let the wind do it for me.” Windy replied with a friendly tone. “I was wondering if you can give this gentlecolt a lift to the other side.”

Steve looked over to Bold and raised an eyebrow. “Well this is a surprise. Windy never brings her friends to see me. Hello there sir, my name is Steve Magnet. It is a pleasure to meet you. I can see that you are a bit more… refined than the usual pegasi that fly over my river, without the thought of even stopping by to say hello. Well except for Ms. Wisp here who has been stopping by every night before going on duty.”

“So there is a soft side to this tough exterior.” Bold said as he poked Windy in the side while she ignored him.

“Steve, can you give this gentlecolt a lift to the other side before he becomes a corpse?” Windy asked again in an annoyed tone.

Steve smiled and lifted Bold to the other side. Windy flew across and landed next to him. She started to walk back into the forest after thanking Steve. Before Bold could follow Steve whispered in his ear. “I think she might like you, which is saying a lot coming from her. Just keep on your best behavior and she will open up a bit.” he said with a wink.

Bold smiled and nodded. “Thanks Steve, it was a pleasure meeting…”

“Are you two going to chat forever or am I going to have to tear you two apart?!” Windy shouted from way up ahead.

Bold gave Steve a nod goodbye before running to catch up. “Sorry about that, Steve was giving me a bit of advice.”

“Oh really? About me?” Windy said with a scoff.

“How’d you know?” Bold asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well Steve has a bad habit of misreading my contempt for somepony as me caring about somepony.” Windy said casually.

“Ah… so you hold contempt for me then? I didn’t think I was that bad…” Bold said in a discouraged tone.

“Well… I never said that I hold contempt for you necessarily.”

“So you care for me then?”

“Alright, that’s enough. Stop while I don’t hold contempt against you.” Windy said sternly.

“Right, sorry about that. So uh… how did you get your cutie mark?” Bold asked to switch topics.

“I lead a group of my friends home late one night when we all got lost while camping. It represents my ability to lead others under any situation.” Windy said sternly.

“I am sure your parents are very p…”

“I don’t have any parents. Not that I ever needed them. I can take care of myself.” Windy said in the same stern tone.

“Is that why you keep going in without backup? Because you can take care of yourself?”

Windy just ignored him and continued to walk in silence. They reached a bridge that looked like it had been recently rebuilt. Across the bridge were the crumbled remains of what appeared to be a castle. “Here we are, welcome to your new home for however long it takes to train you. Follow me and I will take you to where you will be sleeping until we get you on a proper schedule. I hope you enjoy the night, because that is the only time of day you will be seeing from now on.”

Bold nodded and followed her inside. The interior was nothing but a well-lit obstacle course. Bold looked over to Windy with a confused look. “Where is the place where I am going to be sleeping?”

“On the other side of this room. Careful not to get hurt.” Windy responded as she started to navigate the various traps and obstacles.

Bold watched carefully and mimicked her to the best of his abilities. They got near the end and jumped through the last obstacle, two blades swinging from the ceiling. Bold wasn’t able to dodge them so he used his magic to stop them mere centimeters from his body. He walked forward and released the magic holding the blades and they reset themselves. “How many recruits have died here?”

“We have never lost anypony before. We have doctors here to treat any injury and they are really good. They were able to fix me up quite well when my flanks got caught in the very trap you just stopped.” Windy explained.

“I didn’t see any scars though.” Bold said as he looked at her.

Windy’s face turned red. “You were looking at my flank?!” she said angrily.

Bold’s ears perked up and he blush. “N-no! I mean yes but… I was just looking at your cutie mark I promise!” he said quickly as Windy got more and more upset. “I would never… I mean… not to say you aren’t attractive or anything I just want to make sure you know I would never look at you that way without your permission!” he stammered.

Windy pushed him in front of her and forced him to start walking up a set of spiral stairs. “You’ll have to navigate that obstacle course every time you want to sleep. But tonight, I will be keeping you awake for as long as possible in the arena.” she said in a stern tone. “You will fight me to the best of your abilities, is that clear?!”

“Yes, very clear.” Bold responded nervously. “Listen, I’m sorry that I made you upset.”

Windy turned him down a hall and pushed him to the ground in a room. She pulled a lever and a stone door closed behind them. “You aren’t sorry yet, but you will be.” she said as she picked up a staff and hit him on his side. “Get up! Defend yourself!”

Bold stood up and rubbed his side as he extended his staff. “Very well, but I must warn you that I am quite good at this.” he said as he spun the staff in the air with his magic. When she swung at him he simply deflected the strike.

Windy scoffed at him and swung the staff several times, each blow was deflected perfectly. “Not bad, now let’s see how you attack.” she said with a smirk.

Bold was unsure of what to do, he had never attacked on purpose. “I… I don’t want to hurt you.” he said nervously.

Windy sighed and retracted her staff. She walked over to Bold and looked him in the eye. “Do you think that gang felt the same way?! Do you think that they didn’t want to hurt you?!” she asked sternly.

“But that was different; they didn’t save me from almost certain death.” Bold said softly.

Windy used this opportunity to smack him in the face with her staff. “True, but just imagine what I am going to do to you while you worry about hurting me. If it makes you feel better, just know that I am going to start breaking bones if you don’t fight back.”

Bold rubbed his face and smiled. “You want me to actually hurt you? Fine, but I won’t hurt you too much if that is okay with you.” he said as he started to spin his staff again. He leaped forward and struck Windy squarely on her side.

“Ah, I wasn’t ready you little…!” she shouted as she started to fight back again.

They fought into the late hours of the night and by the end of it all they were both racked with bruises and one final blow to Bold’s side caused him to collapse. “Augh! S-stop… I think you broke something!” he stammered as he writhed in pain and started to wheeze.

Windy was panting heavily and laid down next to him. “Th-then I won… good work… you did well… you gave me quite a fight… never had a new recruit do so well…”

“That’s because his father trained him day after day. Since he was just eight years old.” Sunny said as he opened the door with a doctor. “Dr. Ray, I do believe our new recruit needs some medical attention.”

Dr. Ray, a brown unicorn with a dark brown mane and a red cross as his cutie mark, walked over to Bold and knelt down next to him. His horn started to glow and he looked at Bold with a smile. “Just a slightly cracked rib, this has to be the least wounded recruit I have ever treated.” he said with a chuckle. “You should have seen some of the injuries your father and uncle here came to me with. This is a scratch compared to the time Sunny came to me with a spear wound to the chest.”

Bold wheezed as the doctor mended him. “You know… my father?” he asked.

Dr. Ray nodded. “Yup, I was their doctor for such a long time and a good friend to them too. Sunny came to me a while back and offered me this job. I told him that I was getting too old for this but he talked me into it.” he said with a chuckle. “There, all better now.”

Bold let out a deep breath and rolled over onto his belly. “Thanks doc, it feels much better. Anything you can do about the bruises?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Nope, it’s the rule for new recruits. You have to keep every bruise you get for the first day, or night in your case. Now then, Windy finish up with Bold here and hit the hay. Oh and Bold, uh… here is the response from Frost Star…” Sunny said before he gave Bold a letter before he and Dr. Ray left.

Windy retracted her staff and placed it on her belt. “Let’s get you fitted with a belt so you have a place to put your things.” she said as she walked over to the wall. “You look like a large to me stud.” she laughed a bit and tossed him a belt.

Bold caught the belt with his magic and clipped it around his waist. “Huh, perfect fit. Thanks. Looks like we have all kinds of things on this belt.”

“Yes indeed. You have, hoofcuffs, wingcuffs, three staff slots, and a flare device.” Windy explained.

“Well what is this thing then?” Bold asked as he pulled off a small bead.

“That, is an experimental device. It dampens magic within a twenty foot diameter. It stops unicorns like you from using magic. Unfortunately you can’t use that device without some training in pure brute force.” Windy said as he nudged Bold’s shoulder.

“Hey, I know how to use my hooves to swing this thing around. I am just better with my magic, that’s all. You are much better obviously.” Bold said as he opened the letter from Frost. He frowned when he read the letter and dropped it to the floor. “Well… I guess that’s that…” he said as he walked to the door slowly.

Windy looked at the letter and saw two torn Gala tickets. She looked away for a moment before curiosity got the better of her and she picked up the letter and read it. “I think we should just be friends Bold. You just… you seem like a good colt but you are just too… different…” Windy dropped the letter, picked up the tickets and placed them in a small pouch on her belt. “Hey Bold, wait up!” she shouted as she ran after him.

Bold was out in the hall waiting for her with a depressed look on his face. “Can you show me where to sleep now?” he asked quietly.

“Sure, just follow me.” Windy said as she lead him down the hall and to the bunks. They were the only ones there at the time. “Everypony is changing shifts, at this time nopony is here… you can have bottom bunk.” she said as she turned into a room and jumped on the top bunk. Bold followed her into the room. He hung up his belt next to hers and laid down on the bottom bunk with a sigh. “Hey, if it means anything at all… you are kind of cute… I don’t know who Frost Star is, but she’s missing out.” Windy said sincerely.

Bold looked up at the bottom of the top bunk. “Missing out on a freak I guess…” he said sadly.

“There is nothing bad about being different!” Windy said as she jumped down from the top bunk and pushed him. “Stand up, now.”

Bold sighed and stood up but kept his head low. “Why did I need to stand?”

Windy lifted his head and looked into his eyes. “There is NOTHING bad about being different. Say it.” Bold looked at her with a frown before looking away and mumbling something. Windy slapped him gently on the face. “Look at me and say it loudly.”

Bold looked back up to her. “There is nothing bad about being different.”

Windy smiled and nodded. “Good, now make sure that you believe that. I know I do. How different do you think I am with no parents? I had to convince myself that there was nothing bad about being different. I won’t let you think otherwise just because some mare wants you to think it is a bad thing.”

“She wasn’t just some mare… we have been friends since we were just foals… we did everything together since then.” Bold explained. “I finally built up the courage to ask her out and she… tore up the tickets… and my heart…”

“Well, then I will just have to mend it.” Windy said as she took out the tickets from her belt and taped them together. “I’m not one to get fancy and slow dance and such but… it’s not right what she did to you and… well as I said, you are kind of cute.”

Bold smiled and looked at her. “Thank you Windy…” he said with a yawn. “That means a lot to me…”

Windy smirked and put a hoof on his cheek. “Let’s get to bed.” she said as she jumped up to her bunk.

Bold rolled onto the bottom bunk and closed his eyes. “Windy?”

“Yes Bold?”

“Thank you for saving my life…”

Windy giggled a bit. “You’re welcome Bold, now get some sleep.”

****

The next week went by pretty quickly as he trained with Windy. The first night they were going to go on their first patrol, Bold awoke with a start and hit his head on Windy’s bunk yelling. “Nooo!” He looked around and he was panting rapidly.

Windy jumped down from her bunk with a panicked look on her face. “What?! What is it?!”

Bold let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Sorry, just… just a bad dream…”

Windy chuckled a bit. “What was it about?” she asked as she clicked her belt her belt on.

“Just… this lifelong nightmare I have had on and off since I was small… nothing special.” Bold replied softly.

Windy tossed him his belt and he put it on. “Sounds like it is special to me. I remember when I was just a filly and Princess Luna was in my nightmares, helping me sleep peacefully. I always wondered if it was really her or if it was just part of my dream.”

“Oh it was her. She told me all about how she visits little foals in their sleep and keeps them safe. She also tells you how to make the nightmares go away, doesn’t she?”

“How do you know that?” Windy asked curiously.

“Heh, Uncle Sunny and Princess Luna have been dating since before I was born. I have talked to Princess Luna before face to face. Where do you think I got the tickets to the Gala from?” Bold asked with a grin.

“I envy your life Bold. You have so much.” Windy said softly. “Well, are you ready to go?”

Bold nodded to her with a smile. “I sure am. You know, I can arrange a meeting with Luna so you can meet her if you would like.” he offered.

Windy shook her head. “No, I need to do a bit more for Equestria before I meet somepony as special as a princess. Just a personal code.” she said as she walked to the door. “Let’s go.”

Bold followed her out and out of the forest to Ponyville. As they arrived the town was cloaked in the darkness of the night. They climbed to the roof tops and silently made their way from alley to alley. A cry for help broke the silence and they made their way to the source of the cries. A lone mare was being held at knife point and being mugged. “I got this one.” Bold said as he pulled out his three staves and smashed the robber to unconsciousness. The mare they saved was huddled in the corner shaking. “It’s alright miss, we are peace keepers of the dusk team.”

Windy walked over to the mare and helped her to her hooves. “Bold, cuff the criminal.” she ordered. “Calm down now, it’s alright. You are safe with us.” she said softly.

Bold cuffed the earth pony and rolled him onto his side. “Windy, his cutie mark has been… crossed out.”

“Yes, we have been getting more and more reports of these gang members renouncing their talents in order to join some of the gangs. What shape is being used to cross it out?”

“A triangle with an ‘X’. What does it mean?”

“The tri-cross gang. They have three cities of interest and three leaders. They are a small time game but they are just as dangerous. Now let’s get this poor girl home safely.” Windy said as she gestured to the mare she was supporting.

Bold walked over to Windy and the mare to give reassurance. “Fluttershy?! What are you doing out after dark?” Bold asked as he looked at the shivering yellow mare.

She only responded with squeaks and squeals. Windy wrapped a wing over Fluttershy’s back and started to walk. “No need to talk right now. Bold, set out a flare and then come with me.” she ordered.

Bold launched a flare and caught up with Windy. “It’s going to be okay Fluttershy, you know who I am right? It’s Bold Character, Whirl’s son.” he said reassuringly.

Fluttershy nodded. “I-I know… I am just so scared…” she said softly.

“I know, I kno—LOOK OUT!” Bold shouted as he leaped over Windy and smacked down a chain. Three gang members ran out of an alley way, a unicorn, a pegasus, and an earth pony all in masks, and he got his staves ready. “Get her out of here, I can handle these three!” he shouted as he started to spin his staves. Windy picked up Fluttershy and started to fly away quickly. Bold quickly subdued the earth pony gang member but the other two put up a fight.

“Criminal scum! You won’t get away with your foalnapping!” one of them shouted, clearly being a mare.

Bold stopped in his tracks as he blocked the blows coming from the other two. “Wait! I’m not the criminal, you are!” he shouted.

The two ponies halted their attack. “Where are you taking Fluttershy?!” the pegasus asked.

“We are taking her home! We saved her from a robber not more than five minutes ago!” Bold explained. “To show you that I am not your enemy I will put my weapons away and I officially apologize for knocking out your friend there.” he said as he put this staves away.

“Sweetiebelle, go check on Applebloom. I’ll deal with this guy.” The pegasus said. “Who are you and what are you doing out here?”

“My name is Bold Character of the dusk team. Did you say that I hit Applebloom? AJ’s sister? Scootaloo?! Is that you?!” Bold asked happily.

Scootaloo took off her mask and looked at Bold. “How do you know my name?! How do you know who Applebloom is?! And what is a dusk team?!”

“My father is Whirl Wind, a friend of AJ’s and I know Applebloom and you from her. We never met formally but I heard you three are the best of friends. Let me assure you that we are working to the same end, keeping criminals off of the streets. It is good to know we aren’t alone but we have to find a way to keep us from attacking each other. Let’s get Applebloom to Fluttershy’s and we can talk there.” Bold explained.

Scootaloo nodded and assisted Sweetiebelle in carrying Applebloom and Bold escorted them to Fluttershy’s. Once they arrived Bold walked inside with the three following close behind. Windy leaped from next to Fluttershy and got combat ready. “Bold you got captured?!”

“No no no! They are friends! They mistook us as criminals and were trying to protect Fluttershy. Applebloom is hurt, pretty badly… she needs medical attention.” Bold explained as the other two set Applebloom on Fluttershy’s couch.

Fluttershy gently hovered over to a cabinet and got out a medical kit. “Things have gotten out of hoof in this town… I remember when the nights were safe... for everypony.” she said in a sad tone.

Windy put her weapon away and pulled Bold aside. “How do you know we can trust these two?” she whispered.

“Applebloom is the sister of one of the elements of harmony. We can trust them with our lives by just knowing their names.” Bold explained. “They are on our side.”

“Very well, I trust your judgment. Are they dusk material?” Windy asked in a whisper.

“Knowing them they won’t join our team. These three are the most renowned ponies in Ponyville. That is probably why they are wearing masks, to keep their families safe. I recommend we assure them that the town is in good hoofs and request that they do not come out after night.”

“Sounds like a plan. Since you know them you can break the news to them.” Windy said with a smile.

Bold nodded and looked at the others. Applebloom had awoken and she looked at Bold directly. “Applebloom, I am so sorry for knocking you out. I didn’t know it was you…”

“Bold? Is that you Bold? Ah didn’t recognize you in the dark… otherwise ah wouldn’t have attacked…” Applebloom said softly.

“Listen, what you three did tonight was very dangerous. I could have hurt all three of you severely and you could have found yourselves in jail. Now I don’t want to see you get hurt so I have to ask you to never do this again. We have a large group of ponies known as The Dawn and Dusk. I am part of the dusk team that keeps Ponyville safe at night and we have the town well in hoof.” Bold explained.

Scootaloo stomped her hoof. “You can’t just expect us to do that!”

“That’s exactly what I expect you to do! Today Applebloom got hurt! BY THE GOOD GUYS NO LESS! Next time it could be all of you by the BAD GUYS! I am not willing to let that happen to anypony!” Bold sighed and turned towards the window and walked up to it. “Listen… Sweetiebelle, you are one of the most beautiful singers in all of Equestria. If you want to help talk to Sunny Plains, see what you can do to help fund our organization. Scootaloo, you should be at the Wonderbolts academy, what if you get caught here out of your bed at night? And Applebloom… it’s almost cider season… I know that loosing Granny Smith wasn’t easy for you… but going out and almost getting killed is not the way to repay all the hard work she put into raising you. You’re all… look, I know you don’t know me at all but my father has told me all about how proud he is of you. You three have kind of been some of the best friends I have had, you inspired me to be a better pony. Being home schooled… I only had two friends… and one of them recently… well let’s just say she doesn’t like me like I thought she did… but I would still protect her like I am protecting you three now, so please trust me when I say that this town will be safe and sound as long as I am on the streets.” He turned around and looked at the three of them. Sweetiebelle and Applebloom had tears in their eyes and Scootaloo had a stalwart expression on her face.

“Okay, we’ll let you take care of it. But if ANY of our friends get hurt… the blood will be on your hooves.” Scootaloo said almost threateningly.

“Now now, there is no need to threaten my troops.” Sunny said as he walked into Fluttershy’s cabin. Bold and Windy started to salute and held their position. “It’s good to see you three again. Bold, Windy, you are both dismissed. I need to talk to these three.”

Windy and Bold put down their hooves and walked outside into the cold night. “Come on Bold, let’s get back out there.” she said as she pulled out her staff again and started to walk back into town.

Bold walked alongside her. “Something is wrong…” he said worriedly.

“What do you mean?” Windy asked with a frown.

“Sunny’s face… it looked like my father’s whenever something major was wrong at work, or when my mother was sick…”

“Any ideas on what might be wrong?”

“No, but it is something we are going to have to deal with soon. For now, let’s keep our minds on the task at hoof.” Bold said as he leaped up to one of the roofs.

****

The sun started to make itself known by painting the sky in orange and red. Bold and Windy made their way to the river in the forest and Steve was waiting for them. “Hey Steve! How are you doing?” Windy asked as she gave him a hug.

Steve sighed and looked down to her. “Oh darling, I’m afraid that you have to wait here for Sunny this morning. He… he has some bad news.” he said sadly.

“Wh-what do you mean Steve? He isn’t going to get rid of us is he?!” Windy asked worriedly.

“No, it’s much worse…” Bold said as he looked at Steve’s face. “I can see it in his eyes. This is something horrific.”

Steve set Windy down and nodded before laying back down under the water. Windy and Bold waited there and Sunny arrived soon. He looked at the two as they gave him a salute. “At ease… sit down…” he said softly. Wind and Bold both looked at each other before sitting down on the ground. “Bold, your father is already in Canterlot consoling Princess Luna and Princess Twilight is on her way back from the Crystal Empire but… it is up to us.”

“What is up to us? What happened?” Windy asked worriedly.

“Princess Celestia’s broach has been stolen…” Sunny said sadly.

Windy scoffed and stood up. “What?! That’s it! Just some stupid piece of jewelry?! What kind of bad news is that?!” she asked angrily.

Bold pulled her back down and looked at her sternly. “Windy, Princess Celestia is dying!”

Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The Trip

“So where is the capital anyway?” Windy asked curiously as they got onto a highway.

Jim smiled and let go of the steering wheel and let his magic keep it steady as they drove. “Talk about cruise control… What did you ask Windy? Sorry, I was playing around with my magic… completely unprofessional.” he said as he grabbed the steering wheel again.

Windy giggled a bit and pat Jim on the shoulder. “You should enjoy your magic, it’s a part of you now. Now then, where is the capitol?”

“It’s three hundred miles from here.” Jim said with a smile.

Bold and Windy looked at each other with a confused look. “Miles?” Bold asked with a confused look. They knew full well what he meant, but they both wanted to cheer him up a bit with a joke.

“Uhh… it’s… um… a long ways away.” Jim said as they looked at them snickering. “Oh ha ha, you two are funny. You know what miles are, don’t you?”

“Yeah, we were just messing with you. That is a long way to go. How long until we get there?” Bold asked with a smile.

“At an average speed of sixty miles per hour we will be there in…”

“Five hours, give or take a few minutes based on speed fluctuations.” Bold said with a nod.

“Absolutely right. Magician and mathematician huh? You are just full of surprises.” Jim said with a chuckle.

“My father is a weather analyst. He has to calculate weather for months on end. His calculations are seldom wrong and he taught me a couple of tricks.” Bold explained.

“He is a meteorologist? That is an impressive occupation. What did he do before that?”

“He was a soldier in the royal guard. Well… not exactly a soldier. He Was corrupted by dark magic, lead a brutal war campaign against Princess Luna under the command of King Sombra, fought against the dark magic to break free, broke free, killed King Sombra, went home, split into two ponies, one good, one evil, converted the evil one to good, helped the evil one when he was corrupted again with dark magic then helped take down Bloody Marey and saved the Crystal Empire, and then he was a weather analyst again.” Bold said with a smile.

Jim looked over to Bold with an impressed look on his face, then looked back to the road. “Equestria doesn’t sound very safe to me, but I am impressed at the sheer amount of pain your father went through just to get his job back.”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, but Equestria is generally a safe place. Maybe you can come by for a visit and see it when this is all over.” Windy said with a beaming smile.

“I am definitely going to take you up on that offer.” Jim said with a chuckle.

“Why is it always cloudy here? Ever since we got here it has been overcast cloudy or rainy.” Windy said as she looked up at the sky.

“It is always cloudy, it has always been cloudy and it always will be cloudy.” Jim said simply. “Scientists say that there is nothing there to move the clouds so they are trying to find a system to control the weather.”

Windy put a hoof to her forehead and shook her head slowly. Bold sighed and looked at Jim. “There are no weather pegasi… one of the problems with your way of living. You lose many things when you enslave others to do something other than what they were meant to do.” he said sadly. “Do you think we could voice our concerns to your government? I mean after we capture Star Scribe.”

“Worth a shot. I’ll even support you.” Jim said sincerely.

Windy smiled widely and hugged Jim, causing him to swerve a bit. “I am glad you are willing to fight against the enslavement of the pegasi and earth ponies!” she said happily.

Jim used his magic to keep the car steady as he patted Windy’s hooves. “You’re welcome. Can I have my neck back now?”

Windy pulled her hooves away with a blush. “Sorry, you have no idea how angry it makes me to see my kind treated the way they are here.” she said sheepishly.

Jim nodded. “I can imagine. A lot of unicorns are even getting tired of it. Slavery is old and things need to change. Not just for the other species but for us as well. Unicorns are really nice when it comes to other unicorns, but when it comes to the other species we see them as objects with no emotion or soul… and we treat them as such. I… I hate it.” he said sincerely.

Bold looked at Jim with a frown. “Then why not speak up sooner?” he asked curiously.

“Because I would have lost my job. I will lose my job after I support you publicly, but if it strengthens your proposal then I will gladly give it up.” he said with a smile. “But first, we need to finish the job we are on now. What’s the plan anyway?”

“We find Star Scribe, fight him, and arrest him. If we can avoid the fighting all the better.” Bold explained.

“What’s the backup plan?” Jim asked curiously.

Bold pulled out a scroll and tapped it on his hoof. “This… I activate this scroll and everypony within ten feet will die and nothing can stop it.”

“Then it will kill you too?” Jim asked sadly.

“Yes.” Bold said simply.

“And why didn’t you tell me about this backup plan?” Windy asked with an angry tone.

Bold sighed and looked back to her. “Because… I love you and I didn’t want you to feel worried… but you know we have a duty to Equestria.” he said softly. “If I die… go to my parents and tell them I said I love them and that I did my best.”

Windy nodded slowly. “Okay…” she said softly.

They sat quietly for about an hour before Jim spoke up again. “So… what’s flying like?” he asked curiously.

“Pure freedom and control. It’s like you driving your car. You have control over how fast you are going, which direction you are going and how long it will go. The only difference is that I can land on clouds… or go higher or lower… or spin… or bank… it’s just freedom.” Windy said happily.

“Sounds interesting. I heard your princesses have wings and horns so… why don’t the rest of you?” Jim asked curiously.

“Alicorns are a sacred race among all of pony kind. Only one has earned the power of the alicorns and that is Princess Twilight Sparkle. She… taught me a thing or two before I came here. That is why I am able to use such advanced magic. We love our princesses and they love us.” Bold explained.

“I wish I could say the same about our leaders but they don’t do very well in their positions.” Jim said with a scoff.

“Hopefully we can persuade them otherwise.” Windy said with a smile.

“Can we pull over for a moment?” Bold asked as he held his head with one hoof. “Something is wrong.”

Jim pulled the car over and Bold got out of the car the moment it stopped. He jumped over the rail on the side of the road and went into a nearby wooded area swiftly. Windy and Jim followed after him. “Bold! Where are you going?!” Windy shouted just as Bold came to a stop and fell to his knees.

Bold let out a loud shriek of pain and his horn started to glow. The ground shook around them and a large beam shot out of Bold’s horn and split a tree at its base. Bold’s horn was smoking and he was lying on the ground unconscious. Windy ran over and pulled him out of the way of the falling tree and rolled them away. She looked at him and his horn was still smoking and he was now awake. “Bold, what the hay happened?” she asked with a concerned look.

Bold groaned and rubbed his head. “Magical build up… Twilight said it would happen if I didn’t practice often enough… I was hoping this wouldn’t happen until we were fighting Star Scribe… but it looks like I couldn’t hold it together…”

Jim was staring at them with awe and a bit of fear. “Will that happen to me?” he asked worriedly.

“No… Twilight overloaded… my goodness… I know what happened! When we bumped horns in the elevator! You received some of my magic!” Bold said as he stood up slowly.

Jim looked at him with a confused look. “Like jumping a car… you gave me a spark of magic and charged my battery…”

Bold nodded slowly. “Well… now that that mystery is solved… let’s keep moving.” he said as he started to walk back to the car.

They all got back in the car, except Bold was lying down in the back so that he could rest. “Can we go faster?” he asked softly as they got back on the road.

Jim nodded. “I can turn on the lights and use my status to get us there faster, but we can only go fast for so long before we run out of fuel.” he explained.

“Let me worry about that.” Bold said as Jim switched on the lights and floored it. His horn started to glow and the car jolted forward as their speed almost doubled.

“Bold! What they hay are you doing?!” Jim asked as he was pressed against the seat.

“Just keep it steady!” Bold shouted as they went down the highway at an insane speed.

Jim clenched his teeth and looked over to Windy, who was having the greatest of times, and then looked back to the road. “Are you enjoying this?!” he asked with an absolutely frightened tone.

“I am! This is awesome!” she replied with a smile.

Jim barely had time to see a sign that said they were only thirty miles from their destination. “Bold stop! We need to slow down!”

Bold’s magic let up and he let out a gasp as he wiped the sweat off of his brow and tried to catch his breath. Windy heard him huffing in the back seat as he lay silently. “Are you okay Bold?” she asked worriedly as they slowed back down to sixty miles per hour. Bold closed his eyes and fell asleep, letting out a soft snore. “I think he fell asleep. Know any place we can stay overnight?”

Jim nodded as they entered the capitol city. “Yes I do. Welcome, to Talicium City.” he said with a smile.

Windy looked around at all the tall buildings in awe. “Wow, these are much bigger than the buildings in Canterlot… Reminds me a bit of Manehattan.” she said as Jim pulled over in front of a large hotel building.

“Manehattan? Clever name. Let’s get Bold inside and to the top floor where the police force has an emergency room for out of city cops.” Jim explained as he got out of the car and walked inside.

Windy got out and hoisted Bold from the back seat and set him on her back. She walked inside to see Jim at the desk holding out his badge and talking to the clerk. Jim pointed at the elevator and she walked inside to wait for him. He soon walked over to her and stood next to her before pressing a button to take them to the top floor. “Just thought I’d let you know, none of the staff here are pegasi or earth ponies… but… our room has a personal butler earth pony…” he said softly.

“Then this servant is going to have the best night of his life. He will eat dinner with us, enjoy the room with us and he will get the bed.” she said sternly.

Jim chuckled and nodded. “Not to mention the complimentary alcohol bar we can all share.” he said with a wink.

Windy smiled at him softly as the doors opened again. “Thank you.” she said as they walked out of the elevator and to their room. Jim opened the door and let Windy walk in first. She spotted the light green earth pony bowing by the door and she lifted his head. “Do not bow to us, we are no more important than you are.” she said softly.

The butler looked at her with a confused expression. “I… I don’t understand… aren’t you a servant as well?” he asked curiously.

“No, I am not. And tonight, you aren’t either.” Windy said as she walked into the room and set Bold on the couch. “Come sit with us.” she said as Jim closed the door.

The butler looked at Jim wearily, worried that this was some kind of trick and he was about to get beaten. When Jim smiled and gestured him to take a seat, he eased up a bit. The butler sat down in one of the open chairs and looked at them with the same weary expression. “So, what is your name?” Jim asked kindly.

“I… I don’t have a name sir… I am usually just called ‘you’…” the butler said softly.

Windy looked over to Jim with a slightly angry expression. “You don’t even give them names?! That’s awful!” she said as she stood up. “How about we name you Courage? Because it takes a lot of courage to do what you do every day.” she said kindly. “Now, can I get you something to drink or eat?”

Courage looked at her with tears in his eyes. “Wh… what?” he asked in a confused and sad tone.

“Some food? Maybe some water or even some campaign?” Windy offered again.

Courage nodded slowly. “S-some food… and… wine? Please…” he said softly.

Windy nodded slowly and went to the miniature kitchen in the room and started to prepare some steamed vegetables. “I’ll be done here in a bit.” she called out happily.

Jim looked at Courage with a smile. “I’m sorry if I make you feel uncomfortable. I understand it must be awkward for a unicorn to care for you but… I’m sorry for what my kind does to you.”

Courage nodded in an unsure manner. “O-of course master…” he said timidly as he looked down to the ground.

Jim shook his head with a frown. “They broke you…” he said softly as he stood up and walked to the bathroom.

Windy came back with the steamed vegetables with a smile and gave a plate to Courage. “Here you go. Where did Jim go?” she asked as she looked around.

“He… went to the bathroom. Thank you for the meal.” Courage said as he took his first bite. He looked back up to Windy with a smile and with tears in his eyes. “It’s delicious… best meal I have ever had.” he said as he set the plate down.

“Aren’t you going to eat it all?” Windy asked as she took a bite of her meal.

Courage shook his head. “I… I don’t eat much…” he said softly. He took a sip of the wine Windy had brought him and immediately spit it out. “How do ponies enjoy this?” he asked as he inspected the wine.

“It’s an acquired taste.” Windy said with a giggle.

Courage smiled softly. “That is something I never thought I would hear.” he said as he wiped the tears from his face. “A pegasus laughing… How are you not a servant like me?”

“I’m not from here… I am from a nation called Equestria and… there are no servants. Well there are some but they choose that as a job and they get paid for it.” Windy replied softly.

“Hopefully it will be that way here someday.” Jim said as he walked out of the bathroom and sat down in his seat again.

Courage jumped out of his chair and accidently knocked over his drink. “I’m sorry master! I will clean it up right away!” he said urgently as he scrambled to clean up the mess.

Windy stopped Courage in his tracks and held him still. “Courage, calm down. It’s all okay.” she said as she hugged him gently and rubbed his back. “It’s all okay. Jim, can you clean it up please?” she asked calmly.

Courage was weeping on Windy’s shoulder as she held him. Jim looked at Courage with a shocked look as he cried into Windy’s shoulder. He walked over to the bathroom and came back with a towel, which he used to clean up the mess. When he was done he looked at Courage again and put a hoof on Courage’s shoulder. “Courage… I’m so sorry…” he said as he left the room.

Windy set Courage into her seat while she picked up his and sat in it. “Courage… are you okay now?” she asked softly.

Courage nodded slowly and sniffled. “I… I thought he was going to beat me…” he said sadly.

“Jim isn’t like other unicorns. He would never hurt you.” Windy said sincerely.

Bold stirred and groaned as if he were in pain. His eyes opened to see a wet faced earth pony and Windy sitting in a strange room he couldn’t remember walking into. “Where are we…? Are we back home?” he asked as he leaned up on the couch.

Windy shook her head. “No, we are in a hotel room. You passed out after we entered the city and I carried you up here. How are you feeling?” she asked with a smile.

Bold rubbed his head and groaned again. “I have a headache… like I have been using magic for too long.” he said with a chuckle. “I have to find the balance between using too much and using too little.”

Courage wiped some more tears from his eyes. “Magic? There’s no such thing…” he said sadly.

Bold smiled and used his magic to levitate a handkerchief to Courage who took it with wide eyes. “The savior…” Courage said softly.

“Savior? What do you mean?” Windy asked curiously.

“It is a legend passed down for generations… when the tribes moved south they quickly set up this capital city and the pegasi and earth ponies were enslaved. A single unicorn stood up against the entire unicorn population and spoke out against the enslavement. He spoke of the coming darkness in our land and he cursed it to be forever dark.” Courage explained.

“The overcast sky…” Windy said quietly.

Courage nodded and continued. “He then spoke of a coming light that would cast out the darkness and free the other species. It was said that he cursed the unicorns and removed their magic and then left to find the other tribes that went north. Legends say he found a glowing empire that sparkled with the brightest light, but he was corrupted by the hatred in his heart and spread darkness though out that land as well. His rule did not last long as the goddesses of the sun and moon banished him, but not before he made the empire vanish forever.”

“King Sombra… he came from here…” Bold said in disbelief.

“The signs of the coming light are present. A slave that has been freed.” Courage said as he gestured to Windy. “The marks of destiny will adorn their flanks.” he said as he gestured to their cutie marks. “A great leader will discover his destiny, although that has not…”

“Jim! He discovered his cutie mark!” Windy said excitedly.

“The last sign is a unicorn that has not been corrupted by the magical curse will arise and bring the magic back to the land, but he must vanquish the darkness first… or this land will perish in fire…” Courage finished.

Bold tapped his chin and shook his head. “But Windy was never a servant so she was never freed… hmmm… Courage, how would you like to come with us as a free pony?” he asked with a smile.

Courage’s expression went blank. He wasn’t sure how to respond. “Courage, are you okay?” Windy asked as she walked over to him and put a hoof on his shoulder.

Courage nodded slowly. “I… I don’t know… Being a servant is all I have known…”

“It is time for you to taste freedom.” Bold said as he got up and walked to the door. “I’m going down stairs to see if I can buy y—WHAA!” The door swung open and Jim walked in.

“Sorry Bold, I didn’t mean to startle you. I have good news Courage… I just bought you.” Jim said softly. “It cost me all of my savings, but I did it… you’re free.” he said as he walked over to a spot in the room and laid down on the floor, curled up in a ball.

Courage was speechless; he was lost in his own mind unable to comprehend what had just happened. “I… I am free?” he asked as he started to choke up. “… and you… YOU freed me? Why?”

Jim didn’t respond, he just laid there and remained silent. Bold smiled and led Courage to the bed. “Get some rest Courage, tomorrow we are going after the darkness.” he said with a grin. “Hold still for a moment… I want to try something. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.” Bold leaned forward and his horn started to glow. It made contact with Courage’s head and there was a spark that threw Bold backward and Courage onto the bed. Courage groaned and held his head while Bold laid on the ground unconscious. Windy was just staring at Courage, who now had a weight on his flank, with awe. “Courage, look at your flank.” she said with a smile.

Courage managed to roll over and look at his flank with squinted eyes. Once he saw the mark on his flank he opened his eyes fully. “A mark of destiny…”

“Your cutie mark. I would say you have a talent for being strong.” Windy said as she picked up Bold and laid him down on the couch again and gave him a kiss. “Sleep well Bold…” she whispered in his ear before covering him up with a blanket.

Courage rolled off of the bed on onto his hooves. “You can take the bed Windy… I’ll sleep on the floor too.”

“No, you won’t. I’ll share the couch with my coltfriend here. You can have the bed.” Windy said as she climbed on the couch next to Bold and hugged him tightly. “Goodnight Courage, goodnight Jim.” she said before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Courage looked at the bed like it was intimidating him, but he climbed up on it and laid down right in the middle. He let out a content sigh and rolled on his back before covering himself up and snuggling into the blankets and falling asleep.

****

Jim woke up before anypony else and stretched out on the floor. “Augh… Sleeping on the floor… is the worst…” he thought as he stood up and walked over to the kitchen and started cooking breakfast.

The sound of cooking met Bold’s ears and they twitched, smacking Windy in the face. Windy sneezed and pushed Bold off of the couch onto the floor. The loud thud woke Courage up with a start and he scrambled off of the bed swiftly and helped Bold up. “Are you okay mas… Bold?” he asked as Bold woke up fully.

“Yeah, I’m fine Courage. Thank you.” Bold replied sleepily.

Windy stretched out on the couch and sighed as she started to wake up as well. “Morning everypony… who’s cookin’?” she asked sleepily.

Jim chuckled and finished cooking the omelets. He brought them over to the table and set them in from of the chairs. “I cooked us all omelets. Come on everypony, time to eat.” he said as he walked around the table fluffing the pillows for them.

Windy and Bold walked over but Courage stayed put. Windy turned around and smiled before grabbing Courage’s hoof and pulling him over to the table where she sat him down next to her. Windy took a bite of her omelet and gestured Courage to do the same. He followed her lead and took a bite and smiled. “Wow… this is really good… Thank you mas… Jim…” Courage said softly.

“You are welcome Courage. I hope you enjoy it.” Jim said with a soft smile.

Bold was already finished with his and was getting his equipment ready. “So, where are we looking first?”

“First… we are going to check in with the local police department. See what they have for a lead then we will follow it.” Jim explained as he finished his omelet as well. He started to straighten out his mane, tail and coat before walking over to the closet and getting out a spare captains uniform and putting it on. He pulled out three more uniforms and laid them out on the bed. “I want you three to consider wearing these uniforms. It would make our job much easier.” he explained.

“Even if one of them is a pegasi and the other a strong earth pony?” Windy said with a wink as she nudged Courage’s shoulder.

Jim sighed and shook his head. “It won’t matter. In these uniforms you have the same authority as I will. You will be part of my team which I will officially establish when we get to the station.” he explained.

Bold took a uniform and started to put it on. “Wow, this is surprisingly comfortable. Come on you two, they won’t bite.” he said with a chuckle.

Windy grabbed one and Courage followed suit. “Oh, our belts go perfectly with these.” she said happily as she clipped her belt on.

Bold chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t think we need to worry about looking good Windy.”

“We don’t but it’s not a bad thing that we look awesome in these.” Windy replied as she struck a pose.

Courage tentatively straightened out his uniform and put the matching hat on. “H-how do I look?” he asked nervously.

Bold used his magic to straighten out Courage’s collar. “Like a professional. There is no need to be nervous, walk with pride. You have earned it.” he said sincerely.

Courage smiled and nodded. Jim gave Courage a smile before walking to the door. “Alright, let’s get going then. Remember Courage, walk with pride.” he said with a wink as they left the room.

They got into the elevator and Jim pressed the button to take them down to the bottom floor. When they reached the lobby they walked through it with their heads held high. Some ponies rubbed their eyes when they saw a pegasi and earth pony police officer, not believing what they were seeing. When Courage saw that they were all staring he leaned over to Windy and whispered. “They are all staring at us.”

“They just can’t handle this level of awesome.” she replied with a smile. “Don’t worry, everypony stared at me as well when I first got here. You will get used to it.”

Courage nodded and they left the hotel and got into Jim’s car. Bold and Windy sat in the back of the car while Jim and Courage sat up front. Windy wrapped a wing around Bold’s back and leaned against him as they drove through the city. Courage kept taking small glances at Jim tentatively. “Something wrong Courage?” Jim asked suddenly.

“N-no sir…” Courage responded softly.

“No need to call me sir. Just… just…” Jim tried to tell him how he should treat him but given Courage’s experience with unicorns he couldn’t figure out what to tell him.

“Just keep calm Courage. You are among friends and we won’t let anything happen to you.” Windy said suddenly.

Courage smiled softly and nodded. “Alright, I trust you… sorry for being so… timid.” he said to Jim apologetically.

“It’s alright, I understand. You haven’t exactly been treated the well during your life. I want to try to make sure that never happens to you again, okay?” Jim said sincerely.

They pulled up to the police station and got out of the car once Jim had parked. Jim lead them into an office portion of the building and then towards the captain’s office. Jim opened the door and the four of the followed him into the captain’s office. “Jim! Long time no see buddy!” the mare behind the desk said happily as she stood up and shook his hoof.

“Cassidy, good to see you again. My friends here are part of a special unit I am planning on making official here. Any way you can help me do that easily?” Jim asked with a smile.

Cassidy looked at the others with a raised eyebrow. “What did you do, go and buy some help? What makes you think they are good enough to be officers?” she asked curiously.

“They aren’t servants, Windy is from a different land and Courage was freed yesterday. Bold here is with Windy and they are both from a special task force in their land. They have the ability to do some pretty amazing things, don’t test that by the way, the last officer that did ended being hog tied by Windy.” Jim explained as Windy gave Cassidy a smirk. “Bold and I… well, let’s just say we have a special ability that will help in our investigation.”

“And what ability would that be?” Cassidy asked with a smile.

Jim used his magic to levitate the proper forms and a pen over to Cassidy. “Magic.”

Cassidy nodded slowly. “Hmm, this is interesting. I heard rumors that a unicorn had been using magic, but I didn’t think it was you.” she said with a chuckle.

“The rumors you heard were probably of Bold. He can do magic that you can hardly even imagine.” Jim said with a smile.

“Alright; I’ll form your team. I’m guessing you want to know what we know so… what do you need to know about what?” Cassidy said as she signed the paper.

“We are looking for a grey stallion unicorn with a cut across his face. This injury would have been sustained recently from an explosion that he caused in a museum.” Jim explained. “Star Scribe is his name.”

Cassidy nodded and tapped her hooves together gently and sighed. “Yes, we heard about that… We have been searching the city and we have found nothing. What makes you think he is here anyway?” she asked curiously.

“We are following a lead mam. What important events are going to be coming up in the next few days?” Bold asked as he stepped forward.

“Just the senate meeting tomorrow. Why?” Cassidy asked as she filed the paperwork for their team.

“Because that is where he will be. We have to add additional security to the senate.” Jim said.

“What we should do is cancel the meeting. I will make sure none of the senators are there to be harmed.” Cassidy said as she sat back down at her desk.

“No, if we cancel it then he may seek them out one by one and it might send him further into hiding. We need to flush him out and apprehend him when he is vulnerable. Then he will be extradited to Equestria where he will be sentenced and imprisoned.” Bold said sternly.

“I don’t know how you deal with ponies that blow up museums, but we definitely don’t put our senators at risk to flush them out.” Cassidy said with a scoff.

“I’m sure that Bold didn’t mean that, but we can’t risk this pony going deeper into hiding. If we lose him now he can improve his powers and pose more of a threat.” Jim said as he shook his head. “We can’t let that happen Cassidy.”

Cassidy sighed and tapped her hooves together again. “Fine, I trust you Jim. But if things go wrong it’s your flank that is going to take the punishment.” she said as she continued to tap her hooves.

“Of course.” Jim said as he gestured the others to leave. They left without a word and Jim walked up to Cassidy’s desk. “Cassidy, these ponies are more talented than anypony I have ever seen. I don’t know who trained them but I trust them with my life.” he said sincerely. “I know you have reservations about our plan but I know that nothing will go wrong.”

Cassidy nodded her head slowly. “So… when did you get the tattoo?” she asked with a smirk.

“It came with the magic. They call it a cutie mark.” he replied with a chuckle. “It is supposed to represent my talent for protecting other ponies.”

“Well, it is well earned.” Cassidy said as she bumped his shoulder.

Meanwhile, the others were waiting outside of the office and a couple of officers were snickering at them near a water cooler. Windy looked over to them with a smile and then looked to Bold, who nodded. Windy walked over to the pair of stallions and asked kindly, “Got something to say about me and my friends?”

“Just that I think two of you would make better janitors.” one of them said, causing them both to laugh.

“You must think I am pretty defenseless huh? A small little pegasi mare, not worth of this uniform?” Windy asked as she played with the badge on her uniform.

“Hey, I didn’t say that. But I am not going to deny how true that is.” the other said as they continued to laugh.

“I’m sure you two could easily take me on in a fight then?” Windy asked with a smirk.

“Listen little lady, you wouldn’t last two seconds in a fight against us.” the first one said confidently.

“Then prove it mister big stallion.” Windy said with a chuckle.

The other two were watching carefully and Courage whispered to Bold, “What is she doing?! Is she nuts?! Those stallions are huge!”

Bold smiled and gestured to Windy. “Just watch.”

One of the stallions lunged forward and there was a loud thud as Windy tossed him to the ground just as the other tried to jump on her. She quickly grabbed him and knocked him over on top of the other stallion. She then proceeded to tie them together. Jim and Cassidy ran out of the office to see what was going on, only to see Windy standing with the others and the two stallions tied together so that each other’s flanks were in their faces as they tried futilely to untie themselves. Jim looked over to Windy and sighed. “Thank you for your help Cassidy. I’ll uh… leave you to your mess.” he said as he gestured the others to leave.

Cassidy looked on at the two with a disappointed expression on her face. “You two won’t learn a lesson from this if I untie you.” she said sternly. She whistled loudly and others gathered around her laughing at the two stallions in their awkward position.

Jim and the others were back down where they had parked and Jim turned to Windy. “Why did you do that to them? They didn’t know you were trained in combat.” he said in a slightly irritated tone.

“Well now they do know. What could I do Jim; just let them laugh at me and Courage?” Windy asked with an angry expression.

“No but you didn’t need to tie them up like THAT. You were just doing that to exact some sort of revenge on them.” Jim said as he got a bit more irritated.

“I agree Windy; you should have just tied them up individually. I know how you feel about all of this but you can’t be so hateful towards the unicorns here. We are here to help them remember?” Bold asked with a smile.

“You nodded for me to do it!” Windy protested, but one look at Bold’s face and she sighed. “Fine, I’ll be a bit nicer… unless they threaten me, then they will get it!” she said with a smile.

Bold chuckled a bit and got into the car. The rest of them followed suit and they drove back to the hotel to rest and prepare for tomorrow.