A Bronie's Soul

It was late by the time I returned to the castle, Luna's moon already high in the sky, accompanied by an entourage of twinkling stars. I couldn't help but notice six particular constellations that looked surprisingly similar to a certain group of Cutie Marks.

Silva was stood on a balcony with a pair of binoculars, clearly looking for me. It appeared that she hadn't found me yet, so I decided to have a little fun. I flew from cloud to cloud, moving them ever-so-slowly so I had less time in the open. In no time at all, I had made my way to the roof of the castle.

I snuck along the edges to the point just above the unsuspecting mare. Using my wings, I silently dropped to the ground behind her and began creeping closer. Once directly behind her, I stood up and tapped her shoulder, causing her to jump.

"Boo."

"Thunder Rift?! Don't do that!" she yelled, shoving me.

"Don't do what?" I replied, faking innocence. I couldn't help but snicker slightly, though.

"You know exactly what!"

"Do I?"

"Yes!"

"Huh... care to explain?"

"RAAAH!"

Silva stomped past me, crossing her arms as she stepped through the sliding glass doors into the castle. I followed, still laughing, and looked around at the room. It was large, with light blue paper decorating the walls. Two other doors were in the room, one open and leading into an en suite bathroom. A king-sized, four-poster bed stood at the top of a small set of steps, with a pure white cabinet on either side. To the side of the door to the balcony was a white desk with a large mirror leaning against the wall. A blue set of pyjamas had been placed on the desk, so I took the bottoms into the en suite to change.

I walked back in and saw that Silva had sat down on the edge of the bed, rubbing her temples. She gave a groan, then flopped backwards onto the sheets. I sat down next to her.

"Look, I'm sorry." I said, looking at the opposite wall. "About today."

"It's fine." she replied, not bothering to get up.

"No, it's not. I shouldn't have reacted like that. Celestia was only joking around."

"Yeah."

"But..."

The silver mare sat up, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"But what, Thunder?"

"It's just... Well... She had a point, ya know?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I don't really know this world, right? So I'll need somepony to help me out, and protect me if anything goes wrong."

"Uh huh. So, what you're saying is... you want me to move in with you?"

My cheeks burned. My throat clogged for a second, making me choke.

"L-like a roommate!" I stuttered, refusing to look away from a rather fascinating picture of a tortoise.

"A roommate that teaches you about Equestrian culture, protects you from danger and, most likely, gives you combat training."

"W-well, yeah. But if you don't want to, th-that's fine..."

I felt her hand move down, meeting the other one around my chest in a hug. I looked around at her and noticed that she wasn't wearing her armour, instead adorning a baggy white t-shirt and some black shorts. Her mane was tied back, with parts of her fringe hanging over her amber eyes.

"It's fine, Thunder! I was just playing. Of course I'll be your roommate."

"Thanks, Silva. I was dreading asking anyone else."

"Understandable. All of the other guards are complete stiffs."

"I can believe that!"

We shared a laugh, falling back onto the bed. Once we'd calmed down, we began talking about anything and everything. Music, art, gossip and all the thing in between. After a while, we decided to go for a walk outside and admire Luna's night. We lay down under a large oak tree and eventually fell asleep there, smiles on both of our faces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thunder Rift, Silent Silver, wake up."

"Come on, you two. Get up now.

"WAKE UP!"

I shot up, smacking my head on a low-hanging branch. Clutching it in pain, I looked up to see who had woke us. I was greeted by the smiling face of Luna.

"Good morning!" she chirped, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Hey, Luna." I groaned, slowly standing up. I looked to my left, seeing Silva stood at attention, saluting. Luna giggled.

"At ease, Silent Silver. And please, stop doing that. You are our equal now, seeing the decision you two made last night."

"H-how did you..." Silva began, relaxing slightly.

"It was all Thunder Rift thought about last night. Among other things..." the night princess smirked at me, making me blush slightly.

"Please don't look into my dreams, Luna." I sighed, slumping my shoulders. "It's embarrassing."

"Alright then, Thunder Rift. Now, go get changed. My sister wishes to speak with you."

I flew Silva and myself back up to the room I found her in last night, setting her down on the balcony. We walked in just as a maid was setting out two sets of clothes, one presumably for Silva. We thanked her and she made her way out, but not after Silva insisted she take a few bits for her troubles.

I took my clothes into the bathroom again, leaving Silva to get changed in peace. After slipping off my pyjamas and pulling on a pair of black boxer shorts, I took a good look at my attire for the day. A pair of black jeans, a white 'Green Day' T-shirt (I guess some names juts can't be different) and a light blue / grey hooded flannel shirt. I pulled it all on, leaving the flannel open over the T-shirt, and walked out of the room.

Silva was straightening out a similar T-shirt to mine, only hers was black. She also had a pair of white jeans and a dark red / grey flannel shirt. She looked up, then noticed what I was wearing. Her face was a mixture of shock and embarrassment, which then turned to anger.

"Luna planned this." she said through gritted teeth. I just shrugged.

"Oh well. Nothing we can do now, is there?"

"I suppose not..." Silva sighed, hanging her head. I put my arm around her shoulder, smiling warmly.

"Hey now, is it really that bad? I mean, my Green Day was awesome. How's yours?"

"Also awesome. That Kobra has an amazing voice, for an anaconda."

We began walking through the halls towards the thrown room, hearing nothing but snickering and muttering as we went. I sighed. Luna had some explaining to do, but that could wait. I decided to lighten the mood a little, so I started singing as we walked.

~"I walk this lonely road,

the only one that I have ever known.

Don't know where it goes,

but it's home to me and I walk alone."

Silva looked back at me and smirked. She began to drum a tune on the side of her legs as she took over the next verse.

~"I walk this empty street,

On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Where the city sleeps,

and I'm the only one and I walk alone."

We smiled at each other, picking up the chorus together.

~"I walk alone, I walk alone.

I walk alone, I walk a-

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me.

My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating.

Sometimes I wish someone up there will find me.

'Till then I walk alone!

Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, aaah-ah,

Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah."

We finished the song just as the throne room doors came into view. They were wide open, revealing Celestia and Discord talking. Celestia's face held a look of shock and Discord seemed to be showing her something. We walked in, neither of them noticing we were there, and heard a part of their conversation.

"What should I do, Tia? I'm actually nervous about this."

"Well, Discord. If you ask me, you should just ask her. But I'm sure you want to do something extravagant."

"Well, I'm only the Lord of Chaos! Just asking her would be so boring."

"What about some sort of event? I'm sure we could find something to celebrate so you could 'crash the party' and ask her in your own chaotic way."

"That'd be perfect! But what could we celebrate? The anniversary of my defeat is coming up, but that sort of party doesn't seem to have a point anymore."

"I'm not sure..."

Celestia looked up, seeing us stood there, and smiled warmly.

"I'll think about it, Discord." She said, walking the Draconequus out of the room. "I'm sure something will come up."

"Thanks, Celestia. Strangely, you're the only one I feel I can talk to." He paused briefly. "Apart from Sparkles, of course."

"I'm flattered."

After Discord left, Celestia came over to us and sighed.

"I never thought I'd see the day when the cockiest being alive asked me for help." she groaned, sitting on her throne.

"Proposing can be very stressful, you know." I said, leaning on the back of the throne. Silva and Celestia both gave me questioning looks, to which I shrugged. "What? It was kinda obvious."

"It would also seem you have a knack for unearthing information." Celestia mused. She sat thinking for a second before a smile made it's way onto her regal face. "And now I can lure two Parasprites with one tuba!"

"Wha..." Silva's mouth hung open and her left eye half closed.

"Never mind. Thunder Rift, be ready for a public announcement tomorrow at nine thirty, sharp!"

"Uh... alright?"

"Good! You two can have the rest of the day to yourselves. Have fun!"