"I... lost her."

Shining Armor remained in a guest room inside of the palace. His head remained buried underneath one of the pillows as he prevented himself from seeing the sunny rays of the morning light. He didn't want to get out of bed, not because of exhaustion, but out of spite that he failed to obtain the mare that haunted his dreams for the past three years. Sadness filled his heart as he heard a voice call out through the door.

"Shining!"

"Dammit, I should have tried harder. I should have stopped them." He mumbled to himself, condemning his failure. He removed his head from the pillow and rose to speak.

"Shining, you okay?" Said the voice that sounded similar to Poindexter.

"Yeah... I'm fine." Shining answered as he continued to stretch.

"No you're not. You've been locked in your room since the commotion died down last night. What's going on?"

"I saw her, Poindexter. She slipped right past me."

"Wait a minute. Saw who?"

"The white mare with the indigo curls. The mare that continued to plague my dreams, even last night as I slept."

Shining made his way to the nightstand in front to the bed. As he looked at himself in the mirror, Poindexter spoke through the door. "Oh, well come on out. Princess Celestia has asked you to guard the entrance to the Grand Hall today while she conducts her meeting with the palace officials."

"On my way." Shining grumbled.

"And also, Cadance has really been concerned over your absence last night."

"What happened last night?" Shining asks, cutting an eye back to the door for an answer.

"She waited for you. I informed her that you were sleeping elsewhere for the evening."

Shining grimaced at the fact that he left Cadance alone. He knew that he was probably going to be punished for it when he returned. He even thought as far as taking another night in the guest room. "Oh. How did she take that?"

"She took exception to it. She demanded that you sleep with her... and furthered her point by royal decree saying 'Shining Armor shall spend a night in no other's company aside from mine. He shall also be barred from sleeping in places where he has not informed me of nor shall he sleep with another mare without my supervision'."

Shining rolled his eyes at his fiance's antics. That was definitely like her to make provisions to reserve his dick in a glass display case. Though he didn't want to admit it, he had a bad case of same-pussy heaven. And no one else could have, not even he could have it unless she said he could. Though he always convinced her one way or another.

"Yeesh! A little possessive, isn't she?"

"Mares tend to be like that when they've managed to get a lock on the stallion they choose as their mate. Likewise for stallions. Also I think that she is somewhat jealous that you would request a threesome in the first place."

"She said no anyhow. So what's the matter?" Shining argued, knowing that Cadance didn't have much to worry about in terms of infidelity. The only exception to that was the mare that he probably wouldn't see again.

"I think that she's just fighting to keep you. And personally sir, I think that you should remain attached to her and dump this dream mare. Cadance has been more than good to you and she has been consistently faithful to you. Don't ruin what you already have."

Shining ultimately realized that at the moment, he was being rather selfish. She had sacrificed so much to meet him as it was and she still loved him despite the taboos of royal-protector relations. He could easily be punished for breaking protocol, but then again, if she desired it and he desired it, then Celestia wouldn't mind. He cursed himself for his actions from last night and made his way out the door, meeting with Poindexter for the first time. "...What time should I report to my post?"

"By eleven thirty." The other stallion said as both he and Shining made their way to the barracks.

"Okay. Let me suit up."

"Good morning, dear sister."

"Good morning, Luna. Have you slept well?"

"I've had better, though it wasn't too bad."

"Well that's good news. Come on in."

Celestia opened her door to her younger sister as Luna stood in the doorway. The night princess entered into the room and immediately blinked twice and rubbed her eyes to make sure if everything was as she was seeing it. She stood by her sister and found herself staring at her muzzle rather than her being eye level with the base of her regalia. Celestia held the door with closed eyes and a warm smile.

"Um... sister, have you... shrunk in size?"

"Why of course I- LUNA, DEAR ME WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU!?" Celestia shouted as she looked at her sister and remained shocked over what she saw.

"What? Do I look hideous?" Luna asked as she gulped in dismay that her night with Blueblood had managed to completely ruin her image.

"No... You look... marvelous." Celestia said as her eyes started to brim with tears.

Luna remained confused as to why her older sibling had started to cry. "Come again?"

"Have you seen yourself in a mirror?" Celestia asked as she held a hoof to her mouth and tried to suppress her emotions the best she could.

"No. I didn't think that I would need to being that we are sisters. We've shared so-"

Celestia interrupted her little sister's argument and pointed to a large body mirror that held the reflection of her and her sister. "Then I believe you should look over there."

Luna turned her head out of obedience and looked to her sister's reflection. But as Celestia stood, she noticed that there was a royal-blue alacorn mare that stood by her. Her mane and tail was of the night sky itself and her body was almost as high as the elder ivory alacorn beside her. Her wings were larger and both her mane and tail swayed in a wind that didn't blow. Her horn was longer and wider. Her shape, robust and filled with elegant curves. Luna had immediately knew who the strange mare was in the mirror.

It was her.

"Sister... I'm-"

Celestia didn't allow her younger sibling to finish as she coiled her hooves around her. "Restored. Oh Luna, I'm so happy now that you're back to normal."

"Indeed. As am I." Luna agreed as she returned the hug. Celestia then released her and held her in front of her.

"Oh! I have to have you come with me today."

Luna tried to back away with everything she had as her sister suggested that she would spend time in the public eye for the day. It was something that she wasn't used to. "But sister, I do not fare well in the art of public etiquette. Perhaps some other time, yes?"

Celestia pushed her younger and newly rejuvenated sister out to the hall and ushered her to her own room as she argued that she could make an appearance. "Nonsense. All you have to do is let me do all of the talking. Now get ready, we have a meeting come noon in the Grand Hall. Azure will be awaiting you there."

Luna's demeanor sank as she heard the name of the guard she had feelings for. "Oh... right."

As the door closed behind her, she could still hear the gleeful humming of her older sister. Though it was true that she was now back to her usual appearance, the fact of how it came to be weighted heavily on her heart. But at the same time, she knew that her first with the guard would invoke the same results as Blueblood. He was bound to lose either way, but she felt as if she made the better choice.

"Azure... please remain calm."

"That bitch. That bitch... THAT BITCH, THAT BITCH, THAT BITCH!!!"

Blueblood tore everything in his room to shreds as he stood in the middle of the battle-worn bedroom. He trotted back and forth as he thought to himself on how he could have been reduced to a prunish old stallion.

"How did she reverse my spell?"

Blueblood looked back at the remains of the nightstand and saw the letter with the broken seal from last night. As he sat on the floor, he read the words over and over again. He thought about what the phantom in the now-broken mirror warned him about.

"Perhaps it was a trap."

His mind flashed back to the moment that Princess Luna opened the door to let him in.

"Perhaps last night was a set up for this."

His mind reeled back to the scene when she pushed him on the bed and rode him.

"Perhaps she cast the same spell."

Blueblood remembered the moments she pressed him against the bed and talked him into his so-called Nirvana.

"Perhaps she cast one on me as she told me to close my eyes."

He closed his eyes and looked back to the nightmare that started in a field of roses.

"Perhaps my dream is what lead me to look like this."

He opened his eyes as the haunting image of his mother's decaying corpse smiled at him and spoke to him. The maggots on her face digging into her decomposed lips.

"Perhaps those mares, in postmortem, cursed me as they placed me in the ground with their song."

He stood in the middle of his war-torn room and paced back and forth slowly. He stopped as he finally came to a conclusion as to what was going to happen to her now.

"I demand action."

He visualized his plan in his mind and barged into the hall where she stood.

"I demand retribution."

He imagined the blade that he would draw as it made it's metallic scream throughout the room.

"I DEMAND JUSTICE!"

He closed his eyes to see a barely breathing blue alacorn mare standing below him as she bled out all over the floor.

"Luna... I thought that you sought me for a night of passion. But you used me instead."

He would hold the sword in his magic as he started to stab into the body with a furious drive to her lungs.

"You will pay dearly for this."

The livid prince would start to cut into her in every form, shape and fashion. His eyes remained fixated to hers as he would show her his definition of enlightenment.

"You will rue the day you messed with Olyssius Blueblood Patrikios; the Prince of Magic!"

He could already feel the bloodstained blue hoof grabbing him by the neck as she pleaded for mercy, to which he would offer none.

"I will ensure that your death will be a slow and painful one."

He could hear the symphony of screams that would accompany his blows. Each time the blade would sink into her body, the shrieks of the witnesses would drive him further into achieving his bloodied climax.

"And all shall watch as I sink my blade into your body."

He nearly got off to the moment where he visualized the sword hacking into the lifeless body of the lunar princess. Her blood would continue to rain on him.

"Again. And again. And again. And again."

He could already taste the salty copper taste of her blood being licked off of the sides of his mouth. His teeth gritted and his hoof shook as he made his way to the door. Stepping outside, he relieved a guard of his sword and walked slowly to his destination.

"I will use your blood as a masturbatory aid. And I will use your intestines as a condom to which I will wear as I eviscerate your skull!"

Meanwhile, Shining and Poindexter made their way back into the barracks. As they entered, they found that two others would be joining them. Longshot who just made it back in earlier in the morning from spending time with his family and Azure who sparked the curiosity of the other three. Normally Azure would never sleep in the barracks because he would be with Luna for the night. So to see him there started to spark some controversy.

"Hey Azure! What are you doing here so early?" Poindexter asked.

"Slept here, that's why." Longshot answered for Azure as he brushed his teeth.

"What?" Shining asked amazed that his friend would actually spend a night in a room full of stallions over a bed with a princess.

Poindexter scratched his head and tried to rationalize a reason on why the guard would spend the night there. It was out of his character. "Okay, this is wrong. What happened?"

Azure spat in the sink and spoke to them while looking in the mirror. "Princess Luna dismissed me last night for personal reasons. As to what those reasons were, I cannot disclose."

Shining chuckled as he thought about a series of performance jokes he could use in the situation. But the others managed to beat him to the punch, Longshot being first. "Five bits to say he couldn't get it up."

"I'll raise you to ten for him blowing his wad before she could even finish." Poindexter wagered.

"My money is on him not satisfying the princess despite his long-winded efforts to please her." Shining joked.

Azure groaned while his friends continued to make bets. "Well since you're all betting on a sucker bet, I might as well throw my lot in. If all of you are wrong, each of you have to cough up fifty bits. To me."

"A piece?" The three stallions asked simultaneously.

"I do take personal checks, by the way." The guard commented as he and the others made their way to the armory.

When they walked into the armory, they suited up in their regular suits of armor and readied themselves for anything that could possibly happen as the meeting went on. Shining nodded his head as he thought about the wager.

"Okay, I'll be the sucker for that one. Seeing that you would need all fifty to take the princess out on a makeup date." He joked as he wore his gold and purple armor.

The four stallions departed from their barracks at a late time and made their ways to the halls of the palace in a short amount of time, short enough for them to have a spare half-hour before the meeting started. As they stood in front of the door, they waited for the princesses to make their arrival. Not too long after, Celestia made her way through the hall and she was accompanied by Cadance and a large-framed blue alacorn mare that walked beside them.

"Who the hell is that?" Longshot asked quietly as the others turned their attention to the blue mare, wearing onyx regalia on her.

"Another relative of the princess that she failed to mention of until this very moment?" Poindexter asked the others.

"How many fucking relatives does this mare have? Well, too late to ask." Shining spoke in a low voice as he watched the three royals, sans one Blueblood, approach the doors. "GUARDS, ATTENTION!"

All of the guards in the hall stopped whatever they were doing and made their way to the side of the halls and stood facing forward as the three mares slowed their approach at the front door. Cadance was the first to speak.

"Good morning, captain. I missed you on duty last night."

"My apologies princess. I was taken by exhaustion. So I thought that I could at least catch a quick nap in one of the guest rooms and before I had noticed, it was suddenly morning." Shining lied.

"Well then. I see that your performance is severely lacking. I will perform an evaluation of your current performance come later tonight. Do not expect rest."

Shining knew exactly what she meant. He gulped deeply and kept a straight face as he hid his dismay. "Yes princess."

The blue alacorn was the next to speak. "Sir Azure, I trust that your post will be within the grand hall?"

The four stallions looked at each other and Azure answered the large mare. "Um... pardon me, but who would be requesting my presence in the hall?"

"As I would figure that you would forget my dreamy appearance. Surely another trip into your dreams would be more than useful."

The guards stared and gawked at who the mare in front of him was. Her shape, her form, her voice was far different from the princess he had come to know and serve. "P..pr...Princess Luna!?"

"Indeed. Now where would you be posted at?"

Azure answered her, still slack-jawed at the mare who was his princess. "I'm posted here by the door, ma'am."

"Who's posted inside that will be standing behind me?" Luna then turned her attention to Shining Armor and made her request. "Captain, I would like you make that change effective immediately."

"Yes, your highness." Shining answered while bowing.

"And while we're at it," Cadance added in. "I want you to be posted by my side for the remainder of the day, unless otherwise ordered to do so."

Shining playfully grumbled at her request. "Yes, princess."

Cadance tilted her ear to the captain and taunted him back. "I can't seem to hear you too well. What was that captain?"

"Yes princess."

"Hmmm... Verbal clarity and enunciation will also need to be evaluated. I will see to it that the issue shall be corrected."

Shining sighed as he realized that she was going to make this an extremely kinky night for him, one that he might not take as much enjoyment as she would. "Yes, your highness."

"Alright, enough you two." Celestia interjected as she made her way into the hall. "We don't need to change the entire order of the guard as it is. We have a meeting to conduct."

The party of Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Azure and Shining Armor made their way into the room as two others made their way out. While they trotted to their positions, Celestia sat at the head of the table on her throne.

"I hereby call this meeting to order."

About an hour later, the meeting had drawn to a close with successful dealings all around. It seemed that Blueblood's absence had proved to be a benefit for the flow of the meeting. In most cases, the meeting would take a full three hours to get through, thanks to Blueblood's long list of recommendations that were seen as either counterproductive or fairly useless. Sometimes, he would even try to drag a maid in and have her feed him mid sentence, thus dragging out more time. And despite his brilliant handling on international finances and internal conflicts within the country, he would often be more hindrance than help.

The only thing that kept him around was the fact that Celestia wanted to see him do well and reform. It was her personal desire that he would return to the diligent student and honorable guard that he once was. Though the elder princess was satisfied that the meeting would take far less time, she almost missed the disturbances that the stallion would cause.

"LUNA!"

And in speaking of disturbances, Blueblood entered into the hall, via teleportation, with an extremely sour scowl set upon his face as he approached the table.

"Blueblood, is that... you?" Celestia asked as she squinted, identifying key traits of the elderly prince.

"Whoa there old timer, how did you get yourself in here?" Shining asks, not recognizing who the stallion was.

Blueblood ran up the captain and screamed in his face. "YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHO I AM, SHINING ARMOR!"

"Wow... That's Blueblood alright. What happened to you?"

Blueblood turned his attention to the dark blue princess who sat across from Cadance. "Oh, I pretty sure that you would love to know that, wouldn't you? You would love to know what has become of my dashing good looks. Well, ask her!"

Azure, who stood behind the princess, walked around to protect her from anything that the angry prince might throw her way. Just as he stood in front of her, she stood up and placed a hoof on his back, rubbing him to calm him down. "Azure, please remain calm. I need you to keep a cool head, no matter what he says."

"Oh whisper to your guard." The older Blueblood spoke bitterly. "Why don't you tell him about how you threw yourself at me last night."

The guard that protected Luna stepped forward as Luna tried her best to keep him calm. Azure still defended the princess."Blueblood, you don't even know what you're talking about. At this moment, you could easily be as senile as the next pony."

"Oh is that so? Then why don't you ask her why she dismissed you last night then." Attacked the old prince.

"She merely informed me that my presence was not needed. And I know my princess, she would have no interest in a stallion like you." Azure rebutted, still defending Luna. Though he knew that she dismissed him for reasons to rid the palace of the prince in front of him, he still didn't want to sound as if he was in on it.

Blueblood continued to attack the blue princess. "Tell him, Luna. Tell him about the note that you sent to me. Tell him how you said that you waited with 'ruinous arousal'. Tell him about the white satin dress you wore."

Azure felt his heart sink into his stomach as soon as he mentioned what she wore the previous night. He saw her wearing that same dress before he continued his nightly patrol. There was little to deny at this point. "Princess... Is that-"

"Please remain calm, my guard. I will explain everything to you in due time." Luna whispered as she rubbed his back.

Azure removed her hoof with his magic and turned himself to face her. "Well princess, I believe the time is long overdue. You dismissed me for a reason, so tell me what was it?"

"Azure... I... I had to do what had to be done." She said in a low voice, apologetic in tone.

"That is not an excuse. Now tell me the truth, princess." The guard pleaded.

Luna couldn't bear to look him in the eyes out of fear that she would see the heartbreak through them. Even her eyes started to brim with tears. "This is far too quick, Azure. Please allow me to tell you behind closed do-"

"Tell him, Luna!" Blueblood interrupted. "Tell him about how you eagerly rode on top of me. Tell him about the night we shared. Tell him about why you managed to get that form. In fact, tell him with a straight face that you intended to do the same to him at first."

"Princess Luna... is this true?" Azure asked as he stared directly at her.

Luna looked crestfallen as she shied away from the guard, feeling like she hurt him worse than any weapon could. "I wanted to at first, but I saw what kind of pony you truly were. You made me laugh and smile when I felt insecure about everything. The words you say to me, they touch me. The things you do, they bring me great jo-"

"So I wasn't anything to you?" Azure asked with distress filling his voice.

Luna pleaded with him, not wanting him to get the impression that he was nothing more than a tool for her rejuvenation. Though he was initially, it was his actions and his words that persuaded her to reconsider. "It is not like that now, I assure you! Now... I want you for who you are and just the way you are."

"If he was anything to you, then tell him why you surrendered your body to me, you depraved whorse." Blueblood said, slamming the princess.

Azure turned his head back to the prince and scolded him for his insult. "You will be quiet."

"I am a prince and shall never be silenced, especially by the likes of a lowly dog!" Retaliated the old prince.

"Oh for- Shut. The fuck. Up!" Azure stressed as he turned to face the prince head on. Luna tried all that she could to prevent a conflict between him and the prince.

"Azure, please. This ha-"

"Like you could ever tell me what to do!" Blueblood shouted, interrupting Luna. "Now stand aside, Luna will be punished for her traitorous actions against me! Her blood shall be her atonement!"

Azure drew his sword and took an offensive position, holding the sword in his magical grip. "You DARE threaten my princess!?"

Blueblood drew his own blade and eyed his target, who stood behind the angry guard. He decided that he was going to kill Luna no matter what the costs were. With a sword carried in a golden aura, Blueblood stepped forward. "I dare it. Now move asi-"

The court was silenced as Azure stood beside Blueblood with a deadly spark in his eye. The room remained silent as Azure recovered his stance. As he did, the clanging sound of a sword hitting the ground was the only thing that permeated the silence of the room. Blueblood stood with blood on his forehead, trailing down across his eye and further down his face. What the prince saw before him was a nightmare all in itself. Before him on the ground laid a bloodied stub of white bone, caught under Azure's hoof. Blueblood looked up to confirm his worst fear had come to pass.

Blueblood's horn was now under Azure's hoof on the marble floor.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! MY HORN! YOU CUT OFF MY HORN!!!"

With a strong stomp, the horn produced a sickening crack as splinters of blood, bone and marrow littered the floor. Azure screamed at the defamed prince. "Fuck your horn! Fuck you! Now go fuck a rock, you shitfaced son of a cunt!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!! Azure you are dismissed." Celestia commanded. The angered guard bowed to her and made his exit while Shining Armor and Cadance looked at the developing scene of Blueblood trying to piece his horn back together.

"Auntie, look at what he did! He cut off my horn! Do something!"

Though Celestia started to cauterize the wound, she stared at the prince and asked in a flat tone. "Blueblood... why did you threaten my little sister?"

Blueblood snarled as he looked at his broken horn and saw that it could not be fixed. His words leaked with poison as he accused the princess of her crime. "She deserved it for doing this to me! She needs to be punished for what she has done!"

"You threatened... to kill my little sister." Celestia whispered in denial of what was happening before her. She finished sealing up the wound so that the old prince wouldn't bleed to death. She still wanted an explanation for what he was doing.

"You banished her to the moon for a thousand years, so what's the difference?" Blueblood asked, trying to justify his request.

Celestia was taken aback from what she was hearing from her former student. She flew from her throne and stepped in front of her sister. "The difference... The difference is that I still love her and she still loves me. The difference is that she is my own blood, my own sister. Luna knows that her wrong was directed at me and would have a consequence that would damage that of the entire world. You accuse her of a spell that could easily be reversed and threaten to take her life in turn. My sister shall not be maimed or harmed in any way. And for it to happen, they would have to go through me."

"Then give Azure the death penalty! He deserves it too." Blueblood demanded, trying to exact his revenge on the stallion who took away the one source of his own power.

Celestia shook her head and expressed her disappointment in the wounded stallion. "I see now that you are far from redemption."

"Redemption?" Blueblood said as he started to become blinded by his anger and no longer thinking of what to say before speaking. "I was born this way. When I came to you, I wanted you for myself."

"And I rejected you. Yet you respond by pursuing Cadance, fornicating with my sister and wishing for her untimely demise?" Celestia asked as she was on the verge of crying.

"Well does it matter?"

His response caused the others to gasp in the room. The princess backed away as she finally saw the heartlessness that he exhibited to many others. The stallion she imagined him to be a long time ago had clearly made his exit and in it's place was a shadow who only spewed lies and calls for blood. Her heart poured from her eyes with every tear she shed. Her love, the love she gave to him through the years was crumbled and thrown back in her face. With a trembling voice, she tried to reach out to the bitter prince.

"You hurt me deeply... too deeply. Blueblood... I gave you everything. I sacrificed for you and gave you everything that you could have ever hoped for. I gave you a mother's love, a home, food, an education, a title and all of this was to show how much I loved you. I willed to go to the ends of Equestria for you. And your thanks... is to take what I've have left... and dispose of it."

"But you still have power and immortality. That's more than anything." The prince argued with the princess, still trying to validate his reasons for wanting Luna dead. But as of that moment, his argument fell on deaf ears.

"You're right... I do have some power..."

Blueblood smirked that she finally saw things his way. "That proves my p-"

"While you have none." Celestia said softly, while the words shook the core of every individual in the room. Blueblood was the most mortified of her statement.

"What?"

With a snap, Celestia's wings opened and stood straight out, signifying her royal decree. "By royal decree by none other than I, Celeste Delanise Valkyrie, I hereby STRIP Olyssius Blueblood Patrikios of all powers, responsibilities, privileges, and titles."

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" Blueblood screamed.

Her decree plowed through his scream as she shouted in response. "FURTHERMORE HE IS TO BE BANISHED FROM CANTERLOT AND ALL TOWNS AND CITIES OF EQUESTRIA!"

"BUT I AM A PRINCE!" He tried to debate with her.

"Under penalty of death." Celestia finished sternly.

Blueblood shook weakly as he backed away from the table, realizing that his rule was now over. In denial, he screamed back to his former mentor. "You can't just simply toss me like this! I am Prince Blueblood, the Prince of Magic!"

Celestia turned to Shining Armor and gave him his order. "Captain."

"Yes princess?"

And then the sun scorched the pride of the former prince. "Toss him on his ass."

"Solid copy, your regalness." Shining answered as he grabbed the exiled prince and bound him with his magic, something else that Blueblood was also stripped of.

Blueblood squirmed and wormed in protest to being thrown out of the palace. "Release me! I am your Prince and hereby order you to release me, this instant."

Shining pushed the prince to the door, ignoring his order. "Sorry Blueblood, but you're stripped. No power means no command."

"Let me go!"

"Sorry, but I think that this is for the best. For all of Equestria."

As the doors opened, Blueblood called back out to the pink princess, who stood by watching. "Cadenza, help me!"

"You brought this on yourself, Blue. I'm sorry, but it's time for you to leave." She said sympathetically, yet at the same time commanding in her tone. Blueblood let loose a loud scream as he was drug out of the room.

"NnnnnnnAAAAAARRRGH!!!!!"

"Heave, ho! Away we go!"

The guards alongside Shining Armor tossed the disgraced Blueblood into the grass and mud of the outside gates. Other citizens stood on the walls and watched as Blueblood screamed back at them. Some of them laughed and celebrated, others just watched out of curiosity.

"How dare you treat me like this! Me, a prince!"

"Nice knowin' ya!" Poindexter shouted.

"At least allow me to collect my things." Blueblood asked.

"Your things? Last I checked, everything that you had was in the princess' name." Longshot called back to him.

"But my finances."

"Again, in the princess' name." Shining answered as Celestia walked beside him.

"But my assets-"

"Captain, allow me. And in the meantime, please clear this crowd." Celestia asked her captain as she made her way to the muddied elder pony formerly known as Prince Blueblood.

"Yes, your highness." Shining answered as he turned his attention to the gathered crowd. "Alright move along. Nothing to see here. I know it looks nice, but this is not for your personal enjoyment."

Blueblood crawled to the hooves of his former mentor and begged her for forgiveness. "Celestia, give me another chance. Please. I promise to do better."

"You plead for a second chance, while I gave you far too many to count."

"But... I repent for my actions."

"The tongue that utters repentance is the very same that spawned rhetoric of vengeance and judgement."

"Celestia... just let me in."

As she looked around to see if there was anyone looking, she lowered herself and gave her former student a soft kiss on the cheek. Looking surprised, Blueblood watched as his mentor walked away. "You know... I actually loved you. Had you proven yourself to be more patient with me, I would have easily fallen in love with you. I would. But I'm glad I made myself wait."

"Auntie. Please... I can't live on my own. Show me your love by letting me back in." He pleaded to her, trying to convince her to allow him back into the city.

"I love you, Olyssius. And I always will."

"So yo-"

"But to truly love you is to show you that there will be consequences from your actions. I loved Luna when I banished her, and I will love you as I send you to exile. It was my fault for not being so stern with you out of fear that I would lose you. But now, I see that the choices I've made only made matters worse."

"Please. NO! PLEASE!!!" He said crawling to her before her magic sealed him in place, leaving him to watch her departure. His pleas fell only on the rocks as Celestia walked back into the city.

Realizing that this was for the best, she waived to Blueblood one last time before she signaled for the gates to close. "I love you as a mother bird sends it's young to the world. And just as the bird sends it's young to fly, so shall I send you."

"CELESTIA!!!" He shouted as the gates to the city closed to him. As his view to the inside of the city narrowed, she still spoke to him.

"I love you, Olyssius Blueblood Patrikios. May your remaining years be fruitful to you."

Author's Note

It's good to be the prince.

It's been a long time coming. And I know that all of you feel as if that this was a cathartic experience. It was one for me as well. Hope you are enjoying the story thus far.