OTR: Return

by The King of Hearts

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Princess Luna, Original Character, Rainbow Dash, Comedy, Adventure
Length: 26308

Rainbow Dash, now a Captain of the Royal Guard, has finally gotten her hooves on the spell to save somepony very dear to her. But, a lot can change in the time that passed, and she can only hope he'll understand.

Sequel to: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Off the Record

Time has passed, and Rainbow Dash has finally gotten her hooves on a spell to free Alex from his stone imprisonment, through her work as a Captain of the Royal Guard.

During that time, she's made enemies, and she's made mistakes that she only hopes she can be forgiven for. But, Finally, she gotten a lucky break, and finds the spell she can use to bring Alex back to them.

Now she's ready to resume her old life, no matter what is thrown at her... But, things always tend to get complicated, don't they?

Cover art by: JinZhan. I commissioned this, and am REALLY happy with it.
Also, there is a tiny bit of editing still to be done, but that's coming.

Published 2013-10-19 20:10:04 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-27 18:21:43 UTC

Return

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Off the Record: Return
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A gruff looking orange earth pony sat at his table, sipping a large class of hard apple cider in The Appleseed, a low class bar on the outskirts of Dodge Junction. In his possession, was a small envelope. He had sent Canterlot telling them he had it, and that he was ready to part with it, for the small fee of one million bits. Well, PRETEND to part with it. His plan was to accept the money, and then have his friends ambush the ponies, where he would then make his escape with the bits, and the spell, so he would be able to negotiate one more time, for twice the amount of money.

Recently, he had raided a train with his friends, stealing several valuables, and a few hooffuls of documents that were on their way to Canterlot. He wouldn’t normally steal such things, but a strange pony had told him to do so…

Within the next day, there were enough royal guards in the city to sink a ship. At least a hundred ponies had been sent to Dodge in search of the missing documents. It was somewhat heavy hooved, as a lot of innocent ponies under suspicion had their houses turned inside out. They were compensated handsomely for their troubles however, when they were found to be hiding nothing.

He and his friends had run to a cave to keep their heads low while the searches were going on. It didn’t take a genius to know what was going on. They were looking for something he had stolen. So, what else was he supposed to do, besides ransom it, and not follow through?

“Do ya’ know who this pony is that’s comin’ to pick it up?” One of his friends asked him, passing by the table casually, as to not arouse suspicion from wherever that pony may be.

“Not much,” He answered, watching the door for the pony, “All I got was a letter.”

“A letter?” He asked.

“Yeah.” He nodded, “Her name is… C.”

“Did somebody say my name?” A female voice said from behind them, making them both jump in surprise.

A Pegasus, dressed in a black skin tight spandex suit, stood behind them. Her face was covered by a dark mask, allowing them no chance at finding out her identity. On her back, were two huge bags, which obviously held a lot of something.

“Just where the heck did you come from?!” The bandit asked, looking around the dark bar for some other kind of entrance.

“There’s a hole in your roof… now.” C said, looking between the two, “I believe we have some business to take care of?”

Swallowing, the bandit looked straight toward her, as she sat down on the other end of the table.

“You realize that we could have this whole establishment surrounded… So don’t pull any funny business,” She said confidently, “One problem, and every single soldier comes in here.”

“That may or may not be the case,” He said, looking to the windows for good measure, “But you wouldn’t want me accidentally destroying this spell, would you?”

“No…” C said, eyeing the envelope on the table, “Is this what I’ve come for?”

“See for yourself,” He said, gesturing to the table.

Carefully opening the flap with her hoof, she moved it so it rested on the bottom of the envelope, as she pulled the sheet out with her mouth.

Laying it flat on the table, she studied the text, nodding along with the paper.

“It looks good,” She said, as the bandit smiled inwardly to himself, “But! It seems there’s a page missing.”

“You’ve got a good eye, miss.” He said, grinning a rotten smile, as he pulled another paper out of his coat that hung from a rack next to them.

“Why did you steal this spell in the first place?” C asked, looking to him.

“An odd feller told me I should take it.” He shrugged.

“Did he now?” She grumbled.

“Forget all that!” He demanded, “You owe me somethin’!”

“Of course,” She said, standing up and dropping her two massive sacks of coin on to the floor, “I’m glad to be rid of the weight anyway.”

“Kick ‘em over here,” He said, watching her carefully as she complied with his order, knocking the massive saddle bags over to him.

Leaving down, he opened the two bags, and was almost blinded by the reflections that came off of all the money. There was hardly any light in the room with them, but when it came to gold, it always shone.

Closing the bags, he stood up, and smiled to the mare, “I’m afraid that we have a problem. This isn’t enough money.”

“That’s a million. Count it.” She said sternly, not wavering as he approached her.

“I believe ya’,” He said, as all the ponies around her stood up, “But, I’m afraid we’re gonna need a little more, before we hand this over.”

The mare laughed, as all the bandits approached her.

“And what’s so funny?” He asked, growling at her confidence.

“You guys are a bunch of idiots!” She laughed, pulling a chair out from a nearby table, sitting down, and kicking her back legs up on a table, “This is all being tracked! What? Were you just going to run and hide until we gave you more money? Maybe in some cave or something? Do you think we’d take that chance?”

“Uh… yeah?” He said, thinking that plan over really quick.

“This is your one chance to take the money, and leave clean,” C said, smiling under her mask, “Cheat me now, you’ll all get to be butt stallions in the big house!”

“Ah’ think yer’ bluffin’!” A pony called from the bar, with a particularly thick accent.

“Well, Red Neck Randal, test me on that one.” She taunted, leaning her chair back and forth on the back two legs.

They all huddled up and talked quietly, as they casually looked back to her one at a time.

“Would you hurry this up? I have a train to catch.” She shouted, lifting up a nearby glass of hard apple cider, and taking a long drink from it through her mask.

“She’s full of it…” One said.

“Uh huh! Ah’ll bet she ain’t got nuthin’ outside fer’ backup!” Another added.

Looking at her all together, she waved at them, polishing off the glass, “This stuff tastes like ass, by the way!”

“Git her!”

They all started to spread around her to make a circle, as she sprung to life.

Resting her legs on the underside of the table, she lifted them both up, sending the massive wooden object flying at two of them in front of her.

Her chair was rolled backward by her kick, making her land on the floor with her front legs hooked in the arms of the chair.

Seeing that two more ponies were moving over top of her, she threw her back legs over her head, and hit them both in the chest, sending them both to the ground as she completed her attack with a backward somersault, up to a standing position with the chair still in her arms behind her.

Unhooking one of her arms, she swung the seat a few times around her stretched arm, before throwing it and smashing it into yet another bandit.

“Is this all you hicks have to offer?” She laughed, as one of them picked up a piece of wood from the floor, and advanced carefully toward her.

Reaching her, he half-drunkenly swung at her. Something she easily dodged, before smacking the end of the long piece of wood that was in his hand, making it crack himself in the head.

Stumbling backward, he ran into one of his friends, knocking them both to the floor, and shaking a ceiling fan from the roof, down on to their heads.

The unicorn of the group ran forward, and shot a ball of fire out of his horn at her.

Lifting her left arm, the spell was absorbed into some kind metal gauntlet, before it fired back at him, and blasting him behind the bar.

Then, throwing a hoof backward, she hit one in the stomach that had been trying to capitalize on her lack of focus. She followed it up with a spin around to face him and a smash of her head into his, knocking him out cold.

Shaking her head, she turned to the only man left standing. Her old buddy!

“So, you ready to hand it over, big guy?” She asked, walking over to him, unfazed by the attacks.

Smashing a bottle on the table, he ran at her.

Sighing, the mare waited for her chance, and then knocked the bottle away just before it made contact, giving him an open hoof hit to the nose, and audibly shattering his skull, making him collapse.

Rolling her neck in a circle, she walked over to the table where they had just been, grabbed the envelope and the money, and walked for the door.

“W-who the buck are you…?” He asked, his voice now nasally from the torrent of blood running from it.

“Well, there’s no harm in it now…” She said, whipping her head to the side, and throwing the black mask from her face.

Underneath, a cyan pony, with a rainbow mane was revealed to have been his attacker.

“The ‘C’ is for ‘Colors!’” She said, smirking, “And you just tried to keep me from something VERY important!”

He growled through the pain in his face.

Walking back over to the bar, she took another glass of hard cider, and slammed it back, “You’re lucky I’m such a forgiving pony, you know!”

“Am I?” He asked sarcastically, feeling a tear run down his cheek, “Please e-lab-or-ate that for me.”

“Well, I COULD have broken more than your face.” She said, walking over to him and bending down, “And, I COULD have arrested you all, under my jurisdiction as a captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard,”

“Yer’ a captain?” He asked incredulously, pointing to her arm, “That’s why you have that fancy-pants contraption!”

“Perks of the job. Funny thing is, that there are only a few ponies in Equestria that have as much power as me,” She said, sauntering over to the two ponies with the ceiling fan on their heads, “But, I’m way cooler than any other official at the castle.”

“Somehow I doubt that…” He grumbled, as consciousness slipped from him.

“You don’t think I’m awesome? Then check this out!” She laughed.

Rainbow Dash walked to the end of the bar as far from the door as she could, and licked her hoof, as if testing the air. She then bent her back legs a few times, and raised herself up and down, stretching. Next, she flexed her wings out, which were still in the suit, as she got herself in ready position.

FInally, she instantly took off, achieving a Sonic Rainboom as soon as she hit the entrance door.

Of course, doing that move indoors was very different from in the sky.

In the sky, it made gusts strong enough to send any cloud around her, far, far away.

When it was indoors, on the other hoof, it had a tendency to… destroy the building completely.

And boy did it ever.

All that remained was a black scorch mark on the ground, as pieces of flaming wood covered the surrounding area. Nopony was really hurt either. By her logic, they had already been beaten to a pulp, so what was being thrown a few more feet, right?

"My bar!" The stallion could be heard shouting as Dash raced away from the wreckage.

Satisfied with her work, she smirked, and flew off into the night. The bullet train was waiting for her at the station, and she had to get this spell home to Twilight.

Two years had been long enough.

////

Dash sat alone on the train, as it sped back toward Canterlot.

This was it.

The wait was finally over.

And no armored pony was going to stop her this time.

She thought back to the last time she had seen Alex, and was able to keep herself from showing the pain she had suffered at that memory, for so many nights. Now though, she was able to simply able look back on it with fondness.

He had been so good to her in his last few minutes. He spent his time comforting HER, during the final few minutes of his life. It should have been the other way around. She should have been the one taking care of him.

It was something she felt immeasurably guilty for.

But, that had been her main drive behind getting him back. She was going to break the spell, and then she was going to apologize endlessly to him for being so selfish. She had her entire speech memorized, and was going to say it to him, word for word.

She had plenty of time to memorize it too… Considering it had been two years since Alex was petrified by Discord.

Two long years.

THAT was the one that really hurt.

But, she took that, and used it for him. The pain would only end when she saved Alex. So, her life suddenly had one single drive. She had never wanted anything more in her entire life.

Sure, she had always been committed to becoming a Wonderbolt, well, until Alex changed her mind on that. Now, she had no plans, besides him. It was almost unfair of him to have left the way he did. She wasn’t the type to look too far into the future, but Alex was worth that to her. She had actually thought about getting married, and having kids with him. Of course, she would instantly think of herself as some young filly for it, and be embarrassed by those thoughts. But now, since the possibility of those things never happening had actually set in, it made her realize just how much she wanted it.

So, when she cured him, she was going to realize all of these things with him. He had no say in the matter. And if he went sacrificing himself for Equestria a second time, she would do the only thing she could.

Toss Spike in the way!

Giggling, Dash knew that would get her in some trouble with Rarity.

Those two had come a long way in the last two years as well.

Spike had moved out of the library, and was now living with Rarity. It was a bit confusing to Dash, just how old Spike had been. If Spike was even twelve or thirteen, it would have been a BIT of an age difference, to Rarity’s twenty at the time. But, most of the time these days, he was the mature one in their relationship. So, she just got used to the idea that he aged a bunch by her wish.

Rarity had offered him a job at the Boutique doing whatever he wanted. So, naturally, he insisted on being the greeter.

At first, she had laughed at the idea, but entertained it.

However, after he settled into the position, she found that he had a remarkable ability for convincing somepony to buy something. He had a way with complementing her customers enough, that they would almost always buy the clothing on the spot. Of course, he’d never lie to them, which left him upsetting a few customers with his bluntness.

She was sure a marriage proposal was coming from him soon. That would be something great to see. Rarity finally ending up with her Prince Charming.

…Now, all Dash needed to do was end up with hers.

Sighing, she thought about it all again.

Two years.

So much had happened… At first, she stayed home all day, crying. She had zero drive to do anything else. Just mourn. She hadn’t been the only one either. All of her friends were deeply affected by the loss of Alex. So, it was a little easier for her, since all of her friends shared her pain.

But, that still didn’t stop the pure, heart-wrenching agony she felt day in and day out. She thought losing Alex for a few months was bad back when she ran off and became a Wonderbolt…

That had been a cake walk compared to this.

But, one thing she was sure of at this point.

Time healing all wounds, was a crock of shit. She just learned to manage the sadness, and push it down. So, it would either all be cured when Alex came back, or it would fester into a brain tumor or something.

When Dash finally recovered from the pile of mess she had become, she went to Princess Celestia, and begged her for some kind of position, looking for the cure to that petrification.

It had taken a bit of coaxing, but she was finally able to secure herself a senior position within the Canterlot guard, that had been diverted to focus on rescuing Alex. Celestia finally realized that if anypony was going to put in the hours, and make a difference in the effort to saving him, it would be Dash.

Oddly, however, because the team she was leading was still considered a part of the Royal Guard, her taking leadership over them resulted in an instant promotion to the position of Captain. She was equal to Shining Armor! But, of course, she had no intention of being the ‘uncool’ boss. So, she pretty much just acted like herself all the time. Still though, that didn’t stop her from working hard.

From there, she would spend weeks at a time, digging through every book that even mentioned curative magic.

And then she would find the references, and task her team to investigate them.

This would repeat for a month or so, until Dash took a break.

Then, for about a week, she would go and visit her friends, and catch up. They would talk about her progress, and each would give her some positive thing to say, encouraging her to keep going.

It was almost ironic that Rainbow Dash, the pony that refused to even pick up a book two years ago, was now one the foremost experts on petrification magic in Equestria. For such a young mare, it was surprising to the veterans of magical study.

At first, despite months of digging, she had come across nothing, except finding some information on a magic absorbing gauntlet, that she hoped would be able to draw the stone out of Alex. However, after finally finding it, and trying it out, it did nothing but absorb magic that was in the process of being cast. So, it got tossed in a bucket in her office.

However, when she decided to go on this solo venture to get the spell from these bandits, she took it with her, knowing it was a good defensive option.

Still, when the weeks turns to months, and the months turned to more than a year, her friends started to worry that she was just wasting her time. The only one that consistently supported her was Twilight. Alex had been her student, and she refused to give up on him just as much as Dash did.

During all of her searches, however, every time they seemed to be getting close to some kind of a solution, something would go wrong. From a spell suddenly being missing, to a riot destroying the archive their answers were held in.

And she knew what had caused—

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Dash looked up; something was tapping on the roof. Or… somepony!

“Not this time…” She growled.

Running to the front of the train, Dash threw the front door open, as she shouted to the conductor, “I need you to slow us down!”

“Slow down? Why?” The conductor asked, lost at her request.

“I need to get on the roof!” She said, pointing to the escape door.

“You’ll get yourself killed!” He argued, “What’s so important up there?”

“Just do it!” She shouted, “That’s an order!”

Grunting, the conductor pulled on the lever, as the entire train slowed to nearly a quarter of its original speed.

“I’ll signal you when it’s time to get going again!” She said, giving him a strong nod.

“Are you sure about this?” He asked one more time, before the door was opened, and she flew outside.

////

The wind ripped past her face, as Dash landed on the roof of the train, peering down the long vehicle.

She had been right. Somepony she knew had landed up here.

“It’s so good to see you again, Rainbow Dash,” The pony said over the wind.

Dash’s eyes narrowed. It was him.

During her trips to find a cure for Alex, she had encountered this stallion. He was clad in nothing but a golden suit of armor that was built to shape of his body, so it fit him perfectly. The sleek look of the outfit made him look like he was some kind of modern knight, as it had a fairly small number of panels on it, and shone as if it were just polished.

The stallion himself was a complete mystery to her. They had only met two times, but he had ruined her chances of saving Alex both times. Somepony didn’t want him out of his stone prison, and they were using this guy to get that end.

“Here to stop me from saving my boyfriend?” Dash asked, knowing the routine with this guy.

“Of course I am!” He laughed, smiling under the plate covering his face, “You should forget him! A pretty girl like you needs a much more handsome man like myself.”

“How would I know how good-looking you are?” Dash asked, looking over his helmet, a little surprised it wasn’t covered in bugs from the wind, “You have that thing covering your face.”

“If you see my face, I’d have to kill you,” He joked, “Now, why don’t you just make this easy, and hand the spell over?”

“You’re not doing this again,” She said, shaking her head, “I’m taking this spell to Canterlot, and you’re not stopping me.”

“Why bother?” He laughed, “Don’t you remember that pony you were… friends with? What was it? Speed? Do you think Alex’ll forgive you?”

“Shut up!” Dash shouted, this being a very sensitive topic for her, “We’ll cross that bridge when he’s free!”

Scoffing, the pony stepped closer to her.

“Rainbow Dash, come now,” He cooed, approaching her, “Do you really want to get hurt here?”

“You’re not going to hurt me,” She said, once again happy she had come prepared, “You can’t.”

“Aren’t you forgetting?” He asked cockily leaning forward. “I have magic, and you have wings.”

“Then hit me with your best shot,” She said, puffing out her chest.

“You know I don’t like hitting women.” The stallion said, feigning care in his voice.

“Just get on with it you baby!” Dash yelled, sick of his attitude.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, sugarplum.” He said, as a dim light illuminated his horn.

“Nice try,” Dash smirked, as the spell shot from his horn, and was absorbed into her gauntlet.

“What did you just—“

Dash shot it back at him,

The impact knocked him off his feet, and sent him staggering backward.

“Sorry princess,” Dash smirked, suddenly charging at the pony, “You need a ticket to ride this train!”

“W-wait!” He said, just before her head made contact with his chest, knocking him off the roof, and rolling on the ground as the train rocketed away from him.

Dash grimaced as the pony rolled over himself, and skidded to a stop. Standing up to watch her bullet away.

“This changes things…” He said to himself, dusting the sand off his suit of armor, “Good work, Dashie.”

////

As soon as Dash got back inside, she ordered that the train move at maximum speed, to keep him from getting on the top again. And, if he decided to teleport inside, she would just use her bracer, or beat the crap out of him.

Sitting down, she momentarily thought to herself about why this stallion was here.

Alex hadn’t really made any enemies, but that didn’t mean much. It could just be some other mysterious party, the way the changelings had been at Haven Station.

But could it have been them?

Na, they wouldn’t need a suit of armor to hide their identity from her.

Who then?

Shaking her head, she decided that he wasn’t going to be a problem anymore.

He had screwed things up for the last time. Alex was going to be saved tomorrow, and if that stallion showed up again, she would ask Alex to explode him. Easy peasy.

Sighing, she smiled at the thought of how Alex would react to her. She was a pretty different pony now.

Dash had been asked by Celestia to complete some of the usual prerequisites that a Captain would have, so, she had been taking combat training with Shining Armor, and learning how to fight, so she wouldn’t have to be the damsel in distress around her subordinates. When she finished basic training though, she was offered to take part in a class with incredibly advanced fighting tactics that was taught by Princess Luna herself, along with Scootaloo… well, kinda.

But… Then there was Speed. The stallion her friend on the roof had mentioned.

Dash felt her stomach wrap itself in a knot over him.

About six months ago, Dash had put an unbelievable amount of hours into a lead that looked like it could be the real cure. There were several references to some kind of spell that was capable of healing any kind of ailment. It was known as Esuna. But, because of its incredibly complex nature, nopony was able to cast it, besides the mare that invented it. So, it was shelved in place of regular treatments.

For all Dash knew, Celestia or Twilight would be able to cast the spell, so she went all-out trying to get her hoof’s on it.

Sifting through the either useless, or wrong intelligence, she was finally able to pinpoint the origin of the spell, and set off with a group of her men to collect the spell.

However, they arrived a few days late it seemed, as the entire library was destroyed by a forest fire that had grown out of control, and left most of the town with nowhere to live. Dash had an idea what had really caused the damage, however. The mystery stallion. But, she had to move past that.

So, pushing her sadness aside, Dash and her team decided to help the town rebuild some of their houses, so they wouldn’t be crammed ten in a room.

Calling in the rest of her team, they built several large buildings to hold the residents of the town, so they would have somewhere to stay while they built more homes themselves in the long run.

During this whole process, Dash met a stallion named Speed. He was a white Pegasus himself, and reminded her Alex way too much. He was funny, he made sure she didn’t work too hard, and he even got her a drink whenever he thought she was getting thirsty… But, despite all that, she wasn’t interested. She made that clear as soon as she realized he may have been feeling something for her.

However, on her final night there, they had been out celebrating the completion of the final communal house, when a bad combination of circumstances hit Dash.

First, she wasn’t normally one to hit the drink, but decided to have some fun as she got herself a bit tipsy, making her MUCH more agreeable.

Second, she felt deprived of affection. She hadn’t had a stallion since Alex. She missed being held and taken care of. Even though she had become such a strong, independent pony, she wanted nothing more than to be able to spend the rest of her life being the house-mare… It was something that embarrassed her greatly.

And the third and final one, she had gone into heat that morning, leaving her desiring a little more than just being held. Normally, she was able to keep it under wraps until she could get to some privacy… But being in this town, she had no room to go to, that wouldn’t be filled with her subordinates.

So, when all these things came together, on top of the crippling loss of the library for her, Dash did something she regretted. She slept with Speed.

Of course, the morning after, as soon as she realized that she was in bed next to him, she freaked out, and accused him of taking advantage of her. But, after some careful thought, she realized that she was probably a willing participant in the exchange of their bodily fluids.

So, instead, she apologized, and ran for the door. Luckily, the train left later that day, and she didn’t need to worry about any awkward situations with him, besides the hug goodbye when she and her team left for Canterlot.

But after a month, she had... Nevermind.

That was something she was going to get off her chest right away. She was going to tell Alex as fast as she could that she had made mistakes... one mistake. Right now. And that it meant nothing to her. She loved Alex, and nopony else.

So, as soon as she got back to Canterlot, Dash went back to work reading, and searching for the next spell she could use.

There hadn’t been any kind of breakthrough after that for a while, until Dash received a letter from an anonymous source telling her to look in to an ancient spell used by the buffalo tribes of Dodge.

So, Dash sent a few letters, and was shocked to find out that they were willing to send her the spell on the next train out to Canterlot. It was almost too easy.

Then, of course, the train the spell had been in was hit by a group of bandits, and was stolen from right under their noses.

At first, she thought it was the armored stallion, but the ponies on the train insisted they only saw bandits.

So, deciding not to take the risk, Dash sent every unit she had to Dodge County, plus almost fifty more that Celestia had loaned her. She was determined to find that spell.

Although she was told multiple times to call off the search by her friends, and even the Princesses, she refused, and told the guards to question every citizen. Alex was worth the trouble.

Still, eventually the search failed, and they all returned.

Feeling completely put out, Dash told her staff to take a few weeks off, so she could collect herself, and move on to more reading.

Which is when she got lucky.

A letter arrived the next day for the leader of the search party, telling her that somepony in Dodge had the spell, and wanted a million bits for it.

Not sure whether or not to trust the sender, Dash decided that she had no choice. So, she used the group’s deep pockets to obtain the million bits, and went to Dodge County alone.

She also took a suit Rarity had made for her. In case things ever got ‘hairy’ she was supposed to use it to sneak around, and keep her identity a secret. Dash wasn’t totally sure what the meant, but she took it anyway. And, to her surprise, it had actually been helpful.

And now she was all caught up in her head. She beat up those ponies, took the spell, and was now on her way home. It went perfectly.

Still, Dash couldn’t help but sweat. When Celestia heard about this, she probably wouldn’t be happy that a Captain of her guard acted so recklessly… But that didn’t matter. She had the spell she had been searching for. She could be fired for all she cared.

There was only one problem now… The frickin’ wait.

She had a day’s ride to kill, and nothing to do. At least on her way here she was able to look up other places to search for spells. But now she had what she needed, that was unnecessary.

Well, there was one obvious answer to her question. Sleep.

So, closing her eyes, Dash was pleasantly surprised to feel herself start to fall asleep quickly. The fight really took it out of her.

Hopefully, she would wake up in Canterlot station tomorrow night, without any visits from her personal antagonist.

////

The sun was setting, and Celestia had been asked to the throne room by a guard so he could speak to her about a problem they had received news about.

Celestia sat in her throne, absolutely fuming. It seemed that a certain captain of hers had done something very stupid.

“She did what?!” Celestia shouted, completely taken off guard by the report she had just received from Dodge Junction, forcing herself to speak in a calmer manner, “A-are you sure this information is accurate?”

“Reports say that a pony with a blue coat, and a rainbow mane, attacked ten known felons in the town, and destroyed the bar they frequent, with a… rainbow explosion.” The guard read, knowing that there wasn’t a single pony in Equestria that could pull such a thing off, besides the captain of Alex’s recovery team.

“Was this because of the lost spell?” Celestia asked, sighing as she gave consideration to removing Dash from her position, “I know she’s too close to Alex to be totally complacent, but there isn’t a single pony that will work as hard as she does. Maybe she needs a vacation.”

“Is there anything else you need, your majesty?” The guard asked.

“When is Rainbow Dash due back?” Celestia asked politely.

“Any minute now, ma’am,” He said, thinking about the situation report he had just head, “Her train was seen stopped in Ponyville half an hour ago.”

“Please send her to me when she arrives,” Celestia said, composed once again.

“Of course.” He nodded, leaving the room.

Celestia sighed, and thought back to her past two years.

Since Alex defeated Discord, everypony was left with a huge pile of questions. All that they knew was that Discord had turned the Elements black, and had done it to help them fight ‘something.’

The Elements had been rendered useless by the spells Discord had used, and it made Celestia worry. The Elements were the strongest form of magic they had access to, and they couldn’t even use them right now. What happened if this ultimate enemy were to attack them now? They would be defenseless…

“Princess Celestia!” Rainbow Dash shouted, bursting into the room, now dressed in her proper Captains coat, as it hugged her tightly, showing off her figure.

“Rainbow Dash,” Celestia seriously, snapping out of her train of thought, standing up, “We need to have a very serious discussion!”

“Not now!” She said, reaching into her bag, “I got the spell!”

“…What?” Celestia asked dumbfounded, as she stepped off the platform toward her, “How?”

“I beat up the guys that stole it!” She said, waving the envelope around with her mouth.

“I-is Twilight here?” Celestia said, her heart leaping at the thought of saving Equestria’s hero.

“I picked her up on the way!” Dash said excitedly, her heart pounding out of her chest, “She’s already at the statue preparing!”

Casting a spell, and creating a small orb in front of her, Celestia spoke to it, “Attention everypony! Please clear the Canterlot stone garden, potentially harmful magic is about to be cast there. You’ll be alerted when it’s safe again.”

The spell vanished, as Celestia gave Dash a nod, and then walked out of the throne room together.

“Captain, I may have accused you too fast,” Celestia said, somewhat guiltily for not trusting Dash to be professional, “I know you aren’t the type to go around beating up ponies.”

“Ha! Don’t worry about it Princess,” Dash laughed, her mind racing just as fast as her heart, “When Alex is free, I’ll stop beating ponies up, and start beating HIM off.”

Celestia coughed awkwardly.

“Uh…” Dash said, really not in the state of mind to be saying things properly, “I’m just on my heat, okay?”

“Of course,” Celestia giggled, remembering herself when she was that age, “Let’s hurry then, before you jump on a guard.”

“I’m happy to do that,” Dash nodded, as they both sped up to jogging speed, and then taking off once they cleared the castle.

Dash flew as fast as she could, giving Celestia a bit of trouble, as she struggled to keep up with the small mare.

It didn’t matter much, however, as they were both at the destination within the next minute.

“Twilight!” Dash called, running beside her and giving her the envelope, “A-are you ready to do this?”

Opening it, and giving it one last glance, she looked up to them and smiled.

“Let’s do this,” Twilight said, her heart pounding at the possibility of rescuing her student, “Hooves crossed everypony!”

Nopony really knew what that meant, but they had all sort of adopted Alex’s old sayings, in memory of him.

Looking to the petrified Alex, Twilight lifted the spell up to her face, and read aloud.

“From the stone, that you currently be, chip the walls, and break out, free.” She read, as her horn started to glow, “Open the doors, and walk from your prison, you will be born from your petrified death, re-risen!”

The two ponies stood silently, listening to Twilight recite the spell. Both hoping this would be the end of this terrible time, so they could move on to much more important things.

“From the sun setting in the sky, to the moon rising high!” She said, reaching the final line, “Celestia of the day, and of the night Luna, may your ailments melt from your flesh, Esuna!”

A blinding beam of energy shot from Twilight’s horn, and impacted the statue, bathing it green sparkles. Everypony held their breath, waiting for the statue to break, and free Alex, or perhaps for the stone to fade away, and leave him soft again.

But, the seconds turned to minutes, as time blazed past them all.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Finally, after ten minutes, they started to look between each other. They had Expected SOMETHING to happen by now.

Every time Dash saw any kind of change in the stone, she would rub her eyes, and realize that it was nothing more than a trick she was playing on herself out of desperation. This couldn’t be happening again, could it…?

“I… I don’t think it worked,” Twilight said finally, as the two ponies looked to Dash apologetically, “I’m so sorry Rainbow Dash.”

“Listen, why don’t you get some rest, Rainbow Dash?” Celestia asked, not even capable of imagining the pain she must have been feeling.

“I… It should have worked!” Dash said, her eyes filling with those familiar tears, “The spell was perfect! All the properties were there! The structure was perfect!”

“You know that these spells are almost impossible to make, Dash,” Twilight said comfortingly, “We can study this one, and likely make a working spell from it.”

“Yeah…” Dash nodded, seeing the silver lining in all of this, “I’m just—Just so surprised! The buffalo were so intent that this spell worked.”

“Maybe you should write them back?” Celestia offered, thinking of any kind of consolation for them, “Maybe we missed something.”

“That’s a good idea,” Twilight said softly to the hurt mare, “They might know more, or something specific.”

“Yeah… Yeah!” Dash said, her energy coming back to her, “I haven’t come this close, just to fail!”

“Good,” Celestia smiled, happy that Dash was happy, “Keep working!”

“I’m going to my office!” Dash shouted, taking off back to the castle, “I have some work to do!”

Dash vanished as she entered the castle through a window on one of the towers.

Twilight and Celestia sighed, and looked to one another.

“What do you think?” Celestia asked seriously, knowing that Twilight had a good grasp of spell form, better than her even, “Should that have worked?”

“It should have, yes,” Twilight said, scratching her head, reading it over again, “I mean, we all saw the spell come out of me.”

“See if you can tweak it, alright?” Celestia asked, looking up to the moon and sighing, “We’re too close.”

Twilight nodded, “I’ll go to my old room in the castle, and start right away.”

“Thank you,” Celestia nodded, smiling, trusting her student to find the solution “But don’t forget to get some sleep, alright?”

“Of course, Princess,” Twilight said, heading back to the castle, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Celestia sighed, and looked to the sun, “I guess it’s that time…”

Skipping the usual fancy ritual, Celestia waved her horn at the sun, making it sink below the horizon, as the moon started to peek out on the other side of the sky.

“Well, it’s time for this Princess to get some sleep,” Celestia yawned, trotting off to the castle.

It was a shame she didn’t stay for a minute longer.

She would have heard the first crack in the stone.

////

Dash pulled out a blank piece of paper, and started frantically writing out her letter to the Buffalo. If this letter was sent quick enough, she might have a reply before tomorrow ended.

Listing the problems she had, Dash made sure to be as polite as possible when she asked if the spell had actually worked for them in the past. She then went on to explain that she trusted them, and wasn’t questioning their abilities as spell casters…

She just really didn’t want to come off as offensive. They probably wouldn’t have given a buck however she wrote it, but she couldn’t take that chance. She needed help.

Scribbling down a few more things, she suddenly hit a road block in her letter.

She needed to put the chief’s name in the letter, but she couldn’t remember his name for the life of her!

Would it be offensive to just write ‘chief?’ Dash wondered, really not wanting to dig through her massive piles of papers to get the letter he had already sent her.

But, no matter how she phrased it, or rewrote that sentence, it was always the same. She would need to get his name.

The next thirty minutes were spent as she looked through the stacks, and stacks of paper, in hopes of finding this guy’s name.

Finally, she found the parchment, and read it out loud to herself.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

I’m sorry to hear that you’re in such a difficult situation with your friend, however, I have some good news for you! We here have a spell that sounds quite similar to the one you’ve described to me. It’s known as Esuna. It was brought to us by a brave explorer that taught some of our spell casters to use it. Apparently, the spell was quite difficult to use where he came from, but, he found a way around the hardship, by making the spell slow to take effect. Now, it can be used with relative ease! And while our people have moved away from the use of magics, we would be happy to lend you the spell, so you could use it to save your friend.

Chief Thunderhooves.

Nodding, Dash looked back to her paper, and scribbled on the last line Thunderboobs—Whoops, Thunderhooves.

“There we go!” She said, glancing back at his original letter one last time and stopped, “Wait a second…”

Dash blinked a few times.

“S-slow acting?”

Did it say the spell is slow acting? How did she miss that?

Rereading the letter again and again to make sure, she was completely dumbfounded.

That meant…

Dash was out the window before she had finished the thought.

////

Flying as fast as she could, Dash crash landed just away from where the statue should have been. But, to her surprise, there was no statue anymore. Just a pony, collapsed on the ground.

“Alex!” She shouted, rushing to his side, her heart pounding faster than it ever had.

He was breathing, his heart was beating.

Yes… Yes!

Quivering, Dash held him in her arms, as she began shaking uncontrollably. It had actually worked. He was here… she had started crying without even noticing. It had just been so long!

At this point, Dash actually hoped he wouldn’t wake up right away… because he would see the coat on her face matted with tears, and her nose running like a faucet.

Wrapping her arms around him, Dash simply hugged him. Two long years… And now he was back.

A nearby guard saw the two, and rushed to her side, “Captain!”

“Please get a medical transport for me,” She asked, looking up to him, still holding Alex as if he could slip away from her again, “We need to get him to the hospital right away.”

“Of course!” He said zealously, running off toward the close-by hospital.

////
An hour later
////

Everypony gathered outside of the room Alex had been placed in, and waited anxiously for Dash or Celestia to come out.

Luna had called all of his friends to Canterlot when news reached her of Alex’s return.

So, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike, all arrived on the bullet train, only a half an hour after she told them what had happened, despite it being the middle of the night.

They all arrived, and went straight to the hospital, where they were asked to wait outside of his room while he finished some treatment.

Finally, after what seemed like hours to them all, but was probably only a few minutes, the door opened, and Celestia stepped out of the room.

“He’s awake,” She said, as the ponies all laughed, and smiled to one another excitedly, “But he’s having a bit of trouble talking. It’s just temporary though, Captain Dash assured me of that.”

They all nodded, and entered the massive hospital room.

“Alex!” Pinkie shouted, involuntarily bouncing on the spot, seeing her old friend in the bed passed out.

“Shhh!” Everypony said at once, silencing her.

“Whoops… Sorry Alex.”

“It… It’s fine, Pink.” Alex said weakly.

“How long is recovery expected to take?” Twilight asked, feeling herself out of breath at this great development.

“Just a day or so,” Celestia explained, “Petrification spells like this can often take a toll on a pony’s body, shutting down a lot of brain activity that comes back after they’re freed. It’s like a weaker version of a long term coma.”

“You know that much about it?” Twilight asked, surprised at Celestia’s wealth of knowledge.

“Actually, Dash filled me in on those details,” Celestia smiled, proud of how far this mare came for her love, “She’s better versed on the subject then I will ever be.”

Dash simply held Alex’s hoof, her head buried in his shoulder, as his recovery slowly took hold over him.

They hadn’t told him how long he had been gone for, and were waiting for a more delicate moment to do so, so he could take it all in carefully.

For now, he was just going to rest, and get back up to strength, so they could completely fill him in on the details.

“Why doesn’t everypony go?” Celestia asked, seeing that neither Alex, or Dash were in the position to be answering questions.

“But we jus’ got here!” Applejack said.

“I think Dash would like some time alone with him… Besides, we can all visit tomorrow morning.” She said, “I have rooms already prepared for you all.”

“Okay…” Spike said dejectedly, wanting to tell Alex all of what he had done in the last few years.

“Don’t worry dear,” Rarity said comfortingly, “We’ll get our turn with him tomorrow.”

“Sure,” He said, looking up and smiling. He hadn’t shown it as much as the others, but he was probably the most excited to see him again, besides Dash. Alex had been his best friend, and missed him dearly.

“Get better soon, Alex!” Pinkie bellowed, as everypony jumped to get her to quiet down.

“Yeah, sure thing—uh, Pinkie!” Alex stumbled, “Sorry…”

“It’s okay!” She beamed, giddy to be talking to him so much, “You have poo brain right now! You have nothing to be sorry for!”

With that, all of his friends left the room despite not getting to say anything to him. But, they all saw that he was okay with their own eyes. So, they left it at that. They would all get their chance tomorrow.

“Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said, turning just before she left the room, “Should I expect you back at the castle?”

“No,” Dash said, keeping her gaze on Alex, “I think… I think I’m going to be resigning.”

“Of course, dear,” Celestia nodded, expecting that completely, “Your quarters will be kept for you, however.”

“Thanks,” Dash said, smiling at Alex, even though it was supposed to be directed at the Princess.

Not wanting to waste her time, Celestia left the room, and gave Dash her time alone with Alex.

“How are you doing?” She whispered to him, as he grunted in response.

“I think… Good?” He said, clearly having trouble with his words, “I’m having trouble with remembering…”

“Remembering what?” Dash asked, placing a hoof on his cheek.

“How did I get turned to stone?” He asked, squinting.

“Discord, remember?” Dash asked, stunned that he had forgotten such an important detail, “He turned you to stone, and you did the same back to him!”

“Right…” He said, feeling like the lights were WAY too bright, “Would you mind turning off the lights?”

“Sure!” She said, walking over to the door and hitting the switch, and leaving them in darkness.

Returning to the table, she saw that he was already on his way to passing out.

Dash would have been worried if this had happened in any other circumstance, but this was completely normal for ponies coming out of a petrified state. Like she had told Celestia, it was just like coming out of a coma. You need some time to readjust yourself.

Lying down on a bench next to his bed, Dash placed her head on the edge of the mattress, and started to feel herself doze off. His presence was the most calming thing she had felt in… Well, two years.

She was so excited. Tomorrow morning, everything was going to be back to normal in her life. No more lame reading, or other egg headed stuff. Just lots and lots and lots of bucking.

And with that thought, she dozed off, next to the man she loved more than life itself.

////
The next morning
////

Dash rubbed her eyes, as she woke up to a sudden bright light… Where was she?

“Up and at ‘em!” Alex chirped, turning to look at her from where he stood, “It’s already noon!”

“A-Alex!” She said, sitting up immediately, the night before flooding back to her, “You’re awake!”

“Better than that,” He smiled, stretching out “I feel like a million bits!”

“I can’t believe it!” She said, jumping up and racing over to him, “You’re seriously okay already?”

“Should it have taken longer?” Alex asked, cocking his head, “I mean… Some things are still pretty weird.”

“Like what?” Dash asked, recalling everything she had read in a bit of a panic, “Are you nauseous? Light headed? Broken magic? Disoriented? Showing signs of amnesia?”

Alex laughed, as she continued her list of possible symptoms, “All of those things, a little bit. I can’t cast a spell to save my life.”

“That’ll pass, so will everything else,” Dash said, walking up to him, and resting her forehead on his chin, “Dear Celestia… I can’t believe this is happening!”

“Geez, you act like I’ve been gone a year!” Alex laughed, leaning down, and kissing the top of her head.

“But listen, there’s a few things I need to tell you,” She said, looking up to him with large eyes, “Are you willing to sit down and—“

“Alex!” Pinkie shouted, bursting in the room, and grabbing him in the biggest hug she could manage, “I missed you so much!”

“H-hey Pinkie,” Alex wheezed, through her tight squeeze, “It’s good to see you too!”

“Let him go, Pinkie!” Dash said, not wanting Alex to break so soon, “What are you doing?!”

“I’m saying hello!” She smiled, beaming at her now healthy friend, “Why do you ask?”

“B-because you need to be careful!” Dash stammered, knowing Alex wasn’t in a great place right now, “He could break in half!”

“I don’t think I’m going to break…” Alex laughed, rubbing his sore wings, “Is anypony else with you? Like Twilight?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie said, nodding rapidly, “But it’s just her and Princess Celestia!”

“Sounds about right to me,” Dash nodding, knowing the protocol Celestia would call for in this situation, “She’ll probably take us all to a room to be reacquainted, and we can debrief you.”

“Geez, Dash,” Alex laughed, shaking his head, “Since when did you get so… Military-ish?”

“Since I had to get you back, Alex,” She said, poking him in the chest, “You don’t know what I went through!”

“She blew up a bar, and injured ten ponies,” Celestia said from the door, “But it sounds like it was worth it, if you’re up to full strength.”

“She did what?!” Alex asked, looking between Dash and Celestia.

“It was nothing,” Dash said, shaking her head, “I’ll tell you later.”

Twilight walked in the room, studying the chart his Doctor had given her, making sure that there were no surprises for everypony.

“It looks like everything checks out!” Twilight said, looking up to Alex and smiling brightly, “It’s great to see you, Alex.”

“You too, Twi,” Alex said, smiling earnestly to her, “So, where are we going for this, what did you call it? Debrief?”

“I’ve simply asked to use an educational room just down the hall,” Celestia said, “Everypony is there waiting for you.”

“Man, I’m pretty popular today, huh?” Alex laughed, as she walked carefully to the door, “Let’s get this over with, yeah?”

Dash smiled. It was amazing to have him back. And although they hadn’t even kissed yet, she was going to make up for that, when she gave him a private tour of her quarters. Well, her hindquarters anyway.

////

Walking into the room, Dash felt her happiness intensify at all of her friends in such a happy mood. Only a few weeks ago, Applejack had tried to convince her to take a vacation, and return to Ponyville for a little while. The joke was on her now!

“Alex!” Fluttershy called as he walked into the room, “I’m so happy to see you’re okay!”

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Alex nodded, looking over the group of ponies.

“Alex!” Spike called, “Are we gonna hang out later, or what?”

“Sure!” Alex said, giving Spike a quick look over, “You look different.”

“Uh,” Spike said, pulling back, “Do I? I thought I looked the same!”

Once Alex was in the room, and seated, Celestia walked to the head of the table, and cleared her throat, ending constant stream of ‘hello’s’ and, ‘I missed you’s’ to Alex.

“Now, as I’m sure everypony is aware, Alex is back with us,” Celestia said, at him and softly smiling, “However, we have some things that need to be discussed.”

“Um… What are they again?” Fluttershy asked, having missed that particular conversation.

“We’ll fill you in as we go, dear,” Celestia laughed.

“So… What have I missed?” Alex asked, looked around his friends, “How long was I gone this time?”

The silence in the room was eerie.

“What?” Alex asked, “Two months again? Six months? …Longer?”

Nopony had the guts to answer him.

“Two years.” Dash finally said, as he quickly stood up, looking around at everypony.

“Two years?!” Alex shouted, starting to hyperventilate as he looked around the room, “A-are you joking me right now?”

Again, nopony wanted to say a thing.

“I’m sorry, Alex,” Dash sighed, “We tried to do this as fast as we could.”

“There’s no way,” Alex said, shaking his head, “You all look the same! I can’t… Well, besides Spike!”

Spike frowned. How different was he?!

“I know this must be a huge amount to take in,” Celestia said, placing a hoof on his shoulder, “But we need to figure some things out, before we catch up, Alex.”

“Yeah… Yeah, of course,” Alex nodded, gulping loudly and sitting down, “So, what are we gonna talk about then?”

“Discord,” Celestia said firmly, “Did he fill you in on anything while you were in purgatory?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Alex asked, blinking and shaking his head, “When I was… where?”

“When two petrified ponies, or in this case, a pony, and a draconequus, that are in close proximity to one another when petrified, can often times share a sort of… prison cell.” Dash explained, impressing everypony with her knowledge, “Were you in any kind of place like that?”

Alex quickly got a strained look on his face, as he closed his eyes, and shook his head.

“I-I can’t remember…” Alex said, looking to Dash and Celestia apologetically, “It’s all a haze.”

“That’s normal,” Dash nodded, looking to Celestia, “He’ll need some more time before he’s able to remember his time there.”

“Okay,” Celestia nodded, “How long would you say?”

Considering how long it had taken Alex to recover to THIS point, Dash assumed that the rest of his recovery would be fast as well.

“Tomorrow?” She estimated, “It might be the day after. But no more.”

“Alright,” Celestia said, knowing that she could wait two more days for answers to her questions, “Well… I guess this meeting is over then.”

“Uh, that was fast,” Applejack said, laughing.

“I had the next two hours set aside for this meeting!” Twilight said, pulling a scroll out of her bag, “What am I supposed to do now?”

“We could go get some breakfast!” Pinkie said, “I haven’t had anything to eat in days!”

“Pinkie, I saw you eating five minutes ago,” Rarity said, looking to the garbage can in the corner, “There’s the cupcake wrapper!”

“Well, I mean REAL food!” She said, “I’ll bet Alex is hungry, right?”

“I could go for something,” Alex shrugged, nodding, obviously still completely lost at the realization of the passed time, “What is there around here for food?”

“We can find a place you’ll eat,” Twilight said, standing up and tossing her schedule aside, “Come on, everypony.”

“Sounds good to me,” Alex said, rubbing his hoofs together, and joining Twilight on the walk out the door.

“Hey RD!” Applejack called, running next to her, having a ton of questions for the mare, “So, uh… How’ve you two made out?”

“We haven’t yet,” Dash said, shaking her head, “He’s been too tired for any of that stuff.”

“Ah’ don’t mean kissin’!” She laughed, astounded at her friends ability to always be thinking about sex, “Ah’ mean, with tellin’ him about… You know!”

Dash sighed. Applejack was the only one of her friends that she had confided in about her night with Speed six months ago, when she cheated on Alex. In fact, it was Applejack that suggested telling him right away.

“Listen,” Applejack said, recalling the speech she had given Dash the last time, “If he’s gunna take offence to you cheatin’ on him, which you DIDN’T, then it’s best to be up front about it!”

“I know I know,” Dash sighed, still feeling terrible for it happening, “I don’t want him to think I’ve been hiding anything.”

“Exactly!” She nodded, playfully bumping into her, “Next time y’all are alone, jus’ come clean.”

Dash nodded determinedly.

“Still though,” Dash sighed, moving on to the next thing that was bugging her, “I figured Alex would be more freaked out about the two years.”

“Well, it don’t feel that way for him, right?” Applejack asked, remembering all the rambling Dash had done in the past about this magic, “He hasn’t been without you, the way you were without him.”

“I guess so,” Dash nodded, thinking about what was going to happen tonight, “I just hope he’s still in the mood after I tell him about Speed.”

“Well, the way ah’ figure it,” Applejack said, placing a hoof on her chin, “Tonight, in your room, tell ‘em every single thing. Make him see what you’ve been through. He’ll forgive you, and start holdin’ya mighty tight I reckon.”

“He’d better,” Dash laughed, shaking the sadness from her head, “Or I’ll be the one holding HIM while he’s asleep!”

“There ya’ go!” Applejack laughed as they exited the hospital, and followed the group to a nearby diner, “So, are ya’ commin’ back to Ponyville then?”

“You bet your rump I am!” Dash said triumphantly, “I’m going to settle down, pop out a few kids, and be a mom. Plain and simple.”

“Are you serious?!” Applejack asked, shocked that Dash had such an aspiration, “Yer’ gonna have kids?”

“Well, maybe not right away… But at some point, yeah.” Dash blushed, having never told anypony about that desire.

“Woah, nelly,” Applejack said, still blown away by that confession, “Ah’ can’t believe Alex made a house-mare outta ya’!”

“I never knew it, until it hit me like a ton of bricks, Applejack,” Dash said, smiling at the thought, “And now, it’s all I can think about.”

Applejack wondered what it would be like, if some pony dropped out of the sky and made her into a house wife. But, instantly, she laughed at the thought. She would be working in the fields until the day she died. Maybe she’d have a kid or two, but her husband would be the one raising them. She was a workhorse, and there was no two ways about it.

“Darn tootin’!” Applejack said to herself.

“Huh?” Dash asked, having no idea where that had come from.

“Oh, uh, nuthin’!” She laughed nervously, “Talkin’ to myself is all.”

“Right.” Dash said, stepping ahead of her friend, “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Sure thing, RD!” Applejack smiled, as she moved to talk with Pinkie and Fluttershy.

Catching up with Twilight and Alex, Dash bumped in between them, as they stepped apart to make room for her.

“What’cha talking about?” Dash asked.

“Just about magic and stuff,” Alex shrugged.

“Just?” Twilight laughed, “You know so much more than I thought you did!”

“How do you mean?” Alex asked, scratching his head.

“Well, you were just agreeing with me on the structure of the spell that freed you, and how well it flowed the energy through the words, to the horn!” Twilight laughed, “I guess I taught you better than I thought!”

“It surprised me, just how new the spell was!” Dash said, recalling the use of Celestia and Luna in the casting, “I thought we’d have to look for some million year old scrap of paper, that we’d have to decode, translate, and format in to contemporary spell phrasing!”

“Did you study ancient languages, in preparation?” Twilight asked.

“I did!” Dash laughed, sounding like a complete geek, “I can basically read anything predating New-Equestrian dialect.”

“You learned another language… for me?” Alex asked, looking at her with big eyes.

“Well… yeah,” Dash blushed, looking away like a school filly, “I told you I was going to, didn’t I?”

“I guess you did,” Alex nodded, closing his eyes and sighing quietly, “I can’t believe it’s been so long, you guys.”

“Me neither,” Twilight said, thinking back to the last two years for her, “Since you got frozen, life kinda seized up.”

“What’s everypony been doing then?” Alex asked, wondering what ‘seized up’ actually meant.

“Nothing much,” Twilight said, “Besides Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Rarity, everypony has kinda been going through the motions.”

“How are Spike and Rarity different?” Alex asked, seeing Twilight show a bit of emotion at the mention of it.

“Well, they moved in together a year ago,” Twilight explained, thinking back to the day he told her he was leaving… It was probably the saddest day of her life, “And now they work together at the Boutique.”

“Are you okay with that?” Alex asked instantly, seeing that it pained her somewhat.

“Yeah,” She nodded half-heartedly, “I’m fine with it… It just hurts a bit.”

“It does?!” Dash asked, surprised that she felt this way, “Why don’t you say something?”

“Because, Spike is all grown up!” Twilight said, her voice cracking a bit, “H-he’s a full grown stallion by all accounts.”

“So, it’s like losing a son?” Alex guessed, not sure just what their relationship had been.

“No,” Twilight shook her head, “It was more like losing a little brother, that a raised myself. I know that sounds dumb, but—“

“That’s not dumb!” Dash cut in, “He was grown up super-fast, and you missed out on a lot of time with him because of it.”

Twilight nodded, staring at the ground, “I get lonely at night sometimes, all by myself in that big library.”

“Have you thought about finding yourself a stallion?” Dash asked, thinking that was the next logical step, “You’d probably stop being lonely real quick.”

“No,” Twilight shook her head, “I’m not really in the market at the moment.”

“That’s what you said last week! Err- two years ago, I guess…” Alex corrected, “What ever happened to that Alpha guy from Haven Station? Did you hear anything else from him?”

“You killed him, Alex,” Twilight said, remembering the brief romance she had with the changeling, “You blew up the teleporter, don’t you remember that?”

“Honestly, it’s fuzzy,” Alex laughed nervously, clearly embarrassed for bringing that up, “Uh, so, what’s that on your arm, Dash?”

“This?” Dash asked, showing him the gauntlet on her arm.

“Yeah! It looks really cool.” He said, getting a good look at the plates of metal that clung to just above her hoof.

“It actually absorbs magic, and redirects it back at the caster,” Dash explained, “I got it to try and sap the spell from your stone form, at this really big dig site.”

“Where was that?” Alex asked.

“Up near Vanhoover,” Dash said, gesturing to the north with her head, “It was a bit of a letdown when it didn’t work, but it still works as a good defensive option.”

“Sounds like it,” Alex nodded as they entered the restaurant.

Walking up to the hostess at the counter, Dash flashed her credentials, and the host ran inside, pushing together a few tables.

“What was that?” Alex asked, a bit amiss.

“My team used to eat here all the time,” Dash explained, fiddling with the medallion she had used, “So, whenever I flash this to the people here, they know that it’s going to be a big party of eaters from the castle.”

“You think your rainbow mane would be enough of a give-away.” Twilight laughed.

“You’d think so,” Dash agreed, watching the ponies quickly push together a few tables for them all.

“I still can’t believe you’re a captain of the royal guard!” Alex laughed, checking her out, up and down, “It’s kinda… sexy.”

“I appreciate that,” Dash said, following behind the hostess, as she seated all of them, “But, I’m quitting now.”

“Really?” Twilight asked, “Because Alex is back?”

“What are you quitting?!” Pinkie butt in, since she was beside them.

Looking around the table, Dash saw that they were all now looking at her expectantly.

“I’m uh… Quitting my job as Captain of the Royal Guard.” Dash said slowly.

The table erupted in cheers, as they were all happy to hear that Rainbow Dash was coming home. Ponyville had really been missing something with the two of them gone. Even though the town resumed its normal schedules after Discord’s magic was countered, none of the ponies sitting at the table ever truly got back to normal.

The entire group of them caught up, and talked about a large variety of things, ranging from what they had been eating recently, to filling in Alex on what he had missed in the past year.

Before they all knew it, the day had whittled away, and the sun was starting to set, far off in the sky.

“Big Mac hooked up with Cheerilee?” Alex asked, after Fluttershy mentioned it, “How did that happen?”

“That was us!” Spike said as he jumped up triumphantly, before feeling a bit foolish, “Uh… The Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“You’re still in the club?” Alex asked, laughing, “Then where’s the Cutie Mark, man?”

“No idea,” Spike sighed, “I’m starting to think that maybe I just don’t get once, since I’m technically not a pony.”

“Maybe it’s the same for me,” Alex said, thinking for a moment, “I guess if I die without a Cutie Mark, I’ll have my answer, right?”

Twilight laughed, “Well, I think it’s time we called it a night!”

“Already?” Pinkie whined, “I wanted to throw a party!”

“No, Pinkie!” Everypony said at once, as she jumped in response.

“Geez! Okay! I get it!” She said, huffing.

“Do you want to go back to my quarters?” Dash asked, grabbing Alex’s front arm, and rubbing it sensually, “I’ve got a few things to show you.”

Everypony silently looked at the two of them.

“Sure,” Alex smiled and nodded, “Show me the place you’ve been living the past year.”

Grinning to herself, Dash dragged him away from the table, and toward the door.

“Uh, goodnight everypony!” Alex called, as he was pulled out the door by his tail.

“Goodnight you two!” Applejack called, laughing.

“I’ll bet they’re going to have some fun.” Twilight said, watching the two head off for the castle, “They deserve the night together.”

“I just hope Rainbow Dash remembers not to scream too loud this time…” Fluttershy said, genuinely concerned.

The whole table just erupted in laughter.

////

Alex explored Dash’s room with mild interest, a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of books that were stacked to the ceiling.

“So… What do you think?” Dash asked, holding her breath for some kind of approval.

“It’s… really egg-head-y.” Alex laughed, sitting down on the surprisingly comfortable bed, “You’ve really changed since the last time we saw each other, haven’t you?”

“In more ways than you could imagine,” She said, sitting down next to him on the bed.

“Tell me about the fight with the ten ponies!” Alex said, clearly excited by the prospect of her kicking huge rump, “How did that happen?”

“Well, a bunch of bandits stole your cure!” Dash said apologetically, feeling bad for it now, “I had to, you know, kick their asses for keeping you sealed in stone! Sorry if it seems too harsh…”

“You don’t need to apologize, Dash,” Alex laughed, picturing the exchange in his head, “You did the right thing by me.”

“I guess,” Dash said, looking away from him, “I just hope I didn’t really hurt any of them…”

“So,” Alex said, moving the conversation on, “Is there anything else you want to tell me about the last few years?”

“Well, yeah…” Dash said, nodding quickly, thinking back to everything Applejack had told her about being forward, “There are a few things I need to fill you in on…”

“Lay them on me,” Alex said, laying back on the bed, allowing her to talk.

Dash frowned, and looked at the ground.

“Um…” She said, “Well, there’s one thing I need to tell you, before everything else!”

Alex listened intently.

“Listen, you were gone for a long time… Please remember that!” She said, as his demeanor changed from a calm one, to a suspicious looking one, “I- I kinda did something, with somepony else…”

Alex sat up, his mood now entirely changed to her.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked seriously, giving her an extremely hard look.

“Look, it meant nothing!” Dash said quickly, “I made a bad decision!”

“Rainbow Dash. Tell me.” Alex said, almost growling. Frightening her a bit.

Dash swallowed. The tension in the room was suddenly huge, as her mind raced.

He wasn’t happy about this. He was going to yell. He was going to leave.

But she had to be honest, and trust him to understand.

“Six months ago… I lost out on a chance to rescue you, and in that moment of sadness, I lost control, and… I slept with another stallion…” Dash stammered the whole story out, praying that Alex was going to understand how difficult this time had been for her, and forgive her, “It was just once, and then I told him it was a mistake!”

Alex gave her a horrible look, as he stood up, and suddenly exploded in anger to her.

“You’re damn right it was a mistake!” Alex shouted, taking her by surprise, as he stood up from the bed, “How could you do this to me, Dash!?”

“I-it was just a mistake!” She said, as she felt tears start to well in her eyes, “I was drunk, and in heat. I was just…!”

“Just what?” Alex asked, “Just so horny, that you turned around, and screwed some other guy?!”

“Alex, please calm down!” Dash begged, feeling her heart rip in half at the mistake she had made, “I thought you told me to move on! But- But I didn’t!”

“You were still looking for me!” He argued, pacing back and forth in the room, “You were actively trying to rescue me, but rutting with every stallion that asked on the side, is that it?”

“Of course not!” She said, her tears now flowing down her face, “It was one guy! Please!”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Alex shouted, standing up and heading for the door, “I-I just need some time to think, okay?”

With that, he exited out the door, and slammed it behind him.

Dash felt light headed. How had this all gone to hell so quickly? She just wanted to be vocal about the mistake she had made. But, that had done nothing but make things worse.

But, one thing was for sure. She wished she hadn’t been such an idiot. She wished she had never gone to that town, or offered to help those ponies… Of course, she wouldn’t have done that differently in a million years. It was her poor judgment that got her in this situation, and now here she was, crying on her bed, hugging her pillow.

She could only hope that Alex would forgive her, and they could move on. Otherwise… What else was there for her?

It had been two long years for her, but only a short time for him… He must have felt incredibly betrayed now.

////

Twilight sat in her room silently, flipping through the pages of an old Daring Do book, she had read a million times. It had always been her favorite one however. There was a scene where Daring was right about to be dropped down a bottomless pit, when her sidekick for this particular novel took out twenty bad guys to save her. She would read it over and over, just to feel the rush that Daring must have felt, to be rescued right before your certain demise.

Twilight was cut out of her reminiscing, when she heard a knocking at her door.

“Who could that be?” Twilight said to herself, looking at the clock, “It’s already midnight!”

Walking over to the door, she was surprised to see a very irritated Alex on the other side of it.

“Alex?” Twilight asked, opening the door and giving him a confused look, “What’s going on?”

“Do you mind if I come in?” He asked, obviously very troubled over something.

“Sure?” She said, as he walked past her, and paced in the middle of the room.

“What’s up?” She asked, squinting at him as she closed the door, “Is everything okay?”

“No!” Alex said, throwing an arm out to is side, in some kind of frustration, “Dash, she… Ugh.”

“What did she do?” Twilight asked, approaching him, “I thought she’d be on her best behavior, considering you JUST got back.”

Alex groaned, as he sat down on his rump, “She… She slept with another guy.”

Twilight wasn’t sure how to feel at this particular news. Up until last night, Alex was gone. He was just a story. And, for Dash must have been a million times worse, considering her feelings toward him.

But, it had also been two years. While Twilight hadn’t taken a suitor at all in that time, Dash was a much more physical pony than she was.

“When did it happen…?” Twilight asked carefully, sitting down next to him on the floor.

“Six months ago,” Alex sighed.

“Tell me the whole story behind it.” Twilight said softly, smiling to him, “I need some more context.”

“I didn’t really hear much,” Alex admitted, “I left the room pretty quick.”

“She must have said a little more than, ‘I slept with some guy.’” Twilight coaxed.

“Six months ago, she went after a lead to- to save me,” Alex recited, breaking it into chunks, “But when it turned out to be a bust, she somehow got drunk, and on top of that, it was… You know, heat time. So, she slept with one of the locals in the town.”

Twilight nodded silently along, as Alex finished what he had heard from Dash.

“And I mean, I know that it’s been two years for her, but it hasn’t even been two DAYS for me!” Alex groaned, “I… I just can’t let it go right now.”

Twilight grimaced. That wasn’t something she wanted to hear.

“Are you sure, Alex?” Twilight asked, knowing how hard this had all been for Dash, “This will hurt her more than you can imagine if you’re mad at her RIGHT after you’re freed from the prison that she almost killed herself opening.”

“I know,” Alex nodded sadly, “I just feel like she’s betrayed me.”

“How long has it been since she told you?” Twilight asked, needing a bit more of the story.

“A half an hour?” He estimated, avoiding contact with the purple pony, “It’s pretty much etched into my head now…”

Twilight sighed, as she laid down on her back on the floor.

“I’m really sad to hear that,” Twilight sighed, heart-broken at this sudden turn of events, “This isn’t going to ruin anything, is it?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Alex said, lying on his back, next to her, “I just… Feel so betrayed, and confused.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” She sighed, looking up to the ceiling as the conversation died.

The two simply looked up from their places next to each other on the floor, enjoying the way the roof was decorated with consolations, planets, and nebulas.

Twilight looked over to Alex and noticed that the scar on his cheek had healed. The Esuna spell must have truly fixed him up. Her line of thought was broken when he muttered something to himself.

“What is it?” She asked, not sure if this was another thing about Dash, or if it was something new entirely.

“This ceiling,” Alex said, focused on the roof as he smiled, “That’s an accurate representation of the sky, isn’t it? Whoever did this is amazing.”

Twilight blushed. Alex had unknowingly complemented her.

“Actually…” She giggled, “I did it.”

“No way!” Alex said, tearing his vision from the roof to the pony lying next to him, “How did you do it?”

“Well, not many ponies know this, but… I kinda have a thing for painting,” Twilight said, looking back up to her work, “I had a picture taken of the sky, and I would lie here, with it next to me, as I used my magic to replicate the picture on the ceiling with a paint brush. The Princess said it was an exercise in precision.”

“Did she give you an A?” Alex asked, still looking at her.

“Psh, A Plus,” Twilight laughed, before quieting down a bit, “For a while, before I became so enamored with magic, I thought I was going to be an artist.”

“I never knew that about you,” Alex said softly, happy to be learning some new stuff about her.

“Nopony really knows that,” She sighed, imagining what her life would be like, had she pursued that old dream of hers, “But, I’m glad I took this path, and met everypony that I did.”

“Me too,” Alex said, nodding to her, as she looked back to him, as their conversation turned a bit awkward. “So… any prospects on the dating front at all?”

“Geez, of course you have to ask THAT,” Twilight said, looking away from him and blushing.

“I’m just curious,” He said, reaching over, and tapping her front hoof with his, “But you don’t need to spill anything if you don’t want.”

“No, it’s okay,” Twilight laughed, thinking quickly about the various stallions she had crushed on in the past, stopping on one in particular, “You wanna know something funny though?”

“What’s that?” Alex asked, his eyes on hers.

“When you first got here, I actually had a bit of a crush on you, you know,” Twilight admitted, blushing and laughing simultaneously, “But, I said to myself, ‘Hey! He’s another species! Better not do that! Everypony would think I’m gross!’”

“I… don’t think they would have,” Alex smiled, holding back his own laughter.

“I know,” She laughed, her embarrassment fading, “I just didn’t bother getting myself too deeply invested. I mean, you planned on leaving once you mastered the spell to get you home.”

“But, then Rainbow Dash came along, and convinced me to stay,” Alex said, a bit of bitterness in his tone.

“Doesn’t she just ruin everything?” Twilight joked a bit inappropriately, as she noticed how much closer Alex had gotten to her. So, she quickly snapped back to the ceiling, to make it look like she simply hadn’t noticed, “Uhm… Still, at least you have her, right?”

“Yeah…” Alex said quietly.

“Are you going to go back to her tonight?” Twilight asked.

“No,” Alex said, shaking his head, “I think I’m going to ask Luna to give me my own room.”

“You should probably get on that then,” Twilight said, sitting up, “I think I’m going to get to bed myself, so—“

“Hey, Twilight.”

Turning to him, Twilight was completely taken off guard when Alex pushed his face forward into hers, kissing her suddenly.

Going wide eyed, Twilight tried to rationalize just what was going on right now.

Alex was… kissing her? This wasn’t right! Was he this mad at Rainbow Dash? To actually cheat on her, to get back?

Pushing him off of her, Twilight quickly got to her feet, and backed away from him.

“What are you doing?!” Twilight said, her cheeks on fire, “T-this isn’t the right way to get back at Dash, Alex!”

Shaking his head, Alex stood up himself, and backed away from her, “I’m so sorry! I- My head hasn’t been right since I got freed! P-please don’t tell Dash I did this!”

“Oh, no no no no.” She said, coming down from the adrenaline rush, into a more rational state of mind, “I’m not going to tell her, Alex. Because you are.”

“She’ll gut me!” Alex said, shaking his head quickly, “Please, can this just… not have happened?”

“She’s feeling terrible right now, Alex,” Twilight said angrily, as rage crept back into her tone, “Maybe you could convince her that this was some kind of stone-related mistake, but then you’ll have ZERO ground to be mad at her over that other stallion!”

“But… She had sex with him!” Alex argued, coming dangerously close to whining.

“And you kissed me, when you were a bit messed up in the head.” Twilight said, staring daggers into him.

“That’s nothing compared to what she did!”

“Going into heat, is NOTHING like a little bit of confusion, Alex.” Twilight growled, deciding it was time to teach her student about pony anatomy, “I’m shocked that a pony like Rainbow Dash was able to hold herself off for A YEAR AND A HALF! For me, it’s easier to control because I haven’t—Ahem, been with somepony… But that’s beside the point!”

Alex looked like he had been punched in the chest.

“She made one mistake, because she was drunk, and missing any kind of comfort from a stallion,” Twilight continued, just as passionately as before, “You’re lucky that it was just once!”

“I… need to go,” Alex said, turning tail, and running out the door.

“If you don’t tell her, I WILL!” Twilight shouted, slamming the door.

Panting heavily, Twilight couldn’t believe what had just taken place. Alex had KISSED her! It was her first kiss since Alpha, two years ago at Haven Station. And as wrong, and absolutely horrible it was to have happened, boy, did it make her realize just how much she needed a stallion in her life.

////
The next morning
////

Twilight hadn’t had an easy sleep that night. Her mind was racing with the events of that night, keeping her up into the early hours of the morning.

But, the question that stuck with her was, what had Alex done? Had he gone and said something to Dash? She hoped so… She did NOT want to be the one to tell her that she had kissed the stallion Rainbow had spent two years rescuing.

“Why did you have to go and do that, Alex?” Twilight groaned, wanting nothing more than to roll over, and fall back asleep.

Twilight was pulled from her attempts at sleep, when she heard a knocking on her door.

“Ugh…” She groaned, rolling out of bed, and walking to the door.

Opening it, she got the answers to her previous questions, when she saw a distraught looking Rainbow Dash at her door.

“Have you s-seen Alex?” She stammered, wiping her nose quickly, “He left last night, and I haven’t seen him since.”

Twilight sighed, seeing that Alex hadn’t told her, “I think you need to come inside, Dash.”

Stepping in, Twilight closed the door, and walked Dash over to her table.

“I did see Alex last night,” Twilight said, looking down at the floor, as she walked over to the opposite side of the table.

“Do you know where he went?” Dash asked, her voice raw from her last night of tears, “I need to apologize to him! I was so wrong!”

“There’s something I need to tell you first, Dash,” Twilight said uncomfortably, “A-Alex, well… He- he kinda, um…”

“What?” Dash asked, “What did he do?”

“He kinda… Kissed me last night.” Twilight said, scratching the back of her head.

“Pardon me?” Dash asked, cocking her head, as she felt her tears skid to a halt.

“He came in here, we talked about you, and… what you did with the other stallion,” Twilight said, clarifying instantly, “Which I don’t blame you for, by the way!”

“Forget what I did!” Dash said, suddenly very loud, “What happened?”

“He just, kissed me! I pushed him off right away, but, I don’t know...” Twilight said, looking earnestly confused, “He said it was because he was so messed up right now.”

Dash wanted to be angry. But she couldn’t discount the fact that he just came out of a two-year petrification. These manic type symptoms were completely normal. In fact, some ponies had come out of it, completely insane. It was incredibly rare though.

“He might be a bit crazy right now,” Dash murmured, remembering one case that led to rampant sexual behavior in a stallion, and a split personality, despite his promising recovery when he was initially freed, “Geez… I hope that’s not the case.”

“What?” Twilight asked, seeing the strange frown on her friend.

“Let’s just find him,” Dash said quickly, “How long has he been gone from your room?”

“All night,” Twilight answered, worried by Dash’s tone, “He came to me after he left you.”

“We might need to get him in the hospital,” Dash said, not wanting to take a single chance, “Before he hurts himself.”

“Uh, okay?” Twilight said, completely lost, “Can you please explain this to me?”

“Later,” Dash said, running to the door, and opening it, “I’m going to get everypony! We need to track him down now!”

“I… okay, let’s do it!” Twilight said, fighting the urge to jump back in bed, “I’ll get the princesses, you go to the guest wing and get everypony else.”

Dash gave a solid nod, and ran off toward her friends.

////

Dash stood on the roof of the castle, overlooking the entire town. Her guards were spreading out, covering every square inch of the city, and she planned on getting down there and joining them, once the last of them had exited the castle.

“Busy today?” A voice said from behind her suddenly, making her stomach drop.

Turning around, Dash was faced with her least favorite pony in the world.

“Happy to see me?” He asked, obviously smirking under his golden face plate.

“Are you here for a fight?” Dash asked, jumping back, and taking a fighting stance.

“Of course not!” He laughed, “Well, not yet at least.”

“Then what?” Dash asked, easing slightly, “You’ve lost your little game here.”

“Do you really think you can trust Alex?” He asked simply, “I mean, he IS a human… whatever that is.”

“Of course I can trust him!” Dash shouted at him, feeling fairly vulnerable at this moment.

“Who knows what happened to him in that stone!” He said, capitalizing on her fear of such a thing happening, “Maybe he went completely insane!”

“Are you looking to get beaten to a pulp?” Dash growled, taking her offensive stance again, “Because I’d be more than happy to oblige you!”

“No, of course not!” He said, taking a step back, “I’m just looking out for your best interests.”

Dash just shook her head, and watched as the last of the guards exited the castle.

“Don’t try any funny business,” She said, spreading her wings, “Attacking anypony here would get you a lot worse than just me.”

“I’m not really here anyway,” He said, as he tried to touch Dash with his hoof, only to have it pass through her, “But I am on my way.”

“And when you get here?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“We’ll see.”

And then he was gone.

Dash sighed, and then turned around. She would have to take care of him later.

Taking off, Dash hoped that he wasn’t going to make a fuss. Besides the horrible attitude he seemed to possess, he wasn’t a BAD pony, considering how often he ruined her plans. It made her think back to the first time she had ever met him…

It was her first real big lead to rescuing Alex. They had gone to a small abandoned town that apparently had the spell she was looking for, locked away in a vault in the town archive. Everypony had moved away from the town because of the poorly constructed dam, several years ago.

Dash figured that she had plenty of time before the dam bursted, considering it had been standing for several years.

Quickly finding the archive, they had gone inside, and started working on breaking the vault open. However, it wasn’t long before they heard some kind of deep rumbling coming from outside.

Telling her soldiers to remain working, Dash went outside to investigate. And, what she saw, scared the hell out of her.

Some kind of golden pony was up near the dam, shooting magic into the logs, breaking them, and allowing massive amounts of water to start leaking through.

So, naturally, Dash flew up to him, and started shouting at him to stop.

Instead, he ramped up the magic, and ended up destroying the entire thing, sending a massive wave of water into the town, toward her workers.

Leaving him, she flew back to the archive as fast as possible, but still long after the water had hit it. The building had been completely turned to rubble. She was worried that her guards had been killed in the process, but was confused and relieved to see that the same pony that destroyed the dam, had rescued her soldiers, and placed them on high ground, safely away from the water.

When Dash got to him, he said one thing to her before vanishing.

‘It’s good to see you again.’

And with that, he vanished.

It left her confused, and upset that they hadn’t gotten the spell.

The next time they had met, was much more personal. The pony had once again destroyed her chance of finding the spell. But this time he was in a much more talkative mood. They had a pretty long back and forth about Alex. It shocked Dash how much he knew about her situation, and how much of an ass he was about it.

It was in the middle of the desert, at an abandoned construction site…

/-/

“What are you two doing?!” The armored pony shouted, as two of his hired men had Rainbow Dash stuck in a corner, about to be beaten to a pulp.

“We’re dealing with this annoying bitch!” One said, looking back to her and growling.

“Just let me hit her once!” The other pleaded.

“No!” The armored stallion said sternly, “You two are done here! You have your bits, now go!”

The two growled to him, before flying out the window, into the bright blue sky.

“What are you here for?” Dash growled, hoping he didn’t know about the potential cure that was in her saddlebag.

“I need that piece of paper you have,” He said, stepping toward her.

“I need this to save somepony!” She said back to him pleadingly, “Please let me do this!”

“You’re doing all of this for Alex?” He asked, shocking her with the knowledge of his name.

“Y-yes.” She said weakly, feeling a twinge of sadness at his mention.

“Well that’s too bad,” The stallion said, lightening up in his tone, “Because It’s not the right time yet, princess.”

“What is that supposed to mean?!” Dash spat, angry that he was being a dick about this.

“I know you and Alex went through a lot, but you should give me that cure!” He said, as Dash growled at him, “I mean, it all ended kinda shitty, didn’t it?”

“Well—“

“He went to the human world with you, just to come back and be turned to stone?” He laughed, as Dash ran at him, and he dodged a punch to the face, “Sounds like he did a pretty crappy job saving Equestria to me!”

“If it weren’t for him, Discord would still be the ruler!” Dash argued, jumping out of the way of a blast of fire.

“From what I heard, Discord doesn’t want to rule anything,” He argued, as she tripped him, making him land on his back, “If you had just left Discord alone, everything would still be fine!”

“Don’t you think I’ve thought about all that?” Dash said, as he gained the upper hoof, by tripping her from his grounded position, and knocking her to the floor.

Jumping up, he pinned her four legs to the ground with a spell, and walked over her dominatingly.

“So vulnerable,” He said quietly, running a hoof down her chest toward her stomach, “I’ll bet you taste nice.”

“You pervert!” Dash said, struggling under the spell, helpless.

“Pervert?” He asked, feigning insult, “I prefer the term ‘gentlemen!’ I was going to please YOU!”

Breathing in, Dash spat a large amount of saliva onto his mask.

Raising a hoof, he looked like he was going bring it down on her head to knock her out. But, instead, he slammed it a few inches to the left.

“You’re lucky I don’t hurt mares,” He said, leaning down to her neck, and inhaling her scent, pleasantly sighing.

Dash grimaced as she tried to get her head as far away from him as possible.

“I’d never hurt you, Rainbow Dash,” He whispered creepily, before standing up, and walking to the window, looking down at the infinite abyss below him, “I will be taking this, however.”

Snatching the spell Dash had worked so hard for, he released her from his spell.

“The time is coming, Rainbow Dash,” He said, looking over his shoulder to her, as she struggled to her feet, “Just be patient.”

And just like that, he vanished in a bright spark.

“Buck!”

/-/

Dash couldn’t believe he had taken her chances to save Alex like that again. She would have hated him more, if he hadn’t been so disturbingly nice about everything. It reminded her a bit of Dax.

So, after she got the spell back from Dodge Junction, she knew to expect him, and was right to. He was half the reason she brought that gauntlet along. But, now that she’s seen its usefulness, she never intended to take it off.

If she got in a fight with any magical pony, she couldn’t lose.

////
Two hours later
////

Twilight walked through the square, stopping in the various shops, asking if Alex had been in any of them. Of course, none of them had seen him, and she was at a complete dead end.

“Sorry Twilight,” Pony Joe said, shaking his head, “I haven’t seen your friend anywhere.”

“That’s alright,” Twilight sighed, walking toward the door, “If you see him, let a guard know, please.”

“Sure thing!” He smiled, as she walked out the door, “It’s good to see you back!”

“Thanks!” She called, as she walked out of the square.

“Hey Twilight!” Pinkie said, walking toward her with Applejack, “Any luck?”

“No,” She sighed, “Alex just disappeared!”

“We haven’t seen’em either,” Applejack shook her head.

“Dang,” Twilight said, frowning, “Where have you guys been checking?”

“Mostly on the outskirts,” Pinkie said, tapping her chin, “I haven’t felt him with my Pinkie Sense either!”

“I still don’t believe in that…” Twilight grumbled, remembering the whole exchange they had over that ability.

“Didn’t I convince you that it was real?” Pinkie asked, recalling Twilight accepting its legitimacy after te hydra attack.

“No,” Twilight shook her head, “That Doctor guy saved us, and we kinda dropped all of that.”

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie said, remembering how they were chased by the hydra, and then saved by Alex inside the TARDIS.

“Where next then?” Applejack asked.

“Have you checked all the bakeries?” Pinkie asked.

“Every one!” Twilight laughed slightly, “Where else would he go?”

“Why did he run away anyway?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head.

“Uh…” Twilight coughed, “He came and saw me.”

“What were y’all doing?” Applejack asked.

“Just… talking.” Twilight said, laughing nervously.

“Hello ladies,” Rarity said, joining them along with Spike, “Have we had any luck?”

“Nope.” They all said together.

“Well, I thought I saw him… But it turned out to be a mare.” Spike said, smiling weakly.

“And she was yellow,” Rarity sighed, “And her name was Fluttershy.”

“I got a bit excited is all,” Spike sighed.

“I can’t believe you got me confused with a stallion!” Fluttershy said, flying in from above them.

“So you haven’t seen him either?” Twilight asked her.

“No, sorry…” She said meekly, “I’ve looked just about everywhere.”

“Between all of us and the guards, we’ve probably checked the whole city,” Twilight said, sighing quietly.

“Do you think he left for Ponyville or something?” Spike asked.

“We might need to dispatch some ponies there,” Twilight nodded, knowing it was a possibility, “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

“I just saw her,” Spike said, thinking to himself, “She was hanging around the strip.”

“Let’s go see her then!” Twilight announced, trotting off toward the exit to the square, followed by all of her friends, save Spike.

“Spike, darling, are you coming?” Rarity asked.

“I think I’m gonna stop by and see Joe,” Spike said, “I could go for a doughnut.”

“Well don’t overindulge yourself,” Rarity said, not wanting her prize to get all flabby, “Head back to the castle when you’re ready.”

“Sure thing, Sweety.” Spike smiled.

“That’s my sister’s name, Spike!” Rarity scolded, uncomfortable at his use of that particular endearing term, “Please use something else.”

“Okay sugarplum,” Spike sighed.

Rarity rolled her eyes, and ran off to catch up with her friends, as Spike walked into the bakery Twilight had just checked.

“Hey Spike!” Joe called, recognizing the ex-dragon as he entered the store, “How are things going?”

“Not so good,” Spike said, sitting down, “We finally freed Alex, but, well…”

“You lost him, right?” Joe said, stepping from behind the counter, “How’d you manage to do that?”

“No clue,” Spike laughed, shaking his head, “He just up and vanished. Nopony knows why.”

“That’s not the whole story, Spike,” Alex said from the front door, surprising the two ponies at the table.

“Alex!” Spike said, jumping up, “Where have you been?!”

“Hiding,” Alex shrugged, walking over to them, and sitting down at the table, “I made a big mistake last night.”

“What?” They both asked, leaning close to him.

“I uh… I kissed Twilight.” Alex admitted, as Spike jumped backward in shock.

“You did what?!” Spike shouted, “W-why?!”

“Because I’m upset with Rainbow Dash.” Alex said darkly.

“Why?” Spike asked, still in shock over the kiss, “Rainbow Dash got you free!”

“I have my reasons,” Alex grumbled, before looking up to Spike, having a very serious look on his face, “But… I think it’s time I talked to Rainbow Dash about some things.”

Spike gulped. He didn’t know what that meant… And really didn’t want to find out.

“Where is she?” Alex asked, not showing any kind of emotion.

“At… The strip.” Spike said finally, feeling like he was helping Alex with some evil scheme, “That’s the area leading to the castle.”

Alex nodded and stood up, as he headed out the door, leaving Joe ad Spike alone in the store, “I’ll see you in a bit, Spike.”

“What’s he going to do?” Joe asked, as Alex left the restaurant.

“I think I know.” Spike said quietly, picturing the worst case scenario, “And I hope to hell that I’m wrong.”

////

“Any luck you guys?” Dash asked, running to meet her friends at the steps of the castle, “Have any of you seen him?”

Twilight shook her head, “I think he may have gone to Ponyville.”

“I’ve already dispatched a unit,” Dash said, pointing to a few pegasi flying on the horizon, “They’ll come back if they see anything.”

“So…” Twilight said to Dash, “What are you going to do when you see him?”

“I’m going to make sure he doesn’t have any extreme symptoms,” Dash said, feeling like a complete idiot, “I didn’t bother checking when he first got out…”

“Why not?” Rarity asked, “Wouldn’t that be safer?”

“The cases were so rare, and his circumstances were so different, that I thought he would be applicable.” Dash explained, “But I should have anyway.”

“Well, let’s just hope we find him.” Fluttershy said comfortingly.

“Captain!” A guard shouted, getting all of their attentions, “We’ve found Alex!”

“Where?!” Dash asked, pushing through her crowd of friends.

“Right here!” He said, somewhat anticlimactically, pointing to the pony beside him.

“Alex!” Dash said, running over to him, “We were so worried!”

“Yeah…” Alex said quietly.

“Listen, I need to check you out for the advanced symptoms of post-petrification,” Dash said, “Do you mind coming with me to the hospital?”

“Uh, sure,” Alex said, quietly again.

“I’ll talk to you guys in a bit!” Dash shouted, dragging Alex off toward the hospital attached to the castle.

“We have a lot to talk about, mister…” Dash whispered in his ear.

“Yes.” Alex nodded, “Yes we do.”

////

Alex fidgeted on the examining table as Dash poked and prodded him all over, making sure that he wasn’t showing any symptoms. Luckily, after about twenty minutes, she came to the conclusion that he was just fine. But, that also gave her the ability to be very angry with him.

“Alex,” Dash said, stepping away from him, “You’re just fine.”

“I know I am…” Alex said, avoiding eye contact with her.

“So?” She asked, giving him an expectant look.

“So what?” Alex asked.

“I think you owe me an explanation.” Dash said simply.

“Look, I was—“

“Alex.” Dash said sternly, “Be straight with me.”

Sighing and rolling his eyes, he looked at her dead on.

“I’m mad, Dash.” Alex said, suddenly looking into her eyes, “You… You hurt me.”

“Alex, it was a mistake, you’ve got to know that,” Dash said, biting her lip, “I feel horrible. I wish I had never done it.”

“But you did.” Alex said darkly.

“Alex, I don’t—“

“The whole time I’ve been out, I tried to look past it,” Alex explained, “But I can’t. You betrayed me.”

Dash felt her stomach sink, and her heart start beating harder.

“And I just… I can’t look at you, without seeing you with that other guy!” Alex said, obviously put out, “I don’t think I can see you right now.”

“W-what?” Dash asked quietly.

“I’m sorry Dash,” Alex said, his eyes getting a bit wet, “I know how hard you’ve worked for me, and I know how much of your life has been thrown away… But you did rescue me, and I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

“What are you saying?” Dash asked, her voice cracking slightly.

“I think we need to spend some time apart, while I try to get this all sorted out in my head,” Alex said, looking at the floor.

Dash had nothing to say.

“Thank you for everything.” Alex said, getting off the table and walking to the door, “I’ll see you later, okay?”

Again, she didn’t answer.

Alex just walked out the door, leaving her alone in the hospital room.

“No…” She whimpered.

Collapsing, she felt that pain she was so used to flood her entire being. But now… She had nothing to it toward. She was a heartbroken mare, with nothing left.

“How could I have been so stupid…?”

////

“I think he went to break up with her,” Spike said solemnly to all of his friends, “But I don’t know why.”

“He’s doing what?!” Rarity said in shock, “I thought they were happy to see each other!”

“Somethin’ must’a changed his mind on that one,” Applejack said.

“What could have changed him so much?” Fluttershy asked.

“It could still be the petrification,” Twilight pointed out, “Alex has been a bit off since we rescued him.”

“Off enough to stop having feelings for Dashie though?” Pinkie asked, frowning.

“Maybe?” Twilight said, “But… It could also be the other thing she admitted to him.”

Applejack perked up, she knew what Twilight was talking about.

“What did she admit to him?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Twilight shook her head, “Forget I said anything.”

“Hey, uh, Twi?” Applejack said, “Do ya’ mind if we talk in private for a sec?”

“Sure,” Twilight nodded, stepping aside, as Applejack joined her.

“Was Alex that upset by her little… affair?” Applejack asked.

Twilight nodded, “He was really upset about it. I thought he was going to cry.”

“Are you serious?” AJ asked, wide-eyed, “Ah’ can’t believe that!”

“We should probably go find them, if that breakup really is the case.” Twilight said, looking toward the hospital and frowning, “She won’t take that so well.”

“Help!” A pony screamed from the end of the road, getting everypony’s attention.

They all looked to the source of the shouting, and saw something they had all been told about at one point or another.

A pony in a gold suit of armor.

“Oh no…” Twilight said, “I think I know who that is…”

“Do you now?” He asked, appearing in front of them all in a puff of smoke, “Please tell me who I am!”

“The pony that stopped Dash from rescuing Alex!” Twilight shouted, jumping backward, “Everypony! Be careful!”

“What makes you think I’m here to hurt you?” He asked, cocking his head, “How do you know I’m not here to help out?”

“Are you serious?” Twilight asked, “Please tell me you’re joking!”

He laughed, and leaned forward slightly, “You’re right. I was joking.”

Suddenly, he shot a bolt of magic into a pillar behind them, crumbling it to pieces.

Everypony screamed in one way or another, and all huddled together quickly.

“Is that the survival strategy?” He laughed, “Huddle?”

“Sure isn’t!” Twilight said suddenly, firing her own offensive magic at him, as it bounced off his suit of armor.

“Ha! See? You can’t hurt me with—“ Suddenly, Applejack ran up to him, and gave him a solid buck to the chest, knocking him into a wall.

“Pinkie!” Twilight called.

Taking her cue, Pinkie ran at him with her party cannon, and fired it point blank in his face, covering him completely in cake.

“Ugh… What are you all doing?!” He asked, not having anticipated this from the girls.

“My turn!” Rarity said stepping forward and levitating some gems from her saddlebag, “These are so pointy, you know. You simply MUST be careful with them.”

Then, despite her own warning, Rarity started shooting the gems at him, as each one carved across his armor, scratching deeply, while others impacted, and stuck out of his side.

Shaking, Fluttershy flew to the front to hit him with the final blow.

“Stare at him Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted.

“Oh no you don’t!” He said instantly, catching her in a levitation spell, locking her in place, “You’re not scaring me to death!”

Rarity was able to throw one more gem before she was locked in place as well. It was a good toss too. The gem impacted his face, tearing a hole in his face mask, allowing enough light to shine in on his glowing blue right eye.

Nopony was able to move, as they were all lifted into the air.

“Where did you all learn to fight like that?” He asked, panting.

“No Elements of Harmony.” Twilight said, “We need to fight somehow…”

“Well, good job!” He laughed, while his eye narrowed at them, “Now, I think it’s time I finish my mission here.”

“What’s your mission?” Twilight shot back, trying to cast a spell, but completely unable.

“To take the Elements!” He said waving them around in the air, “My boss needs to get her hooves on them.”

“And what are you going to do to us?” Twilight demanded.

“Nothing!” He said, shrugging, “I’m just going to knock you all out, and bust my way into the castle, how is that?”

“You had better not!” Pinkie growled, sounding more like a small dog than anything, “I’ll be pretty mad if you do that!”

“And what are you going to do?” He asked, “Talk to a rock about it?”

“Maybe…” She said weakly.

“Let us go!” Spike said, trying just as much as the others to free himself, “I didn’t even attack you!”

“No, I don’t suppose you—“

“Hey!” Alex shouted from beside them all, “What are you doing?!”

The armored pony looked to him, as he suddenly growled deeply.

“You…” He said, stepping away from the girls, “You remember me, don’t you?”

Alex took a step backward, “Would you be insulted if I didn’t?”

“Haven. Station. ALEX.” The pony said, narrowing his visible eye to him.

“No way…”

“I- I… I think I need to…” The armored stallion said, tripping over his words for some reason, unknown to them all, “I need to kill you.”

“What?!” Alex said, taking a step away from the pony.

“You… You’ve ruined something!” He said, shaking his head, as if fighting something, “And I’m going to ruin you!”

“You don’t want to do anything!” Alex said, stepping backward, as the pony advanced on him.

“Why ain’t Alex attackin’ him?” Applejack whispered hoarsely.

“He can’t use magic right now!” Twilight said, panicking, “He’s defenseless!”

The armored pony started charging some kind of spell none of them had seen before.

“I’m not listening to you anymore, Alex,” The pony said, twitching repeatedly.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked, feeling his body be locked in place.

“You’re not my boss!” He screamed, as a huge white ball finished forming on his horn, “And now, It’s time to say goodnight.”

The ball shot from the end of his horn, right toward Alex.

“No!”

Dash threw herself in the path of the ball, and absorbed the spell into her gauntlet.

“Stop!”

The spell shot out of her gauntlet, and back into the armored pony, detonating into a massive explosion, that threw everypony away from him, and into various walls, or the ground.

…

…

…

Twilight struggled to open her eyes, as the dust around her settled.

She was bleeding…

Lifting her head off the ground, she looked around weakly, at the cloudy area.

“Twilight!” The stallion said, rushing to her, and inspecting her closely, “Okay, you’re fine.”

Twilight grunted, and looked up to his face.

The face plate had been broken. She could see who he was… And she knew him.

“You’re… A-A…” She coughed, “I thought that you were…”

“I know,” He said, leaning down to her ear, “And I’m very sorry… But I was being controlled.”

“You need to… talk to…!” She struggled.

“You can’t tell anypony,” He warned, “Not yet.”

She didn’t answer him.

“Trust me.” He said, leaning down and kissing her forehead, as a spell ran from his lips into her.

Twilight felt the world darken, as she collapsed, unconscious.

“I can’t have you letting the secret out… Yet.” He said, as he felt the mind control start to irk at his brain.

Casting a spell, he vanished from the area, keeping his composure for as long as possible.

////

Dash opened her eyes and shot up. She was in the hospital? Why?

The armored pony! He had attacked them!

That jerk!

Shaking her head, she looked at the clock next to her bed and gasped.

“It’s been ten hours?!” She said incredulously, “How is that possible?”

Jumping out of bed, she ran to the window, and looked to where the fight had taken place.

A small crater in the center of the road could be seen just across from the hospital. It looked like it had been sectioned off, which was good. She needed to investigate it herself… But she could do that later.

Pulling off her hospital robe, she grabbed her gauntlet and put on her captains coat.

Opening the door, she grabbed the attention of the nearest pony dressed in a doctor’s coat.

“Hey, were any of my friends admitted here?” Dash asked him.

“They were, yes,” He nodded, “But they were all cleared. You were closest to that explosion, so we let you rest.”

“Alright, well, I’m leaving now.” Dash said, gesturing to the door, “I need to be briefed by the Princess. Is that alright?”

“As long as you’re feeling up to it,” He nodded.

“Thanks,” She smiled, turning around and heading out the door.

Running down the road to the castle, Dash went inside, and made her way to the throne room. It was late, so she would probably talk to Princess Luna, which she kinda liked. Luna was a bit sillier about things. The two got along with each other just fine.

“Rainbow Dash!” Luna announced, as she came into the throne room, “You are awake!”

“Yeah!” She said, walking in and glancing around, “Do you know what the heck happened?”

“The armored pony from your previous reports made an appearance here,” Luna explained, “He told our friends that he intended to steal the Elements of Harmony, but lost his mind when he saw Alex.”

“I don’t understand…” Dash said, shaking her head, “He isn’t the type to lose his mind over anything!”

“I’m afraid I have no more information,” Luna apologized, “He vanished after the detonation.”

“Was everypony questioned?” Dash asked, hoping that perhaps somepony had seen something helpful.

“Of course they were,” Luna said, “Shining Armor and my sister talked to everypony in the area, including your friends.”

“And there was nothing?”

“I’m afraid not.” Luna said again, “I’d suggest you speak to them yourselves, but I’m sure they’re all asleep right now.”

“Yeah,” Dash nodded, glancing to the dark sky, “How was Alex, by the way?”

“Wonderful!” Luna smiled, winking to her, “Will you two be sharing a bed tonight?”

“Oh, no…” Dash shook her head, not showing the pain she was feeling, “He’s still feeling a little sick.”

“I hope he feels better soon!” Luna said, “I don’t know where I’d be without the company of a stallion!”

Dash wasn’t sure what that line meant, but decided to leave it at that. There were some things a pony like her shouldn’t know about a princess.

“Well, I think I’m going to go to bed,” Dash said, sighing, “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

“Of course,” Luna nodded, “Have a good night, Captain.”

Dash shook her head as she walked out of the throne room.

Looking to the hall that led to her quarters, Dash decided not to stop in just yet… She had a place she needed to go to first.

////

Landing, Dash exhaled and looked around the meadow.

This was a place she had found during one of her many flying sessions in Canterlot. If you flew behind the castle, you would find a series of hills. And, if you were to go between a certain pair of them, you would find a valley with a small creek, several flower beds, and an apple tree. This had been her place to go and relax for the past two years, and she needed it more than ever now.

She had never been here so late before, and somewhat regretted that. The moon was full, so the area was completely illuminated, allowing her to see the closed flowers, and running water.

Walking over to the tree, she got down on her haunches and relaxed on to her back, lying against the tree.

“How did things get so crappy?” She asked herself, frowning, “I never thought he’d react so badly to Speed...”

Dash closed her eyes and thought back to all the things she had done wrong, that brought about this situation.

She could have tossed that lead aside… But, it was way too promising to pass up.

She could have passed on the rebuilding of the homes in that town… No. They needed help, and she had the power to give it to them.

Then, she could have avoided Speed, been clearer about her disinterest in him… Well, she had actually been pretty clear, the more she thought about it.

“Should I have not drank? Or attended the party even?” Dash asked herself, before sighing in defeat, “No, it doesn’t matter now.”

And that was the truth. She put herself in this position.

But… Maybe he’d forgive her.

But why should he? If Alex was going to get so bent out of shape over a mistake, when she had nopony for two years, why was she so concerned over HIS forgiveness? Had he always been this much of a baby?

“I hope not…” She murmured.

“Dash?” A voice said from behind her.

Opening her eyes, she felt her heart leap at the sight of Alex.

“What are you doing here?” She asked hopefully.

“I wanted to see how you were doing, Colors,” Alex said, walking over, and sitting next to her.

“I’m feeling like crap, Alex,” She said, hanging her head, “I think I’m going to have a heart attack from all the stress.”

“Look, I know it’s hard… but I promise—“

“You DON’T know how hard this is, Alex!” She said, standing up, “Do you have any idea how long I waited for you? Fought for you? No! You were trapped in stone!”

Alex looked away from her.

“When I became a member of the Royal Guard, I promised myself that I wouldn’t be the damsel in distress anymore!” She shouted, her voice straining, “But here I am, crying over you!”

“Look—“

“So, if you’re going to end things with a pony that made ONE mistake, then I don’t think you deserve me!” She said, knowing her friends would all be proud of the way she was standing up for herself, “I need a stallion that isn’t going to run off crying, when his girlfriend has ONE lapse in judgment!”

“You’re right.” He said simply.

“I know I am!” She said, shaking her head, and quieting herself down, “So, since you have to be this way, I’m putting MY hoof down, and ending this on my terms!”

“Your terms?”

“Yes! WE are over, and you couldn’t change that in a million years!”

Alex sighed.

“Okay,” He nodded, standing up to face her, “Can I just say one thing?”

“What?” She asked, frowning at him.

He didn’t say anything, he just quickly kissed her.

Dash didn’t fight him. She sure as buck didn’t want to… Still, through the whole ordeal, she couldn’t help but notice he smelt a little… odd. Like a sack of pennies.

Pulling back, he smiled at her in a way he hadn’t for two years. It made her heart flutter.

“Be careful, Colors,” Alex said quietly, as he cast a spell, vanishing from her sight.

“Alex, wait!”

But, he was long gone.

“What is his damn problem!?” Dash screamed into the night, “Kissing me?! Making me feel so terrible again?”

Sighing, she decided it was time for bed, so she flew off, headed for the castle, with one thought in her head.

Frickin’ boys!

////

“Are we ready to move in?”

“Yes. Contact was reestablished with our operative.”

“Good. Things would have gone badly had he broken free of my spell.”

“What is the objective I’ll be telling our soldiers?

“The Elements of Harmony. Those fools think they’re useless.”

“And when we have them?”

“We’ll add their power to the Changeling cause, of course.”

“I’ll spread the word,” He said, bowing to the mare in front of him.

“We will be in Canterlot before sunrise.” She said, laughing to herself.

“The army will be ready to mobilize in fifteen minutes, my queen.”

“Thank you,” Chrysalis smiled, “You may go.”

Chrysalis walked to her window, and looked below her to the industrious city below her.

The changeling empire was among the most technologically advanced in the world, something that nopony expected from them, since they considered themselves a hive.

However, as advanced as they were, they were missing something.

Her people were sustained by love. It wasn’t that they needed it for survival. Food and water did the same for a changeling, as it any other creature… But love was more like a drug for them.

The feeling of being wanted, or being lusted for, is one of the greatest feelings in the world. It made a pony feel special. And while her subjects were able to feel these things between themselves, having it come from somepony else, made that feeling unique, and powerful.

Even she had admitted to herself that stealing love from some somepony else was sick… But her desire for it outweighed any feeling of guilt. And since her subjects wanted it just as much as she did, she was going to get it for them however she could.

And in this case, it was to march on Equestria, the single most love-filled place on the planet, and take it over. The feeling of love tends to be emphasized in time of crisis, so she was making sure that everypony KNEW it was a crisis, to make it as strong as possible.

She just hoped the plan would work. It had a few crazy pieces to it, including a small lie told to her soldiers to keep them under control. Hopefully, it would never come out.

////

Luna idly fiddled with her hooves as the time slowly passed her by. Night time always seemed to be this way. She would sit at her throne, and twiddle the place her thumbs would have been.

It was pretty boring at night, and she had little to do, besides talk to the guards. And to be honest, that got very old, very fast.

“Why is it that war always breaks out during the day?” Luna said to the empty room, remembering all the times she had slept through those two hour wars Equestria seemed to always have, “I want to have a big fight while my sister sleeps!”

“You say that every night,” A guard said, entering the room, “You don’t really want that.”

“But I do!” Luna insisted, raising her left arm in the air, “For once, I would have a story to tell, when she wakes up in the morning!”

“Okay, calm down.” The guard sighed.

“Is there any suspicious activity to report?” Luna asked hopefully.

“What was the answer to the question fifteen minutes ago?” He asked condescendingly.

“None to report…” She repeated, pouting as she stuck out her bottom lip.

“Are you sure though?” She asked, “Much can happen in fifteen minutes!”

“There were some reports of lights in the Everfree Forest, but strange things happen there all the time.” He said, looking over a clipboard on the wall.

“Put the guard on high alert!” Luna said excitedly, standing up, “We will take no risk!”

“You want me to wake all the off-duty guards…?” He asked, NOT wanting to be the guy that has to do that.

“Yes!” She smiled, taking zero seriousness in the matter, “I must protect my subjects!”

The guard sighed, “I’ll make sure Celestia is awoken—“

“No!” She shouted, looking a bit worried, “Leave her be! That is an order!”

“Of course…” He said, walking out of the room.

“Perhaps this is my chance!” Luna giggled.

Over the past few months, she had called the guards to high alert for a number of reasons, and it had become something they all quietly feared.

Luna herself knew that she shouldn’t be doing it, but she generally found herself to be easily exited, and jump into radical situations. She was sure Celestia would have something to say tomorrow morning… But until then, she was going to live it up!

////

“Captain Dash!” A guard shouted in the dark room.

“Mmm… What?” She groaned from her bed.

“We’ve been placed on high alert!” The guard told her.

“Is it a REAL high alert? Or a Luna alert?” She asked.

“Uh…”

“Got it,” She mumbled, “Wake me up if anything really happens.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Dash sighed into her pillow. She had too much confusing, girly stuff on her plate to be worried about a tiny high alert.

But, the sound of ponies running down the hall was enough to keep her up.

“Ugh…” She said, rolling on to her back, “Why does she have to do this every other night?”

After a few minutes, Dash decided that if she was resigning from command, she should probably go to at least one of these high alerts of Luna’s.

Rolling out of bed, she was happy, and a little disgusted to find her coat still on.

Joining the marching guards, she got to hear all of the day-guards complain about Luna’s tendency to over react to small situations.

“Hey!” Dash called to the whining guards, “You’ll talk with a little more respect about your Princess!”

Beyond that, none of them dared say a word.

Eventually, they all arrived in the throne room, and stood in ready position, as Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor took the side of their Princess.

“Strange lights were seen above the Everfree Forest!” Luna announced, “So, we will all be at our stations, until the situation has been deemed safe!”

A quiet murmur broke our against the guard, as they all complained to each other.

“Is that complaining I hear?” Shining asked, silencing the room.

“Hey, uh… Princess?” Dash asked, leaning to Luna.

“Yes?” She chirped.

“Is this really necessary?” Dash asked, “Some of these ponies have to work sixteen hour shifts if you wake them up now.”

“They’ll be paid accordingly, I assure you,” Luna said to her quietly.

“I know,” Dash said, understanding that Luna probably didn’t understand the concept of free time, “But they’d rather have the free time.”

“I cannot take the chance I’m afraid.” Luna said simply, “However, you’re free to return to your quarters. Haven’t you resigned your position?”

“Well, perhaps not yet.” Dash said, shaking her head.

“Either way!” Luna said, standing up and turning to the guards, “Please report to your stations, and I’d like for a team to be dispatched to the Everfree Forest to investigate! Please speak to your captain for placement.”

Dash rolled her eyes, as she walked off the platform, “My squad will investigate the forest, everypony else, please defer to Shining Armor.”

“Yes ma’am!” Everypony in the room said.

Dash DID love hearing that.

////

Dash decided to only take three of her men on their trip, and allow the rest to go back to bed. She apologized to the ones stuck going, but told them they would swap places the next time this happened, she just knew the trip would be a bust, so she took the bare minimum.

Landing on the outskirts of the forest, Dash looked to her left at the sleeping Ponyville, and hoped she would be living back there soon.

“Captain, how are we supposed to see in here?” A guard asked.

“Oh! Right!” She said, reaching into her coat pocket, and pulling out four vials, that she dropped in each of their hooves, “Drink them!”

Complying, all the guards, including Dash, drank all the liquid.

“It’s called ‘Cat’s Eye,’” She said, wincing slightly at the bitter aftertaste, “Just give it a second!”

Slowly, each of them started to be able to see better and better, until it looked as if the entire forest had a dim light being shone in it.

“Pretty cool, right?” Dash said, turning around to look at the field behind her, and seeing everything as if it were midday, “It’s a full moon right now, so we should be in pretty good position!”

“I should drink this stuff to see around the inside of my quarters,” One guard said.

“Too busy tripped over the sleeping ladies?” Another joked.

“What, Clash?” The third said, “He hasn’t had a mare in months!”

Clash just looked away embarrassedly.

“I’d agree with you,” Dash said to the third and second ponies, “But I’ve kicked too many out of there to even count.”

“That’s a joke, right?” One of them asked.

“Are you questioning a superior officer dancer?” Dash asked sternly, slightly mocking his name, “What are you? A dancing spy?!”

“Okay okay,” He apologized, “Let’s just get this over with, so I can get back to sleep, ”

“I second that,” Dash nodded, stepping into the forest and speaking over her shoulder, “We’ll keep close, but not too close. Most creatures in here are diurnal, so as long as we’re quiet, we won’t have any issues. Any questions? How about you Martinez?”

Every group seemed to have a Martinez, didn’t it?

He shook his head.

“Great!” She smiled, “Let’s get this over with!”

The four of them marched into the forest silently, looking for any kind of suspicious behavior, which none of them expected to find.

The time passed quickly as they checked several areas of the forest, finding nothing more than a few sleeping manticores, and a reflecting pool that they all avoided.

“Captain!” Dancer whispered from the end of the line, “I see something!”

The rest of the group joined up with him, as they all gazed upon some kind of castle.

“I didn’t know this place was here…” Martinez said, looking it over.

“Oh!” Dash said, lighting up, “This is where my friends and I first battled Night Mare Moon!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! And… this is where I first met Alex.” She said slowly.

“Let’s go check it out!” Clash said, running ahead of them all.

“Shh!” Dash hissed loudly.

“Oh! Right!” He said, coughing, “Slowly, got it!”

They all crept toward the building, and were surprised to see a dim light coming from the inside of the building.

“What’s that light, Cap?”

“Did you really just call me that?” She sighed, “But I don’t know. It wasn’t there last time.”

The three made their way up the front staircase, and peeked in to the building at the source of the light.

“Oh buck…” Martinez said.

In front of the four of them, were a huge gathering of black, hole covered ponies.

“Are those…?” Clash asked.

“Changelings.” Dash growled.

////

“In twenty minutes, we will be launching our assault on the castle!” The large changeling at the front said, “All but one of our operatives withdrew yesterday in preparation for the attack.”

“Will the queen be joining us?” A soldier asked.

“When we have secured the castle, she will make her appearance,” The leader said.

“What have our operatives been doing there anyway?” Another solider in the crowd asked.

“I know it was highly classified, but the queen has allowed me to brief you on everything now,” He said, walking back and forth in front of them all, “We had a pony working with the Captain Rainbow Dash. He gathered all information for us, and told us where she would be next, so we could send Alpha to intercept her.”

“How can we trust that guy?” The same soldier asked, “Especially after all he did at Haven Station!”

“The queen has personally conditioned him to ensure there would be no more trouble from him,” The leader announced, “His expertise will be used in this operation, so, as a result, he will be keeping his title as Alpha! You will listen to him, regardless of his past damages to the hive!”

“But, he—“

“If you question him, you question the queen!” He shouted back.

“Well, that was lovely,” Alpha said, stepping into the room, dressed in a fresh suit of armor, “I’m glad you’re all so enthusiastic about me being here.”

The crowd was silent.

“Now!” He shouted, “We’re going to be changing the plan a little bit.”

“Did the queen allow this?” The leader asked.

“Of course!” He said, insulted that he was being questioned, “We’re going to be concentrating on the castle first and foremost.”

“What?” A soldier yelled, “That’s insane!”

“Listen to me!” He shouted back, “The night guard is only a fraction of the size of the day guard. If we can rush inside, and reach the crew quarters, we can nip the reinforcements in the bud.”

Nopony answered.

“We take the crew quarters, we can take the rest of Canterlot without a sweat.” He finished, “Is everypony okay with that?”

“Yes sir!” A few said, while the others warmed up to it.

“Good. Let’s move out.”

Then, like disturbing a fruit fly covered apple, they all took off, and flew upward, out of the castle, toward Canterlot.

Only Alpha remained, as he looked to a dark corner of the room, and smiled under the mask.

Then, he vanished in a spell.

////

“He was looking right at us!” Martinez panicked.

“He would have done something if he saw us!” Dash said, “But we need to go now!”

The four flew out of the building, as they all headed back toward Canterlot.

“I can’t believe Luna was right this time!” Dash shouted over the ripping air.

“Isn’t that a good thing though?” Dancer asked, “The castle is on high alert! They’re walking into a death trap!”

“How often is high alert REALLY high alert?” Dash asked them, “When Luna calls it; everypony slacks off until the all clear.”

“That’s true,” Clash agreed.

“But their plan to attack our quarters will be a bust,” Dancer added, “That’ll be a huge disadvantage for them.”

“But their force is easily twice our size,” Dash warned, “And they can pose as us! It’s a lost cause regardless!”

“Then what are we going to do?” Martinez asked.

“We’re going to get to Canterlot before them,” Dash said, looking at the barely visible swarm heading toward the castle.

“How are we supposed to do that?” Dancer asked.

“You’re all going to hold on to me,” Dash said, “I’ll Rainboom us over there!”

“You can reach that speed with four of us on your back?” Clash asked incredulously.

“Well, I did it with a million bits in my saddlebag, so I’m sure I’ll have no problem.” She bragged, “Now grab hold!”

Complying, they all squished their way on to her back, and held on to either her, or somepony who was holding her.

“Here we go!” Dash shouted, gunning it straight upward, until she was confident the boom wouldn’t be seen.

Then, as if somepony activated a jet engine on her back, she took off, and held her hoof in front of her to break the wind.

It only took her a few seconds to reach maximum velocity, and when she did, her passengers almost lost hold.

The Rainboom wasn’t her biggest, or loudest, but that was the entire plan. She near silently hit her speed, and reached Canterlot in only a few seconds.

“Why aren’t you stopping?!” Dancer screamed in her ear, as they rapidly approached the castle.

“We’re gonna crash!” Dancer yelled, as Dash put them through the balcony window, into the throne room, making them bounce across the floor, and crash into the opposite wall.

“Guards!” Luna shouted instantly, “We have a—Oh, it’s simply Captain Dash! Never mind.”

“Princess!” Dash said, standing up and brushing herself off, “You were right! An army of changelings are headed this way!”

“Is this a joke?” Luna asked quickly, “I remember the last time you did this to me!”

“I’m being dead serious!” Dash shouted, “They’re coming straight for the castle!”

“How did you find all of this out?” Luna asked, standing up.

“We overheard their planning in the forest!” Dancer spoke up.

“They’re going to attack the crew quarters first, then take out the night guard!” Martinez continued.

“So we need to plan a surprise counter-attack!” Clash finished.

“Captain Dash, I defer to you on the plan,” Luna said, “I must make sure my sister isn’t awoken!”

“What?” Dash asked, shaking her head, making sure she had heard that right.

“This is my battle!” Luna explained, “My sister has discounted me as a military pony for too long! I will prove her wrong!”

“A-alright,” Dash stammered, hoping that Luna’s insanity wasn’t going to ruin anything for them, “I’ll spread the word, and organize the attack. But we don’t have long.”

“We’ll split up, and each take a wing!” Martinez said.

“Good thinking! I’ll go get my friends, too,” Dash said, “They know a thing or two about changelings!”

////

“Is everypony ready?” Alpha asked, as they neared the castle entrance under the cover of the night.

“Yes sir!” They all said.

“I’ll go in from the top, and meet you all in the throne room!” He shouted, “Now attack!”

He vanished in a spell, as several of them decided to enter through windows, intending to fly in through them, maximizing coverage in the castle. A problem they had, however, was that half of the windows had been drawn on the side of the castle, so a huge amount of soldiers crashed into the brick wall, and fell to the ground.

Then, as for the real windows, they all had an electric field on the opposite side of them, electrocuting the attacking ponies, knocking them out.

At this point, about a quarter of the attacking force was down for the count. But, that didn’t make the grand entrance inspire any less awe, when hundreds of changelings flooded through the main doors, and attacked every guard they could see.

////

“Are ya’ ready Pinkie?” Applejack asked, gulping as the swarm headed for the front door.

“They’re gunna be runnin’ home when ah’m done withum!” Pinkie said, imitating Applejacks accent, before realizing she might be offending her, “Was that racist?”

Pinkie and AJ had volunteered for the front line position, since both of them had learned a lot from their fighting classes with Shining Armor in the leadership department, so, they were given temporary leadership over the ponies in this room, so they stood on the top level of the room to give commands.

“Here they come!” Applejack shouted, as the front doors flew open, and hundreds of the enemies entered the room.

Pinkie didn’t respond, she just ran right into the thick of them, spinning around impossibly, knocking tons of them to the ground, where they were engaged by the guard on the floor.

“We’re not supposed’tuh be attackin’em Pinkie!” Applejack sighed, knowing that it was inevitable really, so, she jumped down herself, and started savagely bucking every soldier Pinkie sent her way.

The fight was going well enough, but tons of them were simply flying past the guards, and heading further inside.

“Should we chase them, AJ?” Pinkie called, head butting a changeling.

“No! Leave it to our friends!” Applejack called, “They’ll need’em thinned out by us!”

“Gotcha!” Pinkie called, resuming her attacks on the endless stream of changelings flying into the castle.

////

“Fluttershy, I do hope you’re not scared,” Rarity said, levitating a mirror in front of her face, “We’ll be just fine.”

“I- I don’t know about that…” Fluttershy whimpered, hearing the buzzing getting closer.

“Just leave it to me,” Rarity said confidently, “Spike!”

“I’ve got them!” Pinkie said, dragging in two massive bags, “All filled with gems!”

“Wonderful!”

“Here they come!” Fluttershy squeaked, as the first changelings rounded the corner.

“And here I go!” Rarity giggled, as a steady line of jewels started flying from the bags, hitting the soldiers, slicing several holes open on them, and knocking them out.

Fluttershy stood ready, as it was her job to hit the stragglers.

“Here one comes, Fluttershy!” Spike shouted, as changeling flew right for her.

Snapping her look to him, she gave him a powerful stare, that stopped him dead in his tracks, as he skidded to the floor, and hit the wall.

“Another!” Spike said.

Repeating the process, she froze him, and he knocked himself out, just as the other had.

“This is going wonderfully!” Rarity laughed, as the pile of unconscious changelings started to slow the others down, “I could keep doing this forever!”

“Uhm, Rarity?” Spike said quickly.

“What is it dear?” She asked, focusing on the halted attack force.

“We’re out of gems…”

“What?!” She said, whipping around to look at the empty sacs, “Where did they all go?”

“I ate some…?” Spike laughed nervously.

“How many could you have possibly eaten?!” Rarity gasped, as the changelings started making ground toward them.

“Like, only a half a bag! Well, maybe a whole bag…” He admitted, blushing.

“Why did Twilight give you that gem eating spell?!” Rarity said, looking back to the hallway, “Fluttershy! It’s time to go!”

“…No!” She said, jumping forward, “I can do this!”

“Fluttershy, dear, don’t be silly!” Rarity begged, backing up to the throne room doors, “We need to get out of here!”

Finally, the pile was moved, as the changelings were again flying at them.

Fluttershy stepped forward, and looked at them, frowning.

Rarity and Spike watched from the door, as Fluttershy charged up the single strongest stare she had in her.

“How DARE all of you!” Fluttershy shouted, as the entire swarm halted, hypnotized by her horrifyingly disapproving glare, “What would your mothers think, attacking us ponies like this!”

“I-I’m sorry…” One whimpered.

“You should all be ashamed!” She growled, “I would like an apology right now!”

“We need t-to cover our eyes!” One shouted.

“Don’t look her in the face!” Another yelled.

“Uh oh…” Fluttershy said, backing up, “You all need to go home right now!”

“Stop looking at her!”

“Just look at the floor and run!”

And boy did they ever. The charge resumed, as Fluttershy, Spike, and Rarity ran into the throne room and slammed the door behind them.

“Lock it, Twilight!” Rarity shouted, as Twilight sealed the door off.

“That won’t hold them for long!” She said, as Alex, Rainbow Dash, and Luna all stood at the ready.

“Do we have any more gems?” Rarity asked, “I can keep them back if you do!”

“No,” Dash said, “We need you to go and make sure Princess Celestia is okay.”

“But do not wake her!” Luna said quickly.

“But please do not wake her,” Dash sighed, “Just… fight off anypony that goes into her room.”

“Will do!” Rarity said, as Spike and Fluttershy joined her.

“Are you sure your magic is working?” Twilight asked Alex, as he stood, concentrating on the door.

“I think so,” Alex said.

“You were teleporting a while ago,” Dash said, “You should be fine.”

“I was?” Alex asked, giving her a confused look, “Well, if you say so…”

The pounding on the door was almost deafening, as the spell gave way under the pressure.

“Get ready!” Dash shouted as the entrance was breached, and the hive flew inside.

However, before they were able to attack, a small ball was thrown into the room, that lit up, and instantly sucked all the magic out of the room.

“What the?!” Twilight said, as she found herself unable to attack, “What is that?!”

“That, my dear, is a portable anti-magic device,” The leader said, stepping into the room, “Special for you and your friends.”

Dash stepped back. She was a great fighter, but there were probably seventy changeling soldiers in the room. She would be beaten to a pulp.

“Who are you?” Luna demanded, “Why do you attack my kingdom?”

“You can call me Beta,” The soldier said, stepping closer to them, “I’m second in command on this mission.”

“Where is your leader?” Luna demanded, “I will only speak with him!”

“Well, I guess I made it just in time then!” Alpha said, stepping into the room, his golden armor clinking against the floor as he made his way through the crowd, “What would you like to say to me, Princess Luna?”

“You!” Dash said, stepping forward, “You’re a changeling?!”

Laughing, Alpha stepped past her, “We’re here to accept you unconditional surrender, Princess.”

“Well that’s too bad!” Luna frowned, “I will defend my kingdom to my death!”

“Well, that can be arranged, if you so wish.” Alpha said, as Beta locked her in place with a spell, "But I hope you don't intent to do it whilst moving."

“What?” Dash shouted, shocked at his behavior, “You wouldn’t hurt anypony! You told me so!”

“That was you, and some of your other cute friends,” Alpha explained, walking over to her and stroking her cheek with his hoof, “Not these Princesses.”

How did that make any sense?

"But- but..." Dash trailed off, just trying to take in the whole situation.

Dash narrowed her eyes, as she smelt something on the air of the room...

Where was it coming from? Could it be... Alpha?

Dash felt her heart leap, as something clicked in her head. It scared her, but gave her hope at the same time.

So, she had one option, and it involved something her friends would probably find quite strange...

“You know what I think?” Dash asked, as she pulled away from his cold metal hoof, “I think you’re just trying to look cool in front of your friends!”

The changeling army laughed at her accusation, as Alpha tilted his head, showing confusion the only way he could.

“Why do you think that?” He asked, “There’re many better mares out there.”

“Because you SMELT me!” She said, tapping her hoof on the side of her neck, “Right here. Sounded like you were enjoying yourself.”

“I’m stuck in this armor all day; don’t you think I miss the scent of a mare?” He asked, walking over to her, and audibly inhaling once again, making his soldiers give him cheers of approval, as he whispered in her ear, “You don’t mean anything to me.”

Pressing her snout to his neck, she inhaled herself... It was exactly what she expected to smell. And that was amazing news.

She suddenly took advantage of his leaned forward neck, by wrapping an arm around him, pressing the side of his head to hers, as he chuckled.

“What’s the plan here, Rainbow Dash?” He asked, laughing arrogantly.

“I’m going to hurt you,” She said plainly, “And we’re going to see how much you’re going to hurt me in return.”

“Wha—“

Suddenly, she brought her other arm down on top of his face plate, cracking it loudly, and making Alpha’s head ring, as Dash released her grip on him.

Every changeling in the room mobilized, intent on stopping her from hurting their commanding officer.

“No!” Alpha shouted, as he backed away from Dash, his mouth now partially visible under the mask from where it had been broken, “Don’t touch her— This is my fight!”

The soldiers looked back and forth uneasily, as they stepped back.

“Why don’t we make this more interesting?” Dash asked, smirking, “How about… If I win this fight, you and your buddies get the hell out of Canterlot?”

“Of course not!” Beta shouted from behind them.

“Shh.” Alpha said to him, before looking back to Dash and smiling through his mask, “And what happens if I win?”

“I’m yours.” She said seriously, “To do with as you please.”

“That sounds tempting…” He said breathlessly, “But, maybe I want Twilight.”

“Please.” Dash scoffed, shaking her hair and puffing out her chest in an incredibly sexy fashion, “Look at me.”

“Hey!” Twilight called from the background, where nopony was really paying attention.

Alex bit his lip. He had an idea of what was going on.

Alpha looked Dash, and had to admit. She was in a very... desirable state.

Her mane was a complete mess, covering one eye, her coat was unbuttoned at the top, showing her ruffled upper coat, and she was panting. She looked good, and it was starting to cloud his judgement.

“You look like you’re... you're ready to go right now, if you know what i mean.” Alpha observed, a strange tone in his voice.

Dash closed the distance between them, and brushed his cold, metal cheek with her hoof, her head only inches from his.

“Then take me…” She said under her breath, in half a growl, and half a desperate plea, breathing heavily and giving him a desperate gaze.

Luna and Twilight looked to each other frowning, as they wordlessly exchanged confusion over her obviously sexual exchange with the leader of their enemies.

“What the buck is going on?” Alex asked, looking around the room, and then back to Dash, “Hey!”

Ignoring him, she took a step back, and suddenly threw a punch into the side of his head, knocking him over, and cracking the face plate further.

Rolling across the floor, he used one of the rolls to get on his feet, as he stood up, shaking his head back and forth.

“That was a good hit.” He said, his voice shaking from either the pain, or the emotion… Nopony was sure.

“Thank you,” She nodded, walking straight up to him and standing expectantly, “Now it’s your turn.”

“What?”

"Hit me."

“She's asking for it!” Beta cheered, raising his hoof, and showing a slapping motion, “Show her what lippy mares get!”

Alpha raised his arm, ready to hit her back… But he couldn’t focus. That voice was screaming in his head.

‘Do it!’ He could hear Chrysalis in his head, yelling at him.

‘N-no…’ He argued back.

‘She isn’t anything to you!’ She spat.

‘Yes she is…’ He mumbled.

‘She’s nothing!’

‘No! She’s everything!’

'Kill her!'

'Never!'

Snap

He sighed and relaxed his raised hoof.

Dash looked up to him, her eyes locked with the blue ones inside the mask that had been revealed in the last attack on his mask. All anypony could see was blackness, and the light reflecting off his eyes.

Leaning her cheek into his raised hoof, she brushed up against it affectionately, and whispered almost silently, “Take the mask off, 'Alpha'.”

Turning around, Alpha looked to his soldiers, all of them now on the ready.

“We’re pulling out.” He said to the crowd.

“What?!” Beta growled, “We’ve won!”

“No, we haven’t.” He said, shaking his head, “I could never hurt these ponies.”

Beta stepped forward, obviously enraged by his commanders change of heart.

“Listen, I don’t care about your past with them, Alpha!” Beta said, “I will relieve you, and take command if I must!”

“And what exactly was my past with them?” Alpha asked, “Please fill me in.”

“You fell for one of these mares at the station, then went soft and let her off the teleporter!” Beta recalled from the reports they had received after Alpha was found outside the kingdom, “And now here you are, trying to rut with her in the middle of a war!”

“You have a few points wrong there,” Alpha said, stepping toward Beta, “I—Well, Alpha, fell for pony named Twilight.”

“What does it matter?” Beta shot back.

“It all matters!” Alpha shouted, cracking his neck, “You need to pay attention!”

“No!” He said, “I’m reporting this to the queen right now!”

“I’m afraid it was the queen that lied to you all,” Alpha said, as he very suddenly, and VERY savagely hit his own hoof against the side of his head, cracking his helmet further, breaking off a large piece of the it, revealing his face, “My name isn’t Alpha.”

“Who are you?!”

Inside the suit of armor, was a white pony, with a black mane, and blue eyes, that had a single, thick scar on his cheek, as if something had pierced through it.

“My name is Alex,” He said quietly, looking back to his friends, and smiling earnestly, “The queen freed me from my stone imprisonment, and replaced me with him.”

“Who?” Beta demanded, insulted that he had been kept out of the loop.

“Alpha.” Alex said, pointing to his doppelganger.

The second Alex sighed and stepped forward, as a green fire erupted from his body, melting the white coat from his skin, revealing a black changeling.

Everypony was speechless.

“Wait…” Twilight said, looking between them, “It was you that kissed me?!”

“Yeah… sorry about that.” He said, scratching the back of his head.

“So you had nothing to worry about, right Dash?” Alpha said, clearly happy at this development, happy he didn't have to hurt anypony.

“I figured that out,” Dash said, before Beta cut in to their rather casual conversation.

“Hello?!” He shouted at them, “What do you think is going on here?”

“We’re reacquainting?” Luna asked, even though she had had nothing to say.

“No!” He growled, “This is an invasion! We’re not in some children’s story, where everypony is best friends!”

“Well, I don’t think—“

“And if the queen conditioned you, how have you broken out of her spell?” He asked next.

“Bro…” Alex said softly, stifling a smirk, “True love! In fact, it even clouded my judgement earlier today when I went to find Dash. There's only one mare that truly owns me.”

“Oh, shut the hell up!” He groaned, knowing that it was possible for that to happen, but still pissed off that it actually had, “If I have to hear any more of this love bull crap, I think I’ll vomit!”

“Well then,” Alex smirked, “Let me fix that for you.”

Suddenly, the entire changeling army was lifted off the ground, frozen in place, as they all started shouting something incoherent.

“I was being held back a tiny bit,” Alex said, free of all his restrictions the queen had placed on him during his conditioning, “But now, I have a whole bunch of extra power just begging to be used!”

Beta murmured something, his mouth unable to move in the spell he was trapped in.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked, “Expecting a big, epic climactic battle?”

His eyes pretty much said ‘yes.’

“I’ve been kept from these ponies for too long by all of you,” He said, showing a twinge of anger, “We’ll have our fight someday, I think that’s safe to say,”

Beta growled, since, you know, he still could.

“But, for now… For today!” Alex continued, as they all started to spark from the magic he had cast on them, “I’m home. And I’m not going to risk anything.”

One by one, the changelings started to vanish in an explosion of bright colors.

“Got any last words, Beta?” Alex asked, easing the tension on his head, as the teleportation spell gradually reached toward the enemy leader.

“You might be stronger than me now, but you can go fuc—“

“Woah woah! Well, that’s all the time we have!” Alex cut him off, “It was a good try, and I commend you for it!”

“You’re lucky I don’t—“

“Tell the queen I’ll miss our nights together dearly!” Alex said, confusing everypony, and cringing lightly himself, “Goodbye now!”

The spell finally reached Beta, as he vanished along with the rest of his army, leaving Alex, Luna, Twilight, Dash, and the original Alpha in the room.

“What just happened?” Twilight asked, her mind completely blown at the development.

“I am also confused,” Luna nodded in agreement, standing up from her throne, “But could we please tell my sister that it was I who saved us?”

////

Epilogue

Here you all go!

http://www.fimfiction.net/chapter/428841

Since i can't tag the story in a blog, I'm kinda forced to make a new chapter here.