Love for Honor

Chapter Two:

Equestria and Earth

Celestia pondered what to do next.

With Yugure refusing to return home, things were going to get worse. She turned back to the reports she had been looking through since returning to her private rooms. They were only marginally better than they had been in some time. the strange armored bipeds hadn't been seen in the last few weeks. It had been why she'd taken the risk to leave on another search for her wayward student. Reconstruction was almost finished in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was supposedly planning the biggest 'Ponyville's back!' party ever. Celestia shook her head in amusement. Somehow the pink party pony was constantly topping herself. The appearance of a new party pony calling himself Cheese Sandwich added to the merriment being planned as when Pinkie had learned of him, she had immediately roped him into helping her plan the party. Rarity had expressed something akin to a cross between amusement and horror at the thought of there being two such ponies like Pinkie running around.

Perhaps a little more fun in the world is what we need right now. Celestia mused to herself.

She turned to the reports of the borders of her kingdom. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary at all, and that worried her. The strange armored bipeds that had appeared in Equestria rarely left the borders unattended. Wherever they might be based, a few of them always seemed ready and willing to harry anyone at the edges of the kingdom. There hadn't been a sign of them in a good while now. As thankful as she was at the seeming turn of fortune, it worried her that when the proverbial other shoe dropped, it would sound like thunder.

"Sister, the reports haven't changed since you read them ten minutes ago." Luna said as she walked in, gently shutting the doors behind her, carrying in two trays of food. "You nearly missed lunch. Be glad I've got my eye on the clock right now." she continued as she levitated the reports away and set down a tray of food, which Celestia looked over before picking up a carrot in her magic and nibbling at it.

"Sorry about that, Luna. It's just that things have been so quiet lately that I'm getting worried. They attacked for weeks on end, lightning fast and now they've gone completely quiet. I don't like it, Luna. They're up to something. I can feel it."

"Maybe so," Luna shrugged as she munched on an apple, "but right now all we can do is wait. I've gotten an invitation from Pinkie Pie for the royal family to come to the party she's planning in Ponyville."

Celestia smirked. "And how badly did Blueblood take it?"

"Actually," Luna said with a shrug, "he seemed receptive to the idea."

Celestia almost choked on the carrot she was eating. Luna gave her a few quick slaps on the back to help her clear her throat.

"He's actually planning to go?!" Celestia asked once she was sure she wasn't going to suffer from a blockage in her throat.

"Seems like it." Luna nodded. "Don't ask me how, but somehow Pinkie managed to befriend him during one of the attacks." The dark-hued alicorn laughed at the look of surprise on her sister's face. "I know, I know. I wouldn't have believed it either. But there it is."

Celestia shook her head in amazement as she turned back to the reports. She sighed and then set them aside and shoved herself to her hooves. She headed out of her chambers, Luna following behind her. She made her way through the halls of Canterlot castle, and eventually found herself knocking at the door of Blueblood. Luna was wearing an amused grin. Which got wider when Blueblood opened the door.

The blond-maned Unicorn was surprised to see the two Alicorns but nonetheless invited them in with a genial smile before offering them some food. He had been about to settle down to lunch, and the servants were on standby to proffer more food to his guests. Luna decided to partake, while Celestia waved them off.

"What can I do for you, Aunt Celestia?" Blueblood asked while sipping some coffee. "If you're looking for any more information on our attackers that might have come by, there's been no new developments."

"Actually, I was just checking up on a curious development I heard rumor about." Celestia said, giving him a curious glance. To her surprise Blueblood actually laughed.

"Let me guess. The party in Ponyville." he said. "Yes I was invited and yes, I'm going."

"How in the world did this ever come to pass? I recall you having less than charitable views on 'commoners' as you call them." Luna asked. She was just as curious about the sudden turnaround.

"Blame it on two very...how should I put this...interesting...mares." Blueblood said as he buttered a piece of toast. Celestia gave him an askance look.

Blueblood? Eating toast? The stallion never settles for anything less than scones! Celestia had to fight to keep herself from goggling at him.

"And just who are they? I assume one is Pinkie Pie." she asked. Blueblood nodded and took a noisy bite from the toast.

"Mmm-Mmmh. Delicious." He muttered to himself, further surprising the solar alicorn. "Sorry, got distracted. The other would be one Rainbow Dash. Fascinating, that one. She's the one who turned me on to toast, as it so happens." He chuckled as Celestia finally lost the fight to keep her face controlled and gawked. "You're going to catch flies that way." he said in a surprisingly playful tone, and lightly pressed Celestia's open jaw closed with an audible click with his hoof. This sent Luna into spasms of laughter. It'd been a long time since she'd seen her sister so taken off her guard.

"So, I'm guessing you and Aunt Luna are coming as well?" Blueblood said as he munched on another piece of toast. "I know Pinkie's invited you. And I think she might be offended if you turn her down. She seems to have invited half of Canterlot."

"I know I'm going." Luna said with amusement. "I've heard about Pinkie Pie's parties for a long time now, and they sound like they're nothing short of Legendary. Plus I want to see what this 'Cheese Sandwhich' is like."

"Ah yes. Him I've heard of. Basically Pinkie's perfect match, the more I think about it. Of course, if he does anything to hurt her feelings, I'll have no problems spiking him on the business end of my horn." Blueblood said. The sudden silence caused him to look over at the two alicorns, who were giving him a completely thunderstruck look. "What? I know I have a reputation as being something of an ass, and it's probably more deserved than I like to admit to, but I look out for the few real friends I have, I'll have you know!"

"Are we sure this is actually Blueblood?" Celestia whispered to Luna. "I can't remember him ever being so passionate about his friends' well being before."

"Hey, you've known him longer than I have, so don't ask me." Luna returned.

Preparations for the party in Ponyville were in full swing. Pinkie bounced and sproinged her way about town with the energy so usually associated with the pink mare. Rainbow Dash waved to her as she hopped past, and Pinkie waved back with a grin. They had had a pretty interesting discussion with Cheese the other day about party ideas. While Rainbow Dash wasn't the party thrower Pinkie and Cheese were, she had thrown her share of parties in her time before leaving Cloudsdale. And so she helped with a few suggestions here and there. Mostly, however, she was doing what she'd been doing since they had heard the news. Something that, were it not for what it was, would have given Twilight a heart attack from the shock of it; she had her nose in a book. Specifically, one of the Daring Do novels.

The idea that Twilight didn't want to come home weighed on Rainbow's mind, preventing her from really enjoying the book. Fluttershy had a point, even if she hadn't liked to admit it. That and Spike was still giving them the eye now and then. The less said about his dealings with the alicorns the better.

Gotta admit though, seeing him beat the crap out of Shining Armor was almost worth it. Almost. Then Rainbow shuddered as she remembered the lesson she took away from that. Never fuck with a Dragon's loved ones.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself about as much as you did the first day you were in the hospital before you cracked open the first book in that series." said a cultured voice and Rainbow turned to see Rarity moving to sit down next to her.

"Hey Rares. Normally I'd be halfway through it." Rainbow said. "Guess this whole thing with Twilight's still rubbing me wrong."

"I know what you mean." the alabaster unicorn nodded. "I know she's upset with us, but I never thought she would refuse to even consider coming home."

"Thought Ah'd find you two somewhere around here."

"Applejack!" Rarity had jumped about half a foot in the air and was clasping a hoof to her chest. "You nearly scared me out of my pelt!"

"Sorry 'bout that, Rarity." Applejack said, lightly tipping her stetson in embarrassment. "Reckon Pinkie's pullin' out all the stops fer this one, huh?"

"Indeed. I suspect that the recent developments might be part of what's behind it. Those constant attacks by those strange creatures being what they have been, and now with Twilight refusing to come home, I think she believes we need something to laugh about." Rarity said as she nodded.

"So, who's on the RSVP list?" Applejack asked, watching as Pinkie and Cheese took a moment or two from putting up the decor to pull some goofy faces at one another before going back to work. The three friends smiled a bit.

"Good question, darling." Rarity mused, as she pulled the list of invitees who had responded from under Rainbow, who looked just slightly panicked at Rarity, and began edging away from her rapidly.

Fluttershy was just closing the door to her cottage when it happened. Everyone in Ponyville, and most of the surrounding countryside were talking about it for weeks.

"WHAT?!"

Fluttershy would need to be practically peeled out from under her couch with the jaws of life about two hours later by Applejack, after Angel had found her.

Discord slunk through Midtown in Manhattan, using his magic to squiggle his way through the sky unseen. He phased through the floors of several skyscrapers as he went, usually between the floors and the ceilings below them. He would poke around here or there, trying to read the nature of this world. This planet, Earth, was one of the more curious places he'd visited in his long life. But even as he enjoyed the sightseeing, he kept his senses magically attuned to his target.

Why do I sense something strange about you, boy? he thought to himself. And what did you do to earn the love of an Alicorn Princess, banished or not?

Discord still couldn't piece together why he could feel magical energy radiating from Twilight/Yugure. But hew knew what he felt. There was genuine magic there, along with something else that was clouding his senses. That same occlusion also seemed to emanate from Marc as well. And that made him curious, because it seemed to be that it was stronger in Marc. Discord may have been the spirit of chaos and disharmony, but he could be hooked by intrigue as much as the next Equestrian.

Unfortunately, aside from the fact that the guy was something of a comic book geek, he seemed to be as normal as every other human on this planet. The entire species seemed to be just like ponies, minus the lack of any kind of magic he could detect. Though there were times that Discord would swear there was something watching the entire species. But he couldn't put his talon on it.

Celestia and Luna were fools, Discord reminisced to himself for the third time that quarter hour. They had the means to bring Yugure home, and yet seemed to be incapable of seeing it. How those two had survived as long as they had as co-rulers of Equestria after usurping him, he had no idea. No amount of pleading or cajoling would have convinced her and he'd always known that. Had Celestia really expected that Yugure would come home if she'd simply gotten her memories restored by the solar diarch? From what he remembered of hearing of Celestia's intentions when coming to Earth, it seemed like it. How in Tartarus was that even supposed to work? She'd have had no emotional connection to the memories. Why would she have wanted to come back to a world she only knew as empirical data?

Discord shook his head. No wonder I always thought she was so one-dimensional, no matter how much she thinks she's some kind of grand chessmaster. She was banking on curiosity to be what she chose over a life lived with a whole new set of memories and a loving family.

Discord frowned and darted down to street level, adding to his invisibility and general disguise by making himself both intangible and flat as a strip of paper, and began to 'swim' through the concrete sidewalks, keeping Marc in sight. Something about this guy had to be worthwhile, right? He was giving off something or other that was messing with his senses, and sending ripples through the very nature of order and chaos itself, the same as Yugure was. But why? Yugure almost made sense— not that Discord particularly had any affinity for things making sense, but still, principle of the matter— being that she was originally from Equestria and seemed to still have some tie to magic.

Discord followed Marc for another hour or so. But ultimately found himself annoyed with the lack of anything interesting happening with the guy. About the most entertaining thing he'd done in all that time was to hit someplace called 'Midtown Comics' and pick up a bunch of different comics. He came to quickly understand one thing about these comics, as he shifted into a human disguise while following Marc. They showed a creativity that nopony in Equestria could touch. There were comic books of all types, and many collected from far earlier editions for consumption. Some had been turned into novels and films. Discord briefly flipped through one series called Transformers and found himself curious about it. Alien robots from another world who could change shape? It sounded interesting enough, and the world this comic took place in probably had its fair share of chaos. He resolved to see if there was a world in the multiverse that corresponded to this comic book sometime. It wasn't impossible, after all.

The day had ended with Marc meeting up with Yugure for some pizza at a little place called 2 Bros. pizza. There were a few of these in the general area, actually. Probably a local franchise. He had to admit, as he slinked through the place unseen and intangible again, that it smelled almost heavenly. Pinkie Pie had turned him onto some oddly topped versions. But as it was, Discord found that the toppings they'd chosen (Pepperoni and bacon) along with the mozzarella sticks looked surprisingly scrumptious. The other pizzas being eaten didn't look bad either. In fact, Discord felt a bit peckish himself. He resolved to swing back later.

Discord finally left them behind while they ate. Nothing new had presented itself to him about why the two of them seemed to occloud his magical senses, and he knew that there was a party in Equestria to help prepare for.

Shining Armor sat on the train bound for Ponyville with Cadance, trying his best to enjoy the scenery. He'd never been to Ponyville in all the time his sister had lived there. It felt wrong to be going now, when Twilight was refusing to return to it.

Cadance nuzzled him lightly. "She'll come around, Shiny. She's not the type to hold a grudge forever." she said, trying to cheer him up. He turned to look at her, and he looked less than convinced.

"She wasn't the type to hold grudges forever." He sighed. "But you heard what Celestia said. She's lived twenty years in a whole other life, but she remembers everything that happened in this one. What if she is the type to hold a grudge like that now? Two lives lived, and one of them as a completely different person."

Cadance nodded. She had to admit, she hadn't considered that possibility. But then she smiled and nudged him with her wing.

"She's still your sister deep down though, and I'll bet she misses you. She always doted on you. In fact, your bond was what saved me from Chrysalis, remember?"

Shining smiled, thinking back on that. Twilight had seen through the Chnageling Queen's disguise almost immediately, and while most of the people around her had dismissed her concerns at first, not only had she been vindicated, she had helped repel the invasion by enabling Cadance to get to Shining Armor in time to help empower his shield spell and save Canterlot. Perhaps even the entire kingdom.

"I just hope Spike doesn't try to slice me up again." Shining said, rubbing at his side subconsciously. The scar under his pelt on his right side was likely never to fade. The best they had managed was to get his fur growing again and use it to cover the scar from sight. He didn't want to be pitied for the damage done to him by someone who he'd once considered his baby brother.

Cadance grimaced. She remembered that day. Spike had been wrath personified, and she'd been lucky to get away with her wings intact. Celestia had probably received the most damage from him, leaving the solar alicorn very wary of being alone in the same room with him ever again. But she gave Shining a comforting pat on the back with one wing.

"It's been three years, Shiny. He may not have forgiven us, but he still has friends in Ponyville, so I expect he'll be on his best behavior for them, if nothing else." she said.

Eight p.m. saw Marc and Yugure snuggling together under a blanket on the futon they sometimes rolled out next to the couch and watching a movie. They'd decided to rent a few films, including Outrage, a Yakuza film directed by Takeshi Kitano.

"I still can't believe you're into this stuff." Marc said, lightly caressing the underside of Yugure's breasts. They were both topless under the blankets, which were fairly light anyway due to the summer heat. Marc leaned against the sofa while Yugure leaned into him. She let out a low moan of pleasure as his fingers lightly sneaked their way up her flesh to play with her slowly hardening nipples.

"Ā shite kudasai, anata wa watashi ga anata o odoroka seru toki anata ga sore o aisuru chi tte iru, goshujinsama." Yugure said, smirking as she heard him huff in annoyance by her slipping into Japanese, which he didn't truly understand, despite her best attempts to teach him the language. He hadn't been joking when he said that the majority of Japanese words he knew had been names of Kaiju. Though he did pick up the occasional word and phrase here and there over the time they'd known one another.

"Whatever." he said, shaking he head, giving her a light groping, which made her jump slightly, but she she took it in stride. His playful little revenges for when she confused him were a fair trade-off in her opinion. "So, what do you wanna watch after this?" he asked, nibbling lightly on her ear.

"Hmm. I think I'd much rather stage our own movie." Yugure teased, turning her head to catch him in a kiss. "It's been a long time since we did our last home movie adventure."

Marc snorted in amusement. "Wanna play the helpless schoolgirl-turned-slave again, huh? You know one day our kids are gonna find this stuff and think we were both perverts."

Yugure flushed a bit at the thought of having children, but laughed. "We've got more than enough time for worrying about that in the future...."

Marc just snickered, and went back to playing his hands over her breasts. He liked good Japanese cinema himself, though his tastes ran more towards Godzilla films and Kamen Rider/Super Sentai stuff. Though he'd always had something of a fascination for their cinema in general. Maybe it was because Godzilla had been his gateway to the larger cinematic world of Japan. Maybe it was because his girl was of Japanese ancestry. Or maybe he was just a sucker for asian cinema and didn't know how to reconcile it with the fact that the only American made mafia-based stuff he'd ever liked had been the Godfather trilogy, and yet he could actually find himself entertained by a movie about a group that personally referred to themselves as ninkyōdantai.

Yugure snuggled deeper into him, and Marc laughed, licking up the left side of her neck, eliciting a giggle from her. "Yamero." she said, but there was little force in it, especially when he lightly pulled at her earlobe with his teeth, rather than simply nibbling on it like before. She pulled her ear free gently, and he moved one hand from playing with her breasts to giving her hip a massage.

"Anything interesting happen today?" he asked. "I'm sorry I was late to 2 Bros. Got held up."

Yugure shook her head. "Iya, it was pretty much a normal day, all things considered. No drills or anything, and sensei was a bit lighter on me than normal, but that was because he got called away due to his daughter calling from the hospital. Seems his son-in-law had to go in for surgery."

Marc whistled. "Wondered when that was finally going to happen."

"Sensei keeps saying you should visit him more."

Marc shrugged, the hand massaging her hip now coming to her shoulder and continuing there. "I'll swing by later this week if I can."

"You know...we have the movies till next week..." Yugure said, her voice turning seductive. "We don't have to finish it right— Mpphh!" the rest of what she was going to say was cut off as Marc gagged her with the hand that had been massaging her shoulder.

"Movie now, sex later."

Meanwhile, in a large fortress of caves just outside the borders of Equestria, a massive armored bidpedal figure stood, silent as the grave. Until a brilliant white 'eye' flashed to life, and began to move about in its track, taking in the surroundings around it. A mission had just been assigned to it. Axe and Machine Gun at the ready, the massive being headed for the cave mouth.

Equestria awaited.

Author's Note

Happy Holidays to one and all! Here's an update to entertain you over the holidays. This chapter was admittedly short, but that's what happens between having one's own life to live plus writing novels intended for publication crowding your life. This chapter also included a brief look (and clue) to exactly what's been attacking Equestria. There were a few guesses last chapter as to what it was, but maybe now someone can pinpoint exactly what it is and why this story is listed as a crossover fic?

Happy Holidays!

And hey, who remembers these lovable gems!

...God I miss the Hub.