Death City

Back with another update. The last chapter had been a hell of a chapter with the defeat of Discord and all, so now I decided to spice things up some more. I decided to take this story in form a new perspective and see how it goes. Before asking any questions on what I mean by that, just read the chapter itself.

Chapter 31 – Wreckage of a New Rebirth

The sun lowered over the horizon as the moon began to cover its rightful place for the night shift. Most of Equestria had already been in a catastrophic state knowing that Discord had done all of this. However, after his own defeat, the rest of the gang had realized that it hadn’t been Discord who had been behind all of these “twist and turns”, it had been somepony else. Somepony who they were bound to find soon. But that was to wait for another day. Right now, they had somepony to save. Somepony, who would save them in return.

Over at the peak of Canterlot Castle stood what was now left of the main corridor. Out of all things in Canterlot, this had been the only thing that had still been standing. Everything else had been either burned down or crushed to bits.

A ceremony had been held in that specific area. Ponies across the entire town had gathered into the facility to watch one of the most memorable moments in Equestrian history: the Crowning of a new ruler. This had been an event that happened when either a princess had decided to “hang up her coat” or when they had been lost forever. In this case, word spread around the large city that Princess Celestia had died over a month ago and that they had made way for a new ruler. Somepony who would not only control the government and fixed damaged property, but also to shield out all intruders that dared to enter Equestria. It had been a crucial time for all pony kind, so they needed what was best for them. They needed somepony who would fight for their freedom and protect them day and night. Somepony to control Celestia’s sun and Luna’s moon. Somepony who could do all that and more. But no pony knew that in the end, he wouldn’t just be saving Canterlot, he’d be saving the entire world itself.

As the royal guards too their positions on the outer barrier of the castle to insure no intruders or enemies would break in, every single resident of Canterlot made their way in through security and took a seat in the massive dome-like structure. The royal family, or what had been left of it, also got ready, as they were scheduled to perform the ritual of crowning a new king, queen, prince, or princess. It was a tradition that had been passed down from family member to family member and had been going on for the past hundred centuries.

The sound of trumpets went off as the band in the back of the area went off. This signaled that the ceremony had just begun. As everypony took a seat, the royal family had positioned themselves on stage. All the way to the right had been Shining Armor, Cadence, and even their daughter, Raindrop. To the right had been Luna, with a couple of the royal guards as well. Ever since the loss of Princess Celestia, Luna had refused to talk to anypony, even herself. It had been a sign that she hadn’t been able to live without her sister by her side.

The lights of the stage gleamed with light as everypony could see the royal family up on stage. They hadn’t been wearing and special kind of uniforms or dresses. It had just been their normal selves. When a princess was to give up her time, everypony was to be dressed formally, but when it had been a loss, nopony bothered about their own appearance.

Suddenly, there was a slight trotting sound that was emanated around the area. Everypony turned around from their seats to see three ponies walking down the aisle. In the front had been an original blue Pegasus with a flattened black mane running down his neck and a slightly trimmed tail. His cutie mark had been a full musical note in dark blue, which stood out against his coat. His wings had been folded inward against his body and had been groomed multiple times in order for them to stay in place. Behind him had been two of the royal guards. One had been a white stallion with pure white hair and purple armor and a gold bracelet while the other had been a grey stallion with black hair and the same kind of armor as the other stallion. Both of them had been buff creatures and could easily take out anypony in the room if they tried to do harm to any of the royal family.

As the blue pegasus approached the end of the aisle, he came to a sudden stop as he turned his head to look up at the midnight alicorn in front of him. He began to examine her closely as his eyes met with her. She had a smooth dark coat that ran through her body as well as a light blue mane with a clear border around it. Like Princess Celestia, her mane also moved in wavy patterns, even if there wasn’t any wind. Her eyes had been a mysterious color of a dull green as her cutie mark was a crevice of the moon with dark blotches around its lower left side. Her unicorn horn and wings had been longer than the average pony, showing that she had been meant for royalty, though it was another aspect in life she took for granted.

The sound of trumpets came to a stop as everypony had settled in and the ceremony had been ready.

“We are gathered here today,” Princess Luna began in her much calmer and quiet voice. “To welcome our new Prince of Equestria.” She had lifted one of the blue pegasus’s front hoofs with her own as she continued. “Ever since the loss of my dear sister,” Luna began to shed a tear. “I’ve been drowned in hope and sorrow, awaiting somepony else to take her rightful place. But today, today is the day we welcome somepony new into the royal family. Somepony who will put others first, rather than himself. Somepony who will keep us ponies in Equestria, and monsters out. Somepony who will help us rebuild our damaged society so we can live once again.” From there, Luna dropped the pegasus’s hoof. Raindrop, the daughter of Shining and Cadence, who had only been two, galloped up to Luna, and handed her the sword that she had been holding in her mouth. Luna gratefully took the sword using her alicorn magic as a light aura surrounded not only her horn, but the sword too. It had been a sword covered in solid gold from the tip of it all the way down to the handle.

As Luna grasped it, she brought the sword carefully down with her magic to the pegasus’s left shoulder and tapped it lightly on him once. Then, she lifted in again, but this time tapping it gently onto his opposing shoulder. The entire time, the blue Pegasus had been facing Luna.

Once Luna lifted the golden sword once more from the Pegasus, she spoke again.

“I am now grateful to pronounce you,” Luna stopped for a short period of time, building tension from the crowd of ponies as well as the guards. After she noticed they had been waiting long enough, she continued. “Prince Blue Bass!”

As if on cue, bits of the roof began to shatter as dark blobs fell from the sky. What was an audience cheering happily for the new Prince soon turned to fear as everypony began screaming and galloping around the corridor in horror.

Looking around, Blue Bass could see what had fallen out of the sky. Dark pony-like creatures with a variety of holes imprinted onto their body. It had been as if their appearance resembled to Swiss cheese. One by one, they fell from the sky, crashing into the ground below them and leaving a dent in the ground. This caused the entire area to be thrown into a frenzied state as the creatures began to chase the other ponies in the facility.

Suddenly, there was a loud screeching sound, followed by specks of green light flying around the room. Everypony turned to the location to where the green sparks had been coming from only to see something that shocked their eyes. No more had Luna been herself anymore, rather somepony else. She resembled the qualities of one of those average sized creatures, except this one had been as a large as Princess Celestia and had thin, clear wings on her back. She had obviously been a female, considering her hair had been longer than the usual creature.

“Queen Chrysalis!” Princess Cadence yelled. “Somepony stop her before it’s too late!” From there, the guards began charging toward her with spears pointed directly at her, but it had been futile. Her horn began to glow a bright green as a shield covered the area around her. The result of this had been the guards crashing face-first into the clear green shield and falling to the ground below them.

“Such trickery, if I must say so myself.” Queen Chrysalis spoke up. “Haven’t you learned your lesson the first time, foolish subjects?”

“W-who is she?” Blue Bass asked, slowly backing away from the queen.

“She’s Queen Chrysalis, queen of the changelings.” Princess Cadence replied.

“Queen of the what?” Blue Basked asked once more, still continuing to back slowly away from the disadvantageous being.

“Queen of the Changelings” Princess Cadence mentioned. “They’re these unstoppable creatures who can take the form of any pony they come in contact with. And there’s no point in stopping them. There’s too many to even keep track of.”

“Then how do we get rid of them?!”  Blue Bass yelled over the loud screaming and chasing occurring in the room.

“Oh, I think I know!”  Princess Cadence brightened up. “Quick, Shining, we have to perform that previous spell we did earlier to banish her last time.”

“There’s no harm in trying.” Shining Armor answered. With that, he closed his eyes and leaned in to Cadence. Princess Cadence did the same as she closed her eyes and leaned in as well. Their horns connected as a spark lit between them. It had been a small spark, yet it was a sign of progress. Queen Chrysalis had been too distracted watching her army take over to notice what the two had been doing.

The spark between the horns grew as the spark had suddenly turned to a line of electricity between the two horns. Dust and thin air began circling the two as they had slowly been lifted off of the ground.

Higher and higher they rose until they had been around a meter off of the ground. The thin air around them had soon turned to light pink swirls as it continued to circle the two. Right as they felt as if they had enough energy, both Cadence and Shining Armor opened their eyes, which had now been clear. All Blue Bass did was watch from a distance.

Once the two opened their eyes, they instantly fell to the ground. For some reason, the love spell hadn’t been working and backfired on the two.

Getting up, Princess Cadence noticed that the room had still been in a chaotic state and that their spell didn’t cooperate with them.

“What happened?” Blue Bass asked. “And why didn’t the spell work?”

“I don’t know!” Princess Cadence replied. “The first time I casted the spell, it worked perfectly and banished Queen Chrysalis from here. But now, I think she learned her way around the spell.”

“Oh, true, my dear princess.” Queen Chrysalis confirmed. She had been facing the front of the area as she watched her army literally devour the community. She hadn’t even been facing the others as she communicated between them.

“What do you want?!” Shining Armor blasted at her. “There must be at least some reason you want to take over Equestria again!”

“What do I want?” Queen Chrysalis turned herself till she had been facing them. She lifted a hoof and pointed it towards Blue Bass. “I want him.”

Blue Bass felt a rush of energy and fear flow through his body right as she mentioned that she had wanted him.

“B-but why?” Blue Bass began tripping over his own words. “Why do you want me?”

“Because,” Queen Chrysalis began. “There is no way to win a chess game than to capture the opponents king. And you happen to represent the king.” The pitch of her voiced hired as she reached the end of her sentence.

“What?!” Blue Bass shouted. “But I’m just a prince! I don’t even have the qualities that represent a king yet! Why do you want something as worthless as me?”

“Well, Celestia’s dead, Luna’s missing, and you’re the next best thing.” She said in a soothing voice. “Without you, there is no possible way an already devastated country such as Equestria even has the chance of standing alone. Trust me; with you at my side, we shall rule the kingdom together! It will be just us, nopony else! Nothing can nor will be able to stop us!”

“What? NO, DON’T TRUST HER! SHE’LL TURN YOU EVIL! DON’T TRUS…” Princess Cadence never got a chance to finish her sentence. What had seemed to be one of the many changelings that turned into a guard had gotten behind her and placed a tight grip on her and put a hoof over her mouth, preventing her from even speaking. All that could be heard was the “mmhmph” sound as she struggled to break free.

The same thing happened to Shining Armor and Raindrop as changeling guards captured the two. Shining Armor tried to struggle free as well, but it had been pointless since the grip of the changelings had been as strong as steel. Being just a young filly, the only thing Raindrop did was cry in fear as she watched her parents get tangled up in this mess too.

All that had been left was Blue Bass and Queen Chrysalis. Everything else around them didn’t matter as the world had suddenly seemed to fall away into complete silence. Blue Bass had to make a choice; to stay loyal to his subjects and persist in rebuilding the entire community of Equestria, or join the Changeling rebels and live a life as a criminal, ruling alongside one of the most powerful beings alive today. The entire fate of Equestria mattered on this one decision that was forced upon him. No matter what happened, somepony would suffer. Both ways had their pros and cons: staying loyal to his community would earn him respect from his townspeople, but would probably end up getting him killed by Queen Chrysalis. But joining the rebels would consist himself as a criminal. Knowing that would never let him sleep again, ever.

“Well, what will it be?” Queen Chrysalis asked, looking directly at the blue pegasus. If the pressure of being crowned the new prince of Equestria hadn’t been enough, choosing between life and death for him and his community didn’t make it any better. Suddenly, the answer had come directly to his mind as he said it aloud.

“Heh,” Blue Bass sighed quickly. “I choose…” He never had a chance to finish that sentence.

All of a sudden, as if on cue, something else crashed through the window of the area. Glass flew everywhere as one of the murals painted onto the window to the left had been gone. A light blue blur took its place for a second as it fell to the ground.

The blur came to a stop as it hit the floor below it. It had landed on three hoofs as it reached the ground. Its back leg had been bent as it landed on its knee for one leg and the other leg and hoof touched the ground. The remaining hoof had been sprawled to the side as if it had no purpose in landing.

The figure had soon gotten up onto all four hooves and looked directly at Queen Chrysalis and Blue Bass. Blue Bass had noticed the figure as well as he began admiring it. Its shape as a whole had been a very sleek figure, showing that it had been a mare. She had on a cyan coat that stood out in almost any area as well as a perfect yet flat rainbow mane and tail that consisted of all the vivid colors of the rainbow. Her mane ran smoothly down her heck as it curved around while its tail dropped low enough to just barely touch the floor. She had on the most beautiful pair of rose eyes and a cutie mark of what seemed to be a puffy cloud that spit out a strike of rainbow lightning. Her own body as a whole had been just spectacular to Blue Bass. It had been something he, himself, has never seen before.

“Who are you?!” Queen Chrysalis blurted out. “You seem so familiar, yet so mysterious.”

All the mare did was let lose a little chuckle as she unfolded her wings and set off around the room in a flash. A trail of rainbows followed her as she passed through the thin air of the corridor. Everything stood still as she made her way around the area, circling even faster and faster. The speed of her flying had been too much for anypony to handle as they grabbed onto seats and walls, trying not to get caught into the pony-made hurricane that had been going on around them.

Suddenly, the trail of rainbows came to a stop as Blue Bass felt himself be lifted into the air. Opening his eyes, he noticed that what he felt had become true. Looking up, he saw the cyan mare had been holding his hoof with her own hoof and had been gliding through the air. She soon soared out through the previously shouted window as she began to gain speed, still holding carefully onto Blue Bass.

“Get them, my children!” Queen Chrysalis shouted, pointing a hoof towards the retreating Blue Bass and mare. “Get them!”

Taking commands, the changeling stopped playing with the harmless citizens and all dove out the already shattered window, following the mare carrying the prince. As the cyan pegasus turned around, she noticed the army of changelings following her.

“Uh-oh.” She said in fear. She began to speed up more and more as the changelings closed in on them. Right now, they had been right above the previously crushed buildings of Canterlot and had only been a few feet above the ground.

One by one, the changelings dove into the mare, but failed trying. She had been too quick for them to outsmart her. They soon fell to the ground as the cyan mare maneuvered her way out of their reach.

“Where are we going?!” Blue Bass called out from underneath the cyan mare. “And more importantly, who are you?!”

“No time!” The cyan mare responded. “I think we have bigger problems than introducing ourselves right now, especially at this time.” With that, the cyan mare flew off into the distance, over the horizon in which the sun had been setting in. Behind them had been the remainder of Canterlot castle, with all the changelings infiltrating the area already.

“Just because you escaped my trap for now doesn’t mean you’ll escape it forever.” Queen Chrysalis said to herself, looking over into the distance to where the mysterious mare and Blue Bass flew off into. “I’ll take in one of the most precious things in your life as of a place to you.” From there, Queen Chrysalis turned her head to face the mother and father of Blue Bass. The two had been huddled in a corner, avoiding the changelings traveling around the room. “Let’s see how you like it when everything you do doesn’t go according to plan.” Queen Chrysalis gave out a little chuckle that held an evil tone to it as she thought of what she would do next.

The cyan mare began painting heavily as her hooves touched the ground. She had been flying a few kilometers distance by now and had been more than just tired. Not to mention that she had been carrying somepony else the entire time.

All her muscles ached by now as she felt as if she were to pass out by now. She literally collapsed to the floor as her legs gave in on her. She had been too weak to even support her own fragile body weight. All Blue Bass did was observe the creature before him. Every breath she took sent a rush of release through his spine as he could literally feel the hot breath make its way towards his shoulder. Blue Bass knew that just standing around doing nothing wouldn’t do anything productive, so he spoke up.

“Um, if you don’t mind me asking specifically, but what’s your name?” Blue Bass asked in his casual voice. The mare took in a few more deep breaths before responding.

“Rainbow,” The mare took in another deep breath. “Rainbow Dash.” Taking in yet another deep breath, she continued. “You?”

“Wha...?” Blue Bass questioned. “You storm Canterlot castle, or what’s left of it at least, grab me, and just fly off, and you don’t even know my name?!”

“Pretty much.” Rainbow Dash responded. By now she had regained her stable breathing once more and had gotten back up on all four hooves once more. She had been around the exact same height as Blue Bass had been. “So, your name?”

“What a mare you are.” Blue Bass blurted out. “My real name is Blue Bass. I was given that name legally by my mother and father, but over the past few years, people took the liberty of giving me a more stable, catchy name. So if you want to, you may refer to me as “Ace” for short.”

“Well, Ace,” Rainbow Dash began. She started trotting around Ace, closely examining his physical properties. Ace had felt a bit uncomfortable as she circled around him, but he soon gave in and allowed her to do as she pleased. “What does that cutie mark of yours represent anyways?” Rainbow asked, pointing a hoof towards Ace’s flank. It had been a solid musical note imprinted onto his flank.

“Oh, that old thing?” Ace turned his head and neck around until his own eyes caught his cutie mark. “Just some little talent I got from my musical abilities. Nothing major, really.”

“Nothing major?!” Rainbow snapped. “Cutie marks are everything major! They’re what’s given to you when you find your special talent in life, and by the looks of it, yours happens to be music.” Rainbow Dash continued to circle around the blue stallion.

“Well, yeah.” Ace added. “But singing and music writing is just a small hobby that is consisted into my own free-time.”

“You sing?!” Rainbow asked as her voice rose. She stopped circling Ace in the meantime and had been directly facing him. Her nostril had practically been touching his as he looked into his eyes in a parallel fashion.

“It’s kinda more of a private thing that I do rather than it being public.” Ace averted his eyes from her own. They had been beautiful and all, but he just didn’t have the guts to look at her, even though they had just met minutes ago.

“Oh come on.” Rainbow Dash stood her ground. “It’s not that hard performing in a crowd. Or at least for me, it isn’t.” She began speaking on and on about herself as Ace watched. It had seemed as if everything around him had all came to a blur as the plain sight of Rainbow Dash herself came to him crystal clear. She stood out of everything as he even noticed her glimmer a little in the descending suns pale light.

Suddenly, Ace began feeling a weird feeling inside his own stomach. It hurt a little, yet it felt good. It had been a feeling he had never comprehended before.

“Is this love?” He thought to himself. He knew the term and definition by heart, and had always had a feeling similar to this affection towards his parents, but this had been a stronger, more intense feeling. It caused his heart to beat faster as his mind drifted off. This had been something he had never experienced before: true love.

Just then, the lighting of the area grew dimmer and dimmer until nothing had been as visible as it was before. The sun had disappeared over the horizon as the moon appeared over the opposing side of the line. The entire moon had been visible tonight, indication that it was going to be one of the very few lucky nights every month.

“Oh, wow.” Rainbow Dash spoke again. “Didn’t even notice how dark it had gotten.” She then lifted her head and looked back into Ace’s eyes. “We have to hide before somepony finds us. Celestia knows what we’ll find in the darkest parts of the nights.”

“Agreed.” Ace confirmed. “But we first need to at least find some refuge in this collapsed city. There’s not enough light to travel anymore either on air or land. We need to rest for the night.”

“Then WHERE exactly do you plan to find a place to camp out for the night?” Rainbow Dash asked, approaching the left side of Ace and leaning up against it.

“It’s called “searching”, smarty.” Ace began slowly trotting forward. Just as he moved forward, Rainbow Dash nearly fell to the ground as she lost her balance.

“I suppose we could at least find something to last us the night.” Rainbow Dash commented. “Oh. Like this alley way!”

“Depends what’s it there.” Ace trotted towards the alley. “It’s what’s on the inside that matters, not the outside.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Rainbow Dash replied with sarcasm. “They’ve told me that WAY too many times back in flight school.”

“Serves you right.” Ace continued. This resulted in a shove from Rainbow Dash as he said that comment.

Entering the alley, Ace could see what had been a pile of used clothing and household supplies laid out in the alley. In the corner of Ace’s eye stood what seemed to be a trap door buried underneath all of the junk. Being courageous and all, Ace dove for the trapdoor and opened it fully. Beneath him had been a sideways path to what seemed to lead to some sort of apartment.

“Hey, what are you doing over there?!” Rainbow Dash called out from a far.

“Treasure hunting!” Ace replied. “And I think I struck gold!” With that, Ace dove into the trap door. A puzzled look made its way onto Rainbow Dash’s face as she saw this.

“Well, don’t just stand there, come on in!” Ace shouted from the bottom. Rainbow wasn’t one to just stand in the back of the line, so she dove into the trap door as well.

Landing with perfect agility, she made her way safely down to the bottom of the trap door to what seemed to be a hallway without the need to un-tuck her wings.

“Well, would you look at this?” Ace said to himself. He charged down the hallway till he had reached the end of it. A simple ladder waited in front of him as he began climbing it. Rainbow Dash followed close behind as she also climbed the ladder.

Reaching the top, Ace lifted himself above the ladder as he took in his own surroundings. He had been in what seemed to be an apartment that had been in a chaotic state. Clothes and rags were laying out everywhere, empty beer bottles sat on the floor, but the smell had been so strong, it could almost knock somepony out.

“Um, a little help here!” A voice called out from behind Ace. He had turned his head to see that rainbow Dash had been having a slight amount of trouble launching herself out from the top of the ladder.

“Oops, my bad.” Ace said aloud as he helped the cyan mare up. He grasped his front two hooves around her own and gently lifted her up.

“Thanks.” Had been Rainbows only response. “So, where are we?”

“We seem to be stuck in what seems to be what’s left of an old apartment.” Ace answered. “I know it’s not in the best condition, but I think it’ll be enough to get us through the night.”

“Well I hope so.” Rainbow mentioned. “Say, where’s the kitchen anyways? I’m getting a little hungry from flying such a long distance.” She began searching the area for the kitchen, as well as some food.

“I don’t suggest doing so.” Ace responded. “Who knows the last time this place was occupied. For all I know, all the food in here could be years overdue from its original expiration date.”

“So you’re saying I should just starve till morning?” Rainbow looked at Ace.

“What? Don’t look at me.” Ace turned his face in a different direction. “What do you expect me to do? Go grocery shopping right now just to satisfy your hunger?! If there’s anything to be looking for, it should be a place to rest. Now come on and help me find a bed or something. There has to be one somewhere around the apartment.” With that, Ace began trotting up the stairs of the apartment till he reached the second floor. Rainbow Dash, as always, had been following close behind.

After a short while of searching, Ace found a small room that had been the bedroom. It had been no better than the rest of the apartment itself. Empty beer bottles lay across the floor as well as a shattered lamp. There was even a small puddle of dried blood that lured through the wooden floor boards beneath them too. To the side had been a medium sized window that looked over parts of Canterlot. They had been around a few meters high right off the ground.

In the middle of the room had been an ordinary queen sized bed as well as a blanket that had been messed up and crinkled. The same smell lured through the room as it did through the entire apartment, but neither of the two pegasi seemed to mind.

“So what, we just sleep on that for the night?” Rainbow questioned, looking directly at the messed-up bed in the center of the room.

“It’s only for one night, just till the sun rises once more.” Ace began trotting slowly towards the bed as he examined it more closely. “If you want to go sleep on the streets where all those bug-like creatures are lurking around in the mist of nighttime, then go ahead and be my guest. Nothing is stopping you.”

“Oh, shut up!” Rainbow snapped in a playful voice. She approached the opposing side of the bed that Ace had been on and carefully laid herself down onto the mattress. It had a hardened kind of feeling to it as if it had been covered with a layer of tin foil.

Rainbow turned herself until she had been facing the opposite side of Ace. She had her back towards the blue stallion as she faced the window overlooking the destroyed city of Canterlot.

Slowly as well, Ace made his way onto the mattress and laid his back onto the hardened surface. For something that had meant to be soft and comfy had been the exact opposite. Ace, like Rainbow Dash, turned himself till his back had been facing Rainbow. Both had been facing opposite directions by this point. Right as Ace drifted off into a deep slumber from such an exhausting and hectic day, Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Why did she want you?” Rainbow Dash turned herself until she herself had been looking at Ace.

“What?” Ace asked. He, too, had turned himself till he had been facing the cyan mare. Both now had been facing each other in such an ironic fashion.

“Why did Chrysalis want you?” Rainbow asked once more, except this time with more detail. “Was there a specific purpose to it or was it just to seek revenge on Equestria?”

“Oh, that.” Ace began searching his memory hard for the answer. “She had said something about wanting me to join her side so we can both rule Equestria together. At first, I refused, but then she began threatening me saying that if I denied, then I would have been taken in as prisoner, and worse yet, even beheaded!”

“But still, out of everypony else, why had it been you?” Rainbow Dash kept throwing questions at Ace. She wanted to get the most info out of him in order to find the real being behind all of this devastation. “Why did she choose you to rule beside her?”

“Because,” Ace went on. “Celestia had been dead, Luna had been missing, and I had been next in line for the throne. She knew that I would be crowned the next prince of Equestria and wanted to take in that opportunity and use it against everypony else. But that’s where you came in. If it weren’t for you, I’d end up either as a criminal or as a prisoner. Either way, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself anymore knowing I was one or the other.”

“Well, all in a day’s work.” Rainbow Dash accepted Ace’s thank you. “But still, one question is still stuck in my mind. Why had you been next in line for the throne? You’re not even an alicorn!”

“Now that’s something even I don’t know the answer too!” Ace responded. “All I know was I got an invitation saying that I had been accepted as a replacement into the royal family and that my ceremony for acceptance as the new prince of Equestria would be yada yada yada yada. I don’t recal anything on the invitation saying why, just when and where.”

“So, you just went with it?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“Eeyup!” Ace said simply.

“But this doesn’t even make any sense! I mean, with Celestia dying and all of that all of a sudden. There had to be some sort of reason behind this! Maybe I’m just not approaching this situation in the right manner. Maybe I have to look at it through a different perspective.” Rainbow said all at once. “I think I’ll have to check in all the info I already have with Twilight.”

“Twilight, who’s that?” Ace asked. Now, Ace had been asking the questions rather than Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, she’s this super smart yet nerdy pony who is great with magic and all that junk. She happened to be Princess Celestia’s number one student when she had been alive.” Rainbow responded. “Heh, I remember when we used to send her friendship reports around every week on our problems on friendship and how we overcame them. Everything back then had just seemed so, so simple. If I could, I’d do anything to go back.”

“To go back where?” Ace asked.

“To go back to when Princess Celestia had been alive. To when Princess Luna had been in her rightful place. To when there weren’t any enemies lurking around at night. To when it had just been me and my friends. To when my parents had been alive. To when everything had been normal.” Rainbow Dash began to shed a tear as the thought of all that she lost due to the fact that a new ruler took over her world.

“Now, don’t think that way.” Ace began comforting the rainbow maned mare. “Just because everything is like that now doesn’t mean it will be like that forever. The future can be altered if we can just control the present. And no matter what, I’ll do whatever I can to be by your side. Rain or sunshine, day or night.8”

“T-thanks.” Rainbow Dash tried to cough up the chocking in her sadness as tear by tear fell out of her eye and curved down her cheek. “I think it’s time we get some shut-eye, don’t you think?”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Ace mentioned as he looked at his cyan friend once more before closing his eyes.

“Oh and one more thing, try not to mention this to anypony ok?” Rainbow spoke up.

“Mention what?” Ace asked as he opened his eyes once more.

“That, well, you know,” Rainbow Dash had trouble wording her sentence correctly. “That we, kinda, slept in the same, well you know what I mean.”

“Crystal clear.” Ace replied.

“Oh, and whatever you do, don’t try and…” Rainbow Dash never got a chance to finish her sentence.

“I wouldn’t even dream of it.” Ace interrupted. “Now good night.”

“Good night.” Rainbow Dash said finally as she herself closed her eyes.

A moment of silence passed the two until a loud grumbling sound awoke both of them.

“Sorry.” Rainbow Dash said. “Like I said, didn’t eat in a while.”

“Don’t worry.” Ace spoke up “When morning hits, we’ll look for something quick to eat, then we’ll be on our way.”

“Thanks.” With that, Rainbow drifted off into sleep, her chest rising every now and then as her steady breathing allowed her to sleep calmly. All Ace did was admire the beautiful life that had been in front of him as he observed with only his eyes. Now he knew what life had been all about.

Now he knew what love really meant.

Done with another chapter. So far, this has been the longest chapter of the story yet! And what makes it even more of a shocker is that it only took me an entire day to type it all up! Now, let me start off by saying the new character put into this chapter is a new character that will be sooner or later introduced and accepted into the gang. Blue Bass (or Ace) is the character OC of Thurnderhawk6894. He wrote a story using this OC on where he had started off as a human who got transported into Equestria, but I decided to take out the fact that he had originally been a human and replaced it with him being a regular pony. Also, there were a little bits of stirring between Rainbow Dash and him, and their relation will only expand in later chapters. Still, I’m planning on having the next chapter be more focused on Shadow and Dusk since we haven’t seen them in a while. And now, I am sad to say that the OC submission will be closed for the next couple of chapters while I make room for more OCs. Song requests are still accepted, but aren’t guaranteed to make it into the story. With that, I command you to not only comment, favor, and like, but to also enjoy the chapter and to also reread it if you’re in the mood to do so. I’m too tired to even stay awake anymore, so I’ll be saying goodnight, and have a happy new year. (JK. I don’t know why I put that. Too tired to think straight. NEED SLEEP!)

(Also, thanks to DarkWolf for editing this chapter)