In the End These Things Matter Most

Chapters

How Well Did You Love?
How Fully Did You Live?
How Deeply Did You Let Go?

How Well Did You Love?

In any other town in Equestria, the two restaurant patrons would have at the very least raised an eyebrow or two. However, after two generations of being home to assorted oddities, Ponyville’s citizens were quick to dismiss these two as actually somewhat boring customers. The mare, Oasis, wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, anyway, looking very much like an uncommonly tall batpony, though her silky pink coat and meticulously brushed forest- and lime-green mane, not to mention her striking reptilian turquoise eyes, were enough to draw not a few ponies’ attention for other reasons. The stallion, Apollo, was stranger, a light green unicorn with a single-color mane the same shade of green as his companion’s dark streaks and dazzling green eyes that betrayed his relation to the mare, the spines down his croup and the three claws on each leg that, when closed, managed to bear some resemblance to a hoof, marked him as something more than one of the normal races of pony.

“I’m telling you, Sissy,” Apollo said to his companion. “Dad’s been acting strange ever since… the anniversary. I’m worried.”

“Apollo, my dear brother,” Oasis responded, her laugh tinkling like wind chimes as she daintily covered her mouth with her hoof. “You fret for Father far too much.”

Apollo lifted his mug of cider and took a long draught before responding. “Someone’s gotta look out for the old stallion. Especially with all these young, gold digging floozies crawling around these days.”

Oasis pursed her lips as she set her tea cup down. “Still sore about Bleubelle?”

Apollo shot his sister a venomous glare.

“Really, Brother,” Oasis said with a dismissive shake of her head. “She was a nouveau-pauvre noblemare; did you really think she wouldn’t try to take you for all you were worth?” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “And she was so obvious about it, too.”

“Yeah, well…” Apollo fidgeted in his seat. “As bad as I might be, Dad’s even worse. You think I’m going to let some filching filly finagle Father?”

Oasis stared into her tea for a long moment, pursing her lips. “I… suppose you’re right. Still, Father seems so lonely lately…”

“Well, I won’t be lonely anymore,” a hulking green stallion declared as he plopped down heavily between them. He grinned, showing his sharp teeth. “Not with my two favorite foals to join me for lunch!”

“D-dad!” Apollo squeaked. “You… I… uh… how did the visit with Aunt Clarity go?”

Their father, Turquoise Blitz, shrugged his massive shoulders. “It was… good, I suppose.” He puffed out his chest, the sun glinting off of a flower-shaped jewel on his gold necklace.

Apollo froze as he recognized the design of his mother’s cutie mark. “That… did Aunt Clarity make that?”

“Yeah,” Turquoise affirmed, smiling proudly at the jewelry. “Claire’s really outdone herself with this one. She made one for your Grandpa Spike, too. Used the Fire Ruby he gave to Grandma Rarity. It was really… such a touching gesture.”

Oasis snickered. “Well, Auntie can surprise us from time to time with these little acts of spontaneous generosity.”

Turquoise belly-laughed, causing every head in the restaurant to turn toward them. He wiped a tear from his eye with his hoof-claw as he sobered and gave his daughter a halfhearted chiding look. “Now, be nice. She’s really mellowed out with age.”

"So, please do tell us all about it, Father," Oasis implored.

Turquoise launched into the story. In the meantime, the waiter delivered their meals and they continued to converse about the visit to Canterlot Castle between bites.

"No!" Oasis interjected as Turquoise's story wound to an end. "Auntie Clarity? Expecting?"

Turquoise snickered. "Yeah. Dad figured it out right away. She's... probably told Illusion by now, but..."

Oasis nodded. "Of course, we'll be discreet."

"It's going to be a bit odd, though," Apollo said. "Having new cousins that are... so much younger."

Oasis laughed. "Indeed, we'll be more like an aunt and uncle!"

"And what would that make me?" Turquoise asked, feigning scandalization.

Apollo grinned at his father. "'Grandpa'?"

"Is there something you're not telling me, Son?" Turquoise asked, his face a mask of seriousness.

While Apollo choked on his food, Oasis nonchalantly chimed in. "Well, if you think cousins with that great an age gap are awkward, could you imagine how odd it would be to have new siblings that young?"

It was Turquoise's turn to choke. "Wh-what?" He coughed again before continuing. "Why would... I mean, that's moving a little..." He stopped and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I mean... that would be pretty awkward."

"Because it's not like it couldn't happen," Oasis plied. She glanced at her brother, who had gone stiff, eying their father suspiciously.

"Well, sure, but I don't think..." Turquoise said, shifting uncomfortably.

Oasis laughed. "Well, given how long Auntie Claire waited until now, I imagine she won't be having another for a good century, if at all."

"Uh," Turquoise said, relaxing. "Yeah... Claire..."

Apollo regarded his father suspiciously. "So... have you been... spending time with any other ponies in Canterlot, Dad?"

Turquoise tensed again. "Oh, no. I mean... sure, there are other ponies up at the castle I might have run into, but it's not like..."

"Like what, Father?" Oasis inquired, a look of predatory excitement on her face.

Sweat beaded on Turquoise's forehead as he felt the heat of his children's interrogation. "I mean... listen, kids, there's... there's something I ought to tell you."

Oasis and Apollo leaned in anticipatorily. Their eyes drilled holes into their father, who cringed under their scrutiny.

Taking a deep breath, Turquoise answered. "I've just found a good friend, and I may be spending more time with her in the future. As friends."

"Who is this 'friend,' Dad?" Apollo asked.

Turquoise paused and thought back on the encounter he had after receiving his necklace from Claire. The princess who had known his family since he and their mother had been kids, who had become so close with Anthea even after a bit of a rocky start, and who had been known as an "auntie" just as much as his real sister, Crystal Clarity.

"Oh... just some royal type," he said in an attempt to be as casual as possible, but the quaver in his voice betrayed him. He winced at the lameness of the reply, evident even to himself.

Apollo's eyes narrowed. "I... see."

"Anypony we know?" Oasis asked, her eyes lidded in a sly look reminiscent of her dearly departed mother.

"Ah..." Turquoise hemmed. Face-to-face with his daughter, who reminded him so much of his wife, his resolve began to crumble. "No... yeah... maybe? I mean, she really... doesn't get out much, so..." He trailed off, unwilling to divulge any more.

Scowling, Apollo put his hooves on the table and opened his mouth to demand answers.

"Check," the waiter said as he placed a slip of paper on the table.

Oasis quickly scooped it up before either of her family members could and looked over it. "Oh... can you please apply three senior citizen's discounts?"

The waiter looked at her with a blank expression. "I'll need to see your identification, of course."

"Of course!" Oasis said sweetly as she pulled out the card and hoofed it over as her two companions did the same.

The waiter looked at the IDs and then back at them. Then to the IDs, which he then shuffled around and inspected, and then back to them. "You... don't look a day over 50, ma'am."

"Flatterer," Oasis teased with a coy wave of her leathery wing.

After the waiter adjusted the check and they paid for their lunch, the Blitz family gathered around the front of the restaurant to say their goodbyes for the day.

"Thanks for being so understanding," Turquoise said.

Oasis elbowed Apollo in the side as he was about to speak and cut in. "Of course, Father! We only want your happiness."

Turquoise flushed slightly from embarrassment. "Yeah... well... hopefully everypony can be happy."

With that, Turquoise gave them a warm farewell hug and made his way back to his home, while Oasis and Apollo headed for Oasis' cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest.

"Well, that settles it," Oasis said. "Father is in love."

"How can you say that so happily?" Apollo asked. "She's a royal!"

"Auntie Clarity and Uncle Lulu are royals, too," Oasis said. "Anyway, maybe he's not in love love. He definitely has quite the crush, though."

"Makes him sound like a schoolcolt," Apollo said.

Oasis chuckled. "Well, you know what they say about old stallions."

"I don't," Apollo replied with a snort. "And this just proves my point. Some royal pain is going to take advantage of our poor, widower dad. Without our help he'll be bitless walking the streets in no time. You should have let me grill him some more."

"Oh, hush," Oasis countered, sighing at her brother's rashness. "He was clearly uncomfortable. And wouldn't you be if you were in that situation?"

Apollo fumed silently for awhile, ruminating on the situation. "We have to do something about this," he finally said.

"What?" Oasis said, brows crinkling in puzzlement.

"Yeah!" Apollo said with a wide grin. "We'll find this mystery mare and reveal her treachery to Dad!"

Oasis grimaced. "I dunno about this. Shouldn't we be cheering for Father's happiness?"

"We are!" Apollo declared. "We're rooting for him to be happy with his family and not some gold digging mare!"

"Alright, Sissy, just act casual," Apollo told his sister as they walked down the streets of Canterlot. He was garbed in a tetrad of cowpony boots to hide his hoof-claws, a vest, a stetson, and a thick black mustache to complete the effect.

Oasis was walking behind him, her mane and tail a dark purple and styled into a curly coiffure. She wore an elegant, dark rose dress studded with sapphires and wore a fashionably large pair of sunglasses. “Where did you even get these disguises, anyway?”

“You’d be surprised how integral this kind of thing is to my work,” Apollo commented.

“Aren’t you a writer?” Oasis asked.

“Like I said.” Adjusting his stetson, Apollo looked back at his sister. “You’d be surprised.”

The two quarter-dragons watched their father slinking through the crowd, a burglar in the night. It wasn’t night, of course, and he was, in Apollo’s opinion, the one being burgled in this situation, but he found the imagery appealing, nonetheless. They followed as discreetly as possible while keeping him in sight.

Turquoise stopped at the entrance to one of Canterlot's beautiful parks, the setting sun giving it the perfect ambience for a romantic rendezvous. After ten minutes of waiting, a dark gray pegasus mare approached him. Her mane was dark blue streaked with gray, and on her flank was a set of lines that resembled the drawn depiction of wind. Her face was lightly creased, making her look late middle-aged.

"Huh," Oasis commented, leaning in toward her brother. "Not exactly the usual look for a young gold-digger."

Apollo snorted. "Please, Sissy, she's probably not even half his age. Dating a mare younger than your kids, Dad?"

The mare greeted him warmly, and gave him a friendly nuzzle. Though fairly chaste, Turquoise stiffened and his cheeks turned pink. This was, of course, fairly standard for the old stallion, who after a century could still be embarrassed by the slightest attention from a pretty young—by his standards—mare.

"What's her name?" Oasis asked her brother, grabbing onto his shoulders and shaking him.

Apollo scowled and shook her off. "Calm down, will you? I think he called her... Jet Stream?"

Jet Stream led Turquoise into the park, taking the large dirt path through the lush green of the grass that turned ever more blue as the shadow of Canterlot Castle grew. “I’m glad to see you again so soon, T.”

“Well,” Turquoise said, grimacing with an embarrassed flush still tinting his face. “It’s not like I have much else to do, nowadays. I retired after… uh… well, I’ve been retired for awhile, so every day is pretty much puttering around Ponyville, keeping up with the kids, helping Dad out at Ponyville Castle.”

Jet Stream nodded. “It’s good that he keeps himself busy. And speaking of your kids…” She scooted closer to him, her folded wing brushing against his. “Have you… told them about us, yet?”

“U-us?” Turquoise’s voice came out strangled. “Oh, yeah. I mean, kinda.”

Jet’s eyes narrowed and her smile became dangerous. “‘Kinda’?”

He cleared his throat a few times; probably far more than absolutely necessary. “Well, I just told them… you know, that I was going to be spending more time with a good friend.”

“I’m a ‘good friend’,” she wondered in a low voice, her face frozen in a curious grin.

“Of course!” Turquoise said. He cringed at her look and coughed into his massive hoof-claw. “I-I mean, if you want to be…”

Her head snapped forward, her mouth downturned. “Of course. I mean… we should take things slow. You don’t even know if you like me like…”

“Hey, you want some ice cream?”

She paused, turning her head back toward Turquoise, who was galloping toward one of the brightly lit vendors. “Ice… cream?”

“Yeah,” he said, beaming as he stopped behind the customer currently retrieving her ice cream cone. “C’mon, what flavor do you want?”

“Hmm… I’m not the sweets connoisseur my aunt is, honestly. You can get me whatever you’re having,” she said, wrinkling her nose slightly.

He turned back to the vendor and ordered two triple scoop hay and oatmeal swirl ice cream cones, which were delivered with appropriate speed. Clouds of cold wafted from the towers of frozen dairy as Turquoise took them in his front hoof-claws from the vendor. He turned and offered one to Jet Stream, a look of innocent generosity on his face.

She took the proffered cone awkwardly in the crook of her pastern, her cheeks twitching as she tried to contain the strangest urge to grin like an idiot. She settled in beside him again as he began to walk back to the trail, leaning against his warm barrel as he licked contentedly at his treat, completely oblivious to her.

Jet Stream’s attention was suddenly caught by a small foal licking at a similar three scoop cone, though it was quite a bit more of a hoofful for him than it was for her, with every lick threatening to topple the tower. Glancing back at Turquoise to see him still merrily distracted, she flapped a wing in his direction, causing a strong gust to whip toward him.

The sudden wind put the foal off balance for a moment, and the already precariously piled pony panacea tipped too far, splattering upon the ground. The young colt stared at his ruined treat for a moment and began to sniffle.

“She’s a monster!” Apollo hissed quietly to his sister as he clung to a nearby tree trunk, mostly hidden amongst the thick foliage.

Oasis looked down from the branch upon which she perched thoughtfully. “Maybe not… look, she’s going over.”

Jet Stream approached the young foal and knelt down. “You seem to have dropped your ice cream, my little pony.”

The colt looked up at her benevolent face, but only responded by increasing the rate of his sniffling. The way his eyes were welling up, he seemed prepared for an all out bawl.

“Do not cry,” she said, her voice becoming low and soothing. The colt seemed to comply as he stared into her eyes, his lids drooping down as the tantrum he’d been building lost its steam. She extended her hoof and nodded to the ice cream cone she’d yet to even taste. “Please, take mine.”

“R-really, Miss?” he said, immediately reaching his hooves out and taking the treat.

Jet Stream laughed as she rose back to all four hooves. “Of course.” She turned back to Turquoise, who was looking at her with a proud gleam in his eyes.

“Aw,” Oasis said, sinking down to her belly on her branch. “See? She gave that little colt her ice cream. She’s nice.”

Apollo snorted. “Looks more like she’s trying to make herself look good in front of Dad.”

“That was really nice of you, N… ah… Jet Stream,” Turquoise said. He gestured back the way they came with a toss of his head. “You want me to get you another one?”

“No, that’s quite alright,” she responded, sidling back up to him as they continued their walk. “I think I’d much rather be hot, tonight, than cold.”

Turquoise blew an amused breath through his nostrils. “I have to say, I haven’t seen a mare have a calming effect on a foal like that in awhile.”

Jet Stream looked back toward her cutie mark. “Well, perhaps you can’t know all there is to know about a pony by looking at her flank.”

“Bet I could if I looked close enough,” Turquoise responded.

Jet Stream stopped in her tracks.

Oasis’ eyes bugged out of her head. “Whoa, Dad.”

“I haven’t heard him talk like that since Mom was healthy…” Apollo commented.

“Uh…” Turquoise opened and closed his mouth as he came to a halt. He sprang away from Jet Stream, his face now the color of a ripened tomato. “I-I-I’m sorry, that just slipped out.”

She burst into laughter, flapping her wings giddily as she struggled not to collapse to the ground. Wiping a tear from her eye as her outburst subsided, she closed the distance between her and Turquoise again. “Please, don’t be embarrassed, T. You just… reminded me for a moment of the only other pony who could make me blush.”

His fears allayed, Turquoise chuckled alongside her. “Yeah… I guess I forgot who I was with for second, too…”

Silence lay heavy over them as they walked on, their glances toward each other furtive and uneasy. “Ah,” Jet Stream finally said. “I think I know what will remind you…”

“Remind me?” Turquoise asked.

Jet Stream struck him hard in the shoulder with her hoof. “Of whom you are with!” With that, she took off into the burgeoning night. “Catch me if you can, T!”

Turquoise hesitated, watching her bound away, but then spread his wings and leaped into the air. With his large size, it took quite a bit of effort to get into the air, but once there he cut through the night with a speed that easily matched that of any Wonderbolt. He dove back down once he’d achieved sufficient altitude, descending on Jet’s darting form like a hawk.

Jet Stream was a bit more agile than Turquoise, however, and she slipped away from his grasp, leaving him to tumble across the grass. When he looked up from his dirt nap, he saw her sitting a short distance away, her crystal-blue eyes glowing in the moonlight as they bobbed up and down.

"Climb in," she said, flicking her eyes down to small boat in which she now sat.

Hesitantly, Turquoise rose and waded into the ankle deep water of the lake. He put a hoof-claw into the boat, and it sank deeper. "Uh... you sure this will hold me?"

"Well, you are a lot of stallion, I'll admit," she said with a smirk. "But I think she can handle it."

He hopped all the way in, causing the water to splash around them and the boat to bob violently. When it settled, he heaved a sigh. "Well, I guess you were right."

"Of course," she responded with a proud upturning of her snout. She spread her wings and began to flap slowly but firmly, the water rippling behind them as the wind propelled them out toward the middle of the water.

"Ahhh, so romantic," Oasis said dreamily.

"Focus, Sis," Apollo said as he pulled on his wetsuit. "She's obviously trying to isolate him while she goes in for the kill!"

"I thought she was a gold digger," she retorted with a raise brow. "Now she's an assassin? And where were you keeping this scuba gear? Nevermind why..."

"Just put it on and let's go," Apollo said before putting his oxygen tank's mouthpiece in and waddling into the water.

Jet Stream quit flapping when their boat reached the middle of the lake, and she leaned her elbow casually against the starboard side of the bow.

"It's... so quiet out here," Turquoise said, looking around. Though he could still see the shores, it was as if he were merely looking at a moving picture.

"Yes," Jet replied, looking into the sky. "Just look at how the stars shine."

"Sometimes it amazes me," Turquoise said as he followed her gaze to see a blazing river cutting the sky in two. "How anypony could have ever not appreciated this."

Jet looked back at him, and her face softened as she saw the sincere awe on his face. "Well," she said. "I suppose sometimes it takes awhile for something to be appreciated. Especially when it's been so cold... and scary... and dangerous in the past."

"You're probably right," he said, his focus still intently on the sparkling tapestry above them. "Sometimes ponies have to experience a lot, change a lot, before they become the kind of ponies that can look at something they've looked at for so long and finally see how much they love..." His eyes wandered back toward Jet Stream, and he trailed off.

Jet subconsciously leaned closer in anticipation, so close she could feel his hot breath puff against her face. "'Love...'?"

"Y-yeah," Turquoise said, feeling his body strangely drawn forward. "I mean..." He forced himself to stay still, his face straining as he struggled against this sudden urge to be close to another pony, one he hadn't satisfied in years.

Oasis and Apollo, meanwhile, poked their heads out from under the water, not far from the boat. They could see their father, frozen and trembling, as Jet Stream's moon-silhouetted form leaned in, mouth opening slightly, her fangs glinting.

Apollo growled through his mouthpiece and, ignoring his sister's startled yelp and attempts to restrain him, he lit his horn and sucked in a deep breath of pure oxygen.

"T, jump!" Jet Stream shouted in Turquoise's face before leaping out of the boat.

Turquoise hesitated for a brief moment, but did as she said just as an explosion erupted from the water, destroying the boat and lifting him upward on his massive wings.

Jet Stream laughed as she did a loop around Turquoise. "I didn't think I was hot enough to make you go off like that, T."

Turquoise looked back at the wreckage of the boat. "That wasn't me. Maybe we should go look for whatever caused it."

"No need," Jet Stream said. "There are a lot of little monsters in these waters."

"Do they explode often?" Turquoise asked dubiously.

She shrugged. "They do a lot of strange things every now and then. Trust me, though, it will be sorted."

At the same time, Oasis was pulling her unconscious brother back onto the shore. "Little foal!" She smacked him across his blackened face, jarring him awake. "Trying to breathe fire into an oxygen tank? What was that?"

Apollo rubbed her cheek as he sulked. "I was pretty sure she was going to eat Dad."

"What?" Oasis deadpanned.

"She had fangs!" Apollo said. "Obviously, she's one of the undead. Or maybe a succubus!"

"Don't be absurd," Oasis said. She looked above her and saw their father and Jet Stream fly by overhead. "Come, we'll tail them and you'll see that she's just a normal pony."

With that said, they quickly peeled off their wetsuits and took off together. It wasn't long before their quarry slowed and landed, but it was where they landed that gave the siblings pause.

Oasis' eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Is... is that Canterlot Castle?"

"No, it's obviously Horselando Studios," Apollo retorted.

"Do you think she lives here?" Oasis wondered. "Like... a servant or something?"

"Devious..." Apollo said, his eyes narrowed in suspicion and his lips curled back. "Probably grilled Aunt Clarity and Aunt Nidra for exactly how to manipulate our dear old dad."

Brows pinched, Oasis slunk closer, motioning to her brother to follow.

"... so big, T," came Jet Stream's voice. "Surely a gentlecolt wouldn't let a lady walk all the way to her room by herself."

"Uh... well, I guess I could..." Turquoise said softly before being grabbed by the leg and pulled toward the castle gate.

"Great!"

"Great..." Apollo muttered. "Lured into the spider's parlor."

"It's fine," Oasis said. "We can just go inside. The guards know us."

Apollo turned a sour expression on his sister. "That's exactly the point. We don't want to tip them off that we're on to Jet Stream's game."

"So..." Oasis said. "What is her game?"

Apollo folded his forelegs across his barrel and closed his eyes introspectively. "Hmmmm. I don't know." He opened his eyes and sprang into motion. "But we're going to find out!"

"Why do I let myself get dragged into my little brother's schemes?" Oasis thought aloud as she raced after him.

In a moment, they came to a stone wall covered in moss. Apollo was already pulling a curtain of green away when Oasis reached him. Beneath was a large opening big enough for a foal to walk through.

"Oh, not this old thing," Oasis said. She rolled her eyes. "Don't you think we're a little grown for this?"

Apollo grinned and pulled out a bottle and hoofed it to her. "Put that on." He took a second bottle and began to rub the liquid he poured out of it all over himself. He then shook the remainder around the edges of the hole.

Oasis shrugged and put the oily substance on as well. She sniffed the air as she did and wrinkle her muzzle. "Apollo, this smells like coconut. Why do you have coconut oil on you?"

"You'd be surprised at the kinds of things you need to have on you in my line of work," he said, kneeling close to the ground and crawling into the crevice.

"Brother, you..." Oasis said as he squeezed slickly through the hole. "You're a writer!"

"Told you you'd be surprised," Apollo said from the other side of the wall. "Now hurry up."

Oasis scoffed, but crawled into the hole as well, the oil providing just the right amount of lubrication to slide her body through. When she got up, she was inside the Royal Garden.

"Sweet," Apollo said. "Now we can..."

A clump of dirt hit Apollo in the head, cutting him off.

"Oh, my," Oasis said, putting a hoof delicately over her mouth as she traced the path of the projectile back to its source. It appeared to be coming from behind some shrubbery in the distance, and now that she flicked her ears in that direction, she could hear a rhythmic scraping and quiet grunts.

Apollo sprang back to his hooves and growled. "Alright! Who did that?"

A purple head popped out from behind the shrubs, blue eyes wide and unblinking. "Who?"

"Au-Auntie Clarity!" Oasis exclaimed. She sprang forward, smiling broadly.

"Oh," Crystal Clarity said, blinking rapidly as if waking from a dream. "Sissy! Polly! What are you kids doing here?"

Oasis hugged her aunt, heedless of the dirt smeared against her usually pristine coat. Apollo kept his distance, but gave her a fond smile.

"Auntie, what are you doing out here?" Oasis asked. She looked at Crystal's hooves and saw that she was standing in a deep hole that she had apparently clawed out with her bare hooves.

"Fighting in the trenches, Auntie?" Apollo asked.

Crystal Clarity looked down at the hole and splayed her dirty hoof claws. "Uhhh. I... don't really know." She wrinkled her brow. "Seemed like an absolutely fabulous idea while I was doing it, but now it seems a bit silly."

"How odd," Oasis said.

Apollo's face brightened. "Ohh! Nesting!"

"Pardon?" Crystal asked, her expression polite but uncomprehending.

"Oh, it's just that dragons have this nesting instinct, so they'll get this strong urge to make a nest in some quiet, hidden place so they can lay their eggs."

Crystal laughed. "Lay eggs? Me? Whatever gave you-Dad told you, didn't he."

Oasis shrugged. "Grandpa told our dad, actually, and he told us." She looked again at her brother. "And how do you know about female dragon mating habits, anyway? I know I certainly haven't enjoyed the joys of parenthood..."

"You'd be surprised what you learn in my line of work," Apollo said.

Oasis scowled. "Brother. You're a wri—no, actually, that makes the most sense out of any of this, right now."

"Anyway, speaking of the mating habits of dragons," Apollo interjected, his face becoming a stony mask of seriousness. "Our dad's here right now."

"Oh?" Crystal said with a confused cock of her head. "How odd. I wasn't expecting a visitor... and who else would he visit?"

"We think," Oasis said slowly. "He may have met somepony. A mare."

Crystal turned her head to the side, looking at them from the corner of her wide eyes. "My brother? What? Who?"

"A pegasus," Apollo said. "A manipulative, gold digging, assassin vampire pony of a pegasus! And she is apparently a servant here."

Crystal scowled and tapped her chin. "Hm. I don't think we have any assassin vampire pony servants..."

"She's a fairly tall gray mare," Oasis explained, raising her hoof to give an approximation. "Her mane is blue, with a bit of white, perhaps from old age. And she has the most distinctive nick in one ear..."

Crystal's eyes boggled. "J-Jet Stream?"

"That's the fiend!" Apollo declared. "Come, let us rescue our esteemed family member from her foul clutches!"

Laughter burbled out of Crystal's mouth, and soon she was shaking with mirth. Wiping tears from her eyes she managed to speak. "Oh, this is... this is too much... after... after all this time! Ahahaha!"

"Auntie Clarity?" Oasis inquired leaning in with concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yes!" she replied loudly. "It's just... it's just..." she took a deep breath to compose herself before continuing. "Oh... you'll find out in a moment, anyway..."

"We will?" Apollo said bemusedly.

"You will," came the voice of Jet Stream.

The siblings turned to see Jet standing upon the wall, her wings spread wide and her blue eyes glowing. She laughed malevolently as she reared up and leaped from her perch. She dove right for Apollo.

"No, don't eat me and turn me into an undead pony of the night!" Apollo squealed as he threw himself backward, landing on his back with his legs flailing.

Yellow eyes were staring down at him when he opened his moments later. She was grinning, her fangs bared. Her blue mane wafted gently in the breeze, the edge sparkling like stars in the night sky.

"You wuss," she said with a laugh.

Oasis stared, perhaps more dumbstruck than Apollo, who hadn't seen the transformation with his own eyes. "Jet Stream is... my dad is dating... Princess Nidra?"

How Fully Did You Live?

Princess Nidra trotted down the marble hallway of Canterlot Palace with Oasis and Apollo closely on her heels. They had just returned Princess Clarity to her chambers and her uncharacteristically distraught husband. They had since been heretofore silent aside from the odd encouraging word to the pregnant dragon hybrid.

“So, Aunt Nidra,” Apollo finally said, skepticism thick in his voice. “You’re Jet Stream?”

Nidra’s ear flicked back, but she kept her head facing stoically forward, determined to not allow these two ponies she’d known since they were in diapers see her face burning red. “Yes. It’s a… disguise. My cousin came up with it when we were young.”

“How fascinating,” Oasis said. “I suppose you were doing some kind of… undercover reconnaissance operation?”

Nidra cocked an eyebrow and glanced over her shoulder. “Whatever would give you that idea? I was on a date with your father.”

“Oh, don’t try to deny it!” Apollo shouted, pointing his hoof accusingly at Princess Nidra. “You were out on a date with our… oh, wait, you said that.” He grimaced, clearly disgruntled over having been robbed of his potential leeway into an interrogation.

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Nidra said, stopping at the massive doors of her chambers and turning to face the two quarter dragons. “We’re… only friends.”

Nodding slowly, Oasis gave Nidra a small smile. “I see… so the incident with the ice cream must have been some kind of accident and you were just being nice. Apollo had it in his head that—”

“I was manipulating T into falling for me by setting up a situation in which I could put on a show of generosity, knowing that he’s a sucker for such things,” Nidra said.

Both the draconic siblings blinked silently in response.

Nidra hesitated. “… That wasn’t me finishing your sentence. I was actually explaining what I was doing.”

“Ah!” Oasis exclaimed. “Of… of course.”

“Also, dairy products gives me terrible digestive upset, so I try to avoid it,” Nidra explained.

“So I was right all along?” Apollo said in wonder. “So… you were trying to isolate Dad in order to drain him of all his blood and turn him into one of your undead soldiers?”

Nidra leaned in, squinting her eyes as she regarded Apollo. Then she shook her head as if trying to fling some objectionable thought right out of her brain through her ears. “No. That’s… no.”

“Aww,” Apollo said gloomily.

“I was trying to have an intimate moment with T,” Nidra said. “So I could go in for the kill.”

Apollo’s face brightened like the morning sun.

“Metaphorically,” Nidra stressed. “We managed to have a little intimate conversation before you blew up my boat, of course.”

“Er, sorry,” Apollo said, ears flopping.

“In spite of all of that,” Nidra continued, turning her head away and using her telekinesis to swing her chamber door open. “We’re still… friends.”

“Oh, well, that’s good,” Apollo said, sighing. “For a second I kinda thought we might have done something wrong. I mean, besides blowing up a princess of Equestria’s boat.”

Nidra stared stonily at Apollo. “Of course,” she said backing into her room. “You’re not the one who’s done anything wrong. Your father has already left for Ponyville. If you’d like I can arrange transportation for you.”

“Oh, please,” Oasis said. “Don’t worry about it, Auntie Nidra. We were planning on leaving in the morning, anyway.”

Nidra nodded her understanding and shut the door to retire.

Oasis smacked Apollo right on the cheek.

“Ow, what did you do that for?” he demanded. "We agreed the face was off-limits..."

She rolled her eyes as she trotted back down the hall. “There are plenty of other places I’d like to hit you, but I’m afraid it would lack decorum in such a place as this.”

“Huh?” he said as he followed closely behind.

“Are you really that dense? Aunt Nidra is in love with Father!”

Apollo came to a halt as the idea struck him. Quickly noticing that his sister wasn’t in the mood to wait for him, he then scrambled after her. “O-oh, the whole thing about trying to get Dad to fall for her… I guess she really meant…”

“Obviously,” Oasis said, shooting a lethal glance at her brother. “Honestly. You just had to get all paranoid. Princess Nidra, the best of all princesses and my personal idol… could have been… my stepmother. Can you imagine?”

Blinking, Apollo replied. “Dad and Aunt Nidra? Seems kinda incestuous, doesn’t it?”

“You do realize she’s not our actual aunt, right?” she said with an exasperated look.

“Well, yeah!” he said defensively, laughing at the very idea. “But our actual aunt is sorta married to her actual cousin, so… she’s, like, Dad’s cousin-in-law, right?”

“Please, Apollo,” Oasis said with a scoff. “If marriage between cousins—by marriage or otherwise—weren’t allowed, we wouldn’t have royal families.”

Apollo hummed. “Well… what should we do about it, then?”

“I don’t know,” Oasis said. “You’ve done a fine job accomplishing your goal of keeping our father forever alone!”

“Well,” Apollo said, his voice choking. “Somepony’s gotta protect Dad. A-and just because it’s Aunt Nidra doesn’t mean it’s right.” He frowned at Oasis as she turned her head, silently brooding, and with a frustrated snort he continued, “I’ll see you at home, Sissy. We’ll talk more later, okay?” With a flash of magic, he disappeared.

Oasis stepped out into the garden, still ruminating on the events of the evening. Just as she prepared to take off into the night sky, a shadow moved over her. She looked up to see a silhouette of a large, dragon-winged stallion standing atop a pedestal, his head pointed toward the castle. She took cover at once.

Her father’s voice drifted softly through the night as he muttered to himself. “What should I do?”

She followed the path of his gaze to see that he was fixated upon a lit window. She recognized it immediately as Nidra’s.

“Every night I’ve dreamt of her,” Turquoise said, as if the princess he were addressing were a mere hair’s breadth away rather than across the courtyard and several stories up. “My sweet Annie. Bittersweet dreams that Luna brings, but since that night you came to me, she’s left me lonely, abandoning me.”

He lowered his head, and his voice became thick with sorrow. “Left behind in the land of the dead, all I see is your platinum crown and a note that says ‘Forever.’ ‘Forever’ what? Is it a message from you? Your mother? The ghost of my wife?” His head rose again and a deep sigh escaped his lips. “Or maybe it’s just my own traitorous heart, revealing my worst desires.”

“Father…” Oasis murmured from her hiding spot behind a large topiary, tears welling up as she listened to his soliloquy.

He spread his wings. “Is it better to act on it and risk hurting each other even more? I don’t know…” He turned and with a powerful beat he lifted off the pedestal. “But we won’t find out, tonight.”

Oasis watched her father fly into the sky, her heart dropping as he rose. She looked back at Nidra’s window, where she saw the princess standing there, watching him disappear into the darkness. The light of her bedroom then extinguished, leaving Oasis to her thoughts.

“Polly doesn’t understand,” she said to herself. “Our mom is gone… and never coming back. But Aunt Nidra and Father… I can help them live again.”

“A family flight?” Apollo asked incredulously.

Oasis smiled sweetly back at him as she stood between their dad and grandpa. “Well, yes. Since you had that very important meeting today, we figured since the rest of us have wings…”

“We’d take a leisurely flight, together,” Turquoise finished.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve done this together,” Spike said with a smile, stretching his leathery wings. “It should be nice.”

Turquoise grinned wryly. “Maybe it wouldn’t have been so long, but you’re getting as barn sour as Nanna Fluttershy.”

Spike huffed a cloud of smoke. “Yeah, well…”

“Well, we should get going,” Turquoise said. “Go ahead and get to that meeting of yours, Son. I know those publishers can be an impatient bunch.”

Apollo’s mouth twisted. “Uh… yeah…”

“Hold on just a moment, Father,” Oasis said, her eyes scanning the sky. It was still mid-morning as she looked eastward toward Canterlot, squinting against the bright light of the rising sun. Out of that light, a small, dark shape materialized. It grew larger and larger, becoming the silhouette of what looked like a pegasus-drawn carriage from the front.

Spike blinked as he looked at the descending shape. “Expecting company, are we?”

“Is it Claire?” Turquoise wondered aloud. “Princess Celestia?”

“No,” Spike said, peering through his clear inner eyelids. “Think a little more nocturnal.”

“Nidra!” Turquoise blurted, a smile spreading across his face as the carriage touched down, the batponies pulling the vehicle making a soft landing directly in front of them.

Nidra stepped out of her carriage, completely unadorned. “Oasis, I’ve arrived just as you asked! Shall we get… T?” Her brows knit together as she took in the family before her. “O-oh. I was led to believe that I would be flying with Oasis this morning?”

“You will be,” she confirmed with a pleased grin.

Apollo side-eyed his sister. “This was supposed to be a family flight, right?”

“Well, Auntie Nidra is practically family,” Oasis said.

Nidra flushed and looked to her hooves.

Turquoise cleared his throat and approached her. “Oasis is right. Please, we’d all love it if you joined us.”

Spike nodded. “You are basically my niece, after all.”

Nidra scrunched her muzzle uncomfortably. “Er… yes. Through marriage…” She shot a suspicious glance at Oasis, who beamed angelically, before exhaling sharply through her nostrils. “Alright. I suppose it can’t hurt.”

With that settled, the four winged kin took to the air, leaving the batpony guards and a sputtering Apollo on the ground.

“Bye, Polly,” Oasis called back smugly. “Have fun at your meeting!”

As they climbed to altitude, Oasis moved from between her father and Nidra, angling her ascent so that she forced them closer together.

Nidra smiled tightly at Turquoise. “This is… a nice day, isn’t it?”

“Uh, yeah!” he answered. “... it’s good to see you again. It’s been so long.”

She ducked her head. “It’s only been a few weeks. We’ve gone much longer without seeing each other before.”

Turquoise laughed. “That’s true, but somehow it seems like it’s been much longer." He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. "I… uh… missed you.”

“It’s just because you’re an old, lonely stallion, isn’t it?” Nidra said, looking away, but her cheeks were fighting back a smile.

Turquoise dipped and rose in a midair shrug. “Well, old age does have a way of making it clear what the most important things… and ponies… in your life are.”

“Ah,” Nidra said, subconsciously moving closer to Turquoise as her face reddened beneath her dark fur.

A colorful blur passed below Nidra, buffeting her around for a short moment before she quickly lost altitude.

“Sorry!” Apollo shouted back as he slowed in front of the group. Colorful butterfly-like wings held him aloft as he looked back. “Not really used to using these things.”

“Nidra!” Turquoise shouted as he saw her tumble out of the sky. He turned sharply into a nosedive, knifing through the air like a falcon. In an instant he had her safely wrapped in his arms before they sailed back to his family. “Are you okay?”

Nidra panted as she clung to his neck, her cheek pressed against him. “I’m… I’m fine. It was just a little turbulence. I wasn’t in any danger.”

“Even so,” he said, turning a stormy look on his son. “You should have been more careful. You could have hurt somepony!”

Oasis snorted. “And furthermore, where did you get those… those… things on your back?”

“Hahahahahaha!” Apollo laughed. “I guess I never mentioned before that I learned this flight spell awhile back. They’re made of gossamer and morning dew.”

“Oh!” Spike said. “Well, you should have said something earlier. Now we can all go on a family flight.”

“B-but what about your meeting?” Oasis protested.

For a moment, Apollo seemed flustered. “W-well, I realized time with family is more important than a meeting I can simply reschedule.” He materialized a parchment and pen in a puff of magic and began to scribble quickly onto it. “I’ll send a letter to the publisher right away.” He inhaled as his horn glowed and he breathed out a verdant flame which engulfed his letter and sent its ashes spiraling away.

Oasis raised an eyebrow as she noticed a unique glint before it was burned. “Was that a diamond studded seal? Must be a particularly important publisher.”

“Hey, presentation is important,” Apollo said in deadpan.

Nidra and Turquoise, meanwhile, had separated and flew beside each other. Turquoise hovered close, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

“Well, little brother,” Oasis said through clenched teeth as she soared over Apollo. “It looks like your attempt to meddle in my plans have backfired.”

He shot back a smirk. “Don’t underestimate me, Sissy. I have a few tricks left up my sleeves.”

“What sleeves?” Oasis said with a sneer.

Apollo looked back at his father and Nidra, who were now unmistakably distracted by each other’s presence. His eyes became steely with determination.

Pulling up into the sky, he looped back behind his father and Nidra. He accelerated rapidly and extended a claw-hoof, tapping the princess on the withers before shouting, "Tag, you're 'it,'" and zipping away.

Nidra's face contorted in confusion as everypony—and dragon—sped away from her. "Wh-what? 'It'?"

Oasis hung back. "Sorry, Aunt Nidra, we take our games of Tag seriously in this family."

"I see," Nidra said with a hard edge. "Well, I've been known to play a mean game of tag, myself..."

Oasis smirked. "I know, but I don't think Polly does."

"I shall be sure to educate him," Nidra responded. She took off, a starry streak trailing behind her.

Apollo was already a festive dot in the distance, but Nidra's leathery bat wings were far stronger and more durable, so she began to close the distance quickly.

"You should know better than to challenge a natural flier to a contest of speed, my little pony," Nidra jeered as she approached touching distance.

Apollo shot her a cocky glance over the shoulder. "Oh, I do know better. But with unicorns and alicorns involved... this game quickly becomes one of skill!" With that, he disappeared just as Nidra took a swipe at him.

"Curses!" she cursed. "Little colt is as wily as his mother..." Her ear flicked as she picked up the slightest pop of displaced air. "Too bad I know all her tricks like the back of my hoof by now." She teleported and appeared right behind Apollo, nearly a mile behind where she'd originally been.

He spotted her immediately and in an instant teleported once again, this time going higher into the air. He only had a moment to catch his breath before Nidra appeared again before him.

The two of them popped in and out of existence all over the sky, with Nidra always just behind him. Finally, they teleported just across from each other, hovering over the treetops.

"I can keep this up all day," Nidra gloated.

Apollo smirked. "You're welcome to try."

"I imagine so," she said. "After all, this is just a waiting game for you, isn't it?" She chuckled. "Well, it's the same for me."

Apollo's attitude faltered. "Oh?"

"Something you may not have been aware of... or perhaps simply ignored in this case, is that those wings are quite delicate. Too much constant use and exposure to the sun and pretty soon they'll just go..."

Poof.

Apollo fell screaming out of the sky. Before he even broke the canopy below, however, Nidra swooped down and scooped him up in her forelegs. He clung to her neck tightly, gasping with abating panic.

"Tag," Nidra said with a smile.

Apollo grimaced and let go of her. He hopped out of her arms and turned to glower at her. "That's...!" He dropped immediately out of her view before teleporting back, only having enough time to deliver a single syllable during each reappearance before gravity swiftly dragged him back down. "Not...! Fair...! Aunt...! Ni...!"

Nidra rolled her eyes and lit her horn, suspending him in midair. "Let's not be sore sports about this, Apollo."

He folded his forelegs across his chest and stuck out his bottom lip in response.

Oasis, Spike, and Turquoise flew into range, laughing as they saw the trapped Apollo.

"Not bad for your first game of Aerial Tag," Spike said. "You lasted all of five minutes."

"Looks like you're 'It' now, Son," Turquoise said. "Might want to make yourself another set of those wings if you want to catch any of us."

Grudgingly, Apollo did just that, weaving his spell to give him his colorful, butterfly-like wings. "Alright, I'm ready!"

Turquoise tapped Nidra on the shoulder. "Follow me, I know the perfect place to hide!"

"Gladly," Nidra said, releasing Apollo from her magical grip and racing off with Turquoise by her side.

"Well, well, well," Oasis said in a sing-song tone. "Looks like somepony's plan backfired... and it certainly wasn't mine."

Apollo pursed his lips thoughtfully as his sister zipped away, giggling. "Surely you realize, dear sister... this means war."

"Ugh, Father, I couldn't be happier that you've been coming to Canterlot with me more frequently, but..." Oasis sighed as she looked out the window of the castle to see the bright moon and stars glimmering in the sky. "The late nights are really starting to get to me."

Turquoise, trotting beside her with a bright expression on his face, responded. "Oh, well, I guess I've become something of a night owl, lately."

It had been several weeks since the family flight and Oasis had been pleased to see a marked increase in her father's visits to Canterlot to spend time with his sister, brother-in-law and, most importantly, Princess Nidra. Of course, he had made a habit of using her as an excuse, since she made frequent trips between Ponyville and Canterlot, which meant that she ended up sharing in his new schedule more often than she'd like.

Her eyes softened as she looked at her father's smiling profile. "I am glad to get to spend so much more time with you, Father. I feel we haven't been together this much since I was a foal, myself."

Turquoise grunted. "It can't have been as long as all that, can it?"

"Well, adulthood really took us all by surprise," Oasis said. "I'm just glad that we've lived long enough to get all that frantic rush out of the way and can enjoy our senior years for a long while to come."

Turquoise looked at her with a hint of somberness behind his eyes. "Of course... we'll all enjoy each other's company as long as we can."

"Well," Oasis said with a bark of laughter. "I think it's about time we find the one whose company you were really hoping to enjoy, hm?"

Turquoise blushed. "It's... it's that obvious?"

"Naturally," Oasis replied with a smarmy look.

He chuckled. "Guess I should expect as much out of you." He looked out another window. "Well, if I know Nidra, she's probably moping out in the garden trying to convince herself that it's okay to see me again... or not."

Oasis came up beside him and raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of perceptive..."

"Not really," Turquoise said. "I have the same fight with myself every time I even consider coming here with you again. In that way, at least, she and I are a lot alike."

"And, as you predicted," Oasis announced, pointing down into the darkness. "There she is. And... it looks like she's found Aunt Claire..."

"Digging in the garden, again," Turquoise observed. "At least it's not the bed this time. Poor Lulu."

Oasis shot her father a sassy glance. "One of these days Uncle Illusion is going to catch you calling him that." She peered back into the dimly lit garden. "I wonder what they're talking about down there..."

"Hopefully not me," Turquoise said as he began to crawl out the window, spreading his leathery wings.

"Oh, stallions always think us ladies have nothing better to talk about," Oasis groused. "Don't be so paranoid, Father."

He turned to look back at his daughter. "Well, if she's not now, hopefully I'll give her plenty of good things to say about me by the end of the night." With that final word, he leaped into the darkness.

Oasis' eyebrows nearly leaped off the top of her head. "My, my... has he finally decided... could it be?"

It was truly too exciting to bear, she decided. With nary a thought more she launched herself out of the castle and, like a whisper on the wind, landed behind a hedge.

Nearby, she heard her father already speaking to Nidra in a quiet but invigorated voice.

"I just wanted to hang out with you. If you're not busy or anything. Is that alright?"

"I..." Nidra began, but her voice caught in her throat. Hesitantly, she continued, gaining confidence in her tone as she went on. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great."

As they walked down the garden, Oasis crept silently from hedge to hedge, peeking excitedly out at the two centenarians.

Nidra cleared her throat. "So... how was your evening with Oasis? Did you get some good... 'father-daughter bonding' time in?"

"Oh, yeah!" he responded with a big grin. "She's always a joy to be around. And, y'know, she really loves you. Talks about you all the time."

"And you talk with her quite often as well," she observed. "Does that mean you've been talking about me all the time, too?"

"Uh, I guess..." Turquoise said, his voice shaking. "By the transitive property and such... uh..."

"You're cute when you're flustered," Nidra stated. Her blunt words quickly turned into embarrassed laughter as she covered her red face with a wing. "I mean... sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"No, that's fine," he said with a wistful look. "I like it better when you say what you mean." He worked his jaw intently. "L-listen, I've been thinking a lot about what you said before..."

"Before?" Nidra asked.

Turquoise nodded. "Yeah. You know. When you told me... how we need to move on... and... how you felt."

"Right," she said. Her head was fixed straight ahead, but her eyes kept furtively glancing in his direction.

"I have been talking about you a lot," he said. "And I can't stop thinking about you."

From behind her latest hiding hedge, Oasis did her utmost best to muffle her own scream. She flinched when she sensed another body slide next to her and felt the breath of another pony behind her ear.

"Wow, it's really getting good, huh?" Crystal Clarity whispered. Her claw-hooves shot out immediately and stifled the actual scream that threatened to escape her niece's mouth. "Shh. Don't want to embarrass the lovebirds now, do we? If they knew we were spying on them, they'd never make a move."

Oasis nodded her agreement and Crystal released her. "I don't know how a pregnant mare can get around so quietly, though..."

Crystal snorted as quietly as possible. "Not that pregnant, yet..."

Meanwhile, Nidra's heart was pounding in her ears as she stared into Turquoise's eyes. They were so much like her own with their slit pupils and yet, at the same time, so much unalike as his were filled with such optimism and happiness while hers had long ago become hardened and impenetrable. However, a spark lit deep within seemed to reflect from her black depths and she melted before his warmth.

The moment she softened, Turquoise was overcome. He didn't know if it was some instinct that he had somehow developed in the last century when he'd been bumblingly inept at reading the mood or if his late wife, herself, had risen from the grave to push him forward. Whatever the case, he found his lips locked with Nidra's in a kiss that left his head swimming.

The response from Nidra was almost immediate. Her defenses shattered and her forelegs and wings wrapped around her larger companion. She moved her head to the best position to allow for the closest seal.

They separated with a quiet "smek" and stared into each other's eyes as they leaned against each other, standing erect on their hind legs.

"So," Nidra said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Now I finally know what it's like to kiss a stallion with a mouthful of fangs."

Turquoise grinned goofily. "Likewise."

Nidra raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, I mean," he said, sputtering. "What you said, except not a stallion. 'Cause you're a mare. And I am still completely ignorant of what it feels like to kiss a stallion, regardless of dental situation. And..."

Nidra cut him off with another kiss, quick but forceful. "Cute, but far too long-winded, sometimes."

"Uh, yeah, so," Turquoise said, releasing Nidra from his embrace and settling down onto all fours, but still staying close. "I... enjoyed that. You?"

"Same," Nidra confirmed, sidling up to his side and hooking the thumb of her wing around his.

Turquoise licked his snout. "So... uh... I don't think I need to say what my feelings are. Do I?"

"Not at all," Nidra said with a laugh. "I trust I made myself clear as well?"

"Oh," he said dreamily. "Oh, yeah."

"So... then," Nidra began.

Turquoise nuzzled her cheek. "Well, we're already hanging out. Why not just call this our first date?"

"Aw, yiss!" came a victorious cry from Oasis, who burst out from behind her hedge.

Crystal Clarity stepped out with a regal flourish before widening her eyes and gasping behind a splayed claw-hoof. "Why, Oasis, whatever were you doing behind this hedge?" She turned toward Turquoise and Nidra, her eyes widening further and her inflections more exaggerated. "Why... spying on Nidra and your dad? I never..."

"Stow it, Claire," Turquoise told his sister.

"You two weren't quite as quiet as you seemed to think," Nidra continued.

Crystal Clarity smiled sheepishly. "Well... ah, we are quite happy for the two of you."

"Can I call you 'Mom'?" Oasis pleaded, joyous tears in her eyes.

Nidra flushed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Indeed," Crystal said, flashing them a knowing smile. "Perhaps you could help me back to my room, Oasis?"

Oasis looked torn, but she obediently moved toward her aunt. "A-alright. I suppose we should leave these two lovebirds be..."

Turquoise and Nidra exchanged a glance.

Nidra grinned mischievously and bounced over to him, pecking him on the cheek. "Tag," she declared before taking off. "Catch me if you can!"

Turquoise laughed and flew after her as Oasis and Claire made their way back to the castle, sparing amused glances over their shoulders. Soon the garden was empty. Almost.

Slowly, a green horn poked out of a bush, followed by a twig-filled mane. When Apollo's head completely emerged, he narrowed his eyes at the specks that danced before the moon. With a raspy whisper he declared, "Dun. Dun. Dunnnnnnnn!"

"Oh, T," Nidra said as she lay wrapped in his wings on her chaise longue. She put a hoof on his massive barrel and leaned in for a deep kiss. "I can't believe this is finally happening."

"Me neither," he responded, tracing the muscles of her withers with a claw as his other claw-hoof pulled her closer by the rump. "I always thought you were beautiful, you know..."

Nidra shifted, sliding a rear leg over his lap to straddle him. "I always loved you, T. Always. We've been holding back now for so long..."

"Why hold back any longer?" Turquoise finished as he buried his face in her soft, furry chest.

Nidra sighed, savoring their closeness as she tossed her mane back. "There's nothing in our way..."

"Nothing," Turquoise said, his voice pitching into a falsetto. In the firelight, his green coat seemed tinted pink. "Nothing at all?"

"That's right," Nidra said, looking down at the uncharacteristically messy mane below her chin.

Turquoise turned to look up at her with his pale, unseeing eyes. "So," she said. "I'm nothing, am I?"

Nidra's breath caught in her throat. "A-A-Annie..."

Anthea stared up with unblinking eyes, a soulless smile plastered on her face. "How could you do this? I thought we were friends."

Nidra pushed away, falling onto her back on the floor. "Please, no! I... I am your friend, but... but you're dead!"

Anthea stood up, towering over Nidra. Her horn was unusually long and dangerously sharp, and her body was as massive as Turquoise's, with all the draconic accessories to boot. "Am I?"

"You told me to make sure T was happy..." Nidra whispered, her voice thick.

"Did I tell you to become his broodmare?" Anthea screeched. Her face contorted into one of pain and rage. Dark black tears ran down her cheeks.

Nidra groveled at Anthea's hooves, sobbing heavily. "No, no, no, I'm sorry. Please don't be mad at me. I thought it was okay. I was only trying to do the right thing!"

"You were trying to get exactly what you wanted!" Anthea howled, gnashing her fang-filled maw. "You were too afraid to take him from me in life, so you waited until my body was good and cold before you dared. You didn't love me. You were just a coward!"

Nidra bawled as she covered her head with her wings. "Y-yes, yes! I was a coward. I still am! But I love you, Annie! I love you. Please don't..."

Anthea grinned toothily and grabbed Nidra by the mane, pulling her tear-and-snot-covered face up to her. "You're so pathetic, I almost believe you." She giggled and raised a claw-hoof. "But you know what's funny? I never loved you."

Nidra screamed as the deadly claws came down on her head.

She opened her eyes with a gasp. The light through the window indicated that it was still around noon; far too early in the day for her tastes. Her coat was soaked in sweat, which she was sure wasn't merely from the heat of the big, firm body that lay on top of her, acting in lieu of her normal covers.

It was just a bad dream, she confirmed. Turquoise was still with her and loved her. At least, she thought that was the case. She moved her body around until her front was facing his and nuzzled at his cheek. "T... T, wake up. I need you..."

Turquoise mumbled incoherently. He cracked open an eye and smiled. "Already?"

Nidra stroked his mane and gave him a kiss on the snout. "I need you to love me, T."

"Nidra..." he said softly. "You know I do."

"Remind me," she responded, a shy smile gracing her muzzle. He did, and she shoved the guilt and dread deep down inside of herself even as the silhouette of a unicorn remained, judging her, just behind her eyes.

Author's Note

Prereader: Imaginary Valued

How Deeply Did You Let Go?

It had been several months since Crystal Clarity and Nidra had had their fortuitous talk in the garden, and the half-dragon mare was now heavy with foal. As a princess, it was fortunately ensured that she would never have to lift a hoof to feed or bathe herself, but as a pony of draconic persuasion she was... restless.

"You can take your tea and stuff it!" she hissed. "Don't touch me, Lulu!"

Princess Celestia smiled beneficently. "It's good to see the mother-to-be of my grandfoal so healthy and energetic... though perhaps we could refrain from breaking my fine china?"

Luna leaned over to her sister and whispered conspiratorially. "And I thought I was a nightmare when I was pregnant..."

Celestia gave her a pointed look.

"What, still too soon?"

"O, Celestia!" Crystal sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I've just been so anxious lately. I can't deal with ponies right now and being cooped up in the castle is driving me mad!"

"Ooh, I rather like that idea," Discord commented as he sipped his tea from a comically dainty cup, pinkie fully extended. "Be nice to have company."

"Not helping, Dad," Illusion groused. "Crys, I know it's been hard on you, but that's why Mom decided to have this tea party out here near Ponyville." He gestured around at the massive blanket laid out at the edge of the Everfree with their family members surrounding them as well as a large contingent of royal guards, also enjoying a cuppa as they kept watch at the perimeter.

"Yeah, because this is really relaxing," Crystal said with a grimace. "Whose bright idea was it to invite both Bleubelle and Apollo, anyway?"

A blonde-maned, powder blue-coated unicorn mare, statuesque and gorgeous even as the lines of middle-age imposed themselves on her face, lifted her cup toward Apollo. "Darling, a refill?"

"I'm not your 'darling,'" he growled. "And I'm not your butler, either!"

Bleubelle gave him a calculating once-over. "Oh? Dear, you could have fooled me; you look for all the world like a poor mule."

"You are an amazing mare," Apollo breathed. "To manage packing that much bigotry into one statement."

"Well, you can't choose family," Celestia said with a sigh. "Well... unless you adopt like I did her great grandmother, Blue Shield. Great mare, I don't know what's happened with her descendants."

"Sometimes one bad apple ruins the whole bunch," Oasis said, shooting a dirty look at her brother. Under her breath she mumbled, "In which case maybe those two are better off rotting together."

Beside her, Turquoise nudged her in the ribs and frowned, but a slight smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. He turned to Princess Nidra on his other side. "More tea, Nidra?"

"Wha?" Nidra jerked up, wiping drool from her face. "Uh... yes, of course ba-a..." She blushed as she saw other ponies looking at her. "Uh, T. I would love some tea."

"Oh, we know how you love T," Oasis said with a giddy grin.

Nidra shushed her, face burning with embarrassment. While they had been unable to hide their obvious affection and friendship, so far they had yet to publicize the full extent of their relationship beyond Oasis and Claire, though rumors did abound. Oasis, naturally, didn't help with her constant innuendo.

"Please, Darling, don't try to put on a brave face for my sake," Bluebelle continued in her ceaseless badgering of Apollo. "I know you still hopelessly pine for me, and I completely understand."

Apollo grumbled. "I'm not pining. I'm bitter and angry. There's a huge difference."

"Honestly," she went on. "I'm flattered. I've read up a bit on dragon psychology from the Princess Twilight Sparkle wing of the library, and it even seems that once a dragon truly falls in love he becomes bonded to his mate for all his life, even past death!"

Nidra cringed upon hearing that, Anthea's laughter echoing in her head.

Apollo snorted. "Must not have really been in love with you. Surprise."

"Honestly, since we separated, I have been feeling some twinge of attraction lingering," Bluebelle said, swooning her hardest at him. "Why, perhaps it was..."

"Oh, no," Apollo said, holding the suddenly amorous mare back with his hoof. "You are not dragging me back in, again!"

She put a hoof to her head and arched back dramatically. "Yes, it seems we have been thrown together by fate, forever forged together by the fires of destiny!"

"You should try these little cakes, Nidra," Turquoise said. "Say 'ahhh'..."

"I'm just feeling smothered, Lulu," Princess Crystal complained. "All my instincts are screaming at me to get away from everypony, and it's so hard to fight..."

Bluebelle snuggled up to Apollo, who cringed back. "A dragon can't fight his instincts, Darling. Just look at your grandfather, your father and, why, even our dear Princess Crystal Clarity!"

Nidra whipped her head around as Turquoise touched her back. "Are you alright?" he asked. He lowered his voice and whispered to her. "Sweetie, you look stressed, do we need to go somewhere?"

Bonded to his mate for all his life, Anthea whispered. Must not have really been in love with you. Her voice became sadistically saccharine. Instincts are screaming... to get away. A dragon can't fight his instincts.

"I-I'm sorry?" Nidra said. "I'm having a hard time... ah... hearing..."

"You know," Turquoise said, putting a wing around her. "I've been a bit worried about you. You haven't been sleeping well and you're always distracted. Is something going on?"

"Sometimes I'm not sure if you even love me!"

Nidra froze, her ear flicking momentarily to her cousin and cousin-in-law.

Illusion sighed. "Crys, we've talked about this..."

"Nidra," Turquoise said, cupping her chin with his claws. "We haven't really talked about this... but I've been thinking about it for awhile now."

Nidra refocused back on him. "Wh-what?"

He smiled broadly. "Listen, I think I know what it is. It's been hard keeping this a secret from anypony. I love you, Nidra, and I want everypony to know it."

"Uhhhh," Nidra replied.

Must not have really been in love... Annie's voice insisted, anger and heartache tinging it. I never loved you!

"Nidra," Turquoise said, pulling a velvety box from his saddlebag. He opened it and the glimmer of a huge, exquisitely cut diamond dazzled her.

"Hold your horses, everypony," Crystal shouted. "He's finally doing it, thank Celestia."

"You're very welcome," Celestia said, "But I'm afraid I had no hoof in this."

"Crys, isn't that the ring you've been working on all month?" Illusion asked as he saw what Turquoise had presented. "I thought that was supposed to be for a propo-ohhhhh..."

Turquoise held the ring up to Nidra, his big, watery eyes gleaming with sincerity. "What do you say? Will you marry me?"

"Turquoise..." Nidra said, choking back her tears. "N... n-no!"

He jerked back as if he had been slapped. "Wha...? But... I thought..."

The surrounding ponies burst into rapid-fire conversation, their voices hushed. Nidra's sensitive ears, though, picked up every word loud as if it were being shouted into them. The shock, the accusations, the sympathy, it washed over her like a tsunami.

"Enough!" Nidra shouted, and her alicorn magic exploded from her horn. The attendees and surrounding guards immediately fell silent, many falling to their bellies from the dose of sleep spell.

She looked about at the barely conscious ponies around her, tears dripping down her face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I... just can't do this anymore. T... it's over. I'm sorry." With a powerful flap of her batlike wings, she took off toward Canterlot.

"Wait!" Crystal called weakly as she crawled after her. "My beautiful cousin-in-law... come back. Momma needs more of your sweet medicine..." Then she drifted into the comforting embrace of her subconscious.

Turquoise lay meekly on the ground, staring at the ring he had tried to give Nidra. Then he brushed a tear from his face and let it fall to the ground.

Oasis burst through the door of the Ponyville Castle library. “Yoohoo, Grandfather!”

Spike’s head poked out from behind a massive bookshelf and he smiled at her. “Well, well, if it isn’t my favorite granddaughter!”

“Hmph,” Oasis said haughtily as she pranced over to him. “You won't be able to get away with saying that for much longer, Grandfather.”

“Claire still might have a son,” Spike said with a pout. “You know the docs swore she was going to be a colt right up to the day she was born. Of course, then I’d have to choose between him and Apollo… and I am not good with making hard decisions.”

“But you are good at procrastinating,” she responded. “So you can just do that.”

“Good call,” he said. “So what brings you around here? Looking for a good book to read?”

She shook her head. “It’s actually about Father.”

“Ah,” Spike said. “He seemed a bit... off when he came by earlier. And he's been in such an infectiously good mood these past months, too."

“It’s actually… something to do with that,” Oasis confessed.

Spike looked down at her with consternation. “What? Why?”

“Well,” she said, a hint of a smile crossing her face in spite of her concern for her father. “Recently it seems he’s taken a shine to a new mare.”

“A new mare?” Spike said.

“Yes.”

“But,” Spike said, wringing a book in his hands. “But he loves Annie.”

“Well, of course!” Oasis replied brightly. “But new love has blossomed, and it must be tenderly nurtured if it’s to…”

“So he loves Annie,” Spike said. “So why did you say there was another mare?”

Oasis grimaced. “L-listen… Grandfather… I know the whole dragon mating-for-life thing is particularly strong, and believe me when I say the apple hasn’t fallen very far from the tree…”

“Heh, I know Pinkie might have been distantly related to the Apples, but I’m pretty sure no one in this family is,” Spike said, chuckling at the very idea.

“Erm… not quite what I meant,” Oasis said. “In any case, I know that Father has finally fallen for another mare this long after Mother’s passing, and while they were together they've been so happy!”

Spike mulled this over for a long moment. “So… you’re saying that he's been happy with a mare who’s... not Annie?”

“Yes.”

“But he still loves Annie, right?” Spike clarified.

“… Yes…”

“Well,” Spike said, putting the book in his hand back on the shelf. “I don’t know if I get it completely, but I’m all for anything that would make my son happier.”

Oasis did a pleased little hop. “Perfect! Then you’ll help.”

“Of course,” Spike said. He blinked. “With… with what?”

Oasis leaned in conspiratorially. “Grandfather: take a letter!”

When Luna entered her daughter's chamber, she found her lying amidst a mountain of pillows garbed in a violet bathrobe. Her eyes were red and cheeks stained with tear-tracks.

"It has been a long time since I have seen anypony wallow quite so pitifully," she commented, walking into Nidra's room and shutting the doors behind her.

Nidra didn't move to even look at her mother. "What have I told you about barging into my room?"

"I do believe you pleaded that I refrain from doing so," Luna said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "A request I have heretofore denied."

Nidra sighed. "Alright. Fine. Let me have it, then."

Luna stood silently at the side of Nidra's bed, looking her up and down. Then she gathered Nidra up into a bone-crushing hug. "My poor baby!"

"M-M-Mom?" Nidra squeaked.

Luna loosened her grip and sat her daughter before her on the bed. "Nidra, I love you. Turquoise, I'm sure, loves you. We all love you and are concerned for you."

"M-Mom, why are you being so lame?" Nidra asked, but she was choking back tears that threatened to resume their onslaught.

"You haven't been sleeping," Luna said matter-of-factly. "You're stressed and you aren't acting like your usual self. If you keep all this to yourself, you could very well have a mental break... and I know better than most what a desperate alicorn can do."

Nidra shuddered. "Well, you don't have to worry about 'Nightmare Z' terrorizing the realm."

"It's not just that," Luna said, her expression soft. "You're hurting and seem intent on aggravating your pain. I cannot allow my daughter to suffer any longer."

"Mom..." Nidra said softly. "Thank you for the consideration, but..."

Luna frowned. "This is not the time to rebuff my offer, Nidra."

"Listen, just because I've been having bad dreams about Annie doesn't mean you have any jurisdiction here!"

Luna's brows raised. "Ahh, so that's what it is..."

"Nnnnngh!" Nidra said plaintively. "I said too much. Still, it's my problem to deal with."

"It's not all your problem, Nidra," Luna said sharply. "Even if you don't want it, the ponies who love you also share this burden. But... it is your responsibility, ultimately."

Luna turned back toward the door. "I will not interfere with your dreams. Even so..." her horn flashed and a golden necklace adorned with a flower-shaped green necklace appeared in midair. "I will leave you something that may help you remember."

"Th-that's T's!" Nidra exclaimed, catching the necklace in her own magic. "Wh-where... why?"

"I 'borrowed' it," Luna said, raising her wings to mark a physical pair of quotations. "Keep this with you, today, as you slumber. Remember the ponies who love you as you dream." With those final words, she left.

Nidra sighed heavily as she regarded Anthea's cutie mark, its craftsmareship among Crystal Clarity's best. She gingerly brought it up to her neck and fastened the clasp behind her with her magic. The necklace had been designed to fit snugly around Turquoise’s neck, but hung loosely on hers. Still, she felt some comfort wearing something of her now-ex’s as well as something which represented her dear departed friend.

“Of course,” she muttered to herself. “She’s the one who’s been tormenting me every day, isn’t she?” With an exhausted thump she fell into her bed. She had been having trouble getting to sleep for awhile, but she had already stayed up far past her usual bedtime for the picnic, and with her sudden emotional outburst over, her reserves were completely spent. It wasn’t long before sleep overtook her.

Nidra became aware of a presence and she froze, apprehension filling her. In the shadows of the castle halls in which she inexplicably found herself, a draconic equine form lurked. “H-hello? Who’s there?”

When the figure emerged, she breathed a sigh as she recognized the freckled face of her secret amore. “T, I thought… I thought you were somepony else for a moment.” She couldn’t recall who she’d thought he was, but whomever it had been, it had filled her with dread.

“I’m sorry, Nidra,” he said as he rebuffed her approach. “Something’s happened. Something wonderful.” He turned and looked down the hallway. At the end was Celestia’s throne, which didn’t strike Nidra as odd in the least even though she was quite certain the throne should be in the throne room.

Regardless of this fact, the throne was there, and upon the throne sat a pink unicorn mare, her body as large as the true owner’s and her horn possibly even bigger. Even so, she recognized her as her old friend, Anthea, glowering down at her with clear, glowing blue eyes, her pupils reptilian slits.

“B-but…” Nidra stammered. “We’re… we’re together now, aren’t we?” She shook her head. “You love me… just because she’s back, that doesn’t mean…”

“Nidra,” Turquoise said, a cold edge to his voice. “I could never love you. I love Annie even beyond death. You were just a passing diversion while I waited to join her.” He turned his tail on her and began to walk toward the throne. “I have to leave you, now.”

“Wait, T!” Nidra cried, lunging after him. Even though she pumped her legs much faster than his slow walk, she seemed to be getting further away from him as he neared the giant Anthea. “Please, I’m sorry. I never wanted to leave you. I love you!”

Anthea rose from her throne, staring deep into her soul. “You foal. Nopony could ever love a selfish, spoiled pony like you. That’s why you treated everypony like dirt when we were young, wasn’t it? Because you knew deep down that you would never be loved for who you were.”

Tears pricked at Nidra’s eyes, but she put on a burst of speed, sweat lathering on her coat from the exertion. The hallway just stretched out longer and longer, and soon she saw Turquoise at Anthea’s side. “Please, don’t leave me alone. I don’t care what you do, but let me come with you!”

Anthea laughed and reached her massive head down to Turquoise. She opened her fanged mouth wide and with a snap of her jaws scooped him up in her mouth, only his lizard-like tail hanging out. She slurped his tail like a noodle as she swallowed him whole. “You’ll never see Turquoise again,” she said. “He’s mine forever.” Her horn flared a vivid emerald and a bolt of caustic magic sizzled down the hallway.

Nidra gasped and tried to dodge the spell, but her hooves were melted into the floor. She knew she would be blown to smithereens in only a moment, and her heart rate skyrocketed, pounding in her head. Her vision was filled with a dark and sickly green.

The soft lime light of Anthea’s true magical aura burst into life before Nidra, and the coup de grâce failed to come. Nidra stared wide-eyed at the form of Anthea’s cutie mark which floated before her, and then down at the necklace she now recalled she was wearing. “Wh-what… is this?”

“You already know,” Anthea said from Nidra’s side. She looked up at Nidra, eyes milky but aware, and smiled. “It’s a protective spell.”

Nidra looked from the small unicorn at her side and then past the flowery shield to the massive Anthea standing before the Equestrian throne. “Are… are you really her? This… was a fake Annie all along?”

“Since when has Annie been fourteen hands tall with dragon eyes?” the smaller Anthea said.

Nidra nodded. “Of… of course. I should have known you were the real… wait… how did you know what she looked like?”

“Because you may remember what my eyes really look like in your subconscious,” Anthea said with a smirk. “But you always did forget that I can’t see.”

Nidra opened her mouth, but didn’t quite know what to say. “I’m… I’m dreaming. You’re a dream. Everything here is.”

“Bingo!” Anthea said with a wink.

“I told my mother not to interfere here…” Nidra said with a snort.

Anthea patted Nidra’s shoulder. “And she’s not. You’ve created this all yourself. The only thing Princess Luna did was give you that necklace for the night. Sometimes all it takes to escape your nightmares is a reminder.” She grimaced. “And… you know… a counterspell to the Terror Inception curse.”

“Terror Inception?” Nidra exclaimed, her wings spreading wide in shock. “But… that spell is an ancient dragon's curse only known to ponies of the royal family! Who would dare?”

Anthea looked back to the monstrous Anthea beyond the shield. “Well, we can find that out easily enough. I’m just a construct made up of your memories of Annie representing the spell protecting you, though. If you want to deconstruct this curse, you’ll have to invoke my power yourself.”

Nidra considered the shield before her, and she nodded in understanding, a knowing smile spreading across her muzzle. “Very well.” Her horn flashed and a beam of light shot into the glowing flower, inscribing a golden Z on top of it. The combined magic then burst forth in a shockwave of power, shattering the hallway before striking the giant Anthea, blowing the outer form out like a candle’s flame.

Beneath the large Anthea’s form, however, a familiar ghostlike apparition stood. “Turquoise Blitz will never love you. He still loves Anthea,” Apollo said as he stood in the blackness of Nidra’s dreamscape. His body flickered with static for a moment before repeating itself. “Turquoise Blitz will never love you. He still loves Anthea.”

Nidra stared wide-eyed. “A-Apollo? He did this?”

The smaller Anthea shrugged. “Well, you know he was always a bit of a momma’s colt,” she said.

“I knew he didn’t like the idea of his father and me being together,” Nidra said. “But I didn’t realize he felt this strongly.” She pursed her lips in thought. “Where did he even learn to cast this spell?”

“You’d be surprised what you learn in his line of work,” Anthea commented, flashing Nidra a smirk. “So… now that you’ve broken the spell, what do you plan to do? Perhaps a saucy little dream about your beau?”

“Ex-beau,” Nidra clarified. “At least… I think so… ugh, I can’t think about it right now. It will only make my sleep restless, and that’s the last thing I need.” She turned to the image of Apollo still repeating his lines and encircled him in a magic bubble which then poofed out of existence.

Anthea nodded. “Understandable.”

Nidra gave her a sideways glance. “You’re… just a dream version of Annie, yes?”

“Ye-e-e-e-es,” Anthea said slowly, fluttering her lashes with a coy grin.

“So,” Nidra said, clearing her throat. “You’ll basically do anything I want, right?”

Anthea seemed to consider this. “Well, anything you can believe, I suppose. Do you have something in mind that you really think Annie might… do?”

A broad grin spread across Nidra’s muzzle. “I think I might…” she stepped closer to Anthea, colors swirling around them as her new dream took shape.

Apollo threw his saddlebags on his couch, feeling thoroughly pleased. “Ah, it’s been such a good month. A relaxing trip to Fillydelphia, finished my manuscript, successfully broke up my dad’s relationship…”

He froze as he heard somepony knocking sharply at his door. “That’s weird… who even knows I’m back, yet?” He trotted to the door and opened it with his telekinesis.

“Hey, Polly!” Oasis said brightly, barging into his livingroom. Behind her their father slowly entered with an awkward nod to his son. “Dad and I just wanted to stop by to help you get ready.”

“Ready?” Apollo squeaked. “Wh-what for?”

“We’ve all been invited to the Grand Gallopin' Gala,” Turquoise said.

Apollo’s jaw dropped. “The Gala? But… that’s tonight!”

“Exactly,” Oasis said. “Which is why I’ve brought some particularly snazzy outfits based on Grandma’s old designs.”

Turquoise’s head dropped. “Sorry, Son… we tried to send you word, but we just got an Away From Office message whenever Dad tried to Flame you.”

Apollo scowled as his sister went to work trying different outfits on him. “B-but… I don’t even want to go. What if… what if she’s there?”

“Oh, come now,” Oasis said with a scoff as she snapped a bowtie onto him. “She may still technically be part of the royal family, but she’s also dirt poor. I doubt she’ll show her face unadorned in the most splendiferous outfit imaginable.”

Apollo relaxed. “I suppose not…”

“Ugh, purple is really not your color,” Oasis commented, ripping his clothes off and starting fresh. “Which seems ironic, all things considered.”

“But, Dad,” Apollo said with a start, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Surely you’re not going. I mean… what if you run into Nidra? After the way she dumped you…”

Turquoise’s face tightened in distress, provoking immediate regret in his son. “I… I couldn’t skip it when my own sister’s going to be there. Besides… Nidra and her mom generally don’t attend.”

“Indeed,” Oasis said with a nod as she wrapped a cravat around Apollo’s neck. “They’ll have their own duties to attend, after all.”

“Hmm…” Apollo vocalized thoughtfully. “I… suppose…”

“There!” Oasis said. “I think that looks quite smashing, don’t you, Father?”

Turquoise looked at his son dressed from head to hoof in a dark green smoking jacket and trousers, complete with a coachmare’s cape. “He looks ridiculous,” Turquoise said.

Oasis sighed. “Alright, plain tux it is.”

The Grand Galloping Gala was as ornate as it had been a century and a quarter before. Of course, with Discord as Princess Celestia’s customary plus-one in the decades since, it had never been quite as boring. Nidra passed the cotton candy cloud chocolate milk fountain as she walked alongside her mother, holding out her goblet to partake as she went.

“I have to say I’m a bit surprised that you wanted to come,” she said as she took a sip of the sweet drink. “Though I guess it is nice.”

“I simply felt we could use a little night to unwind now that your ordeal has concluded,” Luna remarked. “You look worlds more at ease, I must say.”

Nidra dipped her head. “I suppose I am… though there’s still something weighing on my mind.”

Luna opened her muzzle to reply, but she was cut off when a long, furry body came between her and her daughter. “We-e-e-e-ell, my dear niece,” Discord said in her place as he draped an arm around Nidra’s neck and grinned toothily. “I’m happy to say that the Grand Galloping Gala is exactly the place to come to have all your problems melt away!”

“None of my problems involve clothing, Uncle,” Nidra responded with a grin.

“Hey,” Discord said, poking a talon into her chest. “It was only my idea to invite him the first time. All the other times was completely your Aunt’s fault.”

“Discord, must you?” Luna interjected with a weary grimace.

He turned his head and chuckled. “Oh, ho, ho, ho, yes, you must give me this. She is my favorite niece.”

“So what is this about, anyway?” Nidra asked.

His face took on an innocent purity that completely betrayed his deviousness. “Oh, nothing… it’s just that—look out, an inconveniently placed banana peel!”

Nidra’s hoof paused just a hair’s breadth away from a slimy yellow tripping hazard. She pulled back and carefully stepped around it. “Oh, thank you, Uncle Discord.” She laughed as she turned her head back to him. “For a moment I thought you were—”

“Waaaah!” a masculine voice called, and a huge green stallion collided into Nidra, who collapsed in a tangle.

“Oh, actually, that warning was for him,” Discord said, gesturing with his lion paw toward Turquoise Blitz, who struggled furiously to extricate himself from their involuntary coupling.

“Nidra!” Turquoise exclaimed as he got back to his hooves. “I… I didn’t think you’d be here.”

“Nor I you,” Nidra responded breathlessly. “In fact, I normally skip it, but my mother suddenly decided that she needed to…” she trailed off and looked behind Turquoise to see Oasis, her smile wide enough that it looked as if it would break right through her cheeks, and her eyes widened in epiphany. “Ahhh… I see.”

“Huh?” Turquoise said blankly.

She ignored him for the moment as her gaze found Apollo glowering at her behind his father as well, but his expression immediately melted into one not unlike the time he’d been caught with his hoof in the cookie jar. A knowing smirk came to her lips. “Well, T, it is good to see you, but I’m afraid we’ve found ourselves in the middle of the dance floor, and the next song is beginning. Oasis, make sure your father gets out there.”

Oasis’ eyes sparkled as she comprehended Nidra’s plan, and she dragged Turquoise away.

“B-but Nidra, I…” Turquoise began.

“Don’t worry, T,” Nidra said, waving. “I’ll save the last dance for you.” With that, she turned on Apollo, whose expression became one of pure terror. He wasn’t fast enough to escape her, however, and he found himself in her clutches, being led around the dance floor in what seemed to be an endless waltz.

“Au-au-auntie Nidra,” Apollo said with a hesitant smile. “You… look well rested.”

“I am,” she said, and glanced down to her chest, where Anthea’s cutie mark glinted upon Turquoise’s necklace. “Thanks to a good friend.”

Apollo swallowed as he noticed the jewelry. “Where did you get that? It’s Dad’s…”

“Yes, it is,” Nidra said. “But my mother acquired it for me, I suspect through your dear sister who is always thinking so much of my well being.” She looked aside to where Oasis was swinging Turquoise around with abandon across the floor. “I’d meant to return it soon, but I was somewhat hesitant… as I knew I should do it in pony.”

“Aunt Nidra,” Apollo said shakily. “I… didn’t mean any harm. I mean… not exactly…”

She looked back at him sternly. “Don’t give me that, young colt. Do you think you’re the only one who’s lost a parent? I know exactly what I would feel for anypony who tried to take my father’s place. Suspicious, angry, and even hateful.”

“I don’t hate you, Aunt Nidra!” Apollo said, his eyes welling up as his fur stood on end. “I was just looking out for my Dad’s best interest!”

“You were looking out for yourself,” Nidra said calmly. “Because T and I being together means that you have to accept that your mother is gone and is never coming back.”

Apollo drew back as if struck. “Th-that’s… that’s ridiculous. I know she’s…”

“So do I,” Nidra said, lowering her gaze. “But even then I was never able to bring myself to fully commit. I was always worried about what Annie would think… how she would feel… how she felt to begin with.”

Apollo shifted uncomfortably.

“But I have to thank you,” Nidra said. “You made me realize that we’ve both been living in the past. It isn’t your father who needs to be protected. He’s stronger than either of us, because even though he still remembers and loves your mother with all his heart, he was able to truly let go.” She sighed. “Something we both have to learn to do, ourselves.”

“I… uh,” Apollo said after a minute of silent waltzing. “If my dad still wants to… I mean… I won’t stand in your way. I still want you to be part of the family, any way that ends up being. I know you won’t replace my mom, anyway. Dad can never love you like he loved her… he’s part dragon, after all, and dragons…” he looked aside with a tinge of melancholy. “Can’t…”

“I wouldn’t want him to,” Nidra responded, giggling at the absurdity. “I want him to love me… as me.” She pulled back from Apollo and took him in. “I’m glad we had this talk. And since you believe ponies with dragon blood can love only one mare their entire lives, it’s a good thing somepony thought to send your One True Love a very fancy dress far above her means so she could attend this party in the manner in which she was accustomed.”

“What?”

“Darling, come dance with me!”

“Noooooo!”

Nidra released Apollo to Bleubelle’s enthusiastic grasp and turned to another dance partner. She made her way casually across the floor trading partners until she found Oasis and Turquoise. She gave Oasis a nod when she caught her eye and smoothly slipped into Turquoise’s arms.

“Hi.”

Turquoise blushed. "Uh... hey, Nidra. Been awhile."

"I understand if you're upset with me," Nidra said softly. "I acted like... well, like a spoiled princess, I guess."

He blinked in surprise, but then he relaxed into a fond smile. "You acted like yourself. Yourself when you're stressed, scared, and sleepy, but yourself nonetheless. And how could I be upset with you for that?"

"You're too forgiving for your own good, T," Nidra rebutted, chortling.

Turquoise spun Nidra around before bringing her back flush to his barrel. "Just forgiving enough for yours, though."

"You know this probably isn't going to change much, right?" Nidra said. "Like you said, I was under a lot of... stress. An unusual amount. But that's me. There's always something that will get to me, and I'll react badly..."

Turquoise held a claw up to her lip gently. "I know. But it's been a long time since I was a young colt freaking out because my pregnant wife was in a bad mood."

"Heh," Nidra said, nostalgia lacing her voice. "I remember. She was probably grumpier than me back then. Hopefully I'll be the opposite..." She put a hoof to her mouth and flushed as she saw Turquoise's ears perk and realized what she had inadvertently implied. "Ah... I mean... if that ever did happen... theoretically."

Turquoise only half successfully suppressed a guffaw. "Well, anyway... if you hadn't noticed, I've gotten a bit better at dealing with conflict in my old age."

"Like with your son?" Nidra asked.

"Ah, yeah..." Turquoise said, turning his head toward Apollo, who was even now struggling against his captor. "I've been meaning to talk to him... he was acting a bit surly about us, I know."

"See that you do," Nidra encouraged him. "He really needs to know that he hasn't lost both his parents. That's important even to old codgers like us."

He nodded with a smirk. "Yup... speaking of Apollo, we should really go rescue him from that mare of his."

"Don't bother, Father," Oasis called from the arms of the random dance partner she'd found. "I took the liberty of having Grandfather send an invite to a certain somepony..."

"Who?" Nidra wondered.

"Oh, his 'editor,'" she responded with a sly cock of her brow.

"How's that going to...?" Turquoise said, but a cacophony arose to drown out his words as partygoers put the "gallopin'" into the gala.

An eight-legged green dragon with yellow under-scales nearly the size of Spike burst through the doors. She had two sharp golden horns sprouting from her head and between them was a purple fin that trailed down her long neck. Down her lower spine, five huge gems sprouted like spikes. Her crimson eyes scanned the hall, and when they locked on Apollo her wings spread wide and her right eye went askew.

"Polly!" she cried as she scrambled across the dance floor. "I'm so happy you finally asked me to..."

"And what is this gruesome creature?" Bluebelle asked, aghast.

"R-Rigamarole?" Apollo stammered, his face as pink as his sister's.

"I am a dragon!" Rigamarole said with a snarl. "And who are you? Oh, wait... is this the one you were talking about, Polly?"

"And why is it calling you 'Polly'?"

"She's his 'editor,'" Oasis piped in, helpfully. "Who he was vacationing in Fillydelphia with."

"'Editor'?" Rigamarole asked. "Pfffhaw! I'm no editor. Polly and I met while he was researching dragon culture and magic. I'm from a long line of dragon mages, you know, on my mother's side." She tapped her horns meaningfully.

"My, my!" Nidra commented. "All this time and it seems the dragon pony can move on... and has by the look of it."

"I... uh... I wasn't really sure if," Apollo explained. "I mean, she's a bit..."

"Polly!" Rigamarole cried. "You weren't... ashamed of me, were you?"

"No, it's not like that, Rig!" Apollo said frantically. "Things have just been complicated in the family recently and..."

Bleubelle growled and clamped onto Apollo, giving Rigamarole a death glare. "Of course he's embarrassed of you. A big, scaly, old beast like you... he'd much rather be with me. After all, he loved me before you, and that means he can't love anypony else."

"Y'know what?" Apollo said with an exasperated huff. "Yes, she is the one I told you about and I did love her with all my heart once. However, I would very much like to dance with you way more than I would her."

"That's all I needed to hear," Rigamarole said, tears of joy in her eyes as she forcefully pried Bluebelle off of him and threw her behind her like a crumpled page of notes. "Let's dance, honey!" She pulled him into a four armed embrace and began to square dance across the floor.

"Auntie Nidra!" Apollo called out. "I've made my peace, this night. You and Dad have my blessing."

"Wow," Nidra commented. "That was somewhat unexpected."

Turquoise nodded. "Well, as long as we're doing unexpected things, I guess I'll keep this ball rolling." He knelt down and removed the engagement ring from his breast pocket. "Princess Nidra... now that things have settled down, will you marry me?"

"No," Nidra replied immediately. At his forlorn face, she laughed and put her hoof over his. "Not yet, lover boy. But keep asking. I have a feeling you might just be able to convince me."

Turquoise flushed deeply and got back to his hooves. "Oh, well... I guess... we can keep on dancing, then?"

Nidra glance over at Oasis, who gave her an expectant glare.

"Nah," Nidra said with a saucy grin. "We've strutted around in front of everypony long enough. I think we need a little more privacy for the rest of the night." Her horn flashed and the two of them disappeared.

Upon her throne, Celestia took a few pieces of the popcorn proffered by her husband. "Wow... I am very pleased with the way this gala turned out."

"Indeed," Discord said, pouring half the bag down his throat. "Not much property damage, but... loads of entertainment." He gave Celestia a side-glance. "Glad you developed a sense of humor during the thousand years I was trapped in stone."

"Glad yours matured past that of a 5 year old's," Celestia concurred.

"... Touché."