Canterlot, Equestria, and Anything

Chapters

Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1
Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1, Pt. 2
Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1, Pt. 3
Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1, Pt. 4
Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1, Pt. 5
(M-S)Long Ride Back to the Heart Pt. 1(Dusk)
(M-S)Long Ride back to the Heart Pt. 2(Dusk)
A Dream of Choices, Ch. 2, Pt. 1
(M-S)Home is Where the Hurt is.

Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1

"EVERYPONY UP, THIS SORRY EXCUSE FOR AN AIR-SHIP IS GOING DOWN, EVACUATE ALL PASSENGERS VIA LIFE CHARIOTS. DUSK STRIDER AND CLOUD TREADER WILL BE LEADING THE EVACUATION PROCEDURES. HOP TO IT, LADIES!” With that, all pegasi from the E.R.T Stations were off; shambling, tripping over each other, and trying to get the ringing out of their heads while charging to the six-pony operated Life Chariots and towards different hallways alerting all passengers that a ship 30,000hv’s off the ground was about ready to make an immediate, unplanned, stop.

While everypony was either having a last drink in the bar; screaming frantically while flailing their hooves every which way; or just trying to find a way to pass the time until either a Life Chariot was open to be whisked away to safety upon or until they got a first-class seat to a hands-on demonstration of Gravity 101; Dusk Strider was coordinating the evacuation procedures along with her companion, Cloud Treader.

“I really wish the Captain was more subtle with the alerts. I don’t think many ponies like getting woken up in the middle of the night panicking. Did he know that it went throughout the whole ship and not just to the Emergency Response Team Stations?” Dusk asked after giving the orders to the last of the rescue teams, while watching from the clouds at the air-ship that was now descending awkwardly backwards.

“It is his first time being the Captain and--…Is the ship supposed to be descending backwards like that?” asked Cloud after marking off the team that had just left checking in for new orders.

”I’m sure that’s just the influx of ponies shoving and pushing their way to the Life Chariots coming back from the first group, by the way, how many more groups are there?”

“After this group, maybe two or three more, at this rate we might be able to send the Life Chariots back to actually grab everypony’s luggage.” Cloud was now sketching different types of ponies running to and fro on her notebook that was meant to keep track of the Life Chariots that were coming and going.

“That ship has been falling for about an hour now ever since the night-watch missed the un-emptied hail cloud the size of that one pony we met at Ponyville…”After a few moments of thought and deep contemplation that put the amount of thought she put into the safety procedures to shame. “I can’t believe I forgot his name.”

“Did you mean Big Macintosh?”

“No, the white coat one. The one that liked yelling a lot and who flew quickly but had tiny wings.” Dusk said as she mimicked tiny flapping wings with her fore hooves.

After some deep thought of her own, “….Oh, Roid Rage.” Cloud said with a grin on her face as she saw the last of the Life Chariots fly away to the nearest opening on the ground. “I liked him, he was a great coach back in Cloudsdale, even though he kept showing up from nowhere during flight practice yelling ‘YEAH!’ at the top of his lungs. He even said it when some of us were doing poorly or crashing through the obstacles. I just assumed he was being optimistic most of those times seeing as he was the cause of most of those crashes anyway. ”

Dusk now facing Cloud with a smile, “That was a very interesting impersonation of him.” Letting out a chuckle, she motioned Cloud to follow. “I guess it’s time to get back with everypony else. Was there anything you wanted to grab from the ship before we go? I’m sure they have a surplus of that special cider you’ve been gawking every time we passed the bar area.”

After thinking it over and with a short sigh, “No, I’m sure when we get back with the others, they’ll just question how I managed to snag a bottle of ‘Apple Acre’s Special Brew’ during an evacuation off a burning ship slowly descending into its final destination…either that or they’ll just keep nagging me for a cup.” With another sigh, Cloud lifted herself up off the cloud and gave Dusk the nod that she was ready to follow her to the ends of Equestria, or at least to the camp where the survivors were dropped off.

With Dusk and Cloud making their way to the camp, the ship named after the famous Captain, who once sailed the treacherous skies to help sick ponies, zebras, and gryphons alike, cross the land and sea to reach aid in Equestria and who had succeeded in that feat, but succumbed to the deadly weather that had thrashed him about as he stood at the helm of his ship that is now in the ‘Museum of Lost but now Found History’ in the Culture District of Canterlot whose story will be told at a later date, was now descending still, ever so slowly, to the ground with its bow and stern now at level with each other.

If anypony had actually took the time to look over the damage from the un-emptied hail cloud the size of a pony more akin to Big Macintosh rather than Roid Rage, then those pony would have realized it would have been far more easier to just have board and stitch it up instead of unnecessarily pulling on 42 of the 100 alarm switches on the ship.

They would also know that you only need to pull one switch to alert the bridge who would have alerted the rest of the ship in a calm steady matter instead of over-reacting to the amount of alarms going off and yelling into the over-com that the ‘Sorry excuse for an air-ship is going down’ and causing mass panic to a group of mares and stallions who are more used to quiet evenings in ball rooms and calm social events instead of emergency evacuation procedures that involved screaming foals and loud ponies whose first language is the same volume as an orchestra with only bass drums and have your ears ringing as loud as the one triangle that managed to make it in the same orchestra as the bass drums at the last minute.

In the end, it was too late, the hole just got bigger and thanks to somepony that had absent mindedly left the furnace door open and let a few flames scatter itself upon the floor unattended, the ship went down like a meteor…a meteor on its maiden and retirement voyage.

“30 minutes?” asked Dusk as her eyes shifted between the gentle colts and rescue crewpony, “It took 30 minutes to convince these colts that they should leave the bar and get on the Life Chariots?”

“They were very convinced that they were about to meet their end and wouldn’t stop insisting that they just stay till everypony else was off. When we came back to get them, they were so out of it that they told us again to get everypony else off and wouldn’t budge from their seats. The only reason we managed to get them on the Life Chariots at all was because the bar had already ran out of anything to drink and the giggling kept them from resisting much, so we ended up just dragging them off.” After the crewponys statement, one of the colts collapsed to the ground hiccupping while his companions were leaning on each other, giggling, preventing themselves from joining him.

With a blank stare at the inebriated colts, Dusk turned back to the crewpony, “Right, well, you made the right call. Get these three to the others and tell your team leader to give you and the rest of your team a well-deserved break.”

With a stern look, a quick nod and a smile, he whistled for the rest of his team and hauled off the noble inebriated colts to where the rest of the survivors were. After making sure there were no other interesting events, Dusk took off to catch up with Cloud who had just finished taking note of where the other rescue crews were and how many passengers were accounted for.

After a quick trot, Dusk managed to catch Cloud off guard near the edge of the encampment and open to a very loud verbal surprise. With a deep breath and the perfect ‘Bullhorn’ impersonation at the ready, she let out her volley, “CLOUD TREADER, REPORT IN AT ONCE!”

As soon as the first syllable ruptured into Cloud’s ear, her spine began to tingle; her wings unfurled from her sides so quick that if her saddle bags were still on, they would have been fired cannonballs; she leapt ten-hooves off the ground and if that wasn’t enough; she let out a squeal that would cut glass and leave Dusk laughing on the floor which, incidentally, was actually happening.

“Oh Celestia”, Trying hard to hold back her laughter just to be able to spurt out a few words, “I’m sorry, but after your Roid Rage impersonation, I had to try my Bullhorn impersonation.” And with that, she began her laughter again.

Nearly on the verge of complete meltdown and still shaking, Cloud managed to spurt out some words, “That…it…I’m ok, it was funny.” Letting out a few fake chuckles, Cloud started to calm down.

Dusk’s smile and laughter quickly died down after catching Cloud’s tone of hurt feelings, “I’m sorry Cloie, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Cloud was now just lying on the ground looking away from Dusk with her head on her hooves, “No, I shouldn’t have over-reacted, I’m sorry, it was a good impersonation.” She said, looking back up into Dusk’s eyes with a half sincere smile.

Dusk went closer and lowered herself to Cloud’s level, unfurled one side of her wings and tucked Cloud under it, “No, I’m sorry, after what happened at Cloudsdale between Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, you and me, I should have known that would have been a very bad idea.”

Cloud, now with a sincere smile, “its ok, my cousin and I knew it was just a joke, but like she says, ‘Surprises are nice, but you should be careful about it, or you might startle somepony and being startled can be…”

“Startling.”, Dusk said in unison with Cloud as she nuzzled her close friend. “I’m still sorry; maybe we should go see the Captain now before we get a first-hand demonstration of how to really do his voice.” They both chuckled and stood up; looking about their surroundings hoping nopony saw what had just transpired. With both satisfied and sure that nopony were rubber necking, they made their way towards the middle of the camp to meet the inevitable end of their ear drums.

When Dusk and Cloud got to the Captains tent, they were hesitant to just walk in like it was a casual evacuation for a ship that could have been saved if somepony on the ship would have actually paid attention in Air-Ship Engineering class.

Most ponies thought the ship was doomed from the start anyways seeing that not just the ship was new, but 85% of the crew barely came out of their respective job classes and that the Captain at the helm never actually had experience captaining a ship but was actually just a captain in the royal guard which has a 35% relevance between the two captains. 5% being that your title is captain and 30% is that you spend your time telling others what to do, which Captain Bullhorn did swimmingly.

It was like asking a surgeon in hospitals for a prognosis on a guy with Gingivitis. In the end, that surgeon is just going to end up sending that pony to the dentist.

The only ponies that had any real experience were the Emergency Response Teams, and that’s only because half of them were on the ship for vacation who consisted of earth and unicorn ponies while the other half who were actually on duty were pegasi fresh out of ‘Cloudsdale Rescue Flight Academy’.

Dusk Strider and Cloud Treader were assigned to be the second hand of the Captain and the only reason for that were the direct orders from Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. Dusk Strider came from Princess Luna’s aerial night guard while Cloud Treader came from Princess Celestia’s aerial day guard, and with they’re history of being close to one another and difficult to separate, were the perfect pair for the assignment…Also they’re names popped up on the yearly raffle of who would get a paid vacation which, due to current events, ended up being a paid work day…with not even a bonus in sight.

After finally bracing their nerves and ears, they moved into the tent where a very menacing and very yellow suited pony sat with his back towards the entrance.

Captain Bullhorn was a gray crew-cut mane and tan coat Pegasus with a cutie mark that looked like an ear with bandages on it. It didn’t take long for many pony to wonder why, but if any pony was still curious though as to why ‘The Thunder of the West’ did have a damaged ear on his flank and were crazy enough to ask the canvas of the unique mark, they were given such an intricate and colorful verbal lashing, that you could of sworn that the pony on the receiving end of the verbal bombardment had actually received an expansion to their vocabulary while they were explaining why they were in the hospital with ear-muffs on.

Bullhorn was also known to be one of the most harsh, yet unorthodox, drill instructors of his battalion. On one account, he was known to have had a pony in the ‘Royal Guards Academy’, who was caught having snuck a jelly donut in his trunk, eat the whole donut and donuts that Bullhorn requested from the mess hall, in front of all the ponies in his barracks while they were doing their daily drills. Feeling as if that wasn’t enough punishment, the Captain punished the Donut Baron’s bunkmates rather than him whenever he fell out of line. He faced a grizzly end though; reports were sketchy but it was something about a strawberry jelly splashed wall in the shower room.

Due to a few complaints from half of Canterlot, The Royal Guards from Day and Night positions, some birds, denizens in the Everfree Forest and a Manticore with very fine paw writing, Bullhorn is not allowed to directly project his voice towards whoever he is talking to or anyone in the vicinity. He has even had to, in some circumstances; talk into his helmet or straight into the air when completely surrounded. Thankfully, he had one of the crewponys bring his hazard suit which muffled his voice so deeply that it was like you were talking to a pony using their outdoor voice in a library, which was useful for him since he liked examining the expressions on the faces of the pony he was talking to.

“Oh good, I was about to go and send somepony to fetch you. You Sugarcube delights did a fine job up there. I believe that a captain should go down with their ship, but seeing as you saved everypony’s lives, it didn’t have to come down to that. There was even enough time for me to give a speech of how I should actually go down with the ship to all the rescue ponies that came by. Some of those flip-flops had the nerve to actually interrupt me and try to haul me off. I taught them a lesson by beating the 6…no…maybe it was 12, of them into submission. After I had realized that we were still ‘descending’, and after retrieving the ‘Apple Acres Special Brew’ from the bar area…” Bullhorn was now pointing at the bottle on the desk, to which Cloud responded with a frown, “…I decided it was about time to leave. So I rescued the rescue team and hauled us off to safety on the Life Chariot the parked outside the bridge. How’s that for a captain who doesn’t know how to fly an air-ship?”

After a long blank stare from Dusk and Cloud, Dusk finally spoke up, “Umm, I think that…— did you really just say you beat up the ponies that were trying to save you and hauled them off yourself to safety?” She asked, hoping it was just the hazard suit and not him actually being sincere.

“Yes indeedy, lil lady, bunch of nandy pandy ponies if you ask me. They didn’t even so much as try to fight back. All they really tried to do was dog pile me…fat lot of help that did them. Few tried to run away, just ended up getting dragged back to face a 'Royal Takedown'.” He said with what could have been assumed as a smug face past the plastic mask.

With another blank stare from the two dumbstruck ponies, Cloud was able to throw her words into the ring of awkward silence, “Well I think you did a great job.” She followed with a light ‘woohoo’, “Was there any other items of discussion you wanted to bring up while we were here Captain?”

“Actually there was, I need you two buttercups to report this incident in with the ‘Royal Aviation Club’ at Canterlot. Seeing as the flight only lasted one day, we shouldn’t be too far. After you make your report… I guess you can get some help to retrieve those hoity toity ponies outside, but if you ask me, they can use the outdoors and wilderness, instead of being in their posh and pampered villas and mansions, you know? Really put them into the…”

“OK, CAPTAIN, AYE AYE.” Dusk abruptly cut in to prevent Cloud from hearing anything she might regret, “We’ll get right on it, let’s go Cloud we have a lot of sky to cover. If we’re lucky, we can reach Canterlot before evening.” With a big fake smile, Dusk was already pushing the tent entrance folds aside but was stopped midway when Cloud asked one more question which turned the fake smile into a real look of worry.

It’s never really been understood by Dusk Strider, but ever since an incident that involved a slip of the tongue between Rainbow Dash and Dusk with Cloud unknowingly present, she found out that few words should never be said around her companion, lest she wants to explain for two hours that the only reason she said those words was because she was retelling a story in full detail, towards a trembling rain cloud, or rather, a white cloud with water coming out of it. After explaining herself, Dusk decided to promise to never use those words or anything like it around Cloud again. Now, Dusk has been used to not saying those words for so long that she doesn’t even say them even if Cloud isn’t around, but still protects Cloud from them, even if she has to be physical about it.

“Captain Bullhorn, what were you about to say, I’m sorry but I didn’t quite catch that last part.” She asked as innocent as a filly asking where foals came from.

Captain Bullhorn shifted his gaze from Cloud to Dusk multiple times before finally leaving his eyes on Cloud. With a smile that can pierce even the murkiest of swamps, he began, “Well Peach Cobbler, what I was about to say before I was interrupted by your friend here was that…” Dusk was now shaking under the nervous pressure she was feeling from the torturous conversation.

“..We can put these hoity…” every word feeling like an eternity just to say, “…toity…” you can almost hear the grinding of teeth coming from Dusk that almost sounded like rusty gears, ”…ponies into the...” with her heart racing, Dusk prepared herself into the ‘Comfort Position’ that she used whenever Cloud popped into ‘Shocked and Awed’ mode. With one last look towards Dusk to see how much she was dreading this, which was immense, he turned his attention towards Cloud who was wide eyed as ponies watching Celestia raise the sun on the Summer Sun Celebration were, “…essence of nature…” he finally said with a great pleasure in his voice, “…and teach them there’s more to life than being in Canterlot all day and night. Get in touch with their nature side.” With that, Dusk would of feinted right there if the air-ship hadn’t decided to take matters in its own hull and finally crash down as if on cue, and that if she hadn’t caught the satisfied smile on Cloud’s face who was now ready to leave, “Now you two go on, I’ll be teaching those twinkle noses out there how to survive off the land and maybe get them to help clean up the mess that took its sweet time to make itself.” Cloud left the tent and waited outside for Dusk, who managed to catch a wink from Bullhorn before turning his back to the entrance.

Dusk and Cloud went off to gather their saddle bags and get their bearings. After a few farewells to the rest of the Crewponys and after checking on a few of the survivors who were still awake and wondering when the non-existent buffet would be open, they flew off into the sunrise…before realizing that was completely in the wrong direction and turned themselves about and headed towards the West.

Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1, Pt. 2

After a few hours of flight, Dusk and Cloud decided to take a small break at a conveniently positioned pond in the forest. Said conveniently positioned pond is a unique pond, as it is not a product of nature. It was there because somepony thought it would be a good idea to have a rest area an hour or two away from Canterlot just in case a pony was lost, tired, or were part of a terrible accident. He was criticized heavily for this idea, and since it was an unregistered dig site with water being diverted from the river under the jurisdiction of the ‘Royal Canterlot Aqua Control and Flow Systems’, he was later cast out of Canterlot and never heard of since. The only reason the conveniently positioned pond was left untouched was because it, ironically, was convenient. Stories have been told of how it helped a shamed show pony from thirst when they lost their way after a bad performance in Ponyville, and how a group of bandits were caught off guard and arrested while singing and dancing when taking a break from robbing rich ponies of their possessions. Now it rises to its pony given duty once again, relieving Dusk and Cloud from their journey of having to report a disaster that they were, unfortunately, a part of.

“We’ll just take a ten minute break, I don’t think were too far from Canterlot now anyhow, and the sun is barely at its peak,” Dusk said to her flight-mate while laying her belongings on the ground near the water where she thought would be a good place to be seated.

“I can use a break after flying so far and for so long. Would you like anything to eat while we rest?” asked Cloud who was now searching through her bag for the food she packed. With the brown bag marked ‘food’ in her mouth, she walked towards Dusk and gently put the food down between them and sat down.

Now facing Cloud, “That sounds like a good idea; I don’t think we’ve eaten since the dinner before the incident. What did you manage to pack?” asked Dusk, licking her lips.

Cloud searched through the contents of the brown bag, “I have a few apples and box-packaged cookies from the emergency kits. Didn’t you manage to pack any snacks before we left?” asked Cloud with a curious face aimed at Dusk.

“I actually didn’t think we would be so far,” said Dusk as she gave a sheepish smile.

“Well that’s ok, would you like an apple or the cookies?” with an apple in one hoof and a box of cookies in the other, Cloud offered towards Dusk.

“Just an apple please, I’m sure that will last me until we get to Canterlot,” taking the apple, Dusk took a bite with a smile.

Grabbing another apple and putting the box of cookies back, Cloud took a loud bite of the apparently crisp and juicy fruit. After a few more bites she let out a burp, her eyes wide from shock, she placed her hoof over her mouth, “Excuse me!”

Dusk just giggled towards her friend, “It’s alright, and it’s just us,” Her giggle now tuning down into a smile now that she finished her apple; she then turned to her bag.

“I was wondering…if you weren’t carrying food, what is in your bag?” asked Cloud now looking at the bag as well.

Dusk now turning to face her friend, “Would you like to see?”

Looking back to Dusk with curiosity in Cloud’s eyes, “I think I would. I don’t know, is it safe?”

Taken aback by the question, “It’s just a bag and don’t worry, I didn’t trap it or anything,” Dusk said as she gave Cloud an innocent smile.

“Well…okay,” Cloud answered, who was now returning a smile back.

Dusk gripped her saddle bag in her mouth and turned to put it down in front of Cloud, who had a mixed feeling of curiosity and fear. As Cloud began to open the bag, her eyes filled with wonderment and surprise as she never thought she would ever see the contents of the bag in such a vulnerable position, a position that she thought she’d only ever had if she took the advantage given to her the night before.

“How did you ever get these?” Cloud asked as she felt the glass container of a liquid that can best described as a mugging; expensive and bad for the head. The taste though, can best be described as if your tongue were swimming in a pool of freshly pressed apple juice filled with cinnamon flotation devices and all of a sudden sucked into a lemon whirlpool.

Watching as her friend was beaming with delight at the package in her bag, “I managed to ‘confiscate’ it from a few of the rescue ponies and guests. I kind of figured it would be difficult for a few gentle colts to finish all the drinks in the bar area without having some ponies take a few along for the journey,” Dusk confessed.

Cloud gave Dusk a look of embarrassment before asking, “Would you mind if I were to be able to…I don’t know…I mean, you don’t have to…but…may I have a bottle to enjoy when we get back home?” Dusk responded to Cloud by giving her a puzzled look, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked--”

Dusk quickly interrupted, “Cloie, I got these for you, there’s no need for you to be shy or embarrassed when it comes to me, of course you can have one, two or three even if you’d like. I actually meant to keep them a surprise till we got to Canterlot and finished our business there. Try and keep them hidden till we get to the house though, even if we saved these bottles from a doomed ship, I don’t think they would let us keep them without sharing a few.” Dusk finished by giving Cloud a sly wink.

Cloud gave Dusk a hug before taking two bottles from the saddle bag and putting them into her own. “Thank you so much, you have no idea how long I’ve waited to taste this again. I think I’ll have an easier time sleeping again now with these to sip while I read at night.”

“What do you mean by an ‘easier time’ sleeping? I thought you had an easier time sleeping than me without having a bright light in your face,” Dusk said, giving a light giggle.

Cloud now staring at the pond, “Well, whenever you’re still on duty or with Princess Luna, and I have the house to myself, I just decide to read and sip some cider on my bed until you got back home; I always found it easier to sleep when you’re around. The usual pony I bought my cider from moved to Manehattan a month ago, so it’s been difficult to find anypony that sold it for the same price; even in Canterlot. I’ve been meaning to ask Applejack, but she’s been so busy lately, I didn’t want to bother.” Cloud said, rubbing her arm uneasily.

Dusk now feeling a bit ashamed from realizing how much time she lost with her friend, “I know we don’t get much time together like we used to, but I do try and get home before you leave for your shift to spend dinner…err…breakfast with you. We’ll always have our day-offs together at least.”

“I know, and I’m not upset or anything. You’re my closest friend I’ve ever had; I just thought you should know.”

Dusk now sat closer to her friend, who was staring at the shimmering water of the pond, “How about we stretch our brake; we did fly for a couple of hours and I am still a bit tired.”

Cloud shifted her eyes away from the water and raised her eyebrow towards Dusk, “but won’t we be behind schedule? I don’t think Captain Bullhorn would like being stuck in the middle of nowhere with very posh ponies for long. It’s not really his type of ponies he likes being around.”

“It’ll be fine, knowing him; you should feel sorrier for the Canterlot Elite. Now---” Pulling a bottle from her saddle bag and facing Cloud, “would you care to join me in a drink?”

Giving Dusk a smile that challenged the sun in who would be allowed the rights to shimmer on the pond, “I would love to, but we don’t have any cups or glasses.”

With a short moment of contemplation, Dusk decided to pull her water canteen out of her saddle bag and emptied it, “Let me have you’re canteen, please,” Cloud quickly grabbed her canteen from her respective bag and handed it to Dusk, who emptied it as well. Dusk then uncorked the bottle and poured its contents into both canteens, “I know it isn’t exactly the most ideal way to drink this, but it’s the best I can do under the current circumstances, hope you don’t mind,” Dusk said before giving Cloud back her canteen with a smile.

“I don’t mind at all,” said Cloud as she let herself lay on her stomach from her long sit, “Cheers,” she finished as she raised her canteen.

Dusk lying next to Cloud and raising her canteen, “Cheers,” and both took a swig from their canteens. “Just a small rest, and then we’ll head to Canterlot again,” now feeling a soft nuzzle on her neck from her sleepy friend; Dusk smiled and rested her head on the ground allowing Cloud to have a comfortable cushion to lay her head upon.

As both lay asleep in the midday chill weather, the sound of an explosion sounded off from the distance in the same direction as Canterlot. The booming sound wasn’t enough to wake up the peaceful ponies that lay near the unintentionally historic landmark but it did cause quite a few of the wildlife to dash past them as they ran away from the epicenter. Another curious event of note was that after the explosion, a few black dots with damaged mosquito-like wings, rocketed overhead towards the desert and beyond.

Few have speculated; at least the few who weren’t in Canterlot to see what had actually happened or had no real interest in current events; that the mosquito-winged black dots were an ancient evil that tried to take over Canterlot and its subjects. Others though, thought they were just ‘U.B.Os’ that came from outer space to wreak havoc upon all of Equestria but were turned away at the last moment because there was a slight miscalculation to the coordinates on the ‘Universal Map-O-Matron’ on board. A few days after the statements were taken from those ponies, reports of black suited and shades wearing ponies began to appear about how they escorted any pony that mentioned ‘U.B.O’s’ to a secret unknown facility on a far off island only to return to deny anything said before and go on with their daily lives as if nothing happened.

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With the rush of wind through her mane, Cloud slowly opened her eyes to an empty white void, “Whe…where am I?” she asked as she stood up, looking around her environment. The only views to be seen had been the light fog surrounding the peach coat, blue and orchid colored mane Pegasus in all directions; again she spoke, “is anyone there? I think I’m lost, I was at a pond with my…” before she could finish, a quick movement through the veil caught her eye. She took a few steps forward to get a better look, but after a few more steps, she fell through a hole that escaped her view. As she screamed for help while falling into an infinite abyss of clouds and sky with no ground in sight, she quickly remembered that she could fly, but as she tried to use her feathered appendages, she couldn’t help but feel as if something were amiss. When she looked to her back, she realized what it had been; her wings. With another cry for assistance to anypony she was hoping was out there with her, something managed to materialize near her. When she noticed the odd item, she was at first confused of why it was with her in the first place, but after throwing a few thoughts around, she finally decided to just hold it close and hope it would help, in some way, to impede the tear inducing descent. The item, on the other hand, had little care to what was currently happening. The only thought it had at the moment was, “At least I’m not going down alone this time.”

After what felt like hours of falling, Cloud decided to talk to the object instead of use it to break her fall with, whenever the ground decided to stop playing hide-and-seek. While talking about her days in Cloudsdale and moments with friends, the object was now realizing that out of all the times it’s been through this, this had to be one of the most torturous. The item was now awaiting the crash that would finally end it all…or at least end this moment and start a new one somewhere else, but hopefully with a body this time and not from a life-taking fall.

When Cloud ran out of things to discuss and argue about, she decided to lay her new friend on her stomach. When she turned her head to see if anything was new below, her eyes caught a fresh view that turned her fully downward, and leaving the item to fend for itself. Instead of the vast light-blue with white blotches she had been accustomed to; it had been a small green dot. The now growing spot that once was lighter than what it was turning into was enough to give Cloud a second wind for exercising her vocals. Cloud screamed as loud as she could before closing her eyes and begin awaiting her fate, but after hearing a crash and feeling as if she should have reached the end of her free fall already, a sense of floating surrounded her.

She opened her eyes to find that she was on top of a purple flying carpet with both a midnight and royal blue border and a shield with a crescent moon design in the middle, “Wait…,” she said as she wiped her tears and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again to get a better look of the soft cushion that saved her life, it was actually somepony she had spent the past few hours talking about. When she realized who it was, she couldn’t hold back her joy any longer and threw her hooves around her savior’s neck. She held Dusk so close that you would need three of guards’ ponies to pry her off, “Where were you, I thought you had left me at the pond?”

“I would never leave you my love…” Dusk said as she kept flying through the grass lands that were covered in different types of flora.

Loosening her grip and with a burning hot blush encompassing both sides of her face, Cloud asked with a shaking voice in a great shock, “WH…WHAT!?!?”

Not fazed by the volume or tone of voice, Dusk continued nonchalantly, “I would also never let any harm come to you,” Cloud braced herself, “my love.”

“Oh,” said Cloud with a tone only a pony as flummoxed as her can pull off; a tone of excitement, embarrassment, and nervousness, “That’s what I thought you said.

With that, Cloud fell off of Dusk to join her new friend that she left behind, on its own. As she fell, her vision began becoming blurred and hazy; a few moments later, she completely blacked out. She now became a descending peach blur, glowing with joy on her face.

-------------------------------------------------.------------------------------------------------

“Ugh, my head,” muttered Dusk as she slowly raised her head to the sunset light before pausing to see where Cloud was.

When she caught sight of Cloud, now laying her head on her own hooves, she continued raising herself up to look for their bags. She packed Cloud’s canteen and food bag quietly into her saddle bag; Dusk then emptied the last of the cider in her canteen into the opened bottle, that she corked up before putting back into her saddle bag, and refilled it with the water from the clear pond. She took a small drink before having her canteen join the rest of her possessions in the saddle bag.

With everything packed, she set her eyes on Cloud who was still adrift in her dream world, “she’s too peaceful” she thought as she smiled. Dusk picked up both her and Cloud’s bags and placed them on her back, making sure that she didn’t obstruct her wings; she then scooped up Cloud with one of her wings and slowly slid her upon her own back, using the bags as a leveled platform to keep Cloud from falling. Before taking off, she accustomed herself to the extra weight, which wasn’t as much as she thought it would be.

As she was making sure everything was ready and nothing left behind, an explosion sounded off into the distance and was followed by a wave of different colors; she pondered about it for a moment but quickly set her mind back on the task at hoof. With everything in check, she shook her head of any lingering haziness, stretched her wings out to release any last kinks, trotted forward and took off. It wouldn’t be long before the bright lights of Canterlot were in sight, where a warm bed and hot food would be awaiting them.

--------------------------------------------------.---------------------------------------------------

As Dusk flew over past some of the buildings in Canterlot, she noticed something different in the scenery that she memorized as being less…demolished. After taking in a few of the sights that were left, she decided to check into the Royal Port near Canterlot Castle.

The Royal Port had three sections meant for different forms of business. The first section was meant for guards and supply shipments meant for the castle and its staff; the second section was meant for diplomatic officials on business with the castle; and the final station was meant for The Royal Princess Sisters, if they required an air-ship and accompaniment of guards and/or special guests for a long trip out of Equestria.

“You are flying into a restricted area, please state your business before beginning your descent,” yelled a white stallion flashing his horn at the new arrivals from one of the watch towers overlooking the docking area for guards.

“Search Light, it’s me, stop shining that in my eyes,” Dusk shouted as she tried blocking her view of the offending light with her hoof.

“Dusk Strider, is that you?” Search Light said as he dimmed his beam.

Dusk, after rubbing her eyes and now lowering her hoof, “Yes, I have precious cargo and a report for the Royal Aviation Clu…, “Dusk quickly cut herself off, remembering the ‘official’ name Captain Bullhorn reluctantly used. She began again with a more weary tone, “Committee, the Royal Aviation…,” she took a moment to emphasize the last word, “Committee.”

“Alright, take station one landing pad four, and I’ll send some ponies to assist you. Sorry for the inconvenience.” finished Search Light as he cast a spell to guide Dusk to her destination.

“Thanks Search Light, I may have a present for you yet,” Dusk said as she passed by the watch tower following the shimmering light.

Search Light returned to his duty to keep his eye on the sky, now with a smile on his face at the thought that somepony actually remembered his birthday, even after all that’s transpired that day.

Dusk Strider landed at her designated landing zone as softly as she could. Two ponies in armor trotted towards her to offer their assistance with the ‘package’ they had heard about.

“We heard you needed some help with some precious cargo, Dusk,” said the dark mare before she unfurled her bat like wings.

“Do you need us to take it anywhere specific?” asked the light green stallion, readying his horn.

“Hey Vesper, hey Calyx; It’s Cloud and our bags; can you please take her and our stuff back to our house in Ponyville? We just came back from a crash on an air-ship on its way to Trottingham,” said Dusk as she turned about to show the sleeping hitchhiker and their bags.

“Aww, look at the little foal; is she alright? It must have been a long trip,” said Vesper as she took Cloud onto her back with her wings.

“The trip was short, but the journey back was lengthy and she’s alright, just tired.” Dusk said as she turned to her back to take off the saddle bags.

“Well, at least your back, let me get those for you,” the stallion offered as he willed the bags off Dusk’s back with his magic and put it on his own.

“We’ll get Cloud and your stuff back to your house, don’t worry. Luna may want to talk to you when you’re done with the committee, a lot has happened while you were away,” finished Vesper as she motioned to her partner to follow with cargo in toll, and both walked off.

“Wonder what she meant by that,” Dusk thought as she began making her way through the ruined streets to the Royal Aviation Committee’s Conference Hall. She decided to walk this time to rest her wings and backside from the journey, and it would give her time to think up of excuses to any of the many questions she will be bombarded with.

----------------------------------.-----------------------------------

Two clunky ponies started to approach a two story house near the town’s library. One pony had what looked like a delicate colored sack on their back and the other had two bags, one light and one dark.

The pony with the delicate sack tried the doors knob, but to no avail, “Calyx, check their bags for a key; it’s not budging,” she said as she turned to her partner.

“I’m not sure Vesper; I’d feel more comfortable just using my magic to rattle the lock instead,” Calyx said as he gave Vesper a fretted look.

“Well, whatever it takes to open the door, Cloud’s heavier than she looks; Dusk made this look too easy.” Vesper took a step back to let Calyx have a closer look.

“Ok, just give me a moment,” Cloud then started focusing his horn towards the door engulfed in a turquoise glow; with a few rough grunts, the door slowly opened.

“Nice,” Vesper condescendingly said as she started to walk into the house. When both guards made their way in, they took in the view.

On their right had been a well-furnished living room; with a couch next to the window with a sight of the front yard; bookcase in the corner on the right of the couch; coat hanger near the door; desk on the opposite side of the couch; table directly in front of the couch; a planter in the opposite corner of the bookcase; and a few pictures of the princess sisters, self-portraits, and friends on the wall above the desk. The living room served as the recreation area whenever there were guests or the current residents were asked to foal-sit for ponies around town. It also served as a reading area whenever Dusk and Cloud spent their day-offs together and weren’t able to leave the house.

On their left had been the kitchen with a refrigerator, dining table, and counter-tops. The table had six chairs total; two on two sides and one on the remaining sides. On top of the table was a vase with flowers from Cloud’s cousin, Fluttershy, who brought the flowers from her personal garden every other time she has visited. The counters were topped with appliances and utensils neatly organized against the wall. There was enough room in the kitchen to maneuver around the table to be able to cook and get to all cabinets, drawers and appliances without having to trip over any other ponies sharing the room. There was also enough room on the counters to be able to unnecessarily prepare three meals without feeling cramped or overwhelmed.

Straight ahead was the staircase that led to the bedrooms. The bedrooms flanked the left and right of the hallway, straight ahead was a window with curtains and a view to the backyard. They had their own bathrooms to help prevent one pony from waiting for the other. Both bedrooms were personalized by the ponies opposite of whom it belonged to. The reason for this was because the roommates wanted to see how much they knew about each other’s likes and dislikes. Dusk did fairly well by making Cloud’s room easy to breathe in and spacious, and walled it with a much dampened beige color scheme to help Clouds very easy to irritate eyes. Cloud did very well by making Dusk’s room easy to sleep in during the day by setting very thick but fashionable curtains on the windows and placing cloud-soft pillows with matching blankets on the bed.

“Maybe we should start living together,” Vesper jokingly proposed as she walked up the stairs, “I’ll get her into her bed and leave a note, you can leave the bags near the door on the side,” she finished as she walked into the room with ‘Cloud’ marked onto the door.

“Alright, I’ll wait outside,” said Calyx as he walked back outside after leaving the bags where he was told to.

Back in the room where Vesper was now laying Cloud into, she wrote a note with the paper and pencil she found on the drawer at the opposite side of the room, “There,” Vesper said after placing the note on the cloud shaped top of the lamp near the bed, “sweet dreams, Cloie.” She now left the room and out of the house after locking and closing the door to join her partner who was now staring off into the night, “well that was nice,” she said with a sincere voice, “lets head back and see if there’s anything else the sergeant needs before heading to the barracks,” now making her way to the train station.

Calyx, snapping out of his daze, soon followed, “Alright…Vesper?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yes?” Vesper answered while keeping her view ahead of her.

“Were you just joking before…about us living together?”

Vesper, letting out a small chuckle, “We’ll see, Calyx, We’ll see.” She finished as she kept making her way to her destination with a smile on her face.

With Calyx out of Vesper’s line of sight, he joined his companion in a smile.

----------------------.----------------------

Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1, Pt. 3

“My love…love….love,” the echo kept ringing into the ears of the pony that was cuddling the pillow the same size as Princess Celestia that can be bought in Canterlot’s, ‘Ms. Marekorium’s Phenomenon Emporium’ .

“Ungh, my head,” Cloud said as she finally awoke from her unfulfilled dream. Sitting up from her bed, she took in her surroundings, “nightstand, lamp, note…wait,” Cloud reached over to the parchment hanging on her lamp.

The sultry voice of the author flooded Cloud’s head as she began to read, “Dusk Strider carried you back to Canterlot when you were stuck on snooze mode. She asked us to bring you and your stuff back to your house before she left to meet with the Royal Aviation Committee. Your items are down stairs, next to the door. Just stay put, Dusk should be back soon; with love, Vesper and Calyx.”

Cloud set the note beside the alarm clock on the nightstand before getting herself out of bed. She took a look at her clock to see how long she had actually been asleep. With disbelief, she trotted to her window to see which cosmic titan took over the sky; she opened her curtains to see it had been a full moon, “Had I really been asleep that long? I hope I wasn’t too much trouble,” she grimaced at the thought of her friend having to have carried her such a long way.

She closed the curtains and walked to the downstairs living room to find her items; as said in the note, the bags had been together near the door. Cloud, remembering the cider her friend had graciously given her, took the bottles out and made her way to the refrigerator. When she finished organizing the bottom shelf with her private reserve, she checked to see her options for dinner, “tomatoes, carrots, milk, and a left over cake slice from one of Pinkie Pie’s parties. I really need to do some shopping tomorrow during my break,” she said aloud while making a mental note. With a sigh, she pulled out the milk and left over cake and set them on the counter

As she reached into the top cabinet to get a cup, a knock thundered from the door. Seeing as it was very late into the night and not having any pony come to mind as who would visit at such an hour, her first response was to let out an ‘eep’ and hide under the table. After a few more knocks, Cloud managed to pull herself out from the table and tentatively made her way to the door.

She spoke before opening to make sure it wasn’t some creature of the Everfree Forest looking to use her as a substitute for sugar; not because she thought she was sweet, but because she thought that’s what monsters just did. “Who...who, is it?” she asked as she put her ear to the door.

With a soft and fearful tone, the supposed monster past the door spoke, “it’s Flut…,” the voice trailed off into an incomprehensible whisper.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” Cloud said as she pressed her ear closer to the door.

“Flutter…,” the voice then trailed off again before going off into a whimper.

“Flutter…Fluttershy, is that you?” Cloud asked, placing her hoof on the door handle.

The voice answered with a light ‘mhm’ before disappearing again.

Cloud quickly opened the door to see a panicked yellow mare hiding behind their pink mane, most likely thinking that something was about to jump out of the dark if nopony had answered the door. She began to speak to see why her cousin had visited at such a late hour, “Fluttershy come in; what brings you here at such an hour? I would have thought you were sleeping already at this time.”

Fluttershy answered while making her way into the house and onto the couch, “After the wedding reception, I went back home. When I got home, I looked out the window and I saw two guards with something on their backs make their way to your house. I just wanted to make sure you and Dusk were alright.” She was now looking about the house to see where the other occupant had been. Having not succeeded, “Where is Dusk?” she asked as she gave Cloud a quizzical look.

Cloud joined Fluttershy on the couch after closing the door and gave a mild frown before answering, “She went to the Royal Aviation Committee to tell them that their new ship had crashed on the way to Trottingham. I was meant to go with her, but I dosed off after we took a break. She probably asked the two guards you saw to take me and our stuff back home. We’re alright though, I don’t think we can say the same for the passengers though,” she finished with a small smile at the thought of what could be happening to the posh ponies now.

Fluttershy took it a different way and asked with concerned haste, “Oh my goodness, what happened? Was anypony hurt?” she was now raising her hooves just over her jaw, ready to hide her face from the answer.

Cloud, now realizing her folly, answered quickly, “Oh, no, no, no, no…They’re fine; I just meant who they were left with. Nopony was actually hurt from the crash...don’t worry.” She finished with a reassuring smile.

Now calmed down, Fluttershy wondered what Cloud had meant, “Well, ok, but who were they left with?”

Cloud answered, retaining her smile, “Captain Bullhorn; he said he would be teaching them how to survive and get them in touch with nature.”

Fluttershy, joining Cloud in a smile and with a giggle, “Ok, I’m glad you and Dusk are alright. Would you like me to stay with you until Dusk came back?”

“No, it’s alright; I don’t want to burden you from your pets and friends back at your house. I was about to have a quick dinner and head to bed to read a little. How about I walk you back to your house? It’s still dark out and I know how much trouble it took you to get here.”

“You really don’t have to,” Fluttershy said before she looked back out the window. Noticing how dark it actually was, she turned and gave Cloud an uneasy smile.

Taking a look out the window herself, Cloud looked back to her courageous cousin and gave her a comforting smile back, “I’ll get the lamp, let me just put the milk and cake back before it gets bad,” now making her way to the kitchen to tidy up.

Fluttershy gave a quick nod before standing up to walk about the living room as she waited.

After cleaning up the kitchen and fetching the lamp that had been under her bed, Cloud took the keys from her saddle bag. Showing that she was ready to Fluttershy, who was finished flipping through pages of a rather steamy romance novel, they made their way out. After stepping past the door to the dark starry night, Cloud locked the door, and the two made their way to the edge of the Everfree Forest where Fluttershy’s home settled.

After a few minutes of walking, Cloud decided to cut the silence that had surrounded the two, “So, how was the wedding?”

“It was lovely; the bird choir did exceptionally well, I beat up a bunch of changelings, and the cake was exquisite,” answered Fluttershy as she kept her pace next to Cloud.

“That’s nice; how was the recep…wait, what?”

-----------------------------------.-----------------------------------

“…and you are sure that it wasn’t a U.B.O?” asked a very authoritative voice from a bench in a high position above the recipient of unusual questions.

“As stated before, no, it wasn’t a U.B.O,” answered the mare that was now looking towards the mysterious ponies in black suits and black shades from behind her podium.

For the past hour, the booming voice and Dusk Strider had been having a conversation over the matter of what had happened on the air-ship. The questions started out basic, but when the mysterious ponies had shown, the questions quickly changed. They ranged from whether she had believed in U.B.O’s, to if a U.B.O had been responsible for the crash.

Feeling as if whatever they had been looking for wasn’t there, the strange ponies left the room after giving a nod in the direction of the black void where the authoritative voice had been emanating from. The only features that managed to pierce the vast emptiness were six red dots; which most likely belonged to the administrators heading the project on board the ship. All were directed at the podium where the pony in question stood.

After a few minutes of mumbling from the bench; an imposing voice, different from the first, began to speak, “After much deliberation, we have come to the conclusion that the crash was indeed an accident and could not have been prevented in any way.” Before the voice continued, lights had dissolved the darkness that encompassed all but the podium and door leading to the main lobby. After readjusting her eyes, Dusk caught sight of the two stallions and one mare sitting behind their microphones that had been questioning her most of the night she had been back.

The ponies had begun taking off what could have been presumed as flashlights with rubber bands attached to them; the unicorn stallion in the red blazer began speaking, but with less volume and a child-like tone, “Ah, well, that was fun while it lasted. Thank you, Ms. Strider, for indulging us in our test for these new night vision goggles we have been testing. These will be greatly helpful for any of the crewponies on night duty. Wish we were able to field test it along with the slow-fall crash systems we had installed on the ship you were on.”

The earth pony stallion in the blue blazer continued after his partner had finished, with a more Trottingham accent, “Yes, quite unfortunate that was. Sorry for the hour of questioning we put you through before you were able to get any rest, but we thought it would be better for you to handle this now so you may have plenty of rest later.”

The pegasi mare in the gold blazer began her part of the discussion with a more stern and business type voice than her childish cohorts, “We will be sending a rescue air-ship to the area you described to pick up the survivors, and recover any items from the project. If we have any further questions, we will contact you via letter. Thank you for your cooperation.” With that, the three administrators turned to converse with each other about what they would have for dinner, not even noticing the plum mare exiting the room.

---------------.----------------

As Dusk left the Royal Aviation Conference Hall, she turned to her left and right to look for an open diner or bakery to fill her empty belly before she proceeded to the next item on her list. With no establishment in sight, she decided to just look for one on the way to Canterlot Castle.

During her walk, she couldn’t help but feel that she was being followed. With every corner she took, she turned to her back to see if her suspicions had been true but came up empty every time. After a few more failed attempts, she decided to concentrate back on her walk to the castle.

While she focused on her walk and ever-so-angry stomach, a mysterious pony in black followed her every step, eluding her view.

With the castle in sight, Dusk let out a sigh of relief, but after hearing a noise behind her, she slowly turned to see what it could have been. As she was midway through her turn, everything had turned black, and a yelp had taken the place of where she once stood.

Moments after the sound, an unremarkable being had decided to check if the source of the noise had still been there. After looking for a few minutes, the being had left the scene with a gruff grunt before going back into the shadows that it had come from.

--------------.---------------

“Thank you again for the salad, cousin,” Cloud said as she stood outside of her kin’s home.

“It was no problem; cake isn’t really an idea choice for dinner after what you’ve been through. Thank you for walking me home; are you sure you will be ok walking back on your own?” Fluttershy asked from within her home as she gave Cloud a concerned look.

“I’ll be alright; I’ll come and visit you after my shift tomorrow,” Cloud paused before looking to the sky. Seeing how low the moon was on the horizon, she continued, “actually, later today.”

“Well ok, have a safe walk, I’ll see you tonight.” Fluttershy finished by giving Cloud a hug, and then closed the door.

With her task complete, Cloud walked through the star lit path once again to return to her humble home. As she walked back, the overwhelming silence unnerved her senses. She couldn’t help but feel as if she was being followed; which was a paranoid feeling she got whenever she was walking alone but unfortunately though this time, she was.

After a few minutes of walking, she turned the corner into an ominous alleyway next to Sugarcube Corner that she had used before as a shortcut home. Usually this would actually make her feel better, but seeing as the moon and stars light had no access into this particular alleyway, it hadn’t.

When she neared the end of the tight spaced path, a light relief spread across her heart…which was crushed when she heard a sound come from behind her. When she turned to look, a dark silhouette towered her; before she could even comprehend what type of scream would echo through the alley, her vision went black and then she was gone.

-------------.-------------

At Canterlot Castle, two ponies were helping clean the aftermath of the notorious Pinkie Pie and her extravagant Wedding Reception. One was setting up the chairs and tables to put away while the other was getting the banisters and streamers down from the trees.

“Vesper, after you’re done up there, can you help me get these into the rec storage?” asked Calyx as he tried for a third time to lift the folded chairs and tables all at once before failing.

“You know, you would be done already if you weren’t trying to get me alone in that storage room with you,” Vesper jokingly said as she grabbed the last of the decorations.

Calyx replied, dumbfounded, “what? Me? No, no, no, no, no…” now absentmindedly hiding one side of his face, thinking that would hide his whole blushing demeanor.

Looking back at Calyx, Vesper floated down next to him and pressed her advantage, “Oh, is my little Caily Waily blushing?” she pressed herself closer to him , “red is a ‘very’ becoming color on you.”

Hardly speaking equine at all, Calyx still made the attempt, “I habba dabba...mappoo bandaLOOOOOOO.” Being incomprehensible to himself anymore, he just stood as solid as Discord, and as red as the protective spell that failed to keep their, now gone, wedding crashers out.

Letting out a powerful laugh, Vesper rolled on her back, “Oh goodness, you’re just too easy,” she quickly stood up, trying to help loosen her partner up by nudging him, “come on Calyx, want to smooch?” With that, more laughter ensued from the conniving Pegasus.

Feeling a mixture of anger and embarrassment, Calyx jostled himself out of his statuesque figure and levitated what tables and chairs he could before making his way to the storage room.

Vesper, feeling guilty for playing on her friend’s feelings, grabbed what chairs she could and made her way after him. As she stood in front of the storage room door, she sensed something amiss. When she opened the door and stepped into the room, she placed the chairs against the wall with the others. She began to scan the large labyrinth of chairs, tables, and other items meant for festivities and events. Not satisfied with what she saw, she made her way deeper, calling out into the room, “Calyx? Where are you? I’m sorry for messing with you,” there was no response. After walking a few steps deeper, she had heard a loud crash, “Calyx, is that you? Are you ok?” she asked as she came closer and closer to the cause of the noise. When she felt as if the source of the sound had been around the corner, the lights went out but she still made the turn. Suddenly, there was another crash, followed by a voice, “Who the hay is that? Calyx, is it you?” Vesper threw a wild punch into something rather hard in front of her.

A loud mumble replied, and then a bright, light green glow appeared. Vesper responded to what she saw from under the glow with a loud scream and another punch. It had been a lime colored pony with a blindfold and a gag in their mouth.

“Calyx, is that you? What happened to you? Did you do this to yourself?” asked Vesper as she composed herself and tried to get her friend out from his predicament.

With the blindfold now off, two black shadows shrouded Calyx’s eyes. When he looked to see his rescuer, his heart leapt to joy…and soon crashed harder than ever when he saw what was behind her, or rather, who was behind her.

When Vesper saw the fear in her friend’s eyes, she followed his gaze and matched his fear when she saw what he had seen. “Thanks a lot, Cal---” before she could finish her sentence, darkness had reclaimed the room and silence joined.

-----------.-----------

“TIAAAAAAAAAAA, I AM BORED, AND WE HAVE NO MORE CAKE, WHAT ARE WE TO DO? SHALL I ALERT THE GUARD OF THESE CRIMES?” asked a booming voice within the upper chambers of Canterlot Castle.

“Luna, why are you in my room? Aren’t you supposed to be meeting Dusk Strider tonight?” asked Celestia as she came out of her bathroom.

“Your bed is more comfortable than mine and she has not come in yet, she is most likely still at the Royal Aviation Club. Are ‘you’ not supposedly meeting with Cloud Treader?” asked Luna in a devious tone.

“I was, but a report from two guards said that she was asleep from her journey with Dusk Strider, so I thought I would just talk to her while she was here on duty. Did you just call the Royal Aviation Committee a club?” asked Celestia as she made her way to the bed.

“Yes, a captain of your aerial guard called it that when he told me about the project that came from them. He was rather loud, so I thought that is what they had been called,” Luna lifted her head to give an innocent look.

“Right, well, go and get ready; your holding court tonight remember? Just because there was a wedding today doesn’t mean court was postponed tonight,” said Celestia as she lay on her bed next to Luna.

“Actually it does; the subjects that had been at the celebration had been the same ponies that were meant to show while I held court. They requested we reschedule,” Luna stretched herself across the bed, “so I have all night to wait for Dusk…on your bed. So huzz…ahh,” finished and feeling victorious, she gave Celestia a wide grin.

“Fine, just please do not bother me while I read,” Celestia said as she pulled a lengthy novel from her nightstand.

Looking at the book her sister had brought out, a thought had crossed Luna’s mind, “Is that not the same novel you recommended to Cloud Treader when she asked you all of those questions of romance?”

Pausing from finding the page she had been last on, Celestia answered, “Yes, what of it, sister?” now continuing her read as she had found where she had left off.

“I was just wondering, is that story not too…unbecoming for a pony like…wait a moment”, Luna’s eyes widened at the realization of what Celestia had been planning.

“What is it, dear sister?” Celestia slowly turned her head towards Luna as she finished the last word of the sentence she was on.

“You are not planning on---.”

A crash from the door resonated out, followed by a voice, “PRINCESS’ WE HAVE REPORTS OF MISSING PONIES.”

Luna flipped off the cloud soft bed in surprise and with a yelp.

Celestia, turning from her humorous sight of her sister falling, laid her eyes on the rattled guard, “Calm yourself good pony; we already know of the reports of missing ponies, and are doing everything we can to find them,” seeing that the guard pony had more info, she continued, “but if there is more, then do tell.”

Luna, lifting herself from her fall and leaning on the side of the bed, she spoke in a hazy tone, “yes, please, do continue.”

The auburn coated unicorn was still catching her breath, after a few minutes had passed, she continued, “We have one report of Dusk Strider being outside of Canterlot Castle before what looked like a teleportation spelled being used only just an hour ago. Another report came from a ‘Pinkamena Diane Pie’ from Ponyville; she had been awoken by her ‘pinkie sense’ that brought her to a window overlooking an alley where Cloud Treader was standing in. As soon as she had blinked though, Cloud was gone. That report had been given by her personally as I was making my way here to report in about Dusk. We have asked her not to tell any other pony of what she saw until it has been resolved. She then went into a small chant and made something called a ‘Pinkie Pie Promise’.”

Luna interjected, “How exactly did she manage to run all the way from Ponyville to here in such a short amount of time?”

The guard then continued, “Ms. Pie wanted to be very clear that she did not run here. She had actually hopped, which she says is much quicker than running.”

Luna nodded, and then turned to her sister with a confused look.

Celestia gave her sister a reassuring smile before turning back to the guard, “Was there any other news or reports?”

The guard pondered for a bit, but shook her head. Before bowing and returning to her duty, a second guard had popped up next to her, “Princess’, we have just found two different types of guards armor in the recreation storage room. We have also just found out that Vesper and Calyx are missing.”

Celestia, with a feeling of worriment and a tone to match, “They have disappeared from castle grounds then?” The second guard nodded his head.

Celestia gave a quick inspection of the two guards before continuing, “Thank you for reporting these occurrences to us. Please place the castle and the rest of Canterlot on alert. Until all missing ponies are found, Canterlot will be under curfew. Now please leave Luna and me to confer over this ordeal.”

The two guards bowed and closed the door before leaving to carry out their new orders.

Celestia turned to her sister who was now wearing a worried look, “This could not be a coincidence, could it? The two ponies we were going to ask to look into this matter get themselves into the matter at hand.”

“What will we do sister? Shall we call upon the bearers of the Elements of Harmony?” Luna asked as she looked into her sisters eyes.

“No, they have done too much already; having to fight the ‘Queen of the Changelings’ and her kin, and prepare the wedding. No, this is why we have Dusk Strider and Cloud Treader, so we can have somepony we trust to help us with other problems of Canterlot and Equestria.”

Now sitting next to her sister on the bed, Luna spoke, “We also have those two for more personal assistance,” she was now tapping on the book that sat on Celestia’s lap.

Celestia responded with a light facehoof, “I only recommended it to Cloud because I wanted her to express herself more, that is all. It is like how Twilight Sparkle’s friend, Fluttershy, had learned to be more aggressive from that Minotaur; remember reading the letter about that?”

Luna gave a light giggle, “Ok Tia, whatever it is you say.”

Celestia, realizing she wouldn’t be able to get any reading done tonight, put her book away back into the nightstand. She had then pulled out two items from her drawer and handed one to Luna.

Luna, looking down upon the item in her hoof; knowing what it had meant, she gave a grin of excitement and began, “It has been long since we have last took matters into our own hooves.”

Celestia, lifting her black spectacles up to the light, “It has; I will be honest, I am a bit nervous. After what had happened when I confronted the Queen of Changelings, I feel out of practice. A second chance would not hurt though, well, not as much as the first.”

After putting on her shades, Luna struck a goofy heroic pose upon her sister’s bed, “LET US SAVE OUR PERSONAL GUARDS AND LOYAL SUBJECTS; ROYAL PRINCESS SISTER CHAMPIONS, YAY!”

A guards pony on the garden grounds had heard the noise, but gave a shrug and carried on.

Standing on the side of her bed, Celestia put her pair of shades on, “Those three fillies from Ponyville really rubbed off on you, didn’t they? You can call Dusk and Cloud your friends; you don’t have to be embarrassed about it.”

Luna slumped down, but quickly rose herself back up into a newer heroic pose, “LET US SAVE OUR PERSONAL FRIENDS AND LOYAL SUBJECTS; ROYAL SISTER CHAMPIONS, YAY!”

A passing burglar had heard the yell and thought he had been caught; he dropped all of his stolen items and ran off.

Examining Luna, with a hoof rubbing her chin, Celestia gave her analysis, “Better; but try leaving the ‘personal’ part out.”

Slumping down once again, Luna jumped off of her sister’s bed while striking one more heroic pose in midair, “LET US SAVE OUR FRIENDS AND LOYAL SUBJECTS; ROYAL SISTERS CHAMPIONS, YAY!” now landing near the window.

“Ok, let’s go before somepony sees us,” Celestia was now making her way to the window alongside Luna.

“Wait, should we not leave a note?” Luna asked as she tilted her head down to view Celestia past her shades.

After a short moment of contemplation, Celestia willed her quill and parchment towards her, and hastily wrote upon it. “There, that should be good enough; we should be back before I have to lift the sun up,” she left the parchment on her bed before making her way out the window; Luna soon followed after.

--------------.--------------

During their flight over a large body of water, a question had popped into Luna’s head, “How are we meant to find our two friends and subjects, dear sister?”

With a few moments of thought, Celestia answered, “Remember the earing I gave Cloud as a gift?”

Taking a moment to remember, Luna nodded.

Celestia continued, “And do you remember the hoofkerchief around Dusk’s neck? The one Cloud had made her.”

“The one you thought would be a great gift for Cloud to make for Dusk’s birthday; yes.”

“Well, I enchanted those two items; just something to keep track of them while they were out. If my guess is right, they would have been taken to where the other ponies that were reported missing are.”

Shocked by what she had heard, Luna asked, “Why would you do such a thing, sister?”

Celestia kept quiet for a moment, and then shifted her view to Luna who had been to her side, keeping her pace and direction; with a solemn tone, she spoke, “They are our personal guards and friends, both of them to both of us. Not just Dusk to you and Cloud to me, both matter to us both. They have treated us like normal ponies; like equals, ever since they began their guard’s duty. They do not fear us like the rest of our guards and subjects. I will not allow any harm come to them, even if it means I had to go through their privacy. I protect all of our friends as if they were our own family; just as I do with Twilight Sparkle and her companions,” she faced her sight back in front of her.

Luna flew closer to her sister’s side before responding, “I understand, sister; Dusk Strider was one of the first friends I had made when I was released from Night Mare Moon. She didn’t run or cower when I still used the Royal Canterlot Voice. She never feared me or asked any questions about the past that would have made me feel insulted. She had also kept me company in the castle while I read the letters your student and her friends had sent to you, even when her shift was over. It was her and two other ponies that had managed to convince me to go to Ponyville to celebrate ‘Nightmare Night’.”

After taking in the information, a question had popped into her mind, Celestia asked with a thoughtful tone, “Who were the other ponies that managed to convince you?”

Luna answered with a smile, “There was you of course, and a guard I believe was named ‘Vesper’. She had this very well made costume on; I think you would have appreciated it.”

Celestia’s curiosity took the best of her and she asked another question, “Oh, what was the costume of?”

Luna retained her smile and answered, “It was of you.”

Confused by the answer, Celestia prodded for more details, “What made her stand out? Most mares…and a few stallions, dress as me for Nightmare Night.”

“Most mares don’t dress up as you and wear wayward dresses,” Luna said as she let out a laugh.

Celestia shoved Luna, causing her to lose balance, “How in Equestria did that convince you to go to Ponyville for Nightmare Night?”

“I was curious to see if there were other ponies dressed as you wearing different types of dress,” said Luna as she regained her stability.

“Well…at least it got you out of the castle,” Celestia gave a caring smile, “Look, an island. The energy is getting stronger.”

“Huzzah, here we come Dusk, Cloud, and other loyal subjects!!” now diving in with Celestia following after her.

----------------.--------------

Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1, Pt. 4

“Mmmpphhh…unghhhh,” the only noise Dusk could get out before adjusting her eyes to the dark room she had been held in. She gave another try at making her thoughts audible, “I think…I think I’ve reached my limit for waking up with a headache and being in dark rooms for today; check please.”

Satisfied that her thoughts didn’t come out as gibberish, she scanned her cell. It had been a very high-tech cell; the type of cell you would see in a science fiction comic book. It even came complete with a laser fence the size of an average sized door and steel-sleek walls. The room had obviously been built for short time holdings; there were no appliances, furnishings, or even a window. The only thing keeping the room from being completely empty was the plum pony that had been lying in the corner.

Dusk stood herself up and walked to the luminescent fence that blocked her escape. She tried to get a look of what had been on the other side. What she had saw were more fences; some lit and some un-lit.

With nothing else left to see, she gave her try at calling out, “is anypony else out there?” Apparently, there had not.

Feeling as if there were nothing else left to do, she decided to turn and walk back to her own little paradise in the corner. Giving her holding area one last look over for any way of escape, or at least something to do, she lay down and closed her eyes.

-------------------.--------------------

After what felt like two hours, maybe three, a sound of walking came from down the hall. Dusk’s ears perked up as soon as she heard it, her first thought’s had been of rescue or somepony that would feed her. She stood and made her way to the fence to see who it had been. When the being had stopped in front of her cell, Dusk’s eyes had still been too blurred to fully see who was in front of her.

Before she could say anything, the being had already begun to speak, “you are a jerk.”

Dumbfounded for words, Dusk just shook her head to at least see who had insulted her. With that failing and only making her vision worse, she tried to speak, “who…who is that?”

The being responded with a small grunt, then used its words, “Dusk Strider?”

Dusk, confused by the response, elaborated more on her question, “That’s my name, I want to know yours.”

The being decided to expand their unwanted answer, trying to be sure it got what it wanted and making sure she hadn’t received what she asked for, “Dusk ‘Lunate’ Strider?”

Shocked from hearing her full name spoken by some rude pony she didn’t even know, she couldn’t help how loud her voice had been, “WHO IN EQUESTRIA IS THAT AND HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME!?”

Feeling as if its question had been answered, “you are a jerk,” it repeated, “and a complete mule.” After hearing the sound of a scratch upon a clipboard; the sound of hoofsteps, making its way down the hallway opposite of where it had come from, soon followed.

With a complete feeling of defeat flowing upon her, Dusk had sat on her haunches. Not knowing any other way to feel or any way to react to what had just happened; she just sat in front of the illuminating fence, in a daze, for the rest of the time she had been encaged.

---------------.-------------

“No,” said Calyx.

“Yes,” argued Vesper.

“No,” said Calyx, with his defense now waning.

“Please?” beg Vesper.

The argument had lasted since they awoke moments ago within their separate cells. They had been placed across from one another, talking while they lay in front of their object of discussion. Vesper had wondered how dangerous the fence had actually been and dared Calyx to be her test dummy.

“What if my whole tongue disappeared or was cut off? What if it disintegrates not just my tongue, but slowly my whole body after touching it?” Calyx slowly took the time to calm himself and wonder where he got the idea for his second question.

“Calyx, it doesn’t have to be your tongue, it could be your horn if you’d like,” said Vesper as she tilt her head and gave Calyx a wide smile.

“My horn is where my magic comes from, I kinda don’t want to lose my magic to test your wild theories!” said Calyx as he gave Vesper a stern look.

“Your magic isn’t really helping either; it got you electrocuted when you tried teleporting didn’t it?” said Vesper, giving a bored look.

“Can’t we just assume that if I touch the fence, that I would still get electrocuted?”

“Why assume when we could experiment? Calyx, if you touch the beam, we can see if it actually acts as an alarm system rather than a disintegrator. If it is an alarm system, we can take on whoever it ‘alarms’ and find a way out of here.”

“Ugh, Fine!” Calyx now looked upon the glowing beam with trepidation. He slowly motioned his hoof toward it; occasionally pulling back from the jolt he felt whenever he thought of his punishment for trying to use his magic before. As soon as his hoof felt the warm radiance of the beam, he quickly stopped in mid-motion. Grating his teeth and sweating profusely from what he was about to do, he took in a deep breath and closed in the distance. When his hoof had touched with the seemingly harmless glow, another electrocution had shot out throughout his whole body.

“YEEEEEOWWWWWCH,” Calyx shouted as he was shot back to the end of his cell; all was quiet soon after.

“Calyx…dear, are you alright?” asked Vesper as she slowly stood up to get a better look.

There was no response.

“Calyyyxxx, come on, don’t play around,” Vesper was now leaning as close as she could without getting the same surge of energy shot throughout her body as her friend had.

For a few moments, there was still silence; then it had died away when a voice yelled out, “DEFINITLEY NOT…AN ALARM SYSTEM. IF YOU DON’T MIND, I THINK I WILL TAKE A LITTLE BREAK.”

“Take all the time you need,” Vesper now lied herself back down in relief that her friend was still alright enough to make jokes.

While her friend rested from his second punishment, Vesper took the rest of her time in her cell thinking of ways to escape, and maybe more ways to humor herself at her friend’s expense.

------------.--------------

While her friends had either been drowning in thought of why somepony they haven’t meant insulted them, or if had been recovering from an experiment gone wrong, Cloud had been taking her situation pretty well…at least as well as any pony can take being trapped in a cell.

Not having anything else to do, Cloud began a little chant she had made with her life-long friend back when they were fillies, “Through starry nights and brightest days, Dusky and Cloie will be together, forever always.” With that finished, she let out a small sigh and continued to lie down in the middle of her cage, looking away from the irritating glow of the gate.

--------------.--------------

The, as proclaimed by Luna, Royal Princess Sisters Champions had been watching a warehouse that was located on a far off island, too inconspicuous to chart or to be visited upon. They haven’t had to take their eyes off the structure since their arrival, except when Celestia had taken the time to raise her sun and Luna to lower her moon to start the new day. Now they were plotting on how to make their way inside to save their subjects and personal guards.

“There are two ways we can enter, but I can feel that they are far beneath this structure,” said Celestia as she sat and hid in the bushes with her beloved sister, Luna.

“Shall we force our way in or shall we sneak our way in?” asked Luna as she lifted her shades to get a better look at the main and side entrance of the warehouse.

“I don’t believe we will be able to sneak in, we stand out far too easily for that,” said Celestia, taking a glance at herself and her sister. Her eye had caught a guard come out of the structure which brought a thought to her that never occurred before, “I don’t believe I have ever seen or heard of any ponies like these outside of Equestria. I don’t even think they live amongst our own subjects.”

Now focusing on the guard her sister had been, a different thought had crossed Luna’s mind, “These ponies are dressed so formally for an island scene as this. Are these ponies the same mysterious ponies we had heard about in the reports of our missing subjects?”

“I believe so; if they are, we will tear this area asunder until we have found all that are missing,” Celestia was now readying her horn for battle, “and then send this island to the depths!”

“So it shall be the fun way? Huzz---,” leaping from out of the grassy veil, Luna charged towards the building; Celestia following after.

---------------.-----------------

Dusk Strider had still been in her stupor of why somepony would insult her and leave her in a cage with no idea where she had been or why.

While staring past the luminous gate, the sound of an explosion had broken her concentration, “What could that have been? Could it be…rescue?” she thought as her heart had started to rush with excitement.

The gates in front and around her had begun to flicker in what seemed like a pattern. Dusk had seen this and hoped that it would burn out completely and not force her to do something rash. Seeing that it had been mocking her now, she took matters into her own hooves. She took a breath and watched closely for an opportune moment. When she felt it had come, she charged forward giving a loud scream. As soon as she passed through the threshold of the gate, the laser completely phased out as if it had been a last taunt to its now free prisoner. Dusk unfortunately left her eyes closed and kept charging straight into the next cell, crashing into the wall on the far side. With a slight dizziness to her step, she stepped out of her second cell of the day and made her way down the hall.

When she had exited out of the hall, she had entered into what had looked like a control room. There were levers and switches all throughout the room, with diagrams and writings over each one. She made her way to the switchboard with the sign ‘Full Cell Control’ above it. She eyed the three switches that lay before her, carefully reading the small tags under each one, as to make sure she didn’t flip one that would release some sort of insane and destructive beast with one-hundred maws and tentacles for arms. Seeing that none of the signs had read as such, she placed her hoof over the switch designated as ‘Release’ and pulled down. The sound of alarms had begun to echo around the room Dusk had been in, causing her to stagger in pain for a moment. After accustoming herself to the obnoxious sound, she made her way towards the door tagged as ‘Surveillance’.

On the other side had been a room filled with glass frames with moving pictures and another door across the way. Dusk had looked upon the frames with curiosity in her eyes; she had seen ponies of different types run through halls and rooms passing by the gaze of whatever had been observing them and posting it on the screen she had been watching. Some of the frames had a view of ponies fighting suited guards, but one frame in particular held Dusk’s attention. It had shown three very familiar ponies talking to each other instead of running or fighting. As they were about to make their way off screen, a peach pony stopped in its tracks and slowly turned her eyes toward whatever was watching her. She quirked her head, feeling as she knew who was behind the other side, but something caught her attention back to her fellow escapees and she ran after them. Dusk looked at the sign above the frame that had read ‘East Cell Block 3, L.3’, with that memorized, she made her way to the door on the opposite wall.

The door had a picture above it of a box with a pony inside and arrows pointing in two directions, up and down. There was a single button on the left of the door, Dusk pushed it with the feeling that it would help in some way. With her feeling being correct, the door had opened and she made her way in. When the door had closed shut behind her, she turned to see that there were even more buttons; each button had a number on the side of it, ranging from one to twenty-nine. One button at the very bottom stood out from the rest though; instead of a number it had a letter, and not just one letter, a group of letters. It read out as ‘Administrator’, all in capital letters, maybe to emphasize the importance of the button, or rather, the importance of the destination the button led to and what had been there. After a minute or two of examining, she had judged that whatever button she pressed, would lead her to that destination. Remembering that she had saw her friends on a frame with moving pictures and what that level had been on, she motioned her hoof to press the button with ‘3’ next to it. As she pressed it, the room jolted, then made its way up. The number at the top of the door started to change with every second that past, starting from fifteen and decreased.

--------------.----------------

Thirty minutes earlier.

“Vesper, did you hear that?” Calyx awoke from his rest after being blown back further into his cage.

“I think I did; was it an explosion?” Vesper stood and tried to look past her gate, towards where the loud boom erupted.

“Maybe it’s somepony coming to rescue us,” Calyx said as he came closer to his own gate.

With a sarcastic tone, Vesper gave her thoughts, “Wonderful, we get to wait here until whoever’s up there makes their way down here to rescue our helpless hides…yay.”

Oblivious to Vesper’s tone, Calyx gave a sincere response, “I know right? I totally thought we would have to escape on---,” before he could finish, the gates before him had vanished, “…never mind.”

Vesper leapt out of her cell with a wide grin, “Come on Calyx, were busting out of this joint.”

Calyx didn’t have the same enthusiasm as his partner, so he just walked out, “How exactly are we going to bust out of here…we don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”

Looking down each end of the hall, Vesper felt she had concocted a brilliant plan, “We’ll just smash through every door we run into, and keep heading up whenever we reach stairs. If anypony tries to stop us, we’ll just smash past them the same way we will with the doors!”

Staring at the fire in his partner’s eyes, Calyx just nodded his head with a blank expression.

With the plan between them confirmed, Calyx and Vesper made their way towards the furthest door down the hall where the explosion had emanated from.

---------------.---------------

When her gate had been deactivated, Cloud made her way through the multileveled complex on her own. She had been following the sound of commotion and hoofsteps from above her, and she had already gone up many floors; if anypony had counted, they would have counted to six.

When she was about to make her way to the next set of stairs, a noise came from behind her. When she turned, she had seen it was one of the mysterious shades wearing ponies that had ponynapped her the night before; Cloud readied herself to prevent that from happening again.

“Cease or I will use force,” said the mysterious pony as he stomped his hoof on the ground.

Cloud stomped and dragged her hoof back, but with less force, “No.”

The stallion charged at her but was stopped midway. Cloud relaxed her stance and looked at him with bewildered eyes. The mysterious pony was enveloped in a green aura and lifted in the air; he tried to run, but his hooves had nothing to make contact with.

Before either pony had realized what was happening, a voice from behind the suspended stallion called out, “Cloud, are you alright?”

Cloud was taken aback when she heard her name out loud, but even further when she had recognized the voice, “Vesper, is that you?”

A dark pegasi moved past the floating pony, “Yeah!” now galloping to Cloud and giving her a hug, “How long have you been here?”

After returning the hug, Cloud gave her best answer, “I’m actually not sure; How about you?”

“We…are not really sure either,” a light green unicorn had now also come from behind the floating earth stallion.

Charging towards the newly revealed pony, Cloud gave him a hug, “Calyx! I knew you two were always together, but I didn’t think I would see you both here.”

Looking about her surroundings, Vesper gave a small frown of disappointment, “Speaking of ‘always together’, where is Dusk Strider? I would have expected her to be with you.”

Cloud gave what Vesper had said some reflection; she came to a conclusion, “Maybe she didn’t get captured! Maybe she’s the one above, saving us!” A wide smile had made its home on Cloud’s face.

Vesper smirked at the thought, “Well, at least it’s a better guess than what Calyx said.”

Cloud looked over to Calyx who had just finished using his magic to lock up their imprisoner in their own cell. “What do you think is happening?” she asked with a tone of interest.

Calyx blushed from the embarrassment of his idea, “I just thought…never mind, it’s nothing.”

Cloud, with a reassuring smile, “Come on, Calyx, it’s just a thought.”

“Ok, I just thought that the ponies saving us were actually Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, that’s all,” Calyx finished by giving both mares a sheepish smile.

“See, that wasn’t so bad,” Vesper said as she gave Calyx a wink.

“You never know, it could be them along with Dusk,” Cloud still held a smile.

“Well, either way, we should make our way up and thank whoever is saving us,” Vesper now motioned her companions to follow her.

“You’re right, I can’t wait to leave this place,” Calyx moved his way towards Vesper.

“I’m right behind you,” Cloud prepared herself to follow.

“Let’s go,” Vesper galloped off to the door across the hall with Calyx following.

Cloud was about to follow her friends, but a red light with a lens under it had caught her eye. She stared long into it, feeling as if she was being watched. She didn’t feel like she was being watched by a stranger, but by somepony she had known. She was about to motion a wave, but a call from her fellow escapee’s had stopped her. She made her way towards her friends, out of the machinelike eye’s line of sight.

------------.------------

“Dear subjects, please go to Princess Celestia, she will tell you what to do!” shouted Luna, trying to get all the frantic ponies to listen to her, “Just go outside and you will find my sister preparing a teleportation spell for you all,” Luna was pointing towards the main entrance…well, what was left of the main entrance after being exposed to a spell from one of the most powerful alicorns in Equestria.

There hadn’t actually been many ponies inside the facility that the sisters thought there would be. In fact, there had only been around 86 ponies of different types escaping the facility. Now those same 86 ponies were embracing the sun and sky that had been taken away from them for so long.

“All ponies, please come to me, I must tell you something before we may depart,” Princess Celestia stood from outside the warehouse, trying to get all recent escapees to focus on her. After hearing the calming voice of their beloved princess, they organized themselves as an audience in front of her, waiting for her message. Now seeing that all ponies were quiet and paying attention, Celestia addressed her subjects with the same calming tone, “Before we may leave, I must ask you all to take a vow of secrecy of what transpired here. We cannot allow what happened here to be heard by any other pony unless we want mass hysteria. My sister and I will handle everything but please, do not share any information to any other pony back home.” The loyal subjects nodded to each other and then to their graceful monarch. Seeing that her citizens had understood what she asked, she turned to her sister who had been by her side, “Luna, I will return after I have made sure all are safe, please wait for me before you venture off on your own.”

Before her sister could leave, Luna spoke, “Sister, what shall I do with our rude hosts?” she motioned her hoof towards the warehouse, now storing over a hundred of unconscious well-dressed ponies.

Celestia pondered different punishments that entailed with abduction and endangering her citizens, she then came to a conclusion, “We cannot have them near Canterlot, so our undercroft dungeons will not due. There is only one place we can send them,” Celestia looked towards the sky.

Luna was puzzled for a moment, and then followed her sister’s gaze. After realizing what her sister had in mind, a hesitating tone came about her, “Sister, you do not mean---.”

Realizing her sister’s unease, Celestia interjected, “Luna, those ponies are not normal ponies; they are something else, from somewhere else. They tried harming our subjects,” she waved her hoof over all the ponies that had been watching them converse, “if you do not wish to do what I am asking you, I understand; just keep watch over them until I come back and I will take care of it.” Celestia turned to her subjects and focused as she conjured a mass teleportation spell. In a blink of an eye, they were gone.

With Luna alone with over a hundred aggressive ponies lying unconscious inside the warehouse, she made her way towards them in a slow pace.

---------------.-----------------

After speeding through two more floors; Cloud, Vesper and Calyx were now on top of a metal platform.

“Is this a dead end?” Cloud asked as she looked around for another pathway.

“No; you just have to press this,” Vesper made her way to the button that was on the side of the wall, she then pressed it.

The platform then slowly rose from its spot on the ground. Above them, a door slowly opened to make way for the three ponies. When the platform stopped, they had laid their eyes on the inside of a wrecked warehouse. The building had been completely bare except for a pair of generator like machines that had been on fire in the corner, and a princess that sat in the middle on her haunches not noticing the new arrivals.

“I guess that’s how the gates went down,” Vesper said as she looked upon the generators. A yell next to her though, had caught her attention.

“I KNEW IT!” yelled Calyx, seeing his thoughts as a reality.

“PRINCESS LUNA!” Cloud charged towards the Luna who had been caught off guard. She leapt onto her, completely forgetting her training in proper etiquette, and gave the princess a passionate hug; Vesper and Calyx soon trotted after her.

In shock of being found by the very ponies she and her sister had been looking for, Luna nuzzled Cloud before addressing the others, “Guards! We are glad to see you are alright!” something had caught her eye though, not something extra but something lacking. She looked to each pony before stopping on Cloud’s eyes, “Where is Dusk Strider?”

Cloud let her grip go and looked around her surroundings, unsatisfied with what she saw; she looked towards Luna, “I thought she would be with you…”

Luna looked into Cloud’s eyes with letdown, “I am sorry but she is not. Celestia and I came here after we received reports of you and your friends were all missing the night before.”

Cloud frowned for a moment, and then realized where her friend might be, “that means…she can still be insi---,” a noise from where she had come from had interrupted her.

All ponies were now facing the source of where the grating sound had been made. At first it stopped and the metal platform had been gone but after a few moments, it started again. The head of a plum mare had popped from the hole where the metal platform had been.

The mare walked forward and gave a grand smile, but not to just everypony in the warehouse; just the only pony she saw, “Cloud…,” she galloped towards the peach mare who had been rushing her way to Dusk herself. After meeting each other in the middle, Cloud gave Dusk the same tight hug she gave Luna moments ago; unfortunately, Dusk wasn’t the same physique as their monarch. She didn’t dare try and stop her friend’s embrace though; no matter how much she felt her ribs crush under the pressure, she just returned the hug and nuzzled her friend. After letting her relief out, Cloud slowly let go and let Dusk speak, “are you alright?”

“Yes, I was almost attacked but Calyx and Vesper saved me,” Cloud was smiling and turning her attention to the ponies behind her.

Dusk peaked over her friends shoulder to see three ponies that escaped her view earlier, and had expressed different reactions to what they had seen. Vesper held a hoof over her mouth to cover her smile, Calyx bit down on his lips while blushing, and Luna wore an amorous smile. Unable to think of any words to say, Dusk blushed and just waved to the audience of her affection. When she composed herself again, she moved her way to the rest of the group with Cloud following.

Luna was the first to speak, “I am glad we were all able to find each other; Celestia has already transported the other survivors secretly onboard the rescue ship sent out for Captain Bullhorn and will be coming back shortly. When she does, we will destroy this facility and let the sea claim it under its waters.”

While the others nodded in agreement, Dusk couldn’t help but share what she had found, “Princess Luna, I found a room that had a sign that read as ‘Administrator’. I was wondering if we could go down there before you started your deconstruction work.”

Luna mulled over what Dusk had asked, “I think it would be best to wait for Celestia; whatever is down there may be more dangerous than what we faced out here and Celestia might want to question whoever the ‘Administrator’ is.”

Everypony started to look about the room, taking in what had actually happened. After a few moments, Vesper asked Luna what the others had also been wondering, “What happened to those you did face up here?”

Luna turned away from the group and when she turned her head back to answer, a flash of light appeared from outside. When the group went outside to see what it could have been, they were welcomed to the sight of their sun liege.

Seeing the ponies that had been expecting her arrival, Celestia let out a smile, “Hello friends, I am glad Luna was able to find you,” she turned her attention to Luna, who had been behind the rest of the group in a frown, “Luna, are you---,” Celestia stopped, realizing that her sister had carried out the despairing task she was asked to do. To keep the others from suspecting anything, she continued with a different thought on her mind, “Are you ready to banish this site from Equestria?”

Luna looked up to her sister and shared Dusk’s discovery, “Celestia, Dusk Strider has mentioned an ‘Administrator’ to this facility. She says she knows where the room is and was wondering if we would be able to go down there to investigate before we sent this area into the sea.”

Celestia looked upon Dusk, “Are you sure of this, Dusk? If you wish to investigate, we will all go with you.”

Dusk was ready to take the offer, but remembered a very fine detail about the route to the point of interest, “There’s one problem; the room that can take us there is only big enough to fit either you or Princess Luna if I were to accompany you.”

After hearing Dusk’s words, Luna spoke, “Let me go in your stead, sister, you have done so much already.”

“No, I will go; I would like to see who would have the nerve to take our subjects and imprison them here. Dusk, lead us to where you found this room.” Celestia and the rest of the group followed after Dusk, who had started walking back to the moving platform.

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Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1, Pt. 5

Ten Minutes earlier.

Out in the plains, groups of the Canterlot Elite were making their way into their second air-ship of the week; this time though, back to where they had come from. They weren’t really in the position to complain though; the past night was spent making tents from sticks and leaves when there were perfectly made ‘non-leaf and stick’ tents sitting near the wreckage they were forced to pick up the same night. After all the strenuous work they weren’t accustomed to, if they were able to spurt even a single protest, they would have to wait until they went back into their humble abode and ask their servants to do it for them. While they were making their way on-board, Captain Bullhorn was conversing with an unexpected guest and her companions, away from weary eyes.

Celestia was now without her shades; she could now look upon with ease at the yellow suited embodiment of a loud speaker, “Captain, these are the ponies that have been reported missing for the past few weeks; I need you to take them back to Canterlot with the others. I have made them take a vow of secrecy; when you get back, tell whomever asks that they were volunteers for a new air-ship that crashed the same as yours did. Is that understood?”

Captain Bullhorn gave a look over at the ponies behind his fair princess then looked back to her, “Seems like we have been having many crashes lately…but it can be done; do they know their own backstory?”

“Yes; I informed them before I sent somepony to ask you to come over. If anypony gives you any trouble about the information, just ask them to wait for me to come back from my ‘official charges’ outside of Canterlot. If we are lucky, that will be enough to change their minds,” Celestia looked back to her subjects; seeing that they were just about ready to get back home to a hot meal and their families, not in that order, she gave a nod towards Bullhorn before teleporting herself away.

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Present Time.

The group had made their way down the facility that they had awaited what felt like a lifetime to escape from. Now at their destination, a door that held a room that can take whomever was in it further down at a greater speed than taking the stairs, they talked amongst themselves to see who would be the first to brave the depths of the structure.

Dusk opened the door to reveal the compact room that they were meant to share, “It’s sort of a tight squeeze; it can fit either the two of us,” motioning between the four smaller ponies of the party, “or either you or Luna and one of us, though whichever of you that’s going is going to have to keep your head down.”

Celestia eyed the room for her own examination, something had then caught her attention, “Dusk Strider, would you kindly open that hatch on the ceiling, please?”

Dusk turned back to look into the room to find the hatch Celestia had pointed out. She made her way in and gave herself a lift to see what had been on top.

Celestia’s curiosity had piqued Luna’s own and she decided to speak, “What do you see Dusk?”

Looking about her surroundings, Dusk gave her examination, “It’s just a giant rope that leads to the top of a shaft.”

Satisfied with the answer, Celestia thought of an idea, “Thank you Dusk, you can come down now.” With Dusk now out of the room, Celestia focused her horn towards the ceiling of the lift. With a quick burst of magic, the room quickly descended down the shaft. After a moment, a loud crash echoed through the deep pit. Celestia moved towards the ledge; first looking above, then below. Afterwards, she looked back towards the group and gave a smile, “Now I think we can all move together.”

As all ponies were making their way towards the now roomy shaft, Calyx voiced an unnoticed concern, ‘’I don’t have wings,” he gave an embarrassed smile.

Vesper was the first to respond to her partner’s dilemma, “You can ride on me,” she finished with a crafty wink and a smile to match.

Dusk facehoofed with a smile underneath at the offer and Cloud held an innocent grin. The Princess Sister’s both shared a light giggle before returning their attention towards the shaft.

Calyx walked with his head sunk down over towards Vesper who lowered herself to give him an easier time to ‘mount up’. When he managed to get himself, uncomfortably, over his partner; she let out a devious ‘coo’ that she knew would, and did, have an affect on him before lifting herself up.

With all ready to go, they took turns going down; first were The Royal Princess Sister Champion’s; next were their personal guards; finally were the, as Vesper proclaimed, unofficial couple.

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When they reached the bottom and made their way past the door, they found themselves in a long narrow hallway. The only objects in the hallway was the tall, wooden, double door at the other end; a red velvet carpet with gold brim that lined the floor leading to the next room; and a trio of hanging chandeliers that helped light the way.

The group made their way to the towering doors, each step echoing throughout the hallway. Before they breached through the gate that shielded the answers they were looking for, Celestia and Luna had a few words to share.

Celestia halted just before the door, stopping the rest of the group in their tracks. Before she spoke, Luna made her way and stood by her sister’s side; then she began, “Before we take aggressive action against whomever lies behind these doors, allow Luna and I to question why it is here and why they took you and our subjects away from their homes and families.”

After getting himself off of his partner, Calyx gave a concerned look, “What if they decide to attack us before you’re able to ask any questions?”

Before Celestia could answer, Luna gave her response with a stern face, “We will then beat the information out of whoever lies behind these doors,” lifting her hoof in aggression.

Celestia turned to her sister with a look of confusion before turning to readdress the rest of the group, “Yes; we will…‘beat’ the answers out of them as we defend ourselves.”

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With everypony showing their understanding, Luna and Celestia turned to the doors. With one deep breath, they pushed the doors aside to reveal the amphitheater sized room.

The room was huge and vast but far from empty; there were consoles along the bottom of the walls that could have been mistaken for arcade machines, and crimson banisters upon the upper parts of the walls. The ceiling was covered with a single, monolithic chandelier that illuminated the whole room on its own. The one major thing though that stood out; yes, even more than the chandelier; was the lone desk that sat in the middle and the chair that had its back turned to its most recent visitors.

With all eyes finally lying upon the chair, a stalliongrad accented voice spoke, “So…you have all finally made your way down here after destroying all the hard work we have put into our base and disposing of all my kin; save your questions for I shall answer them now. I have already sensed that you know that I and my kin are not of this planet. We took this appearance because we thought it to be easier to infiltrate your kingdom and destroy it from within like we have with all the other worlds we have visited. Now on to your next question; we took your ponies from their homes and families because they had seen us while we scouted the lands near your home. Even if they had denied it, we made sure they were able to make truth out of what they said. Finding those ponies were difficult at first, but when we managed to…’strike a deal’ with those in your Royal Aviation Club, we had a far easier time having any pony mention a ‘U.B.O’ reveal themselves and their whereabouts instead of us having to find them ourselves,” A brief pause came about the room, but no pony dared to speak; then the voice began again, “I know that I will not leave this room without having to fight, and I won’t allow you to leave without giving the same fight either. Take a moment to prepare yourselves…you are allowed the first strike.”

The group took the advice to heart and readied themselves. Celestia and Luna’s horns shined as brightly as the orbs they held dominion over. The pegasi stretched their wings from side to side to make sure they didn’t cramp during the intense battle that was about to ensue. As for Calyx…he just shook off the kinks he felt in his legs before giving a wide grin towards his partner who gave him a disappointed look.

With everypony ready, Celestia and Luna closed their eyes and began charging their horns towards the chair. When they felt they couldn’t hold their magic back any longer, they let loose their immense power. The sound of thunder being shot into the same theater as the all bass drum choir had occupied the room. All the components on the walls had shut off, the banisters had all fallen off or were hanging, and most of the glass on the chandelier had begun falling. Smoke had taken ahold of where the flash of light had been; debris had fallen to the ground. When the shroud of dirt and smoke had cleared, a giant hole had revealed itself; within the giant hole though, stood a red stallion with his back towards the dumbfounded group.

The red stallion slowly turned to face his aggressors. His eyes were a glowing green; his face held a wicked grin, and his flank was covered with what looked like a half-eaten globe. He took a step before becoming a blur of red rushing towards the group. When he reached his destination in front of the party, he let loose a wave of power that moved past the ponies and bounced off the wall behind them that forced the group to be launched forward, deeper into the chamber.

All ponies were now separated and on the ground. Luna was the first to recover, when she got herself back upon her hooves, she retaliated fiercely. She fired less powerful bolts of magic in quick succession at the red target that had been running in a serpentine fashion towards her. When he was a hoof reach away from Luna, a sudden crash at his side had knocked him away into a wall. Cloud had been second to recover from the stallion’s overwhelming attack. After making sure he wouldn’t be up within the next few seconds, she retreated back to Luna’s side. Dusk and Vesper joined along her as Calyx made his way towards Celestia, who had been trying to raise herself up in the corner. Before they could form one major force again, the red stallion charged towards Luna’s group with more ferocity than he has ever shown. The pegasi trio stood before her and took the bulk of the attack that sent them into the wall behind them, letting Luna gain enough time to fire a more focused beam of magic towards him, forcing him into the far wall near where the battle had begun; while he was recovering, Celestia and Calyx made their way towards Luna.

Before they could check on the downed trio; a loud roar came from where the dust hid the red stallion, followed by a very angry voice, “I TIRE OF THIS FOOLISHNESS, WITNESS THE POWER OF KLADE!”

From the shroud, eight large tentacles that acted as legs shot out and took ahold of the ground; two slimmer tentacles that acted as arms and a colossal pillar of reddish-orange flesh that was meant to be the body, followed. At the very top though had been the waist up of the stallion they had been fighting for the time they had been down there, acting as the head. He let another bellowing roar before he smashed and planted his arms to each side of the room. Before he tried to attack, to everypony’s surprise, he had decided to speak in a more calm tone, “Now that I have revealed my true form….see to your wounded and prepare yourselves, I shall allow you the first strike.”

The still standing group rushed over to the fallen by the wall. Dusk pulled herself up with a groan while Vesper managed to get herself up with relative ease. When they checked on Cloud, she had been writhing in pain, indicating that she had been the one the last attack had been meant for. Dusk quickly lowered herself to examine her dearest friend more closely; she noticed that Cloud was having trouble breathing, making a heart-wrenching rasping sound. The rest of the group left the pair alone to ready themselves, but Celestia stayed to see how she could help.

Dusk looked back to Celestia, on the verge of tears she spoke with a trembling tone, “Will she be alright?”

Celestia gave a sorrow look, “I am not sure…,” she turned her attention to Cloud, seeing that she would need to use every bit of magic she could conjure up to at least sustain Cloud well enough for the trip back to Canterlot. She focused her attention back on Dusk who was now watching her friend with pained eyes, “Dusk, I will watch over Cloud; I need you and the others to help my sister defeat this vile monster. Can you do this for me?”

Dusk wiped the tears she had felt were ready to slide down her cheeks and gave a nod to her fair princess. She gave one last glance to her dear friend and placed her hoof softly upon Cloud’s shoulder before regrouping with the last of the fighting force. With Dusk gone, Celestia focused a magical barrier that covered both her and Cloud in a glowing aura.

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When Dusk had finally reached the fighting force, she was greeted with grave looks. The trio tried to speak but Vesper was the first to make her words audible, “Dusky, I’m sure she’ll be alright,” she was motioning to give a hug but was stopped by the touch of Luna’s hoof against her chest.

Luna was the second to speak, with a tone mixed with anger and sadness, “Dusk, the sooner we can defeat this monstrosity, the sooner we can tend to Cloud.”

Dusk lifted her head to show her rage filled eyes and nodded to Luna.

Luna gave a nod back; she then took a step back to have the rest of the group in front of her. Attacking with sheer force hadn’t worked the first time, so she thought she would make a plan this time, “Dusk and Vesper, I need you both to try and distract him by attacking the head at the top. While you do that, Calyx and I will focus our magic together into a single, powerful and concentrated spell that will be able to banish him from our world,” all nodded in agreement and took their positions. Vesper and Dusk readied themselves in front of Calyx and Luna who were both focusing and charging their horns together. With everything set, the pegasi began their charge towards the red dot taking domain on top of the behemoth before them.

The monster kept to its word and didn’t even try to defend itself from the initial attack. He took the strikes the two pegasi threw at his head with a steadfast stance. When there was a pause in their attack, he swiped his long tentacle through the air at them but had missed by a hair and collided into the opposite wall. The force of the swing was still strong enough to generate a gust of wind which caused them to lose balance in the air. When they regained their balance, they continued their focused attack upon the miniscule target that lay on top of the not-so-miniscule body. The head reacted like a punching bag with every hit it received; it showed that every smack was starting to have an effect on the rest of the body. He cried out in pain throughout the whole bombardment while Luna and Calyx were nearly at their peak for the spell they were charging. The attacks he threw were much slower, making it easier to dodge and escape than the lightning fast attacks he gave before. The only real threat that had occurred were the blasts of wind that followed each swipe which caused the pegasi to lose their balance and leave them vulnerable for a time.

After a while of hitting and flying, a bright light had distracted the aggressive duo. When they turned to see what it could have been, they were both struck by the unnoticed tentacle and were drove far back to the wall near Celestia and Cloud. Celestia strained her magic to bring Dusk and Vesper’s unconscious bodies within the barrier she had erected to protect Cloud and herself from the battle ensuing within the chamber.

The bright light that helped cause the fall of the pegasi had come from Luna and Calyx as they casted their long awaited spell that pierced the creature in an efflorescent beam of purple and green. When it made contact with the beast, he let out a holler that boomed and echoed throughout the room, shaking the very floors it had stood upon. His form had then started to shift from solid to ethereal many times over. As he shook his tentacles about, they would pass through the walls they had been swung into, not even leaving a dent anymore. After a moment though, there was silence overtaking the whole room; the monster frozen in a ghostly form. All that were still conscious had laid their eyes upon the still figure, the same figure that mere seconds ago, ravaged and wailed fiercely within the now quiet room. Just as they all took in the sight, the monster had started to dissipate from the top, making its way to the bottom. As quickly as it started, it had finished; no trace left of the colossal being.

Luna jostled herself from her astonishment and went to her sister and friends with Calyx following. Celestia still had her barrier up, with Cloud still in pain under her wing; Dusk and Vesper were laid upon their sides, still unmoving beside her.

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“CLOIE!” Dusk shouted; finally awaken from her involuntary rest. She scanned the room she had been in; her eyes were met with darkness all around her. Something had caught her attention as she felt around with her hoof, it was what she was lying upon; a soft and comforting bed but not of her own. Before she could fully comprehend where she had been, the door opened and a dark silhouette walked in.

When Dusk’s eyes had adjusted to the light behind the tall figure, she had seen who it had been, “Luna, where am I? Where are the others?” she paused for a moment to focus on a more broad question, “What happened?”

Luna walked towards her friend with a smile and sat beside the bed, “It has been a week since you fell unconscious but do not worry Dusk, all is well. After the fight, Celestia and I took you back to the castle to heal you and your friends; we found it easier to keep things a secret if we did not go somewhere public as the hospital. After we had mended them, Vesper and Calyx took it upon themselves to help my sister by rooting out all that were affiliated with the beast in the Royal Aviation Club. ” seeing that wasn’t the real answers Dusk had been looking for, she addressed a different matter, “Cloud Treader is alright now; she just had a few broken ribs,” she saw Dusk wince at the words and kept herself from continuing with any other details, “when you feel that you are ready, I will take you to her personally. She has been resting in the guest room by Celestia’s room.”

Even though she felt pain in every part of her body that she moved, Dusk still made the effort to stand. After firmly planting all four hooves on the ground, she looked up to Luna, “I am ready.”

With that, Luna and Dusk made their way down the hall towards where Cloud was being kept.

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When they opened the door to where Cloud had been, they walked into a sun lit room with a peach mare resting under the sheets of a large round bed. There was a half-eaten lunch lying on a tray on top of the nightstand and a book at the side of the bed.

Luna stood by the door as Dusk made her way to her friend’s bedside. When she reached the bed, Dusk examined her friend who was resting peacefully. It took every ounce of her willpower from taking Cloud into her arms and embracing her in the worried love she held from within. For the time being though, she thought a light nuzzle would be enough to keep her in control until Cloud had fully awoken. When she felt satisfied with her act of affection, she turned away as to not tempt herself any longer. When she looked towards where Luna had been standing, she found that another had stood behind her.

“I see you are doing well, Dusk Strider,” Celestia said as she stepped further into the room. She stopped suddenly when something then caught her attention behind Dusk, “and as you are too, Cloud Treader.”

A light murmur came from behind Dusk that had caught her attention and caused her to look back, “Dusk…is that you?” Cloud was now groggily sitting up from her comfortable position on the bed.

Dusk’s eyes widened into the shapes of saucers and her smile represented the shape of half a watermelon meant to be put on the saucer shaped eyes as she saw her friend sitting up as if she was never harmed at all. Dusk ignored her previous self-warnings and leapt towards her friend with arms wide open. They held and nuzzled each other, forgetting that anypony else was even watching, let alone being in the same room as them.

As much as she didn’t want to break up the heartwarming moment that was needed between the two mares in front of her, Celestia cleared her throat loud enough to make her point across. When she noticed that she had gotten the attention of the still smiling companions, she spoke, “I am happy to see you both are now alright. My sister and I wanted to thank you for the service you have bestowed upon us for the past years. We would also like to thank you for helping us defeat a terrible creature that was bent on destroying our kingdom. My sister and I have not had to fight our own battle for so long since we passed on the Elements of Harmony. Defeating that monster without having to rely on the elements helped freed us from our monotonous time as rulers, even if it was just for a day. We are sorry though that you and your friends were hurt during the battle. We did not think the battle would be so…overwhelming for us. If there was anything either of you desired, please do tell us and we will try with all our power to retrieve it for you; we truly see you as our friends and family.”

Dusk looked to Cloud who had still been in her arms throughout the whole speech. As if they were communicating with their minds, they continued to stare into each other’s eyes. When they were finished, they looked back towards Celestia; Dusk was the first to speak, “It was our pleasure and duty to stand by you in battle, Princess Celestia.”

Cloud was the second to speak, as if continuing Dusk’s thoughts, “We have always seen you as family and our friends, and we would protect you just the same.” Her smile glowed more than it had before.

A loud grumble from Dusk’s furious stomach echoed throughout the room, causing her amorous smile to turn into a sheepish smile, “Umm…about that request---,” she was stopped when Celestia had raised her hoof to pause her.

“When you both are ready, join us for dinner in the dining hall,” Celestia finished with a smile before walking back into the hallway; Luna gave her own smile before reuniting with her sister.

Now with both mares alone in the room together, they looked to one another again. They gave each other one last hug before getting themselves off of the bed; Dusk stood by the bedside, assisting Cloud with getting herself out. Seeing that she was still in more pain then herself, Dusk gave Cloud a ride on her back to the dining room below. As they made their way down the hall, Cloud held onto Dusk with a warm hug as she nestled her head upon her friend’s neck.

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Instead of sitting at the dining room that was bigger than they had first thought, the group moved where they would have their meal to the garden grounds just behind the castle. They sat around each side of a medium square table that they had the servants retrieve and set up near the edge of the garden. The sight they shared was of the sun setting on the horizon as they were about to order their meals.

“I will have a salad with a hint of grated blue cheese and hot tea, please,” requested Luna as she spoke to the servant taking the group’s orders.

Celestia had been mulling over what she would have, but decided to keep it simple since she wasn’t really hungry, “Mmm, that sounds good; I will have the same but instead of cheese for the salad, make it slices of banana, please.”

Having already eaten a big meal earlier, Cloud tried to think of something small to eat, “I will have…an apple.”

“Just an apple?” asked the servant with a bemused look on his face.

“Yes, just an apple, please,” Cloud tried to give a sincere smile, but it was fairly easy to see past it.

The servant just jotted it down on his notebook and turned towards Dusk Strider, “and what will you be having, milady?”

Out of the whole group, Dusk had probably been the most famished; she put a lot of thought into what she wanted. When the servant asked for her order; she was ready, “I would like two R.L.Ts with extra crispy hay fries, two stalks of celery, two carrots, half an apple pie and for a drink I will have ice tea with a lemon slice and a touch of sugar, please,” she then gave a delighted smile to show she was finished ordering.

The group stared at Dusk with astonishment plastered on their faces. After a short moment, Luna turned to the servant, “Change my order please, I will have what she is having,” she then smiled towards Dusk who still held her own smile as she looked back to Luna. They then both turned their smiles to the servant who was shifting his eyes between the two in a nervous manner. He erased and jotted the order on his notebook quickly before leaving to the castle kitchens. When he was gone, the diners looked to one another and released a laugh amongst themselves.

They didn’t wait long for their food to come by; they began to feast as soon as their dishes landed on the table. Cloud took her time with her apple, making sure to take small bites so she would manage to finish at the same rate as everypony else. Celestia stood true to her royal self, eating with poise and grace. Unlike her sister, Luna ransacked her food along with Dusk when they had decided to combine their meals. They each grabbed a hoof-full of hay fries in one hoof and held their R.L.T’s in the other, switching between bites. Sometimes they would even bite into the others sandwich without even realizing it. When all the solid food had been eradicated, they moved onto their drinks. They discarded the straws the tall glasses had come with and guzzled down the sweet liquid brought to them. Feeling satisfied with their meal, the two mares of the night fell to the ground and laid in pure bliss as their friends watched them from over the table.

As she lay on the ground letting her stomach enjoy its victory, a thought had crossed Dusk’s mind, “Princess…” she let out a burp, “oops, sorry, umm…Princesses, what ever happened to the base? There was so much technology there; we could have had our engineers here make it into something that could have helped us with our daily lives.”

Celestia swallowed the last bite of her meal before answering, “A few days after we made sure you and Cloud had been comfortable and resting, we came back to the island. We thought of what help the technology that was stored in the facility could have been, but then…we realized that we and our subjects have been living well enough with how much we have progressed so far. We felt satisfied with what we have already accomplished on our own that if we took the technology there, we would be missing valuable lessons that the beings might have learned when they created the technology on their own. So…we sank the facility; far below the waters depths, erasing the last trace of whatever had happened there. The technology that Vesper and Calyx had recovered from the Royal Aviation Committee was carefully examined to see which was of our own make and what was influenced by the beings technology. Whatever was not ours was destroyed and removed from the files they kept in storage. The ponies involved with the monstrosity were banished from our lands with their memories erased of all that had happened,” Celestia then lay on the floor by her sister and Dusk, staring into the skies above, “Huzzah?”

Luna kept her eyes to the sky and let out a chuckle, “Huzzah, indeed!” she said, waving her hooves towards the sky.

When Cloud had finished her meal, she took her place by Dusk’s side. As she stared at the sky by her closest friend, a sudden thought of her own crossed her mind which caused her to stand from her comfortable spot, “I was supposed to meet Fluttershy the day after we were abducted!” she looked upon the faces that quickly shifted their attention to her.

Celestia responded in her usual reassuring tone, “Do not worry Cloud, she had asked Twilight Sparkle to send a message to me asking if you were alright a few days after we came back to Canterlot. I told her that I asked you to stay over at the castle to help me with a few personal matters and that I was sorry to have you miss your get-together with her. Now lie down, relax and watch the sky while Luna raises the moon.” She then gave her sister a light nudge to signal her to do her job.

Cloud relaxed and lied herself down with a smile to watch the sky as her princess had suggested.

“Tia…,” Luna spoke out, still suffering from her satisfaction of the feast she had, “I am still a bit too weak to raise the moon by my lonesome…will you kindly assist me, dear sister?” she looked towards Celestia with a puppy look.

Celestia rolled her eyes towards her sister and returned a grin, “Ok Lulu.”

From their laidback position, they met their horns together and fused their magic, giving off a bright shine. As Dusk and Cloud watched the sky, they saw the dark canvas slowly emblazon with white dots all over. For the finale, the moon itself took its position amongst the stars and gleamed through the sky. The group spent the night staring off into the painting above, enjoying the cool air and good company they were in.

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End of Chapter 1: "Nice Night to Crash"

(M-S)Long Ride Back to the Heart Pt. 1(Dusk)

Thursday

On a warm summer day, Dusk Strider had been asked to meet with Princess Celestia at the Royal Port near Canterlot Castle. Dusk arrived earlier than she was asked because her close friend, Cloud Treader, wanted to talk before she started her shift for the day. While waiting at the farthest dock on the third station, Dusk was greeted by a different pony than she had expected.

“Heya Dusk, what are you doing here today? Don’t you start later tonight?” said the white stallion unicorn, clad in golden armor.

Caught off-guard while watching the sky, Dusk took a moment to find her words, “Oh, hey Search Light; I’m actually here because Celestia asked me to be. I’m also waiting for Cloud; she said she wanted to see me before Celestia got here. What are you doing here this early?”

Adjusting his armor, Search Light spoke, “It’s a nice day today, and I didn’t want to spend it inside at home. A few extra hours of work isn’t so bad if the day is nice enough…the extra pay doesn’t hurt either.” He finished with a smile.

Dusk joined in on his mood with a smile of her own but quickly replaced it with a hoof over her face when she came to a sudden realization, “I forgot about your present!” before she could continue, the sound of clanking metal came from behind Search Light.

The source of the noise emanated from a shining peach mare pegasus walking uncomfortably towards Dusk with a smile on her face. In her smile though was a bag with decorations meant to celebrate the day the pony it was meant for, was brought into existence. She gave the bag to Search Light before taking her place at her friend’s side.

When she came to a stop, she looked up towards Search and spoke, “Dusk is still a little tired from having to wake up so early. She asked me to bring the present we got you with me before I left the house; we hope you enjoy it.”

Search Light took the present in his mouth but put it back down realizing it was rather difficult to speak, “Thank you very much to both of you. Means a lot that somepony actually remembered my birthday. I should probably let you both talk, bye for now.” He took up his present again and trotted off with a cheer in his step.

With Search Light now gone, Dusk and Cloud laid their eyes back to each other. Dusk gave Cloud a hug before she spoke, “Thanks, did I really ask you to bring the present?”

“Nope, you definitely forgot.” Cloud held a cute, smug smile that nopony could really be mad at, especially Dusk.

Dusk stuck her tongue out in a more jokingly than mockingly way before speaking, “Well, thank you again.” Noticing that Cloud was in her guard’s regalia that she hardly ever wore, a question crossed Dusk’s mind, “What’s the special occasion?” she asked, giving a few taps to the metal armor.

“Today’s the graduation of the new recruits; Captain Bullhorn and I will be ushering the Aerial Day Guard into their new posts. I just have to wear this for the ceremony…at least that’s what Bullhorn said.” Cloud tried to adjust herself to the weight of the armor.

“That’s right…I was meant to be at the ceremony with Captain Nightingale for the new recruits in the Night Aerial Guard, but Celestia had something else in mind for me to do.” Dusk shifted her gaze to the docked airship before looking back to Cloud with a slight frown.

“At least you don’t have to wear this clunky armor now.” Cloud gave a light chuckle to try to cheer Dusk up but to no avail, “Don’t worry, I’m sure Captain Nightingale will understand.” Cloud would have continued, but the sound of hoofsteps caught her and Dusk’s attention.

Their sun monarch had been making her way towards the pair along with her dear sister, Princess Luna. The group exchanged smiles before Celestia spoke, “Good afternoon Dusk and Cloud.”

“Good afternoon Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” said Dusk and Cloud simultaneously, happy to see their rulers before them.

Luna responded with a smile and a quirk of her head.

Celestia continued, “Cloud, will you take my sister and show her around the preparations for the ceremony. It’ll be nice for her to get a glimpse of what she’ll see for the evening version of the ceremony.”

Cloud gave a nod and readied her wings for flight. When Luna showed she was ready, they flew their way towards the castle grounds. After a few waves of goodbye, Celestia and Dusk turned their attention back to each other.

Dusk felt ready to begin the mission that was about to be laid upon her, so she was the first to speak, “Princess Celestia, you wanted to speak?”

Celestia gave a sly grin before responding, “I actually wanted to ask if there was anything important for you next week.”

Dusk held a confused look upon her face, “I’m sorry Princess, what do you mean?”

Still holding her grin, Celestia continued, “I was just wondering if there was a special day for you next week.”

Dusk gave it some thought, but finally shook her head.

Ever persistent, Celestia kept prodding, “A special day where two ponies should be celebrating together…?”

“Do you mean the Sisterhooves Social? If you do, I don’t think my sister could make it…and I don’t think the Sisterhooves Social isn’t until for another few months.” Dusk looked up and just blinked at Celestia.

Celestia changed her expression from sly to slightly astonished, “You really do not remember what is happening next week, do you?”

Dusk continued her blinking towards Celestia, not even giving thought to the question.

Celestia moved her way behind Dusk; she then lowered her head next to Dusk’s ear. She then began to whisper, “It is your…anniversary.” She finished by making her way back in front of Dusk.

Dusk reacted in a matter suited for a pony in her position; that being, a pony that forgot their own anniversary of when they made a sacred vow with their closest partner and friend. First was the shock, stone solid and unable to move or breath. Second was the awe; she screamed as loudly as she possibly could in great shock. Finally was the realization; she had a week until her anniversary and she still didn’t have a gift, nor did she have an idea for a gift. Before she can let out another scream, she felt hooves resting upon her shoulders; she looked up to see Celestia’s reassuring and confident face.

“I knew it would slip your mind to no fault of your own.” Celestia let her hooves slowly fall onto the ground but still held her appearance, “The reason I asked you to come here was so I would be able to help you.”

Dusk was able to calm herself and her erratic heartbeat. When she felt every part of her was now settled and under control, she spoke, “Thank you for reminding me Princess Celestia, what was the plan you had in mind?”

Celestia looked over to the airship then back to Dusk, “This airship will be traveling to Trottingham today with a special guest of mine who will be joining us shortly. It will take two days for the journey going there and two days for the journey back, you will have two days for yourself to look for a present. In total, you will be gone for six days; you will be back on the morning of yours and Cloud’s anniversary day,” before she continued, a chariot flown buy two pegasus guards landed next to Dusk and Celestia.

The chariot didn’t stay too long after it had dropped off its passenger. With the passenger now uncovered, it was easier to see who it had been. It was a unicorn stallion, a very renowned unicorn stallion with an upper-class suit. He had a white coat with a long blue mane and tail to match. If there were any distinguishing features, it would have been his triple-crown cutie mark and his moustache.

After realizing who she had been looking at, Dusk let her ‘proper etiquette-training’ take over, “Good afternoon, Fancypants,” she said as she curtsied.

Celestia joined in on greeting one of Canterlot’s most esteemed residents, “Pleasure to meet you, Fancypants.”

After making his way towards the group, he dropped his bearings and gave his greetings, “The pleasure is all mine, Princess Celestia,” he gave a bow, but when he met his eyes on the pony beside her, he was a bit flummoxed, “Hello…I’m sorry, I find myself at a disadvantage, Ms.…?”

“Strider…Dusk Strider; Dusk though is fine,” said Dusk, giving a look of embarrassment.

“Ah, well, pleasure to meet you as well, Ms. Strider,” looking back to Celestia, “I believe you were in the middle of a conversation, please do continue.”

With her thoughts gathered once again, Celestia continued with her plan, “Now that you have met our special guest, you should know what I would like you to do. Officially, Fancypants will be going to Trottingham to visit his family and to check on his businesses there. Unofficially, he will be carrying the bits meant for whatever present you are going to purchase for Cloud. Your part in this though is that you will be his escort service. Trottingham is a dangerous place, many hooligans and thieves. We could send a few guards, but we thought it to be a better idea to send somepony with more experience and reason to go. Dusk, since you and Cloud are my sister’s and mine’s personal guard and friends; we have allowed you many privileges. One privilege that will come in useful will be that you do not have to wear your armor. It will be easier to protect Fancypants if you kept a low profile, and if anypony does try to cause harm to him, you will have the element of surprise for your advantage. Do not worry about your charges here; your friend, Vesper, said she would look over them while you are away,” seeing that Dusk had a worried look over her face, “and do not worry so much about what you will get for Cloud, I am sure she will hold dear whatever you get her.” Celestia finished with another of her patented reassuring smiles.

Dusk mulled over the info she had just been given, she came across a question in her mind, “How will I be able to look for a gift if I must be by Fancypants’ side the whole time?”

Celestia was about to answer but quickly stopped when Fancypants spoke first, “You do not have to worry about me the whole time, my dear. When we visit my family for the first day we are there, you may take a walk around the city. My family and I can take care of ourselves when we’re together in their estate. For the second day, when we visit my businesses, it will almost be as if we are shopping. My businesses are mostly made up of high class clothing and jewelry stores, so I am sure we will be able to find something then, if you are not successful the first day.”

Feeling satisfied with all she has heard, Dusk gave a firm expression, “Sounds wonderful, I’ll be ready to lift-off as soon as I say goodbye to Cloud first,” before she could lift off though, Princess Luna and Cloud had already been on their way down towards the group; Dusk relaxed her stance once again.

“Greetings everypony,” said Luna as she gently touched down.

“Hello all,” said Cloud when she tried to copy Luna’s graceful landing but instead gave off a loud clattering sound.

“You’re just in time, Dusk and Fancypants were just about to leave for Trottingham,” Celestia walked over to stand by her sister.

Dusk looked over to Cloud who was giving a small frown, hidden from the rest of the group, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back next week.” She slowly walked in front of Cloud; she looked into her eyes for a brief moment before giving her a strong hug that sunk warmth past the cold metal armor.

When the rest of the group said their farewells, Dusk picked up Fancypants’ bags and they made their way on board the airship. The airship wasn’t like the usual ships that Dusk was placed on before. It was much smaller and needed fewer ponies to manage it. Even though it was small, it didn’t make it any less luxurious. The rooms down below were just as fancy and roomy as the ones in Canterlot Castle. The airship was made for comfort and quick travel, perfect for casual trips to other destinations outside of Canterlot or Equestria that the Princesses made with their usual guards or special guests.

As the airship was about to leave, Dusk and Fancypants made their way to the stern of the ship and gave a last wave of goodbyes to the group below. The view grew further and further as the ship began its voyage. As soon as both groups were out of sight of each other, they returned to their duties. Cloud went back to help prepare for the Aerial Day Guard Graduation; Celestia prepared herself for all the graduations that would happen during the day; and Luna went back to sleep, feeling she was prepared enough for the night graduations that would be held all night long.

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Saturday

It was night; the moon filled the sky with its bright gleam. The air was crisp and motioned as a slow, comforting breeze. Nights like this usually helped Dusk out of even the worst of moods, but tonight, it just wasn’t enough. She spent the night above the ship’s deck, watching how the waters below reflected the moon and the stars overhead perfectly as if using a magic of their own to do it.

She heard hoofsteps behind her but didn’t break her gaze away from the waters. Instead, she spoke, thinking it was just one of the crewponies trying to send her back to her quarters again, “I thank you for the concern again, but I’ll go back to bed when I am ready, please just leave me to my thoughts.”

With a very gentle voice and Trottingham accent, whoever was behind her spoke, “How about a bit for your thoughts, Ms. Strider?”

Recognizing the voice, Dusk turned back to see Fancypants without his suit. She was quick to replace her look of surprise with a look of regret, “I am very sorry Fancypants; I didn’t realize it was you.”

Waving off the comment with his hoof, “Don’t worry, my dear, think nothing of it. Do you mind if I join you?”

Still suffering from being caught off guard, Dusk’s words came out differently than she wanted, “Oh, um…sorry, I mean…no, I don’t mind at all. Please, do join me, it would be my pleasure.” She offered a position beside her while giving an awkward smile.

He gave a nod before taking the position offered to him, “Thank you.” He looked out to the sea, enjoying the same sight that Dusk had been, “I dare say, this has to be one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in a while.”

Dusk looked back out to waters below, trying to ease her way back into comfort, “This is probably the second ‘most beautiful view’ for me.”

Fancypants let his curiosity guide his next few words, “Is that so? What, if I may ask, is the first?”

Dusk let loose a genuine smile that hadn’t been seen since she left Canterlot, “The first would have to be when I first laid my eyes upon the pony I knew I would marry.”

Fancypants could feel there was more to what she would say and that if he let her continue, she might even find herself in a better mood, “Why, now that does sound like a very lovely sight to behold. Would you mind shedding more light?”

Dusk relaxed her head upon her hooves as she leaned upon the railing of the ship, still looking out to the sea and holding her smile, “I don’t even know where to start…”

--------------------------------------.-----------------------------

Filly Years

“Come on Dusky, I know you could do it,” said a peach mare to her plum friend.

“I don’t know Cloie, it’s a long way down,” said Dusky as she leaned over her cloud perch.

“You know if you do fall, I would catch you, just like how you would catch me. I know you can do it!” Cloie cheered her friend on from the cloud perch beside Dusky.

The pair was just a small ways outside of Cloudsdale, practicing their casual hover flight for class the next day. Cloie was a bit more advanced than Dusk was when it came to casual flight practice and was helping Dusky to control her wing control. Whenever it was Dusky’s turn for flight practice, her nervous energy had caused her to flap her wings as quickly as a Hummingbird. When she took flight, she ended up making her way to the finish line quicker than she was meant to and more often than not, crashing through several obstacles and students in the process.

“Just remember what Fluttershy said and take a deep breath,” Cloie was motioning herself taking in deep breaths by raising and lowering her hooves and by inflating and deflating her chest.

Dusky took her eyes off the sickeningly long fall below and looked to her current objective. It had been a cloud not far from where she was. A simple hop, skip and a jump would suffice to making it, but that wasn’t the point. Dusky was meant to ready her wings, hover slowly over to the next cloud, and finally land. She took many deep breaths but to no avail, still nervous as ever, her wings begun to flutter quickly. As she stood, feeling as if there was no other way to calm herself, she made ready for lift off. Before she was able to take off though, she felt a hoof upon her shoulder; she quickly turned to see whom it had been. She had seen that it was Cloie; tilting her head and giving a smile that caused Dusky’s heart to skip a beat. She focused her gaze deeply into Cloie’s gray eyes. A sudden relief washed over Dusky, she felt all the nervous energy be replaced by a more confident energy; her wings now moved to a more normal beat. Whatever fear she felt was now gone, Dusky looked back to the cloud across the way. She slowly lifted herself up, a slow and steady beat of her wings kept her from touching back down onto the cloud. She made her towards the next cloud in front of her in a confident and stable manner. She finished by gently landing and folding back in her wings; she looked back to Cloie in joy.

“Woohoo, you did it! I knew you could do it!” Cloie leapt for joy at her friend’s success.

Dusky floated back to Cloie in the same matter that she floated away. She gave Cloie a great hug before speaking, “Thank you, I don’t think I could have done it without you.”

“Good Job,” said a voice near them.

“Yay!” said another, softer, voice.

Dusky and Cloie looked up to see that it had been Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

Grateful but a little confused, Dusky spoke, “Thanks, but where did you both come from?”

Rainbow Dash had been the one to answer, “We were coming to get you since it was almost dinner time.”

Fluttershy continued, “When we saw you practicing, we hid so we wouldn’t distract you. You did a great job.”

“Thanks, but I owe it to Cloie, she was really a major help,” Dusky tightened her hug enough to express her added appreciation.

“She just needed a little extra reassurance.” Cloie looked back to Dusky who looked back to her. Remembering they had company though, they looked back to their hovering friends, “So, dinner?” The pair hovered next to their friends.

“Yup!” said Rainbow Dash, “Race ya!” she then turned herself in the direction of Cloudsdale.

“I’m game,” said Dusky, taking position next to Rainbow Dash.

“I think we’ll just take our time,” said Fluttershy, floating beside Cloie who had nodded her head at the idea.

“Ok, your loss!” Rainbow Dash gave a determined looked towards Dusky who returned one back, “Ready…Set…GO!” and then they were off.

Cloie and Fluttershy followed at their own slow and steady pace. Half way to their destination, Fluttershy asked the question she had on her mind for most of the trip, but in an offhand manner, “Well…?”

Cloie just looked back to Fluttershy with a hot-red blush enveloping her face.

----------------------.----------------------

Saturday

“It was odd; I didn’t actually see her as somepony I would marry then, but it didn’t change the way I felt,” said Dusk as she stretched before going back to leaning over the railing.

Fancypants gave a light chuckle, “Why, that’s not odd at all, my dear. It just takes time for what you see, to catch up to what you feel. Speaking of which, when did your eyes finally meet your heart?”

Dusk looked towards Fancypants, thinking she would find something of note. When she determined she wouldn’t, she looked back out to the sea, “I believe it was during our final exam for joining the guards…”

------------------------------------------.-------------------------------

The day of the final exam

Out on the edge of the Everfree forest, the guards-in-training were preparing themselves for their final exam before they’re inducted into the prestigious ranks of the Royal Guard. The trainees were separated into two different groups of fifteen; one was made up of the Day Guard, mixture of earth, pegasi, and unicorn ponies; and the Night Guard, with the same mixture of ponies. As everypony was still preparing, seven stout ponies took their positions on top of a podium in the middle of the mass crowd; there was two of each of pony kind except for there being three unicorns.

The eldest of the seven had stepped forward to address the rookies, “Attention all trainees,” he waited until silence had befallen the entire encampment, “I am Stalwart Defender, Captain of the Guard.” He motioned to one of the other unicorns behind him to join him, “This is Shining Armor, he will be giving you the details of what you will be doing today and how it will affect your chances at joining the Royal Guard.” Stalwart Defender went back to join the rest of the captains.

Before he spoke, Shining Armor willed a clipboard in front of him, “Hello, I am Shining Armor, Captain of the Mystic Day Guard. We thought we would make your final exam more interesting than we have in the past years. We will be testing you through a war game—,” he was cut off by the uproar of cheering. With a smile, he tried to calm the group by waving his hoof through the air before continuing, “Easy now; before we begin the exam, you will be given a belt with two flags. If your flags are taken by the opposing force, you must make you way out of the forest. Don’t worry about being lost; at the end of the game we will sweep the forest for anypony still in there.” He flipped a page on his clipboard before continuing, “Your main goal is to acquire a flag housed inside the Ancient Castle of the Royal Princess Sisters. Do not think this will be easy, before we actually let you inside the forest, we will cause a blanket of fog to encompass the area, making it very difficult for even pegasus to see. The fog will be too dense and too strong for any of you to either blow away or use your magic to will away. As you may have realized, the battle will be between the Day Guard and the Night Guard; you will start at different sides of the forest. Both divisions will be broken up into smaller, three pony squads. Each squad will have one of each pony kind, and in the end, there should be five groups of three on both sides. The first squad to make it the goal and back will pass with flying colors. For everypony else though, you will be graded on your teamwork abilities. We have spread out magic sentries throughout the forest to watch how you work as a team. Even though you are competing against each other, you are still comrades. I expect you all to help each other if anypony is in danger from whatever lies within the Everfree forest. In addition to the wildlife, we have left many surprises for you as you make your way through the forest. That is all, report to your captains to be assigned to your squads. Do your best and good luck.” Shining Armor stepped down from the podium along with his fellow captains.

While the other ponies had been getting their flags or assigned to their squads, Dusk Strider was searching for Cloud Treader. Luckily, Cloud decided to take place at the very back of the crowd.

“Are you alright?” asked Dusk, seeing that Cloud was having a hard time not causing a loud racket from the shaking she was doing in her armor.

Looking back to Dusk, Cloud stood up from her comfort zone, “Just a little nervous energy, I’m fine,” she said as she gave a very unconvincing smile.

“You’ll do great, I’m sure of it.” Dusk placed her hoof on top of Cloud’s shoulder and gave a more supportive smile.

“Don’t worry Cloud, you will do fine,” said a sultry French accented voice beside the pair.

They looked up to see that it had been Captain Nightingale, captain of the Night Aerial Guard; Dusk hesitated but was the first to speak, “I’m sorry captain, just making sure Cloud was alright.”

“It’s ok but we must prepare, come now. Cloud, you should probably report to Captain Bullhorn now. Good luck and remember, don’t worry, it’s just like any other test,” Nightingale and Dusk walked away to their starting positions. Cloud waved goodbye as Dusk looked back one last time to give another reassuring smile before disappearing into the crowd.

------------------------.--------------------------

Saturday

Seeing that Dusk took another break to stretch, Fancypants made his thoughts heard, “From your first story, I would of thought that Cloud was the more…courageous of the both of you; no offense to you of course.”

Keeping to her tired expression, Dusk responded, “None taken; I was a bit more timid back when I was a filly, but I grew out of it. Cloud…well…Cloud was always shy; she was usually quiet and mostly kept to herself. The only times I could remember her not being so shy would be whenever we were alone together. However, even then, she would have a difficult time sharing her words or thoughts. It never stopped her from doing her best as a guard though. If it were ever her turn for an exercise, she would do it as quickly and as professionally than any of the instructors would have expected. When she was done, she’d quickly take place either next to me or in the back of her class,” as she lay on her hooves again upon the railing, she hid her face away from Fancypants, “If there was anything I’d be embarrassed to admit…it would be that I was a little jealous of how good she actually was.”

Fancypants was at a loss of words, he tried to change the subject, “Hmm, you were talking about your final exam. How and when did you realize Cloud would be the mare you would be bonded with?”

Dusk returned her gaze back towards the sea, “A few of the squads from both sides had already been eliminated. My squad was attacked a few times; I had just lost both my compatriots. I only managed to make it because I escaped into a tree…”

---------------------------------.---------------------------------

Day of the final exam

“I knew I heard something, ugh, good match,” said the dark colored unicorn stallion in dismay.

“At least we took one of them out,” said the grey colored earth stallion.

As the duo walked off into the distance, a white unicorn mare trotted after them. When she caught up, they made their way out of the forest together.

With the trio gone, the remaining two ponies were conversing, unaware that they were being watched from the treetop above.

The brown earth mare was the first to speak, “What happened to their pegasus?”

Beside her, a tan pegasus stallion gave his two bits worth, “I’m not sure, I think she flew off.”

Looking to the left and right of her in frustration, the earth mare continued, “I thought we would get them like the other squads we eliminated.” She slammed one of her hind hooves into the tree behind her, causing it to tremble.

Fearing what his partner might do next, the pegasus spoke up, “Maybe we should try and search—,”

A loud crashing sound came from behind the earth mare. When she turned back to see what it could have been, she saw that the pony of their conversation had fallen on top of her partner. When she noticed that a flag had been in the pegasus mare’s hoof, she tripped backwards over a rock in shock. Before she could get back up, she knew her flag had already been taken from her side.

Dusk offered the downed earth mare a hoof of generosity that was quickly rejected. The earth mare slapped Dusk’s hoof away and stood herself up. After dusting herself off, she gave a huff before walking off. Dusk was about to give the other mare a piece of her mind but quickly noticed the still downed pegasi beside her. She offered the same hoof of generosity, vulnerable to another quick rejection by the pony in front of her. That wasn’t the case though; unlike his partner, he took the hoof with appreciation.

When he had himself fully standing up, he began to speak, “Thanks; I’m sorry for my partner’s rudeness, she isn’t really used to losing. Being an earth pony trying out to be a guard, she feels that she has more to prove.”

Knowing the type of reputation earth ponies received in the guard, Dusk understood well, “It’s alright, I understand. Are you ok? Landing on you wasn’t really part of the plan.”

“I’m alright; I can make it back to the others on my own. I better catch up with my friend before she gets lost.” He extended his hoof towards Dusk. When she extended her own, they shook hooves. With that over, he flew into the same direction as his friend and vanished.

As Dusk looked about her surroundings, a sudden cry shot out from the distance. Not really knowing where she was, she soared quickly in the direction of the loud shriek, hoping to find somepony who knew the way to the primary goal.

----------------------.--------------------

Starting to hear fighting ahead, Dusk slowed her speed and took cover behind a tree. Unable to see where the noise was coming from as she peaked from her cover; she advanced closer from tree to bush to tree until the sounds had been right on top of her. When she peaked again, she had seen that two ponies had been battling a pack of Timberwolves. Dusk was quick to join the fray, knocking down the closest wolf to her. The other wolves took their hungry gaze from the two other ponies and looked back to see who had hurt their kin, but as they did, they themselves were knocked to the ground. Feeling as they were out matched, they let out a howl before retreating back into the woods.

While watching the Timberwolves run away, Dusk was suddenly pounced by an unseen force. With her eyes still closed from reeling in pain from falling on a jagged rock, an application of pressure befell her lips. Instead of feeling that she was being taken advantage of, she felt the same emotions she had when she stared into the eyes of her closest friend. With that feeling, she left her eyes closed and instinctively went along with the motions. When she felt the pressure lessen, she slowly opened her eyes to the most magnificent sight she had seen to date. It was of a peach mare with a shining smile that helped overlook the bruises upon her face and disheveled mane from the battle.

Cloud took a step back to help Dusk up off the floor before she spoke, “I’m so happy you found us when you did; I thought we were goners.” Cloud looked around to find her partner. When she did find her partner, he had his back turned towards the pair as to make sure he wasn’t intruding on their fond moment, “Calyx,” called out Cloud in a happy tone.

“Uhhh,” had been what Calyx blurted out before a long awkward pause, “Are you two done kissing? I mean…it’s not as if I was peeking or anything…just…well…are you done?”

Cloud giggled before responding, “Yes Calyx, now please come over here.” As Calyx made his way, Cloud turned to Dusk, “He’s a bit shy and easy to make blush. Both of our squad members had been eliminated earlier, so we decided to join each other.” Before she could continue, Calyx had arrived.

“Hello, my name is Calyx, trainee to the Mystic Day Guard.” Calyx wanted to motion a salute but was for some reason too nervous to do so.

“My name is Dusk, trainee to the Night Aerial Guard.” Finally realizing why Calyx had been nervous from how his horn was flickering, Dusk addressed the issue, “I don’t think it would be a good idea to fight one another right now.” Calyx’s horn had stopped flickering but he was still shaking, “Let’s team up instead.”

Calyx stopped moving all together, “Wh-what?”

Amazed at the proposition, Cloud joined in on the confusion, “Are you sure? Is that even allowed?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s allowed. This test is about teamwork anyways, isn’t it?” said Dusk, shifting her eyes between the two.

Never one to dismiss a chance to be with her friend, Cloud changed her expression from amazed to happy, “Yeah, it is isn’t it? Ok, let’s go and find that flag!”

“Well…it would be better than traveling alone, strength in numbers and all; Ok, I’m in as well.” Calyx plastered on his best smile.

With everypony in agreement, the hybrid squad made their way through the dangerous and mysterious forest in hopes of finding their key to victory.

-----------------------.----------------------

Sunday

“…I could go on and tell you that when we did arrive at the castle, the flag had already been gone. I can also tell you that whoever had the flag, who became one of our friends after the match, had also left a great many active traps and an angry Manticore waiting for us. In the end though, we did manage to get top scores…even if we didn’t have the flag. We performed with the greatest of teamwork amongst all the squads; even beat the squad with the flag who had lost points for bickering about who would be the one to present the flag. I could go on but…you just wanted to know when my eyes and heart finally agreed on whom I would tie the knot with,” said Dusk as she withdrew from her position on the railing and stood on all four hooves facing Fancypants.

Seeing that he wouldn’t be getting much more from Dusk that night, Fancypants withdrew from his position on the railing before facing Dusk, “I thank you for sharing your story with me, Ms. Strider. I believe we should retire to our quarters before we arrive into Trottingham; we have much to do tomorrow.” Fancypants started making his way towards the stairs to the lower levels.

Before Fancypants made his way down the stairs, Dusk spoke in a solemn tone mixed with appreciation, “Thank you for keeping me company.”

Fancypants turned his head just enough to reveal the smile he had been hiding before continuing to walk down the steps.

Dusk took one last look towards the moon laying in the horizon, nearly ready to let the sun take over the skies. The view of the sea was now dulled as waves and boats swirled the waters below. Feeling as if they were mere hours away from their destination, Dusk made her way down the same path as Fancypants, to retire for what was left of that beautiful night.

(M-S)Long Ride back to the Heart Pt. 2(Dusk)

Sunday

As the sun’s radiance was starting to cast itself over the horizon, Dusk Strider and Fancypants, who was now dressed in his formal attire, made their way from the Trottingham Port to their temporary living arrangement, The Draycolt Hotel. The hotel was known to be the greatest establishment in Trottingham. It was located near the middle of the vast city. It was well known for its renaissance-era theme design, and the authenticity of how the staff interacted with their guests and each other.

When they arrived at the hotel, their first stop had been the front desk. Behind the front desk was a unicorn stallion dressed in character for his role as a servant. Dusk was still distressed from how she still didn’t know what to get her significant other for their significant day, so she wasn’t in the mood to talk. Instead, Fancypants had been speaking for the both of them for most of the day. Continuing this favor, Fancypants went to talk to the receptionist as Dusk waited beside their bags.

“Hail to thee, welcome to The Draycolt Hotel. Will you be checking-in?” asked the overly enthusiastic receptionist.

With a chuckle at how much he was enjoying the experience, Fancypants replied, “Indeed, friend. I will need two separate rooms for my associate and me. Will you be able to assist us?”

“I believe I might,” said the receptionist, looking over the list of rooms that were occupied or vacant lying on his desk. After a few turn of pages, he looked back up to Fancypants with a suspicious frown, “I am sorry for this, sir, but it seems that the only rooms that are available are suites. Luckily, the suites have separate bedrooms and bathrooms.”

“Well, that is inconvenient.” Fancypants paused for what seemed like dramatic effect before continuing, “I suppose we will have to purchase the suite. How much will that be?”

The receptionist’s lips quivered as if to hide a smile of questionable joy, “It will be 450 bits for the first night and 300 bits for the additional nights.”

“That is all then? We’ll take it,” said Fancypants, beckoning Dusk over with his hoof.

Seeing her signal, Dusk trotted over to the front desk with a brown bag in tow. When she had reached the desk, she dropped the bag beside Fancypants before returning to the rest of their luggage. Fancypants opened the bag and used his magic to will the bits within to make their way upon the desk.

When he finished, and there had been a large pile of bits on the desk, he looked back to the receptionist, “I believe this should cover for two nights, good sir.”

The receptionist had been too in awe to speak as he gazed upon the mountain of shining bits in front of him. Instead, he simply willed two keys to Fancypants before forgetting why there were vast riches in front of him to begin with.

Taking the keys with his magic, Fancypants motioned to Dusk to follow before making their way deeper into the hotel.

After walking through a few corridors and climbing many steps, Dusk spoke about what was on her mind, “Did you know he was lying to you? Because all the rooms we’ve passed by so far have been empty.”

With a light chuckle, Fancypants responded, “I know, I’m just interested on how they would try coaxing me into getting a suite this time.”

“This time?” Dusk responded in confusion.

“Quite. Whenever I do come here, I see if there is any new staff. The new ones are always told to at least try and convince the better-dressed ponies to purchase a night in a suite. I just see how unique each effort is made. Even if they didn’t offer me a suite, I would still purchase one; especially if I had guests.”

“That does sound like a bit of fun,” said Dusk, allowing a slight smile to take place upon her lips.

“I’m glad you think so. Here, this should be our room,” said Fancypants, standing in front of a grand double door.

After inserting the key and giving a quick twist, they had walked into the sitting room. The room was furnished with two couches and a small round table with a vase with flowers on top, in between. On each side of the couches had been end tables with electric switch lamps on top. On the wall opposite of the entrance were two tall windows with elegant drapes left open to allow the sunshine in. On the sidewalls were the doors to their even more extravagant bedrooms.

Dusk had been struck in awe at the site of the room while Fancypants looked to her with a pleased smile.

Before they made their way further into the room, Fancypants shared the plan for the day, “Make yourself at home, my dear. I will take the room on the left as you take the room on the right. We will leave in the afternoon to visit my family’s home. After we get there, I will tell you the rest of the plan. For now, rest up or find yourself a meal; the servants come by every so often down the hallways. Do not hesitate to come to my door if you have any questions.”

“Thank you very much,” said Dusk, curtseying.

“Think nothing of it, it is my pleasure,” said Fancypants, now making his way to his room after closing the double doors behind him with his magic.

When Fancypants closed the door to his room, Dusk walked about the large room to see if there was anything else of interest. After opening a few drawers and picking through some of the literature in the room, she concluded that there wasn’t anything at all noteworthy; she then decided to retire to her room. When she opened the door, she didn’t take in all the details the same way she had in the room before. Instead, she eyed the one piece of furniture that caught her attention, the bed. After dropping her bags next to the door that she closed with her rear hoof, she took a leap into the bed before succumbing to its extraordinary comfort.

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A few knocks had resonated from the door followed by a voice, “—awake?”

As much as she tried to do so, Dusk wasn’t able to move her body. The most she could do was slowly open her eyes and examine the room.

Another barrage of knocks came from the door before being followed by the same voice, “Ms. Strider, it is half past noon. Are you alright?”

Now in more control of her body and face, Dusk was able to answer, albeit in a groggily tone, “I’m alright, sorry. Just a minute, please.” She slowly crawled off her comfortable torture device and fell to the floor with a loud thud.

“I say, are you sure you’re alright?”

Not even sure herself anymore, Dusk replied with a tone of embarrassment, “Uh, yes. Just one more moment, please.” Dusk made her way to the door before her wobbly legs caused her to fall again. When she had opened the door, she had seen Fancypants in his usual suit, but along with a top hat and cane. Stopping herself from gawking any longer, “I’m sorry for having you wait; I’m ready.”

Fancypants examined Dusk up and down before speaking, “Dear, I believe it’s my turn to be sorry, but there has been a change of plans.”

“What do you mean?”

“While you were asleep, a messenger had come from my family’s home. They were wondering if I would have company with me. I told him the truth and he left soon after. He had come back to tell me that they would like you as well to attend the afternoon lunch we would be having together.” Fancypants gave an unconvincing smile.

Dusk responded with a dismayed look before speaking, “So I guess visiting the shops will be out of the question for today?”

Matching the same look as Dusk, Fancypants continued, “Yes, I believe so. Nevertheless, do not worry; we will still have tomorrow to look for Ms. Treader’s present.”

“Well, ok. I’m ready to leave when you are.”

“Not quite yet, there is the matter of your attire,” said Fancypants, willing a purple formal dress in front of Dusk.

Dusk took the dress with her mouth before laying it upon her back. She gave a curious look towards Fancypants before speaking, “This dress is tailored.”

Fancypants gave a look of embarrassment with a mixture of pride, “I spent a dinner with Hoity Toity one night, and he had taught me how he sized ponies up by just looking at them. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Nope, not at all; just a minute please,” was all Dusk could say before closing the door to change.

After a few minutes, Dusk stepped out from her room in her new dress. Fancypants, who had been spending time looking out the window, looked towards Dusk in amazement.

“So…?” Dusk asked, feeling silly wearing a dress.

“I dare say, you look simply radiant,” said Fancypants with a gleam to his smile.

Trying to hide her blush, “Cloud would do anything to see me look like this,” she looked over herself in her dress.

“Ha, maybe then that should be your present to her, hmm?” said Fancypants with a joking tone.

“Maybe I’ll save that idea for another emergency,” said Dusk, joining in on Fancypants’ fun.

After the laughter died down, Fancypants spoke, “We should get going, our carriage is waiting for us down stairs.”

They made their way out of the room making sure to close and lock the doors behind them. After descending the many steps and finally leaving the hotel itself, they found the carriage meant to take them to Fancypants’ families’ home; they boarded and were off.

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The ride had passed many sights and attractions during its travels. There was the Buck Keep Museum, the Manefield Theatre, and many parks. When Fancypants said they were near his old home, Dusk looked out her window to try and find it. After she had scanned the many buildings that lay around, her eyes were fixed upon the pristine structure in the distance. It was a grand white mansion with at least two floors. Well-trimmed trees and foliage flanked its sides as the backyard was filled with freshly cut grass. The estate and the land it shared were surrounded by an extensive gate. When the carriage had made it to the front of the mansion, they had stopped before the large gate with two ponies standing guard near it. The guard and the coachpony exchanged a few words before the carriage began its trip again. When it had stopped once more, it had been before the mansion steps itself. On the steps had been the current owners of the home. Fancypants and Dusk made their way down from the carriage, and towards the awaiting hosts.

With the carriage now gone to park, Fancypants was the first to speak as Dusk stood by his side, “Hello, mother and father.”

With a heavy Trottingham accent, the mother was the first to reply, “Allo, dearie! It’s so good to see you again! It’s been ages since your last visit!”

With the same heavy accent, the father was next to speak, “How are you doing, son? This doesn’t look like the same filly you brought us last year.”

Fancypants was quick to explain, “Oh, no, indeed she is not. Fleur De Lis is staying in Canterlot to continue her modeling. This is Dusk Strider; she was placed as my personal guard by Princess Celestia herself.” He lifted his hoof towards Dusk, as if she was somepony worth showing off.

With all eyes now uncomfortably set on her, Dusk quickly spoke in a nervous tone, “Hello,” she then curtseyed. Unable to think of any other words, she simply shifted her eyes between the two old ponies with an awkward smile.

Unable to understand why the purple mare was smiling at them so awkwardly, the parents shifted their eyes back to Fancypants. They decided that the lunch would be taken in the backyard.

For the remainder of the time Dusk and Fancypants had been at the estate, it was spent talking about what the recent events in Canterlot were and what their family friends were doing. Dusk let the family do all of the talking though, mostly because they hadn’t really noticed her. She didn’t mind though, it allowed her to think of a more important topic.

When the sun was beginning to set, Fancypants and Dusk had decided it was time to go. Fancypants’ parents called for the coachpony to ready the carriage as the family talked amongst each other one last time. Dusk waited outside in front for the carriage, feeling unneeded within the home. With the carriage ready, the family joined her outside to say their farewells. Dusk allowed herself to say her second and last word to them before curtsying and making her way into the carriage. Fancypants joined soon after and they made their way to the hotel.

After a short distance, Fancypants wanted to share a few words, “Sorry about my parents, they had it in their mind to think you were my future wife.”

Dusk was still looking out the window as she responded, “It’s alright, I’m used to not speaking to high-class ponies. Whenever there’s a party or celebration at Canterlot Castle, I usually just stay out of the picture. If I ever do get forced to talk, I just excuse myself after saying ‘hello’.”

“Unless you’re assigned to be their guard?” added Fancypants inquisitively.

Catching the rudeness of her tone of speech, Dusk quickly tried to reiterate what she said, “I mean, when I…,” Dusk sighed before continuing, “You’re different; you actually listen to other ponies when they talk, even if they’re not of the same class. I didn’t mean to be rude, sorry.” Dusk didn’t take her gaze off the window.

“It’s alright, I understand,” said Fancypants in a solemn and considerate tone, looking out from the opposite window.

For the remainder of the trip, the two kept to themselves and stayed quiet. They stared out of their windows, not so much to look for anything particular but to focus more on what they had been thinking. If it weren’t for the sound of the bumpy road and the trotting of the coachpony, it would be as if they were floating to the hotel.

When they reached the hotel, they remained quiet for the whole walk to the suite.

After opening the door to the suite, Dusk quickened her pace to her bedroom. Before she opened the door, she turned to face Fancypants, as he was just about to open his own bedroom door, “Thank you for the lunch.” She turned and went into her room, not even waiting for a response.

Fancypants could only respond with a short look of worry before retiring into his own room for the night.

After Dusk took off her dress and put it into the armoire, she stood beside the bed that she stared at with disdain. She wasn’t particularly in a happy mood, nor was she in a sleepy mood. She made her way to the balcony, where she stared off into the starry sky and city lights for most of her night.

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Monday

“…mmmpffff…,” was all that Dusk could murmur as she slowly opened her eyes to the open entrance to the balcony. As much as she tried to shun the sun’s light by closing her eyes tightly, it was to no avail. Understanding that she wouldn’t be able to return to her comfortable rest, she slowly removed herself from the bed. After closing the balcony door, she walked over to vanity mirror in the corner to examine herself. She noticed the work of the restless shuffling she had done in bed when she saw how disheveled her mane had been. Usually she wouldn’t mind having a bad mane day, but since she would be walking with a pony of high-class, she made an exception and took to combing her head.

When she finished tending to her hair, she exited her room to find Fancypants dressed and sitting on the couch sipping tea.

When he put down the cup of tea, Fancypants lifted his head to see his guest, “Good afternoon, Ms. Strider. I take it you rested well?”

Taken aback by the sudden realization of what time it had been, Dusk took a few moments to collect her thoughts before responding, “Um, good afternoon to you as well. I slept well enough.” She made her way to the couch opposite of Fancypants and sat down. She had seen that the table was covered with a bountiful amount of food meant for lunch. It was nothing she would order in Canterlot or Ponyville, but it looked delicious nonetheless.

Before Dusk was able to get her first bite, Fancypants spoke, “We have a big day in front of us, hope you enjoy the meal. After, we will visit my old businesses in search of the one brilliant present fit for your partner.” He took another sip from his cup of tea.

Dusk’s expression turned into joy as she gave a smile and nod towards Fancypants. She devoured the meal with haste and courtesy, leaving no food untouched. When she had finished, she politely wiped her mouth with a napkin and looked towards Fancypants. Apparently, she had eaten so quickly that he didn’t even put down his cup of tea yet.

“I suppose we should get started then?” Fancypants said with a smirk on his face.

Embarrassed from how she acted in front of present company, the only response that Dusk could come up with was a half-sincere smile. Seeing her smile in a reflection off the teapot, she noticed the crumbs and other survivors of the food she had eaten nestling upon her teeth. She remedied the new predicament by covering her mouth with her hoof and nodded towards Fancypants.

Fancypants laughed at Dusk’s signs of embarrassment before speaking, “Well alright then; do what you must before we leave, I will wait for you below.” He stood himself up, tipped his hat towards Dusk, and left the room.

Dusk quickly made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth and clean up. When she finished, she locked the doors to the suite and made her way downstairs. When she had left the hotel, she found Fancypants beside a carriage awaiting her. They both made their way into the carriage, and they were off to the shopping center of Trottingham.

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After a few hours and store visits later, Dusk and Fancypants were on the last lap of their shopping expedition. The shop they had stopped at was an old jewelry store of no real remark. Fancypants had said that it had been one of his first businesses when he was just a colt. The pair left the carriage and went to enter the store.

Inside, the store looked as old as it had outside. It wasn’t as large as the other jewelry stores they had visited, nor were there as many employees. The only other pony that had been there was the aged storeowner. Contrary to how the rest of the store looked however, the jewelry within the display cases had looked new.

Dusk eyed each piece with a discerning eye, making sure to find a gift worthy of her most cherished partner. She had looked for a gift that’s beauty would match the message it would carry with it. As she kept walking down the walkway with every piece of shiny chain and sparkly rock that she passed by, she felt that her efforts were all for not.

Fancypants was speaking with the owner as Dusk was examining the jewelry. After the pleasantries, he had been asking if there had been any special jewelry in the back. With a moment of thought, the owner moved into the back storage room to look. Dusk made her way back to Fancypants with a look of disappointment. Before he could speak, the owner had returned with a box.

The owner lay the box on the counter in front of them before speaking, “I believe this…is what you’re looking for.”

Fancypants looked to Dusk as she looked to him in wonderment. He tilted his head towards the box as if to give her the permission she was looking for.

Dusk looked back to the package, eyeing every detail. It was a small black box with a design of a robin on its front. When she laid her hooves on it, she felt that it was made of a soft material. She slowly lifted the top of the box to reveal what had been inside. It was a golden locket in the shape of a heart. It had a small pink sapphire in the shape of the sun embedded into the middle. The chain was small and thin, but not at all less beautiful than the locket it carried.

Dusk slowly closed the box and looked to Fancypants, “This is it…this is the one.”

Seeing the small glimmer in her eye, Fancypants responded with a smile and a nod before looking towards the owner, “We’ll take it, Mr. Karat. How much did you say it was?”

“Hmm… for a locket of such beauty being bought as a present by a pony with such a heart for the pony it’s meant for? I don’t believe I can put a price on an item of such importance,” said Mr. Karat, turning from Fancypants to Dusk with a smile that looked like it held much wisdom. “Please take it as a…kind gesture, from me to you. The happiness it will bring to both you and your spouse will be enough payment for an old pony like me.” He slid the box close to Dusk.

“Do you really mean it?” asked Dusk, mouth agape in surprise.

Mr. Karat responded with only a simple nod.

“Thank you…,” a tear nearly crept on Dusk’s face before she wiped it away. She hovered off the ground and gave Mr. Karat a great hug before landing.

“I’d rather have you take it for free than somepony who would buy it and only see it as a piece of jewelry. Now go on, I must close the shop for the day,” Mr. Karat said as he saw the lamps turn on outside of the shop.

“Thank you, Mr. Karat. Let’s go Ms. Strider; we have a flight to get ready for.” Fancypants made his way out the door and into the carriage parked out.

“Thank you again,” said Dusk after taking the box in her mouth and making her way to the carriage.

With Dusk now in the carriage, Fancypants spoke, “It’s our last night here, is there any other place you would like to go to before we go and pack our items?”

Realizing that her present was missing a few items, Dusk answered, “If it’s not too much trouble, can we go to somewhere they would take pictures and do engravings?”

Fancypants gave a confirming smile as a response before knocking on the carriage wall behind him, “To the arts studio, please.” Their carriage began to drive off through the quiet streets with the night sky above.

-------------------------.-------------------------

Wednesday

It had been night when Dusk and Fancypants arrived back into Canterlot. When they got down from their airship, they were greeted by a group of guards. Dusk didn’t recognize them and guessed that they were part of the new recruits from a few days ago.

One pony had stepped forward from the group; it was a pegasus stallion in dark armor. “Princess Celestia has asked us to provide an escort for Fancypants back to his home. She has also asked us to tell you to return home immediately,” said the stallion.

Fancypants looked to Dusk with a satisfied grin, “I believe it is time for us to part ways now. It was a pleasure to have company on the trip. I usually go alone when I travel to see my parents and to check on my shops. Thank you.”

“It was my pleasure,” said Dusk with a cheery smile. “Thank you for helping me find a present for Cloud Treader.” She finished with a curtsy.

Fancypants responded with a bow before walking with the guards to the pegasus drawn chariot and taking to the air.

When Fancypants was no longer in sight, Dusk followed her new orders with joy and made her way back to her home in Ponyville.

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After a brief flight, Dusk had finally arrived in front of her home. When she looked it over, something had been amiss. It wasn’t too late into the night and all lights within the house had already been off. It gave the home a slight chilling feeling to it, as if it had been haunted or abandoned for quite some time.

She slowly moved her hoof over the door handle and twisted; to her surprise, it hadn’t been locked. When she made her way in, she closed the door behind her and flipped the light switch on.

Before her eyes had adjusted to the light, a loud scream bounced throughout the whole room, “Surprise!”

Unable to see and disoriented by the loud shout, Dusk crashed through many items in her way until she had finally slammed her head into the wall.

-------------------------.----------------------

When Dusk came to, a peach blob had been the first thing she had seen. The peach blob was then replaced by a purple blob. Finally, when the purple blob had dissipated, only a white blob had remained.

The white blob began to speak, “Are…alright?”

“Wha?” Dusk asked.

“Are you alright?” repeated the white blob.

“I think so,” Dusk said, able to listen now that her ears had been more responsive. Her eyes were the second to heal, now seeing who the white blob had been, “Princess Celestia?”

“And Princess Luna,” said Luna as her face quickly took to the side of Celestia’s.

“Oh, hello,” said Dusk, giving a smile. Her memories had begun to quickly return to her, which caused many questions to come to her mind, “Wait, why are you both in my house? Where’s Cloud? What happened?”

Before they could answer, a light voice came from behind the Princess Sisters, “I’m right here.” The two sisters took a step back to allow Cloud Treader to see her spouse. She gave a quick kiss to Dusk Strider’s forehead before continuing, “They came over to help with the surprise party. We must have done a really good job since you knocked yourself out on the wall.” Cloud slowly combed her hoof through Dusk’s hair, “Happy Anniversary, Dusky.”

Dusk brushed her hoof across Cloud’s cheek and looked into her eyes with an amorous smile, “Happy Anniversary, Cloie.”

After letting a few seconds pass, Celestia joined back in, “I believe this celebration is best enjoyed not on the couch.”

Dusk gave a look of embarrassment before trying to lift herself up. She struggled for a moment, but with the help of Cloud, she was finally able to stand on all four hooves. She gave the three ponies around her a smile before taking a few steps toward the kitchen and turning her attention to the rest of the area. The kitchen had been filled with many types of food, and there had been a large bowl of fruit punch on the table with a number of cups stacked near it. There was a banner hung just before the front door, and streamers had taken the ceiling. It seemed as if there were more ponies previously than there was now. Dusk turned back to Cloud with a look of interest, “We’re there more ponies here?”

“After your little collision, we thought it best to have everypony go home,” said Cloud, giving a small look of remorse.

Noticing the expression, Dusk quickly made her way to Cloud and spoke with a reassuring tone, “That’s okay; I think it would be a little weird to celebrate our anniversary with other ponies.”

“Ahem,” said Luna playfully.

“…Other ponies that aren’t Princess Celestia or Princess Luna…cough, cough,” said Dusk in a playful tone of her own as she left her eyes on Cloud’s.

Cloud giggled before speaking, “You’ve been on a long trip, and you’re probably hungry.” She turned to face the other ponies in the room, “Let’s all eat, and then Dusk and I will give each other our presents.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” said Celestia, turning to Luna.

Luna looked back to Celestia before looking back to Cloud and Dusk, “Well okay, but I must get to the castle soon. I still have court to hold,” said Luna dejectedly, making her way to the kitchen.

“Aww,” said Cloud with a giggle, walking next to Luna to the kitchen.

Celestia placed her hoof over Dusk’s shoulder as Dusk was about to make her way to the rest of the ponies in the kitchen. When Celestia noticed that Dusk was giving her full attention, she spoke, “I trust your trip was successful?” She gave a knowing smile.

Sharing her joy with a smile herself, Dusk replied, “Yes.” When she looked to her side, she realized that her bags had been missing. She looked back to Celestia but before she could speak, Celestia had her hoof up pointing at the end of the couch.

“We placed your bags there before we let you rest on the couch,” said Celestia, taking a step to the kitchen. “Come now, you must be famished,” she continued with her walk.

Looking back to where Celestia had pointed, Dusk felt a sense of satisfaction. She turned back to the kitchen and joined the rest of the group in dining.

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After the meal, Celestia and Luna had taken a seat on the couch as Cloud and Dusk cleaned up the decorations and put away the food. When they had finished, Cloud went upstairs to her room to retrieve the gift; Dusk went to see to their guests.

When Dusk stepped before the princesses, Luna was the first to speak, “Is it time for you to give your gifts to one another?”

Celestia held in her giggle at Luna’s sudden abruptness, “Sister...”

“What, Tia? I’m just wondering,” said Luna with a sly smile.

Dusk let a small giggle loose before speaking, “Yes, we will be giving our gifts to each other.” She made her way to the end of the couch and found her saddlebags. When she reached in, she pulled out the black box that she carried with her across the sea and land. She carried it on top of her head and made her way back in front of the sisters.

“May we take a peak?” asked Luna humorously.

Knowing it was meant as a joke, Dusk simply smiled in response.

Cloud started coming down the stairs with a familiar box upon her head. She paused when she reached the bottom as all eyes were now on her. She slowly made her way towards Dusk’s side and faced the princesses.

After an awkward pause, Celestia broke the silence, “So, who is first?” shifting her eyes between the two mares.

“I guess I will,” said Dusk with a hesitant voice. She faced Cloud, who had turned to Dusk, and offered her present to her.

Cloud took the box and looked at it with interested surprise. She slowly opened it and pulled out the card from within. There was a picture of a rose on the front; she opened it and read what was on the inside aloud, “It doesn’t matter where you go in life or what you do…it’s who you have beside you and I’m happy it’s you. Happy Anniversary, Cloie.” She looked up to Dusk and gave a warm smile.

She looked back into the box and pulled out the locket that was hidden under the card. She held the locket in her hoof and let the chain dangle down. When she had opened the locket, a tear ran down the side of her face.

“What is wrong, Cloud Treader?” asked Celestia with a concerned look.

She looked up to Celestia with a smile as more tears ran down her face. With a trembling voice, she read what had been inscribed on the locket, “Cloud Treader, you are my partner, my sweetheart, my confidante and advisor, my comforter and friend… you are my quiet place away from the rest of the world. I will always be by your side. I love you then, now, and forever more, Cloie.” On the right side of the locket had been a picture of Dusk as she smiled with loving lips and amorous eyes.

After giving a smile to Cloud, Celestia gave the same look to Dusk but with a raised eyebrow.

Dusk responded by offering an awkward smile and sinking her head down low. Quick warmth overtook her as she felt Cloud suddenly grab her in a deep hug; she felt Cloud’s tears start to rub off on her chest. Dusk wrapped Cloud in her fore hooves and laid her head upon Cloud’s own.

“Thank you,” was all Cloud could say as she held onto Dusk.

Dusk just tightened her grip and nuzzled her friend.

Cloud slowly let go of Dusk, remembering that she had a gift to give as well. When she reached to the top of her head, she felt nothing. She swayed her head left and right but to no avail. When she looked towards the princesses, their hooves had been pointing to the back of her. She stood and found the present had been behind her, under her tail. Lifting the present with both her hooves, she turned to Dusk and offered it to her.

Dusk took the familiar looking box in her hooves and opened it as slowly as Cloud had. Inside had been a gold locket with a small amethyst gem in the shape of a crescent moon embedded in the middle. Dusk slowly took the locket out from its cradle and opened it. A smile crept on her face as she read the inscription beside Cloud’s picture.

Dusk looked to Cloud with a tear in her eye, “Thank you, Cloie.”

“What does it say?” asked Luna as she leaned her head in.

“Uh, heh,” said Dusk before biting her lip and looking back down to the locket. With a shaky tone, Dusk read aloud, “Dusk Strider; from our fillyhood to now, from our home in Cloudsdale to our home in Ponyville, and from our first date to our marriage, I have always loved you. I will continue to until my final breath. I will always be by your side. I love you, Dusky.” Dusk leapt to Cloud and gave her a hug of her own, “Thank you.”

“Oh, okay!” said Luna, enthusiastically. She looked to the clock in the room and her eyes had widened, “Oh dear, I am sorry but I must go. I am afraid I am late for my nightly duties. Thank you for having us here.” Luna stood herself up and made her way to the door.

“I believe I should go as well. It is late and the servants may be trying to look for us. Thank you for letting us celebrate your anniversary with you. Have a wonderful evening.” Celestia joined Luna at the door.

Dusk and Cloud rushed after to open the door for them. “Thank you for coming,” said Dusk as she opened the door.

“We’re very grateful for having you,” said Cloud as she stood beside Dusk.

The group bowed to one another before the princess sisters made their way out of the house and back to the castle; Dusk then closed the door. Her and Cloud picked up their gifts and placed them back in their boxes. Cloud turned off the lights to the kitchen and living room before walking back to Dusk, who had been waiting for her by the base of the stairs. They walked up the stairs with their presents together and went into their respective rooms, not before they shared a kiss.

After a few moments, a silhouette of a pony had appeared in the moonlight shining through the window and quietly made its way into Dusk’s room.

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The End of “Long Ride Back to the Heart: Dusk Strider”

A Dream of Choices, Ch. 2, Pt. 1

“Dusky, are you awake yet? We’re going to be late for our meeting,” said Cloud as she knocked on her partner’s door.

There was silence for a moment, but then followed a click and clack of hoofsteps making its way towards the door.

When Dusk’s door had opened, it revealed a tired pony that looked like she hadn’t slept for the past few days. Dusk looked towards Cloud with a blank stare, blinking one eye after the other.

“Just give me a moment please, Cloie.” Dusk closed the door, and went to get ready.

“Um, ok. I’ll get your breakfast ready and just wait downstairs,” said Cloud through the door with a worried tone.

She made her way downstairs and into the kitchen to look for food that would help Dusk with their morning. After some thought, she decided to fix up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When she finished doing so, she grabbed a glass of milk and set it beside the sandwich on the table.

Dusk came down with the same tired expression she had moments ago and joined Cloud at the table. She didn’t acknowledge Cloud’s presence, nor did she lift her eyes from the floor. It was as if somepony had been controlling her movements and kept her from crashing into the wall or missing the chair. She stared at her breakfast for a minute before actually beginning to eat it. She ate slowly with no real interest, remaining emotionless.

In an attempt to break Dusk from whatever spell had taken over her, Cloud cleared her throat loudly until Dusk looked up. Seeing that she had Dusk’s attention, “Are you alright, Dusky?”

Dusk’s eyes opened in shock from not noticing that her wife had been in front of her the whole time she had been in the kitchen. She swallowed her last bite and tried to speak, but the peanut butter had turned her words into heavy wheezing sounds. She lifted her hoof to give herself time to take a drink before trying to speak again. Now with her throat cleared, “I’m so sorry Cloie, I didn’t notice you.”

Knowing that it wasn’t Dusk’s intention to ignore her, Cloud waved off the comment with her hoof. “It’s ok, but what’s wrong?” asked Cloud, wearing the same worried look.

“I’m just tired, that’s all. Waking up during the day is more of your thing.” Dusk said, giving an unconvincing smile.

Seeing through the smile, Cloud pried more, “Dusky, you never had a problem with the hours before. What is it really?”

Knowing that she wouldn’t be let off that easy and ashamed for trying, Dusk confessed, “Just a few bad dreams, nothing serious.”

“It’s just serious enough to keep you from getting any sleep?”

“It’s ok… really. Let’s get to the meeting before Princess Celestia starts to worry.” Dusk stood up from her chair, put the dishes into the sink, and began to clean them.

While Dusk had been cleaning, Cloud stood from her chair and waited by the door. She gave some thought of if they needed to bring anything, but nothing came to mind.

After she had finished the dishes, Dusk joined Cloud by the door. “Thank you for the breakfast, dear.” She lightly kissed Cloud on the cheek before they made their way out and locked the door.

-------------------------------.------------------------------

From the look of the outside and the weather, it had still been early morning. A few ponies were doing their daily rounds about town and few shops remained closed. It was a partly cloudy day and a fresh breeze washed over the area.

Seeing that Dusk was still too tired to fly without having an accident, Cloud shared an idea, “It’s such a nice day, how about we just walk and take the train? I’m sure Princess Celestia won’t mind us being a few minutes late and you can take a nap on the way.”

Dusk smiled at her partner’s compassionate idea. She knew that Cloud didn’t like being late for any meetings, especially ones that were held by Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. Dusk didn’t like being late for those meetings either, but their relationship to one another allowed them some leniency to some rules that Dusk took advantage of when she had to.

Dusk shared the smile with Cloud before speaking, “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”

Cloud returned the smile and they made their way to the train station near the edge of town. They passed by the market where some of the farming and gardening ponies made shop. One particular apple farmer, Applejack, had been setting up her stand while her older brother, Big Macintosh, was delivering the hay bundles.

Dusk made a stop at Applejack’s stand and searched through her purse, hidden behind her scarf. She pulled out a few bits and placed them on the stand. “Here are the bits I owe you, and a few more,” said Dusk, blinking her eyes out of sync from the fatigue.

“Thank ya kindly, Ms. Strider.” Applejack said, placing the bits into the register.

“Just Dusk is fine, and it was my pleasure,” said Dusk, feeling a bit better now that she took one obligation off her mind.

“While you’re here, care for an apple? It’s on the house.” Applejack tossed an apple towards Dusk.

With her body still drained, Dusk’s reflexes weren’t able to react to the flying apple heading straight towards her face. Luckily, Cloud caught the apple with her wing before it was able to leave a bruise on itself and Dusk.

“Sorry, ah thought you would catch it,” said Applejack, giving a look of concern.

“It’s alright; Dusk has just been having some rough sleep.” Cloud gave the apple to Dusk, who downed it in one bite.

Dusk waved her hoof in protest after wiping the remains on her mouth. “It’s my fault, no worries. Thank you for the apple.”

“Well, if you say so. It was mah pleasure, have a great day.” Applejack began to wave goodbye to the pair as they traveled again.

“See you later,” said Cloud and Dusk, looking back to Applejack.

--------------------.--------------

After passing a few more houses, they were now in the town square.

“Wait…something’s wrong here.” Cloud looked about the area, “Why are we in the town square?”

“…Weren’t you the one leading the way?” asked Dusk, sitting down in exhaustion.

“No, I was following you.” Cloud joined Dusk on the floor, “We are so late.”

The pair sat in despair in the middle of the town square, staring towards the town hall. It wasn’t too long though until somepony came to talk to them.

“Why the glum faces, chums?” asked a cheery voice from behind Dusk and Cloud.

They looked to see that it had been the resident party pony.

Cloud was the first to speak, “Oh, Pinkie Pie, hello. We’re just late for a meeting with Princess Celestia. We were supposed to go to the train station, but we must have taken a wrong turn.”

Pinkie walked in front of them and sat facing towards them with a curious look, “You’re pegasususus, couldn’t you just fly?”

“We usually do fly to the castle and every other place we go to, but Dusk hasn’t been able to get any good rest for the past few days. We thought it would be a better idea if we just took the train.” Cloud looked to Dusk, who was struggling to keep her eyes open.

“Oh, well, if you need to find the station, I can help. Let’s get Dusky a little pick-me-up at Sugarcube Corner first though.” Pinkie helped Cloud get Dusk on her legs again.

“Thank you,” said Dusk, now on all four legs.

Dusk and Cloud followed Pinkie as she bounced her way in the direction of her home and workplace, Sugarcube Corner.

-----------------.-------------------

When the group arrived at Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie went to the kitchen to bake up a snack that would help Dusk out of her weariness. Dusk and Cloud looked about the bakery as they waited for her return.

When Dusk went to take a seat at the stairs, Mr. and Mrs. Cake came down in a rush. They went straight towards the door, ignoring the recent customers, but stopped before leaving.

Mrs. Cake shouted towards the kitchen to Pinkie with a hasty tone, “We’re leaving now Pinkie! Please take care of the twins while we’re away! They’re still napping in their crib!”

Pinkie replied with the same volume as Mrs. Cake, “Okie dokie, will do! Have fun!”

Mr. and Mrs. Cake left as quickly as they came and all was silent again.

Cloud went to Dusk, who had been in a daze on the stairs, “We’ll get you a little pick-me-up and you should be all better.”

Dusk nodded her head before resting it back on the railing.

A sudden thud came from the kitchen doors, signaling that the pink baker had finished. Pinkie Pie, covered in different types of ingredients, laid a covered tray on top of the counter next to the register. “Come on over, it’s ready,” she said with her distinct joyful tone.

Cloud helped Dusk up, and they both walked over to the counter.

When they both reached the counter, Pinkie spoke as if announcing a surprise, “Are you two ready?”

They smiled and nodded their head. Dusk tried to put in more effort to make up for her exhaustion.

With that, Pinkie began her presentation, “I present to you the ‘Chocolate Apple Kangaroo Extravaganza Cookie’!” Pinkie lifted the cover with her mouth and let out a muffled “Tada.”

Dusk and Cloud weren’t sure how to react when they had seen what had been uncovered. It had been two diapers-less foals, both belonging to the bakery’s owners.

“Err, Pinkie, I think you have our order mixed up,” said Cloud with a playful grin.

Pinkie Pie looked down and dropped the cover as she gasped when she saw Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake giggling on top of the tray. “Silly me, I must of put the diapers on the cookie. I’ll be right back.” Pinkie put the tray with the foals on her head and went upstairs. After a few minutes, she came back down with a chocolate covered apple and walked over to Dusk and Cloud. “Here it is. It’s really strong, so I only made one.”

Before Dusk took the treat, a few questions crossed her mind, “Why is it called ‘Chocolate Apple Kangaroo Extravaganza’?”

“Well, it’s covered in chocolate, and it has apple. Also-” Pinkie stopped when she saw Dusk raise her hoof to pause her.

Dusk lowered her hoof and gave a smile before speaking, “I meant, why does it have the word ‘kangaroo’ in it?”

“Oh, because it’s so sweet and sugarery that it will add a little hop to your step,” said Pinkie with a wide grin.

Dusk giggled before continuing, “Ok, one more question. Why haven’t we found these around the bakery?”

“That’s because they need to be special ordered. That’s just how strong and special they are.” Pinkie said, holding on to her grin.

“Good enough for me.” Dusk took the cookie and ate it with one bite. When she was done chewing, she licked her lips in satisfaction.

Cloud and Pinkie stared at Dusk with analyzing eyes. They looked her up and down, seeing if the cookie had any effect. Dusk looked between the two, taking some time to wipe the chocolate and crumbs on her teeth with her tongue.

“Do you feel anything yet?” asked Cloud, leaning forward alongside Pinkie Pie.

Dusk looked over herself, but shook her head when there was nothing of note.

“Hmm, weird, that usually has me all over the place when I eat it,” said Pinkie Pie with a hoof rubbing her chin. “Oh well, sorry that it didn’t help. I can still help get you to the train station. Let me just get the foals and we’ll take you there.”

----------------------.-------------------------

The group arrived at the train station, but the train to Canterlot hadn’t arrived yet. Pinkie Pie decided to stay for a little while longer since she had the twins in their stroller and wanted to see if the ‘C.A.K.E. Cookie’ would take effect later than expected.

The group sat on the bench waiting for the train. The foals had been asleep as the older ponies were conversing with one another.

“Pinkie, are you sure you want to stay? What about the bakery?” asked Cloud as Dusk was taking a nap with her head on Cloud’s shoulder.

“The bakery will be fine; it has all the food it needs on the inside after all! I just want to see if the ‘C.A.K.E’ has any effect.” Pinkie looked over to Dusk, who was napping soundly.

“Well, thank you; for both the cookie and guiding us over here. We’ll make sure to pay you back later when we come back.”

“Oh, you don’t have to. I love helping my friends.” Pinkie looked to Dusk again before giving Cloud a concerned look, “What has been keeping her up…or down?”

Cloud returned a look of concern of her own before speaking, “I’m not really sure. She’s been like this for the past few days. She barely told me this morning that it was just bad dreams.”

“Hmm, I remember when I had bad dreams; Grandma Pie would tell me that they were just glimpses of what would happen if you chose to do the wrong thing during an important event.” Pinkie paused for a moment before beginning again, “That, or they would happen if you ate too much cake before you slept.”

Cloud took a moment to think of what Pinkie had said before speaking, “Hmm, I just hope she gets better soon.”

“She will get better, I’m sure of it.” A loud whistle came from behind Pinkie, which interrupted her and rudely awoke the two sleeping foals. They cried loudly before being calmed by Pinkie as she gave them their bottles. When they were quiet again, Pinkie continued, “Better get on board. We’ll see you two when you get back. Oh, and if the cookie does ever take effect, do tell me what happens.”

After waking Dusk and standing up from their chair, Cloud let out a chuckle, “I’ll make sure of it. Thank you again, Pinkie Pie.”

Dusk and Cloud boarded the train and took their seats. Seeing that Pinkie Pie was still on the station deck, they waved farewell to each other until the train had moved away from the view of the station. After a few minutes had passed by, Dusk resumed her nap while Cloud took the time to think over what had been distressing her partner.

---------------------.----------------------

When Dusk opened her eyes, she found herself in a huge and dark room filled with a hazy fog. The walls looked as if they were carved rock, and the ceiling itself had been nowhere to be found. The air was musty, almost as if it was meant to strangle the life out of any pony that walked into it. In whole, the room gave off a disheartening feeling. However, even with all these daunting traits, Dusk braved through the thick fog.

After what felt like hours of walking, Dusk stopped and sat down. She didn’t feel tired as she did that morning, but she knew that walking blindly didn’t help her situation. As she looked down in contemplation, a black figure in front of her had caused her to look up slowly.

The dark figure was as empty as the night sky with no stars or moon to illuminate it. There were no distinct features or clothing. The entirety of the being had just been one tall, obscure, silhouette of a pony.

When Dusk’s eyes landed on where the eyes of the figure should have been, it spoke with a feminine, old and wise tone, “Dusk Lunate Strider, do you know who I am?”

With a shaky and nervous tone, Dusk responded with a simple, “No.”

“I am the one who has been testing you for the past days.”

Dusk’s tone changed from fear to confusion, “But why and what for?”

There was a long pause before the figure spoke again, “I have watched you since you were just a foal. I have seen you grow and do your job with a sense of duty and honor. Your love for Cloud Sol Treader is stronger than the many I have met before you. You, Ms. Strider, have a grand trial ahead of you, a trial that will test whether you value your duty or your love above all else. I wanted to ready you for this trial.”

When the figure stopped speaking, a light shined brightly behind her and the fog quickly dispersed itself. What it revealed had been a familiar sight to Dusk, but with a slight change. There were two platforms at opposite ends of the lights glow. One platform had a shield with Dusk’s cutie mark on a pedestal surrounded by three dark ponies. On the other platform had been a shield bearing Cloud’s cutie mark. It was under the hoof of a single, tall, dark pony.

Dusk walked past the figure to get a better look at the sight. When she noticed something had been missing, Dusk looked back and spoke to the figure again, “In the past nights, they had faces…but I can’t remember them. I don’t even remember if I knew them.”

The figure turned itself around to respond to Dusk, “I have given to you the trial in its most basic form. Whom it involves is just an illusion to what really matters. Your choice will affect those around you, and any other future choices you make.”

Worry overtook Dusk’s body, causing her to speak in a shaky tone again, “Wh-what if I make the wrong choice?”

The figure walked closer to Dusk and placed her hoof upon Dusk’s shoulder. It hadn’t felt cold as Dusk thought it would have been, but it had actually been a comforting warm sensation. Whatever worry Dusk had felt, had quickly washed away, “There is no wrong choice…just the choice you make.”

With those final words, their surroundings crumbled down and a blinding light broke throughout the whole room. When Dusk opened her eyes again, she found herself staring into the eyes of her companion, Cloud Treader.

Cloud had her hoof on Dusk’s shoulder when she spoke, “We’re here; are you feeling any better?”

Dusk looked around to see where she had been. Realizing the past few minutes had just been a dream, she looked back to Cloud with a sincere smile, “Yes, you were right. A nap really did help.”

Cloud returned the smile, “That’s good. Come on; let’s get to the castle before we’re even more late.”

Dusk nodded and they both stood up from their seat. When they were outside of the train, they looked up to the sky to see that it was early into the afternoon. After stretching off the long ride, they trotted off into the direction of the castle.

----------------------------.----------------------

A unicorn stallion led Dusk and Cloud to the entrance of the Royal Dining Area. He motioned them to take a seat next to the entrance before speaking, “Just wait here. Princess Celestia will be finished with her meal shortly.” The servant left soon after.

After taking their seats and seeing that they were alone again, Cloud decided to try to pry information from Dusk, “Dusky, what have you been dreaming of?”

Dusk had been staring down the hall, away from Cloud. She answered with a solemn and tired tone, “Nothing important, just a normal bad dream.”

Slightly hurt by her wife’s lack of willingness to talk, Cloud tried a different tactic. She tapped on Dusk’s shoulder, and when Dusk had turned around, Cloud took her into a great hug.

A wave of relief washed over Dusk, and all her weariness and fear dissolved away. Dusk wasn’t confused for a moment to why Cloud suddenly took her in her arms. Dusk never hid anything from Cloud, never lied or made the attempt of lying. If there was ever a time she did try to lie to Cloud, it was to hide a surprise or gift. It pained her that her fear kept her from sharing what she had seen in her dreams. Now with the fear gone, Dusk couldn’t hold it any longer, she had to tell Cloud what she saw, “I-.”

Dusk was cut off when the door next to them opened. True to the servant’s word, Princess Celestia didn’t take long to finish her lunch. Cloud and Dusk released each other from their hold and stood-up from their seats.

When Celestia noticed the two waiting ponies, she put on a confused face unfit for a princess. “Hello girls, I did not expect you would arrive so early.”

“Early? I thought we were late,” said Cloud with a confused look of her own.

Celestia changed her look to an amused smile before speaking, “Late? No, you are rather early. I asked you both to come in later tonight because I heard that Dusk was having trouble sleeping. I thought it would be better for her to get some rest before our meeting.”

Before Cloud could respond, a loud thud came from next to her. When she and Princess Celestia looked to see what it was, it had been Dusk collapsed on the floor.

--------------------------------.--------------------------------

After placing Dusk in one of the guest rooms, Celestia and Cloud were walking throughout the castle as they talked.

Seeing Cloud’s agitated look, Princess Celestia tried to put her at ease, “Dusk Strider will be alright, Cloud Treader. The servants have told me that she just suffered from a crash brought on by a sudden high amount of sugar.”

“That’s not what’s worrying me, Princess,” said Cloud as she looked to Celestia before turning her sights back in front of her. “I’m more worried of what has been keeping her up for the past few days.”

“What has that been?”

“I’m not exactly sure. This morning, she told me it had just been bad dreams. I think she was about to tell me what it really was before you came in the hallway and saw us.”

Princess Celestia stopped and gave Cloud a look of regret, “I am sorry, I did not mean to-.”

Cloud cut off Princess Celestia before she apologized any further, “Oh, no, it isn’t your fault! I didn’t mean for it to sound that way!” Cloud hung her head low and looked away before speaking again, “It’s just…it’s…I don’t even know.”

Celestia understood the feeling of not being able to help somepony you love all too well. She placed her hoof on Cloud’s shoulder and offered a warm smile, “Let us take this conversation to my study.”

----------------------------------.-----------------------------

Celestia closed the door with her magic as she and Cloud made their way to their seats. Celestia sat behind her desk while Cloud took a seat in front of it.

Celestia’s study was fairly large for her own size. Its walls were decorated with portraits from different places, from both in and out of Equestria. There had been two windows; one with a view of where the sun would rise, and one with a view of Luna’s study. The desk was neatly organized and well polished. Paperwork was stacked in two different piles, handled and not handled. There had also been her personal quill and ink alongside a picture of her most recent student, Twilight Sparkle.

“I can’t believe I’ve never been in this room before,” said Cloud, looking around the room.

Looking around the room herself, Celestia responded, “Yes, I have only ever used this room for official business or to have some time alone. Nopony ever thinks to look for me here. I personally like to do my work in my room by the fireplace.”

Feeling confused, Cloud voiced her thoughts, “Why are we here, Princess?”

“I know you are troubled, Cloud Treader. I have felt the same as you before when my sister became Nightmare Moon.”

Cloud looked down in despair as she spoke, “Is there nothing I can do?”

“Just do what you can for now. That is all you can really do.”

Cloud looked back up to Celestia and nodded in understanding, “I’ll try.”

“That is all anypony would ask.” Celestia looked out the window to see that it had nearly been time to set the sun to make way for the moon. She willed a letter to the top of the desk from one of the drawers before looking back to Cloud, “I think it is time to start our meeting if it is alright with you?”

Cloud thought it over before speaking, “I guess I could fill in Dusk when she feels better.”

“Actually, I think it would be best for her to stay and rest in the castle. The assignment I am about to ask of you will not take long, and you should be back in five days’ time.”

“Princess Celestia, that kinda sounds like a long assignment.”

“Do not worry; the assignment itself should only take one day. The journey though will take two days to get there and two days to come back.”

“What is the assignment?”

Celestia opened the letter with her magic, pulled out a photo, and placed it in front of Cloud.

Cloud looked down at the photo and saw that it had been a picture of an aged unicorn mare. Her coat was a maroon color, and her mane was short and dark red. There had also been a filly beside the mare, almost identical but with a lighter colored mane.

Celestia spoke as Cloud continued to look at the photo, “That is a picture of my old pupil, Heart Tenderer. She was a very talented pony; she was very studious in the magic arts of healing and nursing. She moved to a village outside of Stalliongrad years ago and we have been keeping in touch since. That is until months ago, when I had stopped receiving her letters.”

Cloud looked to Celestia, then back to the photo before speaking, “It looks like she has a daughter. Maybe she has just been busy taking care of her foal.”

“That is what I had thought, but it has been three months since her last letter. I worry that something may have happened, whether it had been her age or an outside source.” Celestia grimaced at the last part of her words. “I do not believe it is anything to be completely concerned about, but I would like you to ease my nerves and please check if she is alright. I would go myself, but work has hindered me from doing so.” Celestia looked toward the tall stack of paperwork marked ‘Not Handled’.

Cloud looked to Celestia and took her turn to comfort the worried Princess. She gave a reassuring smile before speaking, “I understand, Princess. I’ll leave tonight and report whatever I discover.”

Celestia felt reassured that all would be well and returned a smile to Cloud, “Thank you, Cloud Treader. I will make sure Dusk is taken care of while you are away. I am sorry that I cannot see you off at the port, but I must set the sun for Luna to raise the moon.”

Cloud stood from her seat before speaking, “That’s alright, Princess. Thank you for watching over Dusk. I will be back in a few days.”

Celestia stood from her seat and walked Cloud out of her study. After saying their farewells, Celestia closed the doors behind her, made her way to the window, and opened it. She closed her eyes and concentrated deeply on the sun, forcing it to set just over the horizon. When she was finished, she opened her eyes again, looked up, and waited for the moon to take its place in the sky above.

-----------------------------------.---------------------------------

Cloud went to the armory before she went to the Royal Port. She would usually bring her own bearings from her home for any assignments that had to do with travelling, but she didn’t want to make the long trip back. Instead, she retrieved the standard issue journey equipment given to all guard ponies heading outside of Canterlot.

The standard issue equipment was what it was labeled, standard issue. It contained all necessary items for use in the wilderness, desert or other such sceneries. There was the lantern, the first aid kit, a towel, some rations, and rope. Depending on the assignment given, there were a few items that you would be able to requisition. Some items include climbing gear, underwater gear, or bits. When bits are requisitioned, the pony would have to keep a log of what they used the bits for and return any bits left over.

After grabbing her saddlebags filled with gear and signing a few papers for the quartermaster, Cloud made her way to the Royal Port.

-------------------------------.-----------------------------

When Cloud arrived at the Royal Port, it had been bustling with guard and crew ponies alike. Shipments were being moved in and out, and visiting officials from different places had been coming and going. Even at night, the port seemed just as busy as it did during the day. When she finished taking in the sights of the visiting griffin representatives and donkey diplomats, Cloud continued to find the air-ship waiting for her.

After some minutes of walking around aimlessly, Cloud looked for somepony to ask for where her ride was. She tried to talk to the busy crew ponies rushing across the area, but they were too quick and too distracted to notice she had been speaking. When she finally gave up, she took a seat next to one of the guard towers overlooking the landing pads of station one. She hadn’t waited long until a dark colored pegasus came to give her the help she needed.

“Cloie, are you alright?” asked the dark pegasus.

When Cloud looked up to see who was talking to her, she was amazed that somepony had finally come to help her. Even better was that it was somepony she knew. She leapt up and hugged the pony in front of her, “Vesper! It’s been so long! I kind of need your help.”

Vesper returned the hug before letting go and speaking, “Hey, yeah it has hasn’t it? What did you need help with?”

“I’m looking for the air-ship meant to go to Stalliongrad.”

Vesper took a moment to think before she gave her answer, “It should be the one in station one, dock three.”

Cloud knew she wasn’t far from the location given to her. She looked around to see if she could spot her transportation. After giving a quick scan of the area, she finally found the small air-ship finished being prepared and floating in dock.

Cloud looked back to Vesper and showed her appreciation with a great smile before speaking, “Thank you, we’ll try and catch up after I come back, ok?”

“Alright, but I was wondering, where are you going and where is Dusk?”

Taken aback from the question, Cloud was at a loss for words. She quickly regained herself before answering, “Um, I’m going to Stalliongrad on an assignment for Princess Celestia. Dusk was going to come with me, but she collapsed and went unconscious in the castle. They’re watching her there while I do the assignment.”

“Well, ok. That means you’re going alone, doesn’t it? I don’t have much to do here and Calyx is visiting family in Manehattan. I could come with you.” Vesper let out a pleading smile.

Cloud responded with an apologetic look, “I wish I could, but I don’t think you would like the assignment anyways. I’m just visiting one of Princess Celestia’s old students. I think it’s more interesting here, at least you see different races from all over.”

Vesper responded with a bored look, “Well, you haven’t had to deal with them but its ok, I understand.” Vesper took a quick look around before looking back to Cloud, “I have to go, another group of griffin delegates have arrived. Have a safe trip; we’ll get a drink at Berry’s when you come back.”

“That sounds good. See you when I come back!” Cloud waved goodbye to Vesper as she flew off to her transportation.

When Cloud boarded the air-ship, she checked all areas before making her way to the helm. The ship wasn’t as large as the transports other guards used to travel. It was designed to be able to be flown and maintained by one pony. It had the necessary rooms it needed, a storage area for food and a room to sleep in.

After getting the signal from the crew ponies below, Cloud started her ascent to the skies above.

------------------------.----------------------

Cloud arrived in Stalliongrad as the sun was beginning to set. She didn’t stay long after leaving the air-ship in the Stalliongrad Port. She hired a carriage driver to take her to the village Princess Celestia had spoken of before. The ride was quiet and led straight into the deep forest outside of Stalliongrad.

Stalliongrad had been known for its cold climate and misty air, but inside the forest, an unnatural fog took hold of the area. If any pegasus had tried to take flight within it, they would have been surely lost within moments. Unicorn magic was useless as well; nothing pierced the veil.

After an hour of riding through the forest and taking different turns, the carriage stopped just before crossing a bridge.

“I will go no further. It is too dangerous to cross,” said the carriage driver with a heavy Stalliongrad accent.

Cloud looked to the bridge; it had been old and rickety. It didn’t look like it would hold anything heavier than a pony or two. Cloud looked back to the carriage driver, “I understand. Is the village close by?”

“Yes.”

Cloud shifted her eyes side to side in confusion, “Err, How close is it exactly?”

“Not far.”

Cloud stared blankly at the carriage driver, “Well, umm, thank you.”

“No problem.” The carriage driver turned his carriage around and started to trot off.

When the carriage disappeared in the fog, Cloud started her walk across the bridge and towards the village.

The journey had been unnerving to say the least, there had been sounds of twigs breaking and movement rustling through the fallen leaves. Cloud quickened her pace in hopes of finding the village as soon as possible; ending her assignment and being able to return back home. Feeling lost and having the noises around her get louder, she began to panic and galloped forward with her eyes closed. It wasn’t long until she crashed head first into something. When she opened her eyes to see what it was, she had seen that it was the fence bordering the village.

The village was surrounded by silence and there had been no pony in sight. Cloud slowly made her way through the village, taking in all the details and buildings. It wasn’t as large as the village she lived in, nor was it as friendly looking. There were only a few buildings, and fewer that could be called homes. They were all completely made of wood, but it looked as if they hadn’t been tended to for some time. A large campfire sat in the middle of the village, maybe to warm the villagers through the cold weather. When Cloud further examined the campfire, she had noticed that it was recently snuffed of its flame.

Before she could investigate any further, a loud crash had come from the building with a sign that read ‘Inn’. She cautiously made her way into the building, hoping to find somepony to talk to and ask questions.

When the door behind her closed, Cloud hesitantly called out throughout the building, “Is anypony here?”

There had been no answer.

Cloud tried the bell sitting on the front desk that gave a loud ding before breaking from the rust it developed. Again though, there had been no answer or response. Cloud decided to look for herself if there had been anypony else inside the inn with her. She started by making her way to the second floor. Each step she took on the stairs was followed by a loud creaking sound. She was relieved when she finally reached the next floor. She looked down the unlit hall, seeing the doors that led into the bedrooms. One door stuck out, it looked as if it had been forced open with magic.

Before going any further, Cloud tried calling out once more, “Is anypony here? You don’t have to come out, but please do say something.”

Instead of a voice, another loud crash had come from the opened room, followed by hoofsteps. Cloud quickly rushed over towards the open room. Inside had been a totally ransacked bedroom. The bed was torn apart, the desk had been turned over, and the window was completely shattered. Cloud slowly walked over to the broken window and looked out. Whoever had been inside the room was long gone.

A small sound from behind Cloud had caught her attention. She saw a familiar filly standing near the doorframe. Before Cloud could speak, the filly gasped at something behind Cloud. Just as she was about to turn around, a flash of green appeared, followed by darkness.

----------------------------.-------------------------------

(M-S)Home is Where the Hurt is.

Home is Where the Hurt is.

It was fairly late at night at the Strider and Treader residence. Although it had been late, Dusk and Cloud had still been up and wide awake on their bed. If it were any other night of the month, they would be well on their way to a wonderful dream together. Tonight though, had been a special night for the two. Tonight was special because it would be the beginning of the events that would have to unfold the day after. As they stared at the ceiling above, holding each other’s hooves, they began to talk.

“We don’t have to do this tomorrow, Dusky.” Cloud said, taking her gaze away from the ceiling and putting it on her wife.

“Cloie, if not tomorrow, then when? I don’t like it as much as you do, but if we don’t do this, it will only get bad later on,” said Dusk, taking her gaze off of the ceiling and looking towards her wife.

“I know…” Cloud lowered her gaze to avoid Dusk’s own.

Dusk turned herself on the bed to face Cloud and gave her a warm smile, “You have to admit, we’re pretty lucky we only have to do this once a month for just one day. Some couples do this sort of thing throughout the whole month.” Dusk wrapped her arm around Cloud and pulled her closer into a hug.

Cloud returned the smile and hugged Dusk back, “I know, it’s just… I don’t like making it personal between us. I don’t like pulling at past mistakes that didn’t even bother us when it happened.”

“Making it personal is part of the idea. We’ve done this before, and we always come out better after it, you know that.” Dusk comforted Cloud by brushing her hoof through Cloud’s hair.

“I know…” Cloud cheered up slightly more and nuzzled Dusk. She placed her head on her chest before continuing, “I guess we need to find a reason first.”

Dusk cuddled closer with Cloud, “Yes, but you should go first. I found the last one.”

Cloud sighed, “Ok… you didn’t do the dishes this morning…”

Dusk giggled slightly, “Come on Cloie, did that really annoy you?”

Cloud sighed again, “No… I know you did it when I was supposed to, to make up for it. Your turn.”

“Umm… you never make it easy for me…” Dusk giggled again.

“I’m sorry…”

Dusk held Cloud tighter, “It’s alright, if it was fair, I would make that the reason and leave it there, but it isn’t. It’s your turn.”

“Well…ok, but…never mind… umm… Oh! You left dirt tracks on the floor when you came back from your patrol searching for those Diamond Dogs.”

“Oh, hey, that is a good one….wait…but I cleaned it after I noticed it…”

“Oh, that’s right… well, it’s your turn.”
Dusk put some thought into what her next response would be. After she came to a conclusion, she looked Cloud directly in the eye, “I’m sorry for this.”

“Wait, what do you…Ow!”

Dusk bit Cloud on the shoulder with enough pressure to make her point without causing any real damage.

“Why did you do that!?” Cloud said, rubbing where Dusk had bit.

Dusk didn’t answer; instead, she rubbed her mane in Cloud’s face vigorously.

“Wait, stop!” Cloud said, trying to push Dusk away without much force.

Dusk didn’t stop; she kept continuing to rub her mane in Cloud’s face. When she finished, she kissed Cloud in an apologetic fashion before biting her on the shoulder again.

“Ow!” Cloud put more force into her push and knocked Dusk right off the bed. Cloud made her way to the edge of the bed to see if Dusk was ok. When she found Dusk, Cloud put on a very upset face mixed with a bit of sadness, “Dusky, why did you do that?”

Dusk’s only response was a smile and a wink.

Cloud was confused at first, but then finally understood. Her upset demeanor was quickly replaced with a much happier one when she looked towards Dusk.

“Mom is everything alright?” asked Roseus, apparently awoken from her sleep in her room across from her parents.

Dusk was the one to answer, “Yes dear, now go back to sleep please.”

“Ok,” said Roseus, as she was yawning.

Cloud offered her hoof to Dusk while holding on to her smile.

Dusk took the offer and climbed back in bed with Cloud. They fixed their position, and Dusk was back to holding Cloud from behind as they held each other’s hooves.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow,” said Cloud with a slight hymn to her tone.

“Why is that, Cloie,” said Dusk, nuzzling Cloud.

“I’m going to get you back for biting me.” Cloud giggled.

“Good.” Dusk giggled along with her. “I’ll take Rosey to Fluttershy, and then we can start.”

“Ok. I’ll visit Derpy at the Post Office and ask for bubble wrap for the furniture.”

“Sounds good; love you, dear.” Dusk kissed Cloud on the cheek before resting her head on the pillow.

“Love you too.” Cloud left one hoof over the ones Dusk had wrapped around her, and placed her other hoof on top of Dusk’s waist behind her.

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It was early in the morning as Dusk Strider and Roseus Shimmer were walking around in Ponyville. Roseus had wanted to make one stop before making their way to her aunt’s cottage. She was planning on getting a snack for her and her aunt while she stayed over. As they were walking, Roseus had some questions on her mind.

“Mother, what happened last night?” asked Roseus, looking up to Dusk.

“Oh… Cloud had a bug on her that kept biting. She tried getting it off, but she accidently pushed me off the bed.” Dusk said, looking down to Roseus with an adoring smile.

“Oh, okay… what happened to the bug?”

“What happened to the bug? Hmm, your mother Cloud caught it and let it out through the window.”

“But we sleep on the second floor… did it fall and hit the floor?”

“What? No, it had wings and flew away.” Dusk gave another smile.

“That’s good.” Another question crossed her mind, “Why were you and mom quiet during breakfast?”

“We were just tired from what happened last night. Don’t worry your little head.” Dusk gave another adoring smile.

Roseus returned a smile of her own, “Ok, mother.”

Dusk and Roseus reached the town’s confectionery shop and made their way in. The smell of sweets and freshly made baked goods dominated the air inside the shop. Roseus took a moment to enjoy it all in one deep inhale, and exhaled with great delight. Dusk tried her hardest not to let her wings flutter as she enjoyed the smell as well. When they regained their composure, they walked over to the front desk and rang the bell. It wasn’t long until a certain pink pony bounced her way to the front from the kitchen.

“Hey Dusky,” said Pinkie with her usual cheeriness. “And hello to you too, Little Rosey.”

Roseus giggled and gave a huge smile, “Hi, Pinkie pie!”

“How’s the cutest pink pony I’ve ever seen doing?”

“I don’t know; how are you doing?”

Pinkie pie laughed heartily with a light snort in between. “Aren’t you a clever pony? Well, I’m doing amazingly! Mr. and Mrs. Cake and the foals are still in their bed. I’ve been the one baking since I was awake. So, what brings you both here?”

Dusk was about to answer, but Roseus looked eager to do so. Dusk looked at Roseus, gave her a smile, and let her answer.

“We came over so we could get a snack for when I visit Auntie Fluttershy and spend some time there.” Roseus held onto her wide smile.

“Oh, really? Hmm…” Pinkie Pie was pondering for a moment before she looked back to Roseus, “How does this sound? You stay and help bake the treats you were going to bring to Fluttershy, and when we’re done, we can both go over and visit! Does that sound like a fun idea?”

Roseus jumped in the air with glee at the idea, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!”

“We should ask your mom first though.” Pinkie Pie looked up to Dusk Strider, who had still been smiling as she listened to the conversation. “Is that ok with you, Dusky?”

“Yeah, sounds like a great idea. Fluttershy is expecting her in the afternoon anyways.”

“Plenty of time then!” Pinkie Pie looked back to Roseus, “Are you ready?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Roseus repeated cheerfully. Before she went with Pinkie, she gave her mother a hug, “Thank you, mom. I’ll see you later.”

“You’re welcome, dear. Have fun!” Dusk said, hugging her daughter back.

“See you later, Dusky!” said Pinkie Pie from behind the desk.

“See you later, Pinkie.” Dusk watched her daughter join Pinkie Pie in the back of the kitchen. When they were out of sight, Dusk made her way back home.

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Cloud Treader had been spending her morning in the Ponyville Post Office. She was waiting for Dusk Strider’s cousin, Derpy Hooves, to ask for a rather large amount of bubble wrap. She could have asked anypony that was working there, but she wanted to visit her family members at least once whenever she had the chance. As she waited, she watched as different ponies came in and out of the post office, bringing and leaving different types of parcels and packages.

One pony had caught Cloud’s eye though, a white coated, blue mane, beauty of a mare. She knew her as one of the element bearers that visited Canterlot and Canterlot Castle once in a while. She was also the pony that Fluttershy recommended to make the wedding dress for Cloud Treader for her wedding with Dusk Strider. She watched as the mare walked off with three packages being levitated by her magic before being knocked off balance by a rather rude donkey. The mare dropped all of her packages on the ground and fell on her back. Cloud rushed over to help the mare and see if she was all right.

Cloud pulled up the mare and helped dust her off, “Are you alright?”

The mare shook her head from her dizziness. When she felt steady again, she looked to Cloud and gave an appreciative smile, “I was dear, until…Somepony, pushed me!” The mare yelled in the direction of the donkey that turned and lifted her head in a snobbish way.

The mare did the same to the donkey before looking back to Cloud who had just finished grabbing all the packages on the ground. “Thank you, umm… I’m sorry, but you look familiar. Have we met before?”

“Sort of…umm…kind off--.”

“Oh! You’re Fluttershy’s cousin, is that correct? A Ms…. Ms. Treader, correct?”

“Yes. Fluttershy recommended you to help make my wedding dress before.”

“Oh, that is correct! I hoped it was to your liking!”

Cloud Treader blushed slightly, “Yes, yes I did. I told you how much I loved it when you gave it to me”

“Well I am glad to help for such a wonderful occasion. I’m sorry I couldn’t remember everything, I’m a bit busy with a stack of orders lately.” Said the mare, looking towards the packages.

“Oh, well I don’t want to keep you.”

“It’s quite alright. It’s always nice seeing clients from before, especially one that is a family member of my friend’s. I must be going, though.” The mare levitated the packages again, but one had its contents spill out all over the floor. The mare gasped as she saw it fall to the ground.

Cloud Treader examined the contents closer and realized what they had been. She looked to the mare, “Are…are those griffin feathers?”

The mare looked nervous, “Umm…no?”

Cloud analyzed her for a moment before looking down and helping gather all the feathers. She put them in the box, and quickly took the mare and the packages to the front of the post office before anypony had seen what had happened.

Cloud Treader looked into the mare’s eyes, “I’m part of the Royal Guard, you can trust me. Are those griffin feathers?”

The mare tried to look away and swung her head from side to side, but eventually looked back to Cloud, “…Yes.”

Cloud didn’t hesitate to continue, “Where did you get them?”

The mare was frightened, “It was…it was from a client… Is there something wrong?”

Cloud was shocked for a moment, but focused back on the mare, “There might be… There was an attack on a griffin delegate a week ago, and he had all of his feathers plucked. There were no traces of those feathers back on the airship taking him back to the griffin lands. I…I think those are his feathers… I mean, they’re exactly the same as in our report.”

The mare was shocked, her mouth agape, and she had been trembling.

Cloud placed her hooves on the mare’s shoulders to calm her down. When the mare did calm down, Cloud continued, “I need to know who your client is.”

The mare used her magic to rip the sticker with the client’s name on it off the package, and gave it to Cloud.

Cloud read it over, and when she was done, she gave a nod and looked back to the mare, “What is your name?”

“It’s…Rarity.”

More information associated to that name flooded Cloud’s mind, but she didn’t have the time to pay any attention to it all. “Rarity, I’m going to give this to the Royal Guards. I want you to continue to work for your client for now. When we get all the information we need, we’ll bring whoever did this to justice. Don’t worry about your safety, I’ll check on you personally to see if you are all right. Do you understand?”

Rarity nodded.

“Ok. Don’t worry; I’ll make sure nothing happens to you. We’ll catch this fiend yet. Now go on, I’ll check on you when I finish my other business today.”

Rarity nodded again, and then walked off with her packages.

Cloud watched as Rarity made her way back to her boutique, but her concentration was broken when a loud crash had come from inside the Post Office. She made her way inside again to see everypony inside the Post Office in confusion. The door leading to the back had been open, so she made her way towards it.

When she peaked in, she saw that many of the packages and parcels were scattered all over the back room. Some workers were crowded over another pony under some of the packages, so Cloud walked over to see what had happened.

“Excuse me. I’m a Royal Guard, can you let me through please?” asked Cloud, as she made her way past the workers. She usually didn’t use her title to get her own way, but if it looked important enough, she wouldn’t think twice.

The workers moved aside to reveal a grey pony rubbing her head.

Cloud immediately recognized the pony, “Derpy? Are you all right?” she helped up the downed pegasus.

“Cloud, is that you? ….Ow,” said the pegasus as she stood up, still holding her hoof to her head.

“Yes, it’s me. What happened?”

“I was coming back from my delivery, but then I had another headache. The next thing I knew, I was under all these packages.”

“What a klutz.” Said one of the workers with an angry expression.

Cloud looked back at him with fierce eyes, “What did you say?”

The worker pony became small quickly, “N-nothing…umm…everypony, get this cleaned up,” he squeaked.

The other workers groaned.

Cloud gave the same look to them, which changed their attitudes quickly.

“Um, yes sir!” said one pony.

“On it sir, no problem, sir!” said another.

Cloud looked back to the original worker that had earned her wrath. Her tone was more of a calmer one, which betrayed her expression, “Do you have anywhere where I can talk to her in private?”

“Umm, yes, you can take my office over there.” He pointed to the door in the corner marked as ‘Boss’.

“Thank you,” said Cloud, walking Derpy towards the room with her hoof over her shoulder.

--------------------------.---------------------------------

When they were alone in the office, Cloud closed the door and took a seat beside Derpy, who had still been trying to massage her head.

As soon as Cloud sat, Derpy spoke, “I can’t believe you spoke to my boss like that. I’m going to be in more trouble later.”

Cloud placed her hoof over Derpy’s shoulder, “No, I’ll make sure they don’t. Dusk protects my cousin Fluttershy, and I’ll make sure to protect you the same way.” Cloud hugged Derpy, “Now what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know… I was just coming back from my deliveries and… I just crashed…again…” Derpy stared to the ground.

“Before you crashed, you said you had another headache. What did you mean?”

“Oh, I’m not sure. My head just really hurt, like something had just hit it.”

“Maybe that is what happened.”

Derpy looked up to Cloud, “What do you mean?”

“Maybe something did hit your head as you were coming towards the Post Office. Can you remember what it could have been?”

Derpy took a moment to think, “N-no…wait… It could have been that ball the colts were playing with when I flew by.”

“Well, that must have been it.” Cloud gave a reassuring smile.

Derpy smiled back, “Yeah!”

The mares shared a giggle for a moment.

“So, are you feeling better?” asked Cloud.

“Yes, thank you.” Derpy went in and hugged Cloud.

Cloud returned the hug, “Derpy, are these stallions usually this mean?”

“No, they’re actually really nice. They’re just upset that today has been very busy.”

“Oh, ok. That’s good to know. How’s Dinky doing?”

“She’s doing very well. How is Rosey?”

“She’s doing wonderfully as well. Oh, before I forget, you don’t happen to have bubble wrap?”

“Is…is it Dusk and yours….you know…” Derpy fiddled with her hooves.

Cloud sighed, “Yes.”

Derpy hugged Cloud again, “Good luck. The boss has the key to where we keep all the bubble wrap. He’s locked it up since one of the workers was caught playing with them.”

Cloud smiled, “Thank you. Just stay here, ok? Until you feel better. I’ll ask your boss.”

Derpy nodded her head. Before Cloud opened the door, “Please don’t be angry at him, he’s really nice…just…tired.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be nice.” Cloud left the room and looked for the boss.

When she found him resting on one of the chairs, she walked up to him. When he saw her coming, he began to sweat nervously.

“Derpy told me you had keys to where the bubble wrap is. I need some, and I’m willing to pay you for it.”

“O-ok, it’s just this way.” The boss of the Post Office guided her to the storage room and opened it.

Cloud retrieved all the bubble wrap she thought she would need, and paid the boss what she thought was fair. The boss looked towards the large sac of bits with amazement.

“That goes to your other workers as well.”

“O-of course.”

“One more thing.” Cloud closed the door with her rear hoof and shoved the boss to the wall, “I expect you to treat Derpy with more respect. If I hear anything otherwise, I will…come back.” Cloud released her grasp, and went back and opened the door. Before she left, she looked back once more to the boss, “She thinks you’re a nice pony, so don’t take advantage of her nice nature.” Cloud turned around and left the room with the bundle of bubble wrap on her back.

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It was now well into the afternoon in Ponyville. The pathways were now bustling with noise and ponies. Dusk Strider had been outside the door to her home, readying herself for whatever laid just beyond. When she felt she was confident as she could be, she opened the door. When she walked in, the whole house from within had been shrouded in bubble wrap. As she walked further in, each step gave off a popping sound.

When she reached the stairs, the door behind her shut, and she looked to see why. What she had seen wasn’t far from what she expected, but it still was something able to catch her off guard. It was Cloud Treader, but different. She had her hair tied into a ponytail, and she was wearing make-up. The sight stunned Dusk, having her heart skip many beats from how her wife was using her beauty to her advantage.

The only thought that crossed Dusk’s mind was, “That’s not even fair.”

Cloud, seeing that she had Dusk where she wanted her, spoke in a voice that she only used on their special nights together, “Dusky, you don’t want to make this too easy, do you?”

Dusk shook her head from all the amorous thoughts she was having. Before she could finish though, a hard kick had come from her side. The blow caused her to crash her head into the wall next to her.

She tried to focus, and when she did, she saw the next kick coming straight towards her. She ducked down and when the kick hit the wall, Cloud recoiled from the pain on her rear hoof.

Dusk took the advantage and drop kicked Cloud straight into the bubble wrapped bookcase. When Cloud was on the ground, Dusk pressed on by flying a punch towards the downed mare.

Cloud shifted below Dusk and dodged the punch, using her downed state as a ruse to use Dusk’s force against her.

While Cloud moved below Dusk, she back flipped and kicked Dusk straight into the bookcase. Cloud didn’t waste a single moment, and grabbed Dusk from behind and flipped backwards to toss her to the ground.

Dusk was quick to respond though, and landed on her hooves and used Cloud’s own attack against her by flipping herself and driving Cloud to the ground on her face.

Before Dusk could get another attack in, Cloud swiped Dusk into the air with a swift kick and punched her into the wall.

Cloud stopped her attack and waited for Dusk to get back up. When she did, Cloud raised her hooves into a fighting stance and balanced herself by lightly flapping her wings. She smirked at Dusk, waiting for her to be ready.

When Dusk managed to get into the same fighting stance as Cloud, they begun again.

The first few punches were Dusk’s, all which missed. When Cloud had ducked her head, she went straight for Dusk’s stomach. She only needed the one punch for Dusk to recoil in pain and lose her balance.

When Dusk found herself in trouble, Cloud pressed on her attack with each punch landing. One to the chest, one to the side and one to the face. Dusk shook off all the blows and decided to tackle Cloud to the ground.

They tumbled on the ground for a bit, but when Dusk was finally on top, she used that to her advantage. Cloud tried to block each punch, but some still made their way through.

When Cloud couldn’t take anymore, she pulled Dusk forward and slammed her head into Dusk’s face, causing Dusk to fall off.

Now that Dusk was on the floor, Cloud took the advantage and sat over her. Cloud threw every punch she could at Dusk, each as devastating as the last. She didn’t let up the attack, nor did she show any remorse.

Dusk had one last move to get her out of her predicament. She unfurled her wings and wrapped Cloud in it, bringing her towards Dusk. When Dusk managed to wrap her hooves around Cloud, she unfurled her wings again and kicked Cloud into the ceiling.

As Cloud was coming down, Dusk aimed for her face and punched as hard as she could. The punch was enough to knock her onto the staircase.

When Dusk walked up to Cloud, she went in for another punch towards Cloud’s face. She had been stopped though when Cloud grabbed her hoof and threw her towards the staircase. Cloud stomped her hoof on Dusk’s head onto the edge of one of the steps, causing Dusk to be disoriented.

While Dusk was disoriented, Cloud grabbed onto one of Dusk’s hooves and dragged her up the stairs. Each step was met by Dusk’s face. When they had finally reached the top, Cloud stood Dusk up in front of the door to their room and kicked her through it.

As Dusk lay on the ground, Cloud walked over and sat on top of her. As she lifted her hoof for one more punch, she carefully aimed at Dusk’s motionless face. When she was sure it would be the finishing move, she went for the punch.

Before the punch had landed though, Dusk shoved the punch to the side with one hoof, wrapped her other hoof around Cloud’s waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

Cloud was better trained for many different situations, but a kiss from her wife wasn’t one of them. All of Cloud’s built up anger had dissipated during the fight, and whatever was left was stripped away with the kiss. She was now feeling nothing but complete passion with her wife.

Cloud wrapped her hooves around Dusk as they continued to kiss. Instinctively, they made their way towards the bed and lied upon it. For the next few hours, they continued to kiss and hold each other, embracing each other’s love.

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The sun was now on its way down from its long hours of being in the sky. Ponyville was going quiet as all were now heading back into their homes. Roseus had been spending time with her aunt and Pinkie Pie, eating treats and helping with the animals. Derpy was now home with her daughter, Dinky, spending their time playing with one another. Rarity was working on the ensemble for a serial feather harvester. Lastly, Dusk and Cloud were facing each other as they held each other in their hooves with their hind legs wrapped around one another’s.

“You were always the better fighter, Cloie,” said Dusk, nuzzling her wife.

“Well, you were always the better lover, Dusky,” said Cloud, nuzzling Dusk back.

“How do you feel?”

Cloud tightened her hold on Dusk, “Much, ‘much’ better.” She let out a little giggle.

“I knew you would. I told you this would make us better afterwards.”

Cloud giggled a little more, “Yes, yes you did.” She laid her head on Dusk’s chest. “Did you get to see how Fluttershy was doing?”

“No, I’m sorry. When we went to Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie wanted Rosey to help with the treats she was going to bring with her. When they finished, they both went to Fluttershy’s together.”

“It’s ok, that sounds like a better idea actually.”

“I kinda liked the idea of it too. How is Derpy?”

“She had an accident, and some ponies gave her some trouble, but I handled it.”

“Thank you.” Dusk kissed Cloud on the forehead.

“Your family is my family.” Cloud kissed Dusk on the lips before laying her head back on Dusk’s chest.

“When would you like to pick up Rosey?”

“Mmm, maybe in a few minutes.”

Dusk giggled lightly, “Ok.”

“There’s just one matter of business to handle left.”

“What is that?”

“This.”

“Wha…Ow!”

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End of “Home is Where the Hurt is.”