Author's Note

YES! Over 400 views, that's wonderful guys! It's an amazing thing, to see so many people find my story so intriguing. I want to give a special thanks to a friend of mine, Brenda Penuelas. She's really helped me in keeping me motivated. Thanks a lot, mother!

Sorry that this chapter is shorter than the previous two, but I hope you all still enjoy it.

One more thing, I'm now focusing on finishing up my preparations in writing my new story, "The Costs of Survival and the Benefits of Sacrifice." No need to worry, though. It's almost ready to be submitted, and I'm working in tandem with another guy named CrystalSeeker. For those of you who read my previous story, "Elementary, My Dear Twilight." this is the same basic concept, but almost everything else is changed.

But anyways, onto the Chapter 3!

Watchers and Apologies

Bright and Fluttershy ran through the hallways of Canterlot University, with a mob of angry mare students hot on their hooves. They tried everything they could think of to shake the mob off their scent, but to no avail.

Eventually, Bright noticed Fluttershy was ready to keel over with exhaustion. She was barely out of reach from the mad, rabbling bunch and was struggling for breath. He knew she couldn't go on for much longer.

Thinking fast, Bright concentrated and snatched her off her feet with his magic, then levitated her to his side. Now with this new burden, Bright started feeling tired himself. He had to throw the mob off. But how?

An idea struck him and he grinned. Perfect!

"Alright, brace yourself Fluttershy!" he said to her. She was so tired that all she could do was give a sleepy nod.

Bright clamped his eyes shut and focused with all his might on a single action in his mind. He struggled to clear his head of all excess thoughts except for that sequence. Once he did, he summoned the magic within him and in a flash of golden light, he and Fluttershy were gone.

The mob stumbled to a halt and looked around in shocked confusion.

"Where did they go??" one mare cried out.

"How should I know!? They just disappeared!" another responded, just as loudly.

The mob of mares decided to give up on their chase and go back to their dorms. One by one, they trickled back to their rooms. Once everything went quiet, a shimmer appeared in front of the wall.

The shimmering mirage darkened and took shape until they were two inky-black shadows of a certain pair of ponies. Then the blackness faded away, revealing Bright and a sleeping Fluttershy.

The exhausted colt looked around just in case somepony had stayed behind, then collapsed onto his rump next to her, panting heavily.

"Huff, huff...well...at least we...lost them." he wheezed to Fluttershy.

The pegasus' eyes fluttered open and she weakly lifted her head. She gave a small smile in agreement.

"Let's hope our luck...doesn't run out yet." he added.

The two were silent for some time as they both caught their breaths. Finally, Bright decided to break the ice.

"So, was that your first kiss?" he asked. He was genuinely curious about it.

She nodded in response. "Yes it was. I'm guessing it was the same with you?"

"Yup. Now that you mention it, it felt...nice." he noted.

"R-really?" Fluttershy stammered, blushing.

"You're pretty good, especially given that was your first kiss." Bright added.

"W-why th-thank you...Bright. Now that you mention it, you're a good kisser too."

Now it was Bright's turn to blush. "Well...thanks, Fluttershy."

"Well, I guess we should be getting back to the dorm."

"Wait!" Fluttershy stopped him. "We can't get back without being seen by anypony else, and I don't think you have enough energy to make us invisible all the way through the school."

He grimaced. "Yeah, good point." He pondered for a moment, then lit up when an idea struck him.

"I've got it!"

"Here, hold onto my back." he ordered. Fluttershy obeyed, and Bright closed his eyes again. He gathered all of his remaining energy, then focused on a picture in his mind. He directed the energy to his horn, and the two disappeared once again in another flash of golden light.

Seconds later, they zapped back into existence in the lobby of their dormitories. Bright staggered forward a step, then collapsed on his belly and lay there snoring. Fluttershy immediately followed suite.

Unfortunately, the latter's nap wouldn't last.

BANG!

One of the dorm room door's banged open, yanking Bright back into alertness.

Somepony stormed out. It was Rainbow Dash.

"There you are!" she yelled. Her loud voice caused the others to look out of their dorm rooms to see what the commotion was all about. When they saw Fluttershy and Bright shaking with exhaustion, they rushed over to help. They soon had formed a ring around the duo, gazing in concern at the latter.

Rainbow was the sole exception: Her gaze was one of irritation and impatience. Bright was very quick to pick up on her expectancy, so he turned slowly to face the rainbow-maned pegasus. He flashed a weary smile of amusement.

"If you want an explanation, now's not the time." he said weakly. "Flutters and I are obviously spent, so we need some..."

He never finished; Exhaustion had finally overtaken him and he slumped to the ground. The mares--barring Fluttershy of course--suddenly became worried, as they thought he was unconscious. But on closer inspection, it turned out Bright was just sleeping peacefully. Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow gently lifted Fluttershy's sleeping figure and placed her onto Applejack's back, then carried her to her dorm room. Sunset, Rarity, and Pinkie did the same with Bright.

When the second trio had tucked the snoozing colt under the covers of his bed, they stayed where they were and gazed at him for a long time. Different thoughts ran their each of their heads:

He looks so cute when he's asleep. Aww, I just wanna cuddle him so much!

Wow, I never realized how handsome a colt Bright is. He's a very well-toned colt, that's for sure.

He seems so...peaceful. All of this time that I've known him, I've never seen Bright this relaxed before. It's actually pretty alluring.

It was clear to the three mares that they all liked the oblivious stallion. Finally, they shook off their daydreams and silently left him to recover in peace. As soon as the door closed, a look of concentration creased Bright's muzzle. His eyes were still closed, but his horn sputtered, then glowed dimly. It glowed with light for a few seconds, then snapped off. At the same time, Bright slumped down. He looked even more worn-out than before.

Meanwhile, Pinkie, Rarity, and Sunset headed over to Fluttershy's room, and joined the other three in waiting for the buttercup-yellow pegasus to wake up. Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long.

15 minutes later, her eyelids fluttered open, and she yawned.

"Hey everypony." she greeted drowsily. "What'd I miss? Last thing I remember was Bright teleporting him and I into our dorm."

"Nothin' much, sugahcube." said Applejack. "Ah'm surprised you're already awake."

"Yeah, you literally collapsed with exhaustion when we saw you and Bright." Twilight agreed.

Fluttershy blushed at the mention of the stallion's name, but she quickly shook it off.

"I-I'm surprised too." she admitted sheepishly. "Just a minute ago, I felt a weird rush of energy. It wasn't much, but suddenly I didn't feel so tired anymore."

When she said this, the unicorns' eyes widened. They looked at each other, and they instantly knew both had the same thought:

Bright.

Pinkie Pie, ignorant of their shock, turned to the bed-bound pony. "So, what was it like?"

"What was what like?"

The pink Earth pony rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You know what I mean."

"What was it like kissing Bright?"

That got everypony's attention. The entire room went silent as they awaited the response.

The shy pegasus tried vainly to hide behind her mane.

"G-Girls, that's not s-something you j-just talk about." she stammered.

"Oh, come on Flutters!" Rainbow sighed playfully. The others voiced their agreements as well. Finally, she had no choice.

She sighed. "Oh alright fine!"

Everypony eagerly waited for Fluttershy to describe the experience.

"I-I can't describe it all in detail; it was all so fleeting..."

"...But I can say that it felt absolutely heavenly. All my worries and stress just..." She trailed off as she looked off into the distance with a dreamy look.

Sunset broke the silence. "Wow, I actually am a little jealous of you, Flutters."

"Me too. You're one lucky mare, darling."

"B-But it was an accident." she meekly protested.

"Accident or not, that's still your first kiss." Sunset smirked. "You should be proud."

"Yeah, congratulations Fluttershy." Rainbow agreed. She just flushed in embarrassment and tried hiding behind her mane again.

"Well come on, girls. It's getting late, so we should be getting ready for bed." suggested Rarity. The others concurred, then left Fluttershy's room and headed to their own...

...Well, almost all of them.

Rainbow stopped right in front of her door and looked around. When she saw nopony else, she sneaked over to Bright's room. She tip-toed over to his bedroom and peeked inside. She was taken aback at what she saw.

Bright was laying on his bed, the covers neatly made under his body. He was wide awake and staring right at her motionlessly. Rainbow was impressed by how fast he'd recovered.

She gulped as a sudden wave of unease swept over her. He tilted his head by a miniscule amount.

"So, I'm guessing you want to know what the hell actually happened with Fluttershy and I, yes?" he asked calmly. The irritation from earlier overtook her uneasiness.

"You better believe it, buddy." she growled. "I don't want you to lie to me, or else..."

Bright nodded, though he wasn't intimidated; He doubted she could hurt him much, if at all.

"No need to be so angered. It was a simple accident."

He explained. "Pinkie caught me completely off-guard when she hit my shoulder, and I switched our positions so I would take the brunt of the impact, not Flutters."

Though Rainbow wasn't nearly as good at detecting lies as Applejack, Bright sounded sincere. She relaxed.

"Okay I believe you." she apologized. "I'm sorry I thought you were trying to put moves on Fluttershy."

"It's quite alright. I probably would've acted the same way if I was in your situation."

The two shared a smile, and the cyan-maned pegasus found herself hypnotized by his profile. Bright smiled a few seconds longer, then slowly dropped it. He adopted a confused expression in its place.

Rainbow was just standing there, looking dreamily at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Umm...Rainbow? You ok?" he asked.

...No response. Now he was getting a little unnerved. Bright glanced out the window. He was so surprised by how dark it was, he temporarily forgot about the lovestruck mare.

"Whoa! It's already dark!" he exclaimed. His exclamation snapped Dash out of her trance. She blinked, then realized the time.

"Hey Bright, come on. Let's go have some dinner." she said.

"Sure. Sounds awesome, I'm famished." he concurred.

"I'll bet you are." she joked, and they chuckled.

She turned to the door. "Come on. We're gonna be having dinner at Twilight's dorm room."

They made their way to the purple unicorn's room, where everypony else already was. They were gathered in her kitchen, and Twilight herself was searching in her refrigerator. It looked to Bright like they were trying to figure out something.

"Oh hey there Bright!" Twilight greeted brightly. "I didn't expect you to be up and about so quickly."

"Well I am so...yeah." he answered. Real smooth, moron. he thought sarcastically.

"Anyways, so what's for supper? I'm starving." he quickly asked.

Twilight looked down sheepishly. "Sorry, but we're still trying to figure out what to have."

"Maybe I can help. I still owe you for welcoming me into your school when you could've just as easily ignored me."

"Awww, that's sweet of you to say that darling." Rarity cooed, blushing.

He flashed her a small smile, then strode over to Twilight's fridge and peeked inside.

Alright...so there's some eggs...lots of lettuce...great, I've got all I need!

He grabbed what the required ingredients, then closed the fridge door with an imaginary flick of magic. The mares were perplexed; what did he have in mind?

"Sorry about this girls, but this is going to take some time to make." he apologized.

"No, it's alright sugahcube." Applejack reassured. "Take all the time you need."

He nodded, then set to work. He swept the kitchen and grabbed the tools he'd need. Then Bright began expertly levitating many of the tools and foods simultaneously with his magic, mentally directing them to slice, mix, beat, pour, and skin the ingredients. At one point, the colt even left the dorm room completely and returned with a couple small peppers. He wasn't kidding when he said it would take some time: Almost twenty minutes had passed before Bright finally had combined all of the mixtures together into a big ceramic bowl. He sprinkled some salt and pepper into it, then scooped out a sample with a wooden spoon and took a small taste.

His eyes lit up at the flavor. Perfect, it's just how Mom taught me Bright thought. He slowly poured the thick, reddish-brown substance into a pot and cooked it over the stove. A few minutes later, Bright turned off the stove and lifted the lid. He deeply sniffed the aroma wafting out. A look of satisfaction crossed his face. Ahh, smells like how she did it, too.

"Hey everypony! Dinner's ready!" he called out. The mares were all lounging around in Twilight's living room in boredom, but perked up at Bright's announcement. They hurriedly made some room on the couch for Bright. He walked in, happy but drowsy. Behind him floated a large pot of the soup he'd created, a bunch of bowls, spoons, and drinks. All of this magic was really taking a toll on what little energy he'd recovered.

Maybe I'll skip tomorrow's workout? he pondered. He mentally shook his head. Of course not. The exhaustion will just mean more of a challenge.

"Wow, Bright. That smells delicious, what is it?" Sunset exclaimed, sniffing the rich aroma hungrily.

"It's called Skulblaka Soup. A family recipe and name."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow curiously. "Skulblaka? What does THAT mean?"

Twilight, however, brightened up at the word. "It means 'Dragon' in the ancient language."

"Wow, you've got your ear to the ground Bright. Not many ponies have even heard of the ancient language."

Bright blushed. "Yeah well, my uncle is quite the fanatic on it. He's never stopped researching and learning more about it." He proceeded to pour some soup into the eight bowls with a ladle and passed one to each of the waiting mares. He kept the last bowl for himself and gestured with his hand for the pot to return to the kitchen stove.

Pinkie scooped out a spoonful. "Why is it called Dragon Soup?"

Bright smiled mischievously. "Try it and find out."

The seven looked at each other, shrugged, blew on their morsels to help cool it down, and helped themselves with Bright joining them. Immediately, it became clear why his family named it "Dragon Soup."

All of their eyes widened at the taste. They swallowed the burning liquid quickly and coughed violently. Rarity, Twilight, and Fluttershy fanned their hands over their mouths, while Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Sunset seized their cups and drank greedily.

They all turned to look at Bright, only to find him laughing his head off. He tried to eat another spoonful of soup, but another wave of laughter forced his hand to drop the spoon and hold his stomach. At last, Bright calmed down enough to sit back up and wipe his eyes. He looked back at them all, still grinning like an idiot.

"Now you know why my family calls it Dragon Soup."

"Wha...What did you put in this?" gasped Applejack.

"Habanero pepper." he explained. "One of the hottest peppers in the world."

"Then how...how are you not bothered?" Fluttershy huffed.

"Guess I inherited my dad's tolerance for spicy foods." Bright giggled. "More milk, anypony?"

The rest of dinner was spent with the Mane Eight trading stories, laughing, and generally having a great time. It was about 9:30 at night when they'd all decided to turn in for bed. Bright didn't go straight to sleep, though. Instead, he sat at his desk, writing with a quill on some parchment something. He blew on it to dry it, then rolled it up and stuck it in a pocket of his training gear. Finally, the drained stallion cast a couple spells on his door and went to bed.

Outside, a trio of figures lay hidden in the shadows. All three were about Celestia's height, but that was all they had in common. One was a human, while the other two were pegasi, a blue mare and a green stallion. The man whispered:

"Are you two sure that this is where you sensed that massive vortex of energy?"

The mare simply looked at the man, eyes glinting. He sighed. "Alright, but how is Bright connected?"

Another long silence.

"Even if that's true, constantly stalking him isn't the best idea. What happens if somepony discovered us?"

"..."

"...I see. But if we're gonna go through with this, I want both of you to promise me that neither of you will NEVER interfere in any way unless absolutely necessary, understand?"

The pegasi opened their mouths to protest, but the man raised his hand to silence them. "Understand?"

They nodded weakly, defeated.

The man returned the gesture in satisfaction. "Good. Now let's get back home."

With that, the ponies unfurled their huge wings and took flight. The man stopped to glance back at Bright, then floated into the air without a sound and followed the retreating figures into the night.