Chapter 8: The Gala

Chapter Eight: The Gala

Later that night i woke up to an urge to... urinate... I got out of my room and cut my finger with my knife, marking my door with a drop of blood, soon after i met up with a guard patrolling. "Excuse me sir, could you tell me where's the outhouse is?" The guard turned around and began thinking.

"Hello sir, if you're looking for the toilet it's the second door to the left on that hallway" He pointed a hoof to my left.

"Thanks!" I bolted towards the mentioned door, knocked but nopony anwsered i knocked again, no response. "Anypony inside?" I asked, still no response... I opened the door found a toilet, most surprisingly it was like the ones we use, and did my business and returned to my room, that night i dreamt with my parent's yet again. Everything was white around me, i saw four figures in the distance, and made my way towards them. When i got closer i realized it was Brian and our parents and Dash. "Hey guys, did i miss the family reunion?" Brian grinned.

"Not yet" Brian explained how he and Dash share dreams as the effect of the teleport, naturally he thought my immortality was the effect on me... little did he know, it wasn't.

"Wait, so this dream is basically another mean of communication? When you guys wake up you'll actually remember this?" Dash nodded and replied.

"Looks like you have the choice to join us or have your own dreams"  That was good to hear tho. i could've used their company in my 3 year sleep over at the changelings... We laughed, but the laughter died down as my mother pointed behind me with a terrifed look on her face, we turned around only to see a white figure lunge at Brian. It wore blinding white clothes with a blood red belt, was it who i think it was?

"Who are you working for? Tell me and i'll spare your life..." At this point i was sure who it was, but what was he doing here? How was he here? Dash tried to drag him away from Brian, but i stopped her.

"What are you doing?! He's going to kill dad!" She yelled at me, i simply replied.

"Trust me, he won't" The figure let Brian go, and stood in front of me.

"What makes you so sure about it?" He asked, with a taunting tone.

"Oh Altair, don't you remember our first tenat?" Brian dusted himself off, grabbed Altair by the shoulder and asked.

"What the hell is wrong with you? What do you want? Who the hell are you?" My family closely inspected Altair, and noticed that we had the same exact sword and calmed down. I closed and arm around Altair's shoulder followed by a fake chuckle.

"Heheh, Mom, Dad, Brian, Dash, meet my friend Altair!, we are guards at the Canterlot Castle... He was an earth pony but one day woke up as a human! Isn't that interesting?" They seemed to belive it when Altair replied.

"Ah, now that you mention... i did forget it, would you mind filling me in, John?" Shit, i read about those in the book Luna gave me, i know there were only three tho...

"Gladly, first: Keep your blade from the flesh of the innocent. Second: Do not compromise the brotherhood. and the last : Hide within plain sight."  Their suspicion went away, we got away with it, as soon as they nodded in agreement of beliving us i woke up, looked at my arm and realized i had a watch on my wrist, it was 6 A.M. I stretched my legs , set the bed and checked on the other occupants, i went to check on MoonSinger, knocked on her door.

"Who's there?" At least she was awake.

"It's me, John! Can i come in?" After a while of silence she replied.

"Sure thing" I slowly opened the door, entering her room i saw many sets of armor, and a desk with a quill and ink pot next to a book. I guess she needed something to keep track of her thoughts, or maybe just... memories.... "Good morning John, feeling any better from yesterday?" I tapped my hands all over my body checking, no wounds.

"Morning for you too, looks like i'm fine thanks" She walked by me, leaving the room. I followed and we had a brief walk on the outside walls, she told me where exactly we are and that for what i've done so far and what i am i'll always be welcome until their walls stand and she taught me their signal whistle. She also told me that Luna was the one who made this place, before her banishment. Apparently orphanages weren't so pleasant here either... no much surprise there, and Celestia couldn't help them because of the budget, again, no surprise. We saw the sun rise on the horizon, we got back inside and got to Luna's door.

"Are you sure she's awake?" She took some time to anwser.

"Only she can lower the moon, and by that i mean ONLY she can, and it's about time for you to leave if you want to get back before noon" There was a window next to the door looking at the garden, we stared out through it, the door slowly opened behind us. "Good morning mother!" MoonSinger instantly said, Luna gave her a warm smile in response, followed by a yawn.

"Morning Luna, still sleepy aren't we?" I reached into the bag and took out three cans of energy drinks and gave them one each, opening one myself. "Drink up" I chugged it down, they were sceptic at first, but since i didn't die from drinking it they drank it down, slightly choking after they finished.

"Woah, what was that? I feel a lot more arawe now" Luna asked, i chuckled when i realized they only invented medicine and coffee.

"Energy drinks, it makes you feel less tired... But on the long run it has the same amount of sugar as a slice of cake" They nodded swohing acknowledgement.

"Right, shouldn't you get going now to be there in time?" We made our way to the gates, the guards were much more friendly to me this time, of course i didn't expect any salutions since i had no authority here, but they gave me more than a grin as we walked by. Luna started charging her teleport spell, a second after we were back near the Canterlot Castle gates, the guards immediately greeted us with the usual salutions and bowed down to her, i walked with her to her room.

"John, i'm afraid i have duties about the Gala that i must now tend to. Also i'm sorry to ask you to dismiss your... traditional armor and change to something more... elegant." At this point a box appeared in mid air, i opened it revealing a tuxedo, it was the correct size, it was black with a blue tie and collar. "What's wrong?" She asked all of the sudden.

"Soory it's just... I haven't worn one of these since my parents burial... It'll do nicely tho, thanks. Is there anywhere a place i can change my clothes?" She nodded, moving out of the doorway hinting me to use her quarters, suddenly Trixie came up to us.

"Nice to know you two haven't forgot about me" I just got in changed and came out, i even had to get rid of the hidden blades, but i wasn't planning on going there unarmed.

"Looking great John" They replied in unison.

"Luna, would you be upset if i took a visit to the armory before the Gala begins?" She shook her head, and we took off to do our tasks. Trixie and i made our way to the armory, and i took a Steyr AUG assault rifle with a Berett M92 pistol. I just tucked the pistol under the suit jacket into the belt, and you can guess that i was running around with the rifle in my hands, and the bag on my left, the strap was under the jacket as well, in case i needed some ammo. I was on my way to see Celestia for my task on this event, i saw two huge doors, a sun engraved on top. Hope she's here...  When i was about to knock i heard a loud thump and crashing noise, i knocked on the door. "Princess Celestia! Is everything okay?" I had to call her that since now it was offical manners, no anwser. "Okay, i'm coming in!" Still no response, i kicked the door in.

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I was about to go find Luna and meet up with Twilight and her friends, as i reached the door suddenly i heard a voice from behind me.

"Well isn't it the pretty princess?" I turned around to see a cloaked figure with wings in front of me, but when i realized what happened i was on the ground in the doorway. What now? What now?! This once i had no idea what to do, i was about to give up hope, the figure was slowly coming towards me with a sword when the doors flung open, the figure turned it's attention toward the door, the next thing i heard was loud *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* And the figure in front of me fell to the ground.

"Celestia! What happened?" It was John, he saved me at the last moment, i wanted to say thanks, but i eneded up choking on something... i spat it out only to realize it was my blood. John threw his gun to the ground and immediately checked what's wrong, my thoat was cut. He unbuttoned his shirt and cut his chest open, he rubbed his fingers against his heart barely grunting in pain while doing so, his fingers had some green ish grey substance on them. He proceeded to rub the substance into the wound, soon after making it disappear, i could breathe and talk once again. He smiled as i took a deep breath, and offered a hand to help me get up.

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I helped her get up, she looked more surprised than scared... "Are you all right now? Good as new?" She coughed, cleared her throat and replied.

"Yes, thank you very much John" I patted her on the shoulder.

"Any time Princess..." She turned her head to the now dying intruder, i looked at it as well. I picked my rifle back up and aimed at the figure, Celestia levitated it's hood off it's head, i saw it had green eyes that were glowing in the dark it's hood made...

"Who are yo..." *Bam* *Splat*

"Don't waste your time with these things Celestia..." She suddenly turned mad and furious because i just seemingly killed one of her subjects for my own pleasue, but a second later the figure turned into a changeling, her jaw dropped.

"Ho... How did you know?" Then i realized what the changelings did to me, i could sense those things nearby.

"It's what they did to me under the time i spend declared dead... I can feel their presence, but there are no more of them" She sunk her head down.

"I'm afraid we have to cancel the gala then..." I changed magazine, and looked her int he eye.

"Don't you dare do it... everypony has been waiting for this since the last one, please trust me. I have a feeling it'll be fine." She raised her head back up.

"John... Why did you save me? You could've just left me to die with a cut throat like Trixie's father..." I facepalmed with my left hand. "*Sigh*

"Your death wouldn't have got his life back, and what kind of guard would i be?" She smiled, but turned into a frown and tears, i raised an eyebrow in response. "What's wrong?" She shook her head to keep her thoughts at bay.

"Sorry it's just... First you burned yourself to save Fluttershy, then prevented Twilght, my most faithful student from hanging herself, and even Luna in her fight against Chrysalis, and now me. You made so much sacrifices for us, why?" She was right, i didn't stop to think about why would i do it,  just... did it.

"Because you do everything to protect the ones you love, don't you?" She came closer to me and gave me a hug, showing gratitude... I felt a bit wierd, standing in a castle hugging a princess in a tuxedo with a rifle in my right hand and a corpse behind us in the room while having my chest still cut open, but i've been through worse.

"All right now, what would be my task in the upcoming event?" I held a hand onto my chest, pulling a finger down just like the knife made it's way the wound disappeared once again.

"Before the briefing, John did you even think about learning magic?" I stopped to think about it, i didn't have Altair's sword yet i did what i did... and the experiment's effect would take at least a week for that size of wound to heal.

"Now that you mention, i would but, i'll have to leave for the Crystal Empire in a week, and you have royal duties to attend, not to mention you are already Twilight's mentor"  She grinned.

"Then why not ask my sister to teach you? She's more experienced in defensive spells, and i can offer you maybe a few offensive ones... but i'm sure you have many other means of offense, not linked to arcane knowledge" I nodded.

"Thanks, i'll ask her tomorrow" She nodded.

"Now for your task, you of course are part of the security personel, as such you do not need any invitation to enter, and should do your best to make the guests feel safe yet happy. The list of guests includes many of our friends: Twilight, AppleJack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Brian, and your task will be keeping the V.I.P personel safe, who of course are Captain Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza... When our friends arrive you and Flash Sentry will accompany them to the Gala room." I wasn't pleased with the thought of Flash and Twi close proximity...

"Yes ma'am,  anything else i must know?" She sighed, we agreed to stay away from adressing eachother by authority ranks, but it was offical manners. She shook her head in response, we promptly left to tend to our tasks at hand. I made my way to the gates but didn't use the main doors, there was a long red carpet, a row of soldiers along the sides, saluting my authority when they noticed me. God i hate it when the only thing respected is my rank, not me. I walked closer to them and gave them my piece of mind of our task. "Allright ladies, listen up! We are here to keep the guests happy and safe no matter what cost, understood?" They yelled in agreement. "All right then do your best guys" I decided to pay Gilda a visit in the prison, mabye taunt her a little more, on the way there i noticed there were more and more white coat guards around every corner either that or they were simply more armored and armed. I approached the cell she was in, she was awake but not a good condition.

"Oh great, you again, what do you want?!" She was just as friendly when i met her.

"For now you'll stay here, there has not yet been a decision about your case" With that i left ther there to rot a few more days.

"Hey, let me out of here, don't you dare just leave me here!" Nope, hehe. The Gala went as it was supposed to, no troubles after a while Cadence came up to me and asked me about when will i visit the Crystal Empire, i told her that i will be there for a week from tomorrow. A while later Celestia had a conversation with me.

"John, you're doing a great job so far, i would like you to go up to that tower with a long range gun and keep watch if something hostile is coming" I nodded, and she teleported us into the very tower.

"Just so you know, i'm not quite a professional sniper..." She chuckled.

"I guess you are right, please feel free to talk to any of the guests you personally know, and enjoy yourself, but please don't get too much intoxicated and keep an eye out for troublemakers" She hoofed me an ID card, granting me access to nearly every singe facility in the castle, of course the exceptions were the royal quarters.

"Thanks Celestia, anything else i should know?" She nodded.

"Please, change back into your traditional assassin equipment, i want to introduce you to a few... friends of mine" She turned around and i changed back, while i was putting the hidden blades on she asked me about the colors.

"Hmm? Oh, i don't know. Once i got these into a very bad condition and Luna used a spell to repair it, causing the colors to change as well"

"Well, let's go now shall we? Oh and please prefer not to... expose... your weapons to their sight." Being honest, the sword was in the sheath the knife in it's sheath next to the sword and the pistol somewhere in the void in one of the bags, a while ago i discovered that the hidden blades had a pistol attached, tho without sights sure harder to aim, also a hollowed out inside for use of poison. We made our way into a room, on the sides many more guards, and different equipment that i've never seen before.

"Uhm, Celestia. What's up with those guards?" Her ears perked up and turned to me.

"Oh, they are the Equestrian Elite Royal Guards, the best to be found. If you weren't Luna's personal guard or. And i mean no offense by this, a human you would be one of their ranks" I told Celestia to go and i'll follow soon, she agreed. I walked up to one of the guards, saluting.

"An honor to meet such a talented ally. Tell me, how many lives did you need to take to get here?" He saluted back.

"I have heard of what you did so far sir, more than i would want to admit sir" I looked at his armor, he had quite a few medals, i grinned and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Keep the great work up, nobody would prefer to be disappointed" He nodded in acknowledgement.

"One more thing, i hope your time spent here will be mostly boring" I grinned, soon after he realized what i meant he grinned too, soon after i walked through the door, many others inspecting me. Much to my relief Celestia broke the silence after clearing her throat.

"Mares and Stallions, i would like to present to you: Sergeant First Class John Miller!" The occupants who i had no time yet to look at clapped at me, i simply replied.

"Greetings, it is an honor to meet all of you" Celestia introduced each of them to me.

"John, meet: Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts and Sergeant at the Wonderbolt Academy and representative of Cloudsdale." I saluted her, tho i was technically higher authority... kind of, since i wasn't a wonderbolt, she saluted back.

"Honored to meet you sir" Celestia continued her speech.

"I'm sure you already met Princess Mi Amo..." She was cut short by Cadence clearing her throat. "Right, Princess Cadence and her husband, Prince Shining Armor, her personal guard and Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard" I greeted them with a smile and a nod, they waved from their chairs. "And you surely know our friend Zecora, only communicative resident of the Everfree Forest" I waved at her, she waved back. "Sheriff Silverstar, the law of Appleloosa and Chief Thunderhoof, the chief of Appleloosa's native occupants, the buffalos" The sheriff walked up to me and offered a hoof for a shake.

"Howdy friend?" I shook hands and hooves with him.

"Hope your days are less exhausting, friend" Then came the Chief, bearing a box in his hooves, soon after giving it to me.

"Here my friend, please accept this gift from my kind." I put the box away to open it later, and pulled another one out to give to him.

"I appreciate the act my friend, may this bring you great health" He took the box, not to be rude, i gave him about 10 liters of the goo i used on Celestia's throat with instructions how to use it to heal wounds.

"Please, now as you know one an other follow John to the Gala room" I sighed and took out the good old FN Fal rifle and took off my hood, when we got to the Gala room everypony was enjoying themselves and having a good time, even a few of the guards joined the guests, dancing and singing along with them. As i was looking around i saw Brian, now he was about his 40's running with Dash after him, he suddenly stopped and opened his arms to catch her, but they actually crashed into Pinkie, i couldn't hold in the chuckle. I made my way over to the group, all of them wearing Rarity's hoofwork.

"Hey Dash, Pinkie, Brian, how is the Gala so far?" They turned their attention to me, but in a worried face.

"It's amazing so far but, why are you wearing your assassin uniform? Are we in danger?" I understood what she meant, she had the correct idea but i corrected her.

"Well Dash, you see, we... I only put the hood on when i'm walking around as an assassin, not John Miller" She smiled in relief, and nodded. "Uhm, have any of you seen Twilight or Flash? I neet to talk to them" Pinkie immediately replied.

"Oh, when we go here Twilight told me she'll be talking to Princes Celestia, i guess you should find them together!" Of course she would be looking forward to her mentor's company, i should've known.

"Thanks Pinkie, i'll get back to you guys later, okay?" They nodded and waved bye, i began looking for the previously mentioned personel then, i ran into Flash, and i remembered that moment and image of what would've happened to Twilight if i was just a minute late...

"Hey Flash, could you spare a minute friend?" He stopped walking.

"Sure thing John, what do you want to talk about?" I would've been the happiest to just shoot him dead right there and then, but i had to stay polite...

"Well, i know it's a bit personal but, isn't Twilight your marefriend?" He hung his head down for a few minutes, we were standing there in silence, all of the guards were either at the Gala room or in the throne room.

"Well, not anymore. We broke up a few days ago..." I knew it was him who she meant...

"Sorry to bring this up, but... Do you know what she did... at least tried to do a few days ago?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Nooo, what was it?" I gave him the rifle, telling him to break it in half with his hooves, he tried but couldnt. He gave it back, the anger i felt for him was enough to let me curl the thing up into a metal ball, he gulped when he realized i was quite in a calm state.

"Well, i promised her not to tell anypony, but you must know about this." I waited for his anwser, he didnt. I slowly concentrated at the ball in my hand, slowly making it disappear. "She tried to hang herself because you left her, i was the one who talked her down from doing it, if i were to arrive just a minute late now she would be either underground or still hanging." His face suddenly changed from curious to plain terrified.

"Wha- What!? She actually tried it because of me? I- I don't know what to say or do to this..." I cracked my knuckles and neck, taking a deep breath.

"Yes, she tried it because you left her yet she still loves you, and since you're still worried about her you should come with me and find her and tell her how you feel about her, right?" He blushed, since he didn't think Twi actually still had something for him.

"Good idea John, thanks for saving her..." There was one more thing i needed to tell him.

"Flash, i haven't told Shining Armor about this, since we know he wouldn't have been as... polite... as i was" He didn't reply, just standing there in silence, no breathing no blinking no smallowing...*Sigh* *Bam* *Thump* No, i didn't shoot him, i just slammed him face first into a wall, at least it worked, he started waving around and with his face burried in a wall he managed to spit out a muffled.

"Thanks, now get me out of here..." I took him out of there.

"You all good now Flash?" He nodded with a loud *Crack* i fixed his broken nose.

"Let's just go, i want to talk to her in one piece" As we walked down the hallways we notied a few guards in a hurry coming our way.

"Hang on what's goin on here?" I asked, hoping it would be nothing more than a toilet break or missing their favourite song.

"A cloaked figure at the gates claiming to know you and Princess Luna, but it refuses to identify itself" I turned to Flash, he nodded and continued looking for Twilight, as i joined the guards they tried to slow down to let me keep up the pace but once again i ended up leaving them a bit behind, when we got to the gate i saw many guards surround the figure in a circle, in the middle of it was of course the figure and Snining Armor with Cadence at his side. I slowly made my way to the middle of the circle, it had multiple layers.

"Captain, what's going on?" Armor turned his head over his shoulder.

"Just in time, this figure claims to know you, do you know her?" While i was running along the guards i put the hood on, now it was time to take it off, i unsheathed my sword while i did it the figure let out a growl and a green aura surrounded it's horn, when i took the hood off it disappeared and the figure took it's hood off as well.

"Oh, hi John, finally someone who makes sense." It was Moonsinger what was she doing here, i have no idea.

"So you do know her..." Armor sent the guards away.

"What brings you here Moonsinger?" I knew she had hatred in her and i knew Celestia was the one who got the most of it, i couldn't just send her back home but i couldn't risk Celestia considerng her an intruder and ordering her execution... Especially by my own hands like last time...

"Since you know her, me and Cadence will be in the Gala room" Armor turned his attention to Moonsinger."Welcome to Canterlot, Moonsinger, i trust you since John does, but i can't say much for the other guards" She nodded in acknowledgement and we made our separate ways, soon after we saw Flash talking a flight out a window after Twilight threw him through it, Celestia gasping in shock. Owww shit... I immediately looked at Moonsinger, she looked calm and collective at the sight of Celestia.. We began to run toward them, tho it was a risky idea since Celestia knew who was coming with me, oh yes she was. As we got closer Celestia threw Twilight behind her and took up an agressive position.

"John, what's the meaning of this?! What is she doing here?!" As she finished her horn began glowing, unfortunalety my reflexes lead me to pulling an AK-74 out of the bag and aim it at her, tho as i realized i immediately pointed it away. We just stood there in silence, Celestia about to blast us to pieces with me pointing a loaded assault rifle at her face, Moonsinger closed her eyes and i heard her telepathicly.

"What are you waiting for? Kill her, kill her and do your duty as a Dark Shield Assassin" I turned the rifle down to the ground.

"Are you fucking kiding me Moonsinger?!" I grabbed Moonsinger by the throat pressing her againt a wall, luckily by now i could use telepathy as well.

"Do you really want me to murder your mother's sister?!" I let her go, she hung her head down after the scolding i gave her.

"Celestia, relax she means no harm... I can assure you that." Celestia picked up a more defensive stand.

"I will not ask again, what is she doing here?"

"She's here to visit me and your sister" She let us pass, i looked out the window Flash got through, he was on the ground... Either dead or alive i had no idea. Slowly we got to Luna's quarters, we heard... sobbing, we swapped glances she gave me a worried look, i gave her a depressed one, but we knocked on the door. "Princess Luna, are you in there?" Soon after she replied.

"Who goes there?" We waited a while.

"It's me John, and a guest of ours, she came to see you" The doors slowly opened, revealing Luna sitting on the ground holding a picture in the air with her magic. We both knew that she was a bit more dangerous than usual when she was either mad or sad, so we slowly stood behind her. No joke, for the first time it was Luna who i was afraid of... "Luna... What's wrong?"

The next moment i found myself slammed against the wall if her room, making a dent into th wall. For the first time she, the one i had most faith in, attacked me, throwing me into the wall breaking my spine to pieces on impact I never asked for this... i couldn't help but let out a scream, to which she replied with.

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS" As she stepped closer, i felt more pressure all over my body, hearing and feeling bones shatter one by one each step. The next thing i knew was Luna now standing in front of me, knowing full well what she was doing, and who she was doing it to.

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Mother was hurting John more than i ever saw her do so to anypony else, i wanted to help him but i was rendered moveless in fear, when she stood in front of John i felt a strong wave of energy pushing me back as well, and heard John scream out his lungs, i knew if i would do anything i would end up like him, but then suddenly i heard a new voice chuckle.

*Chuckling* "Oh Luna, did you forget who stands before you? Have you forgotten what i am?" John was gone, something must have taken over his mind, now opening his eyes. The figure fell to the ground, mother's magic was somehow uneffective on him. "Let me give you a grim reminder..." He suddenly melted into a dark cloud, blocking out my view and heard both of them scream. Then, a bringht flash of light made all 3 of us unconscious.

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*10 minutes later*

I woke up in a world of pain, i tried to stand up, somehow i managed but the pain was unbearable. I saw Moonsinger and Luna standing in front of me, a bit worried.

"John! I'm so sorry for what i have just done! I'm glad you're not hurt" I wanted to let her know i had my skeleton shattered to dust and massive internal bleedings with the goo being the only thing keeping me alive and on my feet, but she lunged at me with a bear hug. Ow shi... *Thump*" After a while she let me go, i stood up and noticed a part of my spine poke through my throat, i pulled it out and threw it out the window.

"I did get hurt, the gray goo is all that's keeping me alive and somewhat standing right now, my bones are shattered to dust and in this very moment i'm losing my last drop of blood, but i'm fine thank you very much" I slowly walked out of the room, trying some reverse psychology. Instead of letting her know how upset i am i tried to make her feel bad. Before i left i tore the medallion she gave me off and threw it onto the ground, as it made impact with the floor it shattered to pieces. "Luna, i risked my life for you and went through a world of pain to protect you and your subjects, and this is how you repay me? No thank you" As i walked down the hallway i noticed Twi and Celestia talking, i walked by simply greeting them but Celestia called after me.

"John i have overheard your conversation with my sister and i know what happened before that, what are your plans now?" I just wanted to whack her across the face soo bad...

"Nothing, first you lost my trust with your little exam, and now i plain refuse to obey her commands, do you know how it feels to have your ribs tear through you internal organs and suffer a massive internal bleeding? Probably not. If you feel like it consider me a traitor, banish me to the moon or whatever you feel like." Twilight looked shocked from how i just spoke to her mentor, but coming to think of it i was one as well, but not the same way.

"John, i already apologized to you and Trixie for your exam, and now i apologize in the name of my sister please we, not like you aren't good at controlling our emotions brought back by bad memories" At this point i was thinking about going back to the Garden of Shadows... But i replied to Celestia first.

"Oh really? I'm sure you have a spell to see other's memories, come on try it... But be careful what you find" She swapped glances with Twilight, and her horn began glowing.

"I also have to warn you that i'll have access to every single memory, this may be a bad idea if you have some personal memories you don't wish to share with us" I shook my head in response.

"I have nothing to hide... or be proud of" Her horn touched my forehead, suddenly every single detail about my life flashed by her eyes, permanently burning into her mind, a while later i felt a slight headache. I was about to ask for a break when she screamed up and fell to the gound, we checked what was wrong with her, i hope she didn't go pass her limit of sanity. She woke back up, i helped her stand up. "You all right Celestia?" She was heavily breathing, but nodded then turned her head towards me and took a few steps back, she knew it.

"John you are a soulless murderer... You have done undescribingly disturbing things... for which i would order anypony's execution..." I pulled out my sword, and got half naked with my chest exposed and asked her.

"Do you want me to die here and now?" She gasped, she saw the scar left behind from saving her, she didn't reply. "Twilight, what i'm going to do may be something you shouldn't see." She stood still beside her mentor, i looked at Celestia, still no anwser. Oh for fuck sake... *Splat* My chest was cut open, revealing all my organs now as a pile of mush from and my heart intact covered in the gay goo. "Come on Celestia, here's the chance" Her horn began glowing, and the cut i made started to heal relatively fast, i grabbed my heart and told her to stop, she did "Tell me, you want me dead or not?!" She shook her head, i let my heart go and the wound disappeared, not leaving a scar this time and got dresed back up. It was getting dark, and i promised Octavia to be there on her show. "Celestia, do you now understand why i'm so... unpredictable in behavior? You must, since you, Luna and i are doomed to the same fate... To watch everything and everybody be destroyed by the passage of time..." Twilight began straight out crying after imagining what i just said, Celestia threw me out of the window. When i hit the ground i simply stood up and made my way into the Gala room to see Octavia's performance, she managed to get me a seat in the first row. I enjoyed the show, and later met up with her.

"Oh, hello John. I thought you forgot, thank you for coming" I grinned and reached into the bag telling her to close her eyes, she did and i pulled out some plowers.

"And what kind of friend would i be? Besides, i never heard anybody or anypony play the chello like you did" To be honest i was half expecting her to eat the flowers, but she took them and put them away.

"Oh thank you John I'm sure you're one of the best at what you do as well" I grinned, since she meant it to be a compliment but i knew what she meant...

"I sure am... Hey, uhhm how long do you plan on staying? Since i have some spare time i could go home with you to Ponyville" She began thinking, soon after replying.

"Hmm, i was actually going to the station before we talked now, you can come with me if you want to" We got to the station and i had to buy the tickets since... i didn't have the medallion anymore. The train ride went smoothly, nothing out of the ordinary just a few questions from her, when we got back home i asked her something awkward.

"Hey uhm... Octavia?" Her ears perked up.

"Yes?"

"Uhm, the thing is that i used to live in the castle, but i quit my job and now i have nowhere to go... Could i..."  She cut me short.

"And what kind of friend would i be if i said no?" She said with a grin, i walked her back home but i couldn't sleep. I was thining about what to do now... I guess it'll be a while until i figure out something...

End of Chapter 8