I manage to hunt down the rest of my clothes. A look into my backpack reveals a mess inside. I shrug and pull it on. We walk through the woods together, talking about things and getting to know each other better.

“So, what’s your favorite food?” I ask. She looks around worriedly. “We’re alone. I’ll tell you if anypony gets anywhere near us,” I assure her. What could cause that kind of reaction to such a simple question?

“I like rose salad. I know it’s expensive because of how hard it is to grow them, but it’s amazing. However, there was a time when I was at the Iron Mountains. I tried something called venison stew. It was meat and I loved it. They told me what was in it but it smelled so good I wanted to try it. I know I’m hardly the first night pony to like meat, actually I heard that Luna eats meat in secret. It’s still something you don’t tell anypony about, though. I hear rumors that ponies that eat meat are common, but since it’s such a closely held secret, they’re hard to find.”

“It makes sense to me. The horses of my world are mainly vegetarians, but they still eat meat if they can. You do know what venison is, right?” I am a little worried, since this would be the equivalent of a human eating chimp. I don’t want to lie to her, but I also don’t want to freak her out.

“I know it’s deer. They might look like us, but they aren't related to us at all. They are tasty, however. Some day I’ll have to figure out a way to show you how good it is. I don’t know how to cook it myself, but maybe we can take a trip to the Iron Mountains together. I think you’d like it there once you figure out your wing spell.”

“I know how good venison is. I can cook pretty well. I had thought that my specialty with meat would become useless in this world with the exception of fish. I don’t have a wing spell, humans use what we call brooms to fly.”

She laughs, “So you change the weather by sweeping it?”

“Change the weather? No, we just let the weather do its thing. The effort of trying to manipulate weather is not worth what little bonus it brings. It’s better to just leave Mother Nature alone.”

Seeming a cross between bewildered and amused, she continues, “So you just leave the clouds sitting there unmoving? How do you farm like that?”

I stare at the sky and notice that the clouds are indeed unmoving, with the exception of one that a pegasus is pushing. This world is weird.

“Okay, I need a rundown on weather. In my world it just happens, but I guess that isn’t the case here.”

She spends the next half hour telling me about weather. Everything from the rainbow factory to the pegasi who handle weather in the towns. It is interesting, and I find it strangely ironic that we’re just casually talking about the weather. It’s just so.. human. After she is done, we walk in silence as it all clicks in my mind. My stomach growls.

“Where can we get food at this time of night? I have some beef jerky on me, but it somehow feels wrong to eat it.”

She looks at me in shock and disgust, “Meat is one thing, but cows are sentient! They have lives and families.”

“Not in my world, but like I said it still feels wrong to eat it. The question stands about food, though.”

“Let’s head back to Canterlot. There are places that serve food, as long as you don't mind night ponies.” She gives me a playful nip on the leg and chuckles.

“Sounds wonderful! Lead the way.”

We walk back into the city, and the guards at the gate are now two moonicorns. They salute as we walk past them and Moon Light gives them a small nod. As we walk away, I focus on my ears and listen in on their conversation.

“Isn’t she off duty tonight? And why is she escorting him, anyways? I thought Luna said to trust him.”

“I don’t think that was just her escorting him, bro. She is off duty tonight. If anything, he’s her escort.”

“No way. She doesn’t play around with stallions like that. Even if they do manage to meet her infamous list of requirements, she scares them off. Remember when she went out with Night Stalker? He came back to the barracks an hour later bleeding and still gives her terrified looks.”

“He isn’t normal though. I was with the escort that found him. He beat a manticore unconscious without so much as a sweat.”

“Good point. He can probably dodge her when she tries to bite him. He’ll sing a different tune when she catches up to him.”

“You couldn’t smell the blood? She had blood on her muzzle and I could see the look on his face. He had that content, laid back look of a stallion after a good night on the town.”

“Wait a minute.. Isn’t he some kind of wolf with super-pony hearing?”

Both their heartbeats accelerate as they go quiet. In human form I can’t hear if they’ve started whispering. Still, I laugh and Moon Light looks at me.

“What?”

“Oh, just guards gossiping about me..” I reply with a smirk, “And then remembering my hearing.”

She laughs. Soon we arrive at a small restaurant. It has a design of the sun and moon next to each other with a plaque reading “Harmony Cafe; All who welcome all are welcome.”

We enter and several night ponies stiffen. The presence of a commanding officer in the company of somepony who must have been the subject of a lot of gossip causes all the conversation to die down. An earth pony with a cutie mark of a wolf comes forward excitedly.

“I’m Star, I own a small day worker business. Feel free to come to me with any jobs!” He says with a smile, “I am also co-owner of Harmony Cafe. Please allow me to seat you!” He leads us to a small booth in the back that’s almost a room in and of itself.

“Don’t want me scaring away your customers?” Moon Light asks with a laugh.

“No, this is a sign of respect. I thought the two of you would enjoy the privacy,” he says before disappearing around the corner. Star returns in a moment with a stack of menus. He hands her two and me six.

“I’m unfamiliar with your diet, so I have many menus for the many different extras. I’ll allow you time to order. In the mean time, can I get you something to drink?”

Moon Light speaks up, “Can you tell this is a date somehow? You don’t need to treat me differently just because of my rank.”

He gets an awkward smile, “Can I treat him differently? Yes, I can tell this is a date, or at the very least that the two of you aren't here as just friends.”

She looks confused. “I see. This is the first time in a long time that a new race has come to your shop. How can you tell?”

“Actually, it’s more than that,” he gestures to his wolf cutie mark and then back at me with a smile. “What would you like for a drink?” He’s dodging the question of how he can tell, and I can’t blame him.

“I would like some hot chocolate. Wolf?” I look around the menus, trying to find a section on drinks. A lot is seemingly familiar, but a lot is completely new or foreign to me.

“Somehow I’m guessing this Mountain Dew is not what I want it to be.”

“It is bottled water gathered by certain farmers from the mountain tops and used to make a soda infused with lightning. It is a wonderful, magical water that is quite popular among wealthy griffons. They say it tastes like thunder.”

“Huh, so it is what I’m thinking of. Except, you know, on acid.”

He looks worried at this, “I assure you, it’s quite safe to drink, even if you’re not a pegasi or griffon. However, it is quite pricey.”

“Sorry, the phrase ‘on acid’ is a cultural reference. Basically, my world has a soda called Mountain Dew. But this is taking the concept of my world’s Mountain Dew and multiplying it by the square root of insanity. I’ll try it.”

He looks surprised and nods, heading off to fetch our drinks. Moon Light looks at me surprised, “Either you seriously have misconceptions about a guard’s salary, or eating on a date is very different in your world.”

“A stallion would expect you to pay? Odd. In my world, you pay for what you order unless otherwise specified. Usually if anything the stallion pays for his and his dates food. I am more than happy to pay for you tonight. It’s not like I’m short on money or the means to earn it.”

She seems to be debating with herself. “You can order anything your heart desires. Anything.”

Her eyes dart to the menu and she licks her lips. Her eyes go wide, and she quickly looks at me with embarrassment, “Why didn’t you tell me I had blood on my muzzle?”

“Sorry, I didn’t smell it over what’s already on me.”

“I see. I think you might regret it when the bill comes, but I’ll let you pay. It feels weird, but I kinda like it.”

We begin studying the menus. Surprisingly, I notice that the griffon menu has several meat dishes on it. Looking carefully at the various menus, I decide on a meal.

“Do you mind if I order meat? I know you don’t mind it, but I don’t want you to look bad.”

“Actually, everypony knows you have a griffon’s diet. That's why I brought you here. If it looked like I kept you from eating meat because I couldn’t live in harmony with your race, then I would look bad. That's the point of this place. All the races accepting each other to live in harmony. If a pony and a griffon come here on a date and the pony tried a bite of meat, nopony here would think twice about it. It’s cultural exchange. Actually this place is rife with ponies who like meat and order the dishes that make the meat part discreet,” she explains. This place is definitely interesting.

Star returns with the drinks. “Will you be paying separately or together?” he asks.

“I’m paying. Tonight, we're doing it human style,” I reply.

He looks a little surprised and gets a big smile, “Very well. Have you decided on what you would like?”

Moon Light orders first. “I’ll have rose salad with a side of hay fries and a small order of black rolls.” For some reason he looks shocked for a moment then nods, turning to me.

“I want the lemon pepper salmon with a side of black rolls, and if you're not too busy, I would like to make a special order.”

“I see. My head chef always has plenty of time to learn a new order. It’s his passion and his dream to learn every recipe of every race.” He turns his notepad to one of the pages into the back.

“Cut potatoes into long rectangular strips about this thick. Spice them with something that is enough to be tasty, but doesn’t overpower them. Fry them in a skillet and serve after they have gotten crispy, with a light drizzle of gravy on top.”

“Alright. This seems easy enough. We will have your orders out soon enough. What do I call it?”

“We call them Dutch fries back home. If you’re interested, I can write down some interesting variations later.”

Not too long after that, a griffon comes up to the table. “Is this close to what you're hoping for, sir? In terms of the spices, at least. I made a quick version to taste spices on.”

I pick it off the plate and bite it. My eyes light up, the potato isn't nice and crispy but the spices are perfect. As long as the gravy matches, it would be among the best of its kind I’ve ever had. “Perfect! It’s like a taste of my homeworld. The spices look different, so I’m glad I hadn’t tried to use the name of the spices of my home. You nailed it.”

“Thank you, I shall resume the recreation of Dutch fries. I am happy to have captured it well.” He walks off with a big smile and a determined look in his eyes.

“So what is a day worker?” I ask Moon Light.

“Ponies who do errands for other ponies in general, and night ponies in specific. They handle finding things and making purchases. For example, when I want to get something from a store not open at night, I can talk to Star and he will help me rather than me having to stay up late or otherwise deal with the annoyances. They do other work as well. For example, if you were working on a project and had a list of things you needed, they would find everything for you.”

“Interesting. I’ll have to speak with him later. After I get Discord to uphold his side of the bargain tomorrow, I’ll begin construction of a flying staff.” With us out of sight, the restaurant has resumed its buzz of chatter. We add to it with our talk. I learn more about her life as a guard. Soon a waitress arrives with our food. For some reason, they place both orders of the rolls in front of me. Oh right, they have fish in them. I smile and move it over to her side of the table and the waitress apologises.

The Dutch fries and the black rolls are perfect. The salmon, however, is straight out of a dream. The absolute perfection of taste, texture and scent combine for an absolute symphony. I’m truly impressed with it. Moon Light looks almost guilty as she devours the black rolls. They are incredible and I can only imagine how good they are when combined with the flavor of forbidden fruit.

Soon we slow down our ravenous devouring of the food and begin talking.

“Tell me about growing up. What’s your family like?”

She looks away hesitantly, “They’re my family..” I hear an edge of pain and don’t press her. “What about you?”

“Dad was the head of the family. He was the symbol of our power. Mom was.. distant. My sis and I were close. We spent a lot of time together, helping each other get stronger. Unfortunately I went down a road she couldn’t follow, and we grew a little distant over time. I still love them all, but honestly I never really knew them that well. My family and I were different on a fundamental level. Imagine a night pony unicorn born into a family of trees.”

She looks confused, “Trees? Why trees?”

“I was a contractor and high mage. I lived a solitary life practicing and mastering complex magics. I often left our clan home and wandered the world. My family members were ritualists who drew power from the earth via an amplified connection. They used simple magics that were by nature absolutely primal and potent. They stayed within our home and most of our clan never leaves our forest outside of doing jobs. I loved them, but it’s hard to be really close to someone who doesn’t even think like you do.”

“Is that the road your sister couldn’t follow you on?”

“Not exactly. My family rarely leaves the clan home. We only ever leave for things like school or shopping. She won’t even try to leave for anything else. My dad stopped me for a while, but eventually I got strong enough that he acknowledged my strength. After that, I began to explore the world one adventure at a time.

“Soon I began to make contracts and get missions. The third time I left the clan home I was gone for three years. I left at the age of 16 to complete a contract. Afterwards my contractor, The Wolf King, led me to my staff. I was on the run from people who wanted it. I did all kinds of quests and raised a lot of.. Actually I don’t know what word to use there besides the swear. I caused a lot of problems while having a blast anyways.”

“Tartarus.” Interesting parallel, I must look into that later.

“Thank you. Eventually I returned home. I had gotten immensely strong and earned quite the name for myself. My family treated me as a returning champion. I had spread our name far and for the first time since my father retired we were getting good contracts. My father was proud and admitted that he thought I was never coming home.

“After everything died down, I realized something; nothing had changed there. Those three years had been a lifetime of excitement. My home, however, was a stagnant pit that coagulated time. Soon my sister came to spar with me for old time’s sake. She had once been my equal, now every move she made was so lacking in subtlety that it was like she was screaming her attacks a minute before doing it. After two instant wins she hugged me with tears in her eyes.

“She told me that she was proud of me but that I needed to find someone to accompany me on my cliff. I was lonely with no one who could match me well enough to be worth it. There were some suitors but being around them made me feel like I was trying to court a fragile glass doll. Eventually I was forced to tell them all that I desired a partner that could protect my back, not hide behind it. My father was annoyed that I was unwilling to protect my woman. I explained it to him like this. No matter how much a bear loves a rabbit and tries to protect it as its wife, in the end it will roll over in its sleep and crush it.

“He understood, and told me to seek out women in the world who held a reputation as great as mine. I began looking, and soon I became so desperate that I even began looking amongst the women who came to kill me. I suppose it was foolish. Had I ever found such a woman, I have no idea how I would have made it through the fight without losing my life or taking hers. I began to withdraw into myself. I trained, did quests and grew stronger. Eventually my luck ran out and I died. Next thing I know, I find myself in a world where I’m only considered to be good. I found the mare of my dreams and even got her to go out on a date with me. Is it pathetic that I could tell my entire life story in the time it took to debone and eat half a fish?”

Moon Light is staring at me wide-eyed. “Most ponies’ lives wouldn’t even fit in the time it takes to take the first bone out. You were the Discord of your world? No wonder the two of you get along. Are you sure you don’t just love me because I’m the first strong mare you met?”

I think about it for a moment, “If that were the case wouldn’t I have fallen for Luna? After all she’s stronger than me, and I’ve never had to protect her. I love you for a lot of reasons and for no reason at all.”

She smiles, “I..” She looks away and I see a moment of sadness. “Tomorrow would you be willing to meet my family? I want to get it over with before I start feeling something I will regret.”

Her family. The obstacle that stands between me and the mare of my dreams. “So off to convince your family I’m somehow useful to them despite being unable to continue your family’s lineage? Sounds like fun..” I hang my head. “Is this even possible? What could make me worth it? I wish they could just pull a Eurystheus on me.”

“A what?”

“A legendary hero named Hercules wanted to marry the daughter of King Eurystheus. However, having no royal blood and no great deed worthy of the arrogant king, the king sought to be rid of the suitor. He sent Hercules off on ten impossible tasks in hope of Hercules dying. However, the legendary hero completed them all and returned for the hand of the princess. Something like that I could handle. Impressing them with words, well, talking has never been my strong suit.”

“I can atest to that. This is the most I’ve ever heard you say. Even the character you play is a man of action, not words. As for my father, I have no idea. I doubt he would even allow me to date Luna herself, unless a worthy stallion was involved in the herd.”

“So I need to do better than the demi-god who brings light to the night and has vanquished more evil than I can imagine, not to mention being the originator of the very line your father is trying to protect? Don’t you at least have a sister? Someone besides you who can pass the line?”

“No, I’m an only child. None of the mares besides my mother has had a foal. Even then, being the eldest means me passing the line is important.”

“So, long and short, we’re bucked and he’s a hypocrite?”

“I guess so,” she looks at me with tears in her eyes, “I finally found somepony worth my time. Somepony who isn’t afraid of me or too weak to try and deal with. I don’t know what I’m going to do if father tells me not to see you.”

“I’m guessing there’s a reason you can’t just tell him to shove it up his..” She sees me struggling for the word.

“Plot hole. Yes, there is. Without my father’s blessing, I could be removed from the guard. I would lose my title and status. I wouldn’t even be welcome within my family’s home grounds. Considering that’s Canterlot and the surrounding area, I would lose everything.”

“So what’s keeping me from just telling him to shove all that in his plot hole? Can’t I just tell him that if he tries it he’ll have to answer to me personally?”

“You don’t even know what you're saying do you? You're talking about taking on my entire clan. That's most of the night guard and technically Luna herself.”

“You're right, it’s not like it would make you happy if I beat the snot out of your family. I just don’t know what to do.”

“You honestly believe you would stand a chance against all of us?”

“For you, I’d take on the world. When losing isn’t an option, I have no choice but to win.”

She’s looking at me annoyed, “Arrogance. What makes you so strong that you could defeat the wings of the night.”

How to word this without sounding arrogant? “Easy. If it came down to that for some reason, then my life becomes one of two paths. Win or die. Since it doesn’t matter after I die, all I can do is believe I won’t. Besides, I’m pretty sure if it came down to it I would have Luna, Discord and a hive of changelings watching my back, whether I want them to or not.”

Her eyes soften, “It’s not a matter of how strong you are, you just think your life is worthless.”

“Nope. My life without you however, very much so.”

She looks at me with a sad silence that stretches awkwardly between us. She slips out of her seat. “Dinner was lovely, but I can’t stay. If I fall any more in love with you then losing you is going to break my heart. I’ll be around after work so we can meet my family. I hope.. I hope this manages to work out.” She bolts and I watch a tear fall from her face in slow motion. I could catch her, follow her, or track her, but I can’t bring myself to do it. She doesn’t want to see me right now and I understand.

I pay for the meal and take my leave. I get a lot of angry looks as I leave. A thestral with a white mane cuts me off as I exit the cafe.

“What did you say to her? I have a policy that anypony who hurts our noble line has to be beaten.” He glares at me.

I feel the rage rising like bile. My voice takes on the edge as shadows begin forming around me. “Want a hoof with that? It’s your stupid rules and chains that are hurting her. Just go away before I do something I’m going to regret.” I pull back the darkness. He takes me regaining control as a sign of weakness or bluffing and tries to spin and buck me. I grab his incoming hind legs and throw him against a nearby wall. He hits hard and groans. “Some idiots just don’t know when to shut the fuck up and walk away.”

I feel a paw on my shoulder. Turning I see Discord staring at me with a sad look. “Tell me this isn’t the beginning of a fall to darkness. Tell me I don’t have to fight you,” he pleads.

“No, but you need to let me go heal that idiot. What do you know about what’s going on?”

He places a claw to my head and I feel a curious sensation like my brain has a feather being trailed over it. “Oh. That can’t be right. Here.” He snaps his fingers and the thestral who got on the wrong end of my temper appears in the same position looking perfectly fine but very nauseous. The world vanishes for an instant. Suddenly I’m looking at an elaborate, elegant room. There is a massive bed and three doors. The room has an amazing mural of a wolf beneath the moon howling while sitting at Luna’s feet. It’s down in a dark almost abstract form. The artist signature says Alumx. The night I came here, I realize, captured elegantly and beautifully by the amazing artist.

I explore and find that I have a full apartment here. Two bathrooms and all the works of a good apartment. There are magical lights with switches that control the brightness and a refrigerator that seems to also be magical. I walk outside and find myself in a hallway. The plaque on the door reads ‘Sir Wolf, Lord of Shadows, Savior of the Hive’. This is my apartment in the hive. I walk back inside and pull a mason jar full of a clear fluid out of my backpack. Ah moonshine, I’m gonna have to figure out how to make you here. I knock back a gulp of the mint flavored moonshine. Then another. Then another. Then things get blurry and I wake up sideways on my bed.

Thankfully, my room has a clock in it. It’s not long before noon and I begin finding my way back to the theater above. The hive is laid out very simply and finding my way out is easy. The changelings are performing a rehearsal and I find Discord directing them.

“Collection time, bro,” I say flatly.

“Collecting what? Ah, our deal. Very well, please lay down. You aren't going to do anything stupid, are you?”

“No. Isn’t there something you can do? Couldn’t you turn me into a pony or something?”

He hesitates and looks unhappy. “It would be possible, however you would never be able to revert to your human state again. You would never be capable of magic either. Ultimately you wouldn’t exist anymore, just a weak earth pony with your memories slowly slipping into madness.”

“That was one hard core threat back there then.”

He nods, “Wolf, all I can say is back down for now. Let things end on a pleasant note with her and her family. Time will tell if she can live without you. If not, then she will tell her family to shove it and ask Luna for her protection. If she can move on easily, then perhaps this is one sided. Now onto business.”

He snaps his fingers and a mess of strings appears above my back. White ones outline my body and are wrapped in red and gold. A black string seems to have resisted the tangle and only wraps around the white one. Discord stares into the tangle, stroking his goatee thoughtfully. He begins to slowly unravel the red thread. He pulls out a tiny pair of golden scissors and begins muttering to himself. He looks down at me and I don’t like the grim look on his face.

“I’m afraid it must be done. I cannot untangle the entire thing and must cut the curses off. This is going to hurt. Then you will pass out from the pain and your nightmare will simply continue the agony. You will probably pass out from the pain again. Unfortunately time in that level of the dreamscape is different. It will hurt less but for a lot longer.” I brace myself as he reaches into the tangle with his scissors. The first cut feels like having a chunk sliced from my soul. I enter a world of absolute agony and my world goes black.

Just as he said, the agony is even worse in the dream world and as hard as I try to fight it I pass out again. I go three layers deep in the dream world before the pain lessens to merely the feeling of my bones being ground to dust in a furnace. Days pass, maybe even weeks. Eventually I stop struggling. I stop yelling. I simply lay on the grass beneath the frozen moon and endure. Eventually I awaken from my torment. Looking at the clock, a mere ten minutes have passed. I feel wonderful without the pain. The strings above me are gone and the changelings have gathered around.

I leap to my feet as the world crystallises with my movement. I feel strong yet empty at the same time.

“You used my power for it too?”

“No, I broke the limiter of time for your reserves. You can now hold as much magic as is possible for a human. It will take time to refill your reserves, however I suggest filling them the natural way. Too much power all at once before you get to know your new strength could prove problematic.”

“Awesome. Maybe soon I’ll be able to levitate things like a unicorn. I know I could just pick it up or throw it for the same effect, but telekinesis is cool. Alright everypony, how’s the play coming?” I address the crowd of changelings. Jade smiles at me.

“Everything is going wonderful. We should be perfect by the time we perform.”

“Excellent. If nopony needs me, I’ll be doing reckless things that might be mistaken for suicide attempts to the untrained eye.” I smile as I walk out to the looks from the changelings. It’s time to see if Discord made good on his promise after all of the pain.

Soon I’m out behind the theater staring out over the water. I pull my staff out of my pack and throw my leg around it. It has decent wind riding spells on it, despite not being of the appropriate type of wood. I pour my power into the spell and take off. Slowly, I rise into the air. I practice spinning slowly in place. Something goes out of control and I shoot into the air spinning madly until I get thrown off. I land in the water with a hard slap. My wards hold and I swim back to the shore to retrieve my staff and try again.

By dusk, I have mastered flying and can beat any pegasus in a race. You know, if I tie them to the ground first and don’t knock myself out on the crawl to the finish line. I have actually gotten a decent grasp of flying. I find it hard to track my magical reserves, however it feels like my rate of regeneration was only a little behind consumption.

The breeze carries Moon Light’s scent to me. I walk up to meet her. Smiling softly I ask, “How’s it going?”

“Are you honestly going to wear that?”

“No, I was going to go with formal robes or whatever you thought was good.”

“No I meant the backpack. Your clothes are fine they fit you.”

“I never go anywhere without it. Besides, wouldn’t it be a nice status symbol? I was told a bag like this would be a sign of immense wealth and power in this world, as it was in my world.”

“Actually that’s good. Best case scenario, somepony asks about it and you bond with my dad over your shared love of weapons.”

“Honestly, what would my chances be if I was a night pony?”

“Assuming you keep your personality and strange powers? 50%.”

“Ouch. Well, once again, all I can say is lead the way.”

She takes me into Canterlot in front of a normal looking house. She takes a deep breath and opens the door. I follow her and am met with the stares of four thestrals and a moonicorn. Most of the looks are curious, however one is outright hostile. He speaks, “I understand that you have come here wishing to date my daughter with intent to form a herd.”

“Indeed,” I reply.

“What kind of herd has no children? What type of family can form without foals?” He locks me in his gaze and I feel the instinct of the alpha telling me not to avert my gaze.

“One that was built on love. Adoption is always an option.”

He continues his intense stare. “Tell me about your run in with that thestral last night.”

“He’s fine. He picked a fight with me and lost. I did warn him not to, however his rage blinded him and he attacked.”

“Adoption is not having a foal. If you were to adopt, then somepony who doesn’t carry the royal blood would possess our noble title.” He presses me again. He’s trying to off balance me and it’s working to a degree. I hate contests of words. I’d rather respond to an elegant statement of why I suck by punching the wordsmith in the face.

I’m sick of this staring contest and one sided conversation. I need to take action. “So you are against adoption? What is the royal blood that makes it so valuable? Tell me, is it the values and standards that your family upholds that makes it great? Or is it the blood that runs in your veins.”

“One is meaningless without the other,” he growls back. “Without the values, the blood holds no import. Without the blood, the values hold no weight.” His gaze softens and he looks down. “If only you were an earth pony, at least. I’m sorry, but I cannot allow my only daughter to date somepony who cannot father a foal. You may continue to see her. You can be friends. However you can never date her.” He looks at me again, realizing a potential for error. “No, I cannot command you. Moon Light, apply that to yourself.”

She stares at him as the tears begin to flow. Everypony leaves the room except us. I put a hand on her mane. She shakes me off.

“You failed to meet what I need in a stallion. You're dismissed. I don’t want to see you. Please don’t make it any harder.” She darts out of the room and I hear stairs being climbed. I stare after her for a minute, then walk out the door.

Author's Note

Editor's Note: Nuuuu!

Author’s note: Poor Wolf, I might hate you but I still feel for you bro. This chapter is the foundation of the rest of the story, the life shattering moment that reforges the mind and undermines the sanity. Also I might have done a tiny insert of one of my RP OCs. Star the lone wolf with a big heart who wants everyone to live in perfect harmony and operates a business finding things.

PINKIE: I don’t like that guy, he hates parties! What kind of pony actually hates parties? Why haven't I shown up yet? The story has already managed to hit 100 likes and I haven't even got a chance to break the fourth wall yet. Speaking of 100 likes! You know what this calls for?

A PARTY! Thank you guys for all the support and for liking my story it means a lot to me it really does. Even if it doesn’t seem like it because I’m dumping this heart wrenching chapter on you. Not to worry though, Wolf as we know love and hate him will be back by the end of chapter 4. Even if he’s a little bit affected by it.

Now onto something a little bit different.

I would like to try and revive a couple of my fav groups on this site. They used to be somewhat active and a great way to meet interesting people, now they lie dormant. Perhaps they lack an influx of new members who are active, maybe the people that like this kind of stuff are nonexistent. I don’t know, but it’s kinda odd when you think about it. Often people post stuff in groups to try and make their stories more popular, yet I rarely see people link groups in their stories that they don’t have a personal interest in to try and help them out. So I’m gonna try and help them out in what little way I can.

https://www.fimfiction.net/group/200768/equestrias-pet-play-society

https://www.fimfiction.net/group/199654/master-pet-and-slave-ponies-group

https://www.fimfiction.net/group/199028/the-dungeon