A Thousand Moons Missedby WuRsChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 1It was a calm morning, the birds were chirping, the sun was shining: the perfect day to sit back and do nothing. But for Twilight it was the perfect day to catch up with her reading, specifically princess Celestia’s books. As a matter of fact, she had just received a couple of new ones. “Morning, Twi! Here are the books you wanted to read.” Said Spike as he entered the room. “Thank you, Spike!” answered Twilight with a smile. “Today I’m just going to sit back and read. You can take the day of, if you want to.” “Oh… Ok then, I’ll go and see if Rarity needs some help” Twilight chuckled and she knew Spike noticed because he turned from purple to red. “I’m going to… you sure you don’t need my help?” “No, Spike go on I’m sure Rarity will be delighted to see you”. That said, Spike left Twilight with her books. Twilight, normally, would find an elaborate scheme to select which order she would read all of the books, but this something caught her eye first. Has she as examined them, she noticed that in the middle of all the hardcover books there was a scroll. “That’s odd…” she thought to herself while she opened it. She opened the scroll. “This is a spell. An old one… A very old one. The princess must have sent it by mistake or…” The curiosity was killing her at this point. “Maybe… Maybe she wants me to learn it. No! Well… maybe. It probably won’t do any harm. And I am supposed to take care of my own, now that I’m a princess.” She started to read the scroll and spent most of the morning trying to understand the ancient runes. Bringing all sort of books to translate them into something that she could actually understand. It was almost midday when she finally was ready to cast the spell. “I will probably need some space to cast this.” She trotted to the entrance of the castle. “This should do it.” She started to cast it. Sparks started to fly out of her horn making a lot of noise, the spell was so powerful that it seemed like a hurricane had formed in the castle entrance. She was starting to worry but, moments later, it just stopped. “Well, that was a waste of time” She noticed a light forming in front of her. It was a scroll. “Oh no…” The scroll was from princess Celestia and it clearly said to not use the spell. It was after she read it, that she spotted it. Out of the corner of her eye, a portal was forming. The letter also said that the spell was a portal to Tartarus and, if opened it could unleash all sort of demons into Equestria. Twilight’s heart was already beating strong. And she could fell the anxiety. “What have I done?” But she didn’t panic. Twilight tried to close the portal and she succeeded, a second too late. Something was already in the room. She hid behind some chairs that were thrown around by the wind. A disconcerting silence had set in the room; all she could hear was her own vital signs. She didn’t even look at what had crossed the portal and she was already terrified of it. Then the silence broke. “So this is what freedom feels like…” The creature’s voice was deep and definitely male. “You can show yourself. There’s no hiding from me…” His voice made Twilight shiver. The way he spoke reminded her of Luna’s voice before she was “reeducated”. She emerged from the chair pile expecting some horrific monster to jump out and kill her, but to her surprise, standing before her, was a pony! Or at least it looked like one. He had zebra stripes, although he was darker than Zecora, but he had Pegasus wings and a cutiemark, the only color defying the blackness of his mane and tail was the orange that also burned in his eyes. But even though he knew where she was, he was looking at her. “Who are you?” Twilight managed to ask. “Irrelevant to you!” He shouted, turning his head to stare directly into Twilight. He seemed to be analyzing her. “Oh… My apologies. I Did not notice I was talking to royalty.” He said with a much calmer voice. Twilight was shocked by this and her face showed it. “What? I may have been in Tartarus but I still have manners! Anyway, I need you to take me to the royal sisters.” Twilight was lost in her thoughts. “I don’t remember Celestia mentioning any banishment during her studying period. But he knows Luna, which means he is old. Too old.” “How long have you been in there?” She could see his pain has she asked. “A very long time… so long that I lost count. But probably around 500 years.” “But that’s impossible!” “In Tartarus you don’t age, don’t starve, don’t die. Time is different in there…” “I knew that but if you were sent there 500 years ago you wouldn’t know Princess Luna.” He shivered. "And why would that be?” “Luna was banished. For a thousand years.” He turned his back to Twilight and scratched his forehead with his right wing. “And she only escaped a couple of years ago.” His anger was building and Twilight was getting fearful for what he might do. He controlled his rage and spoke. “Did she try to take Tia’s place as ruler of Equestria?” Twilight was speechless. Not even she felt comfortable calling Celestia “Tia” but also how did he know the reason of Luna’s banishment? “Yes but she also tried to bring eternal night. Were you and the princesses close?” “Close!? Yes. You can put it that way. I’m Blaze by the way.” “Princess Twilight Sparkle.” “Tittle?” “Princess of Friendship.” Blaze tried not to laugh but it was quite obvious. “So has I said I need you to take me to the royals sisters, I would go by myself but apparently it has been more than a 1000 years and I don’t believe they still live in the same place.” “And why would I do that?” “You just somehow open a portal to Tartarus and a pony stepped out of it who would you report to?” “Well…” “You don’t have to worry, I wish them no harm.” “Ok I’ll take you to Canterlot but it’s a long journey.” “Can’t you just teleport us there?” “Yes… Yes I suppose I could do that. But I have to warn the princesses about our arrival.” “No need I wish to surprise them.” “Well alright then… Are you ready?” “Yes. Are You?” He sounded nervous. “Yes. Let’s go.” Although she believed him, she just wanted to have Celestia’s backup if Blaze decided to turn on her. And with a simple teleportation there they were. The gates of Canterlot Castle. Chapter 2Although all this time had passed, Blaze still remembered how the old castle looked like. It was made of grey stone, well-fortified and, for its time old fashioned. It was settled in the middle of the Everfree Forest, which meant not a lot of unnecessary visits. Back then Celestia didn’t mind that but it was clear she wasn’t pleased by it. The only reason keeping her from changing her address was her sister, Luna. Luna loved that castle - has did Blaze – Luna preferred isolated places where she could be at peace. She liked to socialize but only with the right ponies. Canterlot was almost the polar opposite of the old castle. It was made of what seemed to be white marble and it was right in the middle of Equestria’s Capital, Canterlot. Although, there were missing some key fortifications, it made that up with guards, many guards, to many to properly train. Blaze could sense Luna didn’t partake in choosing the castle. It was clear Celestia had chosen it while Luna was banished. As soon as they set hoof in Canterlot, Blaze could feel the eyes of the curious looking at them and the mutter of the crowds forming. From where they were they could see the castle’s gates; the castle was just a couple of meters away. “Alright, from now on let me do the talking or else the guards won’t let us in” Twilight ordered. “Yes, you are the princess after all, but let’s get out of the streets, crowds are forming.” Blaze was right. As Twilight looked around she could see a lot of curious ponies had stopped to look at her, or possibly Blaze. He did look like a zebra with wings. They trotted to the entrance; all four guards recognized Twilight and let them through. Behind the thick wood doors there was a spacious and well-decorated hall with a grand stair case in front of them leading to two doors, one on each side. In the bottom floor there was also two narrow corridors. “I’m going to search for the princesses in their chambers. You… stay here. Don’t go anywhere!” Twilight yelled has she entered in one of the corridors. Blaze might not know this castle but he learned one trick to know where the princesses are in whichever castle they are in: the most guarded room, that’s where you find the princesses. Blaze looked around and almost immediately spotted two guards guarding the right double-doors on top of the stair case. Although he promised Twilight to wait there, he had waited for too long for this moment so he went without her. As soon as he got close to the guards they crossed their spears to close the path. One of them spoke. “Hold! Requesting time as ended the last citizen is already in the throne room. You must wait until tomorrow.” He spoke with a harsh voice, as all guards should, but it didn’t faze Blaze. “I have to see the princesses. I have urgent matters I wish to discuss.” “Well, too bad. Didn’t you hear me? Time is over! Leave! That’s an order!” But Blaze didn’t take it as an order but more of a challenge. He knew he could take both the guards out, even without a weapon. He was already in close range with the guards but before he could do anything, Twilight showed up behind him. “It’s alright he’s with me we wish to speak with the princesses so let us in.” “I am sorry princess I didn’t realize… Of course!” He said as he holstered his spear and opened the double doors. “They are in the throne room.” “Thank you!” They went through the doors and they closed behind them. There was still another double door in front of them. “So this is it?” “Yes they should be in there but let me go first to take care of whom ever is inside.” “I’ll let you go first but I can’t hold on much longer…” “I won’t take long. And… Good luck…” He sighed. “Thank you, I’ll probably need it.” With that said Twilight opened the doors to the throne room while Blazed slid to the left to stay out of sight. As soon as twilight entered the room she was greeted by a pony she didn’t recognize. “Oh princess Twilight it’s an honor to meet you. But I’m afraid I have errands to run and I already spent my time speaking with the royal sisters.” And just like that she continued her way out passing by Blaze without even noticing him – he was like a shadow – when she turned around the princesses were there, sitting in their thrones, waving her in. “Twilight, what a wonderful surprise! Are you here to give back my scroll, you could have just asked Spike to send it.” “Yes about that… I’m sorry prin-” She didn’t even finish the sentence and the princesses’ expressions changed, they were in shock. But they weren’t like that because of her, Blaze had entered the room. They were all dead silence. Until Blaze started walking towards them. “So this is the welcome back reception I get after all these years…” He said with a calm yet angry voice. “It... It’s impossible.” It was all Celestia could say. “But… I thought you were dead!” Luna almost shouted with tears forming in her eyes. Blaze stopped now just a few paces from the princesses. “Dead!? Was that what Tia told you? Well Tia, it seems you have some explaining to do!” Blaze was using an increasingly more powerful and angry voice. “Sister?” Luna said surprised now with tears running through her eyes. “Princess? What’s happening?” Twilight spoke from the left side of the room. “Twilight, leave I’ll talk to you when I get this solved” Celestia said without breaking eye contact with Blaze. “No! Twilight, please stay. She was the one who helped me get here and if I’m not mistaken she’s one of your students or was, so why should she leave? She also deserves an explanation.” Blaze protested. “Why did you come here, Blaze?” Celestia was good with masking her emotions but it was clear she was not happy with his return. Blaze’s eyes snapped. “Why did I come here? WHY DID I LEAVE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!??” Blaze shouted has he toke two full paces forwards and trusted his hoof as hard as he could against the floor, shattering it in the process. He looked at the princesses and they had gotten up in shock. He could see the fear in their eyes. The guards heard him and rushed to the room. Behind him were five of them. He walked a couple of paces back and looked at his right hoof that had shattered the marble floor, it was slowly dripping blood. It was just a cut from a shard of marble. After a few seconds he broke the silence yet again. “After all we’ve been through… After all we’ve done together… You’re scared of me?” Almost all the anger was gone from his voice and it was replaced with sadness. The tears joined the small pool of blood that had formed beneath him. A cyan glow involved his right hoof and his face, healing his wound and cleaning his eyes of tears. He could recognize Luna’s magic even without seeing its glow and that small gesture meant the world to him. It also seemed to affect Celestia’s heart because her eyes were watery and she called off the guards, making them holster their weapons and taking a step back. “Celestia I am willingly to forgive you. But if you’re not going to tell them what happened… I am.” A silence settled once again. But this time Celestia broke it. “I’ll do it. If somepony has to tell this it’s me. I have had a thousand years to think and rethink about what I’ve done.” Tears were rolling from her eyes but her voice didn’t change. “I may have acted out of jealousy and false rumors but at the time I was certain that Blaze was nothing but trouble to us and our kingdom. So when I had the opportunity I trapped him in Tartarus.” She cleaned her tears with her wing and sat back in her throne. “How could you? How could lie to me? How could you do that to Blaze?” Luna was devastated she could barely see with so many tears in her eyes. She was facing Celestia and this time Celestia looked straight at her but words failed to leave her mouth. “I’m sorry to interrupt but I still don’t know who Blaze is.” Twilight interrupted after a long time of listening. “Blaze is an –“ Celestia started to explain only to be interrupted by Luna. “Don’t even… You don’t deserve to tell who Blaze is. Not after all you’ve done.” Celestia stuttered at hearing that from her sister. Luna also used her wings to clear her face of tears and sat again in her throne. “So Princess Twilight, let’s start from the beginning.” Blaze was abandoned as an infant at our old castle door step. We never met or saw his parents. It was clear that he was not a normal pony and most likely he was abandoned by a wealthy family who didn’t want their reputation to be lost. I have to admit that when I first saw him I wasn’t quite fond of him… “Who was it?” Luna asked seeing her sister open the main doors. “I don’t know but they seem to have abandoned a young colt… or zebra. I’ve never seen somepony like this…” Answered Celestia as she levitated the basket containing the small colt. “Leave him to the timber wolves. We don’t need more responsibilities.” “Luna! Sometimes I wonder if you have a heart… Look at him. Have you seen anything like him? And are you brave enough to send him to the wolves?” Celestia passed the basked around and the magical auras involving it switched from yellow to cyan. “I don’t think courage is the word you’re looking for. And I suppose I’m not. But you can send him to the orphanage. But you aren’t are you?” Luna looked at Celestia and back to the colt. “I suppose he is …” “Cute? It’s been a couple of years since I toke care of a child maybe it’s time don’t you think?” Celestia and Luna were side by side looking at the levitating basket with the colt inside. He looked so fragile. Celestia extended her right wing and used one of her pinions – which were bigger than the colt itself – to move him around and extending one of his tiny wings. “Pour thing… Look at his wing joint. He might be handicap.” “Different doesn’t mean handicap. Remember Half-Horn Larry? Everyone said he was handicapped until he became the most powerful battle-mage.” “Let’s hope so. I’ll make sure that he is well treated.” “We’ll make sure. If you are going to do this you know you have my full support. As always and forever.” “As always and forever…” Blaze grew up with us but Celestia didn’t call him his son and neither did he call her mom. He was too smart for that. I think he was three when he first asked us who is parents were. His wing joint problem gave more benefits than problems. It allowed his wings to have more motion letting him do stunts that no other pegasus could do. This made him very agile in flight which gave him his cutie mark, a white pegasus wing. But all that free mobility came with a price; he couldn’t fly at high speeds. He grew up to be our best friend and our trusted personal guard. We were very close and as time went by we were getting closer and closer, me and Blaze that is, Celestia seemed to think he was a good friend, nothing more. And with time she started being jealous of Blaze for spending so much time with me. Blaze did everything he could to remain close to her but she kept pushing herself away from him, and from me. Then came the day she went out with Blaze in a mission and returned alone… After a couple of weeks I realized that Blaze also helped me deal with my sister. We were so close yet… at the time I felt like I didn’t knew her anymore… Two years later I turned into Nightmare Moon. The rest you already know… The room fell quite once again. Tears could be seen in Luna’s, Celestia’s and Blaze’s eyes. Only Twilight eyes remained dry. She was in shock. Her mentor, the pony in which she most trusted… had been so evil. She wanted explanations but before she could speak, Celestia broke the silence. “Twilight, now that you know who Blaze is and what I’ve done I have to ask you to leave so I can resolve this situation. But don’t worry once this is settled you can ask me whatever you want.” Twilight simply nodded and left the room afraid to say something she would regret. When Twilight left Celestia signaled the guards to leave. Only the three remained in the room. A few seconds later Blaze spoke. “So, what now?” “Now… Me and Luna are going to have lunch. In the afternoon we have a meeting with Ponyville’s mayor, and I think I’ll stay and speak with Twilight afterwards.” Celestia answered. “Then I’ll go with you.” “Nonsense! You’ll stay here in the castle dungeons! We may have accepted you staying here but that doesn’t mean we trust you.” Blaze knew she had reason to not trust him but had she forgotten who he was? He looked at Luna in hope she would disagree with her sister. “I’m sorry Blaze… but she’s right. You may still be our Blaze but, a thousand years in Tartarus is a lot… no one has ever done that… and the few that exited Tartarus, they were… changed…” Although it wasn’t what Blaze wanted to hear, it was the truth and Blaze accepted it. “I understand. But I didn’t come here to stay in a dungeon for the rest of my life! I want to be with you, both of you. I want us to get along again, just like old times.” Luna spoke next. “That we can agree on. Starting of tomorrow we will help you in your integration in society and if everything works out, your rank of Royal Sisters Protectors will be restored.” Celestia wasn’t so sure. “Luna, I don’t think this is wise. We still don’t know his intentions.” “Weren’t you listening? He clearly stated them.” Blazed was happy that Luna still trusted him. “Thank you. Now I believe I have a dungeon cell waiting for me.” Blaze looked around. “I would go alone if I knew where they were…” Celestia didn’t wait to call for help. “Guards, escort Blaze to the Dungeons!” The three guards walked forwards and tried to grab Blaze. Before they could do anything Luna said. “Escort not drag.” And so they obeyed. Blazed chuckled a bit. “Before there were five guards and even those sometimes needed help. Crime as seen better days.” “Silence!” One of the guards shouted but that only made Luna shout louder. “Guard consider yourself dismissed if something like that happens again! This pony might be your superior tomorrow!” “Luna, you know I don’t like to boss around.” Luna just smiled. And after a couple of steps, the guards and Blaze exited the throne room. The guards toke him through the main hall, they passed through multiple corridors and stairs. Has they walked further and further, the castle decorations began to fade , the walls turned from painted marble to cold dark grey stone and the light was beginning to disappear. After a narrow corridor there were multiple cells, almost all of them empty. They showed him the way to his cell and one of the guards pushed him inside and closed the door behind him. Blazed looked around, the cell wasn’t small but it wasn’t big either, it had some hay in the ground where he could sleep, a small window on top of one of the walls and a bucket if he needed to use it. That’s what anyone could see but Blaze noticed much more. He flew to the window; although there were metal bars blocking anyone from escaping, the stone where they were attached was weak. Blaze, with a bit of strength pushed and pulled the bars and the whole window detached from the wall. “Well I have a way out if I need it.” He said to himself. He placed the window on the wall and with a bit of moving around it looked like nothing happened. Next he went to the door. It was an old wooden door with some metal bars so you could see through, but again it was weak, he could easily break it open. With nothing else to do Blaze sat on the hay and started to preen his wings. “Can’t remember the last time I did this.” He thought to himself. After Blaze left Luna and Celestia went to the dining room where their lunch was waiting. Neither of them spoke in that meal. After that they embarked on the carriage that would bring them to Ponyville. For the entire journey not one word was spoken, after all that was said a little silence didn’t hurt. They arrived at Ponyville and the mayor was there to greet them. But Celestia was the first to talk. “We are sorry for arriving so late. We had some issues in Canterlot.” “There’s absolutely no problem your highnesses. You are only a few minutes late. Oh where are my manners? Welcome to Ponyville!” With that said the three of them moved to the Town Hall where they spend almost all the afternoon debating Ponyville’s economies. Once the meeting was over the two sisters stood near the carriage. This time it was Luna who talked. “Remember what you said you would do. Go talk to Twilight. Or you might lose her.” “I know I have to talk to her… I’m afraid, Luna…” “You should be. I’m going back to the castle.” Luna took a few steps but before leaving she said. “If you can’t talk at least listen.” Luna entered the carriage and signaled the guards to take the carriage. Celestia was alone in the streets of Ponyville, she could see Twilight’s castle, by far the tallest building there. She decided to teleport to its entrance so she didn’t have to walk through all Ponyvilles citizens. She knocked at the doors of the crystal castle and almost immediately Spike opened the doors. “Princess! Something’s wrong with Twilight she hasn’t come out of her room after she returned from Canterlot! I’ll show you the way.” The little dragon ran through corridors and up stairs leading the princess to Twilight’s room. “She’s inside!” The little dragon said worried. “I’ll talk to her. Can you leave us alone for a moment?” “Yes princess… Just make sure she’s alright…” and he left. Celestia looked at the door. Inside there was the little filly she toke care of, the mare that become Princess of Friendship and most of all, her friend… she needed to make things right between them. She knocked. A muffled voice spoke. “Go away Spike…” “It’s me…” Celestia answered in a sweet and quite tone. Almost a minute passed before a purple glow surrounded the door handle and opened the door. Celestia walked inside. It was dark only a few rays of sun light managed to find the way into the ground. The purple alicorn was lying in bed. Celestia moved closer. “You’re here...” Twilight said in a neutral tone. “Yes, just like I said I would be… Twilight, listen…” “Don’t…” interrupted Twilight. “Why did you do it?” Celestia sighed. “Blaze and Luna were very close if Blaze intended to harm the kingdom he could use Luna to do so… I was worried that he might hurt her… And yes I admit I didn’t like them being so close…” “So instead of, I don’t know talk to him, you banish him!?” Celestia could see how wrong that seemed now. “I know how this seems but, Twilight, you have to understand, at that time it seemed the right thing to do…” A tear rolled down her face. “That’s one question… Why did you didn’t you tell the truth?” “I didn’t want my sister to hate me, I didn’t want my kingdom to dough me… I was afraid so I just hid it…” “Can’t you understand the harm that you did to your sister by not telling her?! She though he was dead! I don’t know their relationship but I’m guessing they were about to be more than just friends. I’m not even going to talk of how much you must have hurt Blaze…” “I did what I had to do.” “What!?” Twilight stood up from her bed, shouting. “Can’t you understand what you did!? You ruined two lives! You banished blaze for a thousand years and, by doing so, you made Luna go mad, turning her into Nightmare Moon forcing you into banishing her as well!” Twilight couldn’t contain the tears anymore. “And to think you were the one who taught me all about magic, and friendship…” “I wasn’t the one to blame of Luna madness with power!” “Shut up! Are you listening to yourself!? You know the truth and you refuse to see it!” Those words coming from Twilight… Celestia was devastated. “How could she treat her like that? I did the right thing… there wasn’t another option…” She thought, but to hear both her sister and student say that… how wrong could she be? “Twilight…” “Leave…” said Twilight. “Twilight, I’m sorry…” “Leave!” She shouted. Celestia knew she couldn’t do anything so she left. She had lost one of her students… one of her closest friends… There she was at the doors of Twilight’s Castle leaving her behind, her eyes were wet, her heart broken… yet she knew she was right. She started her long flight to Canterlot. When Luna left Celestia in Ponyville she knew that Twilight wasn’t going to forgive her. She just hoped that her sister could listen to her point of view and understand it. She could see Canterlot from her carriage. She knew that inside of it Blaze was there, waiting. She was dying to talk to him but she couldn’t help to be afraid. She knew his strength; she knew that he spent a thousand years with the worst of evil. But then again if he wanted her dead he could already have done it. She knew that it was Blaze and all of what he said was true, yet she was still afraid. Luna exited the carriage, all the guards waiting for both of the royal sisters, without anyone asking she said. “My sister stayed in Ponyville to help organizing their work. She’ll be back soon.” The guards nodded and she continued her way through the castle, she recognized one of the guards that toke Blaze. “Guard, could you show me the way to Blaze’s cell?” “Of course, your highness! This way.” He led her through the corridors but his curiosity toke over him. “Princess, if you don’t mind me asking, who is this Blaze?” Luna toke a few seconds to respond. “I probably should tell you, all of you, but I have to wait until tomorrow…” “Of course, your highness. Hum... I’m not really dismissed am I?” Luna chuckled. “If you talk to Blaze like that again, losing your job is the best thing that can happen to you.” The guard wasn’t too keen on talking again after that. After a minute of walking, the guard pointed at a door. “He’s in there.” “Leave us.” “Has you wish.” The guard left. Luna walked to the cell door, her heart was beating fast from excitement of talking to him but also from fear… She was about to knock on the door. In that cell there wasn’t much to do. When he was done preening, which toke a lot of the afternoon, Blaze decided to get some sleep but he couldn’t… he spent a few minutes just walking around the cell. When he was about to just lie down in the hay he heard someone coming, he stayed alert and out of sight of the door. They were getting closer. He recognized the guard’s voice and then… “Luna?” He thought. She was actually there. And by what she said she wanted to speak with him. He leaned on the wall next to the door. He could hear her coming close and just as she was going to knock on the cell door Blaze said. “I’m glad you came.” His voice almost melted her heart. “Of course I came. That guard didn’t bother you much did he?” They both laughed a bit. “No, he just gave me a little push but I chose to not break his hoof. Where’s Celestia?” “Still in Ponyville.” Blaze got close to the door but Luna’s instinct was to take a step back. Blaze could sense her fear. He bashed his hoofs against the door and sat with his back on the door. “What happened Luna?” He said very calmly and with a sad tone. He could hear Luna sitting on the other side of the door. “A thousand years… that’s what happened Blaze… a thousand years…” They were in silence for minutes until Blaze said. “You know that I could easily go through that door right?” “I know… but… I don’t know Blaze… a thousand years…” “I would never harm you Luna… but I understand…” Luna stood up. “I have to go Blaze, before Celestia returns.” “Will you return in the night?” She didn’t respond. Blaze was returning to his bale of hay when Luna spoke. “See me in the darkest tower when the last shadow is cast.” And she left. After all these years Luna was still mysterious. Blaze couldn’t help but to smile at the thought that Luna wanted to see him again. His thoughts were interrupted by a guard knocking on the door. “Dinner!” And he slid a plate full of salad through a gap between the door and the floor. Blaze had forgotten that he needed to eat, he was starving. He ate the whole plate under a minute. “How could I forget how good eating feels like!?” He said to himself. He was enjoying life at last! Then he felt something. Something he hadn’t felt in a millennium… Luna’s magic. It was so powerful he could feel it from inside his cell; he could recognize it from anyone’s magic. He looked at the window and sun was coming down, he needed to get out to figure out Luna’s riddle. Blaze toke the window out and placed it on the floor, and flew free from his cell. He flew as fast as he could, he started to gain altitude and he looked down at the city. Canterlot was a beautiful city indeed. But what caught his eyes attention was the castle itself, a white fortress with purple and yellow roofs. Looking at the towers he saw something interesting: One of the towers was already covered by shadows while the others were still shinning with sunlight. “That’s got to be where she is.” He thought. Blaze almost dived vertically so she wouldn’t see him coming. He flew under her room’s balcony and there he waited. He saw the sun being brought down by Celestia and the moon and the stars being brought up by Luna. The night had fallen, Blaze dragged himself up staying in cover but also able to see inside her room. And there she was, working in her desk. Then someone opened the door, it was Celestia. Blaze climbed up the balcony so he could listen but he kept near a wall looking inside so they couldn’t spot him. He started listening to them. “Luna, you didn’t eat dinner.” “I’m not hungry…” Luna looked at Celestia. “You’re not going to talk about Twilight?” There was a pause. “She hates me…” “Did you listen to what she said?” “She said what you and blaze said… she doesn’t know how it happened though.” “Sister… will you ever accept the truth?” Luna started working again. “You should get some sleep, it was a long day…” “Yes… See you tomorrow.” Blaze could see Celestia wanted to say something but instead she just left. Luna sighed she got up and was heading to the balcony. Luna was afraid that her sister somehow changed… When they were young she wasn’t like that… She needed some air. Luna headed towards her balcony. She saw a shadow moving, it was nothing just a little motion. Then she remembered… “Blaze?” She though. She opened the window and stepped outside the night was quiet and beautiful as always. She knew he was there, but she knew it was useless to look for him, he just hides to well. She couldn’t help but to feel a bit anxious. She looked into the night expecting Blaze to show up out of nowhere but then she felt something, a feather grazing her neck. It was fast but delicate. It made her shiver but not for bad reasons. Only Blaze knew how much she liked that. And only Blazed could do it while flying. Luna smiled. “Blaze. I know it’s you. And I’m glad you are back!” When Blaze heard that he just wanted to go and hug her but he knew it was best to wait. Luna went back to her room. Blaze stayed a bit longer on top of her room, looking at the night sky. He missed it so much. There he was sitting on Luna’s roof looking at the night sky, it was so beautiful, Blaze couldn’t help but to cry from happiness. He cleaned his tears with his wing. Although this moment was perfect, he had to get back to his cell before someone noticed. He flew to his cell entering through the gap of the window; he placed the window on the wall and laid down on the hay. It didn’t take much for him to fall asleep with a smile in his face, and the moonlight lighting his dreams. Author's Note Sorry for how long this toke. I had some problems and didn't feel good writting. But I'm back! Chapter 3“Wake up! The princesses want you in the throne room!” The famous guard yelled as he bashed the door of the cell. It was not the best way to wake up from a good night of sleep, but blaze couldn’t really complain since that was the first real sleep he had in a thousand years. But that guard was asking for trouble. “Just a minute.” Blaze groaned as he struggled to get up from the hay bale. Blaze couldn’t stop a small sigh from getting out. It was finally happening after all this years of waiting. But, what now? He knew it was happening but he was not sure what was happening. The guard knocked on door once again and interrupted his thoughts. He took a few steps towards the door and the guard opened it. “Follow me I’ll show you the way. You should take a shower before you go to the throne room though. This way.” The guard said as he started walking into a corridor. Was he being nice? Or just plain rude? Either way a shower wouldn’t hurt and would help him wake up to the day ahead. Blaze followed him through the corridor into what seemed to be some sort of locker room. He took a step forward to examine the room but before he could turn around he was greeted by a bucket of ice cold water to the face. “What the hell!?” It was all Blaze managed to say before containing himself. The Guard started laughing. “Nice shower, don’t you think? Here’s a towel. Now hurry up the princesses are waiting!” “Can I ask your name?” One more little play like this and he was going to the medical bay. “Why?” “Well you know mine why can’t I know yours?” “Okay… My name is Jake.” “Nice to meet you Jake. Let’s go. We don’t want to keep the princesses waiting, right?” And with a confused look, Jake started walking towards the maze of corridors. After arriving to the throne room and sending a guard to bring Blaze to them, the princesses were alone waiting for him. Celestia looked neutral as always but Luna knew her too well for it to fool her. “Do you trust him?” Celestia finally asked. This question surprised Luna. She wasn’t expecting Celestia to ask her that. “Tia… I know there are a lot of reasons to not trust him but after all you did to him, after all he’s been through… If he wished us harm he could have killed us both, and you know he could have. But instead he came to talk to us, he was willingly to forgive you!” Luna took a step towards her sister and started speaking with a sweet but sad voice. “Can’t you see it sister?” “I don’t know Lulu…” A tear rolled down her cheek and her posture broke. “Ever since you two got close, I grew this feeling that he wanted to harm you… At first I thought it was just jealousy but as time went by it got stronger, every single bone in my body told me something was wrong with him… I still have that feeling… But everything else is telling me otherwise…” Luna hugged her sister and tried to calm her down, cleaning her tears in the process. “In time you’ll see that this will soon be a part of our past.” While she was in the embrace of her sister, Celestia let her thoughts roam free. “Oh Lulu if you knew how scared I am… I don’t want to lose you again… I just wished I could see what you and Twilight see… but then again… My instincts never have failed me.” Luna Let go of her sister and with a gentle spell she clean hers and her sister’s tears. “Just give him a chance, and to yourself as well. You’ll see it’s all going to work out.” Celestia just nodded. Their conversation was interrupted by Blaze’s arrival with the sound of the double doors opening and closing. “Morning.” Blaze said as he walked into the room. “I hope you slept well, you have a busy day ahead of you.” Luna replied smiling. “So, what does await me?” Blaze asked. “Well, we are going to walk around Canterlot showing you the city and it’s citizens, show you how everything works and hopefully find you a hobby.” Luna started to explain. “But first…” “First, something I know you’ll love: history lessons!” Celestia finished in a sarcastic tone. “So you do still know me! I was starting to lose hope.” Blaze smiled at her and looked around. “Have you had breakfast? I really wanted a cup of coffee… Coffee is still a thing right?” Blaze asked. Both princesses shared a laugh. “What? How am I supposed to know?” Blaze protested. “Yes, coffee is still a thing. Now let’s go to the library, I’ll ask a guard to bring some coffee.” Celestia said in a surprisingly happy tone. “Never thought I would go back to school. And Celestia seems to be handling things better today.” Blaze thought to himself as he followed Celestia through the double doors leaving Luna alone in the throne room. “Oh Blaze, I think you would prefer spending another day in Tartarus than having history classes again! But don’t worry after that I have some plans to un-bore you.” She said as she left to start the day. Luna was right, Blaze faced one of the most boring days of his life, but it was necessary. Celestia started by a history lesson of all major events in the last 1000 years, she couldn’t go in detail but it still was almost a whole morning of learning. Next came geography, Blaze learnt where everything was and what is the purpose of every city. After a quick lunch break, they restarted classes and now it was time for social studies; learning customs, traditions, expressions and generally what everyday life is for a pony. It was a lot to learn in a morning and half of an afternoon, but it was enough to know the basics. And Blaze would learn the rest in everyday life. Celestia seemed to be in a good mood, that or she was enjoying seeing Blaze go through that torture. Either way it was done and both of them managed to share a couple of laughs. “Go on, you’re free. Luna is probably waiting for you in the castle’s entrance, and I need to go catch up on work. And do try not killing everyone that makes you angry.” Celestia said as she stood in the entrance of the library. “I’m going. And thank you for dealing with me but I’m sure you enjoyed seeing me suffering for the past hours. And you have my word that if I kill someone they will have deserved it.” Celestia let go a small smile and closed the library doors. Blaze could feel his hearth rate going up as he walk up to the castle entrance knowing he would spend the rest of the afternoon with Luna. It had been so long since the two of them were together, the day could go either way. His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of an ethereal blue glow coming from the entrance of the castle. And that glow spoke. “So you can still walk, that must be a good sign!” She joked as she smiled at him. “It wasn’t that bad. I even managed to make your sister smile!” They both laughed. “So what do you have in store for me?” “Well… Since you had to go through all of that, I thought we could start by something I know you’ll enjoy.” As she was speaking, she pulled with her magic something from the shadows. It was her halberd! After all this time it was still her weapon of choice! “How about we go to the barracks so you can learn about the guards? And I need to see if you still can handle yourself.” A teasing smile grew in her face. “Now were talking! But I’m afraid I’m going to have to borrow a weapon from the royal armory.” “Don’t worry everything is already arranged. Our best generals are waiting for us. Follow me.” And Blaze did. They went to side of the castle, climbed a small staircase and, in front of them, was the courtyard were the guards were trained. Four generals and a couple of curious guards were there waiting for their arrival. “Aww, an audience and everything? You shouldn’t have.” Blaze commented. Luna discreetly smiled at Blaze before addressing everyone in the courtyard. “Listen up!” shouted Luna in fiery tone. “First of all, this is Blaze. And yes all the rumors are true! He indeed came from Tartarus. But I can assure you he is in our side. Secondly as of tomorrow his former rank is being restored, meaning he will be the highest rank of authority. He will not be leading you but if he orders you to so something you will do it! This also applies to all of you generals.” Even though Luna had the name “Princess” behind her, she acted more like a goddess of war in front of her guards. It wasn’t for nothing that everyone was afraid of her. "We are going to need to test him of his combat strength. General Iron Hoofs, how would you like to test Blaze’s hoofs?” General Hoofs – how everyone called him – stepped up to the arena in the center of courtyard. He was a strong stallion, confident and had a strong ego as well, he was known for his hoof on hoof combat and he wasted no time in starting to taunt Blaze. “Come on White Wings! I’m waiting.” He said with a rusty voice. Blaze, unfazed, flew to the arena. Blaze was bigger than any stallion there, his height was only surpassed by the princesses. “I won’t use my wings to keep this fair, as long as you don’t use magic.” “As you wish. Now let’s see what you’re made of!” General Hoofs charged Blazed at an amazing speed, when he got close he stood up in his hind legs launching is right hoof in Blaze’s direction. Blaze toke advantage of his blind attack and in a swift motion he grabbed his right hoof and toppled him to the dirt. General Hoofs slid across the arena covering his white fur in dirt. He stood up. His anger was fueling his strength. He wasn’t going to let some pegasus humiliate him like that. “Well I think that more than proves that Blaze is fit for combat.” Luna said in hopes that General Hoofs would calm down. Unfortunately the combination of the rumble of the group of guards and the look of cockiness in Blaze’s face didn’t allow him to calm down. Blaze was walking to side of the arena, he stopped when he saw the General looking at him. “Don’t do it.” He thought. And a few seconds later, General Hoofs was charging again. “Oh well… You’re going to wish you hadn’t.” The General changed his tactic and stopped in front of Blaze, he swung his right hoof in Blaze’s direction and he had his left hoof ready for a second attack. Blaze dodged his first hoof but he wasn’t so merciful in the second one: he grabbed his left hoof and, using momentum, he turned him around and grabbed him in a choke hold. They fell to the ground, rustling and kicking. They lifted a cloud of dust. Blaze wasn’t going to lose his strength but General Hoofs was going to lose his breath rather quickly. “Blaze, I think you made your point.” Luna said seeing that the situation was growing out of control. “He… Damn it! He’s still kicking!” Blaze answered as he struggled to maintain his grip. “BLAZE!” Yelled Luna. Hearing the tone in Luna’s voice, Blaze let go of his grip. The general gasped in relief, he bucked in the dirt trying to stand up. But he was tough so in a few seconds he was already walking away hiding his embarrassment. He not only lost in a hoof fight, but he also let his anger get the best of him. “Very well… Since Blaze as proven to be fit for combat, I think it’s only fair that he fights against the best of us.” And with a simple spell she grabbed her halberd. The soldiers that were watching started to cheer, it wasn’t often that they got to see a princess fight. Blaze smiled and asked. “Well I only need my weapon. What do you have for me?” And with another spell Luna brought a shelf full of all kinds of weapons. It had everything from the longest spears to the shortest daggers. Blaze spent a lot of time fighting so he knew witch type of weapon he preferred. But he also spent a long time improving said weapon, it was a real shame that he had to leave it behind. He grabbed a war axe from the shelf, he gave it a few swings. It was far from the perfection of his last war axe but it would do. “You always preferred the sword, finally changed your mind?” Luna never liked the fact that Blaze fought with a sword, it didn’t seem to fit his style of battle. It suited his agility but it was quite underpowered, lacking a staggering effect. “Indeed, it needs a lot of modification but it will do.” He said as he span the axe around with his wings. “Now, I don’t want you to go soft on me. As long as I can fly around, you can use your magic.” Luna agreed with a nod and with a flap of wings she was air born, holding her spear with her magical grip. Blaze followed her up, holding his axe with his hoofs. They were both hovering above the arena looking at each other, spinning their weapons, preparing. The guards’ eyes were glued to those two powerful beings and a small crowed had formed at the entrance of the courtyard. From the inside of the castle, in one of the windows, Celestia watched curiously, but fearful as well. “Ready?” Luna asked as her eyes locked on Blaze’s. “Ready.” And with the confirmation, both of them launched at each other, in a dance of steel bashing against steel. It was an hypnotizing, dance of death of two different but equal powers. The elegant and powerful spear blows Luna stroke were countered by Blaze’s quick and unrelenting axe swipes Blaze displayed. And Blaze’s quick and staggering attacks were ineffective towards the sly alicorn. As they hovered around the arena, trails of dust followed them and even thought this was a beautiful show of skill and technic, it could only end in one way. Blaze clashed his axe against Luna’s spear, and with a flap of his wings he rammed Luna, causing her to lose balance. They both fell to the ground, Blaze was on top of Luna with his axe’s blade touching her neck. “Gotcha!” Blaze smiled victorious. Luna smiled as well and demonstrated how wrong Blaze was. Her spear was right above his head. “Touché…” Blaze acknowledged the draw. Mutual destruction. They were made to fight alongside each other not against each other. Blaze stood up and helped the princess getting up. “You know, some day one of us is going to win.” She said as she leaned against Blaze. As much as Blaze wanted to know who of them was stronger, it was also sad to know that someday they would have no reason to test it. “Someday, yes, but not today.” And he hugged her with his wing. “So… what now?” asked Blaze. “Now I have a present for you. Follow me.” Luna toke him to armory not too far away, and inside was Blaze’s old armor. “When I was rounding up some of the weapons I found this lying on the floor, do you think it still fits you?” It was a bit dusty but a good armor lasted forever. It was made with steel mail, thick leather and the vital parts were also covered with scaled steel. It had the Equestria flag in his right flack and his cutie mark on his left. A steel plate adorned his front, protecting his lower neck; his hoofs and joints were also protected by steel. “Wow… Probably does, but where did you find it?” Blaze finally asked after spending a minute looking at it. “Well, while you were with Celestia I decided to go to the old castle and sure enough it was where I left it.” “Damn… It’s as beautiful as I remember it… But, I got to ask, I know it’s a good piece of armor, but a 1000 years and no rust nor rotting?” "I might have used some spells to fix it.” Luna confessed. “But go on, try it!” With a bit of help of Luna’s magic Blaze dressed his armor. “It’s a bit thigh, but it fits.” He walked around a bit, moving every joint to test it. He placed his axe in the holster and he was ready for combat. “I think you look cute.” Luna commented, with a teasing look. “Cute!? From the whole array of compliments you choose cute?” Luna chuckled. Blaze smiled, he was really lucky to have her by his side. “But for real now, thank you Luna, this really means a lot. When i came back, I hadn’t the slightest clue of what to expect, if you hadn’t vouched for me, I don’t know wha- “Luna placed her wing in his lips silencing him. “I know, you don’t have to thank me.” She smiled and withdrew her wing. “Now, I still need to show you the city, so bring your armor and your axe, so you can get used to carrying all that and, who knows, maybe you’ll have to defend me.” “Defend you? You sure I don’t need to defend everypony from you?” They both smiled. Blaze holstered his axe, made some adjustments in his armor and toke a deep breath. He couldn’t screw up now; the princesses had given him a chance to prove himself so he had to contain his anger. It wasn’t so much a problem of people messing with him, but more of people messing with Luna. And now he had an axe. “Let’s hope no one gets funny ideas…” He thought. They both left the armory and started to walk the streets of Canterlot. From shady, narrow alleys to the luxurious main streets. Everyone where ever they went had their eyes on them. Ponies bowing, cheering or just outright paralyzed by the sight of the Princess of Night. But Luna noticed some stray eyes that refused that temptation and were looking instead at who was accompanying her. She could see the rumors starting to form. As they walked Luna lectured Blaze about the purpose of every major building they came across, every passage and the people they came across. It had been a while since Luna went in a walk like this, she preferred the quiet zones of Equestria but it was nice to vary from time to time. Two pats on her back interrupted her thoughts, it was Blaze. “Keep walking and pretend like I’m not talking.” He was tense, like a cat just before an earthquake. “Three stallions, see them? Right behind us… We stop, they stop… We turn, they turn…” “Blaze… It’s normal that we have some ponies following us… I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more.” Luna tried to calm him down. “There are but… Their different… Leather armor… and I’ve seen that look before...” “Blaze… Look, we’ll do circle, through that quiet street, if they follow you’ll talk to them” “Okay…” “Blaze… Talk okay? No need for anything else.” Luna cemented. They turned to the street and the density of ponies diminished with each steep. When there seemed to be no pony around them, they stopped. Blaze looked back, and sure enough, two unicorns and a pegasus in formation and in leather armor followed them there. Blaze placed his wing on the hilt of his axe just in case. He walked to them and asked. “Good afternoon, is there anything I can assist you with?” The three of them looked at Blaze with disgust in their eyes. “So Nightmare Moon is now recruiting ponies from Tartarus? That’s right! We know all about you, and your dark lord! You can drop the act!” One of them yelled. Blaze jaw just dropped. He looked back at Luna who had her hoof covering her face. Luna had herd some rumors that a group was lurking Canterlot that believed that she was still Nightmare Moon and was controlling Celestia. She was more embarrassed than anything. Blaze, on the other hand, was plain confused. “Hum… Sure, I might have come from Tartarus… I understand that that might cause some… insecurity, but… I’m pretty sure Nightmare Moon was banished a couple years ago, And Princess Luna here… not evil, probably.” Yes, Blaze saw the embarrassment of Luna and he was managing to joke a bit about the whole situation. “SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTH! If you thought you could deceive us all you were wrong! The Light Ponies see through your shadowy lies! We will NOT let you bring darkness into Equestria!” As they yelled their last words, they teleported their weapons and charged against Blaze and the princess. Luna seeing the magic flash started to teleport her spear and armor. “Oh, for the love of…” Was the only thing Blaze managed to say. Blaze waited for them to get close. One of the unicorns was running straight at him with a dagger floating in front of his head. With one move, Blaze ducked, grabbed his axe with his right wing and as he rotated to the left he lifted his wing and axe striking his foe in the head, shattering his skull. Blood and bone shards squirted from the impact. Using the momentum he gained, Blaze turned to face his next opponent, grabbed his axe with his front hoofs and lifted up and started to fly towards the pegasus, also armed with an axe. The pegasus tried to strike Blaze as he was closing the distance. Blaze stopped, dodged the attack and punished him for trying anything else than surrendering. He bashed against the pegasus making him fall, and before he had time to pick up his axe, Blaze fell from the skies carving his axe in his skull. Only then Luna’s spell ended she teleported next to the remaining pony. When she was about to stab him with her spear, he stopped. He was in shock, his magic failing to hold his sword. “Why… why would they attack…” Blaze muttered as he walked towards Luna. His axe was dragging across the floor. “I had to Luna… Don’t send me back… They were going to…” Luna looked at him. “Blaze… you did your job… there was no other way. And of course I’m not sending you back!” Blaze holstered his axe, and looked at the two bodies on the floor. The blood was starting to flow down the street. “What a mess… What were they hoping to achieve?” Luna wasn’t listening. She was looking at the unicorn in front of her. Paralyzed… As soon as it saw the unicorn dying, he couldn’t move. She removed the sword from its magic field and dropped it on the floor. “We should call the guards or something…” Blaze informed. “Their coming… I took the armor so they’re probably racing here” Luna assured. Luna turned to face Blaze. He had sprays of blood covering his face. His wings were shaking. “Hey…” Blaze looked at her; she took a step and hugged him. “Thank you, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have seen them and… Whoever they follow, they’ll think twice before doing anything like this…” She could feel his rapid heartbeat slowing down. “I hope so… And I hope Tia sees that there was no other way of dealing with this.” “Don’t worry about her… You protected me… She’ll see that” In the distance you could hear the rumbling of guards trotting towards them. Blaze stepped away from the hug. “Well… Cavalry is here. You’ll do the talking okay?” Luna nodded. But what she saw next surprised her. Her sister, Princess Celestia, fully armored and armed leading a group of five guards, running towards them. “Sister?” “Luna! Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Celestia was dead worried and strategically placed herself between her and Blaze. “Yes… three stallions tried to… But Blaze was ready. Thanks to him I didn’t even had to fight.” Celestia calmed down. She couldn’t control her emotions and ran towards Blaze and hugged him. “Thank you…” Blaze was surprised to say the least. “So where are the… Oh…“ She was looking for the attackers and she found two of them. She looked at Blaze amazed. Then she started giving orders to the guards. “Hum… You two. Clean the streets and bring the bodies to the cemetery.” “Yes, princess” They rushed to the location of the bodies. “You said there were three, where is the other one?” Celestia asked. Blaze pointed to a pony sitting with his back against the wall, eyes wide opened, focused on nothing. “He’s been like that since… well, since the first one died.” Luna explained. “I have no idea why they thought attacking an alicorn was a good idea…” Blaze was still confused. Celestia toke a closer look at the paralyzed pony in front of her. She hadn’t seen someone in that state since Sombra’s time. She ordered one of the remaining guards to escort him to the dungeon, and the others to keep curious ponies of that street. She noticed one of the guards that were cleaning up was struggling to not puke. She didn’t blame him, none of her guards had had a real fight in a long time. “We should head back to the castle and clean ourselves.” When Celestia hugged Blaze she failed to realize him and his armor were a bit bloody. And with that, Luna and Celestia started casting their teleportation magic, not forgetting about Blaze of course. They teleported into the corridor of the two princesses rooms. “I need a shower… Where can I take one?” Indeed he needed it, his axe was still slowly dripping blood. “You can use my bathroom, I only need to clean my armor.” Luna said without hesitation. Celestia on the other hand, still gave a funny look at Luna, but she let it pass. “I’ll come with you I also need to clean mine” And they trotted to Celestia’s room. Blaze was left alone for the first time since the attack, he sighed… he slowly started walking to Luna’s room. The adrenaline was finally kicking off, he started to feel the filth in is fur and mane, the sweat forming a layer between him and his armor and his muscles finally relaxing. He opened Luna’s room and entered for the first time in her intimacy. Her room was tidy as always. The dark blue sheets in her bed, the low lighting and dark wallpaper contrasting with the bright white decorations, even the darker color of her quill, it all screamed her name. Blaze headed towards the opened bathroom door trying his hardest not to soil the floor. He entered, closed the door and looked at the mirror. His face was bloody, bits of gore were stuck to his fur and mane. He sighed. Blaze started to unbuckle his armor to clean it. Was he the bad guy here? He started to wonder. No, he did what he had to do, there was no other way. He kept telling himself that. But his doubts kept coming, questioning his every move. He needed to get in the shower. After he cleansed his armor of blood, he stepped into the bathtub and turned on the shower. The cold water made his whole body shiver and distracted him from his thoughts. After a long shower, he stepped into Luna’s room dragging his armor. He felt he wasn’t alone in the room. “Let me get that for you.” It was Luna. With a cyan glow, Luna grabbed his armor and set it on an armor stand in a corner of the room. “Oh, didn’t know you were here.” “Well, it’s my room.” She smiled, and sat on her bed Blaze walked up to her and sat next to her. “So, does Tia want me to spend some days on the dungeon or what?” Blaze asked, with a bit of humor in his question. “No, she was just a bit worried of your “excessive” force and that I need to keep my eyes on you, but she seems to be accepting you presence.” “I hope so…” There were a few seconds of silence. “Doesn’t it bother you… your feathers are like… sorry, I just…” Indeed her wings were in need of preening. Luna blushed a bit “Well… I can preen them before going to bed.” A bit of shyness was showing in her voice. “Let me do it.” “Blaze, you don’t need too…” But before she could do anything, Blaze had already moved behind her. She extended her left wing, Blaze started nibbling her feathers into the right place. After testing Blaze and the long day she really needed it, and she couldn’t deny that Blaze knew what he was doing. She could feel his every move, every feather being put in his place. Her breath was getting heavy. A rush of magic flooded the world. The Sun was coming down. “Hope you don’t mind I need to raise the moon.” Luna informed. “If you want I can wait…” “No! Hum… You can keep… doing it.” Now Luna’s cheeks were bright red. She raised an ethereal cyan glow with her horn and the sunset began. Blaze continued her preening. He could feel Luna’s heartbeat slightly raising as his rose. Everything Luna felt was carried to her spell, she knew that tonight’s night sky was going to be beautiful. Then she felt a touch on her back, very close to her neck. She turned her head to see what Blaze was doing and found his eyes looking at hers. Blaze moved closer and Luna turned to face him. Their snouts touched and a second later their lips sealed. A thousand year old passion had been reawakened. Luna’s magical glow was brighter than ever and in the already beautiful night sky an astonishing aurora had formed. Blaze hugged Luna tight; both their wings were flared opened as they shared this passionate kiss. When the moon was firmly in place and the stars were shimmering with passion, Luna’s spell ended and so did their kiss. “I missed you so much…” Luna said with a tear rolling down her eye. She tightened the hug. “I’m here now.” Blaze consoled. They prolonged that hug for what seemed to be an eternity, until a knock on the door interrupted them. “Yes?” The princess asked. “Just a reminder that dinner is going to be served shortly, your highness.” A shy maid answered from then outside of the door. “Thank you, I’ll be down shortly” Blaze moved to her side and hugged her with his wing, Luna rested her head on his shoulder. “Your sister is probably waiting for us, we shouldn’t keep her waiting.” “I know.” They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before getting out of the bed. They walked to dining room and indeed Celestia was there waiting. “There you are. I wanted to congratulate you on the beautiful night sky you raised today.” She had her teasing face on. “Well… Thank you… I…” They were both blushing. “You don’t have to say anything.” She giggled. As dinner went by the awkwardness faded away. Celestia told them that the prisoner they made was still not talking and that the streets were already full of Luna’s new body guard rumors. But at the end of dinner another topic came up. “Oh, and Blaze, our guest room is ready for you.” “Hum… Tia, I was thinking… Blaze could, maybe, stay in my room.” Celestia almost didn’t recognize her sister with that much shyness in her voice. Celestia hesitated for a moment. “Well in light of recent events, I think Blaze as earned our trust, for now. So yes that’s an option.” “Thank you Tia. I know how hard this whole situation is for you and I understand your lack of trust in me. I just hope we all can get through this. Just like back in the day.” That brought a smile even to Celestia. “Now I need to go finish some work, if you excuse me, goodnight.” “Good night Tia” Luna and Blaze went to their room. Luna opened the door of the room, toke of her shoes and crown and went to the balcony. Blaze followed her. He placed his wing on Luna holding her tight. They were both looking at stars. Luna turned her gaze towards Blaze. His orange eyes focused on the aurora. She kissed his neck, Blaze turned his head and complied with a kiss bringing life to the night above them. Celestia was almost falling face first into her desk, it was probably time to finish her work. She put down the candle that was sitting in her desk and jumped to her bed. My little sister is growing up, she thought. She wasn’t a filly anymore. But she was still her little sister and having Blaze around her… She still felt there was something not right… But Luna was happy with him. And he seemed to only want the best for her. Her thoughts grew numb, and she fell asleep. Author's Note And another chapter done! Exams and some other issues delayed this, but its here. Hope you enjoy it! Chapter 4A stray bolt of sunlight managed to contour the curtains, forming oblique light columns inside the room. Small particles of dust floated around the air. A blinding cyan glow interrupted the relaxing light show that had just begun. Blaze closed his eyes and rolled over, shielding his eyes from the magical glow. “Sorry… didn’t mean to wake you…” Said Luna with her eyes fighting to stay open but still managing to bring the moon down. Blaze rolled over again and faced Luna. She was already sitting in bed while he was still unsure if he was awake. Luna’s spell ended and she wasted no time in lying down again. Blaze cuddled her, burring his face in her ethereal mane. It was like her own personal universe. Then he proceeded to kiss her. “Morning.” He muttered still in the full grasp of the bed’s enchantment. Luna giggled but she only woke up sensing her sister magic. They stayed in each other embrace for at least half an hour. “The ceremony is this morning.” Luna said as her brain slowly woke up. “Can’t it wait?” Blaze responded while holding Luna in his hoofs. “You can stay a bit more in bed, I’ll shower first.” She said as she got up. Blaze watched as she struggled to leave the bed. Almost tripping in her own hoofs. He smirked. “Shut up!” Luna embarrassingly protested as she noticed Blaze’s smirk. She entered the bathroom. Blaze let his head fall in the pillow. He was back. He stared blankly at the ceiling with a smile on his face. The air on the room was a bit heavy but that wasn’t bothering him. He loved Luna’s smell. The perfumes were good and all, but her natural smell, that almost nopony notices, was almost hypnotic in a way. But the room definitely needed to be freshened before the maids arrived. His calm state was altered as he remembered the ceremony. After it, he was officially back where he once stood: by the side of both princesses. But he was going to be in front of every eye in Canterlot. And he certainly lacked social skills. Blaze got up, still fighting sleep, opened the window and went to the balcony. He stood there feeling the morning breeze slowly awakening him, as did all of Equestria. The bathroom door opened. “You can come.” Luna called, already ready for the celebration. She was wearing a discreet and elegant dress adorned with moonstone Blaze entered the room, and looked at Luna. “You look beautiful.” He said with a smile from ear to ear. “Thank you. You need a shower, no offence.” She said with a teasing look. “Yeah, yeah.” Blaze muttered as he stumbled to the bathroom. But before he could be mad about it, Luna stepped close to him and kissed him. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds. Luna stepped aside and Blaze went to the bathroom. No words were spoken but so much was said. “Oh Blaze, I really hope everything goes smoothly…” She thought. She opened the bedroom door and standing in the hallway was her sister. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t scare you, did I?” “Tia? No, just surprised me.” Luna answered with a curious look. “What where you doing here?” “Just waiting for you. How’s Blaze?” “He’s showering.” Only then she noticed the Gala dress Celestia was wearing. “Tia? Don’t you think that’s too much?” Celestia did like to “overreact” when it comes to ceremonies. “Everypony in Canterlot is coming and some boutiques were kind enough to send me some dresses to the occasion.” Celestia looked at Luna “You look beautiful, Lulu. It’s been a while since I saw you with that dress.” “Well… It’s been a while since I was in love…” Luna shyly smiled. Celestia shared her smile. And hugged her. “You sure Blaze is ready for all of this?” Luna could see through her sister’s question and broke the hugged. “Tia…” “I’m just worried Luna… What if…” “No ifs Tia! You promised… Look I trust Blaze with my life. Now more than ever. If you still have doubts about him, can’t you trust me?” Luna was almost begging her sister. “I’m sorry… Of course, I trust you. It’s just… It’s just… you’re still my little sister… And I worry…” Luna didn’t let her finish and hugged her. Luna’s room door opened and from inside a stallion in shining armor stepped out. Blaze was already ready with his armor on and axe holstered. “Good enough?” Blaze asked nervously. “Even I have to admit that you look good in armor.” Celestia surprisingly commented. “Wow! If you say so I must look amazing.” Blaze joked. “You do.” Luna added. Luna stepped closer to Blaze to adjust some parts of is armor. “You look so cute together.” Celestia admitted. “Again, what is it with you two calling me cute? How about awesome or something like that?” Both sisters shared a laugh. “We have to go, our counselor wants to make sure everything is perfect.” And all of them started to trot towards the exterior courtyard. Blaze’s heart sped up with each step. When they opened the doors to the preparation room, they could already hear the commotion outside. The door was open waiting for somepony to step forward into the stage. A couple of maids surrounded each princess, making sure every hair was where it should be and if every gold button was in the right place. One maid looked at Blaze like a judge evaluating a painting. She made sure every strap was correctly placed and even polished some parts of the armor. The counselor gave the maids a nod and they withdrew from their jobs. He turned to the princesses. “They’re waiting for you, princesses. When you’re ready.” He walked up to Blaze. “Good luck, from the stories I’ve heard in these two days alone, Equestria will earn a powerful ally.” With the nerves controlling him, Blaze only could reply with a nod. The counselor withdrew from the room as did the maids. Both princesses smiled at Blaze before stepping into stage. Trumpets started to play, and all of Canterlot cheered at the sight of the princesses. For Blaze, it was like time stopped. His heart beat at the pace of the princesses. He looked through the door to see the crowd and it was a thing of beauty. But little did he know it was about to become his worst nightmare. “Mares and Gentlecolts!” Shouted princess Celestia in cheerful tone. The cheering stopped as everypony’s senses focused on the princess. “We have gathered here today to introduce Canterlot to a new soldier, and a very old friend of ours.” Celestia stepped back and let her sister continue. “Some of you might already have seen him, and we are also here to explain some of the rumors that have been circling around, but rest assured he is one the most trust worthy ponies around.” Celestia explained the rest. “It is true that this pony came from Tartarus.” The crowd gasped almost simultaneous and rumbling of murmurs started. But it was nothing compared to the royal voice of Celestia. “Yes, but he wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place!” A lone tear managed to break Celestia’s façade. “This is one story that no one here learned or heard about… I, in my selfish behavior, banished him to Tartarus…” The silence that followed was breathtaking. “I regret my actions and I’ve learned from my mistakes but more importantly my sister as forgiven me.” Although they were still shocked the impatience was growing out of bounds. And Luna noticed. She took a step forward and placed her wing on top of Celestia to comfort her. Celestia smiled and toke a step back letting Luna finish the speech. “I did forgive my sister; everyone has a bad day. But this pony, despite everything, still came back to us, forgave us for everything and pledge to protect us once again, and his name is Blaze!” Hearing his name, Blaze stepped outside with his heart. Everypony’s eyes deviated from Luna to the armored shadow that stepped into stage. The atmosphere rose thicker with insecurity as the stripped Pegasus walked in the direction of the princesses, but someponies cheered, others just observed with their curious eyes; but one thing everyone was doing, was judging his every step. “Before the banishment, Blaze was our personal guard. And thats what we are here for.” Luna continued. Blazed stopped right by the princesses’ side waiting for orders. “From this day forward Blaze is the highest-ranking soldier in all of Equestria. He does not command troops, he will accompany us not as a guard but as a friend. Many of you may have witnessed his strength, or the results of it, but I assure you he is docile.” That seemed to lightened up the mood of everypony. Except for Blaze who would give his wing to get out of that stage. His old habits were still showing. His wing was rested on the handle of the holstered axe expecting someone to jump at him at any time, he was always looking around but everywhere he looked there were eyes looking straight at him. It couldn’t get worst, could it? “But who better to tell you about Blaze than Blaze himself?” Luna stepped back and signaled Blaze. Blaze’s heart just fell, he looked at Luna, as if she was sending him to a lava pit. Luna could see the panic in Blaze’s heart, but he needed to do this so she gave him a “Go on.” kind of look. Blaze stepped forward. He looked at massive crowed in front of him. And started to speak. “Huuuuuuuuuuuuum…” But that was all the sound his mouth could generate. Celestia was desperately trying not to giggle and Luna was fighting to keep her hoof from hitting her face. “So… Yes, my name is Blaze… hum…” Every single cell in Blaze’s body was focusing on what to say so he could get the hell out of there. “You probably have a lot of questions… What about we answer a few?” He did it! He said a full sentence! Not the greatest but certainly not the worst. Every single pony raised his hoof. A drop of sweet dropped from his face. Blaze pointed to a young colt who was in the front row. “How old are you?” The innocent little colt asked. A majority of the ponies nodded in a consented way. “Well… Time is not the same in Tartarus… you stop aging in fact… but it has been… a thousand years or so since I was born.” Blaze was finally calming down. The colt’s eyes were as wide as the moon, and a rumbling of surprise formed. “Don’t worry, I didn’t expect to last that long either. Next one.” Again, a wave of hoofs lifted up. Blaze signaled a mare in the second row. “I have two questions… is that okay?” Celestia recognized that voice. Blaze nodded. “How did you get to befriend the princesses?” “Well… I was abandoned, right after I was born and I was left in the sisters’ castle. Fortunately, the princesses were in a good mood and decided to take care of me.” The mare seemed satisfied with the answer. But then, she let out a smirk. “You have told us that you are a close friend to the princesses, but… how close are your relations with Luna?” That was Pink Strides, writer of the magazine with the same name, who specialized, well… on this. Celestia was also once a target, that was why she recognized her voice. Blaze had no words to respond with, and many other ponies were also amazed at such audacity. But they were all waiting for a response. “Well…” Blaze looked at Luna in despair. Although Blaze’s fur was dark grey the blood rushing to his cheeks was hardly hiding. But his soldier posture wasn’t easily broken. Luna stepped forward just simply said. “May I remind you I reign in the plain of dreams?” “No… Your highness, no need.” And with her tail between her legs, Pink Strides retreated into the depths of the crowd. “Well, with all of the presentations done, and a few doubts cleared, I wish every pony a good day.” And with the crowed still cheering behind them, the princesses and Blaze stepped out of stage into the privacy of the castle. Blaze collapsed to the ground and muttered. “Why...” “It wasn’t that bad.” Said Celestia in either a mocking or comforting tone. Blaze couldn’t distinguish. Luna lifted Blaze of the ground. And hugged him. “You did great. If it wasn’t for that one pony everything would have gone smoothly.” “Sure but I still looked like a fool.” “Blaze. You had a rough start but you climbed out of it.” Luna broke the hug and looked at him. “And I think I have a thing that will sheer you up.” Luna smiled, and reveled an axe with her magic. Blaze just stood there looking at it. “So, with everything you told me about your “perfect” axe, I went to the forge master and I think he made a good job.” Blaze grabbed the axe with his wing. His mouth was wide open. He gave it a few swings. Analyzed it. And just looked at it. “The handle is made with ebony wood, it has the… grips you told me about. I was skeptical about the curvature on it but the forge master knew exactly what it was. And the blade… You never told me what it was made with but I trusted him with that choice.” Luna smiled. Blaze was still just looking at it. “So what do you think?” Luna asked. “It’s just like it… I mean the materials are a bit different, but the balance and everything… Perfect.” Luna’s smile rose. Blaze removed his old axe from the holster and replaced it with the new one. “How?” “Well we knew we couldn’t remake a perfect weapon, but that’s nothing a few enchantments can’t solve.” Celestia spoke out of nowhere. “You were a part of this too?” “Just a little gift.” Celestia said. “Oh, and one of the blacksmiths was really curious what you made your axe blade out of, since we know so little of Tartarus.” Blaze laughed. “Well… It was made out of the hipbone of something really large and nasty. It’s a great story.” Luna’s eyes widened. “Yes, but first lunch Luna.” Celestia quickly said knowing her sister would happily sit there for hours listening to monster stories. “Oh, yes. Food is good.” Blaze agreed. They walked up to the dining area where lunch was already waiting for them. No matter how bad of a day, or in this case morning, you had a meal with your best companions with some unbelievable stories always manages to cheer a pony up. Blaze didn’t even remember to take of his armor. Some hours passed. “So, what’s there to do this afternoon?” Blaze asked. “Well, I’m going to try to calm things down in Canterlot, and maybe pay miss Pink Strides a visit.” Celestia answered. “I’ll go and see if our prisoner is a bit more talkative today. Want to join?” Luna invited. “I would love too. But I think I’ll go to Ponyville.” Blaze could feel the pressure of the princesses’ eyes. No one really knew what to say. “Hum… It’s one more opportunity to test the armor and I’ll get to know the village. And… Of course…” “Yes… You know where it is?” Luna tried to break the tension. “Yes I think I can find a village.” Blaze joked. “You two try not get yourself into trouble while I’m gone.” Blaze said, as he was getting ready to leave. Celestia approached Blaze. “Blaze, can you-” Celestia tried to ask before Blaze read her mind. “I will try my best.” And with that said Blaze left the room and stepped outside the castle. He flared his wings and lifted off towards Ponyville. It was the best kind of release, flight. And even though the armor was weighing him down, he was truly free. Dodging clouds and the occasionally fly by near the forests. He could see Canterlot grow smaller behind him and the wilderness augmenting in front of him. And after a few minutes, he could see the vast apple orchards and the small village, Ponyville. The massive crystal castle was like a land lighthouse. Blaze didn’t want to go straight to it. He wanted to walk around the village first. He saw a small bridge near the borders of the village and, with a puff of dust, he landed. And already some ponies’ eyes were staring at him. But it was nothing like in Canterlot. First, there were only two or three, and second, it was a curious and inviting kind of stare. He started to walk towards the village center. As he walked by, he watched the country life he had forgotten that still existed. Ponies talking, buying food, fillies playing, no rushes. And the occasional stare of course. As he walked in the dirt roads he saw a building that contrasted with the rustic houses: A floating cloud house! If he remembered his history lessons that should be Rainbow Dash’s house. But his attention was drawn to something else. A little dragon scurrying through the dirt roads. And once the dragon saw Blaze it jumped and started to run away. Blaze let out a single laugh and decided to follow the dragon. Blaze followed the dragon to the other side of town into a lonely house surrounded by animals. He could hear ponies inside. As he walked up to the house all the animals hid in their little houses and shelters. Blaze knocked. He could hear the steps of the dragon running to open the door. The dragon opened the door and as soon as it saw him he jumped behind the legs of a purple pony and a yellow pony in the back, with a squeaky sound, simply vanished. Blaze looked at the purple pony and sure enough it was the alicorn of Friendship. “Twilight… That’s him…” Trembled the little dragon. “Sorry for coming unannounced princess.” Blaze bowed. “Blaze?... How did you find me?” Twilight was confused. “Well, how many ponies have a dragon pet?” Blaze smiled at the dragon. “Twilight? You know him?” “He’s… He’s a friend Spike.” And with that Spike, cautiously, stepped behind twilight. “How are you doing? Can we talk?” Blaze asked. “Yes, of course. Hum… Fluttershy, you can come down, he’s a friend.” Twilight tried to calm her down. But the only thing that resulted was a muffled, high pitched noise. “How about you and Spike go for a walk while I talk with Blaze.” That seemed to work. The yellow pegasus grabbed Spike and flew out of the house as fast she could. “Sorry about that, it’s not often that a fully armored pony comes knocking.” “No problem, I’m used to it.” They just looked at each other for a couple of seconds. “How are you doing?” Blaze finally asked. “Fine. You know, everything is... fine.” Twilight might be good at many things, but lying is not one of them. Blaze just looked at her. “What do you want me to say?...” Twilight just collapsed on the chair. “I know you don’t really know me, but we are going through a lot right now… And you can speak with me.” “I just… How could Celestia have done this?” Twilight was constantly swinging from anger to sadness. Blaze knew exactly what Twilight was going through but he wanted to fix it, not feed the fire. “Twilight, everyone makes mistakes and bad choices some time in their life, even Celestia.” “Yeah but… I… The worst part is that she thinks she’s right… Even after seeing what it caused…” Blaze stood in silence, not knowing to say. “I looked up to her for so long… And now…” That triggered Blaze. “You want to know a secret? Celestia looks up to you. She sees in you everything she wants to be.” Twilight looked in disbelief, and before she could say anything, Blaze continued. “And I’ve only known you for a couple of days and I already know this, so think about it.” Blaze sat close to Twilight and hugged her with his wing. “You are the Princess of Friendship, so tell me, isn’t friendship about forgiveness? And who his worthier of a second chance than Celestia?” Twilight rested her head on Blaze’s chest. Her whole body was covered by his wing. Like a filly hiding underneath the blankets. “You’re right… I just need time to think this through.” “And time you’ll have.” Twilight’s tears had dried up. “Now come on, staying in here is not going to do you any good. How about you introduce me to the rest of the saviors of Equestria” Blaze smiled. And that also managed to put a smile in Twilight’s face. “Sounds good, besides, if we stay like this for much longer Luna is going to kill me.” Twilight joked. That hit Blaze like a train. “Wow, news travel fast.” His cheeks were starting to heat up. “So it is true! Eheheh!” She was giggling and jumping like a filly. Blaze’s face was as red as it could be. He had fallen for it. “Okay, okay that’s enough. Can we go?” “Yes of course!” They left Fluttershy’s cottage, towards Ponyville. Twilight continued giggling for the entire afternoon. It was a funny feeling seeing Blaze leave to Ponyville. She just wanted to grab him. She couldn’t lose him again. But Luna controlled herself. She stayed near the window seeing him fly away. Her sister left the room. Blaze was now a mere dot in the sky. Luna stayed there for a little longer hoping he would come back, but after a couple of minutes she gave up and left the window. She began making her way to the dungeon, through the narrow corridors of the castle. Her steps echoing down the stairwell announcing her arrival. The guard that was stationed there bowed. “So, how is our prisoner doing?” Asked Luna. “He has improved, your majesty. He is already able to talk.” “Good. Could you leave us alone?” “Of course your majesty.” The guard left the dungeon. Luna opened the cell door and against the opposite wall was a light green unicorn with a brown mane. She couldn’t see his cutiemark. Luna walked into the cell in silence, followed by her ethereal tail. She closed the door and sat in front of the unicorn. “Good afternoon. I think you know why I’m here.” “To transform me into a mindless drone to power your army? To chain me here until I root? OR to gut me like your friend did to the others?” The unicorn shouted. Luna conjured a spell that surrounded the unicorns head with a cyan aura and collapsed into his horn. “What was that?” The unicorn demanded to know. “Astonishing… No mind control spells. You really believe all those stories…” Luna maintained a neutral face but her mind was blown. The unicorn tried to speak but Luna’s voice overpowered his. “So, what else do they tell you about me?” The unicorn face was confused but in his eyes, was hatred. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that you are Nightmare Night, that you plan to over throne Celestia and bring darkness to Equestria!!” A dark aura started to raise around Luna. “Well I can tell you that nothing of that is true, I’m actually a nice pony once you get to know me.” Luna stood up. “But they forgot a small detail. I’m nice to whom is in my side. The ones against me? Well…” Luna levitated a dagger that the unicorn had hidden in the cell. And in an instant, she crushed it and turned it into red hot liquid metal and let it drip to floor. The unicorn was sweating. The hatred replaced by fear. “Let’s just say that you don’t want to be in their side.” Luna stepped close to the unicorn. He could only see Luna’s face and her mane circling him. “So tell me. Are you with me? Or…” For a quick second a darker version talked. One that only legends talked about. “Against us?” Luna stepped back. “And before you answer our next question, keep in mind that death is a relief in our world… But in dreams… Death is… much more real.” Luna sat and asked “Who ordered the attack?” Celestia spent most of the time inside the castle and there were few times for her to admire it. The jewel of Canterlot, standing tall in all of its glory. And it seemed even more welcoming after that horrendous visit to Pink Strides. She had prepared a full argument in her head to put to shame her acts, but as soon as she knocked on her door, Pink Strides was already bowing, almost kissing her hoofs, begging for forgiveness. And, of course, her forgiving natured kicked in, but that didn’t stop Celestia from lecturing her on social conducts. And after, some warnings and promises. She was already leaving. Celestia walked around the city, admiring it, and making sure that Pink Strides didn’t cause any troubles. The city, the ponies, everything was still the same… Life goes on. It was like nothing really happened. She started making her way to the castle. The guards opened the gates of the castle with a bow, letting the princess in. Although it could be quite monotonous, the castle life suited Celestia. She walked up the staircase that led to a balcony that looked over the main courtyard. All the walls were decorated with paintings and portraits of great ponies. Most of them forgotten, lost in memories, but all leaving a mark in history and a weight in Celestia’s soul. Celestia rarely had time for herself, and after Blaze’s return she felt like she didn’t even have time to breath. She lost a great friend and almost her sister. All because of… She didn’t know… Her heart says it’s Blaze, her mind says Blaze isn’t trust wordy; but the whole world seems to disagree with her. But her sister is the heaviest argument. She trusted her sister with everything. And if she trusted Blaze what could she do? The evening sky was calming, peaceful. The wind was bringing a cold breeze to contrast the warm sun. But Celestia’s mind was too cluttered with doubts for her to notice. After all she was the ruler of Equestria, her heart was never wrong… But her sister was her weakness. The cold sound of marble being stepped on waked her up. “Mind if I join you?” Celestia turned her head in an ambiguous move to identify the pony. “Of course, I was just catching up with myself. Lately I haven’t really had the chance.” Celestia answered Blaze, with a smile. “Did you go talk to that loud mouth?” Blaze asked as he walked towards the guard-rail. Celestia sighed and joined Blaze, admiring the city. “I think I never saw somepony give up so easily as she did. Sometimes it would be nice to actually have an argument with good arguments. Instead, all I had was a child who played with fire and got burnt.” Blaze smiled in agreement. The city movement was slowly settling. The tones starting to change from the yellowish white to dark orange leaving a warm atmosphere despite the cold breeze. “She forgave you.” Blaze let go of the weight. “W-What?” Celestia almost jumped. “Twilight. She forgave you. She was more confused than anything else. You are almost a second mother to her and she expected you to share the truth, no matter how hard it was.” Blaze could feel the words getting stuck in Celestia’s throat. He turned to face her. “But she’s hurt. And it is going to be hard to win her back. But she is willing to give you a chance.” With nothing else managing to escape her mouth, Celestia let go of her façade. “Thank you…” Celestia hugged Blaze, her eyes already watery. “No need, I didn’t do anything. You too love each other too much to let a single pony get in your way.” Blaze said jokingly. Celestia broke the hug with a laugh. “And Luna, have you seen her? Did she manage to get anything from the prisoner?” “No, I haven’t seen her yet…” Celestia answered. They both looked at each other with horror in their eyes. “She’s going to kill him.” Blaze realized as both of them started to trot towards the dungeon. “She wouldn’t be that merciful.” Celestia concluded. They sprinted towards the stairwell only to find her in the main hall walking towards them. “Hum… What’s the hurry?” Luna innocently asked? “Please tell me you didn’t kill him.” Blaze asked. “Luna, I don’t want to give another speech explaining the screams coming from our castle, please tell me you were a bit more reasonable.” Luna took a step back with all of that. “First of all, why do you always assume this every time you leave me alone with someone. Second, why does it seem that most of the time you two agree with each other as to do with my… way with ponies…” “Okay, sorry, how did it go?” Blaze asked still catching his breath. “Very well, I know their leaders and the location of their headquarters.” Luna answered full of pride and a smile from ear to ear. “And the poor prisoner?” Luna scratched her ear. “To be fair, we did warn him and gave him plenty of opportunities to talk… he brought it to himself.” Luna had a guilty look, like a child that had misbehaved. “Lulu…” Celestia enforced. “Well… we did get a new record… Five nightmares, both ending in different yet equally traumatic and painful deaths… And he still wouldn’t tell us what we wanted! So, the more traditional method was applied, with success! And we didn’t forget to use sound barriers. This time…” “Luna, you know how that “we” makes me feel…” Celestia remembered darker times. “Sorry… I’m sorry.” Luna hugged her sister. “It’s me.” Blaze was still stuck on something though. “I only got through three… how…” “He was tough. Since birth he was educated to hate me. There was no magic, no spells just… brainwashing.” Luna helped clearing Blaze’s mind. “And how is he, after all of this?” Luna looked almost ashamed. “He is not talking again… maybe there was a friendlier way of doing it.” Luna admitted. “Doesn’t matter those who try to hurt you must pay.” Celestia finally let go of one of her demons, while hugging her sister. “Oh! And…” Luna remembered. “Blaze did it… Twilight is giving me another chance.” Celestia smiled. “Again, I didn’t-“ “Oh shut up!” Celestia yelled as she pulled Blaze to the hug using her magic.” Actions speak louder than words. And that suited Blaze, although he could surprise with some of his speeches, he felt more comfortable doing the right thing than saying the right sentence. The doubts were still in the air, but they were just a rainy cloud looking over a sunny day, any pegasus could go there and push it away. Both princesses started working in bringing the night to bear. They ate, talked. The moon was high already. Celestia, for once, fell asleep peacefully while Luna and blaze cuddled each other to sleep. But while Blaze’s body was asleep, his mind was far from it. “Luna!!??” Blaze asked as he saw himself in a very familiar place. The stench of sulfur and rotten meat identified the place as Tartarus. He was back. His heart beating in his mouth at the speed of trotting horses. He looked at every angle looking for the nightmare that chased him ever since he stepped hoof there. But as he saw the shadow covering him, he knew it was too late. He turned to try to defend himself. But with a powerful roar and a painful goodbye, he was back in his bed, covered in sweat. “Shhhh, it’s just a nightmare, calm down” Luna was hugging him as tight as she could, feeling his heavy breath pushing her mane back and his heart punching her chest. She petted him and kissed him in hopes he would respond. And he did. His hoof crawled around her bringing her closer. “I’m sorry… There are nightmares I can’t touch… I’m- “ Blaze stopped her with a passion filled kiss. “You’re here. That’s all I need.” His breath still heavy. Luna cradled him to sleep. Behind the thick walls of a warrior, Blaze was still an orphan colt begging for love. Luna stayed awake until Blaze was calm, digging her muzzle through his thick mane. She could see tiny scars all over his body. Whatever happened in Taratarus broke him harder than Celestia ever could. As soon as Blaze settled. Luna closed her eyes and joined her lover. Chapter 5Life is a monotonous cycle. For most ponies, that is. And even though life with the princesses added excitement to that cycle, it was a cycle nevertheless. So much so that even adventures and fights seemed to belong in said cycle. And, like everypony else, it’s when you give way to the cycle that… well, the cycle breaks. Celestia invited me to go with her to settle some business with a rogue group of griffons who demanded some land for themselves. Celestia always tried to talk some sense into rogue groups, but when they start to pillage villages and killing innocent ponies, the Sun awakens. I didn’t even need to draw my sword. I walked back looking at the sky and probably made some joke. I looked at Celestia. I will never forget that look. Anger. Disgust. I thought it was the joke but before I could say anything her horn lite up with a yellow glow, stronger than the sun itself. It focused on me. And I was taken away. The spell took me to someplace badly lit with a stench of sulfur and rot. The disorientation of such a powerful teleportation spell was enough to bring me down, but in combination with that stench, it took a lot of mental power not to puke. When I finally found enough strength to stand up, I looked around. An underpowered magical light source kept an uncomfortable and unpleasant atmosphere. Now the questions were starting to sink in. Why?... Where? But I knew where I was… Deep down I always knew. But I didn’t believe Celestia could do this to me. So, I wandered. Walked in the shadows, exploring, looking for something to prove me wrong. I felt something following me. Looking at me. But I turned around and there was nothing. I kept going. I heard some voices and I followed the sound. But to my surprise, there were no sources. I must have spent months before I found an actual being. I thought I was dead… Doomed to wander alone for the rest of eternity. But when I found someone, I knew I was in Tartarus… Because… I was there when Celestia sent him here. Some sort of sentient dog that was bringing terror to villages. The spell took my armor and my sword so it wasn’t like I could just go to him and... And do what? I was stuck in Tartarus, I couldn’t do anything to escape… I could only survive. A lot of Tartarus was still a mystery to me, but from the months I spent wandering, I learned that I didn’t need to feed, drink or apparently, breathe since I ran and my breath seemed to remain constant. So, surviving was a bit easier. But I still didn’t know if I could die. I decided that he could give me some answers. He had a little camp with a campfire and some sort of fur where maybe he could sleep. I sneaked around using his fire against him. I managed to grab his sword before he could even see me. I stood up and almost immediately he turned around and tried to punch me but I already had his sword in his neck. “Don’t!” I advised. I will never forget the look on his face. “It can’t be… Blaze, a royal knight, in Tartarus? Ah! You are a long way from home, aren’t you?” You couldn’t take his smug look even if you tried. Seeing the situation, we were on, we calmed down. I kept the sword of course. “So, what brings you to Tartarus? Please tell me you sliced one of the princesses’ throats!” “Can you shut up?” He shrugged, keeping his smug look. “As you’ve been here longer than me, I would appreciate a bit of information.” “Oh, bummer. You see? We are not in Equestria so… unless you be nice and tell me why you are here… You can continue on wandering.” And he sat down next to the campfire. He was right… I was in Tartarus. I needed to know… And someone to help couldn’t be bad. I sat next to him. “I don’t know… Celestia just turned and banished me.” “Ah! That old hag as finally fried her head!” He proceeded to laugh… and laugh. “See? A royal champion! And a dirty ruffian with the same fate.” His smile contrasted with my look of betrayal. To my surprise, he noticed. “Don’t worry now. We were gifted a new start. For me, some sort of redemption. For you… Revenge. So, what do want to know about our home?” He extended his hoof. It took me a while for me to accept a new start. I shook his hoof and started an alliance that lasted longer than any Equestrian alliance would wish to last. “Death.” I said. His mood changed. “It doesn’t work. You can’t kill yourself, end your suffering. If you die, it’s going to be painful, yes, but, you don’t escape you are just reborn in a different location here in Tartarus.” He paused. “Trust me. I tried.” “Blaze?” Luna let go of Blaze’s embrace. “Were you-?...” Blaze just looked down. Luna slide her way back to his embrace and tighten her grip. “So, where was I?” “Okay… Is there some place where I can gear up? I assume there’s plenty of reasons to be protected.” The Dog’s smile rose. “Well there is a market. Filled with the scummiest criminals that Equestria has ever seen. We could get started there. But if you want the best you are going to either kill for it or make it yourself.” “Sounds bad, when do we set off?” The Dog was about to answer but his face froze. “It likes you, doesn’t it? Have you felt it skulking around?” So, it was something. “What is it?” “Nobody knows, but it is usually quiet. Unless it finds someone that calls its attention.” “Last time it made its presence know it caught a young draconequus… When someone finally found him, he was trying to become a rock… So whatever IT is… it’s bad.” He gave me some sort amulet made of crystal. “Take this.” “What is it?” I asked as I placed it around my neck. “If one of us gets caught we can find each other in this hell’s dimension.” We both stopped talking and listened to the crushing silence “You should rest, when we wake up we’ll go to the market.” He said. So, I did. When we woke up we set off. The journey was dull. But when we set hoof on the market… It was an experience like no other. Everyone there was deserted by various reasons, but here they were at peace. They lived like an actual society. Of course, it wasn’t an Equesrian society but… a society nonetheless. With a bit of coins and a lot of “persuasion”, we got some armor for both of us, and it was there that Drill (that was his nickname) introduced me to the wonders of a war-axe. “Here, this is for you. You’ve been wasting your skills with swords.” At first I was skeptical. “I bet I could beat anyone here with a-“ “Well, just imagine what you could do with a good axe.” I grabbed it, the weight caught me of guard. “To heavy for you, my prince?” “Shut up.” However, despite the good company… I was still in agony… The question: Why?... Was driving me mad. What had I done to be here? And it didn’t take long for hatred and rage to settle. There was only one thing keeping me sane… Hope. That tiny but powerful flame. Hope that I would embrace you once more. Luna couldn’t hold it anymore. With her face in tears she kissed Blaze. Blaze took a while telling his story, but this kiss lasted an eternity. After that followed years of dull hikes in search for any quest or loot we could find. Others joined, others left. We stayed. Years and years went by. But everything was the same. Stagnant silence. And an illusion of change as we gained experience and learned about each other. Drill had everything he wanted. A new start, he made hell his home porch. I, tormented, survived. Now, it’s hard to remember… so many days wandering… they all mesh into a glob of lost memories. But there is one day… One day that is as vivid as our embrace. The day IT attacked. Me and Drill had just slayed some sort of native creature, a monster, giant, aggressive and deadly. There was a rumor that it’s bones were harder than any metal. And so, our train of thoughts led to us hunting it so we could make weapons. Drill was starting to carve his way towards it’s pelvis, with it we could make axe heads, blades and hammers to keep and to sell. We started to feel it. We had grown used to it following us so we didn’t react. But we started to hear a rumble. A very deep sound that made our bones shake. Drill climbed down of the carcass, in a blind panic, and took cover underneath it. I stayed almost paralyzed staring the horizon. The sound grew. Even the ground underneath my hoofs started to shake “Blaze! Hide!!” Drill shouted. And I, like a fool, ignored him and grabbed my axe. And the noise stopped. A maddening silence ensued. I looked around, paranoid. I couldn’t let it get the jump on me. But it was too late. I saw a shadow involve me. I tried to run but it was massive. IT got me. I never say I’m not afraid. But I do know how to control fear and use it in my advantage. But this… Drill told me he could hear me scream in agony. And that it was louder than any war horn he had heard. But what he heard wasn’t agony. It was pure fear. Terror. So immense that I lost control of everything. And then came the pain… I felt my soul being stretched out of my body. It only lasted a couple of seconds. But it felt eternal. I woke up in the middle of nowhere. Stripped of everything except for the amulet that now was pulsing. Everything else was just a blur. Drill found me exactly where I woke up. He told me I had a blank gaze, like my soul had simply vanished. He helped me up, and took me to the closest tavern. After a couple of mugs of ale, I started to be me again. Drunk me. I remember him asking questions about it. But, I kept refusing to answer. After that, the only thing out of the ordinary that I remember was Twilight opening the portal, hundreds of years later. The last battle. I was with Drill and a group of bounty hunters when a magical glow opened a rift a few hundred meters away from us. Drill looked at me with a vacant expression and just said. “Go… This is my home now.” The bounty hunters started sprinting towards the portal, and, like a leopard watching its prey run in fear, my instinct woke up. I started flying towards not the portal, but the bounty hunters. They didn’t even realize I was there. My axe slashed their necks but I kept flying with my burning eyes focused on the portal. And that was basically my stay in Tartarus. Luna kissed Blaze’s neck. They’ve been on the same spot of their bed the entire morning. And soon Celestia would call them for lunch. “We should get up…” Blaze admitted. Luna’s muzzle dug deeper into Blaze’s neck. Her mane drowning him in translucid galactic light show. But soon she admitted defeat and they both got up. They followed the steps down stairs to the dining room and, to their surprise, princess Celestia was already leaving. “Morning Tia. Oh, is it this late?” Luna asked still a bit doozy. “Good morning. No, I just didn’t want to bother you two and I have a couple of meetings this afternoon so I decided to eat a bit earlier.” Celestia was a bit grumpier than usual. “Well, you could keep us company if you have the time.” Blaze innocently purposed. “No… As the old saying says, three is a crown.” Celestia countered with a passive aggressive tone. “Sister… What’s the matter?” Luna was worried. “I could just go for a walk if that’s the case.” Blaze naively joked. “Maybe you should.” Celestia finally let go. “Okay…” Blaze angrily agreed and started to walk out. “Blaze?...” “Luna…, you two talk it out… I need some fresh air.” And he left. Blaze could have a short temper, but sometimes walking out can work in your favor. Why stay there feeding the flame of the argument? Just let it run out of oxygen and come back to clean things up. Of course, that wasn’t his thought process. He just wanted to get out of there before he would burst. Besides, he needed the fresh air. All those memories took a toll on him. He flew past Ponyville and ate there. He wanted to be alone, so he flew to the old castle. Those ruins brought him back to simpler times. Nostalgia kicked in and, after checking no one was there, he let go. Tears came down like waterfalls, striking his coat as hard as steel. But soon his fountains would shut. He would find his flame. Back in the castle, another discussion would erupt. And again, as quickly as it started, both sisters, in tears, would find a common ground where they could stand and end the arguing. And that was what life was in the castle for the next few months. Besides the occasional petty criminal, the days took a slow and passed flavor to them. Boring some days, but always with some intensity to them. Besides the tension with Celestia’s mood – some morning’s she couldn’t be talked to. But by the afternoon she was as docile as a house cat –the was almost no worrying matter, but the treat of “The Light Ponies” was still real even if they are as small and as short sighted as they seemed. Blaze was pondering about this as he followed the flying carriage that the sisters were on. They were heading to Ponyville for a meeting with the mayor and princess Twilight. About Ponyville’s economy. But it wasn’t Ponyville’s economy that made this meeting important. This was the first-time Twilight agreed to be in the same room as Celestia. They had exchanged letters with each other, which brought a marginal improvement to their relationship, but this was Celestia’s last chance to heal bonds with Twilight. Ponyville was in sight. The guards picked a place to land. The princesses wanted to walk through Ponyville to greet the ponies and to see the progress of the little village. They left the guards to protect the carriage and they started to walk towards the castle with Blaze, ever so vigilant, following them. The village was alive. Blaze was growing a crush on this place. The ponies were nice, life seemed a bit more real there. Ponies bowed and cheered as the princesses passed by. They walked through the center of the village and headed towards the castle. As they turned a corner of a building and the crowds returned to their lives, a group of ponies occupied the road to the castle. But when they got closer, they realized the group was blocking the road and was armed. Blaze lifted of the ground and stopped above the princesses with his axe ready to strike. Luna, hearing Blaze’s axe being drawn, summoned her armor and halberd. Celestia froze. In front of them were three unicorns in formation with wizard robes, two pegasus floated behind them with spears in hoofs, to the sides were two more unicorns with swords and one yielding a shield and, in front, an earth pony with a more formal attire. He spoke. “Holster your weapons! We wish to speak!” He spoke as if he sat on a throne. “Speak, then.” Luna shouted as she revolved her halberd with a magical grip. “You think you scare us? We know your scheme! We infiltrated the castle and found traces of mind control magic surrounding Celestia!” He ignored Luna and faced Celestia. “Princess, join The Light Ponies, we will clear you from your sister’s dark influences and this treachery once and for all!” He stomped the ground with his last word. “You can’t be serious…” Blaze muttered. “What would you expect from someone who calls themselves “The Light Ponies”?” Blaze thought to himself. “Ah, the Nightmare’s thug. You showed your strength, but doubting our seriousness? You need to learn respect!” A flame grew in all three wizards’ horns. The spells were all aimed at Blaze. “I’ve had enough of this…” Blaze grabbed his axe with his right hoof and held it like a spear with its blade pointing outwards. Blaze looked at Luna. Luna was watching his every move. Blaze nodded. “Your arrogance will be your undoing! Prepare to see the wrath of THE LI-“ Luna surrounded Blaze’s hoof with a magical aura and Blaze used it as a foothold to launch himself towards the unicorn slashing is neck with a distorted cut. The three unicorns launched fireballs in Blaze’s direction but they were blocked by Luna’s shield. Luna pushed the wizards back, stunning them, to give herself some time to get closer. Blaze landed and grabbed his axe with his wing just in time to block a sword swipe. Blaze ducked and rolled to give his axe enough momentum to make one clean cut, decapitating his attacker. Blaze then grabbed the still levitating sword and charged the shield bearer. Celestia was still in shock and was almost hiding underneath her own wing. Luna was now flying in front of the three wizards who had just recovered. They charged their horns and tried to disarm the princess which only made her halberd slashes more vicious. Blaze, covered with blood splatters and sweat, continued his charge. One of the pegasus tried to dive at him but Blaze slid to avoid his spear. The earth pony was jerking on the floor, drowning in his own blood, desperately trying to close the jagged wound on his neck. When he was in front of the shield bearer, Blaze swiped with his axe but the only result was his attack being blocked and taking a shield on the muzzle With his face now dripping with his own blood, Blaze took in consideration a smarter approach. Blaze pretended to implement his swiping technic again, forcing is opponent to move his shield and, continuing his rotation, Blaze planted his hind hoofs into his attacker’s face finishing him off with a stab to the heart using the sword he had picked up. The shield bearer fell, defeated. But in the heat of the battle Blaze didn’t spot the second pegasus that was circling around. The pegasus came down at a blistering speed and struck Blaze’s lower back. The spear didn’t penetrate the armor but it pushed Blaze to the ground and temporarily immobilized him. The violence of the strike broke the spear and its spearhead. The pegasus took flight again and drew out a dagger. He was coming for Blaze. Seeing this, Blaze tried to move but he was still stunned. As he laid there, defenseless, a stray sun beam flew above him and a sunlight infused spear impaled the pegasus treat. Blaze turned his head, still lying flat on the ground, and, in his inverted vision, was Celestia in full-plated armor. Not too far from him, the gurgling sound had stopped and the earth pony finally succumbed to his injury. Luna emerged from a cloud of magic and dust victorious, her halberd dripping blood and her face covered in sweat. The last survivor was a pegasus who, after his first attack, could only watch the carnage below. And, acknowledging defeat, he tried to flee Blaze, despite the pain, managed to get up. The spear might not have penetrated, but it left an indentation on his armor that cut deep into his flesh. Celestia flew to recover her spear and Luna joined Blaze. “I need to follow him!” Blaze was still struggling. “You’re bleeding… Let us heal you.” “I’m fine, I can’t let him go.” Blaze grabbed his axe. “Be careful.” Luna knew it was futile to discuss with Blaze in that state. Blaze, still limbering, started the pursuit. The pegasus hadn’t realized he had a tail, so Blaze could easily follow him and catch up by taking shortcuts through forests and other obstacles that the pegasus avoided. The pain was almost paralyzing his left hind leg but he didn’t need his leg to fly. The blood was now escaping his armor and dripping from his leg. The trees cleared and gave place to a giant lake. It was surrounded by forest except for one side that was occupied by a small mountain. And encrusted in said mountain was what seemed to be a fort of some sort. Blaze followed the borders of the forest to remain hidden and, sure enough, the pegasus went inside the mountain. Blaze floated looking at the fort. “I’ll be back…” Blaze swore. Back in Ponyville, the noise of the battle hadn’t gone unnoticed. The royal guards ran to protect the princesses, a small crowd was starting to form but the gory scene was dissuading most ponies. Princess Twilight came down her castle. “W-What’s g-going on?” Twilight stuttered as she saw the violent scene. Celestia’s motherly instincts kicked in. She tried to find ways to shield her from such a gory scene. But alas, Twilight had grown. She walked up to the princesses, cautious and in a mild shock, with her horn covered in a magical glow, ready to defend herself. Luna didn’t give Celestia time to think of a pleasant excuse to the mess in front of her. “It’s not all benefits being royalty. Even being the perfect ruler with the perfect kingdom, those who oppose will eventually appear.” Luna walked towards Twilight while she cleaned her halberd. “Our peaceful doctrines gives ponies the illusion of our vulnerability. In this case, “The Light Ponies”, forgot that before being rulers, we were warriors.” “But, w-what did they want to achieve? Did they want to rule?” Twilight’s curiosity was bigger than her shock. “No, they wanted something far simpler. They wanted to kill me. They believed that I am controlling my sister. Pfft! Is there no limit to how low our enemies will strike?” There was a touch of sadness hidden in her hanger. A guard rushed to the princesses. Celestia told him that threat was gone and ordered to clean the streets. “Maybe we should go inside…” Twilight suggested, seeing that there were a few curious eyes looking. Luna was going to agree but to her surprise her sister disagreed. “We should wait for Blaze to return.” Only now Twilight acknowledged Blaze’s absence. She was going to ask where he had gone but she spotted a dark spot in the sky. Blaze’s wing flaps were heavy and few and far between. He tried to land but he ended up crashing on his side in the gravel road. Luna rushed to help him, but he was already up by the time she was next to him. But Blaze almost collapsed and had to sustain all his weight on Luna’s wing. Luna took him inside the castle, silencing him every time he made an attempt to speak. Twilight closed the doors behind them. Celestia removed Blaze’s armor while Luna started her healing spell. Although the blow he had taken on his face looked gruesome, it was nothing to worry about. But the spear hit left a mark. By deflecting the spear head, one of the steel scales of his armor cut through his leg. He was still bleeding. Luna started her healing. A cyan glow surrounded Blaze’s wounds. Seeing that Blaze was in good hands, Celestia took her armor off and, accompanied with her spear, teleported it home. Celestia felt disgusted. She just stood there while her sister fought for her life. Yes, she was never at risk but she just stood there. Like a filly too scared to respond to a teacher. “Is everything alright princess?” It was Twilight. She was worried. Not mad, not sad just worried. Celestia smiled. “Yes, Twilight… I’m still trying to calm down.” Twilight looked down and regained eye contact with Celestia, and smiled back. Blaze’s wounds had healed. The cyan aura dissipated. Blaze sat down on the cold crystal floor and was greeted by Luna’s lips. “Next time, let me heal you before you go anywhere!” Luna begged with a frustrated tone and shimmering eyes. Blaze hugged her. He might be healed but he was still weak so, still attached to Luna, he got up. “They have… a fort. Near a lake.” His voice was cut by his drained body’s aches. “Don’t speak… Rest. You deserve it.” Celestia suggested. Blaze nodded. He finally gained enough strength to stand on his own. He turned to face Luna and saw her still in with her armor, covered in blood splatters. “This… This ends tomorrow.” Blaze was almost blinded by his rage. “Even if I have to kill each and everyone of them.” He thought. “If you need help I could go too.” Twilight volunteered. Twilight didn’t know half of what was going on, but seeing both princesses and Blaze suffering was enough to throw herself into danger. Luna could see a young Celestia in her way of speech. “We admire your courage princess Twilight, but we haven’t trained you to fight, we thought it wouldn’t be necessary. Perhaps your next lesson, if you wish so.” Luna spoke with a surprisingly friendly tone. Twilight didn’t know how to respond so, she nervously nodded. They decided to go to meeting room of the castle where the mayor was patiently waiting, unaware of the chaos. They all sat down and explained the reason they were late. Blaze sat in the corner of the room, plotting the raid. Celestia’s relationship with Twilight improved with each minute they spent together. Seeing Celestia fight to save Blaze helped Twilight clear some doubts she had in her mind. Before night fell, Blaze, Celestia and Luna teleported to Canterlot, leaving the guards to carry the carriage back to castle. They had dinner, lowered the sun and raised the moon, and retreated to their respective bedrooms. After a necessary shower, Luna and Blaze lied in bed were Luna could resume Blaze’s healing with some more privacy. Celestia laid in bed. She was thinking in Blaze’s words. “This ends tomorrow.” She repeated to herself. “I hope you’re right Blaze. I really do.” And closing her shimmering eyes, she fell asleep. Author's Note Took me a while to get this one done. Largely because of exams and lack of time. Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 1It was a calm morning, the birds were chirping, the sun was shining: the perfect day to sit back and do nothing. But for Twilight it was the perfect day to catch up with her reading, specifically princess Celestia’s books. As a matter of fact, she had just received a couple of new ones. “Morning, Twi! Here are the books you wanted to read.” Said Spike as he entered the room. “Thank you, Spike!” answered Twilight with a smile. “Today I’m just going to sit back and read. You can take the day of, if you want to.” “Oh… Ok then, I’ll go and see if Rarity needs some help” Twilight chuckled and she knew Spike noticed because he turned from purple to red. “I’m going to… you sure you don’t need my help?” “No, Spike go on I’m sure Rarity will be delighted to see you”. That said, Spike left Twilight with her books. Twilight, normally, would find an elaborate scheme to select which order she would read all of the books, but this something caught her eye first. Has she as examined them, she noticed that in the middle of all the hardcover books there was a scroll. “That’s odd…” she thought to herself while she opened it. She opened the scroll. “This is a spell. An old one… A very old one. The princess must have sent it by mistake or…” The curiosity was killing her at this point. “Maybe… Maybe she wants me to learn it. No! Well… maybe. It probably won’t do any harm. And I am supposed to take care of my own, now that I’m a princess.” She started to read the scroll and spent most of the morning trying to understand the ancient runes. Bringing all sort of books to translate them into something that she could actually understand. It was almost midday when she finally was ready to cast the spell. “I will probably need some space to cast this.” She trotted to the entrance of the castle. “This should do it.” She started to cast it. Sparks started to fly out of her horn making a lot of noise, the spell was so powerful that it seemed like a hurricane had formed in the castle entrance. She was starting to worry but, moments later, it just stopped. “Well, that was a waste of time” She noticed a light forming in front of her. It was a scroll. “Oh no…” The scroll was from princess Celestia and it clearly said to not use the spell. It was after she read it, that she spotted it. Out of the corner of her eye, a portal was forming. The letter also said that the spell was a portal to Tartarus and, if opened it could unleash all sort of demons into Equestria. Twilight’s heart was already beating strong. And she could fell the anxiety. “What have I done?” But she didn’t panic. Twilight tried to close the portal and she succeeded, a second too late. Something was already in the room. She hid behind some chairs that were thrown around by the wind. A disconcerting silence had set in the room; all she could hear was her own vital signs. She didn’t even look at what had crossed the portal and she was already terrified of it. Then the silence broke. “So this is what freedom feels like…” The creature’s voice was deep and definitely male. “You can show yourself. There’s no hiding from me…” His voice made Twilight shiver. The way he spoke reminded her of Luna’s voice before she was “reeducated”. She emerged from the chair pile expecting some horrific monster to jump out and kill her, but to her surprise, standing before her, was a pony! Or at least it looked like one. He had zebra stripes, although he was darker than Zecora, but he had Pegasus wings and a cutiemark, the only color defying the blackness of his mane and tail was the orange that also burned in his eyes. But even though he knew where she was, he was looking at her. “Who are you?” Twilight managed to ask. “Irrelevant to you!” He shouted, turning his head to stare directly into Twilight. He seemed to be analyzing her. “Oh… My apologies. I Did not notice I was talking to royalty.” He said with a much calmer voice. Twilight was shocked by this and her face showed it. “What? I may have been in Tartarus but I still have manners! Anyway, I need you to take me to the royal sisters.” Twilight was lost in her thoughts. “I don’t remember Celestia mentioning any banishment during her studying period. But he knows Luna, which means he is old. Too old.” “How long have you been in there?” She could see his pain has she asked. “A very long time… so long that I lost count. But probably around 500 years.” “But that’s impossible!” “In Tartarus you don’t age, don’t starve, don’t die. Time is different in there…” “I knew that but if you were sent there 500 years ago you wouldn’t know Princess Luna.” He shivered. "And why would that be?” “Luna was banished. For a thousand years.” He turned his back to Twilight and scratched his forehead with his right wing. “And she only escaped a couple of years ago.” His anger was building and Twilight was getting fearful for what he might do. He controlled his rage and spoke. “Did she try to take Tia’s place as ruler of Equestria?” Twilight was speechless. Not even she felt comfortable calling Celestia “Tia” but also how did he know the reason of Luna’s banishment? “Yes but she also tried to bring eternal night. Were you and the princesses close?” “Close!? Yes. You can put it that way. I’m Blaze by the way.” “Princess Twilight Sparkle.” “Tittle?” “Princess of Friendship.” Blaze tried not to laugh but it was quite obvious. “So has I said I need you to take me to the royals sisters, I would go by myself but apparently it has been more than a 1000 years and I don’t believe they still live in the same place.” “And why would I do that?” “You just somehow open a portal to Tartarus and a pony stepped out of it who would you report to?” “Well…” “You don’t have to worry, I wish them no harm.” “Ok I’ll take you to Canterlot but it’s a long journey.” “Can’t you just teleport us there?” “Yes… Yes I suppose I could do that. But I have to warn the princesses about our arrival.” “No need I wish to surprise them.” “Well alright then… Are you ready?” “Yes. Are You?” He sounded nervous. “Yes. Let’s go.” Although she believed him, she just wanted to have Celestia’s backup if Blaze decided to turn on her. And with a simple teleportation there they were. The gates of Canterlot Castle.
Chapter 2Although all this time had passed, Blaze still remembered how the old castle looked like. It was made of grey stone, well-fortified and, for its time old fashioned. It was settled in the middle of the Everfree Forest, which meant not a lot of unnecessary visits. Back then Celestia didn’t mind that but it was clear she wasn’t pleased by it. The only reason keeping her from changing her address was her sister, Luna. Luna loved that castle - has did Blaze – Luna preferred isolated places where she could be at peace. She liked to socialize but only with the right ponies. Canterlot was almost the polar opposite of the old castle. It was made of what seemed to be white marble and it was right in the middle of Equestria’s Capital, Canterlot. Although, there were missing some key fortifications, it made that up with guards, many guards, to many to properly train. Blaze could sense Luna didn’t partake in choosing the castle. It was clear Celestia had chosen it while Luna was banished. As soon as they set hoof in Canterlot, Blaze could feel the eyes of the curious looking at them and the mutter of the crowds forming. From where they were they could see the castle’s gates; the castle was just a couple of meters away. “Alright, from now on let me do the talking or else the guards won’t let us in” Twilight ordered. “Yes, you are the princess after all, but let’s get out of the streets, crowds are forming.” Blaze was right. As Twilight looked around she could see a lot of curious ponies had stopped to look at her, or possibly Blaze. He did look like a zebra with wings. They trotted to the entrance; all four guards recognized Twilight and let them through. Behind the thick wood doors there was a spacious and well-decorated hall with a grand stair case in front of them leading to two doors, one on each side. In the bottom floor there was also two narrow corridors. “I’m going to search for the princesses in their chambers. You… stay here. Don’t go anywhere!” Twilight yelled has she entered in one of the corridors. Blaze might not know this castle but he learned one trick to know where the princesses are in whichever castle they are in: the most guarded room, that’s where you find the princesses. Blaze looked around and almost immediately spotted two guards guarding the right double-doors on top of the stair case. Although he promised Twilight to wait there, he had waited for too long for this moment so he went without her. As soon as he got close to the guards they crossed their spears to close the path. One of them spoke. “Hold! Requesting time as ended the last citizen is already in the throne room. You must wait until tomorrow.” He spoke with a harsh voice, as all guards should, but it didn’t faze Blaze. “I have to see the princesses. I have urgent matters I wish to discuss.” “Well, too bad. Didn’t you hear me? Time is over! Leave! That’s an order!” But Blaze didn’t take it as an order but more of a challenge. He knew he could take both the guards out, even without a weapon. He was already in close range with the guards but before he could do anything, Twilight showed up behind him. “It’s alright he’s with me we wish to speak with the princesses so let us in.” “I am sorry princess I didn’t realize… Of course!” He said as he holstered his spear and opened the double doors. “They are in the throne room.” “Thank you!” They went through the doors and they closed behind them. There was still another double door in front of them. “So this is it?” “Yes they should be in there but let me go first to take care of whom ever is inside.” “I’ll let you go first but I can’t hold on much longer…” “I won’t take long. And… Good luck…” He sighed. “Thank you, I’ll probably need it.” With that said Twilight opened the doors to the throne room while Blazed slid to the left to stay out of sight. As soon as twilight entered the room she was greeted by a pony she didn’t recognize. “Oh princess Twilight it’s an honor to meet you. But I’m afraid I have errands to run and I already spent my time speaking with the royal sisters.” And just like that she continued her way out passing by Blaze without even noticing him – he was like a shadow – when she turned around the princesses were there, sitting in their thrones, waving her in. “Twilight, what a wonderful surprise! Are you here to give back my scroll, you could have just asked Spike to send it.” “Yes about that… I’m sorry prin-” She didn’t even finish the sentence and the princesses’ expressions changed, they were in shock. But they weren’t like that because of her, Blaze had entered the room. They were all dead silence. Until Blaze started walking towards them. “So this is the welcome back reception I get after all these years…” He said with a calm yet angry voice. “It... It’s impossible.” It was all Celestia could say. “But… I thought you were dead!” Luna almost shouted with tears forming in her eyes. Blaze stopped now just a few paces from the princesses. “Dead!? Was that what Tia told you? Well Tia, it seems you have some explaining to do!” Blaze was using an increasingly more powerful and angry voice. “Sister?” Luna said surprised now with tears running through her eyes. “Princess? What’s happening?” Twilight spoke from the left side of the room. “Twilight, leave I’ll talk to you when I get this solved” Celestia said without breaking eye contact with Blaze. “No! Twilight, please stay. She was the one who helped me get here and if I’m not mistaken she’s one of your students or was, so why should she leave? She also deserves an explanation.” Blaze protested. “Why did you come here, Blaze?” Celestia was good with masking her emotions but it was clear she was not happy with his return. Blaze’s eyes snapped. “Why did I come here? WHY DID I LEAVE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!??” Blaze shouted has he toke two full paces forwards and trusted his hoof as hard as he could against the floor, shattering it in the process. He looked at the princesses and they had gotten up in shock. He could see the fear in their eyes. The guards heard him and rushed to the room. Behind him were five of them. He walked a couple of paces back and looked at his right hoof that had shattered the marble floor, it was slowly dripping blood. It was just a cut from a shard of marble. After a few seconds he broke the silence yet again. “After all we’ve been through… After all we’ve done together… You’re scared of me?” Almost all the anger was gone from his voice and it was replaced with sadness. The tears joined the small pool of blood that had formed beneath him. A cyan glow involved his right hoof and his face, healing his wound and cleaning his eyes of tears. He could recognize Luna’s magic even without seeing its glow and that small gesture meant the world to him. It also seemed to affect Celestia’s heart because her eyes were watery and she called off the guards, making them holster their weapons and taking a step back. “Celestia I am willingly to forgive you. But if you’re not going to tell them what happened… I am.” A silence settled once again. But this time Celestia broke it. “I’ll do it. If somepony has to tell this it’s me. I have had a thousand years to think and rethink about what I’ve done.” Tears were rolling from her eyes but her voice didn’t change. “I may have acted out of jealousy and false rumors but at the time I was certain that Blaze was nothing but trouble to us and our kingdom. So when I had the opportunity I trapped him in Tartarus.” She cleaned her tears with her wing and sat back in her throne. “How could you? How could lie to me? How could you do that to Blaze?” Luna was devastated she could barely see with so many tears in her eyes. She was facing Celestia and this time Celestia looked straight at her but words failed to leave her mouth. “I’m sorry to interrupt but I still don’t know who Blaze is.” Twilight interrupted after a long time of listening. “Blaze is an –“ Celestia started to explain only to be interrupted by Luna. “Don’t even… You don’t deserve to tell who Blaze is. Not after all you’ve done.” Celestia stuttered at hearing that from her sister. Luna also used her wings to clear her face of tears and sat again in her throne. “So Princess Twilight, let’s start from the beginning.” Blaze was abandoned as an infant at our old castle door step. We never met or saw his parents. It was clear that he was not a normal pony and most likely he was abandoned by a wealthy family who didn’t want their reputation to be lost. I have to admit that when I first saw him I wasn’t quite fond of him… “Who was it?” Luna asked seeing her sister open the main doors. “I don’t know but they seem to have abandoned a young colt… or zebra. I’ve never seen somepony like this…” Answered Celestia as she levitated the basket containing the small colt. “Leave him to the timber wolves. We don’t need more responsibilities.” “Luna! Sometimes I wonder if you have a heart… Look at him. Have you seen anything like him? And are you brave enough to send him to the wolves?” Celestia passed the basked around and the magical auras involving it switched from yellow to cyan. “I don’t think courage is the word you’re looking for. And I suppose I’m not. But you can send him to the orphanage. But you aren’t are you?” Luna looked at Celestia and back to the colt. “I suppose he is …” “Cute? It’s been a couple of years since I toke care of a child maybe it’s time don’t you think?” Celestia and Luna were side by side looking at the levitating basket with the colt inside. He looked so fragile. Celestia extended her right wing and used one of her pinions – which were bigger than the colt itself – to move him around and extending one of his tiny wings. “Pour thing… Look at his wing joint. He might be handicap.” “Different doesn’t mean handicap. Remember Half-Horn Larry? Everyone said he was handicapped until he became the most powerful battle-mage.” “Let’s hope so. I’ll make sure that he is well treated.” “We’ll make sure. If you are going to do this you know you have my full support. As always and forever.” “As always and forever…” Blaze grew up with us but Celestia didn’t call him his son and neither did he call her mom. He was too smart for that. I think he was three when he first asked us who is parents were. His wing joint problem gave more benefits than problems. It allowed his wings to have more motion letting him do stunts that no other pegasus could do. This made him very agile in flight which gave him his cutie mark, a white pegasus wing. But all that free mobility came with a price; he couldn’t fly at high speeds. He grew up to be our best friend and our trusted personal guard. We were very close and as time went by we were getting closer and closer, me and Blaze that is, Celestia seemed to think he was a good friend, nothing more. And with time she started being jealous of Blaze for spending so much time with me. Blaze did everything he could to remain close to her but she kept pushing herself away from him, and from me. Then came the day she went out with Blaze in a mission and returned alone… After a couple of weeks I realized that Blaze also helped me deal with my sister. We were so close yet… at the time I felt like I didn’t knew her anymore… Two years later I turned into Nightmare Moon. The rest you already know… The room fell quite once again. Tears could be seen in Luna’s, Celestia’s and Blaze’s eyes. Only Twilight eyes remained dry. She was in shock. Her mentor, the pony in which she most trusted… had been so evil. She wanted explanations but before she could speak, Celestia broke the silence. “Twilight, now that you know who Blaze is and what I’ve done I have to ask you to leave so I can resolve this situation. But don’t worry once this is settled you can ask me whatever you want.” Twilight simply nodded and left the room afraid to say something she would regret. When Twilight left Celestia signaled the guards to leave. Only the three remained in the room. A few seconds later Blaze spoke. “So, what now?” “Now… Me and Luna are going to have lunch. In the afternoon we have a meeting with Ponyville’s mayor, and I think I’ll stay and speak with Twilight afterwards.” Celestia answered. “Then I’ll go with you.” “Nonsense! You’ll stay here in the castle dungeons! We may have accepted you staying here but that doesn’t mean we trust you.” Blaze knew she had reason to not trust him but had she forgotten who he was? He looked at Luna in hope she would disagree with her sister. “I’m sorry Blaze… but she’s right. You may still be our Blaze but, a thousand years in Tartarus is a lot… no one has ever done that… and the few that exited Tartarus, they were… changed…” Although it wasn’t what Blaze wanted to hear, it was the truth and Blaze accepted it. “I understand. But I didn’t come here to stay in a dungeon for the rest of my life! I want to be with you, both of you. I want us to get along again, just like old times.” Luna spoke next. “That we can agree on. Starting of tomorrow we will help you in your integration in society and if everything works out, your rank of Royal Sisters Protectors will be restored.” Celestia wasn’t so sure. “Luna, I don’t think this is wise. We still don’t know his intentions.” “Weren’t you listening? He clearly stated them.” Blazed was happy that Luna still trusted him. “Thank you. Now I believe I have a dungeon cell waiting for me.” Blaze looked around. “I would go alone if I knew where they were…” Celestia didn’t wait to call for help. “Guards, escort Blaze to the Dungeons!” The three guards walked forwards and tried to grab Blaze. Before they could do anything Luna said. “Escort not drag.” And so they obeyed. Blazed chuckled a bit. “Before there were five guards and even those sometimes needed help. Crime as seen better days.” “Silence!” One of the guards shouted but that only made Luna shout louder. “Guard consider yourself dismissed if something like that happens again! This pony might be your superior tomorrow!” “Luna, you know I don’t like to boss around.” Luna just smiled. And after a couple of steps, the guards and Blaze exited the throne room. The guards toke him through the main hall, they passed through multiple corridors and stairs. Has they walked further and further, the castle decorations began to fade , the walls turned from painted marble to cold dark grey stone and the light was beginning to disappear. After a narrow corridor there were multiple cells, almost all of them empty. They showed him the way to his cell and one of the guards pushed him inside and closed the door behind him. Blazed looked around, the cell wasn’t small but it wasn’t big either, it had some hay in the ground where he could sleep, a small window on top of one of the walls and a bucket if he needed to use it. That’s what anyone could see but Blaze noticed much more. He flew to the window; although there were metal bars blocking anyone from escaping, the stone where they were attached was weak. Blaze, with a bit of strength pushed and pulled the bars and the whole window detached from the wall. “Well I have a way out if I need it.” He said to himself. He placed the window on the wall and with a bit of moving around it looked like nothing happened. Next he went to the door. It was an old wooden door with some metal bars so you could see through, but again it was weak, he could easily break it open. With nothing else to do Blaze sat on the hay and started to preen his wings. “Can’t remember the last time I did this.” He thought to himself. After Blaze left Luna and Celestia went to the dining room where their lunch was waiting. Neither of them spoke in that meal. After that they embarked on the carriage that would bring them to Ponyville. For the entire journey not one word was spoken, after all that was said a little silence didn’t hurt. They arrived at Ponyville and the mayor was there to greet them. But Celestia was the first to talk. “We are sorry for arriving so late. We had some issues in Canterlot.” “There’s absolutely no problem your highnesses. You are only a few minutes late. Oh where are my manners? Welcome to Ponyville!” With that said the three of them moved to the Town Hall where they spend almost all the afternoon debating Ponyville’s economies. Once the meeting was over the two sisters stood near the carriage. This time it was Luna who talked. “Remember what you said you would do. Go talk to Twilight. Or you might lose her.” “I know I have to talk to her… I’m afraid, Luna…” “You should be. I’m going back to the castle.” Luna took a few steps but before leaving she said. “If you can’t talk at least listen.” Luna entered the carriage and signaled the guards to take the carriage. Celestia was alone in the streets of Ponyville, she could see Twilight’s castle, by far the tallest building there. She decided to teleport to its entrance so she didn’t have to walk through all Ponyvilles citizens. She knocked at the doors of the crystal castle and almost immediately Spike opened the doors. “Princess! Something’s wrong with Twilight she hasn’t come out of her room after she returned from Canterlot! I’ll show you the way.” The little dragon ran through corridors and up stairs leading the princess to Twilight’s room. “She’s inside!” The little dragon said worried. “I’ll talk to her. Can you leave us alone for a moment?” “Yes princess… Just make sure she’s alright…” and he left. Celestia looked at the door. Inside there was the little filly she toke care of, the mare that become Princess of Friendship and most of all, her friend… she needed to make things right between them. She knocked. A muffled voice spoke. “Go away Spike…” “It’s me…” Celestia answered in a sweet and quite tone. Almost a minute passed before a purple glow surrounded the door handle and opened the door. Celestia walked inside. It was dark only a few rays of sun light managed to find the way into the ground. The purple alicorn was lying in bed. Celestia moved closer. “You’re here...” Twilight said in a neutral tone. “Yes, just like I said I would be… Twilight, listen…” “Don’t…” interrupted Twilight. “Why did you do it?” Celestia sighed. “Blaze and Luna were very close if Blaze intended to harm the kingdom he could use Luna to do so… I was worried that he might hurt her… And yes I admit I didn’t like them being so close…” “So instead of, I don’t know talk to him, you banish him!?” Celestia could see how wrong that seemed now. “I know how this seems but, Twilight, you have to understand, at that time it seemed the right thing to do…” A tear rolled down her face. “That’s one question… Why did you didn’t you tell the truth?” “I didn’t want my sister to hate me, I didn’t want my kingdom to dough me… I was afraid so I just hid it…” “Can’t you understand the harm that you did to your sister by not telling her?! She though he was dead! I don’t know their relationship but I’m guessing they were about to be more than just friends. I’m not even going to talk of how much you must have hurt Blaze…” “I did what I had to do.” “What!?” Twilight stood up from her bed, shouting. “Can’t you understand what you did!? You ruined two lives! You banished blaze for a thousand years and, by doing so, you made Luna go mad, turning her into Nightmare Moon forcing you into banishing her as well!” Twilight couldn’t contain the tears anymore. “And to think you were the one who taught me all about magic, and friendship…” “I wasn’t the one to blame of Luna madness with power!” “Shut up! Are you listening to yourself!? You know the truth and you refuse to see it!” Those words coming from Twilight… Celestia was devastated. “How could she treat her like that? I did the right thing… there wasn’t another option…” She thought, but to hear both her sister and student say that… how wrong could she be? “Twilight…” “Leave…” said Twilight. “Twilight, I’m sorry…” “Leave!” She shouted. Celestia knew she couldn’t do anything so she left. She had lost one of her students… one of her closest friends… There she was at the doors of Twilight’s Castle leaving her behind, her eyes were wet, her heart broken… yet she knew she was right. She started her long flight to Canterlot. When Luna left Celestia in Ponyville she knew that Twilight wasn’t going to forgive her. She just hoped that her sister could listen to her point of view and understand it. She could see Canterlot from her carriage. She knew that inside of it Blaze was there, waiting. She was dying to talk to him but she couldn’t help to be afraid. She knew his strength; she knew that he spent a thousand years with the worst of evil. But then again if he wanted her dead he could already have done it. She knew that it was Blaze and all of what he said was true, yet she was still afraid. Luna exited the carriage, all the guards waiting for both of the royal sisters, without anyone asking she said. “My sister stayed in Ponyville to help organizing their work. She’ll be back soon.” The guards nodded and she continued her way through the castle, she recognized one of the guards that toke Blaze. “Guard, could you show me the way to Blaze’s cell?” “Of course, your highness! This way.” He led her through the corridors but his curiosity toke over him. “Princess, if you don’t mind me asking, who is this Blaze?” Luna toke a few seconds to respond. “I probably should tell you, all of you, but I have to wait until tomorrow…” “Of course, your highness. Hum... I’m not really dismissed am I?” Luna chuckled. “If you talk to Blaze like that again, losing your job is the best thing that can happen to you.” The guard wasn’t too keen on talking again after that. After a minute of walking, the guard pointed at a door. “He’s in there.” “Leave us.” “Has you wish.” The guard left. Luna walked to the cell door, her heart was beating fast from excitement of talking to him but also from fear… She was about to knock on the door. In that cell there wasn’t much to do. When he was done preening, which toke a lot of the afternoon, Blaze decided to get some sleep but he couldn’t… he spent a few minutes just walking around the cell. When he was about to just lie down in the hay he heard someone coming, he stayed alert and out of sight of the door. They were getting closer. He recognized the guard’s voice and then… “Luna?” He thought. She was actually there. And by what she said she wanted to speak with him. He leaned on the wall next to the door. He could hear her coming close and just as she was going to knock on the cell door Blaze said. “I’m glad you came.” His voice almost melted her heart. “Of course I came. That guard didn’t bother you much did he?” They both laughed a bit. “No, he just gave me a little push but I chose to not break his hoof. Where’s Celestia?” “Still in Ponyville.” Blaze got close to the door but Luna’s instinct was to take a step back. Blaze could sense her fear. He bashed his hoofs against the door and sat with his back on the door. “What happened Luna?” He said very calmly and with a sad tone. He could hear Luna sitting on the other side of the door. “A thousand years… that’s what happened Blaze… a thousand years…” They were in silence for minutes until Blaze said. “You know that I could easily go through that door right?” “I know… but… I don’t know Blaze… a thousand years…” “I would never harm you Luna… but I understand…” Luna stood up. “I have to go Blaze, before Celestia returns.” “Will you return in the night?” She didn’t respond. Blaze was returning to his bale of hay when Luna spoke. “See me in the darkest tower when the last shadow is cast.” And she left. After all these years Luna was still mysterious. Blaze couldn’t help but to smile at the thought that Luna wanted to see him again. His thoughts were interrupted by a guard knocking on the door. “Dinner!” And he slid a plate full of salad through a gap between the door and the floor. Blaze had forgotten that he needed to eat, he was starving. He ate the whole plate under a minute. “How could I forget how good eating feels like!?” He said to himself. He was enjoying life at last! Then he felt something. Something he hadn’t felt in a millennium… Luna’s magic. It was so powerful he could feel it from inside his cell; he could recognize it from anyone’s magic. He looked at the window and sun was coming down, he needed to get out to figure out Luna’s riddle. Blaze toke the window out and placed it on the floor, and flew free from his cell. He flew as fast as he could, he started to gain altitude and he looked down at the city. Canterlot was a beautiful city indeed. But what caught his eyes attention was the castle itself, a white fortress with purple and yellow roofs. Looking at the towers he saw something interesting: One of the towers was already covered by shadows while the others were still shinning with sunlight. “That’s got to be where she is.” He thought. Blaze almost dived vertically so she wouldn’t see him coming. He flew under her room’s balcony and there he waited. He saw the sun being brought down by Celestia and the moon and the stars being brought up by Luna. The night had fallen, Blaze dragged himself up staying in cover but also able to see inside her room. And there she was, working in her desk. Then someone opened the door, it was Celestia. Blaze climbed up the balcony so he could listen but he kept near a wall looking inside so they couldn’t spot him. He started listening to them. “Luna, you didn’t eat dinner.” “I’m not hungry…” Luna looked at Celestia. “You’re not going to talk about Twilight?” There was a pause. “She hates me…” “Did you listen to what she said?” “She said what you and blaze said… she doesn’t know how it happened though.” “Sister… will you ever accept the truth?” Luna started working again. “You should get some sleep, it was a long day…” “Yes… See you tomorrow.” Blaze could see Celestia wanted to say something but instead she just left. Luna sighed she got up and was heading to the balcony. Luna was afraid that her sister somehow changed… When they were young she wasn’t like that… She needed some air. Luna headed towards her balcony. She saw a shadow moving, it was nothing just a little motion. Then she remembered… “Blaze?” She though. She opened the window and stepped outside the night was quiet and beautiful as always. She knew he was there, but she knew it was useless to look for him, he just hides to well. She couldn’t help but to feel a bit anxious. She looked into the night expecting Blaze to show up out of nowhere but then she felt something, a feather grazing her neck. It was fast but delicate. It made her shiver but not for bad reasons. Only Blaze knew how much she liked that. And only Blazed could do it while flying. Luna smiled. “Blaze. I know it’s you. And I’m glad you are back!” When Blaze heard that he just wanted to go and hug her but he knew it was best to wait. Luna went back to her room. Blaze stayed a bit longer on top of her room, looking at the night sky. He missed it so much. There he was sitting on Luna’s roof looking at the night sky, it was so beautiful, Blaze couldn’t help but to cry from happiness. He cleaned his tears with his wing. Although this moment was perfect, he had to get back to his cell before someone noticed. He flew to his cell entering through the gap of the window; he placed the window on the wall and laid down on the hay. It didn’t take much for him to fall asleep with a smile in his face, and the moonlight lighting his dreams. Author's Note Sorry for how long this toke. I had some problems and didn't feel good writting. But I'm back!
Chapter 3“Wake up! The princesses want you in the throne room!” The famous guard yelled as he bashed the door of the cell. It was not the best way to wake up from a good night of sleep, but blaze couldn’t really complain since that was the first real sleep he had in a thousand years. But that guard was asking for trouble. “Just a minute.” Blaze groaned as he struggled to get up from the hay bale. Blaze couldn’t stop a small sigh from getting out. It was finally happening after all this years of waiting. But, what now? He knew it was happening but he was not sure what was happening. The guard knocked on door once again and interrupted his thoughts. He took a few steps towards the door and the guard opened it. “Follow me I’ll show you the way. You should take a shower before you go to the throne room though. This way.” The guard said as he started walking into a corridor. Was he being nice? Or just plain rude? Either way a shower wouldn’t hurt and would help him wake up to the day ahead. Blaze followed him through the corridor into what seemed to be some sort of locker room. He took a step forward to examine the room but before he could turn around he was greeted by a bucket of ice cold water to the face. “What the hell!?” It was all Blaze managed to say before containing himself. The Guard started laughing. “Nice shower, don’t you think? Here’s a towel. Now hurry up the princesses are waiting!” “Can I ask your name?” One more little play like this and he was going to the medical bay. “Why?” “Well you know mine why can’t I know yours?” “Okay… My name is Jake.” “Nice to meet you Jake. Let’s go. We don’t want to keep the princesses waiting, right?” And with a confused look, Jake started walking towards the maze of corridors. After arriving to the throne room and sending a guard to bring Blaze to them, the princesses were alone waiting for him. Celestia looked neutral as always but Luna knew her too well for it to fool her. “Do you trust him?” Celestia finally asked. This question surprised Luna. She wasn’t expecting Celestia to ask her that. “Tia… I know there are a lot of reasons to not trust him but after all you did to him, after all he’s been through… If he wished us harm he could have killed us both, and you know he could have. But instead he came to talk to us, he was willingly to forgive you!” Luna took a step towards her sister and started speaking with a sweet but sad voice. “Can’t you see it sister?” “I don’t know Lulu…” A tear rolled down her cheek and her posture broke. “Ever since you two got close, I grew this feeling that he wanted to harm you… At first I thought it was just jealousy but as time went by it got stronger, every single bone in my body told me something was wrong with him… I still have that feeling… But everything else is telling me otherwise…” Luna hugged her sister and tried to calm her down, cleaning her tears in the process. “In time you’ll see that this will soon be a part of our past.” While she was in the embrace of her sister, Celestia let her thoughts roam free. “Oh Lulu if you knew how scared I am… I don’t want to lose you again… I just wished I could see what you and Twilight see… but then again… My instincts never have failed me.” Luna Let go of her sister and with a gentle spell she clean hers and her sister’s tears. “Just give him a chance, and to yourself as well. You’ll see it’s all going to work out.” Celestia just nodded. Their conversation was interrupted by Blaze’s arrival with the sound of the double doors opening and closing. “Morning.” Blaze said as he walked into the room. “I hope you slept well, you have a busy day ahead of you.” Luna replied smiling. “So, what does await me?” Blaze asked. “Well, we are going to walk around Canterlot showing you the city and it’s citizens, show you how everything works and hopefully find you a hobby.” Luna started to explain. “But first…” “First, something I know you’ll love: history lessons!” Celestia finished in a sarcastic tone. “So you do still know me! I was starting to lose hope.” Blaze smiled at her and looked around. “Have you had breakfast? I really wanted a cup of coffee… Coffee is still a thing right?” Blaze asked. Both princesses shared a laugh. “What? How am I supposed to know?” Blaze protested. “Yes, coffee is still a thing. Now let’s go to the library, I’ll ask a guard to bring some coffee.” Celestia said in a surprisingly happy tone. “Never thought I would go back to school. And Celestia seems to be handling things better today.” Blaze thought to himself as he followed Celestia through the double doors leaving Luna alone in the throne room. “Oh Blaze, I think you would prefer spending another day in Tartarus than having history classes again! But don’t worry after that I have some plans to un-bore you.” She said as she left to start the day. Luna was right, Blaze faced one of the most boring days of his life, but it was necessary. Celestia started by a history lesson of all major events in the last 1000 years, she couldn’t go in detail but it still was almost a whole morning of learning. Next came geography, Blaze learnt where everything was and what is the purpose of every city. After a quick lunch break, they restarted classes and now it was time for social studies; learning customs, traditions, expressions and generally what everyday life is for a pony. It was a lot to learn in a morning and half of an afternoon, but it was enough to know the basics. And Blaze would learn the rest in everyday life. Celestia seemed to be in a good mood, that or she was enjoying seeing Blaze go through that torture. Either way it was done and both of them managed to share a couple of laughs. “Go on, you’re free. Luna is probably waiting for you in the castle’s entrance, and I need to go catch up on work. And do try not killing everyone that makes you angry.” Celestia said as she stood in the entrance of the library. “I’m going. And thank you for dealing with me but I’m sure you enjoyed seeing me suffering for the past hours. And you have my word that if I kill someone they will have deserved it.” Celestia let go a small smile and closed the library doors. Blaze could feel his hearth rate going up as he walk up to the castle entrance knowing he would spend the rest of the afternoon with Luna. It had been so long since the two of them were together, the day could go either way. His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of an ethereal blue glow coming from the entrance of the castle. And that glow spoke. “So you can still walk, that must be a good sign!” She joked as she smiled at him. “It wasn’t that bad. I even managed to make your sister smile!” They both laughed. “So what do you have in store for me?” “Well… Since you had to go through all of that, I thought we could start by something I know you’ll enjoy.” As she was speaking, she pulled with her magic something from the shadows. It was her halberd! After all this time it was still her weapon of choice! “How about we go to the barracks so you can learn about the guards? And I need to see if you still can handle yourself.” A teasing smile grew in her face. “Now were talking! But I’m afraid I’m going to have to borrow a weapon from the royal armory.” “Don’t worry everything is already arranged. Our best generals are waiting for us. Follow me.” And Blaze did. They went to side of the castle, climbed a small staircase and, in front of them, was the courtyard were the guards were trained. Four generals and a couple of curious guards were there waiting for their arrival. “Aww, an audience and everything? You shouldn’t have.” Blaze commented. Luna discreetly smiled at Blaze before addressing everyone in the courtyard. “Listen up!” shouted Luna in fiery tone. “First of all, this is Blaze. And yes all the rumors are true! He indeed came from Tartarus. But I can assure you he is in our side. Secondly as of tomorrow his former rank is being restored, meaning he will be the highest rank of authority. He will not be leading you but if he orders you to so something you will do it! This also applies to all of you generals.” Even though Luna had the name “Princess” behind her, she acted more like a goddess of war in front of her guards. It wasn’t for nothing that everyone was afraid of her. "We are going to need to test him of his combat strength. General Iron Hoofs, how would you like to test Blaze’s hoofs?” General Hoofs – how everyone called him – stepped up to the arena in the center of courtyard. He was a strong stallion, confident and had a strong ego as well, he was known for his hoof on hoof combat and he wasted no time in starting to taunt Blaze. “Come on White Wings! I’m waiting.” He said with a rusty voice. Blaze, unfazed, flew to the arena. Blaze was bigger than any stallion there, his height was only surpassed by the princesses. “I won’t use my wings to keep this fair, as long as you don’t use magic.” “As you wish. Now let’s see what you’re made of!” General Hoofs charged Blazed at an amazing speed, when he got close he stood up in his hind legs launching is right hoof in Blaze’s direction. Blaze toke advantage of his blind attack and in a swift motion he grabbed his right hoof and toppled him to the dirt. General Hoofs slid across the arena covering his white fur in dirt. He stood up. His anger was fueling his strength. He wasn’t going to let some pegasus humiliate him like that. “Well I think that more than proves that Blaze is fit for combat.” Luna said in hopes that General Hoofs would calm down. Unfortunately the combination of the rumble of the group of guards and the look of cockiness in Blaze’s face didn’t allow him to calm down. Blaze was walking to side of the arena, he stopped when he saw the General looking at him. “Don’t do it.” He thought. And a few seconds later, General Hoofs was charging again. “Oh well… You’re going to wish you hadn’t.” The General changed his tactic and stopped in front of Blaze, he swung his right hoof in Blaze’s direction and he had his left hoof ready for a second attack. Blaze dodged his first hoof but he wasn’t so merciful in the second one: he grabbed his left hoof and, using momentum, he turned him around and grabbed him in a choke hold. They fell to the ground, rustling and kicking. They lifted a cloud of dust. Blaze wasn’t going to lose his strength but General Hoofs was going to lose his breath rather quickly. “Blaze, I think you made your point.” Luna said seeing that the situation was growing out of control. “He… Damn it! He’s still kicking!” Blaze answered as he struggled to maintain his grip. “BLAZE!” Yelled Luna. Hearing the tone in Luna’s voice, Blaze let go of his grip. The general gasped in relief, he bucked in the dirt trying to stand up. But he was tough so in a few seconds he was already walking away hiding his embarrassment. He not only lost in a hoof fight, but he also let his anger get the best of him. “Very well… Since Blaze as proven to be fit for combat, I think it’s only fair that he fights against the best of us.” And with a simple spell she grabbed her halberd. The soldiers that were watching started to cheer, it wasn’t often that they got to see a princess fight. Blaze smiled and asked. “Well I only need my weapon. What do you have for me?” And with another spell Luna brought a shelf full of all kinds of weapons. It had everything from the longest spears to the shortest daggers. Blaze spent a lot of time fighting so he knew witch type of weapon he preferred. But he also spent a long time improving said weapon, it was a real shame that he had to leave it behind. He grabbed a war axe from the shelf, he gave it a few swings. It was far from the perfection of his last war axe but it would do. “You always preferred the sword, finally changed your mind?” Luna never liked the fact that Blaze fought with a sword, it didn’t seem to fit his style of battle. It suited his agility but it was quite underpowered, lacking a staggering effect. “Indeed, it needs a lot of modification but it will do.” He said as he span the axe around with his wings. “Now, I don’t want you to go soft on me. As long as I can fly around, you can use your magic.” Luna agreed with a nod and with a flap of wings she was air born, holding her spear with her magical grip. Blaze followed her up, holding his axe with his hoofs. They were both hovering above the arena looking at each other, spinning their weapons, preparing. The guards’ eyes were glued to those two powerful beings and a small crowed had formed at the entrance of the courtyard. From the inside of the castle, in one of the windows, Celestia watched curiously, but fearful as well. “Ready?” Luna asked as her eyes locked on Blaze’s. “Ready.” And with the confirmation, both of them launched at each other, in a dance of steel bashing against steel. It was an hypnotizing, dance of death of two different but equal powers. The elegant and powerful spear blows Luna stroke were countered by Blaze’s quick and unrelenting axe swipes Blaze displayed. And Blaze’s quick and staggering attacks were ineffective towards the sly alicorn. As they hovered around the arena, trails of dust followed them and even thought this was a beautiful show of skill and technic, it could only end in one way. Blaze clashed his axe against Luna’s spear, and with a flap of his wings he rammed Luna, causing her to lose balance. They both fell to the ground, Blaze was on top of Luna with his axe’s blade touching her neck. “Gotcha!” Blaze smiled victorious. Luna smiled as well and demonstrated how wrong Blaze was. Her spear was right above his head. “Touché…” Blaze acknowledged the draw. Mutual destruction. They were made to fight alongside each other not against each other. Blaze stood up and helped the princess getting up. “You know, some day one of us is going to win.” She said as she leaned against Blaze. As much as Blaze wanted to know who of them was stronger, it was also sad to know that someday they would have no reason to test it. “Someday, yes, but not today.” And he hugged her with his wing. “So… what now?” asked Blaze. “Now I have a present for you. Follow me.” Luna toke him to armory not too far away, and inside was Blaze’s old armor. “When I was rounding up some of the weapons I found this lying on the floor, do you think it still fits you?” It was a bit dusty but a good armor lasted forever. It was made with steel mail, thick leather and the vital parts were also covered with scaled steel. It had the Equestria flag in his right flack and his cutie mark on his left. A steel plate adorned his front, protecting his lower neck; his hoofs and joints were also protected by steel. “Wow… Probably does, but where did you find it?” Blaze finally asked after spending a minute looking at it. “Well, while you were with Celestia I decided to go to the old castle and sure enough it was where I left it.” “Damn… It’s as beautiful as I remember it… But, I got to ask, I know it’s a good piece of armor, but a 1000 years and no rust nor rotting?” "I might have used some spells to fix it.” Luna confessed. “But go on, try it!” With a bit of help of Luna’s magic Blaze dressed his armor. “It’s a bit thigh, but it fits.” He walked around a bit, moving every joint to test it. He placed his axe in the holster and he was ready for combat. “I think you look cute.” Luna commented, with a teasing look. “Cute!? From the whole array of compliments you choose cute?” Luna chuckled. Blaze smiled, he was really lucky to have her by his side. “But for real now, thank you Luna, this really means a lot. When i came back, I hadn’t the slightest clue of what to expect, if you hadn’t vouched for me, I don’t know wha- “Luna placed her wing in his lips silencing him. “I know, you don’t have to thank me.” She smiled and withdrew her wing. “Now, I still need to show you the city, so bring your armor and your axe, so you can get used to carrying all that and, who knows, maybe you’ll have to defend me.” “Defend you? You sure I don’t need to defend everypony from you?” They both smiled. Blaze holstered his axe, made some adjustments in his armor and toke a deep breath. He couldn’t screw up now; the princesses had given him a chance to prove himself so he had to contain his anger. It wasn’t so much a problem of people messing with him, but more of people messing with Luna. And now he had an axe. “Let’s hope no one gets funny ideas…” He thought. They both left the armory and started to walk the streets of Canterlot. From shady, narrow alleys to the luxurious main streets. Everyone where ever they went had their eyes on them. Ponies bowing, cheering or just outright paralyzed by the sight of the Princess of Night. But Luna noticed some stray eyes that refused that temptation and were looking instead at who was accompanying her. She could see the rumors starting to form. As they walked Luna lectured Blaze about the purpose of every major building they came across, every passage and the people they came across. It had been a while since Luna went in a walk like this, she preferred the quiet zones of Equestria but it was nice to vary from time to time. Two pats on her back interrupted her thoughts, it was Blaze. “Keep walking and pretend like I’m not talking.” He was tense, like a cat just before an earthquake. “Three stallions, see them? Right behind us… We stop, they stop… We turn, they turn…” “Blaze… It’s normal that we have some ponies following us… I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more.” Luna tried to calm him down. “There are but… Their different… Leather armor… and I’ve seen that look before...” “Blaze… Look, we’ll do circle, through that quiet street, if they follow you’ll talk to them” “Okay…” “Blaze… Talk okay? No need for anything else.” Luna cemented. They turned to the street and the density of ponies diminished with each steep. When there seemed to be no pony around them, they stopped. Blaze looked back, and sure enough, two unicorns and a pegasus in formation and in leather armor followed them there. Blaze placed his wing on the hilt of his axe just in case. He walked to them and asked. “Good afternoon, is there anything I can assist you with?” The three of them looked at Blaze with disgust in their eyes. “So Nightmare Moon is now recruiting ponies from Tartarus? That’s right! We know all about you, and your dark lord! You can drop the act!” One of them yelled. Blaze jaw just dropped. He looked back at Luna who had her hoof covering her face. Luna had herd some rumors that a group was lurking Canterlot that believed that she was still Nightmare Moon and was controlling Celestia. She was more embarrassed than anything. Blaze, on the other hand, was plain confused. “Hum… Sure, I might have come from Tartarus… I understand that that might cause some… insecurity, but… I’m pretty sure Nightmare Moon was banished a couple years ago, And Princess Luna here… not evil, probably.” Yes, Blaze saw the embarrassment of Luna and he was managing to joke a bit about the whole situation. “SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTH! If you thought you could deceive us all you were wrong! The Light Ponies see through your shadowy lies! We will NOT let you bring darkness into Equestria!” As they yelled their last words, they teleported their weapons and charged against Blaze and the princess. Luna seeing the magic flash started to teleport her spear and armor. “Oh, for the love of…” Was the only thing Blaze managed to say. Blaze waited for them to get close. One of the unicorns was running straight at him with a dagger floating in front of his head. With one move, Blaze ducked, grabbed his axe with his right wing and as he rotated to the left he lifted his wing and axe striking his foe in the head, shattering his skull. Blood and bone shards squirted from the impact. Using the momentum he gained, Blaze turned to face his next opponent, grabbed his axe with his front hoofs and lifted up and started to fly towards the pegasus, also armed with an axe. The pegasus tried to strike Blaze as he was closing the distance. Blaze stopped, dodged the attack and punished him for trying anything else than surrendering. He bashed against the pegasus making him fall, and before he had time to pick up his axe, Blaze fell from the skies carving his axe in his skull. Only then Luna’s spell ended she teleported next to the remaining pony. When she was about to stab him with her spear, he stopped. He was in shock, his magic failing to hold his sword. “Why… why would they attack…” Blaze muttered as he walked towards Luna. His axe was dragging across the floor. “I had to Luna… Don’t send me back… They were going to…” Luna looked at him. “Blaze… you did your job… there was no other way. And of course I’m not sending you back!” Blaze holstered his axe, and looked at the two bodies on the floor. The blood was starting to flow down the street. “What a mess… What were they hoping to achieve?” Luna wasn’t listening. She was looking at the unicorn in front of her. Paralyzed… As soon as it saw the unicorn dying, he couldn’t move. She removed the sword from its magic field and dropped it on the floor. “We should call the guards or something…” Blaze informed. “Their coming… I took the armor so they’re probably racing here” Luna assured. Luna turned to face Blaze. He had sprays of blood covering his face. His wings were shaking. “Hey…” Blaze looked at her; she took a step and hugged him. “Thank you, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have seen them and… Whoever they follow, they’ll think twice before doing anything like this…” She could feel his rapid heartbeat slowing down. “I hope so… And I hope Tia sees that there was no other way of dealing with this.” “Don’t worry about her… You protected me… She’ll see that” In the distance you could hear the rumbling of guards trotting towards them. Blaze stepped away from the hug. “Well… Cavalry is here. You’ll do the talking okay?” Luna nodded. But what she saw next surprised her. Her sister, Princess Celestia, fully armored and armed leading a group of five guards, running towards them. “Sister?” “Luna! Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Celestia was dead worried and strategically placed herself between her and Blaze. “Yes… three stallions tried to… But Blaze was ready. Thanks to him I didn’t even had to fight.” Celestia calmed down. She couldn’t control her emotions and ran towards Blaze and hugged him. “Thank you…” Blaze was surprised to say the least. “So where are the… Oh…“ She was looking for the attackers and she found two of them. She looked at Blaze amazed. Then she started giving orders to the guards. “Hum… You two. Clean the streets and bring the bodies to the cemetery.” “Yes, princess” They rushed to the location of the bodies. “You said there were three, where is the other one?” Celestia asked. Blaze pointed to a pony sitting with his back against the wall, eyes wide opened, focused on nothing. “He’s been like that since… well, since the first one died.” Luna explained. “I have no idea why they thought attacking an alicorn was a good idea…” Blaze was still confused. Celestia toke a closer look at the paralyzed pony in front of her. She hadn’t seen someone in that state since Sombra’s time. She ordered one of the remaining guards to escort him to the dungeon, and the others to keep curious ponies of that street. She noticed one of the guards that were cleaning up was struggling to not puke. She didn’t blame him, none of her guards had had a real fight in a long time. “We should head back to the castle and clean ourselves.” When Celestia hugged Blaze she failed to realize him and his armor were a bit bloody. And with that, Luna and Celestia started casting their teleportation magic, not forgetting about Blaze of course. They teleported into the corridor of the two princesses rooms. “I need a shower… Where can I take one?” Indeed he needed it, his axe was still slowly dripping blood. “You can use my bathroom, I only need to clean my armor.” Luna said without hesitation. Celestia on the other hand, still gave a funny look at Luna, but she let it pass. “I’ll come with you I also need to clean mine” And they trotted to Celestia’s room. Blaze was left alone for the first time since the attack, he sighed… he slowly started walking to Luna’s room. The adrenaline was finally kicking off, he started to feel the filth in is fur and mane, the sweat forming a layer between him and his armor and his muscles finally relaxing. He opened Luna’s room and entered for the first time in her intimacy. Her room was tidy as always. The dark blue sheets in her bed, the low lighting and dark wallpaper contrasting with the bright white decorations, even the darker color of her quill, it all screamed her name. Blaze headed towards the opened bathroom door trying his hardest not to soil the floor. He entered, closed the door and looked at the mirror. His face was bloody, bits of gore were stuck to his fur and mane. He sighed. Blaze started to unbuckle his armor to clean it. Was he the bad guy here? He started to wonder. No, he did what he had to do, there was no other way. He kept telling himself that. But his doubts kept coming, questioning his every move. He needed to get in the shower. After he cleansed his armor of blood, he stepped into the bathtub and turned on the shower. The cold water made his whole body shiver and distracted him from his thoughts. After a long shower, he stepped into Luna’s room dragging his armor. He felt he wasn’t alone in the room. “Let me get that for you.” It was Luna. With a cyan glow, Luna grabbed his armor and set it on an armor stand in a corner of the room. “Oh, didn’t know you were here.” “Well, it’s my room.” She smiled, and sat on her bed Blaze walked up to her and sat next to her. “So, does Tia want me to spend some days on the dungeon or what?” Blaze asked, with a bit of humor in his question. “No, she was just a bit worried of your “excessive” force and that I need to keep my eyes on you, but she seems to be accepting you presence.” “I hope so…” There were a few seconds of silence. “Doesn’t it bother you… your feathers are like… sorry, I just…” Indeed her wings were in need of preening. Luna blushed a bit “Well… I can preen them before going to bed.” A bit of shyness was showing in her voice. “Let me do it.” “Blaze, you don’t need too…” But before she could do anything, Blaze had already moved behind her. She extended her left wing, Blaze started nibbling her feathers into the right place. After testing Blaze and the long day she really needed it, and she couldn’t deny that Blaze knew what he was doing. She could feel his every move, every feather being put in his place. Her breath was getting heavy. A rush of magic flooded the world. The Sun was coming down. “Hope you don’t mind I need to raise the moon.” Luna informed. “If you want I can wait…” “No! Hum… You can keep… doing it.” Now Luna’s cheeks were bright red. She raised an ethereal cyan glow with her horn and the sunset began. Blaze continued her preening. He could feel Luna’s heartbeat slightly raising as his rose. Everything Luna felt was carried to her spell, she knew that tonight’s night sky was going to be beautiful. Then she felt a touch on her back, very close to her neck. She turned her head to see what Blaze was doing and found his eyes looking at hers. Blaze moved closer and Luna turned to face him. Their snouts touched and a second later their lips sealed. A thousand year old passion had been reawakened. Luna’s magical glow was brighter than ever and in the already beautiful night sky an astonishing aurora had formed. Blaze hugged Luna tight; both their wings were flared opened as they shared this passionate kiss. When the moon was firmly in place and the stars were shimmering with passion, Luna’s spell ended and so did their kiss. “I missed you so much…” Luna said with a tear rolling down her eye. She tightened the hug. “I’m here now.” Blaze consoled. They prolonged that hug for what seemed to be an eternity, until a knock on the door interrupted them. “Yes?” The princess asked. “Just a reminder that dinner is going to be served shortly, your highness.” A shy maid answered from then outside of the door. “Thank you, I’ll be down shortly” Blaze moved to her side and hugged her with his wing, Luna rested her head on his shoulder. “Your sister is probably waiting for us, we shouldn’t keep her waiting.” “I know.” They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before getting out of the bed. They walked to dining room and indeed Celestia was there waiting. “There you are. I wanted to congratulate you on the beautiful night sky you raised today.” She had her teasing face on. “Well… Thank you… I…” They were both blushing. “You don’t have to say anything.” She giggled. As dinner went by the awkwardness faded away. Celestia told them that the prisoner they made was still not talking and that the streets were already full of Luna’s new body guard rumors. But at the end of dinner another topic came up. “Oh, and Blaze, our guest room is ready for you.” “Hum… Tia, I was thinking… Blaze could, maybe, stay in my room.” Celestia almost didn’t recognize her sister with that much shyness in her voice. Celestia hesitated for a moment. “Well in light of recent events, I think Blaze as earned our trust, for now. So yes that’s an option.” “Thank you Tia. I know how hard this whole situation is for you and I understand your lack of trust in me. I just hope we all can get through this. Just like back in the day.” That brought a smile even to Celestia. “Now I need to go finish some work, if you excuse me, goodnight.” “Good night Tia” Luna and Blaze went to their room. Luna opened the door of the room, toke of her shoes and crown and went to the balcony. Blaze followed her. He placed his wing on Luna holding her tight. They were both looking at stars. Luna turned her gaze towards Blaze. His orange eyes focused on the aurora. She kissed his neck, Blaze turned his head and complied with a kiss bringing life to the night above them. Celestia was almost falling face first into her desk, it was probably time to finish her work. She put down the candle that was sitting in her desk and jumped to her bed. My little sister is growing up, she thought. She wasn’t a filly anymore. But she was still her little sister and having Blaze around her… She still felt there was something not right… But Luna was happy with him. And he seemed to only want the best for her. Her thoughts grew numb, and she fell asleep. Author's Note And another chapter done! Exams and some other issues delayed this, but its here. Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 4A stray bolt of sunlight managed to contour the curtains, forming oblique light columns inside the room. Small particles of dust floated around the air. A blinding cyan glow interrupted the relaxing light show that had just begun. Blaze closed his eyes and rolled over, shielding his eyes from the magical glow. “Sorry… didn’t mean to wake you…” Said Luna with her eyes fighting to stay open but still managing to bring the moon down. Blaze rolled over again and faced Luna. She was already sitting in bed while he was still unsure if he was awake. Luna’s spell ended and she wasted no time in lying down again. Blaze cuddled her, burring his face in her ethereal mane. It was like her own personal universe. Then he proceeded to kiss her. “Morning.” He muttered still in the full grasp of the bed’s enchantment. Luna giggled but she only woke up sensing her sister magic. They stayed in each other embrace for at least half an hour. “The ceremony is this morning.” Luna said as her brain slowly woke up. “Can’t it wait?” Blaze responded while holding Luna in his hoofs. “You can stay a bit more in bed, I’ll shower first.” She said as she got up. Blaze watched as she struggled to leave the bed. Almost tripping in her own hoofs. He smirked. “Shut up!” Luna embarrassingly protested as she noticed Blaze’s smirk. She entered the bathroom. Blaze let his head fall in the pillow. He was back. He stared blankly at the ceiling with a smile on his face. The air on the room was a bit heavy but that wasn’t bothering him. He loved Luna’s smell. The perfumes were good and all, but her natural smell, that almost nopony notices, was almost hypnotic in a way. But the room definitely needed to be freshened before the maids arrived. His calm state was altered as he remembered the ceremony. After it, he was officially back where he once stood: by the side of both princesses. But he was going to be in front of every eye in Canterlot. And he certainly lacked social skills. Blaze got up, still fighting sleep, opened the window and went to the balcony. He stood there feeling the morning breeze slowly awakening him, as did all of Equestria. The bathroom door opened. “You can come.” Luna called, already ready for the celebration. She was wearing a discreet and elegant dress adorned with moonstone Blaze entered the room, and looked at Luna. “You look beautiful.” He said with a smile from ear to ear. “Thank you. You need a shower, no offence.” She said with a teasing look. “Yeah, yeah.” Blaze muttered as he stumbled to the bathroom. But before he could be mad about it, Luna stepped close to him and kissed him. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds. Luna stepped aside and Blaze went to the bathroom. No words were spoken but so much was said. “Oh Blaze, I really hope everything goes smoothly…” She thought. She opened the bedroom door and standing in the hallway was her sister. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t scare you, did I?” “Tia? No, just surprised me.” Luna answered with a curious look. “What where you doing here?” “Just waiting for you. How’s Blaze?” “He’s showering.” Only then she noticed the Gala dress Celestia was wearing. “Tia? Don’t you think that’s too much?” Celestia did like to “overreact” when it comes to ceremonies. “Everypony in Canterlot is coming and some boutiques were kind enough to send me some dresses to the occasion.” Celestia looked at Luna “You look beautiful, Lulu. It’s been a while since I saw you with that dress.” “Well… It’s been a while since I was in love…” Luna shyly smiled. Celestia shared her smile. And hugged her. “You sure Blaze is ready for all of this?” Luna could see through her sister’s question and broke the hugged. “Tia…” “I’m just worried Luna… What if…” “No ifs Tia! You promised… Look I trust Blaze with my life. Now more than ever. If you still have doubts about him, can’t you trust me?” Luna was almost begging her sister. “I’m sorry… Of course, I trust you. It’s just… It’s just… you’re still my little sister… And I worry…” Luna didn’t let her finish and hugged her. Luna’s room door opened and from inside a stallion in shining armor stepped out. Blaze was already ready with his armor on and axe holstered. “Good enough?” Blaze asked nervously. “Even I have to admit that you look good in armor.” Celestia surprisingly commented. “Wow! If you say so I must look amazing.” Blaze joked. “You do.” Luna added. Luna stepped closer to Blaze to adjust some parts of is armor. “You look so cute together.” Celestia admitted. “Again, what is it with you two calling me cute? How about awesome or something like that?” Both sisters shared a laugh. “We have to go, our counselor wants to make sure everything is perfect.” And all of them started to trot towards the exterior courtyard. Blaze’s heart sped up with each step. When they opened the doors to the preparation room, they could already hear the commotion outside. The door was open waiting for somepony to step forward into the stage. A couple of maids surrounded each princess, making sure every hair was where it should be and if every gold button was in the right place. One maid looked at Blaze like a judge evaluating a painting. She made sure every strap was correctly placed and even polished some parts of the armor. The counselor gave the maids a nod and they withdrew from their jobs. He turned to the princesses. “They’re waiting for you, princesses. When you’re ready.” He walked up to Blaze. “Good luck, from the stories I’ve heard in these two days alone, Equestria will earn a powerful ally.” With the nerves controlling him, Blaze only could reply with a nod. The counselor withdrew from the room as did the maids. Both princesses smiled at Blaze before stepping into stage. Trumpets started to play, and all of Canterlot cheered at the sight of the princesses. For Blaze, it was like time stopped. His heart beat at the pace of the princesses. He looked through the door to see the crowd and it was a thing of beauty. But little did he know it was about to become his worst nightmare. “Mares and Gentlecolts!” Shouted princess Celestia in cheerful tone. The cheering stopped as everypony’s senses focused on the princess. “We have gathered here today to introduce Canterlot to a new soldier, and a very old friend of ours.” Celestia stepped back and let her sister continue. “Some of you might already have seen him, and we are also here to explain some of the rumors that have been circling around, but rest assured he is one the most trust worthy ponies around.” Celestia explained the rest. “It is true that this pony came from Tartarus.” The crowd gasped almost simultaneous and rumbling of murmurs started. But it was nothing compared to the royal voice of Celestia. “Yes, but he wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place!” A lone tear managed to break Celestia’s façade. “This is one story that no one here learned or heard about… I, in my selfish behavior, banished him to Tartarus…” The silence that followed was breathtaking. “I regret my actions and I’ve learned from my mistakes but more importantly my sister as forgiven me.” Although they were still shocked the impatience was growing out of bounds. And Luna noticed. She took a step forward and placed her wing on top of Celestia to comfort her. Celestia smiled and toke a step back letting Luna finish the speech. “I did forgive my sister; everyone has a bad day. But this pony, despite everything, still came back to us, forgave us for everything and pledge to protect us once again, and his name is Blaze!” Hearing his name, Blaze stepped outside with his heart. Everypony’s eyes deviated from Luna to the armored shadow that stepped into stage. The atmosphere rose thicker with insecurity as the stripped Pegasus walked in the direction of the princesses, but someponies cheered, others just observed with their curious eyes; but one thing everyone was doing, was judging his every step. “Before the banishment, Blaze was our personal guard. And thats what we are here for.” Luna continued. Blazed stopped right by the princesses’ side waiting for orders. “From this day forward Blaze is the highest-ranking soldier in all of Equestria. He does not command troops, he will accompany us not as a guard but as a friend. Many of you may have witnessed his strength, or the results of it, but I assure you he is docile.” That seemed to lightened up the mood of everypony. Except for Blaze who would give his wing to get out of that stage. His old habits were still showing. His wing was rested on the handle of the holstered axe expecting someone to jump at him at any time, he was always looking around but everywhere he looked there were eyes looking straight at him. It couldn’t get worst, could it? “But who better to tell you about Blaze than Blaze himself?” Luna stepped back and signaled Blaze. Blaze’s heart just fell, he looked at Luna, as if she was sending him to a lava pit. Luna could see the panic in Blaze’s heart, but he needed to do this so she gave him a “Go on.” kind of look. Blaze stepped forward. He looked at massive crowed in front of him. And started to speak. “Huuuuuuuuuuuuum…” But that was all the sound his mouth could generate. Celestia was desperately trying not to giggle and Luna was fighting to keep her hoof from hitting her face. “So… Yes, my name is Blaze… hum…” Every single cell in Blaze’s body was focusing on what to say so he could get the hell out of there. “You probably have a lot of questions… What about we answer a few?” He did it! He said a full sentence! Not the greatest but certainly not the worst. Every single pony raised his hoof. A drop of sweet dropped from his face. Blaze pointed to a young colt who was in the front row. “How old are you?” The innocent little colt asked. A majority of the ponies nodded in a consented way. “Well… Time is not the same in Tartarus… you stop aging in fact… but it has been… a thousand years or so since I was born.” Blaze was finally calming down. The colt’s eyes were as wide as the moon, and a rumbling of surprise formed. “Don’t worry, I didn’t expect to last that long either. Next one.” Again, a wave of hoofs lifted up. Blaze signaled a mare in the second row. “I have two questions… is that okay?” Celestia recognized that voice. Blaze nodded. “How did you get to befriend the princesses?” “Well… I was abandoned, right after I was born and I was left in the sisters’ castle. Fortunately, the princesses were in a good mood and decided to take care of me.” The mare seemed satisfied with the answer. But then, she let out a smirk. “You have told us that you are a close friend to the princesses, but… how close are your relations with Luna?” That was Pink Strides, writer of the magazine with the same name, who specialized, well… on this. Celestia was also once a target, that was why she recognized her voice. Blaze had no words to respond with, and many other ponies were also amazed at such audacity. But they were all waiting for a response. “Well…” Blaze looked at Luna in despair. Although Blaze’s fur was dark grey the blood rushing to his cheeks was hardly hiding. But his soldier posture wasn’t easily broken. Luna stepped forward just simply said. “May I remind you I reign in the plain of dreams?” “No… Your highness, no need.” And with her tail between her legs, Pink Strides retreated into the depths of the crowd. “Well, with all of the presentations done, and a few doubts cleared, I wish every pony a good day.” And with the crowed still cheering behind them, the princesses and Blaze stepped out of stage into the privacy of the castle. Blaze collapsed to the ground and muttered. “Why...” “It wasn’t that bad.” Said Celestia in either a mocking or comforting tone. Blaze couldn’t distinguish. Luna lifted Blaze of the ground. And hugged him. “You did great. If it wasn’t for that one pony everything would have gone smoothly.” “Sure but I still looked like a fool.” “Blaze. You had a rough start but you climbed out of it.” Luna broke the hug and looked at him. “And I think I have a thing that will sheer you up.” Luna smiled, and reveled an axe with her magic. Blaze just stood there looking at it. “So, with everything you told me about your “perfect” axe, I went to the forge master and I think he made a good job.” Blaze grabbed the axe with his wing. His mouth was wide open. He gave it a few swings. Analyzed it. And just looked at it. “The handle is made with ebony wood, it has the… grips you told me about. I was skeptical about the curvature on it but the forge master knew exactly what it was. And the blade… You never told me what it was made with but I trusted him with that choice.” Luna smiled. Blaze was still just looking at it. “So what do you think?” Luna asked. “It’s just like it… I mean the materials are a bit different, but the balance and everything… Perfect.” Luna’s smile rose. Blaze removed his old axe from the holster and replaced it with the new one. “How?” “Well we knew we couldn’t remake a perfect weapon, but that’s nothing a few enchantments can’t solve.” Celestia spoke out of nowhere. “You were a part of this too?” “Just a little gift.” Celestia said. “Oh, and one of the blacksmiths was really curious what you made your axe blade out of, since we know so little of Tartarus.” Blaze laughed. “Well… It was made out of the hipbone of something really large and nasty. It’s a great story.” Luna’s eyes widened. “Yes, but first lunch Luna.” Celestia quickly said knowing her sister would happily sit there for hours listening to monster stories. “Oh, yes. Food is good.” Blaze agreed. They walked up to the dining area where lunch was already waiting for them. No matter how bad of a day, or in this case morning, you had a meal with your best companions with some unbelievable stories always manages to cheer a pony up. Blaze didn’t even remember to take of his armor. Some hours passed. “So, what’s there to do this afternoon?” Blaze asked. “Well, I’m going to try to calm things down in Canterlot, and maybe pay miss Pink Strides a visit.” Celestia answered. “I’ll go and see if our prisoner is a bit more talkative today. Want to join?” Luna invited. “I would love too. But I think I’ll go to Ponyville.” Blaze could feel the pressure of the princesses’ eyes. No one really knew what to say. “Hum… It’s one more opportunity to test the armor and I’ll get to know the village. And… Of course…” “Yes… You know where it is?” Luna tried to break the tension. “Yes I think I can find a village.” Blaze joked. “You two try not get yourself into trouble while I’m gone.” Blaze said, as he was getting ready to leave. Celestia approached Blaze. “Blaze, can you-” Celestia tried to ask before Blaze read her mind. “I will try my best.” And with that said Blaze left the room and stepped outside the castle. He flared his wings and lifted off towards Ponyville. It was the best kind of release, flight. And even though the armor was weighing him down, he was truly free. Dodging clouds and the occasionally fly by near the forests. He could see Canterlot grow smaller behind him and the wilderness augmenting in front of him. And after a few minutes, he could see the vast apple orchards and the small village, Ponyville. The massive crystal castle was like a land lighthouse. Blaze didn’t want to go straight to it. He wanted to walk around the village first. He saw a small bridge near the borders of the village and, with a puff of dust, he landed. And already some ponies’ eyes were staring at him. But it was nothing like in Canterlot. First, there were only two or three, and second, it was a curious and inviting kind of stare. He started to walk towards the village center. As he walked by, he watched the country life he had forgotten that still existed. Ponies talking, buying food, fillies playing, no rushes. And the occasional stare of course. As he walked in the dirt roads he saw a building that contrasted with the rustic houses: A floating cloud house! If he remembered his history lessons that should be Rainbow Dash’s house. But his attention was drawn to something else. A little dragon scurrying through the dirt roads. And once the dragon saw Blaze it jumped and started to run away. Blaze let out a single laugh and decided to follow the dragon. Blaze followed the dragon to the other side of town into a lonely house surrounded by animals. He could hear ponies inside. As he walked up to the house all the animals hid in their little houses and shelters. Blaze knocked. He could hear the steps of the dragon running to open the door. The dragon opened the door and as soon as it saw him he jumped behind the legs of a purple pony and a yellow pony in the back, with a squeaky sound, simply vanished. Blaze looked at the purple pony and sure enough it was the alicorn of Friendship. “Twilight… That’s him…” Trembled the little dragon. “Sorry for coming unannounced princess.” Blaze bowed. “Blaze?... How did you find me?” Twilight was confused. “Well, how many ponies have a dragon pet?” Blaze smiled at the dragon. “Twilight? You know him?” “He’s… He’s a friend Spike.” And with that Spike, cautiously, stepped behind twilight. “How are you doing? Can we talk?” Blaze asked. “Yes, of course. Hum… Fluttershy, you can come down, he’s a friend.” Twilight tried to calm her down. But the only thing that resulted was a muffled, high pitched noise. “How about you and Spike go for a walk while I talk with Blaze.” That seemed to work. The yellow pegasus grabbed Spike and flew out of the house as fast she could. “Sorry about that, it’s not often that a fully armored pony comes knocking.” “No problem, I’m used to it.” They just looked at each other for a couple of seconds. “How are you doing?” Blaze finally asked. “Fine. You know, everything is... fine.” Twilight might be good at many things, but lying is not one of them. Blaze just looked at her. “What do you want me to say?...” Twilight just collapsed on the chair. “I know you don’t really know me, but we are going through a lot right now… And you can speak with me.” “I just… How could Celestia have done this?” Twilight was constantly swinging from anger to sadness. Blaze knew exactly what Twilight was going through but he wanted to fix it, not feed the fire. “Twilight, everyone makes mistakes and bad choices some time in their life, even Celestia.” “Yeah but… I… The worst part is that she thinks she’s right… Even after seeing what it caused…” Blaze stood in silence, not knowing to say. “I looked up to her for so long… And now…” That triggered Blaze. “You want to know a secret? Celestia looks up to you. She sees in you everything she wants to be.” Twilight looked in disbelief, and before she could say anything, Blaze continued. “And I’ve only known you for a couple of days and I already know this, so think about it.” Blaze sat close to Twilight and hugged her with his wing. “You are the Princess of Friendship, so tell me, isn’t friendship about forgiveness? And who his worthier of a second chance than Celestia?” Twilight rested her head on Blaze’s chest. Her whole body was covered by his wing. Like a filly hiding underneath the blankets. “You’re right… I just need time to think this through.” “And time you’ll have.” Twilight’s tears had dried up. “Now come on, staying in here is not going to do you any good. How about you introduce me to the rest of the saviors of Equestria” Blaze smiled. And that also managed to put a smile in Twilight’s face. “Sounds good, besides, if we stay like this for much longer Luna is going to kill me.” Twilight joked. That hit Blaze like a train. “Wow, news travel fast.” His cheeks were starting to heat up. “So it is true! Eheheh!” She was giggling and jumping like a filly. Blaze’s face was as red as it could be. He had fallen for it. “Okay, okay that’s enough. Can we go?” “Yes of course!” They left Fluttershy’s cottage, towards Ponyville. Twilight continued giggling for the entire afternoon. It was a funny feeling seeing Blaze leave to Ponyville. She just wanted to grab him. She couldn’t lose him again. But Luna controlled herself. She stayed near the window seeing him fly away. Her sister left the room. Blaze was now a mere dot in the sky. Luna stayed there for a little longer hoping he would come back, but after a couple of minutes she gave up and left the window. She began making her way to the dungeon, through the narrow corridors of the castle. Her steps echoing down the stairwell announcing her arrival. The guard that was stationed there bowed. “So, how is our prisoner doing?” Asked Luna. “He has improved, your majesty. He is already able to talk.” “Good. Could you leave us alone?” “Of course your majesty.” The guard left the dungeon. Luna opened the cell door and against the opposite wall was a light green unicorn with a brown mane. She couldn’t see his cutiemark. Luna walked into the cell in silence, followed by her ethereal tail. She closed the door and sat in front of the unicorn. “Good afternoon. I think you know why I’m here.” “To transform me into a mindless drone to power your army? To chain me here until I root? OR to gut me like your friend did to the others?” The unicorn shouted. Luna conjured a spell that surrounded the unicorns head with a cyan aura and collapsed into his horn. “What was that?” The unicorn demanded to know. “Astonishing… No mind control spells. You really believe all those stories…” Luna maintained a neutral face but her mind was blown. The unicorn tried to speak but Luna’s voice overpowered his. “So, what else do they tell you about me?” The unicorn face was confused but in his eyes, was hatred. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that you are Nightmare Night, that you plan to over throne Celestia and bring darkness to Equestria!!” A dark aura started to raise around Luna. “Well I can tell you that nothing of that is true, I’m actually a nice pony once you get to know me.” Luna stood up. “But they forgot a small detail. I’m nice to whom is in my side. The ones against me? Well…” Luna levitated a dagger that the unicorn had hidden in the cell. And in an instant, she crushed it and turned it into red hot liquid metal and let it drip to floor. The unicorn was sweating. The hatred replaced by fear. “Let’s just say that you don’t want to be in their side.” Luna stepped close to the unicorn. He could only see Luna’s face and her mane circling him. “So tell me. Are you with me? Or…” For a quick second a darker version talked. One that only legends talked about. “Against us?” Luna stepped back. “And before you answer our next question, keep in mind that death is a relief in our world… But in dreams… Death is… much more real.” Luna sat and asked “Who ordered the attack?” Celestia spent most of the time inside the castle and there were few times for her to admire it. The jewel of Canterlot, standing tall in all of its glory. And it seemed even more welcoming after that horrendous visit to Pink Strides. She had prepared a full argument in her head to put to shame her acts, but as soon as she knocked on her door, Pink Strides was already bowing, almost kissing her hoofs, begging for forgiveness. And, of course, her forgiving natured kicked in, but that didn’t stop Celestia from lecturing her on social conducts. And after, some warnings and promises. She was already leaving. Celestia walked around the city, admiring it, and making sure that Pink Strides didn’t cause any troubles. The city, the ponies, everything was still the same… Life goes on. It was like nothing really happened. She started making her way to the castle. The guards opened the gates of the castle with a bow, letting the princess in. Although it could be quite monotonous, the castle life suited Celestia. She walked up the staircase that led to a balcony that looked over the main courtyard. All the walls were decorated with paintings and portraits of great ponies. Most of them forgotten, lost in memories, but all leaving a mark in history and a weight in Celestia’s soul. Celestia rarely had time for herself, and after Blaze’s return she felt like she didn’t even have time to breath. She lost a great friend and almost her sister. All because of… She didn’t know… Her heart says it’s Blaze, her mind says Blaze isn’t trust wordy; but the whole world seems to disagree with her. But her sister is the heaviest argument. She trusted her sister with everything. And if she trusted Blaze what could she do? The evening sky was calming, peaceful. The wind was bringing a cold breeze to contrast the warm sun. But Celestia’s mind was too cluttered with doubts for her to notice. After all she was the ruler of Equestria, her heart was never wrong… But her sister was her weakness. The cold sound of marble being stepped on waked her up. “Mind if I join you?” Celestia turned her head in an ambiguous move to identify the pony. “Of course, I was just catching up with myself. Lately I haven’t really had the chance.” Celestia answered Blaze, with a smile. “Did you go talk to that loud mouth?” Blaze asked as he walked towards the guard-rail. Celestia sighed and joined Blaze, admiring the city. “I think I never saw somepony give up so easily as she did. Sometimes it would be nice to actually have an argument with good arguments. Instead, all I had was a child who played with fire and got burnt.” Blaze smiled in agreement. The city movement was slowly settling. The tones starting to change from the yellowish white to dark orange leaving a warm atmosphere despite the cold breeze. “She forgave you.” Blaze let go of the weight. “W-What?” Celestia almost jumped. “Twilight. She forgave you. She was more confused than anything else. You are almost a second mother to her and she expected you to share the truth, no matter how hard it was.” Blaze could feel the words getting stuck in Celestia’s throat. He turned to face her. “But she’s hurt. And it is going to be hard to win her back. But she is willing to give you a chance.” With nothing else managing to escape her mouth, Celestia let go of her façade. “Thank you…” Celestia hugged Blaze, her eyes already watery. “No need, I didn’t do anything. You too love each other too much to let a single pony get in your way.” Blaze said jokingly. Celestia broke the hug with a laugh. “And Luna, have you seen her? Did she manage to get anything from the prisoner?” “No, I haven’t seen her yet…” Celestia answered. They both looked at each other with horror in their eyes. “She’s going to kill him.” Blaze realized as both of them started to trot towards the dungeon. “She wouldn’t be that merciful.” Celestia concluded. They sprinted towards the stairwell only to find her in the main hall walking towards them. “Hum… What’s the hurry?” Luna innocently asked? “Please tell me you didn’t kill him.” Blaze asked. “Luna, I don’t want to give another speech explaining the screams coming from our castle, please tell me you were a bit more reasonable.” Luna took a step back with all of that. “First of all, why do you always assume this every time you leave me alone with someone. Second, why does it seem that most of the time you two agree with each other as to do with my… way with ponies…” “Okay, sorry, how did it go?” Blaze asked still catching his breath. “Very well, I know their leaders and the location of their headquarters.” Luna answered full of pride and a smile from ear to ear. “And the poor prisoner?” Luna scratched her ear. “To be fair, we did warn him and gave him plenty of opportunities to talk… he brought it to himself.” Luna had a guilty look, like a child that had misbehaved. “Lulu…” Celestia enforced. “Well… we did get a new record… Five nightmares, both ending in different yet equally traumatic and painful deaths… And he still wouldn’t tell us what we wanted! So, the more traditional method was applied, with success! And we didn’t forget to use sound barriers. This time…” “Luna, you know how that “we” makes me feel…” Celestia remembered darker times. “Sorry… I’m sorry.” Luna hugged her sister. “It’s me.” Blaze was still stuck on something though. “I only got through three… how…” “He was tough. Since birth he was educated to hate me. There was no magic, no spells just… brainwashing.” Luna helped clearing Blaze’s mind. “And how is he, after all of this?” Luna looked almost ashamed. “He is not talking again… maybe there was a friendlier way of doing it.” Luna admitted. “Doesn’t matter those who try to hurt you must pay.” Celestia finally let go of one of her demons, while hugging her sister. “Oh! And…” Luna remembered. “Blaze did it… Twilight is giving me another chance.” Celestia smiled. “Again, I didn’t-“ “Oh shut up!” Celestia yelled as she pulled Blaze to the hug using her magic.” Actions speak louder than words. And that suited Blaze, although he could surprise with some of his speeches, he felt more comfortable doing the right thing than saying the right sentence. The doubts were still in the air, but they were just a rainy cloud looking over a sunny day, any pegasus could go there and push it away. Both princesses started working in bringing the night to bear. They ate, talked. The moon was high already. Celestia, for once, fell asleep peacefully while Luna and blaze cuddled each other to sleep. But while Blaze’s body was asleep, his mind was far from it. “Luna!!??” Blaze asked as he saw himself in a very familiar place. The stench of sulfur and rotten meat identified the place as Tartarus. He was back. His heart beating in his mouth at the speed of trotting horses. He looked at every angle looking for the nightmare that chased him ever since he stepped hoof there. But as he saw the shadow covering him, he knew it was too late. He turned to try to defend himself. But with a powerful roar and a painful goodbye, he was back in his bed, covered in sweat. “Shhhh, it’s just a nightmare, calm down” Luna was hugging him as tight as she could, feeling his heavy breath pushing her mane back and his heart punching her chest. She petted him and kissed him in hopes he would respond. And he did. His hoof crawled around her bringing her closer. “I’m sorry… There are nightmares I can’t touch… I’m- “ Blaze stopped her with a passion filled kiss. “You’re here. That’s all I need.” His breath still heavy. Luna cradled him to sleep. Behind the thick walls of a warrior, Blaze was still an orphan colt begging for love. Luna stayed awake until Blaze was calm, digging her muzzle through his thick mane. She could see tiny scars all over his body. Whatever happened in Taratarus broke him harder than Celestia ever could. As soon as Blaze settled. Luna closed her eyes and joined her lover.
Chapter 5Life is a monotonous cycle. For most ponies, that is. And even though life with the princesses added excitement to that cycle, it was a cycle nevertheless. So much so that even adventures and fights seemed to belong in said cycle. And, like everypony else, it’s when you give way to the cycle that… well, the cycle breaks. Celestia invited me to go with her to settle some business with a rogue group of griffons who demanded some land for themselves. Celestia always tried to talk some sense into rogue groups, but when they start to pillage villages and killing innocent ponies, the Sun awakens. I didn’t even need to draw my sword. I walked back looking at the sky and probably made some joke. I looked at Celestia. I will never forget that look. Anger. Disgust. I thought it was the joke but before I could say anything her horn lite up with a yellow glow, stronger than the sun itself. It focused on me. And I was taken away. The spell took me to someplace badly lit with a stench of sulfur and rot. The disorientation of such a powerful teleportation spell was enough to bring me down, but in combination with that stench, it took a lot of mental power not to puke. When I finally found enough strength to stand up, I looked around. An underpowered magical light source kept an uncomfortable and unpleasant atmosphere. Now the questions were starting to sink in. Why?... Where? But I knew where I was… Deep down I always knew. But I didn’t believe Celestia could do this to me. So, I wandered. Walked in the shadows, exploring, looking for something to prove me wrong. I felt something following me. Looking at me. But I turned around and there was nothing. I kept going. I heard some voices and I followed the sound. But to my surprise, there were no sources. I must have spent months before I found an actual being. I thought I was dead… Doomed to wander alone for the rest of eternity. But when I found someone, I knew I was in Tartarus… Because… I was there when Celestia sent him here. Some sort of sentient dog that was bringing terror to villages. The spell took my armor and my sword so it wasn’t like I could just go to him and... And do what? I was stuck in Tartarus, I couldn’t do anything to escape… I could only survive. A lot of Tartarus was still a mystery to me, but from the months I spent wandering, I learned that I didn’t need to feed, drink or apparently, breathe since I ran and my breath seemed to remain constant. So, surviving was a bit easier. But I still didn’t know if I could die. I decided that he could give me some answers. He had a little camp with a campfire and some sort of fur where maybe he could sleep. I sneaked around using his fire against him. I managed to grab his sword before he could even see me. I stood up and almost immediately he turned around and tried to punch me but I already had his sword in his neck. “Don’t!” I advised. I will never forget the look on his face. “It can’t be… Blaze, a royal knight, in Tartarus? Ah! You are a long way from home, aren’t you?” You couldn’t take his smug look even if you tried. Seeing the situation, we were on, we calmed down. I kept the sword of course. “So, what brings you to Tartarus? Please tell me you sliced one of the princesses’ throats!” “Can you shut up?” He shrugged, keeping his smug look. “As you’ve been here longer than me, I would appreciate a bit of information.” “Oh, bummer. You see? We are not in Equestria so… unless you be nice and tell me why you are here… You can continue on wandering.” And he sat down next to the campfire. He was right… I was in Tartarus. I needed to know… And someone to help couldn’t be bad. I sat next to him. “I don’t know… Celestia just turned and banished me.” “Ah! That old hag as finally fried her head!” He proceeded to laugh… and laugh. “See? A royal champion! And a dirty ruffian with the same fate.” His smile contrasted with my look of betrayal. To my surprise, he noticed. “Don’t worry now. We were gifted a new start. For me, some sort of redemption. For you… Revenge. So, what do want to know about our home?” He extended his hoof. It took me a while for me to accept a new start. I shook his hoof and started an alliance that lasted longer than any Equestrian alliance would wish to last. “Death.” I said. His mood changed. “It doesn’t work. You can’t kill yourself, end your suffering. If you die, it’s going to be painful, yes, but, you don’t escape you are just reborn in a different location here in Tartarus.” He paused. “Trust me. I tried.” “Blaze?” Luna let go of Blaze’s embrace. “Were you-?...” Blaze just looked down. Luna slide her way back to his embrace and tighten her grip. “So, where was I?” “Okay… Is there some place where I can gear up? I assume there’s plenty of reasons to be protected.” The Dog’s smile rose. “Well there is a market. Filled with the scummiest criminals that Equestria has ever seen. We could get started there. But if you want the best you are going to either kill for it or make it yourself.” “Sounds bad, when do we set off?” The Dog was about to answer but his face froze. “It likes you, doesn’t it? Have you felt it skulking around?” So, it was something. “What is it?” “Nobody knows, but it is usually quiet. Unless it finds someone that calls its attention.” “Last time it made its presence know it caught a young draconequus… When someone finally found him, he was trying to become a rock… So whatever IT is… it’s bad.” He gave me some sort amulet made of crystal. “Take this.” “What is it?” I asked as I placed it around my neck. “If one of us gets caught we can find each other in this hell’s dimension.” We both stopped talking and listened to the crushing silence “You should rest, when we wake up we’ll go to the market.” He said. So, I did. When we woke up we set off. The journey was dull. But when we set hoof on the market… It was an experience like no other. Everyone there was deserted by various reasons, but here they were at peace. They lived like an actual society. Of course, it wasn’t an Equesrian society but… a society nonetheless. With a bit of coins and a lot of “persuasion”, we got some armor for both of us, and it was there that Drill (that was his nickname) introduced me to the wonders of a war-axe. “Here, this is for you. You’ve been wasting your skills with swords.” At first I was skeptical. “I bet I could beat anyone here with a-“ “Well, just imagine what you could do with a good axe.” I grabbed it, the weight caught me of guard. “To heavy for you, my prince?” “Shut up.” However, despite the good company… I was still in agony… The question: Why?... Was driving me mad. What had I done to be here? And it didn’t take long for hatred and rage to settle. There was only one thing keeping me sane… Hope. That tiny but powerful flame. Hope that I would embrace you once more. Luna couldn’t hold it anymore. With her face in tears she kissed Blaze. Blaze took a while telling his story, but this kiss lasted an eternity. After that followed years of dull hikes in search for any quest or loot we could find. Others joined, others left. We stayed. Years and years went by. But everything was the same. Stagnant silence. And an illusion of change as we gained experience and learned about each other. Drill had everything he wanted. A new start, he made hell his home porch. I, tormented, survived. Now, it’s hard to remember… so many days wandering… they all mesh into a glob of lost memories. But there is one day… One day that is as vivid as our embrace. The day IT attacked. Me and Drill had just slayed some sort of native creature, a monster, giant, aggressive and deadly. There was a rumor that it’s bones were harder than any metal. And so, our train of thoughts led to us hunting it so we could make weapons. Drill was starting to carve his way towards it’s pelvis, with it we could make axe heads, blades and hammers to keep and to sell. We started to feel it. We had grown used to it following us so we didn’t react. But we started to hear a rumble. A very deep sound that made our bones shake. Drill climbed down of the carcass, in a blind panic, and took cover underneath it. I stayed almost paralyzed staring the horizon. The sound grew. Even the ground underneath my hoofs started to shake “Blaze! Hide!!” Drill shouted. And I, like a fool, ignored him and grabbed my axe. And the noise stopped. A maddening silence ensued. I looked around, paranoid. I couldn’t let it get the jump on me. But it was too late. I saw a shadow involve me. I tried to run but it was massive. IT got me. I never say I’m not afraid. But I do know how to control fear and use it in my advantage. But this… Drill told me he could hear me scream in agony. And that it was louder than any war horn he had heard. But what he heard wasn’t agony. It was pure fear. Terror. So immense that I lost control of everything. And then came the pain… I felt my soul being stretched out of my body. It only lasted a couple of seconds. But it felt eternal. I woke up in the middle of nowhere. Stripped of everything except for the amulet that now was pulsing. Everything else was just a blur. Drill found me exactly where I woke up. He told me I had a blank gaze, like my soul had simply vanished. He helped me up, and took me to the closest tavern. After a couple of mugs of ale, I started to be me again. Drunk me. I remember him asking questions about it. But, I kept refusing to answer. After that, the only thing out of the ordinary that I remember was Twilight opening the portal, hundreds of years later. The last battle. I was with Drill and a group of bounty hunters when a magical glow opened a rift a few hundred meters away from us. Drill looked at me with a vacant expression and just said. “Go… This is my home now.” The bounty hunters started sprinting towards the portal, and, like a leopard watching its prey run in fear, my instinct woke up. I started flying towards not the portal, but the bounty hunters. They didn’t even realize I was there. My axe slashed their necks but I kept flying with my burning eyes focused on the portal. And that was basically my stay in Tartarus. Luna kissed Blaze’s neck. They’ve been on the same spot of their bed the entire morning. And soon Celestia would call them for lunch. “We should get up…” Blaze admitted. Luna’s muzzle dug deeper into Blaze’s neck. Her mane drowning him in translucid galactic light show. But soon she admitted defeat and they both got up. They followed the steps down stairs to the dining room and, to their surprise, princess Celestia was already leaving. “Morning Tia. Oh, is it this late?” Luna asked still a bit doozy. “Good morning. No, I just didn’t want to bother you two and I have a couple of meetings this afternoon so I decided to eat a bit earlier.” Celestia was a bit grumpier than usual. “Well, you could keep us company if you have the time.” Blaze innocently purposed. “No… As the old saying says, three is a crown.” Celestia countered with a passive aggressive tone. “Sister… What’s the matter?” Luna was worried. “I could just go for a walk if that’s the case.” Blaze naively joked. “Maybe you should.” Celestia finally let go. “Okay…” Blaze angrily agreed and started to walk out. “Blaze?...” “Luna…, you two talk it out… I need some fresh air.” And he left. Blaze could have a short temper, but sometimes walking out can work in your favor. Why stay there feeding the flame of the argument? Just let it run out of oxygen and come back to clean things up. Of course, that wasn’t his thought process. He just wanted to get out of there before he would burst. Besides, he needed the fresh air. All those memories took a toll on him. He flew past Ponyville and ate there. He wanted to be alone, so he flew to the old castle. Those ruins brought him back to simpler times. Nostalgia kicked in and, after checking no one was there, he let go. Tears came down like waterfalls, striking his coat as hard as steel. But soon his fountains would shut. He would find his flame. Back in the castle, another discussion would erupt. And again, as quickly as it started, both sisters, in tears, would find a common ground where they could stand and end the arguing. And that was what life was in the castle for the next few months. Besides the occasional petty criminal, the days took a slow and passed flavor to them. Boring some days, but always with some intensity to them. Besides the tension with Celestia’s mood – some morning’s she couldn’t be talked to. But by the afternoon she was as docile as a house cat –the was almost no worrying matter, but the treat of “The Light Ponies” was still real even if they are as small and as short sighted as they seemed. Blaze was pondering about this as he followed the flying carriage that the sisters were on. They were heading to Ponyville for a meeting with the mayor and princess Twilight. About Ponyville’s economy. But it wasn’t Ponyville’s economy that made this meeting important. This was the first-time Twilight agreed to be in the same room as Celestia. They had exchanged letters with each other, which brought a marginal improvement to their relationship, but this was Celestia’s last chance to heal bonds with Twilight. Ponyville was in sight. The guards picked a place to land. The princesses wanted to walk through Ponyville to greet the ponies and to see the progress of the little village. They left the guards to protect the carriage and they started to walk towards the castle with Blaze, ever so vigilant, following them. The village was alive. Blaze was growing a crush on this place. The ponies were nice, life seemed a bit more real there. Ponies bowed and cheered as the princesses passed by. They walked through the center of the village and headed towards the castle. As they turned a corner of a building and the crowds returned to their lives, a group of ponies occupied the road to the castle. But when they got closer, they realized the group was blocking the road and was armed. Blaze lifted of the ground and stopped above the princesses with his axe ready to strike. Luna, hearing Blaze’s axe being drawn, summoned her armor and halberd. Celestia froze. In front of them were three unicorns in formation with wizard robes, two pegasus floated behind them with spears in hoofs, to the sides were two more unicorns with swords and one yielding a shield and, in front, an earth pony with a more formal attire. He spoke. “Holster your weapons! We wish to speak!” He spoke as if he sat on a throne. “Speak, then.” Luna shouted as she revolved her halberd with a magical grip. “You think you scare us? We know your scheme! We infiltrated the castle and found traces of mind control magic surrounding Celestia!” He ignored Luna and faced Celestia. “Princess, join The Light Ponies, we will clear you from your sister’s dark influences and this treachery once and for all!” He stomped the ground with his last word. “You can’t be serious…” Blaze muttered. “What would you expect from someone who calls themselves “The Light Ponies”?” Blaze thought to himself. “Ah, the Nightmare’s thug. You showed your strength, but doubting our seriousness? You need to learn respect!” A flame grew in all three wizards’ horns. The spells were all aimed at Blaze. “I’ve had enough of this…” Blaze grabbed his axe with his right hoof and held it like a spear with its blade pointing outwards. Blaze looked at Luna. Luna was watching his every move. Blaze nodded. “Your arrogance will be your undoing! Prepare to see the wrath of THE LI-“ Luna surrounded Blaze’s hoof with a magical aura and Blaze used it as a foothold to launch himself towards the unicorn slashing is neck with a distorted cut. The three unicorns launched fireballs in Blaze’s direction but they were blocked by Luna’s shield. Luna pushed the wizards back, stunning them, to give herself some time to get closer. Blaze landed and grabbed his axe with his wing just in time to block a sword swipe. Blaze ducked and rolled to give his axe enough momentum to make one clean cut, decapitating his attacker. Blaze then grabbed the still levitating sword and charged the shield bearer. Celestia was still in shock and was almost hiding underneath her own wing. Luna was now flying in front of the three wizards who had just recovered. They charged their horns and tried to disarm the princess which only made her halberd slashes more vicious. Blaze, covered with blood splatters and sweat, continued his charge. One of the pegasus tried to dive at him but Blaze slid to avoid his spear. The earth pony was jerking on the floor, drowning in his own blood, desperately trying to close the jagged wound on his neck. When he was in front of the shield bearer, Blaze swiped with his axe but the only result was his attack being blocked and taking a shield on the muzzle With his face now dripping with his own blood, Blaze took in consideration a smarter approach. Blaze pretended to implement his swiping technic again, forcing is opponent to move his shield and, continuing his rotation, Blaze planted his hind hoofs into his attacker’s face finishing him off with a stab to the heart using the sword he had picked up. The shield bearer fell, defeated. But in the heat of the battle Blaze didn’t spot the second pegasus that was circling around. The pegasus came down at a blistering speed and struck Blaze’s lower back. The spear didn’t penetrate the armor but it pushed Blaze to the ground and temporarily immobilized him. The violence of the strike broke the spear and its spearhead. The pegasus took flight again and drew out a dagger. He was coming for Blaze. Seeing this, Blaze tried to move but he was still stunned. As he laid there, defenseless, a stray sun beam flew above him and a sunlight infused spear impaled the pegasus treat. Blaze turned his head, still lying flat on the ground, and, in his inverted vision, was Celestia in full-plated armor. Not too far from him, the gurgling sound had stopped and the earth pony finally succumbed to his injury. Luna emerged from a cloud of magic and dust victorious, her halberd dripping blood and her face covered in sweat. The last survivor was a pegasus who, after his first attack, could only watch the carnage below. And, acknowledging defeat, he tried to flee Blaze, despite the pain, managed to get up. The spear might not have penetrated, but it left an indentation on his armor that cut deep into his flesh. Celestia flew to recover her spear and Luna joined Blaze. “I need to follow him!” Blaze was still struggling. “You’re bleeding… Let us heal you.” “I’m fine, I can’t let him go.” Blaze grabbed his axe. “Be careful.” Luna knew it was futile to discuss with Blaze in that state. Blaze, still limbering, started the pursuit. The pegasus hadn’t realized he had a tail, so Blaze could easily follow him and catch up by taking shortcuts through forests and other obstacles that the pegasus avoided. The pain was almost paralyzing his left hind leg but he didn’t need his leg to fly. The blood was now escaping his armor and dripping from his leg. The trees cleared and gave place to a giant lake. It was surrounded by forest except for one side that was occupied by a small mountain. And encrusted in said mountain was what seemed to be a fort of some sort. Blaze followed the borders of the forest to remain hidden and, sure enough, the pegasus went inside the mountain. Blaze floated looking at the fort. “I’ll be back…” Blaze swore. Back in Ponyville, the noise of the battle hadn’t gone unnoticed. The royal guards ran to protect the princesses, a small crowd was starting to form but the gory scene was dissuading most ponies. Princess Twilight came down her castle. “W-What’s g-going on?” Twilight stuttered as she saw the violent scene. Celestia’s motherly instincts kicked in. She tried to find ways to shield her from such a gory scene. But alas, Twilight had grown. She walked up to the princesses, cautious and in a mild shock, with her horn covered in a magical glow, ready to defend herself. Luna didn’t give Celestia time to think of a pleasant excuse to the mess in front of her. “It’s not all benefits being royalty. Even being the perfect ruler with the perfect kingdom, those who oppose will eventually appear.” Luna walked towards Twilight while she cleaned her halberd. “Our peaceful doctrines gives ponies the illusion of our vulnerability. In this case, “The Light Ponies”, forgot that before being rulers, we were warriors.” “But, w-what did they want to achieve? Did they want to rule?” Twilight’s curiosity was bigger than her shock. “No, they wanted something far simpler. They wanted to kill me. They believed that I am controlling my sister. Pfft! Is there no limit to how low our enemies will strike?” There was a touch of sadness hidden in her hanger. A guard rushed to the princesses. Celestia told him that threat was gone and ordered to clean the streets. “Maybe we should go inside…” Twilight suggested, seeing that there were a few curious eyes looking. Luna was going to agree but to her surprise her sister disagreed. “We should wait for Blaze to return.” Only now Twilight acknowledged Blaze’s absence. She was going to ask where he had gone but she spotted a dark spot in the sky. Blaze’s wing flaps were heavy and few and far between. He tried to land but he ended up crashing on his side in the gravel road. Luna rushed to help him, but he was already up by the time she was next to him. But Blaze almost collapsed and had to sustain all his weight on Luna’s wing. Luna took him inside the castle, silencing him every time he made an attempt to speak. Twilight closed the doors behind them. Celestia removed Blaze’s armor while Luna started her healing spell. Although the blow he had taken on his face looked gruesome, it was nothing to worry about. But the spear hit left a mark. By deflecting the spear head, one of the steel scales of his armor cut through his leg. He was still bleeding. Luna started her healing. A cyan glow surrounded Blaze’s wounds. Seeing that Blaze was in good hands, Celestia took her armor off and, accompanied with her spear, teleported it home. Celestia felt disgusted. She just stood there while her sister fought for her life. Yes, she was never at risk but she just stood there. Like a filly too scared to respond to a teacher. “Is everything alright princess?” It was Twilight. She was worried. Not mad, not sad just worried. Celestia smiled. “Yes, Twilight… I’m still trying to calm down.” Twilight looked down and regained eye contact with Celestia, and smiled back. Blaze’s wounds had healed. The cyan aura dissipated. Blaze sat down on the cold crystal floor and was greeted by Luna’s lips. “Next time, let me heal you before you go anywhere!” Luna begged with a frustrated tone and shimmering eyes. Blaze hugged her. He might be healed but he was still weak so, still attached to Luna, he got up. “They have… a fort. Near a lake.” His voice was cut by his drained body’s aches. “Don’t speak… Rest. You deserve it.” Celestia suggested. Blaze nodded. He finally gained enough strength to stand on his own. He turned to face Luna and saw her still in with her armor, covered in blood splatters. “This… This ends tomorrow.” Blaze was almost blinded by his rage. “Even if I have to kill each and everyone of them.” He thought. “If you need help I could go too.” Twilight volunteered. Twilight didn’t know half of what was going on, but seeing both princesses and Blaze suffering was enough to throw herself into danger. Luna could see a young Celestia in her way of speech. “We admire your courage princess Twilight, but we haven’t trained you to fight, we thought it wouldn’t be necessary. Perhaps your next lesson, if you wish so.” Luna spoke with a surprisingly friendly tone. Twilight didn’t know how to respond so, she nervously nodded. They decided to go to meeting room of the castle where the mayor was patiently waiting, unaware of the chaos. They all sat down and explained the reason they were late. Blaze sat in the corner of the room, plotting the raid. Celestia’s relationship with Twilight improved with each minute they spent together. Seeing Celestia fight to save Blaze helped Twilight clear some doubts she had in her mind. Before night fell, Blaze, Celestia and Luna teleported to Canterlot, leaving the guards to carry the carriage back to castle. They had dinner, lowered the sun and raised the moon, and retreated to their respective bedrooms. After a necessary shower, Luna and Blaze lied in bed were Luna could resume Blaze’s healing with some more privacy. Celestia laid in bed. She was thinking in Blaze’s words. “This ends tomorrow.” She repeated to herself. “I hope you’re right Blaze. I really do.” And closing her shimmering eyes, she fell asleep. Author's Note Took me a while to get this one done. Largely because of exams and lack of time. Hope you enjoy it!
